Out the side will be much better than through the roof as long as you don’t place it too close and directly under a soffit air intake.

Crazy idea, but if you can’t get the bandwidth to support a media server like Jellyfin or Emby where you live, what about placing a server at a trusted relatives or friends house that does have access to high bandwidth? You might need/want to help offset a better internet plan for them though. You could then setup a VPN connection to be able to manage the server remotely and sync files and media to it. You could even use it for off site backup.

When I start a personal project I create a readme file that has a ToDo section and a Change Log section. Anything I think of that I might want to do I put under ToDo, break it into small chunks and prioritize it. When a task is completed under the ToDo section, I move it to the Change Log section. Easy to maintain, track progress, and documents both a Road Map and Changes all in one place. It also has a section for references to shared assets that need attribution. Actually to keep it simple the same document usually also has an about section, an installation section, and a usage section.

Fun fact, in a pinch the sink can be used as a urinal.

I wouldn’t worry about the soft spot too much, it could just be the foam supports underneath the tub itself and not the floor. Even if it is the floor, that’s probably within your skill-set to fix if you can manage a circular saw and swing a hammer. I hired a contractor to install a shower for me in a new bathroom because I don’t have the plumbing skills or time. He outsourced the plumbing, electrical, and did the, framing, tiling, and everything else himself. The shower alone took them about a week, one of the main issues he encountered was keeping the tile lines straight. His tile saw wasn’t exact enough and the cuts were ever so slightly off which caused compounding problems.

I don’t really know of a way that you can add insulation without taking up interior space, exterior space, or replacing the wall with more modern materials.

• What about the sides of the home not facing the street? Can you add an exterior layer of insulation and then new exterior siding to those walls?
• On the side facing the street, you could replace the stone wall with a different type of wall that was more thermally resistant. This would of course be a major undertaking.
• I am sure you have considered fully insulating the floor and ceiling as best you can.
• If rodents and or insects are a concern, look into Mineral Wool/Rockwool Insulation.

I have seen time-laps videos on Youtube of a company that retrofits houses that have crawl spaces with full basements. It is pretty amazing to watch them work. They hand dig out sections at a time and pour footings and supporting walls, they then do a final pouring of the floor. They do this without lifting the house.

Is the house occupied? If not, can the existing floor/decking be removed to get direct access to the crawl space and supports? If so, that will make the job so much easier.

While you are at it, have you considered digging out underneath the house and creating a concrete and cinder-block basement? It would cost a bit more but since you are already doing major foundation work, it might be worth it and would dramatically increase the square footage of the house. Adding a basement would allow you the freedom to bring in large excavation machines to do the digging with.

If you leave the driveway in front of where the garage door is, you may want to think about a curb stop or two so no cars accidentally accelerate into your new living room. You also mentioned leveling the graded garage floor so you are probably fine on this point, but, you will just want to make sure that outside the new wall water doesn’t run back and stand.

I back up everything. I use Stablebit Drivepool with duplication for all of my source code, media, photos, documents, music, books, laptop backups, etc. I back that up periodically to a Drobo DAS and 8 Bay USB enclosure setup under Drivepool. I also have off site backup (working on a new NAS which will be accessed over a VPN). I don’t want to spend the time worrying about loosing anything I have put time and effort into. Been there and done that. Drives are relatively inexpensive but can fail without warning.

Wow, what did he “fix” then? He did a terrible job. I understand an electrician not fixing the cement block, but they should have properly installed and secured the box flush with the concrete.

They make circular conduit cutters not much bigger than the conduit itself. They go for around $25. One of those would easily fit in the opening you have. Be sure to turn the power off to the circuit first though.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/General-Pipe-Cleaners-GPC-1-2-in-Auto-Cut-Copper/1002782800

Electrically speaking it is in the proper housing, but the box is not secured, so I would ding it for that at the very least. I agree about cutting the conduit back and putting in a proper secure box and then cementing around the box. You could also use a surface mount box. In that case you would cut the existing conduit back, put a 90 degree elbow with a enough conduit to extend past the wall edge. Patch the wall and then install a surface mount box where the wires are connected in.

I bought both Plex and Emby. I started with Plex but had some technical issues related to my machine having multiple IP addresses so I switched to Emby. I tried Jellyfin before switching to Emby but it wasn’t as capable as Plex or Emby (at least at the time) and I wanted something with some commercial support behind it. I have been pretty satisfied with Emby, but do wish it would get requested features added in a much more timely manner.

Just to add to the conversation, complications from a vasectomy can be debilitating and life changing. While the likelihood of complications is low, it is far from zero. Conditions like chronic post-vasectomy pain syndrome, infections, or sperm granulomas can cause persistent discomfort and interfere with daily activities, impacting one’s overall quality of life. The costs associated with treating these complications, including medical bills and potential loss of income, can be substantial. Furthermore, it’s important to consider that even if the initial vasectomy proceeds without issues, complications and failures can still arise during the reversal process. I have had a half dozen friends opt for this surgery later in life, one (that spoke openly of it) experienced life altering complications due to chronic and severe pain.

After looking at other’s lists I think I am missing a good document server. Emby isn’t the best music and photo server so I could look at improving that, but it has been good enough for those purposes that I haven’t felt like going to the trouble of installing anything else.

• Aster: Multiseat software for Windows allows several users to work on the same PC.
• LaunchBox: Frontend for DOSBox, modern PC games and emulated console platforms.
• Blue Iris: Video security and webcam software
• Calibre: E-Book management and server
• Emby: Server for videos, music, audio books, and photos.
• Firewalla: VPN server, internet monitor and control
• Foundary Virtual Tabletop: Online role-playing game server.
• Grafana: Dashboard interface
• Hubitat: Home automation
• Hyper-V Manager: Tool that allows users to manage Hyper-V hosts and virtual machines (VMs)
• InfluxDB: Real-time database server.
• IotaWatt: Open WiFi electric power monitor
• Microsoft SQL Server: Database Server
• Octoprint: Web interface for 3D printers.
• PCem: Emulator for various old 8086 through Pentium PCs.
• SmartSync Pro: File sync program
• SnapRaid: Backup program for disk arrays.
• Stablebit DrivePool/Scanner: Disk pooling, file duplication, protection, disk surface scanner, and disk health monitoring
• Steam Link: Access and play steam games remotely

For the exterior of my house I use Sherman Williams Duration. It has held up really well over the last 12 years and I am still able to buy matching paint as I have only been painting walls as needed and I have time. I am only about half done :(

I thought I was the only one thinking that, not even sure why Daneel popped in my head when the question was asked, but it did.

My ad blocker was working so well I didn’t even realize I had it installed and blocking ads on YouTube. I don’t mind watching a few ads as long as it doesn’t get out of hand.

If I had to speculate and GUESS, based on information I know now and if I give the CTO the benefit of the doubt and assume he was competent (contrary to what I saw), I would say they were having trouble canceling the contract with the third party consulting firm we were hired through. I also think they might have been quietly moving their operations out of state to another infrastructure originally belonging to another company they bought or merged with that had their own IT team and wanted us kept out of the loop. Hiring us might have been a way to reduce our compensation and get us under an NDA regarding the move. When hiring us failed they were able to re-negotiate the terms of the contract with the consulting firm for half of what it was. Again, just a guess.