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yaffle posted:poo poo, my dad's entire house is like that, it's an 18th century french farmhouse, nothing is straight level or parallel. About once a year he'll rip something off, look at the rural horror beneath and carefully replace it without doing anything. The thing is, the place is made of oak, with either flint rubble walls or wattle and daub in between, there is only so much impact you can make without having to do something very expensive and time consuming. How big is this house? I have rooms in my house that aren't 8 feet across. You sure you don't have some sort of secret treasure in there?
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Sep 6, 2011 22:54
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GreenNight posted:What goddamn home builder are you using?! When people ask me why I want to buy an older house or just build my own largely by myself, I want to show them these kind of pictures. gently caress cookie cutter construction. I've seen so many houses go up like this.
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Jul 1, 2014 03:52
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Only thing I can think of is if it's one of those deals where the filter is mounted on the air handler, and the air handler is in the attic or some decrepit basement without have a filterback grille in the house somewhere.
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Jul 28, 2014 04:25
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The Twinkie Czar posted:My mother lived in a house where the furnace filter was scary to replace. The unit and filter were completely within the attic. To get to them you either had to go up through a ceiling hatch with no stairs; or go up the drop down stairs on the opposite end of the house, take a huge step up and cross a vaulted ceiling, and then take a huge step down at the other end. There was a single light at the drop down stairs and nothing at the end with the furnace. gently caress people who make building decisions like that. See at this point it would probably have been worth it to have yourself or a contractor come in and install an filterback grille at your return duct. I mean I guess it's not the worst thing if you're doing like every couple of months, but still gently caress attic crawling.
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Jul 29, 2014 06:00
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Some people just live to be examples I suppose. 
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Dec 30, 2014 01:03
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43 Insanely Cool Remodels if you're a millionare with a 10,000sqft mansion They do manage to take insulated stairs to the next level, so that's something. E. Also, secret fallout shelter. lol ExplodingSims fucked around with this message at 20:18 on Jan 19, 2015 |
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Jan 19, 2015 20:13
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I will say that raising the floor in the bedroom by a foot or so so you can install in-floor storage sounds halfway smart. But most of these are just inefficient re-uses of storage space you'd normally be using anyway, or things that exist solely to show off how much money you have. I will admit I'm kinda curious how well the whole bug poison in your walls thing would work. It sounds like a good idea in concept anyways.
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Jan 19, 2015 21:17
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Tasty_Crayon posted:I feel like a lot of that dead space they keep referring to is 'dead space' for structurally important reasons? It doesn't really seem like much of the dead space is structurally important. I can see why have books and stuff under the stairs might cause an issue W/R/T fire hazards and stuff. Also the wall of window/glass doors will kill your insulation and probably require upgrading your A/C system by ad least 1/2 Ton, so there's that. Though I guess if you have your SECRET FALLOUT SHELTER hanging around that's probably not a huge issue for you. I'm not sure I understand the two dishwashers idea at all though. How many dishes do these people do every night?
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Jan 20, 2015 03:51
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Motronic posted:If you entertain or have a large family 2 dishwashers is awesome. Fair enough, I only mine like once a week if that much, so it's kind of an alien concept to me.
