You’ve probably seen it before: A post is embedded in concrete, the concrete breaks, and then the post and whatever its holding up wiggles all over the place. Well, several months ago I got a call about just such a problem at a rental. And, since it was at a rental property, it wasn’t something the owner could simply “let develop”.

I took some pictures as I did the job so I could make this post for you. I’m finally getting the time to do it!

As you can see, the post held up a banister in the middle of a concrete porch. It’s held by two mounting brackets. One is fastened to the concrete stem-wall below the banister, the other holds the post from below. (Click on the images to enlarge them.)

The problem, in this case, turned out to be not broken concrete, but the use of the wrong type anchor. See the lag bolt hanging out of the middle of the anchor in the picture to the left? That is all that was holding these post anchors to the concrete. This particular post anchor was made to fasten a post to a wooden girder, not to concrete. As it aged, the torque of people swinging around the post wore on the metal (and the concrete), loosening it. So, it started to “wobble”.

The anchor at right is but one style designed for embedding in concrete that could have been chosen. It’s also the one we’ll be using for this repair; it will replace both of the old anchors, and will hold the post more securely than both of the originals combined. The bottom shows the tangs that will be embedded in the concrete. The upper ears will grip the post. Lag bolts will go in the two holes the manufacturer drilled into either side — a total of four bolts in all.

But before we can set the new post anchor we have to make a hole in the concrete large enough to receive it. The easiest way to do this is with a jack hammer, of course. In this case I’m using a miniature version. I could have sliced a nice neat square with a masonry saw, but that would have made a bigger cut that I needed, so I didn’t.

Don’t forget to wear eye protection during this phase! As you can see in the picture, there are chips and concrete dust all around the hole I’m breaking. It can, and probably will, get in your eyes too if you don’t protect them.

Once the hole is big enough — with a bit extra around the edges to make sure the concrete patch can get a good grip on the anchor — it’s time to soak it down and mix up the patch. For this job I chose a product called “Rockite” because it’s designed to bond to existing concrete  without scoring and washing the old concrete with acid, and it hardens in less than thirty minutes.

That also means you have to work it fast! Make sure you mix up enough! Too much isn’t a bad thing. But with Rockite you have to do the entire job in one pour, so to little can be a disaster! Mix it up to a thick batter consistency, making sure to mix thoroughly. You don’t want any dry clumps running around in the mix. When it’s thoroughly mixed it should be like a thick batter, but thin enough not to form air pockets in the hole.

Just pour it in and let it spread out. Pour it just a little shy of completely full because, remember, you’ve got to push your post anchor down into the new concrete. If, after doing so it still looks a little shy of full, pull the post anchor up just a bit, pour a bit more of the Rockite into the hole, let it settle for a second or two, then push the anchor back down.

Now you get to take a break while you wait for the Rockite to harden. As it does it will become very hot, so be careful if you go over to touch it. The anchor can get quite warm.

Anyway, you’ll have about enough time for lunch before you can put things back together again. If the Rockite is ready, it’ll be — well, as hard as concrete when you tap on it, though it might still be a bit warm.

At right are the before and after pictures. The “before” picture shows the original post anchor setup after I’ve removed the lag bolts. The bottom picture shows the banister back in place, attached to the new post anchor. Don’t be confused by the discolored spot on the front of the post. That’s just bare wood that was hidden beneath the old anchor. The owner didn’t want me to repaint because the entire building was going to be repainted anyway.

Good luck with you next embedded post repair!

post, concrete, anchor, fence, banister

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Finish stripping is one of those “easy” things that’s a hardware store video favorite. But as I was reminded this last week — it’s not as easy as those store videos make it look. In fact, there’s a lot that’s simply not well known. So, though I originally wasn’t going to write about this little stair stripping job, it seemed a good opportunity for a do-it-yourself entry for the Tips and Tricks section on using chemical strippers.

Introduction & Safety

To Strip or To Sand — That Is The Question
Both have their advantages and disadvantages; both have their place.

Stripping: First, there’s nothing even remotely green and environmentally friendly about chemically stripping a coating. While there are lots of strippers out there, the only ones I’ve found to be worth their time and money are pretty noxious. Some (like the one I’m going to introduce you to below) are down right dangerous!

That said, stripping is sometimes the only viable option for a work piece. Strip sanding that venerable old table might be quick and safe and easy on the environment, but it will also rip the patina right off the table. That venerable old table will look like it just came out of the factory. That’s probably not the effect you want.

Also, sanding an antique will ruin its value as a collectible! (I don’t recommend antique refinishing as a do-it-yourself project. If your appraiser says it needs to be refinished, take it to a professional furniture refinisher.)

Finally, for detailed pieces, sanding the finish out of all the little nooks and crannies is virtually impossible.

Sanding: If the work piece is fairly simple (like our table) strip sanding is a fast and safe solution — assuming you don’t care about the patina. In fact, with a good strip sander, you’ll be done before you’re through cleaning up after your first coat of chemical stripper.

