I'm sure there's a way but not sure it'd be all that cost effective over my (remaining) lifetime. See the pic above for the gas powered boiler system that I put in.It be nice if they payed you more than a half a percent of a penny per kwh
Anyway to make it so you could choose between gas or electric for the water/floor heat?
Above 1200 Sq/FT Freshy Fresh - Mountain High Workshop and Storage: 48x30
- Thread starter badonk
- Start date
Wokspaces above 1200 squarefeet.
Old Man Roger
Well-known member
Oh ya, I forgot what thread I was in lol That thing is a work of art.
I was just thinking when you were making more electricity than you were using, it would be better to use the extra electricity than the low rate they pay you for it.
I would install an electric water heater out of spite.lol Not a plumber, but I was thinking an electric water heater could be placed between the boiler and the floor heating, it’d be passive till you switched it on.
Yeah that'd be a simpler way to take more advantage of the solar panels. The utility room has tons of extra space for changes and expansion so that's a good idea. I think I'll wait and see how this works before making any changes. Tapped out for $$ right now and need many years to recover from this project.
ericm
Well-known member
One of my garage doors kept going up 2 inches and jamming. But only sometimes. I had the GC get the garage door company out and they found out that it was hitting the header. For some reason they would not fix that so I just trimmed a little off myself. You can't even see it unless you're inside looking up as the door goes up, so I didn't bother to paint it.
Oregon mandates 1:1 net metering. So it doesn't matter what I do with the batteries. They're there for backup. They had them programmed to discharge partially every day. Which is fine but then we could start out an outage with them not at 100%. So I changed that to only exercise the batteries once a week.
Oregon mandates 1:1 net metering. So it doesn't matter what I do with the batteries. They're there for backup. They had them programmed to discharge partially every day. Which is fine but then we could start out an outage with them not at 100%. So I changed that to only exercise the batteries once a week.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Congrats on finally taking ownership of the house. Has to be a great feeling. Regarding the door what size is it? All of my 18x8 or larger insulated doors have dual hinges on the outside for the rollers and it seems you only have one. I recall you went with insulated doors but don't recall the level of insulation and thus the total weight of the doors. I wonder if it could need double hinges? Bummer to deal with that.
It is ~16'x9' Hormann 350s garage door - with wood paneling applied to the outside. I don't think it's that heavy and intended to be used with a residential style opener. I'll have a closer look at the hinges when I'm up later this week. I honestly hadn't paid much attention to it all. Its a garage door - something that should just work and that I shouldn't have to worry about.
The opener is a liftmaster 85870. I have asked about switching to a belt drive system like the 6690L but I understand that belts aren't always recommended for heavier/bigger doors? I'm also sure the pushback on the 6690L is it uses the newer myQ stuff with different openers. So I wouldn't be able to run the house garage door from the same openers that are on the workshop doors with the 98022/98032 jackshaft wall mount openers. And on the myQ 3.0 security stuff they close down the Ratgdo32 home integration - only works with the myQ junk. I'd have to give that up if I change the opener.
They came out and fixed it up today. I suspect there's more fixing to do at a future date. It doesn't bode well that it failed in the first week of use and I'll need some assurances that it has been carefully looked over and properly installed.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Been looking at the Ratgdo32 now that I got my stuff moved over to home assistant for the most part. You still happy with it? I like that you can also control the light from it but also debating on just going the other route, I was looking at and using one of the wireless remotes that a regular zwave control triggers. It is close to my old setup and one of my Zwave modules I already have would work for one door. I honestly have not even installed the lights in the new garage so not sure I even care. I might put all 3 of them in the house garage for additional light.
I have two Ratgdo32 on my Denver house and think they are great. Lots of control and then I can integrate it with other things. I replaced the basic wall switch for the overhead lights in the garage with a cheap TP-link light switch. Then in HA I built an automation that turns on all the interior garage lights when a garage door opens at night. Then 5 minutes after both garage doors are closed, it shuts off the interior lights. I could make it more sophisticated and tie in a presence sensor, or use the door sensor to look for an open/close sequence etc etc. But for now this reasonably simple one works for us. It is also so quick and easy to access the HA app on my phone and open or close a door when needed.
