DIY Projects

[Bridgecity]

Thanks!  Insects aren't bad, mostly because the lot is covered in crushed rock.  We have municipal reserve space behind us and on one side.  If you go into those areas the mosquitoes can be bad.  I'm not adverse to spraying myself with bug spray if needed.

[Firm]

Really nice work, that's a big project and it looks like it turned out really great.

[Blueprint]

Don't even want to think about what the roof on our current place will cost when the time comes...very steep, lots of peaks and valleys. Ugh.

Mine was $17k, right around the pandemic. I'm just about the only guy on the street who filled the 17 pages of paperwork + follow-up hassles of the class-action suit terms against BP (premature aging of the shingles used on the original builds all over our then-new neighbourhood). It was worth $8k, so time well spent.

[Firm]

That's not bad, definitely worth the hassle. Ours was done 2 years before we bought the place, so it's about 5 years old now. Shingles are those architectural shingles that are suppose to last longer, but I've got no paperwork or warranty, so when the times comes it'll be fully out of pocket. When it was done, they re-used most of the flashing, which irritates me, I would always demand new flashing with a roof. Hopefully I get another 10-15 out of it, then maybe I'll go metal...My parents did metal about 10 years ago and it's really nice, never have to think about roof issues again.

[GreatBigAbyss]

We're going higher end on our roof.  We're going with IKO Dynasty, which are a performance shingle rated for wind and hail.  They're a heavier shingle than other products, and they've got a class 3 impact rating, one below the max of 4, and a 210km/h wind rating.  Given the hailstorms that we're getting lately, I figure it's a smart move to pay for a higher end product. 

The contractor is also including all the flashing, drip edge, roof vents, etc.  I'll be taking my chimney out, too (it's no longer hooked up to anything) and he'll be patching the hole that it leaves. 

[Johnnymac]

Hopefully I get another 10-15 out of it, then maybe I'll go metal...My parents did metal about 10 years ago and it's really nice, never have to think about roof issues again.

We switched to metal after our shingles were at end of life.  I think we were the first one in our neighborhood and there's been about a dozen or more houses that did the same thing after us.  Honestly don't know why more people don't pay for the upgrade, beyond going up there every decade or so to tighten the screws or replace any that are missing and that's about it.  We paid about twice the cost of shingles, but we shouldn't have to worry about it going forward.

[Bridgecity]

We're going higher end on our roof.  We're going with IKO Dynasty, which are a performance shingle rated for wind and hail. 

We went with the same shingles in 2024.

[Blizzard]

Not exactly DIY, but since last month my A/C at home has been approaching the end of its life. It's a no-name brand Chinese mini-split system that's original to the condo being built in 2010. When I bought my place in 2021 I figured it didn't have too much time left, but somehow with minimal maintenance it's lasted another 5 years. Since last month, the system stops cooling after several hours in operation and displays an error code that I traced to a temperature sensor. It seems like this temperature sensor is faulty and after awhile senses that the room is cold, shuts down the compressor, and doesn't restart it as the room warms up. I don't know a ton about HVAC and figured it wasn't worthwhile to start taking apart a 16 year old machine and throwing parts at it to get maybe another 1-2 years at most, so I bit the bullet and started shopping.

It's crazy how much prices vary for mini-split systems! I got 4 quotes and the most expensive was almost 2.5x the cheapest. Makes it really tough to make a decision. I ended up choosing the Mitsubishi MSZ-HX mini-split in the 18,000 BTU size. It's a heat pump (vs. the old one which was strictly an A/C), so I'll be able to use it for most of the winter instead of electric baseboards. HVAC contractors here basically only install heat pumps these days rather than A/C-only units because  Hydro Quebec subsidizes them since they use way less electricity than traditional baseboard heaters. I'll be getting around $1,000 or so back from HQ after my install.

I've been flipping the breaker twice a day for the past month to hard reset the A/C, to get the cooling to restart, so I'm looking forward to having the new system installed on Friday. Very grateful the old one hasn't kicked the bucket yet, haha. All of the contractors who visited were shocked that the original unit lasted this long, seeing as it was as cheap as you could get back in 2010, and it works pretty hard in the summer seeing as one of my outside walls is southwest facing.

[Firm]

I bet that'll help save some $ come winter on the heat side of things.

I have a recent A/C story too. Our house has 3 AC units; one for the main floor kitchen/living area, one for the master suite (mainfloor), and one for the upstairs. It's been a bit of a heat wave here with daytime temps flirting with 100F and humidity 75%+, very uncomfortable. Last Friday, around 2pm, I am at the office getting ready to leave early so Mrs.Firm and I can go to Nashville for the night to celebrate her birthday as my FIL is in town to watch the kids. She calls me and says that the AC is making a lot of noise, and sends a video of it sounding pretty horrible. I leave work and get over there maybe 45 minutes later and the unit has shut itself off, it's humming loudly, and the fan motor is extremely hot. Clearly, the condenser fan motor seized up and shut everything down...Of course, this is the upstairs unit, which is most critical for cooling, and it's where the kid and my FIL sleep.

I jump on Amazon and find a replacement fan motor, and a capacitor (just in case), but earliest delivery is Sunday. At this point it's like 5pm, and it's 100F outside and already about 85F in the house upstairs. So, we move the kids mattresses into the living room downstairs and set them up to sleep there. Get my FIL setup in the other living room, so at least they'll have the mainfloor AC, and we get on the road to Nashville.

We got home late in the afternoon on Saturday and it was 92F upstairs...so everyone slept downstairs for another night. Kids at least loved 'camping out' in the living room...go figure. Sunday afternoon the parts arrive from Amazon and I was able to swap the fan motor in about 30 minutes and the AC unit fired right up. By 9pm upstairs was back to a comfortable 73F.

The whole ordeal made me very grateful for AC in general, for Amazon shipping, and for being handy enough to diagnose and repair the unit myself, otherwise we would've been in for a much longer wait and bigger bill.

[GreatBigAbyss]

Did you have a way to recoup and recharge the refrigerant?  Or just recharge?

[Firm]

Neither, the condenser fan can be replaced without opening the system at all.

[GreatBigAbyss]

Ooooh, it was just the fan.  For some reason I read it as you replaced the condenser. 

[Blizzard]

Did you have a way to recoup and recharge the refrigerant?  Or just recharge?

No idea, will find out on Friday. They'll also be changing out the breaker from a single-pole 20A to a double-pole 15A, since the requirements for the new systems have changed.