Sanding is really the only way to make a work piece “look like new.” As a furniture refinisher I had jobs where, because of the detail, I first had to chemically strip the work piece to get all the old finish out of the crevices, and then sand it down because the customer wanted “that new look.”

Sanding strips the old patina off of the wood and opens up the grain. If you look at a piece of wood that’s been sanded under a microscope you’ll see little fibers standing straight up, ready to receive and absorb the new finish.

A Few Words About Safety
Most strippers that are going to get the finish off for you with a minimum number of applications are pretty toxic. You’re going to want some safety gear:

• Chemical gloves. Most strippers use solvents that are readily absorbed by the skin, and you’re going to get some stripping solution on your hands. Count on it. You can either get the surgical style nitrite gloves (they’re the green ones) which are great for fine work, or the orange dish washing style gloves (just make sure they’re chemical safe). In the pictures below you’ll see I’m using the latter.
• Saftey glasses. Remember, no matter how “safe” or environmentally friendly the chemical you choose is, it still has to be strong enough to destroy the finish you’re stripping. It’ll do the same thing to your eyes!
• Good ventilation or a respirator. The VOCs in some of these strippers (including the one I’ll introduce you to below) are so potent that breathing them will make your lungs hurt, and make you sick in short order. If you can’t work outside, wear a respirator.

Speaking of respirators, those paper masks are worthless for this kind of thing. In fact, they’re worse than worthless because people use them for all kinds of things for which they were not designed.

Those paper “surgical masks” were originally designed to keep the water vapor of the surgeon’s breath inside the mask, not to protect the surgeon from the patient. On the job site they’re classed as “dust masks”, meaning they help protect you from saw dust and so on. But they’re not even designed to be used around fiberglass, never mind asbestos or paint vapor.

At right is a picture of my mask. It’s one of the models made by the Mine Safety Appliance Company (MSA). Obviously, since I need my mask to work in a lot of different environments, the filters on this mask are good for everything from toxic dusts (including asbestos) to chlorine and sulfur dioxide environments. You might not want something so complete, but you’ll at least want one that’s rated for paint vapors.

How do you know what your mask is rated for? Well first, it’s not the mask, it’s the filters on the mask. On my mask, the filters come off. I can put a lower rated filter on the mask if I want. In fact, I can put a filter on the mask that won’t protect me from the paint stripper VOCs. So if you borrow a mask, check the filters! Make sure they’re rated for the environment you’re going to be in.

In the picture at right you can see the label on the bottom of the filter. The bottom half is green and shows the filter part and lot number. The red top half says “GME-P100″, meaning the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has approved the filter at the P100 level.

In general filters come with one of three different ratings:

P100: Particulate filter; 99.97% efficiency level effective against all particulate aerosols.
N95: Particulate filter; 95% efficiency level effective against all particulate aersolols free of oil; time use restrictions may apply.
R95: Particulate filter; 95% efficiency level effective against all particulate aerosols; time use restrictions may apply.

To help you remember the filter codes, “N” means No protection against oils, “R” means Resistant to oils, and “P” means Proof against oils. The number is the percentage of protection afforded by the filter. So an N100 would provide 99.97% (or better) protection against all particulate aerosols that are free of oil. In general, the “N” and “R” filters are designed to last one work shift (8 hours continuous or intermittent exposure) and then should be changed. The “P” filters should be changed when it becomes difficult (more difficult, actually) to breath.

Below the P100 rating on the filter label is a list of what the filter is effective against. My filter says: “P100/OV/CL/HC/SD/AM/MA/CD/HS (escape)/FN/HF”. Again it reiterates that it’s a P100 rated filter. Referring to the table above, we can see that my filter is rated for OV=Organic Vapor; CL=Chlorine; HC=Hydrogen chloride; SD=Sulfur dioxide; AM=Ammonia; MA=Methylamine; CD=Chlorine dioxide (escape), meaning the filter is only good for escaping from an environment poisoned by chlorine dioxide and cannot be used for working in that environment; HS=Hydrogen sulfide (escape), again only for emergency escape of the environment.

As a final note: Respirators are not military gas masks. They are not design for environments so toxic they’re immediately dangerous to life and health! NIOSH publishes regulatory data on maximum workplace concentrations for all the chemicals listed above (and more, actually). Those are the maximum concentration levels in which these types of respirators are designed to protect you. Exceeding that concentration level is not only stupid, it could cause you permanent lung damage or be fatal!

In practical terms that means: Open the doors and windows in the area you’re working.

The tools and Chemicals

The tools you’ll need for your job depend on the complexity of the work piece and the wood it was made out of. I’m simply stripping stair treads made of redwood, so I really don’t need a great plethora of tools for fine work. For this job I’ve chosen two different sized putty knives, a 5-in-1 tool, and steel wool (not shown). I’ve also got my cat’s paw handy because there are nails sticking out of the treads that I’ll need to pull as I go along. Rags are also essential. Don’t bother with reusables. Once contaminated with chemicals they have to be thrown away, so stick with the disposable paper type.