For the Ratgdo32 and my older garage door openers, I get the following controls. Door Up/Down/Stop. Light On/off. Lock Remotes. And a toggle door button. Then it shows the motion sensor status and obstruction status.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
That does sound like a good list of features you gain over the basic setup I had been using. Does it tell open and closed just by memory of what it has done or by a dry contact sensor door sensor you have plugged into it?
Not being Zwave is my last big hang-up on it.
I believe door position is something it pulls from the opener itself - part of the chamberlain/liftmaster security+ 2.0 stuff. Not sure about older openers and even what exactly my current openers are running. But I think it comes from the black data wire that gets hooked in. Re: zwave zigbee wifi matter I'm generally going to prefer one but want broader compatibility to work with all of the above.
A little update - the move went well. We had a majority of the move spaced out over 2 days. But partway through the first day, the furniture delivery crew called and they were on their way. So that first day was a long one for us. A truck load of furniture arrived around 2 PM and a crew of 2 was unloading and assembling until almost 10 PM. The good thing was the 2nd move day was pretty light - had someone come by to install the TV along with a few other odds and ends.
I haven't really spent time in the shop at this point - mostly just unboxed some of the tools I bought but there's no good place to put them. The toolbox delivery was pushed out - that'll happen in about a week.
All the home networking stuff is working well. I have the camera picking up a vehicle moving up the driveway and playing a chime. I'm now working to have that trigger home assistant (through a webhook) to play a sound file through sonos speakers. Unanticipated visitors are rare out here so I want to have a warning any time someone is coming up the driveway.
The solar and batteries are pretty good. On sunny days I'm putting a 30+ kwh into the grid. Partly cloudy days I break even. And on snowy days (yes, we actually had one with more on the way), I pulled 49 kwh from it. I have the batteries in full backup mode so I'm not pulling any power from the batteries unless we lose grid power. As I suspected, I'm pretty sure I'll make more power than I use. I confirmed with my HVAC sub that they are installing a heat pump. So it will be relatively easy to partially heat the house from electricity and reduce gas consumption.
Sunrise!
I haven't really spent time in the shop at this point - mostly just unboxed some of the tools I bought but there's no good place to put them. The toolbox delivery was pushed out - that'll happen in about a week.
All the home networking stuff is working well. I have the camera picking up a vehicle moving up the driveway and playing a chime. I'm now working to have that trigger home assistant (through a webhook) to play a sound file through sonos speakers. Unanticipated visitors are rare out here so I want to have a warning any time someone is coming up the driveway.
The solar and batteries are pretty good. On sunny days I'm putting a 30+ kwh into the grid. Partly cloudy days I break even. And on snowy days (yes, we actually had one with more on the way), I pulled 49 kwh from it. I have the batteries in full backup mode so I'm not pulling any power from the batteries unless we lose grid power. As I suspected, I'm pretty sure I'll make more power than I use. I confirmed with my HVAC sub that they are installing a heat pump. So it will be relatively easy to partially heat the house from electricity and reduce gas consumption.
Sunrise!
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Sounds like everything is moving along nicely. What a beautiful sunrise.
I had my Ubiquiti setup to announce through home assistant when a car entered my driveway but it stopped working like a month ago. I need to investigate why one of these days. I agree that it is really nice to know when someone has arrived even before they get a chance to push the doorbell.
I had my Ubiquiti setup to announce through home assistant when a car entered my driveway but it stopped working like a month ago. I need to investigate why one of these days. I agree that it is really nice to know when someone has arrived even before they get a chance to push the doorbell.
Yeah I got the triggering between Ubiquiti and HA working last night and it was pretty simple. I have been using Google AI to have it summarize the steps in setting stuff like this up. I find this is easier than digging through forums, etc. It can also help provide guidance when troubleshooting. The only thing I need to fine tune is the line crossing detection from the Ubiquiti camera at night. It is not reliable at night right now.
