Whole house renovation - Converting a Ranch into a Prairie Style

I got laid off from Nielsen today. The layoffs are supposedly about 15% of the workforce in North America. I guess that I will have more time to update this blog and work on the house now.

Our remodel efforts were highlighted on Fox News in the Twin Cities for a story on bartering.

Since the story was aired, I have made some more contacts that might help in getting the work done.

Labels: bartering, craigslist, fox, kmsp

We hired a roofing company to fix the leaky roof. While we were speaking with the roofing comapnies, we determined that there was an error made in construction. Where that error was made is in question.

The roof over the atrium end flush with the exterior wall. This being flush is not shown in the blueprints from Eric Belo. In fact, hae has a drawing specifically for this and it shows an overhang.

That being said, when the roof trusses were installed, the ended up flush. So, the error lies in the roof trusses being too short, allowing for no overhang. This was caused by a combination of: Menards (whom we bought the trusses from), the truss company, who Menards contracted with, or Rob Norton whose crew installed the trusses.

In order to fix this, we had the roofing comapny rip off about 50% of the shingles, take out the lower vents that may have been causing the leaks and the OSB. They then cistered out the roof trusses and installed new OSB, lais Ice and Water dam from the roof edge to the peak, and installed new shingles. Then they finished off the new overhang with siding, trim and soffit.

We have had 2 rainstorms and no leaks. I have some pictures that I will post soon.


In order to get our money back for this work and the re-insulation that had to be done, I think we have to sue Rob and Menards.

Labels: leaks, menards, rob norton, roof trusses

I would like to think about Kerdi for the shower and bath.

http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/bath/msg111135518894.html

Documentation of exterior work.
House%20Remodel%20tasks.xls

We continued to work in the attic. On Saturday I sprayed a product called Sporcidin in the attic space, trying to cover the entire roof area. I am hopeful that this will kill the mold that is growing.

After that dried, I then shoved some batting up against the wind wash in order to hold in the future blown-in insulation. I got about 40% done before Dad showed up on Sunday.

He helped me finish that task, and then we laid out and re-installed the batting that was in good shape. I made sure that the batts were layhing flat on the drywall and skipped any area that had obstacles.

That afternoon, we went to Lowes and purchased a new Owens Corning product for blown in fiberglass called Atticcat. The machine was free with a 10 bag purchase. We were the first customers to use this particular machine.

We tried that afternoon with moderate success, but found some issues that we were able to resolve:

1. The machine came with 2 lengths of 50' hose with a joint between them. The joint kept coming loose. We fixed this by reefing down on the hose clamp and then using electrical tape and really stretching it tight to keep the joint closed.
2. We found that you cannot have too many twists and turns in the hose. If you lay it out and have very few bends it works bettter. Otherwise the hose gets clogged and you cannot get any insulation out.
3. The connection from the machine to the hose vibrates itself loose. Use a large pliers to tighten it - do not trust that hand tight will keep it screwed on.
4. There is a knife that slices the bags open as you feed them. This knife dulls quickly and can get jammed up with plastic from the bags. It needs to be cleared after every 1/2 bag.
5. The remote control does not always work on the first try. If you use it, push it off before you think you need it turned off.

The fiberglass did not itch and after we found the solutions above everything went pretty well. We did use walkie talkies to communicate on/off status, which worked well. Also, we pushed this stuff up 2 stories.

Current status is that for about 50% of the house, we have:

1. Removed wet insulation
2. Sealed all bypasses
3. Sprayed for mold
4. Filled the area near the windwash with batting so that blown insulation would not go out onto the soffits (yes we have vent chutes)
5. Replaced batting that was in reasonable shape
6. Blown in R50 fiberglass insulation

Now time will tell if we have resolved the moisture issue.

Labels: attic, attic condensation, atticcat insulation, bypasses, lowes, moisture, owens corning

Over the holidays I did a little on the house including putting some primer on the walls and replacing some drywall tape that had become stained from the ongoing water problem.

Water.

The water issue that we have had since the remodel continues. I got on the roof and covered 2 sides of the louvered vents thinking that we still had snow and ice in them. I also put about a tube of roofing compound around each, but still the water comes in. There was a huge ice dam on the roof over the vaulted ceiling that I removed.

Now water has penetrated different areas of the house too, coming through can lights, down interior walls, etc, so I finally looked into the attic space.

Condensation. Everywhere. The nails are rusted, the underside of the slipsheets are dripping with water and the underside of the roof is iced over. So all the water has been running down the inside of the roof, and dropping off when it hits something, like a nail or a truss member. If it did not drop off, it went into the end of the insulation. This has caused icecicles to form from inside the soffits.

Upon more investigation I have found mold growing in the attic on the wood and in the insulation.

In doing research on this issue, it apppears that the condensation is caused by these factors coming together:

1) The warm air in the house has penetrated into the attic
2) The warm air was moist
3) It got really cold (-20 F)
4) The vents in the roof maybe undersized


1) Penetration



To determine how the warm air is getting into the attic I had an energy consultant take infrared images of the house. This can tell us where air is moving within the walls and ceilings.



This image shows the air leakage around can lights. Yes these lights are the "air tite" style. In addition to the 15 or so can lights in the top level, can lights, in which there is leakage around the top plates. The worst however, was coming from the rooms that still had no drywall on the ceiling: The master bath and closet.

So, to begin the process, Dad came over and he and I and a handyman that we are bartering with, Greg, did the following:


Pulled insulation out over the master bedroom, closet, bath and laundry room, drywalled the master bath ceiling and began the drying out and sealing process. I have placed 4 fans in the attic to dry out what moisture was remaining. We started throwing out the old insulation (which is costing a great deal to get rid of and I cannot find an insulation recycling center), and began sealing the bypasses in the attic. To do this, we have started foaming where drywall meets the top plate. We have to do this in every room, not just the outside walls as we need to seperate the attic air from the house air. We have made / purchased some boxes that are about 13" square to go over the can lights. These are made from insulation board that is covered in foil. Each is cut to fit over a can, and foam is sued to seal the box to the back of the dryall. The ply has to be removed to get a good seal.



