I recommend (even if it's not required) consulting an engineer on that structural wall removal. Not because of the wall itself, but because of how it integrates with the roof. If you imagine the roof as a truss system, the bottom span will be in tension. The weight of the roof pushing down wants to spread the ends, pushing the walls outwards. If you cut the ceiling joists, and they're a tension component of the roof truss, then you will need to strap them across the new structural beam because joist hangers are not rated for tensile loads. The other option is to re-brace the roof to eliminate this tension force. Your roof already has a few of these braces, the near-vertical ones that go from the rafters near the ridge to the ceiling joists at the structural wall. Adding these to every joist will take up the weight of the roof and eliminate the spreading moment. This will be an easy recommendation for a structural engineer to make, and you should be able to choose either approach depending on budget and space needs in the attic. You'll also want to consult with them on insulating the attic, since insulating an old building like this can have unintended consequences. It's a good plan if you're putting the HVAC up there (which is also a great idea), but you need to take precautions to ensure that you control moisture correctly. The current attic is uninsulated and that means it can breathe and dry out. Adding insulation in the rafters right against the roof deck can trap moisture, so there are certain installation precautions that you will want to make. An economical solution involves venting from the soffit under the eaves, leaving space between the insulation and the roof deck for air to flow, up to a ridge vent. For more self-directed education, check out high performance building videos from Matt Risinger. Loving the project, can't wait for the next video!
The roof system in the house is not trusses. It's hand built rafters with ceiling joist, and the cross member attached to the roof rafters is bracing to help with snow loads and the rafters wanting to push out on the exterior walls. All he needs are two 2.0 Glulam LVLs that are 2" x 12" each, glued and screwed together with timber lag screws or 1/2 inch carriage bolts with nuts and washers.
Back in the 1950's into early 1960s, you just walked into the hardware store and picked out a new linoleum "rug". They came in different sizes and the pattern was made to look like a patterned rug. It was a wonderful thing for kitchens as well as kids bedroom. I remember picking out one for my bedroom, when we moved into a new house. I could play in my room and the brand new hardwood floor stayed pristine. Years later, it was just rolled back up and put out with the trash. They did not curl like sheet of vinyl flooring will so you just laid it down, no fastening needed. You could hide an old floor and instantly made a room look better. You could protect a nice floor from kids and pets. It was great stuff!
If you are going to put the furnace into the attic, you might want to consider putting the insulation against the underside of the roof deck instead of on top of the ceiling. That way you aren't loosing heat to the attic in the winter, and if you install any other hvac stuff (cooling for the summer?) in the attic, you aren't getting heat from the attic in the venting.
Choosing which parts of the building to have as "conditioned space" makes a big difference in a home's thermal performance. For an older house like this there are some caveats to insulating an unconditioned attic, but I think it's probably the right call. You can still insulate the ceilings, but keeping the attic cool in the summer and warm in the winter will really help with the efficiency of the ducting and the air handler.
This is correct, Michael. Do not our your air handler into the attic without turning your attic into conditioned space. It is not worth the space savings, as exciting as a part try might be.
And on the plus side you can use the whole attic as some additional space. That's at least how I did my attic. It's great for putting stuff up there and forget for years :D
If it weren't for the fact that the furnace looks so new I'd say it would be a good time to upgrade to a minisplit heatpump system. They have a single outdoor unit and each room of the house has it's own ceiling/wall unit and independent temperature control, then you don't need to worry about putting the airhandler in the uninsulated attic. They even sell ducted minisplits if you wanted to have one split between two rooms. There are even DIY friendly kits that come with pre-charged lines, it really isn't that hard to install them. At any rate, moving the existing one to the crawlspace makes more sense to me than putting it in the hot attic but it doesn't look like the access hatch is big enough for that.
Hi, european here :D this my first time seeing a PEX tubes and although it looks cool, I immediately had to think about two things. Firstly about how pressure changes have to slap those lines against the inside of the wall which brings me to the second point of keeping the angles in check in order for the water not to stale on a long line such as is your crawl space. However I love that there is no need for bend joints, I will have to ask my acquaintance about PEX. We use PVC btw, it makes more sense inside brick walls.
one thing i would recommend on putting the furnace upstairs in the attic, make the attic part of the climate-controlled space, it makes the furnace work a lot less, than if it is in the non-climate-controlled attic. your best bet for this is to have them spray foam the underside of the roof with closed cell insulation, it will act as your vaper barrier and insulation all in one. closed cell insulation runs at about r6-7 per inch so if you spray full depth on a 2x4 you get anywhere between r21 and r28 insulation resistance value.
Man, you are doing such a great job (as always) structuring and narrating these videos for us all to follow along, on top of the actual reno work. No small feat!
When you eventually insulate the floor, use rockwool. It is so much easier to keep up and it doesn't fall apart in drapey pieces. And a big plus it doesn't hold moisture and critters don't like it.
@@tina-xp3pkthat’s too funny, my dad is a regional sales rep in the heart of Texas for Rockwool Insulation, used to do rockfon ceiling tile but hey it’s good stuff!
