6. 4 Common Mistakes People Make when Renovating their Bathroom

Your kitchen may be the official heart of the home, the central nerve center where the family meets over meals and performs tasks from paying bills to playing games, but your bathrooms are the rooms where you come again and again. Your bathroom is where you come to take relaxing baths, spend hours when ill and stare at that same ugly tile for half an hour as you get ready in the morning. That’s why bathroom renovations rival kitchen renovations on home makeover lists. Here are four common mistakes people make when renovating their bathroom.

Spending Too Much

How much is too much when you are renovating a bathroom? A good rule of thumb is not to spend more than five to ten percent of the home’s value on renovating a bathroom, since you can’t recoup more than a fraction of the investment when the house is sold later. The only exception is when you are adding a new bathroom to the house to bring it up to the neighborhood average. For example, if you have a three bedroom single bathroom older home and add a second bathroom to make a 3 bedroom 2 bath home that is the norm for your community, then and only then will you recoup a hundred percent or more of the cost of installing a bathroom.

Failing to Waterproof the Renovation

Waterproofing failures are one of the top building defects you’ll find in bathrooms. Walls can decay from mold and water damage because the water seeped in through cracks in the tile because there was no waterproofing layer between the tile and the structural wall. Similar problems arise when toilets and sinks aren’t properly sealed and water starts to leak and damage the new construction almost immediately. Shortcuts that don’t waterproof the new bathroom by amateurs and fly by night operations like not putting a concrete slab under the new shower pan or bathtub can let water leak into the ground beneath the house, attracting insects or damaging the foundation.

Using Cheap Products or the Wrong Products

Faulty products will ruin everything you tried to create with the bathroom renovation. Using cheap toilets you found online can result in both water and sewage leaks. Cheap imported plumbing and fixtures, even if not faulty, may not fit properly and are far more likely to fall apart after only a few months of use. This is why you should buy high quality toilets in Toronto or elsewhere in your area.

Hurting the Resale Value of the Home

Bathroom renovations can hurt the resale value of your home in several ways. Extending a bathroom wall into a master bedroom so you have room for a hot tub or exercise space in the bathroom will decrease the appeal of the house to future buyers. Cutting the size of a master closet in half so that you have an in-bath sitting area likewise hurts the resale value of your home. You never want to decrease the size of bedrooms or storage areas to expand a bathroom, since this hurts the resale value of your home. You can rip out a linen closet in the hallway to get more maneuvering room around the toilet or put in a walk in shower, as long as equivalent storage is put in a logical location somewhere else.

Conclusion

If you’re going to renovate your bathroom, try not to go over budget. And also, don’t go overboard with a bathroom renovation and end up hurting the resale value of your home. Go with a pro instead of trying to do a bathroom renovation yourself, so that they use the right size of quality products for the job. Make minor changes to let light into the bathroom before you start knocking holes in the outside wall. And ensure that the entire project is appropriately waterproof so you don’t end up with costly repairs later.

from Home Design Ideas | Interior Design Ideas And Architcture http://ift.tt/2oOOlrK

The Beauty and Danger of Evaporating Precipitation

With our wet spring and winter, folks may think that all the precipitation falling out of our clouds is reaching the surface, but this is not true;  substantial amounts evaporate before hitting the surface and such evaporation of falling precipitation can be a beautiful sight to behold.

It also has a name:  virga.  And is seen as thin tendrils of precipitation falling out of cloud bases, frequently with curved and angled trajectories.  Virga can be made up of either ice crystals or rain drops.  Sometimes it reaches the surface (all too often around here!) and sometimes the precipitation evaporates before reaching the surface.

This week Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather shared some wonderful images and videos that I would like to show you--like the image shown below.

The amount of evaporation (liquid to vapor) or sublimation (ice crystal to vapor) of the falling precipitation varies, depending the relative humidity of the air below, the precipitation rate, the height of cloud base, and precipitation type.    Low relatively humidity obviously results in greater evaporation or sublimation.

One thing that is so beautiful about virga is the often curved nature of the falling precipitation, which is also called fall streaks.  Why?  Because winds often change with height (generally faster aloft) and thus the falling precipitation, which moves with the winds, is pushed along by varying amounts as it falls.

