Home Improvement Today?

but the vinyl options we have are waterproof, which is appealing to us with pets. the laminates that are the same price range are "water resistant" and we all know that means they don't do jack crap.

 

I don't want to even talk about the special place in hell for the individuals who do such things. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

 

both are great and you can get commercial wear layers on both products. I chose laminate in my home and installed it throughout and its been great and very durable. I am however doing LVT in my bathrooms once i renovate them. Mainly because moisture and wet areas, also for the stone look so my whole house isnt wood visuals.

 

One thing I learned with "waterproof vinyl" is that they mean it. I redid a room in one of my rentals several years back since the tenants had small dogs that were pissing all over the carpet. A few years later when they moved out I did a full gut remodel of the place and decided to add tile. You can imagine the crystalized layer of sulfuric demon piss that was under the laminate with nowhere to evaporate. It got under at the base boards and just continued to pool and build up as it wicked to a lager area under the vinyl. Had to tear out the subfloor for to get the smell out. So yes, it is waterproof, but I wouldn't use it again around pets. Just my $.02.

 

are you saying you wouldn't use it around pets because the laminate was near? like what if 100% of the floor was the waterproof vinyl?

 

Don’t let you let your pets piss all over the floor and not clean it up?

 

Even if the entire floor was waterproof vinyl, you'd still have to seal the outside edges of the room somehow to be truly "waterproof". It's the same idea as laying down a plastic sheet- water lands on the sheet: it's no big deal, but if it gets to the edges, it wicks under and has nowhere to go. Other than that it was great. Super durable and easy as hell to lay down. I got the "wood look" planks that had adhesive seals all the way around each "tile". The problem was the outermost edge of the room that wasn't sealed at the baseboards.

 

my pets thankfully never go in the house unless they get sick, it's more splashing the dang water bowl that we keep a mat under anyways. no water ever by the edge.

 

You should be fine then. Water splashes and even the occasional kitchen spill will clean right up. The bonus is that if you keep your gaps tight there aren't any "grout" lines for crud to build up either. Just sharing my experience in a rental that I couldn't watch all the time. My pets have all been housebroken- how some people DGAF about living in a house that smells like piss is beyond me.

 

I'm with you 100%. Don't get it. My dogs will almost burst their bladder before going inside.

 

As much as I hate doing it, I use a similar method for chipmunks. But I just put a bucket on the ground, with a ramp and a few seeds on the ramp. It attracts them up the ramp, they see seed nirvana in the bucket, and sadly drown. At least they are happy, I hope

 

Well we are looking at adding cooling to our house. We will also replace the furnace as it just seems the most economical to do it as well. We found a company we like both people wise and their quote (compared to others we got).

Our main choice now is Air Conditioner vs Heat Pump. The company gave a quote setups and the Heat Pump is $300 more.

This is in the Seattle area so is pretty mild overall. Usually above 40 degrees but the last couple years have seen a few cold spells. Summers arent to bad though again we have been getting more and more days above 85 degrees.

We have natural gas currently. We keep the house set to 63 degree when we are home which we both find more than comfortable (sweatshirts).

Electric isnt to expensive where we live (~$0.12 KW/h).

The new quoted systems both come with a 80% efficiency gas furnace. (for backup for the heat pump system). The A/C unit is a 14 SEER unit. The Heat Pump is a 8.5 HSPF unit.



So any advice going one way or another? Heat pump with backup furnace vs gas furnace with A/C unit

 

Which smoke detector is better? Kidde or First Alert? Mine are over due replacement. Thanks.

 

A few ladder pics...

Stand folded


Thinking about 1 for at home. Expensive and heavy but safer than your average bear!

 

I grab whatever’s on sale

 

I just replaced mine with 4 Kiddes.

There is new technology now (well, mine were 20 years old...) Some have optical sensors, which can pick up fire faster than the smoke sensors, depending on the situation. I got 3 regular ones for the bedroom areas, and an optical one where it can "see" the kitchen.

Check out their web site - good descriptions there.