If you’re working on something more complex than flat stair treads you’ll also find dental tools handy for gently scraping finish out of grooves and other hard to reach places. (Available at Harbor Freight for a few dollars, amongst other places.) Tooth brushes and/or acid brushes are also helpful for detailed work.

There are lots of chemicals on the market to choose from. For this job I chose Greens. The blue can on the left is a “semi-paste”. Jellied chemical that not only sticks to vertical surfaces (which I don’t have), it also evaporates more slowly and so keeps air away from where the chemical contacts the paint for a longer period of time. The can on the right is the liquid form, which penetrates the wood better, and is also handy for cleaning tools. It also evaporates quickly, and so is not as useful for “heavy” stripping.

The downside to Greens is what also makes it so useful: It’s powerful and it’s dangerous! Greens chemicals have no antidote and no thinner. Which is why I spent so much time on safety. If you get it in your eyes, you’re going to lose an eye. If your skin is sensitive and starts to burn, it’s just going to burn (and turn red and all that stuff) until the chemical evaporates — which takes about 15 minutes.

So if you decide to use Greens, please use appropriate safety gear and be careful.

Stripping

The first step in stripping is to clean your work piece of dirt and loose debris. The second is to apply the first coat of chemical. At right you can see me applying the first coat of Greens semi-paste with a chip brush.

Put the chemical on fast and even. Going over and over the area with the brush only breaks the chemical bond between the stripper and the finish, preventing it from working. Quickly coat a workable sized area (one tread, in this case) and the leave it alone. Let the stripper do it’s thing.

It could take quite some time — as long as 30 to 45 minutes for some products — for your stripper to loosen the paint. You’ll know it’s done its thing when the finish is all crinkled up. On this job Greens cut through most of four coats of old paint in about five minutes. Whatever you do, don’t let the chemicals dry on the finish. This, in fact, is the best sign of a poorly designed product. It evaporates before it loosens the paint. That said, if you’ve got a known good product (like Greens) and it’s not doing a good job, recoating is appropriate. Use the same technique as the first time. Put it on evenly and quickly and let it sit.

Once the stripper has loosened the paint, scrape the bulk of it off with an appropriate tool. Since I’ve got a nice big, flat surface, I’m using a four inch putty knife to do the rough work. Clean the scraped up finish off your knife with your 5-in-1 tool. I usually line a paint roller tray with rags and scrape the goo off into it.

Use smaller tools to clean the spent chemicals and loosened finish out any crevices and detailed areas before proceeding. Don’t hurry and apply another coat of stripper before removing all of the first application. Not because you’ll hurt something, but because you’ll be wasting your time. The fresh chemicals won’t be able to reach the left over finish, and so will do virtually nothing.

Take your time. Clean up after your first application, then move on.

On this job I had to apply two coats of the semi-paste to get all the crusty old paint off. But because I did a good job of cleaning up the first application, the second coat cut through the remaining paint almost as fast as I put it on.

Now it’s time for the finishing touches.

I’m working redwood. Redwood is a very soft, porous wood — as are all the conifers (fir, pine, cedar, and so on). Believe it or not, it’s harder to strip a softwood than a hardwood. First, the stripping chemicals are so strong they soften the fibers of the wood. You can’t use detail tools like dental tools and hard bristled brushes on soft woods. You’ll simply cut into the wood without removing any finish. Second, the pigments from paints and stains penetrate the grain and wood fibers, “bleaching” them to the color of the pigment. Unless you sand away the bleached wood fibers, you’ll never get rid of them, no matter how many chemicals you use. (Actually, that’s not entirely true. For white woods you can literally “bleach” the wood back to something resembling its original color, but that’s a different article.)

After the second coat is scraped off I do even more detail work than I did after the first coat — including back scraping with my 5-in-1 to get all the gunk off the wood. Note the angle I’m holding the 5-in-1 at. The last thing I want to do is cut into the wood. Also, you can’t see it, but beveled edge of the tools is facing away from the pull — again to help prevent cutting into the soft wood.

Now I’m down to the wood itself. There’s almost no paint left sitting on the surface of the wood. So now we turn to the liquid. Pour it on, swish it around quickly with the chip brush and let it sit for a few minutes. Then it’s time to scrape it off. Notice in the picture how it’s really a mud. The Greens liquid is literally pulling the paint (the primer coat) from the wood fibers.

All that leaves is the stuff deeply ingrained in the grain and the fibers. More liquid Greens is applied and is worked in with the steel wool. I’m working softwood, so I have to be careful to go with the grain lest I scalp the wood. The picture at right shows what the tread looks like after I’ve thoroughly scrubbed it with the steel wool.

