Home Repair/Remodel Thread

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by Rodey

20 would definitely be overkill for where I live. At least most summers. I'm guessing I'd be looking at 18 SEER max. I'm not sure the energy savings would ever offset the cost otherwise.

I'm assuming new air handler? I don't know enough about HVACs to really know. New furnace would mean new air handler, yeah? Our furnace at least isn't crazy old (2007) and in good working condition.

The air handler/furnace needs to be sized to accommodate the heat pump, in your case. If you aren’t going bigger you’re probably fine as is, assuming you get the same brand. Though the benefits of variable speed units are great. Otherwise you only have the 3 speeds and have to manually change them on the jumper board without the real time benefits.

Edit, assuming you have a heat pump and not a separate furnace/boiler for heat.

[smokew11]

has anyone put in an in-ground pool? Looking for any tips, suggestions, things they would or would not have done if doing it again. Also looking for suggestions on financing it...home equity vs HELOC, etc. Thanks

[M. Steng]

A little comparison to the listing photo from when we bought the house to this weekend with our backyard transformation. Most of this work has happened within the past year, pretty proud of and happy with how it all turned out.

[GSUdawg521]

Originally Posted by smokew11

has anyone put in an in-ground pool? Looking for any tips, suggestions, things they would or would not have done if doing it again. Also looking for suggestions on financing it...home equity vs HELOC, etc. Thanks

Can't really help but will be cool to see if you do it. I would if, 1, I had the yard for it. Probably could do it with some major grading and there'd probably be a pretty big wall somewhere. But otherwise the privacy of my back yard would be nice for it. Even a fairly small one. And 2, if we made enough money to do it, obviously, but also to not have to worry about the maintenance costs of it ever again.

[drop2d]

Originally Posted by smokew11

has anyone put in an in-ground pool? Looking for any tips, suggestions, things they would or would not have done if doing it again. Also looking for suggestions on financing it...home equity vs HELOC, etc. Thanks

- Make it as big as you can.
- Go with a saltwater system.
- Make sure your wife really, REALLY enjoys vacuuming it.
- Don't do it at all if you are planning on selling in the next few years... it adds no value to your home.

[TheLastStop123]

Originally Posted by M. Steng

A little comparison to the listing photo from when we bought the house to this weekend with our backyard transformation. Most of this work has happened within the past year, pretty proud of and happy with how it all turned out.

nice job bud! great transformation.

[GSUdawg521]

Man, the pool at our VRBO this past weekend was saltwater and I spent a lot of time swimming around with my eyes open. Was pretty glad they weren't burning like a chlorine pool, but by the last day my vision was kinda blurry. Had to wake up at 5am to drive home 5 hours and one eye was still a little blurry was fine by the time we got home.

[smokew11]

Originally Posted by M. Steng

A little comparison to the listing photo from when we bought the house to this weekend with our backyard transformation. Most of this work has happened within the past year, pretty proud of and happy with how it all turned out.

great transformation!

[smokew11]

Originally Posted by drop2d

- Make it as big as you can.
- Go with a saltwater system.
- Make sure your wife really, REALLY enjoys vacuuming it.
- Don't do it at all if you are planning on selling in the next few years... it adds no value to your home.

yeah we're staying here for the long haul

[M. Steng]

Originally Posted by TheLastStop123

nice job bud! great transformation.

Originally Posted by smokew11

great transformation!

Thanks dudes

Lots of hard work, happy for it to be over (for now)

Plan for the next year is to replace the black chain link fence around the rest of the yard, put some central air in the house, and potentially replace windows and doors. We are changing our mindset from thinking we'd only be here another 3-5 years once baby #2 comes along, to thinking we may be here for the long haul (may need to put an addition on within the next 5-10 years but we can swing it when it comes time).

[Rodey]

Anyone have any tips (or products) for reducing the noise of rain on roof exhaust vent caps?

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Anyone have any tips (or products) for reducing the noise of rain on roof exhaust vent caps?

Plasti-dip.

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by unccrombie

Plasti-dip.

Just a can of this, yeah?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plasti-D...3-6/100131010?

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Just a can of this, yeah?

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Plasti-D...3-6/100131010?

Yeah. Peelable rubber in a can. Should dull the noise with a handful coats. I’ve used it on my car’s crash bar. Held up OK with rock chips. I’d do white or clear.

[Rodey]

Originally Posted by unccrombie

Yeah. Peelable rubber in a can. Should dull the noise with a handful coats. I’ve used it on my car’s crash bar. Held up OK with rock chips. I’d do white or clear.

Cool. Thank you! I'll grab a can this weekend.

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by Rodey

Cool. Thank you! I'll grab a can this weekend.

Let me know if it works. I was going to try it on my skylight vent.

[M. Steng]

Had an extra 8 foot piece of sheet rock laying around so I replaced a section of an old wall in the garage. In and out in 30 minutes, feels good to get little stuff like that taken care of on a weekend.

My next big project I think is going to be buying a new workbench and garage storage stuff. My current situation is less than ideal and I really want to be able to park the cars in the garage again by this winter

[GSUdawg521]

I'm with you. We park both our cars in the garage but I'm itching to improve the situation in the garage closet, in addition to the one wire shelf I have in the garage. Last year I put up a rail to hang strollers and kids bike type stuff on and that's great but I gotta do better in the closet which is where I keep all my yard tools among many other things.

