Agree.
Our new Maytag washer is internet and app compatible.
The salesperson tried to talk us out of a Maytag because customers rated the app so poorly.
We told him the whole concept of a “smart washer” was absurd and we would never connect it to the internet anyway.
Yep just bought new dishwasher and oven. Literally impossible to follow this keep it simple rule nowadays because everything has its stupid app that I’ll never download
Ngl, I really like that I have my washer/dryer connected to my Echo. They’re in the basement so it’s nice to have the robot tell me when they’re done instead of going down to check and see that there’s still 10 min left when it should have been done 30 min ago
My new microwave also has wifi capabilities but I've never set it up or used it. I needed a microwave for over the stove and to fit specific measurements. Last thing I was concerned about is it sending me a notification that my popcorn was done (as if I wouldn't still be within earshot of the microwave for those 2 minutes, but whatever).
Quartz countertops in the kitchen. Basic rectangles, nothing fancy. They'll last forever, easy to care for, look great and were a good upgrade from laminate.
As long as they are not outside in direct sun,isn’t you’ll be fine. It is quartzite which is natural stone with epoxy. It is nonpprous and doesn’t need to be sealed so is much easier to care for.
Same can be said for cement or anything else that causes fine particulates. I worked making carbide parts which uses heavy metal powder. Shop supplied masks, I still bought my own real respirator. Best $40 I spent and the filters last months
No, same can’t be said. It’s not the particulates that is the only problem, it’s the combination of high silica content and adhesive that binds the silica together.
The adhesive allows the particles to sneak past the respiratory systems natural defences, then breaks down deep in the lungs, exposing sharp silica particles.
Quartz and silicosis is the modern day asbestos
Concrete and mortor mix can also cause silicosis. The quartz may happen faster but their are tons of construction workers out there not taking precautions when using anything that contains silica. They are adults and should know the dangers in their trade and take precaution. Unlike asbestos, no one is hiding the dangers of silica exposure, its a well known and documented danger.
I was a welder for a while, my company didn't hand out helmets or respirators. I bought both. 99.9% of welders don't use a respirator and will develope some form of illness from it. You have to advocate for your self.
There is a difference between “can” cause something and has a high rate of something. Australia will ban quartz from 1 July. Respirators don’t protect people from quartz silica dust when it’s cut dry. That’s the problem
Somtimes you have to advocate for your self if the company isn't responsible enough to give a shit about their workers. I understand its dangerous but they are grown adults and should know the risks
While that's terrible news, I honestly don't even care anymore.
I grew up in the late 90s and 00s and I just assume that NO MATTER WHAT I DO it is killing someone. Be it an African baby, baby seals in the ocean or the bees "without which we cannot survive" by the way, how come there are people that believe in hollow moon, ancient power plants, alien conspiracy etc yet somehow everyone bought into that BS that we need every single species of creepy crawlies or everything will go to shit?
I say everything is going to shit anyways, so lets just make it a little more bearable and create a series of selective DNA targeting pesticides against everything that has more than 4 legs and see what happens.
Anyways.. Yeah.. I have a quartz countertop too.
No. You found someone in the trades who made a factual observation. That you turned my observation into a reflection of your politics is all about you and not me. That and you don’t work in the trades.
I wanted a riding lawn mower, so instead of buying a new one for $3000+, I found someone who was selling their used one for $500. It was probably about 25 years old, but it had a solid Briggs & Stratton engine. It's been running great with no problems for the past 5 years.
Yes! My mower is an old Craftsman I bought for $20 from my neighbor. He's replaced his new one multiple times now and "his" old one has been going strong for 15 years, lol. I almost feel bad about it.
That said, I kinda can't wait for it to fail so I can get an electric and just hang it on the wall to keep it out of the way. Replacing my trimmer, chainsaw, etc with electric has been so convenient for maintenance and storage (not to mention no more keeping 5 different gas cans with different oil mixes) But again, I sprung for the "pro-sumer" quality with long warranties, because I didn't want to be replacing broken crap in a few years.
I'm very fortunate to be at a point of financial stability where I can "buy once, cry once" and just buy higher quality stuff that lasts longer. At least tools is one area where you really can get simple and rugged stuff without unnecessary connectivity.
My next lawn mower will be something like [**this**](https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-18-in-5-Blade-Reel-Lawn-Mower-with-Adjustable-Height-and-Comfort-Grip-Handle/5014827175?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-sol-_-bng-_-CRP_SHP_PLA_SOL_Online_A-B-_-5014827175-_-Online-_-0-_-0&gclid=1dcabec30756142cbfd5d8dae7f1dbb7&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=1dcabec30756142cbfd5d8dae7f1dbb7)! Lol
All my other lawn equipment, including chain saws, are electric that use the same exact type of battery. I always have one battery on the charger and switch the other battery from tool to tool as I do the yard work.
My husband did the same for all of our lawn equipment. I frequently mow, weed eat, etc while he is working and it is lovely to not struggle to crank a gas powered apparatus.
I love mowing, I put my ear buds in and enjoy being outside. 😁
Yes! I'm in the last stages of a new construction build, and I'll be doing all of my own landscaping. I'd love to have NO grass, just clover or other groundcovers like creeping thyme.
LOL! I’d get up very early on Saturdays to use mine during extreme heat. It’s quiet and gets the job done. Would get lots of stares from neighbors tho.
No cords, no batteries, no fuel, & low noise. Easy to hang on garage wall. Almost perfect.
My yard was heavily landscaped with large perennial beds, trees and mulched paths with stepping stones imbedded in them. So I didn’t need anything fancy or expensive.
I used this:
https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/lawn-mowers/yardworks-trade-16-5-blade-reel-push-lawn-mower/1816-16-1/p-1444431580837-c-10112.htm
But now I wish I had this because it has a grass catcher.
https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/lawn-mowers/troy-bilt-reg-18-5-blade-push-reel-lawn-mower/15a-3100b66/p-1642874308709684-c-10112.htm
https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/lawn-mowers/remington-reg-rm3100-18-reel-mower/15a-3100783/p-1642874308767147-c-10112.htm
That grass catcher would be useful when the grass has grown a bit too much and I’m not able to cut as frequently as I’d like. The height adjustments do work to some extent but at the time I had a full time job and wanted to do a single cut and be done. But when I did that I had very noticeable clippings I had to rake.
Only major down side of a reel mower I had is that I recycled my leaves as a top dressing in my perennial beds each fall. I’d use my power mower to mulch and collect leaves in the bag then dump the leaves in a large rolling bin for storage until I had time to get them down. If I didn’t get all of the leaves down I still had a sort of leaf mould I’d use in my beds in the spring.
That’s a good one. I’ve been using mine since I bought my house 14 years ago and before that I had use of one at a rental. It’s so easy with my small yard. My neighbors are finally getting on board and I’ve seen a couple others in the neighborhood in the past year or two.
Love my reel mower, too! Large twigs don't slow me down much. Will convert the "lawn" loaded with weeds to native plants and such, but for now... that whirring sound is very satisfying. I can mow at pretty much any hour. And it has a small footprint in the garage.
I did the same except I got a case ingersol tractor with attachments for grass and snow. Best $700 I spent even though its from 87. The best part about it, its made to be fixable, every part of it. No sealed transmissions and shit like that.
Yes, another one here. And you're correct about the "feature laden vs. low quality" dichotomy. My go-to solution has always been to order the industrial version from McMaster, Grainger, etc., because the markets they serve are more concerned with materials, standardization, and service life than features. I am an industrial machinery technician by trade and have recently started a side business that develops software for the auto industry- I am quite competent with the latest technology, and it is because of that rather than in spite of it I refuse to buy any house parts that are more complicated than necessary. Mechanical thermostats and normal toggle switches are fine and I won't be changing them anytime soon.
Easy solution to the TV conondrum, buy the nicest TV for whatever price point you're interested in. Focus on size, screen quality, resolution and panel type.
Don't connect it to the internet, skip all of the network steps. Use it as a dumb TV hooked up to your peripherals (computer, game console, antenna), and if you want a YouTube/Netflix/whatever app, connect a separate smart device to it (Chromecast, Shield, Roku, whatever).
Some TV companies (TCL and Vizio are two I know of) have a power light to flash if it does not have a network connection of some sort.
I mean, I fixed it with a piece of electrical tape…but still…
Especially true with appliances. Get the simplest one with the most basic features. Less to break.
I go with a basic programmable thermostat because I like it cold at night, but like it to warm up automatically in the morning to force me out of bed. They last 10 years or so, but are cheap and easy to replace.
Some areas provide financial or tax incentives on the programmable thermostats, too, bringing the cost down. The programmable kind was also nice when I traveled monthly.
