great ideas around the house.

Topic: great ideas around the house. (Read 3979 times) previous topic - next topic

great ideas around the house.

Reply #30 – January 29, 2009, 11:01:51 PM

and after my cardboard antenna worked so good. I decided to make an outdoor model.
I look enthused about the whole situation, LOL

great ideas around the house.

Reply #31 – January 29, 2009, 11:07:42 PM

I have made a few antenna's,, complicated to do actually with all the natural environmental variables. Looks good and you save money doing it yourself.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #32 – January 30, 2009, 09:50:14 AM

Quote from: jcassity;253485

it resides inside the house in a well heated room.

Any heat loss is just dissipated into the room you're heating anyway, I doubt there's any real savings here... May help in the summer when you are cooling instead of heating...

great ideas around the house.

Reply #33 – January 30, 2009, 10:12:12 AM

About the handiest thing I've ever done is to begin recycling. It all started when I switched the kitty over to canned food from the foil pouches. I got really tired of throwing out all of those aluminum cans...there had to be a better way. Fortunately my county has a very good recycling program and they are also pretty good about letting the residents know about it. There are about 30 drop-off locations throughout the county, two of them within 5 miles of my house. So I had no more excuses to not recycle...first aluminum, then plastic, then cardboard and paper; they even take batteries of all kinds as well as plastic bags. Today I'm actually shocked at how much I do recycle. My weekly garbage output has been reduced at least 60% if not more.

It takes about 5 minutes of my time to stop at the recycling bin on the way to work and dump everything out, usually every 3 weeks or so (no curbside service out in the country). Pretty amazing how easily I slipped into the habit...although it doesn't really save me any money, recycling does save what I would otherwise put in the landfill, and most of the products that I use have a recyclable container.

The county program also has appliance drives once a year, and used electronic drives at least twice a year. Got rid of my old CRT monitors that way, and the next drive I have a lot of old broken electronic stuff from the office, my house, my girlfriend's house, etc. that need to go. Nothing like getting rid of stuff you'll never use again and knowing that it's going to be reused in some fashion. It's basically guilt-free garbage disposal LOL. But it's also the responsible thing to do, especially when the county (and its taxpayers--including myself) makes it so easy.

Other things:

- I have wrapped all the pipes in the house with the hopes that they'd be better insulated, but that really hasn't helped much, although they don't sweat in the summertime anymore and drip all over the basp00get floor.

- In the wintertime, I have the programmable thermostat set to kick on about 30 minutes before I awaken (63 degrees). The furnace usually runs twice, then goes to the daytime program of around 58 degrees. Sounds cold, but it's a brick ranch around 1000 sq. ft., and kitty sleeps all day anyhow. About 30 minutes before my usual return home from work, the furnace again kicks up to 63 degrees. When I walk in the door, I turn on the ceramic (electric) heater. The furnace will not run again until the next morning. The ceramic heater is aimed toward the thermostat, but also filters heat into virtually every room. I can raise the temp inside the house sometimes by 7 degrees or more (and I'm very warm-blooded so that helps). The net effect? Not only am I using less propane (at $2.50/gallon, it adds up), but my electric bill goes up only about $1/day. It's actually cheaper to run the space heater than to let the furnace run. A 500-gallon tank of propane now lasts a lot longer; I used to get it filled once a month during the heating season. Now I can go 3 months or more, and I'm down to only two fills for an entire year. One heating source supplements the other, but both are necessary. It's all a matter of trading off. It is now a very comfortable house, and while I cannot avoid using a fossil fuel at some point, I feel that the electric part gets me more bang for the buck than propane. I'm saving $600/year or more on propane, while spending only ~$100 more/year on electricity. That makes for a very happy wallet.

- The attic was just insulated...for ~1000 sq. ft. it was around $600 for blown-in insulation (not cellulose but shredded fiberglass). According to the company the 14" or so of insulation equates to a value of R-38. I don't really know how much it will save in energy costs, but I am using less propane for the furnace, and my electric ceramic heater--while still working hard every day--has allowed for more comfortable temperatures inside the house when it's colder outside. So I suppose the insulation helped somewhat, although ironically I suspect it will do more good in the summertime with the a/c running.

