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Home Repairs

HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
edited March 2013 in Everything Else
As an offshoot of the House Hunting thread...

My house has a mixture of rope pulley windows and windows with a brass catch on the right side that keeps the window open. A few of my windows need these items repaired and I am looking for resources for parts and info.

I am also looking for late 1800's era window locks.
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Comments

  • muppetmuppet
    I'm still working on getting over my fear of heights so that I can caulk my house. I'll almost inevitably be paying somebody 7 or 8 grand to do it. SO much labor and you have to pay travel and board for the crew, too.
  • MattMatt
    edited March 2013
    I don't know what state you are in, but look into state-run home efficiency programs for financial support. I took advantage of a very generous NJ program called Home Performance with Energy Star, where you got big financial incentives for any repairs as long as the total reduction in home energy consumption was 25% or more.

    Wound up getting an insulated attic, new furnace, new A/C unit, and new hot water heater (all of the highest possible efficiency rating). The state paid the first $3,000 of the bill, and put the remaining $10,000 on a 10-year zero interest loan. The amount that property saves in utility costs is almost double the $83 loan payment, and the upgrades have increased the value of the home some.

    Caulking and new windows can both be involved in these sorts of upgrades.
    Post edited by Matt on
  • muppetmuppet
    Caulking a log house, I'm not too sure about. I may look into it, but if credit score is a factor I may be out of luck. :-)
  • Luke BurrageLuke Burrage
    The other day I cleared some furniture and junk from the far end of the juggling studio. I discovered a whole load of nasty mold.

    image

    Today's job is to clear it all up and spray and whatever. I was going to ask the landlord for new windows in the big room, and this issue will help my case.
  • muppetmuppet
    I've heard all sorts of horror stories about homes being condemned by the municipality and large sums of money going to contractors, often recommended by the municipality, to remedy the situation before anyone is allowed to occupy again. I find mold in the basement frequently where my dad built a drywall office without actually finishing the basement. I just bleach the shit out of it and move on, but that wall really should come down.

    I had to pull up a sizable chunk of the bathroom floor upstairs and use a chisel to remove pressboard from the subfloor where it had been glued by water leaking through failed caulking around the tub. There was quite a mold colony under there, as well.

    Removing the particle board from the subfloor underneath was like doing sensitive sculpture, because the subfloor is exposed downstairs between rough-hewn rafters. Any holes would show in the living room.
  • CremlianCremlian
    As an offshoot of the House Hunting thread...

    My house has a mixture of rope pulley windows and windows with a brass catch on the right side that keeps the window open. A few of my windows need these items repaired and I am looking for resources for parts and info.

    I am also looking for late 1800's era window locks.
    Oh god, the windows are original or really old..... heating is going to be a pain in the neck...

  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Would you rather have your family live in a dangerous (health-wise) home or vacate it while the work gets done?
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    edited March 2013
    Heating is not that bad. All of the windows have had storms installed and there are no drafts when the storms are in use. Where I do have drafts is around light switches and wall sockets, I don't think the walls are insulated.

    Windows are single pane original. Some are original glass(you can tell).
    Post edited by HMTKSteve on
  • muppetmuppet
    edited March 2013
    Would you rather have your family live in a dangerous (health-wise) home or vacate it while the work gets done?
    What I'm getting at is that the mold is not always as bad as it's made out to be, and people end up going bankrupt over it when their homes are condemned.
    Heating is not that bad. All of the windows have had storms installed and there are no drafts when the storms are in use. Where I do have drafts is around light switches and wall sockets, I don't think the walls are insulated.

    Windows are single pane original. Some are original glass(you can tell).
    Aren't they plaster walls? I thought old plaster walls are relatively solid? Maybe you can remove the switches and blow insulation in through the holes? Not sure how that would work above the switch, though. I'm willing to bet this is a solved problem in any case.
    Post edited by muppet on
  • CremlianCremlian
    Heating is not that bad. All of the windows have had storms installed and there are no drafts when the storms are in use. Where I do have drafts is around light switches and wall sockets, I don't think the walls are insulated.

    Windows are single pane original. Some are original glass(you can tell).
    Whenever we saw no replacement windows on anything older then the 80's it was a big turn off, one of the big bonuses of the house I just bought was all the windows were replaced.

  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    Most of the walls are plaster. Some remodeling was done and those areas have Sheetrock.

    While painting we found one wall with a 12" circular hole that looks like someone taped over and painted but didn't actually patch the hole!

    While the old windows and heat was a consideration when shopping for a house the price I got this place for was unbelievable. It was just above the flip price for a contractor to buy and refurb it.

    I still need to trace out some dead electrical outlets (washing machine one was cut about five feet from breaker box) and fix a leaky pipe in the half bath (currently off) but for the most part the house has been problem free.

    I did have to remove about 3mm of paint from a window to access the pulley system to get a window to close (rope sleeve was bunched up and couldn't get through the hole above the pulley) but that is the only major issue thus far.
  • CremlianCremlian
    edited March 2013
    I enjoy as you say "problem Free" you then list another problem ;-p
    Post edited by Cremlian on
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    You clearly missed my modifier of 'for the most part'.

