# Money Pit, The neverending story of my home improvements



## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

I decided to just start a thread that compiles the last several years of what seems to be a neverending task of home improvements. Its funny but I made my wife watch the movie the Money Pit this year as it seems like that is what we live in, Im sure not as bad as most people, but for the past 3 years we have been upgrading/updating things around this house and it never seems to stop, so I often refer to our house as the money pit. I have done all the work myself with help from my other helper,aka wife  the only things we hired out was having the hardwood floors refinished and carpet installed in our 2 son's rooms.

Lets start 3 years ago where it all seemed to get the ball rolling... attic insulation

Originally had only 3 inches of fiberglass, and some previous owner started to throw down loose wool.

I added 3 inches of cellulose to the top of the joists, then laid down R 19 fiberglass on top perpendicular. Also added stringers to make raceways for all the crazy crisscross wiring, and had to add about 60 air baffles. The original fiberglass was stuffed into the soffits so I had to pull it back then fit the baffle. The pic of the attic entrance, it was my man cave for several months, I must have made that trip several hundred times up that ladder


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Now onto the front door and front concrete steps...

New front entry door and storm door

Jack hammered out the concrete steps as they were spalling and starting to crumble. The town must hate me by now, but they take everything I leave out there, thats the best use of tax $$$ IMO :yes:


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

New tile in the front foyer area and a new foyer light.

Originally there was the stick on tiles and these were starting to peel off and water was leaking into the subfloor from wet shoes.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Started to update all the trim to hardwood oak, the wife loves oak. She also wanted wainscoting in the living room, hallway and part of the kitchen, chair rail has not been added yet, but there is a pic of what it will look like. Also painted the living room.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

The garage roof was starting to bow down more than I liked it too. There was a loft built that wasn't supported properly and was pulling down on the roof, also the main beam is made of 2 pieces of lumbar. So I added some brackets to that joint and the rafter/beam joints, added longer rafter ties and also added a cable to tie the opposite walls together as they were bowing out. I managed to "raise the roof" and pull the walls in more, I did this slowly over the course of a month. Every time I raised the shores the entire garage would creak and crack


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

New siding and windows.

This is when it really started to get intense and involved. A simple window replacement job turned crazy, once I opened up my first window and discovered rot I knew I was either all in or call a contractor ASAP. Some of these pics were posted on an earlier thread that I thought I would consolidate here now.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

More siding and windows...


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Siding and windows continues :wink: Also throw in exterior grading for better drainage and new basement windows. And a new sliding patio door.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

More window and siding, note the temporary new front steps. Also forgot to mention the window wells I built all around for the added grading. Also painted the foundation. Also installed a living room ceiling fan. The double bay window is our newest sons room, updated pics to follow on that soon.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

New carpet, paint and trim in the boys rooms. There was hardwood floors under the old carpet but it was in kinda rough shape. The yellow room was where I did my very first window with all the rot. The blue room was where I did my last window, that last one only took about 3 hours compared to several weeks on the first :laughing: I still havnt got around to trimming out the windows yet.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

New electrical service upgraded, went from outdated Pushmatics to Square D QO with AFCI for the bedrooms.


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## Proby (Jul 17, 2010)

Out of curiosity, why didn't you mount the panel flush in the studs and avoid using the back board?

Also, why didn't you bring the SE cable in under the meter and then run it thru the studs over to the panel? This way you wouldn't see it running along the house.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

New vinyl soffits and fascia boards cladded with vinyl. Also trimmed back the baffle vents, added 2 inch foam glued in place over the top plates, with spray foam to seal off the sides of the baffle. I doubled my ventilation doing this and now have the amount needed finally for my sq ftg.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

More siding and new doors this past few weeks... almost done siding! :thumbup:


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## frenchelectrican (Apr 12, 2006)

Proby said:


> Out of curiosity, why didn't you mount the panel flush in the studs and avoid using the back board?
> 
> Also, why didn't you bring the SE cable in under the meter and then run it thru the studs over to the panel? This way you wouldn't see it running along the house.


 The key issue with SE cables with unfused service entrance conductors { cable as well } the code do not have any limit on outside but once it get inside then the code do kick in most case most area will limit no more than 6 or 8 feet { few will stated 3 feet as well } but most of them will keep the unfused service conductors short as possible.

