Bad Built Fences!

          Man you won't believe it. He said as he came back into the door with that half smile/smirk on his face. Steve one of our on site planner/estimaters seemed on a roll, so I bit. What won't I believe. All the crappy fences in this neighborhood. What neighborhood I asked.   ------  over by North Highschool. Now this is something I hear all the time, being a contractor. Shoddy work. After pouring a cup of joe he went on and on about fences leaning, fences being propped up, 10' gates with only 2 hinges. 3 hinges on each side is the standard for 10 ' DDG gates, 2 hinges for 8' DDG gates. (DDG- Double Drive Gate) It was all one company. An out of county company. Most times when you see a fence prematurely falling down its due to a homeowner job. But these fences had a company name on them. I felt bad. I mean this is my business. I feel that when someone does shoddy work it is a reflection on all of the good guys out there who do great work. In advertising any company can place an advertisement in any medium, in any location. This is the case with this company, they advertise in Rutherford County, get the job. Then a home owner ends up with a sagging gate, heaved posts, and generally, a badly constructed fence. It doesn't 5 yrs. much less 25 that it should last if properly maintained.
          Beware the lowest estimate! It's natural to want a good deal. As you already know everyone is in business to make a profit. The guy with the cheapest estimate is trying to make a profit the same as the guy with the highest bid. Basically a quality job will always take longer to do than a average job. No way around it, "Book It". There is a wide range in quality of materials for fencing. If you go with the lowest estimate you can rest assured you will get the lower grade materials, or the "Hurry up it's good enough" treatment, during the building.
          I recommend you always hire local, in town, or county businesses. Especially small contractors like Carpenters, Painters, Garage door Guys, Concrete Guys, Fence Builders and so forth. The reason is simple, who do you think will come back first if there is a problem, a company located in Evansville, or a company up in Indianapolis. Ask the right questions. Is your work guaranteed. What do you mean by guaranteed. Explain how you set a post. What size connectors do you use. Think about your needs as a customer - timeline, financial arrangements, someone needs to be home, or maybe schedule the work for while you are on vacation. What building codes are important? Basically any question you can think of. Unfortunately even if they are good at answering question and they should be, it is only one indication they are qualified to do your work. Do they look like a "successful"contractor? Do they talk the lingo? Look for signs of advertising. Consider having your work completed during the winter instead of the summer. While no company may get a 100 on your test they should be in the "A" category.        Good Luck!

Finishing Out The Bonus Room!

The following websites explain in detail Insulation for Bonus rooms.

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/button-up-attic-doors-and-kneewalls.shtml
http://www.customhomeonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=207&articleID=258888
http://www.jmhomeowner.com/insulation/install/cathedralceilings.asp


