Random Thread - Anything Goes
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@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
Update on my home build:
2 more months and it will be move-in ready
Building this yourself?
We purchased the plot and found a builder to build on it. I'm not handy at all
Okay got it. I spent many a year making ends meet in both home and commercial construction. Foundation all the way to the roof. Done it all.
Nice. I've learned a lot through the building process but I'm definitely not there yet. We do have some very nice features in the house like a poured concrete foundation, tankless water heater, manabloc, etc.
This is what the manabloc looks like:
Where is the build happening?
Moorestown NJ. Very nice area with great schools
So, shock cold winters but not too sustained winter temperature wise?
Heated concrete floor? The house we live in now has a heated pad in the basement and in the garage. I used to poo poo that but man it's nice to walk downstairs and not get hit by the cold dank feeling that would otherwise be there.
Working on the vehicles is nice too. Warm floor.
I wanted to put in radiant floor heating but it wasn't in the cards unfortunately. The house is a 5 star energy rated home though. we are actually going through the first part of testing in a week or two. The crawl space has this really nice insulation that will be installed though
Now that we've had it it's a must if we ever decide to move (not likely).
Ours is fired by a high recovery hot water heater with a water pump tied in to the hot side pump and an A/C thermostat. It's a simple system and very effective.
We changed the three tanks we have, two heat and one house, over a year ago. The big HVAC guys basically wanted us to second mortgage to put in their single source system with all of the plumbing fixings that was needed. Close to $40K.
We had four plumbers come and quote with the honest one getting the deal even though he was a bit more expensive than the others at just shy of $4k all in. We ended up needing to replace the pressure balancer tanks after the fact. First one was done by them the second done by me.
Easy peasy.
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@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
Update on my home build:
2 more months and it will be move-in ready
a one car garage?
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@PhlipElder I have coal fired radiant heat in basement and part of the living room. Goal for this summer is the tear down the basement ceiling and put radiant heat in the rest of the second floor. Then eventually do the same for the third floor.
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@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
Update on my home build:
2 more months and it will be move-in ready
a one car garage?
narrow lot. couldn't fit two. we had to apply for a variance for what we have here actually
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@coliver said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder I have coal fired radiant heat in basement and part of the living room. Goal for this summer is the tear down the basement ceiling and put radiant heat in the rest of the second floor. Then eventually do the same for the third floor.
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
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@coliver said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
PEX is a biatch to work with though
Haha no. Compared to copper PEX is so easy. I've done soldering I'll stick with compress or crimping anyday.
Crimping/compress is definitely easy - but with just a bit of practice, I found copper to be easy to work with as well. Best advantage of plastic is no need for fire.
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@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
Update on my home build:
2 more months and it will be move-in ready
a one car garage?
narrow lot. couldn't fit two. we had to apply for a variance for what we have here actually
and you still bought the lot? man, the neighborhood must have something really worthwhile.
I don't understand most east coasters - you're all so cramped together.
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@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@coliver said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder I have coal fired radiant heat in basement and part of the living room. Goal for this summer is the tear down the basement ceiling and put radiant heat in the rest of the second floor. Then eventually do the same for the third floor.
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
Yeah, all kinds of things I'd like in my retirement home.
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@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
I don't understand most east coasters - you're all so cramped together.
They like people out there, being close together means you actually get to know and talk to neighbours. The midwest is weird to us from out there, people all live in cities yet... try to stay so far away. What's the point of living in a city yet avoiding all the people? East coast is so much more social.
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@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@wirestyle22 said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
Update on my home build:
2 more months and it will be move-in ready
a one car garage?
narrow lot. couldn't fit two. we had to apply for a variance for what we have here actually
and you still bought the lot? man, the neighborhood must have something really worthwhile.
I don't understand most east coasters - you're all so cramped together.
This particular town has no room for development and it has an incredible school district. It's also affordable. Checked all of the boxes. Two car garage is nice but its not an absolute requirement
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@scottalanmiller said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
I don't understand most east coasters - you're all so cramped together.
They like people out there, being close together means you actually get to know and talk to neighbours. The midwest is weird to us from out there, people all live in cities yet... try to stay so far away. What's the point of living in a city yet avoiding all the people? East coast is so much more social.
Meh...
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@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
Our 60 yo old house is half on slab and half on crawl. Over the years, we've (wife and I) have added hot water re-circulation as well as heated floors, garage, sidewalks, and driveway. Not sure if I could live any other way now
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I've recently moved into a nearly 200 year old house and am very much considering the same thing @JasGot !
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@JasGot said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
Our 60 yo old house is half on slab and half on crawl. Over the years, we've (wife and I) have added hot water re-circulation as well as heated floors, garage, sidewalks, and driveway. Not sure if I could live any other way now
Our main client in the region built a house that we helped to set up for automation.
They put in a heated driveway. No shoveling.
After one hard winter I wanted to break up the floor in the then house and set it up for heating and the drive as well. Most of the work would have been done by me so cost would be materials and time plus a certified plumber to plug in the natural gas and stamp everything.