More HA stuff - I set up most of our outside lights on a zwave network of Zooz switches. I've used some zwave in the past but haven't been able to get one of the switches to connect via mesh. Weird...more work to do later to get that switch back online. I bought a USB extension to move the antenna away from the R Pi and possibly reduce any RF interference. I also tied in the Lutron interior lights and will also do that shades when they finally get wired in. And I picked up some cheap Ikea devices (temp sensor, motion/presence sensor, buttons) that run on Matter over Thread. So that's configured and I have a temp sensor that I plan to mount outside to know actual temp and humidity. For those that haven't tried this kind of stuff - one of the really nice things about HA is the ability to integrate across the different ecosystems. From building a basic dashboard that shows you current light switch status' as well as being able to control them all, to having an announcement mp3 play over Sonos speakers throughout the house (and play it over what was already being played without stopping that playback) when it detects a car crossing over a line in a specified direction.
I was also able to get connected to the Tekmar snowmelt system via their app. It is unlikely that I can get that tied into HA but at least I can monitor it and shut it down when I don't think we need it. The auto system was running over the week when I don't think it should have been. The sensor is at the corner of a garage apron and as snow melts from off the apron it seems to run towards the sensor. I'll have to try to clear more snow from around that sensor when I have time to see if that helps it work more reliably in an auto setting.
I wasn't able to get the integration into my alarm system working. My network installer also put in a 'web power switch pro' that I think I could be helpful for power cycling things remotely. I haven't tied into the Tesla powerwall or solar stuff yet - just managing those in their separate apps for now. And I plan to have a 'guest' dashboard as well as a 'wife' dashboard for HA to they can get into the things that I think they need. Maybe run one or both of those on an old ipad I have laying around. Still quite a bit more to do.
Nolift911
Well-known member
A little update - the move went well. We had a majority of the move spaced out over 2 days. But partway through the first day, the furniture delivery crew called and they were on their way. So that first day was a long one for us. A truck load of furniture arrived around 2 PM and a crew of 2 was unloading and assembling until almost 10 PM. The good thing was the 2nd move day was pretty light - had someone come by to install the TV along with a few other odds and ends.
I haven't really spent time in the shop at this point - mostly just unboxed some of the tools I bought but there's no good place to put them. The toolbox delivery was pushed out - that'll happen in about a week.
All the home networking stuff is working well. I have the camera picking up a vehicle moving up the driveway and playing a chime. I'm now working to have that trigger home assistant (through a webhook) to play a sound file through sonos speakers. Unanticipated visitors are rare out here so I want to have a warning any time someone is coming up the driveway.
The solar and batteries are pretty good. On sunny days I'm putting a 30+ kwh into the grid. Partly cloudy days I break even. And on snowy days (yes, we actually had one with more on the way), I pulled 49 kwh from it. I have the batteries in full backup mode so I'm not pulling any power from the batteries unless we lose grid power. As I suspected, I'm pretty sure I'll make more power than I use. I confirmed with my HVAC sub that they are installing a heat pump. So it will be relatively easy to partially heat the house from electricity and reduce gas consumption.
Sunrise!
NICE!! ******* congrats! Its a journey...that day seems so far away or if even possible for me at this stage!!??
Heat pump - cold weather model? I remember growing up with one in MD and anything below 20ish triggered electric/emergency heat - due to efficiencies, tech might be better now.
I think y'all will get hammered March/April snow wise keeping in line with my theory we are about 1.5 months "off" on seasons these days due to temperature lag
I work off this model:
- Winter (coldest stretch): ~Jan 15 – Apr 15
- Spring (warming): ~Apr 15 – Jul 15
- Summer (hottest stretch): ~Jul 15 – Oct 15
- Fall (cooling): ~Oct 15 – Jan 15
When will my room be ready? Sounds like you got loads of room, sending a few U-Hauls out your way with a storage unit full of ****, couple motorcycles, few SUV's, 911 etc.
Address?
