The people I know that have them, love them. It's a better deal if you have an electric water heater. With a gas water heater, I don't think it saves you as much on your bill. Also, I believe a tankless gas water heater relies on an electric ignition. So, if you don't have power, you don't have hot water.
Am I the only one who hates appliance talk? I just want the cheapest thing that looks similar to what my wife likes.
This is a common misconception. The electric tankless heater will be more efficient (100% of power input will yield 100% output) but it is not a better deal. These things are power hogs as they have to heat water instantly from whatever your earth temperature is to 110 deg F+. And in most everywhere in the US, electricity is more expensive than natural gas. I would not recommend an electric tankless heater to anyone who has natural gas available, unless they want to increase their monthly electric bill by 30-40%.
Well yeah, gas is more affordable no matter what and if it's available it's the way to go. I meant if you already have electric, I think tankless benefits you more than if you have gas and want to switch to tankless. My apologies if that's not correct.
I've been using this app for about ~ 6 months now and it's pretty fucking handy. They had a segment on it for this weeks This Old House. https://centriqhome.com/
Just ordered knock off multicolor WiFi smart bulbs from amazon, supposedly work w Alexa. Only $14/each after promo code. Will report back.
Random question... I came outside this am and noticed a line of red flags and spray paint in my front yard. The flags say “CPS” which is our local electrical power company. My issue is the line runs right through about 4 rose bushes I have so I fear somebody may be digging in that area and damage them. Two new houses are being built across the street so I assume these flags are associated with the new builds and they plan on tapping into my electric lines. A few questions... 1. Who likely placed the flags, the builder or the electric company? 2. What rights do I have as a homeowner in a situation like this? 3. If there is digging involved who will likely be doing it the builder or electric company? I’m going to call the builder on Monday but I’d like to be more knowledgeable before I call.
The electric company placed them so the builder knows where to avoid. The builder does the digging. Talk to the builder about his plans but your rose bushes should be safe or replaced.
yea, locator made marks and flags, somebody did a "one call" for the area and they mark out everything dont worry, they most likely aint planning on digging your yard up, just got marked as a precaution
It's up and grouted. I'm actually gonna hang the tv tomorrow. Hung the mantle a few days back. It looks pretty good.
Went to the bank to talk about a HELOC to redo our pool and deck. Kind of scared/worried about taking the money out, but excited about the possibility of improving the pool area.
I forget the actual name but I found it in the plumbing section at the local Ace. They’ll know what you’re talking about if you use my earlier description.
Gotta get a steam washer and steam dryer. Life changing, imho. Looking forward to getting cranking on an auger to clear up a slow shower drain.
At what point should I consider re-grouting a tiled wall? There are a few hairline cracks in some of the grout that was put in our new shower we just had done (I'm assuming it was just not grouted all that well and they probably just didn't add enough in few areas). They aren't gaping cracks by any means, but I am worried about splashing water hitting the different areas as the wife and I shower. Is this something that needs to be done immediately, and, if so, is it something relatively easy to do (like just go over the areas that needs additional grout)?
Update: Lights are in. Number 1 objective - kids have colored/rainbow lights - is a success. Have already brokered many deals leveraging them. But the bulbs have limitations. Two issues, really... #1 they don’t have an accurate “warm white”/2700k setting, so they don’t serve very well as a primary light for any space. The built in “white” settings are a measure brighter than any of the colored setttings, though, so it seems I can either have cold 5000kish lights (40w equiv) or really dim shoe-horned recreations of a truer “warm white.” #2, the purchase made me realize how much of the value of these things is in the software support, which from “zerolemon” is limited as you might suspect. They were easy enough to set up and work with Alexa for basic on/off functions, colors etc but not much else. Cannot customize scenes to any degree that I can tell. Seemingly cannot “save” a favorite custom color (as per warm white complaint). You can set timers, link on/off to a discrete set of events (sunrise, weather, etc.) but seem to be bounded by their software in options. Maybe IFTTT can serve as a bridge to some of these limitations? I’ll eventually play around and see. So I now perceive more of the value of the Lyfx or Phillips bulbs in terms of quality as well as the support that wraps around them. These are a decent novelty that illl situate in some strategic lamps here and there, but not something that can serve the foudational lighting needs for a room with the added utility and novelty of the smart bulbs on the side.
Good review. Thanks. I was waiting to hear back as I have some Lifx bulbs. Any chance you are a yelper? I’d be curious to hear more.
Has anyone on here ever used a screw jack (posted below) to shore up sagging floors/joists? I have a low spots on my floor that I would like to fix before doing tile for a kitchen remodel and am trying to figure out the best course of action.
Not a yelper. Just trying to maintain the standard here in light of all the good insights/ideas on other fronts Anticipate my next contribution will be on Yamaha Musiccast/Alexa integration that is supposed to drop this month.
Need a new couch and chairs for the den, any brands I need to look for or steer away from? I've been looking at Thomasville, Basset, Ethan Allen, and La Z Boy so far leaning towards a couch at Ethan Allen.
I did this to mine. Talked to a structural engineer and what he told me to do was take a 12x12 concrete paver and dig that in, in my case into clay soil. On top of that I put a thicker smaller piece of concrete blocking, then the jack went on top of that. Across the floor joist I ran a 4x6 piece of lumber with the 6 inch side between the jack and the Joist. This reminds me that I need to go down there and give the jack a turn.
How often do to turn them? Luckily I have a full basement with a concrete floor so they could just sit on top of that. Joists are all fucked up from the previous owners who took it upon themselves to just cut shit out, including load bearing supports.
Well when they listed the house they forgot to take out the full basement weed grow operation. So yeah.
Part of remodel of current home, had to do this because of termite damage to floor joists. Contractor jacked up sagging areas, cut out bad wood, and scabbed on new joists/plates. Didn’t appear to be quite the engineering challenge that I suspected, but maybe too intimidating for a DIY’er
Making pretty good progress on the repair. Still have to do some piers around the back, then they will jack them up.
Phillips are expensive but good. I had one of the color bulbs stop working and they send me a refund check to cover it.
I would do a half turn every 1-2 weeks until you get to the height you need that everything is level, or close as you can get it. It should be a really slow process jacking them up. Once it's at the height you need then you should be good forever.
Maybe one day I'll do something more permanent but they're secure for years to come so there's a lot of items above it on the to-do list.