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The Home Reno Thread

engineered moves less than solid wood, and a lot depends on how the wood was "engineered" . That said, moisture moves wood. Period. Full stop.
whether its absorbing or releasing , it expands or contracts. That's the whole point of letting flooring acclimate to the building for a couple days before the install, let the floor get used to the humidity in the place it will live.
Then try and keep relative humidity sort of balanced. Its nothing to be feared or alarmist about, but most flooring issues are self inflicted.
 
@MadMike, I hear you on Acacia, I have 1200 sqft of engineered on the second floor (which we love and looks awesome) and have been spending the last wk capping the formerly carpeted stairs with solid treads. 1" thick acacia planed down to 5/8, I found with the solid wood the density is all over the map from light colored wood that is a soft as pine to black dark grain that is harder than oak, and squirrely grain which makes planing it a PITA. And its very prone to cracking and checking so it needs to be worked carefully.

@shanekingsley, white oak is one of the most stable woods in existance , it will look spectacular. I just made 30 floor registers for a house in burlington that was having a 1/4 sawn white oak floor installed, lovely floor.
 
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crankcall said:
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@shanekingsley, white oak is one of the most stable woods in existance , it will look spectacular. I just made 30 floor registers for a house in burlington that was having a 1/4 sawn white oak floor installed, lovely floor.
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Did you use metal grates or just wood? I installed picture framed wood vents in out floor and they look fantastic but flow like ****. Probably less than 1/2 the flow of normal grates. Next time I do it, I will probably make hybrid vents with metal louvers flush mounted in a wood frame.
 
I used just wood, ran the slots the long way. Measuring the slot on a metal grate and the metal dividers and calculating 'open space the wood ones are within 90% when you go long way. I also chamfered the bottom of the slot so it has a venturi effect , more open space on the bottom to encourage flow.
CNC machine makes them all uniform and near perfect.

Downside is there is no 'slide' to regulate air flow , its just open. But does anybody close those slides anyway?
 
crankcall said:
I used just wood, ran the slots the long way. Measuring the slot on a metal grate and the metal dividers and calculating 'open space the wood ones are within 90% when you go long way. I also chamfered the bottom of the slot so it has a venturi effect , more open space on the bottom to encourage flow.
CNC machine makes them all uniform and near perfect.

Downside is there is no 'slide' to regulate air flow , its just open. But does anybody close those slides anyway?
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Thanks. Mine have the slots going the long way as well, but to make they strong enough, they left more than 50 % of the wood. No taper to the cutouts. They used a punched sheet metal slider below to allow you to close them off, but I removed it as I could never imagine wanting less flow.
 
shanekingsley said:
Thanks.
We did remove the old insulation and do spray foam for about 50% of the house. Also replaced all windows with triple glazed and replaced all exterior doors & garage door. Also gutted 3 washrooms and added dual flush toilets. Removed our chimney, and put a metal roof on and added all new kitchen appliances that are all much more energy efficient. I did some brief looking around and it seems that we might be able to get around $15k back from this federal renovation rebate, but always looking for more gifts from the gov.

edit: just found this - provincial rebates are essentially dead: https://greenon.ca/

When we were trying to sort through all the wood flooring choices, we ended up getting a Superior Flooring product - engineered white oak in hand scraped, so nicks and scratches over time should blend in well. The flooring just arrived yesterday and is really beautiful right now. What kind of effect does humidity and dryness have on engineered floors?
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I installed 2 new toilets last year, similar dual flush etc. The smaller tank size and less water flush amount I expected to see some difference in the water bill. Nope, maybe $20. Also did LED's in the whole house replacing compact florescence etc. same result. Installing energy efficient stuff etc. is great, but it only helps you maintain your consumables/consumption in line with the rates of increases. There is never a ROI.

Curious what company you used for your windows and doors?
 
sburns said:
I installed 2 new toilets last year, similar dual flush etc. The smaller tank size and less water flush amount I expected to see some difference in the water bill. Nope, maybe $20. Also did LED's in the whole house replacing compact florescence etc. same result. Installing energy efficient stuff etc. is great, but it only helps you maintain your consumables/consumption in line with the rates of increases. There is never a ROI.