          In recent years builders have come up with the grandiose scheme of leaving the "Bonus Room" as it is popularly called, unfinished. The electrical wire will be run in and thats it. Then they sell the house on the pretext the buyer is recieving something free.
          We have'nt seen it all here but we've seen a lot. Last month we were called to a house to price out a Bonus room for hanging and finishing Sheet rock.The homeowner had a couple of quick additions to his family and needed to convert the unfinished bonus room to bedroom space. He had already hired a carpenter to build the kneewalls and frame out a closet, had the electrical wire ran, and installed the insulation. The carpenters work was good, Electrical looked good (I'm no Electrician), but the insulation was a wreck. We've reached the reason for this weeks blog.
          As in everything in a house there is a code, or guidelines to go by. I did'nt want to embarrass him or call out the carpenter or electrician as sometimes people from another trade take on work for which they are not qualified. The home owner had installed unfaced insulation of what size or value I'm not sure, against the roof and had used wires to hold it in place. Mashing down the insulation against the roof about every 2 ft making it relatively useless. Mashing down insulation takes away it's effectiveness. No baffles were installed under the insulation next to the roof which is required in order to have air flow, and not burn the shingles off the roof in the summer. Unfaced insulation was used for this application and also in between the kneewalls. Not attached as it should be but just placed in.
          Lets talk about the correct way to install insulation in a bonus room. Anyway as you may know Bonus rooms are always on the second floor so you will probably have a cathedral cieling to work with. The framing for these cielings/roofs are normally 2x6s. We require 2x8s in order to put in the proper insulation. For these areas you must nail a 2x2 furring strip onto the edge of the existing 2x6 to increase the board width to 8 inches. This is done to have enough room to install the baffles next to the roof sheathing and insulation on the top of them. Baffles are made out several different products Polystyrene being the most popular. Check Home Depot for whats available in your area. Ensure they are placed ensuring free air flow from the crown to outside the Bonus room kneewall framing and into the attic a few inches. They are super easy to install, place them in the correct position in between the ceiling joists and staple down. Next,  the insulation is placed over the top of the baffles. Insulation shall be of the Fiber Faced type, not the Foil type, with the paper toward the inside of the room. The paper is 1" wider on each side than the insulation, staple this edge to the facing edge of the furring strip or 2x8, or staple to the inside of the furring strip or 2x8. Faced batt type insulation shall be used in all applications for exterior walls, includes Cathedral cielings. Install insulation to the kneewalls in the same manner. Insulation always works best when contained on all 6 sides. This includes the back side of knee walls. No specific material is recommended and a code has not been established at this time for kneewall backing, but it is recommended to use Drywall, Roofing felt, House wrap, or just plain cardboard. If you do not contain insulation on all 4 sides your gas or electric bill will remind you. For those of you who consider you live in a fine custom home - crawl around in your attic sometime and check it out. For those of you having a house built make sure your builder Covers the back side of any kneewalls. Or call us.

Choosing Flat or Eggshell/Satin Sheens for Walls!

        Odds are, you have flat paint on the walls of your home. If you have bought a new house it's almost guarenteed. Even in the bath rooms, where it should definitly have eggshell or satin on the walls and possible even on the ceiling, depending on how good your ventilation is. Why builders do this is because it is easier and cheaper. Why pay an extra $ 50.00 or $100.00 per room when you don't have to.

Lets discuss the reasons for having a sheen on your walls versus a flat.

1. Small Children - nough said really, but I'll go into a little depth. If you have little kids and they are going to put their hands on the walls then you will need a coating that will be able to be cleaned, Eggshell, Satin and soforth. Hallways, Stairways and bedrooms are the prime culprit here. Current codes for stairs require just 1 hand rail on one side, but by placing a handrail on the opposite wall also, it will normally give the children a place to put their hands no matter which side of the stairs they traverse.

2. A room with high moisture content such as the Kitchen or Bath Rooms. For the kitchen, placing the fan over the stove to remove the moisture when cooking has virtually eliminated the need to have the walls painted with a sheen paint. In the bath if you have good ventilation it is not necessary to have a sheen paint. The problem is the fan placement. In the larger new houses the commode is often placed in a separate room inside the bathroom, and the exhaust is placed inside this room for obvious reasons. In this case the main part of the bathroom is often neglected as far as moisture control. Every bath room needs exhaust ventilation installed near the bath tub/shower area. This is the major factor in controlling moisture and keeping Toxic Black Mold out of this area of the home.

3. Lastly some people like one over the other. It's that simple. Like so many other things in life, one is not better than the other, just different.

                                                   Advantages

Flat Paint                                                               Eggshell/Satin Paint Easier to paint                                                                      Easier to clean
Easier to touch up                                                             Generally last longer
A couple $ per gallon cheaper
Hides mistakes in the walls

                                               Disadvantages

Flat Paint                                                             Eggshell/Satin Paint  Does not last as long                                            A few $ more per gallon
Cannot clean as well as sheen paints                     Harder to paint
Shows leaching stains in high humidity       Sometimes takes multiple
                                                                                                coats to cover
                                                                                      Cannot be touched-up to
                                                                                         any visual satisfaction    
                                                                               Shows all the mistakes in a wall
                                                                              Requires a level 5 drywall finish

        Lastly, we're not using Semi gloss or Gloss for anything but doors and trim. The only time I put Semi Gloss or Gloss on walls is for some Commercial or Industrial applications. Never inside a residential structure.