Home Improvement Thread

[meow]

That makes me shudder. The dead spot in the grass that’ll make.

[NTP66]

That makes me shudder. The dead spot in the grass that’ll make.

That was one of the first things that I had to deal with when we bought the house:

Before:


After:

[mac5155]

I could see a fence for an in ground pool. But not for an above ground. Or even a temporary pool

[Freddy Rumsen]

Your yard is amazing.

[tjand72]

Very lush grass you have there.

[shafnutz05]

I just looked up my township's code - seems as though we'd need a 48" tall fence for any pool deeper than 12", so I should have just started there. There's no fence between my one neighbor and I, and I think I prefer it that way.

My man. We have great neighbors and it is nice not having fences.

[Ad@m]

That makes me shudder. The dead spot in the grass that’ll make.

That was one of the first things that I had to deal with when we bought the house:

Before:


After:

Is that clover or creeping charlie in your grass?

[shafnutz05]

That makes me shudder. The dead spot in the grass that’ll make.

I get a panic attack when my wife gets the small inflatable pool out for our daughter and it sits in the grass any longer than two hours

[NTP66]

Source of the post Is that clover or creeping charlie in your grass?

It's definitely not creeping charlie. There's some clover mixed in, though.

[NTP66]

Your yard is amazing.

Thanks - it took a while to get it to where it is. Kinda wish I had more land, and not just because it'd be easier to justify a riding mower.

[King Colby]

My project this year is fixing the grass. Its improving. Still lots of weeds but the grass is getting thicker and nicer and starting to choke some of them out. I've also been cutting it at 4"

[mac5155]

My grass is about dead.

[Shyster]

My grass is mostly not grass. Meh. So long as the dirt is generally covered by green stuff, I don't really care.

[Kaiser]

I have about 20 blades of Tiger Grass, if that counts.

Anyone have a good pure sine wave inverter? Looking for 1000w, and reviews are all over the place with arguments.

[skullman80]

Ok so now that we have our own house again I want to get things set up to have a smart theromstat/front door lock/ring doorbell.

So give me the best combinations of all 3. Would like to stay $1000 or under for the 3 combined. I would prefer the theromstat and front door lock are Alexa Enabled, but as long as I can access via a phone app to do whatever I need to do I'm ok with that too.

[meow]

I'm also listening for these recommendations

[NTP66]

Thermostat:
Any of the ecobee thermostats, depending upon your needs. If you don't need accessory control (humidifier, dehumidifier, etc.), then you can roll with an ecobee3 lite. I have the 4 and love it. Here's a comparison chart. Worth mentioning that they started rolling out an eco+ feature, which many have issues with. They say you can enable it, and then disable all of the settings after the fact, but I'm not a fan of that. I DM'd them and asked them to remove it from my thermostat, and they said they would. I have a handful of the newer Remote Sensors in various rooms, and would recommend going that route, too.

Doorbell:

or

Lock:

Are you going to do any smart home stuff? If you go the Samsung SmartThings route, I use RBoy's Lock User Management SmartApp for my front door, along with a number of other apps for various things in my house (water leak sensors, etc.). Pay once for lifetime access to all apps and updates. The app notifies me when any of the batteries in my connected smart devices is getting low, which is a big help. You can go crazy with your apps and routines to fully automate your entire house if you wanted to. My setup is pretty vanilla, but I love it.

[NTP66]

Also, don't enable Alexa access for your front door lock. That just seems like a glitch waiting to happen...

[skullman80]

Thermostat:
Any of the ecobee thermostats, depending upon your needs. If you don't need accessory control (humidifier, dehumidifier, etc.), then you can roll with an ecobee3 lite. I have the 4 and love it. Here's a comparison chart. Worth mentioning that they started rolling out an eco+ feature, which many have issues with. They say you can enable it, and then disable all of the settings after the fact, but I'm not a fan of that. I DM'd them and asked them to remove it from my thermostat, and they said they would. I have a handful of the newer Remote Sensors in various rooms, and would recommend going that route, too.

Doorbell:

or

Lock:

Are you going to do any smart home stuff? If you go the Samsung SmartThings route, I use RBoy's Lock User Management SmartApp for my front door, along with a number of other apps for various things in my house (water leak sensors, etc.). Pay once for lifetime access to all apps and updates. The app notifies me when any of the batteries in my connected smart devices is getting low, which is a big help. You can go crazy with your apps and routines to fully automate your entire house if you wanted to. My setup is pretty vanilla, but I love it.

You basically suggested the ones I had looked at on Amazon. I'll probably go Ecobee 4 just to future proof. I need to go look and see what color the handle is on the door at the new house. I think it's silver/nickel but honestly can't remember. Wife will want to make sure they match haha.

I also have to check the wiring on the front doorbell. I tried it yesterday and it doesn't work heh. I'm assuming it's hardwired though but not sure. Yesterday was such a whirlwind that I didn't have a chance to go look at everything once we got the keys. We basically went in and cleaned a bit, built a couple lamps and called it a night.

