Renovation & Design
Renovation & Design
ASK THE INSPECTOR: Bad plumbing may cause sewer-gas smell
QUESTION: We have just recently completed a cabin at Lake of the Prairies and are having some issues with sewer gas.
The cabin is constructed close to the lake which is man-made, where the Assiniboine River has been dammed at Shellmouth and flooded back about 45 miles. There are hills at the back of the cabin, the Assiniboine Valley, and the lake to the front.
The structure is a 4/12 pitch bungalow. We have one sewer stack on each end of the cabin. In the summer the sewer smell drifts down most times either to the deck side of the cabin or the back, where the main entrance is. I believe it likely has something to do with the air pressure, as you can really notice how the smoke from the chimney in the winter runs along the roof line, down and away.
Is there anything we can do that would stop the smell from coming down, possibly extending the pipes? Please let me know if you have any suggestions as there are times that you just can't sit on the deck because of the smell.
Thanks, Rita Hanlin
ANSWER: You have presented a problem that may be very difficult to solve, but has likely been experienced by others with similar geographical characteristics near their homes. An explanation of the situation is pretty straightforward and may help with remediation.
Sewer gas is produced from the waste portion of the plumbing system in buildings due to decomposition of organic matter from toilets and sinks. It may be primarily composed of methane, but will have other components that may be equally or more offensive and toxic.
Because of the hazardous and noxious nature of this gas, it must be eliminated from your home and prevented from entering the living area. Proper water-filled P-traps underneath the plumbing fixtures and drains prevent this gas from entering the living area. The open tops of the drain vents above your roof allow the majority of this gas to escape, relatively harmlessly, into the air outside.
In normal situations, sewer gas will naturally rise above the roof and be harmlessly carried away by wind and other natural forces. With your cabin, the topography of the land, combined with the high relative humidity due to proximity to the lake, is screwing up this natural process. You are likely correct that differing air pressures created by the valley and the hills surrounding the building are the culprits.
I have experienced similar situations on a few occasions with homes built on a slope above man-made retention ponds, even in urban areas. My initial reaction was to suspect a defect or blockage in the plumbing drains, but further evaluation normally reveals a temporary situation with no visible workmanship issues by the plumber. Unfortunately, there is little that I can offer as a solution to my clients, but rarely is it a serious or constant problem.
In your case, there may be more chance that something could be improved in the overall plumbing system, due to the nature of rural systems. Most modern rural systems are a combination of a holding tank, pump and field. Unless you have a very large lot, you may not have been allowed to drain your effluent to a field due to the proximity of the lake, so I will assume that you simply have a holding tank that requires regular pumping. In that situation, there's a chance that the excess amounts of sewer gas are escaping the tank due to its location, the length of the drain pipes from the cabin, or direct connection to drains.
The first option may be to install an inline backflow preventer, or backwater valve, to minimize gas escaping from the holding tank into the main stacks. Unfortunately, depending on the location of this valve, it may not be acceptable to the local building officials and they should be consulted before attempting such an installation.
The previous point leads me to my next suspicion, that the plumbing drains may have been amateurishly or improperly installed. If you have installed portions of the plumbing yourselves, especially the drains, you may have done something wrong. Improperly plumbed sink drains, missing or wrongly configured traps and vents, and other drain defects are some of the most common issues I find during inspections. This is particularly notable on newly renovated buildings, and can be attributed to amateurs that simply don't know the correct method of installation and function of these critical components.
If your plumbing is checked out and there are none of the defects I have identified, there may be little you can do to remedy the situation due to the topography around your cabin. Inspection of the system by a local, licensed journeyman plumber may yield a solution, especially if you installed portions of the plumbing yourselves. Beyond that, while only a stopgap measure that can provide temporary relief, you could use a common household fan to direct any noticeable odours and gas away from your deck when sitting outside.
Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the President of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors-Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be e-mailed 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
A good time to start on a backyard garden
DEAR HELEN: We just bought a house with a large backyard. The area is covered in weedy lawn, and I want to plan a food garden with vegetables and berry bushes next year. How do I plan the garden and get the ground ready for planting?
ANSWER: You are wise to give yourself time to plan and prepare for planting. A late summer and early fall spent creating good soil conditions will pay off next year. Full or close to full sun exposure and efficient drainage of excess moisture are other major necessities for success.
You don't have to wait until next spring to plant. If you are keen on fall and winter vegetables, begin preparing a plot for them now by removing the turf. Use it, the pieces set topside down, to begin a compost heap. Dig the soil as deeply as possible, removing large rocks, roots and debris. Then mix into the soil a generous layer, at least five centimetres deep, of good topsoil or fish compost (fishcompost.com), along with dolomite lime and a natural-source, slow-release fertilizer.
