The Home Improvement Thread

[Komskies]

Thanks Big Numbers. I'll take a look at the set-up when I get home and follow-up.

[BigNumbers]

It may be something like this (mine is into the joist rafters where the cold air intake come s into the basement, but same idea):



It's basically an air make up that brings in additional fresh air into the house because new homes are built so tight. However in the winter you want to close it a lot (nearly completely, if not completely?) to stop the exact issue you have - backdraft and condensation.

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

It may be something like this (mine is into the joist rafters where the cold air intake come s into the basement, but same idea):



It's basically an air make up that brings in additional fresh air into the house because new homes are built so tight. However in the winter you want to close it a lot (nearly completely, if not completely?) to stop the exact issue you have - backdraft and condensation.

Awesome advice. Did you have to install that valve yourself or is that a pretty standard part of an HVAC system?

[Komskies]

It looks like my cold air intake is around 12 feet away from the furnace and ties directly into the duct work. I assume if you have that valve and close it completely in the winter the furnace wouldn't have any issues running, you'd just be running it off of recycled air instead of a combination of fresh and recycled air?

[calgarygeologist]

I'm having an issue with my garage door. Over the past three months or so the door would start to lift and stop after about 18 to 24 inches. Initially it was very sporadic but over the last week it happens about half the time. I'm assuming something is binding as the door opens. Has anyone experienced a similar problem before?

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm having an issue with my garage door. Over the past three months or so the door would start to lift and stop after about 18 to 24 inches. Initially it was very sporadic but over the last week it happens about half the time. I'm assuming something is binding as the door opens. Has anyone experienced a similar problem before?

It probably means there's too much opening force. First thing I would do would be to grease the chain/belt and the rolling wheels. If that doesn't help you may have a seized wheel which will need replacing.

Here's a link to common garage door issues:

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infgar/infgar1.html

Edit: Check the bottom rollers first as they generally are the first to rust

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Sounds like you're not closing your exterior intake flap - should be closed (mostly closed) in the winter to stop this from happening.

Originally Posted by Komskies

It looks like my cold air intake is around 12 feet away from the furnace and ties directly into the duct work. I assume if you have that valve and close it completely in the winter the furnace wouldn't have any issues running, you'd just be running it off of recycled air instead of a combination of fresh and recycled air?

Whoa Whoa, hold up here. You need to be careful here, I'm not sure I'd suggest closing off your vent until you understand your HVAC system fully. It is there for a reason.

Generally you should have a cold air vent coming in from the outside into the furnace room for combustion air. This ensures sufficient air draw to ensure combustion gasses are going up and out the vent, and not being drawn back down to combust. (ie if you don't have this and have a closed off furnace room, the only source of air to burn would be air from the exhaust vent). So this can be dangerous to close off.

You will also generally have a cold air duct running into the return ductwork, this is make up air, and is there to replace fresh air into the home as air is exhausted out. When you flick on your range vent, your bathroom vent, and even the furnace/hot water tanks run, these are again, sending air out of the house, and that air has to be replaced. Without it, air will be drawn into the house through various air leaks (doors, windows, vents), or (you guessed it) back down through the furnace exhaust ducting. Rule is you should have enough make up air capacity to compensate if you had all these things running at one time. You don't want your well sealed house to be drawing air from somewhere you don't, be it the furnace exhaust, fireplace flu, etc. You can dampen this line depending on needs and weather, but again, closing off totally I wouldn't recommend, and it will still be filled mostly with cold air since your damper will likely be accessible in the furnace room.

Any and all of these air inlets should be insulated, which should solve your problem while maintaining proper & safe operation of your HVAC.

If you are concerned about the amount of cold (combustion only) air coming in, you can get valves that are triggered to only open up when furnace is firing, which reduce amount of cold air coming in, but again, that is combustion only. I'd go with insulation, there is a reason 90% of new installs have both inlets installed wrapped in the fibreglass/black right from the get so. See BigNumbers' picture for example.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

I'd follow along a line from the outside plumbed into your cold air intake in the basement. It's likely an insulated pipe.

Not what you sent - that's not what you want. it's a flap you turn in the house to open or close the vent:

So this picture made me remember seeing a similar lever near my furnace. So walked into furnace room, find said lever. Loosen the nut and it swings freely back and forth. Clearly it is opening and closing something...possible re-directing air. Main difference for me it's in the main trunk coming OUT of my furnace.

Any ideas what the heck that would do?

**edit**
Upon further inspection, the "main trunk" I mentioned above appears to split into two after that flap. Only thing I can think of is it re-directs air into the hot air vent in my garage. Man...that's crazy.....

