Thursday, January 29th, 2009
If there is one thing that I have noticed during this winter, it’s that the bathroom is really cold in the morning. I keep the door closed because I want to concentrate the heat, so that might be the reason. Either way, the whole thing got me thinking.
Can bathroom exhaust vents cause your house to lose heat? I am thinking yes. I did a Google search on this and came across a good article on “Ask The Builder” entitled, “Bathroom Exhaust Fan Leaks Cold Air.” It pretty much covered what I was thinking.
Basically, a bathroom exhaust fan is simply a fan attached to a hose that leads outside. The fan pushes the moist air you create from taking a shower outside, so you don’t rot everything in your bathroom. Some of the fancy fans have lights in them and I am told that the fans vary in quality. I guess they are supposed to have flaps in them too. The flaps stop the cold outside air from leaking directly into your bathroom and house.
I just walked into the bathroom to see if any cold air was leaking through the fan. I put my hand up to the vent and didn’t feel any cold air. Since that felt okay, I pulled down the attic door and went upstairs to see what that looked like. I saw both bathroom vent hoses leading outside. Nothing seemed too out of place.
Now that I am downstairs, I am thinking that I didn’t really do much to see if there was a problem. I mean, I still have to take the vent cover off to see if the vent flap is closing nice and snug. If not, I have to fix that. Then, I would like to cover the exposed vent hoses with insulation. An exposed vent hose in a cold attic can cause the air in the hose to get cold. That air can enter the house if the vent flap isn’t working correctly. Do you see where I am heading with this? I guess it doesn’t help that the boiler is kicking on and off all night, creating a vacuum in the house. Cold air is probably being pulled in through those vents.
I might need to do some more exploration to see if there is some sort of a “makeup air intake port” anywhere around. If not, I probably need to put one in.
Now, I admit, I am no expert at this. Any advice would be appreciated.
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Wednesday, January 28th, 2009
Throughout this winter, I have been putting together a short mental list of things I am going to tackle once the good weather arrives. I thought I might share that list with you, partly to entertain you and partly to remind me what in the world I had on my mental list once I have the urge to do some of these things.
EXTERIOR:
1. Order tons of pine trees from ArborDay.org and plant them all over the place.
2. Get the lawn in order.
3. Begin work on Laura’s garden. Need fencing and shrubs.
4. Clean out under porch. Take nails out of 2×4s and stack somewhere else so they are hidden. Throw out vinyl lattice (unless of course you want it).
5. Order more pellets to restock basement for next year.
6. Repair driveway again from this winter’s damage.
7. Admire mailbox.
8. Order 30 yards of mulch.
9. Mulch front garden and top off last year’s mulch.
10. Enlarge garden in front to include those 3 large rocks. Mulch that too.
INTERIOR:
1. Finish painting upstairs bedroom.
2. Remove carpet and tile from downstairs (main floor) and install tile over the whole area.
3. Paint downstairs (main floor).
4. Continue wondering how difficult it would be to replace suspended ceiling in basement with sheetrock.
5. Continue fantasizing about turning the laundry room into a giant bathroom with a giant bathtub and a giant shower.
6. Finish painting upstairs.
Wow, that’s quite a list. Am I going to get all these things done this spring? Heck no. I think I might be able to get those pine trees though. I am getting tired just looking at that list.
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Tuesday, December 4th, 2007
This place stinks.
I mean, it really does. I woke up this morning with a plan. My plan was that I was going to make a plan…no, I mean it. I am talking about the kitchen. I’m sorry, but whenever I think about sanding and spackling walls, I get very demotivated. It’s helpful to think of projects in small chunks. My plan is to tackle a bit of the kitchen each day…one wall at a time.
Well, today I painted the ceiling. It’s not exactly a wall, but it did need to get done. There wasn’t really anything wrong with the old ceiling color, besides the fact that there was something along the lines of spaghetti sauce spots on it. Laura and I kept looking at a rather large one for about two years, until I got the courage to wipe it off. Who knows how these things happen. Anyway, now it’s a nice bright white.
The other thing that was wrong with the kitchen ceiling was its yellowish tint. I think someone who lived here was a heavy smoker. They had to be…all the walls were yellow. At one point, I’m sure the white ceilings were whiter, but the tar in the cigarette smoke took care of that. I believe the people who lived here had kids too. Good luck with that. The kitchen is the last room that needs to have the yellow covered up. It felt great to roll a new shade of white over the yellow white.
Also, today I bleached the walls of the shower/bathtub. I needed to really clean the grout so I could seal it. If you have ever used straight bleach to clean with, you can understand what I am talking about. Those noxious fumes can bring you down. I tried to hold my breath, but had to keep running in and out of the bathroom so I wouldn’t faint. That’s all Laura needs to come home to.
That’s why this place stinks. There is a wonderful mix of drying paint and bleach floating through the air.
I took this picture of Simon the other night. He was sleeping with his head up. Sometimes he does that, so I thought it would be interesting for my readers to see, especially if they don’t have a cat capable of doing something like this. He is for rent. Call me.