Also, where we can, we are using acoustical caulk to seal the poly to the top plate before drywall. This adds a level of protection of air bypass.



As of this writing we are nearly done sealing up the area where insulation has been removed. I have 2 cans yet to do and a few more areas that need top plate sealing. My body is bruised all over, I am tired and itch.



When we get the one side done, we can re-insulate. I am going to use blown in this time as it gets in the corners better and there are no joints that can let air move around as there are in batts, then we move to the other side.



The good news is that Greg took a sheet of drywall off of a wall that had and found no mold behind it. What you see below is the wall in the atrium where the water has been the worst. You can see the foam insulation and the water damage on the left and below of the left window.

Additional sources of moisture. One of the sources of moisture in the house is the uncovered dirt in the crawlspace. The crawlsapce needs to be cleaned out, insulated and sealed with poly. I basically need to create a vapor barrier to keep the moisture from the crawl space from getting into the house.


Another source is the whole house humidifier. We turned this up this year. When we got the house to about 40% humidity, it got really really cold outside. Humidity % is relative to temperature, the colder it is, the less the humidity should be, so we went in the wrong direction in both temp and humidity. We have shut this off since we discovered the condensation.


2) Venting

To start with, Greg and I sealed up around all the existing vents to ensure that there was no water penetration around them.

The energy consultant and I determined that the roof is under vented and that we should add 3-5 more vents. I think that based upon what I learned about low-profile ridge vents that I should add more. the low-profile ridge vents can be completely shut off with 2" of snow.

So, I think that we are going to add 3 louvered vents over Sydney's side of the roof, and perhaps 2 turbine vents over the ridge area. The area over the master bedroom has 3 louvered vents already and that should be sufficient.

Then, I want to replace the low vents that are in the roof over the vaulted ceiling with something that has less potential to get snow in them.

In talking with other insulation experts, there are those that beleive that venting is a much smaller issue than the penetration of warm, moist air, so we will do these last.



Whose fault is it? How do we pay for this all? State Farm Insurance won't cover it.

Labels: attic, bypasses, condensation, insulation, moisture, sealing, venting

I have started some work on the main level, in what will b the living room. I have applied 2 coats of primer on the walls and found some issues with the drywall finish. I also discovered that the 20 amp electrical wire sticking out of the wall where the fireplace will be was live. I did this in the very unscientific method of backing into it.

In order to install the hardwood flooring, I need to remove the underlayment which is made of pressboard and replace with BC rated plywood.

I had started this and Dad came over last weekend to help me some more.

While we had the underlayment cut out we thought that we could see if we could seal under the doors in the atrium which leak water. It was amazing how much space was under there. We used 4 tubs of caulk and a can of spray foam.

We then removed the subfloor (down to the joists) near the door and we could see how much damage the water did. We removed and replaces the insulation and sprayed mold down with Tilex. We replaced the subfloor where it was rotted too.

That was a lot of work, but it needed to be done.

First post in a long time.

Margaret and I recently finished some of the work on the front porch.

We completed soffiting, fascia covers and placing trim around the deck.

Also completed is the wrapping of the posts with cedar. We re-used the cedar from the original siding after it was planed down.

Looks pretty nice now. We may put some more decorative trim around the posts.

Sydney's suite is finished. We wanted to have it done in 2006, but missed. Here are some photos:

Left: Ceiling fan and painted walls. The white sposts you see are clouds. In this image, the trim is not done around the windows.

Below: Tile pattern in the shower, White 4x$ tiles with a band of 2x2 in the middle:




Left: Study area with corner desk and 4 windows with cherry trim completed.

Below: Jetted tub and tiles shower to ceiling, rounded curtain rod, cherry cabinets and a solid surface 1 piece sink.

Labels: finished_sydneys_room

This is what I, as the daughter of this family, feel like about the remodel. If you dare, read on!

I did not approve of this at first, but of course nobody asked me, the seven-year-old (or at least I think so) little, unimportant girl of the house. I am ten years old now, and the remodel is still going on, I still do not approve, and I am still mad at my parents for not even asking me. They just told me one day that we were remodeling the house, no questions please, and the next day, workers were standing in our house. My home was transformed into a disaster, and as I write this, I am still standing in it, our dusty, dirty, cluttered mess of a house which is more house than home.
Luckily, my new room is almost finished, all the painting done for good. We just have to finish tiling my bathroom and then we can put all the appliences in, such as the fan, sink, and toilet. The bathtub is in, and yes, it is a Jaccuzzi (a small one, of course).
Sometimes, I feel like screaming and destroying everything within my sight. But I know that that won't work. Other times I feel like waving a magic wand and everything will instantly be exactly as we want it (and it is for good: it doesn't disappear at midnight).

These are my feelings about the house. I hope you enjoyed them!

All of Sydney's room is drywalled. I had forgot to run speaker wires for the whole house audio before I put up the ceiling. I had to putz around, but I got the wires run.

Dad came over last Saturday around 1pm and Martin came over for a coupe of hours. The 3 of us finished Sydney's closet and bathroom.

Dad and I got the Durock hung around her tub on Sunday and we tested the tub for leaks before enclosing it.

Dad left around noon on Sunday and I completed putting Durock on her floor.

We are ready for taping, mudding and sealing around the Durock.

Sydney is excited about picking out tile.

We have to buy the infloor heating mat in addition to tile and trim.

I completed drywalling Sydney's bedroom ceiling last night at about 10 pm.

In her room, still have left: Closet & Bathroom ceiling & walls

Denny finished his plumbing, and we are out another $3k. I don't think that he installed the line for the instant water heater correctly though.

He did run a return line for the recirculation pump though.

