Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Post
  • Reply
tetrapyloctomy
Feb 18, 2003

Okay -- you talk WAY too fast.
Nap Ghost

That's all cool and stuff, but it's not the same as the four by three hole in my living room, which is, in fact, a bit of a hassle and will send the vast majority of its output straight up and out of my house.

tetrapyloctomy fucked around with this message at 02:20 on Jan 4, 2019

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

tetrapyloctomy posted:

That's all cool and stuff, but it's not the same as the four by three hole in my living room, which is, in fact, a bit of a hassle and will send the vast majority of its output straight up and out of my house.

A nice masonry heater will only set you back like 10 000€ so no reason not to have one built :mmmhmm:

tetrapyloctomy
Feb 18, 2003

Okay -- you talk WAY too fast.
Nap Ghost

Jerry Cotton posted:

A nice masonry heater will only set you back like 10 000€ so no reason not to have one built :mmmhmm:

woof

They really are beautiful, though.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Those tile radiator stove things are awesome. But yeah, not really a thing in the states. I definitely remember a Scandinavian goon installing a modern version of that in a house a while back. I'm also reminded that in addition to the fireplaces, we have a couple stove ports and gas lines in the attic rooms. Would be nice to put some little gas-burning stove things up there (because those rooms don't have radiators and are cold).

Anyhow, I think we're generally set up for gas already:



All four fireplaces have little gas valve nubbins. I did actually pull the board off the dining room fireplace (pictured) and it looked like the skeleton of a gas log insert and was also full of bird skeletons. Inspector wasn't able to check them out because the boards were all nailed in place. Still need to pull the boards off the others and see what's lurking. And remember to get the chimney guy to also poke around in the kitchen chimney so we can plug the extractor fan into it. My dad seems to think it would be totally fine - in my parents' house, he has the extractor fan venting up a shaft that runs through an upstairs closet and out the roof, so wouldn't be a stretch to stuff a duct down the stove chimney or line it or whatever it is we have to do.

As much as we'd love for the downstairs fireplaces to be wood-burning, we'll probably just keep them as turnkey gas things and just shell out for the realistic inserts (with the glowing embers and poo poo). This is a city house, and in my experience, unless the house is out in the country where you can supply your own firewood, then wood-burning fireplaces are kind of a drag. One exception is my parents' house in town where my dad hauls in his own firewood every so often, but even then, we only ever deal with the kitchen fireplace (which we all love), rarely with the living room fireplace (this one also ended up with lovely draw and smokes really easily), and literally never with the master bedroom fireplace. These fireplaces all have perforated gas lines in them already, so my dad is planning to pop gas log inserts into the two lesser used ones, to make it easy to just turn on a fire for a bit of atmosphere. But their country house? Three pure wood-burning fireplaces on the main level, fires lit in all of them all winter long.

So yeah, I'm thinking we will just have the gas log things for atmosphere when we feel like it because I'd feel weird paying money for firewood instead of going out and chopping up a fallen tree like God intended. I seriously think I'm more deterred by the idea of having to pay for firewood than building the fire every time and shoveling ash.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004

коммунизм хранится в яичках
Much as I love a good fire, I'd prefer a wood burning stove any day for anyplace that wants it for heat. Gas fires are great, though!

3D Megadoodoo
Nov 25, 2010

Liquid Communism posted:

Much as I love a good fire, I'd prefer a wood burning stove any day for anyplace that wants it for heat. Gas fires are great, though!

:tutbutt::gas::supaburn:

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Did you make a garland/mobile/sass gift with the bird skulls, y/y?

Sockser
Jun 28, 2007

This world only remembers the results!




I was under the impression that fireplaces were still banned within the city of Pittsburgh. When did that become not the case?

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Sockser posted:

I was under the impression that fireplaces were still banned within the city of Pittsburgh. When did that become not the case?

Uh, was this ever the case? Or is it a ban on wood-burning fireplaces in new construction (which is the case in a lot of California towns)? I poked around but didn't find anything telling me I wasn't allowed to utilize my existing fireplaces. Only thing I could find was some news about adoption of slightly stricter rules for governing outdoor fire pits. Several neighbors have backyard fire pits that they use in the summer without issue. I think the only way to get dinged for "illegal" fire pits around here is to get tattled on by a busybody neighbor. We will install a fire pit and will make sure that it's 15' away from our house and property lines and only burn dry wood. Not too hard.

