Now is sure the time to stock-up on all the odds and ends stuff in various categories of tools! The Home Despots and Lowers have tons of unsold gift type tooley things on sale.
I bought a condo a couple of months ago for an unbelievable price from an estate. The move is in slow-motion and I don't plan on being in there for months. And, I'm going to have to wait a while to sell the old house. It's only 8 miles away but that's much too far to haul tools back and forth. (Right?) The place hasn't been updated since it was built in '74 and every room needs renovating plus all new bathrooms and kitchen. So, I get to fill the shopping cart with everything necessary to tool a home! Plus the deals on lighting, plumbing, tile, cabinets, quartz counters, flooring, carpet, etc. are the best I've seen. I put red tape on all my new goodies and explained to all the contractors that all my tools are available for their use but I will hunt them down like dogs if so much as a driver bit goes missing.
The condo's all electric and I hate that! There is this strange electric control thing that limits peak demand by shutting down the 2-stage auxiliary heaters on the heat pump or the AC unit or the water heater and stages them when demand is lower. I'm not certain if my electric company uses peak demand billing and what hours are on or off peak or how much the unit can save.
You don't have to convince us, only yourself. We don't pay your Visa bill at the end of the month.
Better restrict anyone from carrying Goo Gone or any other solvents that can remove tape goop from tools... Spray paint is more better. They can't make that disappear from all the nooks and crannies.
Go get a Job Box, in case someone breaks in to make an unauthorized tool withdrawal. Or get the steel and weld one up.
And a central station burglar alarm for the unit might be a good idea, with smoke detectors and a freeze alarm thermostat. If someone isn't living there and it freezes you get bursty pipes, and the downstairs neighbor might not appreciate the flood...
Double-check the Homeowner's Insurance fine print - if the unit is vacant for over 30 days it might not cover. You might want to fix up one bedroom and plant a kid there as a house sitter.
That sounds more like "How can we put 200A worth of load on a 125A panel?" Rube Goldberg type engineering.
Because when you go to the next step, if they beefed up the Common Area power panels to give every unit a 200A Main, they would need to double the service gear, too. Instead of having 6 units on a 400A main, they would need to bump it to a 600A. Or go to industrial switchgear with a 2000A or 4000A main and stacks of 200A sockets - and that starts getting really big, and REALLY expensive.
Almost as dumb as turning heat energy into electricity with losses at the generating plant, shipping it long distances with losses along the way, then turning it back to heat energy at a yet another huge efficiency loss - and all those losses you pay for, with interest. Much better to buy the fuel and turn it into heat once, right where it is needed.
Yes, the Electrician is pushing Gas. The right tool for the job.
Electricity is the right tool for lights and appliances, because you don't want to run an on-site primary engine generator plant 24/7/365. When you factor in the unit cost and all the repairs and biennial engine rebuilds (and having multiple units to cover the down time - you hope...) that starts getting REALLY expensive. Even with the losses, it's still cheaper to buy your electrons factory built.
( The only time it starts making sense is if you have a Cogeneration use for all the waste heat, like a factory that needs process steam or lots of heat for ovens and drying chambers. Or a hotel that is forever making hot water for showers.) Is there any Natural Gas on the property at all? Or a way to install Propane? If you can get the water heating and space heating loads off the electric, thern there's plenty for everything else.
Yes, the HOA Board is going to be a huge roadblock to any change. But most of them live there, and they get electric bills too. If you can get them to allow a gas main onto the premises and make space for the meters, I'll bet you will get lots of company in the next few years as they start changing over. As their water heaters and Heat Pumps go bad, or they get fed up with the rate hikes.
Hmmm.... If NG and Propane are totally out, I wonder if you could put a common-area oil tank in the basement or out under the parking lot, and individual oil meters on the lines to each unit? Still has to be cheaper than electric resistance heat, as Heat Pumps lose their efficiency below about 40F outside, and totally gone past freezing - they ice up before they can find any heat to extract...
That or a common area boiler and meter the hot water to each unit. Divide the oil bill and apportion by usage - wouldn't be exact, but close enough counts.
And a contractor that has every possible tool with them for any odd job or problem you can throw at them - are either driving a Semi for a work truck, or live within a ten minute drive.
Better to loan a tool out than cause lost productivity - even if you aren't paying for it in cash, you are still paying for it in lost progress.
Same thing with materials - if you know it's going to take something really odd, go find it and have it on hand. Because odds are if you wallk into the wholesale house cold they won't have any, and that means the whole day is right down the tubes.
And Tawm hasn't mentioned what the access arrangements are for this unit - if it's a ten minute hike down three flights, a quarter mile of halls to the front, through the lobby and out to the nearest Guest Parking space you can put a work truck in, every time they run down to get a left handed frangit hammer out of the truck that's ten minutes of not working. If there's one already up there, bonus.
The condo is single floor on a slab sharing one common wall with another mirror image unit. All of the contractors are people I know well and of course they have all their own stuff. I just want to make sure that I have basic stuff there that can save them a trip out to their truck. I repaired the heater in the garage and set up my good table saw, radial arm saw, jointer, tile saw, chop saw and air compressor. I also have halogen work lights, extension cords, shop vac, brooms and garbage cans. I stay out of the way and try to make the jobs easier for them buy lending a hand when needed and running to the store for materials. All in all, we will have everything up to date and it will be a show place. My sister has great taste in renovations and decorating. And, it will only cost a fraction of what it would to have it done professionally.
I still hate the "all electric" and gas isn't available for miles. The NEXT place, I want a huge kitchen with restaurant quality gas appliances.
On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:51:32 -0500, the infamous "Buerste" scrawled the following:
Common wall? First thing is to put up a layer of QuietRock. (spendy but well worth it.)
Noisy neighborhood? Triple-glazed windows and QuietRock on the outside walls, too.
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Every time the damned dogs next door start barking I think "I should plaster my room with this stuff and switch to triple-glazed vinders." once again...
That's an excellent idea. Mark all tools (for the honest guys.)
As a contractor, I can honestly say that help is usually welcomed. That third hand, when you need to hold something in place as you anchor it, is a lifesaver. Doing your own store trips save you good money, and we welcome that help, too.
Pics before, during, and after will be a great keepsake. Show us, too.
Pipe in propane...if there's a place for a tank to fit regulations in Clevage, OH.
-- Acceptance is such an important commodity, some have called it "the first law of personal growth." -- Peter McWilliams, Life 101
The condo IS extremely well built and insulated, I was impressed! The common wall is very thick and I can't hear a thing from next door. I'm not going to dig up the slab for propane and the association won't allow it anyway. It's all on one floor, no more hauling laundry up an down two flights. I also get to buy a 50" TV. I'll mount it right over the fireplace opening. It was suggested I play a video of a fire. I'll do that but I want the fire to be roasting a baby on a spit!
On Tue, 13 Jan 2009 20:18:38 -0500, the infamous "Buerste" scrawled the following:
That's rare. Congrats.
Suckage.
I just put a piece of OSB over the opening to my fireplace, a nice, tight, kick-to-fit piece. Caulk and paint finished it off nicely.
1 Atta Boy comin' atcha, Tawmy.
-- A great preservative against angry and mutinous thoughts, and all impatience and quarreling, is to have some great business and interest in your mind, which, like a sponge shall suck up your attention and keep you from brooding over what displeases you. -- Joseph Rickaby
When my brother, an electrican, was having his timber frame home plumbed, various problems meeting code came up. My brother moved interior walls, bored holes and made whatever modifications to keep the price of plumbing it within reason.
He paid the plumber time and materials vs a fixed price quote. Being a tradesmen he understood the economics.
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