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Home-owners...What are your current projects? (2 Viewers)

Blackdotting this for later. Just bought a house, moving in Oct 1st. Projects we will be tackling over the next few years:

Replacing the flooring throughout the house except maybe the bathrooms

Have rain gutters installed

Put a deck/pergola in backyard

Tile the covered back porch floor

Install quartz countertops in kitchen

 
Uruk-Hai said:
Curious - the house you bought doesn't have gutters?

Quartz freaking rocks for counter tops  :thumbup:
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Yeah there are several houses in the neighborhood without rain gutters, which I dont get, especially here in Florida where we get TONS of rain.

The gutters are #1 on the list and will be done by the end of the month.

The one negative about quartz form what I understand is that heat can damage the resin so youve gotta use hot pads and not set pans directly from the oven on it.

 
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offdee said:
I dont understand the point of pegolas.  No protection for user from rain and very limited shade protection,  
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Mine provides pretty substantial shade. It’s the difference between being able to sit outside and not during a good chunk of the summer. Plus ours is near a bunch of windows and keeps the house cooler. 

 
Wingnut said:
Yeah there are several houses in the neighborhood without rain gutters, which I dont get, especially here in Florida where we get TONS of rain.

The gutters are #1 on the list and will be done by the end of the month.

The one negative about quartz form what I understand is that heat can damage the resin so youve gotta use hot pads and not set pans directly from the oven on it.
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:unsure:

I've done it rarely, but I haven't noticed any damage. The great thing about quartz is you don't have to periodically seal it like granite.

I'm more amazed there are houses in FLA without gutters. I guess they don't care since they don't have basements or deep foundations, but still....

 
Ordered a Water Inlet Valve last night for the Bosch dishwasher for $15. DW wasn’t filling. Wife wants a new DW. I don't think so. 

 
Built our house 3 years ago.  Hated all of the finishes available to us for the wet bar in the basement, so went with the cheapest options.

Just finished redoing:

  • Painted cabinets grey (including built in wine rack - pain in the ###)
  • Wrapped bar in wood (thick laminate flooring - super easy and turned out great)
  • Backsplash
  • Concrete feather finish on bar and counter tops (was going to pour solid concrete, but figured what the hell.  For ~$100, let's see how this turns out.  Love it)
Also repainted kid's bathroom cabinets grey and installed carrera marble double sink vanity top with new undermount sinks and widespread faucets.

Next up:

  • Upper cabinets and waterfall counter over washer/dryer in laundry
  • Aerate and slit seed the lawn end of September-ish
 
doowain said:
Built our house 3 years ago.  Hated all of the finishes available to us for the wet bar in the basement, so went with the cheapest options.

Just finished redoing:

  • Painted cabinets grey (including built in wine rack - pain in the ###)
  • Wrapped bar in wood (thick laminate flooring - super easy and turned out great)
  • Backsplash
  • Concrete feather finish on bar and counter tops (was going to pour solid concrete, but figured what the hell.  For ~$100, let's see how this turns out.  Love it)
Also repainted kid's bathroom cabinets grey and installed carrera marble double sink vanity top with new undermount sinks and widespread faucets.

Next up:

  • Upper cabinets and waterfall counter over washer/dryer in laundry
  • Aerate and slit seed the lawn end of September-ish
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Photo of concrete feather finish? 

 
Tomorrow is the first day in over a year and change that I will not wake up to a contractor in my house, or my house being in some form of construction mess and disorganization or in the planning, interviewing contractors or shopping for something for the house.

mentioned here a while back but broke ground on an addition in June of last summer and finally finishing the last of the reno (the kitchen) today. 

• Added a new Den
• Added a main floor laundry room
• enlarged my kid's rooms
• Added a cathedral peak in living room
• took over existing den and enlarged kitchen (basically down to the studs in both rooms)—took down 2 walls, added a super support beam, added an island and wet bar.
• took over part of the old den and made a small mud room
• moved door into garage down to mud room and made existing door a pantry. 

I am sooooo ready to have my house back in order.  

 
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wilked said:
Photo of concrete feather finish? 
Click to expand...
I guess I don't have any photos after I added trim around the backsplash, touched up all the wall paint, added a final "wet look" coat and moved the bar stools back.  When I removed the tape from the wall it peeled away some paint.  I'm guessing because I let the feather finish dry before removing.  Really, you can do all of the layers in one day (I did 4), but I did this over the course of 4 days late at night while the kids slept.  Super easy to do.

