ick....I'm doing house work.

[N3DRB The Derb]

vacuuming, laundry, and such. The house looks like we live in West Virginia.  I hate when that happens. Wifey is out workin so I gotta work some too.

How often do you clean your pad;  only when you have to, like when company's coming over and you dont want em to know what a pair of 2 toed sloths you are?

Or are you house proud and keep it up regular? I think most hams are sloths, but their wives and gf's are not. makes for hell. me and the wifey are both sloths, but when people come around that she's worried about what they'll think she turns into a tornado. And I better help her clean or I'm mud.

[KB2WIG]

Weelll, when I was free.... I had 14 pair socks and underware... this kept me from the laundrymat fer a while. Paper plates, plastic cups and a few hefty trashbags. The only 'anal' thing was to keep the kitchen clean and the trash in the trashcan. Anything else was 2nd. Romantic times, push everythig into a closet and lock that door.


klc

PS.. the paper towel cardboard is good to cook sausage --- place the snausage into the tube, place into microwave.  It cooks cleanly, and cleanup is a toss into the trash.

[w1vtp]

<snip>
klc

PS.. the paper towel cardboard is good to cook sausage --- place the snausage into the tube, place into microwave.  It cooks cleanly, and cleanup is a toss into the trash.

Now - why didn't I think of that

Seriously Derb -- We have a 200 year old house and several cats.  Keeping up is really tough.  Wifey and I were both working and it was a real tough job keeping up especially since we are both pack rats.  She's now retired and going nutz trying to play catch up.  Just have to keep up with it.  I've found out that keeping one of those hand vacs handy is good for the kitty tumbleweeds.  I never felt that a home that was ready for show time was a comfortable place to be.  I always like to have a little junk laying around

Dust is a real problem with us.  I always felt that keeping the kitchen clean -- sink and table especially.  The rest of the house should look like it's lived in

Al

[Opcom]

weekly.. start with the cat box, then pick up any trash or junk and do the appropriate thing..

[W3RSW]

Our standards, yards, house interiors, decor, you name it have become ever more manicured. 

Can you imagine the typical lord of the manor, even with tons of servants, living in a time when yard grass was mowed by hand with scythes, rugs were taken out, what?, yearly and beaten, dust was manouvered by broom and pan.. 

To top it all off, drapes, wall hangings, tapestries gradually become laden with animal, vegetable and mineral dust.. ne, outright dirt over the years.

No wonder your typical baron sniffed 'backy; he was sneezing all the time anyway.

..and that was just the rich.

Our types probably dodged the waste thrown from second stories, always walked under the overhangs and watched the gutter water drift by with dinner floating.

You now live in a world of vacuum cleaners, cleaning products of every type and style for any occasion, and advertisements hyping the latest air deodorant and antiseptic...     Talk about a bunch of wusses...

So keep a little dirt around; it will keep your immune system in top shape.

[Ed/KB1HYS]

The wife tries to keep the place clean, often though housework is a low priority.  Two kids who help when the cattle prods are applied... 

I think the two cats are the neatest members of the house-hold.

[WQ9E]

My wife and daughter are out for a couple of days and I just got through running the vacuum.  Vacuuming is actually kind of fun since I installed the central vac system last year.  With twin 240 volt motors and dual exhausts through the basement wall I feel just like Tim "the toolman" Taylor    The first time I used it to clean the gear I did have to retrieve one knob after using the dust brush to clean off the gear.

Seriously, since installing the central system it is amazing how little dust collects in the house and my wife's allergy problems are much better.  It is nice not to have to deal with all of the vacuum noise too.

[Opcom]

 Old time standards - not to mention the outhouse.. and in contrast the rich who had chamber pots and the servants to deal with them daily..
now am I a cat-butler delaing with their "chamber pot"

I need to vacuum.

[N3DRB The Derb]

how much did the central vac system cost? That sounds just what we need here with 4 dogs and 9 cats. the hair is a real problem.

[The Slab Bacon]

My wife and daughter are out for a couple of days and I just got through running the vacuum.  Vacuuming is actually kind of fun since I installed the central vac system last year.  With twin 240 volt motors and dual exhausts through the basement wall I feel just like Tim "the toolman" Taylor    The first time I used it to clean the gear I did have to retrieve one knob after using the dust brush to clean off the gear.

Seriously, since installing the central system it is amazing how little dust collects in the house and my wife's allergy problems are much better.  It is nice not to have to deal with all of the vacuum noise too.

