Even that's Odd

Tag: mistakes-were-made

  • (Eventual) Well Tank Replacement: How I May Have Ignored an Obvious Problem for Years

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    January 9, 2026 The Signs I Missed Looking back, I think the well tank bladder had been broken since at least summer 2024. It might have been failing for a year or two before that. What I was noticing: the water pressure would drop a little, then go back up when the pump kicked in.…

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  • Central Air to Heat Pump Upgrade: When Guilt Leads to Questionable Decisions

    March-April 2025 If you read my previous post about the emergency boiler replacement, you know that Company PPH didn’t exactly shine during that crisis, while Company NCS stepped up and saved Thanksgiving. You also know that I felt guilty about the miscommunication and decided to give PPH the heat pump job to make it right.…

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  • Emergency Boiler Replacement: When Your Service Company Isn’t There When You Need Them

    November 2024 Planning Ahead (That Didn’t Matter) Our Triangle Tube Prestige Solo 110 boiler had been breaking down occasionally, and each service call was costing a minimum of $1,200. I got so frustrated with service companies that I learned to fix minor issues myself. But every technician told me the same thing: boilers have a…

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  • This New Old House Part 12: Insulation and Air Sealing – When Tight Isn’t Right (Or Is It?)

    When we decided to build our Connor Homes kit house, we had visions of a super-efficient, modern home wrapped in the latest insulation technology. We’d read all about spray foam insulation, tight building envelopes, and energy efficiency. We were going to do this right. Spoiler alert: We sort of did. Maybe. I’m still not entirely…

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  • This New Old House Part 11: Windows – The Decision Where More Mistakes Were Made.

    If you spend a fortune making your house air-tight with spray foam insulation, and then punch 27-29 holes in it and fill them with cheap windows, you’ve basically defeated the entire purpose of the exercise. This is the story of how we did exactly that. The Window Budget Reality By the time we got to…

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  • This New Old House Part 10: HVAC – The Radiant Floor Mistake?

    Or: How Warm Floors Can’t Save You From Bad HVAC Decisions Winter 2009-2010 After the plumbing nightmares, it was time for HVAC. We installed radiant floor heating throughout the house—hot water running through tubes in the floors, heated by our Triangle Tube boiler. It’s actually very nice to have warm floors in the winter. Walking…

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  • When GPS Dog Fencing Becomes Psychological Warfare: A $600 Lesson in Canine Trauma

    PetSafe Guardian GPS Connected Customizable Fence Review – Or: How I Accidentally Taught My Dog to Fear the Outdoors Rating: 2/5 StarsPurchased: September 18, 2023Price: $600Duration of Use: 2-3 months before abandoning in defeat Let me tell you about the time I spent $600 to give my dog an anxiety disorder. Hobbes is our bernedoodle…

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  • This New Old House Part 9: Plumbing – PEX, Paying Twice, and Poisoned Septic Tanks

    Or: How I Paid Two People to Do One Job and Discovered Water Lines Don’t Make Sense Winter 2009-2010 After electrical was complete, it was time for plumbing and HVAC. My friend, who had been coordinating most of the work, had apprenticed to learn plumbing and HVAC. But because of all the equations for sizing…

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  • This New Old House Part 8: Electrical – The One Thing We Got Mostly Right

    Or: How an Electrical Engineer Wired Our House (and What We Still Got Wrong) Winter 2009-2010 After framing was complete, it was time for electrical. This is where having a friend with an electrical engineering degree really paid off. Actually, let me rephrase: this is where we got more things right than wrong, which for…

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  • This New Old House Part 6: Foundation, Basement, and Future Regrets

    Or: How “We’ll Finish It Later” Became Our Most Persistent Lie Fall 2009 With septic and well in place, it was time to dig a hole and pour concrete. The foundation is literally the base of everything, so naturally this was where we’d make some decisions that would haunt us for years. Jennifer had specific…

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  • This New Old House Part 5: Water Wars – The Filter Saga

    Or: How I Became an Accidental Expert in Water Treatment Through Sheer Desperation 2010-2026 So we had a well. It produced water. The lab said the water was safe. We were good to go, right? Reader, we were not good to go. The lab test for your certificate of occupancy checks for bacteria and major…

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  • This New Old House Part 4: Septic Systems and Well Disasters

    Or: How We Learned That Clay Soil Is God’s Way of Saying “This Will Be Expensive” Beginning Summer 2009 With our land purchased and our house design finalized, it was time to deal with the unglamorous but absolutely critical underground infrastructure. When you’re building off the municipal grid, you need two things before you can…

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