A Friday mystery for you.
We found this at the farm.
Now you have to figure out what it is.
Take your best guess. Leave your answer in the comments.
Next week, I will reveal all.
Category Archives: Renovating
Progress
Greenboard and cement board are up in the basement bathroom
I’m a little bit excited to finally be at the drywall stage in the basement reno. It’s going to be a huge job though, so we’ve decided to break it into smaller projects to make it more manageable. We started with the bathroom.
We used cement board in the shower and then moisture resistant greenboard on the ceiling and the rest of the walls. We’ve also patched the floor where Matt broke up the concrete for the drains and put the new concrete pan in the shower.
Our new shower comes with a storage niche as well as a bench
Next step is taping all of the joints, and then we’ll move on to tile. It’s amazing what a difference the drywall makes. The room is already starting to feel more finished.
Things I love:
- the niche
- the bench
- the precision cutting we were able to do around the electrical and plumbing–less pasting for us!
Hopefully the progress continues this weekend.
What are your plans?
Wiring woes
As you saw yesterday, work on the basement continues. In the meantime, I’m going back a few weeks to talk about some of the problems we encountered with the electrical.
Fried junction box in the basement ceiling. In case you were wondering, no, the inside should not be black like that.
We ended up discovering a total of 10 junction boxes in the basement ceiling, hidden behind the drywall. This is a big no-no. Junction boxes themselves are okay. But covering them over with drywall is not. You’re supposed to put a cover on them so that they are accessible.
The conversation during demo went something like this:
“I found another one.”
“Seriously? Crap!”
“Do you want to just pull the whole ceiling down?”
“We probably should. Who knows how many there are up there.”
One of my goals in hiring a professional electrician was to eliminate as many junction boxes as possible, because I didn’t want the covers polka-dotting our nice new ceiling. In the end, our electrician was able to get rid of all but two–much better than I’d hoped for.
The other unsettling moment during demo was when we’d open a wall or part of the ceiling and find a loose wire. The ends were usually cut. They weren’t capped or taped at all, and we had no idea where they went and whether or not they were live.
This was the moment when Matt would reach for his tester and point it at the offending wire. If the tester chirped, that meant the wire was live. It turned out that most of the wires were dead, completely disconnected at both ends. No one had ever bothered to remove them, so they just sat there behind the drywall waiting to scare future renovators.
Matt made it his mission to eliminate all of this useless wiring, and he spent a lot of time tracing wires through the ceiling and along the walls so that he could pull them out.
Pile of some of the old wires Matt pulled out in the basement.
We did as much of the wiring work ourselves as we could, but having the help of a skilled professional was absolutely necessary for fixing all of the problems. Electrical is not always straight-forward, and it can be dangerous if it’s not right.
I’m all about DIY, but only if I know what I’m doing. Thanks to our electrician, all of the problems have been fixed, the panel is organized and labelled, circuits have been tidied up and new outlets and lights have been added where we wanted them. Most important of all it’s done right and it’s safe.
Warm and toasty… and teal?
What do you think of our new colour scheme in the basement?
It’s a little bit smurf, a little bit cotton candy.
Matt was hoping for blue. I’d say he got his wish.
Last week, we had spray foam insulation applied to all of the exterior walls.
As you’ll recall, the original plans for the basement reno were mostly cosmetic (replace carpet, remove paneling, relocate cabinetry, leave all the drywall in place and just patch and paint). Simple, easy, quick!
However, we’ve had a few surprises in the form of inadequate insulation and improper wiring. Our solution was to remove the drywall and the existing R7 insulation from all of the exterior walls and start fresh.
The old insulation was actually stamped R7. I don’t think I’d admit it if I was that inadequate.
However, we couldn’t just simply put the new insulation into the old walls because all of the studs were laid flat on the concrete. This meant we only had 1 1/2 inches for insulation. We had to fur out all of the existing studs with new 2x4s.
We screwed new 2x4s onto the existing studs.
The count was close to 100 studs for the whole basement. Each one had to be plumbed (make sure it’s perfectly vertical) and then toenailed (screwed on an angle) with three inch screws to the old studs. It took two people to do each stud (one to hold and one to screw), so this stage has taken us a little while to complete. Matt and I found it took us about two hours to do a wall.
