Home Improvement

“Smiley -
Check them out your on engineer self. It should be simple enough to be a comparison shopper when it comes to mass produced cabinetry.

IMO, custom built are top $helf, and all the others lie heaped in the base cabinet...”

“on=own”

“Gojo, I ain't no enginerd anymore! I'm not all that smart like that anyway (which is a good reason not to be an enginerd anymore!).

Just wondered if anyone had an opinion. We're running into all different sorts of cabinet construction - plywood, MDF, box construction, framed construction, dovetail, no dovetail, etc.

Budget is king on the kitchen remodel, so we're looking for the best middle-of-the-road quality for the best price.

Beer's not included. :)”

“To save money, take a look at the ones you can assemble yourself. I've never tired it myself, but I've heard it's not hard to do and you can save a lot of money.

The last kitchen I did (about 7 years ago), we spent about 2,100 for them and they were mid grade.”

“What about refinishing and refitting the ones ya got?”

“It wouldn't hurt to look around a little bit. While I do shop at home depot, I usually find better quality & better prices at some lumber stores.”

“"What about refinishing and refitting the ones ya got?"

That's what I'm doing to save money. Maybe smiley can do the same?”

“When we re-did our condo kitchen used "Kraft-Maid" (I think that was the name), from Home Depot. They were nice mid-range. Nephew who is a contractor said, "These are nice cabinets."”

“got the NEW faucet installed after exchanging the dinged up one. noooooo problem except that the supply lines turned out to be 1/2" too short... a 3rd trip to Home Depot. after that, however, everything went well.”

“Ceo. Bob Nardelli of Home Depot gone. Finally!”

“We used Kraftmaid cabinets, too. They look really good and can take a lot of abuse.”

“While I am happy with the Kraftmaid cabinets we put in our last house I have to agree with Gojo that full custom built cabinets are insanely nice.”

“Any recommendations on natural gas furnaces would be appreciated. I am in the market to replace my old furnace as it's so noisy. What brand is best for quiet, reliable, and energy efficient. What's the best time of year to replace it in terms of getting a deal?”

“USA, there are quite a few quality names for furnaces.

The top being, Lennox, Arcoaire, Trane.

I personally like Goodman products (i've installed 6 or so of em), thats what I put in my place. They are about 40% cheaper than the above three with no noticeable drop in quality (my opinion only, I am sure others with more experience may differ eher). I like that Goodman has a lifetime warrantee on their heat exchangers. They offer a new 95% efficiency variable speed drive furnace that is really nice. Computerized diagnostics, multiple speed settings to increase efficiency and comfort.

Regardless of brand opt for the highest efficiency you can get, it may be worth getting a new A/C while you are at it, package deals save some loot. I believe that you can still get energy tax credits for the 07 year too, up to about $200.

Good luck.”

“I work on these things day in and day out...IMO, there is no "great" natural gas furnace out there unless it is the same one your grandparents used to have. The higher up you go in price, the more bells and whistles to go wrong...and I mean, stupid things that the average home owner cannot fix, therefore, calling out repair person to charge 90 plus bucks to do something stupid like take a leaf out of the inducer housing. Point is is that the first thing these new furnaces are, they are NOSES. If a booger gets in them, they stop working. If you don't know where to look for the boogers, it costs you.

Hot surface ignition - the ignitors are like light bulbs. They blow. They cost about 20 bucks but repair person plus ignitor is about 250 bucks.

Bryant 3 wire pilot system - these ignition systems just suck period. Stay away from them.

Programmable thermostats - these can become unsafe. I have had two incidences this year where the house was overheated because the "programmable" thermostat stuck in the on position. First one was ok because there was a blower motor to keep the house at 115 degrees constant for the 4 days the customer was away. Second incident, not so lucky. He had a boiler, no blower, and it fried his salt water fish tanks in the house. Also, had to have fire department come to check wiring in basement as the basement was VERY hot and the only safe way to turn off boiler was to turn off gas meter. Again, "programmable" thermostat stuck in on position. I would never recommend anyone use one of these at all.

Basically, all the furnaces out there are what they are. There are no great ones and there are no bad ones. They all will eat at your wallet in the long run because of the bells and whistles. And most problems are very minor that if the homeowner knew basic operating procedures, they could actually fix the thing themselves.