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Jan 20, 2015 04:07
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Zhentar posted:The wine rack in the extra wide dividing wall probably has as a forced air plenum in it, with the wine rack to make it more visually interesting. There's no reason to have an interior wall that thick. Really? I find that hard to believe. If anything, I've heard that most A/Cs tend to be undersized, especially in like tract housing developments, due to cost cutting. I can certainly imagine that being the case if you have a lot of contractors just doing rule of thumb guesses instead of proper heat load calculations or using manual J or whatever. Course, I live in Florida, where we tend to take our air conditioning pretty seriously, and the effects you get from oversizing an A/C down here tend to be much more noticeable, so that probably factors into it as well. Especially with regards to humidity control. ExplodingSims fucked around with this message at 04:54 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 04:45
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Baronjutter posted:I know absolutely nothing about air conditioning as it's basically weird space technology that doesn't exist here, at least in terms of residential. What goes into the design of a home AC system and how could having too powerful of a system be bad? Because it's called air conditioning for a reason. It does more than just cool, it also de-humidifies the air. So you need the system to run for a certain amount of time to not only pull the temperature down, but to dehumidify as well. Usually you want the system to run for about 15 mins or so, and your good. But if it's too large, it cools too fast, and then your run into short cycling, and humidity problems. The other issue you can run into, if you're replacing a system, is the duct system may not be able to handle the new air volume. You can run into minor issues for the most part, such as lots of noise, and depending on the return system, poor airflow. And of couse the added power usage running up your bill. As far system design goes, you need to know the total CFM needed for a house to determine tonnage. You can fancy stuff like Manual J software or you can estimate it based some rule of thumb estimates that vary wildly. Anything from a a partial heat load calculation to having a cutout that you hold X amount of feet away from the house and tells you the tonnage. Basically, what it boils down to is taking the individual rooms, and calculating the individual needs, adding them up, and getting your tonnage. With software you take things like insulation, roof type, roof color, roof pitch, house orientation, square footage, etc, in to account for the most accurate estimate. Also a favorite of local contractors here because they can go on the county's tax appraiser website and pull the lot info and just plug it in that way. (Which also defeats the purpose of such software, but  )A semi-accurate way to calculate your tonnage needs is to calculate it based on air flow. You know each room needs a certain amount of CFMs, based on the room's square footage. So you take your square footage, and assume that to cool to it, you'll need to exchange 80% of the air per minute. This is assuming it's a standard room, with a standard ceiling.. But, very few rooms are like that, so you may need to cool more, so you can add 5% for a high ceiling, or 10% for a sliding glass door. At any rate, you get you total room needs, and take the Sqft*Air% and your get your CFM needed. (Ex. 12x12 room = 144sqft. 144*80%=115.2 So you'd need to move 115 CFM) Now do this for every room, and you get the total CFM needed for the house. Add all the rooms up, and divide by 400 (Cause 400cfm = roughly 1 ton) and you get a rough estimate of your tonnage. For example if you get around 1200 CFM, 1200/400= 3. So, you'd get 3 ton equipment. And also by calculating the CFM needed on a room by room basis, you can also figure out what size ducts and what size registers you'll need, for both the supply and return ducting. (Assuming you have return ducting and not a box of ductboard right under the air handler.) ExplodingSims fucked around with this message at 08:12 on Jan 20, 2015 |
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Jan 20, 2015 06:33
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Honestly there's not really a whole lot you can do, without getting into zone control type stuff. Depending on how easy it is to access the ductwork, and the materials it's made of you might be able to install some manual control dampers, which would help choke back airflow in the upper rooms. If you have ductboard and flex duct systems those are somewhat easy and cheap to install. Might get more expensive if you have metal ducts though. It may be worth checking if the installer already threw some in though. Where a branch meets the main trunk, pull back some insulation, and if you see a wingnut and lever there, you have manual dampers. The other option, which can also be used in conjunction with the dampers is to install a booster fan in the passage that goes down to the second floor. That'll help force some more air downstairs at least. And your fan can handle running all the time, for the most part. You may want to check you speed setting though, if it's not controlled by an ECM. If you open up the air handler and look at the fan assembly, your motor may have a cap looking dealy with a bunch of wires plugged into it. If so, you have an ECM controller, and you can't really adjust the speed settings manually. If not though, and you just have like 2-3 wires running into it you should be able to choose from like 3-6 speed settings. That will help reduce airflow into the upper rooms, but may end up making the lower rooms a bit warmer. You may be able to remedy that with an additional booster fan though. Did you look into maybe moving the t-stat upstairs as well? It maybe somewhat sensible to do that, if you spend most of your time up there. Side note, does it anyone else when someone refers to their air handler, condenser unit, or furnace as "The HVAC"? I always end up reading that out as "The heating ventilation Air conditioning"
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Jan 23, 2015 07:39
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I finally have something to contribute to this thread! Yay! So my house has this switch in it:  Where is that? In the back of the bottom shelf of the pantry. Why is there? I dunno. What does it control? Well, apparently it controls the power strip that's above the fireplace on the other side of the wall. Not sure why that needed a switch or why that was put in the back of the pantry.  The other kinda sketchy thing:  This from work. Power panel next to the sinks. No, that is not an outdoor box either. It's rusty as all hell, has rusted through in a few places. I''m assuming it's ok, since I guess it had to pass some kind of inspection, but it still makes me a little uncomfortable washing dishes next to it.
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Feb 26, 2015 06:47
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Dillbag posted:I have no idea how this would pass inspection, unless you live in Russia or some other hellhole. Orlando FL, so pretty close.
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Feb 26, 2015 07:35
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Slanderer posted:Unless there's the ability to spray water at the panel itself, I'm not sure there's a problem here... Well there is the sprayer head which can (and has) been used to spray the panel. Plus it's also across from a janitor sink which has another hose on it. Again, it might be up to code and everything, but it just seems weird to me.