It would have been easier to put the new studs flat onto the old studs, but we wanted the higher R factor that additional depth allowed us. We ended up with 5 inches of space and we had the option of R20 or R27 for the insulation. R20 application meant we’d have 3 1/4 inches of foam and R27 would be 4 1/2 inches. We chose to go with R20 because there was nearly a $1,000 price difference for just 7 more R factors, which wasn’t worth it for us. R20 is still a really good rating.
I’ve never done spray foam before (and to be clear we couldn’t find a DIY option for spray foam, so we hired an insulation contractor to do the work for us), but we chose this option over the traditional batts for a couple of reasons:
- Traditional insulation requires tar paper (or some other membrane) between the concrete and the studs, and there was no way we could do this and still leave the existing studs in place. We then would have to run a plastic vapor barrier over the insulation before we put up the drywall.
- We found about 6 mice (all dead) and numerous rodent highways in the old insulation.
Spray foam is tar paper, insulation and vapor barrier all in one. Plus it’s more rodent resistant, which is comforting given our discoveries.
The spray foam covers the wall space between each stud as well as the joist headers at the top of the walls. In the main room and long room the ceilings are all open so the sprayers had easy access (click here if you need a refresher on the floor plan for the basement). In the office we left the ceiling in place, so Matt cut back about 12 inches of drywall off the ceiling on the two exterior walls so that the sprayers would be able to access the joist headers and we’d have a good seal all the way around.
These joist headers (which were completely uninsulated before) can be the source of a lot of drafts
To prepare for the spray foam we made sure all of the electrical and plumbing work that we wanted to do was completed in advance. Spray foam fills all of the nooks and crannies and hardens very quickly. It’s great for efficiency, but you can’t really change your mind and say, “Oh I really wish that plug was over here” after it’s all done.
This is the corner in Matt’s office where the desk is going to go. From left to right we have a double box for electrical outlets, a plastic conduit that will eventually house the internet wire (we’ll use the string to pull the wire through the pipe) and a phone jack.
The spray foam crew took a full day to do the whole basement. While the spray is being applied, it is toxic, so the crew wore respirators and my Dad (who was on-site supervising) couldn’t stay in the house. When we got home from work that night there was a slight odor, but we opened the windows and it dissipated quickly.
Insulation is a major step in putting the basement back together. As much as we love the teal, we’re anxious to move on to drywall… Or maybe just anxious about drywall. This next stage is going to be a biggie. We’ll keep you posted on how we make out!
How to install a pot light
The original lighting in what will be the TV area of the basement consisted of four pot lights, two ceiling fixtures mounted on the walls and one ceiling fan recessed into the ceiling so that it didn’t decapitate anyone. These three different sets of lights were controlled by three different switches in two different locations.
The original lighting in the basement.
We decided to keep just the pot lights, so Matt took apart the ceiling fan, and my Dad pulled out one of the wall-mounted ceiling fixtures while I dealt with the other one. We removed the boxes and wires running to each of the lights as well as the switches that controlled the ceiling fan and the pot lights. Then we reconnected the pot lights into the switch that originally controlled the ceiling fixtures.
Everything was working well, but we felt we needed a little more light, so we decided to add an extra pot light in the middle of the ceiling.
Apologies for the quality of the following photos. So many circuits are off in the basement due to the electrical work that we don’t have very many lights. We have construction lights set up, but they’re a little harsh. I played around with some new actions in Photoshop, but I can’t tell whether they made things better or worse.
Our original four pot lights
Electrical work can be intimidating, but installing a pot light is a very straight forward job that can be completed in about a half an hour, even by those of us that are not licensed electricians. We did have a lot of other issues with the electrical in the basement, and for those we hired a professional electrician.
Here’s my pot light installation method, complete with lots of photos (of varying quality). Note that in the tutorial I’ve assumed that the wire that is going to be feeding your new pot light is already in place.
1) Turn off the electricity to your light. In this house, none of the circuits are labelled, so our usual method of finding the right one is to turn on the light (or plug something in) and have one of us watch it while the other person flips the breakers until we find the right one. Then we label it!
2) Determine where you want your new light. I used the oh so scientific method of tying a piece of twine to each of the existing pot lights. Where it crossed was the centre.
3) Now onto your light.
Some pot lights can be installed in a finished (drywalled) ceiling. However, this type of pot light has to be installed where the ceiling is open.
