Squidoo lens on Eichler
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Archive for 2006/05
Removing the siding and re-insulating
| As the electricians and roofers were busy on the roof and inside the house, I was outside, tearing off the old wood siding with my father. The initial plan was to simply replace the sheets in poor shape, but… we ended removing everything (this is about to become a tradition in this house). It was in fairly poor shape overall, and this gave us an opportunity to re-insulate the entire house. It tooks about six full hours to remove the old siding (2 people). While removing old insulation is not a very fun thing (make sure to cover your whole body to avoid contact of insulation dust with your skin), it is not hard either. And putting in the new one is a breeze. New insulation makes a huge difference, in winter as well as in summer – modern insulation (RG-13) is much more efficient than what they were using in the seventies. I’d never thought that new insulation on the roof and in the walls could make such a dramatic difference… the house is now cool inside (it’s July, scorching hot and the house was a bit stuffy until these changes) – who needs air conditioning? Ah, the new siding is on order from Eichler Siding which is the only source of this groovy siding (we have the thinline type)… |  |
First phase of electrical upgrade completed!
We completed the first major milestone today. The first phase of the electrical upgrade: addition of circuits and service panel upgrade is done! We doubled (or quadrupled? I don’t remember…) the electrical capacity. We added dedicated circuits to the bathrooms (left the existing one; added one for the new space heater and one for the outlets), 3 or 4 in the kitchen (see left picture) and spread a few others throughout the house. All rooms have ceiling lights (original Eichlers had very few of these). And all outlets throughout the house are now grounded!
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The roofers have already started installing the insulation – you can see it on the right picture. Some rigid insulation, on top of which they will lay the Duro-Last, a single-ply membrane, also called “pool liner” (because that was the first usage for that material).
If you open your walls…
If you open your walls, try to think about what you will be hanging on them later on. I know – you already have a lot on your mind and decoration is the least of your worries. But an open wall is an opportunity not to be missed. You could save yourself quite some grief down the road, and even open new possibilities.
Think:
- shelves: where do you want them? do you have enough studs?
- flat-screen TV: while LCD screens are quite light, plasma screens are very heavy (around 65lbs for a 42″). Having double studs for hanging one on the wall might be a good insurance.
At a minimum:
- take pictures of the open walls for later reference (easy and cheap with digital cameras!)
- add metal plates wherever needed to protect wires
Don’t assume a stud finder is enough. They can get really confused at times depending on wall materials and wires inside the walls. You’ll feel much more comfortable drilling through a wall close to your service panel if you have one of these pictures in your hand…
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