Please share with me what you'd invest to discover what might be the BEST wood deck stain available:
Old House Construction
Old House Construction |How could the underside of the original subfloor in this old house be stained by concrete? You’ll be amazed to discover the answer. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
Old House Construction
Days ago, I was in the basement of an old house with my son. We were looking at the boiler, the structure, and the foundation walls. He’s about to become a first-time owner of a piece of the earth ball. The past four years, he’s been renting a loft apartment and he’s finally realized the breathtaking rent payment he’s been paying each month could be better invested in a home he owns. Truth be told, he’s also been saving so he can make a sizable down payment.
I’ve got three children, and sadly only one of them was old enough to remember me going to the job site each day. In fact, on quite a few Saturdays, I took my oldest daughter with me to job sites to help me do small tasks and to give my wife a well-deserved break. My son and youngest daughter only have memories of me sitting in front of a computer all day because I transitioned from building to writing my syndicated column when they were toddlers or younger. For all I know, they might have thought I was chatting online with babes all day when they saw me staring at my computer monitor.
Because I was unable to immerse my son and youngest daughter into the job site experience, there’s quite a bit they missed out on. I clearly remember explaining very interesting things to my oldest daughter and she always had fantastic questions about things she saw on a construction site.
What is Cross Bracing Between Floor Joists?
My son asked me while we were in the basement, “Dad, what are those diagonal pieces of wood in between the floor joists that make the letter X?” I was impressed he spotted those.
“Oh, that’s a great question. Those are diagonal cross braces that make the floor above much stiffer. Believe it or not, those small 1x3 pieces of wood transfer a concentrated load resting on the floor above to the adjacent floor joists. It’s simple, yet effective, structural engineering. Many people think the primary purpose is to keep joists from twisting. That's not the case. It's exceedingly difficult to have a joist twist when it's secured at one end over the foundation and it's nailed top and bottom where it crosses a beam.”
You’ll find this diagonal bracing on just about every old home, but you rarely find it in new homes. I’m flummoxed why modern code officials have removed this requirement from the model building codes for the most common joist sizes. This isn’t the only great building method that’s been scrubbed from the code. Realize the building code is a set of minimum standards and you can always build something better and stronger than what the code says to do.
Floor, Wall, and Roof Sheathing First Used as Foundation Forms
My son then said, “Dad, is something wrong with the subfloor on top of the floor joists? Is that some sort of fungus or rot? How come the wood is gray and not brown like all the other solid pieces of wood?” He was referring to a few pieces of 1x8s that had concrete cement paste on them.
“Well, you think recycling is a newer concept, think again! Back 100 years ago when this house was built, the carpenters often cast the concrete foundation. They’d use the 3/4-inch-thick lumber that would be used as the house subfloor and the exterior wall and roof sheathing as the wood to build the forms for the foundation. Several days after pouring the concrete, they’d carefully take apart the forms and salvage all of the lumber. They’d then use some of it to create the house subfloor and whatever was left over would be used on the walls and roof.”
Solid-Wood Beams Support Floors
Next up was the main support beam. “Dad, is this solid wood? It’s massive.” He was referring to a timber that measured 7 inches wide, 11 inches high, and 9 feet long.
“Yes, it’s solid wood and look at how few knots are in it. Back when this house was built, it was normal to use wood beams to support the floor joists above. Timber-frame houses and barns are still built today using stunning timbers like this.”
Your takeaway should be that many old houses are very likely built better than what’s being constructed today. But be careful how you define the word better. I’d love to have been around when the carpenters of old saw their first sheets of 3/4-inch CDX plywood that replaced solid 1x6 and 1x8 sheathing. I’d love to have overheard the conversations of old plasterers whose helpers nailed on the thin wood-lath strips when they saw the first sheets of 3/8-inch gypsum plaster lath boards that were 16 inches wide and 48 inches long.
There are countless building products and tools that are used today to build houses faster, but that doesn’t always equate to being better. I’ll readily admit that just about any building product that helps save on energy costs with respect to heating and cooling a house is absolutely better than what was used 100 years ago when energy was so cheap builders didn’t insulate homes.
