Winter Walks

Isla and I have been getting out more often. I walk to work every morning and try to walk a few lunch hours too. It does seem to help with what is left of my concussion symptoms. Anyway the phone goes with me and so therefore does the camera. 

 

Crooked House Reno Post #4 - Game Plan - Crawlspace Basement

One of the main things that sold this house to Christopher was the fact that most of the major stabilization work was completed already.  Many downtown Whitehorse homes have either no foundation or mismatched crumbling foundation/s.  Thank goodness... most of this work was already done... so, our new house, though crooked... was stable from the ground up.

That said, there was obviously some significant problems with rodent infiltration as there was a coating of rat poison over all the plastic sheeting covering the open ground sections of the crawlspace area.

The insulation was poorly done at best or nonexistent at worst.  Also, Christopher figured there were probably some moisture issues (1) from the disconnected dryer hose providing a wonderful decoration of strand mould throughout the entire downstairs area, and (2) that his suspicious side believed there were probably moisture issues covered up in the walls (correct of course)...

All of the plumbing would have to be replaced but at least it was all accessible.

Before pics...

The old ducting and wood/oil furnace was chopped up and removed.

This electrical panel was one of the only pieces in the basement that were not replaced.

All of the plastic, old insulation, rat poison, dead rodents , bits of drywall, etc. were removed.  Every bit of plumbing for the entire main floor runs through the basement.  It all had to be cut out and replaced.



The new plumbing drains have been installed in these pics.  One of the many challenges of general contracting... many different sub-contractors, all leaving different levels of mess everywhere.  The pink insulation and poorly installed vapour barrier were removed.  As discussed above... the base of the walls were wet to the touch from outside drainage infiltration.

The after pics are a little thin because Chris got a little busy...

A subfloor frame was installed, the entire basement and crawlspace floor and walls were sprayfoamed to provide a seal against rodents and moisture.  The subfloor was covered with plywood.  One small electric baseboard keeps everything toasty warm now.



A new hot water tank was installed and tested.  Both Sarah and I had a funny 'brain fart' when we separately read through the real estate disclaimer that told us the year the hot water tank was installed.  2000 we both thought to ourselves... that's not very old... and we both dismissed it from our minds.  I'm not sure why, but I was taking a second look at the papers after we 'took possession' of our crooked house.  Suddenly it dawned on me... 2000... hmmm... let's think... this may be the oldest working hot water tank in existence!  Crap!  Needless to say... all plumbing including the hot water tank is now replaced.

Red Polls at -36

Cute and frosty by nature these little birds are even cuter when all fluffed up to stay warm. They are like sparrows with prettier plumage.

 

Saturday at -36

A day for hunkering down by the wood stove with a hot cocoa. 

 

New tech

In December I finally broke down and got a smart phone. The watershed moment was when I wanted to rent a peddle bike and I needed a smart phone app.

So far the world hasn't moved for me,  it there are some cool things. I just wish I could figure out how to add photos from my phone to this post. Hey! I think I got it!!

 

Baby Fern - Guardians of the Galaxy Moment...

We've had a wonderfully huge fern for a number of  years. He was a gift from friends who moved away, and he has been gifted to other friends. His hugeness remains undiminished. I meant to sever another portion to take to work, but didn't get around to it before it got cold. This morning, moving Vern back to his accustomed position in the living room window I discovered Vern had a baby!

Crooked House Reno Post #3 - The Game Plan, design and Delivery - The Attic

The Game Plan...
How much time do we have available?  How much do we think this will cost?  How much contingency do we need?  What will the final use and finishes do we want? This is an old crooked house... everything you open, will have to be fixed.

Chris wanted to fix all the dangerous and non-functional aspects of the house.  Sarah wanted some 'lipstick and mascara' otherwise no one would believe we did anything...

The Tear Out... many 'cash only workers' were found for two weekends worth of work.  This period was admittedly so frantic that Topher did not take any pics except 1!  Sorry all.  8 bins of garbage construction materials were removed...

One of the Removal Specialists...

The Attic... the six kinds of insulation we found were all removed and all the old shelving, pipes, walls (that were not supporting the roof) were taken out.


Then we had to figure out what we wanted to do with the Attic.  First... was it safe?  Full dimension 2x4 rafters were braced in different places, some rot and much warping was found.  At least 5 layers of roofing and one layer of plywood had been scabbed on over the decades... making the load on the roof way more than what could be handled.  An engineer was brought in and Topher asked him to calculate for two options... (1) leave braces in place, add materials and bracing to make the rafters strong enough to take the current load + snow/ice loads, and re-insulate, or (2) do some creative framing (thanks for the early lessons Dad) and make it into a room sometime in the future.  Option # 1 would have much greater energy efficiency but option #2 meant more potential square footage.  After much deliberation, Option 2 was chosen because of the significant repairs needed to make things stable and safe just for option #1.


The bracing were removed 1 by one as the rafters were sistered.  Vents were put in by Mammoth Heating and Ventilation for the kitchen and bathroom, and the laundry.

Since this would eventually become a room, the boarded up windows were replaced with new triple and quad pane windows from the 'extras' pile at Northerm... our local window manufacturer.

All of the 2x4 rafters were 'sistered' by 2x8 rafters with ties across the top

The entire attic roof and gable ends were sprayfoamed to seal and stabilize...  New walls were framed to re-form the sides of the room.  All of the electrical had to be replaced upstairs because of how dangerous everything was.  New LED lighting, electrical heat, safe plugs, etc. were installed.