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The cost of panels has come down significantly. It might be worth it to see what purchasing an install would cost. Another benefit of solar is that you might get (in CT) ZRECS which can be sold for some additional money. Payback times for solar installs paid out of pocket (with tax credits/grants) has dropped to like 3-7 years vs 20+ years. In CT if your power is that expensive then the payback period may be on the lower end of that.
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Jun 15, 2016 14:46
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I had a bid from solarcity, but after doing the math, I just purchased a system. Payback for me ended up being 5 years and I was able to get a 10 year net metering guarantee from the local electric co.
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Jun 15, 2016 15:13
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In CT be sure to check for better wholesale rates on energizect.com as well.
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Jun 15, 2016 17:46
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EssOEss posted:Google SketchUp has worked pretty well for me in planning furniture and stuff. You can lay it out in nice detail and see how it looks and then just send your SketchUp file to the actual furniture place when you go to actually order stuff - at least everyone has been happy to take my SketchUp draft as the baseline so far. Thanks, this is kinda what I was looking for. The Ikea 3D tool is pretty janky, but I think I could make it work for the simple purposes I need right now. I just don't want to go down that rabbit hole if I think I'm going to ultimately want to get more detailed or use it to design some of the other projects we're going to be working on. I know SketchUp is super powerful and most people would probably be able to use whatever files I generated, but I've also heard/read that there's a pretty steep learning curve. I'm really just doing some simple layout stuff without precise measurements. We're tearing down a couple walls and have freedom to do whatever we want, so the precision planning you can get out of SketchUp is probably overkill at this point. I'll probably just end up sketching some ideas on graph paper as that will be quite a bit quicker than learning SketchUp. Also, thanks everyone for the asbestos warning. As far as we know, the only asbestos in the house is some tiling in this lovely "finished" room in the basement. We're going to try to get them removed ASAP so we don't have to think about it and it won't interfere when we get around to finishing that room into a guest suite. We're going to have to dig out an egress window for that room. I'm guessing it would be cheaper to remove the tiling after we've put in the egress window so they would have an easier time sealing and vacuuming out everything? Seems like it would be a lot simpler/cheaper than running vents up the stairs, through the house, and out a door window. Does anybody have a rough ballpark estimate for what it would cost remove ~200sqft of asbestos tiling?
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Jun 16, 2016 18:08
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Kitchen Sink sprung a leak, didnt catch it for a good 15 minutes. Nothing leaked out into the kitchen, instead it went under the kitchen sink cabinet and into the subfloor. Water started pouring out of the recessed lighting in the finished basement below the kitchen. Saw the drywall looking buldgey in one spot (a low spot I guess) away from the light and stuck a screwdriver into it to let the water out. Its been 3 days, I dried the carpet out with a fan, humidity is fairly high in the room (60%) Do I have to cut the drywall open / worry about mold? Will it all dry out?
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Jun 17, 2016 07:22
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Vulcan posted:Kitchen Sink sprung a leak, didnt catch it for a good 15 minutes. Nothing leaked out into the kitchen, instead it went under the kitchen sink cabinet and into the subfloor. Water started pouring out of the recessed lighting in the finished basement below the kitchen. If it was only 15 minutes worth of water like you said, it should be fine by now. Water damage to drywall occurs from water that has been standing still for awhile long enough to get soaked through, at least a couple hours. I say patch the hole you poked and paint it.
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Jun 17, 2016 13:53
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HVAC issue. My place is cooled by window ACs. One of them, an LG, has been acting up recently. The fan will stop blowing completely, and it'll emit a loud humming noise - it sounds like a vibration, but the unit itself seems to be well mounted. I've checked the manual and there doesn't seem to be any mention of this behavior. Powercycling it via the On/Off button doesn't do anything - the controls will deactivate, though the humming will continue. The plug does have Test and Reset buttons, and that will get it to run again, but it's not consistent in how long it will operate normally before returning to this state - sometimes minutes, sometimes hours. Ideas? Edit: There is nothing else plugged into the same outlet as the AC unit. I honestly don't know if there's anything on the same circuit - the whole place is old and the wiring makes zero sense. Shooting Blanks fucked around with this message at 16:04 on Jun 17, 2016 |
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Jun 17, 2016 16:01
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Window shakers aren't worth the cost of repair, like....ever. Just pick it up and throw it away.
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Jun 17, 2016 16:20
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Bozart posted:In CT be sure to check for better wholesale rates on energizect.com as well. i have, they check out the auditor came yesterday for about a 3 hour inspection. checked the breaker panel, roofs, foundation, and everything else. I was honestly surprised when the guy saw the year of our house (1865) and thought solar panels would work. my garage is 10 years old though and has a great roof, so they might just double up on that and trench to the house. i'm fine with that- would it be rude to ask if i could run a separate conduit of CAT cable in the trench, or would that be frowned upon should this all happen
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Jun 17, 2016 19:37
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Motronic posted:Window shakers aren't worth the cost of repair, like....ever. Ehhhhh, I'd take it to an appliance recycler, not just chuck it. You know, recovering any refrigerant left, not to mention all the copper in the motor.
