The company I hate the most is the phone company. The second company I hate the most is the cable company. At least it used to be. When I lived in Albuquerque, I had Comcast cable internet because they were the monopoly there. Now that I’m in Rio Rancho I have Cableone. The first thing I liked about CableOne is they didn’t charge me a surcharge for just having Cable internet without TV. (In fact I did have their TV service for a short while, but their HD selection was poor and the Motorolla DVR was extremely poor).

In the 3 years I’ve had their service there’s been a few downtimes not related to them, but most of my issues have been at my house. For the last few months I’ve had to reset the cable modem a many times and last week no amount of reseting it was bring back my fix. I went down to my least favorite of stores and bought a new one. No luck, it worked just as good as the other one.

I broke down and called CableOne tech support. It involved me entering my account number into the automated system then being directed to a person within a few minutes. The guy on the phone tried to remotely access my modem and was unable to, so he proceeded to set up appointment for a technician to come out.

He asked when if I could be available the next day and I said I can and the sooner the better. So he tells me to hold on then comes back to the phone and asks if I am can have them come out right now. This is at about 4pm .

There were two cable one vans at my house within a hour. They came in and checked a few things. Then went outside to the side of the house. About a half hour later my internet was working.

Cable one doesn’t isn’t as cheap as Quest but I’m not complaining.

It’s been almost two months since my last post on the master bathroom remodel progress. I had to wait for a special order shower head to arrive which took over a month. I also had to pay for the previous months remodel.

Today a plumber friend came over and help me install the new shower and vanity plumbing. OK, really he did all the work. I have never done any copper soldering before so I wasn’t able to do this myself. Now that I see how it’s done it’s really not that hard and i think i could do it myself next time.

I decided to move the vanity from the north wall to the east wall. I think i can better utilize this small space and install an extra cabinet next to the sink by having the cabinet on the east wall. The connections points however were too far over to be hidden under the sink. The cold water outlet and the drain pipe both needed to be moved over several inches.

Cleaning up the swamp cooler duct work continues. At this rate I might have it done by summer.

This is my first experience mixing and using cement and I’m pretty happy with the result. Here’s the problem, a large swath of concrete is missing and the original metal duct just rested up against dirt, further degrading the metal. I cleaned up the mess and prepared it to be filled with cement.

First thing I did was to put some metal lath that is used for stuccoing walls. I folded it in on itself and shoved it into the gap using a few nails (nailed into dirt) to hold it back where it needed help. The metal lath not only will give the cement some strength but will give it something to stick to.

I used 30 lbs of Quikrete quick setting cement. The cement sets in 10-15 minutes and, according to the container, is recommend for vertical applications. Since I had never mixed cement before it seems like a good first step was to read and follow the instructions. The container says to mix 5.5 parts of Quikrete into 1 part water and only mix as much as you can work with in 10 -15 minutes. Mixing that much water resulted in a wet powered that was pretty much useless. After some experimentation and wasting about 10% of the Quikrete I found I needed about 3x water than was called for.

Another 10% waste of Quikrete occurred trying to figure out how to actually apply the material into the hole. I finally figured out that using a wide putty knife and pushing it up, working my way left to right and top to bottom was the easiest way to apply it. Sometimes it would fall after I put in on and I tried to scoop up as much as I could and put it back.

It was hot and sweat and blood literally went into the making of this. There is a satisfaction to doing it myself..

There’s a few next steps before I can permanently attach the duct work. The floor of the this concrete pit should also be solid concrete, but is degraded and it’s hard to tell where the concrete ends and the dirt starts. I will have to put about a .5 inch layer of cement down. I will probably use something like the Quikcrete Fast-Setting Self-Leveling product. Since it doesn’t require any trawling, it should be easy!

The other thing I have to do is to clean out the dirt that made it’s way down the main duct that runs from the cooler to the main air distribution point. I could hire a duct cleaning service, but why start hiring people now when I’ve done everything else myself?

I’m not necessarily a fan of Al Gore, I respect what he has accomplished and think we would have all been better off if he had won the election in 2000. The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is claiming that since Al Gore has upgraded his house with energy saving technology that he it’s using more energy than before.

After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

I look at this from the perspective of a home owner who is had done and plans to do some of the same upgrades and I have to say “what the fuck? I would be absolutely pissed if I was using more energy after putting that much money into those upgrades.