Curious what company you used for your windows and doors?
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I seldom do anything for a monetary ROI!

The windows are Strassburger and all the exterior doors are Ruscan. Everything installed by the general contractor doing the whole reno. The doors have yet to go in, but the windows are beautiful.
 
sburns said:
I installed 2 new toilets last year, similar dual flush etc. The smaller tank size and less water flush amount I expected to see some difference in the water bill. Nope, maybe $20. Also did LED's in the whole house replacing compact florescence etc. same result. Installing energy efficient stuff etc. is great, but it only helps you maintain your consumables/consumption in line with the rates of increases. There is never a ROI.

Curious what company you used for your windows and doors?
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in June 2017 I did some changing to reduce electricity and water costs.

1) Changed approx 60 incandescent bulbs ranging from 60-100watts each to LEDs and another 20 from fluorescent to LED. Cost $1000, savings $1600/year.
2) Added a timer to my pool pump, $100. Saves $300/year.
3) Changed 20 wall switches switch and 10 outlets (ones with PCs and TVs) to smart types. Cost $500, save $200/year.
4) Added 2000l rainwater collection, cost $1000 saves about $500/year in water/sewer charges.

Overall I have invested between $2500 and $3000 in simple upgrades, I figure these cut my water and hydro by about $2500/year.

in 2015 I paid about $4500 in hydro, water sewer. Last year with the upgrades (and some educating to the house occupants), we cut the bill to a modest $1680 for the year.

I also insulated the garage to R40 in the roof and R27 walls, I can heat the place from -10 to +15c in about 2 hours with a 5KW electric furnace. Not sure how much this cost or how much it saves as I only heat the room when I'm working there.
 
crankcall said:
@madmike, whats a smart outlet and wallswitch and what does it do?
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Smart switches and outlets are programmable and controllable from a smart phone, home automation syctem or or PC. The communicate via wifi.


The simple things anyone can do using a phone and or Alexa or Google Home:
- see the status of the switch (on, off or if dimmable the %dim)
- turn switches on/off using the app or with voice commands
- set schedules for them to come on /off. For example, if I forget to turn a light off, it will automatically shut off at 1AM


They are also controllable through higher end apps that can react to triggers and process scenes. A trigger might be something like sunset, sunrise, a door opening, or another switch being turned on. A scene is a sequence of events that happen at a set time, or upon a trigger.


Examples:

Simple:
Status & Control: I can see whether a light is on or off, power to my Christmas Tree lights is on or off using my phone from wherever I am.
Scheduled: I can set any switch to off or on based on time of day and day of week. My pool pump runs for 20 minutes every 4 hours and for 6 hours during discount hydro hours.


Advanced
Triggered: I can set a light to switch off 30 minutes after sunrise, set the garage and path lights to come on when I get witin 200m of the house.
Scene: I can tell Google Home to "Play Monday Night Football." It will turn on the power to my TV, turn the TV and load DAZN, dim the TV room lights and IF the sun is still up, it will close the shades.


Where the savings come in form me is as follows:


1) Timers on pool and lights. My lights all shut off at 2 hours after sunrise, 9AM and at 1AM. Some rooms (bathroom, closets) go off a few minutes after they are switched on.
2) TV/PC bleed. A small amount of power is consumed keeping computers and AV gear warm for the 23 hours a day when they are not used - I now save that.
 
While you save the phantom power from your previous electronic devices, you have added dozens of devices that are constantly thinking and using power. If well designed, it should be minimal, but you could use the same argument for the rest of your consumer electronics.

Thanks for the timings on your pool pump. That one will be a big savings.
 
GreyGhost said:
While you save the phantom power from your previous electronic devices, you have added dozens of devices that are constantly thinking and using power. If well designed, it should be minimal, but you could use the same argument for the rest of your consumer electronics.

Thanks for the timings on your pool pump. That one will be a big savings.
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Turns out a Rogers HD box draws 23watts on standby (*7), 2 LG plasmas draw 27watts (*2) and more TVs that draw about 6w each (*5). Add 15w for 2 PCs. That's a total of 260w or about $25/mo at the current Alectra rates. The smart switches use about .6w each, so 30 of them consume $3/mo. So I save about 250/year on power drain alone PLUS the extra efficiencies I get from scheduling and controls.

