Christmas Tree Build Thread (2022-2024)

Does it have modern amenities like a central A/C and a dishwasher? I'm amazed how many older houses I see on Zillow (all over the country) that are going for $200K-$300K+ and don't have a dishwasher!

What is your mortgage rate like if you don't mind me asking?

 

Where does one buy these square guys?

 

I got mine at Home Depot; I was going to put them on the truck, but they are not water resistant and I have a feeling that I'd lose a few every time I hit a bump due to the fairly weak magnets...

 

Central heat and a/c. Yes dishwasher. Stove, fridge, and dishwasher are only a couple years old.

I got it when interest rates were starting to rise again after the summer lows. It's 5.1%, which at first I was like "ugh I missed out on a lower rate," but now I'm like "I'm glad I got it before the rates got higher!"

 

Electric, gas, or oil heat?

 

Gas for furnace and water heater. Electric for stove. Gas ranges are supposed to be 'fancier' or whatever, but I actually really like and prefer glass top electric ranges.

 

In terms of cleaning, yes; I prefer gas in terms of cooking performance. I see a lot of houses that have natural gas heat, but electric stoves. Why do they do that? I heard that in some parts of California, they are outright banning the installation of gas stoves in certain areas, which is stupid. However, I've actually looked at brand new homes in the Omaha suburbs online, and they have gas heat but electric stoves.

My parents have owned numerous houses (and rented two), and with the exception of the first house they bought when they got married (in Northern California), all of them have had gas forced air heat. The place in NorCal was built in like 1978 and they bought it in 1988, right before they got married. That house had electric baseboard heat, an electric stove, and no air-conditioning (it isn't really needed in NorCal). Every other house they've owned has had gas forced air heat and central air, but the two houses they owned in Virginia had electric stoves despite having gas heat. The place in Virginia Beach even had a gas fireplace! One of the houses they rented was in Washington (state), and that house had gas forced air heat (but no A/C) and an electric stove. The place they rented from 2005 to 2007 when we first moved back to Pennsylvania had central air and oil forced air heat, so of course it also had an electric stove since there was no gas. Living in that house, and having to spent a small fortune to fill the oil tank every year, is what made my dad refuse to ever actually buy a house with oil heat.

My dad was in the Navy from 1982 to 2007, and that's why we moved so much; I was born in California in 1989.

 

@StandardTaco

I prefer gas stoves, but if no gas was available, I would be fine with a smooth top electric stove. It is coil stoves that I do not like. They look outdated, and in my opinion they are a bitch to clean. Every house my parents and I have lived in that had an electric stove, both rented and owned, has had coil elements on the stove. Smooth top electric stoves are far more elegant.

My grandma's house in New Jersey, which was built in 1947 and which she and my late grandpa bought in the mid-1970s, has the original Thatcher oil boiler that still absolutely cranks. She and my grandpa installed central air in about 1987, and that first A/C unit was replaced in 2019 or 2020 when it developed a Freon leak after 30+ years of service. She has an onsite propane tank for the stove, dryer, and water heater. The next door neighbor, who has the exact same house, tapped into public natural gas when they replaced their boiler. That house now has public gas for everything, but my grandma won't convert to natural gas when her boiler dies because it's like eight grand to do so.

 

This is getting a little off topic from Christmas decorations, haha, but I agree coil electric stoves suck. My house I grew up in had a gas range and so did my first apartment. Since gas was all I knew, it seemed fine. Then I had a couple apartments with coil electric stoves and I missed the gas. My last two places and current house all have the smooth glass-top electric range and it's my preferred choice now. Easier to clean than coils, and I feel like the heat is more even than a gas stove. Just my own opinion.

 

I'm the OP, it's fine...

Since this a holiday thread, did you see the pictures above? For the longest time, I thought that enough Christmas lights and blowup decorations could cause one's electric bill to exceed their mortgage payment for the month of December; I have talked to two homeowners in my area whose houses are both well-known local attractions because of their decorations, including the place in Doylestown shown earlier in this thread. Both of them say that their electric bill does not spike anywhere near close enough to go higher than the mortgage payment. The other guy, who is original owner and bought his house new in 1977, no longer has a mortgage. He said that when he still did have a mortgage, his electric bill was barely affected.

 

Here you go, since the topic was brought up.







One more thing to keep in mind, is that if they are like me, my winter energy costs are knocked down to 1/4 - 1/3 of my summer costs. My A/C is electric, but furnace and all appliances are gas, and when the electric monster shuts down, bills go lower.

So I tend not to notice any winter splurging.

 

Yeah I saw the pictures of all those elaborate setups. Pretty impressive. I think it would take a lot to raise one's electricity bill to those heights just with extra lights for ~6 hours a day

 

LEDs make a significant difference! Currently I have 4 strings of LEDs and 7 incandescent outside, and LEDs on the tree inside. I agree the electric bill is already so low in the winter that adding a few lights still doesn't even bring it up to summer levels.

 

9 LEDS outside, Tree inside is wrapped in 5 LED and 7 incandescent. The local Ace wanted way too much for red LEDs.

 

It's when you have a heat pump or just straight electric heat (baseboard, or one of those wall-mounted electric fan heaters like our government-issued shitbox of a house in California had) that the meter really spins in the winter. Heat pumps are not necessarily inefficient in terms of electricity consumption, but once it gets below freezing, the electric backup heat (think oversized toaster coils with a large fan blowing over them) generally has to kick in. Just in case anybody doesn't know, a heat pump is virtually identical to a standard central air-conditioner to the untrained eye, but it uses a device called a reversing valve to switch the direction of the refrigerant and essentially uses the same process as a refrigerator to extract heat from the outside air and heat the house. Anywhere from the Carolinas on down, a heat pump is fine. Hell, some houses in Florida have just a straight-cool central A/C with an air handler that has the aforementioned oversized toaster coils for heat.

 

My parents' house had the outdoor GFI outlets, the garage outlets, and the basement outlets running off the same circuit. On a few occasions, my dad has used the treadmill while the Christmas lights are on. The treadmill draws a shit-ton of power, and my dad almost got launched off the treadmill twice when the breaker popped. Now, the house rule is that the Christmas lights must be switched off when any exercise equipment that requires a wall outlet is in use. We have an infrared electric heater on the back porch that will also trip the breaker when used at the same time as the Christmas lights, and hair dryers are also known to do this...

 

I've got the best lit house on my block

 

The hard rule in the house is that everyone adds an unmeaningful ornament every year. Meaningful and commemorative ornaments get collected as needed of course, but you have to make an effort for the unmeaningful.


This year's contenders:







Last year's winner:

 

Checking out a subdivision in New Hope, PA...