Denny came over today and began to finish the plumbing.

To stay out of his way, I decided to continue dry walling and moved to Sydney's bedroom ceiling.

I took most of the day to get 3/4 of the ceiling done. I had a hard time figuring out which way to run the drywall to minimize butt joints. This was especially hard since the room is a U shape and 3 of the corners have hip roof trusses, which means that they run at right angles to one another.

5/8" drywall for the ceiling is really heavy. Margaret helped me, and the lift was a lifesaver. For the holiday's I received 2 of these 3rd hands. I used both, especially on longer sheets.

Dad went home and I decided to start drywalling the new laundry room. Of course I ran into problems with the walls not being straight.

I finished all of the walls except the one that Denny has to work on.

We re-financed the second mortgage and was able to hire Denny the plumber to finish some of the work.

He needed the master Jacuzzi tub put into place to finish the plumbing. Dad and I looked at the tub surround as it was built and decided to rip it out and start over.

Margaret informed us that we had to install a piece of platic tub trim around the outside of the tub. Apparently code requires this if your tub is tight against the wall. This is essentially flashing that prevents water dripping behind the tub.

Dad and I spent most of one day re-installing the tub and installing the trim.

Completed the bathroom today - well except for the door knob.

It was a long process, and is documented here, but without dates.

First, the floor was really uneven, so I had to use a floor leveling compound. Never did that before now. I thought that the compound might get a little runny and run down the vent, around the drain or even between the cracks in the subfloor. To prevent this I taped everything with window tape called Protecto wrap.

Ok, so I may have gotten carried away - hey but it worked!





I then screwed durock onto the floor and went to work on the walls. John Eddington helped me do some of the drywalling. Of course, we had to do some re-framing to get a reasonably flat wall. I did a lot of the mudding and Dad painted the primer. Margaret painted the walls and the ceiling. Finally, we got to the tile. We decided to go with 2 sizes of tile. Since the room is small and narrow, we thought it would help. We layed it out like 3 times and took digital photos. We wanted to start in the middle, but getting the first piece in the right place, parallel to the walls was a challenge.

We borrowed the neighbors tile saw (Thanks Chip) and it went pretty well.

Next I grouted and then we sealed with a spray grout sealer. Sydney did most of that work.

We then started on the plumbing. First order was to install shut off valves. No problems sweating one on for the toilet, but the sink was another matter. I had 3/4" clearence from the back of the pipe to the wall. I thought about it and made another trip to Home Depot (whom I still dislike) for compression shut off's. Those went in, and no leaks were found.

Then I looked at the sink. Hmmmm. Sink is a pedastal sink we bought ages ago at Menards. Water service is in the floor. Pedastal sinks are supposed to have water service in the wall, right? That way you don't see the ugly pipes coming out. Hmmmm. The wall where the sink goes shares with the garage. Techinically it's an outside wall. I suppose it was not plumbed in the outside wall for fear of freezing.

Margaret remembered a narrow cabinet base with sink at Home Depot (whom I still dislike) on closeout. We checked it out. Comes with sink, cabinet & mirror for $200. We got that. Of course, I had to cut out a chunk of the bottom of the cabinet for the water service to come up, but we finally got it in.

We had some issues with the drain - like having spray foam all over the pvc in the wall that I had to cement a fitting onto - but we resoved them with another 2 trips to Home Depot (whom I still dislike).

So, today was toilet day. I grabbed the toilet that we had slated for Sydney's bathroom and started with that. Of course the wax ring was too short, and the bolts that hold the tank onto the bowl leaked and the fill valve would not shut off - but hey - nothing that more trips to the store wouldn't fix.

Finally got it all in!

We had an appraiser over today. The last appraisal was 2 years ago and pre-remodel. We hope to get a new number so we can move some money around. Cash is really tight, and we have some of those interest free purchases coming due in January.

I have been working inside for a while. I just finished tiling the bathroom floor on the main level bath. I will post pics soon.

The guest room on the lower level had all hte drywall on the outside wall removed. Margaret pulled it down when we had those water leaks. It was all moldy inside and the insulation was moldy. Well, it has been quite drafty in there since then.

Last weekend we re-insulated (had a crack between the subfloor and the outside bottom plate that was downright windy) with expanding foam & batts. We got that up & the vapor barrier and sheetrocked it. Have not taped it off yet. It is much warmer.

Also I went into the sub-basement and did some work. There was a duct that was disconnected when we poured the new wall. I re-connected that vent. I also properly sealed a hole in the trunk from an old vent that we took out of service. lastly, I used aluminum tape and taped all of the joints in the trunk.

Lookey lookey what we gone and did.

For the first time in over a year we can get a car in the garage. Granted, I had to move some of the remaining exterior trim pieces to store them outdoors, but hey - a car in the garage.

What a concept!

I have finished:

• Trimming around the access door on the garage.
• Trimming around the windows on the street side of the garage.
• Trimming around the front door.

Mom, Dad, Martin and Mariah came over today. 3 of us worked most of the day Saturday and about 5 hours on Sunday.

They helped get the dock out of the water in addition to helping on the house.
The list I posted earlier is a bit shorter.

Completed:

Sheet & trim by stairway
Sheeting by garage
Sheet & trim northside (under porch)
Trim southside deck
Porch light motion sensor
Installed more nails/bolts to the 2x4 ledger that holds up the back of the porch roof structure
Added 1 more can light to porch

We also started on the soffit & fascia for the porch.

Our Porch roof structure passed inspection. We can now commence soffiting.

We have to install some more nails or bolts into the 2x4 ledger that supports the back of the roof structure though.

Margaret wants 1 more can light added as well.