@@tf5870 It is and as another Dane, I can say that it's the primary insulation type for Danish homes. That or glassfiber insulation. Except if it's directly against the ground. Then it's LECA balls and Flamingo insulation and in new constructions, there's typically also Radon membranes to protect the occupants against Radon radiation.
Just saw this video, but it is never too late for modifications to the PEX plumbing. When you took a shortcut on the PEX to the toilet and the outside faucet, I had to groan. It is so easy to pop a short PEX line through the floor to the toilet, it should be done, rather than to wait for the galvanized to fail. It will, you just don't know when.
I don't understand the overall floor plan, but if you move the water heater farther from the bathroom/kitchen, you can have a really long wait for hot water every time you turn on the tap. You may want to add a hot water recirculating system.
I always like to watch these renovation videos. It's likely I will never do stuff like this for myself, but there's just something that "ticks" me in these.
By far, this series is so far the best walk through for a home build/demo! Honestly, Michael is such a great content creator and kind human. Can't wait for the next video!
I am loving this reno. I watch lots of them, but this one is exciting because I know the quality of your work. I HIGHLY approve redoing the old wiring and plumbing. That will be a gift to yourself in time.
Such a fun series to watch. Just to pass along, we have our heaters in the attic (as apparently that's how a lot of builders like to do it here in Texas as we don't have basements), and I've heard from several HVAC techs how they really dislike it. A friend of mine has her own HAVC service company in Illinois and mentions how her techs don't understand why they get put up there as it makes them a PITA to service or replace. BUT... given your situation, for maximum space savings, it is an option worth considering (just understand the trade offs). For example, you'll need to replace the filter on it every 2 months or so, meaning you'll have to go into the attic to do it (I just crawled up there last night to replace ours for example). One other item to note with it, and I'm guessing this will happen as it's usually a code requirement (it is here at least). There's a water line over-flow.... uh... thing that needs to get installed with a drain pan under it to catch any leaks due to a clog (or whatever else can cause it to leak). Make sure they install this AND to install it with a trip switch in the pan so if the water goes above a particular height it will trip and shut off the unit. If you don't have this and it leaks, it'll just keep going until the pan overflows and then voila... a water leak in the attic (another one of the gotchas when you move the unit into the attic). As for the water heater, might I recommend to go tankless instead? Those things take up much less space and can go almost anywhere. Our unit is installed on the exterior of our house near our master bathroom, it sits in a cubby they made in the brick with a cover on it for easy servicing. AAAAAANNNDDDD one last thing to think about as we're considering adding one, a whole-home water filtration system. If you're re-doing the plumbing and everything, it's a good time to account for it so it can go where ever you want. :)
Michael! Great work! I just finished up a small farmhouse renovatipon in NY and we had the same structural conditions where the joists lapped each other side by side over the central load bearing wall. Our solution was to install 2 posts and a beam (all rough sawn hemlock) to carry the joists rather than cutting them back and installing joist hangers on an LVL. The result was that we got a beautiful exposed post and beam feature in the house - which we are planning to sand and finish with Nordic sealer. We consulted an engineer to size the elements accurately. It was a great solution if it's a look you may be interested in. A few jack posts and temporary shoring and we were done in one day. Looking forward to more videos!
Glad to see you took out the Douglas fir boards from the kitchen floor. We had them in our home too and they were nothing but trouble as a floor in a busy home. Literally after the first housewarming party, we were left with all kinds of dents and scratches from women's high heels. Later on, we did a complete remodel and put in Brazilian walnut, which seems to be harder than concrete and looks gorgeous.
If you are to install your HVAC system in the attic, look into conditioned attics. Basically, it is having your attic insulated so that your HVAC system is within the insulated space. It will save money (in heating and air conditioning seasons) and headache (air loss, insulated ducts, pest control).
Really enjoying this house reno series. If you are thinking about moving the HVAC to the attic you should take a look at a video Matt Risingler did on his channel the build show about an alternate way of thinking about insulating attics. Closed cell foam might not be that expensive for a smaller footprint house so it could be an easy trade off in efficiency to bring your HVAC inside the envelope and eliminate energy loss by running cooling through a hot attic space. It’s getting hotter here in PNW so it got me thinking about my own home as well. Are you going to be switching to an electric water heater since it will be in a closet so you don’t need to worry about venting? Also Eden saw makes some awesome doug fir flooring if you decide to not end up going the tile rout in the kitchen. Tile can be nice for spills but hard surfaces can wear on your body in unexpected ways if you spend a significant amount of time in the kitchen. Now that I am done writing this book I will cap it off by saying thanks for brining us along on your journey, I really appreciate the time you put into these videos.
you could investigate non-standard water heaters, there are some that interact with heat pumps and leverage a phase-change gel to store heat, and take up less space than a traditional tank
Thank you sooooooo much!! I know that it’s my problem, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when I hear someone calling it a HOT water heater instead of simply a water heater. So, thank you again, and I love the progress on the house!
I had the same moment of decision whether to keep the original fir flooring in our kitchen. After lots of pulling out of nails and staples, we decided to have it restored. Turned out absolutely amazing, but does have a ton of character due to leeching tannins and even burn damage that went too deep. We happen to love that kind of history showing through.
