I need better (read stronger) glasses. I don’t know what it says, but it just looks funny. 
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I finally got around to installing an undersink water filter and I can’t believe I didn’t do it sooner. It was extremely easy to install and even if it didn’t save money, the benefit of not having to deal with the Brita pitchers is worth it. But it does save money! A filter is $25 and lasts six months. It’s also nice to be cooking with filtered water too. I’ll never go back to a Brita.
https://www.filtrete.com/3M/en_US/filtrete/products/~/Filtrete-Advanced-Under-Sink-Water-Filtration-System?N=4315+3294529207+3294573910&rt=rud
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We just use the water from the refrigerator.
I installed a whole house filter, all with stuff bought from Home Depot. Probably not the best quality, but it’s worked great so far. Filters are $20ish and are rated for minimum of three months. This means our boiler gets less crap in it, likewise for the hot water tank (which needs replacing anyway), and our showers, dishes in the dishwasher, sinks don’t get that nasty brown ring around the drain, etc. I highly recommend this route over an under sink unit. The under sink units are so expensive for what they are. I think I bought the filter housing, some PEX supplies, and a couple filters for under $200.
Certainly not knocking your install, but I think those under sink filters are a complete sham.
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Level 1 - Brita
Level 2 - Under sink filter
Level 3 - Whole house filter
I wouldn’t go so far as to call a Brita a sham - just more expensive and inconvenient, so I don’t know why an undersink would be a sham either compared to a whole house. They each do the same thing but on a different scale. Honestly, I don’t even know how badly we needed a Brita or an undersink filter in the first place. We’ve got great water. But if the wife wants filtered water to drink, I gotta have a filter somewhere. Please don’t tell her our bathroom and dishwasher water needs to be filtered too!
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I’m all for Brita. I just think under sink contraptions are so expensive, for what they yield (not gallons, but the limitation of water flow, location, etc), and a whole house setup is usually cheaper than those 7-phase under sink ones.
I think if you notice issues not just at the kitchen sink (ie: flavor alone), then a whole house system is THE way to go. Under sink setups are just too limiting, I guess is my point.
If they were $50, then that’s another story. But also, the filters are sometimes very specific to that brand/model. Where whole house filters are typically very similar in size and function, and in a pinch, you can use other brands.
ETA: I should qualify my statements here so I don’t sound like a biased jerk. My parents and grandparents always used the under sink setups. Fine, no big deal. However, I do remember my grandfather complaining that the filters go so quickly. Then he had to rip and replace just a few years later because the company went out of business and no more filters were available.
Also, we noticed chlorine smell when getting out of the shower, which was just not appetizing after you were supposed to be clean. It wasn’t like pool-level, but the hint of chlorine was there. Between that, and trying to use it to boil carrots and pasta and them having a chlorine taste, and the toilets getting pink/brown lines where the water ran, I bit the bullet on a whole house system.
You’ve been out of the game too long. They are under $50. Replacement filters are $25-35. Also, this one doesn’t limit my cold water flow at all.
https://www.amazon.com/Filtrete-Advanced-Filtration-3US-PS01-Manufactured/dp/B01L0ADH3K?th=1
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What happens when they go out of business, or change the model? I guess $50 every 5-10 years isn’t bad, by any means. And, I was referring to the 3/5/7-phase ones that people often buy, and places like HD and Lowes often push on people or only carry in store.
I went with a charcoal whole house, and that’s it. That’s really all you need, unless you have known bacteria in water.
This is the housing I got: http://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-Whole-Home-Water-Filtration-System-GXWH40L/100669051
Filters are $15-20 it seems. I may go stock up.
The PEX supplies were extra cost, but now I have another set of tools for when I need. I recently remodeled our entire main bathroom, and got to use the PEX supplies again for a new shower valve and sink, so I have gotten solid use out of them. They’re the kind of tools that are “expensive” up front but will last forever, so I was cool with buying them. Just pointing out that these projects often require some tool(s) that the typical homeowner doesn’t have, and are a real added expense.
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I thought those under sink filters were a relatively standard size? The kind that can be cloth just for large particles or carbon filters for taste?
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Why are filters so important? Does water taste that badly in most areas of the country? I’ve lived in the Midwest and South and the water always tastes great to me. The only exception is when I lived in a rural area and had well water - definitely need filtering for that - but that’s been the outlier.
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Quality of water varies by municipality and/or whether you are using well water.
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Crucial thing for filtered water is in coffee/espresso machines. They require decalcification and cleaning much less often.
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My son lives near the Whole Foods/Pan Pacific Hotel plaza area. When I visited last time (from super-flat NJ), I thought, “Oh, hey, I’ll take a stroll to Capitol Hill.” My god. I wouldn’t even consider Queen Anne without some sort of jetpack.
