Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
Chimney removal no easy process
Question: We have a 1,300-square-foot bungalow, built in 1970, with a low-slope roof and a vaulted ceiling in the front half. We had a negative energy test before we installed a new high-efficiency furnace and changed to an electric hot water tank in 2012. Our house is rated at 74 per cent on the energy-efficiency scale. At the time of the furnace installation, one of the install techs said we may expect higher levels of humidity because of the condensing furnace and he advised we leave the chimney up for the time being. We have since experienced two winters and have had no problem with humidity, with the level holding around 45 per cent. We will be replacing the shingles this year and would like to have the chimney removed at that time. At present, there are only two people living in the house. What would be your advice on removing the chimney? We enjoy your column in the Free Press and respect your opinion.
Thanks, Cal Carlson
Answer:
The ideal time to remove an older chimney, which is not in functional use anymore, is when you are re-roofing. This is probably a good idea, but may be more or less difficult depending on the location and type of chimney you currently have. You may have to work a little harder to remove excess moisture from the living space, but that should be possible if you have good exhaust fans in the bathrooms and kitchen.
Because your home was built in the 1970s, you may have either a brick or concrete block masonry chimney or a metal one. Since you have not specified the location or type of chimney, we will explore the issues with removing both types. Starting with the metal type of chimney, which was quite common around that time, these are normally double-walled, B-vent styles and often run up through the middle of the home to terminate near the centre of the roof. These may be quite easy to remove, due to ease of deconstruction relative to masonry chimneys. Since these normally have the lowest portion visible just below the main floor joists in the basement, disassembly can start there. It is quite possible to remove the majority of this type of vent long before the roofers ever arrive.
The key to removing an older metal B-vent is making sure the openings in all the floors and ceilings are closed up after removal. While this is somewhat important in the main floor, it is critical in the ceiling, which also happens to be the floor of the attic. This area must be properly sealed and insulated to prevent warm-air intrusion into the attic. There may be a metal collar that currently serves this purpose, which may be taken out at the same time as the chimney. The corresponding hole in the building envelope could be covered with plywood, drywall, or other sheathing. The next step is to cover the sheathing with a small piece of polyethylene air/vapour barrier, which should be sealed to the surrounding poly with acoustical sealant. Filling in this area with insulation, to match the level in the rest of the attic, is the final chore.
If your home does have a masonry chimney, it may not be necessary to take out the entire structure, depending on location. If the chimney is situated on the outside of the home, removal may be a tricky process. To fully remove the chimney, the exterior siding may have to be patched, along with the roof and eaves. The benefits of taking this down will be minimal and may be no better than insulating and sealing the openings at the top and bottom. That should be easily accomplished with the use of a few cans of blown-in polyurethane foam and a couple of metal caps. Sealing at both the top and bottom will ensure warm air from the home will not leak out through the old chimney. Therefore, the only possible reason to remove this is to prevent further repairs, or if the brick or surrounding wood trim is badly deteriorated. Then, taking this down below the soffits, before sealing the top, may be all that is required.
If the brick or block chimney is located on the inside walls of the home, or runs up through the middle of the building, removal may be the most difficult. It may be necessary to partially remove some walls to access the masonry for dismantling. This will also be a very messy job, as removal is normally done with a sledge hammer or mechanical pneumatic tool. The resulting dust and debris will require isolating the area around the chimney to prevent a major mess inside the home. Fortunately, this step may be avoidable if there is good access to the chimney inside the attic.
A central chimney may be removed above the roof line, without disturbing the rest of the structure. The remaining portions, inside the attic, main floor and basement, may be left intact. The top and bottom will require sealing at any cleanouts and flues, but the major portion of the brick or concrete block may be left in place. This will save a large amount of work and prevent leakage or repairs above the roof in the future. The opening in the roof sheathing will still have to be patched where the old chimney penetrated, but that should be a small job in comparison to removal of the entire unit.
Removing your old chimney when replacing the shingles is a good idea, to prevent needless repairs to a redundant fixture in the future. You may have to take extra measures, such as using exhaust fans more frequently, to prevent higher relative humidity in the home, but that should be easily attainable with a little effort.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors - Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be emailed to the address below. Ari can be reached at 204-291-5358 or check out his website at www.trainedeye.ca.
trainedeye@iname.com
Renovation & Design
Giving those winter salt stains the boot
QUESTION -- I am storing my winter boots over these glorious summer months, however, I see that I have salt stains on the leather. What suggestions do you have for getting them off? Janet, Winnipeg
ANSWER - As in many cases, vinegar is the answer that you are searching for and this challenge is no exception. Using a good quality microfibre cloth, wipe the boots with plain old vinegar. Not only will this remove salt stains, but it will condition the leather at the same time!
