The Home Improvement Thread

[PSU Taco85]

Ours could easily be $150-200. We have some CFL, but mostly LED bulbs in everything. Lights on timers or sensors, AC set to less expensive and not as desirable operating temps, etc. The house is also new, so supposedly very efficient....I guess as efficient as a mass produced builder grade home can be.

What got the process started / wheels turning is the thought of a plug-in electric hybrid for commuting to work. I can charge at the office for free, so I was curious what it would take to be able to charge at home for free as well. The public parking garage next to the closest brewery also has free charging stations. The idea of 40+ mpg on my 65 mile daily commute (during "normal" times) is surely appealing. Even only going to the office 3 days a week I'm filling up almost weekly.

Solar seems to only be worth it if you have big electric bills. I have a huge area that gets sun the whole day so I could get the panels, but even in the summer my bill is only about $120 a month, in the winter I've seen $50-60. If you have an older analog electric meter, a strong magnet also helps lower your electric bill . You'd have to assume a capacity degradation over time, so those kwh's you're panels are rated for on day 1 are going to be around 80-85% at EOL. That 10 year turn around quickly can turn into 12-15 years, then if you need a roof in the mean time (assuming they are mounted to a roof), the extra labor to remove and re-install those.

I'm not much of an environmentalist but I also think of the solar panels as not quite "going green", imagine where all these panels end up in 50 years with mercury leaking out into the soil. Only reason people are doing solar so much is that it's subsidized by our GUBMENT, it's like the welfare of electricity generation. There are alot of new laws coming out, RGGI, REC and ZEC credits, etc. This requirements are moving to more states. Bottom line is that solar isn't going anywhere anytime soon but I'm not an advocate, it's a bandaid for reducing carbon emissions.


Back to some home improvement chats, the bracket I made for my air reel the other week was requested by another fellow on the garage, shop, mancaves FB page who lives out in PA, so I made a second one to sell him. Amazing how much faster making something goes a second time around

 

[Oswego]

Ant - do you think they are subsidizing homeowners because they can't keep up with supply? Curious what your take is since your a pro in a career that supplies everyone.

Nj was giving crazy subsidies but it ended real quick from what others tell me. My old job decided to move warehouses to NJ just to take advantage of it and in Deptford/Paulsboro the amount of solar is insane. Every warehouse has it and there are more than a few food farms that got converted to solar farms. Heard once Nj figured out people were turning green space into solar farms on their dime to make money they quashed it

 

[Oswego]

I'm positive solar is still in its infancy and the numbers are junk because we still do not know for sure why glass is rigid and it's been around for thousands of years and one of the main components in solar... Took Googles AI "Deep Mind" to hypothesize whats going on with glass at a molecular level https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-is-glass-rigid-signs-of-its-secret-structure-emerge-20200707/

 

[Taco Loco]

Ant - do you think they are subsidizing homeowners because they can't keep up with supply? Curious what your take is since your a pro in a career that supplies everyone.

Nj was giving crazy subsidies but it ended real quick from what others tell me. My old job decided to move warehouses to NJ just to take advantage of it and in Deptford/Paulsboro the amount of solar is insane. Every warehouse has it and there are more than a few food farms that got converted to solar farms. Heard once Nj figured out people were turning green space into solar farms on their dime to make money they quashed it

The energy demand in the U.S. is a huge concern, in the past 5 years, a lot of military bases are in the process or already capable of running off grid, and means to separate from civilian utilities, with the use alternate energy sources and massive generators, energy security pushed by Pentagon because EPA has frowned on new coal plants, very slow to approve natural gas plants and even nuclear plant’s. It is estimated, because lack of new power plants and slow approvals for coal, or coal upgraded towers and gas plants, the U.S. will not be able to keep up with electrical demand in the next 35yrs.

 

[CowboyTaco]

If the US can't keep up in 35 years, then it would make even more sense to get in on the solar koolaid now. The price per kilowatt hour will surely increase as with the all things that are supply and demand driven.

On a different note, we are looking at making some improvements to our back porch. It currently has the minimum amount of concrete that the builder would install (not my choice). We want to expand the concrete, add a screened in porch and then have another slab poured for an uncovered outdoor area. I've been in contact with 3 contractors. 2 recommended by neighbors and 1 recommended by family. So far, none of them are giving me the warm fuzzies. I'm starting to think that I just need to draw up the plans, go get a permit and make it a fall project for myself. I'll have to move my tiny garden anyway, so might as well wait til it stops producing.

We are getting some pretty darn good tomatoes from it though, so that's a plus!

 

[Taco Loco]

If the US can't keep up in 35 years, then it would make even more sense to get in on the solar koolaid now. The price per kilowatt hour will surely increase as with the all things that are supply and demand driven.

