Tips

Jeld-Wen has a line of doors with integral pet panels, but recently I ran across their option for a pet panel integral to a sliding glass door which I found intriguing.  In general I encourage the use of French doors in lieu of sliding glass doors in our area.  The seals are much better, security is better and the mechanisms hold up better over time.  That’s not to say that sliding doors don’t have their place.  I have two at my house opening up to our deck.  They are hard to beat when you want maximum glass and have limited floor space which makes a swinging door an issue.

One of the major down sides of our sliding doors is that we use them to let our dog Theo out.  We lose AC in the summer and heat in the winter every time we open that door for him.  A couple of weeks ago when we had all the wind, it didn’t take much time with the door open to kick the thermostat on again.  This system has a passage flap that is held closed via magnets and a second locking window similar to a single hung window that provides a secure and weathertight seal the rest of the time.  I don’t think I will be changing out our existing doors for Theo, but this would be something I would consider when the existing doors fail.  It is definitely something I’ll point out to pet owners when we talk about remodeling projects!

Last year I told you about an iPod Docking Station from Amerec (You can read that post here.) that allows you to take your iPod into the shower with you.  Now Kohler has a new option that lets you leave your Bluetooth enabled device, i.e. phone, MP3 player, etc. outside the shower, while your tunes are transmitted to a speaker in your showerhead.  The Moxie showerhead is silcone coated showerhead with 60 spray nozzles around a Bluetooth speaker that mounts in the center of the showerhead via two magnets – one in the showerhead and one in the speaker.  Currently the Moxie is available in white or chrome finish.  (The Kohler site does not mention if additional finishes are forthcoming.)

The speaker has a rechargeable lithium battery and comes with a USB recharging cord.  With the battery release, it should be easy to remove and the Kohler site touts the ability to take the waterproof speaker with you to the beach, kitchen or any other wet location where you want to listen to your tunes.  It promises less than 1% distortion.

The Kohler Moxie Showerhead is $149.25 at Amazon.com  Changing a showerhead is an easy installation, but if you need help, give us a call.  We’ll have you singing in the shower in no time at all!

This is one I’m excited about.  I recently installed several fan/light kits similar to the one pictured to the right at our remodel project.  I was able to put matching fans in the bathrooms and the utility room with light fixture trims that match the plumbing fixture trims, tying everything together.  Pretty cool!

Broan has several models in their Quiet line in a choice of CFM’s.  There are other manufacturers out there with similar products, so you should be able to find one that matches your style.

Exhaust fans are important, particularly in newer homes with tight building envelopes.  They help reduce moisture in wet rooms such as baths, showers and laundry rooms.  This helps prevent mold and mildew.

Even though we haven’t had a lot of snow this year, it’s still good to consider the effects on your home or building before it becomes an issue.  Roofs in our area of Indiana are designed to handle snow loads, i.e. the accumulation of snow on rooftops and the weight associated with that.  Most of our area has been designated by the Building Code to handle a 30 lb snow load.  That means the structure is designed to hold 30 pounds of snow per square foot.  This is a worst case scenario as we rarely see that quantity of snow.

Things to look for on the exterior are unusual drift patterns, ice damming that may be holding snow in a concentrated area, excessive icicles and structurally, drooping at the eaves.  Things to look for on the interior of the building are leaks, bowing purlins, rafters or trusses.  In the case of wood structures you can usually see where wood members are under stress.  Generally in the roof structure this shows up as bowing, but occasionally the structural piece may be such that it begins to crush before bowing shows up.

If you decide that there is an issue where snow needs to be removed, tread lightly!  LITERALLY!  Remember the problem you are trying to correct is excessive weight on the roof.  Your weight, or the weight of workers you employ to remove snow, create additional concentrated loading on the structure.  Also remember that removing snow from a roof is not equivalent to removing snow from a driveway or parking lot.  If you start moving the snow from the peak to the eave, left to right, as you often would when clearing snow from a driveway, you are increasing the concentrated load as you move the snow to the edge.  You may well exacerbate the problem you hoped to solve!

Butler Manufacturing Company (BMC) sends out an advisory on this for us to share with our clients.  You can view the PDF here.  It has some useful information on how to recognize a roof that may be overloaded, how to deal with a roof near collapse and how to document a roof collapse.  Some of the information is specific to metal buildings, but much of it is also useful for conventional construction as well.

For a couple of other related, cold weather, roof posts, see one on attic insulation here and one on ice dams here.