Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[ötzi]

All I know about heat pump water is from watching this old house but the units they install always seem to be hybrid heat pump/gas.

I should post a picture of ours sometime, Between the air handler, the well pressure tank, the water-softening system, the gas condensing boiler and water heater, the radiant we have in the slab, the electric panels, alarm system and more there's a lot going on in there.

[old goat]

I should post a picture of our basement, with the 1930 asbestos covered gas gravity furnace and ducts, dangling wires, crawl space dust, pipes of 3 different materials, 6 and a half foot beam clearance, and more xmas and halloween decorations than 5 families could use.

[Foggy_Goggles]

I should post a picture of ours sometime, Between the air handler, the well pressure tank, the water-softening system, the gas condensing boiler and water heater, the radiant we have in the slab, the electric panels, alarm system and more there's a lot going on in there.

Add in an ERV, all the low volt, smart house, leak and flow detection and so on. It never ends.

Last week Verizon was down and people were loosing their minds. Like no mental contingency for when there phone did not work. Kids were loving it. "My mom has no idea where I am. I haven't talked or txt'd with here all day". Teacher friends were saying the helicopters were going to the schools to check on kids.

I've had customer be locked out of their homes because their phones were dead and they couldn't open the garage door. A lot of the new shit is smart and functional but a lot is just "21st century digital boy" stupid consumerism.

The wifi shitter is probably somewhere in the middle.

[singlesline]

Yeah, another good point. Not quite server room box fan but pretty loud. It’s essentially a window mounted A/C unit sitting on top of a water heater… the OCD in me would key in to the noise quickly if it was in my living space and drive me fucking crazy.

Hmm, maybe I'll have to find one to listen to. The water heater closet is offset as much as it can be from the living areas of the house, but louder sounds would still be audible.

It shares a wall with the garage, so maybe I could vent the exhaust with a seasonal damper. Dump the cold air back into the house in the summer. Dump the cold air into the garage in the winter since the "cold" exhaust is probably warmer than the garage temp anyways.

Or I just get a regular electric heater and see if the solutions look any different 10 years from now...

[old goat]

Add in an ERV, all the low volt, smart house, leak and flow detection and so on. It never ends.

There is nothing smart in our house. Including the occupants. The thermostat has mercury in it.
I can't imagine why anyone would want their whole life to be controlled by a device you can easily lose or flush down the toilet (and which doesn't work when the power is out, because where I live I need a mini cell tower.)

[anotherVTskibum]

There is nothing smart in our house. Including the occupants. The thermostat has mercury in it.
I can't imagine why anyone would want their whole life to be controlled by a device you can easily lose or flush down the toilet (and which doesn't work when the power is out, because where I live I need a mini cell tower.)

Especially in the winter, I really like the smart bulb in my bedroom because it can simulate sunrise colors and growing intensity and then I can have it at a lower intensity and reddish tint as I get ready for bed.

However, I do have it set that if I flip the switch off and on, it comes back at full power white and stays that way until given other instructions. So if the network is down, it just acts like a light bulb.

The garage door opener has WiFi but I've never hooked it up. It seemed like a cool feature at the time I bought it, but even when I'm gone on a trip, someone is usually around, so the primary use case in my head (crap, I'm at the airport and I can't remember if I closed the garage) isn't really an issue.

[TAFKALVS]

Hmm, maybe I'll have to find one to listen to. The water heater closet is offset as much as it can be from the living areas of the house, but louder sounds would still be audible.

It shares a wall with the garage, so maybe I could vent the exhaust with a seasonal damper. Dump the cold air back into the house in the summer. Dump the cold air into the garage in the winter since the "cold" exhaust is probably warmer than the garage temp anyways.

Or I just get a regular electric heater and see if the solutions look any different 10 years from now...

Why not relocate the water heater to the garage?

[nickwm21]

The garage door opener has WiFi but I've never hooked it up. It seemed like a cool feature at the time I bought it, but even when I'm gone on a trip, someone is usually around, so the primary use case in my head (crap, I'm at the airport and I can't remember if I closed the garage) isn't really an issue.

