At least for my universe.
The last four months I have had lots of time to be introspective since I have spent several weeks all by myself (except for the cat who tends to sleep much more than he converses). The following are some of my universal truths I have discovered:
the most important thing in my life is my family
updating an old house is a lot of work
there is such a thing as TOO much company (not a non-sequitor - there were times when I had 7 other people here, none of them my husband)
immediate family make great guests 'cause you don't have to "entertain" them
28 windows is a LOT of caulking
caulking inside a built-in bookcase is impossible (Christine might be small enough to do it!)
I'm not anywhere near as good at Scrabble as I thought I was
lawyers can be great chefs / don't judge a restaurant by its bowling alley
Showing posts with label renovations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label renovations. Show all posts
Friday, September 14, 2007
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Let the Games Begin!
Today we will start doing some of the serious renovation work for our energy improvements.
Yesterday, Wayne arrived back from Ottawa and cut a hole in the ceiling of the north parlour so we could examine the condition of the walls above the dropped ceiling. Surprise! The wall is bare studs above both windows in the north wall and there is also a small strip where you can see the lathe above the east window. This means that when the blown-in insulation arrives, it will fill the entire ceiling cavity - rather expensive and messy if we ever want to fix up that room.
So, we need to move all the junk out of the way - if you've seen the room you know that that in itself is a major job. Then tear out the ceiling along the wall, install new wall board and hope it's tight enough. No problem - except the insulation firm called last evening to say they would be here on Monday.
A busy weekend ahead. Oh yes, the results of our energy audit - on a scale of 0 to 100 our house made a resounding 6 - our target is 57 in the next 18 (17 now) months.
On the plus side, the original ceiling above the acoustic tile one looks to be in very good shape.
Yesterday, Wayne arrived back from Ottawa and cut a hole in the ceiling of the north parlour so we could examine the condition of the walls above the dropped ceiling. Surprise! The wall is bare studs above both windows in the north wall and there is also a small strip where you can see the lathe above the east window. This means that when the blown-in insulation arrives, it will fill the entire ceiling cavity - rather expensive and messy if we ever want to fix up that room.
So, we need to move all the junk out of the way - if you've seen the room you know that that in itself is a major job. Then tear out the ceiling along the wall, install new wall board and hope it's tight enough. No problem - except the insulation firm called last evening to say they would be here on Monday.
A busy weekend ahead. Oh yes, the results of our energy audit - on a scale of 0 to 100 our house made a resounding 6 - our target is 57 in the next 18 (17 now) months.
On the plus side, the original ceiling above the acoustic tile one looks to be in very good shape.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
I think we failed!
Well! Our energy audit was very enlightening. It took 3 1/2 hours for the engineer to poke into all the corners of our house and measure everything. On the plus side our windows (replaced in 2002) were great as were our choice of low flush toilets, the appliances we have replaced and our programmable thermostat.
The last step was to do a partial vacuum test for drafts. This our poor old house failed miserably - partially because of all our mid-construction projects so there are air leaks from open walls and ceilings sucking in air from the attic and the uncovered original floor boards at the back of the house and in the library let air in from the basement. Since we have R0 (except in a couple of spots we have renovated), there is lots of air flow through the walls and attics. It was so bad that I don't think we got a valid base reading from which to improve.
We did discover lots of small leaks that we can fix (in addition to the obvious ones mentioned above). We need to caulk all our baseboards and around the trim on a couple of windows. We need to spray foam insulation around all the electrical breaks in the attic (before the insulation is blown in). We need to put the little foam sheets in our electrical outlets and switches and Dave also recommended using the child-proofing electrical plugs for outlets not in frequent use. None of our 3 fireplaces have dampers - we planned to do something with the living room one (either block it off or put in an insert if one can be found) but the surprise was the other 2 in the dining room and north parlour - neither is functioning but there sure was lots of air coming out of them when we thought they were closed off. Yet another project.
We also found a couple of holes - in the back of our clothes closet in our bedroom is an old stove pipe circle which is cemented over, however the wall is far enough from the chimney that a gale blows down from the attic. In Will's room, there is a vertical shaft in the closet wall (very strange construction seems to be the problem - probably using whatever pieces of wood were around) which had another gale blowing down it.