They are cheap.
 
Mad Mike said:
Turns out a Rogers HD box draws 23watts on standby (*7), 2 LG plasmas draw 27watts (*2) and more TVs that draw about 6w each (*5). Add 15w for 2 PCs. That's a total of 260w or about $25/mo at the current Alectra rates. The smart switches use about .6w each, so 30 of them consume $3/mo. So I save about 250/year on power drain alone PLUS the extra efficiencies I get from scheduling and controls. They are cheap.
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Now I am curious what product or brand these smart switch/outlets you are using?
 
I found out today the difference between round and oval toilets. Apparently, we have two round and one oval.

sburns said:
Now I am curious what product or brand these smart switch/outlets you are using?
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Planning on hacking in and turning on all of his TV's?
 
sburns said:
Now I am curious what product or brand these smart switch/outlets you are using?
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I bought most of them at Costco -- I'm sure they are Chinese re-branded under the name CE Home, they are CSA certified. I just bought 6 more for the little apartment above my garage, they cost 2 for $39 for the dimmers (they don't sell on/off only switches), and 2 for $20 for the single plug sockets. For the pool pump I went with a Woods WiOn 50054, it cost about $90 but it's designed for heavier loads like pool pumps. They have a cheaper one without an enclosure for about $40

A Google Home costs about $100 (not necessary but fun), the mini version about $40 -- the only difference is sound quality. I also added a couple of Broadlink IR blasters (fun -- not for energy savings), they make it easier to control TVs.

Apps are free.
 
My hot tub was/is my worst offender with power consumption, apparently within the control panel is the ability to extend the idle periods between pump cycling on and off, looking into that next mild day.
None of our tv's are smart, only laptops so no PC's running and no cable boxes ect so I suspect our 'phantom power' is minimal.
I like the play value of smart switches, lights coming on when I'm entering ect. I'll need to wait for the price to come down.
 
crankcall said:
My hot tub was/is my worst offender with power consumption, apparently within the control panel is the ability to extend the idle periods between pump cycling on and off, looking into that next mild day.
None of our tv's are smart, only laptops so no PC's running and no cable boxes ect so I suspect our 'phantom power' is minimal.
I like the play value of smart switches, lights coming on when I'm entering ect. I'll need to wait for the price to come down.
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Do hot tubs have a temp schedule? Eg run up to 106 from 03:00 to 07:00, or allowed to drop to 100 during the day. This is one application where all this smart crap makes sense. Press a button on your phone to tell the hot tub you sre coming so it can heat and filter the water.
 
80 bulbs for $1000?! I've done all the bulbs in/out of my home and cost was maybe $100 at most (buy when they are on sale with instant rebates so around $6 for 4 bulbs).
 
Hardwrkr13 said:
80 bulbs for $1000?! I've done all the bulbs in/out of my home and cost was maybe $100 at most (buy when they are on sale with instant rebates so around $6 for 4 bulbs).
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I agree you can do that if you lighting is just screw in bulbs ... not the case for pot lights and fluorescent tubes/fixtures -- these can cost between $10 and $30/light. My garage has 12 x T8 fluorescent tubes -- the cost about $12 each, we changed about 30 x 4" pot lights, LED bezels are about $20 in bulk. Doesn't take long to hit $1000!

Anyway, the lights will return their cost in 1 year, and with the added longevity of LEDs, they should keep on givin!
 
Looking for a variety of indoor lights (2-3 pendants above island, an industrial dark bathroom light, several interior ceiling lights and several exterior wall mounted lights).

Also looking for a neat ceiling fan that will be mounted in a high point of a vaulted ceiling. Doesn't matter so much if it has a light or not, but it should have strong wood tones, because there are two large Douglas Fir beams on either side of it. I kinda liked this one and also saw another one with three blades that was pretty interesting. https://www.lowes.ca/ceiling-fans/k...VjYbACh09Qw7qEAQYASABEgLWyfD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Went to Home Depot and found a kitchen faucet we liked. Went to Lowes and they had some neat ceiling fans. Went to a local lighting store and saw some much better styles of lights.

Any suggestions on good west end shops to look for fans or lights?

About a month to go - on the home stretch!
 
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