Once this last coat is worked in it’s wiped off with the rags almost immediately, pouring more Greens liquid over the surface to “lift” the gooey grime off the wood. Finally, I apply Greens directly to the rag and go over the wood to lift the film away. Then the work piece is left to dry.

The picture at left shows the finished stair tread (and my tools and rags). Note the “bleached” center of the tread where people have been stepping for a hundred years (that’s how old these stair treads are). Another characteristic of soft woods is that as they wear they “open their grain”, which just makes them wear faster.

On the other hand, the property owner wanted the antique look, and that’s certainly what this will be after a good quality oil finish is worked into this aged redwood. (If it was me I’d put tung oil on it, but I’m not the finisher on this job.)

Enjoy your stripping and refinishing projects! (And if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to write.)

Technorati Tags: paint stripping, finish removal, safety, respirators, chemical stripping

The AP reported this morning that a historic Miami courthouse has been partially shutdown after a “U.S. Public Health Service study [ . . . ] found mold throughout the 166,000-square-foot building.” In fact, the building was making its occupants sick.

Employees have repeatedly complained about such health problems as sneezing, coughing, runny noses and lung irritation, as well as musty odors and water leaks. One law clerk in a second-floor office works from home because of “poor indoor air quality and mold,” the report said.

Note those symptoms. They read like a quote from the National Center for Environmental Health for mold spore exposure.

So what are we to do?

For do-it-yourselfers, here’s a quick mold remediation and prevention list:

• Problem: Leaking air conditioning ducts create moisture around the ducting, creating an environment for mold spores to grow.
  • Solution: Seal all duct joints with flexible mastic.
• Problem: Impermeable vinyl wall coverings trap moisture between the wall covering and the sheet rock, creating an environment for mold to grow on the sheet rock, thereby degrading it.
  • Solution: Use a primer with meldewcide in it on sheet rock prior to installing the wall covering. (Zinsser Bullseye® is my preferred choice of mold killing primers.) Also ensure that any vinyl wall coverings you buy have a permeable paper backing that allows it to “breathe” so that moisture will evaporate naturally.
• Problem: The laundry room.
  • Solution: Laundry rooms should have a floor drain and pan for the washing machine. I haven’t seen a washing machine yet that didn’t at one point or another leak, drip, or spill some water at some time — even if only during servicing or removal. Dryer vent runs should be kept as short as possible, and hose connections kept tight. Dryer air may be hot, but it’s also very damp.
• Problem: Water-resistant dry wall (“green board”) is often used as a backer board for tile work. In fact, in many places it’s still legal to do so. The problem is, “green board” is water resistant, not water proof. Over time it degrades and the tile pulls away, letting mold grow in the gap.
  • Solution: As is now code in most places, cement backer board should be installed over water-resistant dry wall. It remains structurally sound even after repeated wet/dry cycles.
• Problem: Poor venting or no venting at all in the bathroom.
  • Solution: At the very least, open a window. Better yet, especially here in the Pacific Northwest (where the outside air can be just as damp as the bathroom air), leave the door open for awhile after showers, and ajar as a matter of habit. Or, install an externally vented bathroom fan.

    To get rid of existing mold growth, scrub the affected areas with a ½% chlorine bleach solution (i.e. standard laundry bleach), then prime and repaint. Make sure your paint has a meldewcide in it. (As stated above, Zinsser Bullseye® is my preferred choice for this.) If the mold problem was really bad, double prime with a meldewcidal primer before putting on your top coat.

• Problem: Damp/wet/flooded crawl space. Here in the Pacific Northwest, the housing bubble grew this problem to epidemic proportions. New housing tracts were been built on wet lands and sub-areas were dug to as much as a foot below grade. And of course, no thought was given to drainage, nor was it required by the approving building department.

  The result is a craw space so damp (or actually flooded!) that insulation becomes soaked. Not only does it no longer insulate, it becomes a host for mold.

  • Solution: Depending on the severity of the problem, a sump pump may need to be installed in the crawl space. This will require grading the sub area so that water will flow into the basin. Then a vapor barrier should laid over the ground. 90% coverage is the minimum tolerable, but often not achievable due to low clearances. Do the best you can. Re-insulate as necessary and possible.
• Problem: Improper flashing of roof, doors, and windows. Once water is behind the barriers designed to keep it out, the wood framing and sheathing soaks it up, creating an environment for rot and mold.
  • Solution: You can tell if you have a flashing or caulking problem around windows and doors fairly easily: The walls around the doors and windows will become discolored. Roofs should be visually inspected every year or so to make sure the the shingles are in good shape and that flashing is not rusting away. Fixing discovered problems, however, may not be so easy. Whether it’s the roof or the doors and windows, if you have a flashing problem, it will require anything from minor to major disassembly of the roof or trim and siding to correct.

