Home Improvement Today?

Oh , you have forced air or radiators ?

 

Yup....basically a electric air handler...gets the water from two 300' wells. Closed loop system. Sorry forced air.

 

Cool

I've done two houses where we used geothermal , on was vertical loops and one was slinky loops in a field

 

My dads house has had it for over 20 years...up front cost is a killer but you get a 30 percent tax rebate... Its really cheap to heat and cool but I have another trick up my sleeve to make it even better to heat.

 

Yeah , I doubt I would ever build a house without a woodstove , my house has 2

 

I was the guy who put vermiculite around my flue on the wood thread....I burned pine scraps,seasoned wood, wet wood and everything else you could imagine and have no creosote build up at all. That vermiculite trick works.

 

Yep

 

I normally would burn seasoned hardwood ...but the building a house thing put a kebash on that this year. Funny, as we we speak I am losing a bid on a Dolmar 5100s on eBay. I am already trying to get ready for next season

 

I get a little anal with that stuff but I hear you.

 

looks good. If my washer and dryer weren't in the basement where I will probably never finish the walls, i'd do something similar.

I just replumbed my entire house with shark bites and pex.

I believe you mentioned that a few weeks ago when I explained what I was doing with pex and shark bites. Are you sure the ones you've had problems with were installed properly AND were actual shark bites and not similar models from other manufacturers?
They have a 25 year warranty or something like that, and the shark bites that i've had in my house for 2-3 years leak less than everything else in the house.

i have no idea how much chlorine is in my water.

i suppose maybe an aquarium store could test my water and tell me if theres much chlorine in it?

thats my plan. I have yet to see a problem with one, and I found a lot more bad reviews on some of the crimp style pex connectors than for the shark bite fittings.

you've made me decide to atleast solder the pipes in the walls.. everything else is exposed in a non finished basement.

do you mean other push connectors that are better than shark bite? or as far as pex connectors go, shark bite is the inferior?
as much as i'm happy with my shark bites, and I marked them and tugged on them to make sure they are seated all the way in, and tight and won't pull off, i still do worry a bit. and incase there is a problem i'd like to atleast replace it with the best solution.

I was really hesitant with my first few, but it was a quick fix. so far i'm nothing buy happy with my shark bites.
but we'll see....

looks awesome!

x2

so the main hot water is fed from the smaller hot water? so rather than heat water at the temp of the well water, it has warmed to the temp of the basement?

let me know how that works out for you, and if you install it yourself. I need to replace mine in the next couple of years.

sounds like the perks of building a new house.. use the latest and greatest instead of retro fitting existing stuff.

thats awesome.

 

"dual stage" heater?

 

Ok guys, quick and off the current subject question. I'm looking to upgrade my outdoor lights to LED. I've googled it but can't really find an answer so I'm gonna ask y'all. Is there a light output difference, or any difference in general between the "plug n play" LED bulbs versus the LED outdoor light fixtures??

 

Plug and play means the voltage conversion is done in the bulb itself and can screw into an existing 110v lamp socket. The LED light fixture does the 110v conversion in the fixture and the LED bulb plugs into the fixture.

You might want to consider low voltage LED fixtures but realize the overall cost is a little higher. The benefit is you are running low voltage wire to the fixture.

Each system has its own merits. Overall if you already have the fixtures and wiring in place the Plug and Play is the way to go.

Be mindful of the bulb color temp, beam patterns, and wattage output.

 

Thanks! I was going to upgrade my outdoor lights from switch controlled only to a security/motion activated fixtures on each side of the garage door. However, we have two fixtures on our porch that are just single bulb, both still switch controlled only. I was going to keep those that way and wasn't sure if plug n play would work or replacing the whole fixture. This is my first house, so I want to do things right, not just the cheap and easy way necessarily unless there's no benefit to doing it any other way.

 

Plug and Play should be your choice.

If you are doing garden and tree illumination stick to 3000K to 3500K temp. For security type lighting use 4300K to 5000K. Manufactures color temp differ so try and use bulbs from the same manufacture. Phillips and Cree make decent outdoor bulbs at a fairly decent price point. Usually Home Depot has bulbs on sale.

 

10-4 thanks for all your input. I've already accepted that I'm gonna have easily $150-$200 in 2 led security light fixtures. But I hate having to turn on and off the lights at night. I prefer motion activated or I can just flip it on if I want. I'll save some money with the pnp bulbs for the porch lights.

 

I did this when I did the 1st floor laundry upgrade. Copper pipe in the wall then pex across the basement to the supply.

 

So last night I started gutting the bathroom.

Here are my first few questions:

- my exterior wall is cinder block. It has furring strips attached to it for attaching the sheet rock to. Should I put up plastic before the Sheetrock to create a vapor barrier or whatever? I also plan to glue up some 1/2" foam for insulation between the furring strips.

- my shower ceiling is framed down from the rest of the ceiling. Originally I was planning tiling the entire shower area including the ceiling. Now I'm thinking if I rip out the lowered ceiling i can make the whole room have one ceiling height, then I could save myself some tiling work by stopping just above the shower head and just paint the walls and ceiling above that. Or I could still tile that area but should I make the ceiling all one height? Or leave the shower ceiling lower? I'll try to post a pic to show what I'm talking about.

 

Before-