10.21.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:13 pm by admin
How many homeowners normally leave their dog in the backyard or they have full time access to the backyard through a doggie door. You’re probably wondering how can a little dog create a remodeling nightmare for any contractor.
This wasn’t the case this dog was a large Labrador retriever and tore up everything in the backyard constantly. The house remodel we were working on was a two story room addition over a single story house. This job lasted around six months and the dog was a daily reminder of how much attention a large dog actually needs.
Let’s start with the first item of value the dog actually destroyed. It was my favorite tool bags of course that I have taken care of for over five years and deeply appreciated the fact that they were broke in just the way I wanted them to be. Kind of like a baseball mitt that doesn’t quite fit right because of how stiff it is until you break it in.
While the homeowner of course apologized and never even offered to replace them. Oh but after that he did mention never to leave anything lying around in the backyard. Lesson learned of course and never forgotten. Well to make a long story short this large dog could chew up tools, lumber, plumbing pipes, electrical wire and was even able to destroyed the plywood fencing we would use to keep him away.
I’m going to stop right there with the remodeling nightmare created from this dog in hopes that other contractors can learn from my valuable lesson. As a contractor you should never assume that a homeowner will replace any damaged or broken tools and materials.
As a homeowner with a dog reading this article, think about having a place to enclose the dog if necessary while remodeling work is done on your home.
I love being around dogs and other animals but sometimes a problem like this can make life extremely miserable for both parties.
By Greg Vanden Berge
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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:11 pm by admin
Whether you live in a home that has a bathtub or a shower, there is a good chance that structural framing could be damaged if there was any water leaking around the plumbing fixtures. The damage should be repaired before framing your wood shower pan.
If you’re replacing a bathtub and installing a new shower this is going to require constructing a wood shower pan. Now building a wood shower pan will require a level floor surface, shower damn and blocking.
Now let’s start with building the shower damn. You’re probably wondering what is a shower damn and what does it have to do with the wood shower pan. The shower damn is actually the area you climb over when entering into the shower. This part of the shower pan enables the water to flow off a shower curtain or shower door into the shower pan and down the drain.
The shower damn needs to be at the least 6 inches tall and would be best if it was at least 8 inches. You can use a 4 x 6 or a 4 x 8 for the wood shower damn.
Next we need to block the perimeter of the shower pan area in the wall framing that we will use for our shower walls also. These blocks should be at least 12 inches high. This would require using 2 x 12 lumber for blocking.
After you block the perimeter of the shower pan and installed the shower damn you are ready to have to shower water proffed with a process known as hot mopping the shower pan or using a vinyl liner.
Well I hope this gives you a better idea of what’s involved when Framing Shower Pan during the house framing process.
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10.17.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 4:47 pm by admin
New houses today are being built on smaller and smaller lots. This seems to be creating problems for storing garbage cans. Most new homes are furnished with garbage and recycling trash cans from their local waste collecting companies. Some of these garbage cans are quite large while other cities have trash cans that are surprisingly small.
Some of the problems I have noticed lately is the lack of storage for garbage cans on these new properties among other things. Some houses have zero lot line properties which means one side of your house is actually on the property line separating your home from your neighbors. This only leaves one side of the house for access to the backyard and sometimes creating garbage can storage problems.
I have driven through a few of these new tracks home neighborhoods while noticing that some of them are leaving their trash cans in their front yards. This of course is unattractive to most homeowners and seems to create a bigger problem with some of the neighborhood residents.
Another idea for storing your garbage cans would be to actually store them inside of your garage and of course this could lead to ungodly smells that could actually seep into your home if you have a door separating your house from the garage.
I’m not going to make this article too long, with that said I would like some of these track home planners to give a little more consideration to the people that are paying their wages by purchasing these homes. A good quality of life is what a good builder is looking for and quick profits seem to be trashing our cities causing some new homeowners to have garbage can storage problems.
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10.16.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:05 pm by admin
The human body cannot tolerate large quantities mycotoxins. These mycotoxins are found in mold and can create serious health hazards depending on each individual person. Health problems to look for will be headaches, skin problems, respiratory problems, fatigue and even flu like symptoms.
People who are living in houses contaminated with mold sometimes will be unaware of these health problems. That’s why I wrote the article. In my years of remodeling and repairing damaged houses I have found most people to have very little education about house mold problems.
Some of the problems with house mold will be directly related to moisture most of the time. Mold and most fungus problems arise from moisture problems somehow related to building defects. Mold can also be related to poor home maintenance and of course unsanitary housing conditions.