The HVAC sub says the newest Bosch units they use work well below zero - I can't remember exactly the temp he said but maybe -15F? So they are much more efficient. I have some of the newer high efficiency mitsubishi minisplits on my Denver house as supplemental heat and they work at full capacity down to -5 with usable heat down to -22. We also didn't size this to heat the whole house - so it will strictly be used as a supplemental system to the radiant heat. We talked a bit about how to set it up in the thermostats - some work to configure and tune it with two different heat sources.NICE!! ******* congrats! Its a journey...that day seems so far away or if even possible for me at this stage!!??
Heat pump - cold weather model? I remember growing up with one in MD and anything below 20ish triggered electric/emergency heat - due to efficiencies, tech might be better now.
I think y'all will get hammered March/April snow wise keeping in line with my theory we are about 1.5 months "off" on seasons these days due to temperature lag
I work off this model:
For the HA - Top Gear top tip - I would go with "Better Half" or "Scoot Dashboard" for naming conventions...more better.
- Winter (coldest stretch): ~Jan 15 – Apr 15
- Spring (warming): ~Apr 15 – Jul 15
- Summer (hottest stretch): ~Jul 15 – Oct 15
- Fall (cooling): ~Oct 15 – Jan 15
When will my room be ready? Sounds like you got loads of room, sending a few U-Hauls out your way with a storage unit full of ****, couple motorcycles, few SUV's, 911 etc.
Address?
For the spring/summer/fall, one thing about the mountains is that we'll see big temp swings. It will often be cold/cool at night, but can get pretty warm during the day. We put ceiling fans in all the bedrooms just to help circulate air if we were to open up windows at night.
Snow hammering started this morning. Apparently we've seen a shift in the weather pattern so we'll see wave after wave. I left just after 5 am before it all began and had a smooth ride to the office in Denver. But its a blizzard right now. The real question is if it stays cold or not.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
It is amazing what those inverter units can do now. We don't get a ton of cold down here, but I now have 5 heat pumps, and I did away with all emergency heat strips since they work down to such low temps. Still have gas though for the main unit in the house.
Been a couple weeks …
I was out of town two weeks ago - a little heli adventure at Silverton. The snow was ok but avy danger was high which meant the guides had to pick terrain carefully. I wasn’t doing my best riding at all. Had a few big crashes as I caught the tip of my board under some crust and went in head first. Crusty on top but soft and deep when you fall…takes a lot of energy to get upright again. It was my first time in a helicopter which was damn cool. The 8”+ of snow at Telluride a few days before on 2/21 was real nice.
Now back and at the house last weekend where my Icon toolbox had arrived. We were too busy building ikea furniture all weekend so I only had time to take the cardboard off, roll it into a corner and dump the tools into any drawer. Lots of room to grow! And the M3 is now up there for general use and storage, making a little more space in my Denver shop so I can now more easily tackle some work there.
I was out of town two weeks ago - a little heli adventure at Silverton. The snow was ok but avy danger was high which meant the guides had to pick terrain carefully. I wasn’t doing my best riding at all. Had a few big crashes as I caught the tip of my board under some crust and went in head first. Crusty on top but soft and deep when you fall…takes a lot of energy to get upright again. It was my first time in a helicopter which was damn cool. The 8”+ of snow at Telluride a few days before on 2/21 was real nice.
Now back and at the house last weekend where my Icon toolbox had arrived. We were too busy building ikea furniture all weekend so I only had time to take the cardboard off, roll it into a corner and dump the tools into any drawer. Lots of room to grow! And the M3 is now up there for general use and storage, making a little more space in my Denver shop so I can now more easily tackle some work there.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Man, that ski trip sounds amazing. Been a good while since I was out to Telluride. Been meaning to get back. Just loved the town when I was there but I am sure it has changed a bit in 8 years.
Nolift911
Well-known member
No Porsches in sight - need to make a new sign.
Patience young jedi...
Something tells me I'll have a little time on my hands this summer to work on that safari 911 build. Need to do it on a slim budget tho.
Nolift911
Well-known member
Budget - what's that?