It didn't pass the CFO business case test.
Main reason: Shoveling keeps me arse slim in the winter ... back then.
Now:
Keep in mind that I hand bombed that SoB our first winter in. We ended up not having as much cash on hand as planned so couldn't buy the JD we had our eye on.A quad/plow was initially out of the question because my wife was leery due to young kids at the time.
45cm snow, third one of the late Spring, neighbour came over and finished plowing the last half I'd reached after about 4 hours of shoveling. He did it in ten minutes. After he was done I went in the house and said, "Eff it, we're getting a quad and a plow." Business case made.
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@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@JasGot said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
Our 60 yo old house is half on slab and half on crawl. Over the years, we've (wife and I) have added hot water re-circulation as well as heated floors, garage, sidewalks, and driveway. Not sure if I could live any other way now
Our main client in the region built a house that we helped to set up for automation.
They put in a heated driveway. No shoveling.
After one hard winter I wanted to break up the floor in the then house and set it up for heating and the drive as well. Most of the work would have been done by me so cost would be materials and time plus a certified plumber to plug in the natural gas and stamp everything.
It didn't pass the CFO business case test.
Main reason: Shoveling keeps me arse slim in the winter ... back then.
Now:
Keep in mind that I hand bombed that SoB our first winter in. We ended up not having as much cash on hand as planned so couldn't buy the JD we had our eye on.A quad/plow was initially out of the question because my wife was leery due to young kids at the time.
45cm snow, third one of the late Spring, neighbour came over and finished plowing the last half I'd reached after about 4 hours of shoveling. He did it in ten minutes. After he was done I went in the house and said, "Eff it, we're getting a quad and a plow." Business case made.
My brother just bought a place with 150+ ft of driveway... he's getting a quad this summer, mowing deck and snow blade too.
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@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@JasGot said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
Our 60 yo old house is half on slab and half on crawl. Over the years, we've (wife and I) have added hot water re-circulation as well as heated floors, garage, sidewalks, and driveway. Not sure if I could live any other way now
Our main client in the region built a house that we helped to set up for automation.
They put in a heated driveway. No shoveling.
After one hard winter I wanted to break up the floor in the then house and set it up for heating and the drive as well. Most of the work would have been done by me so cost would be materials and time plus a certified plumber to plug in the natural gas and stamp everything.
It didn't pass the CFO business case test.
Main reason: Shoveling keeps me arse slim in the winter ... back then.
Now:
Keep in mind that I hand bombed that SoB our first winter in. We ended up not having as much cash on hand as planned so couldn't buy the JD we had our eye on.A quad/plow was initially out of the question because my wife was leery due to young kids at the time.
45cm snow, third one of the late Spring, neighbour came over and finished plowing the last half I'd reached after about 4 hours of shoveling. He did it in ten minutes. After he was done I went in the house and said, "Eff it, we're getting a quad and a plow." Business case made.
My brother just bought a place with 150+ ft of driveway... he's getting a quad this summer, mowing deck and snow blade too.
Huh... just realized my driveway is ~700ft... I really should get a snowplow for the side-by-side.
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@Dashrender said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@JasGot said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
@PhlipElder said in Random Thread - Anything Goes:
There's something special about walking about barefoot on a warm floor when it's -35C outside.
Our 60 yo old house is half on slab and half on crawl. Over the years, we've (wife and I) have added hot water re-circulation as well as heated floors, garage, sidewalks, and driveway. Not sure if I could live any other way now
Our main client in the region built a house that we helped to set up for automation.
They put in a heated driveway. No shoveling.
After one hard winter I wanted to break up the floor in the then house and set it up for heating and the drive as well. Most of the work would have been done by me so cost would be materials and time plus a certified plumber to plug in the natural gas and stamp everything.
It didn't pass the CFO business case test.
Main reason: Shoveling keeps me arse slim in the winter ... back then.
Now:
Keep in mind that I hand bombed that SoB our first winter in. We ended up not having as much cash on hand as planned so couldn't buy the JD we had our eye on.A quad/plow was initially out of the question because my wife was leery due to young kids at the time.
45cm snow, third one of the late Spring, neighbour came over and finished plowing the last half I'd reached after about 4 hours of shoveling. He did it in ten minutes. After he was done I went in the house and said, "Eff it, we're getting a quad and a plow." Business case made.
My brother just bought a place with 150+ ft of driveway... he's getting a quad this summer, mowing deck and snow blade too.
I picked up a Honda Rincon in Athabasca for $5K. It is a low miles/hours US model. The plow is a Moose 60" with steel cutter.
I blew the winch in the first year so replaced that with a new Warn. I had to replace the solenoid last week so about 4 years of work plus intense country riding through a lot of ponds.
The 680cc broke what I think was the exhaust advanced timing ring on the cam so I head to tear it top down to the block to swap out the bad cam and put it all back together again. It's been flawless since.
A real back saver.
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