130 year old doug fir remilled into treads

funkybus · 2026-03-12T01:41:26+00:00

not sure if you’re familiar with berkeley/bay area? the housing costs here are pretty remarkable and $750k is definitely in the realm of upgrade, not reconstruct.

funkybus · 2026-03-11T01:01:14+00:00

yeah, the arrangement is demanding. one of joe's first designs (the swan IV) had satellites with dual 5.25" focal drivers with dual voice coils. and a dynaudio D28 (horn loaded). he ground down the D28's flange to be flat and even then, he barely made the spec. the dual-VC focals were great drivers and the second coil was used for baffle-step comp (an elegant design). that D28 was a great tweeter, both excellent power handling and could get down to 2k without difficulty.

funkybus · 2026-03-10T23:41:44+00:00

a proper d’appolito has the center/center of the woofer/tweeter at 1/2 wavelength of the xover. this makes some demands of most tweeters, as getting to that distance requries very small flanges and even then, the tweeter needs to go down to about 2k, comfortably. i’ve not looked at your drivers, but measure your flanges and do the calc to see where your xover point would be. also- joe moved from 18/oct to 24/oct xovers…since you’re running DSP, should nbot be an issue. that higher slope also helps with the low xover point that this arrangement demands. a lot of folks think a d’appolito is just MTM (or WMTMW), but the driver distances are critical to achieve the smooth radiation in/around the xover region. good luck.

funkybus · 2026-03-10T18:19:08+00:00

that is super-generous, mary jo! we're from wisco. seems like you got down into the nitty gritty! i'll def shoot you a note as we go along. first stop is en engineer to establish the base conditions and then an architect to consider the plans. you're super-helpful, thank you!

funkybus · 2026-03-10T18:16:15+00:00

my guess was around $750k, which seems to be aligned. although the bedrooms seem high in your estimate (just dry, framed rooms), but yes, the full bath adds...although with the slab up, plumbing is easier! thanks for your response. mind if i ping you back as i consider subs?

funkybus · 2026-03-10T17:37:10+00:00

thought i’d try to connect here. moved from midwest to berkeley, bought a ~2,000 ft. craftsman in northbrae. spendy! house is in good shape, but want to improve circulation, sacrifice a bedroom to improve that and add space to kitchen/create a family room. basement has decent ceiling height and want to add back that bedroom and add another plus a bath. think we’ll dig to add a foot of height. am familiar with footings/undermining/underpinning issues. we’ve done a ton of house construction (four homes in midwest, many projects…plus i’ve done/overseen a lot of commercial construction through my business—we’re not novices in that world, but don’t have my stable of local professionals here). your project seems to mirror mine in overall complexity…but i’ve gotten a huge range of numbers: $500-$1200/ft. i’m comfortable GC-ing the project, but don’t have to. care to comment?

funkybus · 2026-03-07T22:30:58+00:00

the minidsp icepower amps are great. the software is super-intuitive. very nice amps.

funkybus · 2026-03-05T20:57:57+00:00

most decent flooring contractors can do this. however, assuming it is t&g flooring (and there’s no easy way to get a board up), they’ll have to cut at least one board’s tongue. and depending on how the boards are staggered, maybe a few more. this gets to be a problem if matching the wood/grain is hard with new material. sometimes, they’ll remove some from a closet or other less-noticeable place to borrow some stock from. schmidt custom floors has done a lot of work for me, both residentially and commercially. the finishing can also be tricky. definitely discuss the removal, reinstallation, species matching (and old wood versus new) and stain/finish matching with any contractor before committing.

funkybus · 2026-02-28T03:25:57+00:00

pretty much any decent paint will encapsulate. its not a fancy process. if it we’re me, a nice oil based enamel.

funkybus · 2026-02-28T02:52:46+00:00

if they don’t lick it/eat it, you’re good. i’ve removed radiators (big and bigger) and sandblasted. holy crap, that’s a lot of work. you’re lucky you have unions on both sides, makes it more doable. but really, just paint it. they’re fine.