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Any ideas what the heck that would do?

**edit**
Upon further inspection, the "main trunk" I mentioned above appears to split into two after that flap. Only thing I can think of is it re-directs air into the hot air vent in my garage. Man...that's crazy.....

You nailed it on the head. It is used to limit airflow to certain vents if it is on the "output" side of the furnace. I've got one to adjust heat that goes to a crawl space, sounds like yours is similar. With the dampers, arrow pointing along the pipe will allow airflow, arrow perpendicular to pipe will shut it off (mostly, they only close ~80-90% at max anyways.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

It probably means there's too much opening force. First thing I would do would be to grease the chain/belt and the rolling wheels. If that doesn't help you may have a seized wheel which will need replacing.

Here's a link to common garage door issues:

http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/infgar/infgar1.html

Edit: Check the bottom rollers first as they generally are the first to rust

Thanks. I will check that website and do some investigating on my door over the weekend and hopefully find a solution to the problem.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Ducay

You nailed it on the head. It is used to limit airflow to certain vents if it is on the "output" side of the furnace. I've got one to adjust heat that goes to a crawl space, sounds like yours is similar. With the dampers, arrow pointing along the pipe will allow airflow, arrow perpendicular to pipe will shut it off (mostly, they only close ~80-90% at max anyways.

That's crazy...I've lived in this place since 1999 and it never dawned on me that it could be connected to a flap of sorts. I didn't even notice that the main trunk split like that as it's the exact same size after the flap, just saw the seam now.

Man...you think you know your place

[BigNumbers]

Duccay has it right - that's why I posted a picture, so you wouldn't confused the make up air (thats why I referenced its name and posted a photo) with the cold air intake for furnace combustion. I obviously was too high level for your home reno level, I apologize if I caused confusion Komeskies.

Your (Komeskies) concern is likely that the pipe is allowing so much cold air in that the insulation is trapping the cold air in the main trunk in the bulkhead (ie doing too good a job, and you have wet cold air condensing in the trunk where the trunk becomes uninsulated). Closing the flap as I said, but not completely, as I also said, should help to reduce this problem. As Ducay said, it should be insulated, as that was code when your house was built.

Ducay's solution is a smart one - get an activated shutter for outside, so you only draw air when the furnace calls for it - it's easy to install and just requires 2 wires to the furnace to activate on Fan-call. Or get an HRV - they are a much better solution.

[Komskies]

Thanks Ducay and BigNumbers. I'll work on one of your suggested solutions.

[Ducay]

Keep in mind only combustion air can be controlled by an automatic damper that is furnace dependant. Make-up fresh air shouldn't be (since it is making up for non-furnace losses, bathroom vents, etc). All a HRV does is make that air warmer as it comes in.

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Keep in mind only combustion air can be controlled by an automatic damper that is furnace dependant. Make-up fresh air shouldn't be (since it is making up for non-furnace losses, bathroom vents, etc). All a HRV does is make that air warmer as it comes in.

Not exactly correct. my make up air is controlled by a damped blower motor. it turns on whenever any fan on the house is turned on - bathroom fan, range hood, furnace, etc... This is the best and most cost effective solution. an HRV does the same - it closes when not running, and turns on when you need it to (ie: any fan in the house is turned on)

My house's (builder-installed - so not my idea!) current solution is the most cost effective, IMO - you get the dampening of the cold make-up-air with lots of the benefit of an HRV (except it brings in cold air still, not nice, room temperature outside air like an HRV does)

[Komskies]

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Not exactly correct. my make up air is controlled by a damped blower motor. it turns on whenever any fan on the house is turned on - bathroom fan, range hood, furnace, etc... This is the best and most cost effective solution. an HRV does the same - it closes when not running, and turns on when you need it to (ie: any fan in the house is turned on)

My house's (builder-installed - so not my idea!) current solution is the most cost effective, IMO - you get the dampening of the cold make-up-air with lots of the benefit of an HRV (except it brings in cold air still, not nice, room temperature outside air like an HRV does)

So, cost effectiveness is definitely a big concern for me. Not sure I want to spend the $500+ for an HRV if there is a cheaper solution. When you say your builder-installed solution, were you talking about that damper valve attached to your cold air intake? Do you know where I could purchase one of those?

[Ducay]

Adding a damper is a big investment

http://www.homedepot.ca/product/volu...er-5-in/911792

$2.54 @ Home depot!

Mind you thats for a 5in, you'd need to measure your ducting and buy the appropriate size (normal would be 6in). Installation is dead easy, just need access to a joint or the end of the pipe. As long as you can get into the pipe you just drill a small hole for the bolt part, slip the damper in and tighten the wing nut and you're done. Tons of how to's online.

