I've heard of some having insulation between layers of brick, but I think mine is 2 or 3 layers of brick interlocked together.

Electrician is finally in the house today to rewire and get rid of all the **** and tube. Now I will be able to plug in more than 2 things in the bedrooms!!!

 

oh my...the **** and tube... thats something else. the 1912 vintage that i'm working on had the same system. very interesting stuff!!!

 

Wiring is almost all done now. Between electrician holes and general flaws in the plaster, we're seriously considering stripping all the plaster and putting up drywall on the main floor. Really need to do some kind of insulating on the north & south walls on the house, through the electrician's access holes it's surprising how much draft there is behind the plaster.

Also not looking forward to the electrician's bill, he said it was the hardest house he ever had to rewire!

 

Your going to have to post some pics once the job is complete!

 

it'll be a 3 0's bill... unfortunately there's no telling what numbers will be in front of them. good luck!!

 

After lots of investigating and finding no other options, we are now stripping lathe and plaster on the exterior walls, framing & insulating and then drywalling everything, one room at a time. Probably have to live with plaster dust for a year and a half in the house (doing all the work ourselves, when we have time). But we had the energy audit done, so there will be some rebates there, and the insulation & new windows and doors will have some payback in reduced heating costs too. Getting new gas furnaced installed whenever the gas line finally goes in. It's expensive year, had the roof redone in the summer, but at the end everything will be new & warm & dry.

 

figured you'd come around to seeing that was the only good way to do it... if you really want cozy, sheet the inside of the brick with 1 inch styrofoam and tuck tape all the seams before you frame and insulate the interior... makes for a very sound proof and wind proof home... good luck.

 

any more progress on this project Chad??

 

1 bedroom done, living room done, starting another bedroom this week. 8 more rooms to do in 12 months, also includes building all new kitchen cabinets. I have pictures up on my facebook...

 

sounds like you're doing well. if you have any questions about the cabinetry, fire away. i'm a cabinet maker/installer.

 

Can I borrow your panel saw?

I've been taking night courses at the local college, 3 courses away from a cabinetmaker certificate. Started it with my wife just for fun, starting to get into some small paid projects.

 

Time for an update, 1 year to the day of my last update.

Had the second energy audit done just this morning. Got all the walls insulated on the main and second floors, new windows and doors etc. Need to finish drywalling by the front door, up the stairs, and 1 bedroom and the second floor bathroom.

Got into other projects too, like building my own kitchen cabinets...only had time for lowers, now I can do all the uppers.

They have added an extension to the rebate/grant program, so I have up until March 31 2011 to do additional energy improvement work in the house, which is great, because now I can get money back for work in the attic I was planning on doing anyway!

Anyways, I'm glad to be able to have some more free time to spend with my family than I have had for the past 18 months.

 

good to hear of progress Chad. have you noticed a difference in heating efficienty yet? was talking to a client the other day that we gutted and re-built his home, originally built in 1912, insulated it with the spray foam system in the process. anyway, his previous heating bill (natural gas) for a winter month was costing him 300/month minimum. now, he's at about 85-90 for a max... good luck, and keep up the work. post pics if you can...

 

Definite difference, both in heating costs, and warmth on the second floor. With the oil furnace and no insulation, most winter nights it would be about 14 degrees upstairs, one night as low as 12. Now with insulation and gas furnace, it's staying 16-17 upstairs (may be lower at night when the furnace is at 16). Should be even better once I have new windows and insulation on the 3rd floor.

 

I was just reading through this post and thought that I would point out something for anybody's benefit that maybe considering something similar.

Chad had the electrician come in and rewire the whole house without causing anymore damage to the walls than absolutely necessary. This meant that the electrician had to fish wires through the walls which is time consuming and labour intensive. Then Chad gutted the plaster.

Had Chad decided to gut the plaster before the electrician came out, he probably could have cut the labour portion of the rewire by about 50%.

Just some food for thought.

Cheers... Bruce