A common 50 gal gas fired hot water heater

A most important component in your home is the hot water heater.   

It’s not pretty, and it’s usually hidden out of sight next to your furnace, either in the garage or in a utility closet.  But when it quits working, you’ll know it!

The average lifespan for a hot water heater is 13 years.  You see some fail earlier and some last for a few years longer.  By far, the most common types of hot water heaters are sealed round cylinders and are gas fired.

Typically there is very little to go wrong with your hot water heater.  Occasionally a strong draft may cause a the flame to go out and you may have to re-light it, but that would be a rare occurrence.  A sign of pending failure would be a drip from the bottom of the water heater.    Once your hot water heater develops a leak in the base, it is just a matter of time before there are bigger problems.

When you purchase a hot water heater, you have the choice of the size of the water storage tank and the speed which the unit heats water.  A 50 gal hot water heater is very common.  Some families spend a few more dollars to get a high recovery water heater, which can heat water faster, which might be nice with a larger family with greater demand.

In Anchorage, the Municipality requires a plumber to purchase a permit to install a hot water heater.  In my experiance, to have a professional plumber install a new hot water heater, you’ll spend between $750 and $1,000 dollars.

Northrim Bank recently acquired 45 town-homes through the foreclosure process. Our team submitted a proposal to market the project for the bank, along with proposals from other Anchorage real estate companies.  We are proud to have been selected to represent the bank and help them sell these  townhouses!

Briarcliff Townhomes, Anchorage, Alaska

The townhomes are priced from $199,000 to $208,900, depending on their location and other amenities.  All units will have washers and dryers and refrigerators.

There are two different models, the “Retreat” with two bedrooms upstairs and a larger “master” bedroom down, and the “Ranchette” model which has the large master upstairs and two bedrooms downstairs.  

Both models have two full baths, a double garage and spacious kitchens with vaulted ceilings.  Both models are are about 1,360 square feet inside and a garages are about 400 square feet.

We will begin open housing Saturday and Sunday beginning April 1.  We’re going to be easy to find. 
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To find the townhouse project, go to Old Seward and 68th Ave, the street to the west is called Merlin. You can follow the signs right to the model home! 

In Anchorage, Alaska energy saving compact florescent lights are a "no brainer"

 dark winters in Anchorage and Alaska in general essentually guarantee saving money since we keep our lights on so much of the time.    I had been reading about. Some of my bulbs had been starting to die their normal death and I knew that since I replaced them all when I bought my house seven years ago, they would all be going out soon.

I say it was a goal, because “re-bulbing” your home isn’t cheap. The new bulbs can cost several times more than their incandescent predecessors. The main reason for switching your bulbs out is that the new CFLs use about 25% of the electricity of an incandescent bulb, meaning you should see a noticeable decrease in your electric bill within about 30 days of replacing your bulbs! For instance you might replace your old 60 watt bulb with a 23 watt CFL bulb and get the same light, if not more! The other benefit is that the bulbs can last up to 15 times longer than your old incandescent bulbs, so you won’t be replacing bulbs very many times while you live in your existing house!

If you haven’t noticed yet, the new bulbs are beginning to look more like your old bulbs. For a while compact fluorescent bulbs looked more like a soft served ice-cream cone than a light-bulb, but that is changing. There are many new bulbs offered in many shapes and sizes now.

The first set of bulbs I bought had very “white” or even a blue cast to them. When I installed them in my kitchen my wife, Kristi, immediately wrinkled her nose up and said she didn’t like them. I asked her to live with them for a few days to see if we got used to them. We didn’t.

I came to learn that you have to pay attention to the color and shade of the light. CFLs can be from a yellow shade that most of us are more accustomed to, to a “daylight” version that will remind you of a car dealer’s showroom floor. The CFL bulbs are labeled using “Kelvins” to express the color of light and the warmth or coolness it will give out. Basically, from my limited experience, the lower the Kelvin number, say 2,300 will get you a softer light, much like you are used to. If you get up to the 3,000 kelvin range, which is what I first installed, you see a very white, even “stark blue-ish” showroom variety light, which isn’t all that pleasant for most home uses.