There’s has to be something else going on here. The TCPR isn’t going into a lot of details on the numbers. I have to wonder if they aren’t presenting the numbers in a way to make their argument favorable. Searching on Google for “Tennessee Center for Policy Research” brings up quite a bit of information on them indicating that they are not only “right-wing” but have influence from the anti-global warming industry.

You can’t believe everything you read on the internet. I think a much more plausible explanation is that Al Gore is building a time machine in his basement and that would explain the net increase in energy usage.

It’s been hot here. Unusually hot. This last week has been in the mid to high 90’s which seems about 10 degrees more than usual. This poses a problem for me. Last fall I removed the swamp cooler due to the duct work rusting out and making a mess and I haven’t yet resolved it. I realize it’s June and I should be prepared for the heat already, but I wasn’t expecting this much heat at once.

The Lowes and Home Depot don’t carry duct work larger than 8”. Luckily I was able to find a local hardware store called Samons that carries pre-made duct work. Not being ready to permanently install the duct work... let me just say that if your a fan of duck tape, you will be a fan of my work.

I have a managed to duct tape the whole mess together and sit it on the cement hole. If there’s a strong wind it will probably blow the duct work away, If it rains It will probably fill the hole with water. For now I’m cool.

There’s a number of problems with the plastic connectors for which I don’t recommend them. If you leave them outdoors all year round they get brittle and they don’t take a lot of abuse like when your dragging your hose across the cement. Instead I recommend the brass connectors such as the ones made by Camco.

Another issue with these things is they tend to get dirt in them and expand and contract with the weather. Sometimes you have to bang on them to get them to move again, try doing that with a plastic part.

Tonight the big guns started showing up. First one was a good sized, about silver dollar sized, wolf spider. This guy saw me coming but I was able to track him down with my vacuum. Right after I got that guy I went back down the hallway and saw this good sized black spider right where I was. Where the heck did this guy come from? What kind of spider is it? I have no idea but it got vacuumed up too.

I wouldn't say I'm afraid of spiders but as I've got little tolerance for them or bugs in general since I've moved into this house. I know they are harmless to people and they are good for the environment by eating other bugs but I don't like them scurrying around my house. With the scorpions and the spiders, I may just have to get out some insecticide.

I still want to put in two electrical outlets, one for a heated towel rack and one to put in a cabinet (so I can put all my rechargeable stuff and hide it). I have to decide where I want to tie into the existing GFCI protected circuit.

I special ordered some bathroom fixtures from Lowes on Wednesday. I can't believe how much I spent on them, but I just didn't like the cheap in-stock stuff. Bathroom fixtures just simply are not cheap. They were supposed to call me on Thursday and let me know how long before they arrive and it's Saturday and I haven't heard anything back.

I've put together the base cabinets I bought from IKEA to figure out how to lay them out. I've drawn out several ideas but it's hard to tell without actually seeing it.

I'm not sure how much the Home Depot prebuilt kit is, but the Johnson Hardware kit was $60 through Ace Hardware's online site.

Next up, the electrical

In January, the New Mexico state Environment Department offered a free Radon test kit to residents, coincidentally January was also National Radon Month. I emailed the person who is running the program and obtained a kit. Before I get to the results, what is Radon?

Radon is a odorless, colorless gas that comes from the decay of radium. Radon is present all over the earth. it's extremely common and it the second most common cause of lung cancer. Check out the EPA's website or Wikipedia's page on Radon for more information.

As I understand it, radon is a gas and decays pretty quickly once in the air. If in a contained area it can be real bad. Knowing parts of New Mexico are in a possible "hot zone", I decided to take the free kit. THey weren't that expensive to start with but free is free.

The kit is just a charcoal canister. I placed the kit 6 feet in the air away from major air flows and in a central part of my house. After some amount of time, I think 48 hours, I put the kit in a aluminum foil envelope and sent it off to a testing lab. They then email me the results.

Your radon test result is - 2.7 pCi/L

Radon Level (pCi/L)

• 0.4 Average outdoor radon concentration
• 1.3 Average indoor radon concentration
• 4.0 EPA RECOMMENDED ACTION GUIDELINE

My results are in between what's considered normal and before I need to take action. What am I going to do? Nothing at the moment except test some more.

Last fall, I threatened that I would have the master bathroom completed by the end of the winter. Here it is spring and I did almost nothing to the bathroom. I have a variety of excuses that I wont go into now, however I did finally make some actual progress on it this weekend.

Before I can do anything I need to install the pocket door. Before I install the pocket door I need to relocate the wiring that exists on the wall where the door goes.