This went down over laminate.  I used a RO sander with 60 grit to rough it up and I used a utility knife to score it all over.  Probably overkill but I wanted to make sure this stuff adhered without issue.  After each layer of feather finish, I sanded any high spots (I was careful to smooth as much as possible during application so this was minimal).  After the final layer, I went 80/120/220 with a mouse sander.  Then did 3 coats of sealer and 2 coats of wet look.  I was going for a "lived in" look to add some character.  I know that look isn't everyone's cup of tea, but for a wet bar, it's what I wanted.  If I were doing this in the kitchen, I might've taken a different approach.

If you ever do this, do yourself a favor and attach your shop vac to your sander from the beginning.  I did it in the middle of sanding and had to wipe EVERYTHING down in the basement twice after the dust had settled.  It was a nightmare.

Pictures don't really do it justice, but...

During the sanding process

During the sanding process 2

Finished product (don't mind the color of the concrete....it's doesn't have a tan tint to it...my lights were still warming up in the basement)

Finished product 2

Finished product 3

All in cost was around $100 and about 6 hours of my time.  I figured if it looks like #### in a year, I'm out $100 and can easily replace it with something else.

Had my draft party at the house this past weekend and the guys were commenting on it all night.

 
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wilked said:
Determining the amount of airflow in cubic feet per minute (cfm) that the whole house fan should provide involves a simple calculation. Multiply the total gross square footage of the house (include upstairs area) by the ceiling height (typically 8 feet). Select a fan that delivers between one half to one times that amount of cfm at 0.1" static pressure. For example, a 25'x40', one-story home is 1,000 square feet and would need an 8 x 1,000 x 0.5 = 4,000 cfm fan or better. A manufacturer sells a two-speed unit that delivers 4,500 cfm at the high setting (240 watts) and 3,200 cfm at low (120 watts); this unit should be adequate

last step is to ensure you can exhaust that air out of your attic. Determine what venting you have there, size it, come back here and post and I can check it 
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OK...  

House is 2275 sq ft with 8' ceilings so 18,192 cub ft.

Attic volume is 2,080 cub ft.

Venting: I have nine 8" cylindrical vents for 3.1 sq ft and approximately 98.7 sq ft. of perforated vinyl soffit  vents that have a net free area of 5.87 sq in per sq ft, so this is another 4 sq ft of venting giving a total of 7.1 sq ft.

Looking at these models, the CL-5400 covers up to 2520 sq ft and requires a minimum of 6.7 sq ft venting.  So I am assuming this is the best fit.

Not sure why the values on Amazon are different.  That says the CL-5400 covers up to 2725 sq ft and requires 7.3 sq ft of venting.  I'm assuming I'm fine either way.

However, the airflow on this is 4332 CFM, and your post is saying I need something that delivers twice that.  Where is your info from?

 
shuke said:
OK...  

House is 2275 sq ft with 8' ceilings so 18,192 cub ft.

Attic volume is 2,080 cub ft.

Venting: I have nine 8" cylindrical vents for 3.1 sq ft and approximately 98.7 sq ft. of perforated vinyl soffit  vents that have a net free area of 5.87 sq in per sq ft, so this is another 4 sq ft of venting giving a total of 7.1 sq ft.

Looking at these models, the CL-5400 covers up to 2520 sq ft and requires a minimum of 6.7 sq ft venting.  So I am assuming this is the best fit.

Not sure why the values on Amazon are different.  That says the CL-5400 covers up to 2725 sq ft and requires 7.3 sq ft of venting.  I'm assuming I'm fine either way.

However, the airflow on this is 4332 CFM, and your post is saying I need something that delivers twice that.  Where is your info from?
Click to expand...
When you talk HVAC you talk air changes per hour. How many times per hour you want to turnover the air. 

DOE recommends 30-60 acph. 

https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/home-cooling-systems/cooling-whole-house-fan

so 0.5-1.0 air changes per minute, which agrees with what I posted. 

It seems the the manufacturer has different standards for acph. If you picture two different manufacturers, one who says his $100 fan is good for a 2000 sqft home and another who says his $100 fan is good only for 1000 sqft home, which one is going to sell more fans? I’ll let you draw your own conclusions 

 
Couple more things. 

Check your code. You may need to interlock your fan with your smokes (if smokes go “on” fan goes off). Whether it’s code or not it’s a good idea, especially if your smokes are already hardwired and you can jump onto them from the attic. 

