Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house? | Page 96 | GTAMotorcycle.com

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

Guess I might have some electrical upgrades to do at some point.
 
backmarkerducati said:
The whole home surge protector is the first device on the top left in my first pic. Inside the panel in my case, older ones connected to a breaker and were external.

Regrettably AFCI, GFCI and DF (both in one, dual function) are all these giant breakers and the AFCI are required by code. On my left side I am doing DF for outdoor, laundry and bathrooms--not in yet. This is the panel design including possible future circuits not going in now.

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I got lucky and only had to do arc fault for bedrooms when I built my house. I used a pile of those half size breakers. They changed the code a bit later. My panel is huge though, probably twice the number of circuits as yours. I like your diagram. Mine is just the boxes. yours makes tracing much easier.
 
Lyndsay said:
I got lucky and only had to do arc fault for bedrooms when I built my house. I used a pile of those half size breakers. They changed the code a bit later. My panel is huge though, probably twice the number of circuits as yours. I like your diagram. Mine is just the boxes. yours makes tracing much easier.
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I had to make up labels for my panel. It was full of helpful circuits like "temporary pool pump", two dryers (we only have one), "panel" (apparently that translates to upstairs bathroom receptacle), "on sweat bath" (2P, must have been a jacuzzi at one point) and more. I made it up as a spreadsheet. Not as nice as BMD's but neither is the chaos in the panel. Still have a few mystery circuits to nail down. About the only thing that I was happy with was a run of 12 ga on a 15A circuit for a heated floor (slightly confused at first though as you don't normally see that).

Electrical-Panel.jpg
 
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I actually pulled the permit a few days before arc fault was required for the entire house but then I got really lazy.... multiple renewals. At the time of the permit there were budget considerations as well, many don't apply now. Existing wiring in the house is 80 years old K&T with some bad PO DIY mixed in.

Technically I could just have them on the bedrooms (AFCI) but at this point that may also be at the discretion of the inspector due to the time frame.... Then I started to think, am I putting a price on my family's safety..... I am keeping the Boiler, Fridge and Smoke Detectors on regular breakers..... I think the latest now requires these on arc fault as well. Service is 100 amps. I got a bit OCD on the panel design. Rooms grouped together but also DF grouped together on one side so all the test pretty button colours match.... 20 amps yellow cables on the inside on the panel board.....

There are lots of things I would have done different, I will post up in this thread once ESA is done with me.
 
I left a pressure gauge on the house for a few days. I knew water pressure was consistently over 60 but apparently it goes up to 90 occasionally. Worthwhile to install a PRV to keep it around 60? It's a small pain and some money so I am leaning towards no, but if it saves me some money on water usage or faucet seals that survive longer, it may pay off over time.

I also got a family members discarded 58" TV (a few colour bleed issues and can shut off after being on for hours). Probably going to mount it outside under a 2' overhang and see how long it survives. I shouldn't see the colour issues in daylight anyway. Testing hasn't replicated the shut down, probably power supply getting hot. Could be solved with a small fan if it reoccurs.
 
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The deck railing is starting to come together. It was hot in the garage so I didn't put on a long sleeved shirt when I started to weld. Hmm radiation burn on left arm.

I was a bit skeptical but I took my wife's advice (For once) and put honey on it. It didn't go away but there wasn't any burning sensation the next day.

I wore Nomex the next time.
 
Is that floor tongue and groove or open? i.e. Does water get at what you're storing under there?
 
Baggsy said:
Is that floor tongue and groove or open? i.e. Does water get at what you're storing under there?
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Tongue and groove won't stop water. If you want it dry under a deck, use spacing strips to slope steel roof mounted to the bottom of the joists.
 
SVeezy said:
I’ve made some minor improvements since that pic. Put an interior latch on the storage doors so they stay closed tightly and there aren’t any visible gaps. Among a few other things.

I’m very pleased with the new walkout deck.


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How walkout is it? Did you give yourself a step down? Whenever I rebuild decks, I give one step down which helps a lot to keep snow from piling up against the door.
 
Couple inches step down so not much. Honestly I didn’t even think about the snow but I have no problem keeping a shovel by the door. Good point for future reference though for sure.

Edit: also the storage was important to me and was already tight for my needs height wise so where it is made the most sense

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Might need one of those because the damn maple seedlings coloured my driveway.

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