The Home Ownership Thread

[random-adam]

The only incandescent bulb left in my house is our porch light, which is tied into a 7-day programmable switch. I bought it and installed it before reading the fine print: "Works with incandescent and halogen lighting (40-Watt minimum)." Been putting off replacing it; the thing goes through light bulbs every three or four months.

If I put in a regular switch and just left it on all the time with a CFL bulb, it'd use less juice and go through bulbs less frequently than it does for the 10 hours a day it's programmed to run.

 

[Connemara]



Obviously it's not a big deal if you prefer ugly, non-dimmable, slow-to-light white spiral tubes over real light bulbs.

But this January, when the last real light bulbs are banned, just think of all that electricity that's being saved from conversion into worthless heat!

You do realize the new bulbs on the market alleviate these concerns, right? Particularly the LEDs (but even the CFLs are leagues beyond what they were several years ago).

 

[Ataturk]



You do realize the new bulbs on the market alleviate these concerns, right? Particularly the LEDs (but even the CFLs are leagues beyond what they were several years ago).

Except that they don't. There is no replacement for incandescent bulbs that actually matches them in color rendering, color temperature, aesthetics, dimming, instant-on, etc., and overall brightness. Some replacements are better than others but none approach being a replacement.

LEDs are unattractive, they have poor color rendering ability, most have poor color temperature, many have a half-second or more delay in turning on, and none dim as well as an incandescent bulb. LEDs also can't match the brightness of a 75 or 100-watt light bulb in the standard size.

CFLs are unattractive, they have poor color rendering ability, poor color temperature, take a minute or more to reach full brightness, and even the handful that are advertised as dimmable don't dim worth a damn.

Want one of those in a fixture that leaves a bulb exposed?

 

[Ataturk]

The closest replacement for real light bulbs is the "halogen in a bulb" things. They offer only a marginal power consumption advantage (the 100w replacement consumes 72 watts and is only as bright as a 90-watt incandescent) and poor color temperature (3000k instead of 2700k). But at least you can still buy them.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...-Light-Bulb-Dimmable-2-Pack-429241/202514346#

 

[upthewazzu]

Obviously it's not a big deal if you prefer ugly, non-dimmable, slow-to-light white spiral tubes over real light bulbs.

But this January, when the last real light bulbs are banned, just think of all that electricity that's being saved from conversion into worthless heat!

If CFL's had come first, you'd be whining the same.

 

[jgold47]

I'm all over CFL's for the energy savings and candidly, I LOVE being able significantly uprate my fixtures by using 75/100w equivalents in my 60w max fixtures. Also, in the summer, the lack of heat is very nice. I've got no gripes with the color temp, and we've been switchign things over to the 3500K bulbs (bright white (not the nasty daylight ones).

However, I FCKING hate these things in the winter. If our house drops below 90 degrees, certain bulbs, take forever to warm up. For some reason its my spots in the basement that seem to give me the worst fits. Everything else is reasonable. Now, having said that, let me introduce you to a CFL bulb in michigan in the winter. It wont light sometimes because its too cold, despite having a -20 degree rating. so, our outdoor lighting is pretty much useless this time of year unless we let it warm up first (like a car). I'd switch back to incadescents but I'm running 120/150 watt equivalent units and incadescents would CATCH ON FIRE if I did that.

I recently looked into LED's, and decided that they are not even close to the price per equivalent watt level to make switching over reasonable. They also dont easily come in brightnesses beyond standard 40/60/75/100.

So I'm out. I just wish they could figure out how to ballast the CFL's to light in the cold temps. My tube floresencents in my workshop can and will light to subzero temps with no problem (unheated garage). I understand the electrochemical reaction that occurs when the ballast energizes the bulb and why cold weather is bad, but i've got to imagine there is a better way.

 

[E TF]



The closest replacement for real light bulbs is the "halogen in a bulb" things. They offer only a marginal power consumption advantage (the 100w replacement consumes 72 watts and is only as bright as a 90-watt incandescent) and poor color temperature (3000k instead of 2700k). But at least you can still buy them.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...-Light-Bulb-Dimmable-2-Pack-429241/202514346#

I was just going to suggest those. They're my favourite of the legal bulbs. I use these and LEDs in places where the colour is less important (hallways, the cellar, the garage etc). Here in the UK you can still get hold of "rough service" incandescents if you look in the right places.

