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Why do you keep refering to it as your wifes garden and your wifes house? Isn't it both of yours? Also, what's your job?
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 10:34 |
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I did construction for two years and built 3 houses start to finish, and I dont think I'd tackle building my own house on my own. Congrats to you for having the sack to do it. It looks amazing, that kitchen is awesome.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:01 |
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Awesome work, grover! My Dad was a big DIY man, but mostly decks and finishing basements.flunk XVI posted:While you're no Ty Pennington, I'm impressed with your DIY attitude.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:07 |
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That's pretty fucking awesome. I'm impressed at your tenacity.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:25 |
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Jack Lusk posted:Do you have plans to fix up your backyard next? I think putting in a patio or garden where all that mud is now would really be the finishing touch on your project. And what was it like getting that insured? Icequeen: No, she's not pregnant right now, thankfully! I don't think I could deal with that right now, lol... ![]() (That last kitchen pic, for reference) BTW, we just finished our first load of dishes in the new dishwasher- no leaks! Man, it's handy having the dishwasher right next to the cabinet they go into, too, instead of 15' away like it was before! Converting the portable dishwasher into a built-in was sort of a pain in the ass, though. It was funny, it was like they literally took an off-the-line built-in dishwasher (complete with rollers and levelling screws) and threw a frame around it, complete with heavy concrete anti-tip weight in the back. But inexplicably, they unmounted a few things from the dishwasher, and mounted on the exterior frame. Only thing wrong is that the old kick-trim doesn't fit. I cut off the bottom 1" or so off the feet that screwed to the old frame and it looks alright, but there's nothing holding it on at the bottom, and I know it's going to break soon. grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 20:47 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:28 |
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Mr.Gorha posted:Why do you keep refering to it as your wifes garden and your wifes house? Isn't it both of yours? I'm an electrical engineer for the navy (civilian!). Chris Knight posted:Awesome work, grover! My Dad was a big DIY man, but mostly decks and finishing basements. ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:29 |
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grover posted:I'm an electrical engineer for the navy (civilian!). Ah - that would explain all the trips! Very cool. This was absolutley stunning. The addition is beautiful, and the handiwork is superb. Excellent documenting of your work. Even if I didn't understand any of the technical stuff, it was incredibly cool to watch this come together, and it's all DIY. Amazing.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:45 |
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![]() That picture illustrates the point in the project when I would have said, "Holy living fuck - what have I done?" Amazing job on the construction. I never really gave much thought into how much building code details you have to follow on a project like that. I would have gotten out my crayons for plans, thrown up some boards, nailed some plywood and shit to and voila - house!
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 11:54 |
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That is really amazing. It's really great that your wife and kids were totally onboard with what must have been a really stressful and hard project! ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 12:06 |
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This is really damn impressive, and it looks pretty also. Going to have to show my Dad this thread, we started work on a similar sized extension four years ago and we're still finishing it off now. I say we, it was mostly him and my Mum. I moved a pile of a thousand bricks then gave up and left them to it.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 12:08 |
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grover posted:Cabinets and counter fully installed before Christmas! If you have a moment, I'd like to hear about installing that composite countertop - were you able to buy the materials and install it yourself, or did someone come out and install the countertop after you had all the cabinetry in? As I understand it some of those composite materials are pour-in-place, but I'd like to hear your story on that. Everything is quite impressive, I must say!
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 12:31 |
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My father being a general contractor I thought your final cost of 80k for 2k square foot was very low. He lowballs most other people and charges 100 a square foot. You got off for 40 which is damn good. But he would have finished it in 5 weeks time. ![]() The biggest mistake of building a house is estimating cost. You figure 10 dollars a square foot is enough, but some of it costs way more. My dad's installed this type of copper cieling that cost 60 dollars a square foot alone. It's a fun business, and thats a nice house. Would it be possible for you to post a video walkthrough when you have everything set up, to show us how you decorated it, and a final thoughts video?
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 12:32 |
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Awesome thread and awesome job. You and your wife rock!
