NSMOM36 asked:


Our house is 1.5 stories that we bought 10 years ago. The addition is our kitchen and living room and was built on 15-20 years before we bought it. The basement was under the original part and was only 6 ft high walls. The kitchen and living room were only on tubes. We have since put a brand new foundation under the kitchen/living room part and blocked up the original foundation to have 8ft walls.
Our problem is that the kitchen is ALWAYS 2-4 degrees colder than the rest of the house (we have an oil furnace forced air, thermotsat is in the living room on the wall between the kitchen and living room). There are 2 registers in the kitchen.
When we stand at the sink (which is on the wall that is facing where the outside of the house would have been befrore the addition), we can feel cold air coming in around our feet. The inside of the cupboards are freezing that are on that wall and the wall last year cracked from top to bottom in behind the cupboards.
We have checked the basement and no cold air is coming in from outside, as well have checked the crawl space and it’s all insulated.
My guess is that when the addition was built, something wasn’t done right and this is how the cold air is getting in. We have done renovations with new windows and vinyl siding and still has not helped. We have had carpenters look at it and they can’t see a reason why either. The wall is insulated as we have seen the insulation from when we renovated our kitchen with new cabinets, countertop, etc.

If anyone has any ideas they would be greatly appreciated. I’m tired of freezing my feet of in the kitchen and of possibly wasting money on oil. Thanks
I forgot to mention that after the new foundation was added and the old foundation blocked higher, that we had all of our ductwork replaced and installed fresh and the furnace is only 7 years old.
Thanks for the info so far. The cabinets and where the cold air are coming from are not on an outside wall. They are facing where the outside wall would have been before the addition. The outside walls are to the left, right and behind where the cold air is coming from. Our basement has open ducts for heat to circulate and is a bit cooler in the basement, but not freezing cold. About 10-15C.

We have sprayed the expanding spray foam along the basment in between the house and foundation along the whole perimeter of the house as well.

Katherina

Jennifer S asked:


We have had our home for 4 years now, we only owe 11 more years on it and our payments are only 355.00 a month. We really need some work done on it. What is our best option for getting a loan to to have like vinyl siding, heating and air, new windows, those are the only things that need to be done, but all of them are so high to have done? I know nothing about this kind of stuff, some suggestions would be great.

Sam

I love Spring! asked:


My husband and I want to build a porch on the front of our house. I was wondering if we need a permit to do that. We are also going to level out the front yard it has a tie wall that is only a couple of feet tall. Do we need a permit for that too? Also any tips on building or designing a porch would be good since we are new to this whole thing.

On a side question we also want to add new windows and vinyl siding to the house. Should we put in the windows first then the siding then the porch or should we do it in a different order? Thank you for your help.

Tula

smoke20rules asked:


We started putting up OSB, not we are told foam board is a better insulator and the siding will install straighter. Also told OSB will splinter when nailed to (haven’t had a problem) and has a tendency for the nails to eventually pop out of and the board warp. The siding instructions seem to prefer over wood installation. OSB would strenghten the house, would it not provide extra insulation also and the OSB is the perfect thickness to line right up with the door and window frames. What are the pros and cons of each?

We had wood siding. We are removing it. It was installed over old sheathing from the 50s, which we are leaving on the house.

Carlton