I need to decide how to wire up a exhaust fan, will it go near the light switch or near the toilet? I also need to figure out if I'm going to use a fancy digital shower control. If so It will use the power from the outlet then I can wire it up properly.

Finally I can install the pocket door. I have the studs marked to cut down, but I'm waiting for some friends to come by and verify my measurements before I screw it all up. I will save the pocket door install for another post.

Now, what am I going to do about it (them)? I found a PDF from NMSU which describes various ways to kill them. This is a problem for me. I don't use pesticides on a regular basis, only in extreme circumstances. I don't use chemicals other than vinegar to kill weeds. I use chemical fertilizers to a minimum. I'm not against the nuclear option, but only if I absolutely have to.

The PDF from NMSU states that repellants don't work. I could try trapping them. Trapping or poising them requires me to find their tunnels and dig holes.

On the bright side, the PDF does indicate there are benefits of gophers.

Although, in many cases, the damage caused by pocket go-phers is the overriding factor, the benefits of pocket gophers should be recognized. Some of these are:

• increased soil fertility by adding organic matter such as buried vegetation and fecal wastes.
• increased soil aeration and decreased soil compaction.
• increased rate of soil formation by bringing sub-soil material to the surface of the ground, subjecting it to weatherization.
• increased water infiltration.

It's on my list. These are the same guys who make the automatic paper towel dispenser I blogged about awhile back.

There's some discussion on this device at the Smarthome message boards and it's not know exactly what it supports, extra humidity or temperature sensor or remote fan control? The developer of Indigo has indicated that the final release of Indigo 2.5 will support this device.

It's hard for me not to run out and pre order it right away. The cheapest Venstar Thermostat is $70 and the adapter is $99. It might seem expensive but the TXB16 thermostat is $300.

The main control unit allows you to select the temperature, flow rate and to program the three personalised user buttons. These buttons illuminate when selected directly or via the remote control. Two backlit LCD panels display the water temperature and flow level and are controlled by the temperature and flow dials. The flow control dial can also be used to start the shower. To prevent children from turning the water above 38ºC, the SafeStop (temperature override) button must be pressed before the raising the temperature above this level - so there's no risk of accidental scalding.
For convenience, the Pause button allows you to temporarily stop the water mid-shower - great if you want to wash your hair. When you're ready to re-start you shower, press the button again and it will return to the exact same setting. Finally, the Stop button is used to turn the shower off. This button can also be used to turn the shower on at the safe temperature of 38ºC - perfect for when you have guests staying.

Pretty nifty. I can't seem to find US pricing or availablity for this product. Anyone familiar with this product or similar devices?

Perceptive Automation has released Indigo 2.5 Beta 11 which now includes the long awaited Insteon Link Management. Links are a way to create scenes or groups with a single command sent through the power line. It also allows the setting of individual ramp rates and brightness levels.

I'm not completely familiar with Insteon PC software, but I don't think there's a software package that allows both link management and control of triggers and scripting in a single package. Yes, I'm a Indigo fanboy, but for good reason.

Here's some screen shots of the new features:

Manage Insteon Device Links

Edit Action Group

To start, the heater is a Frasier-Johnson brand, which doesn't appear to be made anymore and when it was, it was a low end brand. This heater has a EnergyGuide rating of 80, and the lowest scale is 78. Pretty much the least efficient you can get. The main problem is with the filter configuration. Two filters sit in a "V" configuration above the heating unit, but there is no easy way to install the filters.

There is no access panel in the duct work to put them in. The only way I can figure to put the filters in is to push them up from inside the heating unit. I have to reach about 12 inches inside the heater, reach around motors, electronics and whatever where I'm left with about an inch of space to get the filters inside. From there they have to balance precariously on a few pieces of metal in the "V" configuration, where I can't actually see how they are setting without getting down on my knees with a flashlight to look up inside the duct work. They aren't sealed against the duct work and one of them keeps falling out of place leaving huge gaps.

I'm looking at possible ways to cut up the duct work above the heater so I can access the filter area. Doesn't look easy though.

A lot of information on the intertubes on the energy bill passed by congress, like engaget, has incandescent bulbs banned by the year 2012. In fact congress did not specifically ban incandescent in favor of florescent technology or any technology. Trying to find a news source which actually reported the specifics was difficult, a article on thedailygreen.com has more information.

Under the measure, all light bulbs must use 25% to 30% less energy than today's products by 2012 to 2014. The phase-in will start with 100-watt bulbs in 2012 and end with 40-watt bulbs in 2014. By 2020, bulbs must be 70% more efficient.