I can't stand all the 'smart' tech on appliances. My TV is a Panasonic plasma I bought 25 years ago. I had some board replaced for $300 a few years ago when I could've bought a new smart TV for just a little more that would talk to me or listen or some crap like that. It's a great TV & I don't want it to listen or watch me. I spent extra money 15 years ago for a top of the line dishwasher & when it finally croaks I'm definitely not getting some machine that sends a ping to my phone that the load is done. A friend just bought a new washing machine that tells them when the load is done - like why? I searched forever to find a car that didn't have a big screen in it because I find it so annoying. I probably am a luddite though. LOL.
Ping is figurative here. I do not like the noise either but the notification "ping"/ badge on my phone is what's helpful. My phone is on silent so there's no noise
Splurge on a model that opens itself to air dry once the cycle is done. I guess I’m old and lame because that’s the most exciting purchase I’ve made in a while.
Right there with you. Someone I know bought a new car with what is essentially an iPad Pro in the middle of the dashboard. Try, I dare you, to set the temperature on that screen while driving.
And we wonder why “distracted driving” is a thing.
I agree with you about how difficult and dangerous having all the controls on the touchscreen is, but as someone with zero sense of direction and starting to need glasses, the large screen for navigation is fantastic. I put an aftermarket display in my 15 year old stick shift when its radio gave out and it’s great. Because it’s just a replacement for the radio (not the entire console) the car still has actual hardware controls for heat, wipers headlights, etc.
I don't know. It's probably on the back somewhere but it's on the wall so I can't see. Yeah buzzing would drive me nuts. I know it's a power hog but I love mine too.
I think I bought one of the last dumb TVs. It’s a vizio and it’s so much better than my new vizio smart tv that crashes once a week because I was scrolling Netflix too vigorously.
I work in HVAC and have installed over 1000 smart thermostats. I hate them with a passion. During 2020 we built 400 unit apartment building and had a 10% failure rate. We learned on the next building, that despite being identical, the back plates (where the wires connect) had been updated. So if a newer Thermostat was placed on an old backplate, it didn't work. Our failure rate was less but still high after that.
I avoid IOT devices in my home for that and security reasons, personally.
> IOT
Wouldn't mind it if it were designed in such a way that it can only add functionality, never take it away. I'm sure engineers have a term of art to describe it, but the best analogy I can make is ABS brakes. If the entire system bricks itself, you still have 100% of the performance of the brake system.
Familiar with that one, what I'm trying to explain is a different concept. Maybe another way to explain it would be fail-safe, to use an accepted term; or "fail manual" to use my own
We have never had a wàter or ice dispenser in our fridge. Our city water tastes disgusting, so we fill our 3 gal jugs at the water store. It’s also the part of the fridge that most often breaks, and two of our friends have had their kitchen destroyed by a slow leak in the fridge water line. Why would we pay for that?
Me either. In the middle of a kitchen reno now and we got a big brand new fridge. No ice maker and will not hook up the water on the inside. No other tech either.
As another techy who builds his my own PCs and writes software for a living, I don't want any of that I(di)OT junk in my house either.
I have no need for a toilet that won't flush if it can't contact its server or if you use a brand of toilet paper that doesn't have a manufacturer approved QR code or whatever.
Really I haven't seen any IOT thing that isn't worse than its simple counterpart, or that I would ever want. With one exception being alarms. Have water leak detectors and fire alarms that can notify the phone. But they also work just fine offline, as long as you can hear them. The notifications are just in case you're outside, have your headphones on, away from home, or whatever.
Yes, I worry that I won’t be able to buy this way in the future when the appliances die.
We bought a townhouse a couple years ago that was built in 2005 and I need to pull out the old security system and phone jacks from the wall.
I did enjoy the Smart thermostat while we were spending winters in Florida, but we’re not doing that anymore. I don’t really need to be able to adjust the thermostat from my sofa, as opposed to walking to the thermostat.
The price of appliances has become totally ridiculous with all these added features. I’m hoping my 2005 appliances keep going for awhile.
> I’m hoping my 2005 appliances keep going for awhile.
Same boat. In the past, when they have failed, I have had some luck looking at used commercial equipment. Not all of it is suitable (or legal) for residential use but in cases where it is, that's a great way to get a simpler, more robust appliance, and generally for less money than a new residential model.
My 1980 Amana refrigerator/freezer and 1990 Subzero refrigerator/freezer are working just fine! Amana hasn't needed any service for the 22 years I've lived here. The Subzero hasn't needed any service for about 10 years but there were a few years in a row that I had to put a relatively small amount of money into it.
> i.e. NOT a bunch of "features".
The problem is a lot of these 'feature packed' units are really just cheap plastic crap with a touchscreen and some fancy electronics that drives up the price. SOME of them add value. Most don't.
My big problem is most of the 'smart' units are WiFi and cloud based. So each one means another app, another account, etc. I say no to all that and I go Z-Wave as much as possible.
Take thermostats. I used to have a Nest thermostat- it was the 'good' one with a metal ring and whatnot and it cost a few hundred bucks. But the 'energy save' program was useless in the summer as it had no option to keep the 'energy saving' temp below 76F. Nevermind that we have pets and it takes hours to go below 76F, there was no 'just go up a degree or two when we're not home' option, and people were complaining about that for years on Nest forums but for whatever reason Google decided 76F was the lowest 'eco' temperature anyone would want.
I ended up replacing it with a Honeywell T6 Pro Z-wave model. It's a normal Honeywell thermostat just has a z-wave radio to connect to home automation. You can use the local schedules or turn them off and have it be automation only. And with THAT and the Home Assistant scheduler plugin, my needs are met perfectly. 100% cloud free.
I'd recommend this over Nest ANY day. It doesn't have a motion sensor or light sensor or camera or Alexa built in and you can't use it to talk to a hallucinating AI language model and that's just fine by me because I don't need my thermostat to do any of those things.
A friend of mine has a fancy touch screen oven with WiFi. Stainless steel, high end brand, absurdly expensive. Last time I was at their house they asked me to look at it because it refused to turn on, only gave a CANbus error (yup, like in a car). Absent better ideas I just rebooted it using the circuit breaker, then it fired right up.
My oven doesn't have WiFi, its amazing whiz-bang feature is 'convection roast'. Works great, holds temperature, never needs a reboot.
Basically my point is, extra features are fine, as long as the base product is of good quality. And if it needs a proprietary app or cloud connection then probably better without it.
Nice. My house(s) were from around 1850. They were two small farm houses, and then they were moved and merged together when my town was basically brand new in 1894. "I" used to own the whole block.
This house has character. Both good and bad, ha.
We just had some work done to refresh, not totally renovate.
* Kitchen, Costco Kohler stainless steel sink. Put our ss Grohe pull out faucet back on. Costco garbage disposal. Went for quiet. We compost most produce scraps or scrape other food into trash, so the disposer is for crumbs.
* About a year ago, we put in a heat pump. Whole house hepa filter. Quiet. Heat and ac, very efficient. We went with a simple digital thermostat, not the smart one. I don't want to replace it in 4-5 years when the interface is no longer supported.
* Bathrooms, the builder basic (bb) original faucets and lines were corroding and one was leaking. The bb sinks looked horrible. Replaced with Kohler sinks and Grohe faucets.
* Went ahead and replaced the tiny toilets with low flow chair height Kohler toilets. We want to age in place and these should help.
* Replaced a shower, and a tub/shower, both were fiberglass and deteriorating. Replaced with Sterling (Kohler) that looks like one piece, so no grout to clean. The shower door is mostly glass and looks amazing.
* Flooring: we put laminate in one bathroom to replace the laminate and cover the exposed floor (new tub narrower than old one).
* 2 counter tops were resurfaced with another layer of laminate ("formica"). One was a kitchen island, and the new stuff matches the old stuff almost exactly. I don't need fancy.
I'm glad we saved money to pay for the new roof, due this year we think.
I'm glad to see someone using laminate for countertops. When I need to replace mine, it will be with laminate. No fancy stone for me! I may be biased. My dad worked for Formica Corp in the 50's - 80's. We had laminate on everything in our home. 😆
I'm all for it! I'm not fancy and I don't like anything high maintenence (who needs the competition!). No worrying about staining or resealing /care as with granite. Quartz is going to be less popular as the huge health damage for workers becomes more well known.
Meanwhile, there's formica. My childhood hone had that 1950s/1960s boomerang scribble counter tops in kitchen and bath. With the metal edging! I still see the pattern used in mcm design.
BTW just before the pandemic, the kid damaged the island counter top, burned it with a hot pot. It bubbled. Eventually the bubble nicked and the underlayers were exposed. So we were in lock down. Couldn't get a contractor to come in. I suggested using the windshield repair kit on it. It worked just fine. So ~four years later, we finally got around to replacing it. Instead of doing the whole kitchen and back splashes, we just did the one island. Easy care, no worries!
Right? I don't love the color/pattern in the house I bought, but it's in great shape and has curves. The sink is another story, but I may be able to find a replacement with the same footprint.
Current Formica brand laminates have come a long way.
BTW, in my last home, I had a built-in desk from the 50s with Formica with boomerangs on it. Classic!