I can already envision the hundreds of emails I’ll get via the Ask Tim page on my AsktheBuilder.com website. Concrete foundation companies will let me know how they reuse their forms hundreds and hundreds of times. I’ll hear all about the wonderful sub-flooring that resists water damage. No doubt I’ll hear about the plastic-coated wall and roof sheathing and a plethora of other products that are superior to what was available to the builders in the early 1900s. I welcome all of these responses!
Column 1448
March 20, 2022 AsktheBuilder Newsletter
Issue #1174 (I think...)
This might be your first issue. That's worthy of a toast! Make mine whole wheat. I know, I know, don't quit my day job.
But what about you? It's possible you signed on with Issue #814. Do you recall this photo?
Do you have this problem at your house? Maybe not in a sidewalk at the street but one alongside your home. Maybe it's water collecting against a patio. Maybe you have puddles in a driveway.
I share a fantastic way to solve the problem in this past column.
Inflation
It's Far Worse Than is Being Reported
Have you noticed how the price of many things has soared in the past fifteen months? I put 21 gallons of gas in my truck on Friday and the pump display said $91.25. Are you kidding me?
Just in the last year, the cost of building a new home is risen almost $20,000.00. HOLY TOMATO!
The price of my used Ford F-250 Super Duty 4x4 is up nearly 30% in the past year. It's got 145,000 miles on it and in excellent condition. What model year? 2009!!!
Do you know what causes inflation? Big business is an easy target, but the true cause lies with the people you and I have voted for in the past. We've made some really bad choices!
Did you know the money in your savings account or wallet is a commodity just like chickens, lumber, or pork bellies. It just so happens that we've decided to use money as the exchange mechanism when you or I go to buy something.
It's far easier to carry around pieces of paper with special green and blue ink than cages of poultry hoping the person selling gasoline will accept your clucking chickens.
Inflation is caused when you put too much money into circulation. When the Congress of the USA passes spending and aid bills in the billions and trillions of dollars like it's been doing recently, you're guaranteed to create inflation.
You do realize the US Treasury is empty, right? We spend more money each year than we take in. If you did that year after year you'd be bankrupt. The USA can get away with it for a short time longer only because the US Dollar is the world reserve currency.
Do you realize our national debt is now in excess of $30 Trillion Dollars?!!!The money in those expenditure bills doesn't exist when the bill is signed into law. The Federal Reserve just creates the money out of thin air and piles it onto our debt.
It's that simple. Printing more money just because you can automatically makes it LESS VALUABLE. Because the money is less valuable, the people who are selling you and me things want MORE OF IT in exchange for what we're buying.
The prices of building materials is out of control. It's going to get WORSE in my opinion. Now is the time to buy anything you need for your home unless you have a bottomless pit of money or a secret high-grade printing press.
I suggest you read this article. It does a great job of explaining inflation. It contains a fantastic history of inflation, including how it played a part in ending the War of Northern Aggression. Once you consume the article, direct your ire eastward towards the state of Maryland.
Trust me, you're going to see the prices of things go way up in the next year or so. It's going to be horrible. If you think inflation is going to ease up soon, I've got a wonderful lake here in New Hampshire I'd love to sell you.
Crown Molding - EASY!
Do you want to install crown molding? It's not that hard, especially if you follow my instructions.
I recommend you grab a copy of my crown molding installation instructions. It's an instant download PDF file.
I share with you how to install crown molding in just about any situation, including vaulted ceilings.
Tinnitus Relief - Seriously
I've suffered from tinnitus for decades. Six years ago, I discovered how to stop noticing the ringing in my ears.
You'll not believe how simple it is and what's really going on inside your brain. Go here and read about how I discovered the secret about how to stop being bothered by tinnitus.
Do You Need My Help?
Are you having trouble untangling bids and are worried about which one to choose? I can help you.
Are you about to purchase replacement windows? Do you know the best ones to buy? I can help you.
Are you embarking on building a new home? Do you want to raise the odds you'll still be friends with your builder at the end of the job? I can help you.
How can I help? Let's you and I jump on a short phone call.
shovel man digging
Join my Discord!