The most COMMON problem with the new "efficient" furnaces is that they get plugged somewhere, somehow. Most times, it is water somewhere. Dirty filter. Leaves or critters in vent systems. I've seen tennis balls in vents. Birds like to wind themselves up in the inducer motor cage. Take bird out, and wahlah, motor works fine.

Good luck. I hope I didn't confuse you. IMO, unless your furnace is producing carbon monoxide, I wouldn't replace it as of yet. Fix the noisy problem if you can, and get a few more years out of it.”

“I have a propane furnace downstairs, and a heat pump upstairs which blows "cold" air most of the time. Keep that in mind as I suggest what will be my next system when either or both systems need replacement. This one system will replace both systems I currently have.

Consider getting a ground-sourced heat pump. That would solve the furnace problem and get you a new A/C unit all in one shot. They live inside the house, so no A/C unit outside anymore, and they use about 1/3 the electricity of an air-sourced heat pump or A/C pump. Extremely quiet, too... they can live on a closet shelf.

Unlike air-sourced heat pumps, they blow very warm air since they are always pulling heat from 50F earth (or putting it back in during the summer). Down side is a $10K installation cost, but the ground loop is good for 50+ years and the pump inside should last longer since it isn't battling the weather all the time.

We have reached "peak gas" just like "peak oil", so gas prices will only keep rising at faster and faster rates. I can't wait to get rid of my gas furnace.”

“We've been very happy with our Trane high-efficiency unit.”

“Thanks for your input on the Goodman, Birch. That's what I'm getting (propane) if the bastard ever shows up, lol.”

“No prob nimblefoot.

My input is more from am installers perspective. Wolfie is the queen of the repair for sure!”

“http://www.ecovantageenergy.com/catalog/items/item1998.htm

I have a Rinnai Tropic wall mounted propane heater in my living room.
Love it! It heats my whole house.”

“as long as you're looking to replace it anyway save your self some money and use this opportunity convert to electric”

“"Again, "programmable" thermostat stuck in on position. I would never recommend anyone use one of these at all."

Thanks for a good heads up. I've been manually adjusting (from "off" during the morning/rest of the day, to 62 early evening, then to 55 at night) for a few years now. I don't like "automatic" stuff all that much; not enough "oversight". lol”

“Not only save money, but install some solar, then you don't rely on an outside source for your heat.

More info on ground-sourced heat pumps:

"The EPA confirmed the superior efficiency of geoexchange, finding that even on a source fuel basis — accounting for all losses in the fuel cycle including electricity generation at power
plants — geoexchange systems average 40% greater efficiency than air source heat pumps, 48% greater efficiency than gas furnaces, and 75% higher efficiency than oil furnaces. Today’s best geoexchange systems outperform the best gas technology, gas heat pumps, by an average of 36% in the heating cycle and 43% in the cooling cycle."”

“Geothermal will hopefully be installed in the next house we move to. Along with the little peak wind generators and supplemental solar/corn burner.”

“What do you mean thriftyhiker? An electric furnace? I'm open to any option. Thanks for everyone's info. As far as A/C, don't need that here in Seattle. As far as just fixing the noise, is that realistic?”

“Birch & wolfeyes

The furnace repairman said that the furnace can't be made quieter. He suggested a new American Standard (made by Trane?). I was thinking just the simple Contemporay Freedom 80 Single-Stage. 80% efficient which is much better than the 50% on this 25 year old beast I have now. 3k installed. It has an adaptive hot surface silicon nitride igniter. He says they last 270,000 lights or about 10 years and $90 to fix. Any feedback?”

“We are at Lowes tomorrow to pick out new everything for our kitchen.”

“Anyone ever gone for one of those tours of a Direct Buy warehouse? Know how much it costs to join? It seems like a really smart idea if you're doing renovations or appliance/furniture buying. I'd like to find out something about it w/out having to spend two hours on a tour with a salesperson.
last edited: 3/02/07 1:13:22 PM”

“I would try to get the high efficiency 90% furnace instead of the 80%. Unless the flue vent is an exceptionally long run, replaceing the typical B vent on the old furnace with the PVC the he furnaces uses does not add more to the job than you'll get back in gas savings in less than 2 years.