4) Pop the cover off the wiring box to reveal the wires.
Cover on (left). Cover off (right). I also cut off the push-in connectors because I’m used to twisting the wires together instead.
5) Now attach the pot light to the joist. For my light, this meant adjusting the brackets, or bar hangers, so that they were the right length to span between the joists and then nailing the bracket into the joist.
For reference, holding the light in place while taking a picture is not the easiest. A third hand, or better yet a second pair, would be helpful.
6) Take a break because your husband has arrived home, and he brought dinner.
Pot light housing installed. Time for dinner.
7) If necessary, trim your feed wire to the required length and strip back the casing to reveal the individual wires. The easiest way to do this is to use your side cutters to snip a little split in the casing, just enough so that you can access the ground wire (the copper one). Grab the ground wire with your pliers and pull to rip the casing. You want to remove the casing for about 6 inches so that you can access the black, white and copper wire. Once your casing is ripped back far enough, clip it off with your side cutters. Strip about a 1/2 inch or so of the plastic coating off of the tips of the black and the white wires. I usually do this with a knife, as though I’m peeling a vegetable.
Remove the casing from the wires by pulling on the ground wire. For reference, the ground wire is pointing up to the right, the black and white wires are pointing down to the left and the empty casing is pointing down in the centre.
8) Knock out one of the round metal covers (coincidentally called knock-outs) on the pot light housing. I used my awl to bend it up and then wiggled it back and forth until it snapped out. The wire isn’t supposed to float loose in the hole, but the pot light didn’t come with any clamps or conduit, so I pulled one off of an old electrical box and put it in the hole.
From left to right, removing the knock-out, the clamp that will hold the wire in place and the clamp installed.
9) Insert your feed wire into the pot light and clamp it in place.
Sorry for the slightly blurry photo. The plastic casing should be just inside the pot light housing.
10) Connect your feed wire to the wire in the pot light: black to black, white to white, ground to ground. Twist them together with your pliers and cap them with marretts.
You don’t have to get fancy with different coloured marretts. These are simply the two I had on hand that fit the wires properly.
11) Once everything is securely connected, tuck your wires back into the housing, put in a light bulb and flip the circuit back on to test your light.
It works!
12) Put the cover back over the wiring area. Make sure the light is positioned where you want it on the hanger bars. There’s a screw that you tighten into the bar to lock the light in place. Stand back and admire your handiwork.
Let there be light!
The five pot lights look great, and throw a sufficient amount of light. I initially thought we might need some wall sconces or extra lamps, but I think the pot lights will work well for us.
Oh and you might want to take down your measuring twine, unless you really like it as a decorative element.
ETA: The final, final step in installing pot lights is installing the trim, which I did after our ceiling was drywalled. I’ve posted my instructions of how to install pot light trim.
Reflections on a DIY lifestyle
Last week two of the blogs I read regularly did posts on the theme of DIYing vs. Living In Your Home & Enjoying It (that’s Young House Love’s title. DIY Diva had her own reflections). Reading their posts got me thinking about my philosophy and how we live in our house.
Matt and Dad dig out an old window well while our mason works at bricking up another old window
It’s been just about two months since we moved into the farm. Our major motivation for moving to the country is to enjoy a slower pace and really savour life, but I feel like we really haven’t taken much time to sit down and enjoy being here. We have moments–Saturday afternoons before dump runs tend to be a time you’ll catch us sitting outside for a few minutes… usually just on the ground or a rock, usually with the kitties around us.
Matt on a kitty break. Notice the work gloves are still on.
As much as I love DIY, it can be a tough lifestyle at times.
Last week was a bit rough in spots. We had a couple of late nights working on the house, a couple of evenings out for other stuff (the rest of your life and work continue even when you’re mid-reno) and a couple of last minute shopping sprees/construction blitzes to prepare for trades who were coming the next day.
We tend to sacrifice sleep to get it all done and there are lots of mornings that we are dragging and some days where we feel a bit droopy.
Cuts and scrapes, bumps and bruises are all part of DIY
I can’t imagine not working on our house myself and making it what I want with my own two hands. But there comes a point in every project where I just want it to be done. We’re not there yet. It usually hits sometime around the drywall stage.
A big project, like the basement reno we’re in the midst of now, causes a lot of chaos. Everything that would normally be in the basement is in the living room. The kitchen island is covered with tools and materials and manuals and notes for trades. There’s a fine skim of dust everywhere, both upstairs and down.