If you keep a clean house and know what mold looks like this does not exclude the fact that mold can be underneath the flooring, behind the walls, on the other side of the drywall or plaster and of course the biggest problem areas will be your kitchen, bathrooms and wash machine areas.
If someone in your house is sick often or suffers from headaches frequently. They do sell home mold kits for under $20. These home mold kits could give you an idea whether your house is contaminated with mold or if you need to perform another kind of test.
If you do find mold problems in the house after testing, it might be difficult to locate the mold especially if it’s behind the walls or under the floors. I suggest you hire an expert to start construction forensics on your house. Some experienced contractors in your city know exactly where to look for the problems.
It doesn’t hurt to contact one of these professionals for some advice even if it is over the phone or through e-mail. Most contractors are glad to help homeowners solve their problems because it could lead to future business.
Mold Tip of the Day.
Problems with house mold can be solved and eradicated most of the time with simple moisture prevention and house cleaning.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 5:39 pm by admin
by Greg Vanden Berge
Here’s some things to think about before walking on the roof of a house. If you slip and fall off the roof you could get hurt seriously. For your own safety if you have no experience walking on a roof use extreme caution. I would even suggest using a ladder and moving the latter around the perimeter of the house if you are inspecting the roof for damage.
Here’s some things to keep in mind before walking on a house roof.
1. If the building is above two stories hire a contractor especially if you think the roof has building damage.
2. If the roof is too steep stay off. This could be extremely hazardous to your health.
3. If the roof is severely damaged and has loose shingles or tiles, this could create a safety hazard as you slip on one of these loose shingles and possibly fall off the roof.
4. You should stay off the roof at all costs if there is snow or ice. Ice obviously is extremely slippery and would be difficult to walk on. The difficulty would be increased if the roof has a steep slope.
5. Now last but not least if the roof is wet you should avoid walking on it until it is dry. I have been on wet roofs before and personally slipped myself losing my balance but not falling off of the roof.
Climbing up on a roof and walking around is not child’s play and should be left to an experienced professional. If you feel comfortable walking around on any roof please use caution. If you slip in the middle of the roof there is a good chance you will be able to regain your balance or have time to stop yourself before falling off.
I would suggest using caution near the edges of the roof. If the roof is too steep or you don’t feel comfortable, why risk serious injury. Use common sense along with the proper ladders to ensure your safety and “Think before walking on a house roof.”
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10.15.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 3:43 pm by admin
While working as a contractor in Vista California I noticed that the soil can be quite expensive in some areas. While working with a contractor who was installing a block wall fence I was explaining to him how nice the soil was, looking like it had a lot of sand in it.
The masonry contractor mentioned to me the soil problems in Vista, California. I really couldn’t get a grasp on what he was talking about because of my experience dealing with these problems over the years. To me it looked like the soil was perfect for building any house on.
Now for the lesson I was about to learn as the masonry contractor reached down grabbed a bunch of soil compressed it in his hand while making a fist. To my surprise when he opened up his hand the soil remained clump together. This was a clear sign to me that the soil could be clay and very expansive.
As I talked to him further he mentioned other soil problems in the city of Vista and the surrounding areas he had worked in. Just a word of advice from one contractor to another, sometimes you think you have all the answers until someone else teaches you a lesson.
This masonry contractor had been working in North San Diego County for over 45 years. Some times even a old dog can learn from an older dog some tricks of the trade.
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Posted in Uncategorized at 3:32 pm by admin
By Greg Vanden Berge
It is a little trick that few people about for checking to see if they have hard water in their house.
Run the water from a faucet while putting a little bit of soap on your hands. Now if the water foams up extremely fast there is a good chance you have soft water coming out of the faucet.
The harder the water of the less bubbles in the water. If you have just a few bubbles there’s a good chance the water in your house is hard. Hard water could lead to plumbing problems as well as cleaning problems.
Hard water creates calcium deposits otherwise known as hard water deposits and could cause a white crusty material to form around water openings like your faucet, hose bibs, showerheads and even areas where you have small leaks in your plumbing pipes.
If you have hard water you can solve this problem by installing a water conditioner in your home to eliminate this problem. This will be an additional household expense and sometimes require a monthly service fee depending on what unit you select.
My father had a water conditioning unit in our house when I was young and this unit required very little maintenance. You would just lift the lid off of what look like a large trash can and check the level of rock salt inside of it. As the level of rock salt started to diminish you simply filled the unit up with fresh rock salt.
