This Old #%&@*$ House

Moggy wrote:

In the winter, the heat rarely comes on, Usually only after a night of temperatures below 50 degrees.

Be careful, if you are not getting much air moving now, you may want/need to look at supplemental ventilation. The Build Show on YT (high end residential construction) goes on about building an air tight house and such, but always talks about designing in good air flow and changes to work along with that. Reducing heating needs is great, but you still need to be cycling in fresh air regularly.

I need to replace a toilet. My wife is intrigued by the dual flush toilets. My instinct is no, just get a basic normal toilet with nothing fancy, that a dual flush just means one extra thing that can break. Anyone have strong feelings either way on dual flush toilets?

mrlogical wrote:

I need to replace a toilet. My wife is intrigued by the dual flush toilets. My instinct is no, just get a basic normal toilet with nothing fancy, that a dual flush just means one extra thing that can break. Anyone have strong feelings either way on dual flush toilets?

They were standard in Japan and worked just fine. Good for saving water, and I had no reliability issues in the five years I was there. Contrast that with the "normal" toilets at my house in Florida, which have had three flushing issues already. I wish we'd hurry up and catch up to Japan in toilet technology, frankly. Coming back to the USA felt like returning to a quaint throwback in the toilet sphere.

Don’t go cheap on toilets.

RE: Attic Encapsulation -

Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

We got closed cell foam under the house when we bought it in September. We're about 100 feet from the marsh here in Charleston, so our crawlspace is incredibly damp. (The water table is like 6 feet underground...) The hardwoods were cupping in the main living space, so had to seal that up to get that under control.

The house is a "1.5 Story" with an open loft between the main living space and an upstairs loft. The 3 bedrooms upstairs all have some opening into unfinished, vented attic space so they're very drafty. At some point in the 20 year history someone did a marginal job of putting gaskets on the doors into the attics and adding insulation to them, but the doors themselves are just hollow-core internal doors.

I have been watching Matt Risinger's videos for years now. I'm finding it hard to find any consistent sources for that kind of information to give me any dissenting view.

Before I spend ~$6-8k on having it done I want to see what other options could\should be pursued.

The most frustrating part of homeownership is trying to find someone that you can work with that looks at the home as a whole system and can plot a path to increasing it's efficiency, comfort, and value. I'm told that's a contractor, but the ones I've spoken with won't give me estimates\costs for a kitchen remodel, much less a detailed walkthrough of the HVAC and ventilation...

Depending on where you live, you might be able to get someone out from your city or state to come out and look at energy saving opportunities for renovations on your house. There are often programs or rebates available.

Maybe here: http://www.energy.sc.gov/residential

Lester_King wrote:

RE: Attic Encapsulation -

Thanks for the thoughts, guys.

We got closed cell foam under the house when we bought it in September. We're about 100 feet from the marsh here in Charleston, so our crawlspace is incredibly damp. (The water table is like 6 feet underground...) The hardwoods were cupping in the main living space, so had to seal that up to get that under control.

The house is a "1.5 Story" with an open loft between the main living space and an upstairs loft. The 3 bedrooms upstairs all have some opening into unfinished, vented attic space so they're very drafty. At some point in the 20 year history someone did a marginal job of putting gaskets on the doors into the attics and adding insulation to them, but the doors themselves are just hollow-core internal doors.

I have been watching Matt Risinger's videos for years now. I'm finding it hard to find any consistent sources for that kind of information to give me any dissenting view.

Before I spend ~$6-8k on having it done I want to see what other options could\should be pursued.

The most frustrating part of homeownership is trying to find someone that you can work with that looks at the home as a whole system and can plot a path to increasing it's efficiency, comfort, and value. I'm told that's a contractor, but the ones I've spoken with won't give me estimates\costs for a kitchen remodel, much less a detailed walkthrough of the HVAC and ventilation...

Before closed cell foam - I hope a taped and sealed vapor barrier was installed on top of the dirt. A proper vapor barrier should always be your first line of defense under your house.

As for dissenting views- it's mostly contained to those not online with their information. When I was in college, there was an experimental building construction building on campus that was too finely filtered and had to be quarantined due to sick building syndrome. It's those sorts of things, and the non-ventilated 70's house that feed the "make it breath" mindset, and since that is the prevailing view, not many are talking about it. If you still have good fresh airflow, then you are good. The filters Matt Risinger talks about on his videos - MERV-13 and such are par for the course in LEED buildings taking where that's a concern.

If you cannot locate the right contractor, you may need to go to an Architect with sustainability focus to get a whole house as a system view. The sort of contractor you are looking for does exist but are few and far between and they are in the upper tiers and come with the associated price tag. The contractor I know in Orlando that would fit that bill starts his communications with "I will not be the cheapest, but I will get it done in a timely manner and with top quality." In the long run they prove they are more than worth the up front cost.

