The Home Improvement Thread

[Fobby]

We recently went tankless and cannot go back. Having 6 people in the home and never have to worry about running out of water is great. Its more about usability vs saving imo

[Knightslayer]

Originally Posted by kevman

Give it time, the paint is still "wet" for a few days and will show darker.

Also, sometimes the colour is perfect but the sheen from the touch up can throw it off when viewed from different angles. If you brush it on you won't match the orange peel of the original texture and where the brush is a little drier will have a shinier finish than where the paint was wet in the middle. If you roll it you'll get a duller set of dry nap marks on the outside vs. the inside where it was wet.

If you were doing any patching you'll have an area where you've sanded down the orange peel from the original coat which can be impossible to blend into the texture of the rest of the wall. Unless of course you're in a new build with sprayed walls that have never been roller painted. But then your touch up with a roller or brush will have a texture that doesn't match the rest of the sprayed wall.

Long story short, either don't worry about the minor imperfections or paint the entire wall.

No painter sprays walls in Calgary in new builds (or old).

Number one problem for not matching is previous walls are dusty, not in good shape, or paint hasn't been stirred well enough.

You also must use exact same paint as walls were previously done in. A company like benjamin moore has different brands of paint so even though you know the color, you must also know the brand that was used originally(Ben, Regal, Aura, Ultra spec) etc..

Sheen levels and paint color will be slightly off in each brand even if it's same color.

[Knightslayer]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Does paint change as it ages? I bought some paint to touch up some of years ago and it matched perfectly. I tried to do some touch ups today and it’s a little off, like darker than before.

Sometimes painters buy a fiver from a location in NE for example and then when they need another they buy it from SW location. It is always recommended to buy all your paint from same location as well as color could slightly differ.

So while your walls may look all the exact same color, parts of your house could be very slightly different.

It's why I always recommend mixing all paint together before using it.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

I'm uncertain about tankless. I've heard a lot of people bitch and complain about the systems and the water delivery. Also the price is considerably higher. Does the energy saved by not keeping a big tank of water hot offset that initial larger price and if it does over what sort of time frame?

Soft water is a must.

40 to 60 is not trivial. I can guarantee you the 60 will not fit where the 40 is nor will any of your exhaust suffice, you will probably require a dev permit as a result at which point you might as well go tankless.

2 X anything will require dev permit as well.

Tankless have reached the point where heating is very quick.

You won't save any material money on your bill, but you'll still have hot water after your kids have spent 20 mins each in the shower.

[timun]

Shazam, I don't know who told you all that, but it is plainly not true. A typical 40 gallon tank will use ~40,000 BTU/h, and a typical 50-60 gallon will use ~50,000 BTU/h. It's a very modest increase. Most 60 gal heaters will require a 4" vent; it's no big deal.

On the other hand a tankless heater may have a gas input of 200,000 BTU/h or more. The gas piping and flue venting rework is much more substantial.

[sa226]

We have 2, 50 gallon tanks. (No idea why house came like that)

I often puzzle over how much energy would be saved by removing one.

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[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by sa226

We have 2, 50 gallon tanks. (No idea why house came like that)

I often puzzle over how much energy would be saved by removing one.

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Half

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by timun

Shazam, I don't know who told you all that, but it is plainly not true. A typical 40 gallon tank will use ~40,000 BTU/h, and a typical 50-60 gallon will use ~50,000 BTU/h. It's a very modest increase. Most 60 gal heaters will require a 4" vent; it's no big deal.

On the other hand a tankless heater may have a gas input of 200,000 BTU/h or more. The gas piping and flue venting rework is much more substantial.

It won't fit. That's the problem. So you gotta move everything around. And you have to meet current code, so if you have something like a y-exhaust like what I have, then that needs to go. So now my furnace needs a new exhaust. At this point I should just set my house on fire.

[bizaro86]

Actually half? I've never practiced residential hvac, but it seems that the losses would be doubled but the actual usable consumption (heating up the water you use from inlet temp to hot) wouldn't change at all. But I have no idea how big those usages are relative to each other. Are the losses really the vast majority of the energy usage?

[sa226]

I can't imagine it would be half. The 2nd tank would be doing much less work to warm the water temperature, if the water entering it is already warmed. Which makes me wonder if there an optimum temperature setting for the first tank.

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[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by sa226

I can't imagine it would be half. The 2nd tank would be doing much less work to warm the water temperature, if the water entering it is already warmed. Which makes me wonder if there an optimum temperature setting for the first tank.

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That assumes you have two hot water tanks in series. I think you'd want them in parallel.

[mrkajz44]

I'm pretty sure "half" was a joke. It made me laugh anyway

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[timun]

Originally Posted by Shazam

It won't fit. That's the problem. So you gotta move everything around. And you have to meet current code, so if you have something like a y-exhaust like what I have, then that needs to go. So now my furnace needs a new exhaust. At this point I should just set my house on fire.

Uh, okay, so without getting too far into the weeds about the natural gas installation code, I can 100% confirm you'll have the exact same "problem" with a tankless heater. In fact it's likely even more work, as the gas pipe feeding your furnace room is likely to be too small, so that would have to get ripped out and replaced. The only advantage is that it'll take up less space in your furnace room, assuming you have a suitable open space along a wall to install the tankless.

[indes]

I have a brand new tankless and even though I was skeptical it's been fantastic. The master bath (farthest from the tank) takes about a minute to get hot water, kitchen is probably 20-30s. It also has some built in learning functions so if you use water at the same time regularly it will have the hot water ready.

[Knightslayer]

Waiting a minute for hot water doesn't seem fantastic to me.

I have a 50 gallon tank and have never ran out of hot water.

[cSpooge]

I have a tankless with a re circulation pump and I have hot water at all my taps with 3-4 seconds. My parents don't have one and it takes 15-20 seconds for the tap to get hot water.

[Fuzz]

Given the cost of water vs gas, any wasted water waiting for it to heat up is probably costing you more than going tankless anyway. You either waste gas or waste water.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Anyone have a recommendation for a home inspector they've used in the past? Had a guy lined up but he's apparenlty just moved to BC.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Anyone have a recommendation for a home inspector they've used in the past? Had a guy lined up but he's apparenlty just moved to BC.

Egbert from Diamond Home Inspections was thorough in my mind.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by puckedoff

Anybody here have hard floors (vinyl or laminate) in their basement? Does it feel cold to the touch?

I am losing this battle on a basement reno also, and have an older home so there is definitely no insulation under the slab. I like the look of vinyl compared to carpet but don't want to be freezing my feet.

Don't know how far you want to go, but, you could probably put in in-floor heating, probably be pretty expensive though.