Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

[crankcall]

@Connor, consider tiling the countertop around the sink, when I see plywood and water, I see future mold.

and yes it was the sponge that took your grout out of the grooves , there is a fine line between left it too long and took it out too soon , which is only learned through practice. But otherwise great looking job.

 

[matthew]

I'm finally getting around to finishing up some trim around my staircase.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

Wife wanted Christmas lights and I lost the “We live on a dead end country road with barely any neighbours” argument. Seemed easy enough until I got on the roof to find the pitch is far steeper than last house and not safe without tying off. Really don’t want to leave them up all year. Garage peak is more than 20’ high so if I could find a way to get at that instead of going onto roof I’d be set.

 

[48Connor]

@Connor, consider tiling the countertop around the sink, when I see plywood and water, I see future mold.

and yes it was the sponge that took your grout out of the grooves , there is a fine line between left it too long and took it out too soon , which is only learned through practice. But otherwise great looking job.

I didn't want to tile the countertop so I put a few coats of polyurethane on it. Its a garage sink that is shut off 4 months out of the year (tied into all the hose bibs), and in the summer I only use it like once a week. It should last a while, long past my time in this house hahaha

Agreed, I need to other peoples houses to work on before I do my kitchen. Any takers? I think I had too wet of a sponge too soon, but I'll have to look into it a bit more.

 

[mimico_polak]

View attachment 52215
Wife wanted Christmas lights and I lost the “We live on a dead end country road with barely any neighbours” argument. Seemed easy enough until I got on the roof to find the pitch is far steeper than last house and not safe without tying off. Really don’t want to leave them up all year. Garage peak is more than 20’ high so if I could find a way to get at that instead of going onto roof I’d be set.

Nice job. I picked up some lights yesterday and will be putting them up this weekend hopefully. With this stupid time change it's 6pm and dark as hell already. Today I was blowing the leaves onto the street in pitch dark...at 5:30pm.

We have a side split and there's zero chance of me going up 25ft with no tie off...the lower half of the house will be lit.

That's a beautiful house by the way.

 

[GreyGhost]

View attachment 52215
Wife wanted Christmas lights and I lost the “We live on a dead end country road with barely any neighbours” argument. Seemed easy enough until I got on the roof to find the pitch is far steeper than last house and not safe without tying off. Really don’t want to leave them up all year. Garage peak is more than 20’ high so if I could find a way to get at that instead of going onto roof I’d be set.

The first time I went up on the roof saturday, I wasnt wearing Jeans. At 10/12 with the pants I was wearing stopping was impossible. Slow slide to the edge and grab the ladder to stop. Big boo. Switched to Jeans for trip two and it was still dodgy but at least I could stop. The important thing was the rodent eviction was successful.

For xmas lights, one of these years, I will go with something similar to @PrivatePilot. Addressable strips so I can change up colours/patterns without climbing again.

 

[Baggsy]

Plumber came today. Installed 3 toilets, 4 sets of taps, reran the outdoor spigot & the fridge water line to the filter. Left me the line that goes from the filter to the fridge, since it kinked while the other line was being replaced. Finally, about a dozen of the newer shut off valves.

He had to relocate one of the toilet lines, so I have some ceiling work to do.

One of the sinks cracked while he was removing the drain. What's the best thing to use to glue the piece back in?

 

[Mad Mike]

wifi is low on the list of must haves for us…quality is the main criteria. The consumer reports mention is a big plus and it’s also mentioned as a top pick on other sites. From what I can find of user reviews it looks pretty solid too but these days you never know.

I have had GE appliances for 35 years. My 1986 Almond colored fridge and stove are still running cottage. We only replaced our units for feature or efficiency gains - nothing ever broke or wore out.

Last fall my wife found a screaming deal on LG kitchen stuff - grudgingly I caved in so the 10 year old stuff moved yo the kidz house to live on.

I'm hoping LG is as dependable as the GE stuff.

 

[Mad Mike]

What’s the quality of the cabinets like? Thinking of doing this for my kitchen reno.

It's pretty good. I've done a couple, they are easy to install, extremely precise but require a lit of assembly time. The prices are good too.

The only downside is thre are no custom sizes available. Modulo 6" wide, 30 or 40 uppers .