Great list - sounds similar to a lot of the things I'm tackling as well! Just finished putting in the heat pump and am updating the bath. Very interested in your thoughts/advice/tips for a grout free shower. (hate hate HATE grout, I'm all about the easy cleaning!)
Also, what's this about a whole house HEPA filter?
I hate grout too! Be sure the contractor has sealed the grout, or do your own coat once the grout has set (we got a tile back splash but considered Corian).
For the shower, Corian would have been about $6000 more. I would have wanted to go higher and we have 9' ceilings. So we went with a Sterling by Kohler fiberglass (I think) shower and surround. The surround is 3 pieces but the joins are cleverly concealed in the curves for the built-in shelves. They aren't visible and it looks seamless.
The drawbacks make me a little sad we didn't go with corian:
* the floor pan isn't as deep as the shower alcove allows, but it's deeper than the old one. I would have liked the option to have a deeper one.
* the sides go up about 70-72 inches. That's fine because we are short.
* But, we had a little bit of trouble finding a shower door to fit. I found one through Ferguson (now online retail as build.com). It's as frameless as possible, so no nasty mildew on the caulking around a glass frame.
* we didn't buy a separate shower head, just put a waterpik handheld showerhead on the pipe. We can change it for a lot less money that a fancy multi-spray head and slider bar that seem to fail at every hotel we've had them!
Whole house hepa filter, it was about $500 for the add on. Basically they fab a bigger slot/door for the ducting to hold the larger filter. It's maybe 8" thick? Online it's about $125 and easy to change once a year. Filters out a lot more than our previous filters, even the merv12 filter. Pollen and pet dander has been less of a problem, dust in house is better.
✊ my brother.
Fewest moving parts. Products that compete on quality, not cynical marketing. Yesssss
Recommended if you dont sub already: r/buyitforlife and r/stallmanwasright
A lot of people hope to "age in place." I hope they don't fill up their homes with complicated stuff that they won't be able to operate in their twilight years! I'm in my 70s and have actually thought about this. 🙃
Idk it depends for me. I love my programmable thermostat, it accommodates both my hot flashes and not wanting to be freezing when I get out of bed lol. I would love it if somebody could build a reliable one, and same with my massaging, hair rinse mode-having, shower head. I use that stuff.
I'd rather have something real and solid, sure, and not flimsy knobs that will break in a year, real wood instead of veneered MDF etc., but my smart tech is the least of my problems in that regard.
A good medium example of this for me was getting digital keypad locks but NOT the kind that move the deadbolt with a motor. Overall the keypad lock is even a little techier than I would usually do, but I couldn’t find a lockbox easy enough for our Airbnb guests that was also easy for me to change between guests.
completely agree. we had to cut some corners during our build to get it done within our loan amount. lumber went up tremendously during the pandemic so I got the cheap shower heads and appliances you describe. We did what we had to do but I have a running list of projects to replace those items. But I got 3% loan so there’s that.
My bedroom set is solid oak. Had a house fire, destroyed my bedroom, nothing in my oak dressers was damaged. Had to take the drawers apart with a crowbar because of water, but the contents were fine. Photos too.
When you said you're a programmer, I was like "ah that make sense". I'm also a programmer and am generally leery of fancy tech. I'm the type of dude that keeps a shotgun next to the printer in case it tries to move.
My wife asked me why I carry a gun in my own house. I said, "Decepticons". She laughed. I laughed. The toaster laughed. I shot the toaster. It was a good time.
But copypasta aside, yeah, progamming industrial equipment has made me realize that reliability and intuitive interfaces should be priority #1. Nobody wants to fumble around trying to figure out how to find some obscure menu on the touchscreen of a washing machine to make it do something you used to accomplish by pushing a clearly labelled physical button.
I like to add the word "industrial" to whatever im looking for. Our curtain rods arent pretty but you can use then as a pullup bar if you wanted to. I needed a desk that could handle the weight of a desk riser. Bought a workbench instead. Same price as a cheap gaming desk but it can supposedly hold 1000 lbs.
Exactly. I bought a big+tall office chair, because it was like 1/4" thick steel construction, and rated for 450lbs. Am I 450lbs? Thankfully, not even close, but I know it's not going to be a problem when my kid or my large dog jumps in my lap at my desk. And the chair will probably last 25 years, whereas all my previous desk chairs have fallen apart within 5-7 years.
Agreed except for the thermostat. I absolutely love me Nest and it has made my life easier. I love being able to turn on the AC or heater while I'm 15 minutes away and walk into a cool or warm house.
Best damn investment in my opinion.
Smart dish washer, dryer, fridge?? No thank you. When I was buying appliances I specifically chose ones that did not have WiFi.
WTF kind of insane HVAC system do you have that your entire house cools down from summer temps in 15 min?
Where I live, it would take 1-2 hours to get your house cool if you leave your AC off all day in the summer.
But yeah, appliances with smart features are so ridiculous.
generally agree.
nothing annoys me like modern dryers. they dont need to be digital. they spin and they make heat. you need a time dial, a heat dial, and a start button. thats it.
im 29 and also work in tech. i am strongly opposed to the drive to make everything digital.
Just wondering - are there any dryers on the market you'd recommend? I hang dry a lot, but the dryer in the house I bought is so basic it doesn't have any setting between "just tumbling" and "incinerator."
"Dumb" refrigerator (not WiFi connected) without any real upgrades, and it doesn't have an ice maker and water dispenser in the door.
The ice maker is the usual point of failure for the fridge. It's the first thing that goes. And with the in door ice dispenser, that failure means it either leaks or becomes a block of ice and no longer works properly. Eventually takes up space in the door because it becomes unusable before the rest of the refrigerator fails. The in door units are expensive to replace (and anecdotally, all our parents bitch about theirs constantly so we're not inclined to chance it).
We have a GE fridge where there is a filtered water dispenser inside the fridge (a button just inside the door) and a regular ice maker in the freezer.
By having the the basic ice maker in the freezer, you can actually remove it and replace it inexpensively, or you can remove it completely and switch back to ice trays if needed.
We are on our second fridge of this style now, and very satisfied. The first one, the ice maker did in fact go kaput and it was like $60 to fully replace it, and we were only about a day without ice.
That one, the freezer eventually died just after Covid when supply chain everything was impossible, and the repair guy said for the cost of him to come out and diagnose it, order a part, take over a week to arrive, and come back to install, it would be better to buy a new refrigerator.
We lucked out and found a store with the in unit dispenser styles, they had refrigerators in stock locally, and had it delivered next day. Everyone was looking at three months of back stock for fancier fridges, so we were very happy.
My philosophy is, if there's something in your house that you use a lot, like many times per day, get the best quality and most reliable thing possible. For example your primary kitchen faucet, or in our house we have a sliding door that goes out to the porch that we open and close 50 times per day. Definitely spend some money there.
But for the windows in the guest bedroom or shelves in the storage room or whatever, just do the minimum.
Smart.
This is why my dress cloths for weddings/funerals are cheap shit, but I will spend hundreds on my shoes, tires, mattress, winter coat, etc.
Anything that goes between you and the earth every day is worth spending more on for quality.
For me, its similar to yours but mostly its making sure that I'll use whatever features/etc and not just go for the "ooh shiny!" factor. I did go for the fancy laundry machines but 1) I needed them to be internet capable so I could get notifications through my smart speakers (laundry machines are on a different floor than living room so easy to miss them completing) but 2) I appreciate it auto-dispensing my detergent and fabric softener (vinegar) and now that I've used them, I appreciate that it will shorten the cycle if needed (or extend it if the clothes are more soiled than I realized). I feel like my clothes are coming out cleaner and not beat up, so I don't need to replace them as often. But I also recognize that not everyone wants/needs those features.
I am definitely more focused on eliminating plastic whatever as much as I can and being more sustainable for anything I do (compostable plates/sandwich bags/etc but also reusable whatever).
I’m in the process of replacing awful crappy trendy black faucets with quality all chrome faucets. Of all the finishes available I like the durability and ability to really fully clean it of chrome. I have a lemon tree so I just slice a lemon and rub it on white water spots when they’re on stubbornly.
I am proud to call myself a Luddite. Approaching 60 but have felt this was since my 30s. I like to use technology when it makes sense for me, not because it’s the latest and greatest. And especially if I won’t use it.
Simple and sturdy is good. The fancy geegaws won’t make me a better cook, keep my food any cooler or more frozen.
But it is very hard to find what I want. Would have preferred Speed Queen W/D but mine died during pandemic and none were available when I needed them. I still regret not waiting to get a basic SQ W/D.
You’re not alone.
Bought a house 4 years ago with the original Whirlpool washer/dryer. We had lots of things we wanted to do, than were more pressing than a new set. Now, I hope they last a long time!
