6 month Renovation Adventure Starts Soon

) Садовый столик с жаровней

Something in there means "barbecue"!

http://woodtools.10gb.ru/mag/mk/mk_1990_11_17.jpg

 

Show off. 55 minutes for 95 MB, here.

 

That just ain't right Normy.
I'd tell MTS (even though I like MTS) I'm switching to Shaw if they don't fix it, asap.
You're not getting that for which you are paying.
Which plan are you on? We're on a bundle package.

 

We're on the bottom-feeder plan - Phone and MTS High (lowest) speed (30 KBS). $29 and change per month for WWW service. Next step up, $44 per month.

 

The clock starts in a few weeks

Ain't gonna be around much during this chaos of 6 to 7 months. The grant got approved yesterday. We've got a month to get quotes, prepare the plans, get permits, move 75% of our belongings into storage, and tweak a few walls, build kitchen cabinets, and then let the contractors at it. So I'll drop by more often over the next few weeks, and whenever I get a breather (Saturdays and Sundays or in the wee hours, posting updates and workarounds.)

For instance, in the early 1980's, I was a project manager for some major construction projects in our Oil city, Calgary, Alberta. We had to build chemical labs for a Geological testing lab. Besides the lab counters, they wanted the cafeteria's wall counters (public side) to have electrical 'raceways' to run the plugs for coffee and microwave ovens. Since I've already got the walls insulated but no drywall, I'll make these raceways on 3 walls of the kitchen, and the countertops will be 30" deep, with these raceways just below the windows for small herb garden boxes on top. The walls have 6" of R22 Roxul insulation on the inside and 2 inches of foam insulation on the outside (why we don't need AC on the south face.)

Once I get a detail drawing done, I'll post it.

 

The Construction Costing site!

Links? Ha! You guys think I'm bad for links, eh? I'm a piker!

Anyone thinking of buying a house or renovations, needs to check this site of Cost Estimating Calculators. The name says it all.
http://www.construction-cost.com/

Trial and Free downloadable Estimating/Bidding/RFQ templates and programs and credible contracting books from DeWalt tools, etc.:
http://craftsman-book.com/downloads/index.php?page=free

 

I found a real Pro site for all topics dealing with construction, including actual construction, but also giving great details about contracts, running your small business, negotiating out of the contracts with the 'customer from hell', etc. etc.

Check out the Management topics, as well as the freebie renovation articles. It's really a site for contractors, not consumers, so there's very little hype.

Here's a couple topics that got my attention:

One on using your digital camera for self-promotion (I'm not a camera buff)
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jl...78f10ec27170a32100a0667/Product/View/0707phot

Archived topics on running your business:
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jl...47e7204e906427170a32100a0660+EN/catalogs/1019

This Excel Spreadsheet topic explains estimating the roof shingles on any shape of roof, plus you can download the spreadsheet:
http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jl...183832827170a32100a0625/Product/View/0610esti

http://www.jlconline.com/cgi-bin/jlconline.storefront/EN/UserTemplate/19


Anyway, for us older farts being parked on the sidelines thanks to Age barriers, this site has some really good small business topics for guys who like to do it themselves.

 

Tankless water heaters

We had a funeral on Friday. My old solid copper hotwater tank finally died. RIP. I got that thing from an old upscale home for $50 about 6 years ago, when the SECOND gas hotwater tank in 4 years had died! That gas unit cost me $800 installed back in 2002. I fixed this old-timer up for about $250 in new bronze fittings and elements and wiring and my hotwater costs dropped by about $14 per month! So I'll revive it again as a couple of summertime herb gardens. The shell is still good. Otherwise, I'd get about $75 in copper and brass scrap.

Nuff about that.

We've got all our plumbing on the first floor. Kitchen sink, bathroom sink, hotwater tank, tub, washer/dryer, and dishwasher. 2 adults. All Electric appliances. No gas.

This government grant reno allows me to make some minor deviations, and the tank was included in it. They wouldn't allow me a Tankless water heater because they typically sell for about $1,200 up here (Gas of course). I don't give up easy.