Virga has a distinctive beauty and this video proved by Greg Johnson is wonderful to watch.

Marching Virga.... April 12, 2017 from SkunkBayWeather on Vimeo.


The precipitation from virga cools by evaporation (and sublimation) as it falls, particularly if there is dry air below cloud base.  Cool air is denser than warmer air and so it sinks, accelerating down to the surface.    

Undoubtedly you have experienced that effect.  On a threatening day, did you ever feel the temperature chill and the winds pick up right before the rain starts?   That is the cool, downdraft air from virga, whose precipitation evaporated before it reached the surface.  Eventually, the air becomes saturated and the precipitation reaches the ground.

Evaporating precipitation associated with virga can also be deadly.    Intense evaporation and cooling results in a very strong downdraft that spreads out when it hits the surface (see figure). Called a downburst (or microburst), these phenomena can produce winds of 50-100+ mph and has brought down commercial jets.

Like so many things in life, virga can be beautiful, but it has another, more dangerous, side.

__________________________________
For those that are interested, I will be giving a talk at Bellevue College next Tuesday (April 18th) on the politicization of climate science at 12:30 PM.  This is open to the public. And they have pizza.

_______________________

How will Northwest Weather Change Under Global Warming?  Help Us Determine the Local Impacts of Climate Change

Society needs to know the regional impacts of climate change and several of us at the UW are trying to provide this information with state-of-the-art high resolution climate modeling.  With Federal funding unavailable, we are experimenting with a community funding to build this effort.  If you want more information or are interested in helping, please go here.  The full link is: http://ift.tt/2nltDeR    All contributions to the UW are tax deductible.

from Cliff Mass Weather Blog http://ift.tt/2oL3URh

The Beauty and Danger of Evaporating Precipitation

With our wet spring and winter, folks may think that all the precipitation falling out of our clouds is reaching the surface, but this is not true;  substantial amounts evaporate before hitting the surface and such evaporation of falling precipitation can be a beautiful sight to behold.

It also has a name:  virga.  And is seen as thin tendrils of precipitation falling out of cloud bases, frequently with curved and angled trajectories.  Virga can be made up of either ice crystals or rain drops.  Sometimes it reaches the surface (all too often around here!) and sometimes the precipitation evaporates before reaching the surface.

This week Greg Johnson of Skunk Bay Weather shared some wonderful images and videos that I would like to show you--like the image shown below.

The amount of evaporation (liquid to vapor) or sublimation (ice crystal to vapor) of the falling precipitation varies, depending the relative humidity of the air below, the precipitation rate, the height of cloud base, and precipitation type.    Low relatively humidity obviously results in greater evaporation or sublimation.

One thing that is so beautiful about virga is the often curved nature of the falling precipitation, which is also called fall streaks.  Why?  Because winds often change with height (generally faster aloft) and thus the falling precipitation, which moves with the winds, is pushed along by varying amounts as it falls.

Virga has a distinctive beauty and this video proved by Greg Johnson is wonderful to watch.

Marching Virga.... April 12, 2017 from SkunkBayWeather on Vimeo.


The precipitation from virga cools by evaporation (and sublimation) as it falls, particularly if there is dry air below cloud base.  Cool air is denser than warmer air and so it sinks, accelerating down to the surface.    

Undoubtedly you have experienced that effect.  On a threatening day, did you ever feel the temperature chill and the winds pick up right before the rain starts?   That is the cool, downdraft air from virga, whose precipitation evaporated before it reached the surface.  Eventually, the air becomes saturated and the precipitation reaches the ground.

Evaporating precipitation associated with virga can also be deadly.    Intense evaporation and cooling results in a very strong downdraft that spreads out when it hits the surface (see figure). Called a downburst (or microburst), these phenomena can produce winds of 50-100+ mph and has brought down commercial jets.

Like so many things in life, virga can be beautiful, but it has another, more dangerous, side.

__________________________________
For those that are interested, I will be giving a talk at Bellevue College next Tuesday (April 18th) on the politicization of climate science at 12:30 PM.  This is open to the public. And they have pizza.

