Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[liv2ski]

The open trench is really not practical, as I would have to go through my neighbor's yard, whereas the reliner appears to be no fuss no muss.
After looking at his camera, as it went down my line, I went aaah fuck and told him let's do this. So yeah, hopefully in 3 weeks I never have to snake that fucker again in my lifetime.

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[dan_pdx]

Thanks everyone for the thoughts on my leaky basement issue. Sorry for the slow response but for some reason I was expected to a bunch of actual work today (the nerve!).

Here's a (admittedly crappy) photo of what I'm dealing with: https://imgur.com/a/VYtbnTR. At work so grabbed it from Street View. You can see the whole area is above the sidewalk / street level. That's about a 70-foot driveway, and the top is maybe 3-4 feet above sidewalk level.

Leak in the basement is approximately where the red arrow is, roughly below that back window. We actually paved that area last summer and installed a heat pump there. Before paving, we had another 5 feet or so of flower bed, and we had about the same amount of leaking that we do now: up to maybe 4 cups after a real downpour, otherwise just a cup or two on wet days. I really thought the paving would fix things - the new slab is graded toward the driveway and has a lip at the downhill side so any rain that falls there runs to the driveway rather than into the flower bed.

The other suspect area is at the back of the house. There's a paved area behind the house / to the left of the garage that's graded towards the house. There's a channel drain like this one https://www.homedepot.com/p/NDS-Pro-...-764/203787428 running parallel to the sidewalk on the back edge of the house, so any water coming towards the house there should run into the drain - it's maybe 8' long. It's installed in concrete and looks like a professional / tight installation. It's under some external stairs and was pretty gunked up, so I cleaned that out a few weeks ago and tested it with a bucket. It seems to be working as expected: water is flowing in and flowing out one end to run down the driveway.

To get to specific questions...MattiG, yes, the indoor basement wall is dry and it's lath and plaster so if water was coming down through the wall I'm pretty sure we'd know about it. Water seems to be coming from one spot on the foundation wall close to the floor. As you can see from the photo, we have pretty good grade on the driveway, so the basement floor back there at the top of the driveway is probably about at the level of the sidewalk, maybe higher. It does happen only during / after rain. Thermal camera is a great thought, thanks for the offer of a loan - I'd definitely like to take you up on it.

Californiagrown - re high groundwater, I'm not sure, but this is the only spot where we've ever had leaking that wasn't obviously caused by a downspout. Given the house is above street level, I _think_ high groundwater isn't likely, but I'm not positive. The area right adjacent to the leak is under cement now but we could go down another 3-4 feet closer to the street and do that test hole. I'm a little annoyed that seems like such a good idea because it also seems like a PITA - the hole will be about 5' deep. I'm digging (no pun intended) your McGuyver solution too.

XXX-er - nope, no drain tile or sump pump, just an old ass (the house was built in 1913) poured cement foundation.

[dan_pdx]

Fucking apostrophes, goddamn

[shroom]

when I went through this I simply found a hole drilled in the foundation that was not patched. whodathunk

foundation drain while it was open

[XXX-er]

when I went through this I simply found a hole drilled in the foundation that was not patched. whodathunk foundation drain while it was open



here in the swamp country they will cut the bottom out of a 5 gallon pail to use for the sump pump form, pour the basement slab around it and that is where the sump pump lives, mine even has a 115V plug in for the sump pump which for some reason was missing





its so fucking swampy here there are springs at the top of a hill while the town is muc lower




so building up on the hill land means shit, my buddy the sewer guy told me he would build french drains to deal with people's water proelms but it would just be deflected down hill to someone elses house

[nickwm21]

I’m going to be that guy….

It’s called concrete, people. Concrete. Not cement.

You call it cake. Not flour. It’s cake.


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[dan_pdx]

I don't know man, is there really anything better than chocolate flour with chocolate frosting?

Okay, mea culpa. I actually know there's a difference, I can just never remember which is which

[BFD]

since we have a cement expert. I am getting my house stuccoed. It is getting below freezing at night. My contractor is using Quikrete Thermo Lube as an accelerant. The limitations say "Limitations: Contains Calcium Chloride. Donot use in areas that will be in contact with steelreinforcing." So the scratch coat is definitely going over chicken wire. Should I be worried? Seems like this is a pretty common practice with stucco. The job looks good so far. I am trusting Morales construction to do a good job.