As for the indoor fireplaces, if there's a code problem (don't think there would be for existing fireplaces, especially if they are gas units), I'm definitely not above ratting that poo poo in and putting up decorative boards when the inspector comes. My dad taught me well :smug:.

Sockser
Jun 28, 2007

This world only remembers the results!




My understanding, however limited, was that fireplaces were included with the smoke ban in the ... 1950s? And that’s why Pittsburgh doesn’t look like this anymore


Though a cursory google suggests maybe I just made this up

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Here's a paper I found that talks about pollution levels shifting based on past smoke abatement ordinances: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00022470.1979.10470892

There were some smoke abatement rules passed in the 40's that applied to residential in additional to industry, but it seems that it was focused on cracking down on bituminous coal use (I presume for boilers and furnaces) and getting households to switch to anthracite coal, natural gas, or fuel oil. I didn't see any mention of wood smoke or fireplace/wood stove use, but I'd have to dig into the ordinances themselves. I don't imagine that people in 1940's Pittsburgh would even have registered wood smoke in the air for all the filthy coal pollution.

I think nowadays they don't like non-EPA-compliant wood-fired boilers and stoves, but for occasional recreational wood fires, I guess that's fine if your fireplace or pit is up to code and you're not burning garbage or bituminous coal.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Welp, we had our first incident with the water heater this weekend. :v:

I was doing dishes and realized the water wasn't all that hot and that the cold wasn't even on. Stopped doing dishes because I still needed to take a shower and wanted to save any remaining warm water in case the water heater was hosed. Husband and I went down to the basement to check it out and the pilot light had gone out for some reason (drafty? dusty?). We followed the procedure on the side of the tank and it fired right back up (thank gently caress it was just the pilot light).

Also, thermocouple looked pretty bad so we'll get a new one next time we go to Home Depot just to have on hand. The water heater will be old enough to drink in a couple months so I guess having some spare parts on standby is a good precaution. And it was convenient that my dad clued me in to the thermocouple failure scenario because recently my parents' water heater seemingly died and then my dad looked at it and just went and got a new thermocouple and it was fine again. And I learned that the water heater in question is the same one my dad installed in 1996 after (re)building the house. :psyduck:

Oh, and sorry I haven't been too active posting here. It's because I haven't been doing much, and that's because I've been in a horrible depressive funk and wishing I could hibernate the winter away (thanks SAD). It's bad enough this time that doc is having me try out some antidepressants, so hopefully in 4-6 weeks I feel less like poo poo and more like making our house nice. And maybe finally applying for jobs that pay more money so I have more to spend on the house.

Dagen H
Mar 19, 2009

Hogertrafikomlaggningen

Queen Victorian posted:

Oh, and sorry I haven't been too active posting here. It's because I haven't been doing much, and that's because I've been in a horrible depressive funk and wishing I could hibernate the winter away (thanks SAD). It's bad enough this time that doc is having me try out some antidepressants, so hopefully in 4-6 weeks I feel less like poo poo and more like making our house nice.

:(:hf::(

Take plenty of D3 and get a sun lamp.

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

I found our house far less depressing after getting dimmable 6000k bulbs in some rooms and 4000k bulbs everywhere else, probably cost at much as a decent SAD lamp :v:

E: this doesn't deal with actual depression obviously, see your doc.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


We also had a thermocouple fail in our 1996 kitchen tap.

Errant Gin Monks
Oct 2, 2009

"Yeah..."
- Marshawn Lynch
:hawksin:
The first real change we are making is getting rid of the tank heater we have now and replacing it with a big tankless system. More efficient and I don’t have to worry about not being able to fill up the claw foot tub more than once.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Dagen H posted:

:(:hf::(

Take plenty of D3 and get a sun lamp.

cakesmith handyman posted:

I found our house far less depressing after getting dimmable 6000k bulbs in some rooms and 4000k bulbs everywhere else, probably cost at much as a decent SAD lamp :v:

E: this doesn't deal with actual depression obviously, see your doc.