I’ve got mine setup to send me a push notification if the garage door is left open for 20min or more… saved my butt a few times.


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[dan_pdx]

I'm going to sand and refinish a t&g fir front porch this weekend. It had some Sherwin-Williams Superdeck product on it that didn't hold up that well: the front edge of the porch gets some rain, and the coating failed there. Any suggestions for other products? Looking for something transparent or maybe with a light tint.

Any need to sand higher than 80 grit?

[climberevan]

Nothing will last longer than a year. Just plan on redoing the coating every autumn.

[Djongo Unchained]

I agree with above but prefer to stain/paint in the spring so you enjoy it in its freshness all summer and fall.. It just gets covered by feet of snow for the next 6 months here so it's bound to be somewhat affected come spring.

[old goat]

Cabot gets good reviews. Superdeck used to until the company was bought out. I haven't used the Cabot yet.

[dan_pdx]

Thanks, that's a good reset for me. If been thinking "find the product that will really last!" But when you get down to it, I'd rather recoat every year than mess around with 18 coats of spar varnish with sanding in between or whatever

[old goat]

We've always used oil based transparent finish (before we put in composite decking). With the old Superdeck water would bead up for a few years. We re-oiled when it didn't. We didn't care if the wood looked new--our house is pretty rustic. If you want the deck to look good--you probably do, based on it being T and G--then it's more complicated. The nice thing about oil is that at least when it fails it doesn't look like crap, the way failing paint or varnish does.

[bodywhomper]

Here’s what I’ve been using. Holds up for us about for about 3-4 years with good prepping. Our decks get a lot of sun, a lot of heat, a lot of rain, and a little bit of snow. I imagine that the different colors/tones can make decks look nice and very fancy.

[XXX-er]

Treated 1x5, aluminium siding and I have a gardener so no maintenance

I do cut the lawn and run the edger

[anotherVTskibum]

So I asked about some ducting a while back, and I got most of it apart except the flange that actually attaches to the rectangular duct.

Do I just peel the rest of the sealant off and bend the metal inwards so it can drop into the duct (and then manipulate it back out somehow)? Or do I need to drill out the things that look kinda kinda like a bolt coming through from inside?

If capping what's left makes reasonable sense, I'm also good with that option. Given what the rest of the ducting I got close to looks like, a little bit of reduced airflow efficiency isn't a game changer.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Typical take off collar looks like this. If so reach inside after removing caulk, bend tabs down and pull it out.

[I Skied Bandini Mountain]

you can find end caps for that at your local lowes or home cheapo

[Vt-Freeheel]

you can find end caps for that at your local lowes or home cheapo

Come on, the HVAC "pros" here already told him if he did that it would disrupt the airflow, possibly freeze to death.

[anotherVTskibum]

Come on, the HVAC "pros" here already told him if he did that it would disrupt the airflow, possibly freeze to death.

I was wondering if I was being tricked ("just reach into that duct and straighten the tabs, don't mind the hungry chipmunks"), but it turns out it was that simple. Now I just need a piece of sheet metal to close it up.

For those who want to see the more of the efficiency to be preserved, I've attached photo evidence. Thankfully, this system is supplemental to the pellet boiler now.

[old goat]

Not quite ready for Architectural Digest.

[jackstraw]

Putting some shiplap on the shed ceiling and come up one freakin' piece short! Thankfully found a piece of exterior trim and routed it out...good enough...it just a shed!

Next up is the bench.

[Buster Highmen]

Is this stuff really R-18?SEALTECH Heavy Duty 16 in. x 100 ft. 10mm Thick Reflective Insulation Roll .

Anyone ever use it?

[XXX-er]

soon as I got in this place 14 yrs ago I put in a Rheems HE gas furnace and completely ignored it except for changing the odd filter or at least vacumming it but apparently there is no real service plan

I had been threatening to have it serviced/checked so when I seen the gas company offering a service i jumped on it and it appears it was a freebee promotion cuz I didn't get any bill and buddy said it was purring along

when I was scoping a furnace Rheems had a pretty good rating and my contracter was selling it for 30-40 percent less than same instal with a lennox which actualy doesnt get great reviews