Forever HOME project!

Shawn, I will put a tape measure on it, I am guessing just over the height of the joist itself, so 10-12 maybe? I figure maybe it has settled over the years too, and with new windows on the house, (sealed this time with expanding foam) might be worth investing in more insulation too and get my long term heating/cooling costs down.
 
Shawn, I will put a tape measure on it, I am guessing just over the height of the joist itself, so 10-12 maybe? I figure maybe it has settled over the years too, and with new windows on the house, (sealed this time with expanding foam) might be worth investing in more insulation too and get my long term heating/cooling costs down.
I'd be quite impressed if a house of that vintage has 2x10s for joists. A lot of em are only 2x8, 6 or even 2x4 (ugh, like mine)
If you have reasonable access but don't plan to use it, you could just lay R30 rolls out across the joists.
Are the eves ventilated?
 
Why? That’s an interior wall on a non-vaulted ceiling ranch house. I’m 99% sure the only load bearing walls are the exterior walls. Most counties only require demo permits when doing a complete tear down.
that was quite tongue and cheek.
Around here you need a permit for every. damn. thing.
But of course nobody does.
 
If you have reasonable access but don't plan to use it, you could just lay R30 rolls out across the joists.
Are the eves ventilated

Blown fiberglass will be cheaper, easier, and provides a more continuous barrier than batts. You can borrow the machine from home depot and DIY, or hire it out.

Only thing to watch out for is that your soffit vents don't get clogged up. Baffles will help with that. Look for the good ones that prevent wind washing.
 
Blown fiberglass will be cheaper, easier, and provides a more continuous barrier than batts. You can borrow the machine from home depot and DIY, or hire it out.

Only thing to watch out for is that your soffit vents don't get clogged up. Baffles will help with that. Look for the good ones that prevent wind washing.
A friend just did this. You buy 10 bails I think he said and they don't charge rent on the machine.
 
A friend just did this. You buy 10 bails I think he said and they don't charge rent on the machine.

And if you don't use all 10, you can return the leftover, no worries.
 
Watch out sealing up window casings with expanding foam. Definitely use the low expansion stuff.. the higher expansion foam can cause the casing to bow in and make it difficult to operate the window.
 
Ok, some more pictures and interesting things to get your thoughts on!! So this house had solar panels on the roof that were for heating water! Pipes going up there, and then coming down into this HUGE Solar / WOOD water heater thingamabob in the basement! Solar panels are long gone, but giant wood heater remains. I will post up a few pictures here, would love to know just a bit more about it, but 99% sure this is going to go away!!

The house also has an electric water heater...AND oddly enough, there is water pipes going from the solar/wood burning stove device TO/from the gas heating system?! (Lennox Elite something or other) So we are still figuring this all out but in theory you can (could) heat water via solar, via burning wood in this stove, possibly via "gas" heat system AND via electric water heater!?

Long term...we have gas in the house already, will either replace electric water heater with gas (and 'huge' in size for capacity) OR... install one of those endless hot water dealios. I remember reading a few threads about them a while back, lots of back and forth on which is the best but hopefully not in my immediate future anyway?

Enjoy the pics, looking forward to the comments AND...if YOU are interested in acquiring a massive solar/wood burning stove heater thingamabob this COULD be your lucky day! Send me a message, let's work a deal, and part of that will be helping eliminate / reduce and simplify/fix the water heating all over as this stuff gets yanked!!

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if you google "sun-wood water stove" there is ONE other person here in NC asking about theirs in 2014! Apparently this was more of a local solution / alternative to the more popular Taylor Water stoves! As you said when I look them up, they mostly appear to be installed OUTSIDE!? Based on their post / dimensions, 6 foot tall, 4 foot wide and 6 foot long, holds approx 500 GALLONs of water to be heated!

Just in talking with the neighbors, he was very pleased with his setup and would "burn anything" given to him, keeping his costs low. But I really don't like the look of the soot on the front of that and on the insulation above this area, just cannot imagine this is a really 'clean' solution.

Might be worth a fortune in scrap metal (copper?) alone, saw a similar sized unit showing shipping weight of 2600 pounds!!?
 
