Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house? | Page 243 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

I'm going to do some serious redecorating. My goal is too make the house mine, rather than my late wife's. Not trying to erase her memory. It's just not my style.
I have a Jamaican mahogany dining room table and chairs (8' with 8 chairs) that is going and a 4 poster queen bed with side tables and 70" dresser.
Ripping up all the carpet and installing new flooring.
 
Thanks @GreyGhost, appreciate the prompt response?

I pretty much have access to all the tools already except a few key items...scaffold being the main one that comes to mind.

A few issues that I'm thinking though:
1. Insulation - I need about 2-3" of Styrofoam / rigid insulation for an R10-R15 or so. How does this affect the windows / trim as now they'll be very offset and deep into the pocket.
2. What to best install at the bottom (that rock look siding?)
3. How to deal with the mast for the high voltage coming into the house? I assume it needs to be pulled away from the house by an electrician (@SunnY S or @backmarkerducati are electricians IIRC)
4. Would I need to remove the soffits in order to slot the siding underneath for a cleaner look?
5. Scaffold or genie boom better?
6. Type of strapping? 1x2? 2x2? etc?

Guess I have time for the current status as I would not be doing this in 2022...but I can take 2-3 months off for parental leave that ends in early May...so I could in theory take all of April off and do it then slowly.

Option #2 - pay someone to do it
Option #3 - do the internals (I know @sburns is waiting for this)
  1. If you're bothering to do this much work, I would put as much insulation as possible. Windows will be deeply inset until you replace them with ones made for the thicker wall.
  2. You can run hardy near the ground. Water doesn't bother it as it is similar to concrete. You could put stove veneer at the bottom if you want that look but it is an aesthetic choice not required.
  3. Some people leave the mast where it is, others pull it out. If you are pulling the meter base out from the house, I can't seen how you avoid an electrician but I'm sure some people do it on their own. Does your mast pass through the soffit/roof or it can easily move out?
  4. I would redo soffits at the same time. Most get tired looking anyway and it's a good opportunity to inspect and make sure they are working (eg blown in hasn't sealed everything off).
  5. It depends how fast you are. Genie bill will add up really quick if you are doing it evenings and weekends. Scaffold allows a much more leisurely pace (and if you have enough of it you can have one person ahead doing insulation, another behind doing board and a third following doing trim (or person one again)).
  6. I don't know the best strapping solution now. I have done rigid foam with metal zbar but the metal transfers a lot of heat and derates the wall. Ideally you would install a solution with minimal thermal bridging.
 
I need about 2-3" of Styrofoam / rigid insulation for an R10-R15 or so. How does this affect the windows / trim as now they'll be very offset and deep into the pocket.

Just go all in and install arrow loops like a castle. Gives "get off my lawn!" a whole new weight
m1jr7wtojj061.jpg
 
I'm going to do some serious redecorating. My goal is too make the house mine, rather than my late wife's. Not trying to erase her memory. It's just not my style.
I have a Jamaican mahogany dining room table and chairs (8' with 8 chairs) that is going and a 4 poster queen bed with side tables and 70" dresser.
Ripping up all the carpet and installing new flooring.
If you need to borrow a hardwood nailer or anything else, you know where I live, it's yours.

May be interested in table if it's available (not sure, send me pics).
 
Thanks @GreyGhost, appreciate the prompt response?

I pretty much have access to all the tools already except a few key items...scaffold being the main one that comes to mind.

A few issues that I'm thinking though:
1. Insulation - I need about 2-3" of Styrofoam / rigid insulation for an R10-R15 or so. How does this affect the windows / trim as now they'll be very offset and deep into the pocket.
2. What to best install at the bottom (that rock look siding?)
3. How to deal with the mast for the high voltage coming into the house? I assume it needs to be pulled away from the house by an electrician (@SunnY S or @backmarkerducati are electricians IIRC)
4. Would I need to remove the soffits in order to slot the siding underneath for a cleaner look?
5. Scaffold or genie boom better?
6. Type of strapping? 1x2? 2x2? etc?

Guess I have time for the current status as I would not be doing this in 2022...but I can take 2-3 months off for parental leave that ends in early May...so I could in theory take all of April off and do it then slowly.

Option #2 - pay someone to do it
Option #3 - do the internals (I know @sburns is waiting for this)
Not an electrician, but I have done lots of it including a few permitted rewires over the years, including service upgrades/changes... (work wise I am in engineering but I did work for hydro in the early 90s for what that's worth...).

