I wanted a place I could have a large work area on the top and plenty of storage inside for my cordless tools.  Saw, drills, sanders, etc.  As I was in the shop finalizing the plan I happened to be listening to my Ipod  which was connected to my docking station in the shop and I thought it would be great idea to incorporate the dock into my work center as well so I could listen to music while I work.  I had also planned to put one of my cordless battery charges in the center as well so I could charge my batteries right inside the work center.

During the construction of the center, two of my batteries completely died.  I don’t mean they needed a charge.  They were beyond that, so on to my new drill.  I had already made the decision to move to lithium Ion batteries on my next battery purchase.  Most manufacturers make you purchase a whole new set of cordless tools to do this which is a big reason I use Ryobi from Home Depot.  The quality of the tools does not match up to Dewalt, Milwaukee or Makita but they are a great heavy duty homeowner grade unit.  In addition, if a tool burns up, they don’t cost a fortune to replace.  Ryobi also designed their new Lithium Ion batteries to be used in the old tools!  What a great idea that a company is not gouging me.  Haven’t found many that are willing to do that!

On the Home Depot web site I found to offerings for the new 18volt Lithium Ion batteries.  Both the same price but one contained a single battery and the other contained 2 batteries?  I didn’t understand the offering so I decided to swing by the store to check it out.  What I found was the 2 battery contained 1/2 size batteries rather than a single full size battery.  In my opinion, two is always better than one so I was preparing to purchase the 2 pack of 1/2 size batteries when I happened to notice a combo set that contained 2 1/2 size batteries and a new style 18 volt Lithium Ion 1/2” drill.  Those who know me realize that my motto is, You can’t own enough tools and one of my friends who shall remain nameless (David) is so bad that he owns multiple sanders just so he doesn’t have to change sandpaper grits during a job.  I felt that surely this would apply to drill as well so I bought the combo kit.  WOW, I was right.  Finishing the mobile work center with an extra drill was great.  Especially since I was drilling pilot holes, countersinking the holes and then adding the screws.  Another great feature I found was the new Ryobi Lithium Ion battery charger is a smart charger.  Meaning it will charge both the new batteries and the old batteries as well.  You just don’t find to many companies that will sacrifice profits to keep their customers happy.  This is why I am a die hard Ryobi fan and recommend you to be one as well.  Happy Drilling!

None-the-less, I spent two rather cold days climbing around in the attic with the assistance of my youngest son pulling cables for the new security camera system that I recently received.  Our house has been protected by security camera’s for several years.  As you may have read in previous articles, I added security cameras when we added the cabana out by the pool.  Since the cabana is an open area and contains two HD televisions and adding the fact that a friend’s TV was stolen from his outdoor room a few years ago, I felt it wise to keep an eye on this area.  The problem with the old system was recording and viewing the camera’s.  I had routed the signals to the main home theater in the den through a DVR.  This allowed me to record the video and look at the camera shots on the main TV.  The problems with this setup was I rarely remember to start the recorder, I quickly ran out of space on the hard drive on the recorder and we had to change inputs on the TV to see the security camera feeds.

I recently found a great deal on complete system at Security Cameras Direct.com (http://www.securitycamerasdirect.com/)  $400.00 gets 4 night vision cameras, cables and a dedicated recording DVR with webserver capabilities which I thought was a great deal.  The most difficult part about the entire setup is running the cables (depending on your particular home).  Even having a really good setup to add cables and wiring still creates a few long days and lots of sore muscles getting this job done.  Also, since I already had some equipment, including cameras and a quad splitter I was able to expand the system beyond it’s normal capacity.  I used the 4 new night vision cameras along with 3 of my old cameras and used the quad splitter which gives me a total of 7 cameras on the system although one has yet to be installed because of the difficulty running the cables.  On the high end of the house and I’ll have to have some help when the weather gets better.

Anyway, with the cables pulled and the cameras installed I terminated the connections in the equipment room to the new dedicated DVR.  This is a great unit allowing you to schedule your recording times, record all the time or activate recording based on an input trigger which can be nearly anything.  You can set the trigger up to be when the security system is armed, when the security system is tripped or you can even add motion detectors at each camera and begin recording only on that camera.  Sweet!  If you choose to record all the time (which I do) the hard drive will record roughly 20 days of video and then begin to automatically overwrite the oldest video so there is never a recording downtime.  The dedicated DVR also has an output if you want to view the cameras on a monitor/TV but the really cool feature is the built in web server.  You can simple connect the DVR to your existing computer network router and with a little configuration you can view the camera feeds on any computer in the house.  I can also view the camera feed from my Ipad and Iphone as well!