I did notice that the garage door openers have an app that I can download that it looks like I can open/close those from my phone as well which will be nice.

I expect my setup to be similar to yours. I'm not going crazy, but want to make my life a bit easier.

[NTP66]

Source of the post You basically suggested the ones I had looked at on Amazon. I'll probably go Ecobee 4 just to future proof. I need to go look and see what color the handle is on the door at the new house. I think it's silver/nickel but honestly can't remember. Wife will want to make sure they match haha.

Cheaper to buy a new matching handle, in most cases. FWIW, I don't even bother locking the actual doorknob anymore; it's just the deadbolt and that's it, because the purpose was to not have to use any keys again.

Source of the postI also have to check the wiring on the front doorbell. I tried it yesterday and it doesn't work heh. I'm assuming it's hardwired though but not sure. Yesterday was such a whirlwind that I didn't have a chance to go look at everything once we got the keys. We basically went in and cleaned a bit, built a couple lamps and called it a night.

Ring provides a bunch of good tutorials on everything. You just need to confirm that you have the appropriate transformer. Mine was located under my electrical panel, but I know others who found it near the actual doorbell. Even if it doesn't work, you can check for the wires using a voltmeter.

I did notice that the garage door openers have an app that I can download that it looks like I can open/close those from my phone as well which will be nice.

I expect my setup to be similar to yours. I'm not going crazy, but want to make my life a bit easier.

I keep going back and forth on the garage door sensors. It's crazy expensive for the units, and I'd need two of them. I can't envision a scenario in which I'd need to remotely open the garage door, either.

[skullman80]

Cheaper to buy a new matching handle, in most cases. FWIW, I don't even bother locking the actual doorknob anymore; it's just the deadbolt and that's it, because the purpose was to not have to use any keys again.

I agree. That is probably what I will do. We've been staying at my mother in laws and they have a similar unit to the yale and it's been nice to not have to carry keys around.

Ring provides a bunch of good tutorials on everything. You just need to confirm that you have the appropriate transformer. Mine was located under my electrical panel, but I know others who found it near the actual doorbell. Even if it doesn't work, you can check for the wires using a voltmeter.

Add it to the list of things to do haha.

I keep going back and forth on the garage door sensors. It's crazy expensive for the units, and I'd need two of them. I can't envision a scenario in which I'd need to remotely open the garage door, either.

It's not something I would have paid for, but since it's there and they just put brand new garage door openers on and doors might as well take advantage of it.

[NTP66]

I pay for the $30/year Ring plan, which I'd also recommend because videos are saved for 60 days as opposed to 24 hours. This is one area that Amazon needs to do better in. They own both Ring and Blink, and I think one other, yet all are on different services. I'd love to be able to add a Blink camera to my Ring network so that I had a single pane of glass.

[skullman80]

I pay for the $30/year Ring plan, which I'd also recommend because videos are saved for 60 days as opposed to 24 hours. This is one area that Amazon needs to do better in. They own both Ring and Blink, and I think one other, yet all are on different services. I'd love to be able to add a Blink camera to my Ring network so that I had a single pane of glass.

I'll probably do that as well. In the grand scheme of things 30$/year isn't a big deal.

I guess the other thing with the thermostat is I have to check to see if there is a "C" wire running from the furnance. Our old house even though the furnace was installed in like 2009 they didn't run a "C" wire so I remember when I put on a thermostat I had to do some maneuvering or my options were more limited etc. My wife doesn't trust me doing electrical work haha.

[NTP66]

I pay for the $30/year Ring plan, which I'd also recommend because videos are saved for 60 days as opposed to 24 hours. This is one area that Amazon needs to do better in. They own both Ring and Blink, and I think one other, yet all are on different services. I'd love to be able to add a Blink camera to my Ring network so that I had a single pane of glass.

I'll probably do that as well. In the grand scheme of things 30$/year isn't a big deal.

I guess the other thing with the thermostat is I have to check to see if there is a "C" wire running from the furnance. Our old house even though the furnace was installed in like 2009 they didn't run a "C" wire so I remember when I put on a thermostat I had to do some maneuvering or my options were more limited etc. My wife doesn't trust me doing electrical work haha.

ecobee thermostats all come with a Power Extender Kit for those who don't have a C wire.

[skullman80]

I pay for the $30/year Ring plan, which I'd also recommend because videos are saved for 60 days as opposed to 24 hours. This is one area that Amazon needs to do better in. They own both Ring and Blink, and I think one other, yet all are on different services. I'd love to be able to add a Blink camera to my Ring network so that I had a single pane of glass.

I'll probably do that as well. In the grand scheme of things 30$/year isn't a big deal.

I guess the other thing with the thermostat is I have to check to see if there is a "C" wire running from the furnance. Our old house even though the furnace was installed in like 2009 they didn't run a "C" wire so I remember when I put on a thermostat I had to do some maneuvering or my options were more limited etc. My wife doesn't trust me doing electrical work haha.

ecobee thermostats all come with a Power Extender Kit for those who don't have a C wire.

Ohhhhhh nice. Thanks for the heads up.