    Failed caulking around windows is more in the do-it-yourselfer’s range. Scrape out all the old caulking with your trusty 5-in-1 tool and clean the groove. Prep and prime the wooden framing around the window (but not the plastic or metal window itself). Once the primer is dry apply a bead of good door and window caulk. (I prefer Sikaflex® caulking.) Finally, when the caulking is dry, prime and paint it.

• Problem: Drainage. A huge problem here in the Pacific Northwest, where we live in a temperate rain forest that gets over 100 inches of rain every year! It’s also one that architects and designers are famous for overlooking.

  An improperly drained property can flood crawl spaces seasonally. It can also allow water to “wick up” into the structure anywhere wood comes into contact with the moisture. And once that happens, you have both a rot and mold problem.

  • Solution: Unfortunately, there is no one solution to fix all drainage problems. And even the most common sense elemental solution — properly grade the property so that water runs away from the building — can be intimidating when you compare the size of your shovel to the size of your yard.

    Sometimes more drastic measures are needed to protect the building: French drains, drainage walls with lift pumps, and drain fields are all common methods of removing excess water from the property, there-by keeping the house itself dry.

• Problem: Use of dehumidifiers — especially portable dehumidifiers. Yeah I know, they’re supposed to dry out the air, thereby reducing the mold problem, not contribute to it. Unfortunately most dehumidifiers are improperly maintained, so they end up providing both a growth medium and a distribution system for mold spores.
  • Solution: If you’re going to use a dehumidifier (they’re really not all that effective), properly clean and maintain it. And be sure to add some antimicrobial solution (available in hardware stores) to the drain pan every time to dump it.

    (Oh, and if you’re one of the few people that has an air conditioner in your home, the same thing goes for its the condensation pan. Clean it thoroughly with that ½% bleach solution mentioned above before firing it up in the summer, then put some of that antimicrobial solution in the pan to prevent mold growth.)

• Problem: I did everything you said and the mold came back!
  • Solution: Yup. We can’t get rid of all the mold. In fact, experts suggest we see less than 10% of the mold that’s really there. Even full blown remediation doesn’t completely eliminate all mold spores from a building. So there’s one more thing you need to do to keep the little buggers under control:

    You have to take steps to keep the entire building warm and dry and well ventilated year around. I mean, from the attic spaces to the crawl space. Usually that means installing a good building ventilation system that’s equipped with a dehumidifier.

    This doesn’t kill the spores. Rather, the air changes remove any air-born spores from the building, while at the same time forcing those that remain in the walls and crawl spaces and so on to go dormant so they’re no longer a problem. Unless you do this, in our damp North West climate, the mold spores will begin to grow and spread again even before that new paint in the bathroom is dry.

If your mold problem isn’t bad, working your way through the steps above will put an end to any mold related health problems you might be having. If your house is really sick (“sick house syndrome”), and doing the above isn’t solving your problem, you’ll need to do full remediation to save the building. For that you’ll need a professional.

Technorati Tags: mold, mold remediation, sick house syndrome, do-it-yourself projects, indoor air quality

WARNING! Permatex® is not a suitable pipe dope! It is especially not suitable pipe dope for potable water! This is so critically important, let me repeat it:

Permatex® is not a suitable pipe dope for potable water! It’s toxic!

Okay. Now that I have that out of my system, let me explain:

Permatex® is a gasket sealant designed for use on engine gaskets. There are two types: Type A which is “hardening”, and Type B which remains pliable. Both types are made of highly toxic chemicals designed to withstand the heat and pressure and contact with engine oil and engine oil additives. It was never designed to be a thread sealant of any kind, never mind household water supplies.

Why am I carping on this? Because I just returned from a job where someone had used Permatex® Type A as a pipe dope on the main water line running into a mobile home. Obviously, the pipes would not come apart the way they’re supposed to. So, I applied heat from a torch. And what did I smell? The distinctive odor of Permatex® gasket sealant.

I suppose the former owner of the mobile home thought he was being clever in getting troublesome galvanized pipe to seal by using it. In reality what he was doing was A) poisoning his family and B) making it impossible to re-plumb without taking that connection completely out of the system. Permatex® Type A does not come back apart once it hardens! I ended up destroying the pipe trying to get it apart. (Hey, I figured I had nothing to lose by trying.)

Anyway, in addition to “Teflon tape” there are two pipe joint compounds suitable for potable water supplies: One is TFE paste, available usually under the hardware store’s label. The other is called Rectorseal®. The latter is better for sealing troublesome pipes that are going to be under high pressure, and for gas applications. (In fact, in some jurisdictions, you have to use Rectorseal® or “yellow dope” on gas lines. Regular TFE paste is not “code”, so check with your local building department before choosing a dope for gas lines.)

For regular water lines TFE tape or paste works just fine. And if you have some old threads that you expect you’re going to have trouble getting to seal, “double dope” them. First, wrap the threads with your tape (one or two wraps, depending on how bad the threads are), then smear a good even coat of TFE paste over that. If the threads are good enough to pull up tight, that puppy will seal!

