using a level to ensure your pictures are straight

How often do you wonder whether your pictures are hanging on the wall parallel to the ground (i.e. straight)?

We've stood side by side and debated it several times.

All arguments usually end when you place a level on the top edge of your artwork and adjust until the bubble is in the center.

If the painting does not seem straight after the level indicates that it is, you have a much larger problem - your wall is not straight! This happens due to settling and poor construction - more so in older homes.

For those who have not used a level before, he's a link.

The level is a very powerful and useful tool, especially for it's simplicity of use.

Regards, makingourway

Picture hanging - does scotch tape really prevent paint from splitting?

Every few months my family experiences an explosion of redecoration.

We do not have a large amount of wall art, but enough to spend lots of time moving things around.

Picture hanging becomes an active skill in our house and I'm glad we have our standard picture hanging kit - though I do wish we could find an inexpensive source of brass picture hanging hooks and nails.

Over the last year we've begun to question the traditional wisdom that placing a piece of scotch tape over the x before you insert the nail will prevent cracks in paint while hammering.

What we've learned is that paint my not fall off, however, when you remove the tape, a larger hole often appears.

Regards,
makingourway

Green swimming pools

Well my efforts to maintain the pool were unsatisfactory with my wife.
After several weeks of frequent rainfall, the pool failed to stabilize - either too cloudy or to much of a shade green.

The pool company selected a chlorination setting far too wide and we frequently ended up running out of chlorine before the weekly scheduled service.

One hot day the pool turned green. After losing 2 weeks to clear it out, she asked to me desist and call in the professionals to maintain the pool.

All our savings for my labor evaporated with the two additional green pools we had during their efforts.

We're switching providers - the new one i'd prefer is about 5% more expensive, but much more professional - someone my wife can call to service the pool and expect profesional behavior and timely response from.

From my lessons, I've learned the following:

1. It takes about 2-3 months to figure out what your doing if you self-maintain - make sure your family can bear with it
2. mediocre companies are not worth paying anything
3. don't keep the chlorinatoropen if you keep running out of chlorine - it's probably open too wide.
4. Shoot for a chlorine level of 3 or 4 - 1.5 to 2 is far too close to 0

regards, makingourway

3 long days of home repairs

Just finished three very long days of home repairs.
I believe everything cost about $2700, which includes:

1. Two new Whirlpool eSmart gas powered 50 gallon water heaters
2. Cleaned and repaired gutters
3. Repaired exhaust flus for several appliances (stoves, dryer, etc...)
4. Repainted two ceilings, removing water marks and other stains
5. Installed mesh covers over critical areas of gutters to prevent further over flow and leaf build up
6. Repainted eaves of house
7. Fixed leaking skylight
8. Recaulced second floor windows to prevent drafting and water penetration
9. Installed towel bars in powder room
10. Installed new fan in master bathroom

Actually the new fan is incredibly silent. It's quite expensive as fans go - About $160, however, it's so quiet it's hard to tell if it's working. I've always had a problem not being able to hear my wife talk while I'm in the shower. Very frustrating when you're trying to coordinate busy schedules in the AM.


I learned a few things about hot water heaters:

1. buy the 12 month warrantee heaters - they have extra insulation and superior quality - they don't need a thermal blanket
2. they seem virtually identical except the e-smart from lowes which has a slightly higher efficiency factor 0.61 vs. 0.57
3. make sure you have enough room to ventelate the heater if you're using it in a tight space
4. my whirlpool and i imagine other water heaters has a special metal element that should be changed every three years. I believe it manages water hardness.
5. The eSmart line communicates by blinking, which sucks, but no one else provides an lcd interface
6. You probably don't need your water heated to 120 degrees, which will burn skin in 5 minutes.

I'm pretty pleased with the work that was done.

I estimate about $1400 on supplies and materials and $1300 on labor. Not bad for 3 days work. What do you think?

Regards,
makingourway

More pool fun - or what's that brown stuff on the steps?

Last week the pool started turning green. Not like a pea soup, but the blue-green color began losing the blue color.

With advice from a local pool store after water analysis was performed we hyper cholorinated the pool.

Several days later we found brown stuff on the pool steps.

Our treatment: brush the steps to put the most likely dead organics back into the solution, then treat the pool with a non-cholorine shock. Keep the polaris unit (think old fashioned roomba for swimming pools) running.

