thinkin about buyin this old house

[fredcdobbs]

a 3 bedroom with 2 br upstairs..only thing is,theres no drywall or insulation in the whole house.guy i'm gettin it from tore all the old stuff(drywall insulation,etc) out..said he got tired and went broke about the same time..lol.he has repaired,replaced,etc,all the 2x4s and such as needed,redone the flooring and electricity...electricity and water are on so no problem there..he also took out all the old water pipes and i'll need to replace those..only water is a faucet and hose out in the yard..heres my question..i plan on doin my bidness in those 2 rooms upstairs..what is the best way to proceed with that?.would you put new drywall and insulation througout,or is there a better way?.the only thing i want to be sure of is that no smell can get out...the ceilings also have nothin on em.just open rafters...the only doors are the outside ones which are new and all new windows..please share yer experience..

 

[hup234]

try some mold proof drywall,made w/fiber insted of paper,then insted of taping it cover w/frp(plastic used in resturants to cover walls)... or plywood walls and cover w/ frp then you can hang anything anywhere...both kind of spendy though @$1.00 sq.ft.+

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

I'm getting ahead of your decision but you'd be surprised how many insulation installers do it wrong. Even when the paper has instructions on it.

My pops bought a house from a dentist. The dumb ass dentist installed glass insulation underneath the floor himself. My dad was observant enough to check the deal and sure enough, it was installed inside-out. So the dentist had to get the job redone.

Check out SpasticGramps' finished attic. I bet he'll know anything you need to inquire. If not, he'll point you in the right direction.

 

[Sgt.Stedenko]

My second house I purchased was updated by a home inspector, who was the original owner. All of the receptacles in the finished basement were wired with reverse polarity.
You cant trust anybody.

 

[WelderDan]

Drywall is the cheapest option and odor proof if finished properly. Use green board (the type used for bathrooms) as it is made to be more moisture resistant. It's a little more expensive, but not a lot. Don't cheap out and use 1/2 in, use 5/8 in for ceiling and walls. With proper finishing, primer coat and paint, your only odor issues will be the doors and your air intake and exhaust

Insulation is easy, but as was mentioned above, take the time to install it properly. And the higher the R rating, the more expensive it gets.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

My second house I purchased was updated by a home inspector, who was the original owner. All of the receptacles in the finished basement were wired with reverse polarity.
You cant trust anybody.

Is that inverted wall sockets? If so, same thing in my house. Got a panel upgrade in '96 and had the garage wired for a wood shop. The guys that did the work mimicked the original job.

 

[fredcdobbs]

ist off thanks for all the good advice. bought the old house 11 months ago and i've been hard at it.painted the exterior. tore all the old flooring,joist,etc out of a bedroom (worst room and in the center of the house). gettin ready to start nailin down the new sub floor.(already got all the boards cut and placed across the joists). never seen so much crap in my life.. rocks,uh,i mean fkn boulders are everywhere under this house..had to take a break..old fat man is retired and i aint used to that shit.lol...one thing i like about the location it's only 3 miles frow a sawmill so thats where i get my lumber.. first thing i did was put up a fence and put a lock on the gate. i sleep much better here than my prior location. more later...

 

[Lammy]

I would recommend not putting the electrical outlets inside the walls because then you have to cut the drywall and it's amazing how much air comes in through there.
I thought I could make my room airtight using panda film. But not so. now I think that a good drywall job is the best way to seal the room. I would put all the electrical on the outside of the wall and run it using those metal conduits.

I've seen on tv were they insulate the walls and then they put plastic sheeting up and completely seal that before putting drywall over it.

If you're trying to seal in oder you got to remember the floor. You could put down one of those new snap together laminate flooring systems and underneath that you put a plastic vapor barrier that gets taped together. You could connect that vapor barriers to the walls. But don't spill anything!! I would consider putting a drain in your floor in case you happen to. I'd also consider installing a utility sink and if your going to do a hydro system I would consider running supply and drain line so that you could have your rez in a different room on a lower level. That has the benefit of helping to keep your rez temperature without using a chiller and also you can have your plants as low as possible in the room because your rez will be lower.

