kevinnowak.com

Back of House.

A few weeks ago the elderly woman nextdoor passed away at 90 years old...only a few days after celebrating her 65th wedding anniversary.  Her husband is still going strong at 93...God bless him!

Kel and I attended her wake and while looking at some old photos they had displayed we could see our house in the background of one of them.  It was really strange to see it before the addition and with a few trucks parked where our shed is in the backyard. 

  

For those who have seen our place...this looks pretty different, doesn't it?  Had to have been taken around 2001-2002ish. 

Have a great weekend! 

Nest: The Hard Numbers.

If you rewind back to April you'll recall my post about this new thermostat called the Nest, I had just installed.  Well, we've had the unit for a little while now and absolutely love it. It's super easy to use and has fully "learned" our habits about how we like the temperature set and can quickly figure out when we're not in the house. 

Another cool feature is the monthly email they send with a whole slew of information.  Have a look at a screen capture below.  You get a full report of how many hours your system was on, when you were away, and how many "leafs" you've earned by running efficiently based on the outside temperature.  I'm glad to see that we were near the top of the heap!

  

  

I decided to take things a step further and break out our bill from April 2011 and compare it to this current year.  Because the proof here is in the pudding of actual hard money.  How much money, if any, are we saving?  I figured we'd save something, but I was amazed by just how much the Nest was already doing considering that for that first week or so it was still in the "learning" phase. 

So here's the breakdown: Before digging into the bills I wanted to make sure we were comparing apples to apples, meaning I had be sure the months were similar in terms of temperature.  I was able to dig up the mean temperatures for Philadelphia in April 2011 and 2012 and found out that 2011 was 57.3 degrees and 2012 was 55.5.  Who knew that last April was 1.8 degrees warmer than this year?  I would have bet money it was the other way around.  With that information in hand I figured the comparison could be done on an even playing field.  I only focused on gas and excluded electricity since all of our heat is provided by gas. 

In April 2011 we consumed 105.805 Therms at a cost of $0.667 for at total of $70.59.  Amazingly in April of 2012, with the temperature nearly two degrees colder, we only consumed 63.707 Therms at a cost of $0.600 for a total of $38.28.  So a slight, slight difference in price, but the colder temps probably evens it all out.  All said and done we used 40% less energy and saved $32 bucks.  Not too bad for the first month and I think it's only going to get better next winter.  I was saying to someone the other day that with the more scientific internal thermometer that the Nest has combined with the wifi connection that gathers outside data, the system doesn't seem to kick on and off as much as the old.  That definitely leads to much more efficient running. 

With the Memorial Day weekend forcast for temperatures to be in the 90s all weekend, I'm sure we'll have the A/C cranking and suspect we'll see even more savings with the Nests Airwave feature.  I'll do another report sometime in July that goes over our usage for June.  Stay tuned and let me know if you get a Nest for your hoome too.  I've already recouped 12% of my investment in the first month alone!

Backyard Upgrade.

 
I decided it was high time to bring the backyard up a notch.  The beds beneath the arborvitaes was in desperate need of some mulch, but I didn't want to put that down until I put in some sort of edging.  Without an edge the grass weaved in and out of the beds and looked unkempt.  Plus if I had put down fresh mulch it would just find its way right into the lawn.  I had to do it the right way... 

     

You can see how unfinished it looked in those two shots above.  After some research and pricing out a few different options I decided to install Belgain Block as edging.  I'd put it down the long way [8"x4" blocks] and secure it in a bed of concrete so it didn't move.  An ambitious project for sure, but I managed to get it all done in one weekend!  [though my back wishes I had spread it out over a week or two!]

This is a shot I took from the house before I started.  You can see the spray painted string-line I put down as a guide, and you can also see how uneven the edge of the grass is...

  

The first order of business was procuring the stones from Homey D's.  One pallet had 216 blocks on it and weighed over 2,000lbs!  No way I could get that to the house myself, so I paid the $65 bucks and had them handle it.  Kel snapped a few of these camera phone shots when they dropped it off.  I didn't expect an 18-wheeler and a fork-lift, but it makes sense.

     

     

  

Next up was digging out a shallow trench to lay a bed of concrete and then place the blocks on.  That took the majority of Saturday to do and was the hardest part of the job.  Backbreaking actually!  Once that was complete the actual laying of the stones went pretty quickly.  I ended up using 19 bag of Quickcrete.  60lb bags mind you!  Had I known I would need that many I would have just rolled it into the Home Depot delivery to save my back the loading and unloading. You should have seen the car when I had 10 of them in there at once...thought the muffler was going to scrape the road! 

     

And to whomever put the little tag-line on the bags of concrete that says "Easy to Handle 60lb Bag"...you've got to be kidding me.  There's nothing easy about picking up and putting down a 60lb anything! Never mind a bag filled with concrete that if you throw down the wrong way has the potential to bust open and spill everywhere!  So a tip to those of you thinking about doing this project yourselves...estimate how many bags you'll need and have them delivered with the stones. You can always return a few extras if you need! [I actually returned about 20 of the stones that I didn't use and at $3 a pop that pretty much saved me the delivery charge!]