Nice work! Our 76 yo house fortunately had pex already installed when we bought it! I've had to correct a few plumbing issues as well as do a bit of remodelling of the house and the pex system is one of the easier tasks to work with especially for a neophyte like me! As for the HVAC, we tore out the furnace and all of the ducting to open up the basement and installed a mini split heat pump system which we love and WA has an rebate incentive for heat pump installs. I highly recommend!
I'm curious, since you're comfortable with doing Pex yourself and were looking to save space, did you consider a tankless? I've heard the con of them in old build can be that you don't have the option of a recirculation loop, but you could put one in while you're doing all of this and save even more. Oh, and if you like PB Blaster, you should give AeroKroil a try some time! I had it recommended to me by old car guys and have had even better luck with it, plus it seems like the fumes aren't quite as bad. Last, supposedly with that old Linoleum you can sort of rehydrate it with Linseed OIl. Could be a cool to see if you can get an unblemished square off, clean it up and frame it as a keep sake in your utility closet. I did something similar with the 1950s era oil heater one pager after we found it during replacement because it was so neat :)
I got a tankless water heater many years ago and I am never going back. You don't run out of hot water, you don't need to remember to turn it off when no one is there, you don't need to worry about it rusting out and blowing up one day. Also all the gas fumes, which has been linked to all sorts of health issues, are outside.
Can’t wait to see how you tackle the electricity I see that you have the old knob and tube wiring, dangerous stuff. My city requires arc fault breakers to be installed when any electrical permit is pulled. I wonder about Seattle… My furnace is in the attic and my AC is outside my bedroom.
The linoleum carpet can be original from the 30ties, it was fashionable at the time. If the space always were a kitchen the wood floor could be a subfloor, meaning that it was never meant to be visible. That is a guesstimate, please do tell if you find out more details.
Water heaters in the attic is also very common, but you might not have the head room. If you put it in the closet, make sure you have "make up air" to feed a gas one, or just go electric and forget about needing a vent or moving the gas line. Probably have a better chance of finding a "low boy" water heater for the attic if you go electric.
Was gonna suggest this. Build a platform over a closet (where the attic floor is already more than strong enough to support a WH), and find a different use for the extra wide closet (just rename the extra space "The Christmas Nook"; for storing C-mas stuff.).
the kitchen floor looks like one that we had.. on a 50s extension.. the glue in ours apparently had asbestos in it.. it’s more safe than as fibres but had to pull the boards up to get it out safely..
Good plan with the HVAC. We moved our heater to the attic and gained lots of space. You might also want to consider on demand hot water instead of a tank. Also a great space saver. We have ours outside!
Michael, if you relocate your air handler (furnace) to the attic,condition the space! Ie. Make the location of your furnace inside your air barrier assembly. Look into videos / books by Joe Lstiburek.
I wonder if the reason that the asbestos test reported the result as "less than 1%" is because the limit of detection of their test is 1%. So they might not be able to say there is 0 asbestos with absolute confidence, scientifically / legally.
Loving this series. Great work so far and big sigh of relief on the asbestos. Even I was nervous about the results. Can't wait to see the kitchen and of course, great idea on moving the furnace and the hot water tank.
It's coming along, Michael, but it's a far more ambitious project than I would ever undertake. Libby Montana was the home of a huge vermiculite mine (Zonolite) and wound up being a major superfund cleanup site. I think cleanup is still going on at this time. Bill
Definitely check out some information on converting your attic to conditioned space if your re going to relocate the hvac up there - Matt Risinger has some great info on the benefits and how to get it done
I'm sorry, but I can't go along with moving the hvac into the attic. I have a rental with it in the attic, and it has been a pain in the rear. If your drainage ever gets clogged, it becomes a night mare. It took two different companies, four times, to get it right. 😢 if you do have it done, make sure that the drain for the drip pan underneath the inside unit is very visible and noticeable. PS consider having a ducted mini split put in. Some brands now have air handlers, and they are MUCH more efficient!
Great video, Michael. After watching your video, I feel inspired to finish the small renovations I'm doing at the moment. Have you considered installing a thankless hot water system? I know it might be a bit late for me to mention this, but it would dramatically cut down on the overall footprint of your hot water system.
With those pipes it works best if you use a cast iron blade, it will make your 12v last longer. The M18 is the way to go though, especially with the 8AH or 12AH battery.
Rather than a ginormous hot water heater have you considered a tankless system. I installed one in our house five years ago and have not looked back. Depending on how it is mounted you can hear it come on. After a time you really don’t notice it.
When I bought my house I had to have my vermiculite tested to prove it wasn't contaminated with asbestos or it would have gotten a ton more expensive. Mine came back clean and get it all sucked out and replaced so much better.
Such a funny coincidence you mention asbestos at 9:25 and then cut to you wearing a Laura Kampf shirt. Who's also renovating a house and had to deal with asbestos. :P
How do you feel about on demand hot water heaters? With the cost of traditional water heaters being so high, it might help with your space issue and make the cost difference worth it.
