Home Improvement Today?

Of course. Today I took down and put up two lights at my brother inlaws house. I traded him the light job for dinner. He is an amazing cook so I can't wait for paybacks.

 

Added 4 new Nest Cameras to my house. Theyre on battery now but plan on hardwiring them to a power outlet.

 

Did you get any of the ones with lights?

 

Water heater installed today! What should have been strait forward turned into a small dumpster fire. First nobody had any 3/4 Pex Tee's, so unfortunately I had to buy one Sharkbite one just to get the job done. Second as I was getting ready to solder on some fittings it appears my torch head shit the bed. Nobody had one in town, so had to go up and over the mountain just as the snow started coming down heavy. The plumbing solder I bought absolutely sucks, was a nightmare to get the last fitting on there. Didn't help that I couldn't get all the water out of the one... But, it's done!



Also got some scrap lumber and secured the pipes better. They were constantly banging around before...





Did the ice maker line properly this time, they had a stupid saddle valve on the old pipe...






Cut the lines off going into the tankless in the boiler. Didn't cap them and left them out in the open, but I'm essentially not going to ever use it again... You might be wondering why I have 3/4 Pex on 1/2 copper, well a couple reasons. First the rest of the lines are eventually going to get replaced. And second I've noticed with the crimp fittings it reduces the size smaller than copper. No pressure loss at all currently!

 

So I'm in the process of adding radiant barrier to my attic. I would like like to add more cellulose as well. Does anyone know how much you have before worrying about sheetrock sag? Currently at R-38, 5/8ths sheetrock, 24 OC trusses. Built in 2001.

 

What's wrong with saddle valves? Isn't is just a preference?

 

some say stuff bread in the copper pipe to temporarily stop water. Once water pressure is back on it clears the bread out. But ive never tried it.

 

Eventually they leak

 

Prone to leaking, they pierce through your nice pipe, and just look crappy. Figured I'd do it "right" while I had that section of pipe ripped out.

 

Hah, now that you mention it I remember an ol' timer saying that. Well I do know now that there's several gate valves that aren't shutting off properly. Luckily I had a Sharkbite cap to slap on the line that was going into the tankless. Thing was still flowing 1/4 the pressure! I got some more plumbing to do!

 

Radiant barrier in AK? Not sure it would do much good unless it was mounted directly (like 1-2” lol) over your insulation. Radiant barriers are more of a cooling climate thing……
As far as overloading cellulose these guys are usually reliable but YMMV https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/will-thick-cellulose-cause-your-ceiling-to-sag

 

Well I've been told that a few times, but I figured it is worth a try. My attic gets over 145° F in the summer because the sun is heating the roof 20+ hours a day. I'll take a look at that link

 

I never thought about the 20hrs of continuous sunlight lol

 

You’ll need to make sure you’re still getting good airflow from your eaves ie maybe adding to your baffles to keep the cellulose from sitting on your soffit vents

but you prolly already knew that lol

 

My grandpop taught me the bread trick. Works quite well when you can't get the line completely drained. Plus it smells like the toast is done when you heat it up.

 

Do you have gable vents?

 

Looks good. Not sure what your jurisdiction is out there but there's a couple things that would get flagged around here by inspectors.

1. Temp/pressure relief valve needs to be piped to within 6" of the pan
2. First 4 feet of pipe in/out of water heater need to be hard copper pipe
3. Electrical line needs to be secured within 12" of water heater.

Not trying to pick apart your work, just giving you a heads up if inspector ever shows up.

 

I do, plus 3 roof vents

 

I forgot to get a male adapter for the relief valve, so that will be corrected. I know it isn't exactly by the book to run the Pex all the way down to the heater, but it's what I had to work with. I do plan on securing the Romex, I was just so frustrated twords the end I kinda said the heck with it. There's no inspectors for this kind of stuff out here in the country. I'm sure it would get flagged if I sell the house, but I don't plan on doing that anytime soon.

 

Layer 2 going down

(If your eyes are good enough to see, just ignore the hanging electrical lol)