They also say that florescent bulbs meet the 70% standard. What happens to bulbs higher than 100 watts? Scientific American had this to say

About two dozen categories of light bulbs are exempt from the U.S. law's efficiency requirements, including oven and refrigerator bulbs, candelabra lamps, plant lights, replacement traffic signal bulbs and the summer necessity -- the yellow bulb that doesn't attract insects.

Althought they will have a tough time meeting the 70% standard in 2020, incandescent are far from dead. I'm all for more efficient bulbs, but I am not a fan of the current compact florescent technology. I spent a small fortune on dimmable CFL bulbs only to be left with a pile of dead CFLs of which most lasted less than a year. I am not impressed with their dimming ability either (all of my switches are dimmable as part of my home automation system).

Whatever happens, incancesdents will get more efficient and CFLs and LEDs will get better/cheaper, and I will be happy to replace them with whatever works best. It may not matter anyways, 2012 is the end of the world.

I wrote perviously about how the shower in the master bathroom had leaked. Now that I have researched the issue more, I understand more about how shower floors are constructed. The original floor was constructed as a "mortar bed" and it was not constructed correctly. It was missing the bottom membrane. The mortar was placed directly on the cement floor. The membrane that was installed was brittle and too far under the top layer of mortar. Finally, there was no strengthening agent, such as chicken wire.

I didn't want to repeat what I considered a poorly engineered design so I looked into solid surface designs. Royal Stone produces a 48x48 solid surface pre-made floor that resembles stone (think Corian). The normal price is about $900, but my drain is not in the location of the pre-made floor so I would have to order a custom made floor. Since they would have to made a new mold for my application the price would be about $1600 at the cheapest. That's way too much to spend on just the shower floor.

I then found Tile Redi products which are a thick plastic solid floor that you can tile on directly. Cheaper at $679 (not by much), but not in the size I want and the drain hole isn't in the same location.

Now I'm back to the mortar floor shower floor as the replacement. Considering the price and how a proper floor is suppose to be built, there should not be a problem for the new floor.

About a year ago most house remodeling projects came to a halt. Costs got a little out of control and I ended up with some large credit card bills. I've eliminated those bills and am ready to start back on my projects. I didn't waste any of that money, it was just a bit too much to spend at once. I now have this radical new idea that I will call "planning and budgeting" and I will apply it to projects going forward.

A quick recap on this project, the house was a foreclosure. Though not trashed, it was pretty dated and in need of remodeling in several places. The master bath showed signs of leakage in the shower. It's pretty clear that it's been going on for a while, it had leaked into the adjacent bathroom and into the master bedroom.

The demolition is about 99% complete. I intended to get a good amount of this bathroom completed this winter. I've got a basic plan put together, but that's a post for another day.

It was in the high 70's earlier this week. Now it's snowing. Only in New Mexico.

I didn't have my camera with me tonight so I borrowed this creative commons licensed photo from flickr.

[Update 11/23/07 2:34PM]: I've replaced the original photo with one of my own backyard.

But when novices who've had a few drinks get a hold of crowbars, drills and Sawzalls, the results are sometimes less than satisfactory.

A number of house bloggers were interviewed for this article, including myself. Many bloggers believe the reporter of the story, Jennifer Saranow, misrepresented herself.

The reporter told me she was writing a story about such work parties. People helping people. That sort of thing. When I described the plaster party to her on the phone, she expressed the usual polite surprise that people still help each other like that.

Then the reporter admitted the story was not a feel-good story about people helping their neighbors. It was a story about people throwing renovation parties to save money and inviting inexperienced friends over to mix alcohol with demolition - friends who ended up screwing things up or getting injured.

1902victorian.com's account of the story is pretty good. I recommend reading the whole thing.

I was contacted via my blog, but I took several weeks to get back to the reporter. By the time she had interviewed me, I think she pretty much had the story written and didn't dig too much. I did have a demolition part with plenty of beer but there was no excitement like some drunken friend taking out the wrong wall. I'm not mentioned in the story.

I actually saw snow this evening at my house, though it could barely be called snow. None the less I am calling it snow. It was very very light, but they were flakes. It just left the cement a little wet. It was pretty darned cold out, about 20 degrees less than the normals for this time of year. So much for global warming.

I chose to contribute to the green house effect by running a fire in the fireplace for most of the evening.