American Standard is fine. The price seems typical. I replaced 4 hot surface igniters ($30/ea) on my Trane furnace in 8 years. Ya never know.”

“I just did this garfum. New windows last year, new furnace and soon to be kitchen this.”

“WK, pick me up an over the oven microwave while you're there”

“We got the 92% eff. furnace by Trane. Installed price was about $3,500 including a new flue. There was a gas company rebate that brought it down close to what the less efficient furnace would have cost and like garfum states, we've saved the price difference in our utility bills already.”

“... we replaced the hot water heater with a high efficiency unit at the same time and were able to take the chimney out of the house. Now the roof has one less place to leak and we gained 4 sq ft in each of the two bathrooms that the chimney ran through. - I'm in the midst of renovating them both now.”

“Sure thing dude.

Almost forgot, got a new deep freeze unit as well. This was to replace the old 1950 deep freeze chest that actually still runs. That is the main reason I replaced it, it runs and runs and runs. Should help a little with the electric.”

“we've got an old freezer like that too, a freebee from a coworker”

“This one came with the house. Kinda funny, I was hoping the guys that dropped off the new one, would take the old one. When the guy looked at it, he nearly had a heart attack. He said, "Yo bro, I don't know if we will be able to get that b i t c h outta here."

They could not even get it out of the room. It measures 30" wide. The doorway measures 26". DOH!”

“Sawzall.”

“They could not even get it out of the room. It measures 30" wide. The doorway measures 26". DOH!”
Wounded Knee
4:00:35 PM

They built the house around it? ;-)”

“WK - I bet you'll see more than a "little" difference. Our 18+ y/o fridge was using 6.5 amps per hour, our new one uses 1.5 amps. Ends up being about a 10% drop in our total monthly useage. Just one fridge. Next up is our 18+ y/o freezer, also an energy hog.”

“He he he he Stovie...actually yes. I talked with my uncle over the weekend and asked him about the old deep freeze.

He said they used some kind of pulley system to lower the chest into the basement before any of the walls went up. The floor of the basement had been poured and was safe to walk on, so they brought it in this way.

I started taking the #&%!$ apart over the weekend. I got the lid off. The mother weighs 85 pounds...just the lid! Working on getting the compressor out tonight. After I get this out, we will try to get it out. If it is still too heavy, sawz-all!”

“So we are completly re-doing our kitchen and a fresh coat of paint is the first thing that needs to be accomplished.

I painted the ugly cabinets a few years ago with an oil based paint (blue). I need to paint over the blue now to make them white. The walls are also going to be white. Here is my question(s)

Do I use a oil base to paint over the cabinets or can I use a latex paint? If the answer is oil, can I then use the same oil base pait for the walls. I used latex on the walls previously.

Other than the ease of clean up, what are the pros/cons of latex-oil based paints?”

“Well, latex has less smelly and dangerous fumes and easier clean up (lots easier). I'd ask at the paint shop. Either way you'll probably need some serious primer to cover the blue or you'll end up with a faint blue tint coming through your white.”

“sass beat me to it, yep, you'll probably need a primer going from blue to white or several coats of the white”

“And by several he means about 6. I went from a minty green to white. Do yourself a favor and prime.”

“I'd stick with oil-based for the cabinetry. Latex is fine for walls.”

“Put in a new furnace at my daughters place, cut down a big birch, finishing up the stone fireplace. Tomorrow it's back to my place for a weekend of work. I'm actually learning stuff:)”

“Basically, I am priming though, yes. What does it matter if I use a coat of primer, then white paint. Isn't it basically the same thing?

I talked with my father and he said you should not use latex to cover up oil based paints. This sound right? I will be asking the person at the paint counter, however these people are not always the most trusted individuals.”

“primer will cover up your old paint and accept the new coat better...if you just started painting w/ the white you'd just keep getting a lighter and lighter shade of blue until it was finally white”

““Basically, I am priming though, yes. What does it matter if I use a coat of primer, then white paint. Isn't it basically the same thing?

I talked with my father and he said you should not use latex to cover up oil based paints. This sound right? I will be asking the person at the paint counter, however these people are not always the most trusted individuals.”
Wounded Knee
12:59:11 PM
4/05/07

Father knows best, which is why I suggested to stick with oil-based for the cabinetry above. ;)”

“Rat farts! I knew that was what you were going to say.”