Sharing Archive

14-May-2021 Tip of the Week - Vanity Lighting

Part of North Shore Design Build’s expertise is lighting design. This includes designing with existing lamps as well as designing novel lamps with LED sources. One of our pet peeves are when we stay in a hotel and the bathroom lights shine on anything other than our faces. Granted, we probably aren’t applying makeup, but there are many other reasons for needing to look closely in a mirror like contact lenses, putting earrings in, any small injury to the face, etc.

When purchasing a vanity light there are three things to look at: is it going to put light on your face with put in the location you desire? Is it going to be bright enough for you? If you are going to be applying makeup, you probably want a high Color Rendering Index (CRI, 90 or above would be very good).

The trickiest part of buying any sort of lamp is the brightness, or lumens. In this situation, if the light is shining directly on your face, 800 lumens will probably be adequate unless you have a vision problem. If the light is behind a valence and bounces of the walls and ceiling before it hits you face, you might want something more like 1200 lumens.

If you like European-Style lighting but would like to pay less to an American Company, try Techlighting.com. Once you go through their catalogue and start shopping in local stores (not Home Depot), you will see that almost everyone carries them.

11-May-2021 Project Insider - Bathroom Remodel Mandated by Leak

Many remodels happen when there is a serious problem within the part of a building and the owner decides that he or she might as well spend the extra $ to upgrade various elements of the building. This is an example of that.

The owner of this condo was notified by the owner below him that water stains were appearing on their bathroom ceiling. We set about removing the flooring around the fixtures and found the water damage concentrated at the back of the toilet. We found the toilet extraordinarily difficult to remove and then noticed there were extra bolts holding it to the wall. After removing these we discovered a rare breed of toilet, the rear drain version. We also discovered years of water damage to layers of underlayment and subflooring. Upon measuring the toilet and the flange we found that they didn’t line up. We needed to lower the toilet. It was decided to cut away the top layer of subflooring (yes, there were two), put down a layer of cement board, and installed the toilet on that. It was a perfect fit. Then we installed cement board on the remaining, considerably higher floor and filled the gap between that and the toilet with silicone caulk. Finally, we tiled the floor.

By the way, in order to test for leaking, we cut a long strip of towel and stuffed it under the wall behind the toilet. After everything was installed, we flushed the toilet many times, waited, and pulled out the wick. It was bone dry.

7-May-2021 Tip of the Week - Preventing Paint from Peeling on Exterior House Trim

This tip comes from the author’s neighbor who is a (very) professional painter. Last summer the author and another neighbor were bemoaning paint that was peeling from trim after only a few years. Meanwhile, paint that had been applied over 20 years ago by the author and her husband was only just starting to peel. The painter explained that the primer that comes on “pre-primed” trimboard is low quality while the primer that we applied ourselves was much higher quality. The primer is very important on porous exterior surfaces like wood. The vast majority of exterior primers are more than adequate for this job, but if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask someone where you are buying the primer (preferably a local business).

When North Shore Design-Build is painting existing exterior surfaces we do specify primer. Where we are installing trim, we specify a synthetic wood such as Azek, Versatex, or Royal PVC Trim & Mouldings. This is because our local environment is so humid and rainy that preventing decay can be difficult. We also specify the same (as do the other architects and designers we work with) when designing for another construction company.

30-April-2021 Tip of the Week - Hanging Items on Plaster Walls

Many of us live in homes with Plaster on the walls whether it be horsehair plaster on wood lathe, three-coat plaster on gypsum lathe, or veneer plaster on blueboard. Regardless, plaster is considered a brittle finish in the trades and is treated differently during many parts of construction and/or repair. Likewise, it should be treated differently by the occupants of a home, especially when hanging things like framed art or photos.

The trick to keeping the plaster from cracking when putting the small nail in that is part of the hook is so simple, it should come as instructions with those hooks. Once you determine the location of the hook and nail, take some clear plastic tape, preferably something like 3M’s Scotch® Magic Tape™, and apply two pieces about 1½” long in a cross with the center at that location. Now when you hammer the nail (preferably with a tack hammer), the plaster won’t crack.

27-April-2021 Product Insight - Light Bulbs/LED Strips

At this point in time, we are awash in choices for light bulb technologies. For our light bulb discussion, we are going to stick with the familiar A19 shape (or similar size for CFL) and the E26/27 screw base (one is Imperial other metric and they are interchangeable.) These are the bulbs that go into the lamps we have been using all of our lives.

For over a century, we were using almost exclusively incandescent bulbs in our homes. They have a nice, warm color that tended to make the space feel cozy and inviting. In 1995, a Chinese company finally created an affordable compact fluorescent lamp, or CFL, which they were able to do because of affordable labor to coil the glass into the spiral shape. This type of bulb uses 25-30% of the electricity of the equivalent incandescent bulb. It’s purchase price is typically 3-10 times greater than the incandescent bulb, but it lasts 8-15 times longer for a very good investment.