Another great feature is with some additional work ( and you really need to be somewhat computer network savvy) you can set the DVR up in a way that it can be viewed from outside the home on any computer or other web enabled device from the internet.  Whether you view from internal or external computers the connection to the camera feeds are password protected so there is no concern about the world viewing your home unless you give out the password.  I suggests you don’t but that’s up to you. 

So for a few hundred dollars and some time you can really increase the security level around your house.  Even if you feel like this project is out of your league to accomplish on your own you at least have an idea of the price range a security or electronics company should be charging you to install a system like this.  As always I hope this helps you add fun, value and security to your home.

Radon Test Report

January is “Radon Awareness Month”.  I’ve heard about radon for years but never bothered to do any research.  I even had a customer several years ago that installed a radon elimination system in the new home he was building and wondered at the time why the fuss but again did not research radon.  I was recently in the office of a local building inspector and happened to pick up a brochure regarding radon.  You can see the brochure by clicking here.

Basically I learned the following:

Radon is an invisible, radioactive gas that results from the breakdown of uranium and radium in the soil and rock beneath homes. Levels vary from day to day. Any building can have radon, but almost one of every 15 homes has elevated radon levels, according to the EPA. Overexposure does not cause symptoms and once you’ve been exposed, there’s no treatment. That’s why getting your home tested every two years is so important.

I also learned that single family homes in East Tennessee are 8 to 9 times more likely to have high levels of radon in the home.

RADON IS THE SECOND LEADING CAUSE OF LUNG CANCER!

Seems this matter is more important than I realized and thus the reason for this article and announcements on our web site, Facebook and Twitter feeds.

I checked The Contractor Grade for radon testing companies in the area and attempted to contact both.  I was only able to speak with one, BGS Radon Mitigation.  Bob Shanks told me his fee for radon testing is $150.00 and he could be out in a few days.  I declined and checked with Lowes on a recent trip and found a radon test kit made by Kidde for $12.87.  I’m not sure if a professional test would be better but saving $137.13 sounded like a great place to start.  I also noted on the package contents that it is usually suggested to purchase two kits and run the test side by side and then average the results.  I’ll start with the one and let you know how the results turn out.  My primary point here is – Test Your Home!

In some further research I found that Consumer Reports recommends only one DIY test kit.  They stated:

(we found only one—the RTCA 4 Pass Charcoal Canister $20—accurate enough to recommend)

Again, the point is – Test Your Home and perhaps save your life.

As I’ve stated before, the hardest thing about attempting to write this blog is the time.  Seems I don’t have enough time to do the project, much less write about it in a timely manner so I’ll try to catch up on what’s been happening the past couple of months.

First, the Christmas decorations came out early this year.  November 8th to be exact and that was a week late according to my schedule.  The reason for the rush is the 2 main trees we put up in the house have experienced problems over the past few years as both pre-lit trees lose more and more lights each year.  I have worked through this issue by throwing more lights on top of the old lights each year and it was becoming quite a mess.  At the end of last holiday season I spent a few hours cutting all the lights off the trees. ( I thought this is how I remembered it)  Anyway, the plan was to get the trees out early this year and string all new lights.  By the way, I wonder if anyone else has the same issue’s with pre-lit trees?  I’ve often wondered why some company can’t make a decent string of lights.  It must be more difficult than putting a man on the moon!.  One the trees was still under warranty but since they wanted me to pay the shipping to return the tree for repair I decided it was not worth the cost.

Back on track I pulled the family tree out to get started.  This chore was elevated to a higher priority as we learned our daughter would not be able to come home for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  For this reason my wife demanded the family tree be finished in time for our daughter’s early visit.  Off to Lowes I go in search of tree lights for both trees.  After a couple of trips and $400 I had enough lights to get do the job.  Several evenings of work and the family tree is complete.

The formal tree for the living room did not get out until after Thanksgiving which gave me enough time to order another item I wanted to try.  Last year I had seen a rolling tree stand and storage bag combo in a Frontgate catalog.  This looked like a great idea since the formal tree weights approximately 7 million pounds!  I set up the stand and bag and then proceeded to pull out the tree.  To my surprise I found lights still on the tree?  I guess my memory from last year was not so good.  Apparently I had only cut the lights off of the family tree.  I started the setup and checked the lights.  Since I was in a hurry there seemed to be enough still working to muddle through one more year.  However, when I added the middle section I realized it was not to be.  I spent the next several evenings cutting lights off of this tree and restringing with new lights.  Finally the tree was finished and I could move on to more decorating chores.  I tried to persuade that the village really did not need to come out this year but my thought was over-ridden by the family and our wonderful traditions so off we go to start pulling out plastic bins full of tinsel, decorations and of course the village.  I kid you not.  At last count there were 20 plastic tubs in the living room.  This does not count the den!

