one other thing. what is aArmstrong shovel can you describe it is it of a light weight metal?Lee
On Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 10:24:06PM -0500, Dale Leavens wrote: > Not a snow blower, I use the Armstrong shovel and I bank the better part of > three sides. Just now it is just about the level of the door knob on the > French doors out of the dining room onto the patio. I had to make a little > tunnel last year so they could see the electric meter, not quite that high > yet this year though. > > You are correct, termites, to the best of my knowledge just are not an issue > up here. Ants of various kinds and those darn earwigs. We never had earwigs > when I was a kid, never saw them here until about the mid '70s. they don't > seem to do any damage except to some plants but they are thick and ugly. > > Actually I am having a bit of a problem with snow this year. Since installing > all that lock stone and rearranging things I am running short of place to put > the damn stuff. So far we haven't had a lot this year. I am not keen on > getting a snow thrower for a number of reasons but may have to in order to > throw the stuff far enough away to have room. > > This afternoon I was out moving the bank at the road with the idea of making > more space for future dumps when a visitor across the street stopped and said > he would shift the bulk of it next time he was out with his loader. It is a > huge bruit of a thing which would move the bank easily and hopefully not all > my paving. > > He expressed concern about me having a heart attack, I was hoping his > daughter-in-law would be impressed with all my hard work and muscles. Careful > what you wish for! > > > If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Lee A. Stone > To: [email protected] > Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 9:53 PM > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. > > > > > Dale, now lets be truthfull here. can you tell us what kind of > termites could survive on the tundra around you? grins. I cannot > imagine any species of temites that could survive your sub zero > weather. . and do I knot remember correctly back when we first > started the list or am I wrong that on one side of your yhouse you > banked the snow up against the building with your snow blower? just > thought I'd toss in some history here. . Lee > > On > Sun, Jan 10, 2010 at 09:29:42PM -0500, Dale Leavens wrote: > > Interesting! > > > > I used Liquid Nails out of a gallon can applied with a notched trowel to > apply two layers of the extruded Polystyrene foam around the outside of my > basement walls nearly 20 years ago and so far it has not damaged the foam as > far as I can tell. Of course a lot of it is well below ground where I can't > tell but there is some exposed still around basement windows on the north > side which I just haven't yet got around to finishing yet and it is just > fine. We don't have any trouble with termites so far up here so I don't have > any personal experience with that, I have never heard of any insect interest > in any types of polythene, foamed or otherwise. > > > > Gasoline will certainly eat the foam, I have just put a scrap into a > small container of Varsol, I expect it might eat the stuff but so far no > reaction. > > > > I only have one piece stuffed into a space between the concrete basement > steps and the foundation on the west side, it has been there at least 18 > years with apparently no damage from the exposure although it would not > surprise me to find UV would damage it, it seems to make even specially > treated Vinyl siding go brittle over time. Still, if it is exposed to the > external environment it isn't robust against mechanical damage like abrasion > and not particularly pretty esthetically. > > > > Actually the heavy plastic might nearly be enough given the biggest heat > loss will be air infiltration. There are special grades though with > ultraviolet resistance if sun will contact it. Still, by the time you go to > that much trouble you probably want the insulation, about R8 for inch and a > half and R10 for two inch. How much is enough is always one of those > cost-benefit things. you get probably less than R3 from even very good double > pane windows so excessive insulation below a sun room with lots of glass is > probably redundant. If the cost difference of material is negligible might as > well go the extra, it will be the same amount of work. For best outcomes > though take as much care as you can to seal air leaks. One way that I have > used with good success is some of that polyethylene foam you sometime see it > in packing, it comes in rolls of various widths probably less than a quarter > inch thick. I used it places like joining the extension to the house or in > some places lik > e se > > aling doors and windows to the vapour barrier. Run a bead of calk and set > the strip into it and fix it with a few staples then fix the other edge to > the foam board also with sticky calk. In the case of my windows I ran it > around the window frame in calk and staples then when the window was fitted > into the hole pull the foam tape against the vapour barrier and calk and > stick it there. Then finish up with a squirt of foam to fill any voids > between the frame of the window and the framing of the building. Just how you > might do that though depends a lot on the foundation under the sun room. > > > > If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Michael baldwin > > To: [email protected] > > Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 8:47 PM > > Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. > > > > > > > > Liquid nails will eat the foam. You need to use a glue designed for foam, > > PL300 is what comes to mind. > > The tape is house wrap tape. > > The xps comes blue, Dow Chemical, and pink, Owens Corning. Around here the > > pink tends to be much cheaper, not sure why, the R value of 5 per inch is > > the same. > > Because, from what i gather, the xps would be installed outside, you need > to > > add something to it to protect it from the weather and UV rays. Some > people > > use a stucco finish, or others use 1/4 inch treated plywood. If the xps is > > going to be touching the ground, you need to get the stuff that is > designed > > for that. Bugs like to tunnel through it, especially termites. > > > > Michael > > _____ > > > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] > > On Behalf Of Dale Leavens > > Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 5:10 PM > > To: [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. > > > > The Polystyrene we buy usually comes in 2 by 8 sheets with rebate like > edges > > so that they can overlap. It comes in various thicknesses, usually inch > and > > a half or two inches. You can cut it with a hand saw or even score it > deeply > > then snap it but that isn't as nice an edge. for some reason they usually > > colour it blue to distinguish it from the open cell Styrofoam, this stuff > is > > a higher insulation value. There is special sealing tape, it is a lot like > > the wide packing tape you are probably familiar with, when I bought it it > > was red I don't know if that is significant. > > > > The point is to insulate but also to keep warm air, particularly when you > > have paid to heat it inside. > > > > Now this stuff can be flammable and is best covered if there is any > > significant risk of exposure to open flame. It can also be helpful for > > holding it into place. You can run screws through something like particle > > board and the foam into structure beyond it. I have used wide washers, a > > couple of inches to hold the heads of screws to hold it into place. A > little > > glue like liquid nails or even some calking on the structure then press > the > > foam into it should also work well in your application. > > > > Hope this helps. > > > > If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: William Stephan > > To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> > yahoogroups.com > > Sent: Sunday, January 10, 2010 3:14 PM > > Subject: RE: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. > > > > Dale: all good points really. The only reason I was thinking about a > > temporary set up is that occasionally, the varmint-killing cat leaves us a > > little something under the porch until the possums get it. But, of course, > > if the foundation were blocked he wouldn't be doing that in any case. The > > roof itself, according to the manufacturer, is pretty well insolated. It's > > about five or six inches thick. If the snow ever meltsz, I'll go see what > > the lumber yard has in terms of > > > > Extruded Polystyrene. Thanks for the eye-opener. > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> > > yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandyman@ > > <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> yahoogroups.com] > > On Behalf Of Dale Leavens > > Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 21:14 > > To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> > yahoogroups.com > > Subject: Re: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. > > > > Is there any good reason why you wouldn't want to block air infiltration > in > > the summer as well? > > > > It would be my inclination to wrap the inside of what ever skirting you > have > > around the deck foundation with something like extruded polystyrene sheets > > and seal them together with the tape sold for that purpose. I would look > for > > ways of sealing it tightly at the top and bottom, keep any air from > entering > > or leaving except between the room and under the floor. Unless the dogs > are > > piddling through the deck or for some other reason you need to air the > area > > to keep stink down there isn't any good reason to loose heated or cooled > air > > to the good outdoors and, it is expensive as well. > > > > I would consider insulating under the roof as well if there is a > convenient > > and practical way to do so. You would probably find your heater raised the > > temperature 50 or 60 degrees, you might even find you want to turn it off > > quite a bit. > > > > If you feel the need to circulate air through the structure you can always > > open the windows and in that way choose when and how much cold you > require. > > > > If I was Han Solo I'd probably pet my wookie > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: William Stephan > > To: blindhandyman@ <mailto:blindhandyman%40yahoogroups.com> > yahoogroups.com > > Sent: Saturday, January 09, 2010 9:40 PM > > Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Blocking the wind. > > > > All: > > > > We have a sort of three-season room on the north side of our house. It > > faces off into a yard surrounded by privacy fences and a couple garages. > > The room is sort of unique. It started life as just an open deck. We had a > > pre-fabricated aluminum room added shortly after we took up residence > here. > > This room is all aluminum and glass with two aluminum doors and many > sliding > > windows. During winter we use this room as a sort of mud room, and it's > > where we groom our dogs as well. Because of that, when it was constructed, > > the deck floor was taken up, and an aluminum screen was put in place, and > > the deck flooring was then replaced on top of this screen. Our idea was > > that snow from boots and shovels and dogs, and spillage from our fountain > > etc. would just drain through the cracks between the decking, an bugs > > couldn't come through either and that part's worked well for us. > > > > We've been having snow here, more snow than anybody's seen in twenty or > > thirty years. It blows here too, and there's quite a bit of snow piled and > > drifted around this three season room. To keep it more or less useable, we > > have one of those Sun Twin 5,000 BTU heaters there, and typically, it > keeps > > the temperature between 20 an 25 degrees above the outdoor temperature. > > This year though, it's been keeping the room about 30 or 35 degrees above > > the outside temperature. I imagine a lot of this is because of the snow > > around the foundation. There are several gaps that allow air to circulate > > pretty freely under thestructure. > > > > So, it might be a good idea to block these gaps, though probably only > during > > the Winter months. > > > > Does anyone know if there might be say, bladders, that I could fill with a > > compresser that would form themselves in a way so as to fill gaps ofa few > > incheshere or ther, and if so, what is the correct term for them? > > > > Thanks in advance for any input on this. > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > > > > > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > > > > -- > You will remember something that you should not have forgotten. > . > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] > -- You will remember something that you should not have forgotten. .
