Abu Garcia Teams With Lowrance

In the early 90s when I was getting ideas for my build. 90% of new building in Winnipeg exterior walls were being sheeted with KO/Buffalo board.

 

Our builder has been great. Small builder from Mitchell MB. Stonecity Builders. Not a crack in the basement. The house across the street we looked at (diff builder) is a cracked up mess. Never seen such a horrendous concrete basement on a new house...and it sold recently. Stonecity puts rebar in the basement floor. It's not mandatory, but should be. Steel main beam and piles. Couldn't be happier with our build.

He even framed in the laundry room as a gift. "I had some spare sheets of drywall and 2x4's from another build, so I threw that together for you guys" ...how many builders out there actually throw in a gift like that..?

Also, asked us to let him know when the appliances came in so "I can can come back and hook them all up for you guys". Ran a water line to the fridge so my ice maker can keep up with my whiskey, rum and Manhatten usage while spending so much time at home

Before we bought from Stonecity, I checked the reviews and only found one, and it was negative somehow...just letting anyone know if they are wondering about Stonecity Builders and are wondering how they are.....from my experience so far, they're top notch. (and I have been in more new builds than I could possibly count, through my old position at work)

Also, got quotes from about 6 other concrete companies for a driveway. Got quotes from $14,000 to $21,000. Dan at Stonecity is doing it for $9,000. And his concrete work is spot on.

 

2x6 exterior garage walls I like. If we ever have another home built, one of things I will ask for is 2x6 on 24” centres for the garage exterior walls. From my understanding this is stronger than 2x4 on 16” and only costs slightly more. We built our north of the 53rd detached garage that way.

 

Why 24" oc?
Never could understand this, savings are minimal vs 16" oc.

 

Thermal bridging.

our construction profs always taught us that there is zero strength benefit from 2x4 to 2x6 studs UNDER 12 feet high. The only benefit is increased r value.

 

The choice I mentioned is between 2x4 on 16” or 2x6 on 24”. The advantages are: stronger, IMO less labour, less thermal bridging if you insulate. Although this link is not for Manitoba I read similar for Manitoba just can’t find a link to it now. https://www.buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-030-advanced-framing

 

What I said is that the wall is stronger, what strength benefit is IDK but it seems to be a bit of an intangible term to me.

It so happens that our garage has 10’ walls so getting closer to that strength benefit. Also many exterior attached garage walls are 10’ or more. In the case of our home (raised bungalow), they are 11’ from my memory.

 

Ah, that makes sense. I was going to ask the exact question Bryan did.

Mine is 2x6 16" oc. Ceiling in garage is 10'

 

But If insulating way more expensive when you look at the cost of r20 23”. I’m building pony walls right now with 2x6 on 24”. It’s crazy how much more it is compared to 16”.

 

It is way more for sure.

Have you guys used Rocksul? I love that stuff. I hate pink. You can cut Rocksul like a chocolate cake with the proper knife. Minimal itch and it is supposedly something rodents do not enjoy.

This sucks....wish I could make a run to Menard's

Speaking of Menard's, I enjoy making my gal's eyes roll by singing my own version of Menard's jingle (cuz I'm a goof I guess)

*Have you seen menards lately?*

*You'll love menards!*

*Come on in, get comfy, unzip and take a good look at menards*

*Just wait til you get a load of menard's!* (that's my favorite )

 

Rocksol is awesome to work with compared To fibre. That being said if your doing a full build it’s not worth the price jump IMO. The cost savings are huge. Lowe’s always has sick deals on insulation. Worked out to cheaper than menards. I had all those numbers last year but they have since been replaced with other shit in my head.

 

You're talking Lowe's US compared to Menard's?

I can relate to "replaced with other shit in my head"

This is gonna sound whiny, but, this whole...y'know pandemic thing....is robbing us of the excitement and joy of decking out our new home.