_______________________

How will Northwest Weather Change Under Global Warming?  Help Us Determine the Local Impacts of Climate Change

Society needs to know the regional impacts of climate change and several of us at the UW are trying to provide this information with state-of-the-art high resolution climate modeling.  With Federal funding unavailable, we are experimenting with a community funding to build this effort.  If you want more information or are interested in helping, please go here.  The full link is: http://ift.tt/2nltDeR    All contributions to the UW are tax deductible.

from Cliff Mass Weather Blog http://ift.tt/2oL3URh

Record Breaking Precipitation in California: Is Global Warming to Blame?

This has been an extraordinarily wet year over the entire west coast of the U.S., with many locations approaching or exceeding all time record precipitation amounts for the water year (which starts October 1).  

The question is why?

A number of media outlets and environmental advocacy groups are claiming (or strongly suggesting) that the heavy rainfall this year and the preceding dry period over California are the result of human-caused global warming.

 Is human-induced global warming associated with increasing greenhouse gases really the cause?

I believe that the evidence and good sciences indicates that the answer is no--the nature of what happened this year does not reflect what we expect from global warming.  Let me provide you with the evidence.

The precipitation that has hit California this winter has been truly extraordinary. I mean crazy high.

Want proof? The State of California has an index of Northern Sierra Precipitation for the total amount starting October 1. Yesterday, we beat the all time record for entire water year, and there is 5.5 months left in the water year.  This is a startling record to break.

Here is the percentage of normal precipitation for the western U.S. for the water year so far.  Your eyes are not lying to you....much of norther Sierra and neighboring areas had over 200% of normal precipitation.

How much above normal does this mean in inches?  As shown in the figure below for the same period, we are talking over TWENTY inches more than normal from central CA to the Pacific Northwest.   Amazing.

So much precipitation that most of the reservoirs in California went from well below normal to full.  No one expected that.

Now some in the media and some "advocacy" groups have been suggesting or stating that the heavy this year is the result of or "consistent with" the effects of global warming.   But they are not providing a scientifically based conclusion.
(As an aside, this is an area in which I have done research and have published several papers in the peer-reviewed literature.)

There is a substantial literature on the impacts of global warming on West Coast precipitation.  A number make use of the output of global climate models forced by increasing greenhouse gases.

An excellent paper by Neelin et al., 2013 in the Journal of Climate presented the average change in precipitation for December through February from a 15-member ensemble of the latest (CMIP-5) climate models (see  below). This map shows the difference between the precipitation between the end of the 20th and 21st centuries if greenhouse gases increase rapidly (RCP 8.5).   Note that there is small increase over southern California and a modest increase (about .5-1 mm per day or around 1.75 to 3.5 inches) for the entire winter.  And keep in mind, this is the magnitude of the change by the end of the century, today, the impacts of global warming would be much, much less (perhaps a tenth of this).

Clearly, the precipitation enhancement this winter is hugely greater than expected from global warming.  These results also speak to the precipitation droughts of the past few years--this is NOT what climate models are suggesting will occur from global warming.  California will not be getting less precipitation as the planet warms (although Mexico will get drier)

Climate models do suggest that the largest atmospheric rivers will get much more intense--my work with Dr. Mike Warner in published work in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggests that the strongest atmospheric rivers will be enhanced by 30-40%.   But that is not what what observed this winter; although we had a few strong atmospheric rivers, none were exceptional, something that is supported by the lack of major flooding events along the West Coast.

Instead of mega atmospheric rivers, West Coast precipitation was characterized by a seemingly unending number of modest events.  This is made evident by the precipitation record at San Francisco below (dark green is actual precipitation and light green is normal).

Seattle-Tacoma Airport experienced the same thing.  Here is the plot of daily rainfall (red color) and the daily records (green lines).  Rain nearly every day, but very few events reached daily records.  Not what you would expect from a global warming signal.

Furthermore, the origin of the persistent precipitation is no mystery--it was due to a very persistent and anomalous upper atmospheric circulation pattern.

