Oooooh snap!

May 28th, 2013
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I enjoy reading the newsletters from Building Science Corporation. Many of their publications have had an impact on our project and our decision making. They often were the only sound and scientifically based resource on the issue of deep energy retrofits.

I just came across one of their new publications (BSI-068) titled “Rocks Don’t Burn”. It caught my attention as it talked about the excellent fire protection properties of rock wool. This was one of the factors that sold us on the use of rock wool insulation.

But there was more. Even our home town Chicago got a mention:

“Consider this assembly as the Mrs. O’Leary Cow Assembly. If her barn had been enclosed with this wall we would not have had that little Chicago barbeque in 1871. This assembly is my perfect gift to the City of Chicago. Well, it is almost perfect for Chicago. Still working on the bulletproof part to handle the drive-bys.”

Ooooooh, snap! I call that “a reputation.”

Joseph Lstiburek, the author of the publication, must have a lot of friends in Chicago. So many that he apparently is trying to unload some of them.

But it’s not just Chicago that bears the brunt of his feistiness. Read the footnote on Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow:

“Catherine O’Leary’s cow is often blamed for starting the Great Chicago Fire. Turns out that this was a made up story published at the time by the Chicago Tribune. The reporter made it all up ‘because he thought it would make colorful copy.’ Apparently journalism has not changed all that much since then.”

Ok! Focus! What was the article about? Rocks and rock wool…

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Finished 1st floor front door

May 22nd, 2013
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While we are on the subject of doors, I should post an update on the coloring book exercise.

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We got a lot of comments on the various coloring options for our front door to the 1st floor unit. We appreciated every single one – thank you to all who left a note!

Your preference, but even more so the rationales for your preference helped in the decision making process. We finally opted for #3.

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That leaves us with a little bit of New Mexico experience, and hopefully with some good luck.

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Paint removal – Part 5: Digging through doors

May 19th, 2013
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There are several aspects to time, such as age and duration. I sometimes have to wonder if there is a proportional relationship between the two.

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Take the original 100+ year old doors from our building – the age component. These are solid and heavy and had salvaging and reuse written all over them. Despite all the layers of paint we got the occasional glimpse of the buried treasure.

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The process of recovering that treasure is a familiar one. The Silent Paint Remover removes the bulk of the paint, followed by a layer of Soy Gel to take off the residue.

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That leaves the wood clean and ready for sanding, which is quick and easy, except for the panel profiles, particularly the corners. Those required a lot of attention to detail – and are a time suck – which gets us to the duration component.

It feels like working on the paint removal has extended the duration of our project indefinitely. And refinishing 12 of these age-old doors certainly factors into that equation.

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The two coats of zero-VOC lacquer helps wrap up the refinishing and restores the doors to their old glory.

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These doors will always be special to us, because of their quality, their age, and the time and tender loving care we put into them. This might just as well be the definition of salvaging.

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Paint removal – Part 4: Batteling baseboards

May 13th, 2013
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The original baseboards in the building are quite something. Something with quite a little bit of paint on it.

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There is a tall bottom piece with an ornate cap. The cap and bottom together stand about 10 inches tall and are both milled out of 100+ year old oak, most of it quarter sawn. And we have quite a bit of it, which is a blessing and a curse.

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These were items we wanted to keep out of the waste stream. The quality of the millwork begged for salvaging and reuse.

But we also have that tedious chemical archaeology ahead of us – the paint removal. How far should we take the salvaging and reuse, and when would it be time to draw a line in the sand and decide it is not worth it?

The decision tipped in favor of salvaging and reuse once we realized that even if we could afford to purchase all new baseboards, we wouldn’t be able to find baseboards in this kind of quality nowadays.

Let the paint stripping begin!

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The Silent Paint Remover usually removes the bulk of the paint, and does so at reasonable speed. But a couple hundred linear feet of baseboard take some time to work through. And we still had to apply a layer of Soy Gel to remove the remaining paint residue.

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Sanding the baseboards took some time too. The flat surfaces were easy and fast. The more intricate profiles required a scraper, steel wool and time. But with each pass the wood grain became a notch more beautiful, until it was ready to get lacquered.