So, no more Permatex® on the potable water pipes, okay?

Okay!

Technorati Tags: Permatex, Rectorseal, pipe dope, Teflon tape, TFE tape, TFE paste, pipe thread compound

Elizabeth Brokamp over at The Motley Fool got a rude awakening this summer. After the fact, she found out that the air conditioner she put in after her old one conked out isn’t energy efficient enough to get her a tax break. That revelation got her to looking into home improvement projects that do save you money by making your house a little greener. So if you need a way to offset some capital gains this coming tax season, here’s a short list:

• Replace old exterior windows and skylights with new energy efficient designs and deduct 10% of the cost (up to $200). (See my article A Clear View On Glass for more information on selecting windows.)
• Replace old exterior doors and deduct 10% (up to $500).
• Upgrade your insulation to DOE regional standards. This can be complicated. Check with your contractor for what requirements meet your local “standards” for energy efficiency. Also be aware that most insulation on the market isn’t green — far from it! If you have the money, sprayed in expanding foam insulation is by far the best choice for a stud-built home, and there are some very green formulas.
• Mrs. Brokamp also recommends replacing your roof “with a pigmented metal roof”. Replacing your roof (if you need one) is certainly not a bad idea, but “pigmented metal” roofing is hardly the only roofing system out there that meets Energy Star standards. There are a good number of standing seam roofing systems that qualify. The one that’s right for you will depend on where you live. There are also non-standing seam roofing systems that qualify, such as the solar membrane roof. Your new roof not only protects your home, but generates electricity too! Unfortunately, according to Mrs. Brokamp you can only deduct 10% of the cost of the materials up to a max of $500 which, given the cost of a roof system and its installation, is a joke.
• Update heating and cooling systems with energy efficient (i.e. Energy Star) models.
• Go solar! Solar hot water and solar electricity both qualify for tax exemptions — though as with everything that has IRS attached to it, there are a ton of “ifs” “ands” and “buts”.

Still, at least the government is doing something to encourage us to improve the energy efficiency of our homes. So if you need a a few more deductions for your 2007 taxes, and are looking to sink a few dollars into the old homestead, here are some things to look at.

You can read Mrs. Brokamp’s entire article here.

Technorati Tags: Energy Star, tax savings, IRS, windows, doors, roof, roofing, solar, solar hot water, solar panels, heating, cooling

It’s been a busy few weeks here. Along with work, my wife came down with a case of MRSA. So up until last week it had been work, work, work, then come home and take care of her and the house and the puppies . . .

Yes, puppies. Our old labrador had the last litter of puppies she’ll ever have. But in doing so she gave us a gift: A pretty little girl puppy that we named Anniel ("Gift"). Unfortunately, the puppies came at the same time as the Staph infection, so it just added to the stress.

Anyway, on to what’s been going on at ABS.

It’s been busy and hectic, but up until yesterday (Saturday, even) all has been pretty routine.

Then yesterday I got a frantic call from an older fellow living in an old double-wide mobile home. He’d gotten himself into a spot. He tried to melt down the wiring in the place. Totally fried a 50 amp circuit breaker! Worse, he did it trying to wire his new electric stove onto the same circuit as his electric dryer. There were wires everywhere, plugs that here hanging out of the wall. It looked like he was trying to do a do-it-yourself  remodel.

Note: Major electric appliances (i.e. 220v appliances) must be on individual circuits.

This guy was trying to put a 70 amp load on a 30 amp circuit on a box that was only wired for a total of 50 amps. That he cross wired the connection and had to call me is probably the only thing that save him from an electrical fire!

220 wiring is a bit different than 110. With a standard 110 setup you normal have to conductors: Black is "hot" and white is "neutral". If the wiring is relatively modern, you’ll also have an "earth ground" that may either be a bare wire or colored green.

220 has two "hot" wires: One is black, the other is usually red. But on older homes, like this mobile, both "hot" wires were black. Now, different things will happen depending on how you put those wires together:

Red + black = 220 volts. (Or black + black)

Red (or black) + white = 110 volts.

Just make sure you don’t connect the green (or bare) wire to any of the others! (That’s how he melted down his system.) Green (or bare) is earth ground. At your mains box it should be connected to an "earth strap" of some kind. It could be an underground water pipe, or a metal rod that’s been driven into the ground. Again, older homes may not be grounded, but with the sensitivity of today’s electronics, should be.

Another thing I discovered when I entered the house was that the fellow had remove 12 feet of bearing wall from the center of the double-wide mobile. Now, today you can buy a mobile home that’s built almost as well as a house. (Not that you should ever remove a bearing wall without blocks and bracing!) But back in the 1960s, when this unit was built, they were still building mobiles out of the lightest wood they possibly could. One good snow storm this winter and the roof was going to come down on him!

