Power Venting

Just about all of the new homes I photograph power vent the furnace and hot water heater out the side of the house. Anyone that has a foursquare with a chimney going straight through their house could benefit greatly by using one of these including myself. I'm trying to find out the downsides of using such a contraption. I asked this question to the Fine Homebuilding podcast and I'm crossing my fingers that it will be used. I'd be curious to see what they have to say. Does your house use this?

Change your anode!

Later today I'll be changing out the anode in my water heater and thought...hmmm I wonder how many people do this sort of thing?

 It's a good thing to do every few years, especially if you have a finished basement as I do. Also water heaters are pretty expensive, and this will keep it lasting longer. The hardest part is getting that anode out, but if you have the right tools, and a cheater bar, it shouldn't be that hard to do.

I ordered my anode through Amazon and it was about $50 bucks. There are cheaper one's made of aluminum.

 Once you replace it, write on the water heater with marker the date it should be replaced.

 The video from This old house explains it very well. That cut-out is pretty gross though.