innerlooper

If the 4x4 is still straight you should be able to use it, unless you have some kind of massive 2 story load on that corner, which I don't think you have. To use the tapered post you will need to separate it (carefully) to wrap it around the 4x4. Watch the lead paint. If the post is going to be in the weather then I would avoid using a plywood base. Even treated plywood will delaminate over time. Use pressure treated 1x or 2x. Good luck with the neighbors.

The original brick column was likely hollow, and had pockets for beams/ joists for the porch deck structure. The mason would have closed up the top of the brick column to create a nice platform for whatever wood structural post was placed on top. Depending on the load, they sometimes used only 1x wood for a hollow wood column (4/4 thick so it was somewhat structural) without any extra 4x post within. For the wood post, a regular 4x4 looks kind of spindly and unfinished. You might want to look around the neighborhood and see what original treatments were like. A tapered post on the brick base might be right, or 1x8 square. Today I would not rely on the 1x wood post to hold structure. Put a 4x4 inside. Make sure the 4x4 (or ganged up 2x6s) are nice and dry first or your new 1x post wood will warp. Most pressure treated wood today at home centers is soaking wet and will need weeks to dry out.

1600 block of Vermont in Montrose. New construction. Hard to understand how crazy stuff like this happens. Builder placed slab around 6" from neighbors fence. Sheathing was installed working mostly from the inside (looks like Zip System green coated OSB) and siding installed as possible. Note that OSB has not been taped as per manufacturer instructions. Conditions shown in photo have not changed much in many weeks. 2x4 temporary cleats are turning gray. Apparently there is some dispute about location of lot line. Dog-walker scuttlebut is that neighbor is not being very cooperative. Stay tuned. Duh lesson: don't pour concrete until you have your lot line established!

Not my neighborhood but I know folks there. Residential getting in the way of TMC Beast. http://www.slideshare.net/house567/wyndale...closure-1357631

I'm not sure I understand what you mean? Wind resistance is a factor of wall height and if its a one story structure, siding right on studs (with interior walls planked) is probably OK.

I'm sorry I don't have firsthand info regarding films. You will need to do your own DD on that. Maybe do one and see what happens? Internet unfortunately is 99% product promotion and 1% information, and just try to find that 1%.

Absolutely right, sorry. Yes the old wood siding offered racking strength and ideally plywood or OSB would be used under the fiber-cement. However if this is a one story bungalow with shiplapped interior, and has relatively little wind exposure, putting the siding right on the studs should not be a problem. Most new construction uses this very design, just inside out, with the racking strength on the outside, with the drywall interior offering little racking strength. The fiber-cement can offer some racking strength, but only if face nailed and not blind nailed. Blind nailing is allowed by manufacturer Hardie (in fact now recommended (Aug 2008); they change their installation instructions regularly) but there are restrictions on the wider exposures (like use roofing nails). Ike revealed what will happen to the 10" and 12" product when blind nailed with regular siding nails. Lots of blowoffs at inner city townhouses. Oops. Face nailing means more exposed nail heads and puttying and painting and installers will charge more. For a "historic" emulation of beveled siding, you can't beat the 5.25" or 6.25" fiber cement plank. Avoid rigid adherence to a fixed exposure: if you walk the neighborhood, observe at the original beleved-siding houses that there is a full course above window drip caps, and a full course under the window sills. This is not an accident. It provides a cleaner look and saved the original carpenters from having to rip pieces. The way to achieve this is to vary exposure slightly at the applicable courses, using a "story pole." When done right it adds to the historic look even when using non-wood siding. With a fixed exposure it just screams "new siding."

Every house/ roof is different and needs a custom approach to venting the attic. The purest design I have found is in a regular gable roof, to have continuous soffit vents feeding a continuous ridge vent. And with radiant barrier applied under the rafters, the air flow up from the soffit vents to the ridge will constantly clear the hot air from between the rafters. I have seen a maximum air temp of 108 in a H-town attic with this design (using a datalogger). That is less than 10 degrees above ambient. Now if you have a more complex roof design, with a lot of hip ridges ("pyramid shape"), this will not work. Turbines or large roof ventilators will the the option. Also if you have only limited soffit or no soffit, may have to use small roof ventilators near the edge of the roof to get more air into the attic. Some ridge vents come with mesh in them apparently to keep snow and leaf debris out. I would not use those. With the "clear" vents you will get some small debris into the attic, such as very small leaves and the like, and even some rain during very high wind events. That is the price of the ridge vent. Maximum reading I have ever had in an unvented attic is 139 deg F. Any halfway decent venting can get that right down to 120, and with decent venting and RB, down to 110. There is also the "cool attic" model out there but there are so few that there is little data to work with. This is where you use spray foam (or batts) under the roof deck and leave out the ceiling insulation. Possible drawback is that eventual roof leak would not be detected for some time, during which structural damage is sustained.