In other news, last night was a windy sonofabitch. I hate the wind. I kept getting up to see if the recycling cans on the porch blew off. If they did, I would be spending the day cleaning up paper. Good thing they didn’t.
The picture above is the front yard with a little bit of snow on it. It actually was snowing, but the camera didn’t pick that up. You will have to use your imagination.
I miss you.
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Thursday, November 29th, 2007
I had to run down to the tile place today to pick up the extra tile that wasn’t used on the bathroom floor. It was a whole box. I got it and put it in the basement for safe keeping. While I was there, I struck up a conversation with the fine lady about remodeling kitchens (we have to do ours). She gave me a business card for a local kitchen place, right up the road. I noticed a website address on the card, so I gave it a visit. I looked at all the pictures on the website and at the information. I got all motivated and accidentally started ripping up the kitchen floor.
This is the before shot…well, I started a little of the floor.
This is a picture of most of the floor ripped up, before I moved anything around, like the refrigerator or stove.
This is what I got done today. Do you know what this means? Commitment. I really wasn’t planning on starting the kitchen so soon. But then again, I am not sure I planned any project I started here.
As I look at the guts of the whole thing, I am noticing that there really isn’t too much to it. We were planning on keeping things the same way and just updating everything, but now I am thinking that we make an “L” out of it instead of the hallway thing that was going on. The main reason we wanted to keep the same layout was because I didn’t really feel like moving the power source for the stove and we were going to keep the tile on the wall above the counter tops. When I moved the stove, I found the power source actually closer to where the stove would be if we changed the layout. Also, the tile is crap, so it’s coming down.
I can take my time with this project because, unlike the bathroom, we can function in the kitchen while it’s a construction zone. Remember, we are moving in an estimated two years, so we will try to make some less-expensive decisions.
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Sunday, November 25th, 2007
Well, that wasn’t so bad. A few weeks of a bit of work here and there and I have gotten myself to the point of (almost) completion. All I have to do now is caulk and paint the moulding that goes around the inside of the bathroom door.
I did a few odds and ends yesterday. We really needed a shower caddy. Laura suggested that we not get the usual one that hangs from the pipe to the shower head. She said they get disgusting with the water dripping on everything, making stains and all that. I had to agree. If I didn’t agree, she would have belted me over the head with a wiffle ball bat. So, we wanted one that the water wouldn’t hit. Here is the one we got…
Now, THAT’S a shower caddy. I have never seen anything like that in my life, but I will tell you that it holds everything. There is no more mess standing on the edge of the bathtub.
Also, just recently, the “hot” side of the bathroom faucet decided to start leaking. When I would shut off the water, it would drip and drip and drip. I decided to get a new faucet. I wasn’t going to mess around with the guts of the old one. Here is what I installed yesterday. It was a little tougher than I thought.
Lastly, I put down the threshold moulding for the doorway. I had to screw this down because I thought that hitting big finishing nails into the floor so close to the new tile would have a harmful effect. It’s ok…I kind of made a mess of things while drilling the holes in the center. Those new drill bits I got are really sharp.
That’s it. One last thing to do today and I am going to start on the kitchen. But this time, someone else is doing it.
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Thursday, November 22nd, 2007
The tile guy came over at 8AM this morning to finish up the tiling. All he had to do was the grout.
I must’ve gotten up about eight times last night for various reasons. I do this all the time when I am expecting someone to come over early in the morning. I heard a bump at about 6:30AM and I hopped out of bed. It wasn’t him, but I just stayed awake.
He did a really nice job. We both put the toilet back in (of which I bought the correct bolts). Then, after he left, I put the vanity back in and hooked up the plumbing.
All I have to do now is to hang the door moulding and installed the threshhold moulding on the floor in the doorway. It should look nice. After that, THE KITCHEN!!!
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Wednesday, November 21st, 2007
Well, that was pretty quick. The tile guy came at about 9AM and left around 11:30AM.
I am pretty happy that there were no hiccups. When he first showed up, I went outside to greet him. I told him that I was going to be the best little helper he ever had. Then, I came inside and did some work. He hardly even saw me. Whoops.
So, here are some photos…
This is the empty bathroom. I made a little mess while taking the toilet off this morning. Also, the wood in the corner was a little wet from the shower, but still strong. He stomped on it just to make sure.
He put a layer of thin set down and then put a cement-type board on top of that.
This is all the cement board down.
This is the cement board fastened to the floor.
Ok, here we go with the tile.
…and it’s done. Well, tomorrow morning he is coming back to do the tile grout. I ordered a brown grout to match the tile. From the pictures above, it doesn’t look like the tile matches the walls much, but they do match the bathroom. The wall tiles have more of a shine to them, but it’s ok. The floor tiles match the upper portion of the walls.
People have told me how easy it is to tile and that I could do it myself. After watching him install this tile, I am going to have him do the kitchen as well. I don’t feel like it’s worth it for me to buy the tools and find the time to learn how to tile, especially when it’s a once in a blue moon kind of thing. I am happy he did it.
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Thursday, November 15th, 2007
If you starting seeing my hand in magazines, don’t be surprised. As you can see, my hand is model quality and I hope you appreciate it.