We actually have water delivered for drinking/cooking purposes (I know, the exact opposite of this thread’s intent). The whole house filter didn’t completely kill the the chlorine taste–probably due to 20 years of buildup in the pipes. Only so much I can do.
However, since Poland Spring is technically not “filtered,” and we use this in the coffee maker, I have wondered if I should descale as often as it calls for. Lazy me skips it when it prompts, but people often think that “spring water” = “filtered water” and I don’t think that’s the case, is it? Any water experts here?
[quote=“maxfleischer, post:154, topic:29”]
My son lives near the Whole Foods/Pan Pacific Hotel plaza area. When I visited last time (from super-flat NJ), I thought, “Oh, hey, I’ll take a stroll to Capitol Hill.” My god. I wouldn’t even consider Queen Anne without some sort of jetpack.[/quote]
LOL So true! I lived in flat Chicago in grad school in the 90s, and no one biked to speak of. Now in super hilly, often rainy, always congested Seattle, it’s all the rage.
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I’ve always done the interior painting and lots of exterior painting and staining, with everything from Walmart stuff to Ralph Lauren and Sherwin Williams (good sales every few months).
We moved a couple of months ago to a dirt home (a '46ish adobe in NM). Our interior is mostly plaster and one sheetrocked room. So we got some bentonite clay, some fine sand, a bag of mica, some pigments and a couple of gallons of Elmer’s School Glue. All this stuff should be available at your local pottery shop (shipping would really kill this deal - we’re talking ~100 pounds of clay at a time). We estimate that we have enough material to cover ~5,000 sq. foot of wall for an outlay of around $150.
The stuff looks great to us. It adds a bit of texture on your walls, and the mica highlights are nice. You can also add straw and other stuff to it, although our experimental straw wall didn’t turn out well. Too much texture…
We mix a gallon at a time and it takes a bit of time (and math) to prep, and it generates a good bit of dust and flying mica bits. You can use immediately (slaking the pigment first) or let it all slake together. And it’s ok for it to just sit around for days or weeks (years?). When you are ready, you add some water (if needed) to get the consistency a bit like a thin milkshake.
My wife is a sloppy painter but it doesn’t matter with this stuff. Spillage on the hard surface floors comes up easily, even days later. And the odor is minimal.
Depending on your wall surface, you may need to prime some. We had some semi-gloss on the baseboards and the clay paint didn’t cover it well, so I primed it with some white latex. It’s easy to experiment with and you can wash it right off if you hate it.
Cons: It’s not durable, so if you have kids or otherwise bang or get junk on your walls a lot, you can’t scrub the marks off. The paint will come right off although it continues to harden over a couple of years. But you can pour your leftover paint onto a plastic bag and save the dried “mud pies”. When you need to “clean” a spot, just reconstitute a little bit of mud with some water and repaint the spot. People do use it in damp bathrooms btw.
Clay paint can be a bit more labor intensive although you can save some prep time by not bothering to tape stuff since clean-up is so easy. The paint flows easily. We did two coats and 30 minutes after the final coat “dried” we went back over it with a damp sponge to expose the mica bits. Or you can polish it with plastic lids.
We were fortunate to find two suppliers that had sample surfaces painted with variations of this stuff so that we could look at the textures, colors and how they reflected light. Photos don’t really do it justice.
Search for “clay paint” for links like these:
Fun and cheap!
I’m with you. Our water comes from a natural reservoir in the mountains and it’s amazing.
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I wish I was as lucky. The municipal water where isn’t horrible, but it’s not mountain water.
My biggest reason for using a filter is I am honestly not sure what condition the plumbing in my condo building is. It was built in the early 70s and in my rehab I discovered (and removed most) galvanized plumbing. Luckily, most of the unit was copper but I am not convinced there’s rusting cast iron somewhere I don’t know about.
Are those cheap $50ish whole home filters effective? I could easily add one in but it seems more like a gimmick than anything else.
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I live in NJ so have very high property taxes and when I noticed that I pay almost $18 a month for the library a few years ago so I started getting all my DVD’s from the library. I may have to wait a few extra weeks if there is a long list but fine with me. My library also has Hoopla and my wife uses their app to listen to all her audio books so super nice and easy along with being “free”.
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Moving to a family plan for mobile can save quite a bit of money, even if it’s combing plans with parents or siblings.
Wife and I were off contract and using MVNO’s (3rd party telecom providers) and were paying $60 a month in total. My brother has T-Mobile and I read that it’s only $10 a month to add 3rd and 4th line. My wife got the same plan she had and I actually got a better one so it was great and also included free foreign data. I even told my brother that I’d pay him the $60 since he didn’t make too much. Total win win.
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