So a few updates on life in the house-maelstrom:
1) Cedar Siding: After mulling over whether to remove, strip the paint, refinish and stain the existing siding, I'm thinking I'm instead going to source out some recycled cedar siding instead. It should save me a considerable amount of time and effort. However, I'm still not sure on how much effort will be required even with recycled siding. It will certainly have more of a "weathered" patina and look unless we re-work it. It's all just a question of time and money...
2) Submission to City: We're pretty much set to go with all of our drawings at this point. We have a meeting with the architects tomorrow and so hopefully should finalize when we will submit to the City. Fingers crossed!
3) Windows: I'm still mulling over the pros and cons of vinyl vs. fiberglass. Seems like the former is cheaper with pretty comparable thermal performance. The big downsides of vinyl are that it's nastier to manufacture (worse for the environment - though improvements have been made in recent years), and that it undergoes more thermal contraction/expansion than fiberglass (which probably isn't as big an issue in Vancouver). Fiberglass can also be painted (whereas vinyl can't). The difference is about 25% more for the fiberglass (arguably there are some other aspects to the windows like locking points, warranties, etc.) , so I'm not sure I'll be able to justify it in the end. Also, for some mysterious reason, paint appears to cost a lot (25% upcharge!). Crazy.
4) Non-CFC/HCFC Styrofoam. Apparently there are a bunch of non-ozone depleting foam options now available. Seems like Dow and Dupont do hear environmentalists after all! Good news for the sub-slab insulation.
5) Kitchen planning: With my parents about to come out, we're in kitchen planning mode. Big decisions include: (A) whether to do just lower cabinets or do upper and lower cabinets, and (B) whether to buy some of our appliances from Ikea or not (there's a good incentive to do so). I'm still mulling over going to an induction range (~$1000), along with a gas oven. The induction system has a lot of pros to it (more energy efficient, safer, faster, etc.)...but would probably require an upgrade to a 200amp service (which will add another $2-$3K to the budget). However, I might be forced into the latter anyhow, which would make it a moot point. Decisions, decisions...
6) Sketchup: Been mucking around with Sketchup a bunch lately to try to model our house (our architects aren't doing a 3D model for us because we've apparently used up too much of their time). It's actually pretty easy to use, but does have a few weird interface issues and I'm struggling to make a few things work. I kind of wish it had a few more manoeuvring/navigating buttons because I find the ones they have a bit limiting. However, at least I now have a pretty good sense of what it will look like in 3D.
Lastly, another milestone - liquidated one of our kayaks today (the green Nimbus Telkwa Sport). One down, one to go. But at least we've got another chunk of $ in our pockets.
Tuesday 10 January 2012
Sunday 1 January 2012
Building for the big one
Lately Kris and I have had the pleasure of hanging out more with one of her friends from her old job in New West at Urban Academy, Allison, and her partner Osmar (or just "Oz" as people call him). In addition to being lovely people, they're in the process of doing a lot of renovations to their own place. Oz is actually a structural engineer who is doing his PhD examining wall assemblies under earthquake scenarios and helping to inform how buildings "should" be built to make them not just safe (i.e., not fall down), but actually functional (i.e., be usable after the quake and not have to be torn down). I then happened to pick up a copy of Outside Magazine that had an article all about what the big one would look like here in the Pacific Northwest (with an estimated damage cost of over $30 billion!). So...it's got my mind thinking about the earthquake readiness of our place...
The good news:
1) We'll be building re-inforced concrete foundations and adding shearwalls to improve the structure considerably over what is there now.
2) We're cladding with stucco and it's a wood-framed house, both of which have some levels of quake-resistance.
3) We're located on decent soils and outside of a tsunami zone
4) We can also build in some other safety features like an easily accessible gas valve shut-off.
5) Vancouver is not as prone to big earthquakes as many other parts of the west coast and when the big one (a 9.0+ megathrust earthquake) does happen, it's likely to occur off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Accordingly, the effective size here will be closer to 8.5-8.7 (from what I'm told...) which is a lot less worse than a 9.0+! That said, it would still be massively destructive.
6) We're removing the chimney which is one big hazard in a quake
7) We've generally got the opportunity to build in as much earthquake proofing as we can.
The bad news:
1) Nothing really survives a 9.0+ earthquake without major damage.
2) We've got overhead electrical wires that can't be buried that will be live and come down in a bad scenario.
3) We're removing a whole bunch of walls in the front and back creating a so-called "soft story" structure (big openings on the bottom with house above) - these are a lot more vulnerable in an earthquake.
4) We can't afford to put in all of the earthquake proofing as one might like (don't worry Mom...we'll make sure it's safe).
Found a few neat sites including this one which we'll use as we go forward:
http://quake.abag.ca.gov/wp-
And yes, Mom, we're putting together an earthquake kit.
The good news:
1) We'll be building re-inforced concrete foundations and adding shearwalls to improve the structure considerably over what is there now.
2) We're cladding with stucco and it's a wood-framed house, both of which have some levels of quake-resistance.
3) We're located on decent soils and outside of a tsunami zone
4) We can also build in some other safety features like an easily accessible gas valve shut-off.