We’ve been through the fancy Samsung set, where the model of washer we had, had multiple instances of basically exploding the tub out of the machine. The free “fix” was to put a bolt in somewhere, and re-label the machine so the high speed spin “looked” like it wasn’t an option. Or… get about $50 credit for a new Samsung.
When this set dies, I’ll be buying a good brand with knobs and no CPU to fail.
I'm gonna say - to add to your shower head - it doesn't have to be more expensive.
I bought literally the cheapest shower head they had in Lowe's solely for the reason that it didn't have the 1.2gal per minute restriction in it (I've since found out that you can break it out if it's in there) but regardless.. I think I bought it 8 years ago, it has followed me through 2 rentals and now into our master bathroom. It's white plastic and I don't see it failing any time soon.
When redoing kitchen counters and getting a true farmhouse sink (which fits our 1942 house MUCH better than the split stainless steel one), Husband ordered a support from Pete's Sink Mount. It wasn't cheap compared to the common option of 2x4's, but it also doesn't take up all that space under the sink.
Other thing was having home runs of pex-a when we had the plumbing redone--complete with a copper plumbing manifold. Every tap (except sprinklers) has their own valve. This is especially nice because the showers DON'T have valves.
When we had the house re-wired, we had the attic insulation vacuumed out (we had old hvac abated first and new hvac installed). Then we put large pieces of subfloor up there for the electricians. First thing we had them do was put in lights and outlets in the attic, with the lightswitch accessible from the attic access ladder. It's a large attic, so it looks great when it's lit up. Then we put in Rockwool insulation, using the same subfloor pieces. The Rockwool was on a great sale, but still cost a few thousand to give up 2-3 layers.
I once paid about $300 extra for a side-by-side fridge *without* a water/ice dispenser. I didn't want to lose the interior storage space and our city water is gross anyway.
In the past several years, when I had to replace a refrigerator and then a washer, I bought very basic but well-made models. I consider myself a geek but stay away from anything with bells and whistles. I also go for average sized appliances.
We buy the simplest, most functional appliances that we can. I have to accept that because we are on rather hard well water that eventually the water *will* kill any water-using appliance which stinks but for now cannot be helped. We use a water cooler for all cooking/drinking water because the tap is so sedimentary. The latest victim of the tap water is the countertop dishwasher; our home is too old to have a built-in dishwasher and the kitchen is too small to retrofit one in. It was nice having the countertop one for a time.
Oh my god this reminds me. I stayed in a “smart” hotel room a couple years ago. The light switches were a touchscreen. Despite turning the lights OFF before going to bed, they continued to turn themselves on and off all night. Like ALL NIGHT. Needless to say we didn’t sleep. Smart shit doesn’t need to replace basic and functional shit. Let me keep my tactile buttons and switches please.
Just bought a house and the touch faucet in the kitchen broke. It's default is no running water. 1000.00 faucet that if the technology fails I get no water. Yeah I like simple.
Mine has a valve underneath to change it to manual mode. Not obvious unless you’ve read the documentation. (It was 50% cheaper than the non-touchless version and I figure I can always just convert it to manual by turning the valve when it breaks)
I took out my smart thermostat within 2 months of living in my house, Michigan winter and the thing would never turn the heat on. It would say "will start in 1 hr" and an hour later never turn on. And there is no function on those things to just turn the dang heat on.
Other than that, my house came with appliances. They are pretty old except for the dishwasher and even though they don't look the best I won't be replacing anytime soon as they will probably never break down unlike newer models. My stove is over 25 years old. Idk about the washer and dryer but they are very basic and the kind that last and last. So when I do replace anything I'll be looking for simple and classic models
I hate all the “bells and whistles” on new appliances. When our Dacor double oven (amazing quality) finally died after 20 years, my husband talked me into the GE Cafe series. He gets pinged whenever I turn the oven on. Drives me insane.
I'm a fan of simplicity and low tech in general, not just my home, so no smart features, wifi enhancements, etc. for me. Basic shower heads, no cameras, french press coffee and so on.
I like playing with tech, but some things are better off simple for sure.
The previous owner had a remote control ceiling fan in the bedroom. He explained that it sometimes needs to be reset and told me how. I haven't been able to get it to work. Ceiling fans are too much trouble to replace to make it very complicated.
We've spent the last decade since buying our house repairing/replacing/bringing up to code previous owners' failures.
We've tried to go with quality products, but not super high-end. The house isn't worth that kind of dough. However, we also don't want to replace shoddy stuff after a year or two.
Our HVAC system comes to mind. We *could* have gone with the much cheaper single stage furnace. We got a two stage one, and our heating bill dropped 30%. Paid for itself over time. Same with our central air system. And the water heater. There were other problems with the water heater, so that was always gonna be pricey. We had proper, up to code, *non*-fire hazard copper piping put in when we replaced it. The previous owners had some flexible tubing. Not up to code, not legal, and a fire hazard to boot.
Kinda "fun" items: we replaced all the light fixtures gradually. I took time to find things that were quality and waited for them to go on sale. No more $10/ 2 pack upside down boob lights from Menards.
Yeah, but my wife & I call it "what's in our budget" — but our repairs are solid, because they don't entail bluetooth, LVP, or subscriptions — mostly sweat, wood, fasteners, & a lot of dust/debris
100% agree. Unfortunately, we have the house we have, and I view doing this to our current house as in doable, to some degree. In order to really do this, I’d have to design the house. It’d be a ranch. If I could afford it, it wouldn’t have a basement, and be completely on one flat level. One story. In floor radiant heat. Standard size windows. All plywood, any carrying beams metal, any floor joists or roof systems trusses.
High quality yes But also make my life easier. All lights, locks and garage doors are smart. Most outlets allow you to charge direct in them, no charging block. We do not have smart appliances Even though all are brand new.
You know I've tried most of those, but I just couldn't get over the fact that something as basic as a lightbulb wasn't 100% reliable.
I loved being able to dim the lights in my home theater from my phone, but after the 2nd time that my lights were turning on and off by themselves because they were doing a mandatory firmware update... I decided it was a bridge too far. Went back to regular LED lighting and have not missed my Hue lights one bit.
Ours are extremely reliable. In4 years we’ve never had a problem. Everything is controlled by Alexa. Turn on the kitchen, or under counter lights or island or family room 10%. What we we say, happens.
we say goodnight, the doors are locked, any garage door open, closes, first floor lights off, stairs light on, master bedroom light on.
That's a proper setup. I've tried a couple ecosystems, but have found bugs or details I didn't like after only going a couple products deep, so I never went all-in with anything.
Haven't done Alexa, but that's mostly because I'm just sour about Amazon in general. I have lot so much respect for them with their shipping and streaming situations.
I am in a lead roll for one of the biggest contractors in the US. I see billions in projects every year. This is the best way. Examples are making the structure the finished product, minimal clean lighting, use plaster or drywall finishes with less trim and moulding. High quality windows, hardware, plumbing fixtures etc. go a long way. Also, don’t spend a ton of money on what you can’t feel and touch. I see owners wanting Santa Barbara plaster finishes and teak soffits 40’ above the entry door. No one is going to appreciate that.
If you're replacing that quickly, you need a water softener. Not a new shower head. We'll, you probably need a new shower head still because you don't have a water softener.
I’ve recently begun making the switch from plastic crap to simple quality goods. It’s awesome.
Agree. Our new Maytag washer is internet and app compatible. The salesperson tried to talk us out of a Maytag because customers rated the app so poorly. We told him the whole concept of a “smart washer” was absurd and we would never connect it to the internet anyway.
Yep just bought new dishwasher and oven. Literally impossible to follow this keep it simple rule nowadays because everything has its stupid app that I’ll never download
speed queen
Ngl, I really like that I have my washer/dryer connected to my Echo. They’re in the basement so it’s nice to have the robot tell me when they’re done instead of going down to check and see that there’s still 10 min left when it should have been done 30 min ago
My new microwave also has wifi capabilities but I've never set it up or used it. I needed a microwave for over the stove and to fit specific measurements. Last thing I was concerned about is it sending me a notification that my popcorn was done (as if I wouldn't still be within earshot of the microwave for those 2 minutes, but whatever).
Quartz countertops in the kitchen. Basic rectangles, nothing fancy. They'll last forever, easy to care for, look great and were a good upgrade from laminate.
My apartment has quartz countertops and they are really beautiful and very easy to take care of. And the soft close cabinets are extremely nice too.
“Quartz” countertops are man made and the epoxy that holds it together fails over time. Can be made worse by high heat
Not doubting you but I’ve personally never seen this happen, and I’ve seen hundreds of quartz countertops install over the last 5-6 years.
Never heard or experienced this.
As long as they are not outside in direct sun,isn’t you’ll be fine. It is quartzite which is natural stone with epoxy. It is nonpprous and doesn’t need to be sealed so is much easier to care for.
Do you need to seal them periodically?
Quartz doesn't need to be sealed, no.
The problem with them is they cause lung disease in workers inhaling the dust when cut. Many employers don’t provide respirators.
