Home ownership

IDK, I had a water heater do that last year. It's still going strong.

I am going ahead with an install... I cant do a tankless right now.
the guy quoted me $2k for everything which is about what I had anticipated for a 50 gal Rheem. I looked online at home depot for the unit he quoted and it is Rheems Top of the line 42k btu 50 gal... for $1300, but he is only charging me $800 for the tank itself. I think I am okay with that... installation in a couple hours.

you're probably right about the unit still being operable, and it still working as it should right now... but I might as well just get'er done.

I need some type of a backsplash for that range area... I am looking into it.

I added this factory backsplash 'accessory' to the back of the range to help with splatters as a temp solution.

Is that a Samsung refrigerator? They have one on sale at Costco for 1300 off that I really want to get, but there are a LOT of bad reviews of Samsung. Apparently the ice maker/water pitcher area tends to spring a leak really frequently. Anyone here have good/bad luck with Samsung?

Coincidentally, the fan on mine started making noise yesterday, so I guess I will be de-icing the coil this weekend.

Fwiw, my parents have a similar model as mine without the preview door or whatever it's called. They did have an issue with the ice maker, but it was from a broken piece somewhere. No leak, but it wouldn't work and of course they never bothered to fix it.

The key phrase Mshu used was "it's 15 years old" That's like 90 years old in hot water tank years. 😀 I've pushed mine a year with a leak but it's just a matter of time. You risk the tank giving out and pouring gallons of water on the ground. And then not having any hot water until you schedule a new installation.

I saw those reviews, but I also saw many many more with positive reviews. I think ice makers in general are really unreliable. My LG also had ice issues. A good thing with this Samsung is that I can turn the ice on and off.... and the water tastes great out of the water pitcher.
It's okay for the price point.

Yeah, I thought about the good vs bad reviews. Obviously all the bad ones are when something went wrong, but on the flip side, all the good ones for the most part are when the fridge is a week old.

Thanks for the input Randall, I think I may just say **** it and get one. For some reason I thought my current one was an LG, but it's a Samsung and been issue free for 14 years. I really wouldn't even care if the ice maker broke as long as it wasn't leaking. I so rarely use ice I could get by with ice trays. I do want that built in pitcher though!

Done...

Looks great! Is that horizontal copper pipe on the bottom right side part of the recirculating system? Where's the pump?

Does anyone know how to adjust the hysteresis on the temperature/gas valve? My hot water heater will sometimes let the water cool down too much. I solve it my just keeping the temperature higher (130F).

I noticed you have the shutoff valve on the cold water side. My old heater had it like that but when I replaced it, I had the plumber move it to the hot water output side.

We had a samsung refrigerator and it was beyond horrible. Everything broke on it. We lost it in the flood. Bought a GE and it has been great. We love the icemaker. Its just a tray in the bottom freezer drawer. Never jams. Great ice.

What BB said. GE with an ice maker but not a dispenser. But the water is so bad here, I don't even use the ice maker. Makes my cocktails taste like ****, even with the filter (Phoenix water is nut low water, worse even than LV water, which is pretty bad)

I've got a 4 gallon counter top drip water system and the fridge water tastes just as good with it's new filter... no worries here.

LV water is confirmed as terrible tasting... but supposedly tests great.

I think that is a lead for soft water... not really sure. I don't have any water softening.

Something like this?

I refinished my hardwood floors.

This floor is seventy years old and has been refinished once before. I can tell because they weren't thorough.

I rented five or six different machines from Home Depot to sand. A drum sander may be the most dangerous piece of equipment I have ever used and I own a joiner.

Near the end of sanding

I decided not to stain. I like a natural look and it brightens the place up. My goal was to have the whole floor just looking like natural wood.

Result after 2 weeks of sanding and 2 coats of Bona Mega ONE waterborne hardwood finish.

I still haven't done the fireplace, open to suggestions.

That looks great. I'm with ya on the natural color. As I was scrolling down and saw the penultimate pic I thought hmm, I really like that.

Thanks! You're just seeing the one floor but there are four more rooms plus hallway plus closets. One of the hardest jobs I've ever done.

Yikes! How long did all that work take?

Flooring is probably next, after the bath. Have hardwood in a couple rooms which needs to be redone, considering extending it to a hall and front room while I'm up.

Well, really, handing out money to have someone else do it. I'm sure I'd just screw it up.

On the bath, expecting to get ideas and at ballparks of money from the guys I interviewed this weekend/early next week. Probably choose someone later next week, iterate on detailed plans, and see how their schedule looks.

That looks wonderful. My living room/small dining room combo has hardwood floors that look almost exactly like that first pic. Perhaps even a little beyond that in a couple of spots. About the same vintage, maybe a few years older than yours.

The other rooms were carpeted by the 2nd owners with some sort of wood/particle board underneath the carpet, so I don't know if there is any hardwood left under those or not.

There's no way I can tackle that hardwood floor, but it is past overdue. Great job!

did you plain the boards or did you leave them natural?

the finish is quite nice.

If I understand your question, I started with an extremely rough grit on the drum sander, maybe 20 or so. It cuts through the floor like butter, you absolutely have to keep the machine moving at all times or you will carve a hole in the floor immediately. The air is choked with dust, you have to wear breathing protection etc. The machine is trying to eat its own power cord at every moment. It's horrible.

So I cut the top, probably up to 1/8th" off the floor with that and two higher grits on the drum sander before switching to an orbital sander to do passes at maybe 60 80 and 100.

Of course there was a ton of backbreaking work on my knees with the edge sander as well, many passes with many grits to get all the edging as good as the center.

Then I got a square buff sander and several grits up to like 200 and buffed it up with that for a while. I don't think sanding a floor much higher than that is going to be very rewarding but you could definitely keep going.

Nice...
sounds like you did plain the surface. it looks great by the way.

The only reason I asked is because some folks prefer a rough hewn surface with pits and unevenness.

good work.

-Is that paint on the fireplace or natural color?