Central Vac in new build vs Dyson
RW2020
3 years ago
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chispa
3 years agoriverrat1
3 years agoRelated Discussions
DIY Central Vac?
Comments (14)Rona here is a gong show. I spent a half an hour on hold waiting to talk to sales about window wells the other day before I gave up and went to Lowes. If they didn't offer airmiles, and were the closest hardware store to my site, I wouldn't ever buy from them. By the way, thanks for the tip on the Wolfa. They are nice, but expensive for the size I need. I think I'm going to have the framer build out terraced boxes with pressure treated beams. And then I can plan stuff in them, so the view won't be so bad. My lumber is coming from a local yard, and they do give me a materials list based on my plans, which is nice. But they've completely screwed up. They've given me at least 50% too many studs because they *assumed* we'd do 16" on center for the exterior walls, but we're doing 24" in order to increase the insulation. So I was going over the plans to see if I can use them elsewhere, but the upper floors aren't as tall. So now I need to convince them to take them back and give me a refund, and reduce the number they send me in the next load. And I'm trying to get a quote for my tall walls (I have 2 sections of wall that are 2 stories tall, and 2 sections that are three stories tall!). But I have no idea what they are quoting on. The engineering company provided a list of materials, and I sent that and the drawings to the lumber yard, and they came back claiming the list of materials is wrong, and gave me a quote that I can't figure out what they're supplying. Engineer says we need some 4x10 beams, 30' long. Lumber company is quoting nothing by that size. But they ARE quoting 1788 of something, and the list of materials has nothing in that quantity. That's probably linear feet of something, but it's a size we don't need. Ah, the phone calls to be made on Monday morning....See MoreDrainVac and Doc-It Hose for Central Vac
Comments (2)The allergies aren't that bad, but it would be nice to have the convenience of shampooing couches, too. Mind you, I am the type of person that takes apart my Dyson and washes out the hoses regularly. Even with dry dirt, the hoses get nasty. Anyone have any experience with them and the Doc-it hoses? Thanks again, Graywings :-)....See MoreCentral Vac -v- Upright or Canister
Comments (14)I had a central vac in the first two houses I lived in, after I married. I LOVED them, the vac's. Then, I moved (after 26 years in the same house), and there was another central vac, but not as powerful as my previous ones. Next move brought us to a house without a built in, the following two moves were the same. I had to buy a vac. I have mega allergy problems, and went with a rainbow. As far as I know, that is the only other option of having no dust particles at all blown all over the house. I prefer the built in, but since you can not take it with you, I guess, rainbow is second best. All this said, I just bought my daughter a dyson. She prefered that to the canister style rainbow. I think, mostly because of the price. Moni...See MoreMini splits vs central heat/air new build
Comments (24)I'm not sure I understand how advanced you are in your planning, but some input: Ontario Hydro rates are here (may not be exactly right for where you are): http://www.ontario-hydro.com/current-rates Note the peak times change between winter and summer, and nighttime (from seven) to morning (to seven am) and weekends are all off-peak and lowest rate. Peak rate in summer is peak a/c time. So depending what your loads are, 'timing' your usage can make a big difference. Investing in some more sophisticated controls to favour using electricity at off-peak might be worthwhile, and possibly some 'heat storage' (e.g. heat your water at night, and even more complex arrangements). Since you won't have access to natural gas (the cheapest), what really makes sense is to figure out how well insulated you can make the house. The better insulated, the less need you should have for both heating and air conditioning. For southwestern ontario, depending where you are, the a/c season can be pretty short (although this year was exceptionally long), and with judicious use of ceiling fans, shade (in summer) in rooms where you spend most of your time, you may be able to get by with minimal a/c. Hydro's rates may seem pretty high but it's possible that some solar could make sense, if you can 'self-consume' all of your solar (which is always going to be at peak or mid-peak rates). (I don't know anything about feed-in tariff situation in Ontario). One comment, be cautious about putting a fireplace in the basement, draught/draw can be poor unless carefully designed. And if you go for a 'tight' house, they may recommend against wood-burning fireplaces....See MoreWestCoast Hopeful
3 years agotryingtounderstand
3 years agoJeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
3 years agovinmarks
3 years agodotsandstripes 123
3 years agoDavid Cary
3 years agoM H
3 years agolyfia
3 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
3 years agoRower 76
3 years agodotsandstripes 123
3 years agoWestCoast Hopeful
3 years agolyfia
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoC W
3 years agobytheriverbank
3 years agosprink1es
3 years agolast modified: 3 years agoDavid Cary
3 years agoM H
3 years ago
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