Thanks guys :unsmith:

I've already got a sun lamp that lives on my nightstand, and that's been helpful at vanquishing the gravitational anomaly around my bed that keeps me pressed to the mattress in the morning, but even the sun lamp combined with my :catdrugs: hasn't been particularly effective at helping me deal with the crushing self doubt or extreme emotional fragility (but I can focus on them better!). I talked to my doc last week, and that's when he gave me the antidepressants (he had previously prescribed the sun lamp).

peanut posted:

We also had a thermocouple fail in our 1996 kitchen tap.

Sup other failed 1996 thermocouple :v:

Errant Gin Monks posted:

The first real change we are making is getting rid of the tank heater we have now and replacing it with a big tankless system. More efficient and I don’t have to worry about not being able to fill up the claw foot tub more than once.

I've definitely done some research on water heater options, but I'm still not sold on tankless. The infinite hot water sounds amazing, but I don't particularly like the upfront wait time (our hot water arrives shockingly fast for how old and dumb these pipes are and I'm loathe to do anything to it) and not having any "reserve" of hot water in case something breaks. Our common use cases are ones where we care about hot up front rather than infinite supply. Also concerned about how/if they work during power outages given the electronic components (perk of dumb tank with a pilot light for a brain). But this decision will come once the current water heater actually dies, and if we can pop in a new thermocouple once the crusty old one fails, we might get a few more years out of it.

B-Nasty
May 25, 2005

Queen Victorian posted:

I've definitely done some research on water heater options, but I'm still not sold on tankless.

Tankless are a bit overrated, IMHO. Modern tank water heaters lose very little heat to standby loss, due to how well they are insulated. Another advantage, as you mentioned, to the basic tank models is just how simple and reliable they are. Tankless heaters require a vinegar flush every year or two to stay efficient, which is yet another pain in the rear end chore. There's also a lot of advanced electronics and sensors in the tankless models that if something goes wrong, you're out of hot water until a new board or sensor can be ordered. There's just not much that can go wrong with a basic tank heater.

Meow Meow Meow
Nov 13, 2010

Queen Victorian posted:

Thanks guys :unsmith:

I've already got a sun lamp that lives on my nightstand, and that's been helpful at vanquishing the gravitational anomaly around my bed that keeps me pressed to the mattress in the morning, but even the sun lamp combined with my :catdrugs: hasn't been particularly effective at helping me deal with the crushing self doubt or extreme emotional fragility (but I can focus on them better!). I talked to my doc last week, and that's when he gave me the antidepressants (he had previously prescribed the sun lamp).


Sup other failed 1996 thermocouple :v:


I've definitely done some research on water heater options, but I'm still not sold on tankless. The infinite hot water sounds amazing, but I don't particularly like the upfront wait time (our hot water arrives shockingly fast for how old and dumb these pipes are and I'm loathe to do anything to it) and not having any "reserve" of hot water in case something breaks. Our common use cases are ones where we care about hot up front rather than infinite supply. Also concerned about how/if they work during power outages given the electronic components (perk of dumb tank with a pilot light for a brain). But this decision will come once the current water heater actually dies, and if we can pop in a new thermocouple once the crusty old one fails, we might get a few more years out of it.

I bought a house with a tankless and I ended up installing a 2gal electrical tank in front of it, that got rid of the upfront wait time and because it was almost always being filled by hot water the operating costs of it were almost 0.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

B-Nasty posted:

Tankless are a bit overrated, IMHO. Modern tank water heaters lose very little heat to standby loss, due to how well they are insulated. Another advantage, as you mentioned, to the basic tank models is just how simple and reliable they are. Tankless heaters require a vinegar flush every year or two to stay efficient, which is yet another pain in the rear end chore. There's also a lot of advanced electronics and sensors in the tankless models that if something goes wrong, you're out of hot water until a new board or sensor can be ordered. There's just not much that can go wrong with a basic tank heater.

Yeah this is pretty much my line of thinking on the matter. The limitless hot water and efficiency are enticing, but holy hell, they are exponentially more complex with exponentially more points of failure. On a simple tank, I can replace a thermocouple or gasket or whatever myself, but I can't troubleshoot/repair/replace some proprietary sensor without calling someone (and not have hot water until they are able to come and also make the repair).

