[Greenbuilding] Refurbish or Replace

[Bruce Donelson]

Some follow on questions:

If I do refurbish the house..

A. Concerning the roof (shingles apparently wearing out, some boards
rotting, possible water damage, and the old insulation)...  would I have the
roof of the house completely re-done? Or would it more likely be just
replacing some damaged boards and resurfacing?  I might have some water
damage and there is the old insulation and new pink fiberglass insulation..
could those/should those be abated if the roof was off and being re-done?
There is bird crap in my attic also.. obviously it's not entirely closed
from the outside either!

A: If you are going to add on, do the roof all at once.

B.  Tell me about a tin roof..  this seems to be more durable than
shingles.. and I have been under the assumption it is cheaper?


B: Metal roofs cost more than composition shingle. It there are lots of
valleys and skylight it costs even more. Some finishes (Kynar) are VERY
longlived. Can be recylcled later, too. Good fire resistance from outside
fires. But holds up longer from inside fires, so can aggravate an internal
house fire, by holding the heat in and not burning through.

I like them a lot.



C.  I have very large windows in most rooms.. they are nice but as mentioned
they are old 'casement windows' and not really at all efficient and in need
of drastic repair if they were kept.  Would I likely be able to get windows
the same size or would I end up having to go with smaller windows if I
modernize them..  we know from trying to buy curtains that they don't seem
to make standard windows as big as these from the 40's.

C: You can get custom window sizes for the same cost as any other sizes
these days.



D.  I'm thinking to create more space that perhaps I would just extend two
rooms in to what is now the back yard.  As part of that the leaky laundry
room would be removed.  Is this feasible.. just remove a wall and make a
room larger?

Well, you'l need some new foundations. And probably some new electrical
circuits. New bedrooms must be on arc fault circuit breakers, which you
might have a hard time putting into an old fuse box....

Bruce Donelson
A Better Builder

I think that is all for now. Thanks for the recommendations on people who
might can advise.. I definatly will talk to the neighbors and other people
who you guys recommend I get advice from.

I might have to do something about the roof soon though.. since it's
currently leaking!  I wonder if I should go for a large overhaul or just
patch the leaks for now.. for example if I wanted to remove all the windows
and maybe add-on rooms then I should save the roof work for then?

Like someone said, I might have to live in a trailer or something if I have
some major work done.. maybe my dad would lend me his for a while.

Thanks again for all the help!
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