DIYnot

Last week Matt finished installing our final new window, so we now have a full set!  They are fantastic, and we’ll tell you more about them soon.  Yesterday I used the Great Stuff low-expanding foam to insulate between the window frames and the rough openings. Here it is curing, yet to be trimmed (easily done with a razor blade or a serrated knife).

I had already done four windows a few weeks ago, but was waiting on the final window to do the last batch.  The cans of foam are pretty much one-time-use since the foam will cure in the straw and block it, so it seems more efficient to do several windows at once.  Boy does that insulation make a big difference.  It was getting cold outside and some condensation was forming on the inside of the nailing fins.  I could even feel a cold breeze coming in around the edges of the window frames.  After the insulation, no more cold air!  It was just in the nick of time.  We woke up this morning to this:

Wilbur was the first one outside to check it out.  He loves it!

Early in the day we had maybe an inch of snow on the ground.  Seattle doesn’t usually get snow that sticks, so this is pretty exciting for us. 

Amazingly, it stayed cold all day and the snow kept falling.  We ended up with a few inches of fluffy, dry snow.  Here it is piled up on the fence and sticking to the old picture window.

Rob knocked on the door and invited us to come play outside with several of the neighbors.  We had a blast making a 6 foot tall snowman.  “With a corncob pipe coffee bean mouth and a button mustard bottle nose and two eyes made out of coal beer cans.”  Classic.  Oh and his neck tie is made of a piece of old wiring we recently pulled out of the wall.

Rob is hoping it will get on the news.  Several people gave us the thumbs up as they drove by at 5 mph.  Now we are warm and cozy in our mostly insulated house.  Even in the middle of winter, it is uncommon for the temperature to drop below freezing here, but it will be in the 20s and maybe even the teens this Thanksgiving week.  I’m so glad we got the house buttoned up just in time.

-Kelly

For four years, we lived in rentals with a dog.  Having the freedom to install a dog door was honestly one of my most frequently thought-of reasons for owning a home.  Sometimes dogs have to pee early in the morning when I like to sleep in.  Sometimes they get sick and want to go outside in a hurry, and it’s much more pleasant for them and for people if they can get outside quickly.  And old Wilbur’s greatest joy in life is being inside the house, so I didn’t want to relegate him to the yard for long periods of time.  Soon after Wilbur came home with us, we installed the dog door.  It was a pretty straightforward process, though it did take some time.  Here’s how it went:

1. Complete 6 foot fence around back yard.

2. Get dog.

3. Realize the antique screen door will have to go.

4. Do a bunch of research and choose a type of door.  I considered the ones that unlock or even open magically when a pet wearing the magnetic or electronic “key” collar approaches, and while I liked the enhanced security aspect, I decided the simplicity of the traditional flap made more sense for us.  I then proceeded to choose pretty much the most expensive flap door possible: the Endura Flap.  But with a solid frame construction, effective seals to keep cold air from constantly leaking in, and a 10 year warranty on the flaps, it might be worth it, especially if when we replace the back door and have to uninstall and reinstall the dog door one or more times.

5. Check for proper door sizing using dog, treats, and a piece of cardboard.

6. Order door.  Receive door. 

7. Trace included template on door.  Check for level.

8. Take door off hinges.

9. Use jigsaw to cut hole.

10. Cut some 2x4s [Edit: whoops, I meant 1x4s] to attach to the ridiculously thin panel of the door so that the double-flap (more energy efficient) model will fit.

11. Get rid of the routed edge around the panel using the Fein multimaster and a chisel.

12. Drill, countersink and screw the 2x4s to the door.

13. Put the door back on its hinges.

14. Follow directions to install the dog door frame, including make sure it’s level.

15. Attempt to use wood filler to cover the screws and joints between pieces of wood.  Fail “Buy some experience,” as Matt’s grandpa says.  Figure out why technique was no good and led to ugly cracks.

