General Upgrades & Ideas

[Pelado]

I don't. All I have is a simple hot wire tester.

At least you'll know which wires are attractive.

[MartyFunkhouser]

The electrician's description of the wiring in the basement was that it was "nightmare."

[USUC]

The electrician's description of the wiring in the basement was that it was "nightmare."

Are you seeking out people independently or are you going through a contractor for all of this?

[MartyFunkhouser]

Are you seeking out people independently or are you going through a contractor for all of this?

I have a handyman that I use that is really good. The electrician is a local who was highly recommended. We are doing it independently.

[USUC]

I have a handyman that I use that is really good. The electrician is a local who was highly recommended. We are doing it independently.

If all goes well, I'll be fixing up my parents house. There is a lot of dry wall repair needed. New flooring. Everything needs paint. I need to seperate a very large laundry room. I'd like to avoid a contractor but may not be able to avoid it.

[PaloAltoCougar]

Other than cost (which is not insignificant), are there good reasons why I shouldn't add a house battery (Tesla PowerWall), other than enriching however slightly the fifteen-year-old? We already have solar but will add a few more panels as we're contemplating going with EVs eventually.

[Pelado]

Other than cost (which is not insignificant), are there good reasons why I shouldn't add a house battery (Tesla PowerWall), other than enriching however slightly the fifteen-year-old? We already have solar but will add a few more panels as we're contemplating going with EVs eventually.

Any other viable house battery options other than from Tesla?

[PaloAltoCougar]

Any other viable house battery options other than from Tesla?

Not sure, I'll dig a bit more, but the PowerWall3 has been highly reviewed. If I wear a MAGA hat and Trump Sneakers to the next CS party you'll know why.

[Pelado]

Not sure, I'll dig a bit more, but the PowerWall3 has been highly reviewed. If I wear a MAGA hat and Trump Sneakers to the next CS party you'll know why.

As if I'd ever be invited to the party.

[MartyFunkhouser]

The cost of things just keep adding up with this house. I plugged in our garage fridge and it is constantly tripping the GFCI. We had the electrician that figured out the light nightmare look at it. The entire garage is on one GFCI circuit. With the setup, there is basically no chance of being able to have a fridge in the garage (which is kind of a big deal with 5 kids in the house). We have a chest freezer that seems to be fine without tripping anything, but you plug anything else in, it is going to trip. Also, my wife cannot charge her hybrid at all in the garage with the current setup. I'm pretty sure that my next vehicle is going to be a electric to cut down the cost of gas for my commute. So, we have to run some new lines. The garage is also really far from the breaker box in the house. So, another $2,500 to run a 220v to the garage for a car charger and another 2 dedicated 20 amp lines.

We keep sinking a lot of money into this house, which pretty much guarantees that I'm staying here until I die. Long term, it is going to be great. Short term, it is painful.

[MartyFunkhouser]

Hopefully you won’t make the same mistake twice. I did a similarly boneheaded repair job years ago and now when I take stuff apart I snap photos with my phone so I can remember how to put it back together.

it’s interesting to compare the pictures on my wife’s phone with mine. She mostly takes pictures of scenery and people. I mostly take pictures of objects and things (receipts, screen shots of information, etc)

Yeah, I'm not making the same mistake again.

I changed out some more of the switches in the house last night. One of the switches, I had to change because the face plate was broken and was just a real eyesore. It was also in direct line of vision whenever I was in the kitchen.

It had a total of 3 switches on it. So, I made sure to pull one out at a time, take a picture, change the one switch, and then move on to the next one. As seems to be usual with this house, there still were some odd things. One of the switches (that was a 3-pole switch) doesn't appear to control anything in the house. So, I guess maybe in the future that can be figured out. I'm going to keep slowly replacing the switches with rocker switches.

[Donuthole]

The cost of things just keep adding up with this house. I plugged in our garage fridge and it is constantly tripping the GFCI. We had the electrician that figured out the light nightmare look at it. The entire garage is on one GFCI circuit. With the setup, there is basically no chance of being able to have a fridge in the garage (which is kind of a big deal with 5 kids in the house). We have a chest freezer that seems to be fine without tripping anything, but you plug anything else in, it is going to trip. Also, my wife cannot charge her hybrid at all in the garage with the current setup. I'm pretty sure that my next vehicle is going to be a electric to cut down the cost of gas for my commute. So, we have to run some new lines. The garage is also really far from the breaker box in the house. So, another $2,500 to run a 220v to the garage for a car charger and another 2 dedicated 20 amp lines.

We keep sinking a lot of money into this house, which pretty much guarantees that I'm staying here until I die. Long term, it is going to be great. Short term, it is painful.

I had this issue in my house. Instead of running a new line, I ran an outlet from a plug inside the house on the opposite side of the garage wall in my house entryway. Zero problems since then. It cost me about $12 in parts and 45 minutes of my life, but we're now going on 9 years with a gridge, and I don't think I could go back.

[MartyFunkhouser]

I had this issue in my house. Instead of running a new line, I ran an outlet from a plug inside the house on the opposite side of the garage wall in my house entryway. Zero problems since then. It cost me about $12 in parts and 45 minutes of my life, but we're now going on 9 years with a gridge, and I don't think I could go back.

Yeah this was a workaround that I considered. I have an outlet on the opposite of the garage wall that I could use. It would solve the fridge/freezer problem, but probably not the car charger problem.

[Donuthole]

Yeah this was a workaround that I considered. I have an outlet on the opposite of the garage wall that I could use. It would solve the fridge/freezer problem, but probably not the car charger problem.

Right, but it would allow you to delay that expense until you actually have an e-car. And spare you the burden now, when things are tight.

I actually did this same thing in our first apartment in Lehi back when I was in law school. We had a massive pantry and our kitchen was tiny with minimal counter space. The over-the-range microwave thing was not quite the norm then, so our countertop microwave was taking up about 50% of our usable counter space. I took it upon myself to run an outlet into the pantry (100% against renter policy, of course) so we could put our microwave on a shelf in there. It worked brilliantly, and looked and functioned like it was designed that way. And i'm sure every single person who has used apartment 1L in that building has been grateful for that outlet.

[BigFatMeanie]

I had this issue in my house. Instead of running a new line, I ran an outlet from a plug inside the house on the opposite side of the garage wall in my house entryway. Zero problems since then. It cost me about $12 in parts and 45 minutes of my life, but we're now going on 9 years with a gridge, and I don't think I could go back.

9 years is a pretty long time to hold a gridge