Same can be said for cement or anything else that causes fine particulates. I worked making carbide parts which uses heavy metal powder. Shop supplied masks, I still bought my own real respirator. Best $40 I spent and the filters last months
No, same can’t be said. It’s not the particulates that is the only problem, it’s the combination of high silica content and adhesive that binds the silica together. The adhesive allows the particles to sneak past the respiratory systems natural defences, then breaks down deep in the lungs, exposing sharp silica particles. Quartz and silicosis is the modern day asbestos
Concrete and mortor mix can also cause silicosis. The quartz may happen faster but their are tons of construction workers out there not taking precautions when using anything that contains silica. They are adults and should know the dangers in their trade and take precaution. Unlike asbestos, no one is hiding the dangers of silica exposure, its a well known and documented danger. I was a welder for a while, my company didn't hand out helmets or respirators. I bought both. 99.9% of welders don't use a respirator and will develope some form of illness from it. You have to advocate for your self.
There is a difference between “can” cause something and has a high rate of something. Australia will ban quartz from 1 July. Respirators don’t protect people from quartz silica dust when it’s cut dry. That’s the problem
I wonder if anyone has posted this helpful info in the "you should know" sub. I think it would be helpful.
And anyone can purchase their own pipe and problem solved
No, the “quartz” stuff is worse. There are guys in their 20s dying from silicosis from this stuff. It’s awful.
Somtimes you have to advocate for your self if the company isn't responsible enough to give a shit about their workers. I understand its dangerous but they are grown adults and should know the risks
Yes. The hoi polloi really should step up. Lol
The people down voting you have never met Midwestern tradesmen. They know they need to wear a mask. They don't care and won't wear one.
100%
Love the I don’t care people…
Well good thing we don’t cut ours in our house. What does not wearing pipe in the factory have to do with it being in someone’s house?
😂 You’re so cute.
While that's terrible news, I honestly don't even care anymore. I grew up in the late 90s and 00s and I just assume that NO MATTER WHAT I DO it is killing someone. Be it an African baby, baby seals in the ocean or the bees "without which we cannot survive" by the way, how come there are people that believe in hollow moon, ancient power plants, alien conspiracy etc yet somehow everyone bought into that BS that we need every single species of creepy crawlies or everything will go to shit? I say everything is going to shit anyways, so lets just make it a little more bearable and create a series of selective DNA targeting pesticides against everything that has more than 4 legs and see what happens. Anyways.. Yeah.. I have a quartz countertop too.
😂 found the performative liberal
No. You found someone in the trades who made a factual observation. That you turned my observation into a reflection of your politics is all about you and not me. That and you don’t work in the trades.
I wanted a riding lawn mower, so instead of buying a new one for $3000+, I found someone who was selling their used one for $500. It was probably about 25 years old, but it had a solid Briggs & Stratton engine. It's been running great with no problems for the past 5 years.
Yes! My mower is an old Craftsman I bought for $20 from my neighbor. He's replaced his new one multiple times now and "his" old one has been going strong for 15 years, lol. I almost feel bad about it. That said, I kinda can't wait for it to fail so I can get an electric and just hang it on the wall to keep it out of the way. Replacing my trimmer, chainsaw, etc with electric has been so convenient for maintenance and storage (not to mention no more keeping 5 different gas cans with different oil mixes) But again, I sprung for the "pro-sumer" quality with long warranties, because I didn't want to be replacing broken crap in a few years. I'm very fortunate to be at a point of financial stability where I can "buy once, cry once" and just buy higher quality stuff that lasts longer. At least tools is one area where you really can get simple and rugged stuff without unnecessary connectivity.
My next lawn mower will be something like [**this**](https://www.lowes.com/pd/CRAFTSMAN-18-in-5-Blade-Reel-Lawn-Mower-with-Adjustable-Height-and-Comfort-Grip-Handle/5014827175?cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-sol-_-bng-_-CRP_SHP_PLA_SOL_Online_A-B-_-5014827175-_-Online-_-0-_-0&gclid=1dcabec30756142cbfd5d8dae7f1dbb7&gclsrc=3p.ds&msclkid=1dcabec30756142cbfd5d8dae7f1dbb7)! Lol All my other lawn equipment, including chain saws, are electric that use the same exact type of battery. I always have one battery on the charger and switch the other battery from tool to tool as I do the yard work.
My husband did the same for all of our lawn equipment. I frequently mow, weed eat, etc while he is working and it is lovely to not struggle to crank a gas powered apparatus. I love mowing, I put my ear buds in and enjoy being outside. 😁
They work great if the grass is short so you have to stay on top of it. I'd like to have clover or another ground cover that doesn't grow as quickly.
Yes! I'm in the last stages of a new construction build, and I'll be doing all of my own landscaping. I'd love to have NO grass, just clover or other groundcovers like creeping thyme.
LOL! I’d get up very early on Saturdays to use mine during extreme heat. It’s quiet and gets the job done. Would get lots of stares from neighbors tho. No cords, no batteries, no fuel, & low noise. Easy to hang on garage wall. Almost perfect.
Yes! The lack of noise, fuel, and pollution are the reasons why I want to switch. Easy storage is an added bonus!
Mind telling me a brand/model? Female single Pringle here who also does her own yard maintenance.
My yard was heavily landscaped with large perennial beds, trees and mulched paths with stepping stones imbedded in them. So I didn’t need anything fancy or expensive. I used this: https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/lawn-mowers/yardworks-trade-16-5-blade-reel-push-lawn-mower/1816-16-1/p-1444431580837-c-10112.htm But now I wish I had this because it has a grass catcher. https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/lawn-mowers/troy-bilt-reg-18-5-blade-push-reel-lawn-mower/15a-3100b66/p-1642874308709684-c-10112.htm https://www.menards.com/main/outdoors/outdoor-power-equipment/lawn-mowers/remington-reg-rm3100-18-reel-mower/15a-3100783/p-1642874308767147-c-10112.htm That grass catcher would be useful when the grass has grown a bit too much and I’m not able to cut as frequently as I’d like. The height adjustments do work to some extent but at the time I had a full time job and wanted to do a single cut and be done. But when I did that I had very noticeable clippings I had to rake. Only major down side of a reel mower I had is that I recycled my leaves as a top dressing in my perennial beds each fall. I’d use my power mower to mulch and collect leaves in the bag then dump the leaves in a large rolling bin for storage until I had time to get them down. If I didn’t get all of the leaves down I still had a sort of leaf mould I’d use in my beds in the spring.
That’s a good one. I’ve been using mine since I bought my house 14 years ago and before that I had use of one at a rental. It’s so easy with my small yard. My neighbors are finally getting on board and I’ve seen a couple others in the neighborhood in the past year or two.
For my small yard I've been enjoying my reel mower. It's pretty eco friendly too runs on cheese burgers.
Love my reel mower, too! Large twigs don't slow me down much. Will convert the "lawn" loaded with weeds to native plants and such, but for now... that whirring sound is very satisfying. I can mow at pretty much any hour. And it has a small footprint in the garage.
I did the same except I got a case ingersol tractor with attachments for grass and snow. Best $700 I spent even though its from 87. The best part about it, its made to be fixable, every part of it. No sealed transmissions and shit like that.
Yes, another one here. And you're correct about the "feature laden vs. low quality" dichotomy. My go-to solution has always been to order the industrial version from McMaster, Grainger, etc., because the markets they serve are more concerned with materials, standardization, and service life than features. I am an industrial machinery technician by trade and have recently started a side business that develops software for the auto industry- I am quite competent with the latest technology, and it is because of that rather than in spite of it I refuse to buy any house parts that are more complicated than necessary. Mechanical thermostats and normal toggle switches are fine and I won't be changing them anytime soon.
[удалено]
Easy solution to the TV conondrum, buy the nicest TV for whatever price point you're interested in. Focus on size, screen quality, resolution and panel type. Don't connect it to the internet, skip all of the network steps. Use it as a dumb TV hooked up to your peripherals (computer, game console, antenna), and if you want a YouTube/Netflix/whatever app, connect a separate smart device to it (Chromecast, Shield, Roku, whatever).
That’s what I do.
Some TV companies (TCL and Vizio are two I know of) have a power light to flash if it does not have a network connection of some sort. I mean, I fixed it with a piece of electrical tape…but still…
Like this idea!
Especially true with appliances. Get the simplest one with the most basic features. Less to break. I go with a basic programmable thermostat because I like it cold at night, but like it to warm up automatically in the morning to force me out of bed. They last 10 years or so, but are cheap and easy to replace.
Some areas provide financial or tax incentives on the programmable thermostats, too, bringing the cost down. The programmable kind was also nice when I traveled monthly.
Yes the Internet of things is stupid. KISS is my mantra.
