Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
Grasscloth a favourite
QUESTION: What's the deal with grasscloth? I love that the look is beige but not boring. I'm not into colour, more of a neutrals person. I'd like to wallpaper my boring white shoebox condo with it.
I'm hesitating to use it because I've been told that once it goes up, it never comes down. I also worry that you sometimes see the seams.
-- Diana D.
ANSWER: Grasscloth is definitely not boring. Even the most neutral grasscloth provides a warmth and depth that paint cannot, making it a great option for anyone who tires quickly of patterns such as damasks and florals.
Though we often think of the textured wall coverings of the 1960s and '70s, in their neutral shades of oatmeal, flax and beige, grasscloth has become a decorator favourite because it comes in so many bold colours, patterns and even metallics. Notice the vibrant orange and floral pattern from Thibaut for Kravet Canada.
Grasscloth definitely used to be a nightmare to remove. According to Kent Worth, assistant manager of Kravet Canada (kravetcanada.com), this is not the case anymore
"We're using wheat and cellulose pastes, not acrylic glue," which makes removing the paper relatively easy, says Worth.
What's not so easy is understanding grasscloth is a natural fibre and there will be variations in colour from roll to roll and even within the roll.
Plus, the seams are meant to be seen. The first time I used grasscloth, I panicked because the seams were so visible. Grasscloth is made of plant fibres such as seagrass, hemp and jute. Part of its appeal is the imperfect texture and seams give a room personality. Perfection in decorating reads as boring and flat.
If too much imperfection is going to drive you bananas, however, you can lessen the visibility of the seams in a solid grasscloth by "hanging one strip and then turn the second strip upside down," Worth says. Continue this way as you paper the room.
Oh yes, and when I say "you," I mean a professional paperhanger. Your walls will likely need to be primed (a professional can determine this).
As well, grasscloth is heavy and thick and not easy to cut like paper. It also doesn't come prepasted (like the kind you dip in the wallpaper trough). In fact, you'll want to avoid getting grasscloth wet, ever.
In other words, grasscloth is not ideal for bathrooms or kitchens. In a powder room with a backsplash, however, it's dynamite. The best way to clean grasscloth, if you have to, is with the vacuum on the low-suction setting.
From a decorating perspective, grasscloth works like an LBD that can be dressed up or down for a formal or casual look because it works with any type of furniture or art, giving a countrified room a breezy vibe or making the most boring shoebox feel cosy.
Happy decorating.
-- Postmedia Network Inc. 2013
Renovation & Design
You can huff and puff
RENOVATE and recycle are two words we hear much about nowadays, but while many people are renovating, not so many are recycling. Why the lack of enthusiasm for recycling? The likely answer is recycling takes extra time contractors can’t afford, profit margins being as slender as Twiggy, and DIYers often find it easier to work with conventional building products.
So who is taking advantage of the rich vein of recycled products available to builders and renovators alike?
In some cases, it would appear innovative young DIYers who have embraced the back-to-the-land values of their parents are the vanguard of a building revival that embraces non-conformist architecture, using natural or recycled materials to renovate or construct dwellings of which Buckminster Fuller would be proud.
Caleigh Christie's straw-bale house is an example of what a determined young woman and a group of friends can accomplish with baler twine, a few hundred straw bales, recycled doors and windows, as well as some sacks of sand, cement and lime.
"When people see a straw-bale house, they don't believe it is made of straw because it looks similar to a stuccoed building," said Caleigh, 24, who constructed a guest-home on a granite promontory overlooking High Lake near Falcon Beach.
Caleigh's parents, Craig Christie and Barb Hamilton, are a legendary carpentry duo in Eastern Manitoba who built cottages and houses in the area before purchasing, with two other investor couples, the local government-operated ski hill.
The family, including Caleigh's siblings, Brooke, 22, and Emily, 26, eventually bought out the other investors and now operate the original Falcon Lake Ski Lodge, as well as the nearby Falcon Trails Resort.
The resort remains a work-in-progress at the east end of Falcon Lake comprised of a Welcome Lodge and lakefront cabins, mostly built by Craig and Barb.
As well, the Christies' have cut a 2.5-kilometre trail from their Falcon resort to High Lake, a pristine, trout-filled body of water straddling the Manitoba/Ontario border.
The lakefront properties at High Lake being developed by the industrious family are referred to as the "eco-area" because there is no electricity and each guest home is built of natural, eco-friendly materials.
Recently, Craig and Barb's daughters were each given a lot on which to construct a cabin of their own choice--- as long as it adhered to the "natural materials, eco-friendly" guidelines at High Lake.