I assume overhead service.... on the mast, service, meter base, some people just insulate around them and they leave it as-is but now set in, looks hack to me. If you want to pull it to do it "right" what you will need:
  1. An ESA notification (aka permit).
  2. You arrange for hydro to come disconnect the service ("cut" the wires and take down the strand and pull the meter).
  3. You pull it all down, do your insulation etc..
  4. Put it back up, most can be reused but you may need to lengthen the wire and replace the conduit between the meter and the panel to accommodate the longer length.
  5. If it goes through the roof you need to patch and do this as well.
  6. ESA comes and inspects it, if it passes you get a "connection authorization".
  7. Hydro comes back and reconnects the service when you have the CA.
You have no power until you are done. A service upgrade or move can be done in one day if you get everything aligned with ESA and hydro (disconnect in the morning, and re-connection in the afternoon) BUT in your case (and most DIY) it will likely be a few days. Electricians do it like this all the time (the service not the insulation part) BUT they have multiple people on the job site to get it all done and get better cooperation from the other parties...

If DIY, the permit is going to be $184 (non-contractor rate), hydro will want around $700 (at least Toronto Hydro does...) for the disconnect/reconnect. Maybe around $100 for wire and conduit. If hiring an electrician the costs go way up (but the permit drops to $75...). The costs and more so the PITA factor is why most do it the "hack" insulate around it way....
 
@mimico , if you consider Hardi plank cement send me a pm , I can steer you around any dealer that wants a certified installer and orient you to a vendor that is user friendly, I may have a small “in” with the Hardi distributor.
It’s not hard to install , the guys that do it for a living are talented but not splitting atoms.
If you have any questions about product, literature or install tech , send me a note .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
I need to figure out the best option to restore some cabinets and paint them. I have a big compressor but I seriously hate dealing with it. How are the electric HVLP sprayers like the Wagner Flexio 3000? Can I expect reasonable results with it? Reasonable is the keyword, as they are not for the main kitchen. Also what paint should I use?

Bonus, I scored non functional ductless heat pump dryer for $50. A $15 run capacitor latter I have a $1300 unit.
 
I need to figure out the best option to restore some cabinets and paint them. I have a big compressor but I seriously hate dealing with it. How are the electric HVLP sprayers like the Wagner Flexio 3000? Can I expect reasonable results with it? Reasonable is the keyword, as they are not for the main kitchen. Also what paint should I use?

Bonus, I scored non functional ductless heat pump dryer for $50. A $15 run capacitor latter I have a $1300 unit.
I've used old school Wagner. It was miserable. Fuji turbine hvlp is good. I'm not convinced that the all in one gun form factor of the current Wagner will be satisfactory.

Why do you hate using your compressor?

As for what paint, that will depend on what gun. It took some work but I got latex to spray through a hvlp gun with lots of flotrol and gum wide open. It wasnt ideal. Spraying stain or clear was simple.

No matter how you eventually get finish on, dedicate some time, chemicals and money to thoroughly cleaning the existing doors/boxes. Kitchen grease sticks to everything and will ruin your day if you try to paint over it.
 
I've used old school Wagner. It was miserable. Fuji turbine hvlp is good. I'm not convinced that the all in one gun form factor of the current Wagner will be satisfactory.

Why do you hate using your compressor?

As for what paint, that will depend on what gun. It took some work but I got latex to spray through a hvlp gun with lots of flotrol and gum wide open. It wasnt ideal. Spraying stain or clear was simple.

No matter how you eventually get finish on, dedicate some time, chemicals and money to thoroughly cleaning the existing doors/boxes. Kitchen grease sticks to everything and will ruin your day if you try to paint over it.
It's heavy, noisy, and I never have enough cfm. Wallnut blasting my intake valves was quite frustrating. Electric impact guns are pretty much on part for auto work. Only reason I keep it around is to clean laptops. I guess for cabinet painting my makita MAC2400 with 4.8 CFM @ 40 PSI should do.
 
