Marcos Silva Re-Tired Architect

10/15/2026

We purchased our house 3 years ago with a 7 year old electric water heater. The mandatory yellow sticker says that average electric costs would total $555/ year based on a going rate of $.12/ KWH. Average rate now is about $.19/ KWH.
So, that increases our usage costs to about $73 a month. That is a big chunk of our energy bill and we need to change that.
We're considering a Navien gas powered instant water heater.
Have any of you done this? What advice would you have? Indoor or outdoor installation? Condensing unit vs Standard?

10/12/2026

The bathroom is almost ready for a final photo. I'll do that as soon as the glass sliding doors are delivered and installed.
Meanwhile, after a long layoff from doing any sketching or artwork, I decided to ease into it by sketching a wall in our living room. I hope to keep it up as the major construction work winds down, though it might be quite a challenge with my upcoming eye surgery. ;) That wink is meant to say that my right eye will be out of commission for a while, so it should be interesting. 😆 But hopefully not frustrating.

09/01/2026

This is the last necessary project we needed to do in the house.
The previous owners had renovated this bathroom and installed a Jacuzzi tub.
They also rearranged the fixtures in a way that did not make sense to us and so, part of our goal was to restore the fixtures to their original location and replace the tub with a walk in shower.
When we bought the house, we ran the Jacuzzi tub to inspect it and the water that flowed out of the pipes was disgusting. We cleaned it up as best as we could but just used the shower part.
I refused to do anything in the bathroom including covering up that pepto bismo paint. The drywall mudding looked like it was done by a child!
So, last week we bit the bullet and began the demolition.
And as expected on every project, there are surprises. We discovered the source of the occasional foul odor as a cracked cast iron riser behind the wall.
We have a plumber hired since that is one task I refuse to do.
We'll tile the walls around the shower and add a wainscot tile around the rest of the bathroom with some wallpaper above. The floor will be tiled.
We're now committed, so here we go! :D

08/06/2026

Let's chalk this up to a mistake I made so you don't have to experience it.
I purchased a UV light to control algae in our pond.
It was the best seller (still is) on Amazon.
Several customer videos were shown of people in great anticipation of installing this in their pool for the lighting.
I had no interest in the lighting but was impressed with the ratings.
I installed it quickly but woke in the middle of the night with burning pain in my eyes.
Did you know that UV light burns your cornea? I didn't. Nothing on the instructions warned me to shield my eyes from the lamp.
Two visits to my ophthalmologist, two days of wearing eye patches and one week of eye drops and antibiotics later, my vision appears to not have been permanently harmed.
I returned the product but am shocked that others have not gone through this and this product is still out there for sale!

03/14/2026

Next project to tackle will be a backyard water feature. This will be a bit more involved than the last one I did in our previous home, which was just a 3'x3' fountain.
So far we have the area roughly marked with bricks and it is about 9'x12'. I brought a power outlet to the area last fall in preparation for this.

01/06/2026

https://www.finehomebuilding.com/project-guides/insulation/crawlspaces-that-work

This is perhaps the issue I get most asked about for homeowners. I am not sure the link will remain available since it's for a Fine Homebuilding magazine.
It's an excellent article explaining the science behind crawlspace design.

An "unvented crawlspace" is a misnomer all crawlspaces need a means of removing moisture. Crawlspaces can either be vented or "sealed and conditioned."

12/12/2025

I was recently asked to help out a young couple with a new home on their family's homestead.
We started out with looking at their cleared land with a southwestern exposure and several sketches they provided me with their ideas in diagrammatic floor plans.
We have worked together to get to a 1500sf home with a basement that they will expand on in future years.
We are almost at the point of having a permit set and they hope to be breaking ground in a month or so.
I am presently waiting on a vendor to finish design of the LVL beams and wood trusses.