If you want to run entire SE inside the wall then you have to go with SER cable { 4 conductor type } and you have to put a main breaker right below the meter socket or side of the meter socket depending on what size it have.

Merci.
Marc


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Wife had to have a flower garden in the back yard so we built this, there was a rotted shed there but I dont have pics of that before we tore it down.


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## Proby (Jul 17, 2010)

frenchelectrican said:


> The key issue with SE cables with unfused service entrance conductors { cable as well } the code do not have any limit on outside but once it get inside then the code do kick in most case most area will limit no more than 6 or 8 feet { few will stated 3 feet as well } but most of them will keep the unfused service conductors short as possible.
> 
> If you want to run entire SE inside the wall then you have to go with SER cable { 4 conductor type } and you have to put a main breaker right below the meter socket or side of the meter socket depending on what size it have.
> 
> ...


Yeah Marc, I was having a complete brain fart. I was under the impression that he had a main disconnect meter combo outside. I should have paid better attention.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Proby said:


> Out of curiosity, why didn't you mount the panel flush in the studs and avoid using the back board?
> 
> Also, why didn't you bring the SE cable in under the meter and then run it thru the studs over to the panel? This way you wouldn't see it running along the house.



I didnt mount the panel flush because I dont plan on finishing the garage with drywall and I didnt want to loose all the knockouts on the sides of the panel for future circuits.

I also didnt want the SE cable run inside the garage from the meter to the panel as it would be "unprotected" in between the wall studs and I was afraid some tool/ladder might nick it eventually.


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## Proby (Jul 17, 2010)

creamaster said:


> I also didnt want the SE cable run inside the garage from the meter to the panel as it would be "unprotected" in between the wall studs and I was afraid some tool/ladder might nick it eventually.


You're not worried about that happening outside? Kids and stuff?

To this day I can't understand why code allows that. You can't have a piece of romex exposed without protection but you can have a piece of unfused SE cable strapped around the whole house. I wonder what the fault current on that cable is?


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Proby said:


> You're not worried about that happening outside? Kids and stuff?
> 
> To this day I can't understand why code allows that. You can't have a piece of romex exposed without protection but you can have a piece of unfused SE cable strapped around the whole house. I wonder what the fault current on that cable is?


 
The way the electrician explained it is that if the service cable insulation gets a cut or nick and you grab it, the hot wires are surrounded by the grounding wires so you would most likely grab the ground wires and be safe, this is of course unless the damage is severe and goes through the grounding conductors and into the hot wire insulation.

I would be more worried about the cable in my garage with all the tools hanging on the walls, (saws, hammers, axe, tree pruner) rather than outside. My child could just as easily grab the cable in the garage if it was routed in the wall as I dont have drywall and the studs are exposed, and worse he could grab a close by tool and more chance of having an accident than outside IMO.

Anyone else have any input on this?


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## Proby (Jul 17, 2010)

It's not just the electrical shock that you have to worry about, it's the arc flash.

If something cuts the romex in your garage, the fault current is limited by the branch circuit breaker, and even the main breaker.

If that SE cable gets cut, there is no protection, no fuse or breaker. The only thing upstream is a cutout which most likely won't be of any use. There is an extremely high amount of available fault current in that cable. 

So if the SE cables gets damaged you can have a very large arc flash, an explosion that could melt skin very easily.

An example, the handlebar of a bike in which the rubber grip wore away on the end and the metal is exposed (my kids drop their bikes and this happens). The horizontal run of SE is at the right height in which a kid riding past it with said handlebar could get a little too close, cut into the cable, and have a VERY bad day. 

That's just an example, it might not be realistic for your situation, but there are always risks. You never know what you're kids are going to start backyard wrestling and swinging aluminum ladders and chairs around :laughing: 

Your installation is code compliant, and that's my point. It seems that every year the NEC becomes less about safety and more about convenience and manufacturers lobbying for profit. IMO, that SE cable should be protected. When running romex perpendicular to the joists in a basement you need to put up some type of running board. So it's not off base to require some type of protection of SE if run thru the open studs of a garage.

I failed inspection because there was 5" of exposed romex running from the wall into the back of an under cabinet light in a kitchen. No one can honestly say that little bit of wire is more of a risk than 30 feet of exposed SE cable on a building.