    I was honestly expecting a lot of problems from this house. While it was winterized only one interior door closed. With the heat on and a little bit of door shaving all of the doors close except for the one that did while winterized!
  • muppetmuppet
    The longer you stay, the more you'll find. The more you fix, the more peripheral issues will crop up. A house is a never-ending pile of repairs and adjustments. As long as you're at peace with never being "finished", then it's fine.
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    And then you die.
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    Mold in one closet, have to cean that up. Plans to totally rip out another closet and build Otto a two storey club house in it.
  • ChurbaChurba
    edited March 2013
    Asbestos is horrible. Not quite as horrible, but irritating? People not listening to you when you say "Hey, all that shit's asbestos, either don't fuck with it, or get a fucking professional", and they tell you you're a fucking idiot. Especially when it's the second time this has happened, and they spent a week bitching the first time about how expensive asbestos removal is, and how they only wish they'd known beforehand.
    Post edited by Churba on
  • Dr. TimoDr. Timo
    Do you know how much it costs to have someone come by and remove that WWII bomb I just hit with my plow?!?!!!! Bugger that!
  • ChurbaChurba
    The fuck you even plowing for, man?
  • Dragonmaster LouDragonmaster Lou
    He needs new pastures for all those reindeer to graze.
  • RymRym
    Do you know how much it costs to have someone come by and remove that WWII bomb I just hit with my plow?!?!!!! Bugger that!
    I'll remove it for $20 and the use of a ball peen hammer.

  • BelligerBelliger

    Windows are single pane original. Some are original glass(you can tell).
    You loose a lot of heat through single pane windows as glass is not a good insulator. Double pane windows are filled with a gas between the panes to provide a good insulating layer. Window replacement might be a project for a few years down the line.

    Aren't they plaster walls? I thought old plaster walls are relatively solid? Maybe you can remove the switches and blow insulation in through the holes?
    I am not sure if this is the case for a house as old as yours but in modern houses there is a box in the wall behind every switch and outlet that holds the wires and gives a mounting place for the switch or outlet itself. You do not have access to the inside of the wall from inside the electrical outlet box. The way house walls are insulated after they are built is by drilling a 6-8" hole in the top of every wall between the studs and blowing loose fill insulation in until the cavity is full. When they are done you patch the holes and try to match the texture again. Because the holes are high up people tent not to notice. They can also do it for brick houses from the outside by going through the mortar between bricks.
    image
    image

  • ChurbaChurba
    edited March 2013
    Do you know how much it costs to have someone come by and remove that WWII bomb I just hit with my plow?!?!!!! Bugger that!
    I'll remove it for $20 and the use of a ball peen hammer.
    I'd be careful about that offer. If he fucks it up, you're not getting that hammer back.

    (Also, I'm bitching about asbestos and cracking jokes, but I put a lot of design work into a new place I'm moving into. I'm kinda proud of it, so expect photos when it's done.)

    Post edited by Churba on
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    I have actually read that using blown in insulation is a bad move in the walls for a house like mine. Due to the lack of a vapor barrier moisture ends up in the insulation and it leads to rot and termites.
  • Anthony HemanAnthony Heman
    I'm not really a fan of the blown in insulation entirely because I've only ever seen it once and done in a really shitty way. Entire attic full of it...
  • BelligerBelliger
    Lack of a vapor barrier should be one of the first things you fix. It should take half a day with 2 people and not be too expensive. Most mortgage companies require them to be installed before they will approve a loan.

    Blown in insulation should not retain moisture. It is designed to let vapor flow through it. If you were to however cover said blown insulation with a tarp, that would trap the moisture and lead to rot.

    Blown in insulation for the attic has advantages and disadvantages.
    On the good side, it is cheap. And if you need to do any maintenance, like change a ceiling light fixture or trace a wire, it is very easy to move the insulation aside, and back when you are done. Instead of pulling up entire batts or rolls of insulation.
    On the bad side it tends to compress over time and needs to be re-applied when it no longer insulates correctly. It also is messy and clings to cloths when any attic maintenance is done.

    I have spent countless hours in my attic upgrading my house and have come to appreciate mobile insulation.

    You can also lay rolls or batts of new insulation over old blown in insulation but only if the new insulation does not have any backing on it. If it did, it would trap the moisture and lead to mold or rot. But doing so would make maintenance the most pain-in-the-ass since you would have to move a roll, then dig down through blown in. However, I have had to remove blown in insulation from a 2500sq foot rambler and replace it with batt insulation. Removal is very time consuming and expensive.
  • HMTKSteveHMTKSteve
    How do you add a vapor barrier to a completed home?
  • MattMatt
    When I got my attic insulated, they did a mixture of traditional and blown insulation. The attic was finished, to use as an office/game room, but we had long storage closet areas running along both eaves. Traditional insulation in the storage, and blown insulation into the finished parts of the sealing. This resulted in everything in storage getting blown insulation all over it, but it was absolutely worth it for the temperature control we got out of that room.
  • Dragonmaster LouDragonmaster Lou
    I'm gonna have to replace a rotted out window sill when the weather warms up. The window itself has a bit of rot on it as well, but I think I can just use rot stabilizer and "wood bondo" to fill that in. The entire sill needs to go, however.
  • BelligerBelliger
    How do you add a vapor barrier to a completed home?
    The sheeting comes in rolls from the hardware store. Enter your crawl space through the small access hatch and drag the required number of rolls in after you (and hopefully a friend). Start at the farthest end of the house from the access hatch and unroll the sheeting to cover the dirt. If your house is longer one way, roll the sheet out that direction so there is less cutting. Overlap sheets about 1 foot. It might be smart to wear a face particle mask as it is dirty and dusty work. Also don't be afraid of spiders or salamanders. If you are right now, you know, just stop for that one job and start again when you are done.

    Having a vapor barrier is important as well for spotting leaks. You may have the pipe that runs to your shower head leaking but not know it. With the plastic down, next time you are in the crawl space you will see water pools and know there is a issue somewhere, hopefully before it ruins a wall.
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