What home improvement work did you do today?

To hell with how many watts, I want to know how many amps!?

 

My 2 year old sleeps in our basement (finished!) and it's only got 1-2 heat output vents from the forced air, keeps it around 64. Wife would like her around 67-68, we have one of those fake fire electric heaters now, and it's okay, but not centrally located and a wall hang can be put anywhere!.

 

Our basement is similar. Stays around 65-66 year round. We recently overhauled our A/C systems and turned the downstairs unit into a dual-zone so we can finally heat the ground floor & basement independently, each having its own t-stat.

What I will say is two things:

One, we didn’t realize it, but we had something very normal for basements, a humidity issue, and thus mold growth. It was very subtle but was causing breathing problems for our kids when they spent any period of time down there. When I realized this, I put one of those Scientific Oregon temp/humidity weather stations down there and the humidity averaged around 60-65%, which is ripe for mold growth. You ideally want humidity to be around 55% or less. The kids’ asthma/breathing issues stopped after getting that in check. I setup the humidifier to drain via a clean out access port on a shared wall with the basement bathroom so I wasn’t constantly dumping the damn bucket, can share pics if it helps!

Two, after installing that dehumidifier, which runs far less after sealing our walls, installing drywall and flooring, I finally broke down, for the sake of the family, and spent the coin on an AirThings 2960 View Plus, which monitors for radon, humidity, temp, VOCs, CO2, air quality, etc. It hooks into WiFi and reports wirelessly back to a portal so you can track over time and get alerts etc. I was surprised to see we have some pretty hardcore radon spikes - radon is one of the top causes of lung cancer. I took measures to remediate that while I was at it, but now I gotta wonder how frequent it was spiking that high while I was down there for hundreds of hours in my shop over the years.

 

4.17-8.34

 

I keep a dehumidifier on the side that isn't finished, but this has me wondering if I shouldn't add one to their bathroom down there, I most likely should. My house was built in 2018/2019 so the outside is covered in water sealant and has insulation on the outside/under slab and inside. While that doesn't mitigate everything, I empty my dehumidifier much less than in a building we have without all that. I think I might get a little one for their bathroom after reading this, and I am going to look into the air things.

I appreciate your input on this, my family is important to me!

edit: getting an air things!

 

This is exactly why I have the app on my phone. Even after talking to her about max temp settings. So I f with the temps to let her know I'm always watching when it comes to the thermostat.

 

claims it best for 215 sqft spaces or up to 750sqft as a supplemental heating source.

her room is about 250sqft, and it's the only heating source. Over the last week with the negative temps it was still comfortable.
On the cycle I kept it at. Does require cleaning the filter every 2 weeks but I'm okay with that. On sale on Amazon right now.

Dreo Smart Wall Heater, Electric Space Heater for Bedroom 1500W, 120° Vertical Oscillation, Adjustable Thermostat, Remote Control, 24H Timer, Easy-Mount Heater for Indoor Use, Works with Alexa, WH719S

https://www.amazon.com/Dreo-Oscilla...ocphy=9028879&hvtargid=pla-2281435180698&th=1

 

We're a 2003/2004 build. It's code here to tar/seal the earth-bound walls of the basement, and they did sheet under the foundation to prevent water from coming up, which is why I thought nothing of it. Like all things, we did have two hairline cracks in our poured walls that would allow outside water to get in, which is what we initially thought was our problem, but even after having a structural engineering company come in and properly drill the crack, then fill the walls with epoxy sealers, the humidity was still above 60%. It must've been like 70% or something prior, or higher during longer rainstorms.

Hindsight 20/20, I kinda wish we'd hit all the walls and floors with RedGard or similar before finishing ours out, just to seal the interior space. It's fine without, now we have the humidifier in a good spot, and it helps having the bathroom built out down there, now we can run the bathroom fan to exhaust the air out if we hear the humidifier running more than once in a day (it typically goes days without running from October thru April). Anyway, not sure this helps much, but tossing it out there!

 

Not mine, but took out my mom's old stove in prep for her getting a new one today. Moved the old one to our house to sell along with the microwave from her place. If I needed a garage oven, it'd be staying. LOL.

 

Use it for powder coating!

 

You can figure out amps if you know the watts.

 

Question for you guys. Can you easily lift your 2 car, aluminum garage door with one hand when its released from the opener? I tightened up the spring when I installed a new opener but I feel like its still on the heavy side. Doesnt come back down when its at the 90* bend but it does take a bit of strength to get it moving from the closed position. Doesnt fling open by any means, not even close. Spring is the 15yr old original, so Im not surprised its taking a bunch of turns to get it to assist.

 

If it were electric I would be really considering it.

 

Not a chance
My fully insulated 10’ wide x 9’ tall doors are about 300lbs each for the four panels combined. Not picking those up without the spring helping.

 

Shouldn't be terribly difficult to open and should stay in place if you open the door halfway up.

If it drops they need more tension.

 

Ordered an upgraded maxxfan, pretty stoked about all the cool features. I learned that if you reverse the vent fan it creates a suction that pulls in the canvas as I lower the top, it'll keep me from having to crawl into the loft with the top halfway down to do it manually.

 

They are awesome but I don’t know if they suck hard enough to move canvas. I’ve also read they don’t like voltage irregularities so I put a regulator on mine

 

Definitely needs a regulator, my current low end model (maxxfan V1) doesn't work on the lower settings unless I'm on shore power.

 

Cleaned out the drain trap on the front loader. Supposed to be done every 30 days and this is the 1st time in probably 18 months. I gotta get better at routine maintenance, same with my truck.

 

Can you share the details surrounding your door on the right? I’m looking to make some French closet door and that’s the style I’m shooting for. Except they’ll need to be pretty tall. Wine bar is coming out; closet going in.. unless someone sees any issues with that

 

For a second there I was wondering "do I have one of those on my tractor??" and then I looked into the background of the photo....

 

Ya, I realized how I wrote it doing a proofread, but figured "meh whatever"

 

I added a sign to my garage today. Found this sign at a gift shop when I was in Orlando last week.

 

Just the height and style of door. Looking for something similar for closet doors. Most closet doors are pretty ugly these days