Hello Tim,
I have a commercial building in New Jersey with about 2,000 sq.ft. of hot tar roofing, and six enlarged downspouts, with the top of each box cut out to allow overflow if the downspout gets plugged (frozen or otherwise blocked).
My roofer has put in a new roof two years ago, but I have frequent leaks which he blaims on plugged exit boxes. I have eliminated all nearby trees, etc., so no debris is really getting on to the roof. I am trying to get the final solution to my problem...any suggestions? Many thanks.
Norman
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Norman,
You need a second or third opinion. from some other roofers. I also feel you made a mistake going with hot tar. I would have sprung for rubber roofing. It costs more, but when a rubber roof is installed correctly, it can be leak-free for nearly 20 years or more!
I would also try to recreate the leak in fair weather. You know where the water enters the building, so go up on the roof near those areas with a garden hose and let water flow across the roof. Look for places where water puddles. Be aware that 90 percent of all roof leaks happen at flashings. Flashings are transitional roofing materials and connect roofs to things that stick up through or next to roofs. Your roofer made the flashings possibly by lapping up the felt paper and coating it with tar.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hi there Tim,
I have an unconventional question that maybe you can answer or point me in a direction. For years I have had a fear of houses collapsing due to the weight of what is inside the house. I will worry when we have friends over or when new furniture is added.
Is there some simple information I can see to understand what kind of weight a house can take? Like an example of " a floor of a house can hold 2 horses" or something in that vein. Am I being silly for worrying when 15 people are over for dinner?
I worry in all houses, currently I am in a 3 story house built in the 50's. I see cracks in the painted ceiling and get scared. Parts of the floor squeak and when some one walks by glasses might shake across the room. Things like that get me all worked up. Any advice?
I really appreciate it- so far all I can think of is moving onto a cement slab.
Hannah
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Hannah,
You would be very surprised to learn the amount of weight an average wood floor system can hold. Most model building codes require the floor system to handle 40 pounds per square foot. This *minimum* strength requirement assumes that the weight would be spread out to a large degree. In other words, if you took a pallet of concrete block and loaded it in the center of the span of the joists, then you could have a failure.
But consider this: The average room size of a house is say 12 by 14. Multiply those numbers and you get 168 square feet. Multiply 168 by 40 and you get 6,720 pounds. That is over 3 tons! If you start to add up the weight of the furniture and people in the average room I doubt you will get close to 1,500 pounds. Even when you have the 15 dinner guests over you are still safe as they may only add another 2,250 pounds to a room.
To further put your mind at ease, if heavy furniture such as a buffet or china cabinet are against walls - most are - and the floor joists under these pieces are resting on a beam or bearing wall below, you can relax. The closer the weight is to a bearing wall or beam the less stress there is on the floor joists supporting the weight.
As for the plaster cracks and squeaking floors, that is fairly normal. I am just about as old as that house and I have some cracks in my skin and I creak when I get up from laying on the floor.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Dear Tim,
I found the article "Cracks in New Chimney" helpful and I'm hoping not to make any mistakes in the construction of my chimney. I plan to build a concrete block chimney for a wood stove to be used in the basement of my house. The concrete block I refer to are square with a hole in the middle for the flue. I would like to build it up the outside of the south facing wall of the house. The stove pipe will exit the house through the concrete block foundation above grade and enter the chimney.
I'm not sure, however, what is required of the foundation to support the structure. I know that it needs to be about 42" deep, but I don't know how wide, or if rebar is required. I'd also like to know how high above the ridge it should be with respect to the peak of the roof and if an 8" flue is the proper size if the stove pipe is to be 8". Thanks for your help.
Sincerely,
Steve
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Steve,
I am familiar with that block. But keep in mind that a chimney needs a clay flue liner and the liner fits within the block. Flue sizes are a function of the capacity and output of the fuel burning appliance. The wood stove company often tells you the minimum flue cross section for the appliance. Get that information before you start.
As far as a footer, you need a fairly substantial one. I always pour fireplace footers one foot thick with 5/8 inch rebar spaced at one foot centers both directions. This steel needs to be placed so 4 inches of concrete is below it and 7 - 8 inches of concrete is above it. This odd height places the steel at the proper position to resist cracks in the footer.
The size of the footer is also critical. Assuming you have great soil, I would make it so that it is 16 inches larger on all sides than the actual chimney. If the chimney block were to measure 28 inches square, then the footer would be 60 inches square.
Extend the chimney 3 feet above the ridge. Follow your local codes as well for other critical clearances. This is vitally important!
