New England B.S. Thread

fair point and he could have kids etc. I just know when we looked at houses it was either AC or we weren’t buying because of the cost. Pool would have been nice but wasn’t a requirement but we sure as shit aren’t putting one in now.

my neighbors house has a detached two car with in-law and an I ground pool and the house is about the same size 1200sqft ranch. If that ever goes on the market it’ll be hard to not want to buy it. If we stick around East prov.

Edit two mini splits would probably do it but cost-wise you aren’t far off a regular install. At that point it’s just about how to do the duct work.

 

Ok, so here’s what they quoted.... Seer 14 Goodman 3 ton compressor, Goodman 3 ton air handler, three speed also. Safety pan system, we have 9 rooms in total because of the finished basement. Basement will have 2 supply vents and one return vent. Upstairs would be the typical. All ducting and electrical included... 11,800. All I’m doing is the pad for the compressor. I don’t want it on a plastic pad.

 

Not bad. About 15 years ago I put in a Trane 13 SEER unit in my 1600 sq ft ranch for 8k and that was during the off season as a fill in.

 

Out of curiosity is your basement hot enough to need it? Especially if the first floor is cooled? We had a walk out growing up and my parent came home to me rearranging the stuff down there to get a desk in there when the heat hit. Didn’t have ac run down there but it stayed cool all summer

 

Whatever AC system you install, make sure you get a good warranty. The one I contracted for has a 10 year warranty. The had also priced out a Ruud 13 SEER for about 1k less but the warranty wasn’t any good - pretty much a 30/30 (30 seconds or 30 feet) warranty on that one.

 

10 year warranty parts and labor.

 

good point. It’s way cooler than upstairs. But still gets toasty when the real heat comes. He recommended only running 2 supply vents and one return. It should be more than enough to keep it nice downstairs.

 

Gawd, I din't know how hard it was to adopt a Lab.
Sorry, just venting....

 

It’s probably easier to adopt a kid than a dog now a days

 

Just went through that crap. The local lab rescue places were frustrating to deal with. We finally found a non-breed specific rescue in R.I. that worked out. They had a nice mutt that we liked and is fitting in well with our family. He’s a little bit of a spaz but a nice dog.

 

fair enough, makes sense. Trust the pros I’m just some idiot on the inter webs who owns a Tacoma. You can close vents too.

just choose where the condenser goes carefully. It can be a bum when you’re sitting outside chatting with the fam and then a condenser kicks on WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR WHIR. One of my neighbors has theirs out front of their house, a bold move but they put some plants around it (if that’s a good idea or not I have no idea).

you ain’t kiddin. Everyone wants a lab. Shelter labs can be tough, labs are sought after and if they’re in a shelter there’s usually a reason related to temperament of some sort. I love labs, but I’ll probably never have one. Had a husky growing up, never having another one of those. Have a catahoula now she’s great. Smart enough to keep me on my toes but not too smart to challenge me (husky style....) if we get a second dog/our next dog will probably be another female catahoula.

edit the rispca told us we were unfit to own a dog ?? Rhode home rescue said we were a great fit (and 2 years on, we certainly are).

 

That is a good price IMO. We just did a whole system including duct when we built the house, we are like 1600 or so sqft 6 rooms and a basement (more like 24-2500 with basement). We have one compressor and one zone. We did get an oversized system that can do our basement too which we are about to do now. I think all said and done probably around 15-16k. Not sure of the SEER rating, I know it was one of the higher ones and it is a bryant branded machine.

When I was in NC about to get my last dog, I was required to sign that I would give raw meat only and all sorts of mandating exercise etc....

Said "f it" and just bought a dog from a regular breeder for the same price and non of the bullshit. The dog eats like a king and has never seen a leash outside of a trip to the vet.

Sometimes it isn't worth it to deal with the lunatics at these rescue shelters. Many nice people, but plenty of lunatics too. I worked at pet shelters in NC training dogs and exercising them so I am qualified to make that statement.

 

FOHA of RI?

 

Happy Birthday Rob! @mach1man001

 

@mach1man001

happy bday

 

Happy birthday Rob @mach1man001

 

The Central AC question is one I struggle with. My house is forced hot air, which would be ideal for AC, except it's not.

I've got two returns on the 1st/main floor and one return on the second floor. That in itself isn't ideal, but if I wanted to leave the doors open upstairs would work okay enough. The bigger issue is that the duct to my master bedroom was cut off when a downstairs doorway was widened, so I have no heat in the room. My cousin does commercial HVAC and said he could duct up through a closet to either get us heat in the master, or make a return for the rest of the house to have AC, which would mean no ripping up walls, but that wasn't a great option for us.

I think it would be ultimately ripping up walls to run additional ducting. I also need a better makeup air source for combustion air as I can pull my cellar door shut in the winter after we did the Mass Save program. If it were as easy as plopping in a unit and connecting it to the furnace, I'd have done it five years ago.

I disagree about AC not increasing the value of your home. It might not increase dollar for dollar like a kitchen upgrade would, but for a lot of people it would become a yes/no option in buying the house, much like a in-ground pool. If my current house isn't my forever house (which I'm leaning more and more to it not being), the next one will have AC when I move in. If it doesn't, I'm either reducing my offer or passing.

 

No, Anchor Paws Rescue. We were going through I think 2 or 3 other lab rescues with extremely limited feedback or success. No idea how long the waiting lists were, which dogs were actually available, it was a frustrating experience. We found Anchor Paws by accident. We went to a PetSmart event in which one of the rescues we were interested in was going to be set up out front. We showed up a little early and Anchor Paws was there and taking their stuff down. We got to meet the pup we eventually got, the people running the rescue were very down to earth and willing to help us actually adopt a dog. I still had to do the long application process and they were supposed to do a home visit but the guy running the rescue told me 'look, I know your friends are going to say you're great, I'm going to make one call to the vet you have listed. If they say you're good, that's all I really care about'. I did the 'home inspection' by sending them a few photos showing I had a fully fenced in yard and that was it. I would have had the dog within a week but he developed Kennel Cough and the rescue kept him to run the antibiotic course before giving him up.

The rescue we were supposed to meet at PetSmart that day showed up in stages. The first person set up the table and tent with 2 dogs, a young pit and a little ankle biter. The young pit was really sweet until person #2 showed up with another pit and they did not get along at all. For 30-45 minutes, I watched these 2 people try to get the 2 dogs separated enough so they could hold their event but it wasn't working out. Then, pitbull #3 showed up and all hell broke loose. Not a good look for an adoption event. Individually, the dogs were fine with people but clearly were not comfortable with each other. Those were the only dogs they brought so we bailed out.

 

Happy Birthday @mach1man001

 

Happy birthday @mach1man001 !!