The metal duct work is mostly rusted away. I would expect that the ducting would be incased in concrete, which it appears there was an attempt to do so. Except only 50% of the ducting had concrete surrounding it, the rest was up against dirt. Damp dirt, which led to the rusting and the mud which penetrated the ducting.

I pulled up the majority of rusted mess out. I allowed the pit to dry out then vacuumed up as much of the dirt with a shop vac as I could. I also found a layer of dirt in the 18 inch duct that leads to the main distribution center under the forced air heater. Thankfully that where the dirt stops.

If your interested in following the progress, you can view pictures at a flickr set.

I have read about many people on the Smarthome and CocoonTech message boards have a lot of their Insteon devices failing. Some people have had a high failure failure rate. I've been following these discussion closely because I have yet to have any failures. Until a few months ago.

My first device to fail was a Switchlink V2 that was controlling the bathroom light. The device simply failed to turn on the lights nor would the LED bar light up. If I pressed the reset button and held it down, it would light one of the LEDs. According the the Smarthome message boards, this is a common failure mode.

Despite the inconvience of having to replace the switch (in a room that has no natural light), I have to admit that Smarthome has been very generous with replacments since these switches are probably out of warranty. On the other hand, these are all early first generation type switches, which are showing design issues. So they should be replacing them.

The other switch that has died is a LampLinc V2, it simply doesn't operate nor does the set button have any effect. I expect that Smarthome will replace it without question.

Last year I saw my very first scorpion, in my house, on July 31st. I then found a total on 7 of them over the next two month. I then took some steps to find major pathways that could give these guys a way in. Apparently I didn't get them all.

I know the crickets were coming in around the rear sliding door and the garage is insect central. Lets see how the next two months go.

Friends of mine are moving to Israel for a few years. They will be living in a newly built house during that time. Although they are living in a relative safe area, the houses are built to withstand an assault. Here are some interesting things to note about the construction (and a few pictures).

• The house has an alarm system.
• Some windows have a metal shutter system. Others have a roll down protection system.
• The windows and doors all appear to be heavy duty in design and made of metal.
• According to my friend, "By law, every new house in Israel has to have a security room – lockable from inside and airtight."
• "All houses and building here are made out of concrete – this is good for shelling protection as well as taking advantage of cooling."
• "This means all interior walls are also concrete."
• "I think they simply tile everything they want tiled, then smooth the walls with plaster and paint it."

Interesting how a constant threat of a terrorist attack dictates the building materials and design of housing. I assume that there aren't a lot of McMansions there either.

Side of the house. Nothing too unusual looking here

Safe room. I guess you fill it full of important papers, food and guns

Metal security shutters. Where can I get these in the US?

This summer I've only had a few spiders, nothing like last year and so far no scorpions. But I have had crickets and crickets and more crickets. My weapon of choice is the Dyson. For several nights in a row, I vacuumed up around 6 crickets at a time.

The thing about crickets, they seem to hang out where they came into the house. I was finding most of them coming from one area of the living room. After a few days, I started looking around and found a big crack between the fireplace and the wall. There were even crickets in it. I filled all the cracks around the fire place with expanding foam. This has blocked off the main cricket highway.

Now I'm finding a few in the hallway. I'm finding at least two a night under the refrigerator. The other thing about crickets is the male makes the chirping noise to attract the female. Whenever a male is chirping, there's almost always a female nearby.

The Simply Green blog recommends the GE's Energy Smart dimmable compact florescent bulb.

What I like about the bulb is that it mimics the light of a traditional bulb, all while giving you the huge energy-saving benefits of using it. It lasts 6 years and will save you $45 in energy cost savings over the life of the one bulb. I was surprised how soft the light was when I flipped the switch on the lamp. I found myself carrying the bulb going socket to socket around the house seeing how it worked in other fixtures.

At $11 a piece, thats a good price. I question how long it actually will last. I've had plenty of dimmable CFLs die in under a year. The cheaper they are, the less likely they will live up to their claims (unless the technology has actually improved).

I'm sticking with regular and halogens for now.

I'm finally hauling off a bunch of crap thats accumulated while remodeling. Most of this has been setting in a trailer in the back yard for a year or more. There's a lot less here than I thought, but it's good to get it out.

Some of this might have been perfectly good stuff to use for something else. Most of it requires disassembly to get to the good parts. I'd rather just get rid of it than try to store it out in the back yard. I tried recycling as many 2x4's that I could and I've got a good pile of them that I've removed the nails from. I tried to do my part to keep stuff out of the landfill.

