Home Improvement Thread

Kane
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby Kane » Wed Mar 31, 2021 10:18 am


shafnutz05
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Postby shafnutz05 » Wed Mar 31, 2021 11:39 am

I finally got my act together early in the season and had 4 yards of mulch delivered on Thursday morning. Had it all distributed around the house in less than two hours.

Between that, the playset refurbishment, and power washing the driveway, it's been a productive start to spring.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Thu Apr 01, 2021 10:15 am

Tesla just cut the price of their solar panels by 20%, while simultaneously increasing output. $22k for the 8.16 kW panels and 2 Powerwalls. It'd produce 91% of the energy for my house, and would have enough juice in the batteries to run the AC for 3 days. The only thing I can't get past is the break even point, which is 17 years. I still don't know if I'll even be in this house in 17 years.
I wanted to check back in on this, just for the hell of it. Same panels and Powerwalls for my house would now be $43k after incentives. This is why solar will never truly take off, IMO. Just insane.

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Sun Apr 04, 2021 4:26 pm

First grass cut of the year is one of my favorite things in the world. So cathartic.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Sun Apr 04, 2021 4:41 pm

I’m still a week or so away, I think.

King Colby
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Postby King Colby » Sun Apr 04, 2021 6:15 pm

I probably could have today but decided to give it a week. Plus I gotta get new mower blades

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Sun Apr 04, 2021 9:29 pm

I banged it out today also. The grass is pretty thick already.

Question, what length of time is needed after crabgrass pre emergent application before you can complete an overseeding?

LITT
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Postby LITT » Mon Apr 05, 2021 7:14 am

made some impulse tool purchases yesterday at big orange but also came home with a gallon of paint for the powder room. everyone ended up happy

shafnutz05
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Postby shafnutz05 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 12:03 pm

First grass cut of the year is one of my favorite things in the world. So cathartic.
Yup, took the riding mower out for the first cut of the season yesterday. With the warmth and the rain we've had in the last week, it started to grow quickly.

It looks so damn good now. That said, while the lawn usually looks the lushest in April/May, I hate having to cut the grass like every four or five days this time of year. :lol:

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 1:52 pm

Every review from people who bought the new Ring Doorbell Pro 2 is just awful. From the poor lighting, to poor motion detection, to poor overall picture quality. Glad I stuck with my original Pro.

LITT
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Postby LITT » Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:01 pm

ive been happy with our simplisafe system

skullman80
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby skullman80 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 2:58 pm

Had a local handyman install a glass block window in our laundry room as the old one was some single pane thing that was probably original to the house and was drafty/leaky as all hell.

I didn't trust myself to do it at all.

DigitalGypsy66
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 3:34 pm

Here's an interesting situation we have in our master bathroom: we have a dual fixture, four bulbs, one switch over our double sink. Our bathroom backs up to the laundry room. The house was built in 2007.

I started first replacing the bulbs with CFL probably in 2012 or so, maybe later than that. But it seems like when the dryer or washer (or both) are on, the CFLs (and later LED bulbs) dim a bit. As such, we are burning through CFL and now LED bulbs almost monthly. I never noticed the dimming with the incandescent bulbs we had back in the day, and I've now replaced the LEDs with incandescent bulbs (which are now the same price as LEDs were when they hit the market.) No dimming issues, no burned-out bulbs in months. I know CFL and LED bulbs are much more sensitive to fluctuations in voltage, so that's probably what's happening here. I thought it was the cheapo Great Value bulbs, but it also does it with GE and other premium brands.

Is this something I need to get an electrician in on? Because I can't use LED bulbs for more than a month or so? Or just keep the regular bulbs in there?

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:18 pm

Is your dryer electric? It sounds like whoever wired that circuit put both your master bathroom and your laundry room on the same breaker, which a just stupid. Against code in my area, but I can’t speak to yours. If that’s the case, having an electrician trace the line back to the panel should help, because he’s then be able to move it to a new breaker. Honestly, if you’re comfortable, you can probably look at that yourself. If you’ve got multiple runs going to that breaker, I’d personally pull them and connect one at a time to see which was which. Then you’d just need to install a new breaker and run the MBR to it, assuming you have space. Should be a GFCI breaker, too.

If not, I’d suggest looking at Halogen bulbs. Brighter than anything else you’re using, and still more energy efficient than incandescent. I use Bulbrite bulbs in basically my entire house.

robbiestoupe
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Postby robbiestoupe » Mon Apr 05, 2021 4:21 pm

Wouldn't the dryer need to be on 220V and thus its own breaker? If a gas dryer, perhaps the above makes sense.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:02 pm

It's 220, on its own breaker. The electrician who ran our CAT 5 a few years ago was impressed with how the house was wired, so that's good.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 5:16 pm

Then why are your lights dimming when the dryer runs? Something doesn’t add up here.

DigitalGypsy66
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Postby DigitalGypsy66 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 8:33 pm

Just LED and CFL though. It's weird.

mac5155
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby mac5155 » Mon Apr 05, 2021 10:02 pm

Had a local handyman install a glass block window in our laundry room as the old one was some single pane thing that was probably original to the house and was drafty/leaky as all hell.

I didn't trust myself to do it at all.
I trust myself to do a whole heck of a lot more than I'd trust my old man to do... But he's done several block windows and they look great. I'm with you, that's something I'd probably not attempt.

King Colby
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby King Colby » Tue Apr 06, 2021 1:04 am

Had a local handyman install a glass block window in our laundry room as the old one was some single pane thing that was probably original to the house and was drafty/leaky as all hell.

I didn't trust myself to do it at all.
PM me the name and cost? I need the same thing done

skullman80
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Location: Monroeville, PA

Home Improvement Thread

Postby skullman80 » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:49 pm

Had a local handyman install a glass block window in our laundry room as the old one was some single pane thing that was probably original to the house and was drafty/leaky as all hell.

I didn't trust myself to do it at all.
PM me the name and cost? I need the same thing done
Where are you located again? I'm not sure how far this guy travels outside of the Monroeville/Trafford/Irwin area.

King Colby
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby King Colby » Tue Apr 06, 2021 5:53 pm

Had a local handyman install a glass block window in our laundry room as the old one was some single pane thing that was probably original to the house and was drafty/leaky as all hell.

I didn't trust myself to do it at all.
PM me the name and cost? I need the same thing done
Where are you located again? I'm not sure how far this guy travels outside of the Monroeville/Trafford/Irwin area.
South hills so probably not. I thought you were closer to the city like on the east end

Shyster
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby Shyster » Wed Apr 07, 2021 11:15 pm

I am so pleased that I discovered after 13 years that the whole-house fan in my house was not broken but merely switched off by a switch I'd never noticed before. It was a little stuffy in here, so I just opened some windows and cranked up the fan. Temp outdoors is 64. The temp inside dropped from 77 to 71 in about 10 minutes. Nice.

mac5155
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby mac5155 » Thu Apr 08, 2021 12:18 am

One thing I miss about our way old house was the 4 foot exhaust fan in the attic.

robbiestoupe
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Home Improvement Thread

Postby robbiestoupe » Thu Apr 08, 2021 6:20 am

One thing I miss about our way old house was the 4 foot exhaust fan in the attic.
This. I had a ranch house that only required A/C if the temp was above 90. Otherwise, attic fan

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