My New (used) Car

I missed my exit on the way home today and ended up in New Hampshire.  If you know me, you are rolling your eyes right now saying, "What else is new?"  There are more than a few stories of me getting lost while driving.  The only reason why it doesn't happen more is that I usually have a personal SAS sitting next to me... (that's Stephanie)

To be clear, missing an exit and ending up in New Hampshire this time was not quite as bad as it used to be.  If I was saying this 6 months ago, there would be bigger issues.  We currently live 5 minutes from the border, so it wasn't that bad.

Lets step back about a month though because the anxiety of this mistake, and then it's unconcerning conclusion may make more sense.  I recently bought an electric car!  Stephanie already had one and I got used to both driving it and curbing my "range anxiety." We decided that, since we sometimes like to do longer trips, and I often work in the Boston area, that my car should have a bit more range than Stephanie's.  Her 2017 Nissan Leaf gets about 125 miles on a full charge, and it fluctuates depending on which systems are also in use while driving (A/C, heat etc.)  We decided on a 2017 Chevrolet Bolt for me.  It gets anywhere from 240 to 260 miles on a full charge depending on how heavy my foot is that day.  

So, back to my lack of directional abilities.  One of the things I hear often about owning an electric car is, "what if I get stuck out in the middle of nowhere and the battery runs out?" My response is usually something like, what would you do if you got stuck out in the middle of nowhere and your gas runs out?"  Well, today I drove right past my exit and my first thought was, "crap, how many miles is it going to take to find my way home?" The answer to that question was... about 8.  My car still had 150 miles until empty.  I could have made it to Rockland, ME... a trip that would have taken 2hrs and 45 minutes.  I know your next question.  It's something like "yeah, but when you get there (in the middle of nowhere) how do you get home? (I swear I didn't look this up before, I just tried to find a place that was 150 miles north of Amesbury.) Rockland, ME has not less than 4 public chargers, and there are eight more within 10 miles of the center of town.  Three are apparently dedicated to Tesla, but there is a station located at 24 Limerock Street with two, tier 2 chargers.  I would have had to wait a while to charge up (probably 3 or 4 hours), but I could have done it!

The thing about electric cars is, you just have to plan ahead a little.  Stephanie uses hers primarily for commuting.  I commute less, but due to the higher range, we use mine for extended trips.  We recently did a trip from Amesbury, MA to Fair Haven, MA, a north south traverse of Massachusetts and could have done it on a single charge.  We decided to stop and top up at a fast charger for the way home, but it really wasn't necessary.  The daily commutes are easy with an EV.  Longer trips require a small amount of planning, but it isn't difficult.  There are apps and charging stations everywhere, and the infrastructure is getting better and more widespread all the time.  

We felt that it was time to make the switch.  We were able to make it work financially, and we have the convenience of being able to charge at home (more on that in the next post).  Like any big purchase, you have to make sure it will work for you, but we respectfully ask you to consider an electric vehicle for your next car.  This post was pretty light hearted, but the reality is that these kind of changes are necessary.  I heard about a study done in Europe regarding the lifecycle analysis of an EV vs a Gas powered car, and even in countries that mostly burn coal to produce electricity, an EV wins out from a emissions standpoint.  I found a wonderful article summarizing that study here:  (EV vs. Gas) though I first heard it on a podcast called How to Save the Planet, also a great resource.

-Nate

Adventures in a New Home

 Painting.  Ahhh the joys of a fresh coat of paint.  Plus the chemicals in the joint compound to cover up those holes you made while hanging pictures, the toxic dust when you sand it.  Don't forget to wash the walls with something like TSP (which can also be found in cereal?).  It isn't strictly toxic, but it isn't exactly healthy.  Then we get to the paint.  Isn't it fun watching it dry?  Did you know that while you are watching it, there are serious chemical reactions happening?  Some even produce toxic smells that fill the air.  We are going to TRY to do better.

Washing the walls:

Apparently, there are very natural home mixtures that can be used to clean the walls of all of that dirt, grime and grease.  We did a little research and found a very easy mix which includes water vinegar and baking soda...its like we are in 4th grade science making exploding volcanoes!

The recipe was found here and consists of the following:

4 Liters of warm water

1/2 cup of vinegar

1/4 cup baking soda

Then, just like Mr. Miyagi would say, wipe on, wash off... okay, maybe I'm paraphrasing there.  Anyway, you wash the wall with the mixture, and then wash again with warm water only. 

**So, while we did try the mixture, we also found out that straight vinegar would also do the trick, and it did.  No exploding buckets, but pretty clean walls, so I'd call it a success.

Prepping the walls:

I always thought that joint compound was a pretty benign thing.  It's basically just plaster like we played with in art class right?  Well, in order to make the pre-mixed stuff last on the shelf, there are all kinds of preservatives in it.  Sometimes you can find VOCs like formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, as well as other carcinogens like crystalline silica.  Many of the ready mixed brands also make a powder form of their product which, when mixed with water gives the same performance without all of the preservatives etc.  The best brand I have found so far is Murco.  They claim zero VOC, and a pretty benign formula.  Unfortunately they are located in Texas, so ordering it would be expensive and non-sustainable due to the distance traveled.  So, we are going to go with USG brand.  You can get it at the local hardware store and its relatively inexpensive.

**In the end, we ended up using some of the premixed stuff.  My dad had some that needed to be used up (shelf life issue) so we opted for using something up before it went bad instead of buying new stuff.  We also didn't need as much as I thought we would.

Painting:

Benjamin Moore offers zero VOC paints across most of their products now.  I am pleased to say that some of the more saturated colors we picked come in a zero VOC version.  Here again, we made an exception and for some of the paint, we worked with the local hardware store to use up some paint that they were trying to get rid of.  It was low VOC rather than zero, but we felt like we were helping them out a bit.  Primer, ceilings and most areas were done in the Benjamin Moore Zero VOC.

As it turns out, "zero" is not exactly zero, but very small amounts that the EPA allows to be called zero.  Again, better but not perfect.  

The project went very well, though it took longer than we thought.  The prep work was difficult and it dragged on for weeks.  The actual painting part was a little easier, and a little more enjoyable due to the fact that progress could be more easily seen, and we could enjoy the fruit of our previous efforts.  One thing to note is that when you do any project like this, it is best to do your research ahead and be prepared for the time and cost to do it.  It is easy, if you don't know what you are getting into to take shortcuts.  You might buy something less than ideal because it is less expensive, or you might decide not to do part of the prep because it takes a long time.  While the immediate feedback might be good i.e. more money left in your bank account, the end result may be a smell that takes weeks to dissipate, or walls with divots that show up in the light.  Take your time, buy the right thing, and enjoy the process.  

Maybe someday I'll take my own advice...(better, not perfect)

We would like to say a special thanks to all of our friends and family who offered support during this project, both physical and emotional.  It was a crazy month leading up to our move, but we got it all done and it looks fantastic!

Bib:

https://thediydreamer.com/diy/how-to-clean-walls/