Today, while sitting on an airplane, I made this list of things to do on the outside:

Caulk lakeside
Caulk northside
Caulk southside
Caulk streetside
Finish Sheeting & trim garage
Sheet & trim northside (under porch)
Sheet & trim by stairway
Trim southside deck
Trim garage entry doors
Gutter above access door
Soffit
Fascia
Porch light motion sensor
Paint electric mast
Paint cement block (north / south)
Reinstall retaining blocks
Install trim SE corner
Install header over stairs
Re-attach pergola
Finish porch trim & post wrap
Paint doors
Install lighting
Install elec outlets
Fix post caps
Deck & railing for 3rd level deck
Seal southside deck

Sydney took some photos of the house today.

Front porch (trim on Porch not completed yet & soffits not in place)

View looking at lake side & North side (cement block not painted)

North side (above cement block) with ugly vent pipe

The lighted windows are the garage. Below the garage on the left is the shop. Above the garage is the new level.

Closer view of the South side (garage & new level)

Street side looking southwest

Nearly all of the trim is done of the lake-side. There is one small piece to put up on the lowest level, and it will be complete.

We cleaned a lot of stuff out of our garage. Ended up taking a trailer load back to Menards. There was around $60-0 of credit...

We got the back cleaned up and the small dumpster is nearly full.

The lower walkout level towards the lake has been sheeted. Margaret and I sepnt the weekend ripping down all of the old cedar and window trim.

Of course we had surprises when we pulled the cedar off. When Rob had installed 2 windows for us a few years ago, he sorrounded the windows with 3/4" sheathing. The rest of the wall is sheathed with 1/2". The 1/4" difference would have been obvious with the cement board.

The crew came and shimmed out the rest of the wall to make it even.

They then pulled the last 2 sliding glass doors out of the house. There were 8 when we moved in, now there are none. In their place are windows and new patio doors.

Just a little more trim and this side will be done.

I completed attaching the lake side deck ledger board with 1/2" x 6" galvanaized lags. I attached the ledger through the existing joist hangers at an angle that then went through the ends of the original cantilevered joists. I had to go at an angle since the deck joists were centered in front of the cantilevered joists in the house.

The crew came back this week - I had to go back t owork.
They completed the North side of the house and the south side of the garage.

There are only 2 areas that need sheeting now: Around the access door to the garage from the side deck and on the lowest level on the lake side.

Of course, the lowest level of the lake side still needs 2 old doors removed and 2 windows and a new door installed.

We may get to that next week depending on time and money.

We also need a couple of roof vents installed. Jim is a roofer and he may do that for us.

Margaret and I have been caulking and painting as the crew has been hanging as best as we can. Specifially, we have been trying to get the highest spots done when the scaffolding is in place.

The lake side deck is nearly repaired. I used a sawzall and cut out the rotted cedar siding and found that behind that siding was a piece of sheathing. This was installed in front of the blocking that was installed between the cantilevered joists. The purpose of the sheathing was to get the outside of the house even so that the siding could be installed.

Anyway, as I cut this stuff away I discovered a distinct lack of lag bolts holding the new rim joist to the house. I installed temporary bracing from below immediately.

I then used an exterior oil based Kilz to seal all the remaining wood (Old cant joist and the blocking between them).

I completed about 1/4 of the width of the deck this way (about 10'). Margaret and Dad got the rest. What they did was remove the cedar from all of it, and only the rotten pieces of sheathing. The did cut cut any nails out as I did.

It was then completely flashed from above, going out onto the new deck joists about 4". This layer goes under the future deck boards. An additional layer of flashing was then installed that will go over the first deck board.

I then went from underneath and sealed as best as I could the ends of all of the existing cantilevered joists that run out from under the house. I am now in the process of installing lags through the rim joist and into the cantilevered joists. I am using 6" x 1/2" galvanized lags.

This week we got a little more work done. Dad came over for a few days.

We were able to get the framing done for the porch that goes on the 3rd level outside the master.

We sheeted the lake side of the house and finished the front.

Dad and I also completed the framing of the front porch overhang and got it shingled and flashed.

Way back on September 20, 2004 I wrote:

We (Eric the architect, Rob, the contractor, and I) had a big go-around
about if to and/or how to provide seep holes for the water within the new poured
wall. We discussed this to death.

A few days ago we had a huge rainstorm. We received 3 months of rain in just a few hours. There were areas of the Cities that received 7 inches.

Guess what: Water is seeping under the new sub-basement wall and the footing. That means that the rebar is getting wet and likely staying wet.

This week we got about 3 days worth of work done due to weather. We finished the south side and most of the street side of the house. By finish, I mean got the cement siding hung. Caulking, touch-up painting and and some finish trim still needs to be done.

It was this week 1 year ago that we ripped the roof off of the house. It is this week and next that I hope to get the exterior weather proof for the winter.

Dad has provided some funding to hire a crew to help me do this. 2 men, John and Jim are going to help me install the cement siding and the trim over the next 2 weeks.

Some pics of Margaret's office. This is the flooring that we bought a year ago and the ceiling is Armstrong planks in Cherry. The trim is select pine that Margaret prepped to look like cherry.

Here are some images of the completed Porch decking. We used Tiger Claw deck clips on Ipe. The finish was Cabot Australian Timber Oil (ATO) Mahogony Flame.