16. Use birthday gift of blade/carving set to remove wood filler and redo the job better.  Decide that wood filler is ok on the screws but caulk is better for the joints between pieces of wood - at least on the exterior side.  Yes, Matt really got this for me for my b-day, and yes, I do appreciate gifts like this.

17. Caulk the interior joint between the two sides of the frame so the cut part of the door won’t be exposed to water.

18. Teach dog to use his door by throwing treats through while holding the flap open. Rejoice when he starts using it on his own after only one day.

19. Procrastinate on painting the door, figuring it will be more efficient to do it when we’re already painting siding and trim in the not too distant future.

20. Enjoy happy dog.  Sleep in.  Start next project.

-Kelly

Edit: The dog door came with a panel that locks it from the inside, so if Wilbur isn’t home to guard the house, we can still keep intruders out.

Our house came with an old oil furnace.  I have no idea what its efficiency is, but I’m sure it’s pretty bad.  One of the easiest and cheapest ways to reduce a home’s heating/cooling energy usage (and bills) is installing a programmable thermostat and set it so it’s not working as hard when you’re not there.  So that’s just what I did last fall as soon as the heating season began.  It was very easy, and any DIYer can do it in less than an hour, even without any previous wiring experience. Just turn off the power and follow the instructions.

Old thermostat:

Really old.  I was totally fascinated by the ingenious way these old thermostats work though.  A thin strip of metal that slightly expands when heated and contracts when cooled is coiled to amplify that effect.  Attached to the end of the coil is an enclosed glass tube with a big blob of mercury in it.  When the coil contracts enough to tip the tube to the left, the mercury blob moves to that end of the tube where two wires enter the tube.  The mercury touches both wires to complete the circuit and the heat turns on.  When the coil gets warm enough, the tube tips the other way, breaking the circuit and turning off the heat.

I just think that is pretty cool.  Of course, the mercury content means this thing has been sitting on our bookshelf for a year waiting to be taken to the hazardous waste collection place.

And here is the new thermostat (and doesn’t it look great on the wall that is in need of spackle and paint?):

It has four time blocks per day.  I set it to 68 or 69 F in the mornings and evenings, and then I let it go down to 64 (I used to do 62 before animals lived here) at night when we’re asleep and during the day when we’re at work.  If I worked at home one day, I’d just put on long underwear.  It’s a 5-2 setup, meaning you have one program for weekdays and another for weekends.  They also make 5-1-1s if your Saturday routine is very different from your Sunday routine.

So there you go, a quick and easy way to stay comfortable while saving energy.  Now is the perfect time to do it if you haven’t already.  I’ve seen several models on special at the home improvement stores lately, and they are not very expensive anyway.

-Kelly

The West Wall

On my second section, the west wall, I realized that strategically removing the sheathing made putting it back on much easier and didn’t impede insulating.  I made marks on the top and bottom rungs of sheathing to mark the left edge of studs (of course I didn’t develop a good system to translate these onto the house wrap so I’m going to have to figure out something when I go to put up the siding because it needs to be attached by nails that anchor in studs).

The South Wall

Interesting, the builders used the foundation forms for sheathing the house.  I thought about replacing it all but it would have been a waste of good wood, increased costs significantly, and required way more effort than reusing the old.  We decided to decrease the height of the left window opening so that cabinets and countertop in the kitchen could someday wrap under the window.

I Tyvek over the window openings and then cut them out later.  Proper shingling for all flashing and house wrap is critical.  I start at the bottom and work my way up.  I used “sticky icky” or adhesive flashing under the aluminum flashing beneath the fascia at the roofline to make sure that water can’t seep in beside the electro-galvanized roofing nails I attach the aluminum with.  Using proper nails for the application is important.  Plain galvanized nails are good for exterior work but react with aluminum.  Common nails are used to attach the sheathing but need to be protected from water (a la housewrap and siding).