     

So here's a shot of the finished stones, sans mulch.  Came out pretty good if I must say! 

  

It was a pretty straightforward install and really anyone can do this:  Slop down about 2 or 3 inches of concrete as a bed for the stones to lay in, then place them tightly side-by-side [using a string-guide to keep you on course], and finally put an angle of concrete on the back side to secure them in place.  Once the concrete dried I would cover it with mulch so you wouldn't see it at all.

The next weekend the mulch arrived...as you've already seen from previous posts.  I ordered 5 yards, and in the end probably could have gotten by with just 4! 

  

That's a lot of mulch!  and it took me the better part of the weekend to spread.  Needless to say, it was put down pretty thick so that I could use it all up.  We also decided to replace a few plants and add some decorative planters to the patio.  The azaleas we had on the side of the yard that you see when you walk through the gate just weren't cutting it.  They didn't get enough sun and couldn't compete with the roots of the larger tree.  So they had to go and we replaced them with a few hardier plants.  A couple hosta and something else that I can't remember the name of.  We also got a few planters at C&B and put some fountain grass in them that should look really great in 3 or 4 weeks! 

So without further adieu, here are the final shots:

     

     

  

  

     

     

We think this really completes the backyard...but I'm interested in your comments.  So leave them below...

Lots of Mulch.

Hmmm...maybe I should have just gotten 3yards instead of 5? 

  

Guess you know what I'll be doing this weekend!  It should look great with the new Belgian Block stone edging I installed in the backyard last weekend.[that busted up wooden pallet are the remnants of the stone delivery from the week prior].  Hopefully adding a few zinc planters from Crate and Barrel as well...

Photos of the completed project to follow at some point...hopefully soon!

We got a Dog!

That's right...Kelly and I got a dog! 

It's a watch-dog too!  Now, it's not your typical dog that runs around the back yard and chases squirrels...no, this dog stays in the basement all day long, just minding his business.

You see, after Hurricane Irene last year and the ordeal we had keeping water out of the basement with the power out, we knew we had to do something.  After much research I decided to go with the dog...actually The Big Dog from the folks at Basement Watchdog!  This is a top of the line battery back-up sump pump that works for up to 24hrs after the power goes out. It'll also act as a stand-by pump should our regular pump ever decide to break during normal operation.   This set-up wasn't cheap, but it'll hopefully save our basement during the next major storm!  [we're also planning on getting little back-up generator that could power the pumps and a refrigerator or two, but that's not in the budget until FY13].  Belt AND suspenders at our house folks!

Installation of this project was a bit more complicated than the Nest we put in last month, but overall it was pretty straightforward.  Just some standard PVC plumbing stuff and the scariest part was filling the battery up with the acid! [that was done outside incase I spilled any, and also since it smokes once it hits the batteries and then smells like rotten eggs!] 

Here's a look at the system.  Obviously the sump pump and the associated float that triggers its operation, but also the battery and the controller unit.  I had to build a shelf for the controller as it needs to be up off the ground, but the battery has a waterproof case so it can sit on the floor.  I was actually surprised at just how large the  controller unit was, and how much it weighed.  I'm sure they could design a much smaller, sleeker unit, but hey, if it ain't broke...

     

     

The hope is that this doesn't have to get used much, but when it does come on, it's going to be a lifesaver!!!

Lots more work to get done before Baby Nowak's arrival in July.  Starting with Homey D's dropping off a pallet of Belgian Block on Monday that I'm going to use for edging in the back yard!  You know what I'll be doing next weekend...feel free to stop by and help, or at least bring a beer!

Nursery Peek.

Thought we'd give you all a quick sneak peek at the nursery thus far.  Still a lot of work to be done [namely the crib, curtains, a rug, and decorations for the walls] but most of the big stuff is out of the way at this point. 

  
 

We'll do a final post on the room once it's fully completed [wait til you see the Container Store closet system we got her for all the miniature clothes and mechanics outfits!!!] with a list of everything that's inside! 

Nest.

For those of us living here in New Jersey, as well as several other states who offer energy deregulation, we've been getting phone calls, mailings, and even a few people knocking on our door asking us to switch our energy provider to another carrier.  The fact of the matter though is that the majority of people who choose another provider end up losing money in the long term instead of the savings they're told they should be seeing.  It just doesn't make much sense.     

With that in mind, Kelly and I decided to go another route.  We bought a Nest!  [Well, we wanted to buy a Nest...but first we had to wait 4 months while they were back-ordered.  These things were going like hotcakes when they first came out last fall]  What the hell is a Nest you ask?  Well, it's pretty simple actually, just a regular old home thermostat that's gotten major makeover thanks to the guy who invented the iPod.  [No, Steve Jobs didn't create the iPod, it was a guy named Tony Fadell who was actually the brains behind the operation]  He started his own company and decided their first project would  be rethinking a basic device that is in a majority of homes, yet doesn't get used to its full potential, the programmable thermostat. 

