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Maybe that’s why the PO put the windows in, to reduce the noise? But the train noise is transferring through poorly insulated walls and cavities instead? Just managed to drag the new washer down the stairs into the basement without killing myself! Forgot how tight the opening to get around the corner was, if I’d remembered what a son of a bitch that was I woulda just paid for delivery since it was too tight to use a hand truck. On top of that thankfully I remembered that whoever installed the supply shutoffs reversed the color schema, red is cold black is hot  Maybe one of these days I’ll fix that The upside of all this is that I finally installed water hammer arrestors and holy crap what a difference that makes! I wonder why they’re not required for washers
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Dec 3, 2020 04:26
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All desks are cat beds I think. These curious bastards come to visit everytime. I made an interesting discovery today! This duct!  That's a gap you could throw a cat through. And it's blowing air backwards where I have no intention of heating. Edit: Ahh beans I'm part idiot. I thought that went to a dead register in the bathroom but now I realize it goes up to the office that's always too-drat-cold. Still. What a poo poo connection. StormDrain fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Dec 3, 2020 |
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Dec 3, 2020 05:12
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Every time I see north american houses with central air and all the crazy ways it gets installed it makes me think of the heating in Brazil: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teufz17PqoY
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Dec 3, 2020 10:59
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:Andersen are considered some of the best, though I am not familiar with that series, when were they installed? Thanks, this is great info! The house was built around 2006 i believe by the owner we purchased from. The guy was a master plumber and so acted as his own general contractor, i dont think it was his first home that he built but I'm sure theres stuff that was overlooked like this.
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Dec 3, 2020 15:21
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SnatchRabbit posted:Thanks, this is great info! The house was built around 2006 i believe by the owner we purchased from. The guy was a master plumber and so acted as his own general contractor, i dont think it was his first home that he built but I'm sure theres stuff that was overlooked like this. If it's cold where you live now (like 40s or below) you can rent a thermal imaging camera from LowesDepot and walk around outside of your house to see where the insulation is missing/fallen in the walls and around the windows. Missing insulation and air gaps are a lot more likely to be transmitting the bulk of the noise than relatively modern lower-to-mid tier windows (those are basically the same construction as the 400 series, just with fewer finish choices and sizes - they're solidly mid level where it counts).
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Dec 3, 2020 15:29
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New home owner, we have some young trees growing in our yard, is there a good resource for upkeep/keeping them alive in a cold weather environment? Or is it simply leaving them be? Also is a tiny amount of water in the garage between the house in the cracks anything to be worried about? Really its just semi persistent dark spots on the concrete barely seeping out of cracks on one wall. There is a fair amount of snow outside so my inclination is 'expected' but... new home owner I'm stressing over everything. Mr. Crow fucked around with this message at 16:22 on Dec 3, 2020 |
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Dec 3, 2020 16:17
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Mr. Crow posted:New home owner, we have some young trees growing in our yard, is there a good resource for upkeep/keeping them alive in a cold weather environment? Or is it simply leaving them be? Look for your state university ag extension. Ours has great localized information for home gardeners. Trees still need water in the winter, I give them a good soaking on nice days a couple times during the winter. For the water, yeah that seems bad. What's the grading like outside? Does water drain towards the house or away?
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Dec 3, 2020 16:29
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Seems like maybe its condensation from the temperature difference in the house vs garage? Its only by the garage door, didnt see anything in crawl space or outside or anything else looking off. 
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Dec 3, 2020 21:01
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Mr. Crow posted:Seems like maybe its condensation from the temperature difference in the house vs garage? Its only by the garage door, didnt see anything in crawl space or outside or anything else looking off. What is on the other side of this wall?
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Dec 3, 2020 21:15
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Having a mental lapse. What’s the type of loan for home improvements where it’s basically like a credit card. You can have like $50k in credit but you only ever payback what you actually use. It’s a good friendly loan and I can’t remember the name. I can’t remember if it’s a state thing or maybe a federal thing?
