The New House Construction Set

Sunday, March 14, 2010

...and more...

_MG_9785, originally uploaded by k_pfeif.

...down the room....

Framing...after a weekend.

_MG_9781, originally uploaded by k_pfeif.

Lots of progress.

More to come.

Monday, March 01, 2010

Plumbing Planning

_MG_9775, originally uploaded by k_pfeif.

I have to bust out some concrete and put some new DWV stuff in here. Too bad I have no idea how to do this.

Ok, lumber is ordered, permits are coming, and I'm acquiring other materials and tools.

First step: insulation.

This isn't as easy as you'd think. The jury is still out as far as what the best approach to insulating a basement. Here's what I do know...

1. The house has 1" Owens-Corning Foamular 150 on the outside of the walls.

2. The rim joist area was insulated with fiberglass. When you pull these out, there's all kinds of moisture in there. Essentially air is moving through this area and condensing on the rim joist. The local building inspector said mold is a problem lately, so I want to avoid that. Solution: a DIY spray foam insulation kit by Tiger Foam. I considered doing it via rigid insulation, but cutting and trimming that would have taken months.

3. The top 4' of the wall is where most of the heat loss is, after the rim joist area. According to the Building Science Institute, you prevent only 10% heat loss insulating from 4' below grade on down. This means I'll only insulate the top 4'. Batt insulation won't be installed. The building inspector said this is a good approach.

Ok, more to follow.

Monday, December 07, 2009

Plan, etc.

Ok, the plans are just about ready for submission to the Village of Merton for permits. Yes, I'm doing it the right way.

What's a bit concerning is the incredibly bad reviews that the local building inspector and electrical inspector get from other homeowners. It seems that rules are applied inconsistently, and they tend to be unhelpful. So, to alleviate this, I'm going to be creating a "Finishing Your Basement in Merton" section. Others can contribute when they've had run-ins, so hopefully we'll have a pretty good list of "how-tos" when this is complete.