February 19, 2016 AsktheBuilder Weekend Warrior

Posted on by Tim Carter

I had a troubling thing happen to me this week that you need to know about.

I'm about to save you thousands of dollars in the future.

A public relations (PR) person who I'll not name contacted me with the following message:

"Hi Tim,
Wondered if you might need a building expert who specializes in sustainability as a resource for an upcoming story?"

My response was simple:

Can you send me (name of *expert* hidden by me)'s CV?

I'm interested to know how deep his/her knowledge of the process is.

The PR person came back to me with a spin answer that had zero information about the *expert's* background that would qualify her/him as an expert.

I once again requested the *expert's* CV - curriculum vitae - so I could vet the person to see if he/she was really an expert.

The PR person never responded back.

This *expert* is someone you might see on a TV show.

Why should this be of importance to you? Do you think that all the hosts of TV shows you see are real professionals?

What is the definition of a professional?

Just because a person has a TV show, does that make them an expert on a topic?

Should you trust their advice?

I know I can answer the above questions, but can you?

If you're going to put thousands of your hard-earned dollars in the balance to do a job at your home, don't you think you should be getting advice from a person that has these minimal qualifications:

  • has actually done the job
  • has done the job at paying customers' homes for decades

Yeah, I thought so. Don't ever HOPE the advice you're getting is going to work.

You need to know that the person giving the advice has walked the walk.

Remember, you HOPE for things when you can't control the outcome of that thing. You can control where you get expert advice all the time.
​

 

House Design Book

More than a few months ago, Bill Hirsch Jr., AIA, sent me his book to review.

It's filled with solid advice about what you need to know if you're about to build a new home.

The last thing you need are design flaws.

The book contains stunning photos, but it's also filled with lots of practical advice.

I can tell you I've been inside many homes that have basic design flaws that cause all sorts of issues.

Even here at my own home I have a few. I didn't build the house I live in here in NH. My own home here has a very common deck design flaw.

My deck is only 10-feet wide out from the house. That's too narrow to put a small 4-foot diameter table with chairs and have enough room for people to get by when people are seated at the table.

If you want to know the minimum width for a deck then CLICK HERE.

I've got lots of the same design advice at my website, but Bill consolidated it into this book.

It's worth every penny, so I suggest you order it.

CLICK HERE to get either the Kindle or hard-copy edition.

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MYSTERY LINK! You peer up into your attic. You see something that's NOT supposed to be there. What is it?
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Water Behind House Wrap

Here's a column I just wrote. You're not going to believe the photo you're about to see.

CLICK HERE and be amazed.

Don't ever make the mistake this homeowner made.

Replace a Tub With a Walk-In Shower

Here's another column for you.

I'll guarantee you you'll discover something new with this one.

Wait until you see the photo in this one. WOWZA!

CLICK HERE to see it.

That's enough for today.

I'll be back soon.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

February 16, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on by Tim Carter

We had record-breaking cold here in NH over the weekend.

My Davis weather station sensor up on top of my garage roof transmitted to the interior dashboard panel that it was only -12F on Sunday morning.

Yes, I know it was colder for some, but it was D * * * cold here. So cold that my boiler could not keep up.

Kathy was complaining, and rightfully so, because the house was chilly.

I decided to tape a video that explains why a house is cold when the heat is on.

"Tim, everyone knows why. Tisk tisk."

Well smartypants, I'll bet you don't know it all.

Watch the video and be honest.

As Dr. Kenneth Caster would say to me before handing me one of my Historical Geology tests, "Today we're going to test the DEPTHS of your ignorance."

Yes, he did say that. I loved him. He was one of the most influential professors of my college career. Another one being Dr. John Alexander, my physical chemistry lab teacher.

Oh and for all you who live where it's hot and often HUMID, I've got a super tip in the video for you if you think getting a BIG air conditioner will keep you comfortable.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

I pretty much guarantee you'll discover something when you WATCH IT.

CLICK HERE to watch it.

GREAT New Map of the USA

Do you like maps as much as I do? There's a new geographic map of the USA that's going to be glued to one of my walls!

Check this out. This map is unlike any you've ever seen. It's got amazing detail and you can see clearly the real physical geomorphology of the country.

It would make a GREAT GIFT for that special someone.

