The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

[dxmnkd316]

we keep the (non-smart) thermostat in the master suite to 63 -- if it's much more than that we have trouble sleeping. The other zones are controlled by Nest thermostats and are set on 70 during the day (we both work from home) and the wife still occasionally complains being cold!

We have three heating zones for the main heating system, plus supplemental heat from a heat pump with two indoor exchangers (one in the open living/dining/kitchen area which also has a loft/balcony area overlooking it that the non master bedrooms are accessed from), the other in the bonus room over the garage. Basically the heat pump thermostats stay on 70 all the time, and the Nests go down to 62 at night / when we aren't home and up to 70 while we're awake. In the dead of winter the heat pump can't quite keep the main living area uniformly at 70 so when the Nest kicks on in the morning it just has to make up the difference. The heat pump is the only heat in the garage bonus room (which is a fairly large room) and it's more than adequate there (had the bonus room piped to connect to the boiler when we built the house, but then after we finished the space we were pretty happy with just the heat pump).

When my wife and I start a family, I've retained the right to be the "Put on a sweater" jerk dad. Honestly, I prefer wearing a comfy sweater and flannel pants than shorts and shirt in the winter. Saves the planet, lowers costs, etc.

Very jealous of your setup. Seems like the way of the future TBH. Heat pumps and ductless are going to become more and more important in the design of homes as energy becomes more expensive and efficient design becomes more entrenched in the codes. The older I get, the more I want to design our dream house my/ourselves. I've lived through enough of other people's shitty design decisions at home and at work. I'd love to have a design that can properly use ductless and heat pumps.


(Yes, I know I couldn't design a house myself. Akin to representing yourself in court. "A gal can dream" (C) kepler)

 

[dxmnkd316]

One winter I had my mailbox taken out 5 times. Most of the time it just ripped the mailbox off the post and dented it up a bit and I could repair it. Occasionally it would obliterate the mailbox. One time I had to spend an hour digging through a snowbank to find the mailbox (which still had mail in it). One time it ripped the horizontal arm off the post (4x4 pressure treated). There was 2 feet of snow on the ground, plus the ground was well frozen. I was able to put the post back together and use some huge metal T brackets to reinforce the post.

One of those storms, within a mile of my house I counted at least a dozen destroyed mailboxes. Not sure if the plow driver was incompetent or drunk.

I hate having a mailbox. I also live on a private road, and USPS won't deliver on it, so all our mailboxes are on the main road. That's one thing I miss about my previous suburban home with a walking mail route. So much easier having them bring the mail right up to my door and dropping it in the mail slot...

I think for the time being, since it's not entirely destroyed, a couple wraps of gorilla tape will suffice. The fracture in the post is in such a way that I'm not sure if I could bracket it together. Structural tape, OTOH, is a perfectly cheap and temporarily durable solution that will work until this spring. Thankfully our neighbors are pretty cool and won't care for the 2 months wait.

 

[walrus]

When my wife and I start a family, I've retained the right to be the "Put on a sweater" jerk dad. Honestly, I prefer wearing a comfy sweater and flannel pants than shorts and shirt in the winter. Saves the planet, lowers costs, etc.

Very jealous of your setup. Seems like the way of the future TBH. Heat pumps and ductless are going to become more and more important in the design of homes as energy becomes more expensive and efficient design becomes more entrenched in the codes. The older I get, the more I want to design our dream house my/ourselves. I've lived through enough of other people's ****ty design decisions at home and at work. I'd love to have a design that can properly use ductless and heat pumps.


(Yes, I know I couldn't design a house myself. Akin to representing yourself in court. "A gal can dream" (C) kepler)

How to design a house where a ductless mini split can handle the load, polyurethane foam is the answer. Attention to details on the tightness of the home. It ain't rocket science and you don't have to wait for the codes to "force" you to do it. Its easily done now.

 

[Scarlet]

I have a heat pump that is for my heat and A/C. When I bought this place, someone had said to me that heat pumps are more prevalent in the south where the temperature swings aren't as big. The only thing I don't like about it is that my two bedrooms don't get as warm, or as cool, as my living room does. I literally just had someone here to look at it because it was leaking yesterday. We had some wind whipped wet snow Wednesday night and they think some got into it and melted.

