Will post pictures of before and after but finally decided to do something major to my backyard. We have a florida room of the back of the house but really have never had a place to sit outside of it but getting a ~500 brick paver patio installed the first week of June.

Have never heard the phrase "Florida room" before, but it turned out to be exactly what I thought it might be.

Well, almost. I was expecting jalousie windows.

Sun room or enclosed patio in these parts.

Is it a room to put the elderly relatives into?

****ing mice in the pantry. I live in an urban neighborhood so there'll always be critters around. Anybody have a trap they love? I bought a Victor electric multi-kill and am waiting on results. Obviously I've made sure to straighten up but last night one climbed to a shelf ~6ft off the floor to get in a package of dry egg noodles.

https://www.zoro.com/tomcat-mouse-tr...3l8aAiQi8P8HAQ

I've caught the most with these. They vary in sensitivity though and some individual traps were better than others.

I used the standard snap traps but then brought some similar to those Microbet posted. The latter were more sensitive and we caught more, the only negative was sometimes they didn't result in instant death so would have to be euthanised by Mr Rexx .

I think I had that happen once. Nasty. A couple have been caught by the tail or foot and I let them go. Those "humane" traps aren't humane. If you checked the trap very often maybe it would be, but they don't last long in those capture traps.

I agree about the "humane traps", they hardly live up to their name.
I also wouldn't use sticky traps, they are horrific and I can't understand anyone using them.

Cat?

Why reinvent the wheel?

Mice like walking along the wall. Place trap with peanut butter (because they have to lick it and spend more time at trap) against wall in corner where "evidence" is found.

I don't think it has ever taken me more than a few hours to get rid of a mouse with standard 25c trap.

Yeah, the one I bought is this electric trap from Amazon - not a multi kill I guess - and baited it with peanut butter. It's placed along the wall of the pantry and I woke this morning to find the mouse raided a different dry pasta on that shelf 6ft up in the air but hasn't gone in the trap.

Do you have it flat against wall like picture?

Is there mouse poop where you put it?

Throw accessible food in tote bin and try again?

Also, an exterminator told me once that they pee as they run along. You're gonna want to pull everything and clean intensely.

I'm looking for a six to ten foot long NEMA 6-15P to 6-15R extension cord, preferably with a right/angled version of the male connector. Even better if white. I'm not having much luck and can't tell whether this is a hard request or I just don't know how to find extension cords online...

No luck finding a white NEMA male connector?

ldo; it's spelled NIMA and it only comes in Persian.

Hi everyone, about to buy a house had a few questions for my agent but wondering if y'all could advise me on any others. It's $306k before upgrades, 3200sq ft and pretty modern looking inside with the flooring (light grey) and a lot of white. Here's some questions I sent her earlier with her answers. HOA only $450 a year I like that and taxes 2.5%
But wanted to know any other important questions before buying. Building time will be 8 months it's a new development had a nice pool area and only 30 houses. All the schools nearby are 9/10 and virtually no crime.

-what kind of lumber do you you use? Spruce, pine, or fur. I think he is asking what kind of wood the 2x4's are. They are finger-jointed. Cuts down on twisting of studs in the walls.
-what is the garage door width? 16 feet
-how many a/c's and water heaters come with the Willow and Aspen floor plan? One ac using damper system so there are two thermostats. Water heaters depend on number of baths…any home above 2.5 baths gets two water heaters.
-What is the seer on the a/c unit(s)? 16 SEER
-how much is the upgrade for the back patio extension? Willow $3850.

It comes with dishwasher, microwave and oven. No fridge. I figured with random upgrades I'd be looking at another 10-15k I'm still in my price range

Thanks!!

contractor corrected the built-ins. the woodworker had been using the wrong drawings.

Hi everyone, question about HVAC replacement.

Situation: Ohio house built in 1996, 2 story plus finished basement. ~3700 square feet plus ~2000 square feet in basement.