I would not mount your fan to ceiling if you can help it. Best to mount to gable.  Much less noisy. 

For your size house I’d maybe get a 36” Dayton. Good reliable name, mount it like I say and noise will be fine. 

 
Good suggestion about the smoke detectors.  

For 30 air exchanges an hour using a 36" fan, I would need to add 5 sq ft of attic venting.  Also this means cutting out part of a joist to fit a fan and moving an existing smoke detector.  

All of a sudden I'm not too keen about doing this myself.  

We had one of those monsters at our old house, and while it generated a hell of a breeze, it was very loud.  

Do you know anything about those quietcool systems I linked?

 
After more research not sure the Quietcool is going to move enough air.  Thoughts on best way to add more attic ventilation?  Gable vents?  

 
shuke said:
After more research not sure the Quietcool is going to move enough air.  Thoughts on best way to add more attic ventilation?  Gable vents?  
Click to expand...
Well the way I see it is this... you’re not trying to move attic air. You’re trying to displace house air with external (environment) air. 

If you mount this fan fan on the gable it will exhaust directly outside through the gable. You then need to connect that fan to your house. You can build a simple chase with plywood or you can duct it, but you want to “bypass” the attic and push that house air directly outside. In this way attic venting is irrelevant - you just need to have a few windows open 

 
wilked said:
Well the way I see it is this... you’re not trying to move attic air. You’re trying to displace house air with external (environment) air. 

If you mount this fan fan on the gable it will exhaust directly outside through the gable. You then need to connect that fan to your house. You can build a simple chase with plywood or you can duct it, but you want to “bypass” the attic and push that house air directly outside. In this way attic venting is irrelevant - you just need to have a few windows open 
Click to expand...
I see what you're saying, maybe there is a disconnect.  I want to both displace inside air with outside air but also displace the hot air in the attic.  Whole house fans are typically mounted in the ceiling to do this.

 
Put this out there in case any of you have experience - but after spending the past few weeks on you tube and talking it over with Ref Sr we are going to tackle buying and installing accordion hurricane shutters this winter.

House CBC so drilling it out will be the fun part.

 
shuke said:
I see what you're saying, maybe there is a disconnect.  I want to both displace inside air with outside air but also displace the hot air in the attic.  Whole house fans are typically mounted in the ceiling to do this.
Click to expand...
Do some research on attic fans - they are a losing game. Ie you put more energy in than you get out. Protecting your home from heating via the attic is achieved by insulation, not by blowing that air out. 

Make sure you are airsealed and well insulated. Insulation is cheap and if you don’t have enough that is your best bang for your buck. Whole house fans are designed to displace house air with outside air. 

Edit to add - here’s a link https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/43463/Power-Attic-Ventilators-Banned-by-New-Georgia-Energy-Code

 
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Yesterday successfully got rid of a big basin utility sink in laundry room and installed a standing drain tube for the washing machine to drain into.  

Not a huge space so freed up a good amount of floor space by getting rid of that big sink that we never used. 

 
wilked said:
Do some research on attic fans - they are a losing game. Ie you put more energy in than you get out. Protecting your home from heating via the attic is achieved by insulation, not by blowing that air out. 

Make sure you are airsealed and well insulated. Insulation is cheap and if you don’t have enough that is your best bang for your buck. Whole house fans are designed to displace house air with outside air. 

Edit to add - here’s a link https://www.energyvanguard.com/blog/43463/Power-Attic-Ventilators-Banned-by-New-Georgia-Energy-Code
Click to expand...
Your link is talking about powered attic exhaust fans. Those run all the time even when the A/C is on so can pull cold air from the home into the attic, which can raise your energy costs.  That's not what a whole house fan does.

Thanks for your help, though.

 
No sweat buddy.  There's a "Like" button the posts also, feel free to use liberally

I personally would bypass the attic as possible, commingling the air is just a complication in my opinion, but good luck either way.  If you do decide to put the fan in the ceiling see if you can 'hear' how loud an installed fan is first (and wife), to make sure you won't hate it at night.

 
wilked said:
No sweat buddy.  There's a "Like" button the posts also, feel free to use liberally

I personally would bypass the attic as possible, commingling the air is just a complication in my opinion, but good luck either way.  If you do decide to put the fan in the ceiling see if you can 'hear' how loud an installed fan is first (and wife), to make sure you won't hate it at night.
Click to expand...
That's why I was looking at the Quietcool models because the fan is listed and not sitting right on the joists.  Like I said, one we had at our hold house was like one of those belt-driven Dayton models, very effective but very loud.  