To illustrate, here is upper atmospheric (500 hPa, around 18,000 ft) anomaly (difference from normal) of 500 hPa heights (you can think of it like pressure) for the last 90 days.  Huge anomaly, with unusually low pressure over the Northwest and offshore waters, a big ridge (high pressure) over the eastern U.S. and the southern NE Pacific, and other large anomalies offshore.

A low off our coast and a ridge to our south brings moist southwesterly flow and lots of precipitation over the West Coast.  This pattern may well have been forced by unusual convection (thunderstorms) over the Indonesian and environs.
There is no reason to expect this kind of pattern is caused by global warming, since the climate models do not produce this configuration when they are forced by increasing greenhouse gases.

Not convinced yet?   If global warming caused by steadily increasing greenhouse gases was the cause of the recent drought or this year's mega precipitation, you would expect to see a trend in California precipitation.  As you can see below (a plot of Oct-March precipitation over CA from the Western Region Climate Center), there is very little trend (I would not look before 1940 since there was far fewer stations then).   California has a lot of natural variability of precipitation with a few dry years followed by a very wet year or two.  But there is no real trend.  Global warming would produce a trend.

In summary, examining the California precipitation variability from a number of directions leads to the same, consistent conclusion:  there is no scientific evidence or reason to believe that recent variations in precipitation have anything to do with global warming.
____________________

For those that are interested, I will be giving a talk at Bellevue College next Tuesday (April 18th) on the politicization of climate science at 12:30 PM.  This is open to the public. And they have pizza.

_______________________

How will Northwest Weather Change Under Global Warming?  Help Us Determine the Local Impacts of Climate Change

Society needs to know the regional impacts of climate change and several of us at the UW are trying to provide this information with state-of-the-art high resolution climate modeling.  With Federal funding unavailable, we are experimenting with a community funding to build this effort.  If you want more information or are interested in helping, please go here.  The full link is: http://ift.tt/2nltDeR    All contributions to the UW are tax deductible.

from Cliff Mass Weather Blog http://ift.tt/2odYuul

Record Breaking Precipitation in California: Is Global Warming to Blame?

This has been an extraordinarily wet year over the entire west coast of the U.S., with many locations approaching or exceeding all time record precipitation amounts for the water year (which starts October 1).  

The question is why?

A number of media outlets and environmental advocacy groups are claiming (or strongly suggesting) that the heavy rainfall this year and the preceding dry period over California are the result of human-caused global warming.

 Is human-induced global warming associated with increasing greenhouse gases really the cause?

I believe that the evidence and good sciences indicates that the answer is no--the nature of what happened this year does not reflect what we expect from global warming.  Let me provide you with the evidence.

The precipitation that has hit California this winter has been truly extraordinary. I mean crazy high.

Want proof? The State of California has an index of Northern Sierra Precipitation for the total amount starting October 1. Yesterday, we beat the all time record for entire water year, and there is 5.5 months left in the water year.  This is a startling record to break.

Here is the percentage of normal precipitation for the western U.S. for the water year so far.  Your eyes are not lying to you....much of norther Sierra and neighboring areas had over 200% of normal precipitation.

How much above normal does this mean in inches?  As shown in the figure below for the same period, we are talking over TWENTY inches more than normal from central CA to the Pacific Northwest.   Amazing.

So much precipitation that most of the reservoirs in California went from well below normal to full.  No one expected that.

Now some in the media and some "advocacy" groups have been suggesting or stating that the heavy this year is the result of or "consistent with" the effects of global warming.   But they are not providing a scientifically based conclusion.
(As an aside, this is an area in which I have done research and have published several papers in the peer-reviewed literature.)

There is a substantial literature on the impacts of global warming on West Coast precipitation.  A number make use of the output of global climate models forced by increasing greenhouse gases.

An excellent paper by Neelin et al., 2013 in the Journal of Climate presented the average change in precipitation for December through February from a 15-member ensemble of the latest (CMIP-5) climate models (see  below). This map shows the difference between the precipitation between the end of the 20th and 21st centuries if greenhouse gases increase rapidly (RCP 8.5).   Note that there is small increase over southern California and a modest increase (about .5-1 mm per day or around 1.75 to 3.5 inches) for the entire winter.  And keep in mind, this is the magnitude of the change by the end of the century, today, the impacts of global warming would be much, much less (perhaps a tenth of this).