5) Vancouver is not as prone to big earthquakes as many other parts of the west coast and when the big one (a 9.0+ megathrust earthquake) does happen, it's likely to occur off the west coast of Vancouver Island. Accordingly, the effective size here will be closer to 8.5-8.7 (from what I'm told...) which is a lot less worse than a 9.0+! That said, it would still be massively destructive.
6) We're removing the chimney which is one big hazard in a quake
7) We've generally got the opportunity to build in as much earthquake proofing as we can.
The bad news:
1) Nothing really survives a 9.0+ earthquake without major damage.
2) We've got overhead electrical wires that can't be buried that will be live and come down in a bad scenario.
3) We're removing a whole bunch of walls in the front and back creating a so-called "soft story" structure (big openings on the bottom with house above) - these are a lot more vulnerable in an earthquake.
4) We can't afford to put in all of the earthquake proofing as one might like (don't worry Mom...we'll make sure it's safe).
Found a few neat sites including this one which we'll use as we go forward:
http://quake.abag.ca.gov/wp-
And yes, Mom, we're putting together an earthquake kit.
New Year, New House?
Well - my first post of 2012 - and hopefully by the time January 1, 2013 rolls around, we'll be all set in our new place and I can reflect upon this whole thing.
The brief update on things: we're basically set with our designs, but there are a few little things that I'd like to modify before we submit them to the City. With Bruce on holiday and Ian not back in the office until Tuesday, it may be another week before we actually get things to the City, but we'll see.
In other news - here are some things I've learned since I last posted:
1) My foundation walls are too low. I had always kind of assumed that the foundation walls were buried behind the cladding, but no, in fact the cladding DOES go to the base of the foundations...which in turn are basically at ground level! Yikes! So, another $$ rolls along and means that we'll need to build up the foundations by at least 6-8" (you're supposed to have at least 8" of your foundation exposed where it meets the ground in order for it to breathe and keep things from your cladding - e.g., termites, moisture, etc.). Brett tells me that it will be about $1500 to extend the foundations to the necessary height...not the worst expense, but also the budget of one of our bathrooms!
2) My ceiling joists are actually smaller (in all directions) than I had originally assumed. They're 7" x 1.5" (I had been assuming 8"x10". Don't think there will be issues with that, but will need to double check. Found a kind of neat thing as well when I dug around under the ceiling tiles the other day (see pic - 1928 Steven Toth = previous owner and I'm assuming his birthdate). Definitely some history to the house!
3) I "think" we'll actually have a mountain view from the top level when all is said and done (at least in the winter). That's good news - mainly because I really like looking at the mountains - but also because it increases the value of the house.
4) There are lots of options out there in terms of toilets (the latest thing I've been looking at). At this point, I think the leaders are the Toto Aquia II and the Kohler Persuade (pictured). In looking at the various reviews out there, some people seem to complain about cleaning "skid marks" from the dual flush/low-flow toilets...which frankly we're kind of used to anyhow.
5) The latest thing in building wrap seems to be paint-on wraps. I'd been guided to this RGuard CAT5 product by a friend, and so I've been doing more digging on paint-on-WRBs (or Water-Resistant Barriers) and it would seem that DuPont now has a comparable product - "paint-on Tyvek" or Tyvek Fluid Applied WB as they call it. Still not sure if I trust it long term, but the idea of it is very appealing.
The brief update on things: we're basically set with our designs, but there are a few little things that I'd like to modify before we submit them to the City. With Bruce on holiday and Ian not back in the office until Tuesday, it may be another week before we actually get things to the City, but we'll see.
In other news - here are some things I've learned since I last posted:
1) My foundation walls are too low. I had always kind of assumed that the foundation walls were buried behind the cladding, but no, in fact the cladding DOES go to the base of the foundations...which in turn are basically at ground level! Yikes! So, another $$ rolls along and means that we'll need to build up the foundations by at least 6-8" (you're supposed to have at least 8" of your foundation exposed where it meets the ground in order for it to breathe and keep things from your cladding - e.g., termites, moisture, etc.). Brett tells me that it will be about $1500 to extend the foundations to the necessary height...not the worst expense, but also the budget of one of our bathrooms!
2) My ceiling joists are actually smaller (in all directions) than I had originally assumed. They're 7" x 1.5" (I had been assuming 8"x10". Don't think there will be issues with that, but will need to double check. Found a kind of neat thing as well when I dug around under the ceiling tiles the other day (see pic - 1928 Steven Toth = previous owner and I'm assuming his birthdate). Definitely some history to the house!
 |
| Oh Steven...why did you not cross your "t"? |
4) There are lots of options out there in terms of toilets (the latest thing I've been looking at). At this point, I think the leaders are the Toto Aquia II and the Kohler Persuade (pictured). In looking at the various reviews out there, some people seem to complain about cleaning "skid marks" from the dual flush/low-flow toilets...which frankly we're kind of used to anyhow.
 |
| Toto Aquia II |
 |
| Kohler Persuade |
5) The latest thing in building wrap seems to be paint-on wraps. I'd been guided to this RGuard CAT5 product by a friend, and so I've been doing more digging on paint-on-WRBs (or Water-Resistant Barriers) and it would seem that DuPont now has a comparable product - "paint-on Tyvek" or Tyvek Fluid Applied WB as they call it. Still not sure if I trust it long term, but the idea of it is very appealing.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)