It's a bit of a long story I'll get into in a future video. I had two plumbers out and they both said it'll be hard to vent in this house because it has so many windows. The only option is thru the roof. We'd also have to re plumb all the gas lines because you have to go up to one inch. It's not out of the realm, but a tank heater is a LOT more affordable and we can install it which saves even more money.
Interesting seeing the differences in US to UK, mainly copper pipe before HDPE and same for tanks. Just replaced our copper tank as it split but had been in 60 years. Guess that is steel to only have a 10 year life span. I think a lot of people in the UK are going back to traditional rather than on demand - you can store solar heat and it works with air sourced heat pumps.
You should do a video on how you use SketchUp. I love Jay Bates, Steve Ramsey and Kings Fine Woodworking videos on SketchUp. I'm always curious about the workflow of the design process.
Moving the furnace into the attic is such a good idea, and one I might have to borrow! Looking forward to that video and if/how the ducting gets rerouted
I have a similar old Seattle attic and am very curious to see if it's possible to move the trusses up off the floor and make use of the space, any thought about doing that in your home Michael?
I am curious why you removed all the old galvanized piping in the crawl space. It could have been left in place, cut off the ends where you needed to penetrate the floor and the job would have been done much quicker.
It's cool to see you help other youtouber like laura kampf and she have lot of trouble whit is house good school for you. Like you're chanel keep up the work
Instead of re-installing a water heater, why not put in a wall mount boiler for your domestic water? Much small, takes up way less space and, you could also use that for your heat source and eliminate the furnace altogether. You can still have forced air with just a coil in a fan box. Very Simple and way more efficient overall.
Do you use a go/no-go when you're testing your PEX crimp rings? I found that my crimping tool was making them too tight off the factory floor. The go/no-go tool is invaluable for peace of mind.
I always look at the metal tab on the crimp fitting because I've had batches where it wasn't folded enough and the crimp didn't hold, it was ideal brand about 6 times, I've never had that issue with waterline brand.
Is that actually still knob and tube wiring up in the attic (and wall) still or is that the result of a lazy electrician shoving new wiring through the knob and tube holes and attachment points? I know in some places it is no longer to code (to install) but okay to have as long as you don't add to or modify it. Though your insurance rates may go down significantly if your house no longer has it as well.
Tankless water heater?? And each the comments about the HVAC in the attic, it can certainly be less efficient if the under decking is not insulated/ conditioned space.
The old linoleum in my Ballard house didn’t contain asbestos (I had it tested anyway), but the brown, crumbly underlayment did. I then had it removed by a local abatement company, American Environmental Construction LLC.
I recommend (even if it's not required) consulting an engineer on that structural wall removal. Not because of the wall itself, but because of how it integrates with the roof. If you imagine the roof as a truss system, the bottom span will be in tension. The weight of the roof pushing down wants to spread the ends, pushing the walls outwards. If you cut the ceiling joists, and they're a tension component of the roof truss, then you will need to strap them across the new structural beam because joist hangers are not rated for tensile loads.
The other option is to re-brace the roof to eliminate this tension force. Your roof already has a few of these braces, the near-vertical ones that go from the rafters near the ridge to the ceiling joists at the structural wall. Adding these to every joist will take up the weight of the roof and eliminate the spreading moment.
This will be an easy recommendation for a structural engineer to make, and you should be able to choose either approach depending on budget and space needs in the attic.
You'll also want to consult with them on insulating the attic, since insulating an old building like this can have unintended consequences. It's a good plan if you're putting the HVAC up there (which is also a great idea), but you need to take precautions to ensure that you control moisture correctly. The current attic is uninsulated and that means it can breathe and dry out. Adding insulation in the rafters right against the roof deck can trap moisture, so there are certain installation precautions that you will want to make. An economical solution involves venting from the soffit under the eaves, leaving space between the insulation and the roof deck for air to flow, up to a ridge vent.
For more self-directed education, check out high performance building videos from Matt Risinger.
Loving the project, can't wait for the next video!
+1 for Matt Risinger, his channel is a gold mine.
The roof system in the house is not trusses. It's hand built rafters with ceiling joist, and the cross member attached to the roof rafters is bracing to help with snow loads and the rafters wanting to push out on the exterior walls. All he needs are two 2.0 Glulam LVLs that are 2" x 12" each, glued and screwed together with timber lag screws or 1/2 inch carriage bolts with nuts and washers.
Back in the 1950's into early 1960s, you just walked into the hardware store and picked out a new linoleum "rug". They came in different sizes and the pattern was made to look like a patterned rug. It was a wonderful thing for kitchens as well as kids bedroom. I remember picking out one for my bedroom, when we moved into a new house. I could play in my room and the brand new hardwood floor stayed pristine. Years later, it was just rolled back up and put out with the trash. They did not curl like sheet of vinyl flooring will so you just laid it down, no fastening needed. You could hide an old floor and instantly made a room look better. You could protect a nice floor from kids and pets. It was great stuff!