We went as basic as possible with our washer and dryer as well. I didn't want a washing machine capable of accessing the internet or displaying error messages, I just wanted a machine that would wash my clothes when I pushed the one button.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Meow Meow Meow posted:

I bought a house with a tankless and I ended up installing a 2gal electrical tank in front of it, that got rid of the upfront wait time and because it was almost always being filled by hot water the operating costs of it were almost 0.

I'd considered a rig like that. Honestly, I'd love to see some sort of hybrid water heater with a tank and insta-heat capabilities that gives you both infinite hot water and a dumb tank fallback/reserve of hot water in case the insta-heat element stops working or the power goes out or something.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Our EcoCute system does that, I think. It's the new standard here. Smart sensors to track peak usage periods but with on-demand heating. It fills the bathtub directly (we also have a bathwater reheating option) so I can shower and fill the bath at the same time. That's very helpful with young kids.

https://www.itomic.co.jp/english/
(Regular home have the small size with fridge-like tank and a/c external unit.)

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004

коммунизм хранится в яичках

Queen Victorian posted:

Welp, we had our first incident with the water heater this weekend. :v:

I was doing dishes and realized the water wasn't all that hot and that the cold wasn't even on. Stopped doing dishes because I still needed to take a shower and wanted to save any remaining warm water in case the water heater was hosed. Husband and I went down to the basement to check it out and the pilot light had gone out for some reason (drafty? dusty?). We followed the procedure on the side of the tank and it fired right back up (thank gently caress it was just the pilot light).

Also, thermocouple looked pretty bad so we'll get a new one next time we go to Home Depot just to have on hand. The water heater will be old enough to drink in a couple months so I guess having some spare parts on standby is a good precaution. And it was convenient that my dad clued me in to the thermocouple failure scenario because recently my parents' water heater seemingly died and then my dad looked at it and just went and got a new thermocouple and it was fine again. And I learned that the water heater in question is the same one my dad installed in 1996 after (re)building the house. :psyduck:

Oh, and sorry I haven't been too active posting here. It's because I haven't been doing much, and that's because I've been in a horrible depressive funk and wishing I could hibernate the winter away (thanks SAD). It's bad enough this time that doc is having me try out some antidepressants, so hopefully in 4-6 weeks I feel less like poo poo and more like making our house nice. And maybe finally applying for jobs that pay more money so I have more to spend on the house.

Definitely time to start thinking replacement, with a 21 year old water heater I bet half the capacity is sediment at this point.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

So the house is doing just fine in terms of warmth and comfort in the brutal cold (gas bill is probably going to suck though), also no frozen pipes or other bullshit. Unlike our friends' house, where the pipes froze at least half a dozen times during their first winter there.

Also, having a vestibule in weather like this is amazing. And radiators for warming up towels and pajamas.

Liquid Communism posted:

Definitely time to start thinking replacement, with a 21 year old water heater I bet half the capacity is sediment at this point.

I've imagined the inside of the tank to look like the shores of Mono Lake, so yeah, probably. Also, now that I think about it, this water heater would have been installed by the previous previous owner, a year or two before he went to a nursing home and put the house up for sale. And given the level of care demonstrated by the following owner (our PO) elsewhere around the house (lol), the water heater was probably not serviced in any way between 2000 and 2016.

I guess we can see about flushing it out (easy enough - basement is unfinished and the floor drain is nearby). And budget for a new one. Still though, as long as we're able to make repairs on/service this one ourselves, and inexpensively, we'll keep it. But if it breaks bad enough that we have to call someone, gently caress that, time for a new one.

mcgreenvegtables
Nov 2, 2004
Yum!

Queen Victorian posted:

So the house is doing just fine in terms of warmth and comfort in the brutal cold (gas bill is probably going to suck though), also no frozen pipes or other bullshit. Unlike our friends' house, where the pipes froze at least half a dozen times during their first winter there.

Also, having a vestibule in weather like this is amazing. And radiators for warming up towels and pajamas.


I've imagined the inside of the tank to look like the shores of Mono Lake, so yeah, probably. Also, now that I think about it, this water heater would have been installed by the previous previous owner, a year or two before he went to a nursing home and put the house up for sale. And given the level of care demonstrated by the following owner (our PO) elsewhere around the house (lol), the water heater was probably not serviced in any way between 2000 and 2016.