Moving ahead, the decorations finally get placed and during the course of my outdoor decorating I remember I am also having problems with the automation system.  The front porch lights and the lamp post at the street are not responding to the computer commands.  Troubleshooting a power line carrier system is the biggest single pain in an installers rear end!  First using my signal meter results in NOT finding the problem.  This means I get to start killing circuits one at a time until the problem corrects itself.  After this procedure and NOT finding the problem indicates it lies in the circuit that feeds the porch and street lamp.  I finally determine that the garage switch has gone bad putting noise back on the power line.  I pull this switch and throw in a temporary and the problem is solved for the moment but I now have to decide how to proceed.

I’ve been researching some new products for our automation company, Home Automation Systems, and decide now is as good a time as any to try a few out.  I have some hybrid components on order and plan to install during the holidays.  This should keep me plenty busy as I also plan to add to the video surveillance system as well.  I’ll keep you updated in the coming weeks and let you know how all the projects turn out.  Oh and one more thing.  During all of the above projects we’ve also been adding over 3800 new companies to The Contractor Grade web site in an effort to better serve our users.  I wonder why I can’t find time to write more often?

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Years ago we purchased a hot tub after using them at mountain cabin rentals for several years prior.  The hot tub is the only thing that keeps me going in the miserable cold temperatures leading up to spring.  The hot tub mostly sits idle during the summer months as we play and relax in the pool so when the nights recently began cooling I headed to check the hot tub.

Of course as my luck runs the hot tub control panel showed an error code – “OH”.  I went to the manual to find this indicates an overheat condition.  The solution is to reset the tub which I quickly accomplished.  However, as we are traveling quite a bit during the fall I did not have time to keep an eye on the temperature.  So the next check was a week or so later and again the control panel had an “OH” code.  I reset the tub and figured I would have to call a repair technician thinking a temperature probe had gone bad.  Once more a week later I again checked the unit and found a new error code “FLO”.  Now this is something I had seen before when the recirculating pump went bad.  Since I had seen a couple of different codes I decided to call and let a professional do the job.

Craig Carter of Spatech said he could be out in a couple of days to check the unit out.  Once he arrived he found the recirculating pump had indeed gone bad again.  This has been the only recurring issue with what has other wise been a great Dynasty hot tub.  Since the recirculating pump has been a continuous problem, I have changed it out myself several times but I decided since Craig was already out and the hot tub is not in the best location to work on

I would just let Craig do the work.  He had to order the pump and told me it should be in within a week and he would be back to change the unit out.  I also talked to Craig about changing to a different sanitizer.  Craig agreed that the Bromine I have been using for the life of the tub caused a lot of deterioration in the plastic parts such as jets that were broken along with plastic handles.  Craig suggested the use of a silver mineral stick to be used in conjunction with a non-chlorine shock.  He said the stick and shock would be around $80.00 so I told him to bring it back with him when he returned to install the new pump

A week later Craig calls to let me know he is ready to install the pump, we schedule for the next day and he arrives and begins work.  I check on the progress after a short period and see that Craig is installing a larger recirculation pump.  He told me this should eliminate the recurring problems with the pump but it was going to require some re-plumbing to get it installed.  He also tells me that the supply company he uses did not have the mineral stick in stock so I would have to pick it up on my own.  Around 90 minutes later Craig has the pump installed and the job is complete.  Total bill – $300.00.  The invoice breakdown was $200.00 for the new pump and $100.00 for the labor.  Now it was time to pay the bill.  Since I had used Craig before I was prepared to give him a credit card.  Then he tells me he no longer accepts credit cards.  Apparently the fees were just too high to continue accepting cards.  I understand he feelings but it would have been nice to know beforehand.  It was not really a problem as I just wrote him a check but still a little annoying.

After Craig is gone I jump online to my favorite web site to order hot tub chemicals and parts so I can research the mineral stick.  I normally use Hot Tub Works but I didn’t feel comfortable with their description of the various sanitizers.  I searched a little longer before finding The Spa Depot which had a great description of the various sanitizers in their inventory.  Since it appeared the mineral stick required some different associated chemicals I decided to order an entire kit to assist with changing from the bromine.  I was also surprised to find the the entire kit which included the mineral stick, shock,alkalinity up, pH decrease, oil absorber, Calcium increase, metal free, sea klear, dichlor sanitizing granules, test strips and hardness test strips was the same price ($79.95) that Craig had offered for just the mineral stick and shock.  I also happened across the pump section on the Spa Depot web site and found the recirculating pump Craig had just installed for $140.00.  I think a 30% markup is a little high but I didn’t have to get under the deck to install it either.

