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First Home, Many Projects

864K views 260 replies 27 participants last post by  Fishinbo 
#1 · (Edited)
I'm 22yrs old, and my wife and I just bought a house. It was built in 1977, all brick. Has a nice front and back yard, and so far the wife and I are painted all the rooms. Here is a list:

Painting:
[x] Living Room - Navy Blue / White Crown Molding / Lime Green accents (ex: candle holders/picture frames)
[x] Master Bedroom - Hot Pink / White Crown Molding (Unfinished) / Black accents
[x] My Man Cave - Red / White Crown Molding (Unfinished) / White & Black accents
Friend's Room - San Diego Charger Blue (that's what he calls it)
Kitchen - Light Brown / White Crown Molding / Brown Accents

Frontyard:
Expand the driveway - Only 1 car port, would like to have a wide driveway to park cars without a hassle
Solar Panel Lights - The small ones just to light up the drive way / walk way
White Picket Fence (Maybe)
2 car garage - I've never seen a 2 car garage in NC, and I'd like one if possible.

Backyard:
Privacy Fence - Would have to talk to neighbors, and don't know if I'd DIY on that one, ha.
Porch
Outside Bar
Solar Panel Lights

Inside:
Our kitchen area is like a small rectangle, and it doesn't make sense, the sink and dishwasher are across the room from each other, so the wife and I are thinking about knocking out the wall that separates the kitchen and dinning room, then expanding the kitchen cabinets and moving the dishwasher next to the sink and what not. She also wants like a breakfast counter type deal. We're having a Home Depot guy come Sunday morning to give us an estimate on how much it would cost.

---

Master Bedroom:





Man Cave:
Here is my unfinished Man Cave that the wife help paint and setup. Forgive me for the iPhone pictures, can't find my camera still.

Entrance:


I'll probably have a workout machine in the corner:


Can't really put anything in that corner:


This is where the 32" that is on the floor will be mounted:


This is the new 27" iMac that I just bought:


This is where my couch is going:
 
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#51 ·
Yep. Keep what you have. When you're all done sealing everything up, you can spread it back out.

The foam I used is called "Great Stuff". It's in a red can.

Cocobolo mentioned sealing around a hot pipe, like a B vent from your furnace or a gas water heater. Great Stuff also makes foam for 'high heat'. I'm not sure of the purpose of that stuff. I set some of it on fire out in the back yard one time (I wondered if it really was fire resistant). It burned just as easily as the regular Great Stuff. I have pictures of it here on the forum somewhere. Maybe in the How-To forum in the 'How to Fireblock' thread.

A moderator here, AtlanticWBConstruction, told me to look at Home Depot in the department that sells wood stoves for caulk that is meant for high temperatures, like you'd get with a woodstove pipe.

Don't expect to find it in the paint department with the other caulks and adhesives. At the time, there were two other kinds of caulk in that department that were supposed to be for high heat, but after reading the information, they weren't very good.

You asked how much it cost. I'm not sure if you meant for sealing the attic or for insulating.

I know I used at least 15 cans of Great Stuff. You have to watch out for what you're getting. Home Depot and Lowe's, in my area, sell two different size cans. If I remember right, Home Depot had the better price, but you'll want to compare prices yourself in your area.

Other than that, it seemed like I was always running to Lowe's for something else I needed up there.

My attic needed more than sealing and insulating. I kept finding weird problems up there. So it may not be so expensive for you.

I believe I paid the insulation guy $925 to add 2 or 3 extra square vents onto the roof and add however many inches of insulation - 14 or 16".

With you having such warm summers, you'll want to have a high R-value. Go higher than what is recommended for your area.

Your cost may be different, depending on the size of your attic and how much you want to add.

Hurriken mentioned insulating the lid of the hatch. That is one of the most important things to do. Mine is made of plywood. I stacked 2 pieces of 2" extruded foam board (blue stuff) on top of it, a few layers of Reflectix and one layer of some R-13 fiberglass insulation I had around the house. Im not sure if it's enough, but it's much better than it was. The insulation guy said he would have added the two layers of foam only.

Another really important thing about the hatch, is the gasket that the lid rests on when the attic is closed. Mine had a gasket on it, but it wasn't in perfect shape and there was a gap in it at one of the corners.

A new gasket is very cheap and well worth the couple minutes it takes to put it in. You'll find them in the same aisle as the rest of the weather proofing products.

On another note: Thank you for serving our country!

