Install a water tight outdoor outlet

I use to plug a power cord extension from my kitchen and run it outside to do my front lawn mowing, edging, blower and power washing because it was the closest I could plug into. But recently I decided that I didn't want to keep doing that anymore mind you during Christmas, I have to run a line from inside my living room - under the door type of solution to get power to the lights. Alas! now I can do everything outside the home.


Here's what you'll need:

- Some rust proof screws about 1 - 1 1/2 inch screws, up to you as long as they aren't too short.

Plastic outlet box

Outdoor outlet cover, make sure they are big and roomy in case you have to plug in a fat adapter

Weather resistant outdoor rated GFCI outlet (luckily mine matched my box)

I couldn't find anything shorter but this conduit attaches to the back of the extension box through the brick wall and inside the home, it protects the wires.

Insulator that goes around the pvc conduit

First we drill a hole using a concrete drill bit attachment. Hammer drill works best but you can use a regular drill, it just takes longer. The technique is to let the drill to it's job, don't drill too fast or you'll kill your bit (if that does happen, just use grinder to re-sharpen it). Also remember, heat is the enemy, keep your drill bit cool, you can use a water spray bottle while your drilling.

We make our second hole that goes through the wood part - for me it was the floor joist.

We assemble our extension box (unscrew the locking nut, push the flex conduit into it then tighten) then push the flexible conduit through the hole like so.

Mark the 4 holes through the side tabs then drill about an inch.

This would be a good time to wrap the conduit with foam to seal it up. Then screw the box to the siding using galvanized, concrete (blue) or deck screws.


That's about it! the only thing left is to attach the other end of the wires into a junction and your all done.

Asbestos Abatement Part 4: Conclusion

I wished every job is simple, I wished everything ran smooth without any hiccups... but this is life and life is never perfect. We have to accept these things in order for us to help plan for failures. Having hired a licensed professional helped when things turn bad. I had hoped to do this work myself and probably would've done a great job, but because it's a hazard, I couldn't risk my health for the sake of my family.

Here are some things to be mindful when doing anything to an old home:

1. Assume that old wall your drilling through is ACM and treat it as if it was by making sure it is thoroughly wet so dust is not airborne. Any construction dust is bad, inhaling these will eventually cause respiratory problems.
2. Always hire a licensed professional if the job is too big to handle and mind you, hazardous.
3. Prepare for the worst because rarely anything goes smooth.
4. Always quantify a project so that you'll have a baseline on how much all materials will cost, this can be used for negotiations with a contractor or just pricing out a DIY project.
5. Anything you do to your home, make sure you do it well, take pride in your work, not only will you save yourself more headache down the road but you'll help the next homeowner when you sell.

With that said, enjoy your home!

Asbestos Abatement Part 3: Air Monitor Report

I expected the air reports to make it in my email inbox that night, but only received the invoice asking me to pay the $500 (not surprised). I called the air monitor and was told he was busy and didn't have time to send the reports that he already has. So I waited the following day, Friday, I called again, nothing, not ready yet. I finally received it Saturday, I didn't have anyone go to the basement until I received the report. There were two pages to the report, before and during abatement. Both looked good, below regulations as was told but something was off. The fiber count were both the same before and after, surely it has be different. I called in and asked but was told, "All you have to look at is the column to the right, as you can see it's below the threshold." The report you see below is the background sample I received, the second one is exactly the same except a change in Lab ID and sample type.

Fraudulent air sample report

For the next few days, those reports haunted me, I felt something was really wrong with it. So I had to get to work and investigate. This is what I did to resolve my problem.