Originally Posted by BigNumbers

Not exactly correct. my make up air is controlled by a damped blower motor. it turns on whenever any fan on the house is turned on - bathroom fan, range hood, furnace, etc... This is the best and most cost effective solution. an HRV does the same - it closes when not running, and turns on when you need it to (ie: any fan in the house is turned on)

My house's (builder-installed - so not my idea!) current solution is the most cost effective, IMO - you get the dampening of the cold make-up-air with lots of the benefit of an HRV (except it brings in cold air still, not nice, room temperature outside air like an HRV does)

Adding an inline blower fan (~$150 for a standard 100cfm Broan one) along with wiring that fan in circuit with every fan & vent in house is not really the most cost effective option. Unless that is done @ construction, its damm near impossible to add, and would be pricey even then.

Cheapest would be to ensure all the cold ducting is well insulated an a $3 damper is added on the makeup air.

Originally Posted by Komskies

So, cost effectiveness is definitely a big concern for me. Not sure I want to spend the $500+ for an HRV if there is a cheaper solution. When you say your builder-installed solution, were you talking about that damper valve attached to your cold air intake? Do you know where I could purchase one of those?

Even adding an HRV (or inline blower, or a $3 damper) might not solve your issue, remember even if you have the best HRV or an inline fan, any of the ducting running from the outside up to the point of the HRV is still going to be as cold as the outside, so you kinda have the same problem regardless, hence, insulation.

[bubbsy]

We are embarking on a new project to get our basement developed in the coming months. We have had a few contractors that come from references (ie. friends/coworkers) who have come in and given very very budgetary estimates without really getting into much detail.

As we were doing this, we noticed ad signs coming up around the neighbourhood for a contracting company specializing in basements. We called them up, and they came in and did a really detailed quote, all their own insured/bonded staff (no 3rd party sub cons), and project time/cost guarantees, etc. We were pretty happy with the estimation process, and what they are pitching in the deal (includes a professional designer to come in and help us determine the layout, with 3D walkthru's of potential layouts, etc).

Here's our concern:
1) Not coming from a personal reference but rather just signs put up in public

2) Online review sites, specifically homestars.ca, has a very limited number of reviews for this company (only 5, and each gave a perfect 10 score).

Are there any ways, other than asking for references, to actually build confidence in this contracting company? What questions should i ask, where else can i check the company's reputation, etc?

(i don't live in Calgary, am in toronto/GTA).

[brocoli]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

Are there any ways, other than asking for references, to actually build confidence in this contracting company? What questions should i ask, where else can i check the company's reputation, etc?

(i don't live in Calgary, am in toronto/GTA).

If home renovation shows have tought me anything, it's always ask for references. Any company with a good reputation will have no problem handing you at least 5 references of satisfied customers.

Also check with the Better Business Bureau with the name of the guy who runs the company in case he has changed his business name from the past shady dealings.

[kevman]

I've got a plumbing question that I'm hoping someone can help me with. When it comes to electrical I find it easy to find appropriate codes, etc. in books and on the Calgary.ca website but plumbing seems to be less talked about...

I'm in the middle of a kitchen renovation and am plumbing in the sink drain. I moved the sink from the existing location to an exterior wall under a window. After some research it appears I'm allowed to use an air admittance valve in situations where a "traditional vent isn't practical". My walls are 2x4 and the window is quite wide and I don't see a practical solution to using a traditional vent. The kitchen happens to be above a partially unfinished furnace room and has easy access to the utilities. As such I figured the easiest option is to plumb the sink through the floor and use an AAV to vent the line.

I have an existing 2" tee that is capped off a few inches above the main clean out that I assume I can fernco the abs drain to. The problem is to get there is a bit of a journey around some hvac and a pair of electrical panels. The actual horizontal distance that needs to be covered is only 6 or 7 feet if I could do it in a straight line. I've attached a crude sketch of the lay out.

Link

Is my convoluted drain even somewhat to code and if it is what is the clean out requirements for the drain line? Do I need a clean out at every 90° bend or just the horizontal ends? If the entire drain pipe is 14' (being generous with my rounding) is a clean out even required? The drain would be 2" to match the existing cast iron. Since the main stack is cast and largely covered in a finished wall with an eletrical panel in front (apart from the lower foot with a 2" tee and clean out) a simple horizontal run from the floor level into the stack isn't that practical.

Thoughts? Are they any good resources out there for plumbing similar to the "simplified electrical code" books you can buy?