It has been a long while since I last posted. Things that I have been working on:

• Front porch. The neighbors decided that it looked bad, and cam over to help. We were able to get permanent posts in place and Margaret re-built the retaining walls that were torn down. They weren't supposed to be torn down - as the posts were designed to go in other areas... Any way, Dad and I framed the porch in, and I have completed decking it. We used some Ipe that we had on hand and a new hidden clip system for Ipe - Tiger Claw. It was very labor intensive - but it is done. We had to fill in around some areas with cement so that we could frame in some steps. I completed the railing system last night using recycled cedar and matching the railing on the other side of the house. We decided to rail just 2 sides that required it per code.. We can complete the rest later if we want to. I wrapped 2 of the posts with recycled cedar. Every see a 6 x 6 post that was 5.5" on 3 sides, but 5.625" on the 4th?
• Margaret's Office. We have installed the flooring that we bought months ago and some Armstrong ceiling planks. Margaret wired all of the outlets and I installed the low voltage stuff this weekend - the wiring worked! We used select pine for all of the trim. Margaret did a nice job getting it to look like cherry. We need to touch up the walls and she can move in!
• Back (lake-side) deck. I have discovered that the original deck was cantilevered from the floor joists and not flashed. This caused them to rot off. The previous owners then cut off the ends of the cantilevered joists and lagged a header in place through the cedar siding...and did not flash it. This, in turn caused the cedar to rot and transfer that rot further into the joists. Therefore, before I side the lake side of the home I must repair this somehow and properly flash it.
• Other status. Rob appears to no longer work for us. He quit coming and we have not asked him back. Completing this project myself is going to be a major task and could take years. We still have leaks in the house - primarily from under the lake-side doors. I think that I have to take them off and re-install them in a water-tight fashion.

After a long-long battle with the spray-foam insulators, we finally reached a settlement. We won't sue them or report them to the BBB and they won't put a lein on our house and we won't pay them the last of the money.

For a refresher - the didn't show up on time, gave us bad information, performed shoddy work, and got spray foam all over the kitchen, a leather couch and our piano.

Want the name? "Builders Webster Insulation, A Masco Company"

...our settlement never said anything about noting their quality workmanship on my web log...

The sub-basement wall was finally poured - after a year of preparation! Unfortunately, there are some voids - areas where the cement did not fill all the way to the top. The support posts for the porch were poured as well. We have some landscaping to do and then we can begin framing the porch.

The final electrical inspection was supposed to be this past week, but somehow we missed the inspector.

The garage is insulated and I installed my shop heater into the garage.

We have been having a debate about how to install the cement panels that are to be on the exterior of the house. The installation guide and the city inspectors want flashing between each horizontal seam of the boards. We think it will look bad, and we have to try and get a color match.

The doors facing the lake were not installed properly. Yesterday we got about 7" of snow and some of it was inside the house.

The insulators are Builders/Webster Insulation, and we still have not settled with them. They sent our Servicemaster to see if they can clean the overspray, but Servicemaster says "We've never tried to clean this."

I am about 60% done with the conduit for the low voltage system.

We are trying to find the best method to get the drywall done. We have several options, but have not determined the best value yet.

We bought a tub and a sink base for the mudroom.

The plumber is not done yet.

We are still trying to figure out what to do with our not-so-old water heater that is in the basement. We had to buy a powervent model, and now we have a 5 year old water heater that works fine, but no where to put it.

Here are some pics.

Looking down from catwalk ....Corner of Margaret's office

Oh, by the way- we ran out of money.

Nearly a month has passed since the last entry, and even more time since the past photos have been posted. Sorry for the lack of updates.

Let's see, since the last postings:

- roughin electrical is finished upstairs and almost done on the main level.
- we passed all of the upstairs inspections and have the upstairs fully insulated.
- we passed a partial inspection on the main level - enough to insulate.
- we have been having a battle with our insulators - the service they are providing has been horrid and they have overspray on some of our furniture.
- we have the new front door installed.
- we have a temporary stairway in place.
- all the windows and exterior doors are installed on the main level.

We Passed our Framing Inspection!
We passed our framing inspection today - so now we can insulate! At least we can insulate the upper level. We can't insulate the main level yet because we need to fininsh the electrical work on the main level - and we are having a hard time finding someone to do it. Hopefully insulating upstairs will help. Even with the new furnace running, it is very cold in the house. Outside temps fall into the high teens at night, and it is about 51 degrees inside on the main level, and about 65 downstairs, with the furnace set at 80. The HVAC folks are coming tomorrow to make sure the furnace is working properly - the old one kept us warmer!

I think the framing inspection went better today because Robert was here. We still have some work to be completed to get a final sign-off, such as stairs, etc., but we can at least insulate. The foam insulation people come tomorrow. Tonight we need to make sure everything is clean, and cover up anything that might acidentally get sprayed.

Shame On Me!

There is an old Scottish saying that my Grandmother taught me - Fool me once - shame on you. Fool me twice - shame on me. Like an idiot, I went back to Home Depot to quickly (ha!) pick up some electrical outlets. David (Roger's dad), has been diligently wiring the garage, and it was time to add the outlets and switches. How difficult could it be to pick up a few? It is basic stuff. Of course, what I needed wasn't on the shelf, and there was no one to help. Someone from another department was kind enough to page someone ("Roland, would you please return to your department".) When Roland finally showed up, he says, "yep, we're out". "Could you please check your backstock?", I ask. He dissappears. and I'm thinking he's looking. WRONG! He wanders off to talk to a MALE customer. So, I hunt him down again, and ask the difference between the 48 cent outlets and the $2.38 outlets. "Oh, one's the pro style". I reply "what makes it better?' "Oh, one's just different construction" is the response. " I start to ask another question, and he again starts helping a MALE customer. So, I put everything back and go up front to ask for a manager to compalin. I have to wait ten minutes to complain. Why?, because she was on the phone to another irate customer! She offered to help me look, but by that time I had made up my mind that I had wasted enough time and effort at Home Depot, and the rest of our remodeling $$ will be spent at MENARDS!!!! I said this very loudly in the store too! :) Home Depot just doesn't get it - but I hope I finally learned my lesson.

Note on Sydney's Tub - It must be a Left-hand Tub

To buy for tub:

1. Tub & shower surround for new kids bath.
2. Tub PVC Drain
3. Shower Faucets
4. Shower Head
5. Bath Faucet

To buy for house:

1. Access door from house to garage

For Roofers:

1. Step flashing (20 pieces)
2. Shingles 3 bundles (oakridge pro 40 driftwood)
3. 4 Dormer flashing (Robert to purchase)

The framing inspection did not go well. Robert was a no show and the inspector didn't even finish, as there were things that were incomplete (such as wind wash).

