New England B.S. Thread

to me there’s an ideal “right way” to do everything. It’s VERY expensive.

I don’t think those who can’t afford that perfection shouldn’t be allowed to build a home for their family.

I’m for all the insulation a man can afford

 

yes, had to to pass code on the last three buildings we built.

 

If you ever need a deal I know a guy

 

Building makes perfect sense. Bathroom doors probably undercut a bunch too.

 

I think I have 3 or 4 types of that stuff around my house. I used the fire rated version in the camper to seal all the gaps made at the assembly line (asshats basically use a hammer to make a path for the conduit and piping. Gaps are way oversized and I wanted to seal them up so rodents couldn't make it in. Anything that touched electrical, I used fire rated foam). I used the big gap stuff in the basement to seal up some areas of the field stone wall, small gap around the floor joists and window/door in the walls. I'm a fan of that stuff.

 

Don't forget slap dash and prefab that bolts together with a hope and prayer and if there ever is a fire it sweeps in about 90 seconds.

 

New England is a unique place to build a house because the vapor drive switches direction twice a year and it's pretty drastic. I do think they're trying to make houses too tight. Thicker insulation in the walls and the asphalt backed fiber glass is all you need. You have to let the house breathe, and there's a way to do it without it being drafty.

 

i sold the 4Runner a few years ago. Just have my daily GMC Sierra now.

 

those are the ones i won’t do, but will defend someone’s right to it, if they want that risk ha.

I agree, and there’s always some changes that can be made after you get the c/o. Or, just leave some upper and lower windows open and get natural draft loop going


edit: we just bought a log cabin and are totally redoing it. new roof tomorrow and early next week. we are throwing 2 inch on top of the sheathing then adding another layer and new roof over. adding in a ridge vent and maybe some whirly birds on the flat ends. not sure yet, but need it to breath with a dirt floor. whole home dehumidifier or something might be needed

 

I think the people need to breathe. The house needs to not have too much humidity to cause issues. But a house and a roof only need to breathe to not cause mold. Dehumidifier and makeup air if needed. Everything in your house would last longer without breathing except the people inside.

 

Our house is a manufactured house, built in 2004. The air handler came with it. Not sure if it got upsold to the original owners (we're second owners) or it just came stock. I haven't used it in the 11+ years we've been here. The unit hangs from the ceiling in the basement, I store random shit on it I don't want the kids to get like birthday presents. The ducting is also nicely laid out so I can rest my wifes snowboard on it, and some of my fishing rods.

 

I tend to disagree. Bridge said it best, tighten up the house as much as possible, then you have to add mechanical means of ventilating the house because air doesn't move. It works, but if you don't build the house so damn tight to begin with, you side step the whole second part of the equation. I'm not saying live in a drafty old house, but I think we're going too far the other way. As usual, we've taken home building to the extreme, sailing right past moderation.

 

Put that way, yes I agree. My house is foamed in everywhere I've been able, no drafts but still don't need makeup air so I feel I'm in that perfect medium now

 

My house seems to be the complete opposite. I have drafts everywhere... I need to look into spray in insulation soon. My office is a wood clad room and I can literally feel the wind through the walls...

 

Does NH have the equivalent to mass save? If so see if you quality.
You could check out blown in cellulose or blown in fiberglass. Foam would need demo. A can of foam and a caulking gun thru the room inside and out will do wonders.

 

My mom's old house has had a humidity issue for a long time. It's been vacant for months and I'm clearing it out and am finding the whole place smells musty and the walls are even damp. I think one of the issues is how closed in it is. They let trees grow in over the years and now it's in a shaded hole. I can probably reach tree branches from the roof, they're almost to the point of hanging over the house itself. So, the property never gets sun to dry anything. That damp ground causes an excessively damp basement and I have a feeling that impacts the rest of the house.

 

There's a very small amount of new building that isn't this method.

So your options around here typically are that slap dash quick build, or a house from 1950 that might be rotting or might not be, and has all those quirks of an old house in New England.

The few homes that are not old construction, or new pre fab staple gun assembly, are hard to find and very few and far between. It's better up here than in the exploding areas like between Austin and San Antonio, those are all going up with moderate insulation and staple gun specials, run the A/C full tilt for 4 months rather than insulate, and a sneeze can knock down a wall. But if they did anything else they wouldn't be able to keep up with the influx of new families down there. Let alone, they're already having issues keeping up anyway.

 

Yeah that should hold about half of the fleet.

 

This is our problem on the new cabin, entire house is covered by a monster tree. Its a beautiful tree, but its getting cut down before winter. It's rotted half the outside of the house basically.

Agreed. I would love to see a whole new era of "new" old new england houses. The craftsmanship isn't really there anymore, at least not in my area. It's hard to get someone who understands the point of the old details they used to put in, let alone capable of actually doing it correctly or willing to spend the time. Then the owner has to be willing to pay the big bucks for the talent...

 

Our pre-fab house is put together pretty decent. At least what i've seen after ripping down walls to put a beam in this past year and other misc stuff.