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hi Tim,
My wife has decided the new white toilet that I just purchased should in fact be black and the tank lid should be red. She Who Must Be Obeyed has agreed that the inside of the bowl where the water swishes can be left factory white china.
Nothing unusual about that I said to myself. I'm thinking of using BIN Zinnser paint that sticks to pretty much everything as a base and then spray the bizarre (alternate ) colours. What do you think...I mean about the process?
Jim H.
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Jim,
I know this sounds positively nuts, but you may be very successful doing this. I have painted ceramic tile and other china surfaces with great results. The key is to keep the paint away from the china that gets wet. This means none in the bowl and on the top rim of the bowl. You really don't need a primer, just a very high-quality sticky paint. Be sure to use oil based paint applied to perfectly clean and dry surfaces. Let it cure for a week and then apply two coats of water based clear urethane. Let me know how it holds up over time.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hello Tim,
We currently have slat and plaster walls in our hallway. Due to an accident when removing a bathtub, the wall was damaged and is now cracking. My husband just wants to cover the blemish with beadboard. But since it is buldging a bit and is an outer wall I am concerned. Can we use beadboard? If so how can we attach it or is there another product we can use? Thanks for your help.
Theresa
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Theresa,
Why don't we just patch the plaster? It is so easy. All you have to do is chop out the area that is bulged, nail back in place any loose wooden lath strips and then apply two layers of patching plaster.
Since this is a do-it-yourself job, I recommend that you put a layer of setting type joint compound to fill the void to within 1/8 inch of the finished surface. This material comes in bags and is mixed with water. It gets hard within an hour in most cases. The next day apply standard drywall topping compound out of a bucket to finish the job.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hi Tim,
My name is Angela and I have looked at your site and am quite impressed. My problem is, I've recently moved into a new home and it takes forever for the
water to get hot and when it does it's only hot for a short while. I understand this may the heating element in the water heater. If so can you give me
instructions to fix this problem or would this be one for the pros?
Thanks for any help.
Angela
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Angela,
Your symptoms sound as if one of the elements in your electric water heater is bad. The other one may be ready to give up the ghost as well. You might as well replace both. I think you can handle this job if you have the needed tools. Remember these important steps:
1. Turn OFF the electric power feeding the heater!
2. Verify it is off.
3. Drain the heater.
4. Install the new elements.
5. Fill the heater and get all air out of the hot water system.
6. Turn on the electricity.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Tim,
My wife and I are starting to plan the building of our new home but we disagree on where the blueprints should be acquired. She thinks that it would be best to hire a professional architect to design the home and I believe that is would be easier and more affordable to order pre-drawn blueprints from an Internet house designs site. Do the plans off the Internet work as well as they are advertised? Do you know of any problems that can occur by choosing this method?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Ken in Louisiana
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Ken,
I am not going to score any points with either you or your wife with my answer. You are both right. Many of the blueprint services offer superb plans. But they are not always suited for exact geographic locations. What's more, they almost always need to be tweaked to make the perfect home for you and your wife.
The preliminary planning process where you and an architect dance until you both discover exactly what you want can often take weeks and months and cost thousands of dollars in design fees on the part of the architect. Once he knows what you want, he starts to draw actual construction drawings.
If you and your wife pick the nearly perfect home from an online desing/plan website and buy just one set of plans, you can save many hundreds of dollars, perhaps more. Since you paid for the plans, you can build that house or modify the plan to suit your tastes without violating the copyright on the plan. This is where your wife's point of view is right on target. A local architect needs to use the online plan with your suggestions and his input to develop the perfect plan for you.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hello Tim!
I have recently bought a 40 year-old brick house. I am planning on replacing all of the original aluminum windows with vinyl windows. Is there anything different about installing windows in a brick house then in a stick house? Are there certain things that I should look for in the replacement windows that I buy to ensure a better installation? I am doing the work myself, and have installed numerous replacement windows in a stick house without any problems.
Thank you for any advice you can give me.
Kristin Davis
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Kristin,
Let's first talk about the windows. The best replacement windows, in my opinion, are those that carry two different certifications: AAMA and NFRC. I cover the importance of these certifications in a past column about Certified Vinyl Windows. I also speak about energy efficiency in a different column about Vinyl Windows.