The yearning to have a clean and organized house and be able to sit down for an evening without feeling guilty is powerful motivation at this stage of a project.
The partially gutted basement
We do try to keep a balance. We’ve learned we don’t always have to be working on the house. Yes, taking a night off makes me feel slightly guilty and pushes the finish line a little farther away. However, hanging out with friends, sitting on the couch watching TV or just taking a walk rejuvenate me so that I’m more motivated when we get back to work.
Also, we tend to only take on one big project a year, so we have lots of time off to recuperate and relax in between–and forget!
Vistas like this just outside the front door can make us shift our focus pretty quickly from DIYing to relaxing.
This basement project is not our first DIY reno, but this is my first time blogging about it, and I’m finding the blog is very motivating as well. Keeping a record of our progress and posting pictures of what we’re working towards help to keep me moving. I know at the end it will be beautiful and completely worth it.
As well, knowing that we have all of you out there supporting us, reading updates and looking forward to seeing the finished product means a lot. People have been promised an invitation to play games and watch movies in our fun basement hangout. We have to deliver!
Now it’s your turn. Whether you’re a DIYer or not, how do you stay motivated?
Going geothermal – The verdict
This is the final post in “Going Geothermal.” I’m going to evaluate our experience thus far.
In the first post of this series, I mentioned that geothermal wasn’t even on our radar when we first thought about replacing our furnace. Now, two months after the geo was installed, we couldn’t imagine choosing any other system.
Our heat pump, complete with certification sticker from the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition
On our choice to go geothermal
Geothermal is expensive when it comes to the up front costs. We definitely paid a lot more than we would have if we had chosen to go with a traditional high-efficiency furnace, even taking into account a new air conditioner and hot water heater. Over the long term, however, we should actually save money. According to Matt’s calculations, with the savings we get from not having oil, we should be even after seven years. And after that we’ll be paying about one-third of what we would have been paying if we had an oil system.
Geothermal is a greener technology, which is important to me. I like knowing that I’ve made a responsible choice that is better for the planet than the other options that were available.
On the system
As I mentioned, our system consists of a 5 tonne ClimateMaster heat pump with a desuperheater and a 6 tonne horizontal loop. All of the elements of the system are working very well. The temperature in the house is very comfortable, and we have lots of hot water.
Early in the process of going geothermal, we were told that a geothermal system is most efficient if it can run 90% of the time. Ours definitely does not do this. It could be because it’s spring and temperatures are warmer. Or it could be because our system is slightly over-size for our house due to our plans for future expansion. I’m willing to sacrifice some efficiency to avoid upgrading the heat pump in the future when we put on our addition.
On the con side of things, I would say geothermal is slightly noisy. The heat pump itself is incredibly well-insulated, so you don’t hear the motor or other elements. However, a huge volume of air is being pushed through our ducts–more than if we had a regular furnace. As a result, I find I hear the air as it circulates, and I notice more when the system is running.
I’ve also noticed that the air seems to be dryer than it was at our old house with our gas furnace. I’m not sure whether that’s a factor of the house or of the geothermal.
On the contractor
Our geothermal contractor was Waterloo Energy Products. From the beginning with my initial phone call to their office, I was very impressed by their customer service. They answered every single one of my questions, even if they did tease me a bit about my questionnaire. From the office staff, Jim and Jason, to the on-site crew, Chris, Paul and Mike, they were all very professional, knowledgeable and helpful.
At the conclusion of the install, Waterloo Energy Products provided us with a binder with all of the information and documentation for our system, including site diagrams and warranties.
They are also personally very committed to geothermal and have geothermal in their own homes. Their office is an education in sustainable living, showcasing multiple renewable energy products all under one roof. If you’re at all interested in renewable energy–not just geothermal–I encourage you to visit their Sustainable Living Centre.
Still to come
The one part of our geothermal system that I haven’t evaluated yet is the air conditioning. As it’s still spring, we haven’t used it yet. However, I promise to post an update once we do. I’m sure Matt will put it to the test this summer. After five years without a/c, this is one feature of the farm that he’s very excited about.
Update: The air conditioning evaluation is now available.
