The Home Improvement Thread

[balakay]

Got three quotes so far. Probably going to decide something tomorrow. Three quotes so far are:

Carrier Performance 4 ton 2 stage heat pump 17SEER - $15,200
Daikin Fit 4 ton variable stage heat pump 17SEER - $12,500
Trane XV18 4 ton 4 stage heat pump 18SEER - $13,700

The Carrier has the best warranty at 10 year parts and labor. Daikin is 12 parts/5 labor. And Trane is 10 parts/3 labor.

Carrier and Daikin I can have next week. Trane I won't be able to get until the end of the month.

 

[CowboyTaco]

When we bought our house back in 2019, one of the first upgrades was to get rid of the builder grade crap exterior sconces. We bought some nice $100/ea LED fixtures with dusk/dawn photosensors.

Well, fast forward to 2025 and the light output was non-existent. Who cares how much you save on electricity when you have to spend $200 every 5 years or so to replace fixtures. Well, I'm too cheap for that, and I haven't found any other fixtures that I like any more. So I went to TOR route and sort of fixed them on my own....for $10, as replacement LEDs are not available.

Poor output:

LED removed. Wet rated socket installed:

Final product:

Initially, I had concerns about the voltage difference from the LEDs to the bulb, but everything seems to line up as its all 120v. So far, two nights and my house hasn't burned down, so I'm considering that a win. I have some LED Edison bulbs rated for outdoor use on order, so the super cheap LED bulb will get replaced with a decorative one.

Call me out if this is stupid.

 

[tex]

I replaced just the bulbs on my front garage fixtures with bulbs that have built in dusk to dawn sensors. $20 well spent. Left the builder grade fixtures since i didn't hate them.

 

[tx_shooter]

Personally hate the neighbors that leave their exterior lights on all night. Motion sensors are one thing; but on all night is just rude.

 

[CowboyTaco]

Personally hate the neighbors that leave their exterior lights on all night. Motion sensors are one thing; but on all night is just rude.

LOL. Funny you should mention it.

When I was preparing to replace them, I didn't expect to find another that I liked with photosensor. I decided to wire up a timer switch along with an occupancy sensor for the garage lights...which has been left on overnight too many times by the kids. So I'm going to set the timer so that they turn on at sunset, turn off at 11pm, on at 5:30 (+/- 30) and off at sunrise.

 

[PSU Taco85]

Personally hate the neighbors that leave their exterior lights on all night. Motion sensors are one thing; but on all night is just rude.

I bought some smart bulbs for my fixtures for that very reason. I have them set up to come on at sunset and off at midnight. If I need them on later I can always just use the app and turn them back on. Bonus is it auto adjusts for daylight savings and also sunset times as it changes.

 

[balakay]

Decided on the Trane unit. Little bit longer of a wait to get it installed but the company came recommended from my dad who is hard to please and they paid a lot more attention to my current setup when suggesting an upgrade. Should have it installed by the end of the month. Looking forward to the electricity savings next month and this winter.

 

[balakay]

Still need to have our duct work redone but it was out of the budget for this year. That will get done when I have the old insulation removed from the attic and new insulation put in.

 

[PSU Taco85]

Decided on the Trane unit. Little bit longer of a wait to get it installed but the company came recommended from my dad who is hard to please and they paid a lot more attention to my current setup when suggesting an upgrade. Should have it installed by the end of the month. Looking forward to the electricity savings next month and this winter.

I have to ask, why pay all that money for a direct swap, AC replacement for an existing system is pretty simple. I bet 50% of that cost is labor.

 

[balakay]

I have to ask, why pay all that money for a direct swap, AC replacement for an existing system is pretty simple. I bet 50% of that cost is labor.

Time. I have too much on my plate as it is. I could do it myself for about $8k is what I figured and that's in line with what it cost my dad to do it himself at my sister's house. But I honestly just don't want to mess with it. Not to mention there's no warranty for self install. If the warranty isn't registered by a licensed tech and my compressor goes out in two years, there goes most of the money I saved anyway. Just one of those things I'd rather not mess with at the moment.

 

[Anathollo]

Getting our AC unit replaced. First quote came back at $15k. Have two more coming tomorrow to give quotes. Hoping they're a bit better or I'm going to have to start selling pictures of my feet...

Thats roughly the going price sadly.

 

[Anathollo]

Decided on the Trane unit. Little bit longer of a wait to get it installed but the company came recommended from my dad who is hard to please and they paid a lot more attention to my current setup when suggesting an upgrade. Should have it installed by the end of the month. Looking forward to the electricity savings next month and this winter.

Good choice. Trane is the only thing my AC tech will install since it's the units with the least amount of callbacks on according to him.

 

[balakay]

Yeah I figured so. That was definitely the highest quote I've gotten but it was also from a very large company with a lot of overhead. I got a quote last year for $9k but it was a very basic, bottom of the barrel unit. So I figured it would be $12k this year probably and then the add-ons like higher SEER rating, heat pump, etc would add to the price. I'm happy where we ended up. The new 454b refrigerant drove the price of everything up.

 

[balakay]

Perfect timing. My AC wasn't on when I got home from work today. It was 82 degrees. Barely got it to come on and it's not keeping up at all. Probably only blowing 8-10 degrees cooler than room temp. Going to be living with window units until Saturday.

 

[Anathollo]

Yeah I figured so. That was definitely the highest quote I've gotten but it was also from a very large company with a lot of overhead. I got a quote last year for $9k but it was a very basic, bottom of the barrel unit. So I figured it would be $12k this year probably and then the add-ons like higher SEER rating, heat pump, etc would add to the price. I'm happy where we ended up. The new 454b refrigerant drove the price of everything up.

I'm curious if this new refrigerant is going to be worth a shit or not.

 

[PSU Taco85]

Time. I have too much on my plate as it is. I could do it myself for about $8k is what I figured and that's in line with what it cost my dad to do it himself at my sister's house. But I honestly just don't want to mess with it. Not to mention there's no warranty for self install. If the warranty isn't registered by a licensed tech and my compressor goes out in two years, there goes most of the money I saved anyway. Just one of those things I'd rather not mess with at the moment.

Maybe you guys have better contractors out there, I had a guy come by and give me an estimate for a mini split in my pole barn. These guys are on crack, 10k for labor to draw vacuum and drill a hole in a wall. The warranty ain't worth that price. My dad's buddy will sign off as a contractor for "install" in case there is ever an issue with the equipment. No way I’m paying almost as much as I paid for the building to cool it

 

[balakay]

Just finished up the install. Best contractors I've ever had do anything for me. They showed up early, they weren't drunk/high/hungover, did more than the original quote called for, left my house cleaner than when they got here, and everything was done to an expected standard. Super clean install including running the new copper lines. I'll give it a few days to see if anything pops up but initial impressions are 10/10 service.

 

[tx_shooter]

Just finished up the install. Best contractors I've ever had do anything for me. They showed up early, they weren't drunk/high/hungover, did more than the original quote called for, left my house cleaner than when they got here, and everything was done to an expected standard. Super clean install including running the new copper lines. I'll give it a few days to see if anything pops up but initial impressions are 10/10 service.

The stuff of myths and fairy tales.

 

[balakay]

The Honeywell T6 Pro thermostat they installed is a hunk of shit. Going to replace it with an Ecobee soonish.

 

[tx_shooter]

Really like our Ecobee. It does a pretty good job and it is really nice being able to adjust from an app.