DIY Renos

My first post in this thread talks about the new Black and Decker Wiring book. Excellent and up to date with the latest Electrical Codes.

Well, I'm almost done developing the Wiring/Electrical Load spreadsheet Estimator/Calculator, in Microsoft Excel. Unlike the commercial products, I don't have to worry about Overhead and Profit Margins, just the project, the hardware, the wire cable sizes and how many bits and pieces I need. I used to estimate big construction projects in Alberta, back in the early 1980s, before even Lotus 1-2-3 existed, so this isn't completely new to me. I know Stef once enabled me to upload an Excel Restoration spreadsheet and Roller Paint calculator, so I may be able to upload this one too.

Here's the dope on this thing.

I'm doing a complete rewire of the house. We had gas heating when we bought it, as well as hotwater. I switched the hotwater heater to an electric heater AFTER the second gas water heater died from too much calcium buildup, to an old, but restored copper tank heater. It finally died, after more than 50 years in the previous owner's house and 6 in mine. Not bad, considering the second New tank lasted only 5. So I bought 1 new Instant On-Demand Santon electric water heater, and Andy gave me one new one that his dad had bought, but never used, some 20 years ago. One for the bathrooms, one for the Kitchen/Laundry uses.

Here's the new one, made in the USA!!!
http://marey.com/detallesi.php?codigoa=8&codigoc=16

The older unit was made in the UK, but the UK company licensed it off to this US company some years ago. Same construction inside, and under $200 with a cartridge-type replaceable filter (no more calcium problems). Both are the 9 kilowatt type.

They make a newer type in the UK:
http://www.santon.co.uk/294.htm

Here's the rub:
My house was built in 1905, with old style 2 wire/post type wiring, and rewired some time in the 1970s with newer BX wiring and a 125 AMP modern panel - 24 breakers, but the power to the house is 200 AMPS/240 volts (transformer is right behind us on a backalley post).

I got quotes ranging from $2,300 to $11,000. The lowest price guy, will install the 200 AMP panel (actually another small panel with the 200 AMP main breaker and reuse mine as a sub-panel, then help me with the tricky Permit diagrams and applications (35 years experience). I have to buy the materials. A 200 AMP upgrade in this city is usually expensive. One neighbour had his 2 storey house upgraded from the old style 60 AMP fuse-type to a 100 AMP panel, new mast, etc. for $1,200, about 3 years ago. Rates have gone to the moon, with the construction boom here.

However, I can buy the electrical boxes and plugs used from a demolition company, and even some good wire lengths for about a 3rd of new prices, plus reuse the ones I already have.

Why now? I was laying the subfloor upstairs (I tore out all the old wiring, a few years ago) and remembered that I have to drill through the joists and the new kneewall uprights for plugs, network, TV and Phone outlets. So typical Stormin' style, I got my engineering brain in gear, and figured how to use modern raceway rules from the Electrical code, and save time and money (wire is expensive), by running it the shortest routes, throughout the house.

Couldn't do it without that book from Black And Decker. The Spreadsheet includes page references to the book's own paper forms, about the values to use. It also shows, from the same book, and another radiant heater file that I found, about how to calculate what each room/area needs for electric heating, and the watts/amps required. You have no idea how hard that is to find in the Electrical Code. Major PITA! Its like the electricians want to keep it a mystery or something. The software packages to calculate it run into the $500 range. After a couple days of tweaking it, I even got it to work assuming different levels of insulation, whether there was an exterior wall or window, etc. Pretty pleased with that. Natural Gas is a toilet-seat lottery here, and especially if the Hydro company's sales increase or not (the gas discounts are subsidized by the same Hydro company) Electricity rates are the cheapest in Canada because it's from hydro/river dams. We export to the US and neighbouring provinces, up to the Arctic regions.

So its a worthwhile excersise, this spreadsheet. I've learned a lot about my house. I'll even be able to buy just the quantity of wire staples and Mar connectors, and junction boxes ($4 dollars each now!).