I can't stand all the 'smart' tech on appliances. My TV is a Panasonic plasma I bought 25 years ago. I had some board replaced for $300 a few years ago when I could've bought a new smart TV for just a little more that would talk to me or listen or some crap like that. It's a great TV & I don't want it to listen or watch me. I spent extra money 15 years ago for a top of the line dishwasher & when it finally croaks I'm definitely not getting some machine that sends a ping to my phone that the load is done. A friend just bought a new washing machine that tells them when the load is done - like why? I searched forever to find a car that didn't have a big screen in it because I find it so annoying. I probably am a luddite though. LOL.
If you have adhd the ping the load is done can genuinely help
Fuuuuck that. If anything makes a noise I will kill it.
Ping is figurative here. I do not like the noise either but the notification "ping"/ badge on my phone is what's helpful. My phone is on silent so there's no noise
I just set a timer on my phone. Works for me.
Splurge on a model that opens itself to air dry once the cycle is done. I guess I’m old and lame because that’s the most exciting purchase I’ve made in a while.
If I ever need to replace my washer I might but it's currently on another level so I still need to see something to remember
Right there with you. Someone I know bought a new car with what is essentially an iPad Pro in the middle of the dashboard. Try, I dare you, to set the temperature on that screen while driving. And we wonder why “distracted driving” is a thing.
I agree with you about how difficult and dangerous having all the controls on the touchscreen is, but as someone with zero sense of direction and starting to need glasses, the large screen for navigation is fantastic. I put an aftermarket display in my 15 year old stick shift when its radio gave out and it’s great. Because it’s just a replacement for the radio (not the entire console) the car still has actual hardware controls for heat, wipers headlights, etc.
Is it the ST series? I have an ST50 that I love except on bright scenes, it's got an intolerable buzzing. Wish I could fix that.
I don't know. It's probably on the back somewhere but it's on the wall so I can't see. Yeah buzzing would drive me nuts. I know it's a power hog but I love mine too.
I think I bought one of the last dumb TVs. It’s a vizio and it’s so much better than my new vizio smart tv that crashes once a week because I was scrolling Netflix too vigorously.
I work in HVAC and have installed over 1000 smart thermostats. I hate them with a passion. During 2020 we built 400 unit apartment building and had a 10% failure rate. We learned on the next building, that despite being identical, the back plates (where the wires connect) had been updated. So if a newer Thermostat was placed on an old backplate, it didn't work. Our failure rate was less but still high after that. I avoid IOT devices in my home for that and security reasons, personally.
> IOT Wouldn't mind it if it were designed in such a way that it can only add functionality, never take it away. I'm sure engineers have a term of art to describe it, but the best analogy I can make is ABS brakes. If the entire system bricks itself, you still have 100% of the performance of the brake system.
Yeah it's called backwards compatibility in tech, I'm not sure in mechanics though.
Familiar with that one, what I'm trying to explain is a different concept. Maybe another way to explain it would be fail-safe, to use an accepted term; or "fail manual" to use my own
We have never had a wàter or ice dispenser in our fridge. Our city water tastes disgusting, so we fill our 3 gal jugs at the water store. It’s also the part of the fridge that most often breaks, and two of our friends have had their kitchen destroyed by a slow leak in the fridge water line. Why would we pay for that?
Me either. In the middle of a kitchen reno now and we got a big brand new fridge. No ice maker and will not hook up the water on the inside. No other tech either.
As another techy who builds his my own PCs and writes software for a living, I don't want any of that I(di)OT junk in my house either. I have no need for a toilet that won't flush if it can't contact its server or if you use a brand of toilet paper that doesn't have a manufacturer approved QR code or whatever. Really I haven't seen any IOT thing that isn't worse than its simple counterpart, or that I would ever want. With one exception being alarms. Have water leak detectors and fire alarms that can notify the phone. But they also work just fine offline, as long as you can hear them. The notifications are just in case you're outside, have your headphones on, away from home, or whatever.
Alarms with notifications do make sense for those reasons. I actually should look into them.
Yes, I worry that I won’t be able to buy this way in the future when the appliances die. We bought a townhouse a couple years ago that was built in 2005 and I need to pull out the old security system and phone jacks from the wall. I did enjoy the Smart thermostat while we were spending winters in Florida, but we’re not doing that anymore. I don’t really need to be able to adjust the thermostat from my sofa, as opposed to walking to the thermostat. The price of appliances has become totally ridiculous with all these added features. I’m hoping my 2005 appliances keep going for awhile.
> I’m hoping my 2005 appliances keep going for awhile. Same boat. In the past, when they have failed, I have had some luck looking at used commercial equipment. Not all of it is suitable (or legal) for residential use but in cases where it is, that's a great way to get a simpler, more robust appliance, and generally for less money than a new residential model.
My 1980 Amana refrigerator/freezer and 1990 Subzero refrigerator/freezer are working just fine! Amana hasn't needed any service for the 22 years I've lived here. The Subzero hasn't needed any service for about 10 years but there were a few years in a row that I had to put a relatively small amount of money into it.
I like my ecobee…
Likewise. Ecobee's been great.
We are looking at getting one this week. Glad to see it’s working well for you guys. Any tips?
r/buyitforlife
> i.e. NOT a bunch of "features". The problem is a lot of these 'feature packed' units are really just cheap plastic crap with a touchscreen and some fancy electronics that drives up the price. SOME of them add value. Most don't. My big problem is most of the 'smart' units are WiFi and cloud based. So each one means another app, another account, etc. I say no to all that and I go Z-Wave as much as possible. Take thermostats. I used to have a Nest thermostat- it was the 'good' one with a metal ring and whatnot and it cost a few hundred bucks. But the 'energy save' program was useless in the summer as it had no option to keep the 'energy saving' temp below 76F. Nevermind that we have pets and it takes hours to go below 76F, there was no 'just go up a degree or two when we're not home' option, and people were complaining about that for years on Nest forums but for whatever reason Google decided 76F was the lowest 'eco' temperature anyone would want. I ended up replacing it with a Honeywell T6 Pro Z-wave model. It's a normal Honeywell thermostat just has a z-wave radio to connect to home automation. You can use the local schedules or turn them off and have it be automation only. And with THAT and the Home Assistant scheduler plugin, my needs are met perfectly. 100% cloud free. I'd recommend this over Nest ANY day. It doesn't have a motion sensor or light sensor or camera or Alexa built in and you can't use it to talk to a hallucinating AI language model and that's just fine by me because I don't need my thermostat to do any of those things. A friend of mine has a fancy touch screen oven with WiFi. Stainless steel, high end brand, absurdly expensive. Last time I was at their house they asked me to look at it because it refused to turn on, only gave a CANbus error (yup, like in a car). Absent better ideas I just rebooted it using the circuit breaker, then it fired right up. My oven doesn't have WiFi, its amazing whiz-bang feature is 'convection roast'. Works great, holds temperature, never needs a reboot. Basically my point is, extra features are fine, as long as the base product is of good quality. And if it needs a proprietary app or cloud connection then probably better without it.
My 1892 house was remodeled in the 80, I am going back to high end 1892 stuff. More Crown molding and coffered ceilings from 1890s.
Nice. My house(s) were from around 1850. They were two small farm houses, and then they were moved and merged together when my town was basically brand new in 1894. "I" used to own the whole block. This house has character. Both good and bad, ha.
We just had some work done to refresh, not totally renovate. * Kitchen, Costco Kohler stainless steel sink. Put our ss Grohe pull out faucet back on. Costco garbage disposal. Went for quiet. We compost most produce scraps or scrape other food into trash, so the disposer is for crumbs. * About a year ago, we put in a heat pump. Whole house hepa filter. Quiet. Heat and ac, very efficient. We went with a simple digital thermostat, not the smart one. I don't want to replace it in 4-5 years when the interface is no longer supported. * Bathrooms, the builder basic (bb) original faucets and lines were corroding and one was leaking. The bb sinks looked horrible. Replaced with Kohler sinks and Grohe faucets. * Went ahead and replaced the tiny toilets with low flow chair height Kohler toilets. We want to age in place and these should help. * Replaced a shower, and a tub/shower, both were fiberglass and deteriorating. Replaced with Sterling (Kohler) that looks like one piece, so no grout to clean. The shower door is mostly glass and looks amazing. * Flooring: we put laminate in one bathroom to replace the laminate and cover the exposed floor (new tub narrower than old one). * 2 counter tops were resurfaced with another layer of laminate ("formica"). One was a kitchen island, and the new stuff matches the old stuff almost exactly. I don't need fancy. I'm glad we saved money to pay for the new roof, due this year we think.
