House maintenance and repairs

Insulation

Insulation was done before replacing boiler, to see how much smaller a boiler we can get.

Attic

Snug Planet lifted fiberglass fill and batting to reveal and seal holes between 3rd floor and attic; put existing insulation back; added enough cellulose insulation to get to R49. The hatch was insulated with rigid foam. Snug also sealed and filled to R49 all four knee wall attic spaces.

The hatch still needs weatherstripping between it and the frame on which it rests.

Exterior walls

Snug Planet filled the following exterior walls with blown cellulose:

• All second floor walls. Previously, only the walls around the east facing room were insulated.
• All third floor horizontal walls. Sloped walls supposedly were filled from above during the attic job.
• First floor walls above and beside windows, but not directly below windows.

Basement ceiling

Repair asbestos

Rim joists

Spray foam

Air sealing

Hole in stairway wall on 1st floor between stairway and kitchen.

Heating

New heating systems will probably qualify for a tax credit.

We should ask for a small radiator in the basement with a full shut-off valve, since a sealed combustion boiler will not heat the basement indirectly like the old unit did.

Natural Gas Boiler

We might replace our tankless with a sealed combustion boiler with indirect tank heating, using the same intake/exhaust hole already cut for the tankless.

Needs

• AFUE > 90%
• Sealed combustion (brings outside air for combustion via a pipe). May require new flue, or check chimney lining to see if acid-proof.
• Electronic ignition
• Heat exchanger on flue gases?

Brands

• WEIL-McLAIN:Top models have sealed combustion
• Buderus
• Triangle Tube
• Peerless
• Burnham

Other heating repairs

Replace paper backing behind baseboards with aluminum? This would fix some problems.

Cat urine soaked into DR baseboard.

Backing peeling from wall.

Heat going out under windows where there's no insulation.

Zone the heating water?

Zoning would allow repairs to one zone while heating the rest of the house.

Indirect or separate water heater

When we replace the boiler with a sealed combustion, condensing boiler, should we keep our tankless water heater or heat water with an indirect tank off the boiler?

Type	advantage	disadvantage
Indirect	One penetration for both services	May cost more in summer
Separate	Can turn boiler off in summer	Cold gets through during firing

See the EERE page on indirect water heating, which explains how a tank heated by the boiler might be the most efficient method: http://www.energysavers.gov/your_home/water_heating/index.cfm/mytopic=13020

Hot water

Some boilers will also provide hot water for plumbing.

We installed a Rinnai 80HCpi tankless, natural gas hot water heater, replacing a 10 year old Kenmore tank. We anticipated a benefit to using sealed combustion instead of drawing air up the flue during the summer, which draws moist air into our basement, making us use more electricity for our dehumidifier. We also anticipated 20-40% lower costs for heating hot water. We also expected to be able to enjoy continuous hot water at an easily selectable temperature.

Unanticipated problems include the heater shutting off mid-shower (fixed by changing a dip switch to make the burner sensor less sensitive); cold water making it through before the heater starts and heats up enough to heat the water (this feature makes the experience worse than a tank). This last problem exacerbates the problem of water cooling in the line between the heater and appliances like the dishwasher and the clothes washer, which need small amounts of hot water immediately; it could be solved by placing the heater right next to the kitchen/laundry.

Windows

• Repair cracked glass
  • LR SW
  • 1.5 landing
  • Storms
• Re-glaze
  • 3rd floor SW windows
• New sash
  • 3rd floor bath

Resources

Honeoye Falls Millwork

Restores old wooden windows. 585.624.3340 http://www.hfmillwork.com/

Cleary and Son, Waltham, MA

http://www.clearywindowrestoration.com/

Northwood Window Restoration, Tonawanda, NY

716-308-6821 http://northwoodrestoration.com/

Bathrooms

toilets