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Jun 17, 2016 21:42
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kid sinister posted:Ehhhhh, I'd take it to an appliance recycler, not just chuck it. You know, recovering any refrigerant left, not to mention all the copper in the motor. But in any case, that sounds very much like some motor starter is tired of starting. I have one that's rapidly approaching that state (in particular its the compressor motor that's ready to croak), but it's 20 years old. I have a new pair arriving this week but I hope that old Hampton Bay will hold out (and continue to cost a fortune to run). There's no point in repairing them unless you like to tinker and it's something obvious like a dead relay.
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Jun 17, 2016 22:36
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kid sinister posted:Ehhhhh, I'd take it to an appliance recycler, not just chuck it. You know, recovering any refrigerant left, not to mention all the copper in the motor. Yeah, I mean...if you don't take it to someone you'll likely get charged to dispose of it. Possibly even at a recycler. I didn't mean literally bin it, because your trash company/municipality will get pissy about that.
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Jun 17, 2016 23:11
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What is the easiest way to snake a garden hose underneath a deck? It's about 20' across.
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Jun 20, 2016 07:06
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HEY NONG MAN posted:What is the easiest way to snake a garden hose underneath a deck? It's about 20' across. A 20' length of fish tape? Or even just a long stick (well...I guess in that case several sticks tied together)?
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Jun 20, 2016 17:38
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Hey guys! Brand new home owner here who just recently bought a house and it has beautiful hard wood flooring all throughout except three rooms on the top floor with some of the most hideous carpet imaginable. I wanna replace that with hard wood. My question: What kind of wood are my floors?  One contractor says tiger wood but that is too stripey and light. (Contractor claims it darkens over time, with light exposure but I am skeptical. Also I want matching floors now not later.) One contractor says Brazillian cherry but he had no samples of that so  One contractor said some kind of teakwood and I'm just like lol I know who's trying to overcharge me. I'm not looking for a perfect match but I want something close enough so my house doesnt look ugly. Please help if you can.
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Jun 20, 2016 19:53
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Keep in mind the wood could be stained. Also, I'd be very surprised if you could get an exact color match between new floors and old floors, even if you knew what the original floor was made of, just due to aging of the wood/finish. (And if you could get a color match, then you'd probably lose that color match over time as the new floors age...)
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Jun 20, 2016 19:57
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Jenner posted:Hey guys! Brand new home owner here who just recently bought a house and it has beautiful hard wood flooring all throughout except three rooms on the top floor with some of the most hideous carpet imaginable. I wanna replace that with hard wood. My question: What kind of wood are my floors? Go to a dedicated flooring place. I know our local one that we bought our floors at has sample binders you can borrow and bring home. They would also loan out a plank or two of anything in stock for you to take home to compare.
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Jun 20, 2016 20:02
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Gounads posted:Go to a dedicated flooring place. I know our local one that we bought our floors at has sample binders you can borrow and bring home. They would also loan out a plank or two of anything in stock for you to take home to compare. When I was tiling my floor eons ago we went to a dedicated flooring place like that. The dude was PUSHING PUSHING us to take samples to see if we liked it. I'm saying this because I had no idea it was a thing, and something they are more than happy to do (usually it's a piece/plank leftover from a bigger order which they probably can't even use again anyway) so definitely ask away.
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Jun 20, 2016 20:25
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HEY NONG MAN posted:What is the easiest way to snake a garden hose underneath a deck? It's about 20' across. Tie a string to a remote controlled car, drive it under the deck, tie the string to the hose, and pull it back under the deck with the hose attached.
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Jun 20, 2016 20:56
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Stick some PVC pipe into the end of the hose to give it a bit of rigidity, then thread it through a series of little supports you craft out of clotheshangers, which you dangle between the deck boards.
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Jun 20, 2016 21:01
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Stick some PVC pipe into the end of the hose to give it a bit of rigidity, then thread it through a series of little supports you craft out of clotheshangers, which you dangle between the deck boards. Collapsible tent pole would be an improvement on this and perhaps more readily available.
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Jun 20, 2016 23:00
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Just remove the deck, lay the hose down, and then build a new deck. Decks are always terrible, so you're probably doing yourself a favor.