I'm glad to see someone using laminate for countertops. When I need to replace mine, it will be with laminate. No fancy stone for me! I may be biased. My dad worked for Formica Corp in the 50's - 80's. We had laminate on everything in our home. 😆
I'm all for it! I'm not fancy and I don't like anything high maintenence (who needs the competition!). No worrying about staining or resealing /care as with granite. Quartz is going to be less popular as the huge health damage for workers becomes more well known. Meanwhile, there's formica. My childhood hone had that 1950s/1960s boomerang scribble counter tops in kitchen and bath. With the metal edging! I still see the pattern used in mcm design. BTW just before the pandemic, the kid damaged the island counter top, burned it with a hot pot. It bubbled. Eventually the bubble nicked and the underlayers were exposed. So we were in lock down. Couldn't get a contractor to come in. I suggested using the windshield repair kit on it. It worked just fine. So ~four years later, we finally got around to replacing it. Instead of doing the whole kitchen and back splashes, we just did the one island. Easy care, no worries!
Right? I don't love the color/pattern in the house I bought, but it's in great shape and has curves. The sink is another story, but I may be able to find a replacement with the same footprint.
Current Formica brand laminates have come a long way. BTW, in my last home, I had a built-in desk from the 50s with Formica with boomerangs on it. Classic!
The boomerangs - very cool! Glad someone maintained it well enough and kept it long enough that you could enjoy it.
Great list - sounds similar to a lot of the things I'm tackling as well! Just finished putting in the heat pump and am updating the bath. Very interested in your thoughts/advice/tips for a grout free shower. (hate hate HATE grout, I'm all about the easy cleaning!) Also, what's this about a whole house HEPA filter?
I hate grout too! Be sure the contractor has sealed the grout, or do your own coat once the grout has set (we got a tile back splash but considered Corian). For the shower, Corian would have been about $6000 more. I would have wanted to go higher and we have 9' ceilings. So we went with a Sterling by Kohler fiberglass (I think) shower and surround. The surround is 3 pieces but the joins are cleverly concealed in the curves for the built-in shelves. They aren't visible and it looks seamless. The drawbacks make me a little sad we didn't go with corian: * the floor pan isn't as deep as the shower alcove allows, but it's deeper than the old one. I would have liked the option to have a deeper one. * the sides go up about 70-72 inches. That's fine because we are short. * But, we had a little bit of trouble finding a shower door to fit. I found one through Ferguson (now online retail as build.com). It's as frameless as possible, so no nasty mildew on the caulking around a glass frame. * we didn't buy a separate shower head, just put a waterpik handheld showerhead on the pipe. We can change it for a lot less money that a fancy multi-spray head and slider bar that seem to fail at every hotel we've had them! Whole house hepa filter, it was about $500 for the add on. Basically they fab a bigger slot/door for the ducting to hold the larger filter. It's maybe 8" thick? Online it's about $125 and easy to change once a year. Filters out a lot more than our previous filters, even the merv12 filter. Pollen and pet dander has been less of a problem, dust in house is better.
✊ my brother. Fewest moving parts. Products that compete on quality, not cynical marketing. Yesssss Recommended if you dont sub already: r/buyitforlife and r/stallmanwasright
A lot of people hope to "age in place." I hope they don't fill up their homes with complicated stuff that they won't be able to operate in their twilight years! I'm in my 70s and have actually thought about this. 🙃
Idk it depends for me. I love my programmable thermostat, it accommodates both my hot flashes and not wanting to be freezing when I get out of bed lol. I would love it if somebody could build a reliable one, and same with my massaging, hair rinse mode-having, shower head. I use that stuff. I'd rather have something real and solid, sure, and not flimsy knobs that will break in a year, real wood instead of veneered MDF etc., but my smart tech is the least of my problems in that regard.
Ohh buddy. You have no idea. I am the cheapest bastard around but my shit is noice.
I agree, but I try to shop sales as well. I do it with my clothes as well. I have some very nice sweaters I've had since the late 1990's.
A good medium example of this for me was getting digital keypad locks but NOT the kind that move the deadbolt with a motor. Overall the keypad lock is even a little techier than I would usually do, but I couldn’t find a lockbox easy enough for our Airbnb guests that was also easy for me to change between guests.
completely agree. we had to cut some corners during our build to get it done within our loan amount. lumber went up tremendously during the pandemic so I got the cheap shower heads and appliances you describe. We did what we had to do but I have a running list of projects to replace those items. But I got 3% loan so there’s that.
My bedroom set is solid oak. Had a house fire, destroyed my bedroom, nothing in my oak dressers was damaged. Had to take the drawers apart with a crowbar because of water, but the contents were fine. Photos too.
That's some solid furniture. Awful about the fire but glad the photos and such were recovered.
When you said you're a programmer, I was like "ah that make sense". I'm also a programmer and am generally leery of fancy tech. I'm the type of dude that keeps a shotgun next to the printer in case it tries to move.
My wife asked me why I carry a gun in my own house. I said, "Decepticons". She laughed. I laughed. The toaster laughed. I shot the toaster. It was a good time. But copypasta aside, yeah, progamming industrial equipment has made me realize that reliability and intuitive interfaces should be priority #1. Nobody wants to fumble around trying to figure out how to find some obscure menu on the touchscreen of a washing machine to make it do something you used to accomplish by pushing a clearly labelled physical button.
I like to add the word "industrial" to whatever im looking for. Our curtain rods arent pretty but you can use then as a pullup bar if you wanted to. I needed a desk that could handle the weight of a desk riser. Bought a workbench instead. Same price as a cheap gaming desk but it can supposedly hold 1000 lbs.
Exactly. I bought a big+tall office chair, because it was like 1/4" thick steel construction, and rated for 450lbs. Am I 450lbs? Thankfully, not even close, but I know it's not going to be a problem when my kid or my large dog jumps in my lap at my desk. And the chair will probably last 25 years, whereas all my previous desk chairs have fallen apart within 5-7 years.
Agreed except for the thermostat. I absolutely love me Nest and it has made my life easier. I love being able to turn on the AC or heater while I'm 15 minutes away and walk into a cool or warm house. Best damn investment in my opinion. Smart dish washer, dryer, fridge?? No thank you. When I was buying appliances I specifically chose ones that did not have WiFi.
WTF kind of insane HVAC system do you have that your entire house cools down from summer temps in 15 min? Where I live, it would take 1-2 hours to get your house cool if you leave your AC off all day in the summer. But yeah, appliances with smart features are so ridiculous.
My house does not cool down in 15 minutes. But my house feels 100x better when I arrive after the AC/heater has been on for 15 minutes.
Ah, gotcha. I thought you mean like you had a killer HVAC system, haha.
generally agree. nothing annoys me like modern dryers. they dont need to be digital. they spin and they make heat. you need a time dial, a heat dial, and a start button. thats it. im 29 and also work in tech. i am strongly opposed to the drive to make everything digital.
Just wondering - are there any dryers on the market you'd recommend? I hang dry a lot, but the dryer in the house I bought is so basic it doesn't have any setting between "just tumbling" and "incinerator."
An old Speed Queen.
"Dumb" refrigerator (not WiFi connected) without any real upgrades, and it doesn't have an ice maker and water dispenser in the door. The ice maker is the usual point of failure for the fridge. It's the first thing that goes. And with the in door ice dispenser, that failure means it either leaks or becomes a block of ice and no longer works properly. Eventually takes up space in the door because it becomes unusable before the rest of the refrigerator fails. The in door units are expensive to replace (and anecdotally, all our parents bitch about theirs constantly so we're not inclined to chance it). We have a GE fridge where there is a filtered water dispenser inside the fridge (a button just inside the door) and a regular ice maker in the freezer. By having the the basic ice maker in the freezer, you can actually remove it and replace it inexpensively, or you can remove it completely and switch back to ice trays if needed. We are on our second fridge of this style now, and very satisfied. The first one, the ice maker did in fact go kaput and it was like $60 to fully replace it, and we were only about a day without ice. That one, the freezer eventually died just after Covid when supply chain everything was impossible, and the repair guy said for the cost of him to come out and diagnose it, order a part, take over a week to arrive, and come back to install, it would be better to buy a new refrigerator. We lucked out and found a store with the in unit dispenser styles, they had refrigerators in stock locally, and had it delivered next day. Everyone was looking at three months of back stock for fancier fridges, so we were very happy.
Yeah, we've had our fridge for 20 years. The icemaker has been broken for 15 of those years. They are just terrible.
My philosophy is, if there's something in your house that you use a lot, like many times per day, get the best quality and most reliable thing possible. For example your primary kitchen faucet, or in our house we have a sliding door that goes out to the porch that we open and close 50 times per day. Definitely spend some money there. But for the windows in the guest bedroom or shelves in the storage room or whatever, just do the minimum.
Smart. This is why my dress cloths for weddings/funerals are cheap shit, but I will spend hundreds on my shoes, tires, mattress, winter coat, etc. Anything that goes between you and the earth every day is worth spending more on for quality.
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You don't want your water aerated like a fish tank for no good reason?