Back when I was taking up the tile in the bathroom, I noticed that the sub-floor to the side of the toilet was a little wet. I thought this could be caused by two things…the water that shoots out of the shower because of having a lousy shower curtain setup or from the toilet tank sweating. I have recently come to the conclusion that most of the moisture is coming from the shower, so when we put the tile in, I will make sure things are nice and caulked back there.
I did notice a small ring mark around the toilet tank feed pipe as well. This leads me to believe that during the summer, that pipe (and maybe the toilet tank) sweats due to the heat and humidity. There are a few ways one can deal with this type of issue. You can insulate the inside of the toilet tank, insulate the feed pipe, run hot water into the toilet or install a tempering valve. I think the best thing to do is to purchase a pre-insulated toilet tank and wrap some pipe insulation around the feed pipe. There are mixed views on the tempering valve.
Mr. Paul was kind enough to give me a tempering valve that he was not using. I think he said he changed the size of his piping, or something like that. That’s fine with me, because I wouldn’t mind giving the tempering valve route a try.
Some people have claimed that after installing a tempering valve, they didn’t notice any difference and their tank still sweat. I hear that more often than not and I think it is because of the length of pipe from the hot water heater and the toilet tank. By the time the warm water gets to the tank, it’s already full. What’s the way around that? I would guess it would be to hook the hot water up directly to the toilet tank. That way, when the toilet is flushed, the cold water in the pipe will partially fill the tank and then the rest will be filled by the hot water. I am not sure if I have ever heard of anyone recommending that, so don’t do it. Actually, you can do it and then leave a comment here letting us know how it worked out. Just don’t yell at me if it turns out bad.
When I get a chance, I am going to install the tempering valve. I think that having it is better than not and I also want to use my new torch again.
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Monday, November 5th, 2007
I just got back from Home Depot. I bought a “Super Ring” to place over the exisiting closet flange (part of the toilet drain pipe). I am not sure I needed this part, but I wanted to have it on hand, just in case I notice a problem when I remove/replace the toilet after the tiling is done. As I mentioned before, when I was unscrewing one of the mounting nuts, the bolt kept on turning. I am thinking that perhaps the closet flange is cracked in that area. Someone most likely tried to over-tighten the toilet mounting bolts.
Along with the “Super Ring,” I also bought some brass mounting bolts. It’s my understanding that the steel mounting bolts decay due to moisture and the brass ones don’t. In the package were traditional mounting bolts as well as bolts that have half machine threads and half wood threads. So basically, these are about 2 1/2 inch rods. I am still at a loss of why I can’t just drill holes through the floor and slide bolts right through the whole thing. I mean, everything is easily accessible down in the basement and there is just a piece of plywood between floors. This stuff isn’t rocket science.
I suppose I will just use the wood threads and tap into the plywood sub-floor. That is probably the easiest route.
It is becoming apparent to me that many things having to do with household repairs make no sense. People make products that are way too complicated for what needs to be done.
Oh, by the way, I also saw flexible sink drain hose. It just clamps on. Someone out there is thinking.
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Sunday, November 4th, 2007
I thought I should take a few pictures to show you what I was talking about in the last post when I mentioned that I was having difficulties with moving the vanity, due to the water feed pipes.
From my previous post…
Well, then I hit a snag. I opened the doors to get under the sink. I removed all the stuff under there and noticed that there was a drain pipe (PVC) and two copper water feed pipes. Well, the two copper pipes were poking up through two holes drilled in the thick wood base of under the sink. I started to think how the heck I was going to get the sink pulled out, when there was no way to do that with those pipes the way they were. I had to drill, grind and cut a chunk of the wood base away. I must say, the first time this vanity was installed probably was a snap. Removing it wasn’t. That took a few hours, I’m sure.
Do you see what I am talking about? I had to cut away that big chunk. I have to admit that I sat there for a few moments scratching my head, wondering how I was going to do that. I began by using my new Dremel, but later moved on to my reciprocal saw. The really hard part was getting to that board in the back, going down the wall. After I cut that, things were a little loose. I had to ask Tim next door for some wood. He gave me a chunk, which I cut and screwed in underneath as a brace. It’s good now.
Also, the drain pipe was leaking a little. Let me ask you a question…but first, take a look at this picture –
Who is the genious who thought up the idea of having 15 different pieces of PVC for about 12 inches of pipe? I mean, cars, buses, trucks and airplanes use nice, flexible pieces of hose all throughout their engines. They are under all different types of stress…temperature, movement and wear and tear. Those hoses last for years. Now, we move over to under a sink. The distance is less and the stress is much less. Yet, we need all different pieces to go one foot with a bend. WHOAAAA. A whole bend. Couldn’t we just use a flexible piece of hose with a bend in it with two hose clamps? I guess not. I went down to the hardware store this morning with this idea in mind. Nope, I came back with two packages and six different pieces. Oh yeah, by the way…can you think of a sink drain pipe that has ever leaked? Yeah, that’s a hard one. They leak too.
Sooo, I put that back together and we can use the sink again. Now, just waiting for the flooring guy to get here.
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