 
I ripped and replaced our neo angle shower door. . . I had no idea that it was called that but I know now that I replaced it. . . thanks google!  It's two pieces of side glass with a glass door, I wanted to go with a frame-less door but I chickened out and bought one with a frame around it.  This project took me two months.  One month because I had to order it and wait.  And another month because every single time I started working on it, I got interrupted but this past weekend I finally finished installing it, caulked it on Labor Day, waited two days (just in case) for the caulk to fully cure/dry and used it for the first time this morning.  So it had been a couple of months since I used that shower, it was a nice feeling!  We had been using the shower in the guest bathroom which was kind of a pain.

While I was working in the master bathroom I replaced the non-working exhaust fan. I don't know the brand but I got it from Costco.  LED light (very bright) and multi-function fan, it's really cool.  So if you keep the fan switch on it has a moisture sensor and will just automagically start working as it senses moisture or you can turn the fan switch off and back on to go full manual mode, I keep it on all the time.  How do you tell the difference?  There's a tiny little LED light up in the fan.  If it's off, it's off.  If it's blue it's in auto mode.  If it's amber it's on manual.  How cool is that?

Replaced the toilet seat while I was at it for extra bonus.  So, now, you can sit in the bathroom on the new toilet seat, turn the fan on and admire the new shower door! :)

 
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Sullie said:
While I was working in the master bathroom I replaced the non-working exhaust fan. I don't know the brand but I got it from Costco.  LED light (very bright) and multi-function fan, it's really cool.  So if you keep the fan switch on it has a moisture sensor and will just automagically start working as it senses moisture or you can turn the fan switch off and back on to go full manual mode, I keep it on all the time.  How do you tell the difference?  There's a tiny little LED light up in the fan.  If it's off, it's off.  If it's blue it's in auto mode.  If it's amber it's on manual.  How cool is that?
Click to expand...
I gotta look into this.  Wife and Kids "forget" (aka just don't care) to turn the vent fan on when taking showers.   They open up the door after showers and it's basically a steam room

 
Sullie said:
I ripped and replaced our neo angle shower door. . . I had no idea that it was called that but I know now that I replaced it. . . thanks google!  It's two pieces of side glass with a glass door, I wanted to go with a frame-less door but I chickened out and bought one with a frame around it.  This project took me two months.  One month because I had to order it and wait.  And another month because every single time I started working on it, I got interrupted but this past weekend I finally finished installing it, caulked it on Labor Day, waited two days (just in case) for the caulk to fully cure/dry and used it for the first time this morning.  So it had been a couple of months since I used that shower, it was a nice feeling!  We had been using the shower in the guest bathroom which was kind of a pain.

While I was working in the master bathroom I replaced the non-working exhaust fan. I don't know the brand but I got it from Costco.  LED light (very bright) and multi-function fan, it's really cool.  So if you keep the fan switch on it has a moisture sensor and will just automagically start working as it senses moisture or you can turn the fan switch off and back on to go full manual mode, I keep it on all the time.  How do you tell the difference?  There's a tiny little LED light up in the fan.  If it's off, it's off.  If it's blue it's in auto mode.  If it's amber it's on manual.  How cool is that?

Replaced the toilet seat while I was at it for extra bonus.  So, now, you can sit in the bathroom on the new toilet seat, turn the fan on and admire the new shower door! :)
Click to expand...
lol... I installed a motion activated fan.

:)

 
offdee said:
I gotta look into this.  Wife and Kids "forget" (aka just don't care) to turn the vent fan on when taking showers.   They open up the door after showers and it's basically a steam room
Click to expand...
Yeah, I need to install one of these in my son's bathroom.  The thing is, I just replaced his about 2-3 years ago.  It was a really nice (quiet) Broan fan that wasn't exactly inexpensive.  The problem is that he NEVER turns the thing on and, of course, I didn't even think about putting one in with a moisture sensor. when I replaced it . . D'oh!

 
I put timer switches on all my bathroom fans - 4 buttons for different time intervals.  My issue was the opposite of most of you - my wife would cut our remote fan on the master bath when showering, then forget to turn it off, so we were pulling all the conditioned air out of the house.  