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Feb 26, 2015 08:02
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Liquid Communism posted:Looks less like standing water and more like the natural result of that kind of dish sink. Usually you'd have an anti-slip mat down there, though. It's a little of both! The floors in there aren't sloped or anything, and are horribly lumpy, and never really stay dry. Also the drains are hilariously tiny in there.
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Feb 28, 2015 04:56
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uwaeve posted:
Wait when did this happen? Or was this the fingat series?
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Mar 21, 2015 03:12
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Parallel Paraplegic posted:Densification is a good thing; burn suburbia to the ground. I don't think you understand. They're still building the same suburban sprawl. Expect instead of having 10 houses on a block you now have 25. I don't even get it anymore, why not just build rowhouses at that point. I dream of buying a proper house someday, but I'm going to drop a quarter to half a million on a decent home it drat well better have more than 3 feet between my neighbor's way. And not be a cookie cutter cinderblock and stucco monstrosity.
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Mar 27, 2015 23:15
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Reasons_why_not_to_join_the_army.jpg
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Apr 9, 2015 02:18
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Crotch Fruit posted:That looks like an excellent house with just a few minor DIY projects, think of it as an opportunity to customize the house to your liking. We have all seen this before, we know what is about to happen. Not everyone is as
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Apr 30, 2015 23:13
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`Nemesis posted:I see dead people I was just coming to post this here. Mr. Unlucky posted:jesus christ did they have glass eating competitions too
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May 18, 2015 02:07
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I know that's basically how bus bars work inside panels and such, but there's no say that's cheaper/easier/more efficient than running wire is there?
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Jun 11, 2015 01:22
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First off:  Second off, this is super vague, but a while back someone linked this real good book for homebuilding and stuff on Amazon, does anyone recall what that book was? VV That'll Be it VVV ExplodingSims fucked around with this message at 02:33 on Aug 30, 2015 |
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Aug 30, 2015 02:04
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Meh, the side with the electrical bits and the service ports are still perfectly easy to get to. Now, if he needs a new fan motor things might get interesting. And actually it looks like you might be able to get at the motor from the side anyways. But as far as preventative maintenance goes, that's not too bad. Hardly the worst AC layout I've seen. People never think about AC in terms of future service. Or any service. People only care about AC when it breaks. #HVACTechproblems.
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Oct 23, 2015 23:48
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Nothing super interesting, but just poor design, like this: Which has about 1' of clearance from the wall there, and that's the compressor side. Good luck getting in there, and opening the doors. And that unit was also full of wasps. Also, you see lots of people who love putting the condenser side of the RTU near exhaust vents. Exhaust vents that do nothing but blast grease in the air 24/7. Then, after about a month, the AC stops blowing cold, and you clean it, and this happens:  Note: Coil cleaner foams up white. And sometimes you see fun stuff. Need more air to go somewhere?  But 90% it's pretty boring problems, like putting air handlers with like "1 clearance from a wall. Putting the service side of a condenser right up against the wall.
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Oct 24, 2015 00:26
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I HATE my glass cooktop with a fiery passion. It sucks for cooking and sucks even worse for cleaning. I swear every little boil-over leaves a stain that takes a good five mins to clean. Just give some good iron burners with stainless steel underneath and I'll be happy. Anythings spills? Just wipe it off and you'll be good. Wipe it down with baby oil afterwards to keep some shine. After working in restaurant for so many years it's really hard to get used to crappy electric elements again.
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Dec 2, 2015 01:50
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Dirty Beluga posted:its a 24VAC system, all he was doing was completing the circuit to hear if the furnace kicks on. Only way this could be remotely dangerous is if he used his tongue. Yeah, this pretty standard for checking if a system cycles on. Worst case scenario you blow the 5A fuse in the air handler. My personal way of doing it is with a pair of needlenose pliers, but to each their own.
