Home Improvement

I have nasty well water. I have a softener and an iron filter that all the water goes through, then an RO system for drinking water that only goes to a little side faucet at the kitchen sink and the ice maker in the fridge. The whole system cost around $5k but before it was in there the water was kind of white and smelled like sulfur strongly enough that you would notice it walking past the bathroom. If I let the softener run out of salt the fixtures start to turn white immediately from the hard water.

TheNozz said:

Not really a home improvement question per se but related to home ownership.

So we have to put our trash cans out in the alley.
View attachment 561193I prefer to put them on the flat ground as opposed to the gradient driveway.

If someone were to be driving in the alley and hit these cans, would we be liable?

I say no, my mom says yes. She has a history of obsessing over hypothetical bullshit. I’ve been putting them out the same way for over a year and no one has hit them yet, there’s still plenty of room to get by and no trash collector has ever warned me they’re too far out

Click to expand...

If the garbage collection people haven't complained, I wouldn't worry about it. How much damage is someone really going to do hitting a trash can anyway? It's not like they're going to die from clipping a plastic trash can. Tell your Mom to stop making decisions out of fear and live her life.

TheNozz said:

Not really a home improvement question per se but related to home ownership.

So we have to put our trash cans out in the alley.
View attachment 561193I prefer to put them on the flat ground as opposed to the gradient driveway.

If someone were to be driving in the alley and hit these cans, would we be liable?

I say no, my mom says yes. She has a history of obsessing over hypothetical bullshit. I’ve been putting them out the same way for over a year and no one has hit them yet, there’s still plenty of room to get by and no trash collector has ever warned me they’re too far out

Click to expand...

I'm gonna side with you on the liability question. Here where I live they've bounced back and forth over time between "put the bins in the alley" and "put the bins out front". And also alternated between traditional "Two dudes on the back of a truck" and "Robot arm"....

Erronius said:

Looking for suggestions on bed pillows. Preferably from Amazon so I can be lazy and just order them.

The last pillow I ordered has since become a malformed lump (within the last 1-2yrs, maybe?).

I know some people swear by feather pillows but not sure I've touched one since Reagan was in office.

Click to expand...

First, are you a front, back, or side sleeper? Make a considerable difference.

Myself I'm a side sleeper so I need something with a good loft and I prefer pretty firm. Because for some odd reason my head likes to sometimes sweat while I sleep something with good cooling is also a big plus for me.

For years I just dealt with the generic cheap pillows I could buy at Sam's. I haven't tried the Purple but have heard good things about it, but Mrs. Haus and I do have a Purple mattress which I have liked. Lately, and this seems almost kitchy or cliched , but Mrs. Haus tried one of those My Pillows, yes the ones from that Trump Bro and Fox News frequent advertiser. She didn't like it much, she's mostly a back sleeper. I gave it a shot and damned if it's not a great pillow for my side sleeping ass, and very cool and breathable which seems to prevent the occasional head sweat night, and possibly the most firm pillow I've had while still being memory foam comfy. (And no I don't have a discount code to hand out. heh)

Erronius said:

It's complicated, LOL

I guess I'm 'naturally' a side sleeper, but I have really bad reflux, so over the years I started sleeping on my right side. This seemed to be more comfortable, for no other reason than the stomach acid wasn't as bad sleeping on my right side, versus my left. I'm guessing it has something to do with how well my stomach 'retains' stomach acid, depending on the side I sleep on? That's probably a question for Dr. Izo

But sleeping on my right side isn't a 100% fix. I will still get reflux in my sleep when sleeping on my right side. Even better is building up a huge pile of pillows and trying to sleep on an incline, flat on my back. And this is probably the best way for me to do it. But what ends up happening is that once I fall asleep on my back, inclined on pillows, is that I will flop over to my right-side again, except now there's a giant pile of pillows under my head, and my neck ends up at a 45 degree angle, or worse, to the point that my left ear touches my left shoulder. Somehow this doesn't bother me while sleeping, but after I wake up I will have a horrible pain from my right trapezoid, up the back of my neck, and sometimes the pain will continue on up and over the right side of my skull, almost to my right temple.

Shit fucking sucks, man

Click to expand...

OK, Reflux... Here's something you might want to try if you haven't yet. Sleep at an incline. Don't do this stacking pillows under your head, that just inclines your head. I did this to help stop my snoring (which it's greatly reduced, almost completely eliminated), and I am told it will also help with reflux as gravity is no longer helping stomach acid crawl back up your esophagus. Incline your whole torso.

Two ways I have done this. Wedge pillow systems like this :

We had to get one of these because of a surgery that required Mrs Haus to sleep all but sitting up for a week or two. They put it away under the bed until I decided to try this incline sleeping thing. The pillow thing is awkward though if you're a side sleeper because as you can imagine it means your body is sleeping in a crooked angle, which can cause back discomfort.

The other option is one you do only if you are sleeping alone, or your spouse/partner/fur-friend can also do incline sleeping but it's more recommended. That being to incline your bed a little. For instance, if it has a head, middle, and foot support touching the floor put a 2x4 under the middle supports and stack 2-2x4s under the headboard so your whole bed has a slight tilt. You want to do something like a 10-15% incline