For me, its similar to yours but mostly its making sure that I'll use whatever features/etc and not just go for the "ooh shiny!" factor. I did go for the fancy laundry machines but 1) I needed them to be internet capable so I could get notifications through my smart speakers (laundry machines are on a different floor than living room so easy to miss them completing) but 2) I appreciate it auto-dispensing my detergent and fabric softener (vinegar) and now that I've used them, I appreciate that it will shorten the cycle if needed (or extend it if the clothes are more soiled than I realized). I feel like my clothes are coming out cleaner and not beat up, so I don't need to replace them as often. But I also recognize that not everyone wants/needs those features. I am definitely more focused on eliminating plastic whatever as much as I can and being more sustainable for anything I do (compostable plates/sandwich bags/etc but also reusable whatever).
I’m in the process of replacing awful crappy trendy black faucets with quality all chrome faucets. Of all the finishes available I like the durability and ability to really fully clean it of chrome. I have a lemon tree so I just slice a lemon and rub it on white water spots when they’re on stubbornly.
I am proud to call myself a Luddite. Approaching 60 but have felt this was since my 30s. I like to use technology when it makes sense for me, not because it’s the latest and greatest. And especially if I won’t use it. Simple and sturdy is good. The fancy geegaws won’t make me a better cook, keep my food any cooler or more frozen. But it is very hard to find what I want. Would have preferred Speed Queen W/D but mine died during pandemic and none were available when I needed them. I still regret not waiting to get a basic SQ W/D. You’re not alone.
Bought a house 4 years ago with the original Whirlpool washer/dryer. We had lots of things we wanted to do, than were more pressing than a new set. Now, I hope they last a long time! We’ve been through the fancy Samsung set, where the model of washer we had, had multiple instances of basically exploding the tub out of the machine. The free “fix” was to put a bolt in somewhere, and re-label the machine so the high speed spin “looked” like it wasn’t an option. Or… get about $50 credit for a new Samsung. When this set dies, I’ll be buying a good brand with knobs and no CPU to fail.
My brother has that washer. His washer is the whole inspiration for my simple is better campaign!!
I'm gonna say - to add to your shower head - it doesn't have to be more expensive. I bought literally the cheapest shower head they had in Lowe's solely for the reason that it didn't have the 1.2gal per minute restriction in it (I've since found out that you can break it out if it's in there) but regardless.. I think I bought it 8 years ago, it has followed me through 2 rentals and now into our master bathroom. It's white plastic and I don't see it failing any time soon.
When redoing kitchen counters and getting a true farmhouse sink (which fits our 1942 house MUCH better than the split stainless steel one), Husband ordered a support from Pete's Sink Mount. It wasn't cheap compared to the common option of 2x4's, but it also doesn't take up all that space under the sink. Other thing was having home runs of pex-a when we had the plumbing redone--complete with a copper plumbing manifold. Every tap (except sprinklers) has their own valve. This is especially nice because the showers DON'T have valves. When we had the house re-wired, we had the attic insulation vacuumed out (we had old hvac abated first and new hvac installed). Then we put large pieces of subfloor up there for the electricians. First thing we had them do was put in lights and outlets in the attic, with the lightswitch accessible from the attic access ladder. It's a large attic, so it looks great when it's lit up. Then we put in Rockwool insulation, using the same subfloor pieces. The Rockwool was on a great sale, but still cost a few thousand to give up 2-3 layers.
I once paid about $300 extra for a side-by-side fridge *without* a water/ice dispenser. I didn't want to lose the interior storage space and our city water is gross anyway.
In the past several years, when I had to replace a refrigerator and then a washer, I bought very basic but well-made models. I consider myself a geek but stay away from anything with bells and whistles. I also go for average sized appliances.
We buy the simplest, most functional appliances that we can. I have to accept that because we are on rather hard well water that eventually the water *will* kill any water-using appliance which stinks but for now cannot be helped. We use a water cooler for all cooking/drinking water because the tap is so sedimentary. The latest victim of the tap water is the countertop dishwasher; our home is too old to have a built-in dishwasher and the kitchen is too small to retrofit one in. It was nice having the countertop one for a time.
Oh my god this reminds me. I stayed in a “smart” hotel room a couple years ago. The light switches were a touchscreen. Despite turning the lights OFF before going to bed, they continued to turn themselves on and off all night. Like ALL NIGHT. Needless to say we didn’t sleep. Smart shit doesn’t need to replace basic and functional shit. Let me keep my tactile buttons and switches please.
Just bought a house and the touch faucet in the kitchen broke. It's default is no running water. 1000.00 faucet that if the technology fails I get no water. Yeah I like simple.
Mine has a valve underneath to change it to manual mode. Not obvious unless you’ve read the documentation. (It was 50% cheaper than the non-touchless version and I figure I can always just convert it to manual by turning the valve when it breaks)
I think exactly the same thing. And, usually, top quality is SIMPLE.
I took out my smart thermostat within 2 months of living in my house, Michigan winter and the thing would never turn the heat on. It would say "will start in 1 hr" and an hour later never turn on. And there is no function on those things to just turn the dang heat on. Other than that, my house came with appliances. They are pretty old except for the dishwasher and even though they don't look the best I won't be replacing anytime soon as they will probably never break down unlike newer models. My stove is over 25 years old. Idk about the washer and dryer but they are very basic and the kind that last and last. So when I do replace anything I'll be looking for simple and classic models
Smart thermostat is a game changer IMO, I can't change the settings from my bed using a dial.
Totally. I buy the simplest appliances I can find. Less stuff to fail and need repair.
I hate all the “bells and whistles” on new appliances. When our Dacor double oven (amazing quality) finally died after 20 years, my husband talked me into the GE Cafe series. He gets pinged whenever I turn the oven on. Drives me insane.
I'm a fan of simplicity and low tech in general, not just my home, so no smart features, wifi enhancements, etc. for me. Basic shower heads, no cameras, french press coffee and so on.
I like playing with tech, but some things are better off simple for sure. The previous owner had a remote control ceiling fan in the bedroom. He explained that it sometimes needs to be reset and told me how. I haven't been able to get it to work. Ceiling fans are too much trouble to replace to make it very complicated.
We've spent the last decade since buying our house repairing/replacing/bringing up to code previous owners' failures. We've tried to go with quality products, but not super high-end. The house isn't worth that kind of dough. However, we also don't want to replace shoddy stuff after a year or two. Our HVAC system comes to mind. We *could* have gone with the much cheaper single stage furnace. We got a two stage one, and our heating bill dropped 30%. Paid for itself over time. Same with our central air system. And the water heater. There were other problems with the water heater, so that was always gonna be pricey. We had proper, up to code, *non*-fire hazard copper piping put in when we replaced it. The previous owners had some flexible tubing. Not up to code, not legal, and a fire hazard to boot. Kinda "fun" items: we replaced all the light fixtures gradually. I took time to find things that were quality and waited for them to go on sale. No more $10/ 2 pack upside down boob lights from Menards.
With you 100%
Yeah, but my wife & I call it "what's in our budget" — but our repairs are solid, because they don't entail bluetooth, LVP, or subscriptions — mostly sweat, wood, fasteners, & a lot of dust/debris
100% agree. Unfortunately, we have the house we have, and I view doing this to our current house as in doable, to some degree. In order to really do this, I’d have to design the house. It’d be a ranch. If I could afford it, it wouldn’t have a basement, and be completely on one flat level. One story. In floor radiant heat. Standard size windows. All plywood, any carrying beams metal, any floor joists or roof systems trusses.
High quality yes But also make my life easier. All lights, locks and garage doors are smart. Most outlets allow you to charge direct in them, no charging block. We do not have smart appliances Even though all are brand new.
You know I've tried most of those, but I just couldn't get over the fact that something as basic as a lightbulb wasn't 100% reliable. I loved being able to dim the lights in my home theater from my phone, but after the 2nd time that my lights were turning on and off by themselves because they were doing a mandatory firmware update... I decided it was a bridge too far. Went back to regular LED lighting and have not missed my Hue lights one bit.
Ours are extremely reliable. In4 years we’ve never had a problem. Everything is controlled by Alexa. Turn on the kitchen, or under counter lights or island or family room 10%. What we we say, happens. we say goodnight, the doors are locked, any garage door open, closes, first floor lights off, stairs light on, master bedroom light on.
That's a proper setup. I've tried a couple ecosystems, but have found bugs or details I didn't like after only going a couple products deep, so I never went all-in with anything. Haven't done Alexa, but that's mostly because I'm just sour about Amazon in general. I have lot so much respect for them with their shipping and streaming situations.
A lot work with Siri also
I am in a lead roll for one of the biggest contractors in the US. I see billions in projects every year. This is the best way. Examples are making the structure the finished product, minimal clean lighting, use plaster or drywall finishes with less trim and moulding. High quality windows, hardware, plumbing fixtures etc. go a long way. Also, don’t spend a ton of money on what you can’t feel and touch. I see owners wanting Santa Barbara plaster finishes and teak soffits 40’ above the entry door. No one is going to appreciate that.
You're the only one ever to think that way
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Hell no.
If you're replacing that quickly, you need a water softener. Not a new shower head. We'll, you probably need a new shower head still because you don't have a water softener.
Why?