 

[backmarkerducati]

I put all the outdoor outlets on switches, not a requirement here in Ontario but the BC code requires it, it is a good idea.... We can turn the xmas lights on and off without stepping outside. No way I am putting any on our roof, mostly 12/12.

A buddy decided to leave his up year around, I would go over in the summer and plug them in for him.....

 

[Hardwrkr13]

I put all the outdoor outlets on switches, not a requirement here in Ontario but the BC code requires it, it is a good idea.... We can turn the xmas lights on and off without stepping outside. No way I am putting any on our roof, mostly 12/12.

A buddy decided to leave his up year around, I would go over in the summer and plug them in for him.....

We put our outdoors on switches also. Swapped most to wifi switches after moving in. Set timers for outdoor switch so Christmas lights turn on/off by themselves.

 

[Lyndsay]

I put all the outdoor outlets on switches, not a requirement here in Ontario but the BC code requires it, it is a good idea.... We can turn the xmas lights on and off without stepping outside. No way I am putting any on our roof, mostly 12/12.

A buddy decided to leave his up year around, I would go over in the summer and plug them in for him.....

When I built the house I put an outlet under the eave and switched it expressly for this purpose. Put the lights up and plug them in and flick the switch when you want them on or off. Saves wear and teat on the outlet and the plugs (and my hands).

 

[mimico_polak]

When I built the house I put an outlet under the eave and switched it expressly for this purpose. Put the lights up and plug them in and flick the switch when you want them on or off. Saves wear and teat on the outlet and the plugs (and my hands).

Smart...I could do that fairly easily as our eaves are quite wide and would be protected.

I was actually looking how to route the cable through the shed to have the lights on.

 

[jc100]

We put our outdoors on switches also. Swapped most to wifi switches after moving in. Set timers for outdoor switch so Christmas lights turn on/off by themselves.

WiFi switches are great. I have 3-4 sets of these in different places. One set runs the Xmas lights, another set switch the garage lights on and off, another runs the fan/infra red heater in the gazebo. Costco has a 2 pack for $20 that run very well.

 

[Hardwrkr13]

WiFi switches are great. I have 3-4 sets of these in different places. One set runs the Xmas lights, another set switch the garage lights on and off, another runs the fan/infra red heater in the gazebo. Costco has a 2 pack for $20 that run very well.

I’ll look into the Costco ones as that’s a good price. Been using the Kasaa ones from Amazon and they work well.
We built a detached shed that matches the garage/house and ran power to it. Installed a wifi switch inside it that turns the outside carriage light on and linked it to the same switch inside the house that turns on the house carriage lights so they all come on/off together. Was a lot cheaper than having the shed light wired to the house light.

 

[jc100]

I’ll look into the Costco ones as that’s a good price. Been using the Kasaa ones from Amazon and they work well.
We built a detached shed that matches the garage/house and ran power to it. Installed a wifi switch inside it that turns the outside carriage light on and linked it to the same switch inside the house that turns on the house carriage lights so they all come on/off together. Was a lot cheaper than having the shed light wired to the house light.

The Costco ones are also outdoor rated and have rubber seals! They are a bargain…Alexa and OK Google compatibility too.

 

[mimico_polak]

The Costco ones are also outdoor rated and have rubber seals! They are a bargain…Alexa and OK Google compatibility too.

Which ones? I have never used those types and not sure what to even look for.

 

[jc100]

Which ones? I have never used those types and not sure what to even look for.

They are called “Prime WiFi outlets” 2 pack. They were in the Christmas lights area in the Kingston Costco.

 

[Mad Mike]

We put our outdoors on switches also. Swapped most to wifi switches after moving in. Set timers for outdoor switch so Christmas lights turn on/off by themselves.

I changed every switch in the house to wifi/smart. They are cheap and easy to install.

My outdoor lights are set to come on 30 minutes after sunset and go off at 1130 PM - or - when the house gets the all-off signal from Google or a switch in my bedroom.

In the winter my block heater circuit kicks on at 530am, off at 7.

Smart switches and plugs are a must have for me.

 

[mimico_polak]

Smart switches and plugs are a must have for me.

I've never actually considered this for the house.

Do they all have to be the same company? As I recall from a while back (and info may be outdated) there is no single standard...so each switch could be a different company and may not mate with others propertly?

Good ol Kevin has switches and lights in this house I still don't know how to turn them on, or what they do after 2 years. I've got 2 lights at the driveway...no clue how to turn them on.