Seems to have done the trick, but boy did that brown stuff disturb my wife!

One thing that is interesting, the hypercholorination lasts quite a while. Chlorine levels are very high for several days. We're told that's a good thing and that it helps eliminate the algea that was forming.

We have a persistent problem managing the rate of chlorine consumption in our pool's chlorinator. Too often the chlorinator will run out of chlorine tablets (think white hockey pucks) before the week is out.

I've finally ratcheted the chlorine dispersion rate down, but am still curious as to what's the right setting. The hyper cholorination obviously confuses things.

Soon we'll try an anti-phosphate treatment. Phosphate is the limiting factor in algea growth. The product claims to dramatically reduce phosphates in your swimming water. We'll see if it works.

Regards, makingourway

Very intersting article discussing water heaters and formula to calculate water heater operating costs

I found a very interesting article here that discusses water heaters and provides an excellent formula for calculating water heater oprating costs.

For me, this was most useful in comparing the benefits of water heaters with various efficiencies.

The most interesting note was that the Lowes eSmart line of Whirlpool water heaters is more efficient, but the efficieny is not a significant monthly savings.

Regards,
makingourway

home repair review - water heaters and more

I met with our handy man and reviewed the upcoming major project.
This is what will likely be included:

1. Replace two water heaters - thinking about the lowes 50 gallon energy smart tanks at about $650 each - it's about $70 more than regular 50 gallons, but a bit (not alot) higher in efficiency - not sure of the exact benefit. 12 year warrantee model. The digital controls may be useful when travelling, etc... to manage energy usage. Additional hardware and service fees for combined two heater replacement estaimted at $400 - $500. [does this make sense?]

2. various paint, nail pop and try wall repairs - including a stain from a sky light.

3. Fix the several external appliance exhaust covers outside - caulk, replace broken, screw into wall when needed.

4. Fix stove top exhaust - caused immense draft in winter.

5. Replace high ceiling lights with either 8,000 or 25,000 hour compact florescents. Too high up for me to change on my own so will buy long term ones.

6. Fix roof gutters - put screen covers over valleys to prevent future over flow.

7. Fix peeling paint on portion of roof to protect wood.

8. caulk, reseal and repair pella window.

9. replace noisy bathroom shower fan with much quieter panasonic fan. fan is expensive at $200, but alledgedly ultra quiet. cheap fan i have is so noisy i can't hear anything else.

That's the majority of the work.

I'm figuring one team will focus on the water heaters and another on the rest.

My guess is that all non water heater work would cost about $300 - $400 plus parts, but i'll see.

At this point in time, I'm basically trying to aggregate all of the little things that I can't do on my own and have them addressed at once.

I'm very tempted to have the network installed, but think it unwise as it could cost $800 - $1200 - which I should save until financially more comfortable.

Regards, makingourway

would you replace a leaking water heater?

i'm planning on replacing mine.
The edge of the container - not a fixture - is rusted to the point that it's continuously dripping. i'll review with contractor tonight to see his oppinion.

it's not under pressure, so i'll constantly have a small amount of water on the ground near the drain - figure 3-6 ounces. is this a mold risk?

should i wait a year or until it's unbearable or do it right away?

regards, makingourway

The grail has been partially met - flame-tip and dimmable compact flourescents have been found!! -

I found both flame tip and dimmable compact flourescents at Menard's.

I bought the following:

Compact flourescent flame-tip AKA decor bulbs for approximately $4.88 each for $9.96 in two packs. These were not dimmable, but they do fit into ceiling fixtures, etc.... The ones I bought were made by Sylvania at 40 watts. The bulbs come with a small tip and a converter to the larger standard size.

For some reason the builders of my house force me to use these ridiculous things.

They are quoted at 300+ lumens with 8000 hour life span. They use 9 watts (equivalent to 40 watt incandescent bulbs). Competing bulbs use onlky 7 watts, but provide substantially less lumens. They are also longer and may not fit certain light fixtures.

I also saw a high end 25 watt flame-tip bulb with a 25,000 hour life span for considerably more money - about $12. I need to many to justify the expense. I may replace future bulbs once the flourescents expire - if I don't replace the fixtures.

I also bought several two packs of dimmable compact flourescent BR30 indoor flood lights for $17.99. Unfortunately, the builder of my house put quite a few can lights on dimmers - especially some of my higher traffic areas.