If I left it to the 'pros', they'd have a nice couple extra boxes in the truck for the next job, at my expense.:banghead3:

Anyway, I should have it done by the weekend and then I'll see about posting it in this thread.

 

Geez, Norman, you are one busy guy. Enjoying the learning process from your threads. Don't need to do anything with our home, but still enjoy learning, for future perhaps.

 

Glad you're monitoring. We've got wagons. We haul stuff. We handle tools, and like Red Green, only better, we're all handsome and handy!

Makes sense to me to post a bit about what I find and learn.

I can tell you this, don't buy cheap Duct Tape, buy the Red Green brand - its sticks like babysh!t in a cloth diaper!

 

Well this Electrical Load/Take Off spreadsheet works very nicely. I woke up this morning thinking that I forgot to colour the cells where you type in your own items, so I'll do that, then post.

One thing that it really got me to thinking about is keeping lights on during an outage, or when a breaker cuts out, what else might be affected. I was hoping to buy a 42 breaker panel, but I think I'll go to 64. For the $30 difference, it'll give me extra flexibility.

Man! The GFCI and AFCI breakers are expensive!

15 AMP GFCI = $110 CDN$
15 AMP AFCI = $70 CDN$

A regular 15 AMP is under $20 CDN$. GFCI is used for bathroom, outside and kitchen receptacles. AFCI is used for Computers and other delicate or essential electronic devices.

 

If you've searched around for cabinetmaking tips, you've seen the trade gurus mention 'Story Sticks' or 'Story Poles'. I found some good articles, some with short videos.
http://www.finehomebuilding.com/how-to/video/making-story-stick-cabinets.aspx

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ezZ2X3_r2k

I've seen special commercial jigs for drilling shelf pin holes, but this is just as good. and it works for shorter kitchen cabinets too.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfmjmxquAtE

And one excellent PDF with embedded video links (you have to be connected to see them, if you download the 7 mb PDF), for a Stair Building Story Pole. This is as good as most of the high end books on Stair Building.
http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2008/10/01/story-poles-for-stairs/

That article links to this site, where you can download the whole issue of the 2008 paper issue. The videos in the PDF are worth it. They're Adobe Flash videos, not YouTube slugs.
http://ipaperus.ipaperus.com/THISisCarpentry/THISisCarpentryIssue01/?Page=32&

The trick with downloading is to move your mouse over it to see the Acrobat floating menu, and hit the 'diskette' icon. That will start the file in a browser page, then when its all there, right click again and use it to save it to your computer.

AND an excellent page with online Construction calculators:
http://www.construction-resource.com/calculators/

This one is a free 30 day software trial version of a Handheld, by the same company.
http://www.calculated.com/prd286/Construction+Master+Pro+Software+for+Windows.html

http://www.calculated.com/4/prd101/Construction+Master+Pro.html

Still fine-tuning the Electric Load calculator. I had collected a few electric boxes over the years and switch plates, and other bits, so I added an ON-HAND section, to avoid buying more than I need to finish the wiring.

Anyway, these Story Poles are used for all kinds of things, including surveying. But I also found a couple threads on using them for correcting stair problems on the WoodWeb:
http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Correcting_Stair_Riser_Height_in_Place.html

http://www.woodweb.com/knowledge_base/Custom_OnSite_Stair_Fabrication_Puzzle.html

Carpenters are no different than other tradesmen. Some care to do it right, and some don't. The guys on the Woodweb are guys that care to do it right. Good advice and some griping, once in a while. Excellent search engine for their topics.

 

Normie, Yer makin' my head hurt! Too much to try 'n hold on to I did however let ah few mothz out of wallet this fall. We iz now the proud owner of a 10K generator plumbed in to Natural gas and wired to the house AND the playpen It remindz me every Saturday 'bout 11:30 fer 'bout 10 minutez that I don't really care what the weather godz turn loose on Me, the pantryz full so bring it on:banana:

 

Jer, I'm building the pantry, but the freezer's full - I just looked outside!