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 12:34 |
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I just read through the thread and was thinking how much the pictures looked like SE Virginia. Then I checked your profile ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:06 |
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emil_muzz posted:If you have a moment, I'd like to hear about installing that composite countertop - were you able to buy the materials and install it yourself, or did someone come out and install the countertop after you had all the cabinetry in? As I understand it some of those composite materials are pour-in-place, but I'd like to hear your story on that. http://www.avanzausa.com/productinf...m?showFlash=yes We went with Cambria, which was $70/square foot where we got it, and comes standard with a half-bullnose for that price. Silestone offers a few colors for a little cheaper, but Home Depot wanted (IIRC) $15/linear foot for the nice edging we wanted, which drove the price up. If you want to check it out, Silestone and Avanza at Home Depot and Lowes are absolutely identical, just with slightly different color schemes. Quartz composite counters are definitely not a DIY project- Quartz is second in hardness only to diamond, and requires special tools to cut it. It's all manufactured in sheets, and cut into counters either at the factory, or by installers who have the right machinery. When they came to measure ours, they brought a laser scanner and created a precise computer model of our cabinets and walls, accurate to what looks like 1/64" They fed this into a CNC water-jet-cutting table at the shop which cut the counter to the precise curves of our wall, which gave an absolutely perfect fit- tight in the corners, and about a 1/16" even gap along the entire back. It's really only when you look along the wall that it's obvious just how important that laser-guided scribing is! Anyhow, they did the same thing to cut out our sink- we decided on an under-mount sink and a single-hole faucet which they cut out. We had shimmed all our cabinets to just about perfect, but when they installed it, they laid a layer of silicone sealant along the tops of all the cabinets which acted as a final shim, evenly supporting the counters. And used a specially matched caulk to seal the seam- I was at work when they were installed, and took me 2 hours to notice the seam, lol... Now that I know where it is, it's obvious, but it's very subtle. I hope it stays that way. grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 13:19 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:15 |
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On the one hand, I applaud your manly man efforts and kind of wish I could do something so manly. On the other hand, I remember doing manly man things like this with my dad when I was a kid, and how much they sucked. Thus, I am grateful the most strenuous thing I have to do today is decide whether I want to stay in my pajamas or put on some decent clothes. (Answer: Pajamas)
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:17 |
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Way to go Grover - the thought of taking on another job like yours makes my head hurt. The kitchen looks especially nice. Did you end up connecting the building drain to the city sewer? If so, can you now put in the freaking closets the building department dinged you on in the beginning? I'm just wondering, since your sales comps (for refinancing, in order to get your building costs back out of the house) might be based on bedrooms with closets. I'm in the early stages of a mid-six figure rehab, and hope the local building department doesn't trick-fuck me the way your plumbing guy did. Why the hell couldn't he tell you that you needed a cast iron cleanout box when he dinged you the first time? Jesus. Great work, though. Just make sure you take at least six months off after you're done so you can detox a little from the building thing.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:19 |
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Colonel Penguin posted:Thus, I am grateful the most strenuous thing I have to do today is decide whether I want to stay in my pajamas or put on some decent clothes. (Answer: Pajamas) ![]() Stripped the screws holding the microwave up to the upper cabinet, too, and had to jerry-rig it. I think my jerry rig worked rather well, though. I'll probably post pictures later today when we have it all in. Still rewiring the stove receptacle; I ran bigass #6 wire from a new box to the old one, and am going to move the old receptacle to the new box. Just got done splicing the old Al cable to the new Cu cable with dual-metal split bolts, so should be EASY from here! grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 13:24 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:21 |
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ausgezeichnet posted:Way to go Grover - the thought of taking on another job like yours makes my head hurt. The kitchen looks especially nice. And yes, we're on city sewer now which is great! Regarding the closets, the only people that cared were the health department, and I was up-front about it- assured them I would not install closets until we were hooked up to the city sewer. I asked if they wanted me to notify them when I change the plans after the sewer hookup, and they said that the minute I hook up to sewer, I cease to be their concern, and they don't give a shit what I do ![]() ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:28 |
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Thanks for your input on the countertops - I want composite for all the reasons you stated, and now I have a bit more insight as to how an install goes. The dudes I talked to at Lowes were completely clueless about the actual product once you get past the basic selling points. And it does look pretty damned nice.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 13:33 |
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OP: Did your leg muscles or back hurt after shingling? What pitch is the roof? My dad used to build houses with my grandpa, so I've been around it a lot. My dad and I built his house about 2 years ago over the summer. I remember I hated shingling. Your garages are 8 foot, correct? LVL's are heavy, but we had 16 foot LVL headers for the garages. Now that's heavy! Looks good.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 14:09 |
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emil_muzz posted:Thanks for your input on the countertops - I want composite for all the reasons you stated, and now I have a bit more insight as to how an install goes. The dudes I talked to at Lowes were completely clueless about the actual product once you get past the basic selling points. zelifcam posted:OP: Did your leg muscles or back hurt after shingling? What pitch is the roof? My garage doors are 7' tall and 9' wide. And yes, LVLs are heavy! We assembled the smaller one on the ground and lifted it into place- it was about 9'-6. On the shop side, the LVL spans the garage, sits on a post, and continues to the other side of the small door; it was about 14' long. (I designed it so that the LVL carries the lateral load, and the structure only relies on the post for a vertical load, so as not to buckle the post during a hurricane.) That one would have broke us! We ended up bring both halves up separately and nailing them together once they were in-place. On both sides, we did steps- we nailed up 2x4 scraps sideways so we could lift the LVL, set it down, lift the other end, set it down, etc, and work it up in stages so we could climb the ladder/rolling scafford in between lifts and not try to lift from the ground to 7' high all at once. grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 14:23 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 14:13 |
