# The Bowman House



## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

These pics are from various weeks after getting some things done.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Some of the initial problems:
First floor bath---ceiling messed up from roof leak, bathtub didn't drain, old everything
Second floor bath---horrible condition overall, but functional barely
Kitchen---bird nest in range hood, they had a broom wedged in the cutlery drawer holding bags/stuff up in the range hood to keep the birds out, dishwasher not functional and cover missing, fridge very old and small, floor old, all trim and beadboard painted in fake wood grain
Basement---hvac not working for several years, sump pump not functional, water heater vented into chimney that was 100% blocked, lots of BX cable-some is the really old bad stuff, copper piping was stolen 3 weeks after we had accepted contract, galvanized pipe feeding one bathroom, water leaks through brick foundation in one area during rain
Outside---roof needed replaced, gutters need some work, drainage needs work
Overall---everything needed painting, lots of old wallpaper, 3 rooms had carpet which smelled bad from smoke/etc


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

Looking great so far. Nice use of color. The kitchen looks good.



Is that kitchen flooring Allure vinyl?
I ask because I used it and it only has a sliver of color on top. A small scratch revealed nice white vinyl core that sticks out like a sore thumb. Of coarse I went and used the darkest color available.....:furious:


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

It's the Allure Ultra vinyl, about twice as thick as the regular stuff. I haven't noticed any scratches yet and from installation can't recall seeing any white but will look closer when I get home today.

The kitchen is temporary. We plan on doing a full remodel in a year or two. Right now there is the L-shaped section of cabinets with stove/fridge and on the left side is a straight section with the sink/dishwasher. I want to remove the straight section and add a large island in the middle of the room plus move the fridge and rearrange the L section somewhat.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Lately I've been trying to seal things up to keep our gas bill from being $500/month this winter. Door sweeps, put a cat flap in the door to the basement so we can keep it closed, pipe insulation for the hot water lines, etc etc.

I'm doing some more thermal imaging tonight/tomorrow morning but have a good feeling that the next items to hit are attic insulation, windows, and the basement. The windows will have to wait until next year but the attic and basement I can tackle now. 

The basement is only 1/2 underground, with 6 small-medium sized windows and a door. To me, that means it stays colder than typical and since we have a fairly large first floor footprint, means I need to work on the envelope for it with the rim joists, windows, etc.

Last bill, we had an average temp of 50F and used 100 ccf of gas. Yikes. Our last house was quite a bit smaller, a lot newer, and the highest ccf usage last year was 134 on a month with average temp of 40. I could see our usage being close to double that and it makes me want to focus on efficiency more than normal.


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## rebelranger (Aug 1, 2012)

How did you do the thermal imaging? Did you rent a FLIR camera?


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

We use one at work and I'm the one who keeps it in my office, so...

Unfortunately this one is almost 8 years old and seems to have fried the battery circuit so it only works when plugged in without a battery installed. I'm looking at a new Fluke imager for around $9000 to replace it.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

10,300 views----popular thread--need more pictures:laughing:


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

I had quit posting them because only 1 person had actually commented, figured it wasn't that interesting.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Thermal imaging from this morning. Gray-scale, white is cold. 

Pic 1 is a door that opens to a sunroom which has it's air register shut off and is exposed underneath to the outside with most of the insulation fallen off. I plan on doing fiberglass batts between the joists with rigid foam across the joists to seal it up on the bottom. The door has a towel acting as a draft blocker since it has a good 1/2" gap to the floor.
Pic 2 is the top of that door.
Pic 3 has an open hole where an outlet box used to be and a gfci outlet on the right without a cover. You can see the gfci has a little bit of warmth but the box is cold.
Pic 4 is the door to the basement steps with the new cat door. Looks like it's helping keep some cold out but could use some weatherstripping and a door sweep.
Pic 5 is the old range hood fan housing above the microwave. I have it siliconed shut but need to insulate/seal the cavity.
Pic 6 shows the front door is noticeably colder than the room, needs weatherstripping and a better sealing outside door It has a nicely sealing sweep but the aluminum threshold is cold.