Sorry for the rant, keep up the good work on the house!


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Yeah, I don't like the unexposed wire outside...but it meets code

I would have moved the panel closer to the meter
Then run new wire as needed from the old location to the new location

Lots of nice work accomplished :thumbsup:
I like the siding job -whats the brown "board" under each row ?
New windows & doors make a huge difference
I know they did on my house


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## Proby (Jul 17, 2010)

Scuba_Dave said:


> Yeah, I don't like the unexposed wire outside...but it meets code
> 
> I would have moved the panel closer to the meter
> Then run new wire as needed from the old location to the new location


That, or I would have ran it thru the studs (most likely up high) and thrown a couple rips of plywood or sheetrock over it for some protection.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Scuba_Dave said:


> Lots of nice work accomplished :thumbsup:
> I like the siding job -whats the brown "board" under each row ?
> New windows & doors make a huge difference
> I know they did on my house


 
Thanks to this website I found this out by asking the same thing 

http://www.diychatroom.com/f14/repairing-some-cedar-siding-shingle-stlye-20887/

Cant find it at the big box stores even though they sell the cedar shakes, have to go to a lumbar yard. This stuff is made in Canada and last year the factory went on strike, could not find it anywhere for months, ppl on craigslist were jacking the price double to triple the cost because of the poor supply.

Thanks for the input guys, if not for this website I likely wouldn't have tackled half of these projects.


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

Looks nice! You’ve done a lot of hard work. If you replace anymore siding, I recommend using building paper on the plywood sheathing: “Your local code may not require you to use felt or housewrap, but unless you live in an extremely arid climate — you need to use it. Typically, building paper is installed as soon as the sheathing is installed. *Force of Nature*Most of us live in climates influenced by rain and wind. During a storm, a thin film of water clings to windward surfaces. Porous materials, like unfinished shingles, stained wood clapboards, and masonry veneers soak up water. Non-porous materials like freshly painted wood, aluminum and vinyl don’t. But the film of water sticks to all siding products. As the wind’s speed and direction shifts, water moves up, down and sideways under the influence of air pressure. It moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The area directly behind a wind-blown wall surface is at a lower pressure than its exterior face. This pressure difference works to suck the water inward through any hole it finds. I’ve stripped problem walls immediately after heavy rain to monitor rain intrusion and establish moisture profiles. It is perfectly clear that butt-joints, seams, holes, and siding overlaps are siphon points driven by air pressure, gravity and capillary suction. If there is no building paper, water will get wicked up into the wood sheathing where is often causes structural problems.” From: http://bct.nrc.umass.edu/index.php/...-felt-paper-and-weather-penetration-barriers/

You could remove a few inches around the window perimeter and install sticky window tape at the ply/window joint to stop any future water there.

After the new soffit venting and baffles, if your attic is still hot and the roof shingles show signs of premature life, you probably need more intake vents. If the pinhole venting as shown has 4.68 NFVA per foot of lineal depth (as across the front and back soffits), it’s not enough. You really need* 9* *NFVA per foot*, or settle for all pin-holed with no solid panels. All holed would give 4.68 NFVAper soffit foot of run. (Your 1’ of holed + 24” of solid = *1.56* *NFVA*) http://files.buildsite.com/dbderived-f/owenscorning/derived_files/derived92755.pdf
http://www.airvent.com/homeowner/products/intakeSoffit-specs.shtml

You did a very nice job of matching the elevations of the shingles--- very professional looking.

Be safe, Gary


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

GBR in WA said:


