I haven't had any interesting progress to note here for quite a while. But things are still happening. Here's a short update:
The front door has been repaired rather than replaced. The door frame still needs some work, and the weather strip needs replacing. I also want to add a storm door to the front. This will help protect the old door from further weather damage, and add some insulation value.
The basement door (and part of the wall) still needs to be replaced. Don't know if I mentioned it before, but the basement used to have a garage door leading out to the back patio. At some point, someone walled it in. Not a high quality job either. The old door is rotting off its hinges, and the threshold is already gone. I want to replace the whole flimsy wall with a 2x6 frame, and get double doors put in. Then I can do most of my small engine type work inside instead of out on the patio. (It rains here a lot.)
The basement is still in the process of getting additional insulation. (It's a "daylight" basement, so some walls are exposed to the outside air.) I've actually made some progress here, furring out some walls, and adding expansion foam and rigid insulation in various nooks and crannies that have been leaking air (and bugs, and vermiculite) pretty much since the house was built 80 years ago. I also refurbished my grandpa's old work bench. So it's now part of the basement improvements:
The main floor walls (cinder block) need insulation. Cinder block has an R-value of 2 (or so I've read). They're furred out with 2x2s and insulated with vermiculite, which adds another 3, I think. There are companies, if I can find one locally, that inject basically a truckload of expansion foam, into the cavities of the cinder blocks to insulate without having to tear the place apart.
The attic still needs proper ventilation and insulation. My son and I have actually been working on this recently. There is some electrical work that needs doing before we can insulate. Some of which has been done. And we have fans, and vent covers, and power cable now to do the ventilation work. Hopefully this spring before it gets too hot.
Ye Olde furnace could be replaced with a modern heat pump. I've been trying to figure how many BTUs of heat pump I need, but I don't think I'll be able to do it properly without hiring it out. I've read that the standard X number of BTUs per sq. ft. is wildly inaccurate, as it doesn't take into account the local climate, or the efficiency of the house. (I'd rate ours as "poor"). The bad efficiency of the house might cancel out our mild climate, but I'd rather not guess. I did get to measure the current draw of the furnace recently. Its on two 2-pole breakers labeled "blower" and "furnace". Blower got 42.5A and furnace got 20A. I think the labels may be swapped. But no matter, that's 15kW total, which seems to be normal for an electric furnace of my sized house. It has a label, but I don't really understand it:
Air ducts could be improved for better air circulation. My ductwork is an amalgamation of different heating eras. I think the original furnace was oil powered, based on the antient thermostat I found buried in the wall during some renovation. I'm pretty sure some of the older ductwork is oversized, and some of the newer stuff is right in the way of a window. So I need that moved. Also, there are no air returns in the basement or on the second floor. I think we could add them pretty easy. But I'll have to consult with an HVAC company to be sure.
I was considering a tankless water heater for a while. Based on what we need, I don't think it's a good match for us though. Even though they use fewer kWh that a traditional tank, their immediate current draw would be something like 112A instead of the more reasonable 18.8A. I don't have the option for propane or natural gas appliances. Electricity is cheaper in my area than those anyway.
Now I'm looking into heat pump water heaters. Seems they draw only about 21A, and are still use less energy than traditional tanks. Also, the cold exhaust could be vented outside in the winter, and into the kitchen in the summer. At no extra electrical cost. Some of them even have "smart" thinamagigs in them that let them use even less power during times of day when we're not likely to use any hot water. So I'm pretty intrigued by these things at the moment.
I haven't made any progress on the battery/solar side of things except some recent research. Folks here have been helping me with that on
this thread. Though I am pretty happy with how the research is going. I'm getting closer to nailing down actual parts and products I can use vs. just theory.
I've also been getting a lot of wiring replaced. Old stuff looks like this:
The stuff they used to use in the old days, scary. No wonder so many places burned down. I worked on a house where they had just insulators, and "bare" wire! The bare wire would go from insulator to insulator and then a pigtail to the receptacle. You gotta turn the power off just to put your arm in the wall to do......what ever.