Lots to do by the end of January, and I can't afford to screw up, so I'm collecting good info and putting it to use. Figured that most of us are handy, so I should post the DIY gems that I found.

 

Yah Norm. Didn't mean to make it look like I waz Bustin' your Chopz. I've just got a 9 year head start on you thatz all. And been too tight fisted my whole life not to at least try and do it myself first! Bought the place we're in now in '99.(it waz built in '74) Down sized with just enough elavation to keep the lizardz out, Plus the 28'X32' play pen. 1st project waz to gut the kitchen. New floorz, re-wire, re-plumb, hung new cabinetz. Took all one summer on the weekendz and I moved the kitchen sink out Saturday morning and back in every Sunday nite but we got 'er done.(I waz still not a man of leasure in '99) I started tarin' clocks apart when I waz a kid just to see if I could make 'um run again. Graduated to an old Dodge 5 spd 1 and 1/2 ton and an Alice Chalmers by 1950. I've learned a lot over the course of yearz from many many otherz and I ALWAYZ try to pass it on every chance I get. That's what I think "networking" iz all about, BTW, The playpen waz dirt floor with the 10' walls 8"s above grade when we bought the Lil' Ponderosa. 10 yards of 6 bag mix in there now, AND DIGGIN' RAT WALLZ AND FLOATIN' MUD IZ WAY DOWN MY LIST OF FUN ACTIVITIES Have a Great Holiday Season and stay warm Pal, Jer

 

Jer, I got no chops left anyway! The wife's been cuffin' them.

 

4th time lucky. Wouldn't let me post again.

OK, being sort of a geek by trade, Industrial Eng., I used to have this neat Stair Calculator. Must've lost it when one of my hard drives died last year. So I went hunting. Found some flakey ones and some good ones. AND found this site full of all the possible home restorating calculators, most of them free, that you could want.

http://www.martindalecenter.com/Calculators1A_5_Co_RZ.html

That site's main page has tons of links to all kinds of information, free software for the DIY folks and hobbyists. Definitely a link to keep in your Favorites Bookmarks:
http://www.martindalecenter.com/

I also found the authour's page for the original Freeware version of the one I like. Only it's almost $100, now.
http://www.nwbuildnet.com/stores/ss/design/struc/staircalcpro.html

This is a decent alternative to the one I like as well for $13. It even gives a marking list for the stringers:
http://shalla.net/index.html

A couple online calcs that do almost as good a job:
Metric:
http://www.blocklayer.com/Stairs/default.aspx

Non-Metric:
http://www.blocklayer.com/Stairs/StairsEng.aspx

This online one is also good:
http://www.ez-stairs.com/stair_calculator/

As usual, I have a different idea for my stuff, and I need to watch the Headroom above, so I can move larger beds upstairs. So I need what they call an L-Shaped Stair that doesn't eat up floor space upstairs. Beneath these stairs, is where the pantry, fridge and freezer go, so I can use strategically-placed support posts, under the top of the 'winder' turn.

This is one of the few that I could find that shows a Quick 3-step turn:
http://www.thecompletehomestore.com/komoda-open-flight-staircase-185-p.asp

See the 2-step set? That's what I have to do.
http://www.stairsupplies.com/eng/products/treads_risers/winders

It doesn't extend into the upstairs hallway, and provides a better, safer step for yours truly. I'm building it to use one of those stair lifts, in case sh!t happens, but also for resale value. We live in an older peoples' neighbourhood.:
http://www.usmedicalsupplies.com/Stair-Lifts.htm

But this DIY shows one way of doing it in 2 or 3 steps. Also has a free Excel Calculator, which only does the math:
http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/stairs.htm

