Need advice on exterior rennovations
 

I was seriously tempted to post in General Efficiency Discussion after seeing redpoint5's thread on solar PV, given how quiet this section is, but I think this topic might be just a bit too much of a stretch.

I have a few questions on which I seek the advice of fellow ecomodders. Let's start with some pictures of my 20% completed home exterior renovations.

https://i.imgur.com/IRN63Bvl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/WIxacUYl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/PuJpGHkl.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/lf77lx2l.jpg


My wife and I purchased our first home in February of last year. It was basically bottom of the market, and needed a lot. We've been working on as our only full time hobby since closing. Siding is probably the most critical repair. In places it seems only the paint is holding it together, and if we let it go another year we may be replacing most of the sheathing as well.

We've mostly finished one side - still need to transition to the soffits, there's exposed house wrap, and I may want some opinions on how to do that. Our basic process is:

1) Rip things down to bare sheathing, remove windows, replace sheathing where it has damage
2) Wrap house with tyvek
3) Put in new windows with nailing flanges
4) Flash and seal windows and doors
5) Side from bottom to top
6) Seal all seams and gaps
7) Paint

The next side I'd like to do is the front of the house. Unfortunately, we have a chimney there, as well as the penetrations for electricity, cable internet, and our heat pump.

When I called the power company and asked what to do about the electrical meter, I was told they could come by in the morning and shut off the power, I could then start removing the old siding, and when I was finished with the new siding (preferably no later than 2pm) they would come by again and turn the power back on. :rolleyes:

QUESTION 1)

So, I'm trying to figure out how to do this properly. Best I can gather, with vinyl siding most exterior fixtures use J blocks. For most other types of siding it appears the electrical box typically screwed directly to the surface of the siding.

My best guess is that I can do demolition around the electrical box and leave only a small square of siding where it attaches to the house, have our service disconnected, remove the meter and remaining bit of siding from the the house, slap a 4'x4' square of house wrap centered where the meter is going back on, attach a block of some sort to the house (what should this be made of?), and then put the meter on the block. I think this is something I could accomplish in a morning, and we could then proceed at our own pace with the rest of that side.

Thoughts? Is this a reasonable way to do this?

~

Regarding the chimney -

It's a pretty ugly old block chimney, and it isn't used anymore. Over winter I pulled the oil boiler out of the basement and sold it, then closed up the chimney hole. The chimney's only functional purpose now is to fill in the hole it would leave in my roof if I pulled it off the front of the house.

QUESTION 2)

What should I do with this old chimney?

1) Pull it off the house, patch the roof
2) Paint it again in some less offensive color and hope it doesn't peel off
3) Put some kind of veneer over it - maybe a brick veneer? Example:

https://www.homeadvisor.com/r/wp-con...r-600x300.jpeg

4) Actually brick around it.
5) Something else??

~

Regarding the deck -

The deck is pretty rotten in places. I can either:

1) Remove the deck. Toss it all in a burn pile. Maybe leave the metal roof, put down some pavers? Probably not the best idea as I believe the deck adds value to the house.

2) Replace the deck.


Given all we've had to dispose of, I've come to appreciate the full life cycle of a material. For example I don't think I'll be laying down any more carpet, because it ends up in a land fill. So I'd like to take that into consideration when selecting new materials.

I have a few options for deck materials:

a) Rough cut hemlock from the local saw mill. Not sure if this is a great idea as it could be a splinter hazard, I'd need to sand it smooth. However, material cost is around half that of dimensional lumber, and it's gorgeous. It will also need to be treated to stand up to the elements.

b) Dimensional lumber, which will need to be treated with something.

c) Pressure treated. Can't say I'm keen on this because I'm not for burning PT lumber, so it ends up in a land fill. It may be less expensive than dimensional lumber after considering the treatment, however.

d) Some kind of composite board.

e) Something else??


QUESTION 3)

What kind of material should I use for my deck? And, if it's something that needs to be treated, what kinds of wood treatments are available that would not prevent it from being burned safely, which are not a pain to work with, and which also actually preserve the wood? Maybe linseed oil?

