Abandoning the belly

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Mark440
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:33 am
Location: Anna, Tx

Due to the world changing while I was snoozing....the critters made their way right through that plastic skirting stuff - and have devoured the ducting under the house. I've had 4 or 5 contractors come out and give bids on replacing all of it with metal....and then....during some casual conversation with one of the contractors I mentioned that i had often wondered how to convert my unit from down flow to up flow, and then frame in a duct that runs straight down the side of the marriage seam. All of my ceilings are vaulted so it shouldn't take much to finish it out. Lucky for me, this particular contractor just despises working under one of these behemoths - so we were on the same page real fast about moving all of the ducting inside the house. I can handle the framing, drywall, and finish. But!!! (there's always a 'but'...)

This move will render the floor vents (10 of them) useless. Add to it that I am having the place re-leveled, retrofitted with the VA/FHA required anchoring at the corners - and the entire belly and all insulation ripped out. There is just too much varmint patotie to leave it. I'll also have all of the old ducting torn out as well...which means the floor vents will be a open hole to the outside. My first thought was to piece in some plywood to fill/cover - but that will leave me with some ugly floor scars until I can afford to replace all flooring from one end to the other. Hence - has anyone ever seen a 'blank" or solid floor vent?

FWIW - after all is torn out from the down under - I'm considering having it all sprayed with closed cell foam. Anyone used this type of insulation? From there, all new metal skirting all the way around.
Opportunity has a shelf life.
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Greg
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I would fill the floor vents with a plywood patch.
I like the idea of spray foam. What about water & waste lines?

Greg
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
Mark440
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:33 am
Location: Anna, Tx

I can probably scrape up enough from closets to cover the ones in carpeted areas, but the ones in linoleum - are gonna be dirt & grime pits with just a plywood insert. So i thought if I could find a solid cover, i'd just put those in for the time being. I'm a ways away from replacing all the flooring.

Been reading alot about the spray foam. Two inches thick is equal to R14 - and three inches would be R20+. And, it helps to seal off just about everything it touches. I got one guestimate for about $2000 to do the entire underside. Of course i will shop it around a bit yet.

(Any chance the short timers can be turned off or something??? I timed out and had to log in again just with the 5-6 sentences here)
Opportunity has a shelf life.
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Greg
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Sent an Email to AJ about the time issue.
"If I can't fix it, I can screw it up so bad no one else can either."
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Mark
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Mark440 wrote: Sun Aug 05, 2018 7:40 pm (Any chance the short timers can be turned off or something??? I timed out and had to log in again just with the 5-6 sentences here)
Good question!

Our the setting for timeout is currently set to 1 hour. So a user has 1 hour to submit their post before invalidating the submission. There is a chance it is some kind of glitch on our end, but most likely it is an issue with your internet provider (especially since we have not heard of this issue from any other users.)

There is a heavy tech-based answer on what is happening:

Some ISP's use proxies which connect to the forum, instead of you direct (such as AOL). In such cases, your IP will or can change mid-session, and the forum software will then assume you are not the same person, but someone trying to break in via the session code (a security feature). The security feature because of that will require you to log in again.

To simplify. Some internet service providers have multiple doors they open so you can view a website (you don't see these doors, they are invisible to the user). They may periodically change the door (IP address) in which case it causes the forum security software to go haywire forcing a re-login. This is a tactic that hackers use to take over idle sessions (people who didn't close their browser when logged in and leave their computer/phone/tablet etc) to attack a website. So our security software stops that.

I could change the setting which tracks the IP but then that leaves us more open to hackers which of course is not ideal.

Not sure how to help you with this except to ask you to try accessing from a different internet connection to see if that resolves the issues (use phone 4G data instead of wifi at your home, etc). If that fixes it then we have our answer.

Does that make sense?
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Mark440
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:33 am
Location: Anna, Tx

That does make sense...but...

Being I live out in the sticks where a cale/line connection is not available, i use a USB modem to connect via cell towers. from the years I have had the service - it is anything but 'reliable'. I can count on one hand the number of times I haven't been dropped on any given day. That said - I have other blogs that i log in to - and those connections are maintained until the browser is closed. The other blogs use Disqus....which has its own set of issues! lol!

I've learned to copy everything before clicking on submit cuz I know I'm going to get the log-in screen again. So - its log-in again and then paste / submit. A pain - but it works.
Opportunity has a shelf life.
Mark440
Posts: 279
Joined: Tue Feb 26, 2008 8:33 am
Location: Anna, Tx

As to the stuff up above....

Another part of this overhaul is also replacing all of the skirting with metal. The contractor just called and told me they couldn't put the skirting in where there is decking - that they would have to go out around the decking. Well...that's all good and fine but it just doubled - maybe even tripled - the materials cost.

I'm thinking he is full of it. The trenching for the skirt is dug manually - and the deck is certainly high enough for access. Any ideas - feedback - advice?
Opportunity has a shelf life.
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