29 July 2018
Amy continued with her work on the master bedroom. Sam and Megan had helped get the room prepped and primed. Amy painted the ceiling, walls, and trim.
Then she started working on the floors. She ended up using denatured alcohol to remove most of the built up layers of shellac. This also helped to even out some lighter and darker spots in the floor. Then she applied two coats of linseed oil and finished it with a coat of wax. The short sticks lying around are what we use to keep the windows open.
Then I installed the outlets and switches for the room. By saving money in other places, we get to spend more on details like these. We got these products from House of Antique Hardware.
We also finished, for now, our ground gutter system. I got this idea by searching the Internet for alternatives to gutters on the house. Click here for an example of what I found. I decided to cover everything with gravel instead of dirt to try to minimize water splashing up onto the house.
While removing the dirt to create our drainage system, I noticed we had four layers of soil around the house. At the bottom is an undisturbed clay soil. Above it about 3" of top soil. On top of that a couple inches of disturbed soil, and then about a half an inch of top soil again. Based on the bits of trash and glass we found in the upper disturbed layer, I'm guessing it was created during the houses' decline (1930's - 1960's). But I have no good theory about why it was added since there is no evidence of any major excavations since the bathroom addition was put in the (guessing) 1910's. Anyway, this piqued my curiosity, but I'm weird like that.
Moving on... We started by digging the primary trench for the drain pipe, sloping the trench slightly from the south side of the house to the north. Then we shaved off the dirt between the house and the trench and making it slope toward the trench. Once the digging was done, we covered all the exposed dirt with 6 mil poly.
Then we installed the drain pipe. It's thin wall PVC drainage pipe with holes already drilled in it. We also incorporated some clean-out access in a few key locations.
Once all the pipe was in place and we had it all sloping downhill, we covered everything with gravel. With a nod to cost savings and ease of installation, we used plastic edging to separate the gravel from the grass. We set it right at ground level with the thought that it won't be too visible.
And this project is done! Heavy rainfall since we finished this has shown that it helps us achieve several goals. It's moving rainwater away from the house. It's minimizing water splash on the house (the siding/sill beams on several areas of the house are less than the recommended 8" above grade). And it's keeping the crawlspace dry. We need to add some channels on the roof above the three sets of steps to minimize water landing on the steps. A major cause of the wood rot on the porches.
The more I research about HVAC and energy usage in a home, the more I see about the importance of air sealing. I believe it will make a big difference in the comfort of our house if we do our best to air seal it. This is pretty tricky in an old, existing house, but we're going to do our best to insulate and air seal the wall and ceiling surfaces that are exposed to outside air. But we also don't want to do anything to the house that is irreversible (such as using spray foam), or create conditions in the house that will cause harm. One of the things that helps old houses last so long is that air can flow almost everywhere and lets the house 'breathe'. I believe it all comes down to managing moisture and humidity.
These are the ends of the floor joist bays over the living room that face the attic space over the dining room. Sealed with 1" rigid foam and caulk.
This is the attic space above the dining room bump out. I'm using the plywood to lie on while I clean off the old cellulose insulation and air seal the stud bays around it.
This is the attic space above the pantry/laundry room. I used fiberglass batts here because I decided it would be problematic to effectively cover this with blown cellulose. I put the foam panels on the right, and in the following picture, to act as a wall to let me build up a deep layer of cellulose over the kitchen ceiling.
I also repaired and filled holes in the ceilings from where rain water had caused damaged, or where we've decided to relocate light fixtures.
Amy continued with her work on the master bedroom. Sam and Megan had helped get the room prepped and primed. Amy painted the ceiling, walls, and trim.
Then she started working on the floors. She ended up using denatured alcohol to remove most of the built up layers of shellac. This also helped to even out some lighter and darker spots in the floor. Then she applied two coats of linseed oil and finished it with a coat of wax. The short sticks lying around are what we use to keep the windows open.
Then I installed the outlets and switches for the room. By saving money in other places, we get to spend more on details like these. We got these products from House of Antique Hardware.
We also finished, for now, our ground gutter system. I got this idea by searching the Internet for alternatives to gutters on the house. Click here for an example of what I found. I decided to cover everything with gravel instead of dirt to try to minimize water splashing up onto the house.
While removing the dirt to create our drainage system, I noticed we had four layers of soil around the house. At the bottom is an undisturbed clay soil. Above it about 3" of top soil. On top of that a couple inches of disturbed soil, and then about a half an inch of top soil again. Based on the bits of trash and glass we found in the upper disturbed layer, I'm guessing it was created during the houses' decline (1930's - 1960's). But I have no good theory about why it was added since there is no evidence of any major excavations since the bathroom addition was put in the (guessing) 1910's. Anyway, this piqued my curiosity, but I'm weird like that.
Moving on... We started by digging the primary trench for the drain pipe, sloping the trench slightly from the south side of the house to the north. Then we shaved off the dirt between the house and the trench and making it slope toward the trench. Once the digging was done, we covered all the exposed dirt with 6 mil poly.
Then we installed the drain pipe. It's thin wall PVC drainage pipe with holes already drilled in it. We also incorporated some clean-out access in a few key locations.
Once all the pipe was in place and we had it all sloping downhill, we covered everything with gravel. With a nod to cost savings and ease of installation, we used plastic edging to separate the gravel from the grass. We set it right at ground level with the thought that it won't be too visible.
And this project is done! Heavy rainfall since we finished this has shown that it helps us achieve several goals. It's moving rainwater away from the house. It's minimizing water splash on the house (the siding/sill beams on several areas of the house are less than the recommended 8" above grade). And it's keeping the crawlspace dry. We need to add some channels on the roof above the three sets of steps to minimize water landing on the steps. A major cause of the wood rot on the porches.
The more I research about HVAC and energy usage in a home, the more I see about the importance of air sealing. I believe it will make a big difference in the comfort of our house if we do our best to air seal it. This is pretty tricky in an old, existing house, but we're going to do our best to insulate and air seal the wall and ceiling surfaces that are exposed to outside air. But we also don't want to do anything to the house that is irreversible (such as using spray foam), or create conditions in the house that will cause harm. One of the things that helps old houses last so long is that air can flow almost everywhere and lets the house 'breathe'. I believe it all comes down to managing moisture and humidity.
These are the ends of the floor joist bays over the living room that face the attic space over the dining room. Sealed with 1" rigid foam and caulk.
This is the attic space above the dining room bump out. I'm using the plywood to lie on while I clean off the old cellulose insulation and air seal the stud bays around it.
This is the attic space above the pantry/laundry room. I used fiberglass batts here because I decided it would be problematic to effectively cover this with blown cellulose. I put the foam panels on the right, and in the following picture, to act as a wall to let me build up a deep layer of cellulose over the kitchen ceiling.
I also repaired and filled holes in the ceilings from where rain water had caused damaged, or where we've decided to relocate light fixtures.
Comments
Post a Comment