I am pleased to report that they do work - however, the precision they achieve compared with an incandescent is lacking. From my personal impression, it sees if there are three to four dim levels, rather than the gentle gradience one experiences with incandescent bulbs.

However, I never dim these high use areas, so I don't care much. Unfortunately, I can't eliminate the dimmers cheaply, so i buy the more expensive dimming CF's. So these more expensive dimmable comact flourescent floods come to about $8.00 each - i think you can buy BR-30's in packages of 6 for about $3.00 each - so there is a big premium.

Finally, the dimmable bulbs are not nearly as impressive as the other CF's. They do have the 8,000 hour life, but only provide 700 lumens - comparable to a normal flood.

I'm still missing dimmable flame-tip / decor compact flourescents. If I recall correctly, I did see them at another Menards, but the one I visited did not have them. I may have to wait a while for these. As I don't travel in that direction often.

At this point nearly all of the high traffic areas of my house have CF's. I do still have a great need for BR-30 dimmable floods in some less used areas, like my basement as well as dimmable CF candles for two fixtures. Also, I need dimmable CFs for my chandeliers - however, I'd like to wait for another generation for all but one of them. I'll need quite a few.

I still plan to buy dimmable candles for two more fixtures - they are high traffic. The rest of the house can wait until costco works out a great deal.

If you really need to buy dimmable CF candles, you might try on line - it's quite expensive - usually $12+. I'm sincerely hoping I can find the less expensive dimmables somewhere. Who knows?

At the end of the day, I wonder how much this energy savings effort is really worth? I did lower my electrical bill from $220 to $150, but summer cooling and pool filtration costs are driving that number from $150 to $550.

If I'm lucky, raisting thermostat temperatures will help somewhat.

Regards,
makingourway

PS The menards website is pretty hard to use. I couldn't figure out how to look in store product up on line, nor could I place an order on line to pick-up at the store - something you can do with circuit city.

I have found the grale of compact flourescent light bulbs!

I'll write more on this soon.
While shopping I took the time to stop at a few stores en-route and examine compact flourescent light bulb (CF) offerings.

although it's easy to find 60-100 watt non-dimmable spirals and 65 watt feflectors for Can / ceiling insets - I recommend Costco for these - especially now with the commonwealth Edison sponsored discounts (35%).

I have finally! Finally! found affordably priced decor flame tip style bulbs that are dimmable!

I'll explain what I've learned in the next post.

Misery with our sprinkler service company

We have quite a bit of land - it can only be watered effectively with a sprinkler system.
We paid about $325 - $390 for de-winterization and start-up. The process was stopped half-way through when the team declared our timing system dead and in need of replacement.
The replacement cost $1300 in labor.
Unfortunately the team did a shoddy job.
They charge $65 per hour, but provide cheap labor.

I asked the sprinkler company to return:
1. set the timers and show me how to do it
2. confirm that all sprinkler heads were properly programmed
3. confirm that all sprinkler heads were working

The cheap labor claimed to have manually tested each head, but our actual field test showed 1/3 of the sprinklers to be disfunctional. The servicor then recommended we replace all of them with new heads.

We asked for an estimate. Grandpa had a strong inclination that the heads were not broken. While I was at work, he spent the next two days digging up the grass around each head and cleaning out dirk and blockage. By the time he was done, all but 1 of the heads were working.

This kind of service is unacceptable.

Quite frankly, I question if the original timing unit was truely broken.

We did have the come back twice:

1. fix obvious leaks
2. fix a stuck valve

While they were here the second time, I had the fix the positioning of the timer box. They did such a poor job installing it, it could not be opened properly.

If i'm going to be subject to cheap labor, i might as well pay cheap rates.

This company will be fired.

I am wondering if i'm due back more of my money! Thanks the stars we didn't accept their diagnosis that 1/3 of the sprinklers should be replaced at $50 per head for the big ones plus labor.

Regards,
makingourway

Would you consider an energy audit?

A friend of mine mentioned that energy audits are available in his municipality - provided by his energy company.

Apparently they presurize your house and look for leakage.

This is fascinating - quite possibly worth doing.

Would you take your energy provider up on such an offer?
Would you pay for it, if it was not for free?

Regards, makingourway

pool maintenance update mid-July

Well, i've been doing the pool maintenance and it's moving along.

