Basement renovation – slow going

Hubby and I tore out the basement last fall after having to investigate a potential electrical problem with our stove. Two electricians’ visits later, we didn’t get any answers so we cut a bunch of holes in the ceiling of the study in the basement which is directly below the kitchen. We found a hidden junction box for the stove and the wiring connections didn’t look safe. We called back one of the electricians to take care of it.

Since we’ve already cut a bunch of holes in the ceiling, the next progression seemed to be a complete demolition. We filled up a 10-yard dumpster and there is still a bunch of crap leftover. Next up was a seismic upgrade and an egress window. The actual work didn’t start until late January after spending weeks figuring out a solution with the contractor for an egress window to go into an existing window opening. It ended up to be a T-shape design – a long fixed window at the top where two little windows used to be and a casement window at the bottom.

New windows

Oil furnace backdrafting problem solved

Last winter, we occasionally smelled diesel near the oil furnace in the basement. We first thought there was something wrong with the furnace. We had our furnace guy checked it out twice and a power vac company sucked out all the gunk in the furnace. The problem persisted. We finally got some clues to the cause of the problem from the chimney guy. He checked everything including the furnace flue which looks just fine. He then concluded that the issue might be backdrafting. That seems to make a lot of sense. The diesel smell appeared mostly on Sundays when we cook and do laundry at the same time. The downdraft in the kitchen and the dryer are sucking a lot of air out of the house. While I was looking for a solution, we opened the kitchen window whenever we turned on the downdraft.

By this fall, I felt like we really need to get to the bottom of this. I called a local HVAC company. They sent someone out for an inspection. After explaining the problem, the guy brought in a manometer to measure the air pressure in the house. Here are the results:

• Baseline (all appliances and furnace are off): -1.3 Pa
• Furnace blower: -0.3 Pa
• Bathroom exhaust fan: -0.5 Pa
• Dryer vent: -1.25 Pa
• Downdraft: -3.0 Pa
• Sum of all appliances would depressurize the house past -5.0 Pa.

Data from Smart Meter

When local utilities started installing smart meters, many people got upset. I don’t really buy the health concerns while every other house in my neighborhood has a wifi network. And if you ever go to a coffee shop, you are most likely getting a blast of radiation from their wifi with that cup of joe. I would rather have a say on the reach of my neighbors’ wifi signal than on smart meters.

And then, there is the privacy issue. Does smart meter provide that much more advantage than a human meter reader? Manual reading of meters can be taken as frequently as smart meters if there is a video camera aiming at the meter all the time. Well, that would be a rather boring video and the YouTube hits would go nowhere. Another argument is related to the tracking of the residents’ activities. Aren’t we sharing all that on Twitter and Facebook? The utilities might know when I am not home but they won’t know what I had for lunch yesterday while a ton of people are sharing their lunches online. I suppose opting in to share is not the same as having the data to find out without you knowing. But smart meters are the small potatoes. Our emails and text messages are already being tracked by the giant data center in Utah. Wouldn’t you rather be protesting against the large scale data scooping than the small ones that track when we suck too much electricity?

In the contest

I entered the kitchen into This Old House magazine’s 2012 Reader Remodel Contest. Click here to read the entry on TOH website. There is a scale at the bottom of the page for readers to rate the remodel. I am not sure if the rating would be helpful for my entry to be selected for the magazine (July issue). It probably won’t hurt to get some high marks. So, please give it a plug. If you want to read about all the glory details of the kitchen remodel, click here.

Charting home energy usage

After finishing the epic 1+ year long kitchen remodel, I lost quite a bit of steam to blog and remodel. But the creative juices continue flowing. I am still reading my beloved This Old House magazines and getting new ideas all the time. The bathroom remodel will be next. The planning is really slow going. Meanwhile, I thought I blog about something I’ve been meaning to share for a long time.

Ever since we bought the house, we’ve done quite a bit of home improvement. Back in my college days, I studied HVAC with some classes on power generation. I am really curious as to whether we have improved the energy usage in our home based on the significant improvements we put into it. The only way to tell is to get my hands on energy usage data and a lot of it. It dawned on me that I can grab the electricity usage data from my utility bills. I logged onto my account at the power company website and started copying the monthly meter readings.