"I chose straw-bale because Paul Reimer, one of my high school teachers, raved during classes about bale buildings," said Caleigh.
In September 2012, she organized a straw-bale building course with Reimer as the instructor.
Said Caleigh, "An eclectic group of folks turned out at the High Lake building site for the course including a beekeeper, a falconer and a blacksmith who, in lieu of tuition, built long, hand-forged needles required to sew bales together."
An open timber-frame structure with a floor and a roof was built before the first course of bales was laid. The vertical timbers carried the roof's weight and acted as reference points to keep the bales straight and level as the walls rose.
(Straw-bale walls can be built without a timber-frame, but the walls have to be compacted with steel cables and a ladder-like, wood structure must be added to the top course of bales to which roof trusses can be secured.)
"It's critical to have a plan showing where windows, doors and other installations will go before you begin to build your walls," said Caleigh, adding some builders temporarily pre-hang rough window boxes and door frames before the walls are constructed.
Under Reimer's supervision, the students tacked lengths of stucco wire about three feet high to either side of the upright posts, then laid the first row of 18-inch-wide wheat-straw bales on the floor between the stretches of wire.
They passed the large needles threaded with baler-twine back and forth through the bales, sewing each one solidly to either side of the wire.
The second row of bales was staggered like brick-work and again sewed snugly to the stucco wire and, where possible, to the vertical timbers.
Rough window and door frames were put in place as the walls grew; wiring was laid in tracks under the walls and then pulled up between the bales.
Water and sewage pipes were hung under the floor and run into the house through two-inch by four-inch framed divider walls.
Caleigh said pipes can be laid inside bale walls, but they must be encased in leak-proof conduit to prevent a disaster if a water line should rupture.
The completed walls received three coats of stucco on either side to seal the bales from weather and excessive moisture movement from the interior to the outside of the house. (Some builders feel two coats are sufficient.)
"This is the most labour-intensive and time-consuming part of straw construction, so I suggest to people that they get together a group of friends willing to spend a lot of time mixing stucco and applying it with trowels," said Caleigh, adding a standard stucco mix is six parts sand to three parts Portland cement and one part lime.
She said the lime gives the mixture a creamy consistency, making it easier to apply, and it also acts like a desiccant, wicking up moisture that might otherwise move into the bales.
It took under a year to complete the building, which includes recycled windows donated by Barb and Ray Singer, a handmade sink by a potter, light fixtures from the Old House Revival Company and Antique Market in Winnipeg and furniture and kitchenware from Mennonite Central Committee Thrift Shops, the Salvation Army and Kijiji.
As many people don't believe a house can be constructed of straw, every straw-bale building has a "truth window" through which non-believers can see the bales inside the wall: Caleigh's window is an old pulley with spokes scrounged from a treadle sewing machine.
She said her storey-and-a-half cabin, called Whiskey Jack, is available to rent on weekdays or weekends by contacting www.falcontrailsresort.com.
Bill Martin and his partner, Sharon Mulder, decided to fulfil a lifetime dream when they built a 900-plus-square-foot, storey-and-a-half straw house on lakefront property they purchased north of Hecla Island several years ago.
Before construction started, the couple had a draftsman draw up a detailed set of plans of the straw-bale structure. These were subsequently approved and stamped by a structural engineer.
"As our plans had an official stamp, we had no difficulty getting a building permit from the local municipality, although straw buildings are considered unconventional in Manitoba," said Martin.
Insurance was another matter. Though straw walls have been tested and shown to take much longer to burn than standard two-by-six-inch framed walls, he said the main concern of insurance companies is the replacement value of the building.
For example, he said, if a tree were to fall on his house, destroying part of a wall, it would be difficult and very costly to find trades people with the requisite skills to rebuild it.
"It's similar to owners of log houses who pay a premium because replacing logs is the purview of a select few specialists."
Martin said people shouldn't be dissuaded from building with straw because of slightly higher insurance premiums.
"Because the insulation value of the walls is two or more times higher than normal stud walls with R-20 fibreglass insulation, substantial savings on heat bills will more than make up for higher insurance costs."
Martin heats mostly with renewable wood, but he has electric back-up heat to keep the house at a reasonable temperature when he and Sharon are away.
"There is so much mass in a straw-bale dwelling that it can take a long time to bring it back to a comfortable room temperature if it is allowed to cool down too much," he said.
The couple built with recycled or readily available building materials whenever possible, and they use environmentally friendly products, as well.
Their home's foundation consists of an insulated footing that supports a one-and-a-half-inch-thick T&G pine floor purchased from a local saw mill, as were rustic beams that form a post and beam frame that supports the metal roof.