About ten days ago, I got set up on Discord with the help of a new friend. It's a fascinating SAFE platform that will allow you to hang out with me and lots of other Ask the Builder friends whenever you have a chance. It reminds me of a coffee shop, a conference center, and in some ways the new wing of my high school with nine different classrooms.
Watch a few videos to get your head around this amazing technology. I believe within SECONDS you'll see how you and I can use the amazing Discord technology to SAVE YOU LOTS OF TIME AND MONEY.
Perhaps the biggest benefit is you can often get an answer to a problem you have 24 hours a day. Some other Discord user might be in the Ask the Builder area sipping a latte or working on a wood lathe. She or he will stop and help you if I'm sawing logs or otherwise busy.
Think of Discord as the Comment Section under any of the columns on my website (they currently don't work!), but on the most powerful steroids known to woman or man.
You can join Discord for FREE and:
- start to discuss home improvement topics with new friends
- share photos of your projects
- ask any questions about anything
- discover really cool links that I share during my LIVE video streams
- uncover so much more
I realize you're a busy person, so the Discord platform allows you to interact with me if I'm on it during the day or you can get help from others who might have the same interests as you.
We've set up quite a few topic areas if you just want to hang out in those places. Check out in the left column all the topic areas. Realize I can ADD MORE if you don't see a topic area you'd like. Just ask me to do it.
I think you get the point. Trust me, you'll be WISE to join my Discord. Remember, it's FREE!
That's enough for a Sunday.
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
HILTON HOTELS Uses - www.StainSolver.com
Mr. DX - www.W3ATB.com
Do It Right, Not Over!
P.S. Do you know what real whitewash is? Did you know it doesn't have to be white? Yes, you can tint whitewash any color! Go here and scroll down to see just a few of the colors you can have!
Mortarless Stone Veneer
Mortarless Stone Veneer | With the quality of workmanship dropping like a bomb, maybe you should consider a stone veneer that has no mortar. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
Mortarless Stone Veneer - It's a Time-Tested Product
Do you follow trends in design, building, clothes, etc.? You do realize the primary motivation behind these changing trends is to pry hard-earned money from your wallet or savings account. Are you old enough to remember when pink and gray ceramic tile was the rage? How about polka-dot patterned shirts with wide collars and bell-bottom jeans? I know, I’m dating myself!
Who First Used Mortarless Stone Veneer?
But what about a trend that started out within the past decade and appears to still be gaining in popularity? I’m talking about mortarless stone veneer. You may think this is a new technology, but it’s not. Not by a long shot. The Egyptians used this on a huge scale in Giza, home of the great pyramids and bed sheets. The giant pyramids had a smooth stone veneer of giant slabs of stone fitted with absolutely no mortar.
New Hampshire railroad builders also used mortarless stone! This bridge abutment is on the north shore of the Smith River just before it connects to the Pemigewasset River on the abandoned Boston & Maine railroad line that connected Bristol, NH to Franklin, NH. This abutment was constructed before the US Civil War known by Southerners as the War of Northern Aggression.
The Peruvian Indians did the same thing at Machu Picchu high up in the Andes Mountains thousands of years ago. It’s important to realize they did this with no power tools, no diamond wet saws, or dry-cut abrasive blades attached to a hand-held saw.
These two civilizations were not alone. There are plenty of examples of stone walls, buildings, arches, etc. all built without mortar. Instead, the master stonemasons took the time to fit the stones together much like the pieces of a high-quality jigsaw puzzle. The good news is you can purchase stone veneer for your home and follow in the footsteps of the master builders of old!
Use Stone Veneer Around Fireplaces
Recently a woman, who tunes into my live streaming video on my Ask the Builder YouTube channel each weekday, shared how she’s using thin pieces of interlocking colorful natural stone as a surround for her new fireplace. The old fireplace developed a crack in the firebox and had to be replaced. What’s interesting is the hearth and the wall above the fireplace was covered with large pieces of multi-colored slate that is not being replaced. The new stone veneer around the fireplace blends really well with the existing slate. Don’t be afraid to mix different stones, textures, and sizes.