My thoughts have turned to guilt. So many people out of work and struggling and I'm complaining about not being able to roll into Menard's (or Lowe's now I'll start looking at them) and load up my truck..... ugh I basically feel like a shit heal with my 1st world problems, but the shelving in the garage is actually essential. I have to get all our gear up off the floor. So I have to figure out a social distancing responsible way to get building materials tomorrow...no idea how the policies have changed at any hardware store or if they're open.

 

Lowe’s in Winnipeg.

 

Regarding the policies at the hardware stores in Winnipeg, if they're all the same as Home Depot, they've instituted a minimum number of people in the store. So if you want to go in, you get the pleasure of standing outside in a long line of people spaced well apart before you get your turn to go inside and shop. This was before this Monday's 10 person max, so I'm not sure what they've changed since Monday.

 

Everything entering and exiting the stores is pretty much taken care of for you, most places have pre sanitized carts on the way in and lines on the floors at the check out indicating where to stand in line and such. A couple tips for inside the store while shopping are if someone is already down the aisle you want something out of give them a minute to get their stuff and vacate the aisle before you go down if at all possible, if waiting at the end of an aisle means you are going to have a bunch more people walking right past you anyway not much different but if the store is quiet give space. Don't touch and handle things if you don't have to, if you have no intention of buying something today just look don't touch.

Working in retail the last few weeks has been interesting to see how different types of people react. I would say a good percentage of people are "getting it" and giving people space and being as respectful as possible about taking a different route if possible to maintain their distance. There is still the small percentage of people that don't get it and get right up close when asking for help. One thing that I have seen that blows my mind is that a few times over the past week while taking my morning dump someone has come in, used the urinal, and left without washing their hands! It has always drove me crazy but now I'm yelling shit like "wash your hands!" None ever do, just keep running. Ignorance is bliss I guess.

The 10 people thing is for public gatherings like a funeral or party not retail.

 

Roxul is a great product but so not meant for exterior walls. You cannot split a batt in half and go around wires, plumbing etc in outside walls. It crumbles easily, I would never use it, no matter the cost. Soundproofing it works really well, but unless you go to a solid door and it goes right to the floor (most doors are up over an inch) you’ll still hear more than you want to hear out of a bathroom.

Another reason why builders now go to 23” on center is that code is now R22 in exterior walls when framed at 15” on center, if they frame on 23” with the calculation of thermal bridging they can still use R20.

 

I did a quick check on the Lowe’s website for R20 the white stuff recycled plastic bottles if I remember right

Anyways batts for 16” centres $70.43 coverage is 78 square feet => $0.90/sq ft

batts for 24” centres $108.00 coverage is 120 square feet => $0.90/sq ft

equal cost by my math

Anyways over and out, everybody can do what they think is right.

 

Your right Dave. I would have been comparing it to sale price like I was telling Mike. The 16” seems to come on sale often where the 24” rarely. Had it wrong in my head, apologies for mis information. I was buying buy one get one free plus when you buy 15 you get contractors discount of an additional 11% off. Should of clarified. I bought a ton. I’ll never pay full price for stuff like that unless I have to. Wish I could install fast like the pros on you tube. What I look at everyday that’s coming. One more building left

 

Meaning it's against recommendation, or that it is difficult? Asking because I have split batts to tuck wires in with success, and wanting to know if I shouldn't have done that per recommendation. I use the word recommendation as it was mentioned there's no "code", per se, in insulating a garage

In my pretty limited by comparison to a pro, I found it split and formed beautifully, but yes, you have to be careful in handling not to have it crumble. It takes longer to install in some ways, compared to pink, but in others, like cutting and forming, it really shined. You really need to use the proper knife, which is pretty much a bread knife with a more utilitarian/tool handle.

I'm getting my COVID approved building materials tomorrow morning, locally. Crossing Home Depot off my list for now......sucks cuz I actually like Home Depot a lot...even tho their prices are often garbage

 

Just difficult. I hate that product lol