need advice on saving electricity

[elijahboy]

well its in the backwoods

i would not think you need a permit for a new roof when the existing roof is rotten

 

[xpc]

On your gray water drain question, it was mainly dumped into a simplified version of a french drain and is what I have for my kitchen and bathroom sinks / tub. People dug a hole as deep and long as they felt like and filled with small stones and topped with dirt then drain all the gray water into it from a pipe just below the frost line. Many different versions are used now but not for gray water as that is frowned upon and likely not code compliant in most areas anymore.

I see nothing wrong with them as long as it is below the frost line - they are cheap and easy and doesn't fill your septic system. The gray water will percolate through hundreds of feet of earth purifying it before ending back up in the aquifer or well. Remember all the water on earth is simply recycled from the beginning of time, you could very easily be drinking the same water Julius Caesar urinated 2,000 years ago.

One of the main reasons for gray water drains was to not fill up your cesspool with water as it cost money to pump the pit, septic systems with a drain field is not as much a problem but can get stuck with all the food, grease, and cleaners people dump. All of which can not only kill the tanks poop eating bugs but also blind the drain field - a very bad and costly thing. Food and grease should be avoided like the plague as the poop bugs don't eat either of them, the grease floats to the top and interferes with the baffles and drain fields and the food sinks taking up space as it becomes sludge.

 

[xpc]

well its in the backwoods
i would not think you need a permit for a new roof when the existing roof is rotten

That may or may not be true only checking with the county will tell, my county has none except for a septic system otherwise I could build 10 houses on my land. My brother is more remote then me and needs a permits for everything including bathroom faucets, hard to prove but still on the books.

I told this story a while back but when I replaced my fathers central air conditioning system he immediately hid and covered the old scape system with a tarp, he was friends with the local sheriff who was instructed by the county to have all his deputies make note of the addresses of people that appeared to be doing remodeling and also to note if they saw old water heaters and such by the garbage. The inspectors would then pay the homeowners a visit to make sure a permit was pulled otherwise a fine was levied or worse a deconstruction order.

 

[elijahboy]

thats crazy

well its in the backwoods
i would not think you need a permit for a new roof when the existing roof is rotten

That may or may not be true only checking with the county will tell, my county has none except for a septic system otherwise I could build 10 houses on my land. My brother is more remote then me and needs a permits for everything including bathroom faucets, hard to prove but still on the books.

I told this story a while back but when I replaced my fathers central air conditioning system he immediately hid and covered the old scape system with a tarp, he was friends with the local sheriff who was instructed by the county to have all his deputies make note of the addresses of people that appeared to be doing remodeling and also to note if they saw old water heaters and such by the garbage. The inspectors would then pay the homeowners a visit to make sure a permit was pulled otherwise a fine was levied or worse a deconstruction order.

 

[Jaxom]

Permits by cities can drive you nuts. I can see from thier point of view, someone wires a house wrong you can cause harm to yourself, family and potentially others. But sheesh! I'm not even allowed to power wash myside walk without a permit! Or tuckpoint bricks? How do you mess that up??? It's ridiculous some of the things they require permits for.

 

[xpc]

The windows should be replaced before or during the siding replacement, as I said before most professional installed high end triple glazed argon e-glass will not pay for themselves in your lifetime and probably not in the next few generations either. Going from an R1 to an R3 is not gonna pay for the windows. Payback on just window panes alone is only finna be a couple dollars each per per season. Just like brick or concrete glass is not an insulator but rather a conductor of heat, an air gap has an assumed R of 1 per full inch, multi-pane windows are only spaced a small fraction of an inch.

It is the act of tearing out the old, rebuilding the frame work, adding improved insulation, caulking, foaming, and flashing that saves you the money, There is not much insulation difference between single double or triple pane, e-glass is good and believe it is now the defacto in the US. I doubt argon will make a big difference in temperate climates and heard it dissipates over the years anyways.

Numbers and statistics are like people, if you torture them enough they will admit to anything you want to hear. The guy that added "rinse repeat rinse repeat" which was never seen in print before doubled his company's shampoo revenues over night, don't believe all the sales hyperbole.

To clarify; I said replace when the house siding is being done because new construction windows won't disturb the inside walls much and will allow new insulation and flashing to be added, doing it from the inside uses replacement window and unless you rip-out all the trim and sills no new insulation can be added and are stuck with the existing frames.

I replaced two large picture windows and all my double hung windows with 100% vinyl new construction units, there is no more exterior wood to maintain or rot.

See this link for my window, siding , and other projects.
http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=158006#p158006