Some downsides of the CFL bulb are: There is mercury in the tube. It must be handled carefully and disposed of properly. The bulbs can be slow to reach full brightness, especially in cold temperatures. Dimmable versions are nearly impossible to find, and one is unlikely to be satisfied with the results anyway.

In 2010, Philips released the world’s first 60 watt equivalent A19 bulb at 15% the power consumption. Back then, there was some dissatisfaction with the color, but some organizations around the world published specifications, etc. to help with this issue and exceptional products were in the stores very soon after. At first the LED bulbs were pricey, but the price has fallen steadily such that there is no reason to be purchasing CFLs. By 2019 electricity usage in the United States had decreased for at least five straight years, due in part incandescents being replaced with LEDs.

In the past when installing task lighting underneath kitchen wall cabinets, the choices where a low profile fixture with a narrow fluorescent tube (yes, you can still buy these), or a low profile fixture with several small halogen. 25 years ago this author was about to put some of those $15 fluorescent fixtures in near then end of a kitchen remodel when someone brought in some halogen fixtures (yes, 3-4x as much $). The difference in the color temperature was staggering and the choice was easy. Since then, those halogen fixture have failed, and they have been replaced with LED strips which nobody has regretted.

You can buy fixtures with LED strips in them, or you can have a qualified professional install them at the component level. At North Shore Design-Build we have installed them in all sorts of places. Of course, we don’t want to give away all of our secrets….

23-April-2021 Tip of the Week - Earth Day! Lawns

We at North Shore Design-Build don’t like to get preachy, but Earth Day was yesterday, and this is a topic that touches nearly all of us: lawns.

The grasses that we buy at the store are not native species. They generally originate in Great Britain which is cooler and wetter than most of the United States. As a result, we have to put a great deal of effort into making these plants appear healthy and happy. Many people believe that a healthy-looking lawn is sequestering carbon and has a positive effect on the ecology. This is not the case, as we will demonstrate below.

The United States has 166 million acres of cropland and 10 million acres of lawns, yet the total amount of fertilizer applied to lawns is 10 times greater than what's applied to our crops. Additionally, 67 million pounds of pesticides are applied to lawns. The fertilizer and pesticides release nitrous oxide - a greenhouse gas 298 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Then we mow the lawns with devices that require no emissions controls. One hour of mowing pollutes as much as 1 hour of 40 cars driving - a total carbon footprint of 25 million tons!

The fertilizers and pesticides have other undesirable effects. The fertilizers wash into various types of still water causing algae blooms, many of them toxic, especially as our summers get warmer. The pesticides poison seeds, berries, etc. on the ground that birds eat, and become runoff where just anything can ingest it.

The last issue is water. Farmland requires 88.5 million acre feet of water each year. Although the total area of lawns total less than 25% of farmland, lawns consumer 66% of the water. Also, 30 – 60% of municipal drinking water is used on lawns.

So what are we to do? Here are some approaches:

Put sugar in the gas tank of the lawn mover and throw it out. Buy a reel lawn mower. You will get some exercise while mowing. If you aren’t up to it, pay a neighborhood teenager.
Replace the grass with some or all of the following. (We recognize that few of us can afford to do this all at once. The author and her husband have been replacing the grass at their house at the rate of about 100 square feet per year, and have been at it for nearly 20 years.)

a. Native grasses – they vary in different parts

of the country, of course.

b. Ground covers – native species will be much

easier to grow. Many are evergreen, making

your “lawn” more beautiful when not summer.

c. Perennials - same as ground covers, but

separated here so you can visualize

something taller, probably along the edges

d. Shrubs – it will get more difficult to get

actual native species. There will be more

hybrids. Consider evergreens, which

sequester more carbon.

Now you might be thinking, “What do I place between the plants where I want to walk?”. You can do pretty much anything you want. (You might want to look up xeriscaping.) However, I caution you about buying anything made of concrete. Each pound of concrete releases 0.93 pounds of carbon dioxide.

20-April-2021 Project Insider - New Sustainable Home Project

North Shore Design-Build has started a two-house project in North Reading. One house is a gut renovation; the other, new construction. Both homes are sustainable design and construction including a geothermal installation and solar voltaic panels. If you are interested in sustainable design, keep an eye out here. We have a good shot at Net Zero here!!!

16-April-2021 Tip of the Week - Removing Uncured Silicone Sealant

For many years I have avoided using silicone sealant because it is so difficult to make a nice neat job and so messy to clean up. Unfortunately, in most applications, it is a compromise - at best to - use acrylic. One of the reasons silicone is so difficult to clean up (before it is cured) is that the solvent is strong acetic acid, something we don't generally keep around. (It smells like vinegar because this is the acid in, you guessed it, vinegar.)

One day I was working with silicone, and when I was done I had some messy areas to clean up. I wasn't anywhere near a place that would be carrying acetic acid. However, there was a Walgreens across the street. I returned with a 20oz bottle of Coca Cola. You probably don't want to know how acidic Coke is, but it did a great job of cleaning up the silicone caulk.