https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/26/nyregion/resilient-design-american-copper-buildings-weather-flooding.html

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Dear Wirecutter: What’s the Best Way to Clear Snow From a Flat Roof?
// The Wirecutter

Q: Our home is a mid-century modern home in the Washington DC region with 4,000 square feet of flat roof when you factor in overhangs, porches, etc. What we can’t sort out is: What’s the most effective way of removing snow from a residential flat roof without breaking (in order of importance) our marriage, our backs, the roof, or our bank account?

Last year the drifts got up to our waists, and even the trusty shovels you suggested couldn’t dig it out… One even snapped under the pressure! Pretty sure it was user error, but still. We were up on our roof morning, noon, and night shoveling to keep it from collapsing.

Short of reroofing the house with heated lining (it’s currently a relatively new modified bitumen roof surface), we’ve researched commercial heated blankets meant for warming construction foundations, solar solutions, roof-friendly salts, roof-friendly snow blowers, leaf blowers strong enough for heavy snow, and a few other desperate ideas, I’m sure—but our amateur research has come up short on all of these.

Our current plan is to wait for your next iteration of snow blower recs and pick one that allows us to raise the blades so they don’t cut the roof surface, and just leave it up there for the season, but we’re afraid it won’t work for the high snow sitting on the vulnerable-to-leaking, hard-to-reach corners and edges. What do you think is the best solution for removing snow from a flat roof?

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http://patch.com/new-jersey/morristown/new-ranking-best-new-jersey-school-districts-2017

After more than 100 hours of research, we think that the LG WM3770HWA washer is the best front-loading washer for most people.
http://thesweethome.com/reviews/the-best-washer-and-dryer/

http://patch.com/new-jersey/hopatcong-sparta/these-new-jersey-towns-possibly-exposed-deadly-cancer-causing-gas-state

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The Best Dehumidifer
// sweethome

After 40 hours of research and weeks of real-world testing in century-old stone basements, we think the Frigidaire FFAD7033R1 is the best dehumidifier for most people. It’s effective at drying air, it maintains an optimal level of humidity, and it’s easier to operate than any other model we tested.

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Tesla unveils its solar roof and Powerwall 2
// engadget

At Universal Studios in Los Angeles Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off the company’s solar roof-top panels, new $5,500 Powerwall 2 high-capacity residential battery pack and Powerpack 2 for businesses.

Musk and company have been teasing the photovoltaic cell-embedded rooftop panels for a few weeks. The event was probably timed as an grand explanation for why its important the automaker acquire Solar City. Musk said that if the merger doesn’t go through, the launch of the new tiles will be difficult.

During the event, Musk sort of talked about the price of the panels. He said that the “installed cost is less than a normal roof and the cost of electricity.” But there was no concrete pricing announced noting that it’s difficult to put a price on what it’ll cost for every house. Of course a price per square foot would have been helpful. The company will sell the tiles directly to customers instead of working with home builders.

They did install non-operational tiles on the Desperate Housewives’ homes before the event. While everyone waited for Musk to take the stage, no one took notice of the homes because they seemed so normal. That’s exactly what Tesla and Solar City want to achieve.

In fact, Musk also showed off a Tuscan-style house with glass tiles on the roof of the garage that to the naked eye, you would be hard-pressed to notice was actually sucking up the energy of the sun. The rest of the house had its original tiles and Tesla noted that this sort of installation gives home owners the opportunity to only place only the solar panels they need while keeping their abodes looking good. “People love their homes and we want them to be better,” Musk said.

Of course the entire equation requires batteries to keep the humming along when the sun goes down. With that in mind, Tesla also introduced a new version of its Powerwall. The company said the two 14 kWh lithium-ion battery packs inside each pack (over double the capacity of the previous version) will power a four bedroom house with lights, refrigerator and other appliances for an entire day.

The new Powerall also now includes a built-in power inverter. The previous version required a separate piece of hardware. That inverter works directly with the solar roof tiles to convert sunlight into electricity.

Musk said they will start installing the glass tiles in summer 2017 and insisted that the roofs will last a very, very long time. “We expect this to have two or three times the longevity of asphalt. It’s really never going to wear out. It’s got a quasi-infinite lifetime. It’s made of quartz,” he said.

Tesla has just come off an impressive quarter where it posted a profit for the first time in two years. It also announced earlier this month that all vehicles produced going forward would have the hardware capable of full autonomous driving.

Source: Tesla

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The Best Under-Sink Water Filter
// sweethome

After 30 hours of reporting and research, we believe the Filtrete Maximum Under Sink Water Filtration System With Dedicated Faucet is the best under-sink water filter for most people. Of the hundreds of filters we compared, few can remove as many contaminants, and the Filtrete is easily the most affordable of its kind.

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The Best Fire Extinguisher
// sweethome

After spending over 30 hours researching fire extinguishers and talking to eight experts in the fire-safety industry, we think the best fire extinguisher for your home is the First Alert PRO5, which is readily available, affordable, and certified by the UL. The reality, though, is that choosing an extinguisher doesn’t have to be a complicated purchase—any UL-certified, similarly sized extinguisher from a quality manufacturer has the same firefighting ability.

