The Basement is Painted!

Mackinaw House crews went underground this weekend, cleaning the basement from top to bottom and adding a fresh coat of paint. Our contractor, Justin, had his work cut out for him. Before he could paint, he first had to clean the walls and ceiling, scrape off glue, patch holes and mask the entire basement for painting. The hard work paid off, as evidenced in the before and after photos below!

As a result of this weekend's efforts, a space that once contained mold and mildew is now healthy, breathable, and ready for HVAC and mechanical ventilation installation.

Before

After

Before

After

Moving Indoors Soon!

The front of the Mackinaw House is really shaping up, now that the front walk is complete, and new front porch fixtures have been installed. We will be meeting with restoration specialists soon to discuss renovations to improve the indoor aesthetic.

The front walk is completed.

New light fixtures for the front porch!

Follow the Red Brick Road...

We are happy to post pictures of major progress on the Mackinaw House exterior.  Nichols Lawn Green continued its great work today, installing a new deck and nearly completing the front walkway! Soon we will have an inviting entryway, perfect for welcoming guests.

New deck and front walkway.

More updates.

The fence is painted and the shutters are up! The Mackinaw house was full of activity this week, as our Phoenix UR and Cech Corporation crew put a brand new coat of paint on the fence and hung new chocolate brown shutters. We are also in process of installing all of our new interior energy efficient lighting.

In addition, Nichols Lawn Green did a great job completing the landscaping. The shrubbery and stones complement the new siding beautifully.

New landscaping and the lovely shutters up on the top right window.

Now that's a fresh looking fence!

Work is continuing as planned for the next few weeks working focusing more on interior renovations.

We've Been Busy!

On September 27th, The Saginaw News published an article featuring Phoenix Uber Renewal. The article, written by Kathryn Lynch-Morin, highlights Phoenix's auditing services and includes quotes from our very own Bill McDonald and CEO Hilde McDonald!

Read the article on MLive.

The Saginaw News article generated quite a response. We have been busy with the resulting scheduled audits this week, which has left a little less time for the Mackinaw House. However, today we have a new picture of the front exterior with completed siding, windows, and doors!

Mackinaw House- October 7th, 2010

Today, we have been working on improving gas and water lines. Next week, landscaping begins and we continue on the interior work!

Siding is up.

After some weather delays, the new siding is all in place now. The terracotta color looks great and adds one last outer layer of protection over all the new insulation.

The rear of the Mackinaw House complete with new insulation, siding and windows.

All the paint had been purchased, so we'll continue painting through the next weeks as drywall and other repairs happen. We decided on Behr low-VOC paint. Looking for a low or no VOC paint is important to maintain air quality in your home and avoid unnecessary chemicals that can cause respiratory problems.

More updates to come. Stay healthy friends!

Windows are going in today!

The old drafty windows are out and we will have all new Energy Star qualified windows (which means they are efficient and cut down on heat loss) in place by the end of the day today.

Out with the old!

In with the new efficient windows, thanks to Lawrence Smith Window and Door!

The siding will start going up as soon as the windows are complete, so we should be done with all of our "outer shell" upgrades to the Mackinaw House by the end of this week.

Patching and primer!

It's been a little dull this week with a lot of grunt work going into finishing the hardwood floors, patching/sanding the drywall, painting all the ceilings and getting going on primer in the rest of the house. Paint colors have been decided on so when the primer is done we'll continue with the rollers, but will add some color in the house.  That's slightly more exciting than white!

Window installation has been scheduled for next week and that will be followed by our new siding. We've had several more audits in the area as well, so we're keeping very busy!

Refinishing floors and planning.

It's been another full week getting ready for audits and continuing work on the Mackinaw house. Refinishing the original hardwood floors topped some of the more interesting things we did this week.

Check out the nice work in the room vs. the scratched up mess in the hall!

We've been working on some of the more fun stuff this week, like paint colors and kitchen cabinets. We're currently investigating which paint brand will be best with low or no VOC. There are quite a few options out there these days which are much better for air quality than formerly-traditional paints.

Windows and siding to come soon!

Foam board insulation up and foundation repaired.