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Man, and I've been hemming and hawing about building myself a decent dresser and desk for my crappy apartment so it doesn't look like a hobo invaded with my card table and milk crates. However, I totally salute your house based achievements and would love to see the end results when available.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 14:23 |
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I probably missed it in the deluge of pictures and posts, but where did you build this house? I'm always interested in seeing Balloon-Frame houses being built, NYC outlawed them several years ago due to the inherent dangers of a Balloon-Frame house during a fire. All current Balloon-Frames in the city now require a moderate level of Draft-stopping in order to comply with the retroactive code.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 14:46 |
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Sgt. Rock posted:I probably missed it in the deluge of pictures and posts, but where did you build this house? I'm always interested in seeing Balloon-Frame houses being built, NYC outlawed them several years ago due to the inherent dangers of a Balloon-Frame house during a fire. All current Balloon-Frames in the city now require a moderate level of Draft-stopping in order to comply with the retroactive code. Edit: you can see some of them in this picture on the lower-left; the railing is obscuring most of them: ![]() grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 20:48 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 15:03 |
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Wow, great thread. I want to be able to do something awesome like this when I've bought a place, but I've never really built much at all. Do any of you have any recommendations on books to read for DIY newbs?
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 15:08 |
Great thread. Frankly, I find it amazing that you build houses in a hurricane zone, in what appears to be swamp without sinking pilings or something. How do your homes stay level in that muck over time?
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 15:28 |
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This is all mind-blowing and wow. But I began to think you probably worked for the government in some way after your second trip, then when you were sent to Guam, I thought you might be involved with the Navy. My father-in-law is a CONREP with Military Sealift Command, and he spends months at a time in Guam. He's in charge of the rebuilding of Naval warships at Guam shipyards; maybe you two have met at some point (although highly unlikely.) I love the kitchen but I would never, ever be able to take on a project like that. ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 15:35 |
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i worked for 6 months as an HVAC engineer doing mostly apartment complexs. Now I'm doing Tunnel Ventilation. Can I see your HVAC design, out of curisioty ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 16:05 |
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Just wanted to say I am enjoying the heck out of this thread. I bought a house last October, and although I don't think I need to do anything remotely on the scale of this magnificent project, this thread is a huge inspiration for getting some of the minor things done that would benefit my place hugely. Eagerly awaiting further updates.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 16:38 |
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tigro posted:i worked for 6 months as an HVAC engineer doing mostly apartment complexs. Now I'm doing Tunnel Ventilation. ![]() ![]() 2nd floor: ![]() 1st floor: ![]() Now, I changed the design on the 2nd floor to a flex-duct radial system. I crudely sketched over with the new distribution, but the design remains the same- An 1050cfm 2.5 ton heat pump pushing roughly 90cfm ea to 11 registers and 40cfm to 2 more. I hate floor registers, so I made everything a ceiling register. It's split 3 ways into 3 distribution systems getting serving very similar square footages and delivering very close to equal cfms- 1/3 for the kitchen/dining room, 1/3 for the family room/cathedral cieling area, and 1/3 for the bedrooms. The air handler is in the garage. The return duct is about 12" long and is right at the staircase landing. The distribution box (ductboard) splits the air 3 ways: two 12" ducts going up (starts out hard and switches to flex), and an 18x6" ductboard duct going across the ceiling in the garage. 4 6" flex lines tap off this, 2 each to the kitchen and dining room. Upstairs, each of the two 12" ducts splits into two 10" duct, which in turn split into two 6" trunks- 4 for the family room, 2 for the sewing room, and one each for all the other rooms. (The bathroom and storage room share a 6" duct via a 6x6x6 wye.) I've calculated out the summer and winter heat loads, and the dining room (with the giant cathedral ceiling) is going to be cool in the winter, while the family room (with the big windows) will be warm in the summer. I split the difference between them, and figure we can play with the dampers seasonally if need be. I'm putting a cieling fan in the family room to get air circulating better, too. I took duct losses (double for flex) into account when I did the duct/pressure drop calculations. grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 20:49 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 16:51 |
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grover posted:we discovered that the 100’ fiberglass tape measure that I used to square off the foundation stretched about ¾” over 50’ and had f’ed up our foundation pins, making the one wall of our house 1.5” shorter than the other, What the hell? I would have crapped myself and then sued the shit out of someone if I discovered that my tape measure had STRETCHED! You have appeared to have taken this very calmy though.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 17:15 |
Congratulations on your addition. There's a certain feeling of satisfaction that comes with building things on your own. It's very addictive
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 18:06 |
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Agnostic Prophet posted:What the hell? I would have crapped myself and then sued the shit out of someone if I discovered that my tape measure had STRETCHED! You have appeared to have taken this very calmy though.
