On Thursday I hired my son and a couple of his friends to finish ripping walls out of our little Cape Cod (which will become a rental, eventually), so I can rewire the whole house.  It is a 1950 house that has had the electrical systems so patched and spliced over the years that you couldn’t make heads or tails of it, so I just decided to start from scratch and redo the whole system.  That’s for another blog post, though.

Friday, I took the day off to make a working weekend of the holiday.  My son and I got an early start (6:30am) an took a load of construction trash from our Cape Cod remodel project to the landfill.  On the way back we picked up a 36″ trencher from Grand Rental Station, Aquia, VA.  We spent most of the rest of the day running a 300′ trench from the house to the workshop at the “outhouse” (named by my son because of the stench of dog urine in the house).  The previous owner had build a nice 35X55 insulated metal building on a concrete foundation (destined to be my “man-cave”), installed industrial flourescent light fixtures and wired outlets, but never ran electricity to it.  He probably intended to have the power company run a separate power line and meter to it.  Here’s my plan:

In previous workshops of mine, I have found 100 Amp service to be adequate for my needs.  My workshop consists mainly of 220V single-phase woodworking tools with +/- 3hp motors.  I have 6-8 major tools and the rest are 110V hand tools.  I occasionally do mechanic work and every once in a while I do some welding with a stick or mig welder.  So far 100 Amps has been fine, so that’s what I planned for this workshop.  Eventually, when I have my dream workshop, I’ll probably run a 200A service, maybe even 3-phase, but not this time.

I plan to install a 100 Amp breaker in the 200 Amp service panel of the house and label it Workshop.  I will run 2/0-2/0-2/0 service cable, like what you can find at Home Depot and Lowes at about $2.49 and $2.27/ft, respectively, for the 300′ run to the workshop from the house.  That cable is rated at 150A, so it is more than adequate and if someone chooses to upgrade the service at a later date they can probably go to a 200A service and not have to change the cable.  It is assumed you won’t be running all the tools at one time, so the cable rating is less than the service amperage (Consult an electrician for more information.  I’m just a DIYer.)  The county told me this cable is approved for direct-burial, so that’s what I plan to do.  I will protect it above ground, where it goes into the buildings, by encasing it in 1-1/2″ plastic conduit.  While I don’t believe that is required by code for that type of cable, it seems prudent to me.  That will provide 100A at 220V to my workshop.

Inside the workshop, there will be a 100A service panel with a 100A main breaker and room for 6 circuits.  That will be sufficient for my needs.  If I need to expand it, I’ll add a separate sub-panel.  This arrangement will have a 100A breaker at the house as a shutoff, as well as a 100A main at the workshop as a shutoff.  Overkill, but it will be convenient to be able to shut off the electricity at the box in the workshop to do work, on the electrical system.  Up at the house, adding the 100A breaker is the only way I know to connect the workshop power to the house power and still have it run through the house’s 200A main breaker.  Any other way makes it a 300A service.

I plan to run Cat-5e telephone cable (for ethernet connection to the house) and a video cable to the workshop as well.  Those will be encased all the way in 3/4″ plastic conduit.  I plan to bury the service cable in at least 6″ of dirt before laying the Cat-5e and video cable in on top, in order to reduce electromagnetic interference from the service cable.  I don’t know if that is really a problem, but I recall from a previous project that it was recommended that video and ethernet cables cross power cables with at least 6″ clearance and at right angles for that reason.

By the way, I got the proper permit from County Zoning and Planning for the electrical work for my workshop.  I want everything done right, inspected, and approved.  If you don’t do this, you will have to make a choice when you sell the house.  Either you will choose to be honest and disclose on the Homeowner’s Disclosure form that you did work without a permit, possibly hampering your ability to sell the house, or you will lie and indicate on the form that all work was properly permitted and done.  If you lie, you open yourself up to possibility of lawsuit down the road.  Honesty is always “the best policy.”

