The Home Improvement Thread

[tx_shooter]

Did the same when I built my current house. I stopped in at most every other day and kept the builder/father-in-law up to date on what was going on. I still missed a few things like a 2nd electrical plug in the master bath and the location of the garage door opener; but overall the house is pretty good. But I have learned a lot over the last 12 years that will be very useful on my next build.

 

[Silverback]

Yeah the one thing I really missed, and was not the builders fault. Was putting in taller garage door. Builder lower my garage which allowed for 11' ceilings.. I should have done a 7.5' or 8' tall garage door. Next time.

 

[PSU Taco85]

I have no idea how I made it 14 years with no AC in my house, but I think I've become dependent on it already this spring. Been on for almost 5 days strait w/no end in sight. Here's to my electric bill not spiking to hundreds of dollars. Got it set at 78* when I'm home and 82* the rest of the day so still trying to be a little frugal.

FYI, if you have South Jersey gas service they are offering a rebate on new wifi "smart" thermostats. No gimmicks, all you have to do is type in your service address and you pay the sales tax and shipping. Heck of a deal if you ask me. I picked up a nest 3rd gen for the house and a nest E for the shop few weeks ago. And now that I just checked the price I'm pissed I paid $100 for my 3rd gen nest looks like they dropped the price to $40 for 4th of july sale too.

South Jersey Gas Marketplace

 

[tx_shooter]

Damn that would be nice. I keep debating a Nest and the price talks me out of it. I probably need to do it at some point. My sandwich maker is bad about forgetting to turn the house up a little in the mornings when I am gone. So there have been a few times where I find out the house has been on 68 or 69 degrees for days at a time in the summer. Then the electric bill reminds me.

 

[CowboyTaco]

If that's the case, the Nest will pay for itself rather quickly

 

[Anathollo]

Unless you are watching your new home being built like a hawk, they will still fuck it up. Luckily for the last two I built I lived close by and woulds drop in daily to ensure they didn't miss anything. A friend of mine is building one maybe 3/4 mile away from mine and he stops by all the time and sadly, he has to make weekly appointments with the construction manager to point out stuff they missed... not to mention what he does not know is incorrect. (he's not a building code guy.. but he knows what he paid for.. like "hey where it the water outlet in the garage for a spigot?... or where is my speaker outlets in the patio area").. just sucks. I did the same.

You hit the nail on the head.

My brother-in-law just had his house built and the number of issues that POS house has and for the price he paid...it makes my blood boil. When it gets cooler outside, I'm planning on re-caulking all of his windows because the guy caulking them didn't know how. And he has one 2-lamp fixture for a 3 car garage. ONE fucking light and it's not even an LED light! It's so dark you can't see the back of the garage. I told him multiple times he was an idiot not to buy an older house in an established neighborhood.

 

[Anathollo]

Damn that would be nice. I keep debating a Nest and the price talks me out of it. I probably need to do it at some point. My sandwich maker is bad about forgetting to turn the house up a little in the mornings when I am gone. So there have been a few times where I find out the house has been on 68 or 69 degrees for days at a time in the summer. Then the electric bill reminds me.

It's worth it. I love the fact that I don't have to think about the AC temp anymore. I just walk out of the house.

If that's the case, the Nest will pay for itself rather quickly

Mine has definitely paid for itself by now.

And the convenience of the app is nice.
-Snuggled up in bed and want it colder? Just grab your phone and open up the app.
-Just landed at the airport and are on your way home. Open up the app and turn the AC down so the house is nice and cold by the time you get home.

 

[tex]

I already adjusted my Nest for this week being gone and have it set to cool down the day we get home.

 

[tx_shooter]

My issue is my electric bill is rarely over $140 a month. The HVAC is three years old and runs great. With a generous 10% monthly savings that is a not a quick return. So it will be more of a convience thing than anything.

 

[Oswego]

Unless you are watching your new home being built like a hawk, they will still fuck it up. Luckily for the last two I built I lived close by and woulds drop in daily to ensure they didn't miss anything. A friend of mine is building one maybe 3/4 mile away from mine and he stops by all the time and sadly, he has to make weekly appointments with the construction manager to point out stuff they missed... not to mention what he does not know is incorrect. (he's not a building code guy.. but he knows what he paid for.. like "hey where it the water outlet in the garage for a spigot?... or where is my speaker outlets in the patio area").. just sucks. I did the same.