The mortarless stone veneer is going to go where you see the white cement board.
Months ago, a close friend of mine inherited an ocean-front condominium in southern California built 40-plus years ago. The interior fireplace had a dated tile surround and it was time to replace the tired tile. He and his wife chose to use the thin mortarless stone veneer that she installed. The color was fabulous and the 1.5-inch-high pieces of stone were the perfect scale to match both the room and the fireplace. She told me after the job was finished how easy it was to work with the stone.
This is the woman who installed the stone veneer around her fireplace in the condominium. This was her first time working with the material and she did an outstanding job!
Keep in mind this amazing building material can be used outdoors with great success so long as you install it correctly. Just a few miles from my home, a new building sports a mortarless stone veneer that’s about 1.5 inches thick. The pieces of natural granite have a random texture that’s exposed to the weather.
This mortarless stone veneer is on a building close to my home. It's about 1.5 inches thick. Regular brick mortar was used to adhere it to the cast/poured concrete foundation wall. Copyright Tim Carter 2022
What Are the Sizes of the Stones?
While it looks like the stone pieces are random in size, they’re not. The different sizes have been saw cut at a factory to precise heights so you can stack the stones randomly and never worry about a pesky gap. It’s very similar to an Ashlar pattern in slate flooring.
There are different ways to install these magic stone veneers. Some come as panels that you screw to the wall. Others are individual pieces of stone you adhere to an interior or exterior wall with Portland-cement-based thinset or traditional brick mortar applied to the back of each piece of stone. If you use traditional mortar, be sure to add some hydrated lime. I have a time-tested formula for this I'm happy to share with you.
How Heavy is Stone Veneer?
Keep in mind the cumulative weight of the stone veneer is quite heavy. Most natural stone weighs in at about 150 pounds per cubic foot. The stone that surrounds the two fireplaces I previously discussed could easily weigh about 600 pounds. This means as you install the stone, the first course needs to be solid and able to support the weight of the stone as you stack them.
What is the Best Way to Support the Weight?
When using this mortarless stone veneer outside on your home to hide a bland concrete foundation wall, it really pays to have a small shelf or ledge cast into the concrete. The craftsmen who build cast, or poured, concrete walls can do this with minimal effort. All the weight of the stone is then transferred to the footing and there’s little danger of the veneer failing in the future.
How Do You Prevent Water Leaks to the Building Frame?
Be sure your architect allows the face of your exterior frame walls covered with sheathing to be flush with the overall face of the stone veneer. This is easy to achieve using a wider bottom plate. If your exterior siding is wood, vinyl, fiber cement, or some other similar product, it will be able to overlap the stone veneer just like roof shingles overlap the row below. This is vital to ensure no water ever gets to the wood framing that may make up your exterior walls.
As with every product, be sure you read the installation instructions. Don’t hope the job is going to be done right. The instructions are very easy to understand. Have a meeting with the actual contractor or stonemason before they start on this phase of work and review the instructions. Remember, you should only hope for things you can’t control like the weather. You can control how all the work is done on your home!
Column 1447
Tinnitus Ear Plugs
Tinnitus Ear Plugs - The high-pitched noise of a circular saw can cause permanent ear damage and most likely tinnitus. ALWAYS wear high-quality ear protection.
Tinnitus Ear Plugs - A Complete Waste of Money
I've had tinnitus for years. I don't know when it started, but it was decades ago. It's possible it was occupational due to all the loud noises I encountered daily on the construction job site.
On a scale of 1 - 10, with ten being completely debilitating, some days I'd have an 8 and as I type this it's hardly a 1. I've never been able to connect why it goes up and down.
How to Cure Tinnitus
Fortunately, about five years ago I discovered how to control and cure tinnitus. I'm a ham radio operator and one night around a campfire at the base of Mt. Washington in New Hampshire Laura O. Robertson Au.D. shared how I could kick tinnitus to the curb. She's a doctor of audiology with an office in Laconia, NH, and I was astonished at her advice.
HA HA HA! Photo courtesy of Indian Hills Community Center in CO.