To top it off, the inspector told us that we had to take down all the insulation that I spent all weekend putting up. Robert called the department head and was able to stave that off - for now.

I feel like spitting nails.

I insulated the attic space this weekend. I got about 90% of it done. I had to finish installing the venting that Josh did not do.

Some things need to be completed upstairs:

1. Sydney's closet has some 2x4's that are not in alignment - this will cause drywall issues.
2. Wind wash is not installed all the way around the house.
3. The doorway to Sydney's bathroom does not have the bottom plate cut out yet.
4. Soffits are not completed.
5. Fascia is not completed.
6. Sheathing is not properly fastened all the way around.
7. There are spots where the sheathing is not butted tight to one another.
8. Low voltage (cable, phone, ethernet) needs to be installed.
9. Plumbing is not completed - there are no water pipes at all, just drain & vent pipes.
10. HVAC is not done.
11. Stairs and stair landing are not framed yet.
12. Bottom of 'kickout' (immediately above doorway) is not framed.
13. Parts of the house are not closed to the outside - certain areas where 2 roof pitches are joined need to be enclosed.

We have the framing inspection today.

Electrical passed inspection. We have a framing inspection scheduled for Monday. The porch has been about 80% framed. The rest of the ceilings in the main level have been dropped. Some of the interior framing has started.

I bought insulation for the ceiling and started that project today.

Here are some of the latest pics:

---

---

A little load of insulation. Our old carpet pad. Suppose this needed replacing?

---

Another week has gone by and there does not appear to be much progress - at least visibly.

There is sheeting on the entire house - except for the North wall. The HVAC folks got started and installed the trunks upstairs and got their holes cut for the vents.

The fascia is done, shingles are completed, soffits are about 45% done and they started on the porch.

We met with an electrician and he got us the needed shopping list.

I removed some of the electrical from the utility room. I still need to remove the gas line and the water lines from the floor in order to fix up the floor.

Dad came over and helped me move stuff into storage. We have nearly emptied 2 rooms now. Hopefully when we have to cut down the ceilings there will not be too much stuff to move around.

Margaret and I went to Home Depot and bought all of the electrical and a new water heater. Later we went to Menards and ordered all the interior and exterior doors with 2 exceptions. We spent thousands of dollars on Saturday.

We expect HVAC and electrical work to resume on Monday.

Since the last post we lost some more time due to weather and work has been progressing on the roof. Visibly, the progress is much slower now than earlier. The roof is nearly completely shingled and the facia boards are almost completely installed.

We had to re-work the facia a little bit. The house design called for the facia to be angled towards the center of the house a bit, however upon reflection, that does not allow gutters to be installed. We have always known that we want gutters. Therefore, we have had to trim the ends of all of the roof trusses so that they are vertical to the ground - thus allowing a straight facia.

Here are some pics:

Martin came over as did Brian Oeschger. The 3 of us ripped out the laundry room. This room is going to be retro fitted into a utility room.

Martin and I got the washer and the dryer into the shop and working (a 3-trip and multi-beer affair). On the next day (today) I cut out the subfloor. The previous owners had some water damage from a washing machine failure and the flooring was not properly repaired.

It looks like I will have to cut out some of the underlayment as well. HVAC starts in a couple of weeks and we have to have this room ready to go.

It has been about a week since the last post. I had some troubles storing images as I ran out of room on the comcast account I was using. I spent some time moving stuff around, and I am ok for a while now.

The additional floor truss was installed and a wall was framed on top of it. We will now have an interior wall about 11" thick, where one 5 1/2" would do. The floor space was lost in the sitting area of our new master bedroom.

About 1/2 of the OSB sheets are installed on the roof. There was some had framing to be done on the hips to connect the differing slopes that slowed the whole process down. Additionally, Rob became sick over the weekend and hasn't been able to help.



Today (Wed.) is a washout due to rain. Luckily that 1/2 that is sheeted is also covered by a layer of felt, so we should be ok with the rain. I helped re-tarp last night until about 6pm.

I have installed about 3/4 of the rafter clips that are used to connect the top plate to the roof trusses.

More pics in a while - images of tarps do not tell the story.

The rest of the roof trusses went up today, save about 3. The floor truss came, but we did not yet install it.

We completed the lake facing wall today - it was a bit tricky as it was between 2 hip roofs.

It rained last night, but we did not get so wet as before as we were able to tarp on top of much of the hip roofs.

All of the walls are done, internal, external and even closets.




We started putting the roof trusses on and ran into a problem.

The trusses over the master are 5 1/2" longer than the walls that they are supposed to sit upon. We looked at it and determined that one of the floor trusses was installed improperly, and the floor was positioned on top of the incorrectly placed floor truss. Lastly, the load bearing wall was installed on the edge of the floor.



We couldn't find Rob, and didn't know what to do. I had several people here on the clock and they were not being productive.

I called the truss company and they said that they could get another floor truss out today, so I ordered one. The plan is to install an additional floor truss and make the load bearing wall wider, thus accomodating the roof truss.

Of course the truss never came.

Rob finally showed up. Margaret and I talked to him about seeing this thing through and how upset we were that he did not respond to our repeated cell phone calls. He was mad that we called his brother to try and track him down.

We had hoped to have a crane here to lift the trusses into place, but it didn't work out.

Rob got the guys working and had several roof trusses in place by the end of the day.

Some work was done over the weekend, but not a great deal. Rob marked some plates and John and I built a few walls.

On Sunday I had 4 walls framed up, but no one to help me install them.

Monday we made some more progress, with most of the exterior walls in place.