If a job that has a CM who's job it is to insure the GC is up to par and it's not perfect - fire the CM as soon as soon as a new one can step in. Total waste of money to have a CM who can't do his job. if the GC was worth their weight no CM would even be needed. I may work on one job a year that has a CM. Good GC's shouldn't need one. That said a dipshit client can make a good GC look bad and we only ever hear one side of the story.

FYI, if you have South Jersey gas service they are offering a rebate on new wifi "smart" thermostats. No gimmicks, all you have to do is type in your service address and you pay the sales tax and shipping. Heck of a deal if you ask me. I picked up a nest 3rd gen for the house and a nest E for the shop few weeks ago. And now that I just checked the price I'm pissed I paid $100 for my 3rd gen nest looks like they dropped the price to $40 for 4th of july sale too.

South Jersey Gas Marketplace

Yea, Ive been getting all the spam e-mails from them. Nice to know my hard earned money goes towards tarded rebates. I only say tarded because Ill never let my thermostat make decisions on it's own nor do I want anything connected to the outside world in my house especially my utilities. I know some love it but for this old school miser I'm more than fine setting it as needed. Heck I don't even leave my router on during the day. Least parasitic drain the better IMHO + in case of storms I have little plugged in - when I upgrade panels a whole house surge protector will go in but thats years from now unless I sell it to the next guy as is .

I'm in dispute with them right now. I h8 SJgas. Been "guesstimating" my meter for 7 months of the year cause the reader is to dam lazy to walk into my backyard.

edit: Oh and my electric bill came in last night and is still the same as the month prior. Finding that hard to believe especially with my AC running. My guess is they are guesstimated my reading as well. Lazy buggers

 

[Anathollo]

If a job that has a CM who's job it is to insure the GC is up to par and it's not perfect - fire the CM as soon as soon as a new one can step in. Total waste of money to have a CM who can't do his job. if the GC was worth their weight no CM would even be needed. I may work on one job a year that has a CM. Good GC's shouldn't need one. That said a dipshit client can make a good GC look bad and we only ever hear one side of the story.

I think he's talking about the superintendent. Most GC's have a Project Manager> Superintendent > Foreman.
You only see CM's on multi-million dollar projects down here and they aren't worth a fuck. CM's are usually just a superintendent who's been with the company so long that they had to give him a new job title to justify the yearly pay raise after reaching the pay cap for a superintendent or that superintendent has gotten so fat that he's a risk having on the jobsite

 

[Silverback]

Was superintendent.

 

[Oswego]

I think he's talking about the superintendent. Most GC's have a Project Manager> Superintendent > Foreman.
You only see CM's on multi-million dollar projects down here and they aren't worth a fuck. CM's are usually just a superintendent who's been with the company so long that they had to give him a new job title to justify the yearly pay raise after reaching the pay cap for a superintendent or that superintendent has gotten so fat that he's a risk having on the jobsite

funny - they have the same role up here

Was superintendent.

Ah - thats horrible. Super is by far the most important man on the jobs I run and if he sucks the job will also suffer. Heck Ive walked off jobs and pulled entire crews off jobs for weeks over bad supers.

 

[Silverback]

The Super we had build our house was awesome. The ones these days I am not so sure.

 

[Silverback]

Ok.. I want to see a video from someone on this forum doing the same. It won't be me. LOL

 

[Silverback]

Down the YouTube rabbit hole I went... crazy bastard.

 

[PSU Taco85]

If a job that has a CM who's job it is to insure the GC is up to par and it's not perfect - fire the CM as soon as soon as a new one can step in. Total waste of money to have a CM who can't do his job. if the GC was worth their weight no CM would even be needed. I may work on one job a year that has a CM. Good GC's shouldn't need one. That said a dipshit client can make a good GC look bad and we only ever hear one side of the story.