Yeah - the spray foam under the house was the most reasonable and expeditious route. Our house is built on pilings instead of a full crawlspace, so to do a taped-down vapor barrier and encapsulation would have been a little over $10k. Instead we did the foam and a whole-home dehumidifier.

Was great through the long shoulder season we had from September to mid-December. Now that it's getting properly cold, though, we're finding out just how drafty the second floor is.

The HVAC unit up there is only a 1.5 ton unit and because of the loft it really should only be used for the bedrooms. If it wasn't only 2 years old I'd replace it with a multi-head mini-split system so each bedroom would have its own thermostat and let the loft fend for itself off the main unit downstairs (a 4 ton that's 12 years old).

I'm not surprised that a "home as a system" thinker is expensive and I'm not super-afraid of the cost. I'd just spread the timing and approach out to make it bearable.

I have a workbench underneath our basement stairs. I'd like to use it for more than just storing tools and such (they've moved to the garage). I'd like to use it to work on pcs or have a desk there. The problem is that there is a lot of dust that comes through the stairs.
They are nailed together and every so often I have to hammer them again. I could use screws to keep them tight but I think I'd still get dust coming in between the treads. Any suggestions?

Yeah replace with screws and staple a plastic sheet under them to catch dust will be the simplest solution.

Caulk the seams?

Thanks. I'm going to try the combination of screws and caulking the seams. I think that will be at least a semi-permanent fix.

Make sure you get flexible caulk like water-based silicone, because stairs move when people step on them and if you don't it will just crack and come off over time.

Yeah, caulk will last a while but eventually fail, so some kind of solid barrier is really needed for any kind of even semi-permanent solution. Drywalling it is ideal but a pain, so I'd say the lazy way is those cheap thin plywood sheets that look finished in order to stick in the back of cabinets or whatever, the ones that are like a quarter-inch thick? Buy that stuff, cut it to the size of each stair, and just gradually go down the back of the stairs, nailing it in with little nails, which should be good enough. It'll look at least OK and should provide a solid barrier against all that dust.

Hey, Rainsmercy - Have you had any issues with your vinyl flooring? The TrafficMaster stuff you used is about 25% cheaper than what CostCo is selling. That's a $500 savings if I were to go with it in our upstairs (game room, office, bathroom, storage room).

-BEP

We used Lifeproof flooring from Home Depot, not sure if TrafficMaster was the manufacturer? No issues so far. In fact, will be using it for the treads on my stairs with I rip the carpet out. I'll see what the wear is like then. Downstairs doesn't get much use, but damn it looks nice

It was pretty easy to install, and as long as you have a high tooth saw blade(used 80 tooth on my table saw) it cuts like a dream. You can score/snap it, but that took forever, glad I bought the saw/blade combo.

Rainsmercy wrote:

We used Lifeproof flooring from Home Depot, not sure if TrafficMaster was the manufacturer? No issues so far. In fact, will be using it for the treads on my stairs with I rip the carpet out. I'll see what the wear is like then. Downstairs doesn't get much use, but damn it looks nice ;).

Reading Comprehension Fail on my part; thanks for the info.

I was reading videos about using it or treads, yesterday. The carpet that permeates the whole upstairs is also on the stairs and it's all 20 years old and wasn't good carpet to start with. I haven't decided if I want to recarpet the stairs for the sound deadening or go with the vinyl planks.

-BEP

Using this for the stair bullnose. From videos I have seen, you can use the vinyl for risers as well, but its not as easy, has to be glued and or nailed to existing. Instead, going to make sure the wood is nice underneath the carpet and just paint the risers. Also, the videos I have watched say if you are going to use vinyl for the treads, to make sure they have some texture in order to reduce chance of slipping on them.

Is there any reason to replace my creaky kitchen floor tiles with better tiles (and a better grouting job on them), or just say "f*ck it" and go with luxury vinyl planks? I see some that look exactly like large rectangular stone, so from the quick glance it'll look like ceramic tiles (except you won't see the grout between them... since there is no grout).

My subflooring is bouncy (old late-40s house), and I'm worried if we strengthen the flooring and get better tile it'll still eventually crack.

In your position exactly, we just had someone put tile in for us. Since the mastic/glue on the old tiles had asbestos, MN state law allows for us to just cover them over. If you go with LVP, make sure it water proof, and the warranty is covered even if its installed in the kitchen. Also, if there is an issue with the LVP, the companies like to blame it on install issues. Honestly new tile isn't that bad, and if you want some stress relief/save some money, tear out the old tiles yourself.(As long as they are not old asbestos/vinyl)

For the creakiness of the floors, if you have access to the joists underneath, you can screw in metal L brackets from the joists to the diagonal boards.(provided its old enough for that and doesn't have plywood attached to the joists) I just did that this weekend after the tile was installed to remove some of the flexibility in one place as it still squeaked. It greatly reduced the flex/squeak. I was worried a tile would get cracked.

