The Day Before Renovations Began

I filmed this the day before major renovations began. I explain what work is going to be done.

Category:

People & Blogs

Tags:

• house
• renovations
• new
• foundation

[hitssquad]

Why not just demolish the whole house and build one of these in its place?:

monolithic. com/topics/homes

cloudhidden. org/CloudHiddenHomes. htm

[Ape65]

@hitssquad My insurance company estimates the replacement cost to be $180,000. I have beautiful hardwood floors and a very solid wood structure. Besides, in Montreal we need 6 ft foundations because of frost, which is why many houses have finished basements.

[hitssquad]

@Ape65 "in Montreal we need 6 ft foundations because of frost, which is why many houses have finished basements."

I know. This is a modern way of preventing frost-heave:

pathnet. org/sp. asp?id=17783

"FPSFs offer excavation, construction, material and labor cost savings. One case study in Denver showed savings of 15 to 17 percent [...] An Iowa builder reported a $10 to $15 savings per linear foot"

"FPSFs are generally cost effective if the frost line is 30 inches or deeper."

[Ape65]

@hitssquad Interesting info. Sometimes I specify horizontal insulation over water mains and under roads. Originally I wanted to place the insulation on the outside, but contractors hate doing that because they have to be careful not to damage it when backfilling, so I had it insulated from the inside with 4.5 inches of sprayed-on PU. By re-doing my basement, I doubled the liveable area of my house with no singnificant increase in heating costs. The basement is insulated R23.

[hitssquad]

@Ape65 I agree with the idea of insulating basements. It seems to be a tragic mistake that so-often basements are left uninsulated. Hopefully the inside-foam won't allow vapor-drive to deposit moisture on the cold concrete walls behind it, inviting mold.

I guess it was OK with the fire codes? I don't think they allow foam-insulation on the inside in America, unless it's covered with a sufficient thickness of fireproof material. Sometimes said of ICF: "Half the insulation is on the wrong side."

[Ape65]

@hitssquad The insulation is covered with gyprock - so my basement is actually partially finished as I had to do all the plumbing and electricity on the outside walls. the foam acts as a vapour barrier, and I also have a vapour barrier on the buried part of the outside of the concrete wall. The concrete wall is on the cold side of the insulation, so the theoretical condensation point is located in the insulation, not the concrete. I have an average of 3ft of concrete left exposed outside

[Ape65]

@Ape65 .... which should allow it to "breathe".

[xxxMrSuspendedxxx]

Oh, okay. You're just going to jack it up and do a new basement!

I'd thought you were going to roll this house down the road, ha-ha!