Vanity Hell

Initially we decided to get a new vanity for our new bathroom. After looking at vanities, ad nauseum, at  the big box stores, online and some local bath suppliers, I can to the conclusion that most all vanities are junk. They are primarily made with MDF and particle board for anything under $600. The problem with MDF and particle board is they don't tolerate moisture well and can swell if they get wet. There are a lot of designer vanities for around a thousand and more and I'm sure they're much better quality but I wasn't about to blow that much cash.

Aside from quality of construction, I have a floor register that sits right were most vanities have legs. This means I need to find a vanity with furniture style legs that would not conflict with register. It also needed to go flush again the side wall, and some don't allow this.

I found a vanity at Home Depot that looked like it'd work. I had to order it, but at least it was free shipping. When I attempted to install the vanity I noticed a fatal flaw in the design. The back of the vanity allows 10" in the center for plumbing, but my plumbing wasn't completely centered. Most vanities have an open back to accommodate plumbing anomalies but this one does not. I could cut it but it'd look awful since it has an open shelf design and the plumbing would be visible. So this vanity is going back to the store.

Here you can see the floor register and the plumbing is off to the left

The brand/model is Foremost Exhibit. I learned Foremost is just Home Depots name for vanities they resell from different manufactures. They don't tell you the original manufacturer. It came with a granite top that I was planning on reselling since my wife wanted white.

In this photo you can see the back of vanity only allows a small opening (10") for plumbing. The website doesn't mention this constraint

The open design shows back of the vanity. Best I can tell the only wood used in the vanity is the legs and the backing; the rest is MDF and particle board. Still, it looks like wood, but maybe over time it would delaminate.

The finish quality is not good. Up close there are all sorts of rough edges and imperfections. It looks nice from a distance however.

So back to the drawing board. I found another vanity from a local bath retailer and it's solid wood construction but the leg would hit the register, so it wouldn't work. Now the plan is put a new quartz top on the old vanity.

The Rise and Fall of the Evaporative Cooler

I written before on how I tried to live with my evaporative cooler and how it just didn't work out. Here the cooler sits proudly on the roof, in all its ugliness.




I got AC this past fall, not so ironically after the hottest summer in recent history. We decided comfort is very important to us; it affects our mood and can have a strong bearing on our day to day happiness. So the extra $50 or so dollars a month we pay extra is more than worth it.

Here is the last sighting of the cooler as the roofing company removed it from the premises and patched the roof.

Next Spring I'll probably put a whole house fan in to reduce the amount the AC needs to run

The Laundry Room Makeover

Our laundry started life (for us) in bad condition: nasty yellow vinyl flooring, a loose and clogged dryer vent, and all sorts of wall maladies.

The loose dryer vent would thrash when the dryer ran. I discovered the duct had become completely clogged with lint and the pressure detached the duct so it was venting hot humid air into the floor joists. This likely accounts for the squeaky subfloor upstairs. I bought a duct cleaning brush but it was only 12' and he duct was longer so I had to attack it from both sides. I removed a ton of lint.

Sadly this flooring never came back in style

The plumber who installed the new rough-in valve for the bathroom (other side of this wall) suggested a nice box for the laundry plumbing. It was a great idea.  

When we demoed the bathroom (left wall of laundry room), we discovered 2x6 studs. This allowed us to run a new dryer vent in between the walls and to vent out just above the window (south). When I had AC installed I asked them to install the new dryer vent (rigid). I have yet to figure out why the original builder ran it about 14' longer to the east side of the house.

The new laundry room with no dryer vent exposed. The walls had to be patched and textured in a number of areas. The texture is called stomp and requires a funny looking brush. We used a flat enamel Home Depot paint to minimize the texture. I would have liked a white window but we saved some money by going with a vinyl window in this room and it only comes in one color (our exterior window color is tan).

