great ideas around the house. Reply #15 – January 24, 2009, 06:36:48 PM I have oil hot water along with the furnace, and 3 floors cutting it back to 63 during the day is saving plenty. At times its cold in my house, bundleup and be a Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #16 – January 24, 2009, 07:35:33 PM I should have mentioned that my house has 7 heating zones, and has been totally remodeled with a plastic vapor barrier on the walls and a foil barrier in the attic and tyvek outside under the cedar siding. I built it to keep the cold out. Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #17 – January 24, 2009, 08:49:09 PM I built my addition that way - 2 x 6 with all the insulation tricks you described. At the same temperature setting (addition is a different zone than old part of house), the addition feels much warmer. Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #18 – January 24, 2009, 08:53:03 PM Unfortunately my 100 year old house was built with no such consideration in mind. I added insulatioin when I did the renovations, but until I replace all the windows I've gotta live with the draft.Good point about reheating the water. I'd imagine if the water heater is in a warm room and well insulated it'd pretty much be a wash... Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #19 – January 24, 2009, 09:15:15 PM Quote from: Thunder Chicken;253441Unfortunately my 100 year old house was built with no such consideration in mind. I added insulatioin when I did the renovations, but until I replace all the windows I've gotta live with the draft.Good point about reheating the water. I'd imagine if the water heater is in a warm room and well insulated it'd pretty much be a wash...Your right about the windows. 80% of heat loss goes out the window... Windows were the first thing I replaced. It actually snowed in one or two of our bedrooms when we first moved in. The windows had a gap between them. My house was built in 1904 and all 34 windows were original. the heating bill was about $500 a month on a yearly budget plan. We got our money back from the windows the first year Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #20 – January 24, 2009, 11:36:46 PM Quote from: Thunder Chicken;253367Next summer I will be building this (you will like this, Scott):http://www.scribd.com/doc/8260530/How-To-Make-A-Waste-Oil-HeaterRead this on the HAMB a yesterday. I just might try it, as the old water heater from my trailer house is still there. Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #21 – January 24, 2009, 11:54:50 PM Not being cheap, but here's how I built my house a couple years ago now. In floor heat, bathroom back corner, kitchen back wall for cabinet storage and sink, double outlet boxes recessed behind the sheetrock ceiling with a small dent locating them, 16' door header in place, with slanted concrete edge, and the rest of the walls are removeable by unscrewing the concrete screws in the floor. Yes, it is a 36x44 shop converted into a house. If we decide to build a new house, I have my shop. If not, no big deal, I'll just build another garage. Forward thinking, lol. Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #22 – January 24, 2009, 11:58:06 PM timer is set to turn off at 0015 and click on at 8am. It fits the routine around here since no one is "ususally" taking a shower from 2300 (11pm) on forward through the night. Doing the timer actually provided me with an opportunity. I found that the ground on the 220 ckt was loose. THat would cause some excessive current draw so it got good treatment on the connection inside the tank where the BX fitting is. I also turned down the temp to 135. for some odd reason it was up near 150.I adjusted the bottom element to 140 and the upper to 130 thinking heat rises. The temp sensor is on the upper element so it should work out. I figure the water thats in the tank will be purdy warm across 8 hours since it resides inside the house in a well heated room. Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #23 – January 25, 2009, 12:12:22 AM Quote from: HAVI;253484Not being cheap, but here's how I built my house a couple years ago now. In floor heat, bathroom back corner, kitchen back wall for cabinet storage and sink, double outlet boxes recessed behind the sheetrock ceiling with a small dent locating them, 16' door header in place, with slanted concrete edge, and the rest of the walls are removeable by unscrewing the concrete screws in the floor. Yes, it is a 36x44 shop converted into a house. If we decide to build a new house, I have my shop. If not, no big deal, I'll just build another garage. Forward thinking, lol.got any inside pics of that? Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #24 – January 25, 2009, 12:15:35 AM Here are a couple more.Ever want to store fishing poles easy? see my fix. I cut a piece of s cheapy pvc in half long ways. I cut several notches out with tin snips to the width of a typical fishing pole diameter. I removed a couple poles so the pic would be more clear.Ever got your car in the garage and suddenly the battery was dead???????? Yep, im sure you have. see my fix. I ran two runs of 4awg wire from the deep part of the garage where the engine typically is (duhh). I ran these wires secure to the overhead and to the outside of the garage. each wire terminates to a copper plate which is lag bolted to the exterior.When i get a car in the garage that has a dead battery, I lower those two cables and clamp to my dead battery. I go outside and hook my jumper cables up to a car sitting outside the garage. I hook the other end of the jumper cables to the copper plates mounted on the exterior of the garage. Now i am jump starting a car stuck in the garage. Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #25 – January 25, 2009, 12:25:39 AM I was looking to do a similar cable set-up for my plow outside next to the garage. I have the battery charger in the garage, and just have extensions coiled up on a hook outside. Just uncoil, hook to the battery, go in the garage and turn it on. Jerry, here's just one right now (on my computer) Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #26 – January 25, 2009, 12:28:26 AM LOL a snow door Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #27 – January 29, 2009, 09:27:42 PM with all the creativity around here, there's gotta be more neat ideas out there.:D Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #28 – January 29, 2009, 10:07:52 PM If I must...2 years ago when I wasn't working during winter, I got really bored and made a HD tv antennaHere's the prototype. Made from cardboard, aluminum foil, and a some 10 gauge wire.ended up evolving into this.Here's the quality. I picked up about 34 stations from NY/Pa border all the way to Toronto Quote Selected
great ideas around the house. Reply #29 – January 29, 2009, 10:21:04 PM Quote from: daminc;254412If I must...2 years ago when I wasn't working during winter, I got really bored and made a HD tv antennaHere's the prototype. Made from cardboard, aluminum foil, and a some 10 gauge wire.ended up evolving into this.Here's the quality. I picked up about 34 stations from NY/Pa border all the way to TorontoWOW!Here is a real time saver. Saves a lot of clean up too. Plus its very user friendly. It all about location.....Notice how well it stays in the up position like it was suppose to be there all the time. Quote Selected
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