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Staining the oak was out of the question! The natural color was part of the charm. Instead we stuck to our zero-VOC rule and opted for the clear, satin finish Acrylacq by SafeCoat. It made the warm honey color of the oak pop.

This was very frustrating but ultimately rewarding work. It was frustratingly slow and time consuming, but with payback in the beauty of the salvaged and refinished product – particularly when we consider what we started with.

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Closet doors for the slender

May 9th, 2013
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We largely restored the original floor plan of the house. There were a few exceptions, and one of them was the closet we added to the master bedroom.

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The original shape of the master bedroom was oddly long and skinny. We decided that by adding closet space to the south end, the bedroom would become a little smaller but better proportioned.

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By placing the closet doors on each end of the wall, we had room to place a queen size bed between them. That is why we used small closet doors … skinny closet doors … 18 inch wide doors.

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The Rebuilding Exchange came to the rescue once more: We found a set of salvaged French doors with pivot hinges, each door 18 inches wide. By splitting them up, we got the perfect skinny doors for our closet.

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The challenge now is to make sure that we, the users, stay slender enough to fit through the doors…

Thanks to the pivot hinges we can open the doors either way, push them open into the closet or pull them open into the bedroom. That adds some spatial flexibility that may become helpful.

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What is left is to put up some shelves and clothing rods in the closet. But that’s a task (and a blog post) for a little later.

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Price check, and – surprise!

May 4th, 2013
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I needed more rock wool insulation – a whole lot more. It’s for the second floor exterior walls and the attic.

My primary rock wool supplier, the Chicago Green Depot, went out of business about a year ago. I needed to find a new supplier!

Back in the day, the Chicago Green Depot had the best priced rock wool. I got the last batch in early 2012 for around $35.00 per bundle (60 square feet of 3 1/2 inch rock wool batts). All other sources I contacted, including your typical big box home improvements stores, always came in more expensive.

This time around, April 2013, didn’t seem to be any different. The Home Depot had the bundle of rock wool listed for around $43.00! I thought, though, that it couldn’t hurt to double check the pricing for 120 bundles at the Pro-Desk in my local store.

The printout I was handed listed a total of $3,340.80. That breaks down into a unit price of $27.84 per bundle plus tax. That is a considerable price drop from the listed $43.00 … around 35%! This is even less that the first batch I bought for the basement installation.

Do I need to say that I was a very happy camper?

Why that 35% price drop? If I go to the Home Depot and place an order over $2,500, I am referred to – what they call – the bid room. Because I am buying in bulk, I have access to a different pricing structure. That said, I would be surprised if that 35% discount will last for long; this may be part of a current promotion.

The significance is that this is the first time that I bought a substantial amount of building materials from a typical big box home improvement store. Materials for a deep energy retrofit like ours were in the past not available, hard to get special orders, and/or too expensive.

Is this a sign that green building materials are on their way into the mainstream?

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Backsplash grouting

April 27th, 2013
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It’s time to put the finishing touches on the backsplash and to move on to the next big thing.

In this case, the finishing touch is the grouting. We used regular sanded grout, which is easier on our budget, compared to the epoxy grout that we used in most of the bathroom.

This is again a durability issue, but I don’t carry quite the paranoia about moisture management when it comes to the kitchen backsplash. We are talking about the occasional splash, rather than frequent water exposure such as in the shower stall.

The combination of cement board behind the backsplash, the stone tiles, the sanded grout and application of a stone tile and grout sealer should adequately manage that occasional splash, and will allow for easy clean up.

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A (back)splash of salvage

April 21st, 2013
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I have to utter the word again: salvaged! Salvaged travertine stone tiles.

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Someone must have dropped off a bunch of stone tiles at the Restore and I was lucky to be the first one to get his hands on them. That was late last summer.

These finds are precious! It is rare to run across salvaged tiles in sufficient quantity for a particular job. In this case, I counted enough square feet for our backsplash in the 1st floor kitchen. Plus, the color variations of the travertine matches with the limestone counter top and the maple flooring.

When I picked up the tiles, I didn’t have time to figure out the backsplash layout. This was an unexpected find and I had to postpone that decision until later.