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Dec 3, 2020 22:08
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Ornery and Hornery posted:Having a mental lapse. Home Equity Line of Credit? https://www.investopedia.com/mortgage/heloc/
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Dec 3, 2020 22:09
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Sirotan posted:What is on the other side of this wall? Water heater closet, entryway and... master closet? Its on either side of the doorway
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Dec 3, 2020 22:35
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Mr. Crow posted:Seems like maybe its condensation from the temperature difference in the house vs garage? Its only by the garage door, didnt see anything in crawl space or outside or anything else looking off. Well, it could be. Is the wall wet? It looks more like it's seeping up from under the slab, and percolating up through the expansion joint. It's a fun mystery for me but without a site visit I doubt I can figure it out. Is there a basement? Is the house slab on grade? Is there good drainage around the house and garage? Is there plumbing that runs under this area? What's that pipe on the left? Do you live on a hill or valley or flat? Has it rained lately? Is it humid there? Water should always be managed around your home. It's bad for most materials. Water erodes and can also expand soil. Freezing and thawing destroys concrete. In conclusion, figure out where that's coming from if you like your home.
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Dec 6, 2020 01:15
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No everything is dry as far as i can tell, we went into the crawl space and couldn't see anything looking out of place but I don't exactly have a trained eye. The pipe is an overflow pipe from the water heater on the other side of the wall. This is in northern Montana so been around or below freezing every day with snow in shade; think there have been a couple days in low 40s since we moved in. Who is the person to look for to get it looked at, foundation repair guy? I'm guessing the answer already but since we just bought the house would the inspector respond and have an idea if its something to be concerned about? There is also a huge puddle of ice under the condenser outside (its on risers and the unit itself looks fine) that I am calling the HVAC people about, wondering if is just normal freeze /thaw cycles. Despite being new construction they didn't install gutters (inspector said it wasn't unusual for the area), I'm thinking the pool of ice is related to snow melting off the roof and falling onto the unit then draining out under it. Mr. Crow fucked around with this message at 22:42 on Dec 6, 2020 |
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Dec 6, 2020 22:39
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 My house has a new hat That was a loud 5 days!
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Dec 6, 2020 23:06
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:
No gutters?
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Dec 7, 2020 01:19
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devicenull posted:No gutters? I moved to a dry climate and was flummoxed to see few if any gutters anywhere. It still makes me feel weird.
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Dec 7, 2020 02:26
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devicenull posted:No gutters? All the white is gutters!
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Dec 7, 2020 02:41
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:
I can see why yours took 5 days! That is a steep rear end roof lol
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Dec 7, 2020 13:52
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mattfl posted:That is a steep rear end roof lol There's some eaves on this house There's some eaves on this house There's some eaves on this house There's some eaves on this house I said certified peak, five days a week, Steep rear end roofing, make that shingling game weak Yeah, yeah, yeah yeah You loving with some steep rear end roofing. Bring some cat drugs and some pot, for this steep rear end roofing Give me everything you got, for this steep rear end roofing.
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Dec 7, 2020 14:33
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Cyrano4747 posted:There's some eaves on this house 
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Dec 7, 2020 14:47
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I have a failed GFCI outlet that I only recently discovered has power running to it. Testing hot and neutral leads with my multimeter gives a very low reading, while touching either hot or neutral to ground reads 120v. This means the line has been damaged somewhere so that hot and neutral are touching, right? e: also, why the isn't the breaker tripping? spiritual bypass fucked around with this message at 15:19 on Dec 7, 2020 |
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Dec 7, 2020 15:06
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rt4 posted:I have a failed GFCI outlet that I only recently discovered has power running to it. Testing hot and neutral leads with my multimeter gives a very low reading, while touching either hot or neutral to ground reads 120v. This means the line has been damaged somewhere so that hot and neutral are touching, right? Failed or tripped? Metering hot to ground should always yield 120v unless a breaker is open. Always. It's how ground saves your bacon. If it won't reset with nothing plugged in then start by replacing the gfci outlet. Otherwise there is a home wiring thread in DIY.
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Dec 7, 2020 16:49
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rt4 posted:I have a failed GFCI outlet that I only recently discovered has power running to it. Testing hot and neutral leads with my multimeter gives a very low reading, while touching either hot or neutral to ground reads 120v. This means the line has been damaged somewhere so that hot and neutral are touching, right? "Testing hot and neutral leads" how? While attached to the outlet? Disconnect one or both and test hot to neutral. If that's fine you have a bad outlet. If that's not fine you have a bad......probably neutral. We can get to that later if it's the case.
