Ugly eaves

When you find interior products used in an exterior application you had better investigate because it's probably just the tip of the iceberg.

I found a piece of medium density fiberboard (MDF) behind the gutter on the second story. Needless to say it was waterlogged and inhabited by ants. There is also a piece of interior trim running the perimeter of the soffits all the way around the house. I've pulled lots of bright nails out of the fascia board as I've been taking it down, more interior product.




It's hard to see, but there is a piece of romex running on the exterior under the eave to flood lights. This is a code violation. There's a good reason romex has to be enclosed. Squirrels had gnawed the casing off of the wire. A good way to start a fire.



This is where the two sections of the house connect for a split-level.

Here is a shot of the old exterior grade gyp board they used to use. I don't see it used these days, however it is still around.

Between the rafter tails where they extend beyond the exterior wall I am adding 2" of rigid foam insulation. I will seal the cracks with expanding foam insulation.

When the contractor sprayed the foam insulation against the roof deck they did a good job of sealing everything from the inside. But out on the eaves where the angle pinches down it is hard to reach, even with the wand.

Here you can see where the foam blew out against the exterior at the eaves. From the inside it is sealed and airtight but as you can see there is still room for more sealing.

I've filled these voids with rigid foam and expanding foam. The rigid insulation adds another R10 to the system. The foam prevents air flow, moisture and bugs moving into the interior.

For new construction all of this can be accomplished during the construction phase with all spray foam insulation and it makes for a nice tight envelope which saves lots of $$$ on heating and cooling.

Not Pretty

Since we bought the house, I've known that the soffit was rotted out underneath the valley where the garage is attached.

I haven't been able to address it because of the very steep slope and rough terrain that was beneath that area. Since the deck has been extended out over that tough terrain it is now much easier to work on the eaves there.

Today I got started demolishing the rotted out sections. The gutter had to be taken down and it's the main reason for the problem as well.

The fascia is toast, and a lot of the soffit has to be replaced. Some of the rafter tails are in bad shape and need replacing. But the rafters are okay and the decking is in good shape.

It's not in too bad a condition. They went to great lengths to hide the damage which was mostly the fascia. It would have been as a simple or even easier fix to just have done it right.

It's what I've come to expect though. I've found lots of shoddy work throughout this house that could have been just as easily done correctly. It's laziness. Cutting corners never saves any money, in the long run.

On the upside, I will be able to add another couple of inches of rigid foam insulation before I button everything back up. This will add some significant R value to an otherwise weak point in the wall system that I could not reach from the interior.

The air sealing that I did last year was visible after removing the soffit and it was a good job. I didn't see any voids or crevices that air could be moving through, I'm happy to report.

Being able to seal and insulate from the exterior will be a bonus that I didn't think about until I had the eave demo'd.

NEST

Can't say enough good things about the NEST thermostat; but here's a few:

I can turn it on/off with my phone

I can see how long the heat was on each day.

It tells me that I can save money if I want it to

It sends me a report every month on how
much energy I've used from month
to month.

January was cooold, my gas bill was only
$70

LED Light

Yesterday, the LED lighting arrived.

I chose the Ecosmart 4" Softwhite Flood by Cree. They also have an integral trim.

It's a 9.5 watt bulb that is equivalent to a 65 watt incandescent.

575 lumens

2700K

34 lights total, $1300

It's been CFL's since we installed the cannisters. Finally having the trim and the ability to dim the lights is nice.

Water Filtration System

Beyond a shadow of a doubt this is the best bang for your buck project you can do. With just two buckets and a $22 ceramic filter, you can turn any water into drinking water.

These systems are sold for around two hundred dollars with stainless steel tanks and a better flow rate. However, the heart of the system is gravity, which is still to this point, free. The most expensive item you will need and that you probably won't find at the big box store is the ceramic filter.

However, you can get this filter from Amazon for $22. Here is the link. A spigot is only about $6 and can probably be had for even less.

Interestingly, the story of these devices goes back quite a way. Apparently, in the late eighteen hundreds in England the drinking water was abysmal. The river Thames was polluted to the point that people were dying from drinking it's water.

There was a company there called Doulton that specialized in porcelain dishes. Queen Victoria commissioned them to create a water filter to purify the water from the Thames. And so they did. They built the first ceramic water filters for the crown and the design hasn't really changed since.

