Blog

Three places to find more space in your house without adding on!

3 min readYou can remodel your home and substantially increase your living area without adding on a single square foot!  Staying within your existing footprint is easier, cheaper and more sustainable. 

Every little bit helps.  You can avoid adding to the impermeable surfaces of the world by remodeling within your existing building footprint rather than building new OR expanding beyond the current boundaries.  Look around the house for space you already have.  This is the low hanging fruit in any remodel by measures of speed, difficulty, return on investment, and baseline cost.  Continue reading “Three places to find more space in your house without adding on!”

Progress: Installing Batt Insulation

2 min readHaving passed the framing and electrical inspections, the next direct step for the basement was to finish up the insulation. For the first time ever, this task turned out to be easier than I expected.

It was unexpectedly challenging to find 23” batts of insulation (designed for more efficient 24 inch on center framing I used) which were ALSO unfaced (no place for moisture to get stuck) AND designed for a 2×4 wall (not an attic).  I scoured the internet for this unicorn of insulation objects, the 23” unfaced 3.5” batt and finally had to special order it to be delivered to Menards.  Continue reading “Progress: Installing Batt Insulation”

New Cork Flooring Delivered!!!

2 min readYesterday the new flooring for the basement was delivered. I’m not quite ready to install it but I do have a sample on the floor already!

It came FedEx freight and the pallet weighed in at 1200 pounds so I was very grateful that the delivery guy was nice enough to help me get it up the driveway and store it in the garage with his pallet jack.  That said, it took all of his pulling and my pushing to make the slope!  Now the pile safely ensconced in the center of the garage and I will work on moving it down to the back corner of the basement for temporary storage at my leisure. Continue reading “New Cork Flooring Delivered!!!”

What came before: The Bungalow and Ranch Side by Side

6 min readToday I consider the similarities and differences between two closely related building types, the Chicago Bungalow and the Midwestern Ranch. What can one teach about the other?

These two building types are very closely related.  Specifically, the Chicago Bungalow is very closely related to the Midwestern or “tract” Ranch.  They each share an older  California cousin which features more variation, more drama and was originally designed as one-offs by architects.  They are similar in square footage, in class and in initial cost. Their differences are useful in highlighting the modernism and innovations of the ranch type.  Let’s look more closely!  Continue reading “What came before: The Bungalow and Ranch Side by Side”

Basement Progress: Electrical Rough In

< 1 min readIn what was actually one of the easiest steps in the whole basement project – a day and a half of concentrated work by me, my dad, and our fabulous electrician Terry Kuehn – we made some of the most concrete-feeling progress. We’ve created order from chaos from order!

We have the electric boxes, cans and wiring installed!   In what was actually one of the easiest steps in the whole basement project – a day and a half of concentrated work by me, my dad, and our fabulous electrician Terry Kuehn – we made some of the most concrete-feeling progress.  Now there are just a few last items to check off before we get our electrical and framing inspections, install insulation and then call the drywallers!  Continue reading “Basement Progress: Electrical Rough In”

(Nearly) Instant Gratification updates with Paint

2 min readAfter all this work in the basement – slow but steady – I decided to take on something a little more quickly satisfying: painting the bedrooms grey. Check it out!

Prioritizing the exterior and basement has meant living with some fairly unpalatable existing conditions on a daily basis.  In fact, I’ve been sleeping in a room covered with powder blue lead paint with the previous owners pictures hooks in the walls for over a year.  Why?

This weekend I got serious about making a change. Continue reading “(Nearly) Instant Gratification updates with Paint”

Progress: Framing basement walls and soffits

< 1 min readThe basement framing has been proceeding in the background of several other projects and is starting to finally come together.  The electrician is scheduled to come out and work with me on wiring in the next few weeks!

Meanwhile I’ve been enjoying that room-like feeling you get from walls that are framed but not yet covered in drywall.  Especially with 24″ on center wall studs, we still sometimes take a shortcut through the wall center wall rather than go 6′ over to the door.  I’ve also been enjoying hanging out in the bedroom as it comes together, mostly due to the great natural light from the large window we installed this summer.  Continue reading “Progress: Framing basement walls and soffits”

Don’t forget to improve your Passive Solar Potential when you remodel!

2 min readRemodeling is your opportunity to improve all kinds of layout flaws – tight corners, inadequate kitchen storage, not enough privacy for bedrooms – AND improve your relationship with the sun.

Don’t let yourself think of existing walls as immutable or hyper-focus your attention on the surface of things.  Gilding the lily won’t fix an awkward, dark or segmented floor plan. 
Continue reading “Don’t forget to improve your Passive Solar Potential when you remodel!”

Micro Update: Matching the Front Door to the Mailbox

2 min readOne of the most fun (and easy) things I did to the house last year was painting the front door. Here’s how I exactly matched the mailbox.

This is one of those curb appeal updates that gets tossed around when thinking resale.  For me, it is just too-long-delayed improvement for every day life.Granted, part of the reason it was so satisfying was that I’d devoted countless hours to fixing up the rest of the exterior, but this felt like the element that tied everything together.  Continue reading “Micro Update: Matching the Front Door to the Mailbox”

Fun with an Infra Red thermometer

2 min readNothing shows the importance of insulation like an IR thermometer.  It is best used when the temperature differential between inside and outside is greatest – mid summer or winter. 

Since it was 20 degrees outside all day yesterday, I took some readings of the window frame before finishing the insulation seal in and around the window framing.  The difference was pretty dramatic.

(Note: you also FEEL the difference dramatically with your hand but that shows up less well in a blog post.)  Continue reading “Fun with an Infra Red thermometer”