On a different note, we are looking at making some improvements to our back porch. It currently has the minimum amount of concrete that the builder would install (not my choice). We want to expand the concrete, add a screened in porch and then have another slab poured for an uncovered outdoor area. I've been in contact with 3 contractors. 2 recommended by neighbors and 1 recommended by family. So far, none of them are giving me the warm fuzzies. I'm starting to think that I just need to draw up the plans, go get a permit and make it a fall project for myself. I'll have to move my tiny garden anyway, so might as well wait til it stops producing.

We are getting some pretty darn good tomatoes from it though, so that's a plus!

Add solar to your for ever home, or happy place, metal roof, that would be worth it.

 

[Oswego]

They can't keep up right now so it makes sense. I'm waiting for CA to start rolling brown outs when the summer heat sets in like they do every year.


After looking for a good concrete guy to do my moms driveway I'd def recommend drawing up your own plans for the slab so long as you know enough to do so then use them to get bids. Just make sure you don;'t do what I did and copy specs from a commercial job so that every price you get is super high and all the slabs overbuilt. I knew just enough to get myself in trouble. In my commercial experience I typically won't even go to a job site to price a job unless there are plans. I can bid jobs with plans from my office all day long and if I'm choking on work - why take time to go look at poorly planned jobs that don't even have plans? That said residential is a huge difference, but if you are prepared with permits and plans any sub should know not to mess around and that you have yout sh*t together. It's typically the unprepared that get hosed with high pricing and poor sub performance

 

[Oswego]

and I might even know a guy who can modify your existing plot plans and help you out

oh and everything doesn't need to be CAD I would suspect (check with your town). I still see hand drawn plans from time to time and as far as I know they are still just as good as CAD plans.

 

[AlienXtx]

Solar seems to only be worth it if you have big electric bills. I have a huge area that gets sun the whole day so I could get the panels, but even in the summer my bill is only about $120 a month, in the winter I've seen $50-60. If you have an older analog electric meter, a strong magnet also helps lower your electric bill . You'd have to assume a capacity degradation over time, so those kwh's you're panels are rated for on day 1 are going to be around 80-85% at EOL. That 10 year turn around quickly can turn into 12-15 years, then if you need a roof in the mean time (assuming they are mounted to a roof), the extra labor to remove and re-install those.

I'm not much of an environmentalist but I also think of the solar panels as not quite "going green", imagine where all these panels end up in 50 years with mercury leaking out into the soil. Only reason people are doing solar so much is that it's subsidized by our GUBMENT, it's like the welfare of electricity generation. There are alot of new laws coming out, RGGI, REC and ZEC credits, etc. This requirements are moving to more states. Bottom line is that solar isn't going anywhere anytime soon but I'm not an advocate, it's a bandaid for reducing carbon emissions.


Back to some home improvement chats, the bracket I made for my air reel the other week was requested by another fellow on the garage, shop, mancaves FB page who lives out in PA, so I made a second one to sell him. Amazing how much faster making something goes a second time around
View attachment 26520

Sweet

 

[Silverback]

We had some stone masons come out and put in rock rings around our bushes and trees in the front yard about 10 days ago. Well I needed to put in some mulch and I was going to go up to Home Despot and get 30 bags of it. They had it for 3.68 for the good stuff. Well I found these "kids" on Nextdoor that got great reviews. They will deliver the good stuff for $4 a bag. So yeah, I'm sure they are getting some kind of discount and making a buck, I hope they make 2. With tax I was paying close enough to $4 to call it $4 and I don't have to get my truck dirty. Not sure the SD could handle 30 bags of mulch, might require a few trips. But anyhow, I signed up on Sunday to get mulch and they are delivering it later this morning.

 

[AlienXtx]

shoulda got a long bed

 

[Silverback]

#sarcasm

 

[Oswego]

Should of gotten a Subaru

I had 12 40# bags of topsoil in the Subaru no problems a few weeks ago - same exact weight as 3 160# passengers so I just threw 4 bags in the back PS, 4 in the back DS, and 4 in the front PS.

Mulch is light. Taking away your card

 

[Silverback]

You guys are slow to pick up the sarcasm. I could put your Subaru in the back with the mulch.

 

[tx_shooter]

Key word... could. But won't because you do not want to get the pretty truck hurt. The Taco gets the abuse.

 

[AlienXtx]

 

[Oswego]

 

[Oswego]

This guy has some pretty legit videos on solar if you look around his channel

 

[Taco Loco]

This lot looked like the the property on the other side of fence line(first pic), I keep forgetting to take before pics...Not in my yard, just my work, cleaned up fence line and consolidate dead trees, limbs, brush, cactus etc in a burn pile, military discount at $50 hr... that’s on the cheap end, super nice guy, normally the rate is $75 to $100+hr

 

[Silverback]

Get some paint on the bend on the support bracket.

You should be videoing that work and post vids like Andrew Camarata on the Tube. I could watch his stuff all day. Dude just WORKS!!

Oh and one other thing... nice work!