[TheLastStop123]

Our house is a new home construction, almost 2 years old. The last two summers, the lint panel in our dryer gets really damp. The builder uninstalled the automatic fan in the bathroom next to the dryer last summer and that didn’t fix it. They just installed a brand new ventilation system with the HVAC that was supposed to fix it. Still not fixed.

Anyone ever deal with this issue before? It only happens in the summer when it’s super humid out but I’ve never come across this before.

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by TheLastStop123

Our house is a new home construction, almost 2 years old. The last two summers, the lint panel in our dryer gets really damp. The builder uninstalled the automatic fan in the bathroom next to the dryer last summer and that didn’t fix it. They just installed a brand new ventilation system with the HVAC that was supposed to fix it. Still not fixed.

Anyone ever deal with this issue before? It only happens in the summer when it’s super humid out but I’ve never come across this before.

Sounds like an air leak inside the dryer outlet somewhere. Also sounds like the only spot you haven't checked.

[TheLastStop123]

Originally Posted by unccrombie

Sounds like an air leak inside the dryer outlet somewhere. Also sounds like the only spot you haven't checked.

got it. how do I go about checking that? and is it something a regular schmo like me can figure out or should I just wait to hear back from the builder and have them come look at it?

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by TheLastStop123

got it. how do I go about checking that? and is it something a regular schmo like me can figure out or should I just wait to hear back from the builder and have them come look at it?

When you open your dryer, can you smell the humidity? That would tell you if outside air is coming in when it's off. Since they've changed out the line it can't be clogged with lint and the moist air wouldn't be coming back at the dryer.

If the builder confirms it's definitly not the vent line you'll probably need to disconnect the vent line and go exploring to where it hooks up to the dryer. There's got to be a seal issue somewhere inside the dryer. Best pull up your models owners manual.

[GSUdawg521]

Thought this might be a good place for this:

What do you all like for outdoor home security cameras? Thinking of getting one (or two). There's just so many things to consider, pros and cons. Don't really want a subscription service. Would love wireless, but needs to have good battery life. I keep reading between Arlo and Blink. I've also looked at Eufy (Anker) because I got one of their robot vacs recently, but it looks like it would be a separate app.

[but1well]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

Thought this might be a good place for this:

What do you all like for outdoor home security cameras? Thinking of getting one (or two). There's just so many things to consider, pros and cons. Don't really want a subscription service. Would love wireless, but needs to have good battery life. I keep reading between Arlo and Blink. I've also looked at Eufy (Anker) because I got one of their robot vacs recently, but it looks like it would be a separate app.

I can only vouch for the Google Nest which I think is fantastic. It is wired but I like that I don't ever need to change batteries. Places you mount cameras tend not to be that readily accessible. The subscription is really nothing, $60/yr for the whole house. The best plus is that it's a google product so the support and user friendliness is awesome. And my cameras, thermostats, and smoke detectors are all conveniently accessed in one tidy app.

[Rodey]

I have the Nest Doorbell and love it. Considering adding a camera to the backyard, but we'll see.

[unccrombie]

Originally Posted by GSUdawg521

Thought this might be a good place for this:

What do you all like for outdoor home security cameras? Thinking of getting one (or two). There's just so many things to consider, pros and cons. Don't really want a subscription service. Would love wireless, but needs to have good battery life. I keep reading between Arlo and Blink. I've also looked at Eufy (Anker) because I got one of their robot vacs recently, but it looks like it would be a separate app.

We have 2 Arlo Ultra 2's. Subscription is pretty mandatory for the software features. Battery life with 5-10 event recordings/notifications a day gets me about 3/3.5 months use. They're exposed to the blistering sun all day, too.

We also record locally to the hub, before we had a subscription. You need to setup a VPN (or set up port forwarding; not recommended) to view recordings when you're not home if you go the subscription-less route.

[TheLastStop123]

we have a ring doorbell and really like it

[GSUdawg521]

Originally Posted by but1well

I can only vouch for the Google Nest which I think is fantastic. It is wired but I like that I don't ever need to change batteries. Places you mount cameras tend not to be that readily accessible. The subscription is really nothing, $60/yr for the whole house. The best plus is that it's a google product so the support and user friendliness is awesome. And my cameras, thermostats, and smoke detectors are all conveniently accessed in one tidy app.

Nest is tempting because I already have two indoor cameras for my kids' rooms, but yeah it's the subscription that is a slight negative for me. Wired wouldn't be a dealbreaker though, I could figure it out. I probably wouldn't mount it anywhere too inaccessible.

I could see recharging batteries every 3-4 months like unccrombie mentioned but probably not more often than that.

[Rodey]

I thought pretty much all of them had subscriptions if you wanted to store footage?

[GSUdawg521]

As unc said, with some you can get away with a local storage. It may limit you in some areas, like being able to access the footage from an app from anywhere (ie you'd have to physically remove a jump drive from a hub and plug it into a computer, or like unc said, set up a VPN to access it remotely).

Some have other kinds of free local or even cloud storage.