Sow beets and carrots, bok choy, fall and winter lettuce, arugula, mizuna, spinach and corn salad this month. Also look for transplants of winter and overwintering cabbage-family vegetables. Plant garlic around the third week in September.
Prepare the rest of the food-garden area for spring planting in the same way, taking on a small section at a time. An alternative method would be to lime the lawn and then lay cardboard, or newspaper five sheets deep, over it. Then begin covering this base with materials that will break down into a humus-rich soil, such as layers of manure, compost, leaves, chopped straw, seaweed, and grass clippings (shallow layers only).
Stop adding fresh materials around mid-autumn to allow everything to mellow down over the winter and early spring, when spreading a layer of topsoil over the area will complete its readiness for planting.
To plan the food garden, make a sketch of the area and list beside it the fruits and vegetables to be planted. Gradually begin pencilling in locations for various plantings. Permanent plantings like a blueberry hedge, raspberry canes, asparagus and rhubarb can be located along the garden edges or used as dividers between vegetable plots.
For fine-tuning your plan, begin asking around the neighbourhood for local established food gardens to visit. Experienced gardeners usually love to show off their handiwork.
-- Postmedia News
Renovation & Design
Pick right fixtures and you'll see the light
Dear Marc: I'm working on the design for my living room. I'm going for a contemporary style, and have picked my furniture and a beautiful pastel colour scheme for my walls. I'm now shopping for light fixtures, but I have no idea where to start. Is lighting that important? -- Pauline
Dear Pauline:
There's a restaurant where the hallway going to the washrooms is so badly lit that women end up in the men's washroom and vice versa. During my first visit to the washrooms, I was welcomed by dark-coloured walls with a small source of light trying to illuminate the entire room. You can imagine my surprise, after trying to find the men's room for what seemed like forever, I walk in another badly lit room. The entire journey to the men's room was like an obstacle course -- and a race against time, might I add! As a designer, I wondered if the horrible lack of lighting was due to their small design budget for washrooms, but it was not the case: The washrooms fit quite nicely with the entire decor of the restaurant. So why would they choose to renovate the washrooms and not have anybody see them? It just doesn't make sense!
The same can be said for a residential space such as a living room. If you're going to spend hard-earned money on a space, it must be properly lit so the design is visible. Very few homeowners leave room in their budgets for lighting. Most of it is spent on furniture, accessories, textiles, paint, wall and floor coverings. Then, once all the items are purchased, the homeowner spends whatever pennies are left on light fixtures. This should not be the case, as proper lighting can make or break a space. I have seen expensively designed spaces look mediocre, simply because the light fixtures seemed like an afterthought.
There are three kinds of lighting: general, accent and local. General lights the overall space, while accents are used to light certain features in a room. Local lighting is for practical uses, such as reading areas. A designer space will maximize the use of all three.
In order to successfully integrate lighting in a space, draw up a floor plan. This will help determine which areas should have accent and local lighting. If it's an existing space, the general lighting will already be in place, therefore, you have the option of keeping the current lighting or upgrading it with the help of an electrical engineer. Before upgrading current fixtures, be sure to consider the amount of light the fixture will exude and balance that with the esthetic look of the fixture. A pretty fixture exuding very little light will have to be complemented by many accent and local light fixtures.
Another thing to consider is energy efficiency. While visiting your local light store, ask the staff about the efficiency of the fixture you have in mind. While shopping for fixtures, be sure to also bring along measurements of the room in question.
The fixture's size should be in proportion with the overall design and size of the space. Nothing looks worse than having a small fixture in a large open space. The same goes for small spaces. If your dream chandelier is too large for the space, choose the pendant version of the chandelier from the same lighting collection. Pendants come in smaller sizes than chandeliers and are often large enough to look perfect in small spaces.
A badly lit space is like dressing up for a party and staying home so nobody will see you. Sometimes you just have to put the limelight on your work of art.
-- Postmedia News
Marc Atiyolil is the editor-in-chief of Canadian Home Trends -- Canada's Home Decor & Lifestyle Magazine. To submit a question for him, visit CanadianHomeTrends.ca.
Renovation & Design
SOLUTIONS: Clip your costs
QUESTION: Some people say coupons are a thing of the past. Do you think clipping coupons is time well spent? What are some tips on smart ways to save money using coupons? Landon, Emerson
ANSWER: When you are a frugal person, count it as a blessing for your entire family! Start by collecting coupons for items you normally purchase. Refrain from clipping coupons just for the sake of saving money. Organize your coupons into a photo album so you can see what you have. Save your coupons until products are on sale; unless the coupon specifies otherwise, you can stock up on items and save a bundle if you use the coupons when the items are already sale price.