The RemoteLinc and Access Points arrived from SmartHome today. So far they are working without a hitch. More to come later.

I installed a ceiling fan in the living room today. It's the simplest, most basic ceiling fan I could find, an 60" industrial ceiling fan from Home Depot.

To eliminate the hum from the fan controller I could implement a work around by Ed Cheung. It's a passthrough device that properly switches the speed without humming or damaging the fan. The cost of this device is about $50. A Switchlinc is about $45. Together I'm getting close to the price of the CCWHISPLC, but at least it would still not be X10. I'm still pondering this option.

The last problem with this fan is it hangs a bit low. My ceilings are 8 foot high and this one hangs about a foot down. I think I can cut down the 6" rod about 4 inches which should help.

When I bought this house, the first thing I worked on was the kitchen. I had hoped that I could keep the cabinets and refinish them up but they were in too bad of shape. I didn't have a lot of money. I installed the majority of the cabinets that I could afford, plus I needed to do some construction before I could put all of them up. I used the Mills Pride brand from Home depot.

Here we are a year and a half later and I've have some money to put up more cabinets. Home Depot is apparently not carrying Mills Pride anymore, in fact Mills Pride's website says it's under construction. I'm not about to trash the cabinets I already put in and start over, so I decided to use some open shelving.

There's an area between the microwave and the wall I plan to nock down. I'm dying to nock down this wall, but I'm not quite ready yet. I really need some shelving here to hold food related stuff when I'm cooking. My "pantry" was next to my sink, which was an original cabinet and a pain to access. By placing open shelving in both of these locations I can easily access things that I use frequently and hide the rest in normally closed cabinet. I like steel wire shelving. Normally shelving like this is expensive so I used less expensive shelving normally used for closets and made them adjustable.

So far it's working out much better than I imagined. Having the extra cabinet space and having easy access to spices while still having them off the counter has been terrific. Cost of materials for 3 shelves 27 inches long, 3 shelves 31 inches long, 12 brackets and 4 wall mounts was about $80.

I really dig this Ball Ceiling fan buy the Modern Fan Company. I think this will be the fan I will put in my master bedroom. Lighting By Gregory has them not too badly priced at $260.

They also have a ceiling hugger version, but it hangs at 13 inches, where the smallest down rod on the normal fan lets the fan hang at 11 inches. There are light kits available for $60 more and come in white or brushed aluminum.

Smarthome's RemoteLinc is now available for pre order. The RemoteLinc is a RF remote for Insteon. The bad news is the RemoteLinc is not compatable with the current SignaLinc RF to Insteon bridge. They are replaced with a new product called the Access Point. The good news, Smarthome is offering a "free" upgrade to the access point if you have SignaLincs. If you buy a 2 pack of refurbished access points and send in your old signal lincs, they will refund your money and send you a free RemoteLinc.

This certainly makes it easier to speculate that SmartLabs was having technical problems with their RF protocol, causing the delays in releasing the Remote. Also see this thread on the smarthome message boards.

Update: I'm mistaken on how the return works. You don't get a refund on the cost of the access points. You simply get a $49.99 remotelinc for each pair of signalincs you send in. Not quite as good as I had thought.

• Spend $75 and receive a FREE lamplinc (2456D3) or appliancelinc (2456S3). Enter promo code EHIHABX (for your LampLinc) or code EHIHABX2 (for your ApplianceLinc) at checkout to receive your Free Gift. Offer Valid May 1-May 31st 2007
• Mother's Day Deals: Save 10% off your entire order when you spend $150 or more. Offer valid May 3rd-May 8th. Use EMOTHER at check-out
• Save up to 75% on Overstock items We over-bought and you save. Brand new products at slashed prices.

Indigo (Macintosh home automation software) has been updated and is available on MacUpdate. Here's what's new:

• Added support for INSTEON SocketLinc module.
• Added support for all EZIOxx Input/Output modules: EZIO8T, EZIO8SA, EZIO2X4.
• Added new Trigger Action options for EZIOxx and EZRain modules.
• Added Control Page elements for Device sub-states (ex: show sprinkler zone 3 on/off state).
• Added support to get all object AppleScript properties at once (ex: "get properties of devices").
• Added Karl Smith's background Weather NOAA sync script to periodically retrieve weather conditions.
• Removed script filename extensions from the Scripts menu.
• Fixed UI display problem caused by blank Variable names.
• Fixed PowerLinc 1132CU upload error caused by uninitialized Trigger Actions.