Unfortunately much of the commentary regarding windows in the national magazines relates to heating climates. Down here even the cheapest double pane window will get some bang for the buck. If you want to feel the miracle effect of a good double pane window, next time you are near one that has full sun on it, put the back of your hand in the light, and then open the window and get full direct sun unfiltered. The really good argon filled sashes are amazing. You won't feel any sun at all. If keeping single pane glass, I would select a few windows that would be opened regularly (like south and north to get summer cross ventilation, bath and kitchen), and caulk the rest shut. The next thing is to try to keep the IR from every hitting the glass, and that means shading of some kind on the outside, like Phifer sunscreen. Put that on the east and west sides that get a lot of sun. Putting shading on the inside only absorbs the heat on the shade and then retransmits the heat into the room. Also there are thermal films that go on glass. Never put thermal film on insulated glass, by the way. Yes the economics of replacing windows are questionable. Good replacement sash like Pella can be $800+ per double window with labor. Recapture could take years even with energy credits and the like. The biggest bite of the elephant is in venting and insulating the attic, especially if the AC and ducts are up there. Soffit vents feeding ridge vents, radiant barrier if possible.

Getting back to the original question..... You need to take into account the final thickness of the fiber-cement plank siding as relates to window, door, and corner trim. If you remove the existing siding and sheath with 1/2" material, you just might be able to maintain a reveal at existing trim. If you go over existing siding, you will end up "proud" of the trim and it will look awful. Typical fiber-cement siding when lapped the required 1 1/2" minimum ends up around 3/4" in depth and when first used around here (1995 or so) butted up to 1x trim, looked awful. Some builders started using treated 2x4 trim and that didn't look very good either. In the old days they used 4/4 trim to create a nice reveal with beveled siding or 117. Today you can't buy 4/4 off the shelf although you could rip down that 5/4 treated deck material for a nice historic effect.

Flipper you are doing nice work. Site looks professionally managed. Well the owner should at least know that this is a good time to repipe and if they plan to stay there for many years, they can expect pinhole leaks and failures at joints. Of course since you are leaving ceiling sheetrock in place its not as cheap as repiping just a stud frame, but still. I bet two plumbers could do this place in PEX in two days. That little back room has tricky low slope roof valleys....can you provide a picture from roof level? Thanks

Flipper, Expected life of galvanized steel water supply piping is 40 years. Its 2009 now, are you sure you don't want to change it out when you have the chance? Thanks

Back in the day the flooring contractor would bring the strip flooring to the location and leave it lying around (inside) for a few weeks to let it achieve equilibrium moisture content. Today pilferidge and the need for quick in and out subcontracting does not permit this. In a remodel I would recommend doing this if possible. Some Heights builders in the past 15 years were having to go back to their two story "Victorians" to resand the cupped downstairs floors. It was not predictable which houses would cup and which wouldn't. This added to the general confusion and there is still no absolute way to predict downstairs floor behavior, and no generally accepted standard regarding vapor barriers, vapor retarders, etc. In the old days they would put rosin paper or felt in, but they didn't have AC back then and less of a condensation problem.

Different P&B houses have different outcomes with subfloor insulation, vapor barriers, vapor retarders, crawl space ventilation, etc. Some folks swear by fire-and-ice shield between the finish floor and the subfloor. For others this is the path to high dollar litigation. The question is, where is the dew point in the floor assembly in August after a week of rain and you are running the central air and the ceiling fans and cooling the floor. Best practice (IMHO) would be to use the thickest batt insulation you can readily get (probably 8" unfaced) make sure it is flush to subfloor (as noted above), and hold up firmly with chicken wire or that plastic mesh. A pneumatic 1/2" crown stapler is great for this. Wear hearing protection. Some of it is still going to sag in places, and the possums et al will find some nook to get into and mess up. Keeping the crawl space dry and ventilated is important here. If there is a brick wall around the base, then install as many vents as you can. Ideally you would "dome" the crawl space grade, install plastic sheeting, and cover with pea gravel. If the floors start to cup, you may need to change the plan. BTW you need to look at the foam core material to see if it says "This material must be covered", because of flame spread. Take a piece and light it (away from the house) and if it takes off, it shouldn't be left uncovered under the house. Without floor insulation there is almost no way to comply with modern energy code, even with triple argon windows. That sixth face will get you every time. You can download a great free energy code program from here: http://www.energycodes.gov/rescheck/

Access to the exterior of a property for measuring purposes will become moot at some point, as they have hi-res satellite imagery that can measure your deck handrail to the inch. There is similar imagery available for bidding roof jobs without leaving your desk. And SWAT uses it to check out all sides of your swanky castle before they come a-knockin'. Those fuzzy images you get on g00gle-earth and other free services are nothing compared to what is available by subscription. What really goads HCAD are the countless thousands of "missing" bathrooms. Just a cursory comparison between HCAD records and HAR listings would reveal all sorts of unreported footage and improvements. I bought a permit a couple of years ago for a partial remodel. This perky HCAD lady was on the sidewalk within 24 hrs of the permit being finalized. She did not try to get inside and just asked a few questions. I played dumb and she nodded, and they still jacked me up the value of the permit. OK. HCAD has such accurate measurements of my house and garage that they must have come on location at some point in the past few years with tape measures.

