Exchange that Air!

This weekend, while B was on an island with Norah, I undertook installing an air exchanger in our house. Since having the basement spray foamed in the summer, we have not had enough air movement in the house. Our humidity levels were through the roof, causing water to form on the windows regularly. The solution is an air exchanger, which takes out humid air from your bathrooms and kitchen and brings in fresh air to replace it. Since our kitchen and bathroom don’t have exhaust fans, this was especially needed in our house. My uncle got me the parts at cost and explained how to do it. I undertook the job, which involved completing the following tasks:

run return vent – bathroom
run return vent – kitchen
run return vent – basement bathroom
join returns
hang air exchanger
bore 6” hole for exhaust
install exhaust vent
bore out 4” intake to 6”
install intake vent
run intake hose
install humidistat next to thermostat
install lighted timer switch in bathroom
wire switches to air exchanger
wire air exchanger to furnace

While this list doesn’t look that bad (which is what I thought before undertaking the task) it ended up being a three day job. I also called on four friends to come help with parts that were made much easier by having a second person, or where my expertise was lacking. Stephen, our electrician friend, did an admirable job of filling in for my dad, as he came to my rescue twice with quick solutions to problems that Dad would have normally troubleshot with me.

I worked on Thursday from 4:30 – 10:30, Friday (I took my one personal day from work) from 8:00 – 6:00 and from 8:00 – 10:30 and Saturday from 8:00 – 5:30. However, it is now done! To have a plumbing company do the same job (which they aren’t too excited about doing since retro-fitting returns is messy work) would have cost at least $5000. In the end the whole job cost me less than $1000, not including my time. And I will get $675 back from the Energuide program.

Here are some pics showing the final result:

The Air Exchanger sitting in our utility room.

The exhaust vents from the bathrooms (silver) and the fresh air intake from outside (black insulated pipe.)

The fresh air intake and the exhaust vent in the perhaps-someday-will-be-a bathroom in the basement.

The exhaust from the kitchen. Running this up into the 2X4 wall was rather challenging.

The filtered vent in the kitchen, located just above the kitchen cabinets.

In this time, I also did the following jobs that had been piling up:

move shelving unit to garage
finish gutting basement
finish drywall in storage room
staple up hanging wires
move drywall to side
repair fixtures in bathroom
re-caulk tub surround
seal wall behind dishwasher
re-route power to garage
vacuum basement w/shop vac

However, now that I’m done, I’m ready for B and Norah to come home…Seriously. They were storm stayed another night in Victoria, giving me time to write this post. However, I would have rather not written it and seen my girls!!

(Mis-)Adventures with Norah

After work today, Norah and I ran an errand. She likes to get out of the house as much as possible, and I needed to buy some ductwork to install an air-to-air exchanger, so I bundled her up, packed her into her seat, and headed to the industrial area.

Norah sang happily in the car on the way. I left her in her bucket seat and carried her inside of metal manufacturing shop. We waited a few minutes to get served, and it took a few more to make my layman self understood to the not-so-patient counterman. His impatience was justified given the context, mind you – I was the only one in the building who wasn’t a male contractor over 50. I was the only one in the building who didn’t know what he was talking about. I was the only one in the building who had a baby. I paid and carried Norah to the warehouse to wait for our wall stack, angle boot and pipe saddle to be gathered.

Here Norah finally got impatient. I tried my best to entertain her while maintaining some semblance of dignity. I didn’t think, “Oh, who’s a cute girl? Tickle tickle tickle. That’s daddy’s girl!” would wash with this crowd. Norah was not happy. I had no toys. No tools in my daddy toolbox – or none I wanted to use. I had nothing. Then I recalled B telling me that the only way to keep her happy earlier in the day was to give her the car keys. I knew she would scream when I took them away, but by then we’d be in the car, with the tin loaded, and none of the men who currently looked annoyed at her fussing would be there.

I handed her my keys and she stopped fussing instantly. I smiled to myself. Nicely done, Chris. The counterman came down with the last of my tin and hauled it out to the loading dock. I followed. “Which is yours?” he asked, motioning towards the seven dually 3/4 tons idling nearby. I motioned past the trucks to my car, the rear bumper peeking out from behind a mammoth Dodge. “It’s the car.” An uneasy silence followed. “Just put it down there,” I said, as toughly as I could muster, “I’ve got it.” I carried Norah to the car that I had left unlocked and put her seat in place. She played with the keys contentedly. I went back to the dock and grabbed a cardboard box with the smaller pieces I bought, and took it to the car. Norah smiled when she saw me through the window. I flattened one of the back seats to make room for the 5′ wall stack, and hustled back to the dock. I returned and loaded the last of my wares into the car. Norah smiled, babbling away.

Not wanting to disturb her happiness, I decided to pull a fast one – while she was still holding the keys, I carefully slipped the ignition key off of the ring. She protested slightly, grabbing at the keyless entry when it ever-so-briefly left her hands, but I prevailed. I shut her door and made my way around to the driver’s door. I reached down, grabbed the handle to open it, but it didn’t open. I tried again. Then I recalled a sound that didn’t seem significant to me at the time, but was becoming increasingly significant as my blood pressure rose. As I wrestled the ignition key off of the chain, Norah had pushed the lock button on the keyless entry.

I panicked. I didn’t even have the cell phone. I was going to have to go back into the metal shop, and while everyone working there listened, ask to borrow the phone, and explain to B how I had locked our daughter in the back seat of the car with the keys. My panic lasted about five seconds. Five of the longest seconds I’ve endured. I think if I had had the cell phone, in those five seconds I would have called B. But I didn’t. And I realized I had the car key in my hand. And it would open the door. Or it should. I’d never actually used it for that. But it should. And it did open the door, and I was able to drive away with some semblance of dignity intact. A small piece, anyway.

Announcing…Handyman’s Dream!

TeachingChris has evolved over time. When I started the blog back in Fall 2007, its main goal was to chronicle my learnings. Since then, these learnings have related to my work as a teacher, my interactions with my wife, and now child, the environment, home renovations, and, well, just about anything else I learned. In an effort to refocus teachingchris, I’ve spun off one of the categories. Home upgrade/renovation/repair/headache related posts will now appear on handymansdream.blogspot.com. All other learnings will continue to appear here. So check out the Handyman’s Dream — and keep checking out here. I have so much to learn – for example, the importance of acknowledging mother’s day…