The temp's plummeted to freezing last night. I went up to the roof this morning and there was ice on top of the tarps. I removed as much water as I could and rxposed the wet woodwork to the sun. It started drying out - even the drips in the house have stopped. Since yesterday was a washout, we fell a bit behind, but some exterior walls were tacked up today. All of the subfloor was installed yesterday. There is one area of the subfloor that came de-laminated that I cut out and will patch a new piece into.

pics:

Rain rain everywhere. We expected some rain and wind. We tarped, but apparently did not do a good enough job and ended up with a house full of buckets.

We took the rainy day as an opportunity to do some structural work and add some triple studs under some load bearing points.

pics:

All of the floor trusses were installed today and the subfloor was installed. We can now walk on the new level!

We have a few more holes in our ceiling now - one caused by my rear-end.

We were racing the weather all day so I was unable to take any photos. Right now the new level has a bunch of tarps all over it as we are expecting rain all day tomorrow.

All the rest of the roof trusses came off the house (a few remain over the garage).

Floor trusses started going up this afternoon. There are several holes in our drywall ceiling scattered around the house - including one the size of a foot.

Here are the latest pics:

The roof is off!

Yesterday we got about 70% of the roof off, and we started to shovel out the insulation. Removing the insulation is a big job. Rob tells me that a big insulation vac would cost about $1500 including the labor. We called around the rental places and no one rents one.
We have about 6 trusses cut out. It was quite a sight to see our guys cutting them off with a chain saw. Believe it or not, the dumpster is full! By tomorrow floor trusses (and sub-floor?) should be in place. Here are some pics.

Margaret and I ripped down most of the gutters last weekend and started tearing down the soffits.

Margaret loaded the gutters into the truck and took them to an aluminum recycling center. She got about $26 for them.

Rob's guys started where we left off, bringing down most of the soffitts and cutting off the overhangs.

We have the largest dumpster that can be found on the earth sitting in our driveway.

Where does the time go? My last post about the sub-basement was over 4 months ago!

We (Eric the architect, Rob, the contractor, and I) had a big go-around about if to and/or how to provide seep holes for the water within the new poured wall. We discussed this to death.

We decided to do nothing (for now).

With that in mind, I had some some workers smash holes in the concrete blocks on every-other column basis so that the cement would fill the voids and the block wall would essentially become core filled when we poured the new interior wall.


After that, they finished the horizontal rebar and hung those brackets that have been sitting around forever. The brackets are hanging off of screws right now. After the cement dries, we will drill the holes necessary and bolt them to the joists.

The wall form was then put into place. I was expecting to pour cement a week ago, but...

I inspected it and was very upset. The studs were not attached to both plates and the screws that were used were about 1.5" - not nearly long enough to bite into the plates.


I fixed quite a bit of then Rob's guys finished it up.

I think we are almost ready to pour. Rob is going to have a final look-see today on the supports.

With regards to the sewer pipe, we did not have to move it. A box was built around it that should keep the cement away from the pipe where it runs through the wall. The workmen were able to install the plywood form around the pipe that runs parallel to the south return wall.

We protected the copper tubing that leads to the outdoor spigot just a bit, but much of it will be embedded in the cement forever (or until someone blows the planet up) and the sump drains will be embedded in the cement as well.

I calculated about 13 yards of cement, but I forgot the core-fills. I need to re-calculate the cement.

About a month ago Margaret and I bought some flooring. We both wanted a light finish wood floor - not a laminate and not a Pergo type. Wodd-wood. We looked at prices of Mapls and the cheapest we could find was at Lumber Liquidators. There it was about $4.40 per square foot.

I check the classfied ads in the Star Tribune from time to time and saw an ad for Maple Flooring for $2.25 a square foot. I couldn't beleive the price, so we went and looked at it. It is solid wood, tongue and groove all 4 sides and pre-finished and it's new in the box. It isn't true maple, since it comes from somewhere in the Orient, but it looks nice.

We bought 3,000 square feet of it. Now we have to find a place to store it. We rented a 10 x 10 mini-store place and put it in there.

We had 144 boxes of the wood to move - 3 full pallets. It weighed about 4 tons. I had to rent a big truck to move it all at once.

---

I also bought a load of plywood from the re-use center. It was cheaper than any of the home centers and was made using special process which is supposedly better for the environment - something called the forestry stewardship council.

I have installed 1/2" carriage bolts in all the joist overlaps. Where the joists overlap each other, immediately over the triple beam header, they were not connected. In fact several of them had seperated from each other.

I used clamps to try to bring them tight before boring the holes and installing the 1/2" bolts. Several of them were closed off due the void's use of a cold-air return for the furnace. Taking off the sheet metal, installing the bolts, and cleaning the cold air return of debris really slowed the process down.

I used blue loctite on each carriage bolt in addition to a lock washer. I don't think that they are going anywhere now.

I bought some plywood for the sub-basement wall forms. The stuff is so expensive that I shopped around and found the best price at a place that sells donated used bulding materials. They also sell new stuff that is forested in ways that is friendlier to the environment. Their plywood was cheaper then other places. I scavanged some more 2x4's as well.

I worked on re-routing the plumbing from the well. I only have 1 outdoor spigot coming out of the well head, but the pipe runs right through the area where the south 'return' wall would be. The pipe is soft copper, so I can bend it a bit. I cut it off and bent it upwards so that it would come out of the top of the new wall. Like the North wall, it this ever leaks it will leak right inside the cement wall. This could be a bad thing. After I bent it up and got it high enough so that it would clear the new wall height, I used some couplers and transferred this into 3/4" pvc. I ran the pvc all the way back to the well head and connected it there. I took the opportunity to add some junctions for future expansion along the way.

Upon testing it for leaks, one of the junctions was leaking a bit. The threaded plug was not tight, so I turned it a bit more, and more, and more and then SNAP - water all over me. I broke the threads on the plug.

Now I have to cut a whole section out and do it again.

In other areas, Rob has not been here yet to measure trusses. He tells me that it will take 3 weeks to get them in. That means I have to have my basement finished about 3 weeks after the trusses are ordered.