Yea, Ive been getting all the spam e-mails from them. Nice to know my hard earned money goes towards tarded rebates. I only say tarded because Ill never let my thermostat make decisions on it's own nor do I want anything connected to the outside world in my house especially my utilities. I know some love it but for this old school miser I'm more than fine setting it as needed. Heck I don't even leave my router on during the day. Least parasitic drain the better IMHO + in case of storms I have little plugged in - when I upgrade panels a whole house surge protector will go in but thats years from now unless I sell it to the next guy as is .

I'm in dispute with them right now. I h8 SJgas. Been "guesstimating" my meter for 7 months of the year cause the reader is to dam lazy to walk into my backyard.

edit: Oh and my electric bill came in last night and is still the same as the month prior. Finding that hard to believe especially with my AC running. My guess is they are guesstimated my reading as well. Lazy buggers

I hear you, I was a bit hesitant myself, I'm not a huge fan of the wifi technology BS. I just like it because once I get it installed and programmed I can have it turn up the heat or down the AC from my phone when I leave work so that by the time I get home it'll be at the temp I like. Plus if I forget to readjust the thermostat after I leave I can check on it. Before this I just had a dummy digital thermostat, worked fine but for a rebate I'll take the upgrade. Nice to know that big brother can keep an eye on my house temp now I always unplug my router, cable box, etc. when I'm out for the day. If I'm gone for a long weekend I also turn off my water valve and any extra lights I don't need. Call me cheap or paranoid but my gas and electric bills always beat the "efficient home" report they send out every month so I'll take it haha.

Those estimated readings are BS, I manually send in my meter readings for both gas and electric every month . Hell I work for the electric company and don't trust the dingbats to write down the correct numbers. One month my dad's electric bill was up a few hundred dollars, turns out the rounded to the wrong side of the dial and charged him an extra 1kw of electric.

 

[PSU Taco85]

Ok.. I want to see a video from someone on this forum doing the same. It won't be me. LOL

Yeah a big fuck that no thanks

 

[CowboyTaco]

Damn that would be nice. I keep debating a Nest and the price talks me out of it. I probably need to do it at some point. My sandwich maker is bad about forgetting to turn the house up a little in the mornings when I am gone. So there have been a few times where I find out the house has been on 68 or 69 degrees for days at a time in the summer. Then the electric bill reminds me.

My issue is my electric bill is rarely over $140 a month. The HVAC is three years old and runs great. With a generous 10% monthly savings that is a not a quick return. So it will be more of a convience thing than anything.

You might save more, you might not. You can setup geofencing so that if both you and your spouse are away, the temp automatically adjusts up a few degrees. The nest is also smart enough to turn off your AC compressor and continue to blow air over the cooled off compressor until you reach your desired temp. You'll likely save that 10% or more just by not cooling an empty house.

Say your bill is $140 and you save 10%. That's $14 savings. It'll take you about 18 months to pay it off (and you can take it with you if you move). If you save more, then it pays off faster. If it takes longer, then you at least have the convenience that comes along with having it.

 

[Oswego]

I hear you, I was a bit hesitant myself, I'm not a huge fan of the wifi technology BS. I just like it because once I get it installed and programmed I can have it turn up the heat or down the AC from my phone when I leave work so that by the time I get home it'll be at the temp I like. Plus if I forget to readjust the thermostat after I leave I can check on it. Before this I just had a dummy digital thermostat, worked fine but for a rebate I'll take the upgrade. Nice to know that big brother can keep an eye on my house temp now I always unplug my router, cable box, etc. when I'm out for the day. If I'm gone for a long weekend I also turn off my water valve and any extra lights I don't need. Call me cheap or paranoid but my gas and electric bills always beat the "efficient home" report they send out every month so I'll take it haha.

Those estimated readings are BS, I manually send in my meter readings for both gas and electric every month . Hell I work for the electric company and don't trust the dingbats to write down the correct numbers. One month my dad's electric bill was up a few hundred dollars, turns out the rounded to the wrong side of the dial and charged him an extra 1kw of electric.

Is it the same program where the power company controls your AC unit during peak time? They tried dangling that carrot on me and I laughed. They wanted to charge me the same but have the power to control my usage from the plant. F that