QUESTION -- I am hoping you can help me! I have glue on the front-passenger seat of my car. It's a cloth seat, black in color. The glue is IPEX brand PVC Conduit Solvent Cement. This is used with rigid PVC conduit to cement pipes together (used to run electrical wires through). The glue was drizzled accidentally on the seat, so it's not a concentrated blob, but rather several streaks. It is dried on now and can't be scraped off with anything. Any suggestions would be much appreciated. Thanks, Kathy, Winnipeg
ANSWER - Since this product has dried on, it is likely permanent. I have not heard of any water-based solvent that will remove PVC Conduit Solvent Cement. The most effective solution is acetone. However, the risk with acetone is that it is flammable and has the potential to remove color from upholstery. An alternative option is to spray the area with WD-40, and after 10 minutes gently scrape with a razor blade. Next clean with dish soap and water to reduce the chemical smell.
Sweet Tips of the Week:
Soothe a burnt tongue with white sugar. Just a few grains will relieve the pain.
Keep your brown sugar from hardening by storing it in a sealed container in the fridge.
Put sugar cubes in the bottom of your biscuit container. The sugar absorbs the moisture and keeps biscuits fresh longer.
Mix handfuls of sugar into the soil of unhealthy plants. If your outdoor plants have lumps on the roots they may have a nematode infection caused by little worms (often found in carrots and potatoes). Adding sugar to soil increases the bacteria count that helps fight the invasion.
I enjoy your questions and tips, keep them coming. Missed a column? Can't remember a solution? Need a corporate presenter on the topic: Harness the Power of Words? Check out my website Reena.ca.
Renovation & Design
Fire-blight disease must be treated quickly
What does the disease look like?
Fire-blight disease (Erwinia amylovora) has not been too bad in recent years in southern Manitoba, but this year it is affecting susceptible trees with a vengeance. In our area this bacterial disease occurs mostly on mountain ash, crabapple and pear, but other rose family plants can be infected as well. The disease is often transmitted by bees and wasps in the spring. It can also be easily transmitted by blight contaminated pruning tools.
Early signs of this disease may be all or one of the following: infected flowers that have a brownish shrivelled appearance; or shrivelled leaves that turn brown, orange, red, dark purplish-brown or black; or shrivelled twigs with curled ends of twigs that have a dark brown or black (pear especially) colour. In apple trees the leaves turn uniformly cinnamon-brown colour near the flowers or fruits. Often the inside of the bark will be discoloured reddish brown when the bark is peeled back. This is a lethal tree disease and action on this must be taken right away as soon as its signs become apparent if you want to try to get the disease under control.
How is the disease treated?
Trees and woody shrubs having fire-blight bacterial disease symptoms should be treated as soon as possible when disease symptoms are visible usually in late spring or summer. Spray treatments are not guaranteed to work.
Prune off all infected twigs and dried leaf areas at least one foot into the healthy-looking branches. Always prune back to a nearby branch junction. After each pruning cut always sterilize the pruning tool with diluted bleach (one part bleach to nine parts water) or with denatured alcohol or with methyl hydrate if the cuts were made between April and September inclusive. Sterilizing tools is not required for pruning in late fall and winter or in March.
After these cuts have been made, use Wilson's Tree Pruning Paste or Green Earth Tree Sealer (beeswax) or other approved sealing compound for trees.
Three spray treatments of copper-based fungicide are recommended from mid-late May to June about 10 to 14 days apart. Timing may not be suitable to do three. Our wet springs can make this treatment frequency difficult. Do what you can. Copper spray treatments are also recommended after pruning infected trees with that still have their leaves on. If it rains within 24 hours of the spraying, the plant must be re-sprayed as soon as possible.
Collect all infected leaves ASAP and dispose of them in the recycled green trash bags or if permitted, burn them right away.
Fertilize affected trees and woody shrubs in the spring (May or June), or later in fall (September-October) to improve their vigour and chances of fighting the fire-blight disease. Thoroughly water the tree after fertilization. Annual fertilization may be needed to continue holding back the disease.
Michael Allen M.Sc.F., RPF (ret.) is a consulting urban forester, tree diagnostician and certified arborist. He owns Viburnum Tree Experts, a Manitoba company that provides objective assessments of the condition and the care required for trees and shrubs on home and business landscapes. He is available to visit homes and gardens. He can be reached at 204-831-6503 or 204-223-7709 viburnumtrees@shaw.ca His website is www.treeexperts.mb.ca.
