Hi Tim,
Do I leave the valves open or closed when you solder them in the line?
David Griebel
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Dave,
It depends upon the type of valve! If you are soldering a traditional valve that has a rubber or plastic washer, then you open it. It you are soldering a ball valve, you keep it closed.
Once the solder is set you should try to slowly cool the valve body to stop the heat transfer towards the actual washer and ball.
Tim,
I have a house with a 2x4 roof truss system. I plan on adding more insulation in the attic area. Can I walk on the existing 2x4's without causing damage to the ceiling?
Roy
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Roy,
You absolutely can walk on the edges of the bottom chord of each truss. But I feel you should cut a piece or two of 3/4 inch plywood that is 16 inches wide by 4 feet long to use as small platforms to work from. If you work without these, you may stumble and pop through to your family below.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
Hello Tim,
My husband and I are planning to build a barn to look like the old ones. I would like the outside to look as if it has been on our dairy for a long time. I would like to know if there is some type of roofing material that resembles old rusty tin. Thank you,
Diana from California
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Diana,
You can replicate the metal roofing quite easily. There are any number of standing seam metal roofing products you can choose from. All you need to do is to find out if partially painting them to resemble a rusted roof will void the warranty.
Tim Carter
AsktheBuilder.com
Dear Tim,
Thanks to Hurricane Frances I have to reroof. I got estimates from two licensed contractors, but they are giving me conflicting information regarding the type of shingles to use.
One tells me that I should use 3-Tab Shingles considering I have a gabled roof. He claims that the other type of shingle, the dimensional shingle, will cause water to be trapped under the shingle, for the slope of my roof is not steep enough. Also, I have a solar panel (for the water heater) on the roof. He said that it will have to be removed in order to reroof and then reattached.
The other company does not require the solar panel to be removed, nor expressed any concern about the dimensional shingle for my type of roof.
Could you please help me?
Thank you.
Monique Pengel
Loxahatchee, FL
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Monique,
You must get the written installation instructions for each shingle you are considering. It will address the slope issue and what has to be done on low slope roofs. I don't agree with the roofer who says a dimensional shingle will trap water. There are new large underlayments you can use instead of tar paper that seal the house from water that gets under the shingles. Investigate those.
As for the solar panel, I would have to see a photo of how it is flashed. If it is similar to many skylights that have special engineered flashing kits, it would not have to be removed.
Tim,
I was having a discussion with a couple friends about installing a shingle roof. They both said the clear cellophane tape on the bottom of the shingle is to be removed before installation. I say that is an integral part of the bonding system and should be left on. What's the story?
Thanks,
Ron Tyson
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Ron,
This is a fairly common question and I feel you will be surprised by the answer. Both you and your friends are wrong. The tape's sole purpose is to prevent the shingles from sticking to one another when they are stacked on top of one another in the pack. You can clearly see the pieces of tape line up with the blobs of asphalt cement on the tops of the shingles. But when you install the shingles, the cellophane tape is five inches up the roof from the dabs of cement and it does nothing to help bond one shingle to another. As I stated it is supposed to keep them apart.
You do not have to remove the tape. It is an enormous waste of time.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
http://premium.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Tim,
I'm currently getting a house built by a custom home builder. I've run into a very serious situation with my builder. Fortunately, he has agreed to see things my way although he doesn't agree with me and I'd like your opinion.
The situation is as follows:
My wife and I set most of our allowances in our specification before we went out for bids. This was to ensure the allowances were set to purchased what we wanted. Of course all the allowance money was included in the cost of the construction of the home. Additionally there is a clause in the contract that says if we go over any allowance that includes material, labor or any related extra expense, that we are charged an extra 10% for that expense for "over-head". Not a problem so far!! What has happened is that we have actually spent less on several allowance items and extra money was left over. Since we had this extra money, we wanted to get apply it to another areas, however, our builder FIRST wants to charge us 10% on the extra expenses THEN subtract our extra allowance money. This seems so wrong on so many levels. Essentially, we are getting punished twice for moving extra allowance money.
Example: We had 1,500.00 left over from plumbing allowance and wanted to apply a stain on our cabinets. Our builder said that the labor and materials for the extra stain was $1500.00. We thought GREAT!!! We want stain!! So he first charges us and extra $150.00 then subtracts the $1500.00. So basically we're getting charged twice on the money we saved.
Your thoughts? Thanks and Best Regards,
Gary Feltner
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Gary,
Your builder is a DOLT. It is obvious he did not do well in math classes in school. Perhaps he never graduated and that explains it! His logic is so flawed I don't know where to start.
First, let's imagine you hit every allowance perfectly. He would receive the money he deserved. So let's also imagine you just adjusted the values of the allowances at the *beginning* of the job but the grand total never changed. Once again, he gets the money he deserves. That is what you are doing as the job progresses - adjusting the allowances but not the grand total.
In my opinion you made a huge mistake by injecting allowances into the contract. Allowances create problems for all sorts of reason. I have written extensively about them at my website. I'll give one quick example. Let's say you put in $350 allowance for a front door lock set. Because a specific model has yet to be chosen, your builder assumes it will be one that will fit a standard round hole bore and that the door will come pre-drilled. But you and your wife decide on a $500 Baldwin full-mortise lock set. Your builder tells you: "Not only do you owe me $150 more plus my overhead and profit, but you also are going to be charged an extra $275 in finish carpentry fees to install the complicated lock set." It would be fair for him to say this. If you didn't want to pay the extra money, then he would tell you to stay within your allowance.
See what can happen? Had you specified the Baldwin lock set from the beginning, there would be no surprises. If the builder complained and tried to charge you extra to install it, you would win as you could say, "It was clear on the plans what we wanted and the contract between you and I says you will install all things specified on the plans. You bid $XXX,XXX.xx for the whole job and we expect to see that lock set installed when we move in."
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
http://premium.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Tim,
I have a pressure treated pine deck(not yet sealed) that is now a year old, and yes the wood has some warping and edges curling up on the flooring a bit which tends to hold water in pools after a rain. I want to prepare and seal this deck, but in addition to cleaning it the way your website suggests, I thought I might use a floor sanding appliance to level the surface where the warped edges are. Then I would proceed to clean and seal it. GOOD or BAD idea? Additional suggestions welcome.
Thanks so much for your reply,
Jere Ellis
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In a perfect world, you should have sealed the decking boards on all sides and edges before they were installed. This is not easy, but is might have prevented the cupping. It is not a bad idea to sand, but I am afraid it may be a short-term fix. The wood may cup again due to moisture from the ground entering the underside of the decking. This is the primary reason wood cups on decks. The moisture content of the underside of the decking is far greater than the top side where the sun and wind quickly dry the top layers of the wood. this dry on top and moist on the bottom create lots of stress within the wood that leads to cupping. Be sure to use oxygen bleach to clean the wood and Epoxy Defy to seal it.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
http://premium.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB
Tim,
Do you have any recommendations on garage cabinets? There are lots of companies out there with too many choices.
Thank you,
Brad Kaufman
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Yes. I think the best deal is to get ones discarded from kitchen remodeling jobs. Often people get rid of perfectly good cabinets that are simply out of style. The trick is to contact several remodeling contractors who specialize in kitchen remodels and tell them you will take cabinets off their hands.
It usually costs the contractor money to get rid of them either in a dumpster or simply transporting them to some one who will take them. If you come and get the cabinets, the contractor may be tickled pink. All you do is clean them and paint them if necessary.
Tim Carter
www.askthebuilder.com
http://premium.askthebuilder.com
W3ATB