What Have You Done That Has >"TOTALLY CHANGED"< Your Home?

[ROUSTABOUT]

I fixed a roof leak. Then I put a piece of plywood over the hole in the floor. One night I went to bed early, which was another room. Flipped on the light and a possum was on my pillow. My little dog just got on the bed and laid down. So I knew that had been going on for a while. Shut the door and ran outside and got a live trap. Put some steak fat in there I had saved for the dog. Three minutes possum was caught. Took him to a new home.

 

[nybirdman]

Replaced all our windows and doors,replaced an inefficient wood stove with a very good propane unit(no power needed) and last year built a 24'x32' pole barn.Also replaced the heater in garage with an over-head propane unit.

 

[ericm979]

About 5 to 7 years ago, a county guy came around looking at the homes,,
He told me that soon, we would be REQUIRED to replace our windows,
since our windows were made before some date, I think it was 1980.

I chuckled under my breath, and he left. I have about the highest quality wood window in my home that money could buy,,
We have zero drafts when the wind blows,,

I never heard from the county again,,
Some time in 2020, I read an article about how there were payoffs in Washington to PUSH the requirement for new windows.
In many cases, people had their windows replaced with LESS efficient "new" windows.

Many of our old windows had the seal broken. Dual pane windows from the '80s were not the best. And some of them had the sash counter weight springs broken too, so they would not stay up. They were not very good quality windows. The builder of our house cheaped out on a lot of things. When we had the (cheap, falling apart) siding replaced we found where he'd used small pieces of plywood in the sheathing to use up scraps.

California and our county are both pretty restrictive for building codes, especially around energy efficiency. But there's no requirement to replace windows or anything else. But if you are replacing things they make you meet current code. The big thing in the code for windows here is low-E, which reflects a lot of infrared and UV energy. The idea is to reduce the heat load from the sun in the summer to lower AC energy requirements. It's really noticeable how much less heat comes in when the sun is shining through in the summer.

 

[MossRoad]

Many of our old windows had the seal broken. Dual pane windows from the '80s were not the best. And some of them had the sash counter weight springs broken too, so they would not stay up. They were not very good quality windows. The builder of our house cheaped out on a lot of things. When we had the (cheap, falling apart) siding replaced we found where he'd used small pieces of plywood in the sheathing to use up scraps.

California and our county are both pretty restrictive for building codes, especially around energy efficiency. But there's no requirement to replace windows or anything else. But if you are replacing things they make you meet current code. The big thing in the code for windows here is low-E, which reflects a lot of infrared and UV energy. The idea is to reduce the heat load from the sun in the summer to lower AC energy requirements. It's really noticeable how much less heat comes in when the sun is shining through in the summer.

As I sit here reading TBN this morning, the sun is shining through the nearly 100 year old window, warming my feet, and a couple cats.

Here, in summer, the sun is high enough to not shine directly into the windows, and low enough in the winter to warm the interior of the home.

My father designed his home and sited it so that in winter, the sun shone directly into the windows and onto a large monolithic brick wall and tile floors to warm them. In summer, the sun rose and set about 40 degrees further north than winter, and the large overhangs kept it from coming directly into the house at all.

While it's not possible to always site a house on a lot to take advantage of the seasons, especially in land that has been subdivided into small lots, it's worth it to take the time and try and find a piece of property where the house can be sited to take advantage of mother nature for heating and cooling.

 

[CADplans]

Replaced all our windows and doors, replaced an inefficient wood stove with a very good propane unit,,,,,,,,,,,,,

We have lived in this home 39.5 years, and I have wanted to replace the door in our family room almost since we moved in,,
NO carpenter would even consider replacing the door for us,
EACH carpenter told their horror story of replacing a door when there was brick inside as well as outside,,
I am not a carpenter, so I do not know why this type door is so difficult to install,,,

Several months ago, I finally gave up, and decided to paint the door (the paint was pretty much falling off the steel door.)
My wife selected a color, I mandated no plain color such as white, cream, etc,, (I REALLY wanted bright yellow)

Well, when my wife showed me the color, I decided to strip the old paint (water based) off the door,
then, I planned on priming the door with tractor enamel paint like Tractor Supply sells.
I have had pretty good luck with that kind of paint, I painted my 584 IH 25 years ago, it still looks really good.

I figured if the "LOWES" house paint chipped, there would be a similar hard, tough paint underneath.

When I saw the color she selected, I decided to try to mix tractor paints to kinda match the color she chose.
I ended up with 50% Allis Chalmers Orange, 35% International Red, and 15% John Deere Green.

After two days of stripping, and sanding (I am not usually a "2 days of prep" patient kind of guy), I decided it was time to prime.

I mixed hardener into the paint, taped up the door, and sprayed two coats of the mixed tractor colors.

The door turned out within what I would guess to be within 5% of being the exact color she had chose.

I hung the door back up, because that was the safest place to dry.
Then I put the old lockset back on.

I think it has been 3 or 4 months now,,
We have fallen in love with the color, the door may never get another coat to cover what I had planned to be only primer.

I think what we really like about the door is that not only is the door a color we like, but,,,
the door ended up REALLY high gloss, because of the hardener that was in the paint.
(all the home guru's say the entry door "should catch your eye" to be appealing)

The high gloss catches your eye, almost no one uses high gloss paint on a home project.
This door resembles the high gloss of the solid colors that Ford used to put on new cars and trucks.

We may get a new handle and lock set, and call it done!!

 

[GeneV]

Other than planting a whole bunch of trees over the years while clearing brush in other parts, the biggest thing we did was this summer. We enclosed our covered deck and turned it into a 3-season room.

 

[jyoutz]

This year we installed natural gas and new appliances and sent the propane tank down the road.

 

[ponytug]

@CADplans Gorgeous job on the door! If you are at all worried about fading, you could clear coat it with a finish coat of clearcoat with catalyst. My bet is that the tractor paint will see you through many years.

All the best,

Peter

 

[mike0000]

We drastically changed our Homes backyard 6 years ago.
We had the pool installed then I built the pavilion.


Mike

 

[Milo]

I haven't had to do much of anything to my house itself. I built this small 1,700' 2-story in 2003 and after living in and fixing up many old houses I had a pretty good idea of the things I wanted so I incorporated them in the build. Wood floors, wide stairway and hall, 3' doors, smooth ceilings (I dislike textured ones), very well insulated, main floor open layout with wood stove, chimney running straight up through the house with no bends, 220v heaters on timer (like in some hotel rooms) in both baths gets them nice and toasty, central vac which is quiet to run, powerful, and exhausts all dust outside rather than collecting some in a bag with the fine dust going back in the house. Whole house fan in the upstairs hall, large 10' deep wrap around porch with the side portion screened with a small open deck off it for the grill. Exterior is Hardi Plank and metal roof. Also included in the build was a small separate 24' x 24' garage with a carport off the side.
A few years ago I sold a place where I had kept my extra motorcycles and wood working tools so I had a 38' x 28' shop with an 18' x 28' carport on the side built near the house and garage. I really enjoyed planing and being there while it was built. Again very well insulated with insulated slab and spray foam 6" walls and attic. It's easily heated and cooled with one Carrier mini-split. Here's the shop.





Pretty much completed other than the gutter and 20' concrete pad in front of the door.