Step One of Tinnitus Cure
The first thing to realize is the jury is still out as to the exact cause of tinnitus. But what is known is how your brain reacts to the noise no matter if you have tinnitus in one ear or both.
The key to cure tinnitus is to re-train your brain and tell it that the sound you hear is not a threat. I know that sounds crazy, but here's what's going on.
Deep in your brain and DNA lies a survival mechanism. It's why you turn your head when something moves or comes into your peripheral vision. It's why alarm bells go off in your brain when you're out in the woods and hear a twig snap nearby. Your brain is firing up the flight-or-fight response. It SENSES DANGER and FOCUSES on the sound or what you see until such time as you make a decision if what you see or hear is a danger.
When you say to your brain, "Oh, that's just a dog chasing after a Frisbee. No big deal", your brain ignores the moving object and goes back into the scan mode.
Or, if you say to your brain, "Heck, that was just a stupid small dead branch falling from a tree," your brain relaxes and believes you thinking it's not a threat.
Step Two of Tinnitus Cure
Your job when all of a sudden you begin to NOTICE the tinnitus is to IMMEDIATELY tell your brain, "Hey, no big deal that sound is NOT A THREAT."
Here's the issue. For years when I'd hear the tinnitus, I'd FOCUS on it especially if it was above level 5. Focusing your attention on the sound and thinking about it SCREAMS to your brain, "WATCH OUT, this sound is DANGER!" This is the worst thing to do and it just makes things worse.
Step Three of Tinnitus Cure
You re-train your brain easily as Laura taught me. The moment you hear the tinnitus sound, you must immediately do something that requires concentration. It can be something as simple as mopping a floor, solving a crossword puzzle, starting to bake brownies where you focus on measuring ingredients, etc.
The instant you do this and the SOONER you do it, you're telling your brain, "That sound is harmless. We've got work to do! Let's go."
Step Four of Tinnitus Cure
This is the advice Laura gave me and it worked. Within one month, ninety-eight percent of my tinnitus was gone. Well, it may have still been happening but I no longer noticed it. At first, it takes a bit of effort to start to concentrate on something else because you've been in a rut for years thinking about the sound.
Believe me, you'll be amazed at how well this works. It's now been years and my tinnitus has been completely under control since I did all of the above.
Please let me know how this works for you!
This column was mentioned in the March 20, 2022 AsktheBuilder Newsletter.
Home Inspection Nightmare
Home Inspection Nightmare | What is that mortar SCREAMING? Can you hear it? You would if you use my home inspection checklist. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
Home Inspection Nightmare - There are So Many
Not all home inspectors are equal. Many are sub-par and they haven't had the proper training to find all major flaws in a home.
A home inspection is very important because you need to protect yourself from buying a lemon.
I was one of the first home inspectors in Cincinnati in the late 1970s and early 1980s before it grew into its own industry. Before you make an offer on a home that contains a CONTINGENCY about hiring a home inspector, use my home inspection checklist to discover deal-breaker items on your own.
Today there are any number of home inspection associations that allow a person to look like a real pro. Beware of fancy acronyms behind a person's name on a business card because some associations have minimal proficiency requirements.
Read this email from one of my newsletter subscribers about the different associations:
Hi Tim,
I retired as a home inspector after 20+ years ( I made it to 81 years of age before the body gave out concurrently with, but unrelated to, the arrival of COVID.)
ASHI is, if not the oldest home inspection organization, one of the oldest. Keep in mind there are several associations. I belonged to ASHI but left when they changed the membership rules in the middle of the game to support their branding effort.
I joined the now-defunct National Association of Home Inspectors, NAHI, and there was almost no difference in the SOP, COC, or CE requirements.
As NAHI failed, I moved to InterNACHI (formally NACHI) because it was not only less expensive to join but also offered so many benefits including free online CE courses. Once again there was almost no difference in the SOP, COC, or CE requirements. It is my understanding that InterNACHI is now the largest association by far.
As far as best home inspectors, their quality is dictated more by their individual work ethic rather the association they choose to join because there just isn't much difference in SOPs or COCs.
