At Home In The Woods

Obed · Sep 28, 2010

We had a day and a half of steady rain. The camper developed a leak and got my wife's closet and clothes wet. Tonight I cleaned the area on the roof. I'll give the roof a couple of days to dry out and put some self-leveling caulk up there. It was pretty obvious why it was leaking. I'll be happy when I no longer have to live under a flat roof. You can't really fix a flat roof; you can only patch it. Relying solely on caulk to keep water out will only work for so long; water will always win unless you can redirect it.

Obed · Sep 28, 2010

We ordered red oak hardwood flooring today. It will be delivered to the house Thursday. We bought a moisture meter off of EBay as suggested by you guys. We are going to get an "Early On" electrical permit; the electrical panels are supposed to be installed this week. After the electric is installed, the H&A system will be installed so we can dry out the hardwood flooring. We need to install the door between the garage and kitchen and the door down to the basement before we turn on the air.

The temps have gotten cooler now with lows in the low 50s and highs in the low 70s. I'm not really sure how much the H&A will run.

Obed · Sep 28, 2010

mikefromnh said:
Obed -- I'm sure I could say this more delicately if I took the time, however,
your level of OCD makes it seem like you might be a difficult person to work for.

Guilty as charged.

Obed

buckeyefarmer · Sep 28, 2010

Building your own house or being a GC is not for everyone, but if you have general knowledge, there are plenty of books to learn from. The hard part is getting funds from a bank if you need a construction loan. There was a time when a lot of people built their own houses. My dad built his own house, including cutting the wood used for the house and having a portable sawmill come in to saw it.
I wish I had TBN when I was designing and building, what a great source of info from everyone.

It took me 9 months to build my 2400 sf house, contracting out parts, all while working full time. I did my own framing, window and door installs, roofing, electrical, plumbing, finish work, painting, foundation drains, foundation coating, Finish trim, cabinet and fixture installs, interior doors, furnace, appliance installs, landscaping and seeding, deck.
I subed out the excavating, footers and poured basement walls, slabs, siding (I just didn't have time or I would have done it), septic, drywall, ductwork, AC unit installation, insulation, small amount of brickwork, fireplace prep work (I didn't finish fireplace to cut costs), flooring and carpet install.
The bank was the schedule driver. They only gave me a 6 month construction loan, and I got a 2 month extension, and then a final one month extension, but they said no more. The bank would inspect before every draw. At the completion, the loan was rolled into a mortgage with the same bank. The bank inspector came thru the final day, as I was installing the doors on the kitchen cabinets. As soon as she was gone, I stopped and they never got installed until about a month later. There is still a couple pieces of trim missing. :laughing:

Obed, you are doing a great job and your house is something to be proud of.

dstig1 · Sep 28, 2010

Obed said:
The cabinet maker came out yesterday measuring for the cabinets. The cleanout in the master bath vanity is located right where two cabinets meet. That won't work. We're going to have to tear out the drywall here and have the plumber move the cleanout.

The vanity will consist of 3 cabinets, one cabinet for each sink and a center cabinet with drawers.

I'm not really sure how we could have prevented this issue.

Tough to catch, but I'm surprised the clean out isn't inline with one of the drains under a sink - or maybe the drain stack goes down right there (dunno). But this is not a major deal. It will be covered with cabinet, so cut/patch/mud and call it good. Also with custom cabinets, you should be able to avoid that, I'd think. Are you getting custom ones made?

As for the moisture meter, try it out on a few things to get a feel. You need to take multiple readings and do at least a rough averaging in your head. Don't check too close to the ends, and make sure you dig into the pile a bit for some readings. Always test in the same orientation (along the grain) as the resistance is different in different directions. That's about all there is to it.

OCD RULES!!!!! :laughing:

eepete, us engineers need to stick together, doncha think? :laughing:

CurlyDave · Sep 29, 2010

I'm not really sure how we could have prevented this issue.

The way to prevent it is to not put the cleanout under a sink or in a cabinet.

Even now, I would change that if there is any possible way.

Think about this, do you really want to snake out your pipes from under the sink or inside a cabinet? Inevitably, whatever is in the pipes is going to get inside the cabinet, and it is going to be just as disgusting as you think it will be.

Given a choice, I will always design the system so the cleanout is outside the house.

EddieWalker · Sep 29, 2010

Obed said:
We had a day and a half of steady rain. The camper developed a leak and got my wife's closet and clothes wet. Tonight I cleaned the area on the roof. I'll give the roof a couple of days to dry out and put some self-leveling caulk up there. It was pretty obvious why it was leaking. I'll be happy when I no longer have to live under a flat roof. You can't really fix a flat roof; you can only patch it. Relying solely on caulk to keep water out will only work for so long; water will always win unless you can redirect it.

I don't know what self leveling caulk is, so maybe that's better, but in my experience, silicone and caulking are terrible at stoping leaks on RV's and any other roofs. You need roofing sealing, or flashing sealant. My favorite is Henry, which is sold at Home Depot. It's miserable stuff once you get it on yourself, but it works. It's extremly sticky, water tight and flexible. It's twice as much money as silicone, but once you use it, you are done.

Good luck,
Eddie

mikefromnh · Sep 29, 2010

EddieWalker said:
I don't know what self leveling caulk is, so maybe that's better, but in my experience, silicone and caulking are terrible at stoping leaks on RV's and any other roofs. You need roofing sealing, or flashing sealant. My favorite is Henry, which is sold at Home Depot. It's miserable stuff once you get it on yourself, but it works. It's extremly sticky, water tight and flexible. It's twice as much money as silicone, but once you use it, you are done.

Good luck,
Eddie

There are "lap sealants" made for RV roofs. I think that is what he meant.

http://www.rveparts.com/products/EP...Leveling-(for-Horizontal-Surfaces)-White.html