- New windows and doors have done virtually nothing for energy savings. Sad but true. And that's what my father installs for a living! I've noticed no reduction in heating costs with them in the house; immediately around the windows it is warmer, but that's about it. Nothing is leaking or drafty. Strange.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #34 – January 30, 2009, 11:49:56 AM

Quote from: EricCoolCats;254487

New windows and doors have done virtually nothing for energy savings. Sad but true. And that's what my father installs for a living! I've noticed no reduction in heating costs with them in the house; immediately around the windows it is warmer, but that's about it. Nothing is leaking or drafty. Strange.

Bet it would do a lot for me. When it's windy my curtains move :hick:

great ideas around the house.

Reply #35 – January 30, 2009, 11:55:00 AM

Yeah, for homes like yours, definitely. My folks' house was the same way as yours, and new windows made a big difference for them. But for some reason it did nothing for my house, as far as stopping drafts/leaks.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #36 – January 30, 2009, 12:09:00 PM

I've done everything I can to reduce heating costs these past 2 years, but I've only been able to keep equilibrium due to the fact that the past 2 winters have been cold and below average temperature-wise.

Don't discount the weather! My electric bill includes the average temps on it so it's easy to compare year-to-year - the colder temps explain the increased electricity use as well.

BTW, my town has MANDATORY recycling. There is literally a trash-puppies (some grumpy old redneck lady) who looks at your garbage as you dump it and will question you if you have bags with visible bottles etc. in it.

- Bottles/cans, paper, cardboard, waste oil all have a place to dump all next to the garbage "house" in the "main loop"
- They use the waste oil they collect to heat the facility in winter.
- Batteries, A/C's, tires, metal products etc each have their own "booth" in a secondary loop they call "recyclers lane".
- Tires are limited to 4 per year so tire shops won't abuse the dump
- They charge by the pound for "construction debris" which helps keep abuse by contractors to a minimum.

Pretty neat considering that my town is far from progressive in it's thinking.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #37 – January 30, 2009, 08:47:18 PM

Quote from: Cougar5.0;254508

BTW, my town has MANDATORY recycling. .

some people need to have thier hand held.:D

great ideas around the house.

Reply #38 – January 30, 2009, 09:05:43 PM

My "small town" of 35,000 would have barely 30% compliance rates if it was voluntary.

I can't even convince my parents & ex-wife to do it properly (voluntary), no matter how many times I cajole them!

great ideas around the house.

Reply #39 – March 08, 2009, 02:27:33 PM

Quote from: daminc;253487

got any inside pics of that?

Jerry, it took me awhile to find them. first pic shows the recessed outlets for shoplights, the second pic shows the interior walls (10 foot) put together below the sheetrock (trusses are designed to go the whole span without support), and the 3rd pic is the floorplan that I drew up. The bathroom is the only room permanent, and you'll see the machanicals are all on the North wall where the daily driver would be parked. Second pic shows the garage door header also.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #40 – December 31, 2010, 11:02:53 AM

digging this up from the past,
again, post up a simple thing you do around the house that saves money or its just a good idea or a little invention you made.

so...........
yep, for 8 dollars you to can have studs in your tire chains.

let tire pressure down, add pan head / carriage bolts and Nylock nuts.
pump tire back up and your in like flynn!!

works great, thought i would share since we all need all the edge we can get with all our snow (and more coming).

great ideas around the house.

Reply #41 – January 02, 2011, 03:58:22 PM

Too cheap to buy wheel weights for your tractor? Find windshield washer fluid on sale cheap, I bought 20 gallons for ~$12. Break the bead on the rear tires add fluid till its nearly full. If the rim is fully submerged it will not rust. I got about an extra 70 some pounds per wheel doing this and with Ag tires and chains its plenty to push snow.

As for home heating, I spent a saturday putting duct mastic on every joint and it seemed to increase velocity on the first floor of my home. Helped even the distribution out better across the rooms.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #42 – January 02, 2011, 05:28:15 PM

i guess i am too cheap like that, i thought about putting chloride or whatever goes in AG tractor tires for weight. They sell it up in town, good point. I just may do that.

I coulnt imagine my rear tires holding more than 4gal of fluids.

great ideas around the house.

Reply #43 – January 02, 2011, 05:52:39 PM

I need to put fluid in my mower's rear tires, with the deck on, if you so much as spit, the tire(s) will spin...I'd rather do fluid than chains, I have some nice sections that I'd hate to claw up....

great ideas around the house.

Reply #44 – January 02, 2011, 10:11:54 PM

For everyone that asked me how to make a HD Antenna....
Here's a link that will explain and show you how to make your own for almost no money at all.....
http://www.tvantennaplans.com/