Thanks all!

Autoclave-treated eucalyptus became quite common for exterior decks in my country some years ago, and it's used even around swimming pools. Not sure how this treatment would affect flame spread in case of fire...

1. Sounds reasonable to me.

2. Is the chimney still active? Even if it's not, veneer might be the cheapest/easiest way to go.

3. Replace the deck. A good deck is amazing, and yours has a roof! The hemlock sounds really cool. Let it season a while before you treat it, that'll be good for it and give you/us time to think of the right treatment.

Are those your chickens? I'm in a similar situation, although not as bad, right now as well so I guess we will both be learning from this thread.

I would love to have access to something like this. In the US, our access to good wood is far more limited, and it tends to be expensive.

Locally, we have maple, hemlock and birch trees, none of which hold up well to the temperature and moisture extremes of the climate when cut and left raw.

Yep, we have three hens whose eggs we don't eat, a dog that doesn't guard, and a cat who wouldn't hurt a fly, much less a mouse. :rolleyes:

The birds do seem to keep the insect population down, at least.

I just had a contractor quote residing our house last Thursday. (Going over T1-11 plywood siding with hardiplank cement siding)

1. Behind electrical meters, water faucets, lights, or anything else attached to the exterior wall he uses flat rectangles of hardipanel fiber cement board. That goes over the new house wrap, flashed at the top, and is painted to match.

https://www.burr123.com/wp-content/u...1564063267.jpg

https://www.homedepot.com/p/James-Ha...0525/202035433

2. I would demo that chimney. I'm thinking of doing the same for my working chimney / fireplace. We never use it and it takes up a bunch of room in the garage. A chimney also increases insurance cost.

3. Here in the Pacific Northwest the deck material of choice is cedar if you don't want pressure treated or plastic engineered decking.

EDIT: Personally I prefer patios to decks. I would pour a slab to replace the deck. If you want to get fancy you can tile it.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0a/db...18d94ea39e.jpg

You pegged my forum picking thought process precisely. I didn't want to post in a low activity forum if I could reasonably get away with posting in a more active forum.

I too would nix the chimney considering it's an opportune time to do so when residing. If it isn't attractive and it isn't functional, then it should go.

I've got no other comments since I have no expertise other than to say that porch looks great and should not be eliminated.

I recently purchased deck stain knowing my rental house needed a fresh coat. Little did I realize that it needed a bit more than staining. I'm leaning towards some sort of plastic deck material since I don't have time to stain every year or two, and this is the south side where it doesn't get destroyed by sunlight.

Seems like turning that deck into a patio won't be a bad idea at all.

Ripping out a chimney sounds exhausting! Can you not do that so that I don't feel tired? :)

Now, if you get rid of the brick, wouldn't you have a higher R-value once you fix the house?

What would you do with the brick? I vote for a fire pit or pizza oven! :)

I have watched many videos by this Canadian.

He reused as many boards as possible, while there were many commenters saying "I do this for a living. You should have ripped out everything and started over!"

I believe that it was here he said to not use composite decking, it is hotter than wood, so you need to wear shoes when you are relaxing on your deck:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5s7NGb0cqw&t=2514sA quick search says that heat retention is proportional to the density and composite is denser than normal wood.

We don't have any heat in Vermont. ;)

But, it is also more expensive.

Yeah, I wouldn't use composite in AZ, but then again I don't think I'll use wood on the south side of my rainy deck. Staining every 2 years is for the birds.

I'd do patio instead of deck too if it made sense in my situation.

I decided to start on the house since it was a long weekend. First step was to have the electric utility wrap the lines, then fetch supplies.