Soft water has other advantages but you will need to think about the additional expenses required. If the water in your home is not staining the sinks, faucets or bathroom fixtures then it would simply be a personal preference on whether or not you can live with the existing water conditions.
Now if you do have white crusty deposits on these fixtures along with staining you might give some serious thought to a hard water conditioner unit for your home. Soft water will prolong the life of your water supply piping in your house.
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10.13.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:32 pm by admin
It seems to be the new thing lately to install a vapor barrier on top of the soil in a crawlspace area under the house. This doesn’t seem like that bad of an idea, if what you are trying to do is keep moisture away from the wood framing. This kind of make sense.
Now for the vapor barrier problem I am the most concerned about.
Do you think mold and mildew along with other fungus can grow on dirt or under the plastic?
Well I believe it can and will if the conditions are right. I’m not a firm believer yet about 6 mm plastic laid on top of dirt in a well ventilated crawlspace area to prevent moisture problems. If you have a moisture problem with the air around your home, what makes you think the moisture will not lay on top of the vapor barrier causing pools of water to build up in the low spots of the crawlspace area.
This seems like it would create a larger problem in the long run. Now there is a solution to the water pooling up on top of the plastic. That would be to poke holes in the plastic and let them water drain into the soil. But that would defeat the purpose of laying the plastic out to prevent moisture from the soil seeping onto the vapor barrier during a heavy rain.
This is just my opinion and if any contractors or homebuilders have some sort of solution to the vapor barrier problem in crawlspaces I would love to hear about it.
Most vapor barriers underneath a concrete slab as a protection against moisture don’t make sense to me either since they do not protect the entire floor area. Sometimes in the building industry people have really good ideas that into to create large problems later on. I have seen this more than once and will probably see more construction problems like this in the future.
Another Article by Greg Vanden Berge
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10.10.08
Posted in Uncategorized at 10:24 pm by admin
Dear Greg
We recently bought a house and thought that everything had been taken care of from the real estate agent and the home inspector. The home inspector told us that the galvanized water pipes would need to be replaced but he had no idea how long they would actually last. We were concerned but wanted to move into the house as soon as possible.
Well within six months we sprang our first water leak.
Our question to you is should we repair the damage galvanized waterpipe or replace the entire water supply system to the home.
Dear Jerry and Cindy
Usually when galvanized water pipes start to leak or break it is generally time for the entire system to be replaced. I would recommend getting at least three bids from plumbing contractors in your area for the replacement of your water supply system.
The plumbing contractors can suggest what kind of piping to use. Copper is one of the most common forms of water supply piping but with the price of copper continuing to rise, there have been new forms of plastic piping that seems to be working out good all over the United States.
Of course if you don’t have the money for the replacement of the entire system then I suggest preparing the broken pipe until you can replace the water supply system.
As a precaution if no one is going to be home at certain times, for example if you leave for work every day or leaving for vacation, I suggest you locate the water supply shutoff valve to your home and turn it off while you are gone in case one of the other pipes breaks.
I hope this helps, your friendly contractor from Greg Vanden Berge Construction Blog
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Posted in Uncategorized at 10:03 pm by admin
Your home can be heated by a variety of home heating systems, utilizing different fuel sources. Your home heating system could be a boiler where water is actually heated and circulated through pipes that radiate heat into your home. This system may have a radiator, usually you will have one radiator in every room of the house. This system is quite effective in colder climates.
Homes using radiators are usually located in the Northwest, Midwest or East coast of the United States. Radiators are not a real common form of heating in the South Western United States. This system might seem a little old fashioned but actually is quite effective when the system is working properly.
The next form of heating and the most common is a forced air unit. These units heat the air as the air passes through the system. Most of these systems use propane or natural gas as a fuel. The forced air heat usually comes out the ducts that are located either in the walls, ceilings or floors. The forced air heating is effective but sometimes not economical in cold climates.
Now there is always electricity for heating. Electric heat can be quite costly to run in your home. Electric heaters have a heating element inside the unit and usually have a forced air system attached to it. Some electric heaters do not have fans and radiate heat throughout the home. Electric heating is not cost effective if located in cold temperature climates.
Now we mentioned the boiling water as our first form of heating but you can replace the radiator with smaller radiators that run along the baseboard in a room. These baseboard radiators will usually run three quarters the length of the longest wall in a house. These seem pretty effective in colder climates.
Choose your home heating system wisely. Contact a professional in your area if you have any doubts about what type of systems to install in your home.
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