Last thing to do is to add floor trim, a cabinet, a new door and we're done

Today I Learned How to Spell "Escutcheon"

After the bathroom was painted I noticed how dingy the toilet water supply valve looked. I went to Home Depot to get a replacement where I learned from the helpful plumbing department guy that I wouldn't be able to get the escutcheon plate off because of the copper compression ring. As it turns out, the compression ring is exceedingly difficult to remove for the average DIYer. I wanted to put on a nice new shiny escutcheon plate, not one that is split (so it can be put on without taking off valve). The guy in the plumbing department show me a new style of push connect valve. This type of valve is available from BrassCraft and Sharkbite. BTW, these cost about $5 more than the compression nut style valve. I also wanted a nice 1/4 turn ball valve instead of the older (oval turn knob) turn-forever-and-leak style. To put this on I had to cut the pipe just behind the old compression ring. I used a $6 cheapo pipe cutter. I sanded the pipe to remove the burrs and get it nice and shiny. Before replacing the new valve body I spray foamed the wall cavity because the pipe was loose. After the great stuff foam dried, it was very secure. Now I could slide on the new escutcheon plate. The valve simply slides on, but with firm pressure. NOTE: YOU MUST PUSH IT ON 1-1/8". Mark the pipe to make sure it's fully on. If not you could have a catastrophic failure and flood your house. Once on, a plastic nut slides in place to keep it tight. I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I'd guess it uses water pressure to compress against the pipe. I bought two and one was defective and simply wouldn't go the full 1 1/8". I got a new one and it slid on perfectly, actually going a bit more than 1-1/8". I turned on the water main with my wife watching it to check for leaks. One side note about this style is the valve body rotates freely about the pipe. Now if I ever need to put on a new escutcheon plate in the future, I can easily pop this off and replace, granted it'll be years and years before I touch again, hopefully.

No, the other Kohler Cimarron Toilet

I'm less than proud of the fact I looked at more than a few toilets for my new bathrooms. I settled on the Kohler Cimarron because it seemed to be high quality and it was the shortest (depth) toilet I could find for the price. Two of my bathrooms are really small, so an extra inch makes a big difference. The Kohler was about a half inch shorter, yay! And, admittedly, I was excited abou the aqua flush engine.

I purchased the first toilet at Lowes, on sales for around $230. Sadly, I discovered a huge crack in the tank when I removed it from the box. This was a major downer since I had to pack it back up and return. Next one I checked out in the store. (BTW, it seems to me that someone either returned it broken and didn't say anything - despicable - or Lowes put it back on the shelf. Either way, I've learned to check things out that would be a pain to return.

Ok, so I got the Lowes toilet home and it was easy enough to install. I went for the bells and whistles (XL 10 year wax ring). I even read the instructions about not installing the ring unless it's 70F or above for proper flow. Made sense to me. I put it on the heat register for about 15 minutes.

Now being so pleased with the Kohler, I decided to get another one for the master bath. This time I went to Home Depot since it's closer and it was also on sale. I found the same one: same color, elongated, 1.28GF, ADA height. I was really excited to get another. I installed it with great pride and then I opened and closed the lid. Something was different. It was the lid, it wasn't a soft close like one from Lowes. How could this be? It's the same toilet. Well upon close inspection. They're not exactly the same. The have different model numbers to start. The verbiage on the boxes indicates a subtle difference. The one from Home Depot says "Quick Attach, Quick Release Seat Included" The Lowes box says "Quiet Close, Quick Release Seat Included". So take note Kohler and Home Depot. This sort of chicanery is what pisses consumers off to no end. Specifically, you are selling different products under the same name and that's misleading. It was reasonable for me to expect to receive the same product as what was sold at Lowes. In actuality I don't care much that one of the toilet's slams closed, it's that I was duped. Will I return the toilet to Home Depot? Although it will be a huge pain in the ass, I may just do that. I have 90 days after all.