Renovation & Design
Ground rules for your garage makeover
In many homes, the garage is a no man's land -- a place where tools, sports equipment and holiday decorations take over and cars no longer fit.
Do you need to transform your garage into a usable space your car will be able to call home again? Here are some tips from Andy Millette of Ottawa Garage Makeovers.
Use the walls: A garage has more wall space than floor space. To maximize it, Millette recommends a slat wall -- a plastic panel that bolts to the wall and contains slats you can attach baskets or hooks to -- to get shovels, rakes, hoses and even bicycles up off the ground. Baskets attached to the wall can store basketballs or bike helmets, while hooks can store gardening tools.
Use your ceiling: The ceiling can be transformed into an effective storage space for light goods such as seasonal decor that are put away for most of the year.
Millette advises against using the garage ceiling for everyday items. "You don't want to be climbing up there all the time," he says.
Create custom storage: Custom cabinetry may be the solution to store large items, as well as for tucking hazardous chemicals out of the reach of young children.
Focus on the floor: Re-doing the floor "suddenly takes the garage from a dingy, dirty storage space to a space that you're interested in spending time in and keeping organized," says Millette, who argues updating the floor is the best thing homeowners can do to transform their garage. Garage Makeovers offers a high-quality, commercial-grade floor coating called Polyaspartic Polyurea.
"It automatically changes the owner's perspective of the garage."
Plan your space: Organize items close to where you are most likely to use them, placing garden tools near your yard access, cleaning or painting supplies near the door entering the house and sports or camping equipment near the car to allow for easy loading and unloading.
--Postmedia Network Inc. 2014
Renovation & Design
Sizing up your siding options
If your home needs new siding, start planning now.
Siding or cladding protects your home from the elements -- especially precipitation -- making it less vulnerable to mould, rot and all their related issues.
When it comes to materials, the three leading contenders are usually aluminum, vinyl and fibre cement board.
In the past, siding was made from wood and it was called clapboard, which is just painted wood cladding, and it's still around today. But wood requires maintenance, and clapboard needed to be painted every couple years. Even stained wood siding needs restaining.
Some wood siding products come with a 50-year warranty against decay, or a 15-year warranty on the stain, like Maibec. I've used Maibec on a lot of projects and so far I like what I see. But these are superior products that not every homeowner can afford.
So people started looking for an alternative to clapboard to save time on maintenance and money. That led us straight into the age of the aluminum siding, which became popular because it was basically maintenance-free, durable, and cheaper than wood. It was also textured to look like clapboard, so homeowners weren't shocked by it.
But aluminum dents and scratches, and the finishing fades. Homeowners wanted a product that wasn't just maintenance-free but looked a little more sophisticated, too.
Enter vinyl, which is now one of the most popular exterior siding materials. It's usually installed above a brick veneer around the base of a house, helping to keep costs down. You don't want vinyl siding near the ground -- it's more likely to crack and develop mould.
But even above ground, vinyl siding can become brittle and crack, exposing the sheathing below to moisture -- strike one. After all, it's a plastic product, which brings me to strikes two and three: it's not environmentally-friendly and it's a fire hazard.
If you have two homes six feet away from each other and both have vinyl siding, if a fire broke out, all it would take is five minutes for the flames to spread from one house to the other. And once vinyl starts to burn it is very toxic.
Then there's fibre cement board. It's made to look like wood and it's just as expensive, sometimes more, but it's made from a mixture of cement, sand and cellulose fibres.
The great thing about fibre cement board is that it won't crack, burn or rot; it will last for years and is really good at protecting your home against water and extreme climates. But there are a couple of drawbacks.
It's expensive, and difficult to work with, cut and install -- you must hire a pro with plenty of experience working with and installing it, which could cost you more in labour.
Plus, when cutting fibre cement board the area needs to be well-ventilated and you must wear a respirator.
No matter what type of siding you choose, installation is key to its durability and performance. I've seen jobs done with the best siding products money can buy, but poor installation led to rot and mould everywhere. Also, a siding warranty can be voided if the product is improperly installed.
The right installation usually means installing weather-resistant house or building wrap over the sheathing, below your exterior cladding -- vapour permeable on the exterior walls, so moisture can escape, and impermeable around windows and door jams so moisture can't reach the structure below.
Vertical strapping is added on top of the sheathing. This allows for air movement, so any water that gets in behind the cladding can evaporate. The last step is the exterior siding.
The right products help make your home better and healthier, but you also have to hire the right professionals to install them so they stand the test of time. It's all part of making it right.
Watch Mike Holmes on Holmes Makes It Right on HGTV. For more information visit makeitright.ca.