We need to replace our A/C unit, and will probably take the opportunity to replace our furnace at the same time. (Both original to the house.) We've been given the following options by the company that's serviced our system for the last ~5 years, and that we trust:

1: Trane 96% efficient, 2 stage furnace with variable speed blower.
Trane 5 ton, 15 seer air conditioner with matching evaporator
Total price ~$7,800

2: Trane 80% efficient, 2 stage furnace with variable speed blower
Trane 5 ton, 15 seer air conditioner with matching evaporator
Total price ~$7,400

3: (A/C only) Trane 5 ton, 14.5 seer air conditioner with matching evaporator
Total price ~$5,000

4: Maytag 96% efficient, 2 stage furnace with variable speed blower
Maytag 5 ton, 15 seer air conditioner with matching evaporator
Total price ~$7,800

5: Maytag 80% efficient, 2 stage furnace with variable speed blower
Maytag 5 ton, 15 seer air conditioner with matching evaporator
Total price: ~$7,170

6: (A/C only) Maytag 5 ton, 14 seer air conditioner with matching evaporator
Total price: ~$5,430

Warranties: Trane: 3 yr labor, 10 yr parts.
Maytag: 6 yr labor, 12 yr parts, "12 yr dependability promise"

We're inclined to replace the furnace (single stage) at the same time (due to age and the convenience of just getting it all done at once), so the 2 dimensions we're choosing are Trane vs. Maytag and 96% efficiency vs. 80% efficiency. The company is recommending Maytag due to the better warranty (and the owner has a Maytag in his home).

My own lean is towards Trane, but that's because I've historically viewed Maytag as a mediocre consumer products company. I don't know their reputation in HVAC equipment. Moreover, I've read several times that the hardware is all virtually the same across companies. I have less of a feel between 80% and 96% efficiency - as I understand it, that doesn't have anything to do with how well the unit performs (in terms of pushing more cold air out), but rather how efficiently it does so in terms of energy use. So it seems like a simple payback calculation based on how long we'd expect to be in the house. (Idea is that you can't capture the benefit of 96% efficiency in resale, so it's only worth it if we're going to be in the house sufficiently long to capture it ourselves.)

TL/DR version: We're trying to decide between Trane and Maytag, and between 80% and 96% efficiency. Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

96 vs 80% has to be a pretty short payback period for only $400 different price.

I'd lean more towards the Trane equipment. Ive seen a few consumer reports that rated Maytag as the top brand, but have only seen a handful personally. The most important thing is that it's sized correctly. Did they do a load calculation on the house?

you can google and find hvac efficiency payback calculators. you are correct that it is associated with energy use and not how well it cools. i don't know the gas prices in ohio (i'm assuming it's gas), but in oregon the difference between 96% and 80% is around $100/year. you should also search to see if their are federal and/or state energy savings incentives or tax credits. i believe there are still federal tax credits available for energy star furnaces and air conditioners but i don't think an AC with less than 15 seer will qualify.

regarding the warranty, do you know if it's transferable if you sell the house? similar to the efficiency payback, the longer maytag warranty won't matter if you don't plan on staying in the house that long and it's not transferable.

fyi maytag doesn't actually manufacture the equipment. they sold the naming rights to nordyne/nortek global several years ago.

A bit larger for the Maytag 80 vs. 96, but agree that the payback period should still be relatively short.

I'm not sure. I can ask the guy, but I think the 5 ton is pretty standard for most of the houses around here, and I don't have any reason to believe that the current machine is inappropriate. But again, it's worth asking.

In terms of rebates, all of the amounts I quoted are net of all federal/state/local rebates. Based on the conversation with HVAC company owner, the warranty is typically not transferable. Like, best case scenario, we can elect (upon installation) to purchase transferability and pay an extra ~$100 or so. I probably would not choose to pay that amount. So the extra warranty, for all practical purposes, is only useful to the extent that we expect to be here more than 3 years. No plans to move right now, but not averse to moving.

I've seen the link between Maytag and Nordyne/Nortek, but that doesn't really mean anything to me. (Because I'm completely ignorant about all things housing-related.) Is Nordyne/Nortek a good, neutral, or negative brand?

[QUOTE=spidercrab;52294405 Is Nordyne/Nortek a good, neutral, or negative brand?[/QUOTE]

I would say Nordyne is low end stuff. I believe Maytag is their "premium" brand. Any Nordyne stuff I've come across has been cheap home warranty replacement, bottom of the barrell equipment though. Between those 2 options, I'd go with Trane every time, and I'm not a big fan of Trane.

I'm not sure if this still holds, and I'm not sure if it's the same with gas versus oil, but my 20 year old high efficiency oil furnace requires more maintenance or else it ends up running at a lower efficiency anyway. The extra maintenance costs probably outweigh the savings, although I've not kept close track of any of this.