Good work at the Gambills

We recently finished work at Bill Gambill's house. We had previously come out and performed a home performance evaluation and he asked us back to put in some more insulation and to do some air sealing. These are things that sound simple but make a big difference. We added about 12" of blown insulation across the whole attic. In conjunction with that we air sealed 16 recessed can lights.
Can lights that are not IC (insulation contact) rated and airtite need to be sealed because they are a major cause of air leakage. Non IC rated cans need to be boxed out around so that the new insulation doesn't come into contact with them and potentially cause a fire hazard. Airtite and other housings need to be sealed to the ceiling in order to make sure they stay air tight. We added airtite baffles on the inside to convert old fixtures to airtite ones.
We also replaced the worn out weatherstripping on all of the exterior doors and added new door sweeps to the doors to make sure that they would block out all the outside air from getting in and close securely. Around the windows we added new foam weatherstripping to the sash so that when it is closed it has a tight seal and no air is leaking in. We also properly vented four bathroom exhaust fans to the eave vents. This results in a reduction of the airflow and humidity in the attic.
Almost immediately the homeowners could tell a difference and that makes us happy. With winter here now I feel confident that they will be nice and comfortable in their home and even more comfortable when they see the reduction that it will make in their utility bill.

Deck Project at George Noe's

Just a few pictures of the deck project.

George & Elizabeth Noe Update

Before

More progress has come along at the home of George and Elizabeth Noe. Here are some pictures of the things we have done there. Here are before and after photos of the front door project. Before there were old wooden french doors, and now there are strong steel doors with energy efficient glass inside and details in the steel to match the design details on the front of the house. The doors were installed by Scardino Doors of Atlanta. Three other sets of doors were replaced by Scardino Doors, they are Anderson Patio doors and are on the other three entrances to the home, they are energy star rated and provide excellent security with their sturdiness and locking systems.
Other photos of the work that we have done there will be available in a gallery soon.
After

George & Elizabeth Noe Bathroom Remodel

Well, what a journey it has been...
I have seen a lot and learned even more while managing this job. We started out to do a simple gut and remodel of a master bathroom that was too small and also update an office bathroom that didnt have enough space. Simple, right, wrong. Never assume you know what is behind the walls or under the floors when working on an existing house. Not only did we find layers of paint holding up horsehair plaster but also found live knob and tube wiring in this house. Still very much in use, and very dangerous. As we had been told by the homeowner, as he recounted the history of the house as he had learned it, a section of the house had been burned out in the '40's. We found the evidence of this. As we were opening up the floor to rerun the plumbing for the new shower, we found a chase that extended down the main level and on into the basement. This chase had wood that had very visible char and flame marks, and also the soot could be found behind every board that we pulled off of the walls. The original scope of work included the moving of two HVAC units. One was in the office bathroom and was moved into the attic space above where it was. The other was adjacent to the master bathroom and was moved out and into a new closet space built into the the upper landing area. Mostly new duct work was installed as well. The discovery of the knob and tube wiring nearly put a hold on the project all together but the homeowners understood that the wiring was dangerous when used with most modern appliances because the lack of a ground wire. So we ended up rewiring half of the second story in order to eliminate as much of the knob and tubing as we could get to without gutting the entire house.

We also did closet remodels as well. The clients werent happy with the storage they had in their closets so we went with a built in closet system for them to optimize the space that they did have. Before they put the closet system in we paneled the entire walls and ceilings of the closets with tongue and groove cedar. This gave the closets the protection from moths and other pests along with the nice aromatic smell of western red cedar. The energy efficiency things we did were to install dimmers on the lights and also in the closets to install occupancy sensors to automatically turn on when you enter and to turn off when there isnt any activity in the closet for a specified time. This prevents energy waste by automatically turning on and off your lights when you come and go. Also the exterior walls that were exposed were sprayed with soy based insulation which will prevent heat loss through conduction, it also acts as an air barrier as well so it wont allow air to move through the walls around the windows.

New Anderson Patio doors were installed on the main floor. These doors are energy star rated not to allow solar heat loss or gain due to its Smart Sun Glass. Three sets of these doors were installed. Upstairs in the master bedroom and the bathrooms that are being remodeled, Anderson Sash replacement windows were installed as well. These have the same Smart Sun glass and are energy star rated as well.

The area where the HVAC unit next to the master bathroom was, became the walk in shower for the master bath. The adjacent bathroom to the master bath, which was exclusive to the guest room was gutted and is now as shared powder room. The office bath which had an old claw foot tub and a shower head above it, now has a tiled corner shower unit with an overhead rain-shower head and a waterless urinal along with a dual flush water saving toilet. The master bath has a main area that the majority is taken up by a huge jacuzzi salon spa whirlpool big enough for two. With a teak wood frame top and a waterfall tub filler valve, it looks amazing and relaxing without even stepping into it. Since this area was taken up by the tub, the vanity for the client was moved outward into the hall adjoining to the master bedroom, a wall was erected and a pocket door was enclosed within. The old door and doorway were removed and no evidence remains of them except that the pocket door was made from the previously existing swinging door. Custom wood vanities were crafted and topped with a greenish black stone with black under-mount sinks and satin nickel faucets.

Also while all of this was going on, we had the entire house wired for the clients home automation system. Now he can control all of his multimedia from any remote from anywhere in his home. The system also can control lights, has the ability to control cameras and his security system, so when traveling around the world he can make sure his lights are on or off and his alarm is enabled, all from his computer or phone.

A new front entry door made from tube steel and wrought iron will complete this phase of the remodel. More work is scheduled for the outside of the house and the deck and the outdoor spaces. So more updates will follow. Maybe not so long in between though.

Basement Encapsulation

We finished the basement encapsulation/ insulation job. Went very well, before we were even through the homeowner said he could already tell a difference, thats what i want to hear. Overall it was a great job that went pretty quickly. The basement encapsulation was perfect. Closed-cell foam insulation went up on the concrete block walls of the crawl space and vapor barrier enclosed the ground space to overlap up on the walls. Completely cleaned out the crawl space, insulated and weather-stripped the access doors. They close as securely as a refrigerator door now. Inside the house we used open-cell spray foam insulation in all of the attic spaces to cover the roof decking in between all of the rafters from the ridge to the eaves. This now brings this entire space into the insulated "building envelope". The attic areas wont go through the same extreme temperatures as they once did but will remain more of a conservative temperature year round. Interior walls adjacent to these attic spaces will be less susceptible to temperature change now that the space is insulated.

The benefit to insulating the crawl space and the attic spaces is to prevent heat loss from the conditioned places in your house and the heating and cooling units are no longer in extreme temperatures working twice as hard to raise and lower the temperature in your house, therefore the units work more efficiently and last longer saving you money in two ways. Now who doesn't like saving money?

Windows

The window replacement project has come to a close. The old windows are out and the new ones are in. The new ones are double paned low-e glass with a vacuum cavity between the panes. The frames are also energy efficient as the exterior metal of the frame does not contact the metal of the inside frame directly as to prevent conduction of heat between the two. The temperature difference in the room is clearly evident since the drafts from the windows not closing in their old state has been remedied with sealed new windows. The motorized blinds from Hunter Douglas are up and programmed along with the wall switches and remote. The remote will control each bank of three windows individually or all nine at once. They have a feature that will lower the blinds the entire way and then open the louvers and then close them back to a blackout feature, with the option to incrementally open the louvers back up to let in more light. This project is a complete success. I cant wait till the next one.

Website

Working on the website now. It will have a lot more content and links to our facebook page and twitter feed. It will also showcase our previous jobs and allow updates to current jobs.