I'm so jealous. I think next time I get a house I'm going to rip the walls down so I can start over and do everything right.

good luck to you.

 

[vukman]

I fully agree with WelderDan. Greenboard which these days is blue.. and don't cheap out on it!! You'll regret it in the long run.

If and when you are done doing what you're doing, the repairs, if any, will be minimal and there will be no signs that anything went on.

You can take the extra step and vapor barrier the whole room before putting on the drywall so when you do have to open up holes for electrical outlets and what not, the air loss will be at a minimal as well and if properly done, you wont have any air loss at all.

When doing the wiring and placement of boxes, there are box which come with vapor barrier already attached to them. Not necessary if your construction skills are good but doesn't hurt to use them just in case..Everything is dependent on how much you want to spend.

Using a portable A/C and dehumidifier will give you the perfect opportunity to run a sealed room...Just think how happy the girls will be with the extra CO2 in there...;-)......

 

[fredcdobbs]

I would recommend not putting the electrical outlets inside the walls because then you have to cut the drywall and it's amazing how much air comes in through there.
I thought I could make my room airtight using panda film. But not so. now I think that a good drywall job is the best way to seal the room. I would put all the electrical on the outside of the wall and run it using those metal conduits.

I've seen on tv were they insulate the walls and then they put plastic sheeting up and completely seal that before putting drywall over it.

If you're trying to seal in oder you got to remember the floor. You could put down one of those new snap together laminate flooring systems and underneath that you put a plastic vapor barrier that gets taped together. You could connect that vapor barriers to the walls. But don't spill anything!! I would consider putting a drain in your floor in case you happen to. I'd also consider installing a utility sink and if your going to do a hydro system I would consider running supply and drain line so that you could have your rez in a different room on a lower level. That has the benefit of helping to keep your rez temperature without using a chiller and also you can have your plants as low as possible in the room because your rez will be lower.

I'm so jealous. I think next time I get a house I'm going to rip the walls down so I can start over and do everything right.

good luck to you.

i really appreciate all that good advice. gotta get this stuff done before winter.....thats really a whole lot to think about. especially the electrical stuff. i was a painting contractor and thought i knew more about this stuff than i actually do. lol

 

[fredcdobbs]

I fully agree with WelderDan. Greenboard which these days is blue.. and don't cheap out on it!! You'll regret it in the long run.

If and when you are done doing what you're doing, the repairs, if any, will be minimal and there will be no signs that anything went on.

You can take the extra step and vapor barrier the whole room before putting on the drywall so when you do have to open up holes for electrical outlets and what not, the air loss will be at a minimal as well and if properly done, you wont have any air loss at all.

When doing the wiring and placement of boxes, there are box which come with vapor barrier already attached to them. Not necessary if your construction skills are good but doesn't hurt to use them just in case..Everything is dependent on how much you want to spend.

Using a portable A/C and dehumidifier will give you the perfect opportunity to run a sealed room...Just think how happy the girls will be with the extra CO2 in there...;-)......

i seen some of that green/blue board at lowes and wondered what it was for.lol

 

[rives]

I'd give some very careful thought to how you are going to do the air handling side of things before you put up dry wall. I'm in the process of building up a new area to use with HIDs during the winter, using the heat to help heat my house (normally I run LEDs). I also plan on using a vastly over-sized carbon filter for the smelly air (separate loop from the lamp-cooling circuit), taking it through a lung room for further conditioning if needed, and then dropping it back into the house, too. I'm getting a custom pan bent up that will elevate the plants slightly and have a drain for them, and have plumbed water into the an ice-maker supply box set into the wall so that I can quit packing water.

I don't run sealed systems or air conditioning, so the air inlet plenum to the grow area from the house has a filter in it to prolong the life of the carbon filter, and it also will function as a light trap. Lots of possibilities!