They chose to build with oat bales, though almost any straw will work as long as it is dry when baled and kept under tarps until it is covered with stucco.
"We weren't exactly in our mid-20s when we undertook the project, so we were very tired at the end of each day," said Martin, adding hefting bales and sewing them together is strenuous work, as is mixing and troweling stucco.
On the plus side, he said, the completed building is a pleasure in which to live because it is cosy in the winter and does not require air-conditioning in the summer.
"Moreover, our bedroom overlooks Lake Winnipeg, a formidable sight that changes its moods with the seasons. When the ice cracks during spring breakup, you can feel it shake the solid granite rock on which our house is built," he said, adding for $90 per day including breakfast a couple can stay in the unique home called The Last Straw Bed & Breakfast. (Booking information http://www.bedandbreakfast.mb.ca/listing.php?idlastraw.)
Dr. Kris Dick is the director of the Alternative Village on the Univeristy of Manitoba's Fort Garry Campus, which contains, among other intriguing research projects, a 4,000-plus-square-foot straw-bale building.
"We constructed the building with sensors inserted in the north and south-facing walls to analyze the relation of the sun's heat to vapour movement between the two walls, the south receiving maximum heat from exposure to sunlight and the north receiving minimum solar radiation," said Dick, a member of the university's biosystems engineering department.
He said results indicated that as long as straw-bale walls are allowed to breathe--no inside vapour barrier or outside material such as Typar used--the straw on either side of the building remained dry, with moisture moving freely through the stucco/plaster and bales.
He added experiments with straw-bale structures in high-moisture areas such as the Maritimes also indicated straw-filled walls do not retain sufficient moisture levels to cause mould growth -- as long as the walls are not sealed.
"If people want to paint stucco/straw walls, we recommend they use a special silica dispersion product that will add colour to walls without preventing them from breathing," said Martin, who operated his own straw-bale building company.
He added walls must be sealed all the way to the top to prevent rain from the roof leaking into the bales.
"The solution is to seal the area with stucco and, if necessary, build an extra-wide overhang to prevent rain from running inside the wall," he said.
As for people concerned about rodents burrowing into bales, Dick said the animals prefer fibreglass insulation to straw, but if a bale-house owner is encountering a problem with pests, the remedy is to ensure all areas of walls are sealed.
"I had a person ask what he should do about mice inside his walls. When I inspected his home, I discovered that part of the bottom course of bales had not been stuccoed. When that problem was remedied, the rodent problem disappeared," said Dick.
Research indicates the longevity of straw-bale buildings -- there are about 50 in Manitoba -- is equal to, if not better than, stick-built, conventional houses, he added.
Renovation & Design
Baking soda will wipe those rings from marble counter
QUESTION: My son built a new house that has a large marble counter in the kitchen. It has acquired marks on it, water rings etc., which cannot be removed just by wiping with a dishcloth. Can you tell me what they can use to remove these marks? Thank you.
-- Bernice (Carman, Man.)
ANSWER: Your first step is easy; make a paste of baking soda and water. Cover the area and leave for 10 minutes. Rinse and dry. Observe if the rings are gone before applying stronger products.
QUESTION: My favourite capris were washed and I wanted to give them a slight ironing but the iron was too hot and I now have an iron scald or mark on the pants. They are made of rayon, nylon and spandex. Can you suggest anything to take the iron mark out? Thank you, V.M. (Virden, Man.)
ANSWER: While some people have had success by gently rubbing the area with fine sandpaper, most report nothing can reverse the appearance of burnt fibres. I agree with the latter. To burn fabrics is to actually permanently destroy the fabric.
QUESTION: What is the best way to store regular bananas that will be used for bag lunches?
--Jesse (Winkler, Man.)
ANSWER: Store bananas at room temperature. Do not store them in the fridge (unless fruit flies are an issue) when they are green, because green bananas tend to turn black faster when stored in the fridge. If you need to speed up the ripening process, place bananas in a paper bag with an apple. While you should not keep green bananas in the fridge, it is actually a good idea to store ripe bananas there; they will turn black but the pulp will not be affected. Bananas can be frozen for up to two months.
QUESTION: We live in a remote community and the power goes out every few weeks. We have small children at home and wonder if it is possible to freeze milk. Thank you,
-- Iris, Winnipeg
ANSWER: In my experience, you can freeze milk. Once frozen it will turn yellow but returns back to white after defrosting. The flavour remains the same but the texture is no longer as smooth. For this reason, I tend to freeze milk only if I have an excess and then I use it for cooking and baking purposes.
Great feedback from readers
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-- Richard
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