Besides the insulation of the attic and walls, he also recommended insulating the basement walls in the header spaces and partially down the wall - this is feasible for part of the basement anyway; there is a several hundred pound metal cistern in the way for one corner - how we get that out of the way I don't know. He also wants us to insulate the crawl space, either from the outside (doable but an expense we can't afford), from the inside (completely un-doable since most of the crawl space is inaccessible) or insulating the underside of the floors above the crawl space (also un-doable due to the access problems).
We also got about 5 pounds of literature to help us save energy, do these projects and/or cure any insomnia we may have. There is info on lots of topics including grey water recycling, all types of heat sources, how-to books and lots of little tips. There are government grants for many of the improvements that one can make and we'll qualify for a few of them is we can get the work done within 18 months. Anyone who wants to help out with the work is welcome to volunteer!
In a few weeks, we'll get the written report on our home and an energy guide rating for the present condition of the house and a target we should be aiming for based on the construction, age etc. of the building. I'm wondering how high we will be.
Lots of work to do!
The last step was to do a partial vacuum test for drafts. This our poor old house failed miserably - partially because of all our mid-construction projects so there are air leaks from open walls and ceilings sucking in air from the attic and the uncovered original floor boards at the back of the house and in the library let air in from the basement. Since we have R0 (except in a couple of spots we have renovated), there is lots of air flow through the walls and attics. It was so bad that I don't think we got a valid base reading from which to improve.
We did discover lots of small leaks that we can fix (in addition to the obvious ones mentioned above). We need to caulk all our baseboards and around the trim on a couple of windows. We need to spray foam insulation around all the electrical breaks in the attic (before the insulation is blown in). We need to put the little foam sheets in our electrical outlets and switches and Dave also recommended using the child-proofing electrical plugs for outlets not in frequent use. None of our 3 fireplaces have dampers - we planned to do something with the living room one (either block it off or put in an insert if one can be found) but the surprise was the other 2 in the dining room and north parlour - neither is functioning but there sure was lots of air coming out of them when we thought they were closed off. Yet another project.
We also found a couple of holes - in the back of our clothes closet in our bedroom is an old stove pipe circle which is cemented over, however the wall is far enough from the chimney that a gale blows down from the attic. In Will's room, there is a vertical shaft in the closet wall (very strange construction seems to be the problem - probably using whatever pieces of wood were around) which had another gale blowing down it.
Besides the insulation of the attic and walls, he also recommended insulating the basement walls in the header spaces and partially down the wall - this is feasible for part of the basement anyway; there is a several hundred pound metal cistern in the way for one corner - how we get that out of the way I don't know. He also wants us to insulate the crawl space, either from the outside (doable but an expense we can't afford), from the inside (completely un-doable since most of the crawl space is inaccessible) or insulating the underside of the floors above the crawl space (also un-doable due to the access problems).
We also got about 5 pounds of literature to help us save energy, do these projects and/or cure any insomnia we may have. There is info on lots of topics including grey water recycling, all types of heat sources, how-to books and lots of little tips. There are government grants for many of the improvements that one can make and we'll qualify for a few of them is we can get the work done within 18 months. Anyone who wants to help out with the work is welcome to volunteer!
In a few weeks, we'll get the written report on our home and an energy guide rating for the present condition of the house and a target we should be aiming for based on the construction, age etc. of the building. I'm wondering how high we will be.
Lots of work to do!
Monday, July 9, 2007
Energy Efficiency in 1848
Our house was built in 1848 (plus lots of additions with unknown dates). Today the house will have an energy audit by a government approved company called S.H.E. Consultants - Sustainable Housing and Education Consultants - the only company in Nova Scotia which can determine if you qualify for government grants to improve your energy use. Since our only insulation is in the 2 bathrooms and the library, which Wayne has put in, it will be interesting to see what the consultant says. The process costs a couple of hundred dollars (for which I think we get an actual written report) and then we have 18 months to do any grant eligible work and get an auditor back (that's the hard part with only one firm in the province) to check that it was indeed done.
We have the insulation firm (Alstar from Bridgewater) on hold awaiting this audit - we're going with blown in cellulose, R40 in the attic and whatever the exterior walls will hold. The firm guarantees that it won't settle (how I don't know) and they will return during the winter with infra-red equipment to make sure they didn't miss any areas. So at least we should be much warmer next year on cool days and if we are here all year we shouldn't go broke paying for oil - the bill this year was $2400 to keep the temperature at 5C all winter, and the last year the previous owners were here (2001-02) they spent $6000 on heat, so it won't take long for insulation to pay for itself.
It will be interesting to see what other recommendations we get.