Last week felt a little slow going but we did accomplish two more major upgrades. First, the insulation is now finished with the addition of Dow Super Tuff-R Polyisocyanurate rigid board insulation. Its high R-value will help reduce energy costs. This was installed on the exterior main above grade walls. The new siding will be installed on top of these areas once the new windows are in.

Foam board insulation.

The work on the foundation has been completed as well. The area around the basement was dug up and now all the cement has been sealed, so we won't have all that moisture getting into the basement. Moisture in your basement means the potential for mold, which was an issue when we bought the Mackinaw house. Taking that moisture away removes that risk and keeps you and your family healthier.

RD Prime sealing the foundation.

Roof on, foam spray insulation in, tile out and a wall down... it was a good week!

Things are moving right along. One of the first things we knew we were going to have to when we purchased the Mackinaw House was replace the roof. No complaints here, because it gave us an opportunity to make our first big energy efficient upgrade! We decided on a product from CertianTeed called Landmark Solaris Solar Reflective Shingles. These shingles are Energy Star rated and according to the CertianTeed web site they can reduce your roof temperature up to 20% in the summer. They are energy efficient, looks great and qualify for an energy tax credit of up to $1500 under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. They also qualify for points towards making your home NAHB Certified, which is a big goal we have for the Mackinaw House. How can you go wrong? Check out our new roof in Dusky Clay.

Thanks to our contractor Gary L Knapp Jr LLC for completing our new roof!

Another big step done just yesterday was having foam insulation sprayed into all conditioned areas exterior walls. We found after we bought the house that there was no insulation in these areas whatsoever. Again, what an opportunity to show off an energy efficient product. With the many options available we decided Tripolymer spray in foam insulation was best for this home. It was an easy choice since it has the highest R-value of any retrofit insulation around, 5.1 R per inch at 70°F, which is 36% higher than fiberglass and 25% above top of the line blown cellulose.

In addition to those two major items we would regularly recommend to our customers, we have also completely gutted the basement, removed some old tile from the kitchen and knocked down one of the kitchen walls. The basement definitely needed some TLC. Because it has some moisture issues we'll be repairing the tile drain and sealing the brick to avoid future problems. The gutted basement looks a little something like this...

The basement sans old gross carpet and paneling.

The tile in the kitchen/entry way wasn't in great shape and we wanted the opportunity to feature a beautiful renewable flooring option; cork. Cork flooring is made from cork bark, which can be peeled off without cutting down or destroying the tree. It takes just nine years for the tree to grow enough to be harvested again.

Removal of the old tile in the kitchen/entryway/half bath.

We also removed a wall in the kitchen! This is another one of those things we wouldn't recommend to energy audit customers, but again we saw an opportunity. The goal here is to open up the floor plan between the kitchen and dining room and take advantage of all the natural light coming in the two large dining room windows.

Looks like a good spot to add a peninsula.

We are very excited to have things moving on the Mackinaw House. Thanks for checking it out. For more information on home energy audits and how Phoenix UR can being new life to your home please visit our official web site.

Before Photos!

We put together a video of all of our "before" photos, so you can all appropriately ooh and ahh once we have our finished product. Check it out and subscribe to our YouTube Channel:

The Mackinaw House... a work in progress.

The purpose of this blog is to share the experience of making home renovations based on the Phoenix UR home energy audit (we call it the Uber Audit). The details of our home energy audit can be read about here. We decided to buy an older home and complete all of the retrofits and upgrades we might recommend to any home owner based on the data collected in their specific audit. 

From new insulation, to an energy efficient roof, to solar energy, to renewable materials in remodeling... we're going to take this money pit and make it into a money saver! We can do this for your home too! Our goal is to reduce utility bills and provide solutions for in-home comfort.

Phoenix UR not only completes home energy audits throughout Michigan with our BPI Certified auditors, but we take you from there all the way through your upgrades with our team of licensed builders, licensed insulators, HVAC, and window professionals. Everyone on our team follows strict BPI standards, so we achieve you the savings we promise in your audit report.

This will be a casual place to document our progress and share it with the world. Once the Mackinaw House is complete, we'll have a perfect model of what Phoenix UR is capable of.  

Welcome to the Mackinaw House...

A first before photo. An efficiency diamond in the rough...

Contact us with any questions about the Mackinaw House 
or for more information on scheduling your own home energy audit.