Also, our lawn tractor died (blown engine), then our pressure washer died, and a car needed brakes. My money is disappearing and we haven't even started yet....

I have installed jack-posts on all the poured pads. I tightened them to the point of hearing the wood move. Is that tight enough?

I haven't done much work on the basement lately.

I did finish caulking the seam between the bottom plate and the cement with Vulkem. I think that should keep the cement from leaking out.

I salvaged some wood and measured and cut all the 2x4's that I need for the bottom and top plates. I need to buy some more lumber for the vertical pieces. (about 20 12' 2x4's). I also need to buy some plywood or osb as well.

I was able to re-direct the outlets for the sump pumps so that I don't have to build a wall around them. Part of these 1 1/2" PVC pipes will be embedded in cement in the future, so I was careful to get a good seal around the pipes. I bought some fat foam sleeves to go around them and protect them from the cement. If they ever leak, we could have a problem in that the water will be inside the cement wall.

I purchased the needed nuts and washers for the 37 brackets. Dad had them all cleaned and painted and had purchased the bolts. Menards was quite a bit cheaper on 5/8" hardware than was Home Depot.

I also purchased some foam for sill plates that I will put between my bottom plate and the bottom part of the wall. Hopefully this will help in keeping the cement in place as we pour it.

I still need to move the sewer pipe that runs into the yard. It is currently in the way of the South return wall. I can't really have it run through the middle of the south wall. I may have to put a couple of 45's in it. It would be easiest to raise it, but then the sewer would back up, I need to keep the slope reasonable.

I also need to do something about the well spigot. It currently runs through the center of the south wall.

Rob is coming over tonight to go over plans.

We hired 2 guys from Rob's work crew to help tonight. We borrowed his drill and angle grinder. The 3 of us got 90% of the rebar hung. I cut off the 2 pieces that we installed that we shouldn't have, and used the drill to finish making the holes in the cement blocks where the rebar hangs out of. We worked from 5:30pm to about 9:30. It cost me $140 cash.

All of the vertical rebar is done. We installed about 25% of the horizontal rebar.

Next I need to figure out how to protect those items that will be running through the new wall. We have 2 1 1/2" drain pipes for the sump pump, 1 water line for the well water that runs to an outside tap, and a sewer line, which is a big black pipe.

I am thinking that I need to cut the sewer line out completely to install the form, then re-attach it.

We started drilling holes in the cement block wall to hook rebar into and the drill started acting up again. The drill bit wouldn't come out until of the drill we put a little WD-40 on it. Finally got it out, and Margaret used it a little more, and we could tell it wasn't right. The bit would stop turning, but the chuck would continue. Took the bit out again and the shank was ruined. This is the first use it had since we had it repaired $100!

Margaret took it back to the repair shop and they agreed to give us all the money back, and buy us a new bit - of course not the size that we had - and they had to order it (another week). After some negotiation, they agreed to let us buy the bit and they would re-imburse us. Margaret did some running around and found a new bit and Delegard Tool Repair gave us a full credit. Now we have a drill with some new parts that does not work.

Took photos of the new cement. Margaret and I installed the bottom plate for the forms to be installed upon. Margaret wrapped the joists with a tar-based tape that is used for sealing windows. This will protect the joists from the wet cement. We also took the opportunity to remove, clean and re-install all the duct-work that will be hard to impossible to get to once the new wall is installed.

Here are the pictures:

Lake-side wall (West):
 

---

North Middle/Center:                                        Northern most triple beam pad:



Center Triple beam pad:                                                  Southern Center:

---

NE Corner:                                                                    Eastern Center:

---

L shaped pad that wraps around inside corner:

---

Lastly the SE corner:

Home Depot, we have a problem.

I looked at the cement last night. We made 4 mistakes that I see - all due to lack of fore-sight.

1. We did not make sure that the cement where the sill plate will go is flat. The cement is not bad, but it has waves in it and there are dips and mounds. Not having a good seal on the bottom will cause the cement in the wall to leak out from under it. The worst spots are on the return wall where there is a nice big hump near the center of the pad.


2. We did not install anchor bolts for the sill plate that will run out perpendicular from the return walls. I will have to use Tapcon to screw the plates into place.


3. We installed the anchor bolts too high. This means that there will be bolt showing through the top of the sill plate, and will make it difficult to drop the walls in place.


4. We installed starter bars where there will be no wall. Not a big deal, but we have to cut them off in order to place the sill plates in the correct locations.

Ideas for fixing the problems.

1. Grind the cement flat with a cement or angle grinder.


2. Install more cement from bags to create a flat surface for the sill plate. This will also have the affect of lowering the anchor bolts which will take care of the height problem. Think of a 1x4 sized run of cement about 50' long with bolts sticking out.


3. Install some other material on the bottom of the sill plate (lots of high grade caulk or PL-400 or foam) to create a seal at the bottom during the install.


4. Cut off anchor bolts and starter rebar

The CEMENT is poured!

On Monday at noon I went home to dig out the hose that the cement trucks and the pumper would need and ran into Rob. He said that he could get me a waiver to get 6tons/axle on the road. I hurried up and got the info needed to do so and the trucks went from 5 to 3 - thus saving me $140. The only issue was that they had to be off the roads by 10:00am. So I rescheduled the pumper and the help.

That night I went to Rob's to work on his PC for a while and didn't get to cleaning off the footings until about 8pm, but I did get them finished. In exchange for my last-minute work, Rob loaned my a worker for a couple of hours.

Tuesday morning, the pumper showed up at 7:30 am, and Eric Z. appeared shortly thereafter. We got all set up by 7:45 and waited...and waited...and waited. We learned that there was a fatality crash on the major highway leading to our home. Rob's helper showed up a bit late and the cement truck showed up almost an hour late.

We got started pumping at 9am instead of 8am. We were done pouring cement by 10. The last of the 3 trucks left shortly after 10. Everything went very smoothly. Margaret handl