1. I called the lab to verify the reports. And to my dismay, the reports were fraudulent! fingers were shaking, I started thinking of my children who were in my home, it would be my fault if they inhaled any fibers that might still be there. I awaited for the lab supervisor to send me a statement that the reports were not theirs and that they were manipulated.
2. Once I received the statement from the lab, I called a lawyer, which I'm lucky enough to have access to, and received great advice.
3. On the advice of the lawyer I called the licensor, NYS Department of Labor to file a complaint. (the lawyer also mentioned that due to the nature of the case, it might also be filed under the Attorney General as a criminal fraud act.
4. After I built my case, I had a conference call with the lab and the air monitor. It turned out the air monitor did in fact submitted the samples but the lab did not process the reports because he did not pay the lab and actually owed them. The air monitor apologized to the lab and myself. After the call ended, I called the lab and as a good gesture to my sad experience the lab technician checked the samples and gave me the results verbally that they were negative but obviously could not release the reports.
5. I called the air monitor and told him that the complaint was filed against him and that he should refund my $500 and also cover my cost of investigative air sampling for my peace of mind. I gave him less than a week for the check to be on my hands or I file criminal charges.
6. I called a company that does air sampling and scheduled an appointment that Saturday. The invoice came to $695 for a TEM air test with a 48hr turnaround.
7. The following midweek, I did not received the check, I called him and he states that the check was already mailed. Fast forward after a few more back-and-forth conversation, I finally receive the check after a 1 1/2 weeks for $1195.
8. The TEM sample resulted in 1 structure of chrysotile asbestos, now I know what's really down there. A single structure from an hour of air sample to me was acceptable. To verify that this result was authentic, I called the lab directly and had them email me the results.

Back to normal...

I put my protective gear on and I mopped, wiped and vacuumed the basement floor with a HEPA filtered shopvac using wet pickup. After everything dried up I moved everything back into its place. I kept the HEPA air purifier running and till this day it is still running on the lowest setting just to be safe.

Continue reading...Asbestos Abatement Part 4: Conclusion

Asbestos Abatement Part 2: Contractor Day

Come Thursday the removal guys arrive at 9am sharp. I accompany the two guys to the basement to do a walk through and point out the chicken wire plaster and all of the asbestos insulation that had to be removed. The supervisor gives me a quick overview of what will be done and his associate gets ready to build the poly tent. A poly tent is just an enclosure made from poly sheeting; it can be multiple tents or a large one that would enclose the entire area.

The air monitor arrives about half an hour later who complained about traffic. He pulls out 6 air pumps so that he can sample a baseline of the current air condition. The first 3 pumps were located in the abatement area and the other 3 were located on the main level (kitchen, dining room and living room). He runs the pumps for about a couple of hours until the removal guys were done setting up the tent.

The supervisor and I go downstairs to check the completed tent and gave me their strategy on the removal and also answered any other questions I had.

My observations:

• The air monitor had already swapped the cartridge on the air pumps to monitor the air during abatement along with the replacement of the other 3 on the main floor.
• There were some areas that were hard to reach it seems and that was outside the tent. The supervisor told me that once the main area was done he would then continue to the more difficult sections. A cutout of the poly would be done and he would reach in, water the insulation then pry off the insulation with a bag on the other hand.
• They had a negative air machine running inside the abatement area, exhausting the filtered air outside through a poly tube.
• There was a small decontamination chamber also made from poly and studs that will be used when the remover changes from his coveralls to street clothes.

Tube ending from the negative air machine.

The third hour approaching, the remover suits up and begins work. The supervisor goes outside to assist whenever needed.

Shouldn't there be two removers?
That was exactly my thought, it turns out the supervisor was there to make sure the process goes smoothly. The remover, from what I was told, was very experienced and didn't need help so two workers were not necessary to remove the insulation.

Fast forward, I take my lunch and notice the supervisor cleaning up his van and the air monitor is sleeping in his car while the remover is hard at work downstairs. I step outside and decided to chat with the supervisor for a while and here's what I learned about the abatement industry.

• It's a small industry.
• Workers who work for licensed handlers (usually owners of the company) aren't licensed themselves.
• Licensed handlers have to pay big for health insurance due to the hazardous nature of the business.
• Workers tend to work for several licensed handlers throughout the year.
• There is usually no work during the winter months of November-February. During this time they go on vacation and don't come back till February. Once they hit the ground on the tarmac they begin to call their contacts for work.
• Workers will always go for a longer term job, such as work at schools or businesses and will only favor smaller jobs if work is slow or easy.
• Workers pick and choose who they want to work with because they would rather work with people they like.

In about 1.5 hours the remover was done. The air monitor goes downstairs and requests for his air pumps and gathers his other 3 pumps and brings them back into his car. He tells me hes heading to a lab in midtown and will take no longer than 40 minutes and will then call to give clearance (that the abatement area is below regulation limits).

What about post air sampling?
The answer I got was, "it's not really needed for a small job like this." I figured, he might be right, after all, the abated area was sealed and the fibers would probably not seek it's way into the main floor and besides I had two large HEPA air purifiers running on turbo the entire time. If we receive a green light from the lab, then all is well right?

