Saturday, December 15, 2007

behr semi-transparent exterior wood stains

Link

click to see www.materials-world.com for other behr collections and manufacturers

Sunday, December 9, 2007

cove light fixture option - Light Tape®


electro-luminX by light tape

stacy recommended this product. it is some sort of electoluminescent lamp that lights up in various colours [much like neon, but in the form of a flat - 1/4" thick - tape] and comes in various widths , which i would assume a respective to lumens output.
very cool stuff. i told stacy to use it first and let me know if it works!

at $8CAN/linear foot, it is more expensive than rope light but much cheaper than any mini-halogen strips or linear incandescent fixture options. i assume this doesn't in clude the price of ballasts and controls.
however, given the extremely compact size of the tape and the amount of light that is apparently produced by the tape - this looks like an excellent light fixture for those tight coves and light slots. it also being completely moisture-proof is a very attractive feature of its design.

Sunday, December 2, 2007

Saturday, December 1, 2007

site visit 11.30.07




re: heating for bedroom and bathrooms upstairs
i had meeting with john reiter this morning and we had explored several options on main and supplimentary heating for the master, yours and family room of the house.

according to john, he att first thinking of the electrical mat for the floors but seeing that we have the pipe ran underneath the joints and the hot water radiators (160F plus) for our bath room, see attaches, jpg 1 is your room, jpg 2 is wrongly located (being at the head borad of our bed) it will be relocate to under the window next to the night table and jpg 3 is the master bathroom. john said that should be enough. in fact, seeing that we have all the piping done for radiators in both master and yours he said may be we just add the same pipes underneath the joints of our bed rooms could have enough for regular days and if we need extra heat, we can switch of the heat fan from our ductless aircon system for immediate heat.
i would like to see the 4" deep wall system in all our bedroom and bath rooms instead of the baseboard type of radiators. we may need to move the pipe into the studs instead.

re: heating for family room
john suggested that since we have all the wonderful heat from donwstair, perhaps we should have an inline fan at the top of the second floor ceiling over the dinner area and draws the warm air up to the family room. he said we should have enough heat to share with the open family room.
dave also suggested that we should plan a more comprehansive fan system that would take the warm air in the winter to circulate the family and downstair and during the summer, vent the attic heat out to the exterior.
i like the idea of killing 2 birds with one stone. dave was suggesting an ordinary bath room fan with do the job and i would like to see a more quiet one that will work on thermostatic control. john could possible recommend one.

re: mechanical ventilation.
according to code, john will work out the total airflow reguirement, stamp his report for the city. he suggest us to get an exterior fan for our gas range and get a "broan" range hood. just a hood with an airfilter will do.
we had something custom made by russel food in the past and they cost an arm and a leg, this time john said he can get me a trade price if we know what to get from broan.
our gas range from thermador is 2'x 4' and i wonder if we need to get the btu output to decide which hood we can use?
may be you can find out for us and let me know which model.

re: fisher & paykel frdige
we got the dimension from preet.
the one which icewater on the door will have the auto ice maker inside the bottom freezer draw. the flat door (professional look) is smaller around 17.6cu ft.
the filter is an external one, which means we will be putting it inside one of the adjacent closet behind it. a rather small filter and i guess because it only service the water for drinking and ice only. it's the size of a 8" cylendrical shaving cream.
i wonder if the venting at the back rather than the front will create any problem when put inside the closet. most of the fridge other than subzero vent from the back anyway.