Home Improvement Thread

[NTP66]

I actually use mine more than I thought I would. If we go for a walk, I use it rather than go through the door. We have someone clean and that is how we let her in. If my dad has to run up to do something like meet for a delivery and I can't make it home, etc.

Okay, I have a smart lock on my front door for stuff like this.

[Beveridge]

Correct. It's probably double redundancy at that point. Probably the reason I opted to get a standard deadbolt for the front door after-all. It's a rarely used door.

[MR25]

I have a dumb front door (read: deadbolt and knob lock, no doorbell) so the phone capability is a huge step up. I was previously bringing my keys with me any time someone would drive me somewhere because I don't have an exterior number pad for the door.

Not having to take my keys means one less thing I need to worry about potentially losing.

[NTP66]

Time an upgrade then:

[mac5155]

I use mine when I need to let my parents or someone else in the house remotely. I think I paid like $25 for the MyQ system. Worth it IMO though I can see why you wouldn't need it with a smart deadbolt

[NTP66]

Do you leave your interior garage door unlocked then?

[mac5155]

Yeah it's always unlocked

[NTP66]

Good to know...

[mac5155]

Come on up

[NTP66]

Let me know when you're smoking BBQ first.

[skullman80]

Our interior garage door ..going from the garage to our downstairs doesn't even have a lock on it as far as I know haha.

[dodint]

Mine is extra secure. I have an attached garage with no interior door.

[NTP66]

Well then how are guests supposed to use your garage to get into your house? Stupid idiot

[dodint]

Key in the flower pot.

I don't use keys because I have a battery-operated pin pad on my front door. As an extra layer of security the bolt slightly binds against the strike plate, and the motor isn't strong enough to overcome that binding unless you know to put in the pin and also apply slight pressure to the door at just the right moment. Foolproof!

[skullman80]

We've left both our garage doors open all night once or twice before (Before i set the schedule to close in the myq app every night at 11 regardless). Thankfully nothing bad happened. The interior door does have a ring thing on it so if someone did try to come in it would have alarmed at night in armed mode anyways.

[dodint]

We learned real quick not to do that when I lived in coastal NC as snakes would come out of the swamp/woods and curl up in the corners of the garage if you left to doors open at night.

[DigitalGypsy66]

3 cars, 3 drivers, 2 remotes. So we use our app quite a bit. We had a keypad at our old house, but I didn't bother to put one in here. I do love having the door close automatically if it's still open at a certain time, but it's always unnerving to hear it going down while asleep.

[Nuge]

I actually use mine more than I thought I would. If we go for a walk with the stroller, I use it rather than go through the door and grab the car remote. We have someone clean and that is how we let her in. If my dad has to run up to do something like meet for a delivery and I can't make it home, etc.

That's what we do too. We use it more than I thought. I replaced our chain with a belt when I put the new motor in. The noise difference has been awesome. Especially since we have a bedroom directly above the garage.

[skullman80]

Gonna have a company come out to do an energy audit and price out what it will cost to up the insulation in our house. Our attic had insulation done at some point probably 30 years ago, but sticking my head up there.....there is not much. The ceiling in the garage also needs some, and im sure other places too. Not sure what it will all cost, but interested to see what is recommended at least.

[NTP66]

When you have one done, let us know how it went, how much you spent, etc. I've thought about doing the same myself.

[skullman80]

When you have one done, let us know how it went, how much you spent, etc. I've thought about doing the same myself.

Will do.

The energy audit is free...or is supposed to be. They said it would take like 2 to 3 hours and they would give me a comprehensive readout of what they recommend and what they think to be most important. They are a smaller local company and have very good reviews some of which are from people in or near our neighborhood.

You can tell you are getting old when you get excited about an energy audit..and the though of having insulation done at your house haha.

[NTP66]

I have more insulation than is required in my attic, and honestly, the only thing stopping me from adding more is that it would then become a pain to access things like the bathroom fans if I had to service one of them. Completely irrational, I know.

[skullman80]

I've only peaked my head up in the attic once or twice. The access is in a closet in the hall way and there are shelves there that need to be removed unless you want to spiderman your way up there. There is insulation, but not nearly enough and it's super old. I know for sure that needs done.

I'm curious what they will recommend with our garage and downstairs. Our downstairs is finished but its way colder down there then upstairs. Our two spare bedrooms are right above the garage and I know there is cold air coming up from that. The roof of the garage has drywall and I think a bit of insulation but not much. I'm sure there are lots of air leaks in the attic too and in other places.

I'm sure it won't be cheap, but we shall see how it goes. They are coming Thursday morning.

[Joegap]

Gonna have a company come out to do an energy audit and price out what it will cost to up the insulation in our house. Our attic had insulation done at some point probably 30 years ago, but sticking my head up there.....there is not much. The ceiling in the garage also needs some, and im sure other places too. Not sure what it will all cost, but interested to see what is recommended at least.

Who is doing it? We had insulwise do ours a few years ago. We got insulation in the attic and they sealed our ducts. Definitely seems to make a difference

[mac5155]

Light condensation/danpness below a water heater tank is to be expected in winter, correct?