The Spa Depot was very prompt in shipping my items as they arrived 3 days later.  Reading the instructions I found that the mineral stick was not compatible with bromine which meant I would have to drain the tub and refill with new water.  No big deal, just a little time consuming.  So the following Sunday I head under the deck to connect the hose and drain the water.  I was a little disappointed to find a few problems.  1) The access panel was merely propped up against the tub rather than being properly reinstalled and a few of the pickets had fell off.  Now the tub is quite old and the cabinet is not in good condition which doesn’t really have any effect since the tub is sunk in the deck so the cabinet isn’t really visible.  It does however keep critters from getting underneath the tub so I was disappointed to see that Craig had not properly reinstalled it. 2) I also found that the area under the new pump was wet so there apparently is a leak in the new piping. 3) And finally there is an air conditioning condensate drain pipe that runs near the tub.  I purposely did not glue the PVC pipe to make it easier to clean out in the event it ever clogs up.  While Craig was working under the deck he had separated the pipe and had not put it back together or notified me that there was a problem.  Luckily no damage was caused as the A/C is not running right now but next spring that could have caused some issues.  I drained the tub which took much longer than I remembered (6 hours), refilled with fresh water, adjusted the chemistry and finally added the mineral stick.  Everything is working well so far and I’ll write an update in the future to let you know how I like the mineral stick.

Back to Craig, I called to let him know there was a leak and he said he would contact me the next morning to let me know when he would be out.  The next morning I did not receive a call and it was actually the next day before he called and left a message.  He stated since it was a tiny leak he wanted to wait until Monday to come out (his message was left on Thursday).  I don’t see a problem with this so I’ll let you know how things work next week.  All in all I think Spatech’s work was a little sloppy on this trip along with being a little expensive.  Hopefully, Craig will redeem himself on the callback.

They discussed my problem and told me they could have a technician out the next day.  Pretty quick service so I asked them to come on out.  I received a call from Tri County Appliance around 10am just to make sure I was ready for them to send the tech out and I told them yes.  Johney arrived around 11:15 and proceeded to check the unit out.  He found and explained that the compressor was running and it appeared the unit was frozen.  He removed the interior panel on the freezer side and sure enough the coils were frozen solid.  He said either a timer had gone out or the heaters that kick in during the defrost cycle had gone bad.  After checking the heaters, he determined that the heaters had burned out.

Thinking ahead the day before I had already checked the cost of a new refrigerator.  This way I was prepared for exactly how much I was willing to spend on the repairs.  Typically if the cost of the repair goes over 50% of the cost of a new appliance I go with the new appliance.  In this case I might have gone slightly more if needed.  The reason would be that the unit in question is a 27 cubic foot unit which was the largest residential unit available when it was purchased.  Units this large are still hard to find and you really pay the price to get a unit that large.  I found that Lowes or Best Buy could sell me a unit around 20 cubic feet in the $700 range but if I intended to purchase a unit that large again I would be looking in the $2000 range.  The second issue would be the ice maker.  The old GE unit has a great icemaker that is still used as the primary ice source as the new kitchen refrigerator ( a new stainless steel LG model) has the biggest piece of junk for an icemaker that I have ever seen.  Therefore if I replace the old GE in the garage I would also be looking at another $1500 for a standalone icemaker.  With all this in mind I was prepared to spend $400-$500  on the repairs.

Luckily, the total bill for service and parts to replace the heaters on the old GE unit was only $170.30 so the decision was made very easy for me.  Overall a very good experience with Tri County Appliance Repair.

Honestly, the last time we had carpet cleaned I called Stanley Steamer to do the work for me.  Their work was so bad that I just couldn’t bring myself to call them again.  I happened to be walking through Lowes recently and noticed a Bissell carpet cleaner so I stopped to investigate.  With prices between $199 and $300 I thought this might be a better way to spend the money rather than paying someone for a one time cleaning.  The middle of the road cleaner was $259.00 and I thought that would be the way to go.  A few weeks later I was in     Wal-Mart with Denise and notice they also had Bissell carpet cleaners and the exact same model that I had seen at Lowes was $188 at      Wal-Mart.  Now we’re talking. 