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Jun 20, 2016 23:57
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Jenner posted:Hey guys! Brand new home owner here who just recently bought a house and it has beautiful hard wood flooring all throughout except three rooms on the top floor with some of the most hideous carpet imaginable. I wanna replace that with hard wood. My question: What kind of wood are my floors? A couple questions. 1. Could we get a close up of the wood grain? 2. Any idea on how old the existing floor is? You could try asking in the woodworking thread here in DIY to see if they could identify the wood at least. Matching stain on the other hand is trickier... kid sinister fucked around with this message at 05:31 on Jun 21, 2016 |
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Jun 21, 2016 02:53
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Shooting Blanks posted:HVAC issue. My place is cooled by window ACs. One of them, an LG, has been acting up recently. The fan will stop blowing completely, and it'll emit a loud humming noise - it sounds like a vibration, but the unit itself seems to be well mounted. I've checked the manual and there doesn't seem to be any mention of this behavior. Powercycling it via the On/Off button doesn't do anything - the controls will deactivate, though the humming will continue. The plug does have Test and Reset buttons, and that will get it to run again, but it's not consistent in how long it will operate normally before returning to this state - sometimes minutes, sometimes hours. HEY NONG MAN posted:What is the easiest way to snake a garden hose underneath a deck? It's about 20' across.
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Jun 22, 2016 01:20
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10$ fiberglass poles for the hose? Or if you have an extension pole, that might do the trick as well. I doubt it's teak, that's usually reserved for boats because its excellent resistance to water and hefty price tag. I also very much doubt its either one of the ones you mentioned, those are pretty exotic. Judging by the inconsistent grain patterns, I'd guess that its either an engineered floor or bamboo. If it is actually hard wood, betcha it's something like oak or beech or maple or Douglas fir or something else stained cherry. Catatron Prime fucked around with this message at 04:24 on Jun 22, 2016 |
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Jun 22, 2016 04:22
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Personally, given that it's been varnished well, I'd be doubtful that it's engineered or bamboo, no one puts that much care into those. My last apartment had century-old pine that hadn't been refinished in at least 50 years, you could drop things in the cracks that would hit the ceiling of the café beneath us. I have no idea what we have now. We bought an old 2-unit, the upper is probably oak with a floating knockoff pergo floor atop it; the lower seems to be cherry but it's not in great shape and we're going to have to tear it all up to correct infrastructure/foundation problems, I fear it's a loss. 
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Jun 22, 2016 04:29
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I will preface this by saying we are actually going to hire a guy to do the things about which I'm about to ask questions, but as this is the closest forum I can find to the nature of my questions, I'm asking here. We have a hill in our backyard that's about a 40-45 degree angle downward running the entire length of the property line. We would like stairs built to get down to the bottom (we live on the lake). Since we are not building it ourselves (we wouldn't need a permit for that), assuming that we stay off utility easements and stay the appropriate distance from the property line, would we need a permit for a stone stairway? I'm in Fort Worth and can't make heads or tails of the city's official website as their info is mostly for builders themselves, and after googling I can't find any goddamn answers for what we'd need a permit for and what we wouldn't. Since it's not an accessory building, addition or improvement I'm assuming not since I can't find info, but was hoping any goons that are in construction in Texas or even DFW could possibly help out. We're not in a floodplain, which is the only good thing about the hill in our backyard, and no contractor will touch building any kind of retaining wall since the soil comprising the hill is utter poo poo and they couldn't get footings in and guarantee the wall in any way from collapsing within a year. If this isn't the right place for this question, could someone point me to a better subforum for such a question?
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Jun 22, 2016 22:16
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Just call the building department and ask. My local one was happy to answer questions because they'd much rather have people operate inside the system than outside of it. I have no idea what the building regs are in your area -- granted, I don't know if my local building regs have anything to say on the project you're proposing, either.
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Jun 22, 2016 22:42
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life is killing me posted:I will preface this by saying we are actually going to hire a guy to do the things about which I'm about to ask questions, but as this is the closest forum I can find to the nature of my questions, I'm asking here. This is the right place, but you need an actual human for this one. Call their office and ask them. *shudder*
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Jun 22, 2016 23:11
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My bedroom get's pretty hot overnight. There's a window, but if I leave the curtains open I'm woken up at 5am by the sun. At this point in the year, nights are pretty cool here so I don't just want to leave the AC on all night. I already have a ceiling fan + box fan going, but they just move around the warm air. My living room is right next to the bedroom, and it's generally a lot cooler (plus it has a lot more volume). My plan is to put in a jump duct between the two rooms, with a 240 CFM booster fan. The hope is that this pulls out warm air from the bedroom, and lets in cooler air from the rest of the house. Is this going to work like I hope it will, or is there some easier solution I'm missing?
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Jun 23, 2016 01:30
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devicenull posted:or is there some easier solution I'm missing? sleep mask
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Jun 23, 2016 02:44
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That seems like one of those things where the next people who move into your house will remove the fan and go "who the hell would do something like this and why???"
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Jun 23, 2016 04:42
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240 CFM is not a whole lot of air. With a small temperature differential you won't get a lot of heat transfer. If you bedroom is quite small, it may be enough but I would not be very optimistic. Why is it getting hot anyway?
