The Seven Habits of Highly Productive Remodeling: Habit 7 - Sharpen the Saw

Part 1: Be Proactive
Part 2: Begin With an End in Mind
Part 3: First Things First
Part 4: Think Win-Win
Part 5: Understand and Be Understood
Part 6: Synergize
 

Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw

Hopefully at this point the home renovation project is underway, and things are flowing smoothly. There is still a long way to go, so “slow and steady wins the race”.

The 80/20 Rule

There is saying that the first 80% of the work takes 20% of the time. It is important to start good habits and keep them up throughout the home remodel project. So keep coming back to what we have pointed out.

1.       Be Proactive: If you are uncertain about something or not sure ask. Your architect and your builder are not mind readers. They need you to let them know your concerns.

2.       Begin with the End in Mind: As issues arise during the project, always view them and their resolution within the context of how they will affect the outcome of the project.

3.       First Things First: Always prioritize. As the project progresses the priorities will change on a day to day basis so you always need to reassess your priorities.

4.       Think Win Win: If you approach issues from a mutually beneficial perspective the outcome is   usually more fruitful.

5.       Understand and Be Understood: Always try to see why you are being told why something is being done a certain way and understand that before you contradict it. Your view may be the correct one, but that will only be further reinforced through mutual understanding.

6.       Synergize: work as a team. Respect every one of your team member’s talents and they will be much more committed to the success of the project.

7.       And Repeat until the end of the project.

Happy remodeling!

Building Sciences - Foundation Insulation

Wall section showing insulation at different conditions of the wall

Insulating your home is an extremely important part of home renovations, home improvements and new home construction projects. Last week we covered a broad introduction to the different areas of your house which should be insulated. Today we’ll dig a little deeper into one specific area: Foundations.

Click here to go to Part 1: Introduction to Insulation

Part 2 - Foundation Insulation

 Although your foundation walls are often buried in the ground, they should still be insulated, especially on new construction projects where the work of insulating will not disrupt an existing foundation. Heat from your house will look to escape to any adjacent cold area, whether that’s air outside of your upper level walls, or the dirt outside of your foundation walls. According to the Department of Energy, foundation insulation can also help prevent problems due to moisture, insect infestation and radon.

 One great way to insulate your foundation is with Insulated Concrete Forms, like those pictured below. In a traditional slab-on-grade foundation, your contractor will dig a trench, then build a wood forms in which to pour the concrete. When the concrete cures the wood is removed and dirt is backfilled against the concrete. Sometimes insulation is installed outside of the concrete before the dirt is filled in.

Insulated Concrete Form in a trench prior to the foundation being poured.

Insulated concrete forms simplify this process by combining the insulation with the formwork. After digging the trench, a contractor creates the forms with pre-fabricated foam pieces. When the concrete cures the foam remains in place to act as insulation for the foundation wall.

 There are a number of ways the slab can then be poured and connected to the foundation walls. One method would be to simply pour the foundation on compacted fill within the extent of the formwork. The detail below shows our plan for an upcoming project. After the forms are built, the contractors will remove the top four inches of the foam on what will be the inside of the house. The foundation will then be poured up to that lower height. When the foundation hardens, the slab will be poured on compacted fill and over the stem walls. The four inches of foam that was NOT removed on the outside will insulate the edge of the slab. This will then give the framers one continuous slab on which to attach their base plates and begin framing the house.

Check back soon for the next installment of our series on insulating your house.

Building Sciences - Intro to Insulation

Insulating your home is an extremely important part of home renovations, home improvement and new home construction projects. Although homeowners are sometimes hesitant to spend money on items that remain hidden inside their walls, proper insulation is necessary in order to meet building code requirements and have a comfortable interior environment. As a benefit, proper insulation can help lower your energy bills.

Thermal Envelope section, required by Montgomery County

Insulation should be located at any building surface that is adjacent to the outside environment. This includes, but is not limited to, roofs, walls, foundations and floors. Below is a quick summary of the different areas that should be insulated. Check back soon for more detailed discussion of R-Values, insulation types and methods for all these different locations.