The models numbers are as follows Lowes K-118113-0, Home Depot K-11451-0. Neither of which generate any search hits on Google. Did I write too much about toilets? Perhaps, but I think this practice of Kohler is misleading and wrong and felt I need to say something about it. 

For reference, here is the Home Depot toilet for $228 (as of this writing) http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100658777/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=cimarron&storeId=10051#.UN0ysonjmCs

And the Lowes for $239 (as of this writing) http://www.lowes.com/pd_39461-20602-11813-0_0__?productId=3163897&Ntt=cimarron&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dcimarron&facetInfo=

BTW, the extra $11 is totally worth it for the soft close lid!

Where are the homeowner blogs?

Whenever I search for help on remodeling I always seem to get spam and commercial results. I would really like to hear from other homeowners on their remodel experience, but it seems the internet it not a place where that is possible. I have much better luck talking to my neighbors, friends, coworkers etc. Forums are a good resource too. I realize that most people are not as enthusiastic about remodeling as me but I also believe that those that do write about their experiences are drowned out by the spam. Even if I restrict my search to blogspot.com, 99% of the results are spam. Recently I've tried searching on air conditioner quotes to get some help on what I should pay attention to in dealing with a A/C contractor, but I get nothing but spam. Similarly I'm sure my blog won't ever reach anyone due to the sea of spam out there.

Hourly or Fixed Bid Contract Work?

I've long wondered what is the best arrangement for paying contractors: hourly or fixed bid. Pay hourly and they could work slow or worse, be learning on your dime. Pay fixed bid and they could work too fast, and cut corners. As an example, the electrician who installed about 40 recessed lights for me finished in about 2.5 days. He estimated it would take him a week. I paid him a fixed price and he made some serious dough for the 2.5 days he worked. Another contractor estimated 1.5 weeks to complete the job. I have to admit I was a bit peeved he finished so quickly. There were some quality issues with his work but nothing too bad. Similarly, I paid a handy man hourly to do some work and he treated me like a paycheck.  But it took me a while to catch on. At first he worked fast and did great work. Then he slowed down and seemed to always finish the job right around 5 - how coincidental! With hourly, it seems the burden falls upon the homeowner to do a lot of the planning and oversight, for example, ensure materials are available, and arrange the work in the most efficient manner. Since you're paying hourly there is little incentive for the contractor to plan well, or work quickly. I didn't like this arrangement much since it required more work on my part, and I got really stressed when projects took longer than estimated. The fixed bid seems to be a good option for work that is easy to estimate. A couple examples that come to mind are painting, tile work, installing floors/doors, removing a tree etc. These are all tasks that professional should be able to estimate accurately. If they are unwilling to go fixed bid, that could be a red flag that they're not confident in their trade. The problem for me, is, like most homeowners who don't have home improvement experience, how to analyze a contractors bid. For example, I have no idea if one week is reasonable to install lights, or tile a bath. It helps to have a general contractor resource who can review bids check for fairness. Multiple bids are usually a good mechanism to root out high ball bids, but may not always work. Scope is an important issue with fixed bid, for example, a task to repair drywall imperfections can be vague, depending on how obvious they are, and without identifying each issue with tape (work on your part), the end result may not meet expectations. I like to ask fixed bid contractors how much they charge per hour incase something else comes up that is not in the scope of the bid. Fixed bid will surely limit your risk, of slow work or inefficiencies, but you may end up paying a premium since the contractor is taking on some risk of the unknown. A confident contractor however should be proficient at estimating work. If you have a good trust relationship with a contractor, who is very competent, hourly may work well. I think the bottom line is to select really good contractors that know exactly how to do the job and can problem solve when the unexpected occurs.

Questions to ask your Electrician

Here's a list of questions to ask an electrician who you are considering for installing recessed lights. Sadly most of these I only realized after the job was done and mistakes were made.

Are you a licensed electrician? Ask for proof.