Your buddy,
Marshall
An Ask the Builder newsletter subscriber shared this nightmare about an inspection gone wrong that cost him tens of thousands of dollars:
Hi Tim,
This was nearly 30 years ago. When we were first house hunting and were close to buying, we went with a highly recommended inspector. With our second home purchase, our agent convinced us to use her inspector. It was a huge mistake.
-
- Out of code deck (piles of problems).
- Gas hot air heating system with cracked heat exchanger
- Electrical panel (100 amp) failing apart.
- Framing in one corner of the house was non-pressure treated going down into dirt and cement.
- Asbestos tiles on an outside wall in poor shape (though not dangerous).
- Leaky windows. Rotted out framing under a window.
- Garage door opener hooked up with speaker wire for power, bare copper in spots.
- Layers of carpet.
- Cheap paneling over chopped-up sheetrock installed when expanding a closet.
- "great room" downstairs had actually been a big room plus a bedroom.
- A door frame from that bedroom was up in the attic. No idea how they got it up there. Also found some doors in the attic.
- Attic entry through a tiny opening in MBR closet.
- The roof was not in great condition.
- Crumbling 3-strip concrete driveway. There was snow when we toured the house.
BTW, 29 years later, we're still getting their junk mail.
There was more, but I thought this would give you a good laugh. Feel free to use it, just don't put my name on it. We have long since fixed most of it.
Regards,
Name Withheld
Finally, here's another subscriber story. In this case, he should have turned on all the appliances himself not depending on an inspector:
Tim – Let me tell you my story!
In 2015, we made an offer to purchase our 1995 vintage Hallmark manufactured home which was ‘ground set’ in a subdivision SW of Tucson, AZ in an area known as Tucson Estates. I contacted ASHI in Tucson to find one of their best inspectors to do a home inspection prior to purchase for us. Yes, he did come out and did his inspection and provided us with his beautifully done report.
Once we closed escrow and I began the remodeling process (it was known by the neighbors as the ‘smoke house’ as the Sellers who were the original owners, were heavy smokers!) I soon discovered that the 20-year-old GE oven/microwave combination (see attachment) did not function and the display was hardly readable! Replacing it with a similar new unit would cost about $2,500!! I called this to the inspector’s attention and all he did was refund my inspection fee of about $500 and called to my attention, that this guarantee was included in the original inspection agreement!
Too bad that there aren’t any better inspectors out there other than ASHI.
Glen
March 13, 2022 AsktheBuilder Newsletter
Issue #1173 (I think...)
Can you nudge Patrice and Jana and ask them to keep it down a bit? I know you're sitting with them at the New Subscriber table. Look to your left and you'll see Tess, Jeff, and RJ. Swivel your noggin to the right and you'll notice Carol, Joe, Stephanie, and a gaggle of others who are experiencing their first newsletter along with you. WOOT! Thanks for your trust.
But what about you? It's possible you signed on with Issue #515. Do you recall this photo?
I discovered these amazing plastic parts bins back when I was building a room addition for Rachel and Dale Friemoth in Maderia, Cincinnati. Once Dale introduced me to these affordable time savers, I purchased about 100 of them to use on the shelves in the back of my covered utility body.
That truck bed had 48 linear feet of shelves to put them on! My Ford F-250 was a hardware store on wheels. The bins made sure I always had the correct bolt, screw, anchor, pipe fitting, wire nut, etc. I rarely had to stop working to leave the job site to get a needed fastener or part.
You will LOVE these bins as much as I do. I still have all of my original ones as well as new larger ones. They come in different sizes and a multitude of colors.
You might discover it's best to store things by color. Nails could be in blue bins, screws in red bins, plumbing fittings in yellow bins, etc.
You'll be so organized! Look here to discover more tips on this type of storage and to PURCHASE the EXACT high-quality bins I've used for over 40 years.
House Inspection Checklist
Point your peepers at this photo and tell me if you feel it would be a good idea to have my home inspection checklist on your phone or in your hand when you walk through it to see if you should put in an offer to buy it.
What things inside or outside the house are deal breakers? Do you know what it costs to hire an ASHI home inspector? They're the BEST inspectors out there but why hire one to only discover the house isn't worth buying?