> Looks nice! You’ve done a lot of hard work. If you replace anymore siding, I recommend using building paper on the plywood sheathing: “Your local code may not require you to use felt or housewrap, but unless you live in an extremely arid climate — you need to use it. Typically, building paper is installed as soon as the sheathing is installed. *Force of Nature*Most of us live in climates influenced by rain and wind. During a storm, a thin film of water clings to windward surfaces. Porous materials, like unfinished shingles, stained wood clapboards, and masonry veneers soak up water. Non-porous materials like freshly painted wood, aluminum and vinyl don’t. But the film of water sticks to all siding products. As the wind’s speed and direction shifts, water moves up, down and sideways under the influence of air pressure. It moves from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. The area directly behind a wind-blown wall surface is at a lower pressure than its exterior face. This pressure difference works to suck the water inward through any hole it finds. I’ve stripped problem walls immediately after heavy rain to monitor rain intrusion and establish moisture profiles. It is perfectly clear that butt-joints, seams, holes, and siding overlaps are siphon points driven by air pressure, gravity and capillary suction. If there is no building paper, water will get wicked up into the wood sheathing where is often causes structural problems.” From: http://bct.nrc.umass.edu/index.php/...-felt-paper-and-weather-penetration-barriers/
> 
> You could remove a few inches around the window perimeter and install sticky window tape at the ply/window joint to stop any future water there.
> 
> ...


 
Thanks for the input.

The soffit material is made by Georgia-Pacific and has a 14 sq inch NFVA per linear foot, I cant locate the link to GP's website but here is a retailer one:
http://doitbest.com/Vents+for+vinyl+siding-Bluelinx-model-423593-doitbest-sku-121363.dib


Its not the pinhole but rather the slotted type.

Not sure if any of the pics show but I did use window/door flashsing tape for all the windows, plus caulked under the window moutning flange, plus caulked around all the trim and shingels.

The Tyvek is a good idea and I thought about that after doing most of the residing. Im not too worried as the exisitng sheathing has lasted 46 years, most still in great shape, and with new siding and better paint/caulk now, should last another 40 :whistling2:


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## Gary in WA (Mar 11, 2009)

Great! Sounds like you did the research..... Keep up the good work!

Be safe, Gary


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Here is what I did with the soffiting at the front of the garage where the span was roughly 2 feet. Instead of trying to install a stringer nice and level with the front and rear channels I put a stringer across the rafters at the middle of the span and used heavy gauge drop ceiling wire to support each soffit panel. I was able to eyeball each one and they came out pretty level and even, no sag in the middle and the wire doesn't let you push the soffit up or down so the wind wont affect them.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

The weather has been off and on with rain but I managed to get a few more rows of siding installed, the door flashed, and made a new soffit/eave end cap (not sure of proper name). I also stripped the paint on the rake boards and repainted them, I counted 3 coats of paint that I stripped off. That caustic paint stripper is nothing to mess around with!


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Well its almost 2 months and still working on residing but its almost done. I switched gears one day and installed a light fixture and medicine cabinet we had bought months ago off craigslist. The light went up easily, but go figure the medicine cabinet had a nice surprise like all prjoects do with this house We bought a surface mount cabinet. But once we took off the mirrior and trim from the wall there was a nice big hole in teh wall, seems a recessed cabinet once existed here...SO what should have been a quick job turned into several hours of sistering in studs and replacing some drywall so we could mount the new cabinet. It ended up looking nice, just need to mud and paint above the cabinet where you can see part of teh repair.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Well almost 2 months later the garage sidewall is just about done... all sided, new door, and 1 coat of paint so far. Now onto the back of the garage for the final push to finish the exterior before winter!:thumbup:


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Here are some final pics of the grading and landscaping around the house including the window wells. We ended up rasing the surrounding grade by 8" so instead of sloping toward the house it now slopes away. Ive noticed the sump running less after a rainstorm now. Also the gutters were extended about 5-6 ft away from the foundation.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

I decided to install some aluminum z flashing along the bottom edge as the sheathing is unprotected. Also used PVC 1 x 4 ripped down to size for the kickout board.


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

Well after 2 years starting this exterior project of windows,doors, and siding, I installed the last shingle this last week :clap:


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## creamaster (May 11, 2008)

The weather was nice this weekend so got some painting done and started work on over seeding the yard. We have seriously neglected the yard for the past 4 years and it showed after we mowed down low to 1.5" then I got a Craftsman dethathcer and man there was some serious thatch in there. My neighbor asked if I sprayed something to kill my lawn  I said "no I think its a fungus and your yard is next" :laughing: But then I explained to her what we did. You can see the contrast of her yard and ours after our work, mind you our yard was green before we started. But its over seeded, fertilized, and watered, so hopefully in a few weeks Ill see some new blades. That pile in the pic is just thatch, that is AFTER mowing and raking one time.


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