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After the counter top was installed, I did a couple of dry runs and came up with a solution that was pleasing to the eye. The disadvantage was that I had a lot of cuts – but I also had a good tile saw.

I started the installation with the top row, which I set on a pine board that I had mounted to the wall perfectly level. Starting from the bottom up wasn’t an option, because the floor isn’t perfectly level, nor are the cabinets and counter top.

The next row was the diamond tiles. I again used the pine board, this time as a guide. It would have otherwise been hard to produce an even bottom edge.

The last row of narrow rectangular pieces were cut to fit – to make up for a difference of about 3/8” over seven feet.

I do like the look! And so does Cathy.

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Island ideas

April 16th, 2013
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There are the kitchen cabinets, and then there is the kitchen island.

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I had an idea. I wanted to do something different with the island.

To start with, I turned it upside down and mounted a very sturdy base out of 2 by 10’s to it. I also got six heavy duty casters that I bolted to the base.

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I put the island back on its feet – or casters, to be more precise – and began to built an equally sturdy top out of framing lumber.

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A little construction adhesive and some heavy lifting – et vóilà – we have a kitchen island with a counter top.

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That kitchen island stands a little tall indeed, and it does so by design. It actually is at bar height – 42 inches. This is also the perfect working space height for tall people like Cathy and myself. I can stand at the island and chop vegetables without bending over or down. Kitchen chores made comfortable!

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Here is the island in its designated spot.

Notice the bump out in the counter top to the left and the head end? That is a 12 inch cantilever and the primary reason for the rather sturdy top. That cantilever will allow us to seat four people around the left and head end of the island. We just have to find the bar stools.

Notice the bump out in the island base? That measures eight inches and serves two purposes: to stabilize the island and to serve as a footrest for those seated at the island.

Also notice the still exposed framing lumber of the base and top? Yeah – that has to go! I am on the hunt for some salvaged maple flooring that I can mill down and use as cladding. It would blend nicely in with the kitchen maple flooring.

Oh – and the casters. I thought it would be a good idea to be able to move the island around. It adds a certain flexibility to how we can use the kitchen space.

Cathy is not quite convinced that we will move the island around or that we have a need to move it around. The more I think about it the more I think she has a point.

Well, once we’ve moved into the first floor I’ll start the stopwatch. If we didn’t move the island in the 1st six months, I will replace the casters with sturdy legs.

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1st floor kitchen counter top installation

April 12th, 2013
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We got our salvaged and freshly fabricated stone counter tops safely from the truck into the house.

The first thing I wanted to do is to place them on the kitchen cabinets to see if we got all the dimensions right – and we did! That was a weight off my shoulders.

It also meant that we could start with the counter top installation in earnest – which is relatively simple, except for the large piece that will hold the corner sink.

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I needed to cut the opening for the sink out of the plywood base. While we test placed the counter top pieces, I traced the triangular corner cuts for the sink onto the plywood. That took out all the guess work and gave me an accurate cut out location.

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The looming question was though: Did we get the sink dimensions right and would it fit? We lifted the sink in place – and indeed it did fit.

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The next step was to install the large counter top piece for good. We used VOC free construction adhesive to fasten the stone to the plywood base. During the placement we made sure that the triangular corner cuts still lined up the cut out in the plywood below.

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Time to get the angle grinder and shop vacuum out! After a few carefully cuts from one corner the the next, we had our sink opening in the counter top.

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Another test placement of the kitchen sink confirmed that we also got these dimensions right.

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With that out the way, I focused my attention on the installation of other pieces and on sealing the stone, including the back splash.

Limestone is notoriously porous, which is sort of a problem. For hygienic reasons, a counter top should be impervious and easy to wipe down and clean. We found a low VOC stone sealant that met our indoor air quality (IAQ) standards.

With the last coat of sealant cured, I could start installing the backsplash pieces. To attached them I used a bead of silicon to the counter top and the cement wall board. The silicon will also prevent any water from escaping behind the counter top and down the cabinets.

The timelapse below shows the entire installation sequence. Enjoy!

Related posts:

Treasure hunt – counter tops

Counter top fabrication

Setting up kitchen cabinets

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