I've had one for around 15 years. I've sucked everything you could think of up with it. Everything from broken concrete, ashtrays full of butts to 40-pin DIP chips. I'll never have another house without one. The Thing I like the most is the outside air discharge, you never have to smell a stinkin-assed dirty vacuum bag again!!!


Timmy,
          With 4 dogs and 9 cats, you dont need a central vac, you need a very large cookin pot to make a large pot of gumbo!!  

                                                     
                                                              The Slab Bacon

[flintstone mop]

Central Vac is pretty powerful and convenient.
If I want something squeeeky clean, I have to intervene and do it myself. Dust on the hardwood floor behind the couch and on the furniture is "supposed " to be there. So I go around every two weeks to deal with it. Dust bunnies and fingerprints on TV screens are yukky. But then DERB will have a DVD of my shack and he will see quite a different scene of "neatness"......hi

Phred

[WQ9E]

Tim,

I installed mine so there was no installation fee involved.  I just found my receipts and the total was a little under $1,000 for the power unit, tubing and inlets, and the accessory brushes, hose, and other cleaning tools.  I bought the power unit from a online store in California, a Canadian shop had by far the best price on the tubing and inlet valves, and I bought the power brush kit with 30 foot hose and floor brushes from an ebay store.  The tubing used for central vacuums is not the standard sized PVC pipe available at the building stores but it is easy to find and ships cheaply via UPS.

We have just over 4,700 square feet of area including the basement and I installed enough inlets to cover everywhere.  If you have less area to cover you would save some on tubing and inlet valves and could also go with a smaller power unit.

I bought one of the older style NuTone units since I like metal better than plastic and the vacuum motors are also industry standard in the "classic" units.  With animals, you are much better off with an electric carpet brush instead of the air power tools.  The air power tools use a turbine powered from the air stream so you lose suction from powering the air motor.  I did buy a small air power brush for the stairs and it does a good job on them and upholstery and is very light weight.

Installation was not very difficult.  I found room next to the HVAC duct work going upstairs to run the vacuum line.   Unless you want to run AC power with the vacuum lines you should locate the inlet valves within 6 feet of an existing AC outlet and the vacuum hose will come with an 7 or 8 foot cord and plug.  With a 30 or 33 foot (both standard length) hose you will  not need many inlet valves per house level if you place them properly.  I also added a "vac pan" in the entry hall between the mudroom and kitchen which I highly recommend.   Tap it open with your foot and it turns on the power unit and sucks in any dirt or debris you sweep towards it-basically it is a powered dust pan located at floor level in the wall.  It is great for getting rid of the debris that gets tracked into the house.

I chose a bag type unit with outside exhaust and the bags are supposed to last about 6 months.  We filled the first bag in two months which says a lot about the cleaning difference between this and our previous upright vacuums.  The second bag has been in for 7 months and is nowhere near full.  I buy the bags in a carton and they are around $3 apiece for 8 gallon bags.

The central vacuum is very quiet since the power unit is located away from the main living area and it exhausts to the outside.  You can vacuum while someone watches TV or listens to 3885 without problem.  It takes much less time to vacuum and there is far less dust in the house.  The cats much prefer the new system and the only noisy part is the vac pan valve which does make a lot of noise when in use but it also does a much better job of getting all of the dirt than a dust pan.

We should have installed one years ago.

[The Slab Bacon]

They are also great for sucking up basement cobwebs, big ugly-assed water bugs, and those big, ugly, nasty spiders that like to hang out in the basement. They are also great for the ghost turds that accumulate under the furniture. Just be wary of socks left on the floor, they will be gone forever. When we had the dog, it was fantastic for dog hair.

It is nice to have a real vac with a pick-up hose instead of those funky "uprights".

Mine is also a Nutone, we find that the bags usually go for about 6 months.

[WQ9E]

Slab,

In an emergency, things are not gone forever.  I did have to dissect the first bag to retrieve an RME knob and a lego piece.  I don't think I would bother for a sock however!

It is pretty amazing what a real vacuum will pull out after years of using uprights.  It is quiet enough that our long haired Siamese really likes being combed with the dusting brush.  This also does a great job of removing loose hair. 

I set the hose up downstairs with a floor nozzle on a stand near my work bench and use this to pull the dust out as I use an air gun to blow the dirt out of repair candidates.  It really cuts down on stuff settling elsewhere and is preferable to carrying a new rig outside in the winter time to blow the dust off.