Smarthome is having a $4.95 (50% off) deal on shipping . Good till 1 May 2007. Not a huge discount, maybe they will have some other discounts before the end of April.

Check out all the pictures on Flickr tagged with Concrete Countertop. This is inspiring me to do my kitchen countertops in concrete.

Smarthome is having a monthly sweepstake and giving away $500 worth of Insteon hardware. The sweepstake is from 1 April to 1 July and drawings are once a month.

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Grab a beer and learn how to do your own custom framing work for a quarter of the cost of taking it to a pro.  We walk you step-by-step through finding mat board and frames on the cheap, cutting your own mat, and mounting your material the easy way.

Toolmonger One Beer Projects: Framing, Matting, And Hanging A Picture For Cheap.

Popular Mechanics tests Compact Florescent bulbs..

The results surprised us. Even though the incandescent bulb measured slightly brighter than the equivalent CFLs, our subjects didn’t see any dramatic difference in brightness. And here was the real shocker: When it came to the overall quality of the light, all the CFLs scored higher than our incandescent control bulb. In other words, the new fluorescent bulbs aren’t just better for both your wallet and the environment, they produce better light.

Nothing specific about dimable CF bulbs. I'm still saying they are bad for Home Automation because of the noise potential and they don't seem to always last as long as it's claimed, at least from my testing.

A interesting project I'd like to try.

To start with I needed to design a mower that would fit my needs. I have a yard that takes about forty-five minutes to mow so it was important to size the battery accordingly. To do this I had to find out what kind of amperage the motor would be pulling for the forty-five minutes it takes to mow the grass. This is dependent on the type of motor used. Motors are rated in HP (horse power) and I wanted around the same HP as a standard internal combustion mower. The newer gas powered lawnmowers are about 4 to 6 HP and the older mowers are around 3 HP. According to the article in "Home Power" magazine 1 HP of an electric motor is equivalent to about 4 HP of an internal combustion engine. I was hoping to purchase a 1 HP motor but after pricing them I decided I needed to go with the least expensive motor that would get the job done. This turned out to be a 12 VDC, 3/4 HP, Dayton electric motor. (See link below for details on parts and cost.) The 3/4 HP Dayton motor is specified to pull 58A with a full load. I used this figure to help determine the size battery I needed. I knew I wanted a 12VDC battery, they are easy to find, use, and come in a variety of sizes. The next step was to figure out the amp-hours I needed to run this particular motor for 45 minutes. Amp-hours are a measurement of the length of time it takes to discharge a battery at a certain amperage. For example; a 35 amp-hour battery should give 35 amps for an hour before being discharged. I know I want to run my mower for 45 minutes but I'll just round it to an hour to be safe. Although the motor is rated for 58A, that amperage is with a full load and typically while mowing I will not be running a full load. While just spinning the blade (not cutting grass) the amps will only be about half of the full load or 30A. So a 40 Amp-hour battery should allow me to mow moderately tall grass for about 45 minutes to an hour. It just so happens that I had a 40 amp-hour deep-cycle battery from a past project. (See below for details on parts and cost).

Some pictures on Flickr document the creation of a concealed electrial box for a LCD picture frame wall wart. I had considered doing the same thing, the only problem is this is pretty much a permanant install. Better like where it is once it's installed.

Such a project probably violates the NEC (National Electric Code). An alternative would be to use a Power Over Ethernet connection, with the wall wart being in a equipment closet or even the attic. Plus you would get a wired ethernet connection. The Flickr page also recommends the use of a Leviton REB (Recessed Entertainment Box), but that would also probably violate the NEC if you concealed the transformer.

Via Make

Near the end of last summer, I had a power outtage. After the outage my swamp cooler thermostat would show the temp of 22 degrees, which I assume was the lowest temp the thermostat can read. The damage was probably from a power surge.

Now the thermostat seems to correctly read the temp, but I wanted to replace it anyways. So I pulled out the wiring and found wire nut that holds the main power wires together has burned up. It looks like it shorted out, for lack of a better explaination. Thankfully the wiring is all contained in a metal box becasue the inside of the box, near where the wire nut was placed, looks like was burned.

It's very strange, this has to have happned since I moved in becasue I replaced the thermostat. Everything still works fine. What would cause a wire nut to burn up?