CLICK HERE to order one now.


New Tool Review

Can you guess what this is?


It's perhaps the most unique chalk box / reel I've ever held in my hand.

CLICK HERE to read my review.

Nail Gun Review

I've got another review for you while you're at it!

Look at this bad boy.

If you've never clicked one of my tool reviews you should.

Why?

Well, I'm starting to have a little fun writing the captions.

Go read them and tell me if you think I should drink more or less fresh coffee.

CLICK HERE NOW and behold the creative capabilities of a coffee-juiced writer.

If you don't want to click my tool reviews, then go grab yourself a juice box and a fruit roll up and we'll be back in about six hours to check up on you.
​

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MYSTERY LINK! Clue: If you're from Cincinnati what do you call chili, spaghetti and cheese on a plate?
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Install a New Window in an Old Wall Video Series

I uploaded four new videos over the past few days.

The chronicle the saga of me putting in the window up in my man cave.

Have you ever wanted to cut a new window or door into an existing frame wall? I show you how it's done.

If I had a super power, it would be to look good on video. When I edit my videos I shake my head at my messed up hair, sweat pouring off me, sawdust on my face and clothes and my unrehearsed lines.

I sure hope the four videos make sense to you!

Here are the FOUR links to the videos:

Video 1 of 4

Video 2 of 4

Video 3 of 4

Video 4 of 4

That's plenty for today.

I'll be back on Friday.

If you spill that juice box, you can get the stain out with my Certified organic Stain Solver. Go ahead, click the link and make your clothes cleaner than a cat that's licked itself for seven hours straight.

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

Milwaukee Fine Line Chalk Reel Review

Posted on by Tim Carter
Here it is. It's drop dead gorgeous.

Here it is. It's drop dead gorgeous.

Do you have a chalk box or chalk reel?

You know, that thing that looks like a teardrop and is coated in blue or red dust?

I'll bet you never thought the design could be improved, right?

Well, the caffeine-stoked engineers at Milwaukee Tools must have made a pot or two or three too much and SCHAZAAM!

I introduce to you the aluminum body high-tech design with torque-dispersing planetary gears Fine Line Chalk Reel.

The first moment I held this in my hand I thought, "Holy Cucumber! This thing is going to last generations!"

It's got a feel to it unlike any other. Once you hold one, you have to have one. It's that good.

This bad boy has got 100 feet of 0.9 mm high-strength braided line lurking under that bright red durable aluminum body.

See that little black button at the pivot point of the crank? You press that to allow the line to go out fast with the crank staying put. It also helps you get the crank end into the small depression at the top of the reel. Very clever.

This is one handsome chalk reel.

This is one handsome chalk reel.

The top of the reel turns a quarter turn allowing you to fill the belly of the beast with the red, blue or ??? chalk of your pleasure.

This is one chalk reel that homeowners will want to barter with you for. They may offer up one of their kids as a slave. Don't do that deal.

This is one chalk reel that homeowners will want to barter with you for. They may offer up one of their kids as a slave. Don't do that deal. This is the view featured in the February 16, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.

The mystery planetary gears power this reel making quick work of rewinding the string after you twerk a line. With a 6:1 ratio, you can chalk more lines faster than a rookie carpenter with six helpers throwing reels back and forth like juggling pins.

This is just like the 4 on the floor of my '67 Pontiac GTO ragtop. You could take 1st gear out to about 50 mph. The same is true with this reel. You can snap lines faster than fly flits from your face.

This is just like the 4 on the floor of my '67 Pontiac GTO ragtop. You could take 1st gear out to about 50 mph. The same is true with this reel. You can snap lines faster than fly flits from your face.

Installing a New Window Video 3 of 4

Posted on by Tim Carter

Tim Carter demonstrates in this third video of the series how to cut out the wall sheathing and install the much needed sill flashing.

The window install has been happening over a period of days and it's being done on a garage that has fiber cement siding for the exterior.

Tim shows the importance of cutting out the fiber cement siding so that no one gets hurt and the siding on the outside is not damaged.

The window install can be done by a serious DIY person who has the right tools and common sense.