Page 4 to 6A show the most common Winder and L-shaped stair system, and 6B shows an alternative way:
http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/stairs4.htm

The turn is shown at the bottom of the stairs, whereas I need the turn at the top, so I have to add support posts below. Its basically a landing with a twist.
http://www.renovation-headquarters.com/stairs6b.htm

This list of articles shows how to build more varieties of stairs:
http://www.woodworkersworkshop.com/resources/index.php?cat=469

NOTE: Cabinetmakers usually use Story Poles or Story Sticks. One guy uses them to build stairs! What a slick trick!
http://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2008/10/01/story-poles-for-stairs/

He also uses a woodworking calculator, but the Excel freebies that I posted do that too.

I like this free Excel calculator too. It generates a picture sample of the Stringer cuts, and its virtually unbreakable by the user. The geek did a good job of protecting the Excel Cells:
http://greenhomes.wordpress.com/diy-builder-software/stairstringer-calculator-software/

A free and complete pictorial book on stair building (Chapter 10 doesn't download, but its about ballusters):
http://www.coffmanstairs.com/installer/stair-building-guide/

This book, which I haven't seen, is considered the current bible on stair case building and covers winder stairs as well:
http://www.tauntonstore.com/tauntons-for-pros-by-pros-building-stairs-070742.html

Other excellent DIY page with the latest Building Code rules and good diagrams:
http://www.carpentry-pro-framer.com/stairs.html

And this site is the American Stairway Mfrs Association with the Official Stair Regulations (downloadable PDF) on Stairs:
http://smai.roundtablelive.org/

Why would I post all of this stuff? I figure I'll save about $5,000 building them myself. Money I can use to get my 3.3L fitted with a nice Turbo. Anybody else who's faced with this kind of project, will appreciate it.

I have to build 2 stairs. One to the basement, to replace a crappy L-shaped 24" wide head-knocker, with a straight stair - can't even get a 4 X 8 sheet down there.

The current upstairs L-Shape is built against the east wall and slopes with the roof (you have to duck as well), whereas the new one will be long enough and tall enough to get a kingsize bed up there.

Hope to pick up my 2" X 12" X 18' Fir stringer boards next week and let them dry for a month inside the house, while I get other stuff done.

Hey Jer, aren't you glad you don't have to warp your brain around this stuff!

Have a Merry Christmas.

 

Wow, I just read that whole post and about the only thing that registered in my brain was "get my 3.3L fitted with a nice Turbo"...

 

You just wait til you start building your lodge at the lake. I'll get the last laugh.

 

I'm just going to hire you for project manager...

 

For your Turbo Six?

 

The SWMBO Shmoozer

Most women actually enjoy and use their kitchens. Some just want bragging rights. And most of us can't afford to give them concrete countertops, until now...

I've been pricing plastic laminates, stainless steel, ceramic tile, for the over 45 linear feet of 30" deep countertops in the new kitchen plans. Looks as large as government debt.

I was snooping for information and construction details when I hit this Carpenter's website, who also writes for the better DIY magazines. He documented how his crew built and poured and installed a custom concrete countertop, for the cost of 3 sheets of plastic laminate (Arborite). With those savings and the sound deadening qualities of a councrete top, I'll be able to sleep in when the wife runs the blender for some health drink on a Sunday morning, and score points when I look for another wagon.

Download the PDF here:
http://www.carpenterbooks.com/userFiles/556/concrete_counter_tops.pdf

But have a look at the downloadable articles on his top menu articles (Stairs, Framing, etc.) and the main page comment links to more PDF files. Nice to know that others are generous with their experience.
http://carpenterbooks.com/

Not related, but I have a VHS movie called Blind Justice, by HBO. Armand Assante is the lead actor in this cowboy flick, and he's looking for Los Portales to drop off a baby with its mother. (He'd just shot the father. ). He never does find Los Portales, during all the action.

Anyway, this carpenter is in Portales, NM.