 
Fat Nick said:
I put timer switches on all my bathroom fans - 4 buttons for different time intervals.  My issue was the opposite of most of you - my wife would cut our remote fan on the master bath when showering, then forget to turn it off, so we were pulling all the conditioned air out of the house.  
Click to expand...
Yeah this os the scenario when they actually do remember to turn it on (or i open door and turn it on for them mid shower)

 
Fan purchased.  Can’t wait to get up in my 1400 degree attic this weekend.    I’m thinking install shouldn’t be difficult, just a little concerned about the wiring, including running it from an existing outlet and into the ceiling.  No experience with that.  

Will do some youtubes 

 
shuke said:
Fan purchased.  Can’t wait to get up in my 1400 degree attic this weekend.    I’m thinking install shouldn’t be difficult, just a little concerned about the wiring, including running it from an existing outlet and into the ceiling.  No experience with that.  

Will do some youtubes 
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Which fan?

are you tying it into your smokes? 4 wires right? How many amps, you putting it on it’s own circuit? 

 
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:bag:  I cut my FiOS cable coming in the house & they can't run a new one until Monday.  I was doing some landscaping and it was a low burried wire in the way of my new French drain & rock path.  I litterally pulled 50ft+ of random coax re-reuns from this area during an earlier excavation, and I thought this was another old one.  Despite the wire not being coax  :bag: . I realized it when it was tough to cut through with my pliers.  :bag: :wall:

 
wilked said:
Which fan?
Click to expand...
This one

“are you tying it into your smokes?”

Tell me how  

“4 wires right?”

Haven’t opened the box yet   

“How many amps, you putting it on it’s own circuit?”

tying into existing 15 amp circuit.  Running power from middle of circuit outlet to a new gang box with a 2 speed switch and a timer switch, then running from there to attic.

 
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shuke said:
This one

“are you tying it into your smokes?”

Tell me how  

“4 wires right?”

Haven’t opened the box yet   

“How many amps, you putting it on it’s own circuit?”

tying into existing 15 amp circuit.  Running power from middle of circuit outlet to a new gang box with a 2 speed switch and a timer switch, then running from there to attic.
Click to expand...
I thought we worked out that this unit was under-sized?  You're going to turn this thing on before bedtime and it'll finally be getting cool by the time you wake up

As for the smokes... what I was asking is do you have hard-wired smokes, interconnected?  They should have 4 wires coming off them (well 3 plus ground).  If you have that, use the fourth wire, take it back to a relay that will shut off your fan.  It's pretty easy, the relay should be about $10.  Basically the smoke alarms, when activated, will send a signal via that 4th wire that says FIRE.  You can use whatever smoke alarm is closest if they are interconnected.  That signal wire goes to the relay, and when signaled that relay closes and thus interrupts power to the fan.

edit to add without this a small fire will become a major fire very quickly.  for the sake of your family please do this

 
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Looks like that's about 5.5 Amps.  What else is on that circuit?  Probably ok

Edit to add - code probably says this should have a light near it on a separate circuit so that with power isolated, you can still have light for a tech to work on it.  Not a big deal but FYI.  That came up in my inspection when I added HVAC

 
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wilked said:
I thought we worked out that this unit was under-sized?  You're going to turn this thing on before bedtime and it'll finally be getting cool by the time you wake up
Click to expand...
Rolling with it, bro.  We'll see.

As for the smokes... what I was asking is do you have hard-wired smokes, interconnected?  They should have 4 wires coming off them (well 3 plus ground).  If you have that, use the fourth wire, take it back to a relay that will shut off your fan.  It's pretty easy, the relay should be about $10.  Basically the smoke alarms, when activated, will send a signal via that 4th wire that says FIRE.  You can use whatever smoke alarm is closest if they are interconnected.  That signal wire goes to the relay, and when signaled that relay closes and thus interrupts power to the fan.

edit to add without this a small fire will become a major fire very quickly.  for the sake of your family please do this
Click to expand...
Yes, hard-wired.  Thanks for the advice.  I will do this once I have this thing installed.

 
wilked said:
Looks like that's about 5.5 Amps.  What else is on that circuit?  Probably ok

Edit to add - code probably says this should have a light near it on a separate circuit so that with power isolated, you can still have light for a tech to work on it.  Not a big deal but FYI.  That came up in my inspection when I added HVAC
Click to expand...
It's going to be installed in the attic.  Are you saying I need to install a light up there?  #### that noise.

 
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