Then I looked under the cook-top counter and found a standard gate valve being used as a gas shutoff valve, and only masking tape covering the flair fitting. The smell of gas was fairly strong.

I recommended he fix that problem immediately if not sooner! I also recommend he brace the ceiling until he could either get the wall replaced or put a timber of some kind up to hold it up.

Technorati Tags: electrical wiring remodeling

I was on my way home from the There’s Water Under the House job when the phone rang. A do-it-yourselfer had gotten himself into a fix. The copper water main under his house had developed a pin-hole leak. He’d tried to fix it himself, but couldn’t get any of his patches to hold. He’d tried solder couplings and compression fittings and had finally thrown up his hands in despair. It was already four-o’clock. In an hour all the hardware stores would be closed, and these people had no water.

Upon inspection the problem didn’t seem that difficult. We needed a few feet of copper, a stopless coupling, and an FIP to copper adapter.

Then I looked at the rest of the copper under the house. It was green and dark brown. Classic signs of electrolysis. Putting new copper pipe up to this old stuff, I could see that half the wall thickness of the pipe had been eaten away. When I hit the old copper pipe with emery paper, I could easily see how pitted it was. Under a microscope it would have looked like the surface of the moon. In some places the old pipe had to be paper thin. In any event, I knew that getting the solder to take and fill all those voids was going to be hard. A dice roll, in fact.

It almost worked. One pin-hole in the new solder joint was all there was. I was actually pleased, but not out of the woods. The leak was entirely too big to let go until the bigger plumbing problem could be addressed. So I pulled an old "fisherman’s trick" out of my hat. You can use it too:

With the water off I took a strip of rubber — an old inner-tube split down the middle and then cut into strips about an 1½" wide will do — and wrapped it around the pipe so as to make three layers of rubber over the pin-hole. Then I clamped the rubber into place with a couple of pipe clamps. When we turned the water on, it didn’t even drip! (I’m sorry I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of this for you. This was a rush job so there wasn’t time. Maybe I’ll get a chance to do a demo for you some time.)

Give it a try next time you have a pin-hole leak in a pipe.

Technorati Tags: there’s water under the house, copper pipe, sweating copper, compression fittings, electrolysis, plumbing, plumbing repairs

It was pointed out to me the other day that not everybody wants to build a new home in order to "go green." Others don’t have the revenue to do a "green up" remodel of their existing home. But they still would like to participate in "the green revolution" green building, green revolution — as it’s now being called.

And I know it’s true. I’ve worked for a lot of folks you over the years who didn’t have a lot of money, but were trying mightily to figure out how to lower the utility bills and their impact on the environment without busting the budget. environmental impact, lower utility bills

So, I thought I’d start a little series here in Tips & Tricks. do it yourself tips and tricks

The fact is, there are a lot of things you can do to improve the energy efficiency energy efficiency of your home. Depending on how handy you are, you can do most of them yourself — or with just a little guidance and advice from your friendly contractor contractor — for anywhere from just a few dollars to less than $2,000 (That’ll be our high end for this series) and everywhere in between.

My goal with this series will be not only to give you some guidance and good-old practical do-it-yourself help, but also to play the roll of "myth buster." There’s as much hype (masked as advice, of course) out there in the green building field as there is anywhere else. Not all of it is true, not all of it is effective, not all of it is even good for you.

So, with all that said and now out of the way, let’s start the series. Today:

Sealing up the doors

door seals

You would be amazed at how much heat leaves a building through the doors and windows, even though the doors and windows are closed! doors and windows

The simple fact is: If your house is more than a few years old, your doors frames are probably no longer square. At the best of times you can slide a piece of paper between the door and the stop. On older homes the gap is often wider in some places than others. More opportunity for air flow around the door and stop, letting either hot air out or cold air in. You can lower your heating costs by between 15% and 40% simply by sealing up your doors and windows! And, it only costs about $17/per door to do.

Fortunately, the fix is simple. You can buy door seal kits, also called "weather stripping" at the hardware store. There are two basic types. weather stripping

1. Self adhesive foam. You simply clean the door stop well, cut the seals to the right length, peel the backing and stick them in place. The down side is: The soft foam usually deteriorates in a few years, making it necessary to replace the seal.

2. Tacked in place. These seals are basically a long piece of rubber or metal tape. The soft rubber side is installed tight against the door stop. The thin tape lays either against the jam or against the stop (depending on style). The tape often has precut holes in it for the miniature finishing nails that hold the seal tightly in place. This type of seal is usually of a higher quality and will last for years.

Note that: If your door is so far out of plumb that it drags against the jam, you should plumb-up the door before installing the seals. If you don’t know how, ask your contractor to help you.

To install you’ll need big scissors or a sharp knife, a tape measure, and a hammer. A pair of needle nose pliers is handy too.

