Home Improvement Thread

[NTP66]

FWIW, I had a duct cleaning service come out and install the actual vents since I don't have a ladder big enough to get on my roof, nor did I want to. I literally did all other work, including using a 6" hole saw for each vent. Whoever does it, make sure that the vent cap is siliconed so that there is no chance of water penetration. And if you run the ductwork, pitch it up after the fan and then down to exit. This way, any trapped condensation doesn't run straight back into your fan. Doesn't need to be much of a pitch, either, just towards the house.

[eddy]

Thanks, I believe I have something already on the sides of the attic going to the outside that will allow me to connect this to

[skullman80]

Well everything is done on day 2. Took them about 2 hours to blow everything in insulation wise after they finished everything else. They had a huge truck, but im assuming the person outside was feeding whatever machine they had then the person in the attic was spraying where it needed to go.

Obviously I won't know of any huge savings right away, but with beestat can monitor run time, and just see how the overall feel is. The crew seemed to know what they were doing though and answered any questions I had along with showing me pictures and walking me around to anything i wanted to see. They put drop cloths down, vacuumed up after themselves etc.

Hopefully the around 5k investment will pay off in the long run.

[NTP66]

Source of the post but with beestat can monitor run time, and just see how the overall feel is.

Also look at how quickly the temps drop pre- and post-insulation. Should drop at a lower rate now.

[mac5155]

I can do that, what should I get to run it to the outside?

Give uncle Sam a call?

I kid Edward I kid

[eddy]

I can do that, what should I get to run it to the outside?

Give uncle Sam a call?

I kid Edward I kid

I'm actually going to bring it up when I meet with the borough to go over the project.

[Nuge]

I have the same situation with my fans venting into the attic. I've talked to several contractors about it. Their opinons varied, but most of them said they prefer to go out through the roof. I had a guy set to come and do it, then we got a pile of snow so he told me to call him in the spring.

[NTP66]

I just don’t understand that. Roof penetrations are always the riskiest.

[Sam's Drunk Dog]

I just don’t understand that. Roof penetrations are always the riskiest.

Yea, much more likely your house will get pregnant.

[Kane]

Pergant?

[NTP66]

Earlier today, we had two power blips one after the other. Neither seemed to affect stuff like the oven clock, coffee maker, etc, but the computers in my office and my wife’s office both lost power each time. Really weird.

[Kane]

Bigger capacitors in them I'd bet.

[NTP66]

February has been terrific for solar, which is a nice change from the overcast **** we had in January. Had our best solar day to date a few days ago, and today has a chance to top it.

[shafnutz05]

I have the same situation with my fans venting into the attic. I've talked to several contractors about it. Their opinons varied, but most of them said they prefer to go out through the roof. I had a guy set to come and do it, then we got a pile of snow so he told me to call him in the spring.

Huh... I've always assumed our bathroom vents went to the roof but now I'm not sure.

[tifosi77]

Haha, just checked our Enphase. Today is a normal February day, and we're up to around 58 kWh produced. We had bible-type rains Sunday and Monday, so I looked at that production................. 3.3 kWh. lol

[NTP66]

Neighbor was seeing high radon readings in his basement, and wife was bugging me, so I bought an Ecosense EcuQube for our basement. Hopefully I won't need to do any sort of mitigation.

[mamaemeritus]

I'm glad I popped in here. I have been mulling over calling Insulwise as I'm convinced our house (circa mid 60s) has zero insulation. Wildly varying temps and so damn cold in the winter. I know two of the biggest culprits are the crawl space and the 3 season porch. Not much to be done about the porch save for new windows ($$$$, nope) or converting it ($$$$, nope). I'm sure we've got air leaks in the attic and the insulation sounds like what @skullman80 had in his. Wonder if they could do something similar in the crawl space? In any case, sounds like I need to put a call to them on my to-do list.

[skullman80]

I'm glad I popped in here. I have been mulling over calling Insulwise as I'm convinced our house (circa mid 60s) has zero insulation. Wildly varying temps and so damn cold in the winter. I know two of the biggest culprits are the crawl space and the 3 season porch. Not much to be done about the porch save for new windows ($$$$, nope) or converting it ($$$$, nope). I'm sure we've got air leaks in the attic and the insulation sounds like what @skullman80 had in his. Wonder if they could do something similar in the crawl space? In any case, sounds like I need to put a call to them on my to-do list.

I was very happy with their process and pricing and the work they did. Noticed a difference already when we had a few cold days before the current warm up. Definitely worth at least having them come out for free and give an estimate.

[shafnutz05]

Neighbor was seeing high radon readings in his basement, and wife was bugging me, so I bought an Ecosense EcuQube for our basement. Hopefully I won't need to do any sort of mitigation.

That's scary, good luck with the test. Do you have a radon vent? We have one but I should probably invest in a monitor.

[NTP66]

Neighbor was seeing high radon readings in his basement, and wife was bugging me, so I bought an Ecosense EcuQube for our basement. Hopefully I won't need to do any sort of mitigation.

That's scary, good luck with the test. Do you have a radon vent? We have one but I should probably invest in a monitor.

We do not because of the low readings from when we bought the house. If I see numbers above 4, I may just buy the fan and PVC and install a mitigation system myself. Sucks that you have to run it to the roof, though.

[tifosi77]

Our neighbor has an enormous pine tree in his yard, on the side opposite our shared fence line. Like, the kind of thing that's identifiable from a few miles away. Our neighborhood is near the western rim of the San Fernando Valley and in the middle of the northern and southern perimeters, which means it gets quite windy here at times, esp in the winter months. And that pine tree deposits needles into our yard and pool; I don't even know how to quantify the amount, but it has been enough to nearly fill our green waste bin and necessitate pool service calls because of clogged pump filters. You're finding pine needles in places you wouldn't expect to find pine needles months after you last had contact with pine needles.... it's like glitter from a stripper's body.

Today, he's having the tree cut down.

I'm glad this first-world hassle is going away, but I'm also sad it is at the expense of a tree that's probably over a hundred years old and pre-dates people in this immediate vicinity.

[robbiestoupe]

Just realized that my drain pipe exiting the kitchen sink area is higher than the exit of my garbage disposal. Had a couple instances where the pipe just popped open and spilled drain water everywhere. Now I know why. Time to call the plumber.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yinz are probably watching the Jagr retirement, but I've been up in my attic crawlspace most of the afternoon trying to figure out why my AC unit doesn't have any power. It started with a warning on the thermostat, but that runs on batteries. Fuse panel is good, but there are these non-fusible pullout disconnects on the outside unit and the air handler upstairs. On the disconnect upstairs, the panel smells like corroded alkaline batteries. And the handle is covered in white powder/crud that looks just like old corroded batteries. Two of the four copper prongs have black burnt(!) residue on them. WTF?

[dodint]

Yikes.

[NTP66]

Yikes indeed. Time to call an HVAC guy.