What brand of lights and trim do you use? It matters. The premier brands are Juno and Lightolier. Elite, Home Depot (Halo/Cooper) and several other makes are perfectly good. If you don't specify you might get some Chinese knockoffs. I do not recommend the Halo ALL-PRO trims that use bands instead of springs to secure the trim against the housing -- they are a pain to install/remove and the finish quality is not great. Remember trims, not housings, are what you'll see, so you might opt for something that has a quality finish. If you are particular, you should look at the trims in person. They can differ in color, finish, texture etc. from a catalog. Put model numbers, color, and quantity in the contract!

How do you make cuts for the cans? They should use a hole saw. If they cut them with a keyhole saw I'd run. The hole saw produces a perfect circle to fit snugly around the light housing. My electrician used a keyhole saw and produced holes that were not so round. The problem here is there is drywall cuts exposed around the trim, ugh, and the cans are not tight.

How do you ensure there is sufficient space for a can before cutting the hole? If they cut a hole and discover a pipe or other obstruction then you got an extra hole in the ceiling. They should use a wire thing to probe up there to determine if there's clearance.

Do you use a flex bit? An electrician on a fixed bid is incentivized to produce lots of holes in your walls/ceilings since they can work faster. Of course this sucks for you. Some electricians use a flex bit to minimize holes. Some will say flex bits are dangerous since you are drilling blindly and could hit a pipe or something bad. In either case you want an electrician that is experience in remodel, knows the tricks, and can produce the least number of holes.

How do you determine light placement? Some use lasers to align lights. Mine turned out pretty good in terms of placement and he only used a measuring tape. Placement can be highly subjective so I recommend you walk through and markup all the light placements if you're particular.

Do you use plastic tarps to protect furniture/etc from dust debris? Drywall will still find it's way through your house but insist on drop clothes.

Do you cleanup? Most probably won't and it will just take some vacuuming.

Are you going to haul away the debris? If you are replacing lots of old fixtures, you'll end up with a pile of junk to take to the dump. The electrician should take it with him.

And remember to put ALL the details in writing, in the contract!

Why I Don't Like Evaporative Coolers

At first I thought quite highly of my evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) but then I lived with it for a while. I'll start first with what I dislike about it.

• It doesn't have a thermostat. If I was to install one it would need to be some distance from the air vent to be effective. Unfortunately the control is directly underneath the vent so installing a thermostat would involve non trivial wiring. Due to the lack of a thermostat I generally have two options: 1. Let it run all night and wake up freezing or 2. Turn off before bed with not so cool temperature. I also question the practicality of a thermostat since if it turns on when there is no window open, the motor will strain and possibly overheat.
• You must have a window open during operation. The opening and closing of windows gets tiring. Of course the air only goes where there is an open window. Open the windows too much and hot air invades the house; too little and you strain the fan and limit cooling. It has to be just right for optimum cooling. This is a pain.
• It only works when the humidity is low. There's this thing called wet bulb temperature, which I won't attempt to explain here. The wet bulb temperature is what dictates the performance of the cooler. When the humidity and temperature rise, the capability of the cooler to cool diminishes. We've had plenty of humid stretches where the house is not being cooled and just gets humid ~60%RH, which is a danger zone for mold/mildew, not to mention at the fringe of comfort.
• Coolers require a fair amount of maintenance. The pads need to be replaced once per year. The pump filter often gets clogged with the aspen fibers. The basin collects all sorts of dead bugs and aspen fibers and needs to be cleaned out. The water shutoff sometimes doesn't shutoff at correct water level and overflows, wasting a tremendous amount of water until resolved. It requires winterizing in Fall and Spring activation, in most climates. The cooler, like most, is installed on the roof, which is an additional annoyance for maintenance.  This all adds up to a lot of maintenance for a relatively simple device.
• Noise: it's a bit noisy on high and rattles the ceiling
• It's quite breezy under the vent. Unlike an AC system, all the air of an evaporative cooler exits through one vent and the blast of air you get by walking under it is sometimes annoying. Additionally the floor under the vent is prone to excessing moisture - bad for wood floors.
• It's ugly and visible from the front of the house

What I like about it

• It does humidify the house. I like to keep it between 30-40%RH but sometimes it goes up to 60%
• It should in theory use less electricity than an AC unit but I have not been able to verify.
• It's nice to get fresh air in the house

Update Sept 2012 - I got AC and promptly had the Swamp Cooler removed. A roofing company removed it for only $250 and patched the roof.