1. Measure the three sides of your door jam and cut your weather stripping into those lengths. Don’t assume your jam is square. Cut and measure each piece individually.
2. Making sure the seal rests in the groove between the jam and the stop, tack it into place with the miniature nails the manufacturer provided. The top jam seal should touch both side jams. The side jam seals should be snug against the top jam seal and just touch the threshold at the bottom. Or if your seal is the type that is screwed into the face of the stop, make sure the “fat” part of the bead just touches the stop.
3. If you have trouble with the little nails, use a pair of needle nose pliers to hold them while while you’re getting them started.

Your door will probably be a bit more difficult to close once the seal is in place as the door has to literally "crush" the seal in order to latch. This is normal. In fact, it’s what you want!

Now, while you’re at it, you may as well install a nice tight door sweep too. A door sweep is an aluminum strip with a soft rubber foot at the bottom. The foot sweeps across the floor without damaging it. When the door is closed it presses up against the threshold and floor creating a much better seal at the bottom of the door. door sweep

To install you’ll need a screwdriver, tin snips, and perhaps a drill. (It depends on whether your sweep comes with self tapping wood screws or regular wood screws.) If you need to drill pilot holes, make sure you use a bit of the size recommended by the sweep manufacturer.

1. Measure the width of your door at the bottom. Don’t assume the door is square and measure at chest level because it’s easier. Measure at the bottom where the sweep will actually be fit.
2. Cut your sweep exactly that width. I try make my cuts so that the little screw holes are evenly spaced from the ends of the door.
3. Now the hard part. Line up your sweep along the bottom of the door. It should just touch the floor when the door is closed.
4. Mark the door with a pencil on the hinge and knob side along the top of the sweep.
5. Mark you pilot holes if necessary. Set the sweep aside and drill your holes. Don’t go too deep. If you want, you can mark the depth on your drill bit with a bit of tape to make sure you don’t go too far. (A bit won’t hurt, but you sure don’t want to drill a hole completely through your door!)
6. Line your sweep back up on your pencil marks and your holes.
7. Starting at the center, sink the screws and you’re done!

Tip: The holes in most sweeps are oblong. Drill your pilot hole in the middle of the oblong hole. That gives you a total of about ¼" adjustment in the sweep even after you’ve drilled and set the screws. Simply loosen the screws, move the sweep, and re-tightening as needed to get the sweep even with the floor.

Finally, if you need more guidance on how to do this job, ask for help at your favorite hardware store. Or, you can search around the web. There are lots of do-it-yourself sites, some with more graphical help than I have time to provide (sorry!). Finally, you can email mail me at michael@altbuildingservices.com and I’ll try to help.

Next time: Window seals!

Technorati Tags: green building, green revolution, environmental impact, lower utility bills, do it yourself tips and tricks, energy efficiency, contractor, door seals, doors and windows, weather stripping, door sweep

A light day, today. Mostly paperwork with one little service call that started out drawing on the oldest of components to the old business: appliance repair.appliance repair

A lovely young mother of a newborn called me because her dishwasher seemed to be spontaneously leaking all over her kitchen floor. And, she said, her garbage disposal wasn’t working either.garbage dispsal, dishwasher

As it turned out, there was nothing wrong with the dishwasher. There was also nothing seriously wrong with the garbage disposal. Grease buildup had gummed things up to the point that it didn’t want to work. A bit of hot water and a bit of working with “the special wrench” and it was back in operation — if only for a short time. It is old and is heating up just from running, so it’s an appliance that’s on its last leg. But for now, it works.

That leaves — The Leak!

Which was comprised of one loose fitting and one missing gasket seal. Actually, the seal wasn’t missing, it was on the back side of the nut.

So here’s a new adage for the home handyman: “LEFT loose it leaks. Do it RIGHT it’s tight.”

And of course: Don’t forget the seals. They belong BETWEEN the nut and the male threads, not behind the nut.do it yourself, plumbing, plumbing leaks tips and tricks

Technorati Tags: appliance repair, garbage dispsal, dishwasher, do it yourself, plumbing, plumbing leaks tips and tricks

Ever found one of those pipe connections that just seemed "loose" or that wouldn’t turn down tight? Maybe you’re dealing with old, bunged up threads and don’t want to deal with the hassle of re-plumbing (who does?). Well here’s a tip for you that just might make those sloppy/bunged-up threads hold pressure:

Double dope it!

First, wrap the male thread end with TFE tape. Do it once or twice (or even thrice) depending on just how sloppy the threads are. Then, on the female side, goop the threads up with a thin, even coat of Rector-Seal®.

Mate them and turn down tight.

If this doesn’t solve your problem you’ve got bigger problems! You’re going to have to either repair the damaged threads (sometimes possible) or remove the pipe/fitting that is damaged and replace it.

The threads of plastic pipe and fittings are really susceptible to damage. It’s also easier to stop leaks in plastic pipe with this little trick because the threads are softer.

While no trick is perfect, you’ll likely find this one really handy time and time again!

Happy plumbing!