After removing 1/8 inch wood sheeting and the sheet vinyl on top as well as a bajillion staples:
IMAGE(https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/151165377_10227035013728319_161029143260440667_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=cQaUkUQsePgAX85T7fz&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-2.fna&oh=d86931c252589ab4504317507c50012a&oe=60614D0D)

IMAGE(https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/151680859_10227035012328284_3745435242255880001_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&ccb=3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=xF6u-HyXjxEAX9NqJaW&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-2.fna&oh=2b308e802e786597e918eb8832f8c9b4&oe=606338C1)

After it was grouted/before cleanup.
IMAGE(https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/153328804_10227088458624408_954009377012175476_o.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=3d2bXjNxOzsAX9PCiaM&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-2.fna&oh=01d93df23bcc45c0d00943df728cd88e&oe=6064B3B7)

Entryway after grout and cleanup:
IMAGE(https://scontent.ffcm1-2.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/154611919_10227108662209485_3702618381124236940_n.jpg?_nc_cat=108&ccb=3&_nc_sid=8bfeb9&_nc_ohc=xPxN3-FYHZkAX99wK1f&_nc_oc=AQmg6DXLBOrA5QDsNdjW-Hk24sXRspWjMfKa3BAf1nhk-0T_C7unPc-hjrxokAEdB-Q&_nc_ht=scontent.ffcm1-2.fna&oh=39b3a77747c42c65bb4a2b54169f1a7a&oe=60624CB8)

That tile looks nice. They did a good job.

Rainsmercy wrote:

In your position exactly, we just had someone put tile in for us. Since the mastic/glue on the old tiles had asbestos, MN state law allows for us to just cover them over. If you go with LVP, make sure it water proof, and the warranty is covered even if its installed in the kitchen. Also, if there is an issue with the LVP, the companies like to blame it on install issues. Honestly new tile isn't that bad, and if you want some stress relief/save some money, tear out the old tiles yourself.(As long as they are not old asbestos/vinyl)

For the creakiness of the floors, if you have access to the joists underneath, you can screw in metal L brackets from the joists to the diagonal boards.(provided its old enough for that and doesn't have plywood attached to the joists) I just did that this weekend after the tile was installed to remove some of the flexibility in one place as it still squeaked. It greatly reduced the flex/squeak. I was worried a tile would get cracked.

Thank you. Thinking through all of this, I think luxury vinyl plank is the way to go for peace of mind. They are going to reinforce the subfloors anyway, so I'm going to double make sure that nothing ever creaks or crumbles again. (I'm fine with slightly squeaky floors - I'm not ok with things coming apart.)

Whenever we move, we are hoping to not get hardwood floors (which our current home does), instead vying for some nice looking faux wood vinyl flooring for ease of maintenance.

Vrikk wrote:
Rainsmercy wrote:

Thank you. Thinking through all of this, I think luxury vinyl plank is the way to go for peace of mind. They are going to reinforce the subfloors anyway, so I'm going to double make sure that nothing ever creaks or crumbles again. (I'm fine with slightly squeaky floors - I'm not ok with things coming apart.)

For best wear, use the thickest LVP you can find. I would recommend going with Life proof flooring from Home Depot, or the Lowe's equivalent, I don't know how thick costo's version is. Check if it needs an underlayment, Home Depot's Lifeproof flooring does not and voids the warranty if you use one.

If you install yourself, you can use a jigsaw/skillsaw or table saw and it will dramatically save you time, use a high tooth blade/one meant for plastic/vinyl material. It may melt the edge a little, but the extra bits can be sanded/popped off. You can use a razorblade/straight edge as well, but it takes longer and I don't think you get as clean of an edge. Also, install perpendicular to your joists, not parrallel, it will also help with any squeaks/flex in the floor.

There are also tons of videos on youtube for installing it, and depending on size of kitchen, can probably get it done in a weekend.

I've got a couple of double doors with no latch bolt. They get held in place by a strike plate at the top of the door frame. One is to the theater room and one is to the master bath. They're really loud to open and close. I'm trying to figure out a way to quiet them without having to take the doors off and sand them down. Anyone have any ideas?

Are they loud from the plate? Is there a little ball that pops up and down when it hits the plate and settles into a dent in the plate?

I want to hang a pair of 2x4s horizontally across wood paneling mounted in the studs in order to mount swing string guitar hooks. What tools and hardware do I use to make it look nice?

I spaced mine with the studs in the wall. if you want to make it look nice instead of going with 2x4s I'd probably go with a nice piece of lumber from your local hardware store maybe stay in it see if anybody has a router that can put an edge on it. And then once it's all fancied up and have a nice layer of lacquer on it then I would mount it up there.

As for hardware most things from Amazon will hang them and then for screws into the 2x4s and studs in the wall I would use any engineered quality construction screw to get it up there and hold them in place