You can find these lights at many places. I started at Alaska Specialty Lighting on Tudor, and then saw some lights for sale at Costco and then at Home Depot and Lowe’s.

I am going to be reporting back to you with some “real” numbers soon. I plan to tell you what my electric bill averaged at my house prior to the light switch-out and what it is “post” bulb switch-out. Stay tuned and in touch. I welcome your comments via email at danwolf@alaska.net.

Icicles Hang From a Roof

If you have been thinking about getting a energy audit done at your house, you should get after it! The program has been in effect for quite a while and you never know when it might run out of funds to contine or possibly restrict the program to a smaller group.

 The Alaska Housing Financing and the State of Alaska will reimburse you the major part of the report.  Click here to check out details on the energy rebate program and to sign up to get one done. 

I signed up for an energy audit back in October.  It took about two months until my turn for an audit came around.  Alaska Housing assigns the energy auditor.  I didn’t know who the auditor was going to be until I received a call to schedule it.  The inspector was very professional and thorough.  From start to finish, my inspection took about two hours. 

Two inspectors came out.  One person explained what was going to happen and asked to review my utility bills for the past year.  The other inspector opened my window blinds and measured each window for size.  They measured the outside walls, all the while entering data into their computer.  They accessed the attic and crawlspace areas to check for insulation and venting.  Then they shut off the furnace and turned down the hot water heater and installed a “blower door” on the exterior door. 

The blower down is an air-tight gasket with a large fan in the middle.  The fan gets turned on and decompresses the house by blowing inside air outside. The blower door is hooked up to an array of gauges and dials.  The inspector takes careful readings at intervals while the blower is running.  Because the home turns into a vacuum, every air leak your house has becomes very evident at this time.  In my case, cold air was rushing into the home through exterior wall outlets and even under the base plate of the wall (where the wall and the floor connect). 

I have to tell you, it was a sobering experience because I thought my house was pretty well insulated.  My house was built in 1999 and I figured built pretty well. The energy inspection cost $500 dollars.  You have to pay the inspectors bill, and then you submit to Alaska Housing for a rebate of up to $325.

When you receive your report (mine came via email a week after the inspection), you will get your actual rating and then many things you can do to improve your homes efficiency.  You can choose which things you want to do (or not).  Save your receipts for things you purchase!  You have up to 18 months from your initial energy inspection to choose and make energy improvements.  When you are done, you have another energy inspection done, called a post inspection.

If you move your home up a “star grade”, say from a 3 star to a 4 stars you can submit for reimbursement of up to $10,000 dollars!  Talk about a gift that keeps giving!  You will have lower monthly utilities bills and a more comfortable home, and the cost of the upgrades will be reimbursed from Alaska Housing!  How could it get any better?

Step 1:  Decide to Buy!   Above all else, when done right, home ownership can help lay the foundation for a life of financial security. If you are renting and have a stable job with some savings, and a credit score in the upper 600 range, you can likely qualify for a FHA or conventional financing. 

An interesting tree root washed up in Cook Inlet

Very few people can afford to buy their dream home when they buy their first home.  In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, 69 percent of first-time home buyers compromised on some features of their first home.  So you make some compromises, buy your first home, and start building equity.  This approach takes you further and faster down the road to bring able to own your dream home than if you hadn’t purchased a home at all.

Step 2:  Hire Your Agent.  Your agent will educate you about the market, analyze your wants and needs, guide you to homes that fit your criteria, coordinate any needed professionals, negotiate in your behalf, and all the while check and double-check your paperwork and solve any problems that may arise.

Step 3:  Secure Financing.  Your lender will approve you for a loan amount, but ultimately, YOU will decide what you are comfortable paying every month.  In other words, you don’t have to get a loan as high as you qualify for…you are the boss.  When you pre-qualify for a loan, both you and your agent know you aren’t just wasting time; if you find the right property, you can move forward on it.

