Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[old goat]

When you can barely change the light bulbs in a the main lighting fixture in the main room (10 bulbs in all) with an 8 foot step ladder, LED's are a life saver--maybe literally. I don't bounce like I used to.

[nickwm21]

This discussion reminds me of when LED traffic signals came out and all the jurisdictions switched over to them for energy and labor savings, then winter came in the northern climates and all the lights iced over and they had to install heating elements or pay labor to spray them with deicer...


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[old_newguy]

most basic: keep house on foundation
i'm guessing you want simpson urfp's around the perimeter as the basic install, 3' oc is common

more complicated: brace the superstructure
if you are opening the siding on all exposures, then you can get in to bracing the structure itself

So, likely in the next few years when prices come down that I will tackle removing the 70 year old siding and replacing it so I will probably shelve this project until then. Makes more sense to just do the bolt down when the wall is open. Way easier than drilling in awkward positions for hours in the crawl space. The Simpson urpfs seem like they would work with the existing framing.

Which leads to another question, is there a best practices guide for insulating a house with poor or non existent wall insulation? I’d like to increase the insulation, do some air sealing and waterproofing.

My understanding is that if done incorrectly that this can turn your walls into a mold factory and the practice of just blowing in cellulose led to some pretty significant issues in the PNW when done incorrectly. Also concerned about making the house to tight and having to deal with adding make up air. Pretty sure I will convert the water heater to direct vent anyways, but don’t want to kill the family off obviously. Not looking to build a passive house, just to some reasonable work while the access is easy.

Building Science Corporation appears to have a pretty good guide for attic sealing so wondering if there is something similar for wall retrofits.

[nickwm21]

So, likely in the next few years when prices come down that I will tackle removing the 70 year old siding and replacing it so I will probably shelve this project until then. Makes more sense to just do the bolt down when the wall is open. Way easier than drilling in awkward positions for hours in the crawl space. The Simpson urpfs seem like they would work with the existing framing.

Which leads to another question, is there a best practices guide for insulating a house with poor or non existent wall insulation? I’d like to increase the insulation, do some air sealing and waterproofing.

My understanding is that if done incorrectly that this can turn your walls into a mold factory and the practice of just blowing in cellulose led to some pretty significant issues in the PNW when done incorrectly. Also concerned about making the house to tight and having to deal with adding make up air. Pretty sure I will convert the water heater to direct vent anyways, but don’t want to kill the family off obviously. Not looking to build a passive house, just to some reasonable work while the access is easy.

Building Science Corporation appears to have a pretty good guide for attic sealing so wondering if there is something similar for wall retrofits.

The problem with adding wall insulation to an old house is that the house is likely not weathertight to modern standards. So in a weather event, moisture likely gets into wall cavities, but after the weather event the house breathes and that moisture has a chance to escape. Pack those old leaky stud bays with new insulation and you have a sponge to soak up that moisture and cause mold.

When you do that siding job, that’s the time to rewrap, flash, and then do the wall insulation on the now properly sealed house.

If you have a modern roof that doesn’t leak, you can add attic insulation with little risk of mold.




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[XXX-er]

gov canada has announced 5000$ grants to make homes more energy efficient,

10 yrs ago I got a new furnace and upgraded roof insulation

this time it will be replacing all the windows

I knew there was a reason i was dragging ass on the window upgrade

[::: :::]

At our last house in NEpdx, we pulled boards every 4’ or so & drilled thru the sheathing & filled from the outside. So, doesn’t necessarily need to be a re-clad. But if you need new siding, then maybe wait on the insulation.

You can blow in glass fiber instead of cellulose too, for an inorganic insulation

BSC is the bible; they are advising/writing a lot of the energy performance criteria for the US IBC

[glademaster]

gov canada has announced 5000$ grants to make homes more energy efficient,

10 yrs ago I got a new furnace and upgraded roof insulation

this time it will be replacing all the windows

I knew there was a reason i was dragging ass on the window upgrade

That'll get you about 3 windows. A coworker of mine just had the windows in his 2 bed/2bath townhouse replaced (excluding sliding door, exterior doors, and skylights) and it ran him just shy of $20,000 for run of the mill Andersen windows.

[XXX-er]

That'll get you about 3 windows. A coworker of mine just had the windows in his 2 bed/2bath townhouse replaced (excluding sliding door, exterior doors, and skylights) and it ran him just shy of $20,000 for run of the mill Andersen windows.

last time the Gov paid for insulation and HE furnace which cost I'm thinking 6-7k but the pay back over 10 yars of energy bills has been considerable,

5K won't cover it all but free money is free money, some of the windows could definaltey do with replacing and I been talking about doing this for awhile

[liv2ski]

Last year $5k covered 9 Simonton vinyl retrofit windows for the casa. Nice improvement for sure.

[Core Shot]

yeah I also have that image of SFB where he just soaps up and gits hosed down with the garden hose

Joe Dirt!

I don’t think SFB is allowed to use that indoor shower. He still gets the hose

SFB, sweet reno. I like the river rock border around the mirror. It ties the room together.

[Rideski]

Has anyone used those rubber mats under a small low traffic patio paver spot? I guess the idea is to add some cohesiveness where 4 inches of road base would be impractical?