TTH

On Saturday morning work began on the “big house”, which my 18 year-old son calls “the outhouse”, due to the stench of dog urine.  I have been told the former owner kept as many as 30 dogs in the house as if it were a kennel.  The amount of urine apparent on the subfloors after we got the carpets out is absolutely astounding.  There were two places where the quantity of urine was concentrated to the extent that the OSB subfloor was actually delaminating.  The urine had swelled the wood and dissolved the adhesives.  These pieces of subfloor had to be removed and replaced. 

I forgot to get photos as my son and I were doing the work, so I went back over this evening to take some shots, but my camera battery died.  I’ll post some pictures tomorrow evening.

Anyway, I was very pleased with what I found out about how the house was built as I ripped up subfloor, but I found myself wishing it hadn’t been done quite so well.  The 23/32 OSB was glued, screwed on the edges, and nailed with 10 penny coated nails on the joists.  No squeaks in this floor!  We had a very tough time ripping up the subfloor.  We removed and replaced one 4X8 sheet complete and three smaller partial sheets.  Here’s how we did the job:

First, we identified the specific portions of subfloor that we felt were the worst damaged and could not be mitigated by sealing with Kilz primer.  If the subfloor was the least bit soft or mushy, or felt less than solid in any way, it was marked for removal.  We determined where the floor joists were and marked our cuts with a chalk line.  We tried to use the factory edges as much as possible, to incorporate the tongue-and-groove (T&G) in the repairs.  Anywhere we did not have a T&G edge, I made sure the cut landed on a floor joist or I supported from beneath with a 2X4 scabbed to the joist (such as where a cut was next to a wall and I could not make the cut on a joist).

Next, we used a cordless Makita impact drill and a square-tip bit to remove as many screws as we could along the edges of the subfloor panel to be removed.  We used a “cat-claw” tool and a hammer to remove as many nails as we could find.  Then I cut the large panels into smaller, more manageable portions by setting my Skilsaw circular saw to a depth just a hair deeper than the subfloor. I ran a cut the length of the 4X8 panel and began prying in the middle, so as to avoid damaging adjacent subfloor and to be able to pull the panel out in sections, preserving the T&G edges of the adjacent panels.  We used “flatbar” prybars, such as those available at Home Depot and Lowes and any reputable construction supply for about $7-8, and a small crowbar.  This was when I was wishing the builders hadn’t been quite so conscientious.  The subfloors came up in pieces because the glue was stronger than the OSB.  That was a very tough job.  If you ever decide you have to remove any subfloor, make sure there is no other way to mitigate the problem first.  It is a tough job!

Next, I had my son go over the open floor joists with a 1 1/2″ wood chisel to remove the glue and remaining wood chips to provide a fair surface for the new subfloor panels.  He made sure not to cut into the joist, while removing all glue and wood chips from the top edge.  Any lump or chip left on top of the joist could create a squeak or hump later.  While he did that, I started removing screws and nails from the next target.

The next place was on the landing at the top of the stairs on the second floor.  I had to remove about 7 feet of stair rail to facilitate the subfloor removal.  That was a simple matter of popping wood plugs out of their holes with a wood chisel, then using my impact drill to remove the screws holding the bottom of the rail in place on the floor.  I then removed the screw holding the top rail to the corner post where two rails meet at right angles, and the whole section was free without even the need to disassemble it.  I followed the same procedure as above for the removal.

Once the joists were clean, I removed the bottom side of the groove edge on the replacement panel with a chisel, creating a rabbeted edge from the groove edge.  It would probably have been easier to set the circular saw shallow and just cut it off.  We then laid a healthy bead of Liquid Nails construction adhesive on the top of the joists and prepared to lay in the replacement 4X8 panel.  We lifted the panel into place with the tongue side against the groove side of the adjacent panel.  As we laid the panel into place, we shoved the tongue up tight into the groove.  Now, when the panel was laid into place, since I cut off the bottom of the goove side of the replacement panel, it laid into place on the tongue of the other adjacent panel as a rabbeted joint instead of a tongue and groove.  There is no other way to do it.  Don’t try to bend the OSB in the middle and slide both sides into place.  It’s just not worth the trouble.  The panel fit perfectly into place.  Thank heavens for manufacturers who standardize things.  We screwed the panel down with 2 1/4″ deck screws at 8″ intervals with a Senco DuraSpin screw gun.