Step 4: Find Your Home!  Your real estate agent will help you sort this out.  Which is more critical, size or location?  Are you interested in a condo?  A duplex?  Do you need a yard?  You’d like a 3 bedroom, but will two bedrooms work if everything else is good?

Step 5:  Make an Offer.  This is done in writing on a proper “purchase money agreement”.  Your agent will help you decide what a fair offer is.  An offer includes several important things such as the price you are offering, when you want to close, a home inspection, who pays what closing costs as well as what things go with the sale like refrigerator or window blinds.

Step 6: Due Diligence. Very few homes are absolutely perfect.  This is where you hire a professional to inspect your home, hopefully with you in attendance.  The inspectors job is to check for code compliance and for construction problems – large and small. 

Step 7:  Closing on your home.  You’ll need to get home owners insurance and put utilities in your name.  Your real estate agent will check your work schedule and look for available appointments with the loan closer.  In our market, you sign one day and “record’ the transaction the next day which is the official day you own.

Step 8:  Protect Your Investment  Learn to give your new home the love and care it needs.  you will need to learn to perform routine maintenance on your home’s system, depending on it’s age and condition.  A good rule of thumb is to watch for signs of leaks, damage and wear.

Double Honeycomb window blinds

 windows don’t face into houses close-by so we didn’t make blinds a priority - and if you’ve ever looked, window blinds are pretty pricey! and, we reasoned that since the days are short, we want all the sunlight we could get.

This year, we decided to put window blinds up on the remaining windows.  We have taken to keeping the blinds closed during the day when we weren’t at home and in the evening when we go to bed.

Both my wife and I have commented how much warmer our house is when the blinds are closed!  When you lift the blinds in the morning, you can feel the cold air that has been trapped behind the honeycomb blinds that fit inside the window opening.

I suppose the main reason we purchased the blinds was for personal privacy.  This winter we’ve learned that keeping the blinds closed is really about making the home more comfortable to live in.  The home is warmer and less drafty – a bonus!

With utility costs going up all the time, window blinds definitely enhance other energy saving efforts!

My son and friend enjoying new snow

If passed, Washington will be able dictate building codes on your home that will supercede current local building codes.  This new building code allegedly applies the same conditions to a home in Honolulu, Hawaii as  a home in Anchorage, Alaska and Portland, Maine.

The bill  requires that by 2012 codes must require that new buildings be 30 percent more efficient than they would have been under current regulations. By 2016, that figure rises to 50 percent, with increases scheduled for years after that. With those targets in mind, the bill expects organizations that develop model codes for states and localities to fill in the details, creating a new “national code.” 

From what I understand, the new codes target new construction first and then will begin to affect existing construction.  It’s hard to know what changes to anticipate, but for sure the cost of new construction will increase.  The enforcement of the code will have to mean another inspection and someone to interpret the federal guidelines, then the repairs will have to be made and, of course, another post-repair inspection.  As if it’s not complicated already.  Home inspections today can be difficult for some to comply with, as well as expensive and time consuming.

Read this article explaining the bill “http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-2454“;  For some interesting reading, go to your Internet browser and”Google” search “Waxman-Markley Cap and Trade” and see what your impressions are. 

I can say that on the surface it may seem desirable to uniformly mandate higher home energy efficiency standards. I don’t think the industry will be enthusiastic about Washington D.C dictating the changes.  Enforcing these changes at the sale of a home will greatly increase the costs to sellers as well as the time it takes to complete a transaction because of the extra inspections, construction and underwriting compliance time.

Rick Stonke showing porcelain tile sample

For many years, when I had a personal property that needed new carpet, I called my friend Rick Stonke.  Rick has been selling and installing carpet since 1981 here in the greater Anchorage area.  During a busy work period a few years ago, Rick was approached to sell his flooring store business.  At that particular moment, selling the big store seemed like a good idea.  He accepted the offer to purchase and embarked on a sabbatical, of sorts; that’s if you can call three years of hunting and fishing a sabbatical.