I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Here are a few useful tips:

1. buy a box of latex gloves from costco to wear while pouring chemicals into the pool. Bases like soda ash require alot of time to wash off otherwise.
2. pour chemicals close to the water so the wind does not blow them on you.
3. look for returns - pour chemicals in front of the returns to facilitate distribution.
4. Leslie's Pool Supply out of Arizona has extremely talented management who can give professionally certificed advice. They also will perform a free chemical analysis.
5. Most pool service firms do not have certified technicians / cleaners.
6. If your inground pool's lights are not working - check the circuit breaker first.

One of the pool's motors broke. This means the filtration system is turned off.

We need to use liquid chlorine while waiting for it to be repaired.
I'm also concerned the chlorinator's release control system is not working correctly; i.e. 1-10 is 8 really 8 or is it all the way open?

Repair costs:

motor $350
Service $90

total $440

Ugh!

maintaining the swimming pool

Well,

It's been an interesting time. Last week i tried for the first time to maintain the swimming pool on my own.

What a delicate eco-system a pool creates. Just enough Ph, Alkalinity and Chlorine. Don't forget to deal with algie levels, etc....

So far, so good.

I have to check the chlorine level every few days to calibrate the flow from the chlorinator.

I also learned how to increase the PH and have a small warehouse of pool chemicals.

They certainly cost less than what my service was charging.

In a few weeks we'll see if it's been worth the effort.

One thing for sure is that you quickly learn how to use the test kit!

Regards, makingourway

update on our compact florescent lightbulb push

While most of our lightbulbs have been converted to compact flourescent (CF), we noticed about a $50 savings in electrical bill during the winter - rough drop from $220/mo to $150. We won't see much new with the air conditioning running this summer.

However, we still have quite a few lamps that are not converted. These are the lamps that do not typically lend themselves to CF solutions:

* Ceiling fans with 4 bulbs - we have quite a few of these - maybe 4 = 16 bulbs
* Ceiling fixtures that take 4 candle stick bulbs - maybe 4 = 16 bulbs
* Can lights with dimmers - we have several of these in key areas

While walking throught target I found several interesting things:

1. Spiral bulb style lights that are dimmable - unfortunately I need floods
2. Ceiling fan lights - on sale for $4.59 each - GE energy smart 40, uses 11 watts - I bought 3 to test.
3. CF candlesticks - I didn't buy one, but am planning to do so - also by GE

What I don't care for is the price. Individual GE CF light bulbs are much more expensive than bulk purchased Feist bulbs from costco. Then again, costco doesn't have 1-3 yet, so maybe I'll have to bite the bullet and pay the premium.

It just so happens that the light fixtures we use the most are the ceiling lights in my office and bedroom and the candlesticks in the hallway.

I still don't have an adequate solution for a dimmable flood, but if I tried, I might find something.

I did find an interesting site called top bulb, which does have an incredibly large volume of CF's of many styles, however, the candle stick bulbs looked almost 100% more expensive than what was available at target.

Perhaps over the weekend we'll move forward and get closer to comprehensive CF utilization.

Oh, one admission, we are not using CF's for outside lights or in our garage - shame on us - we should be. I even have the lamp pole to do the installation!!

Regards, makingourway

shock - get it before it's gone

Now that I've decided to service my own swimming pool - I have to buy my own chemicals. Price seems to be half of what the service charges - but i pay for the gas to get it.

Costco has wonderful prices on chlorine 3" pucks.
I have to go to profesisonal pool stores for ph up and ph down as well as some other chemicals.

One important chemical is shock. You use it especially in the early days to manage chlorine levels and purge the pool after it awakens from hibernation.

Costco had a great deal at 24 1 pound packs for about $55. The pool store is almost twice as much.

Unfortunately, we went to two stores and all were sold out.

Costco treats shock as a seasonal one time stock!

My recommendation is to buy it if you can get it!!

Regards,
makingourway

An alternative to a costly electrician's visit

Not too long ago our power went out and a portion of our electricity would not return. I reset all the circuit breakers and everything looked ok on the panel, but no electricity.

I called my contractor that i've used for rennovations and various home repairs. He had me call his electrical sub-contractor, who told me that the circuit breakers that connect the sub-pannel often fail to restart without repeatedly resetting the master panel circuit multiple times.

You know what - he was right!

I reset the circuit breakers that connect the master to the sub-panel several times and everything went back on!

Regards,
makingourway