 

[dxmnkd316]

How to design a house where a ductless mini split can handle the load, polyurethane foam is the answer. Attention to details on the tightness of the home. It ain't rocket science and you don't have to wait for the codes to "force" you to do it. Its easily done now.

Yeah, you’d definitely need multiple units. WHich is way more expensive up front, but better for the planet most likely.

 

[walrus]

Yeah, you?d definitely need multiple units. WHich is way more expensive up front, but better for the planet most likely.

Depends on floor plan, my house is open, one heat pump(12k Fujitsu) heats my main living area. Living room, dining room , kitchen and master bed and bath. Master bed and bath has no heat source other than the doorway and south facing glass. The walls in bedroom(a newer addition) are 6.5 inches of foam, ceiling is too. You pay for insulation once, you pay for heat the rest of your life. Too bad you can't post pics on here.

www.buildingscience.com if you want to understand what to do in your zone

 

[Swansong]

This weekend I spent like $250 on spring lawncare items. Seed, fertilizer, weed killer, etc. Ugh.

 

[BassAle]

Depends on floor plan, my house is open, one heat pump(12k Fujitsu) heats my main living area. Living room, dining room , kitchen and master bed and bath. Master bed and bath has no heat source other than the doorway and south facing glass. The walls in bedroom(a newer addition) are 6.5 inches of foam, ceiling is too. You pay for insulation once, you pay for heat the rest of your life. Too bad you can't post pics on here.

www.buildingscience.com if you want to understand what to do in your zone

we almost did a ducted solution for our first floor to distribute the heating/cooling better and the ductless in the bonus room (they make a ducted indoor unit we could have installed in our basement for one of the zones on our multi-zone mini-split system). I think the ductwork added around 2.5K to the cost, but we ended up not pulling the trigger on it because our main living area is open concept and we decided we would be fine with the wall mounted ductless indoor unit. I think we have 12k indoor unit for the bonus room, and 18k btu for the living room area. Had we done the ducted, we would have gone with a larger outdoor unit and bumped the 18k up to a 24k to cover the entire first floor (including master suite).

We've found the mini-splits operate pretty well, even with temps that are in the single digits (it's supposed to be 'efficient' down to -14F, and includes a drain pan heater so the defrost cycle still works). Being coastal, our winters are usually a little more mild compared to inland Maine. Our exterior walls are 1.5 of foam plus R-21 of fiberglass so I think that puts the walls around R-30. I think the attic is something like R-50 of blown insulation.

 

[dxmnkd316]

I installed the new ecobee. Pretty cool. I wish it were a hair easier to just press a single button to turn on the fan, but probably just learning curve.

Two things I learned tonight:
1. I have a C wire! I didn't even notice it a few weeks back when I did an inspection behind the thermostat. It was tucked back into the wall and wasn't landed on the furnace.
2. I've owned this house for 11 years. Had the same thermostat the whole time. Previous owner was the original owner. When I pulled the backplate off the thermostat, there were THREE other mounting hole sets. One with anchors, two without. So all from different installs. Jesus..

 

[walrus]

we almost did a ducted solution for our first floor to distribute the heating/cooling better and the ductless in the bonus room (they make a ducted indoor unit we could have installed in our basement for one of the zones on our multi-zone mini-split system). I think the ductwork added around 2.5K to the cost, but we ended up not pulling the trigger on it because our main living area is open concept and we decided we would be fine with the wall mounted ductless indoor unit. I think we have 12k indoor unit for the bonus room, and 18k btu for the living room area. Had we done the ducted, we would have gone with a larger outdoor unit and bumped the 18k up to a 24k to cover the entire first floor (including master suite).

We've found the mini-splits operate pretty well, even with temps that are in the single digits (it's supposed to be 'efficient' down to -14F, and includes a drain pan heater so the defrost cycle still works). Being coastal, our winters are usually a little more mild compared to inland Maine. Our exterior walls are 1.5 of foam plus R-21 of fiberglass so I think that puts the walls around R-30. I think the attic is something like R-50 of blown insulation.

Back up heat of any kind? Mini splits lose efficiency as temps go down, especially older ones. Still can move heat but spend more time on defrost where you don't get any heat and therefore efficiency drops.

