Building a House with Wood

[tirolski]

Bullshit!! You need to choose a better Mason!

Looks like ORDA gonna repair masonry from ’32 Olympics in Lake Placid.

ARN.23.001.100

1932 Arena Masonry Repair Project - General Trades

15 March 2024

Who's gonna repair the zippity-do-dah-coaster thingywhen it’s needing fixed?

 

[gorgonzola]

Bullshit!! You need to choose a better Mason!

Ha I wish! Probably poured hundreds of thousands of yards over my career with soils and pad analysis and preparation, stringent mix / reinforcing design and reviews, pre con meeting for flatness and levelness, construction and control joint layout, slump and cylinder breaks tests, QC observation and testing, etc.

About the only thing you can to is try to control WHERE it's going to crack but it usually ends up being right at the main entrance lol! Too many factors, from subgrade and soils, where the sand and lime came from, weather the plant operator or driver had too many beers the night before, if the trucks hits traffic, weather obviously, mechanical issues, the list goes on. Although a lot of times low bidder gets the job, I've had even the best crews have pours get away from them.

btw my masons mostly lay block, brick, and stone. Concrete, not so much...

 

[Campgottagopee]

btw my masons mostly lay block, brick, and stone. Concrete, not so much...

True

The only time a mason touches concrete is for a footer to build a fireplace on

 

[Harvey]

I assume that concrete will crack, how bad is it if/when it happens? What happens if the foundation is cracked?

Based on the amount of stone we have surrounding and underneath the foundation, I'm guessing that the basement will be dry, but really I have no idea.

I'm guessing we didn't have fiber in the concrete, but I don't know.

 

[gorgonzola]

Sorry Harv didn't mean to stress you out, 9 times out of 10 is just superficial surface cracks and anything else is easily mitigated. I'm sure you'll be fine. I've never seen fiber in foundations only slabs, and mostly elevated slabs on deck in multistory buildings - easier to control than welded wire fabric in thin slabs. Have had to torch the exposed hairs off some fuzzy floors lol!

 

[Warp daddy]

New addition completed when added to existing powder room inside dimensions 14 by 9.6.washer dryer platform not in pic but finished with same slate as floor

 

[Warp daddy]

 

[Warp daddy]

 

[Harvey]

From the beginning, we've wanted a fireplace in our 'great room' of the house we are building. Who wouldn't right?

Fairly soon after that I decided I wanted propane. The fireplace is along the sidewall of the house, and if it was a woodstove it would need a huge chimney to clear the peak of the roof. Expensive if masonry, and ugly (IMO) and vulnerable if it was a metal pipe.

We'll have a woodstove in the basement for backup and it's almost in the center of the house (near the peak of the roof) so the stove pipe will only be a few feet long above the roof, and won't get pummeled with sliding snow and ice.

Propane will be our supplement for the heat pump anyway. Plus it will be a lot less work. And these propane fireplaces are pretty efficient (80%) vs the furnace itself (90%) so if you use the fireplace for 3 hours it will be a net heat gain for the house.

We are having an issue locating the vent. It's a bit of a fuckup by the designer (guy who drew the house), and he's working to come up with a solution. At the same time, I'm also looking into options.

One potential solution is a power vent. If you put a fan in the vent tube, you have much more flexibility on how you run the exhaust. Here is one example with a video:

Power Venting Technology

Power Venting technology makes it possible to install a gas fireplace virtually anywhere. Learn more about this Heatilator technology here.

www.heatilator.com

With a power vent you can run exhaust down (vs just up or flat) and you can run it a much longer distance. Part of our problem is we have so many windows up front (where the fireplace is) and you aren't supposed to locate fireplace exhaust near windows or doors. (I don't know the exact code on that.)

One downside of power venting is (I am told) it adds a lot of expense to the job. I don't know why, as it seems pretty basic, but that is what I am told.

One other solution, that I originally dismissed, but would consider after I looked into it, was an ELECTRIC fireplace. Much less expensive, looks pretty cool, no venting issues. But the downside is that while you can feel warm in front of it, and it is fun to watch, it's more of a space heater, so you aren't really heating the house.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of:

• Good brands or models of propane fireplaces that are compatible with power venting
• Electric fireplaces
• Any other solutions

Like I said, I really prefer propane, and don't want to vent it through the roof.

 

[MarzNC]

One other solution, that I originally dismissed, but would consider after I looked into it, was an ELECTRIC fireplace. Much less expensive, looks pretty cool, no venting issues. But the downside is that while you can feel warm in front of it, and it is fun to watch, it's more of a space heater, so you aren't really heating the house.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge of:

• Good brands or models of propane fireplaces that are compatible with power venting
• Electric fireplaces
• Any other solutions

My experience with a fireplace in the last couple decades has been at timeshare resorts or VRBO rentals.

Massanutten had real fireplaces in the older complexes built in the 1970s or 1980s. The one that I bought to use during early January is at Mountainside Villas, the original complex. Those fireplaces were converted to gas starting about 20 years ago, with an optional fan if you want to add heat. There is electric heat that works fine.

The newer buildings of the condo complex in the valley, Woodstone, have electric fireplaces. The buildings are 3-stories with units that are all on one floor. Perfectly fine for a short stay. If I were building a house, I wouldn't install one. As you said, it's just a pretty space heater.

The gas fireplace that I had in WV last winter was the first one I've experienced with a thermostat. Could turn up the temperature setting to get the main level of the condo warmed up, and it would automatically reduce the flame. Worked really well. We didn't need to set up the electric heat thermostat when in the condo during the day and could be comfortable in the bedrooms upstairs since we prefer it cool to sleep.

Don't know if it would be work given your vent issue, but in Colorado the condo had a Hearthstone wood stove. It was a soapstone version. We had to find a YouTube video to learn how to set up the wood to get it going. The kindling goes on top. Worked great.