New Min Home - Tons of questions
Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 10:03 am
I recently purchased a 1992 16x72 mini home. It's not finished very well...previous owners didn't have a clue. Paint job covers floor and switches, etc... Hardwood floor scratched to death from all the cats. Toilet leaked and rotted floor, so I had to reinstall toilet and wedge it cause it's 1/2 inch high. That's just the beginning. Anyways I got a great deal so I can put $20,000+ into it without much loss.
So I wanna basically gut the place and rebuild it to high standards. Here are a few of my many questions. I live in Canada and -30'C weather is not uncommon. I am also an electrician so that's no prob, but I'm only a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to plumbing. I know enough to possibly get into trouble. Let me begin
Are we allowed to drill through the floor joists for the purpose of passing electrical/plumbing? I doubt it. The supply water comes out of a barrel in the ground, travels about 20ft in mid air then up and through the floor to the hot water tank etc.... The 20ft of exposed pipe is insulated with heat tape. Is this normal, or should the supply be run through the belly within the floor joists and insulation. If we arn't allowed to drill through the floor joist this is why it's run supported in mid air.
I am going to take 2 bedrooms and turn them into 1 larger bedroom, and 1 large wakk in pantry/utility room. The hot water tank will be moved into the pantry so it's nearly above the barrel, eliminating the 20ft run. The supply will just shoot straight up into the mini home and attach to the tank. I'll need to insulate and heat tape the 3-4ft. Any comments/tips regarding this?
Secondly I wanna light up the underneath of the home. I will run conduit, lamp holders and install weatherproof switches next to the underbelly entrances. And comments/suggestions regarding this.
The underbelly is insulated with pink fiberglass battens and covered with that black vapor barrier stuff. Can I add an additional layer of fiberglass/foam sheets over this. Will that help at all? Will vapor barrier be required over the foam?
Half the mini home has a regular 8ft ceiling, the rest has a pitched cathedral ceiling. There is no hatch leading into the attic area above the 8ft ceiling. I wanna add one and possible run electrical up there. Any comments/suggestions?
As I understand all the plumbing runs between the floor joists in the underbelly. Is this acceptable to prevent freezing? The supply is some sort of high end plastic from the states designed for municipal supply. Not pex but really high end stuff design for supply. The rest is copper. I wanna redo all the plumbing in PEX or AquaPex and run it through interior walls. I'm going to design so bathroom sink, kitchen sink, bathtub, and dishwasher are all on opposit sides of the same interior wall and jsut run the plumbing in this wall. That will remove the plumbing from the underbelly. Any comments/suggestions?
The place is heated with electric baseboard with individual room thermostats. I'm thinking of going with a heat pump and interior air handler with resistive electric heat strip. The heatpump would take care of summer cooling, as well as spring/fall heating down to 0'C. The electric heat strip in the air handler would handle down to -30'C. I'd build new air ducts and put dampers in with damper motors. Each bedroom and bathroom would be seperate zones that could be kept at 13'C during the days. Unused bedroom at 13'C all the time. Bathroom at 13'C all the time and turn it up when showering. The main kitchen/living area would be another zone and turned up when we are home and down at night while sleeping. I'd use something like a Carrier Infinity Thermostat control to get the zones and use room temperator sensors in each zone. How would this system compare to electric baseboard? Would the air ducts run under the mini home below the joists exposed to air? If so I'd have to insulate them very well. I've also seen round fibreglass flexible mini-home ducting. Is this stuff recommended or is traditional metal? Do all ducts run below, or do some have to run above? Like supply air below, and return air from above in ceiling? Or should I just stick with electric baseboard.
I wanna get an air exchanger installed. We need air exchange, windows are condensing bad in winter and freezing up. It's too air tight in here.
I'm thinking of putting a heat pump water cooler on top of the water tank. Seems energy efficient to me.
Those are my basic questions, mostly involving plumbing and HVAC. I'm just looking for info while I plan my work before I get started.
