Home Improvement Today?

...^^^... Atlanta burbs ...

Sometimes I miss the house ... until I realize how much time and money I wasted on it.

The original construction quality on that house was really bad ... the construction you guys do here is 10 times better than its' original build.

Add its' poor original construction ... water rot and termites EVERYWHERE ... and me trying to do everything right (and over-building) .... it was not a profitable project ... but it was kinda fun until the last 2 years.

I am actually glad to be rid of that house and feel free again ... lol.

Now, I have a little (3 small B/Rs & 2 1/2 bath), but very well built house in Thailand (mostly concrete with heavy tube-steel roof beams and real heavy tile roof) for about $100k USD. I will take some pics when I go back in 2 months and post them here. it's in a gated community with an open garage with a gate there too.

In the medium sized city of Chiang Rai, Thailand, I was pleasantly surprised with the high quality on the new homes built in the nicer areas.

My wife and daughter live in Thailand and when she retires end of this year ... we will sell the Thai house and probably move to Florida.

As I get older ... I like smaller and simpler ... "Less is more now" ... lol ...

PS ... The quality of the work that you guys post on here is much higher than the the normal quality that I see everyday in Atlanta.



Here is a pic of the simple house in Thailand that I actually like better (no major work required on this house ) ... wife thinks I am crazy though.

 

I probably wasn't clear - this is new construction so I've never had a fan outside. The out of balance fans were interior fans at my previous house. The previous 5 blade fans were wobbly out of the box at high speed. (and I've had five different fans from different manufacturers) I spent hours trying to balance them and never got them running as smooth as I'd like.

I read one click-bait article that said 3 bladed fans run truer than the others, but I don't trust the source.

 

I have been using Hunter ceiling fans throughout my house and have had no issues. I currently have 2 Hunter indoor/outdoor fans on the extended part of my covered porch and couldn't be happier.

 

Hunter fans as well. They do come with weights to balance the blades.

three of these.



Two of these.



Not sure about outdoor ones.

 

Hunter fans used to be great.

Today, they have 2 lines of fan - the original (more or less) and the low-end-compete-with-everybody-else. Along with the lower price comes similar quality - not the Hunter quality you expect.

YMMV

 

I had a Hunter Perfect Balance fan and it was great, but they don't make them anymore. The other Hunters were no better/worse than the cheap big box branded fans. Anybody with experience with 3 or 6+ blade fans?

 

finished wiring up my kitchen/dining can lights over the weekend, as well as added a backyard patio light. On top of that i finished insulating my attic after all the electrical was finished. Finally keeping temp in the house. Cant wait until my new windows go in soon.

 

Are you/did you put in a whole house fan? If you're in the valley they are great to have in the summer when the delta breeze comes in at night - cooled the house (and pushes hot air out of attic) down quickly.

 

i do not. Currently we've been pretty lucky with how its held/kept cool. Its a 73' original with poor insulation and shit single pane windows. So i was leaking a ton of energy out of the attic and then the windows. Attic is now properly insulated and i have nice new windows in the garage waiting for some time that wont rain so i can make sure it all seals properly before getting wet. Im excited to see the difference. The insulation alone made a huge change in my energy bill and efficiency based off the Nest reports and how long/frequent my systems ran.

Sadly im closer to the valley so itll be 115* in the summer day and 80 at night. Not much of a cooling effect like the delta.

 

That's too bad about not getting the benefit of the DB. I have friends up in Loomis area who don't get it either and bake all night in the summer.

I have 1 more window to replace (master bedroom) then they're done. My house was built in '51 and I guess electricity and gas was cheap because, like yours, insulation was crap. As i go through and remodel each room I replace insulation and the bedroom is the last of it. I'm also trying to close up all gaps, holes, cracks, etc as I find them. The house is not very tight. Attic is that awful blown in stuff. I'd like to lay down a layer of fiberglass batts over it - some day.

 

Ahhh that answers the question about termites. Many years ago I built (using the term loosely) a couple of day care centers in Georgia at Ft. Benning (Columbus) and at Hunter Army Airfield (Savannah). Termites were a real problem. Yes, you have a labor of love when you change out termite infested top plates, bottom plates, studs, and sheathing. I enjoyed working in that part of the country.

I like the design of your home in Thailand from what I can see on the outside.

 

The 3 blade fan in my bedroom is more wobbly than the 5 blade fan in my living room. Ive never tried to balance either of them so i dont know how helpful that info is...

 

Got our timber delivery Friday , started framing the covered timber deck end of the building today

3x8 , 6x6 , 6x10 , 6x12 , 8x8 , and 8x12 FOHC Douglas Fir , plus an 8x16 remnant

 

Nice wood

 

Guess everything is bigger in Canada. Should make for some nice framing of the covered deck. Much better than just using conventional 2 by framing lumber. @OZ-T keep us updated with photos; this looks like a "neat" build. Question what is the PVC stub-outs in the background for?

4BYTOY

 

...^^^... Nice clear wood (you guys in Canada can get big - clear wood easier than us down here) and I like that big circular saw too.

 

Clean outs for drainage that haven't been cut to grade yet

 

Its not all clear but it is all FOHC (free of heart centre)

16" Makita beam saw

 

So I'm assuming fumes coming from the garage into the house shouldn't happen... Where do I start? Door seals? garage ceiling?

Little backstory. I've smoked a few cigars in the garage before now and we've always noticed the smell inside the house after, but now I got a mower and spilled a couple drops of gas and the next morning the whole inside of the house reeks of gasoline. Pretty sure fire code says that the garage is supposed to be sealed off from the main house...

 

Is the drywall taped ? Does the door have weatherstripping ?