Nice shot out to Laura Kampf the shirt. Maybe you could have her design something for the new house. If you like aluminum boxes and neon lights 😁
If you are going to put the furnace into the attic, you might want to consider putting the insulation against the underside of the roof deck instead of on top of the ceiling. That way you aren't loosing heat to the attic in the winter, and if you install any other hvac stuff (cooling for the summer?) in the attic, you aren't getting heat from the attic in the venting.
Choosing which parts of the building to have as "conditioned space" makes a big difference in a home's thermal performance. For an older house like this there are some caveats to insulating an unconditioned attic, but I think it's probably the right call. You can still insulate the ceilings, but keeping the attic cool in the summer and warm in the winter will really help with the efficiency of the ducting and the air handler.
Also you can put a smaller on demand water heater in the attic rather than a big tank version in the front closet.
This is correct, Michael. Do not our your air handler into the attic without turning your attic into conditioned space. It is not worth the space savings, as exciting as a part try might be.
And on the plus side you can use the whole attic as some additional space. That's at least how I did my attic. It's great for putting stuff up there and forget for years :D
If it weren't for the fact that the furnace looks so new I'd say it would be a good time to upgrade to a minisplit heatpump system. They have a single outdoor unit and each room of the house has it's own ceiling/wall unit and independent temperature control, then you don't need to worry about putting the airhandler in the uninsulated attic. They even sell ducted minisplits if you wanted to have one split between two rooms. There are even DIY friendly kits that come with pre-charged lines, it really isn't that hard to install them.
At any rate, moving the existing one to the crawlspace makes more sense to me than putting it in the hot attic but it doesn't look like the access hatch is big enough for that.
Hi, european here :D this my first time seeing a PEX tubes and although it looks cool, I immediately had to think about two things. Firstly about how pressure changes have to slap those lines against the inside of the wall which brings me to the second point of keeping the angles in check in order for the water not to stale on a long line such as is your crawl space. However I love that there is no need for bend joints, I will have to ask my acquaintance about PEX.
We use PVC btw, it makes more sense inside brick walls.
one thing i would recommend on putting the furnace upstairs in the attic, make the attic part of the climate-controlled space, it makes the furnace work a lot less, than if it is in the non-climate-controlled attic. your best bet for this is to have them spray foam the underside of the roof with closed cell insulation, it will act as your vaper barrier and insulation all in one. closed cell insulation runs at about r6-7 per inch so if you spray full depth on a 2x4 you get anywhere between r21 and r28 insulation resistance value.
Man, you are doing such a great job (as always) structuring and narrating these videos for us all to follow along, on top of the actual reno work. No small feat!
Much appreciated! 😅
When you eventually insulate the floor, use rockwool. It is so much easier to keep up and it doesn't fall apart in drapey pieces. And a big plus it doesn't hold moisture and critters don't like it.
Agreed I’m a CET and I couldn’t agree more it might be a bit more money however the product gives you so much more
When doing that in a crawl, would you use any hangers or sleepers (wood) or even string? Or is that not needed at all?
I agree, but thats because its a Danish Company , and I am Danish 😅..
@@tina-xp3pkthat’s too funny, my dad is a regional sales rep in the heart of Texas for Rockwool Insulation, used to do rockfon ceiling tile but hey it’s good stuff!
@@tf5870 It is and as another Dane, I can say that it's the primary insulation type for Danish homes. That or glassfiber insulation. Except if it's directly against the ground. Then it's LECA balls and Flamingo insulation and in new constructions, there's typically also Radon membranes to protect the occupants against Radon radiation.
Just saw this video, but it is never too late for modifications to the PEX plumbing. When you took a shortcut on the PEX to the toilet and the outside faucet, I had to groan. It is so easy to pop a short PEX line through the floor to the toilet, it should be done, rather than to wait for the galvanized to fail. It will, you just don't know when.
I don't understand the overall floor plan, but if you move the water heater farther from the bathroom/kitchen, you can have a really long wait for hot water every time you turn on the tap. You may want to add a hot water recirculating system.
That blue flooring is real linoleum made with linseed oil and wood dust and colored. It really a green product.
I always like to watch these renovation videos. It's likely I will never do stuff like this for myself, but there's just something that "ticks" me in these.
By far, this series is so far the best walk through for a home build/demo! Honestly, Michael is such a great content creator and kind human. Can't wait for the next video!
Thanks!!!
I am loving this reno. I watch lots of them, but this one is exciting because I know the quality of your work. I HIGHLY approve redoing the old wiring and plumbing. That will be a gift to yourself in time.
Such a fun series to watch. Just to pass along, we have our heaters in the attic (as apparently that's how a lot of builders like to do it here in Texas as we don't have basements), and I've heard from several HVAC techs how they really dislike it. A friend of mine has her own HAVC service company in Illinois and mentions how her techs don't understand why they get put up there as it makes them a PITA to service or replace. BUT... given your situation, for maximum space savings, it is an option worth considering (just understand the trade offs). For example, you'll need to replace the filter on it every 2 months or so, meaning you'll have to go into the attic to do it (I just crawled up there last night to replace ours for example). One other item to note with it, and I'm guessing this will happen as it's usually a code requirement (it is here at least). There's a water line over-flow.... uh... thing that needs to get installed with a drain pan under it to catch any leaks due to a clog (or whatever else can cause it to leak). Make sure they install this AND to install it with a trip switch in the pan so if the water goes above a particular height it will trip and shut off the unit. If you don't have this and it leaks, it'll just keep going until the pan overflows and then voila... a water leak in the attic (another one of the gotchas when you move the unit into the attic).