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Jun 23, 2016 04:57
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devicenull posted:My bedroom get's pretty hot overnight. There's a window, but if I leave the curtains open I'm woken up at 5am by the sun. Sounds like the perfect situation for a whole house fan! Put one in, run it for an hour or two at night , and it'll push all that hot air up and out of your house and suck in all the cool night time air. They're pretty friggin fantastic, and you'll save a bunch of money on your ac while getting more effective cooling
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Jun 23, 2016 05:00
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I would like to have a set of bilco doors installed in my house. I've got a concrete foundation, and ideally they would be installed right where I have a window well already. What should I figure as a ballpark budget for something like this? I'm not planning on doing this myself, but I don't want to deal with salesmen just yet as I'm not planning on doing this until next year sometime.
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Jun 23, 2016 16:56
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kid sinister posted:A couple questions. 1. Could we get a close up of the wood grain? 2. Any idea on how old the existing floor is?  Close up of the wood. This house is complicated, one side of the house was built in the 50s and the other side was an addition added in the late 80s. I think this is the 80s side of the house but I'm not sure. Found a wood that very closely matched my current floor in color but not in stripeyness. It might be a good compromise to make. Only problem is that it was Peruvian Teak and would cost me like 7k.  edit: This is definitely a hardwood floor and not some kind of laminate or whatever. Just checked and it's solid boards. It was suggested that maybe I just get a wood that would look cool with/compliment my current wood instead of going crazy trying to find a close match. Sounds complicated, I am style blind. Edit^2: I don't think this wood is stained I think this is its natural color but I am also an idiot so hopefully you guys can help. 
Jenner fucked around with this message at 00:23 on Jun 24, 2016 |
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Jun 24, 2016 00:10
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stupid puma posted:That seems like one of those things where the next people who move into your house will remove the fan and go "who the hell would do something like this and why???" Zhentar posted:240 CFM is not a whole lot of air. With a small temperature differential you won't get a lot of heat transfer. If you bedroom is quite small, it may be enough but I would not be very optimistic. Ah, I hadn't figured out if 240CFM was going to be enough to make any significant difference. It's a pretty small room, my theory is that two people plus minimal airflow means we're heating up the room with body heat. The house is not really laid out in a great way for airflow. Aside from the windows in this bedroom, the nearest window is 15 ft away with a left turn in the middle. OSU_Matthew posted:Sounds like the perfect situation for a whole house fan! Put one in, run it for an hour or two at night , and it'll push all that hot air up and out of your house and suck in all the cool night time air. They're pretty friggin fantastic, and you'll save a bunch of money on your ac while getting more effective cooling WHF is indeed the long term plan, but the $650 (for the insulated one I was planning on http://www.tamtech.com/HV1000-R50-Whole-House-Fan-Up-to-1200-sf_p_90.html ), seemed like a lot. (I've never actually encountered someone around here with one, so I wasn't really sold on their effectiveness.) Maybe it's worth doing though, first electrical bill was for $100 and we weren't running the AC all that much.
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Jun 24, 2016 00:46
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OSU_Matthew posted:Sounds like the perfect situation for a whole house fan! Put one in, run it for an hour or two at night , and it'll push all that hot air up and out of your house and suck in all the cool night time air. They're pretty friggin fantastic, and you'll save a bunch of money on your ac while getting more effective cooling I never had one of these growing up or in any place I lived. When we found our dream house it just happened to have one and yes it's fantastic! I could never ever live without one anymore. Any time my house gets smokey or anything bam crack a window, turn on the fan, and those curtains will be horizontal as the entire house's air is exchanged in no time at all. It saves me a ton of money, makes it super comfortable, is excellent white noise, and I'd like to think helps keep our house a little less dusty.
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Jun 24, 2016 02:24
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I'm considering covering up a window in my den/tv room. Before this turns into a conversation around the aesthetics of said window, we're getting big skylights installed in the ceiling so we'll have light, there are other windows in the room as well. The window opens up into our backyard and since the exterior is brick i'm just going to dry wall over the interior and then get some wooden shutters for the exterior. If I ever want it back i'll just need to remove the dry wall and presto. Removing the window and having it bricked up would probably look terrible anyway. If I'm going to dry wall over the window should I slap some insulation in front of the window, add in some sort of moisture barrier?
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Jun 24, 2016 03:01
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Do we have a pest control/extermination thread somewhere? I've seen a couple cockroaches in my wife's bathroom in the past week or two and am hoping to take care of the problem without getting my landlord involved. I sprayed the perimeter of her bathroom and the immediate area outside it with Ortho when I saw the first one, but another rolled through tonight and I don't know if it came from somewhere else or if the spray's not working.
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Jun 24, 2016 03:31
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