Clearly, the precipitation enhancement this winter is hugely greater than expected from global warming.  These results also speak to the precipitation droughts of the past few years--this is NOT what climate models are suggesting will occur from global warming.  California will not be getting less precipitation as the planet warms (although Mexico will get drier)

Climate models do suggest that the largest atmospheric rivers will get much more intense--my work with Dr. Mike Warner in published work in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggests that the strongest atmospheric rivers will be enhanced by 30-40%.   But that is not what what observed this winter; although we had a few strong atmospheric rivers, none were exceptional, something that is supported by the lack of major flooding events along the West Coast.

Instead of mega atmospheric rivers, West Coast precipitation was characterized by a seemingly unending number of modest events.  This is made evident by the precipitation record at San Francisco below (dark green is actual precipitation and light green is normal).

Seattle-Tacoma Airport experienced the same thing.  Here is the plot of daily rainfall (red color) and the daily records (green lines).  Rain nearly every day, but very few events reached daily records.  Not what you would expect from a global warming signal.

Furthermore, the origin of the persistent precipitation is no mystery--it was due to a very persistent and anomalous upper atmospheric circulation pattern.

To illustrate, here is upper atmospheric (500 hPa, around 18,000 ft) anomaly (difference from normal) of 500 hPa heights (you can think of it like pressure) for the last 90 days.  Huge anomaly, with unusually low pressure over the Northwest and offshore waters, a big ridge (high pressure) over the eastern U.S. and the southern NE Pacific, and other large anomalies offshore.

A low off our coast and a ridge to our south brings moist southwesterly flow and lots of precipitation over the West Coast.  This pattern may well have been forced by unusual convection (thunderstorms) over the Indonesian and environs.
There is no reason to expect this kind of pattern is caused by global warming, since the climate models do not produce this configuration when they are forced by increasing greenhouse gases.

Not convinced yet?   If global warming caused by steadily increasing greenhouse gases was the cause of the recent drought or this year's mega precipitation, you would expect to see a trend in California precipitation.  As you can see below (a plot of Oct-March precipitation over CA from the Western Region Climate Center), there is very little trend (I would not look before 1940 since there was far fewer stations then).   California has a lot of natural variability of precipitation with a few dry years followed by a very wet year or two.  But there is no real trend.  Global warming would produce a trend.

In summary, examining the California precipitation variability from a number of directions leads to the same, consistent conclusion:  there is no scientific evidence or reason to believe that recent variations in precipitation have anything to do with global warming.
____________________

For those that are interested, I will be giving a talk at Bellevue College next Tuesday (April 18th) on the politicization of climate science at 12:30 PM.  This is open to the public. And they have pizza.

_______________________

How will Northwest Weather Change Under Global Warming?  Help Us Determine the Local Impacts of Climate Change

Society needs to know the regional impacts of climate change and several of us at the UW are trying to provide this information with state-of-the-art high resolution climate modeling.  With Federal funding unavailable, we are experimenting with a community funding to build this effort.  If you want more information or are interested in helping, please go here.  The full link is: http://ift.tt/2nltDeR    All contributions to the UW are tax deductible.

from Cliff Mass Weather Blog http://ift.tt/2odYuul

Read This Before You Install New Deck

Decking has become wildly popular over the past decade, replacing patio as the most common “outdoor living space” extension for the home. Decking has become increasingly popular, especially in places with a dry climate, thanks to its versatility and ability to give people al fresco living.

There are, however, some important considerations that need to be made first before you decide to go ahead and install decking, ranging from picking the right material to how much you want to spend. Here’s the lowdown.

Think About What You’ll Use Your Decking For

Different people use decking for various things. Some people use it as an extra space to lounge around in the warmer months of the year. Others use it for things like cooking and barbecues. If you plan on using it for the latter, you’ll want to include a prep and serving area, perhaps with built-in perimeter seating. You might also want to install a wide, flat handrail around the edge of your decking so that your guests have a place to put their drinks while they’re chatting.