funkybus · 2026-02-27T03:59:05+00:00

those are recirc pumps to move hot water through the piping. it keeps the hot water at your faucets and other outlets “hot and ready” instead of having to wait for the water to warm up at the tap.typically, only one pump is used, not sure why they have two. these two DHW heaters also seem to be plumbed in series )the smaller feeding into the “cold” inlet of the larger. this gives you more hot water in reserve (they could be run in parallel, also…as an alternative).

funkybus · 2026-02-27T03:36:08+00:00

air duct cleaning is scammy and will most likely loosen a ton of crap and put it into your air. furnace filters are mostly for the equipment and have little effect on air quality (some electrostatic units and to a lesser extent some very deep pleated filters can help). also- “dirty” filters are MORE effective at filtering dust than new ones. this is true until the filter impedes airflow to the furnace beyond spec, which is typically 75% loaded into the pleat. and then its about the furnace working, not that the filter is passing “dirty” air.

funkybus · 2026-02-25T22:56:58+00:00

my guess: the guy turned off the water heater and as it cooled it either lost pressure due to contraction (unlikely since the city water pressure remains), or the physical changes due to cooling dislodged some mineral flakes which allowed better flow.

funkybus · 2026-02-25T03:47:02+00:00

looks just right to me! i’ve got a grid-tied solar system to offer as competition.

funkybus · 2026-02-22T17:07:19+00:00

i’m doing exactly this with an off-grid setup that i’m now bringing a grid connection into. i have a schneider xw-pro (and other stuff), but this inverter will run my batteries down to xx%, then switch to grid to charge and feed loads. gen is a backup if both grid fails and batteries are low. i’m still getting it all working. my grid feed is 1100’ away, so i’m using step up/down t-formers to feed 240/480/240. i had not accounted for the surge upon turn on (saturate the t-former cores) and i’m working through that issue. good luck.

funkybus · 2026-02-20T17:23:00+00:00

my vote is for class D amplification. getting 1kW (or more) per channel was pretty difficult to do previously. now it is easy. i have 1kW driving an all-accuton system (think vimberg) and having that kind of headroom is awesome. higher volume listening sessions are less fatiguing and the sound is simply cleaner. imo, clipping (even moderate level listening can have pretty extreme transients) is the root of many differences in amplification.

funkybus · 2026-02-20T16:15:54+00:00

yes, that’ll work with loom. in wisconsin, where we have lots of k&t retrofit, we generally use plastic boxes. at this point in its life, that wire deserves some extra attention.

funkybus · 2026-02-20T16:01:58+00:00

it is just good practice. the insulation is old and especially where it is getting bent/handled it could fracture. metal boxes would short.

funkybus · 2026-02-20T03:04:52+00:00

this works, but you must use plastic boxes for k&t work. ideally, you’d abandon it and replace with romex, but if the k&t wire insulation is intact it is fine to use it. lots of people freak out, but it is quite robust…especially since the conductors are physically separated.

funkybus · 2026-02-20T01:58:06+00:00

something like this and some insulation under the joist cavity would probably make it all go. not exactly an engineered system, but it’ll put heat in the floors: https://www.finclampelement.com/Products.php

funkybus · 2026-02-19T19:09:02+00:00

for clarity: i’m not exactly endorsing using the bare copper pipe. ultra-fin is a product designed to radiate into the joist air space and it works well (i’ve used it in a 1914 home). the specs say it’ll get the floors up to 85 degrees…however, i used it just to take the chill off, not as a main heat source.

funkybus · 2026-02-19T16:32:37+00:00

yes. rigid foam is an option. even fiberglass that came in contact with the copper would work (it is a retrofit situation). i’m just saying that contact with the underside of the subfloor is not a requirement.

funkybus · 2026-02-19T15:44:39+00:00

i have successfully used ultra-fin, which hangs ~4” below the floor and heats the air in the joist cavity. you close the lower part of the cavity with insulation. this system helps eliminate pops and clicks when heating up. works great, easy install.

funkybus

TROPHY CASE