So I found this site rating both Gas and Electric water heaters and anything else to do with HVAC, and went fishing. The President of the company just called me to tell me they have Canadian agents, and I'm happy with what I've seen so far. Less than a small gas tank heater, but a bit more than a 40 gallon tank electric heater. Government's happy. BUT, I get to shave off more on my hydro bill, and I don't need to give up room in the basement again for a big tank.
http://www.hvac-for-beginners.com/tankless-water-heater-ratings.html

Here's the one that I'll get. R-14 or R-18. The biggest one is for a family of 6. When we do the upstairs bedrooms, we'll just get a second one.
http://seisco.com/index.html

10 year warranty, 3 years on the element. Much better than the tank warranties up here. Probably because we've got a lot of sediment and alkali in our water. There's less chance of that with these tankless units, no water to reheat all day and night.
http://seisco.com/pages/cost-compare.html

The hydro savings alone make it worthwhile, but the ease of plumbing it all in, without routing from the old basement tank and then back up, with all the heat loss in the basement, just makes it a no-brainer.

 

This is too much for even building a new house, but the forms are the same for a small job. I've got to make up a small Excel program to handle the dollars and cents and the materials needed for the project. It's a huge help in controlling this beast so that we don't spend 4 months of the winter in an icebox.
http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/

I've got Microsoft Project to track stuff, but Excel is much better at forms and calculations that change with progress entries, Change orders, etc.

EDIT: Found a Free Project management Excel plan, from here. Works for cars or homes:
http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-control-templates.html

It's called Canplan (1st item)

 

I was checking out toilets this morning. We have to upgrade the whole bathroom and part of that means a new Low Flush unit and changing all the sewage lines from the East side of the house to the west side (did I say Major Renos?).

So I found some really good info on the research that was done, because the early ones were dogs:
http://www.cwwa.ca/pdf_files/Drainline Report mar 3, 05.pdf

Then I found the Government site (for whom that old study was done) and yippee! They've got a whole bunch of free PDF documents on renovations!:
https://www03.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/b2c/b...aID=0000000127&productID=00000001270000000007

 

I'm on the EcoModder website, usually learning about fuel-efficient driving tips and mods. So I find a thread on Showerheads and a link to this site with product reviews and alternate ways of doing the same thing. Good site, except its unconventional. All the Categories they review are available from a Left hand side drop-down box, way down the page.
http://www.metaefficient.com/

You can blow hundreds on these showerheads.:confused:

One EcoModder member said this was the best deal, not for price, but because some people with lots of hair just need more pressure to get the suds out, but its cheap enough, too.
http://www.realgoods.com/product/ho...oom/water+quality/energy+saving+showerhead.do

http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthread.php/low-volume-shower-heads-1976.html

 

FreeEd Network Online Courses

SOB! I never knew there was anything like this! All the training manuals for the trades in the US Army, for public use! Your taxes payoff!

I found them looking for estimating my reno project, but then edited back the URL and got to this index page:

Automotive, Agriculture, all the way down the trades lists.

http://free-ed.net/free-ed/FreeEdMain01.asp

This is what I wanted:
http://free-ed.net/free-ed/BldgConst/default.asp

What's neat about this is that most external links take you to free downloads like the publishers of Chilton and Haynes.

 

Well I got my first quote from a General Contractor, whose own specialty is Eaves Troughs, Doors and Windows. Let me put it this way. He's off his freakin' rocker!

He's $10,000 over the estimated Grant Approval. He's had the documents since late August, and I got them yesterday. He back-dated them to October 30. He's under by $1,000 on the lowest roofing quotes (4 others) and over by any rational estimate on electrical, by $7,000. Then he throws in high prices on waste removal, permit costs, painting, drywall, framing. The only quote that even resembles something like reality is the plumbing!

PLAN B starts today! :confused:

 

One of my neighbours recommended a licensed electrician who's wife is also an electrician! Go figure! Hope to hear back tomorrow.

Working on the Plumber, now.

The Grant project manager says they have to be licensed, but they aren't gonna rip me off, either. Alternately, I could apply for the permit and do it myself, but I can't send in hired labour receipts. I'd have to pay the guys out of pocket.

I can act as the General Contractor though, and that would cut out a lot of the costs.

Anyway, we got approved for the insulation grant and energy efficiency grants, which will come off the other quotes.

Chipping away.

 

Thanks for that free-ed link, Norm. Very cool.

Good luck on that reno project. I feel your frustration.