[nickwm21]

The reason you don’t see a lot of PCP/stucco is cold climates is due to the challenges scheduling install around freezing temps… I bet your installer has had success with their method but I would be highly highly skeptical.


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[Mazderati]

I bet Morales is the guy that says, "that's how we've always done it."

[::: :::]

this seems like a bad time of year to stucco a house in AK

Might try in here for info (not sure on paywall issues)
https://nwcb.connectedcommunity.org/...eSI6bnVsbH0%3D

[XXX-er]

Its been -26 aand today its 2, so around here contracters have it worked out so they are skiing or sledding or doing inside work or doing another job or even framing ... anything but a weather dependant outside job

[old goat]

"It’s called concrete, people. Concrete. Not cement."Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[BFD]

the house is in SW colorado. They have only placed the stucco when it has been above 40. They have also paid attention to where the sun is and have worked the areas when they are the warmest. They have also stopped work by 4 to give the concrete a couple of hours to cure. I have checked it each evening and morning and not seen any cracking. I am a bit concerned about the final acrylic coat. The stucco will sit for 3 days before the acrylic coat so hopefully any problems will show up. I was mostly wondering about the Thermo Lube degrading the chicken wire. But I will probably be long dead before that happens.

[::: :::]

That process seems sketch to me with those temps, but I am just a specifier, not a trade expert. So that kind of testing the boundaries is beyond my experience.
I do hope it turns out well. Not trying to be a downer.

[jackattack]

Looking for advice in seeking design help on a remodel. We recently purchased a home built in 1980. For the most part its all original except for a recent facelift to list to sell, so its been painted basic white and gray. We want to re-design the Kitchen and Primary bath and update the second full bath. We would also like to extend the living room on to the covered porch (no alteration to the existing roofline.) The only heat source is electric, so Im considering updating the electric ceiling heat and installing an air source heat pump for the main floor and basement. this is the piece that Im most keen to use a professional design firm to do proper energy modeling to size the system appropriately. I would really like to have a cohesive design plan before starting this project that can serve as a roadmap for a series of phases of work, starting with the main living areas, then the basement, and finally the exterior. What type of professional should I seek to help with the design phase of this project? Is this something you think a homeowner can/should GC? I am moving into the stay at home dad phase of life and it would like to have a project and a place to go 40 hours a week minimum this spring and summer.

[plugboots]

We recently bought a house and it’s been really good to live there for a bunch of months as we figure out exactly how we’d want to remodel.
We bought and remodeled a house in 2006 and one of the things we absolutely would’ve changed is we put radiant heat in the upstairs and we never use it because the heat rises, and it’s just plenty warm upstairs, (as an example).

[::: :::]

Perfect project for you. Altho it will compete with dad duties for the level of complexity involved. It does take a bunch of time to learn the right resources and then incorporate them thoughtfully.

Given that it’s a partial reno of an existing structure that you are not doing a full shell update on, you will not be able to do a fully achieve a high performance building. So consider in your research how air / vapor flow will be affected by the various decisions. Rightsizing the hvac will need to consider the remaining leaky house volumes.

[shroom]

I think you know enough. try not to move pipes much and batch your subs. I paid for an interior designer but probably wouldn’t again, and your taste is impeccable.

[XXX-er]

A carpenter bud is working on a 100+ year old store on main street that is being reno'ed for a new MJ store, buddy tells me the further into it they get the more it became obvious they should have just knocked it down but the sunk cost means s they gotta keep going, the new owners want to open on 4/20 the carpenter sez probably not, the owners will have sell a lot of reeefer to pay for it

[old goat]

What plugboots says. Live in it before remodeling. We bought a house, my wife wanted to open the wall between the entry and the dining room. 40 years later the wall is still there and she can't remember why she wanted t o open it. Gray is the avocado of the 2020s.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

Avocado is an amazing color.

[old goat]

For guacamole.

[XXX-er]

Is it just me but do those new colors remind you of a hospitol corridor and how could they paint a vehical that color and expect me to buy it, i had to order white from the factory

[californiagrown]

I’m going to be that guy…. It’s called concrete, people. Concrete. Not cement. You call it cake. Not flour. It’s cake. Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

My little boys books all call it a cement mixer, or a cement truck. I just replace that with concrete when reading him books, or playing with his toys. Poor guy is gonna grow up convinced that you spell concrete C-E-M-E-N-T.