For now, this concludes the “Going Geothermal” series. We’re very pleased with our decision to go with geothermal, our system and our experience with Waterloo Energy Products. I hope that this series gives you some insight into our experiences and helps those that are interested in going geothermal themselves.
If you have any questions, leave a comment. I’m happy to share more about our experience “going geothermal.”
For previous posts in the Going Geothermal series, click on one of the links below:
- Part 1: The decision
- Part 2: Picking a contractor (including my questionnaire)
- Part 3: The installation
- Part 4: The costs
- Update: Part 6: The air conditioning
Scenes from Saturday
Saturday is our main work day on the farm. There’s only so much we can do in the evenings when we come home from our day jobs, so we tend to put in a full day when we have the opportunity.
We’re focused right now on the basement and have finally started the process of putting it back together. The exterior walls in the main room and office have new studs. The electrician has fixed all of the wiring. The bathroom has been gutted.
This past Saturday, we got rid of all of the equipment that was part of the old water system for the house and the indoor pool. Of course, it was all full of water (even the pool filter, which we were told hadn’t been used in at least two years) and extremely heavy. We drained as much of the water as we could before hauling them up the stairs.
My Dad starting the siphon to drain the water from the old pool filter. And yes, I had the pleasure of restarting the siphon three more times myself, after it became clogged with the sand that was inside the filter. I’ll spare you the description of what the water tasted like.
The other clean-up we did was finally getting rid of our pile of scrap metal, thanks to a metal drive organized by a local Rotary club.
Old window wells, hinges, nails, wires, an old reel lawn mower, pipes, racks, shelves that we’ve gathered from around the property have been piling up beside our fire pit.
Back in the basement we made good progress on the bathroom. I pulled down the old studs on the exterior wall to get it ready for new framing, and Matt broke up the floor for the shower drain and the toilet (the new walls will be thicker than the old ones, so the toilet has to be repositioned by just a few inches).
Smashing concrete with a sledgehammer is not a fun job. I’m so glad I didn’t have to do it.
It was another productive Saturday. I feel like we’ve finally turned the corner on the basement reno from demo into reconstruction.
What did you do with your weekend? Anyone else have a regular Saturday project?
Going geothermal – The costs
When you’re undertaking a large renovation project, such as installing a geothermal system, you of course want to know how much it’s going to cost.
Most people want this information as early in the process as possible and so they spend time typing “how much does geothermal cost” into search engines and talking with contractors, trying to figure out what the final bill will be.
Often, it’s really difficult to find this information. Many people are uncomfortable talking finances and don’t necessarily want to share how much they pay for things. Contractors don’t want to put a number on projects until they’re able to work up a quote that’s accurate for your particular situation.
Beginning with my very first phone calls with the five geothermal contractors, I very casually asked for ballpark numbers. I found I had better success if I phrased the question gently. My approach usually sounds something like, “So what am I looking at here in terms of costs? I’ve heard it’ll be between $20,000 and $30,000.”
And for reference $20,000-$30,000 is the range we worked with in all of our early figuring for our geothermal, and we tend to always go on the high end–start with the worst case scenario and hopefully you’ll be pleasantly surprised. All of the contractors I spoke with confirmed we were likely looking in that range.
In the end, Waterloo Energy Products’ estimate for our geothermal system came in at $25,558.34.
For this we got
- a full heat loss calculation on our house
- all of the paperwork required for the system and for our certification submission to the Canadian GeoExchange Coalition
- 5 tonne ClimateMaster heat pump
- 6 tonne horizontal loop (including excavation)
- horizontal boring from the loop field into the house
- desuperheater for our hot water, plus two 40 gallon hot water tanks
- 10kw electric back-up heater
- a new programmable thermostat
- all of the required electric, plumbing and duct work to connect it all
A big factor for us when it came to the costs for our geothermal system was also the Government of Canada ecoEnergy program. This program (which has now ended) provides a rebate of $4,375 for installation of a ground source earth-energy system (aka geothermal).
Sometimes when you’re doing a renovation, there ends up being a difference between the price you’re quoted at the beginning of the project and the price you end up paying when all of the work is done. This did not happen for us with our geothermal system. The price that Waterloo Energy Products originally quoted us was the price we paid.
So, all in, taxes, certifications, rebates, our geothermal system cost $20,883.34.
Only one more post left in our “Going Geothermal” series. Coming up next week, the verdict on our system, our contractor and geothermal itself.
