Some progress has been made. We're getting rid of the wood burning fireplace in the corner and moving it to centered under the beam. Extended the existing dining room to make room for the where the kitchen is going to be. We raised the slider to not have another step down to where the dining room is going to be.
Yep. Ran into the same thing when I was looking at putting 220 in my shop. It was going to be $20k by the time I got the house service upgraded, new panels, etc. Turned out to be cheaper ($14k) to get a natural gas powered whole house generator with battery buffer. It sits outside the shop, so I can start it on demand and it powers a new panel and 220 feeds in the shop. Added benefit is the whole house coverage, as we’ve been getting more and more outages lately.
Did you ever run the numbers to see what your natural gas bill would look like if you had to power the whole house off the generator for a month? I'm curious if you'd see a net savings compared to what you pay for electric. This of course ignores increased costs to maintain the generator running an entire month. I'm assuming it's not designed to run constantly month after month.
I haven't, actually. It raises some interesting questions around the costs. I just got a new stove and dryer that are gas, and my friends are asking me, "why? is it cheaper or something? why not electricity?" Cost has nothing to do with my choice, but it did point out that I haven't really done any math to see what the comparable pricing is. I just get the bills and pay them. As to running the generator full time, I think the biggest issue for me would be the noise. It's not bad when it's running, and I've placed it in as respectful place as I can for the neighbours, but you can still hear it. Not sure people would enjoy the constant running while trying to enjoy their patios in the summer, or bedroom windows open at night. As it is I treat the generator use (non-power outage) as I would a lawn mower... only used within certain daily hours, not over dinner time, etc. It's kind of the unwritten rule we've landed on with everyone. It works well, and is appreciated by everyone.
I did the first mowing of the year today and halfway through the belt on my new mower deck snapped. It was new as of last year so I’m not sure why it happened. Fortunately I kept the old deck which still had a halfway decent belt. Problem is, John Deere didn’t make it as easy to put a belt in as Craftsman did. Not a big deal, just requires extra steps. Oh, and a metric socket set, which I do not have. Fortunately my Dad does so after a lot of swearing and a screw up or two ( I was hurrying trying to beat the weather and did stupid things ) I got it done and finished the mowing. It was a lesson in having the right tools making the job easier. When we finally get the new garage and my new shop, I’m making sure I have more of the tools and shit I need around here. I’ve inherited a shitload if my father in-laws tools so I have to see what he gave me first, he just dropped off more stuff today. Of course I’m ordering my own metric set before then.