And then the polymer sand looks neat, but sounds like a mess. Not going to be anyway to use a blower on this, so would just have to sweep. Not sure it's worth it, might just go two layers of landscape fabric under.

[mattig]

Not really on topic, but not worth a new thread. Don't forget to flush those water heaters annually. This anode is 5 years old.

[skifishbum]

we talked about replacing ours fore it fails
ive done enuffs including helping bobmc do his
that id dyi a new one
really wanna go tankless but dont wanna dyi so we git a quote
turns out the hot water heaters 24 years old og original and the ac is 20
i aint touchin either of them and gittin new ones pronto
any of yas ever hang a ski chair or have advice?
ive either gotta cut and git it into bob mc and reweld the top and lose bout 18" or dig down more below patio grade
then we were thinking a 6x6 across the top with 2 brackets lagged through with a foot of 3'' pipe between the angle ironish brackets

[old goat]

we talked about replacing ours fore it fails
ive done enuffs including helping bobmc do his
that id dyi a new one
really wanna go tankless but dont wanna dyi so we git a quote
turns out the hot water heaters 24 years old og original and the ac is 20
i aint touchin either of them and gittin new ones pronto
any of yas ever hang a ski chair or have advice?
ive either gotta cut and git it into bob mc and reweld the top and lose bout 18" or dig down more below patio grade
then we were thinking a 6x6 across the top with 2 brackets lagged through with a foot of 3'' pipe between the angle ironish brackets

Friend of ours who is a LEED certified architect feels tankless water heaters aren't worth it from an economic standpoint--the small savings on gas isn't enough to justify the investment, compared to a new efficient tank. We like ours because we get a lot of company and two people can shower at the same time and unlimited people can shower one after the other and the hot water keeps coming. The downside is the wait--mainly an issue with the dishes since we're always turning hot water on and off and the kitchen is at the far end of the house from the heater. Maybe one day we'll put a point of service water heater under the kitchen sink.

Re the chair--make sure however you hang it doesn't interfere with bringing the safety bar down. Abundance of caution and all that.

[::: :::]

You can also do a re-circ line to reduce the wait on hot water

[climberevan]

You can also do a re-circ line to reduce the wait on hot water

For tank WHs we sometimes put in a pump at the WH and valves at each faucet. The valves open at a set temp and the pump pushes hot water into the cold lines so the hot lines are always fresh. It's the only reasonable retrofit solution I know of. Running recirculating lines in an existing house is a major project.

I agree completely on the (lack of) value in tankless WHs. I try to talk clients out of them but only occasionally succeed.

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[glademaster]

I find it interesting that it seems like water heater preferences are somewhat regional. In WWA, I saw almost exclusively tankless, in both new homes and as retrofits. I don't think I've seen a tankless yet in Colorado. Some stand-alones, but the majority here are sidearm setups off a boiler.

[PNWbrit]

we talked about replacing ours fore it fails
ive done enuffs including helping bobmc do his
that id dyi a new one
really wanna go tankless but dont wanna dyi so we git a quote
turns out the hot water heaters 24 years old og original and the ac is 20
i aint touchin either of them and gittin new ones pronto
any of yas ever hang a ski chair or have advice?
ive either gotta cut and git it into bob mc and reweld the top and lose bout 18" or dig down more below patio grade
then we were thinking a 6x6 across the top with 2 brackets lagged through with a foot of 3'' pipe between the angle ironish brackets

Make sure the off ramp isn't too steep.

[old_newguy]

I’m looking at going gas tankless for the space.

Gas tanked WH seems to recover so quick that’s it hardly worth it to go with the tankless otherwise.

Anyone have an opinion on the outside installations?

[nickwm21]

I’d like to go tankless to open up more floor space in the laundry room. Ideally outdoor tankless but not sure about the viability of that in my climate... you can add solenoid valves and heattrace and make it “freezeproof” but Murphy’s....


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[old_newguy]

I’d like to go tankless to open up more floor space in the laundry room. Ideally outdoor tankless but not sure about the viability of that in my climate... you can add solenoid valves and heattrace and make it “freezeproof” but Murphy’s....


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Same deal here.

We had an exterior install on our last house in the west side of the Cascades and it seemed to do fine in our once a year cold weather.

It was recessed into a metal box so was somewhat protected from the weather.

I tend to live in small houses so these make a lot of sense to me. Short runs for the hot water lines, limited interior space, etc. It seems like if you keep it inside then you end up needing nearly the same amount of space to meet the access and clearance requirements as a tank. This one would be on the west side of the Cascades as well.

[Djongo Unchained]

Here's a pic of a chair I helped hang. Might help...


The connection point...

[fastfred]

tankless doesn't work in high altitude Colorado usually the gas service lines are under sized on retrofits altitude doesn't help and the water is always cold as shit here taking water at 50 degrees and trying to heat it to 165 takes lots of energy and time

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[::: :::]

165? Is that for heating hot water/wall radiators?
In-floor is less. Domestic is much less…

[climberevan]

tankless doesn't work in high altitude Colorado usually the gas service lines are under sized on retrofits altitude doesn't help and the water is always cold as shit here taking water at 50 degrees and trying to heat it to 165 takes lots of energy and time

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Same problems at Tahoe. I had to install a second one once--the first just pre-heats the water and the second does the rest. $10k in water heaters later the client can run 6 taps at once. Dumb.