New House Construction Materials Questions

Status
Not open for further replies.
quote:
Originally posted by benjamming:

quote:
Originally posted by XS650:

Click to expand...
5/8 drywall on the walls instead of the standard 1/2 inch will get you a bit more quiet for not much $$, and the walls will be more durable.
Click to expand...
The 5/8" thick drywall is ~ $6 per higher than 1/2" thick. Do you still think it's worth it? [/QB][/QUOTE]

That's more than I expected, but I have no problem spending your money
lol.gif


I looked on line a bit and didn't come up with any quantified differences. It does look like it's less of a sound reduction than I thought it was.
 
We are looking at a whole-house water softener. I called Kinetico after the advice from Razl here.
A quote with water test results from Kinetico was received today.
Test Results:
Water Hardness - 7gpg (grains of hardness per gallon)
5grains is equal to an aspirin tablet. Your water is in the HARD category on the edge of the VERY HARD category. Over 7 is very hard.

pH - pH is measured from 0-14 with 7 being
normal. Below 7 is acidic and above 7 is akaline. Above is okay but
normal is best. Yours is 7.0 ppm(parts per million). Perfect

Chlorine- is used to treat the water at the
plant but serves no purpose whatsoever in the home. Your chlorine level was 0.2 ppm which barely registers on the test. However, it is enough to give you the odor and affect the taste of your water.

Iron - your iron was less than 0.5 ppm and
which is the least measurable on our test. For all practical purposes you are iron free.

Pressure - your pressure this morning @ 8
a.m. was 40psi. That is on the low side and as we discussed you will need to address this issue. The unit will work between 15 to 125 psi
but it's optimum pressure is between 50 and 75 psi.

TDS (Total Dissolved Solids)- this test
measures the number of TDS in your water. Yours was 180ppm. Dissolved Solids are in-organic substances that are in your water. Salt,
minerals, vocs, etc. An RO (reverse osmosis) system can remove all the TDS in your water as well and any fine sediment and completely remove
any trace residual chlorine. The DWS Plus system has all of the features.

To address the hardness (dissolved rock) and the working water in your new home, and to address the TDS and residual chlorine in the drinking,
cooking, ice, coffee, tea, etc. water, we recommend the following:

Whole house conditioning system - Mach 4040s, OverDrive (carbon) w/ 18x35 brine drum includes initial fill of regenerant (250#), pre-filter kit, mach overdrive control valve, installation, set-up test, running of drain line, labor, parts. $3950.

Drinking, cooking water issue - DWS Plus Deluxe VX QF 3 Gallon includes installation, santization of system, 3 gallon quick flow tank, designer faucet of your choice installed on
sink, drain line installed and set-up test, all parts and labor. $1500

If purchased together - $3950 + $1500= $5450 -$150= $5300

Terms: Half down at purchase and balance due after installation.

Our plumber will install the system so that should knock some off. We will purchase & install all the piping & faucet. What do you think?
 
Fiberglass batts don't compress over time like blown celluose does, but they're hard to cut and place tightly and much harder to deal with on later changes. Consider doing fiberglass batts on the easy runs, and filling in with blown celluose.
 
Also, most attics don't seem to provide for full thickness of insulation all the way to the edge of the roof, so you may need to use some of the expensive r8 per inch urethane foam at those locations.
 
I did some research on this subject some months ago. The R value of celulose is so much higher for the same thickness of fiberglass batting. The labor costs have to be much less too. Blow in a room much quicker than cutting and stapling of the batting. Have you considered the foam application? My sister and brother-in-law did this with their new house last year. A little more expensive but a great increase in R value and eliminate drafts!!
 
At least in my area, blown cellulose was more than fiberglass batts. Probably due to popularity, fiberglass installers have greater competition.

Cellulose and fiberglass both settle over time but cellulose will hold its R-value. The most important thing to due is air seal all openings prior to insulating. This is easy enough to do with spray foam and caulk. I would go with blown cellulose since you will likely get the R-value you are paying for. Cellulose will settle into the gaps and contours of your attic where fiberglass batts need special attention to work effectively. The only downside to blown cellulose is dust, so consider that if you are using it as storage.

Pabs, what reservations do you have with cellulose?

As for the house wrap, if you go with a Tyvec/Typar vapor barrier, make sure they install it from the bottom up in all areas. This will insure the overlaps will flow water over not under the wrap. Too many times they will do it right for the majority of the house, than in weird contours, they get sloppy and just throw up a piece right before they do the siding. In addition make sure they tape all seams (most installers will just staple) especially around the windows. There’s no point in creating an envelope if it’s not sealed.

I had Silverline windows in my last house and was very disappointed. They lock mechanisms kept breaking after a few years, and they never opened/closed smoothly. I would go with one of the big names instead (Anderson, Pella, Marvin, etc.).
 
"... what reservations do you have with cellulose?"

When I looked in our 20 year old attic after moving in I noticed that the celluose had settled below the 2x4 trusses, and that areas where water had seeped in, probably due to snow blowing in thru vents, it had settled to pretty much nothing. Celluose seems to mold/rot/break down with repeated exposure to moisture, which is common in some climates, and very common with any inside air leaking thru imperfect vapor barriers. Batts need care (read tredious cut and placement) in installation to insure that they're tight, but they don't seem to settle as much as blown celluose. I'd bet that if you installed batts in easy to place long runs and used blown celluose to fill in, that after 20 years you'd see that the celluose had settled more.

Compressed batts also increase in r value per inch, that's why some are R11 and others are R13 for 2x4 walls for instance, so you just need to consider thickness needed for the desired r value regardless of what you end up using.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Razl:
This is easy enough to do with spray foam and caulk.
Click to expand...
banghead.gif
use only the white (non polyurethane) minimal expansion foam. waaaaay too many people go crazy with the yellow "expando-foam" and end up with window and doors that don't work. as far as caulking goes, I think a caulking gun should require a license. whatever you do DON'T caulk any flashing, if you seal up flashing it can't do it's job.
 
ben,

Will you be doing it yourself? If you're the DIYer type, I highly recommend it since it's pretty easy to do (especially when the walls are open) and you can save quite a bit versus a pro install. Don't be fooled by the $99 or free installs, you'll likely be in a 3 yr contract.

I would stay clear of those all-in-one units (PowerMax, Visionic, GE Simon, Lynx, etc). The tried and true hardwire units are the way to go because the siren, keypad, and control module are all separate, making it much harder for a thief to disable. All it takes is a good wack to kill those all-in-one units. I'd only consider one for an apartment/rental unit where a conventional system would not be an option.

After much research, I went with a Honeywell's ADEMCO Vista 20P unit. For flexibility, I purchased the add-on wireless board which allows you to use a slew of optional sensors and transmitters, though I recommend you hardwire what ever you can. I paid about $350 total but save $250 off my homeowner's insurance every year.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top