Home Improvement Today?

Re: solar

Maybe 10 years MAX in this ~2500 sq ft house near the Canada border probably 5-7 really before we sell and head to HI condo for life. Does solar make sense for this house?

Dual fuel. Our electric bills are small, we fill our 500 gal propane tank once a year (~400 gal), heat pump keeps us cool in summer with no big difference in electric bill.

 

Solar made sense to me for a few reasons.

First, it's a fixed cost. I don't have to worry about whether my electric bill will be $100 or $500. It's the same every month no matter what: $0 or less.

Second, I wanted backup power in case of a storm. If I change the thermostat a bit, the batteries alone can power the house for about three days, longer if the sun is shining.

Third, fuel was getting expensive and putting sunshine into a Tesla was cheaper than putting fuel into my Tacoma. Again, the fixed cost thing comes into play.

Lastly - and this is selfish - I like my house to be very cool. Setting the thermostat at 72F when it's 103F out today would be prohibitively expensive, but again the fixed cost thing comes into play.

Aside from that, do not expect solar to make your house more valuable or to be able to recoup the cost of the array when you sell the house. For some reason, it just doesn't work that way.

 

Mentioning more panels, I discussed the size of the system and went slightly more panels than what we would immediately need to get to $0, zero, electric bill. If and when we sell this house I felt like whomever purchased the house would be typical users of 2200sq ft. using more electricity. Plus, I figure we might want that flexibility if we decide to get an EV.

 

Day 2 on this deck improvement job. Initial job/request was to simply replace the decking on both the lower and upper deck with PT. After day 1 of decking demo yesterday, they asked if I could also replace the posts & railings. Current posts were 8' apart, too far for 4x4. I'll space new ones 5-6' apart. I shuffled some things around to free up 3 extra days to do all that on the lower deck. Will be tackling the upper part later in October. I'm a one man operation. Slow & steady wins the race.

Just wrapped up day 2. All decking, posts and railings removed on the lower deck (41' x 28'). 2 joists replaced due to rot along the top edge. Demo officially done. And got joist tape on the areas that had a chance to dry out. 1 railing section is loose/left that has a gas line attached. I'm not touching that. Homeowner will take care of it. Railing post layout and installation is next. Old decking was cedar and only 15 yrs old. Never seen so much rot. Not sure what happened.

Also had to move all the PT decking about 100' from where it was delivered to just next to the deck. Mostly 16'. I lost count of the # of trips.

 

We finally have a couple days of rain after almost 3 months without , had to move Operation Timber Trim to inside the house.

Today I'm cutting the 4x8 Fir timber rafters for the glazed covered deck section we already installed the posts and beams for.

This is where I ended up tool-wise , lol

16" Makita beam saw to rough cut and trim the plumb cuts top and bottom of rafter , 2 18V Makita 6 1/2" cordless circular saws each set to a different depth but both at a 18 degree bevel to cut the plumb cut portion of the birdsmouth (top and bottom birdsmouth are different sizes , bottom is 6" wide to cross full 6x12 beam , top is 3" to centre of 6x12 ridge beam) , and a 40V Makita 10 1/4" cordless circular saw to cut the level cut portion of each birdsmouth




it reminded me of watching New Yankee Workshop when Norm would say something like "instead of changing router bits , I'll just change routers" haha

 

Ima gonna say it.

That beam saw is beyond awesome. Is it difficult to operate?

I could have used it a few times over the years for the three beams on our breezeway cover and beams and posts for a patio cover. VS multiple cuts.

 

it takes a bit of practice but its not hard to get on top of , the table is small in relation to the size of the blade so the main thing is getting your cut started square , beyond that just like any other circular saw but with a bit slower RPM , you have to let it cut and clear the kerf for a decent cut , if you force it it bogs down

 

Railing post meets warped end joist. Is this too much for a couple shims? Not sure if shaving the post would be kosher. This will be attached using two 1/2" lags and the pictured connector.

Edit: the board laying perpendicular to the post (top center) is just a temp 2x4 attached to help position the post on the joist.

 

I would cut a shim to fit from your post stock so it is full height and width and predrill it so you don't break it in half with your lags

 

Rain day yesterday.

Got all 14 posts & blocking installed today. Old posts just had deck screws through the rim joist.

Working solo, I attach a temporary cleat on each 48" post 7" up from the bottom (for 2x8 joists) to hold it up while getting it plumb & secure. After decking, it'll be at 40", just right for the synthetic post sleeves.

Hit the remaining joists/blocking with joist tape. Decking tomorrow.

 

How far is that deck off the ground? If that's doug fir and not pressure treated I would strongly recommend that you put some CopperCoat on it. I work in an area that without PT or CopperCoat I'd be replacing work every 5 years. The stuff is cheap enough insurance that I put it on everything but stain grade.

 

It's about 14" off the ground. It's PT southern yellow pine. Fully saturated.

 

Sort of related. I've been doing more western red cedar decks & porches, some entirely new and some just new decking. For that, I use clear spray shellac on the cut ends. Seals it up nicely.

 

Yeah on the west coast no PT pine. That stuff looks interesting

We have PT Hem/various firs. And when I cut it for close to the ground treat it with Cu coat

Sometimes cedar/redwood soaked in the treatment works well also.

Believe it or not - I am OLD - there used to be PT redwood. Amazing stuff

 

I just pulled some deck boards last month that where PT redwood and then painted. Original decks from a house built in the early 80's. Everyone of them was still in really good shape.

 

Ran through two 10 packs of outlets, 20 in a couple hours. Replacing all the 2014 crap, child gated outlets SUCK.

 

Tamper resistant is people resistant

 

Somehow I made it out of my childhood. I think.

 

All day to do this. 41' ft long. 11 courses. Hauling wet 16' PT decking solo sucks dog balls. I'm moving boards right up on the deck and cutting them where they'll be placed in an effort to minimize the # of times I handle the material. Few more courses and I'll be into the much shorter sections. Installing it tight as it'll dry and the gap will form. The snagletooth ends will be trimmed at the end to 1 1/2" overhang.

Deck framing is nice & square. Running parallel with the house to within 1/4". Not bad given how NOT straight this PT is. Most boards are 5 1/2" wide, but some are 5 5/8" and 5 3/4".