Meanwhile...in Idaho... "writing checks your body can't cash"
What is the going rate for a somewhat healthy kidney on the open market? Asking for a friend...
Checks that the body can't cash already written. Laura is so reassuring saying - don't worry about it, we'll figure it out. I'm finally at the point where I can relax and enjoy it. Well not relaxing until after I build 7 more ikea dressers. And all of the other little things to get settled.
Wow, where did March go? Not much going on other than getting settled. The weather in Denver and up at the mountain house has been really warm. In Denver I've been driving the '72 911 around. Finally crossed the 5000 mile mark since I did the restoration.
Up at the mountains I've been just living a bit. Grilling. Sunrises. Sunsets. Dog walks. Muddy paws. Pretty much all of the snow has melted now and the mud has finally subsided. Time for mountain biking! Hitch rack on the M3...
Bought an Eley hose reel. Buy once cry once sort of thing. But the 'contractor grade' hose from costco that I thought was a deal -- is ****. I don't want to blow over $100 on a hose too but might have to.
My builder forgot the hose bib in the shop - so that'll get installed soon. I did my research and landed on one of the new Active power washer setups - the 2.3. I was considering one of the AR Blue Clean 630 for its hot water capability. But going that route would've been about double the cost. A paved but muddy driveway doesn't make for a clean car. But this kit from Active works great. Very happy. Would've been easier if this outer wall was 16" studs on center. Turns out this part is 24".
Up at the mountains I've been just living a bit. Grilling. Sunrises. Sunsets. Dog walks. Muddy paws. Pretty much all of the snow has melted now and the mud has finally subsided. Time for mountain biking! Hitch rack on the M3...
Bought an Eley hose reel. Buy once cry once sort of thing. But the 'contractor grade' hose from costco that I thought was a deal -- is ****. I don't want to blow over $100 on a hose too but might have to.
My builder forgot the hose bib in the shop - so that'll get installed soon. I did my research and landed on one of the new Active power washer setups - the 2.3. I was considering one of the AR Blue Clean 630 for its hot water capability. But going that route would've been about double the cost. A paved but muddy driveway doesn't make for a clean car. But this kit from Active works great. Very happy. Would've been easier if this outer wall was 16" studs on center. Turns out this part is 24".
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cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Steaks and washing cars. What a way to spend a day.
True dat! A little bit of simple living never hurt anyone. Need more!
The washing wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't been so much mud washing across the driveway as the snow was melting. The grading around the driveway needs some work - maybe its just the slow/steady snowmelt that I'll have to deal with every season but ideally I'd like to find a way to minimize that amount of erosion around parts of the drive with mud/dirt washing across it. We only put down 1/2 the asphalt for the winter so that we could get a clean, unmarked top layer on it after the house was finished Sure the plowing throughout the winter though will cause some wear. But with this next layer I'm hoping we have an opportunity to fine tune things a bit now that we see how things behave throughout the winter/spring season. The same spot that had mud runoff coming across - also developed some good ice sheets when colder. Sure they are fun for me but I'm not sure others want to be surprised by that when going through a corner.
cccoltsicehockey
Well-known member
Could you dig a drainage swale along the edge of the pavement and fill that with gravel? That way, there is a place to stop large rains and snow melt from washing soil and mud onto the drive. I do understand that in your case, that would be a long distance, but I do believe you have a backhoe to at least assist in making the work easier.
We have some culverts under the drive already and I think your ideas make a lot of sense too - drainage swale tuning and also some native grass seeding to stabilize the soil. I don't have any data yet but I get a sense that it is generally pretty dry and we don't get a lot of sustained rain, but that doesn't address the frequency of heavy downpours that might create short bursts of runoff. We were waiting for spring to finalize the landscaping/grading. Seeing how the existing stuff has been working / not working is a good starting point.
Nolift911
Well-known member
So adding a hose bib - are there water lines close?
Yep. We ran hot and cold to the shop sink that's nearby. I know I can put a hose fitting on the faucet head but that seems janky to me. So a little less janky is to T off the supply lines from the sink for the hose bib that'll be about 10 feet away on the same wall.