We have the insulation firm (Alstar from Bridgewater) on hold awaiting this audit - we're going with blown in cellulose, R40 in the attic and whatever the exterior walls will hold. The firm guarantees that it won't settle (how I don't know) and they will return during the winter with infra-red equipment to make sure they didn't miss any areas. So at least we should be much warmer next year on cool days and if we are here all year we shouldn't go broke paying for oil - the bill this year was $2400 to keep the temperature at 5C all winter, and the last year the previous owners were here (2001-02) they spent $6000 on heat, so it won't take long for insulation to pay for itself.
It will be interesting to see what other recommendations we get.
Thursday, June 28, 2007
A Company Worth Knowing
Three years ago, we bought a shower stall in Ottawa from Home Depot - it was a Maax product and seemed nice and roomy (38") and came in a nice flat box which we could easily transport to Lockeport. At that time, we were just about to begin renovating our downstairs bathroom. Due to the awkward shape of that room we finally decided it would be better to put the shower upstairs when we got around to doing the second bath.
That renovation began last summer and required much shoring up of old floor beams that had been cut into various times over the years for other bathroom work by other owners. By the end of last summer, we had wallboard up and tile on the floor but no plumbing done. 2 weeks ago our plumber, Jerry, finally hooked everything up and with his helper (another Gerry) installed the 3 year-old never-used shower stall. It was then necessary for me to patch the drywall around the shower and sand, paint etc.
Monday, I finally tried out the new shower - alas we had a leak which turned out to be a lack of sealing putty in the drain - fixed by Jerry the next day. I also managed to knock out one of the pieces of plastic ribbon on the bottom of the shower door (the stuff that keeps the water IN the shower). Of course I broke it trying to reinsert it - it was only about 1 1/2 inches long but I still should have removed the door for correct installation. Later that morning, I was in Liverpool at Curves so I went to Home Hardware with my broken piece - nope, none there but a very helpful clerk looked up Mr. Plumber in Wileville (inland from Bridgewater) and suggested I try them since calling the manufacturer would be such a long protracted method of dealing with my problem.
I returned home and rather than call Mr. Plumber, I perversely dug out the installation manual for the shower and low and behold, there was an "after sales service" number. I called and got an actual human being and asked if I could order the part (the part number was on the installation directions). She said I had to speak to a technician. This gentleman was willing to help me figure out what model I had and therefore what exact part I needed - since I knew those, he took my name and address and said the part would be sent Tuesday and I'd have it before the end of the week. There was no question of me paying for it or how old the shower was - just "we'll send one".
This morning (Thursday), the part arrived at the post office - Express Post for a free part.
If you need to purchase any sort of bathroom fixtures, take a look at what Maax has to offer - best service I can remember from any company when I've had a problem.
That renovation began last summer and required much shoring up of old floor beams that had been cut into various times over the years for other bathroom work by other owners. By the end of last summer, we had wallboard up and tile on the floor but no plumbing done. 2 weeks ago our plumber, Jerry, finally hooked everything up and with his helper (another Gerry) installed the 3 year-old never-used shower stall. It was then necessary for me to patch the drywall around the shower and sand, paint etc.
Monday, I finally tried out the new shower - alas we had a leak which turned out to be a lack of sealing putty in the drain - fixed by Jerry the next day. I also managed to knock out one of the pieces of plastic ribbon on the bottom of the shower door (the stuff that keeps the water IN the shower). Of course I broke it trying to reinsert it - it was only about 1 1/2 inches long but I still should have removed the door for correct installation. Later that morning, I was in Liverpool at Curves so I went to Home Hardware with my broken piece - nope, none there but a very helpful clerk looked up Mr. Plumber in Wileville (inland from Bridgewater) and suggested I try them since calling the manufacturer would be such a long protracted method of dealing with my problem.
I returned home and rather than call Mr. Plumber, I perversely dug out the installation manual for the shower and low and behold, there was an "after sales service" number. I called and got an actual human being and asked if I could order the part (the part number was on the installation directions). She said I had to speak to a technician. This gentleman was willing to help me figure out what model I had and therefore what exact part I needed - since I knew those, he took my name and address and said the part would be sent Tuesday and I'd have it before the end of the week. There was no question of me paying for it or how old the shower was - just "we'll send one".
This morning (Thursday), the part arrived at the post office - Express Post for a free part.
If you need to purchase any sort of bathroom fixtures, take a look at what Maax has to offer - best service I can remember from any company when I've had a problem.
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