One tank sits on top of another. The contaminated water is poured into the top tank. The filter, which is known as a candle filter, because it is shaped roughly like a candle, is fitted into a single hole through both containers. So in order for the water to make it's way into the lower tank it has to seep through the ceramic filter. The ceramic pores are microscopic and it is a slow process but it filters out all of the pathogens.

It is an amazingly simple device but has the most beneficial outcome. You can use two, three, or four filters per container to process more water if needed. The commercial versions start out with at least two filters and go up to four.

So for around $30 you can have a virtually limitless supply of clean drinking water in case of an emergency.

Personally, tap water tastes flat to me. It also has chlorine and it is fluoridated where I live. There are volumes written on the problems of fluoride in the water supplies of the US.  I believe that it is harmful for people since it's source is industrial waste. It is suppose to fight dental decay and if you want to read the official version just read the wikipedia entry on it. I prefer not to have chemicals in my water. There are ceramic filters available that will filter the fluoride and chlorine out of your tap water.

But to me the water out of the tap is just lifeless. I much prefer to drink rain. So I take the water that the rain barrels collect and filter it. The difference is more a subtlety than a taste issue. Rainwater just has more body than tap water. You don't really need to filter rainwater it is safe to drink already, but I run it through the filter anyway.

Most of the world doesn't have water on demand out of taps. And by the same token, the Western world holds the belief that the water that does come from the taps is safe. I don't trust it. It tastes weird, some more than others. During the time I've lived in Atlanta there have been many boil water advisories and not a single year goes by without one. The latest was only this month...

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/boil-water-advisory-parts-east-atlanta/nfWG2/

For $20 a ceramic water filter is a great investment. Having a few on hand could really be a game changer in an emergency.

Fence Gate

On superbowl sunday I built the fence gate frame out of pressure treated 2 x 4's.

Yesterday I hung it in the opening. I sat it on top of a cooler to lift it off of the ground.

 Before I attempted to mount the gate, since I was working alone, I screwed a piece of 1/2" plywood to the vertical leg of the gate. The width of the gate is one inch less than the opening in the fence. By using the 1/2" plywood as a shim the gate would be centered in the opening.

I used the plywood like a flange to secure against the fence post and hold it while I attached the hinges and the rest of the pickets. I first clamped it in place to adjust the position of the gate. Then I used a few screws to secure the plywood to the post.

I had to bring the gate up flush with the existing fence pickets so that the gate pickets would match up and the hinges would line up correctly. At the top of the opening you can see the string that marks the top of the pickets. The entire fence is on a slight downhill slope.


Once the hinges were bolted on I removed the screws that were holding the plywood to the post. After I checked out the swing of the gate I removed the screws holding the plywood to the gate. It worked like a charm! A perfect half inch space on either side of the gate.

The final result...

About $820 or around $9 per linear foot (not including labor)

And a week later...

Fenced in

Over the last two weeks we've begun a stockade style privacy fence in the backyard. It is essentially to contain Aggie, who has already lept the wire fence and gone into the neighbors yard.

The fence spans about ninety feet. The week before last we dug the holes for the posts and put them in.

Aggie helped a little until she realized it was to keep her in. After that we were on our own.

Yesterday it was about fifty degrees outside and I was wearing a short sleeve shirt and it was a good day to put up pickets. Today it snowed.

It was about 25 degrees all day long. It was not a good day to work outside. Yesterday was the best day to be outside in weeks. It makes for a strange dichotomy.

If it's a good day to work, do it, if you feel alright. Tomorrow it might rain or snow. You might feel bad. You might be in a bad mood. The world could be conspiring against you. Don't do any work when you are angry. It won't be quality work and you'll end up having to do it twice. Don't even cook if you're mad, the food won't taste good.

You will always run out of gas when it's raining. Your battery will be dead when you are in a hurry. Your tire will be flat on the coldest day of the year. That's how it goes. Do all of those things to get ahead on a sunny day when you don't mind the labor. It will all go better for you.

So it took me two weeks to build the fence (and I'm still not done). So what? Yesterday was a fine day to work outside. Today was the worst of the year. It didn't matter, I enjoyed the work and today I enjoyed the snow!

2.5" of snow that paralyzed Atlanta!