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 18:13 |
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I think your hosting crapped out - I don't see any pictures ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 19:45 |
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This is absolutely amazing. It also reminds me of growing up. My dad tripled the size of our house when I was growing up and to this day I still have the construction bud ![]() Good job! This is something to be DAMN proud of!
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 19:53 |
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Nondo posted:I think your hosting crapped out - I don't see any pictures I just tried going directly to the pictures and I'm getting a 404 all the way back to the root directory. Cox hates you. They deleted your whole web site ![]()
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# ? Dec 31, 2006 20:07 |
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Z posted:I just tried going directly to the pictures and I'm getting a 404 all the way back to the root directory. Edit: 1533%, to be precise I've lost revenance's hosting site, too ![]() Edit2: OK, got all the pictures switched now. Uploading 4 dozen pictures individually was a PITA I was trying to avoid! grover fucked around with this message at Dec 31, 2006 around 20:50 |
# ? Dec 31, 2006 20:19 |
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Ok, House Blog update! Yesterday we worked more on the flooring in the kitchen- my wife it antsy to get moved in now and wanted to get the floor done so we could move in the appliances. We already installed the dishwasher a few days ago (and were then able to install the garbage disposal and hot water, which had gaping holes for the dishwasher connection) and get the sink working. For the last 2 days, we've been putting in laminite "wood" flooring that snaps in place. It's been slower going than we expected, but we're getting much better at it now! We finally got to the range, too, yay! So, yesterday, we removed the microwave from the old kitchen (took a while to figure out how to get it off, we couldn't remember how we got it on...) but finally discovered screws on the FRONT of the microwave, hidden behind the bezel, that screwed into a support on the back. Anyhow, stripped the top screws that are are supposed to hold it to the upper cabinet, so I jerry-rigged, and drove screws in sideways into the main support rail of the microwave from the side cabinets. That seems to be holding it pretty good! We also moved the receptacle for the range- I had run about 2' of #6 cable (each wire is about as big around as a pencil) from where the new outlet would be to the old outlet location. Unfortunately, I had to smash a fist-sized hole in the drywall to feed it through... put some split-bolts on there to connect the new #6 copper to the existing aluminum wire and got everything all rigged up. ...unfortunately, I'd gone by instructions for our old stove when I placed the outlet, and instead of having a $@^#@$&%#$ industry standard, this stove has a freaking main support beam RIGHT where I put the receptacle. I stared at it for a while, contemplated moving it down, and then just attacked the SOB with the new angle grinder I'd bought for the sewer pipe. It's a really nice stove, and set us back $1500 (which I'd have RATHER spent on a new HDTV but that was an argument lost) but I cut that bitch anyhow! Doesn't seem to have hurt it, it was only half of an L beam and didn't seem to really be doing much structurally (the back panel supports that dimension), so I didn't sweat it. ![]() Stove and microwave are in! We cooked dinner on the stove in the new kitchen last night ![]() ![]() With any luck, we'll get the floor done today and get the fridge in. Doing the floor around the step-down will be tricky, though- I have to cut some cedar to line the edge first. ![]() Another view of the kitchen, from the doorway to the old house.
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# ? Jan 1, 2007 10:08 |
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looking over your duct design, I noticed that you seem to be missing return ducts. to have to heat or cool 100% Outside air all the time can be very expensive. Also without return ducts, you're effectily pressurizing your house and thuse have interesting door auto closing/opening issues, though I dont think the amount of air you're supplying into the rooms is enough to make it a big deal, as you'll lose plenty of air through infiltration through your walls and windows. I am not sure if residential houses would need a return system, As i've only worked with commerical HVAC systems. Although you may feel like you're saving aot of money by not getting the advice from a professional HVAC contractor, It could come back and bite you in the ass in the way of high energy costs. While HVAC design is not rocket science, there are cavaets to look out for. For example, For commerical buildings, bathrooms are not usually ductedto the HVAC system. Bathrooms are normally exhausted, and supplying heat/cooling to a room with a direct outside exhuast (window or fan system) is just wasting energy. Instead a small wall mounted unit heater is placed in the bathroom to provide heat. bathrooms are small enough that they can be cooled by leaving the bathroom door open. I also noticed your bathroom on the second floor has no window, so you'll definitly want to throw in some kind of exhaust in there with like 3-4 air changes per hour. If you've already looked at all these things then just ignore me ![]() http://www.ashrae.org/ I might be able to help you out if you're interested in this publication, send me a PM if you are.
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# ? Jan 1, 2007 12:06 |