2000lbs later:

https://i.imgur.com/XAH4nKtl.jpg


Demolition: Chimney, siding, sheathing in some areas, windows, phone line (tossed it in a pile under the pole).

https://i.imgur.com/hF2vwGYl.jpg


Mold paint for very mild surface mold, excavation for anything deeper.

https://i.imgur.com/vDRaEjMl.jpg


While I was at it I decided to re-route through the old chimney pipe into the basement the mains power, off peak water heater, cable internet, heat pump disconnect box, so there would be fewer penetrations through the siding. In fact, the only penetration will be a couple of nails for the service entry brackets, and the heat pump high and low pressure lines. I left the old mains power connected for now with the new one coiled up below, until the utility can get out to shut off the power.

https://i.imgur.com/vOYUasQl.jpg


Fished the new power lines up from the basement - what a bear! This house was built on railroad ties, with 4" thick subfloors on top of that. I cut down as far as my extension hole saw would go, then came in at a ~60 degree from the basement to intercept it.

https://i.imgur.com/js4xLrel.jpg


Since I had to open up a wall to get the power up, I decided to take the whole mudroom apart and 4-season it. Framed out one of the windows.

https://i.imgur.com/aXleK5Zl.jpg

One hole thru the siding is smart. Save power. Corgi dog is smart, too. Save soul.

Nice little place, too. I miss the Old Country.

AFAIK railroad ties used to be treated with Creolin in order to prevent mold.

They are, but the sheathing is certainly not.

Figured I would update this:

Finally started tackling the deck, and towed away the last of the chimney.

https://i.imgur.com/zcXRW1z.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/fOrntJE.jpg

So, what are you going to do with that open area to replace the deck?

Going to be a new deck, just slightly reduced in size so it stays fully under the roof. If I can get away with it, I would like to not put railing up.

IIRC 18" above grade. Have a step down from the door?

At least 6 ft wide to be useful. Ventilate under it to keep it nice.

What do you mean by railing? Some sort of fence?

Icbo requires a tall fall prevention device with <4"spacing to prevent falls, but typically above 18" above grade varying by jurisdiction. Mine is greater than 36" grandfathered.

Even when not actually mandatory, better safe than sorry seems to be a good approach.

Well very young children are demonstrated top heavy and so fall head first with possible severe brain damage, even from short distance

Thought I'd posted this but maybe it didn't take.

If you want a smaller deck consider putting benches against the posts.

https://www.remodelaholic.com/wp-con...-1-600x347.jpg
https://www.remodelaholic.com/space-...-deck-benches/

That reminds me of the "parklets" which became quite common in my country.

Then they grow up and become politicians--or social media influenzas.

Nowadays many so-called "digital influencers" are not really a good influence at all :D

I like Xist's Formulation better.

Update:

We've decided to move to Michigan. House renovations are as finished as they're goin to get. Definitely going to miss the scenery.

Aerocivic updates soon to come.

Where in Michigan?

Somewhere in the Detroit metro. Haven't decided yet specifically, but I have a job lined up in Grosse Pointe. Looking to have a bit more land so I'll do my best to find something on the outskirts.

Cool. I grew up in the Saginaw area.

So you will be commuting from 32 mile road or buying a condo on Belle Isle? Last I was there to visit family, there were house developments s at 26 mile/Utica. Cousin still lives in Ira/Marine city.

Haven't quite figured that out. I think a subdivision would crush my soul, but I also don't want to be on the road hours each day.

Perhaps you need to experience their rush hour. To me, it was worse than the I-5 freeway through the 5 level downtown LA and got much worse when it started raining.

LOTS of empty property in south west D 'troit

I would rent for a year to get the feel for the city. My wife and I did that on our move to TN and OR.

When we moved to AL we made the mistake of rushing and buying a house 3 weeks after arriving. The house was nice, the area looked good, and my wife test drove her commute several times. Everything was fine until the first day of school. Then she found that her 7 mile commute averaged 45 - 50 minutes every day school was in session.

Having the chance to talk with someone who already knew the are saves a lot of such surprises before purchasing a new home.

We did talk to a neighbor on one side but they were retired. They said it was a fantastic neighborhood to live in. (Which it was if you didn't have to commute)

In general going door to door to talk to potential neighbors isn't really a thing in the USA. Plenty of people will think you are selling something and not even open the door.

Try standing in the middle of the street with the phone out in picture mode, or be really friendly. Works for me, but most neighborhoods don't add much more data