High-quality vinyl replacement windows have special locations where you insert stainless steel screws through the jambs into the house structure. This may prove a little more challenging if your house is solid masonry rather than brick veneer. In a brick veneer home you typically can insert the screws into the rough framing wood jambs. If the house is solid masonry, you may have to install an anchor at each screw location.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Tim,
We recently had the lower section of our concrete driveway replaced due to the widening of our road. After the new concrete was poured and set, we ended up with a bluish color spotted throughout the new section. I have been watering trying to get rid of the bluish spotting, but it still exists. Do you have any suggestions on what we can do to solve this problem?
Ralph Thieleman
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Ralph,
If the concrete was recently poured and you are in a cold climate, the spots may be traced to a calcium chloride accelerator added to the concrete mix. This chemical speeds up the hydration reaction so the concrete gets harder faster.
Under certain conditions, this chemical can cause these visual problems. I would wait six more months and see if the sun doesn't help bleach them out. If it doesn't, you can always install a thin concrete overlay to solve the problem.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Dear Tim,
My wife and I make handmade baskets from rattan reed and some of them require a wooden base. These bases are round, square and oval and are made from 1/2" pine. All of these bases have a 1/16" wide groove 1/2" deep cut all around this base to push the reed in to start the weaving. I have tried various methods to cut this groove but have been unsuccessful. Any help would certainly be appreciated. Thank you,
James W. Phillips
Jacksboro, Tennessee
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James,
I would do this using my table saw and a 5.5 inch diameter saw blade. The teeth on these blades are 1/16th inch wide. The only trouble is you may have to drill out the center of the blade so it will fit on a standard table saw arbor. You might avoid this hassle if you can find a portable table saw that has a matching arbor for these smaller blades. A regular table saw arbor is 5/8 inch in diameter. The center holes in these smaller saw blades is only 3/8 inch.
Once you are set up, you simply adjust the blade height and the fence to the right distance from the blade so the blade cuts exactly where you want it. You place the wood bases on their edge and start to slide and rotate them so that the spinning blade produces the desired groove.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hey Tim,
You've helped me greatly as I'm in the process of building my first home. Right now we a pulling wire on the inside and the mason is working away on the stone outside. However, my builder called me today with a bad surprise. He said he heard a rumor that a town about ten minutes from my house, with a population of 100, may have annex jurisdiction and might use the ICC code instead of UCC. This has a great impact on the steepness of my staircase and will narrow the doorway of my library. This would cost me a substantial sum of money as the stairs would have to be rebuilt. Do you have any suggestions on how I should handle this?
Justin L. Saunders
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Justin,
I don't see a problem at all. First, I don't have all of the facts so my advice may be subject to change if I had access to certain information in your town.
Typically when a building permit is issued, a building code is in force at the time the actual permit is granted. This code could be a national model code, a local one, or a modified national code such as the International Residential Code or the traditional CABO code. The building department will have the actual document with a volume number, series and copyright. That is the code you must follow no matter if the code changes as you build.
It would be impossible for builders to bid jobs if they had to look into a crystal ball and wonder what the code might be. See if your local building department operates this way. If not, ask them just how a builder / homeowner is supposed to protect themselves when code changes are announced. Can you imagine being one or two days away from completion of a new home and the inspector walks in and says, "Well, time to rip out all of the plumbing. The code has changed!" Yeah, right!
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hi Tim,
I am buying a brand-new house and I plan to build some walls in the basement. I see in my current house that the interior walls in the basement are nailed to the basement concrete floor. Can you please tell me how this is done?
I'm thinking that I need to drill holes for the nails, put the nails into the 2x4s that will be the base of the walls, and then lower the nails (attached to the 2x4s) into the holes with wet concrete (or some sort of glue?) in the holes.
I also think this could be a disaster with even one small error. Comments?
Ken Dalton
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Ken,
I wish all of the questions I get were this easy. A very good friend/co-worker of mine taught me how to do this 30 years ago. When I want to secure a frame wall to a concrete floor I just grab my roto-hammer drill and outfit it with a 1/4 inch diameter bit that is six inches long. I put the wall into position, drill a hole through the bottom plate and continue drilling into the concrete until I have created a hole 2.5 inches deep in the concrete.
I pull out the drill bit and brush away the pile of dust. The next step is to take two 16d sinker nails - not common nails! - and place them side-by-side in the hole in the bottom plate. Common nail shafts are too thick for this job so use sinker nails. Using my 20 ounce framing hammer, I drive both nails at the same time with short solid blows of the hammer. Both nails will begin to enter the concrete at the same time and they will grab so well you can usually only pull them out with a crowbar.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Help Tim!
