🪵 Decks
The best way to extend the life of your deck is to seal it, and the best sealants are solid color (even though they don’t look as pretty).
Consumer Reports recommends Behr Premium Solid Color Waterproofing Stain & Sealer sold at Home Depot:
(Kinda sad to lose the beauty of the wood grain, but kinda fun that you could theoretically paint your deck just about any possible color under the sun!)
Other supplies: they recommend using a roller brush with 1/4” (or smaller) nap for efficiency, a 3-4” synthetic brush for smoothing the finish and a 1-2” brush for getting hard to reach areas.
🔥 Propane
If you’ve never had to deal with propane, it can be a little daunting until you understand the relevant pieces for deciding on a provider.
- Do you own a tank, or will you need to rent one from your provider? It’s easy (and common) to rent, but it means you can’t easily switch between providers for any given delivery as their per gallon rates fluctuate.
- What size tank makes the most sense for your situation?
- How many appliances use propane? Is that how you heat your house? Power your water heater? What about your kitchen appliances? Oven? Stove?
- How big is the house (if you’re using propane to heat it).
- How often are you at the property and how many people are there? What season?
- How much of an eyesore would a large tank be? Can you disguise it well?
- In theory, you could get a massive tank, fill it up when the prices are low, minimize delivery fees, etc. (As far as I know, propane doesn’t go bad like gasoline does). But that comes with its own downsides—tanks are expensive and not always easy to come-by, especially with delivery/installation. If renting, you’ll probably pay extra for the super-sized rental (some companies won’t even provide a particularly large tank, and some companies won’t keep you as a customer unless you have a fillup at least once a year).
- Do you want to keep an eye on your tank levels and purchase strategically (e.g. filling up in the summer rather than topping up during the winter), or do you want to rely on your provider?
- If you rely on your provider:
- will they be coming by to check your tank monthly?
- or do they have a meter that tells them your tank level remotely?
- Do they have a policy where they will always fill up at a certain level e.g. always coming out to refill once it drops below 60% full?
- That’s probably safest, but takes away your ability to try to stock up on propane when the prices are good. It also might mean more delivery charges than necessary, especially if you’re in a situation where the house is generally vacant.
- Do they have modern billing? e.g. electronic bills, auto-pay, a portal where you can view your tank’s gauge and your monthly usage?
- How responsive is their customer service? Do they operate in your area regularly? Can they guarantee delivery with 24hrs notice? What happens if there’s a big winter storm?
Costs to ask about:
- Initial delivery and setup fee
- Often there’s a per gallon discount on the first fill-up
- Annual tank rental fee
- Delivery fees each time they top up your tank
- Per gallon fees (which can fluctuate pretty significantly depending on the time of year, so you might want to ask for their 1-year high and low to be able to compare to other providers).
💡 Electrical/Lighting
It’s very straightforward to replace ceiling light fixtures or wall light switches. I like having more control, so I am often swapping traditional light switches for dimmer switches.
(Note: if you go the Programmable lighting route, you may not be using bulbs that can work on dimmer switches, and for plug-in light fixtures, you may want to try a Foot-controlled dimmer).
Back in the day, everyone had to twist the wire ends together and then twist on a little plastic hat, often while standing on a ladder — that was before Wago connectors changed the game. Just insert the wire and lock each one in place.
There are lots of multipack options, but you’re mostly going to need to connect two wires together, so you can start there with a pack of 10:
Or a pack of 100:
🔐 Security
See also: Security for property without WiFi (or for places out of range)
🛠️ Tools
This is the best screwdriver. Not only does it ratchet in both directions, but it has a ton of different heads stored in the handle.