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Dec 7, 2020 16:57
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Cyrano4747 posted:There's some eaves on this house A pitch perfect composition 
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Dec 7, 2020 17:46
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Have any of you ever had or looked into having a heat pump water heater? Our current water heater is a 40-gal tank natural gas water heater that is roughly two decades old and our home inspector suggested getting it replaced eventually before it gave out on us and we had to rush to replace it. Our original plan was to just get a tankless natural gas heater, but we've been slowly moving our home off of natural gas and I recently discovered the existence of these heat pump water heaters. They seem pretty neat and very efficient but I'm not sure how much of a chore it would be to incorporate it into the home, so I was curious if anyone had any experience with them so I could ask some questions. I know that I would obviously need an electrician to run a 220 connection to the water heater closet for one thing...
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Dec 8, 2020 04:26
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Heat pump water heaters work great in certain installations and climates. I know if your water heater is located in the garage (which is common here in Texas, and I think it was common in Arizona) they work really well, and can actually cool the garage a tiny bit. Savings can be significant depending on how much hot water you use. Cheaper than natural gas? I don't know about that. I spend less than 15 bucks a month on natural gas for my cooktop, backyard grill, and water heater. Compared to straight electric though it could be quite a bit of money. I'm not sure if they work in a normal utility type closet, they need to pull heat out of the surrounding air to work efficiently. Looking at a Rheem hpwh, it looks like there's a ducted option for install that could work depending on where you're trying to put it. Unducted the manual calls for a 700 cubic foot room size, or louvered door(s).
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Dec 8, 2020 05:29
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Anonymous Zebra posted:Have any of you ever had or looked into having a heat pump water heater? Our current water heater is a 40-gal tank natural gas water heater that is roughly two decades old and our home inspector suggested getting it replaced eventually before it gave out on us and we had to rush to replace it. Our original plan was to just get a tankless natural gas heater, but we've been slowly moving our home off of natural gas and I recently discovered the existence of these heat pump water heaters. They seem pretty neat and very efficient but I'm not sure how much of a chore it would be to incorporate it into the home, so I was curious if anyone had any experience with them so I could ask some questions. From a "green" standpoint they're hard to beat, but honestly you would be better off spending the extra money towards solar. Or just buy yourself the carbon credits elsewhere. Point source emissions from water heaters are super low. I use $22/month in gas during not-cold months with a tankless. It was like $19/month with the tank. For the cost of a heat pump water heater you could just buy a decades worth of credits.
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Dec 8, 2020 05:36
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All good points. I suppose if I was replacing something that was already electric then the savings would be better, but I do agree that just sticking with natural gas in this case is probably the more economical option. It also doesn't help that my water heater is outside (the utility closet is outside that is). So I could imagine a heat pump having trouble when it gets cooler in the winter. Currently the heater has to work a little harder in the winter so my gas bill has moved from $19 three months ago, to $33 this month, so I am seeing a cost. Would a tankless be better in that case (assuming it's still located outside the home)?
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Dec 8, 2020 07:19
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Anonymous Zebra posted:All good points. I suppose if I was replacing something that was already electric then the savings would be better, but I do agree that just sticking with natural gas in this case is probably the more economical option. It also doesn't help that my water heater is outside (the utility closet is outside that is). So I could imagine a heat pump having trouble when it gets cooler in the winter. Currently the heater has to work a little harder in the winter so my gas bill has moved from $19 three months ago, to $33 this month, so I am seeing a cost. Would a tankless be better in that case (assuming it's still located outside the home)? Unless you want the space back I would stick with a boring old tanked water heater. Tankless will mean less natural gas is burned fighting the elements when you don't use it, but they're much more expensive to install (initially.) I assume it doesn't freeze where you are but if you have higher demand than the heater can raise the temperature you just get cold water, it's not like you have a 50gallon buffer to run through first.