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Dec 12, 2015 00:27
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While you are correct, you do realize that there's a pretty huge difference between 120/208-230 carrying wires and 24V Tstat wires? Like the biggest wires you'll find in a tstat are 16 gauge or 18 gauge, and also color coded. So if you're loving around with bigger wires than than that in your air handler or thermostat, you already know somethings gone wrong. So in this case you're not jumping out unknown wires, you know what you have and where they run. And the way thermostats are run that's exactly how you do it anyways, you check your colors at the air handler/RTU and then once you find the colors on the Tstat you can jump them out to test the unit. Now line voltage thermostats are a thing, but you'll almost never see on in a residential application, those are pretty much restricted to commercial/industrial settings. Unless you're running your house off of a refrigeration tstat. And in case anyone is wondering, standard Tstat wires are: Red- Is your incoming 24V Green: Goes to the relay for the blower fan Yellow: Controls the compressor contractor White: Controls the heat. Usually the auxiliary heat strips. Orange: Controls the reversing valve solenoid if you have a heat pump. Blue: Is usually your common wire. This is just a general guide though, as which color controls what is up to the installer, so it varies. Also you may have more or less wires depending on your setup.
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Dec 12, 2015 01:05
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Nitrox posted:Our local code says that a bathroom with a window does not need a fan. Even if that window is inoperable or made out of glass block. So pretty much every added bathroom in semi-submerged basement is steamy/stinky as all hell, because nobody wanted to bother with $35 worth of fan. Good God, that has to be miserable after a shower.  Like, if I don't crank the A/C down and leave the fan running when I take a shower, and my bathroom still feels like a humid hell. When I build my own house I'm a commercial grade hood exhaust fan for the bathroom. gently caress humidity.
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Dec 21, 2015 00:03
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I'd like 3 humans of margeritas please bartender.
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Jan 31, 2016 22:45
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Suspect Bucket posted:Nah, those dudes were pussies, everyone used countertop models. This is the new wave of margarita machining! Hip, young, and MOBILE! Margarita machining is a dying trade old man. Today it's all about margaritas 3d printing.
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Feb 1, 2016 15:58
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Powerful Two-Hander posted:
What colour where the wires in the Tstat? Most likely someone was using 7 conductor wire and just left the ones he didn't need off. It's pretty common. As for the light thing, built in voltage tester? If the light isn't on the plug doesn't work? Or something equally stupid?
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Feb 6, 2016 19:56
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kid sinister posted:Good lord. That must have been a nightmare for the electrician to keep track of where each wire goes to while he was running them and putting up the boxes. I have a feeling an electrician was not involved in this
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Feb 21, 2016 22:03
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Eh, there's better ways of cooling off the house if you really want fresh air inside. They do make filtered make up air type units you can install in your house to get free cooling. Get fresh air with none of the crap! Of course, when I build my house I'm getting one of those electrostatic filters, and a commercial grade UV setup in my air handler. I already have the commercial grade UV light setup, and let me tell you, that makes a huge difference in air quality.
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Mar 5, 2016 04:18
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Yeah those things are pretty garbage for any real cooling application. If you're serious about building a tiny house, for any real humidity control/cooling your best bet would be to look into a ductless minisplit, if you don't want to go full central air. Minisplits are great for those applications, as they have a few different modes, and unlike window shakers they can actually be serviced and don't get all moldy and gross.
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Mar 5, 2016 05:41
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Perhaps you should make it a nice wine room? Maybe a few barrels of Amontillado wine?
ExplodingSims fucked around with this message at 20:42 on Mar 18, 2016 |
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Mar 18, 2016 20:37
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Bad connections you say?  I'm done. Nope, not even diagnosing the system. New compressor time.
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Apr 10, 2016 21:10
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Platystemon posted:The Edison screw fitting pre‐dates the two‐bladed plug and socket. That's actually pretty cool. Never heard of that before. Also the electric butt plug warmer there is a pretty revolutionary idea probably pretty ahead-of-its-time at the time though
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Apr 27, 2016 23:14
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Yeah, I seriously can not imagine living anywhere without a central A/C system. That is dealbreaker on any place. But luckily I live in Florida*, where finding houses without A/C is nearly impossible. *Kiiiiiiiilllll meeeeee
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Jun 2, 2016 01:57
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FlashBewin posted:I am so glad that whole house fans were mentioned. The house i'm now (I inherited the house) used to have one built into the attic, with all the attic ventilation necessary, but it was torn out when the roof was replaced 20 years ago, supposedly it wasn't working. Anyway, i already have all the hard stuff done, attic is insulated really, really well (Michigan home, thanks dad) and the attic access is already in place (with an insulated panel!) Instead of using a Whole House Fan which is terrible and put your house in a vacuum and sucking in dust and dirt and everything else from the outside world if you already have ductwork setup for AC the better option would be to put in a blower fan that feeds from the outside that way at least you can run a filter on it as well and if you get a squirrel cage blower or you're going to move a lot more air
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Jun 2, 2016 22:44
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