Sometime today I should be placing an order for benches and a few cabinets. Anyone have experience with 4dock and Seville Classics? I know I'll have to assemble it all.
From Seville I'm thinking two of these - mostly to tuck away cleaners, spray paint can, oil, towels, small parts, power tools that don't fit in the toolbox. I'm probably underestimating the amount of space I'll need.
From 4dock:
Corner Bench - workspace plus a place to mount a benchtop drill press and other benchtop tools
Height Adjustable Bench (2x) - more workspace
Free Standing Bench - more workspace and vise likely attaches here
Pallet Racks - w/ wire decking for bulk storage, tires/wheels
On another note, we finally had the gas line hooked up to the firepit. This thing is insane.
And sunrises up here are nuts too. Never gets old.
From Seville I'm thinking two of these - mostly to tuck away cleaners, spray paint can, oil, towels, small parts, power tools that don't fit in the toolbox. I'm probably underestimating the amount of space I'll need.
From 4dock:
Corner Bench - workspace plus a place to mount a benchtop drill press and other benchtop tools
Height Adjustable Bench (2x) - more workspace
Free Standing Bench - more workspace and vise likely attaches here
Pallet Racks - w/ wire decking for bulk storage, tires/wheels
On another note, we finally had the gas line hooked up to the firepit. This thing is insane.
And sunrises up here are nuts too. Never gets old.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I use Seville Classic UltraHD® 2-Piece Pegboard Set w/ 23 Piece Hook Assortment above my work bench. I bought 2 sets a while ago and have been very happy with them....
Mr onetwo
Well-known member
That firepit is really spectacular....which series is it?
moab11
Well-known member
That fire pit is awesome! Would love to have one like it at home, bet it puts out some good heat too.
I have the Seville Classic Ultra HD in a 36x72 cabinet. Works very well. Not sure if there's an option but I don't think I'd go with stainless doors again. They show Everything.Sometime today I should be placing an order for benches and a few cabinets. Anyone have experience with 4dock and Seville Classics? I know I'll have to assemble it all.
From Seville I'm thinking two of these - mostly to tuck away cleaners, spray paint can, oil, towels, small parts, power tools that don't fit in the toolbox. I'm probably underestimating the amount of space I'll need.
From 4dock:
Corner Bench - workspace plus a place to mount a benchtop drill press and other benchtop tools
Height Adjustable Bench (2x) - more workspace
Free Standing Bench - more workspace and vise likely attaches here
Pallet Racks - w/ wire decking for bulk storage, tires/wheels
On another note, we finally had the gas line hooked up to the firepit. This thing is insane.
And sunrises up here are nuts too. Never gets old.
...from a local place called Breck Ironworks. If I turn it up any higher, it starts to make a whistling sound. So I was told...don't turn it up any higher!
Hmm, noted. I think they only offer stainless doors with different color frames.
davidstutler
Well-known member
First I'm seeing the products from 4dock. That looks like a pretty cost-effective way of getting good table setups across a space. Particularly love the corner unit you linked.
I first heard of 4dock here, too. Looking at some benches for work, and they're a strong contender.
Edit: I believe it was in this thread.
Edit: I believe it was in this thread.
Yeah I haven't found anyone that has actually ordered the 4dock stuff and reported back on it. A few things I like about it...
1) it comes in lots of sizes and options so it will fit my different spaces/needs
2) steel frames are the bones of it - I can always change out the table tops later if they don't work out
3) pretty affordable
4) my guess is this would all ship together - including pallet racks
5) they also have some cheap metal storage cabinets - could get these instead of Seville stuff - not as deep though
I still haven't ordered anything. More hemming and hawing, second guessing, etc.
gearhead1960
ALLIANCE MEMBER
I would buy what you need by size as cost does not seem to be a real issue. You will thank yourself later when you fill the larger dimensions.....of course if it was smaller, you would have to have less stuff....wait, that's a bad argument....