Roof Insulation - Wear Your Hat in the Winter.

Mom used to say to wear your hat in the winter before going outside and she was right. We lose a great amount of body heat through our heads, and our homes are no different. Roof and attic insulation not only helps slow the heat from escaping in the winter, but it also keeps your house cooler in the summer. This is such an important area to insulate that in a home renovation or new construction project the roof insulation requirements are typically more than double what is required in your walls. More technical details will be covered in a future post.

Wall Insulation – Layer Up and Put a Coat On.

When the weather gets cold you can put on more layers, or wear a coat, or both. The same applies to your wall insulation. You can put insulation in between the studs of the walls, outside the studs, or both, for greater efficiency. Special attention also needs to be paid around windows and doors because those are areas where heat can escape. In older homes you can sometimes feel cold air coming in through these locations. The more leaks you have, the more your furnace has to work to maintain the interior of the house comfortable.

Spray foam insulation between metal studs

Foundation Insulation - Don’t Forget Your Pants

Would you go out in the middle of winter in shorts? I wouldn’t. Even though basements are in the ground, they still need to be insulated. Have you ever walked down to an unfinished basement in the winter? If the walls are not insulated, you can feel the temperature change from the floor above. There are many ways of insulating your basement walls as well, from insulated concrete forms to continuous rigid panels.

Insulated concrete forms prior to pouring the foundation walls

Floors Exposed to the Outside - Gloves and Scarves

Bay windows, cantilevers and rooms over unconditioned spaces need the floors to be insulated. These are a few common locations where you can lose heat in the winter. Think about these areas like your hands when you are building a snowman. Your body may be warm with your hat and coat, but if your hands are cold, you will still be cold.

From batts, to spray foam to rigid boards, there are many types of insulation and many methods for applying them to the areas listed above. Check back soon for some detailed information about each product type and location.

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Home Renovation: Habit 6 - Synergize

Part 1: Be Proactive
Part 2: Begin With an End in Mind
Part 3: First Things First
Part 4: Think Win-Win
Part 5: Understand and Be Understood
 

Habit 6: Synergize

In a world rife with self-improvement gurus serving up endless clichés about concepts that will revolutionize our lives, it’s hard to tease out terms that can actually be of use.

Synergy is one of them. An excellent example is the strength in numbers achieved in a good old fashioned team tug of war.

Architecture and design in general is often viewed through a lens of vanity but in reality it is typically the product of dozens of people working together, so why not do the obvious and WORK TOGETHER.

Synergy starts like making a snowman. You have ideas, you bounce them off of people. Some people are critical, but listen to what they have to say.

Then you talk to an architect or designer, who should listen to you, and they will have thoughts, and again, listen to what they say.

Then you and your architect will talk to a builder, or two or three, and the same process takes place.

Synergy thrives on open-mindedness, transparency and trust. When those things are achieved it is a very beautiful thing, and reaps rewards in any project including your Renovation Projects

OPENMINDEDNESS: This may seem obvious, but in order to be open-minded you need to suppress your insecurities. Don’t be afraid to say what you like. Don’t be offended if your friends, or your designer don’t share your opinions, but still listen to why they don’t. If it is as simple as they do not like that color, that’s their opinion. If it is something more subtle like your idea would require that the bathroom open directly into the Family Room, it might be worth hearing them out.

TRANSPARENCY: Unfortunately the business aspect of all of this places all parties at a point of negotiation. In order to keep a strong hand in negotiation you do need to hold your cards close to your vest, but after you have negotiated with both your architect and contractor you should be enabled to be almost completely transparent with them, and in turn they should be with you.

TRUST: When transparency has reached a certain level between the primary project players, (The Owner, Architect and Builder) trust is enabled, and when trust is enabled the soil is ripe for Synergy to kick in, and when that happens your project flows lie a great piece of music.

When all of this happens there is just one thing left and that is to keep it happening. We’ll get to that in the next and final blog of this series Habit 7: Sharper the Saw.