House Info

  • ‘Smart’ Home
    • If you have an iPhone then contact Chris and he can add you to the Home where you can control some of the lights as well as view the camera feeds
    • The doors to the main house, the man gate, as well as the shed use Level locks and should be accessible through the Home app.  However downloading the Level app is recommended as this will allow lock access even if the house looses internet access.
    • WiFi: unscnet2, contact Chris or Amy for the WiFi password
  • Trash and Recycling
    • Trash and Recycling pickup is on Wednesday, if you are here you can drag the bins through the front gate to the street and pull them in after they are picked up.
    • Recycling is not single stream, notably for Austinites glass does not go in the blue cart.  Instead there is a small bin that you can leave your glass and we’ll run it to the recycling station when it gets full.  Recycling details.
    • The kitchen trashcan is located in the utility closet / pantry.  There are extra bags on the shelf.  The big container is for recycling and the small container is for trash.
    • Small bags for the bathroom waste bins and the Litter Robot are also located in the closet / pantry.
  • Heating & Cooling
    • There is no active cooling ==> open the windows or turn on a fan.
    • Heating of the back half of the main house and all of the casita is via hydronic radiant heat.
      • Main house zones:
        • Living Room and Office
        • Master Bedroom
        • Master Bathroom
      • Casita zones:
        • Living Room and Bathroom
        • Bedroom
    • The front part of the main house is heated with hydronic baseboard heaters and the thermostat is in the hallway leading to the front guest bedroom
    • It takes a while for the radiant heat to move the temp in the house, it’s a ‘set it and forget it’ type thing.  Adjust the temps to something comfortable, 69 or 70 seem to work well in the winter and hit the ‘Hold’ button on the thermostats.  When you are leaving the house after your visit hit the ‘Run’ buttons to have the thermostats resume their programming.
  • Fireplace
    • There is a Kiva style fireplace in the front living room
    • The flue needs to be opened and left open as long as the fireplace is active.  I usually keep it open overnight and close it in the morning.  The flue control is on the top of the firebox near the mouth of the kiva.
    • Please keep the spark screen in place when not accessing the fire
    • There is a basket containing lighter and fatwood near the fireplace
    • There is a small log rack near the front door and the main wood pile is on the fence line to the side of the casita.
    • The main wood pile also has a log splitter and hammer to make kindling out of large pieces of firewood.
  • Parking
    • There are two spots in the driveway.  If you need to park on the street please use one of the parking passes so that you don’t get ticketed.  Please don’t lose these!
    • There’s a Tesla Mobile Charger in the shed that can be plugged into the outlet on the outside of the shed.  It’s better than nothing™. Someday we’ll extend a high amp 240V to the shed…
  • Kitchen / Cooking
    • The kitchen in the main house is a full kitchen and should have most things you are looking for:
      • gas range and oven
      • microwave, electric toaster oven, food processor, Instant Pot, immersion blender, ThermaPen, dishwasher (untested!)
    • The casita has a much more limited setup
      • electric range and tiny oven
  • Coffee
    • The main house has a V60 size 2 dripper, scale, electric gooseneck kettle, and a little thermos that I use for V60
    • The main house also has a French Press
    • The main house and the casita also each have a Moccamaster KBT and a Baratza Encore grinder
      • Moccamaster primer
      • Note: The KBT has a manually adjustable drip stop.  Set it full open if doing full carafe, half for a half carafe, and closed if you want to remove the carafe during brewing or if micromanaging the brew.  If you set it to closed during a brew it will overflow…
      • If you are going to have the coffee sit then swap out the brew lid for the travel lid to keep the coffee hot.
    • The Encore Grinders both have the M2 burr upgrade
    • For beans try out Iconik for their own roasts or Sky Coffee Co in the Railyard sells Onyx
  • Laundry
    • There is a stacked washer / dryer in the utility closet and detergent.  Please leave the washer door propped open to vent after use.
    • The combo washer / dryer in the casita reportedly drys very slowly
  • Pets
    • There are skunks in the neighborhood so please keep your dog on a leash at night for potty breaks or risk being skunked… (ask magnolia about this)
    • There is skunk shampoo in the guest bathroom of the main house under the sink.  When magnolia got skunked I just picked her up and walked into the shower and started washing her off, that seemed to work ok
  • Internet / Office 
    • xFinity cable modem, 50Mbps/10Mbps located in the office under the desk
    • Networking is three eero Pro 6 and a unmanaged GbE switch under the desk in the office
      • One in the office
      • One in the casita with wired backhaul
      • One in the guest bedroom with wireless backhaul
      • One in the master bedroom with wireless backhaul
    • LG UltraFine 5K Thunderbolt 3 monitor on the desk, works great with a Mac.  There is a USB-C Ethernet dongle attached to the back of this monitor if you need a direct connection
    • 24″ Dell in the office closet if you need something with HDMI
  • TV / Entertainment
    • There are LG C2 OLED in the main house (65″) and casita (55″)
      • They both have OTA antennas but house construction makes the OTA basically useless unless you move the antenna to a window…
      • They both have Apple TV 4K’s that the LG remote will operate, the Apple remote is probably in a drawer nearby.  Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, etc.
      • OLED burnin is a thing… so turn them off before you leave the house
    • Nintendo Switch Dock in the main house as well as a Pro Controller in the left drawer of the TV stand
    • HomePod mini in the front room of the main house, please don’t unplug or move it as it needs to be in the window to talk to the Level Lock for the shed
    • Beoplay A8 is attached to the ‘office’ Airplay 2 target
    • Sonos Move in the living room, it’s wireless and splash proof so feel free to take it outside to the yard, just don’t be obnoxiously loud or forget it outside in a heavy downpour.  Should be logged into Apple Music and MixCloud