I guess we can see about flushing it out (easy enough - basement is unfinished and the floor drain is nearby). And budget for a new one. Still though, as long as we're able to make repairs on/service this one ourselves, and inexpensively, we'll keep it. But if it breaks bad enough that we have to call someone, gently caress that, time for a new one.

Failure mode on these is usually dumping the contents of the tank onto the floor and then as much water as can come out of your supply pipe until you figure it out and get to the shutoff. Seems like a dumb risk to take when this thing is definitely at the end of its life and is going to need to be replaced sometime soon anyway. Another option for replacement is getting an indirect tank that is tied into your existing boiler. Apparently the indirect tanks are better insulated, made of stainless steel, and last 30 years instead of 10. And you have the added bonus of eliminating a second gas burner and associated parts. It is going to be a bit more expensive and require some replumbing of your existing boiler but is definitely something to consider.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

mcgreenvegtables posted:

Indirect water heater

Ooooh... color me VERY intrigued. I wasn't even aware this was a thing. I will present this to my husband when he gets home. It would be way more expensive and definitely something to do preemptively before the current water heater dies (to minimize no-hot-water time while re-plumbing the whole setup), but probably worth it long term. I like the idea of eliminating a whole gas-burning appliance and of a tank that'll last 30 years instead of 10-15.

We would have to do a bunch of pipe rerouting (boiler and current hot water heater are in different rooms/sides of the basement right now), but I would love to move the water heater over to where the boiler is because it's currently right at the bottom of the steps and in the way of everything, while the boiler is off in its own corner not being in the way. Actually, I'm not sure the current water heater spot is it's original position, because the pipework connecting to it is a tangle of PEX and it's an annoying spot for it in general.

Fake edit: went down to the basement to peek at how the boiler plumbing is set up, and observed the pipes for the kitchen radiator and stove/water heater gas supply run through an old doorway (we have multiple rooms/partitions in this basement) - somehow this didn't register before. Door was removed to make way for the pipes. This must have happened in the 20s or so when natural gas replaced coal and wood for heating and cooking. Wood stove being replaced by a gas model would have necessitated the addition of the radiator in the kitchen, and the additional gas line. I think the house always had natural gas, though, but just for lighting (which was what natural gas was used for almost exclusively in the early days of distribution) - there are still several gas light fixtures around the house (non-working). In conclusion: definitely not original location of water heater.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

So I think my part-time cat is getting his side pieces mixed up. He greeted me this evening a ways up the block on the sidewalk and then when I got within the house two doors down, kitty goes up the walkway to the door, and then I'm like, "no kitty that's not my house - this is my house!" And then he went bounding across the snow over to my porch and waited by the door. :3:

We're still not sure if he's someone's cat or a stray, because he came by yesterday afternoon when it was still single digits (but sunny) and jumped up on the window sill wanting food - if he was my cat I wouldn't be letting him outside in those temps. Didn't see him during the height of the polar vortex though, so he was staying out of the worst of the cold somewhere.

tetrapyloctomy
Feb 18, 2003

Okay -- you talk WAY too fast.
Nap Ghost

Queen Victorian posted:

Ooooh... color me VERY intrigued. I wasn't even aware this was a thing.

I have one. My HVAC guy said he's never seen one fail.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Hey guys, I'm feeling MUCH better now and actually have energy and motivation again (Wellbutrin owns) and looking forward to doing some house projects, though right now we're kind of held up by decision paralysis and the winter weather preventing us from doing a bunch of things (like moving radiators to do floors and walls, which requires us to turn off the heat and drain the system).

Gonna get in touch with the window guy again, because we really need to replace the rotten attic window. But with it being a front-facing fancy window (arched with curved mullions and whatnot), we can't throw in some prefab window and call it a day (it looks like poo poo). Also need to pester hubs to call back the Amish contractor we want to hire and also get in touch with his master cabinet maker father in law.