The rest of the panels I just cut to fit, using the T&G edges whenever possible to keep things locked in tight.

After one day, the stench in the house was greatly reduced.  We replaced just over 2 sheets worth of subfloor.  We think the rest will be fine once it is sealed up with several coats of Kilz polyeurethane primer.  If not, there are about 3 more sheets worth I will pull up and replace and try again.

My wife and I enjoyed walking through the house this evening deciding on alterations we will make to the house.  For the most part it will remain structurally the way it is.  We plan to add wood french doors to convert the tiny living room into a study; replace two glass-sliding doors with french doors; remodel the kitchen to add custom cabinetry, new appliances, an island or peninsula-style breakfast bar, granite counter tops, and a computer center; and wood flooring throughout the main floor and common areas upstairs.  Later, we plan to remodel the master bath, converting it from construction-grade to luxury (while not out-doing the local market), improve the decks and landscaping, and build a home theater in the basement.  Stay tuned for more fun.

By the way, we’re also in the market for a good riding mower for the great 3.5 acre yard!

I recently posted a question on the Home Repairs forum regarding dog urine in a house I was in the process of buying.  As I returned to the forum a few times to check on new posts and look for answers to my questions, I noticed some posts asking questions I thought I could help with.  After posting a few things I thought might be helpful to some, one of the moderators, Kristin, invited me to start a blog about the projects I am currently undertaking.  I agreed to do so, hoping my problems and solutions might be helpful in guiding and encouraging fellow DIYers in finding their own solutions.

I am currently remodeling three homes we bought during the recent market downturn in Virginia.  I was actually looking for an apartment, but found I could buy a townhouse for less than the monthly rental, so I bought a foreclosed 2000 square foot, 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, 2 half-bath townhouse that was in need of some touch-up and carpet replacement.  After getting settled in the townhouse, I noticed a small Cape Cod on my way in to my real job, that had been up for sale for a long time.  It eventually dawned on me that the house was in such bad shape that no bank would lend on it.  It was well located and I figured it would make a great rental, once it was renovated.  It was a foreclosure, so I made a low cash offer that was accepted.  We then turned our attention to finding a home for our permanent residence.  Our criteria was to find a reasonable home for our needs, in the 2500-3000 square-foot range, that needed some work.  We wanted to be able to shield ourselves from the possibility of the market going lower, by earning some “sweat-equity”.  We found just what we were looking for last month.  The former owners lost it to the bank, and apparently sabotaged it by keeping as many as 30 dogs (I’m sure that’s an exaggeration, but that’s what I was told) in the house as if it were a kennel.  We were able to purchase it at about $100,000 below appraisal. The stench and filth left by the dogs was what started me on the DIY forum.

So, there are the projects.  Our objective?  We want to get the Cape Cod and the townhouse rented out to pay the mortgage on the “big house” (my son calls it the “outhouse”).  So, we have to get the Cape Cod finished and get it rented out, then get the big house ready to move into, move out of the townhouse into the big house, then finish renovations on the townhouse and get it rented out, hopefully all before Christmas ‘09.  So, most of what you will find on this blog over the next several months will be my work on the Cape Cod and the big house.  I’ll try to give detailed descriptions of the work I do and I’ll provide photos as often as practical.  Hope you enjoy it.

courtesy of kakeyzz

how often do you run into a plant that you just have got to have, but you can’t find any information on it, so are not really sure what kind of care it needs

I do that all the time. I have a got-to-have-it twitch as far as plants go, and I often end up with some exotic looking plant I have no Idea how to care for.

Plants are the Strangest People published a post with a default list for how to care for un identified tropical plants. I have printed it, and will plop it on my fridge for easy access. You should to.

photo credit creative commons license akeg

I am sure a lot of the readers and users of this site are DIY mechanics, priding in the good upkeep of their cars, which may also include frequent oil changes, enabling great gas mileage and car preservation.

However - there is a serious catch her - What do you do with the used oil? and does your car really need as frequent oil changes as you give it?

Please read Practical Environmentalist’s posts Save the planet with motor oil - I can guarantee you a very informative and important read.