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Hi Gerda

Originally Posted by Gerda
I am freaking out that you want me to go back to dirty fuel with a furnace after our minisplit victory.

Electrical furnace, if your service can handle it. Electricity is very clean. And ducting is a step towards geothermal.

There is nothing wrong with minisplit. I just saw an opportunity to rearrange things; like the birthstones of my Mom’s ring; to effectively alleviate and resolve several cabin concerns giving you even more of what you want.

Congratulations on the sink repair. You do the hands on, and I’ll work the room. smile

D


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I have many things to say but little time to say them. First and foremost, I was GUFFAWING that you remembered about "she's workin da room." You may be charming, but no one can work a room like me in that particular business that shall remain nameless, so I hereby knight you SIR FIX A LOT. I will continue to supply hot beverages and naimmoooo bars.

OK, OK, I'll keep fixing.

So without telling you anything about the incredible rollercoaster of my court case or anything relating to MLC except that having to do everything myself is the outcome of MLC --

I think I need to order the dehumidifier so I have been reading eight million reviews. What do you think of the Vremi Dehumidifier to be found on evil Amazon? I think my basement is about 30 by 10 (feet), so I wasn't sure also what size to get. And I am looking up all the floor and wall insulating but I still fail to understand how I can do all that stuff until I truly figure out the dampness issue. The plywood with feet that you describe sounds AWESOME so please tell me what it's called so I can try to find it. But still, won't the framing get damp underfoot and against the walls and with the dehumidifer hose snorting into the drain hole? And what about radon? (I watched a bunch of videos on earth sheltered houses too.) There is a floor drain and all sorts of basementy-wish-a-man-would-fix-this stuff by the pump and the on demand water heater and the creepy crawlies and the incredibly stupid choice to use PLYWOOD as the back of the various pipes and under the pump so it's all rotting. That's at the far end, and then as you approach the other end, where the land slopes but still only for very small windows (for now!) at the top, it gets dryer and only the air is cold and damp.

I am looking at your furnace idea but I think I have to do the mini split just because of ease of installation for my extremely short window of going up there.

My D will be with her dad the weekend I have to go and S15 as usual refuses to go and I can't get even my best friend to meet me there (she moved really far away) so I am gonna be totally alone trying to start these projects. I actually put an ad on a local site to hire a carpenter for the day, so we'll see if I can get a husband-for-hire for a day of help. Imagine actually being able to ask sweetly for help and direct the project and no one tells you how horrible you are, how you destroyed their life, and how they won't lift a finger to help someone who has spent her life emasculating them, pulls money out of your wallet and texts his OW the whole time and at one point leaves his phone in bed when he goes drunkenly to bathroom (unusually sleeping in same bed but far far away of course) and something goes wrong and the phone starts verbalizing texts coming in from OW that you thought wasn't even OW anymore? Granted, I will have to pay for the help, but still, what a relief to just work alongside someone who doesn't hate you and might not steal from you!

OK, so we got to MLC after all.

Last edited by Gerda; 10/14/20 03:16 AM.

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P.S. It's prime day and so there are a couple dehumidifiers on sale for the next 15 hours. Waykar or Vacplus, can't tell if they are big enough for my sitch.

Too bad there is no deMLCifier.


I believe I will see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord with courage.
Be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
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Hi Gerda

I did a quick search on Amazon and I think I saw the dehumidifier you are considering. It is rated for 1500 sq ft which will be sufficient. Will pull out of the air around 22 pints of moisture in 24 hours. Looks good. Ensure it has a drain hose option or it will need to be emptied daily.

I’m at work and will talk more later. But, there is sale on! smile

D


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Good Morning Gerda

Did you order a dehumidifier?

The plywood with feet: Look up “subfloor panels”. They come in a few different sizes. The main ones are 2’x2’ and 2’x4’. My preference would be the 2’x4’; it doesn’t really matter, just ensure the seams are staggered (with 2’x4’ there are less seams). There are even insulated subfloor panels. I might consider that option especially with the living space vision in mind. They are not much more money and would make it more comfortable, ie warmer floor surface.

Originally Posted by Gerda
I am looking up all the floor and wall insulating but I still fail to understand how I can do all that stuff until I truly figure out the dampness issue.

From what I understand there is moisture but no water running through the walls, not an actual “leak” with puddling and such.

Let the dehumidifier works it’s magic and dry out the air. This will dry out the old plywood and other materials.

Originally Posted by Gerda
won't the framing get damp underfoot and against the walls and with the dehumidifer hose snorting into the drain hole?

The drain hose flows at the rate of drips, moisture condensed out of the air. It takes all day to fill a bucket, well 22 pints. It is pretty slow, no snorting.

Originally Posted by Gerda
There is a floor drain and all sorts of basementy-wish-a-man-would-fix-this stuff by the pump and the on demand water heater and the creepy crawlies and the incredibly stupid choice to use PLYWOOD as the back of the various pipes and under the pump so it's all rotting. That's at the far end, and then as you approach the other end, where the land slopes but still only for very small windows (for now!) at the top, it gets dryer and only the air is cold and damp.

Basementy stuff. Well, it’s a good thing that all that is in the basement. smile

When building and replacing the present rotten wood, use pressure treated materials. These resist rot and damage from moisture.

For the outside wall framing utilize the pressure treated lumber. Insulated the wall, between the 2x4’s or 2x6’s, with pink styrofoam, and install the vapour barrier. The inner wall framing can be regular lumber, although just in case I would use pressure treated for the bottom plate. And for the minimal amount of framing; it is a small basement; you could just use pressure treated everywhere. There would be less waste and easier to purchase.