Just throwing it out there since the Septic system went so well, do we have any waterproofing / french drain type guys on here from this area? I have a neighbor that did his own, works full time in that biz that I am trying to get quote from. Would want to dig down front of house (prob 60' long) to bottom of wall/basement, seal it all back up again, fill with gravel/french drain and pipes to drain all the gutters too out, around side and behind house. So another 30' down that sloping side as well dug up. BTW @Riddle is fantastic, great to work with, very reasonable prices, quick and fair!! (BTW Scott if your guy has interest in the wood burning water heater/stove thing have him reach out!)
 
Nice looking place! Some of my family use a wood water heater for whole house heat. I would love to convert our house to it, but dont have the money.
 
Nice looking place! Some of my family use a wood water heater for whole house heat. I would love to convert our house to it, but dont have the money.

Yeah the HVAC guy said the pipes that run from water / stove over to gas furnace essentially allows you to heat home with wood as alternative. Gas was then 'backup' if heat from stove was not enough, but we have pulled that out, not planning on using at this point. Just too 'dirty' based on the soot you can see down there, I might be a bit insane to remove this option but also don't trust it much.
 
Ok a few updates, Water/Sun stove thingamabob is GONE! Friend of a friend has one like it, got this for a different friend and more importantly disconnected it all nicely and moved away on rollback! Ended up replacing ALL the windows in the house as several the panes were failing/slipping inside the frame so nearly useless. New roof, new fasica (all pvc now), gutters and something I wanted to get a bit of info on!

I am looking at those Stone Veneer things where they are already pre-cut and shaped into 6"x24" pieces and then L shaped pieces for corners. I am looking at installing 6x6 or 8x8 timbers for front columns on porch, then wrapping them with those to get the 'stacked stone' look. Then also installing on the face of the porch itself over the existing brick!

Jura Splitface Slate Panel Ledger - 6 x 24 - 100188796 | Floor and Decor

I remember "lick em and stick em" was mentioned last year with water being an issue, but this is being installed over brick, so keeping water out is not big concern but would love input on the project? One thing is that I am looking at doing this myself with help and was thinking of buying the pre-mixed mortar to reduce the chance of me doing/mixing something wrong?

Mapei Premium Premixed Mortar for Tile and Stone - 1gal. - 951100088 | Floor and Decor

Couple pictures of porch area, replacing those white / round columns with oak beams (local cut / timber guy I am planning to ask) going for a CRAFTSMAN look on the house.

Couple pictures of me and RED ROVER working on clearing out the old shrubs too!!

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I'm far from an expert of installing stone, but we have it on our house, and on the chimney of my shed that I built (I didn't do the stone work). If you are installing stone veneer on wood, then you have to install two layers of the thick black felt paper, then metal lathe stuff with a nail every 6 inches. A coat of mortar is then put down and let dry. Then you come back and actually put the stones on. For columns, it probably makes more sense to just build up a block column, then put the stones on the column instead of starting with wood.
 
Couple more pics of that room once we opened it all up, it is now in drywall but came out nice. Room is now 33' x 29' approx from kitchen to far wall and front to back.

Plus we did a "picture window" in kitchen overlooking back yard and the barn, one of my favorite upgrades by far, LOVE that view!

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The exterior door in the basement is 32x78, has windows in it and would like to replace it with Steel door. The frame around it is already steel / and well embedded into the brick around it, so not wanting to mess with that, just get a replacement door. Any local sources you can suggest for doors?
 
Your best bet is to find the original manufacturer, if they are still around as most have their own unique hinge pattern. That is my experience with commercial steel doors. Unless you can get a custom one fabricated to match the hinge locations.

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You can get a metal door to fit but most likely it’s gonna be speedy because it will be a custom made steel door.

I’d suggest finding a fiberglass door slab that’s hasn’t been altered yet and set everything up yourself.

“Most fiberglass doors will have some amount of adjustment on size that you can trim it down some.


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Beeson hardware in High Point will have what you need. Call them and they will tell you what measurements they need. More than likely they have a slab in stock, if not it takes a few days to get the slab in. Only takes them a few minutes to cut and tap the hinges and drill for the handle.
 
Found a order form in my notebook. This may help you with the measurements.
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