They've made it much simpler to program...just do what you normally do.  After a few weeks of use the Nest actually learns your habbits, creates a schedule, and can even sense when you are away from the house and adjust the temperature accordingly.  It's pretty amazing!  It's not that a regular programmable thermostat isn't good, because they do save people a lot of money, but they have limitations, and the Nest solves them. 

  

Have a look, it even feels like an Apple product when you open and take it out of the box.  Instructions are super easy and they even provide a nifty little screw driver incase you don't have one!

     

Nest includes 3 different cover plate sizes incase you need to cover up a large hole from your old system, but I decided to patch the existing holed so that I could mount this as it was designed to  be mounted, clean and simple.  So I did have to do a little patching and painting.  [I should note that we do plan on getting a new alarm system at some point soon and once that happens we'll move the panel location and then move the Nest so that it's above the light switches there on the right.  Should be a much cleaner look]

     

  
If I didn't  have to do the patch and paint the entire installation would  have taken about 2.5 minutes.  Just connect the 4 wires and the computer does the rest.  Let's talk about that computer part.  Nest is essentially a mini-computer and it connects to your homes WiFi to gather current weather conditions and forecasts so that it can control your heating and cooling as efficiently as possible.  Instead of just turning the temperature up and down and setting the on-off for 7 days of the week, this computer learns how you use your thermostat and can predict when you want it to come on and when you want it to be turned off.  Just give it a few weeks and it'll figure out your schedule.  It's even good enough to know when you're home and when your not.  Most of the time we'd leave for the day and remember to turn the heat down...but sometimes we'd forget.  With the Nest's audio and proximity sensors it can sense when people are in the house and when they're gone.  So, if no one is home, it's smart enough to turn the system down.   

Even a simple thing like raising the temperature a few degrees just becuase you want it a little warmer...Nest will learn your home and tell you how many minutes it'll take to reach that temperature.

  

Here's a shot of our unit installed and ready to roll. 

With the WiFi connection one of the best features is the remote access with a smart phone.  No longer do you have to come home to a chilly house.  Now you can just log on remotely and adjust the temperature 15-20 minutes before you arrive home and you're all set.  Simple as that.  I think this is the aspect that Kelly likes the most! 

The other great thing about the WiFi is that the unit sends data back to Nest and they create piles of data for you to see just how much energy is being use, at what times, and the reason why.  Did someone adjust the temperature?  Was it colder out than normal?  Were you away all day and as a result the system didn't need to turn on?  With all this data you can create some very informative reports on your usage and I'm anxious to compare them to previous years bills without the Nest. 

With cooling season just around the corner [probably tomorrow for us here with temps predicted to be in the 90's] I'm excited to test out one of the best features Nest has, the Airwave technology.  Again, after a few weeks of learning your home and the cooling system, Nest can control your a/c to save you up to 30% of your energy usage.  For a house like ours, where a summer bill can be about $300 bucks, even if we only saved 15% that's $45 bucks a month.  Easy to see how quickly this unit can pay for itself.  So here's how this airwave technology works.  Nest learns your house and will turn off the compressor a few minutes before reaching the desired temp, but it'll keep the fan running a bit longer to capture all of that cool air still in the system and coming off of the coils, to get you to that temp you selected.  Pretty ingenious, right? Saves energy, and saves money.   

An interesting aside...you can imagine that the leader in thermostat sales for all these years, Honeywell, wasn't too happy with a new kid on the block, so they tried to say that Nest was infringing on basically every patent they own.  They've done the same thing with a few other companies so Nest wasn't surprised.  Their court response is actually quite funny... 

Stay tuned...I'll start to post some of the data on this thing in 6 months or so. 

Light Bulbs.

How in the world did we still have this many un-efficient bulbs left on our 2nd floor? 

  

Most were in ceiling fans and closets...not anymore though!

New Faucet.

A while back Kelly and I were compiling a list of projects we wanted to do this year.  A new kitchen faucet was on the list but the idea of spending $200-300 that wasn't totally essential didn't make sense, especially because there were a lot more pressing projects that needed funding.  Well, a few weeks ago we realized that the faucet was in-fact leaking.  Water would run out the back of the handle, onto the counter, and then down onto the floor.  Sometimes a lot! 

With a 3-hole faucet set-up there aren't really a lot of modern/clean-lines options out there.  The previous faucet looked horrible, totally not our style at all.  This is really the only photo I  have of it...taken when we were still thinking about buying this place:

  

So we found a good deal on a new faucet online and ordered it up.  A few days later it arrived and I installed it...which was not easy at all since the sink is extremely deep and made for accessing the old faucet really difficult!  Nonetheless, I got it done and we like the new faucet much more than the previous.

  

You like?

The Princess Room Stays!

It's official...no need to re-paint the princess room, we're having a GIRL!   We had the 20 week full anotomy scan earlier today and it went very well.  They look a look at the baby head to toe and made sure everything was okay.  Brain, spine, arms, legs, fingers, and toes.  They all seemed fine. 

And then the big news came...the ultrasound girl asked if we wanted to know and we said of course.  It's a girl. 

A few shots from the ultrasound machine.

Head and Spine:

  

Toes:

  

We're still on schedule for an end of July expected date of arrival and excited to meet this little girl!