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## oh'mike (Sep 18, 2009)

You do have an interesting thread---The number of views is curious---keep up the pictures/


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

The first floor bathroom was today's project. When removing the window trim it broke the right side of the window frame, so I had to put an oak board behind it for support. Overall, I'm happy with it. I've never done a window before, but it was simple.

The window is a basic vinyl Thermastar from Lowes, the big windows in the original portions of the house will be much nicer windows when I get around to replacing them. 

Currently I'm letting the expanding foam set and will trim the inside and seal the outside tomorrow. I'm glad this was my first, it's protected by a roofed-in area outside so it will never see rain or snow, though it looks good outside too.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

The first and last time I used expanding foam on a window, the slider got real tight from slightly bowing the frame of the window.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

I used the door/window foam, it's low pressure and shouldn't cause problems like the normal stuff does.


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## 123pugsy (Oct 6, 2012)

Now that's the stuff I shoulda used.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Next up, this. 10 BX cables going into one piggybacked box. I'm running a new circuit for the basement lights/outlets and found out the existing lights are powered from this box, so I have to open it up to get the switch loop out.

A friend said it looks like Doc Ock from Spiderman.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Last week, I ran a new circuit for the basement lights/outlets. 

Before, there was one switch at the top of the steps (flipped up-side-down of course) with BX run into that Doc Ock junction box pictured above controlling that single light, and 3 outlet boxes, 1 for the sump pump and 2 others in horrible locations.

Now, I have one for the tankless water heater so it's not powered by an extension cord, one for the cable modem/router, one for the chest freezer, one for sump pump, and another so they are all spread fairly evenly throughout the basement. I also have 6 light fixtures with small CFL bulbs so the whole place is lit evenly. Oh, they're all on the same breaker, not spread across 3.

Long term, my goal is to clean up the circuits in the house so the breaker layout is more logical and replace a lot of the BX in the process. Doc Ock must go!!!

(for anyone that notices, I pulled the Romex down from the previous pic and ran it properly so it's not stapled across joists)


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Recent updates:

I bought 8 cans of Great Stuff Pro plus the Pro 14 gun and have been air sealing the basement and will get to the attic soon. We had several rim joist cavities that had 'breezes' blowing in from the outside that are now sealed along with about 100 other spots. I should know in a few days if it had a measurable affect on our furnace runtime from my datalogging I'm doing off the thermostat.

We finally got our 11 year old into her room. We laid ~300 sq ft of Allen & Roth (Lowes) Burnished Autumn Maple flooring in her room. The room color is what she wanted but it doesn't come through very well in the pics. The flooring is nice quality, very well machined. I finally bought an oscillating tool so I could undercut the door frames properly---love it, awesome tool to have.

As I do rooms, I've been replacing all outlets/switches with new ones. This room had backstab-only switches and outlets and I was able to pull the wires out by hand easily. Yuck, all are hooked/screwed now.


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## Blondesense (Sep 23, 2008)

Great thread!

While considering heat loss, have you taken a good look at the fireplaces? Are they useable?

Plugging our great-big-heat-draining-hole-in-the-wall-that-was-a-fireplace with an insert cut our heat bill considerably.


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## ddawg16 (Aug 15, 2011)

Good God.....who did your floors? They look great.

Keep the pictures going....would love to see some outside pics.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

I did the floors myself, took about 4 days I think. Thanks. The upstairs is heart pine, that's the natural color, and the downstairs is just a thin oak overlay but looks decent except for stains in many places. The kitchen has Allure Ultra vinyl plank and the finished attic section has Allen & Roth laminate planks.

None of the fireplaces are active, all are closed off and have been for many many years.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Doc Ock has a relative that lives around 3' away. I haven't pulled the electric tape off yet but I don't think there is a wire nut in there.


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## SuperJETT (Oct 27, 2012)

Today I finally completely rid the living room circuits of BX cables and found zero insulation in one stud cavity. Down the road, I can see us having the walls dense packed with blown-in.

One outlet was tied into a circuit with the old basement sump pump outlet which was fed by a 3 conductor BX which had 2 110V circuits on one neutral.


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## Amateuralex (Mar 17, 2012)

This is cool, thanks for the pics.


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