Some LEDs look almost like real bulbs -

But i find most houses are really overlit anyway. A lot of people/house builders seem to think you have to be able to perform surgery in any given room. Take the room posted by rohde88 above - 10 bulbs in the ceiling in an ordinary sized room - and that's before you've put any lamps etc in (i'd redo that rohde88!). Vast majority of bulbs in my house are 25 or 40W (or equivalents), a handful of 60W, no 100Ws at all.

 

[otc]



The closest replacement for real light bulbs is the "halogen in a bulb" things. They offer only a marginal power consumption advantage (the 100w replacement consumes 72 watts and is only as bright as a 90-watt incandescent) and poor color temperature (3000k instead of 2700k). But at least you can still buy them.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Philips-...-Light-Bulb-Dimmable-2-Pack-429241/202514346#

I don't think it is fair to call these guys out on having a poor color temperature. That is pretty much down to personal preference. The soft white bulbs come in at 3000K and the "naturals" are 4100K.

3000K vs 2700K is a pretty marginal difference that your eyes will get over. You could tell if you mixed bulbs in the same lamp, but otherwise it's not a big deal.

They will have better color rendition than a CFL, which is really the bigger issue with alternative bulb types...

 

[otc]



But i find most houses are really overlit anyway. A lot of people/house builders seem to think you have to be able to perform surgery in any given room. Take the room posted by rohde88 above - 10 bulbs in the ceiling in an ordinary sized room - and that's before you've put any lamps etc in (i'd redo that rohde88!). Vast majority of bulbs in my house are 25 or 40W (or equivalents), a handful of 60W, no 100Ws at all.

Yeah, everybody (Ataturk) was all incensed about the 100W thing. Who the eff even uses 100W bulbs? I have one in a clamp-on work light, and that is it.

60W bulbs (or 75W equivalents since they rarely tend to be truly equivalent) and some focused task lighting leave you with a much nicer aesthetic. The whole house doesn't have to be bathed in light all night like the sun is still shining.

 

[E TF]



Congratulations. Welcome to home ownership.

I would consider ripping out the fanlights.
Ripping out the crown moulding and cleaning it up.
Ripping out the baseboards and putting in a larger square baseboard.
Ripping out the carpet and replace with a darker more interesting carpet.
Replace the kitchen ceiling light with recessed lighting.
Replace the stair railing with glass.
Repaint everything white.

Welcome to home ownership.

lefty

I concur with all this apart from the stair railing. If you did that I 'd replace all the georgian-style doors with modern ones too.

 

[otc]



Congratulations. Welcome to home ownership.

I would consider ripping out the fanlights.
Ripping out the crown moulding and cleaning it up.
Ripping out the baseboards and putting in a larger square baseboard.
Ripping out the carpet and replace with a darker more interesting carpet.
Replace the kitchen ceiling light with recessed lighting.
Replace the stair railing with glass.
Repaint everything white.

Welcome to home ownership.

lefty

I want to buy a place so that I can have lefty say this.

 

[lefty]

And you get the SF discount.

It's a fine place and with a few little changes can be a more interesting place with.

The worst offenders are the fanlights followed by the kitchen ceiling fixture: if you really need a fan put in a low low profile modern fan; if you need light get a lamp.

Assuming there are no kids I would also consider removing the railings completely and just having a hole in the floor.

lefty

 

[jbarwick]

I noticed the crown molding, kitchen light, and fan lighting. The one I sort of disagree on is painting everything white as we only did this to sell our current house. Most people have horrible taste in art so I'd suggest a wall color before they pay too much for art that doesn't fit the rest of the house theme. An example being my fiance loves the look of the paintings she bought in Paris but they do not fit the more modern look of our current residence.

But enjoy your house!

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

You can have classical art in a modern home, just have to he considerate of it. I've seen museums do this by painting behind classical art in a burgundy or dark green. Barnes has a mix, all placed together and up on tan walls.

I don't mind gilded frames on white walls, but some seem to take aversion to it.

I'm with the all-white, I'd likely stain the floor to a darker brown and have the upstairs flooring replaced with wood.
I hate red oak, but if it's already there then there is no sense in replacing it.

 

[lefty]

Poor guy should never have posted his place.

lefty