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Dec 8, 2020 08:08
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Anonymous Zebra posted:All good points. I suppose if I was replacing something that was already electric then the savings would be better, but I do agree that just sticking with natural gas in this case is probably the more economical option. It also doesn't help that my water heater is outside (the utility closet is outside that is). So I could imagine a heat pump having trouble when it gets cooler in the winter. Currently the heater has to work a little harder in the winter so my gas bill has moved from $19 three months ago, to $33 this month, so I am seeing a cost. Would a tankless be better in that case (assuming it's still located outside the home)? If you go with a heat pump unit, oversize it compared to your existing tank if possible. The recharge rate on the heat pump units is really slow. They make split heat pump heaters where the condenser is installed outside like a a space-heating split system, so there are definitely options that will work with your utility room setup. I think the heat pump water heaters are only really a good idea if the goal is to go net-zero because they have minimal energy demand compared to other options. The negatives are: more expensive, slow recharge, more complicated equipment, hard to find a qualified installer with a lot of experience.
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Dec 8, 2020 22:16
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Tezer posted:If you go with a heat pump unit, oversize it compared to your existing tank if possible. The recharge rate on the heat pump units is really slow. Most of them have the typical electric elements and different modes you can set for recovery rate. The higher recovery modes supplement with the elements more depending on demand. I have mine locked into heat pump only, but I guess if you have like 4 teenage daughters, it's going to be firing the elements most of the time.
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Dec 8, 2020 23:17
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Anonymous Zebra posted:All good points. I suppose if I was replacing something that was already electric then the savings would be better, but I do agree that just sticking with natural gas in this case is probably the more economical option. It also doesn't help that my water heater is outside (the utility closet is outside that is). So I could imagine a heat pump having trouble when it gets cooler in the winter. Currently the heater has to work a little harder in the winter so my gas bill has moved from $19 three months ago, to $33 this month, so I am seeing a cost. Would a tankless be better in that case (assuming it's still located outside the home)? Is your utility room insulated? A pack of rockwool is ~$25. You'll probably need two to cover a small utility room, but then you'll stop heating the outside as much via your water heater. If it gets cold enough the water heater has to work harder, I doubt you're going to get good temperature results from a heat pump or tankless.
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Dec 9, 2020 00:55
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devicenull posted:If it gets cold enough the water heater has to work harder, I doubt you're going to get good temperature results from a heat pump or tankless. Tankless has little to do with outside temperature and everything to do with average groundwater temperature.
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Dec 9, 2020 01:11
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My fridge sprang a leak and flooded my hardwood, kept going until it got to my basement ceiling.  my wallet
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Dec 9, 2020 01:16
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B-Nasty posted:Most of them have the typical electric elements and different modes you can set for recovery rate. The higher recovery modes supplement with the elements more depending on demand. I have mine locked into heat pump only, but I guess if you have like 4 teenage daughters, it's going to be firing the elements most of the time. I don't think the Sanden has a resistance heater (or, if it does, it's just in the condenser). The Sanden is a true split unit that a lot of the performance building supply places carry. The Rheem (which I think only comes in a tank mounted configuration) does have a resistance heater. When you run the resistance heater, you're basically just running a really expensive version of a normal electric water heater. That's why I recommend upsizing - every time the resistance heater kicks on the unit is temporarily not a heat pump unit, it's just a very expensive resistance unit.
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Dec 9, 2020 01:25
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We ordered one of these when we put in the new washing machine, it screams bloody murder if it gets wet, and has a wifi thing to alert you phone if you're not living though the pandemic and at the office when it happens https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07QP153GT We just put one under the sink in every bathroom and kitchen, plus behind the dishwasher. They're like $20 each, but, uh, yeah
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Dec 9, 2020 01:27
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Ghostnuke posted:My fridge sprang a leak and flooded my hardwood, kept going until it got to my basement ceiling. Does homeowners insurance cover this sort of thing, deductible aside?
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Dec 9, 2020 01:56
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Depends, do you have a receipt showing a qualified installer did the work?
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Dec 9, 2020 02:26
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Ghostnuke posted:My fridge sprang a leak and flooded my hardwood, kept going until it got to my basement ceiling. I was gonna ask why on earth your fridge had a water connection in the first place, but then I remembered those drink-dispenser thingies on the front panels that some of them have. Now this post is about how I have an out of date fridge and therefore am an inferior Jones.
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Dec 9, 2020 02:34
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