As for the water heater, might I recommend to go tankless instead? Those things take up much less space and can go almost anywhere. Our unit is installed on the exterior of our house near our master bathroom, it sits in a cubby they made in the brick with a cover on it for easy servicing.
AAAAAANNNDDDD one last thing to think about as we're considering adding one, a whole-home water filtration system. If you're re-doing the plumbing and everything, it's a good time to account for it so it can go where ever you want. :)
Michael! Great work! I just finished up a small farmhouse renovatipon in NY and we had the same structural conditions where the joists lapped each other side by side over the central load bearing wall. Our solution was to install 2 posts and a beam (all rough sawn hemlock) to carry the joists rather than cutting them back and installing joist hangers on an LVL. The result was that we got a beautiful exposed post and beam feature in the house - which we are planning to sand and finish with Nordic sealer. We consulted an engineer to size the elements accurately. It was a great solution if it's a look you may be interested in. A few jack posts and temporary shoring and we were done in one day. Looking forward to more videos!
Glad to see you took out the Douglas fir boards from the kitchen floor. We had them in our home too and they were nothing but trouble as a floor in a busy home. Literally after the first housewarming party, we were left with all kinds of dents and scratches from women's high heels. Later on, we did a complete remodel and put in Brazilian walnut, which seems to be harder than concrete and looks gorgeous.
If you are to install your HVAC system in the attic, look into conditioned attics. Basically, it is having your attic insulated so that your HVAC system is within the insulated space. It will save money (in heating and air conditioning seasons) and headache (air loss, insulated ducts, pest control).
Really enjoying this house reno series. If you are thinking about moving the HVAC to the attic you should take a look at a video Matt Risingler did on his channel the build show about an alternate way of thinking about insulating attics. Closed cell foam might not be that expensive for a smaller footprint house so it could be an easy trade off in efficiency to bring your HVAC inside the envelope and eliminate energy loss by running cooling through a hot attic space. It’s getting hotter here in PNW so it got me thinking about my own home as well. Are you going to be switching to an electric water heater since it will be in a closet so you don’t need to worry about venting? Also Eden saw makes some awesome doug fir flooring if you decide to not end up going the tile rout in the kitchen. Tile can be nice for spills but hard surfaces can wear on your body in unexpected ways if you spend a significant amount of time in the kitchen. Now that I am done writing this book I will cap it off by saying thanks for brining us along on your journey, I really appreciate the time you put into these videos.
you could investigate non-standard water heaters, there are some that interact with heat pumps and leverage a phase-change gel to store heat, and take up less space than a traditional tank
Thank you sooooooo much!! I know that it’s my problem, but one of my biggest pet peeves is when I hear someone calling it a HOT water heater instead of simply a water heater. So, thank you again, and I love the progress on the house!
Great job! I'm doing the exact same thing to my house right now. Plaster is dusty! And heavy. Thanks for sharing your project.
I had the same moment of decision whether to keep the original fir flooring in our kitchen. After lots of pulling out of nails and staples, we decided to have it restored. Turned out absolutely amazing, but does have a ton of character due to leeching tannins and even burn damage that went too deep. We happen to love that kind of history showing through.
Nice work! Our 76 yo house fortunately had pex already installed when we bought it! I've had to correct a few plumbing issues as well as do a bit of remodelling of the house and the pex system is one of the easier tasks to work with especially for a neophyte like me! As for the HVAC, we tore out the furnace and all of the ducting to open up the basement and installed a mini split heat pump system which we love and WA has an rebate incentive for heat pump installs. I highly recommend!
I’m really enjoying this project and your editing is spot on so bring on episodes 3 in your own time of course
I'm curious, since you're comfortable with doing Pex yourself and were looking to save space, did you consider a tankless? I've heard the con of them in old build can be that you don't have the option of a recirculation loop, but you could put one in while you're doing all of this and save even more.
Oh, and if you like PB Blaster, you should give AeroKroil a try some time! I had it recommended to me by old car guys and have had even better luck with it, plus it seems like the fumes aren't quite as bad.
Last, supposedly with that old Linoleum you can sort of rehydrate it with Linseed OIl. Could be a cool to see if you can get an unblemished square off, clean it up and frame it as a keep sake in your utility closet. I did something similar with the 1950s era oil heater one pager after we found it during replacement because it was so neat :)
Tankless was my first thought when I saw the old heater leave. I know in my area it is not something you can DIY so perhaps that's a consideration.
I got a tankless water heater many years ago and I am never going back. You don't run out of hot water, you don't need to remember to turn it off when no one is there, you don't need to worry about it rusting out and blowing up one day. Also all the gas fumes, which has been linked to all sorts of health issues, are outside.