 

[fredcdobbs]

I'd give some very careful thought to how you are going to do the air handling side of things before you put up dry wall. I'm in the process of building up a new area to use with HIDs during the winter, using the heat to help heat my house (normally I run LEDs). I also plan on using a vastly over-sized carbon filter for the smelly air (separate loop from the lamp-cooling circuit), taking it through a lung room for further conditioning if needed, and then dropping it back into the house, too. I'm getting a custom pan bent up that will elevate the plants slightly and have a drain for them, and have plumbed water into the an ice-maker supply box set into the wall so that I can quit packing water.

I don't run sealed systems or air conditioning, so the air inlet plenum to the grow area from the house has a filter in it to prolong the life of the carbon filter, and it also will function as a light trap. Lots of possibilities!

when this old house was built there was no electricity around. it's got 3 chimneys where there were stoves. can still see the remnants of a coal pile in the back yard.they also had outhouse but bathroom and water in kitchen were added about 20 yrs ago. the room i'm workin on has one of those chimneys. think i'll buy a wood stove and let her rip this winter. could get confusing though cause thats where i've got ac unit(that cools flower room) stickin out of the wall with 5 gal bucket under it to catch the drip.. aint had so much fun since the hogs ate my little sister.lol

 

[rives]

when this old house was built there was no electricity around. it's got 3 chimneys where there were stoves. can still see the remnants of a coal pile in the back yard.they also had outhouse but bathroom and water in kitchen were added about 20 yrs ago. the room i'm workin on has one of those chimneys. think i'll buy a wood stove and let her rip this winter. could get confusing though cause thats where i've got ac unit(that cools flower room) stickin out of the wall with 5 gal bucket under it to catch the drip.. aint had so much fun since the hogs ate my little sister.lol

It sounds like our houses may be around the same vintage - mine is around 100 years old and had power added about 25-30 years after it was built. I think that it was born with running water and flush toilets, though! One of the neat options with moving your air around is that you can distribute the heat from the stove far more efficiently than just convection allows you.

 

[Lammy]

i really appreciate all that good advice. gotta get this stuff done before winter.....thats really a whole lot to think about. especially the electrical stuff. i was a painting contractor and thought i knew more about this stuff than i actually do. lol

Hey thanks for reading my post it seems like as the new guy here, people tend to skip over mine.

I completely heat my house with only the air from air cooled lights. I run over 10 lights but it works pretty well. If you suck in air from the outside during the winter for your lights you should insulate the duct going to the first light to avoid condensation.

Not that it matters but. I think the Blue Board you're talking about at lowes is Dens-guard or dens-sheild. If your talking about the boards that are like 3 foot by 5 foot. Those are completely waterproof and are used for installing tile in showers. I tried to paint one, one time and the paint just keeps peeling off every 6 months or so.

Let us know how it goes. Good luck.

 

[budderfly]

I'll throw a little info about drywall up since I'm researching what I want to buy.

The selection in most big-box stores (lowes, home depot, menards, etc) is paltry. You only see a fraction of the different kinds of wallboard there. They have plain, Type X (firecode rated), and sometimes green/blue/purple board (mold and/or moisture resistant - not "proof" btw).

But if you go to the contractor desk, or a dedicated supplier, you will find all of the major gypsum manufacturers carry boards that are both Type X and mold/moisture resistant.

Not only that, you can get panels that additionally are abuse resistant or impact resistant. Abuse resistant means a special facing that, well, resists abuse. The impact resistant is an abuse resistant board plus additional fiberglass mesh in the core or near the face.

The toughest board out there, afaik, is going to be National Gypsum's Gold Bond eXP Interior Extreme IR. It has a fiberglass mesh not only in the core but near the resistant face, and the Interior Extreme line is extra moisture resistant - it can survive construction delays where the boards are exposed to open weather for many weeks.

American Gypsum has M-BLOC Type-X in AR or IR, and USG calls it Sheetrock Mold Tough Firecode - AR or VHI. The National Gypsum board, though, is the only one to use fiberglass under the facing and advertised as able to survive open weather.

I have not gotten price checks on these products. A normal 4'x8' is just a few bucks, so hopefully these higher end ones are less than $20 a sheet still, we'll see....