For those places that require plywood backing or have rotten plywood, use pressure treated plywood.

Once the basement is sealed up, it will feel much better down there. And it will keep out all those creepy crawlies.

Does the floor or cabin heave? Basement walls are not load bearing and are usually floating walls. That means they are attached to the ceiling, the floor of the cabin, and built to 3 or 4 inches from the floor. There is a bottom plate on the floor and a bottom plate on the wall framing. Large guide pins; nails; keep the wall framing in line with the actual floor mounted bottom plate and allow it to rise and fall with any heaving the floor may do. The finishing wall material is not attach to the bottom-most bottom plate, there is a gap. This is hidden by the floor trim that is attached to the bottom-most bottom plate.

Originally Posted by Gerda
My D will be with her dad the weekend I have to go and S15 as usual refuses to go and I can't get even my best friend to meet me there (she moved really far away) so I am gonna be totally alone trying to start these projects. I actually put an ad on a local site to hire a carpenter for the day, so we'll see if I can get a husband-for-hire for a day of help. Imagine actually being able to ask sweetly for help and direct the project and no one tells you how horrible you are, how you destroyed their life, and how they won't lift a finger to help someone who has spent her life emasculating them, pulls money out of your wallet and texts his OW the whole time and at one point leaves his phone in bed when he goes drunkenly to bathroom (unusually sleeping in same bed but far far away of course) and something goes wrong and the phone starts verbalizing texts coming in from OW that you thought wasn't even OW anymore? Granted, I will have to pay for the help, but still, what a relief to just work alongside someone who doesn't hate you and might not steal from you!

OK, so we got to MLC after all.

It’s ok! All that MLC stuff is never that far away. We lived with it. It’s part of us, part of the LBS. Embrace it, for it has helped define who you are.

Too bad S15 refuses to go to the cabin and you will be starting this work alone. If Sir Fix A Lot lived closer, he’d probably be there helping. He is helping spend your money on the ideas, it would be nice to help install and see it come to life.

Hope it goes well.

Have a great weekend.

D


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Oh my gosh, those subfloor panels! Heaven! There are several options and they start at R1.7 then 3 then up to 7 for another brand. Should I go to a high R value or go for whatever they have at the local Home D?

There is no way I can do all those cuts myself. I think I have a circular saw there, not sure if it works. I hope I can find someone to come over since Sir Fix A Lot is far.

I can't believe we've had the place for so long without taking care of all these issues.

And you should see the roof at my city place. Despite the time I fixed one leak (remember that gross story?) the whole roof is disaster. Can't afford to put in a new roof obviously but also playing a race against time, don't want to fix anything until equity is settled.

More later, just sending my first question about the R value. THANK YOU, Sir F


I believe I will see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord with courage.
Be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
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Hello Gerda

I’d use whatever they have locally.

There is a cost vs savings scenario to consider. At some point spending more and more on higher and higher r-value has less and less savings. And personally, I think it is a good idea to keep the basement floor a bit warm. Using the R 3 should suffice.

D


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Excellent tips, as ever. I will respond more later to the rest. It's all quite exciting to think I can make my place comfy cozy and charge more. I am watching videos on wet bathrooms too and have a great idea for that. The kitchen and bath at my place are so ridiculously unfinished all these years ,and I realized that if I bring everything up a notch, I can charge more rent, so I am going to start project by project.

And by then our other youtube channel will be such a huge success that we can do a second one, DnJ and Gerda's Houseflip Extravaganza. We can use the DnJ and Gerda (and every old timer here) LBS model -- take something that looks like a wreck that got abandoned and restore it to what it was meant to be, a well-insulated, air-tight, light-filled, fruit-tree-laden, nature-connected open-for-visitors BEAUTY.


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Be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
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I am putting together my Home D (as opposed to DnJ) order. This is going to be an expensive weekend (esp as I now have to rent a car every time I go to my cabin!) but soon I will be saving big dollars on heating costs.

I put an ad out for a carpenter helper type so I will not be doing this totally alone if one follows through. But it occurred to me to be a little scared of being a lady alone working with some unknown stranger. I do have neighbors but not really in earshot!

I am getting those dricore subfloor panels for the basement floor; they are so awesome! But here is a question -- if I use those, do I need to put framing under the wall foam panels? Seems like that is redundant even with the heaving issue. I watched this one video that seemed very good and the guy seemed at least as trustworthy and wise as the green-caped hero DnJ Fixalot, and he just jammed those foam suckers straight against the wall but cut 'em tight and taped the seams and sealed the outer edges with spray foam, which is already an old friend of mine from my mouse adventures.

Did you ever think when you first charted your perilous journey through the storms of MLC that you'd find yourself here, forced to give nightly detailed instructions on how to insulate a basement of a mountain cabin to an unknown lady many miles away, and miles to go before we sleep, and miles to go before we sleep?

Here is a song for today by way of thanks: Taro by AltJ.

Insulating a basement is some good GAL. I also finished a massive writing project I have been (rarely able to be) working on for about seven years. Gerda climbing out of the ditch.

Last edited by Gerda; 10/20/20 05:04 AM.

I believe I will see the bounty of the Lord in the land of the living.
Wait for the Lord with courage.
Be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord.
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Thought that I had clicked in to a DIY forum by mistake for a moment 😁.

Joking aside, projects like this are perfect for occupying the mind and body. Plus you will improve a part of your life too. All win win. Good luck with the project.


R 25 years
M 14 years
S11 & S13
Working on it alone since Oct 2014
M in trouble a lot earlier (~2 years)
Feb 2016. 1st R chat in a yr.
Next R chat Aug'17
Still together
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