Can’t wait to see how you tackle the electricity I see that you have the old knob and tube wiring, dangerous stuff. My city requires arc fault breakers to be installed when any electrical permit is pulled. I wonder about Seattle…
My furnace is in the attic and my AC is outside my bedroom.
The linoleum carpet can be original from the 30ties, it was fashionable at the time. If the space always were a kitchen the wood floor could be a subfloor, meaning that it was never meant to be visible. That is a guesstimate, please do tell if you find out more details.
Interesting! I'm going to do some more research, and talk a bit more about the history of the house in a later video.
Thanks!
Pretty fantastic work, Michael! 😃
It's looking great in there!
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
You should keep a piece and frame it
1) You’re captions are amazing! I really appreciate the hard work that you put into them.
2) Whomakes those grey and orange shoes you’re wearing?
Those big yellow crowbars are the MVP!
Feels a bit likevwatching Haus lieselotte again xD
Loving this episode of 'This Old House'...
Water heaters in the attic is also very common, but you might not have the head room. If you put it in the closet, make sure you have "make up air" to feed a gas one, or just go electric and forget about needing a vent or moving the gas line. Probably have a better chance of finding a "low boy" water heater for the attic if you go electric.
Was gonna suggest this. Build a platform over a closet (where the attic floor is already more than strong enough to support a WH), and find a different use for the extra wide closet (just rename the extra space "The Christmas Nook"; for storing C-mas stuff.).
the kitchen floor looks like one that we had.. on a 50s extension.. the glue in ours apparently had asbestos in it.. it’s more safe than as fibres but had to pull the boards up to get it out safely..
Good plan with the HVAC. We moved our heater to the attic and gained lots of space.
You might also want to consider on demand hot water instead of a tank. Also a great space saver. We have ours outside!
Michael, if you relocate your air handler (furnace) to the attic,condition the space! Ie. Make the location of your furnace inside your air barrier assembly. Look into videos / books by Joe Lstiburek.
I wonder if the reason that the asbestos test reported the result as "less than 1%" is because the limit of detection of their test is 1%. So they might not be able to say there is 0 asbestos with absolute confidence, scientifically / legally.
That’s my guess too
Loving this series. Great work so far and big sigh of relief on the asbestos. Even I was nervous about the results. Can't wait to see the kitchen and of course, great idea on moving the furnace and the hot water tank.
WOW i can't not wait to see how the kitchen turns out, looks amazing!!!
I’m soo excited to see what happens with this kitchen! ❤🎉
It's coming along, Michael, but it's a far more ambitious project than I would ever undertake. Libby Montana was the home of a huge vermiculite mine (Zonolite) and wound up being a major superfund cleanup site. I think cleanup is still going on at this time.
Bill
Loving this series. Especially for those of us with older homes ourselves!
Definitely check out some information on converting your attic to conditioned space if your re going to relocate the hvac up there - Matt Risinger has some great info on the benefits and how to get it done
Great video you guys are doing an amazing job. Can’t wait to see the finished product
Loving this series and great Laura Kampf t-shirt!
I'm sorry, but I can't go along with moving the hvac into the attic. I have a rental with it in the attic, and it has been a pain in the rear. If your drainage ever gets clogged, it becomes a night mare. It took two different companies, four times, to get it right. 😢 if you do have it done, make sure that the drain for the drip pan underneath the inside unit is very visible and noticeable.
PS consider having a ducted mini split put in. Some brands now have air handlers, and they are MUCH more efficient!
Great video, Michael. After watching your video, I feel inspired to finish the small renovations I'm doing at the moment.
Have you considered installing a thankless hot water system? I know it might be a bit late for me to mention this, but it would dramatically cut down on the overall footprint of your hot water system.
You should get a piece of that funky patterned floor carbon dated
My favorite type of video! Love renovation projects. Inspires me to work on my house 😅
With those pipes it works best if you use a cast iron blade, it will make your 12v last longer. The M18 is the way to go though, especially with the 8AH or 12AH battery.
It's very kind to see you wearing Laura's t-shirt
Rather than a ginormous hot water heater have you considered a tankless system. I installed one in our house five years ago and have not looked back. Depending on how it is mounted you can hear it come on. After a time you really don’t notice it.
Thank you for everything you do. You're so damn good at making excellent content.. Just really appreciate your style.
If any of you are into gardening or plants you should have saved that vermiculite - it's an excellent soil additive!
When I bought my house I had to have my vermiculite tested to prove it wasn't contaminated with asbestos or it would have gotten a ton more expensive. Mine came back clean and get it all sucked out and replaced so much better.
i could taste a difference in our water when we replaced the galvanized with pex! good work
Such a funny coincidence you mention asbestos at 9:25 and then cut to you wearing a Laura Kampf shirt. Who's also renovating a house and had to deal with asbestos. :P
How do you feel about on demand hot water heaters? With the cost of traditional water heaters being so high, it might help with your space issue and make the cost difference worth it.