Over time, Rick decided he missed the home interior surface business but wanted to scale down from a large store to a small “warehouse store” where he could work with friends and business’s that were his best customers in past years.  He has only been open for a short time and is already running hard!  Rick says clients are excited he is back and work is pouring in from old clients and from word of mouth.  He is just getting the warehouse organized can only work on it between customers.  You’ll find that Rick is very personable and cares about his customers. 

Stonke carries far more than carpet.  If you are looking any type of floor, window or wall covering, I would talk to Rick- cabinets and counter tops, too.

A display of Granite Tile for floor and backsplash

When I ask Rick why he has such a good following and why folks keep coming back he says “he can offer a fair deal because of lower overhead of a small shop.”  Rick says his customers like personal service and the job done right and on time.

Rick says that Big Box stores offer the “perception” you are saving money.  While it may be true if the goods are in stock and on the floor you may get a good price; if you have to order what you really want, it can cost more and take longer.  Sometimes ordering carpet from a big box home store can take as much as six weeks to get to Anchorage because of the stores freight coming through a network distribution center.  Rick says he can order direct from the mills in less than half that time!

One thing some stores do to make it look like you are saving money is to quote a “per foot” price.  Carpet has traditionally been sold by the square yard.  A square yard is nine square feet.  A yard price might be $26 a yard, for instance.  A store might advertise carpet at a seemingly low price of $4 a foot.  To a novice consumer, it would seem like you were saving a lot of money, but really you would be paying $36 for a square yard, more than the $26 per sq. yard quoted by the competitor.  And you have to be careful the price quoted covers the same pad under the carpet and allows for installation.  Can you see why you would want to work with someone you can trust?  It’s like comparing apples to oranges.

If you want to check out Rick and his warehouse called R & K Services, give Rick a call.  He will be in the field measuring carpet, bidding jobs and overseeing installations.  If you want to come by to see his showroom, he may not be in the office so call ahead so he can schedule to meet you there. Rick’s phone number is ( 907)242-6506.  When you talk to Rick, tell him Dan sent you!

In some older homes, bedroom windows don't meet current code

 People often hope their home is “grand-fathered in” because it was built to code “way back when”.  On codes that are considered “life/safety” such as this issue, there is no grand-father clause.  This is because as recently as January 2009, Anchorage realized a fire death was substantially attributed to by the lack of adequate emergency escape and rescue windows.  This is why windows often have to be upgraded in older homes in order to sell them.

 Currently the window code says that “Every sleeping room must have at least one open-able window to permit emergency exit and rescue.  The sill height has to be not more than 44 inches above the floor and provide not less than 5.7 sq. ft. of open-able area with dimensions no less than 20 inches.” 

 Ground level openings are permitted to have a minimum net clear opening of 5 sq. ft.  This is because if the firemen don’t have to utilize a ladder to get in the window, as they do on upper levels, they don’t need as much open-able space. 

 There are a couple of exceptions in the rule; If the windows were installed prior to 2004, the maximum allowable sill height cannot exceed 48 inches above the floor. 

 Windows located in buildings constructed prior to 1979 need to have at least five sq. ft. of open-able area.  The minimum net clear opening width shall be 20 inches and the minimum net clear opening height shall be 22 inches

 A single permanent step may be constructed in front of an existing emergency escape and rescue windows serving a basement or sleeping room shall meet the maximum allowable sill height specified above.  The distance between the top of the step and the window sill shall not exceed 44 inches. 

 It can be frustrating for people who have lived in their homes for a long time without any window issues to have to remove a window and install new ones.  It’s even more of a problem if you have to open the wall to lower the sill height.

You can get more detail on this, or any Anchorage building code, by going online to the Municipal website at www.Muni.org.

Convenient to Downtown Anchorage!

The owner is a meticulous professional who likes to lock the door and travel and have the peace of mind that everything is going to be secure when she returns.  There isn’t a speck of dust anywhere!

Pretty clean, huh?  The condo is three bedroom, single bath and a tad over 1,000 square feet.  The building is secure, meaning people can’t knock on your door, they buzz you from an exterior entry way and you answer (if you want to).  Oh, it’s only $152,000 which is a great price!
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