Family Pics in the new house

My oldest son came home for the weekend.  My daughter moved home about a month back.  So with everyone in the house, it seemed a great time for a family pic.  I am looking for that big 11x17 framed shot to hang on the wall.  Plus a few others for smaller frames, collages, etc...  We borrowed a nice camera from our friend Dawn and went to town.  We had better luck with nice shots outside as the interior shots seemed to be a bit blurry except for a few.  But we took probably 50-ish out front so we have some choices.  

Having this house gave us a chance to include it in our "family" shots.  We used the fireplace and front porch.

Unfortunately this is one of those "not perfect" shots.  But it will be fine in a smaller 5x7 frame.

This was one of my wife's favorite fam pics.  This will likely end up in a nice large frame.  

Second Floor Laundry, who knew?

It's me again.
I know, you missed me and my pearls of wisdom. 
Today, I want to talk second floor laundry rooms and even remind you about something.

First, the reminder.  It seems fitting that if we are talking laundry rooms, I should remind you that having your PM install the dryer vent higher on the wall so that the dryer hose can be attached AFTER it's moved into place is a fantastic idea.  One that I wish I would have thought of BEFORE I moved in.  But, hind sight is 20/20 and I didn't discover this morsel of ingeniousness until I had to hook up my dryer.  What a pain in the .... any way.  Some have heeded my warning and had the vent moved up.  Lucky.

Moving on.  The Ravenna has a second floor laundry.  My wife enjoys the proximity and I like not having to lug several baskets overflowing down two flights of stairs to the laundry dungeon.
BUT, did you know that you COULD deal with house shakes when the washer is on it's spin cycle?  I should preface by saying this seems to limited to certain front loaders.  Do you know one of the worst offenders of high speed shakes?  The LG Trom series.  Wanna take a bet which I own?  Winner winner chicken dinner.
So we move in, hook up the washer and start a load.  When it gets to the high speed cycle, it sounds like a helicopter is hovering over the house, and everything is shaking just a bit.  A little research and it's not uncommon for second floor laundries to have this issue.
I blogged a recommendation to have your PM nail in some cross bracing under the washer during the build as a precaution.  Again, wish I would have known during my build.  Hindsight gets me again.

I took it off the pedistal, added anti-vibe feet, shoved swimming noodles between the washer and wall/dryer.  We got some improvement, but left something to be desired.

The current solution.
We had two choices.  Buy a new washer ($700 +) or buy a 0Vibe washer stand.
Behold:
http://0vib.com/

The 0vibe stand costs $200.  I called and talked to the designer/engineer.  According to a test they ran on a 2008 LG Trom Washer, they realized a 85% improvement in shaking transferred to the floor.
We decided the stand was worth the cost.

We received it last weekend and have done several loads.  It's not perfect but there is enough improvement to believe it's worth keeping and not returning.

We will go through another round of laundry this weekend and make our final mind.


Cliff Notes:
move dryer vent up
some washers cause shaking houses more then others
LG Trom is evil
0Vibe stands are expensive and do not make a good birthday gift for your wife.
the couch is comfortable