For previous posts in the Going Geothermal , click on one of the links below:
Going geothermal – The installation
As I mentioned in previous entries of “Going Geothermal” (see Part 1: The decision and Part 2: Picking a contractor), we were on a tight timeline for the geothermal system, and on the third day that we owned the farm installation began.
Waterloo Energy Products crew laying the geothermal loop.
Coincidentally, the day before installation began the oil tank also ran dry. We topped it up with diesel, and then our geo contractors spent more than an hour getting the old furnace running. They never did get the hot water tank working again.
This timing just confirmed for us that we made the right decision in going for the geo right away.
Here’s the schedule of how our installation played out.
Day 1:
Remove old pool room furnace. Move new heat pump and hot water tanks into the basement. Prep work.
Day 2:
Directional drilling. The geo system is made up of two main components: the loop field where the pipes are laid and the heat pump in the house. Somehow, the two systems have to be connected.
Option 1 for doing this is digging a trench between the loop field and the house and popping the pipes horizontally through the foundation wall, hopefully right into the utility room. In this scenario, the pipes will be about mid-way between the floor and ceiling, so if you can’t get access directly into the utility room, the pipes will have to run along the wall until they can get into the utility space. Outside you need clean access to the foundation, which means no patios or other obstructions between the loop field and the spot that you want to go through the foundation.
Option 2 is directional drilling (also known as horizontal boring) where a special drill rig tunnels in from the field under the foundation (and in our case under a patio and under a sun room) and pops up through the floor of the utility room. It’s a very clean installation, but you pay extra for the convenience of not having a big trench running up to your foundation.
The geothermal lines entering and exiting the utility room.
Also on day 2 our contractors removed the (non-functioning) hot water tank and the house furnace.
Day 3:
The Dig. This was the part I was most excited about. For our 6 tonne loop system, our contractor dug three trenches 300 feet long, 5 feet deep and 5 feet wide. It was a huge excavation. Fortunately, we have a lot of property and our contractor had a big excavator.
For some context picture me driving up to the farm at 7:45 in the morning (we weren’t living there yet) and seeing a giant machine toddling through the field behind the barn. It actually looked like it was picking its way delicately along. Of course, that illusion did not last as 15 minutes later the shovel was in the ground and digging had begun. One scoop of his shovel was a full 5 feet across.
The progress after just 15 minutes of digging.
He started digging at 8 a.m. and by 3 p.m. the loop was fully installed, the trenches were back-filled and the machine was on its trailer heading away down the driveway.
Two-thirds of the loop down, one-third to go. The mounds of earth you see in the centre and at the left of the picture are the two completed trenches which run for 300′ long. The third trench is coming around behind the run-in shelter. If you look closely, you might be able to see the green pipes ready to be laid in the open trench.
While the Waterloo Energy Products crew was working out in the loop field, another contractor finished all of the duct work inside, including tying the new system in to the pool room. Our system also includes a 10kw electrical back-up unit (in case anything goes wrong with the heat pump) and by the end of day 3 it was chugging away and we had heat and hot water in the house again.
Day 4:
Inside installation, including connecting the heat pump into the loop. By the end of the day, I had my favourite email from my WEP crew: “You are running on geo as of now!” Throughout the installation the crew was great at keeping me updated on their progress, letting me know what time they were coming the next day and what was next on the schedule.
Look how shiny! Our 5 tonne heat pump by ClimateMaster. (Ignore the old, decidedly not shiny water softener in the corner.)
Day 5:
Finishing touches and tweaks. Final hook-ups of hot water tanks (we have a desuperheater unit that captures excess heat from the heat pump and uses it to supplement hot water generated by our main electric hot water heater, hence the two tanks).
Day 5 also saw removal of our old air conditioner. One nice thing about the geothermal system is that there is no equipment outside. The loop is buried in the ground and the heat pump and hot water tanks are tucked away in the utility room.
And for a utility room, it looks pretty good. Everything is neat and tidy and very well placed. Every tour of the house now includes a stop to admire the geothermal system.
Coming up next in “Going Geothermal,” the question everyone most wants to know: the cost.
For previous posts in the Going Geothermal series, click on one of the links below:
- Part 1: The decision
- Part 2: Picking a contractor (including my questionnaire)
Home on 129 Acres 