I have water coming from my ceiling air conditoning vents, but I see no evidence of water in the attic. It is 20-30 degrees F out and believe me I don't have the air conditioner turned on!
Keith G.
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Keith,
This can be very common, especially in houses that have metal air conditioning ducting in the attic. The warm moist air from your home is drifting up into the air conditioning ducting. The metal duct must be poorly insulated or there are places where the insulation has fallen away from the duct. This situation causes the ducts to become cool or cold when the temperature drops in the attic. The water vapor in the air then condenses in the ducts. When enough liquid water collects in the ducts, gravity pulls it into your room.
You stop the condensation when you insulate the dickens out of the ductwork so its temperature does not drop below the dew point of the inside air of your home.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Good Afternoon Tim,
Our house has a roof valley that never gets sun, and each winter ice builds up and usually forces its way into the house. We would like to know if you think a Gutter Helmet on that side of the house would help. We are running out of ideas for combatting this problem and can't find any past article of yours dealing with this.
Thanks in advance for your help,
John and Judy Guetzow - Evanston, Illinois
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John and Judy,
Gutter Helmet will be about as helpful in preventing an ice dam as a child's plastic beach bucket bailing the HMS Titanic. Gutter guards of any type do nothing to prevent ice dams and some actually help create them because of the large expanse of cold metal that turns super-chilled liquid water to ice as it flows over the gutter guard.
You can't stop ice dams. I have written about why in a past column. But you can stop the leaks created by ice dams.
This spring you need to remove the roofing material around and near this valley as well as the valley itself. You will then install an ice dam membrane at the roof edges in this location and up the valley overlapping the membrane at the roof's edge. After this is complete, reinstall the valley and shingles and all should be well in years to come.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Tim,
How hard is it to do my own driveway with asphalt? I want to extend on to
an existing driveway and make it into a horseshoe type driveway instead of a
straight one. I am not sure if asphalt is the correct type or concrete.
Do you have any suggestions?
Todd, Indiana
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Todd,
To install asphalt correctly you need specialized equipment. At the very least you need a paving machine that couples to a dump truck. This machine applies the hot mix smoothly and evenly. If you want to do it like the big boys, then you need a self-powered paving machine that probably costs $500K new. Aside from that you need a powered roller and lots of experienced help.
A concrete driveway is more DIY friendly although it can also be a DIY challenge. You need only hand tools. But five friends with a host of experience will also come in handy for results that will stand up to Mother Nature and heavy traffic.
If you decide to go concrete, you should read all of the concrete columns at my website. Before you decide I urge you to read about my driveway. It is neither asphalt nor concrete. Type tar into the search engine at my website.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Dear Tim,
We are in the planning stages of house building and the house plan we have selected would look fabulous with an EIFS finish. From what I have read on your website, it sounds as if I should steer clear of the EIFS finish. Is there a good EIFS finish? I really like the looks of the exterior finish. What are some other breathable options like EIFS?
Nichole Rueckert
South Dakota
Nicole,
You have read my columns, so you know how I feel. The EIFS people will tell you their products are fine. I still have very basic philisophical differences with them becasue of the formulation of the products. The EIFS manufactures will tell you that their products absolutely positively block and stop the movement of liquid water. This is not good in my opinion as water can possibly get trapped behind the EIFS coating. The EIFS people all make drainable systems, but if there is a flaw in the installtion, what happens?
In my opinion you are making a wise decision. I must have failed you because in a past column I discuss traditional cement stucco. Cement stucco is what you are looking for and it can be permanently tinted just about any color as EIFS is. You can mix colors and textures and make your stucco home two or three tones, one color or leave it the natural gray stucco color.
I love traditional cement stucco because it breathes and will last far longer than you or I on this Earth if done right. After all, you are simply applying a man-made stone to your home. What is more durable than stone?
Contact the Portland Cement Association. They have a bookstore and sell a fantastic Cement Stucco Manual that outlines exactly how cement stucco should be mixed, installed and finished. Follow those guidelines to the letter and you will end up with a superb home.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hello Mr. Carter:
I purchased a ranch type home built on a crawl space. It has two full baths and I have just discovered that the exhaust fans in both baths vent into the attic. Information from your excellent website tells me this is not good. I would like to know if I can vent one of these exhausts to the bathroom drain vent which is close by. This plumbing vent pipe is sealed, and vents out the roof. If this is OK? I can run an exhaust hose about 12 ft horizontally along the attic floor out to the siding for the other fan. Is this a good idea and will the exhaust fan push the hot moist air this far?