Water Behind House Wrap

Posted on by Tim Carter

DEAR TIM: I have a house wrap installed on my house over plywood sheathing. No clapboards are in place yet. I'm getting moisture behind the house wrap that is of concern to me. The product was installed at about 55 F, last October. The moisture appears in varying temperatures and also whether or not exposed to direct sunlight. The inside of the house is unfinished, with just insulation only in between the wall studs. No drywall is installed. I don't want my sheathing to rot away after I install the clapboards, so what can I do? What should have been done before winter set in? Steven Z., Jeffersonville, VT

DEAR STEVEN: I hope you’re sitting down. I’ve got some sobering news for you. Based on the photograph you sent to me, and it’s a perfect example of a picture is worth a thousand words, you’ve got to redo lots of work on the outside of your home once the weather warms up. The water you see behind the house wrap has at least four sources from just the one photo you provided.

This house is missing two things. The exterior siding and the interior vapor barrier and drywall. Photo Credit: Steven Zajchowski

This house is missing two things. The exterior siding and the interior vapor barrier and drywall. Photo Credit: Steven Zajchowski

Let’s start with the exterior and then move indoors. I’d like to go back in time to share how carpenters and builders of old protected wood frame houses from rot. They used time-tested technology.

In the late 1800’s tar paper was invented and builders quickly saw an advantage in using it under wood siding on home. Caulks from over 100 years ago that were used to try to seal water infiltration were crude and didn’t offer the long-term flexibility of modern caulk. Water could easily leak behind wood siding clapboards where they touched up against window and door trim and frames.

Carpenters would nail asphalt-saturated felt paper onto the wood sheathing of a home before installing the siding. Long sheets were installed in rows 3 feet high. They would start at the bottom of the house making sure the felt paper overlapped the foundation. Then each successive piece of felt paper would overlap the one below it.

Vertical seams also were overlapped to ensure water that got behind the wood siding would drain down the paper never touching the wood sheathing behind the paper. You can watch a video I made showing how felt paper was installed here:
http://go.askthebuilder.com/feltpaper

Your house wrap was not installed this way. There are numerous places where the wrap is not overlapped correctly. What’s more, the vertical seams have not been taped shut. Blowing rain can easily get behind the house wrap since you don’t have your siding installed.

I also see where the nailing fins of the windows do not overlap the house wrap. This is another place water can get behind the weather barrier. Modern rubberized asphalt flashing tapes are available that allow you to seal window and door nailing fins to the house wraps. It must be done working from the bottom up just like the carpenters did 100 or more years ago.

Just think about how the clapboard siding works. Each piece overlaps the one below just like shingles on a roof. Gravity then pulls the water down to the ground. You need to do the exact same thing with house wraps, flashing tapes and metal flashings that are part of a wall system. You must maintain the overlap in the correct direction at all times.

Another possible source of the water behind the house wrap is interior humidity that has a direct path to the exterior. You indicated you moved into the home, yet it’s not finished. You live in a cold climate and the interior relative humidity is almost always higher in the inside of your home than it its outside.

The water vapor inside your home originates from cooking, showering, a possible running humidifier, indoor plants, washing dishes and clothes, breathing, etc. These things and activities all add water vapor to the inside air. This water vapor is trying to get outdoors and needs to be stopped with a cross-laminated vapor barrier that’s installed on all exterior walls over the insulated walls. It’s then covered with drywall.

If you don’t have this vapor barrier in place, the water vapor passes through the insulation, the plywood or oriented strand board and then can collect on the back side of the house wrap. Most house wraps are designed to allow water vapor to pass through them, but it’s possible for liquid water to collect on the back side if more water vapor is trying to get through than the house wrap will allow to pass at one time.

Interior humidity was not a real issue in older homes up where you live decades ago. Most older homes had no insulation and they were exceedingly drafty. Vast amounts of dry colder air would pass through the walls and lower the overall humidity in the house. There was so much air moving through the walls that even if condensation did somehow form inside a wall cavity, it rapidly evaporated. This is why older homes never rotted away like you see happening with modern homes.

I have numerous other videos here on my AsktheBuilder.com website that show you how to install house wraps and how to install the flashing tape around windows and doors. I’d invest the time and watch these so your house doesn’t rot away!

Column 1131

Installing a New Window Video 2 of 4

Posted on by Tim Carter

Tim Carter demonstrates in this second video of a four-part series how to create the actual rough window opening.