Sorry for all the question in one post. I'm basically just wondering if we can go through the joist or if we have to run parallel and below (exposed ot the cold)? And are air ducts installed below as well exposed to the cold?
Thanks in advance.
So I wanna basically gut the place and rebuild it to high standards. Here are a few of my many questions. I live in Canada and -30'C weather is not uncommon. I am also an electrician so that's no prob, but I'm only a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to plumbing. I know enough to possibly get into trouble. Let me begin
Are we allowed to drill through the floor joists for the purpose of passing electrical/plumbing? I doubt it. The supply water comes out of a barrel in the ground, travels about 20ft in mid air then up and through the floor to the hot water tank etc.... The 20ft of exposed pipe is insulated with heat tape. Is this normal, or should the supply be run through the belly within the floor joists and insulation. If we arn't allowed to drill through the floor joist this is why it's run supported in mid air.
I am going to take 2 bedrooms and turn them into 1 larger bedroom, and 1 large wakk in pantry/utility room. The hot water tank will be moved into the pantry so it's nearly above the barrel, eliminating the 20ft run. The supply will just shoot straight up into the mini home and attach to the tank. I'll need to insulate and heat tape the 3-4ft. Any comments/tips regarding this?
Secondly I wanna light up the underneath of the home. I will run conduit, lamp holders and install weatherproof switches next to the underbelly entrances. And comments/suggestions regarding this.
The underbelly is insulated with pink fiberglass battens and covered with that black vapor barrier stuff. Can I add an additional layer of fiberglass/foam sheets over this. Will that help at all? Will vapor barrier be required over the foam?
Half the mini home has a regular 8ft ceiling, the rest has a pitched cathedral ceiling. There is no hatch leading into the attic area above the 8ft ceiling. I wanna add one and possible run electrical up there. Any comments/suggestions?
As I understand all the plumbing runs between the floor joists in the underbelly. Is this acceptable to prevent freezing? The supply is some sort of high end plastic from the states designed for municipal supply. Not pex but really high end stuff design for supply. The rest is copper. I wanna redo all the plumbing in PEX or AquaPex and run it through interior walls. I'm going to design so bathroom sink, kitchen sink, bathtub, and dishwasher are all on opposit sides of the same interior wall and jsut run the plumbing in this wall. That will remove the plumbing from the underbelly. Any comments/suggestions?
The place is heated with electric baseboard with individual room thermostats. I'm thinking of going with a heat pump and interior air handler with resistive electric heat strip. The heatpump would take care of summer cooling, as well as spring/fall heating down to 0'C. The electric heat strip in the air handler would handle down to -30'C. I'd build new air ducts and put dampers in with damper motors. Each bedroom and bathroom would be seperate zones that could be kept at 13'C during the days. Unused bedroom at 13'C all the time. Bathroom at 13'C all the time and turn it up when showering. The main kitchen/living area would be another zone and turned up when we are home and down at night while sleeping. I'd use something like a Carrier Infinity Thermostat control to get the zones and use room temperator sensors in each zone. How would this system compare to electric baseboard? Would the air ducts run under the mini home below the joists exposed to air? If so I'd have to insulate them very well. I've also seen round fibreglass flexible mini-home ducting. Is this stuff recommended or is traditional metal? Do all ducts run below, or do some have to run above? Like supply air below, and return air from above in ceiling? Or should I just stick with electric baseboard.
I wanna get an air exchanger installed. We need air exchange, windows are condensing bad in winter and freezing up. It's too air tight in here.
I'm thinking of putting a heat pump water cooler on top of the water tank. Seems energy efficient to me.
Those are my basic questions, mostly involving plumbing and HVAC. I'm just looking for info while I plan my work before I get started.
Sorry for all the question in one post. I'm basically just wondering if we can go through the joist or if we have to run parallel and below (exposed ot the cold)? And are air ducts installed below as well exposed to the cold?
Thanks in advance.