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The best smart leak detector
// engadget

By Rachel Cericola

This post was done in partnership with The Wirecutter, a buyer’s guide to the best technology. Read the full article here.

After spending over 10 hours pouring water, mopping it up, and changing wet socks to test the performance of seven DIY leak detectors, we’ve decided that the D-Link DCH-S160 Wi-Fi Water Sensor is the best smart water sensor currently available. It’s one of the few options that doesn’t need a smart-home hub, making it a more affordable solution than the competition because it can work with your existing Wi-Fi network. It can—like the rest of the units we tested—deliver alerts whenever water is present, but it also throws in a few perks that aren’t available on any other smart water sensor at this price.

Who should get this

Water sensors are small devices that can alert you whenever water is present around the refrigerator, the washing machine, sinks, and toilets—even in the basement. If you’ve got a leaky basement or appliances of a certain age, a smart water sensor makes for a strategic addition to your home.

Some smart water sensors work alone via Wi-Fi, and others connect to a smart-home hub; when wetness occurs, both can send a message to your phone so you can respond with a towel or a plumber. The units we’re talking about here can’t actually shut off the water; they simply alert you to the danger so you can respond quickly.

Though you can get a leak sensor that will set off an eardrum-piercing tone for as little as $10, if you want to get alerts and remote access, be prepared to pay a bit more: Our recommendations hover around the $60 mark.

How we picked

We tested a variety of smart water sensors, including Wi-Fi models and those that work with Z-Wave smart-home hubs. Photo: Rachel Cericola

We compiled a list of smart water sensors by doing a Google search for reviews and roundups; once we had a list, we looked for feedback on Amazon and Google. Although we found a million different leak sensors, when you factor in the smart aspects, the list of what’s out there is much smaller. We narrowed that list further using features, availability, and price. The average cost for a smart water sensor that fit our criteria is about $60; you really shouldn’t pay more than that. That narrowed our list down to seven products to submit to our water-torture tests—each product is easy to set up, works with an app, and can be used almost anywhere you expect water to make an appearance.

How we tested

We used a spray bottle to determine how little water would trigger an alert. Photo: Rachel Cericola

For each of our tests, we used apps on an iPhone 5, an iPad, and a Samsung Galaxy S6. Most of the devices used either the SmartThings or Wink hub, so we used the applicable app; when the device connected via Wi-Fi, we used that device’s specific app.

When dousing each smart water sensor, we used four different amounts of water to see if it would react and how quickly. We used measuring cups to douse each sensor with one-quarter cup of water, as well as a full cup. We also measured sensitivity using a spray bottle and, finally, by completely submerging each unit in a bowl of water.

The main purpose of these devices is to alert you to water, whether you’re at home or away, so we made sure each detector delivered those alerts to a mobile device from afar. Anything beyond their basic features was considered a bonus—for instance, quite a few of the devices on our list allowed you to check on room temperature and even battery life.

Our pick

The D-Link DCH-S160 Wi-Fi Water Sensor. Photo: Rachel Cericola

The D-Link DCH-S160 Wi-Fi Water Sensor is a reliable smart water sensor that’s also affordable. It’s actually the least expensive option we tested—not coincidentally, it’s also one of the few models that doesn’t need a smart-home hub. Instead, it uses Wi-Fi to deliver water alerts through the mydlink Home app (available for iOS and Android devices) and integrate with other smart devices in the home. It’s also the only model on our list that relies on power from the wall rather than a battery.

The D-Link device performed well throughout our testing, sending out alerts about six to 10 seconds after the sensors first touched water. It also features an audible alarm that you can hear from about 35 feet away, though that sound doesn’t travel as well through floors.

The app associated with the D-Link DCH-S160 Wi-Fi Water Sensor—mydlink Home—is pretty basic. Other than a record of when water was present, it offers options to change the device’s name, add in a personal photo, and create rules. For instance, we set the device to send both push notifications as well as an email whenever water was present; texting is not an option here.

For a stand-alone device, it does offer a few integration options as well. If you search the D-Link Water Sensor channel on IFTTT, there are ways to get phone calls, post to Slack, trigger the Nest thermostat, and more. It also works with other D-Link Connected Home devices, which you can control and set up integrations for from the same app.

A pick for smart-hub users

If you don’t have access to an electrical outlet, and don’t mind using a Z-Wave hub, the Fibaro Flood Sensor is a great choice. Photo: Rachel Cericola

The Fibaro Flood Sensor features an audible alarm that also triggers when someone tilts or tampers with the device in any way. It has a temperature sensor and a visual “drop” display that can change color based on if there’s water, weird temperatures, or bad network connections. As an added bonus, this little circular device can actually float—which can end up being a huge bonus if a leak turns into a flood. However, unlike the D-Link, it requires a smart hub, a requirement that kept it from being our top pick.

This guide may have been updated by The Wirecutter. To see the current recommendation, please go here.

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