Last week I decide the carpet cleaning had finally reached the top of my list. OK, really Denise said “get it done” and I headed to Wal-Mart to make the purchase.  Of course they did not have the model I wanted in stock.  Looking over the selection I chose a less expensive model (no powered brush attachment) for $179 and I chose to grab this instead of paying a higher price at Lowes.

As you can see 

the unit has a built in heater which is a great selling feature but after using the unit I’m not sure how well it actually heats.

I also purchased one gallon of cleaning solution at $17.47.  So I figure the cost of cleaning the den carpet at $17.47 rather then the $100 or so I would have paid a commercial cleaner.  The unit did an extremely good job although even with pre-treat some of the stains were still left behind but the same stains couldn’t be removed by Stanley Steamer either.  I hope since I now own a carpet cleaner the job over the entire house will be done on a more timely basis now and the stains should never get to the point they can’t be removed. 

I’m sure that will be the case since I have so much free time.  Notice this is my first post since July.  LOL  Have a great day.

I step out to investigate and find the main AC unit with the compressor running but the fan is not.  On a 100 degree day this is not acceptable.  I shut the unit down and hope something will reset and the unit will be OK.  I figure 45 minutes of off time should do the trick but unfortunately I get a phone call and have to run out on a quick errand.  An hour later I’m back at the house and flip the AC unit back on and head out to see the results.  It’s now working – GREAT!

30 minutes later and things are not so great as the fan on the unit has stopped running again.  Now I have to call someone to fix the unit at 4:00 PM on a Friday afternoon and I’m not sure who I’m going to call.  I have tried 3 or 4 HVAC companies and for various reasons have not been happy with any of them.  I received a flyer in the mail a few months back from R & M Climate Control.  Obviously with our company I’m always looking at new companies and had kept their flyer on my desk.  I just had not planned a call quite this soon.

None the less, I called R & M Climate Control expecting to hear they could be over to repair the unit in a week or so.  Josh at the call center answered my call in the most professional manner I have experienced in some time.  He was very efficient, cordial, and helpful.  He took some time and entered all of my information since I was a new customer and then told me the technician would arrive to repair the unit between 6:00 and 8:00 PM.  Now remember, it’s        4:00 PM as we are talking.  I asked Josh “what day between 6:00 and 8:00 PM”.  He laughed and told me today.  I honestly couldn’t believe it!

Sure enough, at 6:30 PM the technician (Mark Albright) rings my doorbell and is ready to work.  We discuss the problem and what I have found so far.  Mark goes to the outside unit, removes the electrical cover and does a few checks.  He quickly determines the coil is bad and unfortunately for me this is a split coil that handles both the fan and the compressor.  I figure a week to order the parts but he actually has one on the truck.  He quickly configures and installs the coil, checks the unit, writes the bill and is completely finished in 45 minutes.  The total charge is $296.00.  $207.00 for the coil (which is probably a high but let’s face it: it’s after hours and he has it on the truck) + $84.00 for the diagnostic fee + $5.00 for “Energy/Materials” charge.  I hate misc. fees but again it’s after hours and I think the total bill was extremely reasonable. 

I don’t say this very often about any company but I would highly recommend      R & M Climate Control.

As I move further around to look inside the pool equipment area which is surrounded by a fence I see a geyser of water shooting straight into the air!  The booster pump that powers the Polaris pool cleaner                                           (affectionately knows as Buster the pool duster) has come loose from the discharge pipe and the pump is shooting water straight into the air.  I quickly shut off the breaker that feeds the pump.  On further inspection I realize a hose fitting has broken off.  

I’m not real happy at this point as the cleaner is only a few years old.  However, I do feel lucky to have been home and caught the problem since the pool would have been emptied pretty quick with the way the water was shooting out.

Now a trip to Fox Pool (www.foxpoolandspa.com) is in order as I will need a special Polaris hose fitting to make the repairs.  I take a water sample for them to check as long as I’m going and I have the new parts in hand although Polaris thinks highly of their special fittings at around $10 each and I’m smart enough to buy an extra.  Wonder if I’ll remember where I put the spare when I need the next one?

A few days later I decide I really need to get this fixed since the pool is getting dirty and I’m not going to vacuum the darn thing.  I determine that the way the fitting broke it will be easier to cut the elbow off and replace the whole assembly rather than try to dig the broken section out.  You know what that means?  Another trip to Lowes for plumbing fittings of course.  I have another 1 1/2” elbow but not the adaptor from the elbow to the threaded female connection that I need.  I head off to Lowes (www.lowes.com) along with the existing fittings (to assure I get the right sizes) and back to the house.  It only takes about 15 minutes to get everything back up and running so I should have done this project sooner.  No worries though as Buster gets back to work and has the pool clean in no time.