Tim has removed the drywall and starts to install the king studs that run from the wall top plate to the bottom plate.

Then he shows how to install the header across the top of the window. The header is like a steel i-beam that captures the load or weight of the wall above the new window.

The header is supported at either end by a trimmer stud. These short studs are like steel columns that support a steel i-beam.

The trimmer studs rest on top of the bottom rough window sill and two other trimmer studs extend from below the ends of the sill down to the bottom wall plate.

Once the complete rough framing is done, then you can get ready to cut out the section of the wall where the window will be.

February 13, 2016 AsktheBuilder Newsletter

Posted on by Tim Carter

It's coooooooold here this morning in New Hampshire. When I woke up it was 7 F. Brrrrrrrrrrr

Yes, I'm waiting for all the teasing comments from you snowbirds down in FL and AZ and way Down Under where you're enjoying your last days of summer! Blah blah blah.....

The next 48 hours promise even colder WX - that's a Morse code acronym we radio operators use.

Two days ago, I launched Ellen, AsktheBuilder.com's first employee, on a huge project. It could take her at least a month to finish it.

I felt you need to know about it because it's going to help you solve more problems and help you SAVE money and TIME.

Years ago, YouTube created some crude technology to add extra information to videos. Think of it as a semi-transparent overlay that showed up while the video was playing. They were called Annotations.

They've been replaced with Cards.

Let me show you how it works and how you view the cards when watching a YouTube video of mine. Look at this first image:

The above is a simple screen shot from my latest video, a super cool wall framing trick I'll bet you've never seen.

See how the yellow arrow is pointing to a tiny circle in the upper right corner of the video? Here's an enlarged image of that:

These little white circles will appear then DISAPPEAR as you watch the video.

When you see that little white circle appear in the upper right corner of any of my videos, it's SCREAMING at you:

"Hey, CLICK ME! There's all sorts of EXTRA INFORMATION here!!!"

When you click the little white "i", the cards appear on the screen on the right side of the video.

I'm allowed to put up to FIVE cards in each video so often you only may see three - you have to SLIDE your mouse along the cards to see all of them.

Here's what it looks like when you click the little white circle:

These cards can LINK to other pages.

I'm allowed to take you back to RELATED pages at my website that have more content that helps bolster what you see in the video.

Can you see how beneficial this is to you?

What's more, I can link to a page at my website that shows the TOOLS or products I'm using in the video so if you want what I have, then you can purchase them right away.

These Cards work on your computer screen, your tablet and your smart phone.

I URGE you to try it.

CLICK HERE now and watch my latest video and then click each card to see how it works.

From now on, be SURE to click the Cards in my videos so I can share with you valuable tips that I can't talk about in the video for one reason or another.

LAST CALL for SOFT-Close

Have you played the LE Johnson SOFT-Close game of mine yet?

You have one more day.

I've decided to lure you to play it by adding some PRIZES!

I didn't announce these prizes last Sunday when the game launched.

TEN people - you could be one! - are going to win Stain Solver!

Stain Solver is my Certified organic oxygen bleach that deep cleans anything water washable.

If you've already played the game, you're entered.

When you play the game you're going to see some STUNNING photographs of some clever uses of pocket doors.

CLICK HERE NOW and be amazed my Padawan!

Defective Asphalt Shingles Book Update

I wanted to give you an update about my book.

I've cleared the legal hurdle. This is huge.

I had to have a top libel attorney review the book to ensure my legal exposure is minimized.

The only way to eliminate my exposure is to NOT publish the book.

The ultimate defense in a libel case is the truth. Everything in my book is truthful.

When you read the truth, I guarantee you'll be SEETHING mad.

Here's the BEST part.

In the book I answer the only two questions you probably care about:

  • Are there shingles out there you'd buy Tim?
  • Is there anything I can do to EXTEND the life of the asphalt shingles I just put on my home?

I've got great news for you on both fronts.

If all goes well, I hope to have this book in your hands no later than April 1st - hopefully much sooner.

Battery and Solar Charger Review

I'll be testing some very cool new technology batteries and a FOLDING roll-up solar charger soon.

These can absolutely help you in any number of ways.

Watch future issues for these reviews and videos.

That's enough for today.

What did you think about the Cards in the videos?

Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Do It Right, Not Over!