Evaporative Cooler Pads: Aspen Vs. Spongy Synthetic

The house I bought came with an evaporative cooler. I thought this was the greatest invention of all time until I lived in the house for a while and had to deal with various maintenance anomalies.  More on that later. The cooler came with aspen pads (made with Aspen wood fiber). When winterizing the system I found all sorts of aspen fibers in the basin, clogging up the pump. I thought there must be a better, less primitive material. In the following Spring, I found DIAL DuraCool pads at HD (http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100346714/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=evaporative+cooler+pad&storeId=10051). These are basically a sponge like material. The manufacturer claims they are cooler than both paper and aspen, and can be cleaned and reused, so I decided to give them a try. They seemed to work ok but it's hard to know if they were cooler than the aspen pads since I had no measurement of the aspen pads under the same conditions (temperature, humidity). I've read that pads should be changed each year. Yesterday, being the hottest day of the year at 100F, I decided to replace the pads since the cooler wasn't performing well. This time I decided to try the AspenSnow aspen pads http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100346409/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=evaporative+cooler+pad&storeId=10051 Interestingly, they claim they are cooler than the synthetic pads and paper. They both seem to agree they are cooler than paper but I didn't read what the paper pads claim. Hands down the aspen pads perform significantly better. It was amazing how much colder the air was. Aside from better cooling, they moved much more air than the sponge pads. Today will be the first full day test with the pads and with a forecast high of upper 90's, I'm hoping it will keep the house in mid 70's. Interestingly, Wikipedia alludes to better performance of aspen pads due to the wood fiber soaking up the water, but that assertion is flagged with a "dubious" citation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

130V vs 120V Halogen Lights

We recently had recessed lights installed in our kitchen and living room. We chose the gimbal style of trim since the ceiling is vaulted and eyeballs looks dated, IMO. Initially I was shocked by the lack of light they provided. The light was a yellowish hue, as if they were on a dimmer. I took out one of the bulbs and noticed they were 130V. What?? The US electrical system is 120V, so why 130V? I did a bit of reading and discovered this class of bulbs was introduced for power savings and longer life. The major downside is that you trade a little power savings for a lot less brightness. I found an article stating that 130V results in a 14% power savings but provides 25% less light! If we didn't need the extra light and were ok with the color it wouldn't be a problem, but we do. My electrician claimed ignorance. I ordered 120V bulbs from the same manufacturer (PAR30 Sylvania Capyslite). As expected the 120V lights were much brighter and white, not yellowish. These are only 50W, not 75W, since our ceiling could only support a shallow can which is only rated for a max of 50W. The 75W Halogens at 130V might be bright enough. The Halogens are still not as nice as the CFL R30s in the rest of the house in terms of light dispersion and brightness. The halogens have a glare to them that stings your eye a bit, whereas the CFLs produce a soft white, evenly distributed light. Of course the downside to CFLs is they take a while to reach full brightness. I haven't tried any incandescent R30s but will probably put a few in the hallway and other areas that don't stay on long enough to merit a CFL.

Not Home Yet

In August of 2010, my wife and I purchased a 1973 house in need of updates. We had recently moved from the east coast, in search of mountains, sun and a priority on happiness. The house we lived in on the east coast was purchased new, so we had no experience with house maintenance or dealing with contractors. Our Colorado house had not seen many updates in its 37 years, so we immediately started thinking about remodeling. In this blog I will write about our struggle to remodel our house and attempt to not lose our savings in the process.