The business owner arrives to exchange the invoice with my check for $1700 then heads off to another project (good to be a business owner right?)

The remover, comes out of my dungeon with sweat on his back and steadily gulping down a bottle of water then smiles and says, "it's done."

Having good hospitality manners, I ordered 2 boxes of pizza for them while we wait for the clearance.

We chit-chat for about an hour about New York and how it was back in the early 90s and the gentrification that is happening around us.

The supervisor decides to call the air monitor, the air monitor states that he's at the lab awaiting results and will call back in 10-15 minutes.

About 10-15 minutes still no callback, the supervisor calls back again and the air monitor states that he "meant" to call back that the results were negative.

I tell the supervisor, "how do we know the air monitor is telling the truth?" he replies back, "we don't, we just have to trust in the remover and his abilities that everything was done properly." As I said before, abatement workers pick their teammates and trust them so the supervisor is confident the remover did a good job, but understands that there might still be fibers in the air in which we really cannot tell until the actual reports come back from the lab which would be completed the following day.

A large truck came by to pick up the hazardous materials.

I grab my 3M asbestos respirator that I purchased and headed downstairs (the supervisor and remover did not have respirators, to show confidence?), surely I wasn't taking chances until I receive the report. Everything looked clean and the remover even sprayed on some white adhesive paint which I was told was required in the previous law but no longer. He did it just to be safe that the fibers don't come off the pipes if any.

The abatement seemed like a success, so we shook hands and they left, happy to have done a good service.

Continue reading... Asbestos Abatement Part 3: Air Monitor Report

Asbestos Abatement Part 1: What to expect

Sometime last year 2015, my sister in-law's husband quickly pointed out that my steam pipes were wrapped in asbestos. I didn't really pay any mind because it was in good condition albeit a couple of questionable sections. Months later, I had put in a few equipment to turn my basement into a home gym and exercised quite frequently. Sooner or later the thought of asbestos kept creeping up in my mind, so I started doing extensive research on it and here are my findings and what I had to do to remove it.

Asbestos comes in a wide variety of products (you can read up more here) but for the most part about 95% of asbestos in the United States are of type chrysotile. Chrysotile were added in joint compound, roofing materials, brake pads and in my case insulation. Asbestos are considered indestructible because they can withstand heat of up to 2750 C/4982 F so it made sense to put them in products that can potentially save lives.

Here are some photos of what I wanted removed:





The photos above is about 56 linear feet of AirCell corrugated asbestos insulation which contains chrysotile. The joints are also asbestos plaster.

Older homes built before the 80s (my home was built 1942) most likely contain asbestos (this is called Presumed Asbestos-Containing Material or PACM). So if your looking at a questionable material that you think might contain asbestos, most likely it is and you'd treat it as if it was. When an asbestos fiber gets passed through all your body's defenses (your nose hair, mucous, saliva, lung's cilia) and get's lodged into the lung tissue, it stays there forever! Think of them as microscopic arrows. Once lodged, the body constantly gets inflamed and over time about 10-40 years a type of cancer called mesothelieoma develops if not cancer asbestosis.

Chrysotile is definitely a dangerous material to work with so a professional should be considered. The government prefers that the ACM is left in place and not disturbed because it's very likely the fibers will be released into the air when removed. There are no laws that prevent the homeowner from removing ACM from their home but there are many for everything else and if you hire a professional, all laws apply. You'd have to check your local jurisdiction to make sure.

Maybe I can take this on myself?

Removing is quite easy, enclose the area, seal openings, wear coverall and proper respirator, spray the ACM with soap and water, remove, toss into a 6 mil bag, clean up using a HEPA vacuum, dispose of all poly into 6 mil bags and take to a landfill that accepts it.

This sounds too easy right? well your right. It's definitely possible for a DIY project so let's consider our options.

Option 1: Rewettable canvas pipe lagging

EPA and other government agencies will most likely prefer this route. This is a canvas material that is applied wet and is wrapped around the asbestos insulation so that it is enclosed in a hard shell. I seriously thought of going this route so I purchased 5 yards for $50. Once I received it, it took me a few days until I realized I didn't feel comfortable with asbestos still lingering in my basement.... which led me to option 2.