It's a bit of a long story I'll get into in a future video. I had two plumbers out and they both said it'll be hard to vent in this house because it has so many windows. The only option is thru the roof. We'd also have to re plumb all the gas lines because you have to go up to one inch. It's not out of the realm, but a tank heater is a LOT more affordable and we can install it which saves even more money.
To answer your question though I think it is a better way to go if you can...
Interesting seeing the differences in US to UK, mainly copper pipe before HDPE and same for tanks. Just replaced our copper tank as it split but had been in 60 years. Guess that is steel to only have a 10 year life span. I think a lot of people in the UK are going back to traditional rather than on demand - you can store solar heat and it works with air sourced heat pumps.
Love your videos! Kind, informative and cooooooool!
I like the pattern plywood shirt, but it would be freaking amazing one with the same outline going in a strip line all the way downof the shirt!!
You should do a video on how you use SketchUp. I love Jay Bates, Steve Ramsey and Kings Fine Woodworking videos on SketchUp. I'm always curious about the workflow of the design process.
Enjoyed the video. It really reminded me of why I don’t do construction anymore.
It is your best chance to seal air gaps, insulate, update electrical and add heat pumps.
Moving the furnace into the attic is such a good idea, and one I might have to borrow! Looking forward to that video and if/how the ducting gets rerouted
I have a similar old Seattle attic and am very curious to see if it's possible to move the trusses up off the floor and make use of the space, any thought about doing that in your home Michael?
Can I ask why did you buy a house that needed so much work! Good luck! You are good at what you do!
Pex plumbing is a total game changer in the remodeling and new construction trade
I am curious why you removed all the old galvanized piping in the crawl space. It could have been left in place, cut off the ends where you needed to penetrate the floor and the job would have been done much quicker.
Your plumbing brings back memories. Same situation galvanized plumbing replaced by Pex but I used Pex A Uponor. Any reason you did not choose Pex A??
Great work. I subscribed. Make sure you use the go no go gage on all your crimp rings because I didn't see you check any of them.
It's cool to see you help other youtouber like laura kampf and she have lot of trouble whit is house good school for you. Like you're chanel keep up the work
Instead of re-installing a water heater, why not put in a wall mount boiler for your domestic water? Much small, takes up way less space and, you could also use that for your heat source and eliminate the furnace altogether. You can still have forced air with just a coil in a fan box. Very Simple and way more efficient overall.
Love watching 'This Old House'. Playing 'This Old House' is not quite as fun though...
Loving the videos though!
Hahaha! So true
Hurry up With next episode, I really like your videos (and voice) They are so calming 😅
Yes, calming voice, great educator.
That's old linoleum on the floor, you can still get linoleum but don't know if the have patterns like that.
Just come through the floor next to your toilet. You can set a nice looking valve right there on the floor and pipe up to the toilet no problem.
Do you use a go/no-go when you're testing your PEX crimp rings? I found that my crimping tool was making them too tight off the factory floor. The go/no-go tool is invaluable for peace of mind.
Yeah! I didn't show it because I didn't want this to be a "How To PEX" video, but the go/no-go is essential
I always look at the metal tab on the crimp fitting because I've had batches where it wasn't folded enough and the crimp didn't hold, it was ideal brand about 6 times, I've never had that issue with waterline brand.
Corded Sawzall for the Win!
The linoleum graphic is Kandinsky-esque.
Wassily Kandinsky, Russian artist, art theorist 1866-1944.
I wonder if Michael could do patterned plywood marketry in the pattern of that flooring?🤔
A long term challenge, for sure!
Interesting how all my favorite maker TH-camrs right now have some renovation content going.
its actual linoleum the old stuff made with linseed oil, the new shit since the 80's is vinyl
AWESOME! Why not put the water heater in the attic?
Have you considered replacing the water heater with a tankless water heater instead? It would save a tremendous amount of space if you did
Is that actually still knob and tube wiring up in the attic (and wall) still or is that the result of a lazy electrician shoving new wiring through the knob and tube holes and attachment points? I know in some places it is no longer to code (to install) but okay to have as long as you don't add to or modify it. Though your insurance rates may go down significantly if your house no longer has it as well.
Nobody is talking about it, but what was the ring looking thing you found in the attic at 23:29?
Killing it!
Are you going to (hopefully) replace the knob and tube wiring?
Linoleum was the best floor covering.
Whoa… knob and tube wiring?!? Yeah, you need to get that out of there!
Tankless water heater??
And each the comments about the HVAC in the attic, it can certainly be less efficient if the under decking is not insulated/ conditioned space.
I can't wait 😊
Are you sure thats a load bearing wall? I thought it was only load beaing when the wall was perpendicular to the ceiling joist.
If you’re looking for space savings, you can also just get a tankless water heater
Why dont you use a tankless hot water heater and put it in the attic too?
Did you test the old linoleum for asbestos?
I did research and the burlap/jute backed linoleum does not contain asbestos. The later versions of linoleum can though
The old linoleum in my Ballard house didn’t contain asbestos (I had it tested anyway), but the brown, crumbly underlayment did. I then had it removed by a local abatement company, American Environmental Construction LLC.
Dang, the vermiculite result was a relief. Whew!