Thanking you in advance,
Patty Dee
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Patty Dee,
Absolutely positively NO! You must not cut into the plumbing vent line. If you were to do this, toxic methane gas could filter back into your bathroom through the exhaust fan ducting.
It is best to duct these fans out through the roof. Nutone/Broan make inexpensive roof cap flashings exactly for this purpose. I dislike flexible ducting intensely and would only use solid smooth galvanized metal duct pipe. The fan should be able to handle a 12 foot run with ease. Be sure to insulate the metal pipe if you live in a cold climate. This minimizes condensation formation within the exhaust pipe.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Hello Tim!
When my toilet is at the very end of being filled, it makes a loud rumbling noise. It sounds like the pipes are shaking. As I look inside the tank when being filled, the main part where the water comes out (the long tube on the same side of the handle) vibrates. Is there a problem with my water pipes or do I need to replace the insides of my toilet? Help!
Theresa
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Theresa,
I don't think it is a piping problem at all. That noise is very normal for a worn out ball cock valve. The chattering is often caused by sediment buildup. A harmonic vibration develops as the valve tries to close. The high water pressure wants to fight to keep the valve open and this battle starts the rumbling.
I prefer the ball cock valves that stay wide open until they decide to stop. When the tank hits the fill line, the sut off is instantaneous. The brand I prefer is Fluidmaster. All of my toilets have top-of-the-line Fluidmaster ball cocks in them. You can view their products here: http://www.fluidmaster.com
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Dear Tim,
I'm in the process of planning the remodeling of a very small, old home. I've already graphed out my new kitchen, to scale, but would like to see a virtual model. I know software for this exists, but don't know of any in particular. I would also like to lay out the rest of the rooms, particularly wardrobe/bookcase cabinets, before we move in to ease one-time placement strategies. Can you help? Thank you,
Donna Kupferschmidt
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Donna,
You bet I can help. There is a superb piece of software that will do exactly what you want and lots more. I have it installed and I love it. You need Home Design Architectural Series 18 by Punch! software.
Tim Carter
Ask the Builder
www.askthebuilder.com
DEAR TIM:
I bought some fiberglass insulation (faced) to install in the PEAK of my garage 24" on center between the roof trusses. Now I've been told that if I put this insulation in the peak I will have serious condensation problems and the insulation will be destroyed very rapidly. Any truth to these concerns?
I live in east central Minnesota. The Garage is unheated but will be heated several times thru the winter to work on vehicles etc.
Terry S.
Minneapolis, MN
Terry,
It is fine to insulate the garage ceiling but you must always maintain a 1.5 to 2 inch air space between the fiberglass and the underside of the wood roof sheathing. Then you must have continuous ridge and soffit ventilation to exhaust the water vapor that will collect between the insulation and the underside of the roof.
The fiberglass is virtually indestructible. Water will not harm hit in either liquid or vapor form. But I am slightly concerned about you using faced insulation. If it is kraft paper, it represents an exposed fire hazard.
You can have condensation problems if the garage floor was poured without a high-performance vapor retarder. The heat source in the garage can also cause condensation. If it is a vent-free fuel-burning appliance that runs on natural gas, propane, kerosene, etc., all of these fuels produce water vapor as they burn. That water vapor will condense on cold surfaces such as the roof sheathing. If enough water condenses long enough, you bet it can rot out both the roof sheathing and trusses.
Tim Carter
Ask the Builder
http://www.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB clear on your final
Tim,
I just recently had a new 90+ high efficiency gas furnace (Frigidaire FG6RC) installed and the contractor installed the exhaust vent but did not install the piping for the combustion air vent and I was wondering if this was normal or if it should have been installed? The furnace is located in the basement so I am assuming that currently the combustion air is being pulled from the basement and not outside but I am not certain how everything functions and whether or not this configuration could cause problems.
Thanks,
Tom
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Tom,
Believe it or not some new furnaces can be installed in this manner. The first thing you need to do is look through the written installation instructions and see if this model can be installed without a direct combustion air inlet. The second issue is whether your local code authorities permit this type of installation. Not all do.
I can tell you that I would absolutely install a make-up air inlet at the very least. This inlet should be located as close as possible to the furnace. If the furnace is not near an exterior wall, then I would pipe the make-up air to the furnace. Read my past column about make-up air. Every home with fuel-burning appliances, exhaust fans, central vacuums, etc. should have make-up air.
Tim Carter
Ask the Builder
Askthebuilder.com
W3ATB