 

[Swansong]

I installed the new ecobee. Pretty cool. I wish it were a hair easier to just press a single button to turn on the fan, but probably just learning curve.

Two things I learned tonight:
1. I have a C wire! I didn't even notice it a few weeks back when I did an inspection behind the thermostat. It was tucked back into the wall and wasn't landed on the furnace.
2. I've owned this house for 11 years. Had the same thermostat the whole time. Previous owner was the original owner. When I pulled the backplate off the thermostat, there were THREE other mounting hole sets. One with anchors, two without. So all from different installs. Jesus..

I live in a house built in 1928, so I feel you there. 96 years of upgrades and maintenance. Some of the houses I looked at before buying this one were... yikes. As if I had done a century of work, instead of actual professionals. One of the big reasons we bought this one was that the previous owner had lived here almost 40 years and used professionals for everything (even left a lot of receipts and permits).

 

[BassAle]

Back up heat of any kind? Mini splits lose efficiency as temps go down, especially older ones. Still can move heat but spend more time on defrost where you don't get any heat and therefore efficiency drops.

the mini split is the only source of heat for my home office / bonus room over the garage which is a pretty large room, for the rest of the house propane is the "primary" heat source, although it's essentially a backup for the minisplit

 

[Kepler]

What is ant season in your neck of the woods?

It has begun in DC, and usually takes all of April, as the temperatures ride the roller coaster above 70 and below 40.

By May they are only outside where they happily build their hills all summer long. Then we have another brief invasion in October, and then they vanish until next April.

In Ithaca I remember they were 365, but that probably says more about my student level of cleaning.

 

[dxmnkd316]

About a month from now through September October

 

[state of hockey]

We gets ants for about a month in our house. Month of May, mostly.

 

[burd]

In Ithaca I remember they were 365, but that probably says more about my student level of cleaning.

Bigazz ants that looked exactly like cockroaches?

 

[Kepler]

Bigazz ants that looked exactly like cockroaches?

LOL, no. I had those in Boston though.

Jesus, the first time I saw Big City Roaches I wanted to use a flamethrower.

 

[Swansong]

Does anyone have one of those smokeless fire pits, like a Solo?

I was considering a Breeo, as they seem to be better quality and are built in PA instead of overseas.

 

[WisconsinWildcard]

Does anyone have one of those smokeless fire pits, like a Solo?

I was considering a Breeo, as they seem to be better quality and are built in PA instead of overseas.

We have the Yukon Solo (which I think is the largest). We like it. It burns very hot and efficiently. We live in the city with a relatively large lot, but can move it easily to the front or back yard (had a fire in the front for trick or treating). It contains the fire well so we have it within 10-15ft of the house at times and I have no worries.

Some cons: You will need a cover and a base (which they sell). It is certainly expensive, and likely overpriced. For a "normal" fire, you probably need the large one. I bought a handle to move it (could probably make one).

Overall, I would buy again, but I highly value fires outside and I do not spend my money on much, so it didn't break the budget for us.

 

[Swansong]

We have the Yukon Solo (which I think is the largest). We like it. It burns very hot and efficiently. We live in the city with a relatively large lot, but can move it easily to the front or back yard (had a fire in the front for trick or treating). It contains the fire well so we have it within 10-15ft of the house at times and I have no worries.

Some cons: You will need a cover and a base (which they sell). It is certainly expensive, and likely overpriced. For a "normal" fire, you probably need the large one. I bought a handle to move it (could probably make one).

Overall, I would buy again, but I highly value fires outside and I do not spend my money on much, so it didn't break the budget for us.

Thanks! The Breeo has a built-in pedestal, so that's taken care of. I'd definitely plan to get the big metal lid. I'm not super concerned with moving it (it weighs about twice the Solo versions), but even at 50 pounds it doesn't seem completely unrealistic.

I was considering the mid-sized option, which is approximately the Solo Bonfire at 19". I was sort of warned off the larger sizes as they really burn through a lot of wood. I also live in a city on a relatively small lot, so good to hear about proximity to the house.

Does yours give off much radiant heat? I'd heard mixed reviews.