Unless otherwise stated on the coupon, combine manufacturers' coupons with store coupons. Do not feel you need to use store coupons immediately. Many 'in store coupons' are good for several months and can be combined with other offers.
If you do collect coupons for items you normally would not buy, exchange them with a fellow coupon collector. Participating in a coupon exchange club can expand your coupon collection and ultimately save you money at the grocery store. If you do not know where to join a coupon exchange, start your own.
Be careful when signing up for coupon deals on the Internet. Some sites offer worthless promises to save you money, just to capture your email address. It's sometimes wiser to go directly to the manufacturer's website and check for coupons.
QUESTION: What is bleach and is it harmful to use as a household cleaner? Tamra, Winnipeg
ANSWER: Bleach is a chemical compound derived from natural sources used to whiten and kill bacteria and mould. Simply put, bleach works by the process of oxidation. While you don't need to garbage all of your bleach cleaners, you may want to consider alternative choices. To some people, homes just aren't clean if they don't smell like bleach, but keep in mind chlorine in the home can be a pretty nasty product, not only for yourself but for pets as well.
Hydrogen peroxide is one option. It is made up of hydrogen and oxygen and in low concentrations it works well as a disinfectant and antiseptic without the smell and potentially harmful effects of chlorine bleach.
Just as a side note: Asthma rates in children under the age of five has increased more than 160 per cent from 1980-1994. Many hospitals nowadays are using peroxide based cleaners instead of bleach.
QUESTION: Your book series is a fountain of useful tips; I have bought several as gifts for family members. Here's my dilemma -- my car reeks! It smells like it's 50 years old. I wash the outside once a month but never bother with the inside. What can I do to cover up the musty smell? I have to give my boss a ride to the airport next week and I am embarrassed to pick him up. Do you have a quick fix? Thanks.
Laura, Winnipeg
ANSWER: The time has come to clean your car interior, but have no fear, it won't take long.
Number one, vacuum the interior and number two, use soap and water to clean the floor mats. Number three, wipe all leather or vinyl with a good-quality micro fibre cloth as well as the dashboard to zap dust.
Next, make your own car jar freshener. In a pot, boil half-cup water. Add two packages unflavoured gelatine. Stir for five minutes to dissolve. Add two drops food colouring (optional) and 1 tbsp. salt (to prevent mould). Pour half-cup cold water into the pot and stir. Pour solution into a clean jar and add essential oils or other bottled scents. Or if you are really in a hurry, drop essential oils onto a piece of cardboard or a scrap piece of fabric and place it somewhere in the car. The more essential oils on the cloth, the more powerful the smell, so be sure to choose a fragrance that you can live with.
Fabulous Feedback from Reader:
Dear Reena,
In a recent column, you answered a letter about preventing ballpoint pens from drying out. I think I can help with a trick I learned from my dad. The ink doesn't actually dry up in the pen. Ink dries at the tip around the ball of the "ballpoint." You can save a dried-up pen by holding the tip briefly in a flame. This melts the dried ink and the ball will move freely again. Take care, Michele
Tips for People Ache'n for Bacon:
-- Pull bacon apart with ease. Refrigerate for two hours. Place the package of bacon on to the counter. Roll bacon into a tube from short end to short end. Hold it for one minute. Unroll and unwrap; your bacon should now pull off and separate quickly.
-- Minimize bacon shrinkage by running bacon under water before frying.
-- Instead of frying bacon, bake it! Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper. Lay bacon pieces on the foil with the pieces just touching. Bake in a preheated 400-degrees oven for 15-20 minutes depending on personal preference for crispiness. Remove from the oven and serve.
-- Bacon grease can be frozen for future use; however, unless you have a steady supply of bacon grease on hand you can't use up fast enough, you can just keep it in the refrigerator. Pour cooled bacon grease into a thick glass jar or mug and refrigerate, topping it up with fresh bacon grease as you have it. Refrigerated bacon grease lasts for months and months with no problem. If bacon grease goes rancid, you'll smell it.
-- If you don't want to eat bacon grease, check out recipes for making soap using bacon grease.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO READERS: If you have called 'HOUSEHOLD SOLUTIONS' (204-320-2757) during the past three weeks to order books and your call has not been returned, please call again as the phone system had some behaviour issues.
Speaking of behaviour issues ... Happy Back-To-School everyone!
Reena Nerbas is the author of the national bestselling Household Solutions series. Her website is www.householdsolutions.org. You can contact her at Box 429, Blumenort, Man., ROA 0C0.