Newer Wagners are ok , older ones are awful. It’s an adequate finish , hvlp turbo guns are well over $1000 , which is a bit much for a one off job . You can get an “hvlp” gravity style gun for $69.00 at harbour frt or princess auto that will work ok. PA has three options , get the one with the largest needle. Most box stores have a paint they call melamine paint , thin as per directions and it’s fine .
Prep as GG said is everything, clean with TSP and light sand if needed . A first coat with a high adhesion primer can make your life better and let you know if you have any areas that need attention before you go to the paint stage


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
It's heavy, noisy, and I never have enough cfm. Wallnut blasting my intake valves was quite frustrating. Electric impact guns are pretty much on part for auto work. Only reason I keep it around is to clean laptops. I guess for cabinet painting my makita MAC2400 with 4.8 CFM @ 40 PSI should do.
I've used a mac 2400 and pa hvlp gun successfully. I set the regulator on the compressor something like 15 psi higher than required and used the regulator on the gun for final pressure drop. That way flow losses werent changing the pressure at the tip. The tiny regulator on the gun wasnt very stable if you asked it to drop from tank pressure. Used a disposable filter just before gun regulator to get some water out.

Painting needs a hell of a lot less cfm than walnut blasting.

Another option is renting an airless sprayer for a day. They dont care about thick paint.
 
Which opinion did you want?

A friend did his kitchen cupboards with a Graco battery powered airless ($700) and was happy.

A YouTube video said it was junk.

If you're not production painting a small compressor can work. Let it catch up between doors.

FWIW I painted a cabinet spare door with the melamine stuff to see if it cracked where the panels met the frames and after a couple of years it's still good. I think I used a foam roller because I was only interested in the shrinkage test.
 
Hmm….so, in the space of about 6 months my range, washing machine and fridge (two weeks ago) went kaput…..and now my dryer is a useless kinetic ornament with no actual drying abilities. The only silver lining is that by some piece of luck, the 5yr extended warranty runs out on Thursday and so it “broke just in time”.

Cliched but true… “they don’t make them like they used to”.

Also, how the heck is a dryer now $1k? At least I shouldn’t have to buy one for a bit except this is a Samsung and I’ve been purging the house of Samsung appliances slowly. The refrigerator was a prime example, looked nice, had bells and whistles but any fridge that lies about the temperature inside is useless and double so if you need to keep disassembling it to defrost the fan hidden in the back. Also…ice maker didn’t really make ice more than on any given day it either randomly dispensed ice dust or gummed up with titanic killers.
 
My aquaintance that services appliances says Samsung is barely serviceable, it’s almost always a circuit board , which will be on back order for weeks if your lucky . Out west Samsung furnaces are also sold , and frequently removed ….


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
For a nice cabinet finish , as backmarker says , rolling then tipping with a really good brush produces a nice finish .

As a guy that a zillion yrs ago painted cars in an auto body shop , spray work is 80% prep . 10% gun and 10percent talent . And you can always add a coat , but sanding out drips and runs with cabinet paint will take days . If your spraying a white of light Color get good lighting in place , it’s hard to see where you just sprayed , dark Color’s are easier.


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 
Hmm….so, in the space of about 6 months my range, washing machine and fridge (two weeks ago) went kaput…..and now my dryer is a useless kinetic ornament with no actual drying abilities. The only silver lining is that by some piece of luck, the 5yr extended warranty runs out on Thursday and so it “broke just in time”.

Cliched but true… “they don’t make them like they used to”.

Also, how the heck is a dryer now $1k? At least I shouldn’t have to buy one for a bit except this is a Samsung and I’ve been purging the house of Samsung appliances slowly. The refrigerator was a prime example, looked nice, had bells and whistles but any fridge that lies about the temperature inside is useless and double so if you need to keep disassembling it to defrost the fan hidden in the back. Also…ice maker didn’t really make ice more than on any given day it either randomly dispensed ice dust or gummed up with titanic killers.
Sadly it’s not just Samsung. We bought all new appliances just under a year ago. Our Electrolux washer wasn’t put together properly (flooded new house on first cycle) and the matching dryer broke a few months later. The Whirlpool wall combo oven had a faulty display.
Plus our furnace died as did our Bosch heat pump as well as the Honeywell thermostat and the hard drive on our new camera system.
All that within the first year. Sheesh
 
27D017C1-426B-4E8D-AF86-CD26711D77B7.jpeg
C01382DD-0023-465F-A32B-C5BACA581131.jpeg
A before and after of my wife’s office finished yesterday. She wanted it painted green and I was never fond of the cheap Wayfair desk so after I painted the room I added some HD base boxes and made a top and matching shelves. Now just need a proper chair to match.
 

Back
Top Bottom