-Matt

We’re deep into this project now.  Originally we were just going to replace our single-pane aluminum windows by cutting around them and kluging together a weatherizing solution.  Trim was going to replace siding around the perimeter of the windows.  But pretty much the day I was going to dive in, my subconscious thoughts must have decided to revolt and I proceeded to spend the day convincing Kelly it was time to actually insulate our house, replace the siding, and weatherize the windows properly.  I didn’t have to do much of a sell because I think Kelly had already concluded this was the best good option (at least she wanted me to pull off the siding to get the weatherization right).  For me, I was really looking forward to not creating lead dust everywhere. 

Here are some shots from early on.

Despite being outdated, the siding on the N/W/E walls was all in pretty good shape with the exception of the bit above the garage (not shown).  The south-side was looking pretty bad (darn, not sure if I have a picture of that).

Edit: I found a pic of the south exterior wall.  The siding everywhere else looked much better, but I’m still excited about having all new siding (and no brick on the front)!  -Kelly

I finally caved on tearing down the brick wall. Kelly always wanted it gone but it took some convincing for me to commit.  But once I did, the big pry bar and wheel barrow helped me make short work of it. 

And once I had it piled up in the front yard, it was practically just the next day by which Kelly had found a Freecycler to take it off our hands. Once I had the siding and builder’s paper off I popped out the window and covered it with plastic sheeting inside and out.  Later I decided that removing the soffit would allow me to really weatherize the windows properly.

Then I removed small sections of the sheathing.  I quickly realized I didn’t need to take each rung off in order to insulate.  But before insulating, it was clear that this was a great opportunity to decommission old outlets in the exterior wall and run wire for new ones.

Insulating went pretty smoothly.  The insulation came encased in plastic which serves as a vapor barrier.  For bays between studs that are 16” on center it’s a snap to get it in.  Smaller bays necessitate some trimming down of the pieces (there’s a better word I can’t think of right now) so that the insulation is a couple of inches wider than the bay.  My neighbor lent me a nail gun and compressor which made putting the sheathing back on go quickly.

Tomorrow I’ll get a shot of this wall with the new window and weather barrier/housewrap (Tyvek) on and will provide a good opportunity to get into the prepwork details that must be addressed before for the siding goes on.

-Matt

First, let me apologize for not posting anything lately.  We have had so much going on for the past couple months that we just fell out of the blogging routine.  How ironic that when we have the most interesting developments to share, we are too busy to share them.  Now that that’s out of the way, check out our new(ish) family member!

He requires an introduction in the blog if only because I have some dog-related DIY projects to post later.  Wilbur is 13 years old, 75 lbs, and an unknown mix of breeds we’d guess may include Chow, Golden Retriever, German Shepherd, and who knows what.  Matt’s family adopted him from a local shelter when he was a puppy.  A few years ago, Wilbur moved in with Matt’s aunt and uncle, joining four other dogs. Here he is with his former buddies (and yes, the obviousness of the photoshopping is intentional - where was she when I took this picture?):

It was a great home for him, but these days Wilbur is moving slower, and five dogs is a lot for anyone, even for a big house with a big yard.  So about two months ago, we welcomed Wilbur to Matt & Kelly’s retirement home for geriatric dogs (only joking - our last dog was a similar story, but we are not trying to make a habit of it).  Wilbur is a great dog, and as luck would have it, he’s pretty much the exact right dog for us right now.  Aside from some extra effort getting him to eat enough and the expected age-related medical issues, he’s incredibly low maintenance.  We’re firm believers in daily walks, but otherwise he is content to snooze most of the day away.  He’s also partially deaf and doesn’t seem to mind all our construction noise.  We’re thrilled to have him.  Here he is enjoying the back yard:

Did you notice the cat in the background?  When we brought Wilbur home, we were already cat-sitting for our friends while they moved cross-country.  Luna was a real treat to have as a visitor.  We mostly kept the two separated since it was short term, but I think they could have become friends eventually.

I’ll post later about installing a dog door, training Wilbur (and Luna), and home made dog food.

-Kelly