If its a regular 20's bungalow with moderate roof slope (up to 8 in 12) then you probably don't have enough headroom to do a proper job. Take a tape measure up there, and account for having to sister the floor joists up to 2x8 or 2x10, plus subfloor, and see if you have any room left. Minimum kneewall should be 4' and you will need a staircase which will wipe out half the dining room or LR. These kinds of hippie conversions were popular in the 60s and 70s and many folks ended up with firetraps as the egress windows were too small. Also if rafters are 2x4 then the kneewalls will be structural and the floor joist will definitely have to be strong. Another problem with this kind of attic conversion is the AC situation. Unless you are extremely fastidious with insulation and ventilation, the attic room will always be a little hotbox in summer and you might end up zoning the house. How about a picture of the house? Innerlooper

Replacing with 10.5 SEER new window unit. The old one has a rusted out bottom, and the fan motor started seizing up. This is a 10K BTU unit and probably not worth fixing. Recyclers won't take a whole unit unless the gas has been removed and you get a certification from a HVAC person. What then happens is people leave units on the curb, and the metal folks take them away and cut them up (releasing gas) and sell the bits to the less picky recyclers. This is the unintended consequence of the city not taking live units; release of a lot of Freon. IMHO.

Need to get rid of a 120v window AC. City won't take it at Westpark if it still has refrigerant, and it does. If I leave it on the curb I figure the metal hustlers will let the gas out (ozone depleter) and take it in for a few bucks. Any ideas? Thanks

(Dryer on a 50 amp breaker is wrong. Even with the right sized wires.) But if the breaker trips then there would not be a load any more, only voltage on the wires. Like service drop. Problem is no overcurrent protection for the backfed wires themselves.

Dryer circuit typically would be 30 amps, #10 wire. 80% would be 24 amps per leg, or 2880 vA each side. The backfed 30 amp dryer breaker would trip if there was too much load. Breakers work in either direction. One peril here is that if the dryer circuit was run using "10-2 with ground" Romex (quite common in amateur installations), and not the proper 10-3, the uninsulated ground wire could be carrying current (it does with most dryers on 10-2 circuits anyway but that is a whole other story). BTW it didn't get over 85 after Ike. I remember there was just one somewhat sweaty night. Why this obsession with AC? Once every 20 years.

Marksmu you may very well be qualified to do this work, but for every one of you there are 100 others who are doing lousy dangerous work. Right now you can buy a 125 amp main panel at home depot for $87 and you can see homeowners and handy-dudes putting them into their carts. Unqualified work does not just endanger occupants of the property where the work is done. Backfeeding mains can injure and kill line workers and neighbors. City inspections are a mess right now, from personal observation of some work being done in my neighborhood. If you buy a permit they will jack you around and the licensed contractors are definitely a ripoff. Add to that the fact that a lot of permits are allowed to expire with no fine or follow-up by city. I don't know what the solution is.

Be sure to buy proper permit(s) and use qualified installers. COH is very concerned about standby systems after Ike, and has very elaborate (new) language regarding installations. Luckily nobody was killed by backfed current after Ike, despite the fact that there were many bootleg backup generators running.

I thought your living room looked familiar.....its a small world, Greaser. I think I was in your house when it was for sale in late 2007? It was in very rough shape. Some slab and some pier and beam. Flat roof around the center courtyard. Low voltage light controls. Deep lot with a funky garage building and a well. On the other hand it has a neat overall design and lots of footage. Correct me if I'm wrong, but its a 1930's house that was added onto in the fifties, is that right? You are a brave fellow to take this place on...... wow.

Dr Greaser, Wow nice redo. I was a kid when that look was in and it takes me back... on the subway tile, did you use DalTile or Florida tile or another brand? Also did you change out the plate glass for safety glass on the patio sliders and side panels? Just wondering.

This is a tough one to do "right" and not spend some money. I am not an engineer but I would advise to do things "right" and that means break up the old slab and use it as the base for a new slab. You would have to haul the concrete from the unused section. Using the broken up concrete under a new slab is considered OK as long as you have enough depth and reinforcement in the new concrete. Structures have a way of morphing into more important uses, so a deck gets a trellis and then turns into a sunroom and then into a bedroom and then into a den. If there is any chance that the storage room will become living space, do it right. Pier and beam on the old slab is also possible, but unless you use ALL pressure treated material (including plywood) and fiber-cement siding, the termites will get in, as you are very close to ground contact. You can put heavy stuff on wood structure. Put joists on 12" centers and double up the floor plywood (the treated ply from Home Depot is usually soaking wet and needs to be stickered and allowed to dry first). You could put down 2x4 joists, as long as you feel any standing water/ flooding under the floor is OK.