Update: Here's a direct link to the 20% off coupon code: Hurry - Beat the Clock & Save at Smarthome! Up to 20% off entire order   3-23 to 3-31-07

Beat the Clock Sale:

• 20% off Friday 3/23- Monday 3/26/07. Use Promotion Code: EWBTC20
• 15% off Tuesday3/27-Thursday 3/29/07. Use Promotion Code: EWBTC15
• 10% off Friday 3/30-Saturday 3/31/07. Use Promotion Code: EWBTC10

• $8 off $80 purchase. Use Promotion Code: EAELITE8 Expires 3/27/07
• 10% off $40 minimum purchase. Use Promotion Code: EAFINAL4 Expires 4/3/07
• Free ICON Dimmer (2876DB) with $100 purchase. Use Promotion Code: EA200601C Expires 3/31/07.

Click here to go to the Smarthome Insteon page.

Gordon Meyer has a post entiteld Twittering Your Home, showing how to use a applescript to add events to your Twitter account. I haven't found a reason to use Twitter, but this may be enough for me to check it out.

Here’s the script, which borrows some code from Tilman for using curl to send a Twitter status message:

set theMessage to description of me
set TwitterID to "yourID"
set TwitterPassword to "yourPassword"
set TwitterLogin to TwitterID & ":" & TwitterPassword
set TwitterStatus to quoted form of ("status=" & theMessage)
set results to do shell script "curl --user " & TwitterLogin & " --data-binary " & TwitterStatus & " http://twitter.com/statuses/update.json"

You’ll need to enter the login and password for your home’s Twitter account, as noted in the script. Shortly after running this script, the message is delivered via Twitter, as illustrated earlier. It’s a simple as that.

If you use Indigo, another Mac-based home automation application, the above script will work just a few modifications. Instead of passing the message text using the Description field, use an Indigo global variable.

AAAGHHHH. I woke up to this a few days ago, a roof tile had blown off in some winds. It wasn't just this one, a whole bunch of them can be found around the property.

I don't get it. After I made some repairs last year, they seemed to hold up. In fact it help up through hurricane force winds. I'm glad we just got winds and not rain. This weekend is suppose to be warm, I plan to get up there and make more more roof repairs.

[Update 3/9/07 12:50 PM] replaced the shingles today. I think I have discovered the failure mode. Some of the staples appear to be popping out. Even just a little bit of the staple popping out is enough to lift up the shingle, giving the wind something to grab onto. I inspected all the shingles and found several others that were sticking up. Removed those staples and replaced them with nails.

Another sale from Smarthome. 10% off stuff they have marked as "Hot Deals" . Use coupon code ESPRING07 on check out, good till 2 March. Also free shipping till on $150 or more till 1 March. Not all of the Insteon stuff is included. I'm buying a few things in this sale.

• Keypad Dimmer INSTEON Starter Kit. A KeypadLinc, two SwitchLincs and two SignalLincs. Price for this stuff separate would be $239.99, they have it listed for $159.99 before discounts.
• Icon Appliance On/Off Module. Listed at $24.99, normally $34.99.

I wish they had some Icon On/Off Switches included, guess I will have to wait for anther sale. They have some other Insteon stuff like the Plug-In Dimmer INSTEON Starter Kit, Kitchen Lighting Starter Kit and the Icon Lamp Dimmer.

I like the industrial look. Things made of metal, not overly ornamental. When I got a deal on a Red Dot VAG-02-C vapor proof light at Home Depot, I had the type of lights I wanted for the outside of my house. Not only do I like the look, but they are practical. After the Home Depot purchase I came across a larger version that works perfectly over my garage. I haven't been able to to find any more deals since.

I not only haven't been able to find a deal, I haven't been able to find anyone that sells this brand except home depot. I've found this type of light, but they have been too different looking. I also think the deal I got at Home Depot was a mistake, a mis marked product.

Recently I came across e-conolight's products. They not only have vapor proof lighting, but they ones similar enough to the red dot brand I originally bought, and they are considerably cheaper. I purchased 5 of their ceiling mount incandescent fixture for the back yard. They were a thrid of the price of the Home Depot version and shipping was only $10, although they did charge sales tax.

The first light to go up replaces the back porch light, a ugly 70's style light. One problem with the original light is it made a great place for birds to nest in the winter because the heat from the bulb would keep them warm. The vapor proof lights are not warm to the touch even with a halogen bulb.

I'm very impressed with the e-conolight fixtures. Unlike the red dot version, they come with the box to mount the fixture on. They have rubber seals vs. paper on the Red Dot and have a better paint job (actually, they have a powder coating). I've got some stucco work to fix on this particular light, the rest are going under the rear eaves.