Why not discover the deal breakers BEFORE spending all that money with an inspector to then start the house-looking process all over again?
You can save well over $500 by using my house inspection checklist!
Spring Work Gloves
If you live down South, then you've already started your spring projects. Well over 217,345,908 other USA citizens are still waiting for warmer and slightly drier weather.
You may want to try out these gloves to protect your hands that got soft over the winter:
I've been testing these gloves all winter shoveling snow and I find them to be extremely comfortable.
Go here to see other photos and to see what I loved about the gloves.
Spring Shed Project
I want you to look again at the photo below. It was in last week's newsletter. How would you like to have a handsome shed like this? How would you like over-the-phone help if you get stuck building your new shed?
You have the skills to build a simple shed like this. Remember, elephants are eaten one bite at a time. You start buy investing in an excellent set of plans that will allow you to easily visualize all the components of the shed, including where each wall stud goes!
Get the shed plans now and let's you and I build the shed of your dreams this spring. What say you?
Join my Discord!
This past week. I got set up on Discord with the help of a new friend. It's a fascinating SAFE platform that will allow you to hang out with me and lots of other Ask the Builder friends whenever you have a chance. It reminds me of a coffee shop, a conference center, and in some ways the new wing of my high school with nine different classrooms.
Watch a few videos to get your head around this amazing technology. I believe within SECONDS you'll see how you and I can use the amazing Discord technology to SAVE YOU LOTS OF TIME AND MONEY.
Perhaps the biggest benefit is you can often get an answer to a problem you have 24 hours a day. Some other Discord user might be in the Ask the Builder area sipping a latte or working on a wood lathe. She or he will stop and help you if I'm sawing logs or otherwise busy.
Think of Discord as the Comment Section under any of the columns on my website (they currently don't work!), but on the most powerful steroids known to woman or man.
You can join Discord for FREE and:
- start to discuss home improvement topics with new friends
- share photos of your projects
- ask any questions about anything
- discover really cool links that I share during my LIVE video streams
- uncover so much more
I realize you're a busy person, so the Discord platform allows you to interact with me if I'm on it during the day or you can get help from others who might have the same interests as you.
We've set up quite a few topic areas if you just want to hang out in those places. Check out in the left column all the topic areas. Realize I can ADD MORE if you don't see a topic area you'd like. Just ask me to do it.
I think you get the point. Trust me, you'll be WISE to join my Discord. Remember, it's FREE!
That's enough for a Sunday.
Tim Carter
Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com
HILTON HOTELS Uses - www.StainSolver.com
Mr. DX - www.W3ATB.com
How Does Discord Work
How Discord Can Save you Time and $$$
Watch these videos to get a feel of how EASY it is to use Discord to save you TIME and MONEY!
Go HERE to view the comprehensive Discord Beginner's Manual that's a deep dive into all the amazing functionality.
House Inspection Checklist for Buying/Renovating
House Inspection Checklist - Are you thinking of renovating an old house like this? You better get my checklist! Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
House Inspection Checklist - The Best One is Here
Not too long ago, I was driving to get an estimate to install a new muffler on my truck. It was just after sunrise and a large sewer project forced me to detour across a street I’d never been on before. As luck would have it, I happened upon an old Victorian house that had seen far better days just as the early-morning sun was giving her a tender morning kiss. It brought back vivid memories of the first old house I purchased and then renovated in the following months.
Perhaps you’ve heard the saying, “You don’t know what you don’t know.” I can speak to the validity of this, and fortunately, I didn’t know much when I purchased that wonderful quaint 3-bedroom home in an FHA auction in the spring of 1975 for $8,000.00.
This is the first house I owned located at 2865 Minto Avenue in Cincinnati, OH! It's still in marvelous shape as of 2021. I remember dumping all the plaster from the second-floor rooms into a chute we had made that extended out from that upper dormer window on the far right. The plaster chunks went into Tony Albanese's 3/4-ton 1950s pickup truck with the flat-head engine in the driveway creating a massive dust storm. I'm sure the neighbors were most unhappy. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
If I knew then what I know now after all these years of working in old homes for paying customers, I don’t know if I would have purchased it. To be sure, visions of grandeur were floating in my head and that of my new wife of six months just as they did in Mr. Blanding’s in the hilarious Cary Grant movie Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream Home.
