Garage Lighting Upgrade

Last summer I replaced the basic CFL bulb in the garage with a 100w daylight LED bulb. It helped but it was still lacking compared to what I had in the garage at my old house. A few months ago my neighbor picked up a four foot LED shoplight from Sam's Club to mount above his workbench. I'd seen them before in the store before but seeing the light output in his garage sold me on it. This weekend I finally got around to buying and installing a few. The difference is absolutely amazing.

Supply list:

-Two four foot long LED shoplights (At least at my local store they're now selling a Honeywell model with a slightly higher (4500 lumens) light output.)

-Light socket adapter with two outlets

-Three prong to two prong adapters

Total was roughly $80 with tax.

In the picture above I also bought longer hooks just in the case the ones that were included weren't long enough to go through drywall and "bite" enough into the stud but I didn't need them.

Installation was easy. I used a stud finder to find the studs in the ceiling, drilled pilot holes for the hooks, screwed them in and mounted the lights. I mounted one in the front and one in the rear centering them as best I could. Using the light socket adapter greatly simplified installation as instead of having to hardwire them in I just needed to plug them in. They also work with the existing light switch this way. The plugs on the lights are grounded so I needed the three prong to two prong adapters in order to plug them in. The cords aren't very long so I used one extension cord as well. 

Before. (Excuse the mess. Putting up a shed to get a lot of this stuff out of the garage is next on my list for the spring.)

After. As usual, the pictures don't totally do it justice but even Jenny was impressed with the difference.

GFCI Reset

A couple days before Christmas I was sitting on the couch one evening when I heard a loud *POP* come from the foyer near the front door. I got up and looked around but couldn’t find anything that caused it and chalked it up to the cats being dumb. About an hour later I looked outside and realized that the pole light was out along with half the Christmas lights.

As I looked around outside I couldn’t figure out why everything was out. The lights were plugged in but that didn’t explain why the pole light was out when I had just replaced the bulbs a few months ago. Then it dawned on me to check the GFCI outlet inside the house. Sure enough it had popped. Pushing in the top button to reset it fixed the problem and I didn't have any more issues with it. Central Virginia has received a lot of rain lately and I’m guessing water got into one of the light strands and caused a short which in turn tripped the GFCI.

At least on ours if it's tripped the top button will be out slightly and a red light will appear on the left side. Pushing the top button will reset it.

We didn’t have these at our old house but we’ve got them everywhere water might come into contact with a power source here but they’re not on every outlet. (Bathrooms, kitchen, and garage.) In the case of the one for the power outlet on the outside front of the house the GFCI reset button is on the outlet in the foyer by the front door. In the case of one of my neighbors that had the same issue on the same night they found theirs in the garage.

So if you experience a partial loss of power check the outlet first. It might just be as simple as pushing in the button to reset it. In our case the cause seemed to be fairly straightforward and we didn't have any further issues with it. If it continues to trip however it might be wise to consult an electrician to determine the cause and fix it.

Ten Month Review Part I

A few weeks ago we received a letter in the mail about scheduling our ten month review. It also included a sheet to send back to Ryan Homes listing anything that needed to be fixed. I spoke with the contact listed on the form and he told me it was so they could arrange to have everyone needed to complete the list at our home at the same time to correct everything at once. That being said this is the list we sent them:

1. Thorough check of the HVAC system - major temperature difference between upstairs and down.
This continues to be an issue for us. I've gone up in the attic and adjusted the dampers numerous times along with adjusting the registers (I closed the ones in the laundry room and master closet) but still can't seem to achieve an even balance between the temperature upstairs and downstairs.

2. Light above the master bath tub is intermittently working.
This we only noticed recently although it may have been happening for a while. Fiddling with the fixture makes it comes back on leading me to think there's just some of issue with the wiring.

3. Nail pop (or bulge) in the floor of the kitchen.
This might be covered under the one time nail pop and drywall patching certificate but just in case I included it on here.

4. Soft spot in the floor of the doorway of bedroom #3.
The project manager came out last June to fix this with putty to even it out but it's soft and sunken again underneath the carpet.

5. Major popping of the floor in the hallway upstairs in front of bedroom #2.
This is also a fairly recently issue that started a few months ago. It's annoying but we decided to just wait until the 10 month review to get it fixed. It seems to extend underneath the wall and into the bedroom as well.

6. Re-caulking around the tubs and sinks in both bathrooms.
This was expected and will probably end up needing to be done every year but I might as well get them to fix it now.

7. Intermittent buzzing from the microwave.
This has been occurring since we moved in but without any sort of consistency. I took video of it to document it but the microwave still works so just like with #5 we decided to wait on getting it fixed. The person I spoke with at Ryan asked me to send him the model and serial numbers so they can arrange for a GE repairman to come by the day of the 10 month review.

8. Re-caulking of the trim on the right side of the stairway.
This was also fixed back in December and expect just like with #6 to be a regular maintenance thing but I might as well get them to fix it again while the house is still under warranty.

9. Readjustment of the seal around the front door.
I've adjusted the strike plates on the door and have had Ryan out to fix this in the past year. They've told me it's a settlement and seasonal issue resulting from temperate changes but periodically a small amount of light can still be seen around the door.

10. Air register in the ceiling at the top of the stairs does not close all the way.
I discovered this when I was trying to adjust the temperature.

11. Floor on the right side of the morning room by the dining room has a bad squeak.
This one is not quite as bad the one upstairs but still fairly loud and annoying.

12. Creaking noise coming from the area of the wastewater pipe between floors behind the wall periodically when water is used upstairs.
Jenny and I aren't totally sure on this one. It might be nothing but several of my neighbors have had plumbing leaks since moving in so it concerns me a bit. We're also used to strange noises on our old house resulting in costly repairs so we might just be paranoid too. Just like with the microwave issue it's not consistent but seems to happen when the hot water is used in the washing machine or hall bath. (But not the master bath.) I've only been able to capture on video a slight recording of it. The plumbing warranty lasts two years at least so we've still got time if it really is something that needs to be fixed.

One additional thing we're going to bring up that isn't on the list is an issue with the hot water. We have a tankless system but the only spot in the house where it warms up quickly is the hall bath shower. Everywhere else, including the kitchen and downstairs half bath sinks that are closest to the water heater take a long time to receive hot water.

We will also need to get the one year drywall patching done soon. We've got a number of nail pops and settlement cracks around the house but it's nothing major and not as bad as I expected.

Overall, we continue to be really happy with our house. We expected we'd have some issues this first year but nothing we've encountered defect wise has been major. And everything that has been a problem has been addressed quickly by either the project manager (the first month or so) or the service manager.