Barb
 
#61 ·
More advice if useful, pardon the brevity that sounds like "do this do that". Take what makes sense to you, here's how I do it

If you need power up there and batteries won't do it you might try this:

string a wire tightly across the attic. Add shower hooks. Attach extension cord with a multi-plug end to shower hooks using twisties or zipties, but be careful not to twist or pull so hard you cut into cord insulation. Now cord will move with you down the main corridor without being underfoot or dragging in dusty insulation etc

I like a full respirator with HEPA particulate filters, or these
http://www.amazon.com/3M-8511-Particulate-Sanding-Respirator/dp/B0002YKBV2

Gloves

wear work clothes you won't mind trashing. Blowfoam is messy and
hard to clean. Hat or bandana to help keep it out of hair. Coffee can with v cut in plastic lid. When the tip of the foam gets glommed with insulation fibers, you stick it into the v to scrape off the glom, but keep the glom in the can so you don't stick your hand in it then scratch your ear (don't ask how I know this)

If you find lightweight stuff that looks like popcorn or gravel, stop and read about asbestos vermiculite
http://www.google.com/search?q=verm...e+asbestos&gs_rfai=&pbx=1&fp=6f32b8af52b7e0b8

If you find rodent poop stop and read about hanta virus
http://www.google.com/search?q=hant...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

Watch out for roofing nails in the boards above your head.

IF you find discolored insulation, what looks dirty close down to the ceiling, SEAL THAT SPOT! The dirt is what was filtered as your warm heated air left your living space and floated up to the sky thru the attic

This is the single biggest return-on-investment I have ever done for energy efficiency, and the first big project I try to do when I move. It's easy and VERY satisfying project, but it isn't that fun at the time.

STAY ON THE JOISTS, don't fall thru

SteveEl
 
#5 ·
It is a 21+ gaming forum. We are a bunch of adults that got fed up with screaming 12 year olds and glitchers. We have plenty of members on the site with all three of those mentioned games. Sign up and come out and play sometime. We aren't very competitive, we just play to have a good time.
 
#18 ·
Thanks, I was thinking about going that route, only thing I'd need to be actually plugged in the living room is the DVR. My Man Cave would just need modem, router, and computer to be plugged in. Everything else in my house could just use a power strip.

The light bulbs I bought are like twist looking ones. I did have a question about 4 light bulb fan, if I only have 1 screwed in, would the 3 empty ones still draw power?
 
#21 ·
The outlet will not draw power if the switch is off. The circuit is not complete until it is turned on.

You can save power if you install a programmable thermostat. That way you can set it so it turns the the heat/AC when you aren't actually home. They are pretty cheap and easy to install.
 
#23 ·
You can probably hook up another outlet to a switch or add another switch but I can't comment on it much more than that. I have very limited knowledge on running wires.

I believe that is one of the biggest advantages with a new thermostat. Perhaps newer models can check room temperatures better. I know mine isn't very accurate and I'll be changing mine out before it gets too cold.
 
#26 · (Edited)
Well, I'm still replying in hopes people help. I ended up buying this:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs...langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=202024248

The home depot clerk told me the wires will be labeled, and just remember what their label was and connect it to the new thermostat. Here's the issue, there are no labels on mine. The instructions say ignore wire colors, there should be a identification next to the terminal screw which I do not see.

Edit: Guess there are 2 face plates to the mount, removed it and now I got it to work!'


 
#29 ·
My heat bill was $131 a month, year round on the budget plan with the gas company.

I did the following and lowered it to $61 a month, year round.

1. Sealed the attic and added cellulose insulation from R-19 to about R-58.
2. Sealed the seams on all exposed heat ducts and furnace.
3. Replaced several older windows. Still have 5 to go.
4. Replaced drafty front door.
5. Gaskets on all electrical outlets in walls.
6. Sealed and insulated rim joists in basement.
7. Installed a draft blocker in the dryer vent to keep cold air from coming in. That made a huge difference. There used to be cold air flowing in from the dryer vent.
8. Still have to insulate the heat ducts that have been sealed.

There are more things, but I can't think of them right now.

I won't use CFL bulbs in my house, but I noticed a drop in my electric bill when I plugged all of of my computer stuff into a power strip and turn the power to it off every night and when I'm not using it during the day.

During the colder months, I turn the dial down a little bit in my refrigerator.

The navy blue paint on your walls looks great.
 
#30 ·
$61! I'm hoping that most of the bill was due to a turn-on fee since it was my first bill.

1. How do I know if my attic is sealed and if I need insulation? The wife said when she looked up there, it was insulated, but when we first moved in, the house would get up to like 97 degrees.
2. What do you use to seal these heat ducts?
3. I've been told my windows are the energystar ones, double layered?

4. Couldn't I just buy the weatherstrips?
5. What's a gasket?
6. Don't have a basement.
7. Where did you get this draft blocker?
8. Heat ducts are the air vents?

Why won't you use the CFL bulbs? I plan on buying this:

I think I'll find it very useful, in the living room all I need on is the DVR so our shows record. In my Man Cave, all I need on is my internet and computer. The xbox, TV, printer, paper shredder can be plugged into this.



Thanks, I we like them as well. Once we fill the living room up some more, I'll take some updated photo's.
 
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