If you plan on using your decking to chill out and snooze, consider installing a fire pit (if local building codes allow it) to keep you warm on those long summer evenings.

Test Your Layout

Before you get decking installed, it’s a good idea to think about the layout and how it will look in relation to the rest of your property. Mark out the footprint of your decking on the ground and then place furniture to simulate what the space will be like. You’ll soon discover whether you need more decking or less. Check whether there is enough room to walk around between the furniture and the edge of the decking.

Get To Grips With The Materials

When it comes to decking, there are many different kinds of materials. The two most popular are artificial manufactured boards designed to look like wood and actual wood. Pressure-treated wood is perhaps the best from an aesthetics point of view, but it’s prone to warping and cracking and requires regular maintenance. What’s worse, real wood can quickly become infested with termites, according to Terminix, especially if it is left in all seasons in an exposed location. The alternative to real wood is manufactured board composite. The good news about composite is that it will last a long time, so long as it is cared for properly. It won’t splinter, crack or rot like an organic material, like wood. The only problem is that it tends to look a bit cheap and tacky compared to real wood and spills can leave nasty stains.

Finally, there’s PVC, another type of manufactured board. Because it’s plastic-based, it doesn’t swell or shrink if it gets wet and it’s very resistant to termites and rot. The only problem with these boards is that they often don’t look very much like wood. Having said that, they’re easy to maintain.

The bottom line is that new decking is a fashionable and exciting way to add more space to your home. But before you jump in and get new decking, do some careful planning first.

from Home Design Ideas | Interior Design Ideas And Architcture http://ift.tt/2p9795C

Read This Before You Install New Deck

Decking has become wildly popular over the past decade, replacing patio as the most common “outdoor living space” extension for the home. Decking has become increasingly popular, especially in places with a dry climate, thanks to its versatility and ability to give people al fresco living.

There are, however, some important considerations that need to be made first before you decide to go ahead and install decking, ranging from picking the right material to how much you want to spend. Here’s the lowdown.

Think About What You’ll Use Your Decking For

Different people use decking for various things. Some people use it as an extra space to lounge around in the warmer months of the year. Others use it for things like cooking and barbecues. If you plan on using it for the latter, you’ll want to include a prep and serving area, perhaps with built-in perimeter seating. You might also want to install a wide, flat handrail around the edge of your decking so that your guests have a place to put their drinks while they’re chatting.

If you plan on using your decking to chill out and snooze, consider installing a fire pit (if local building codes allow it) to keep you warm on those long summer evenings.

Test Your Layout

Before you get decking installed, it’s a good idea to think about the layout and how it will look in relation to the rest of your property. Mark out the footprint of your decking on the ground and then place furniture to simulate what the space will be like. You’ll soon discover whether you need more decking or less. Check whether there is enough room to walk around between the furniture and the edge of the decking.

Get To Grips With The Materials

When it comes to decking, there are many different kinds of materials. The two most popular are artificial manufactured boards designed to look like wood and actual wood. Pressure-treated wood is perhaps the best from an aesthetics point of view, but it’s prone to warping and cracking and requires regular maintenance. What’s worse, real wood can quickly become infested with termites, according to Terminix, especially if it is left in all seasons in an exposed location. The alternative to real wood is manufactured board composite. The good news about composite is that it will last a long time, so long as it is cared for properly. It won’t splinter, crack or rot like an organic material, like wood. The only problem is that it tends to look a bit cheap and tacky compared to real wood and spills can leave nasty stains.

Finally, there’s PVC, another type of manufactured board. Because it’s plastic-based, it doesn’t swell or shrink if it gets wet and it’s very resistant to termites and rot. The only problem with these boards is that they often don’t look very much like wood. Having said that, they’re easy to maintain.

The bottom line is that new decking is a fashionable and exciting way to add more space to your home. But before you jump in and get new decking, do some careful planning first.

from Home Design Ideas | Interior Design Ideas And Architcture http://ift.tt/2p9795C