Option 2: DIY removal

Let's see, first I have to quantify the materials needed for this project:

• 6 mil (required) polyethylene sheeting which runs ~ $20 x 3 = $60
• 6 mil (required) contractor bags ~ $25/15 count * 2 (safer to have extras) = $50
• 3' glove bags (decided not to use, won't fit in some areas) ~ $12 each
• Surfactant (soap and water, can be made using baby shampoo)
• Coverall kit, respirator, eyewear, gloves ~ $28 * 2 (extra just in case) = $56
• Respirator refills set ~ $7 each
• Disposal fee (free in my town)
• Poly duct tape $6 each * 3 = $18
• Air sampling 

I had to pause here because this is an important one. The numbers I have here are estimates from some contractors I received quotes from. First off, there are two type of air sampling that can be done. The first and cheaper one is called Phase Contrast Microscopy ($35/each) which is just a count of fibers on a filter from an air pump. The lab will zoom into a portion of the filter and will count the fibers in that area. The second which is more expensive is called Transmission Electron Microscopy ($80/each) or TEM, this is the most accurate way of determining if any asbestos fibers were released in the air. When TEM is analyzed in a lab they will burn the sample and whatever remains will be asbestos fibers then they do a count of that.

It's still possible to do the air sampling myself but who am I kidding, I'd have to get maybe 3 pumps for 1-2 days and run them all 3 times? not worth it. If I hired an air monitor they most likely will not agree because they will simple consider working with a DIYer too risky. Let's continue the list.

• Pullman-Holt HEPA vacuum ~ $320

I might get away with a shopvac/HEPA filter attached to it... but these vacs are not air tight and are way too powerful to keep things contained. As a side note HEPA filters are not cheap; a HEPA CleanStream filter go for about $37 each.

Also, I'd like to point out why HEPA filters are needed when dealing with asbestos fibers.

An asbestos fiber range from 0.7 - 90 microns (invisible to the naked eye) and a HEPA filter will capture 0.3 microns.

Next up...

• Negative air machine ~ $800

I'm sure this can be rented but I didn't bother checking, it is quite an expensive machine but necessary. Having a negative air machine will assure that anything that's release in the air during the abatement will be filtered and will prevent the fibers from going to other places.

• Muscle

This isn't a one man job, it will require at least 2 for the inexperienced. I can ask my brother to help me out on this but I'd be risking his health if anything goes wrong.

At this point, my head was aching, it didn't seem like something I wanted to involve myself with even  for an advanced DIYer having built a kitchen, bathroom and have done big repairs around the house. This headache led me to..

Option 3: Hire a professional

Ok so I admitted defeat, the only choice left for me was to hire a professional even with all the bad experience I've had. If the job was smaller maybe 3-5 linear feet, I would do it myself, but this thing was 56LF and also required a section of chicken wire plaster to be torn down to get to a hidden pipe.

I started calling/email to get quotes from licensed abatement contractors. Believe it or not the abatement industry is quite small I was able to get a list from labor.ny.gov. You can also use a map I created that uses this data to find a licensed abatement contractor near you below (the filter is the button on the top left side).

The best quote I received for 56LF was neither the lowest or the highest. It was $2000 for abatement/removal and disposal and $500 for the air monitor, which was a separate company that was referred to me, that would sample before, during and post abatement using PCM, more for TCM (always keep the abatement and air monitor separate so that there is no conflict of interest). I went with PCM to keep the cost down and was told it was used often in residential but if I had to do it again, I'd go with TCM.

After settling on a contractor I made an appointment so that we could finalize on the job and start date. The contractor was impressed that I had moved all of the stuff the weekend before so that it was easy to setup the abatement area and maybe the reason why he lowered his quote to $1700. It would only take 1 day for this job so I took off from work on a Thursday and Friday just in case for any cleaning/moving I had to do afterwards.

Continue reading...Asbestos Abatement Part 2: Contractor Day

Introduction

Hello,

My name is Ron, this is my first post and hopefully many more. I wanted a place to share my experiences that would someday help someone who come across the same projects that I've undertaken or will undertake. My background is in programming, but I have a passion for building, fixing and anything that will build a better home for my family and I. I also touch up on technology as well because homes are getting more automated and modern.

As of today here are some of my completed projects:

• Kitchen with plumbing with custom cabinetry.
• Nursery with floor sanding, light fixtures, wall decor.
• Bathroom: window, framing, sheetrock, tiling, design.
• Living room: custom fireplace mantel, fireplace cover reconditioning, lighting fixtures, ceiling repair, radiator valve repairs.

Anyway, I hope my adventures will help someone down the road. Cheers!

-Ron