I had all sorts of support from my father-in-law who happened to be a medical doctor but real-estate investing was his hobby. But I lacked a wonderful checklist that would have helped me identify possible trouble spots and definite deal-breakers. As I marched through life, I accumulated the hard-earned knowledge that has allowed me to create a really helpful old house inspection checklist.
Foundation
Here are a few things that you should think about if you’re about to go all-in as I did back on that warm spring day. First and foremost, you need to make sure the old house has a great foundation. Just recently, my son was thinking of purchasing an old house and he sent me a photo of a diagonal crack extending from the corner of a basement window down to the floor. The house was almost 100 years old. The crack was less than 1/8th inch in width and there was no evidence of water seepage and the concrete was not offset.
The red arrows point to the crack in the house my son was looking at. It's probably 100 years old. Note it's not wide and there's no offset. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
My wife thought this was a major defect. I pointed out that it’s normal for concrete to shrink as it cures and cracks at window-opening corners are as common as flies at a summer picnic. The fact there was no water seepage and the concrete was still in the same plane telegraphed to me that there was nothing to worry about. After all, this crack had been there for probably 99 years!
It’s important that the old house’s framing, or bones, are in great shape with no cracks, wood rot, or insect damage. The carpenters of old knew how to keep wood in great shape and most made prudent use of simple tar paper to keep the structure dry for decades.
Plumbing - Is it Cast Iron?
The mechanical systems are next. The presence of cast-iron plumbing stacks is not an issue, especially if you can see the cast letters XH on the pipe. These letters indicate that pipe is extra heavy and might last for hundreds of years so long as the previous homeowners didn’t put liquid drain cleaners down the pipes.
Here's a typical cast iron drain pipe. It's suspended from the ceiling in a stairwell in one of the oldest buildings in Southwest Harbor, Maine. You can see how the lettering is cast into the pipe. Since you don't see the XH in the lettering, it means it's standard weight. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
If you do see cast-iron plumbing vertical pipes, it almost certainly means you’ll have smaller horizontal galvanized pipes that drain sinks, showers, and possibly tubs. These pipes will almost always be in poor shape and require replacement.
Electrical Wiring
Old electric wires and cables found in most houses built in the early 1900s simply were not designed for today’s modern appliances. You can count on having to install lots of new cables to kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, and other rooms where you might have appliances that consume lots of power.
HVAC System
Don’t underestimate the cost to retrofit your heating and cooling system. Many very old houses simply don’t have the supply and return air registers in the correct locations.
The red arrow points to a large wall-mounted hvac return-air vent. The furnace or air handler is probably on the other side of the wall behind that door. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
My first house had all the supply vents located on the inside of the house. Decades ago HVAC pros discovered it’s best to flood exterior walls with either heated air in the winter and cool air in the summer. That means the return air registers must be across the room on inside walls. I doubt you’ll see this setup on a house built in 1905!
Lead Paint
If the house was built long before 1967, you can be sure it’s got lead paint both inside and outside. You don’t have to get rid of it, but you most definitely need to understand how to work with it so you don’t get poisoned or poison a loved one. Even scraping exterior lead paint is an issue as you can contaminate soil you may use for a vegetable garden. Never ever sand lead paint.
Trim Woodwork
Realize that you can match both interior and exterior wood trim if you’ve got a big budget. Old-fashioned lumberyards in your area might have their own mill or they know of a local one that can cut new knives that will create matching profiles for all the fancy woodwork inside or outside your home.
This is custom woodwork I had made to match window and door trim in a Victorian house built in 1900! Woodworking mills can create any profile you can draw. Copyright 2022 Tim Carter
Checklist
I offer a very helpful checklist that can save you hundreds of dollars on a professional home inspector. It points out many of the deal-breakers. Once you find a house that gets a good rating from my checklist, then hire an ASHI inspector. Here’s where to procure my checklist. Be SURE to click on this link:
Get the Best House Inspection Checklist
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