Oh, and the home and garden convention is coming up next month, and we will go there prepared this time, like with a binder for collecting contacts and materials and a . We went last year, but we'd only been in possession of the house for a month and were not yet occupying it, so we had NO idea what we wanted/needed to do, so we aimlessly wandered around and collected several pounds of random catalogs, pamphlets, business cards, and swag. Also sat in a bunch of rocking chairs and sampled whiskey. Fun and informative, but overwhelming. Now that we have a much better idea of the things we need, we can hit the right booths and ask the right questions.

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

You're still going to sit in the rocking chairs sampling whiskey though right?

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

cakesmith handyman posted:

You're still going to sit in the rocking chairs sampling whiskey though right?

Oh of course. Maybe buy some rocking chairs for the porch, and certainly buy whiskey. And definitely collect more swag - my hot pink yardstick is my favorite item from last year, dunno if that can be beat.

Behotti
Apr 30, 2008
Fun Shoe
:hfive: whatup Wellbutrin buddy! Welcome to the family! Keep fighting the good fight.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Behotti posted:

:hfive: whatup Wellbutrin buddy! Welcome to the family! Keep fighting the good fight.

Sup! Yeah, this stuff is great - I'm so glad my doc is keen on cutting to the chase and providing the right med for the situation - explained he wanted to start me on Wellbutrin in particular because it has stimulant-like properties and is the best at fixing SAD-induced fatigue, and is also good for ADHD. He was spot on because it very quickly fixed the fatigue (which I hadn't realized had gotten so bad until I stopped feeling fatigued) and fragile, hyper self-critical state of mind. Husband knew it was working simply from the shift in how I greeted him when he got home from work (I'm always home earlier):

:geno:: Hey sweetie... you're home yay.... I know I said I'd make dinner but I'm so tired and I think I'm coming down with something so we can have the frozen burritos I guess. Except can you operate the microwave? I'll probably do it wrong and I've never been good at microwaving things... :effort:

..and then 4-6 weeks after starting Wellbutrin:

:sun:: Hi sweetie!! Welcome home! How was your day?? I'm going to make us risotto for dinner, and then I'm going to do house drawings/research and other productive stuff! Also I think I'm going to get a gym membership!

I really had no idea I'd become such a downer - it's so easy to lose perspective.

--

As for the home and garden convention, it starts this weekend (oh poo poo :supaburn: ) so we'll gather our questions/to-do checklists and get a binder for collecting contacts/materials. We'll go two days (it's too much for one day, especially if we also want to do the fun stuff like sample rocking chairs and whiskey and watch the live Antiques Roadshow thing). Will definitely post a trip report.

Oh, and the hot water heater's pilot light went out again the other night. We've been experiencing insane winds, so maybe the wind blew in a draft? Basement has some holes in it. Or it was just our old lovely water heater being old and lovely. We're going to pop in that new thermocouple and see how long we can continue delaying having to replace the thing. Doesn't help that my dad has made keeping our respective 90's water heaters alive into a contest and will definitely give me poo poo (in a goodhearted way) if we give up and replace ours while it's still repairable and while his is still working. And speaking of my dad, he recently sent me the most uncharacteristically chipper text message (containing multiple emojis - wtf I didn't even think he knew how to use emojis) about wanting to help us out on the house in any way he can and to let him know what he can do. Taking him up on it to get kitchen design feedback - he's designed some good kitchens (for our family's houses and other projects) and knows a ton about the process. And when I say design, I don't just mean picking finishes and stuff, but EVERYTHING, like dictating the precise locations of all the counter top electrical outlets and determining which ones need to be part of which circuit, specifying exactly how the tops of the cabinets interface with the crown molding, etc. He also said he could probably sell me a retired company pickup for pretty cheap. I need to find out how cheap.

I think my spring project is going to be repointing and re-parging the basement. The repointing is sorely needed, and I also want to see if it helps with the dampness infiltration, as lime mortar has weird water-wicking powers that should at least help stop the spallilng. Want to do this before we drop five figures on a French drain system and IoT sump pumps. If new mortar and a parge coat improves the dampness even some, maybe we won't need such an insane moisture mitigation setup.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Hey everyone, we actually did some stuff and then I forgot to post for three weeks. I'll try to get some pics uploaded later.

We went to the home and garden convention and it was awesome - collected lots of brochures and swag, except this time a lot more focused on what we actually need in the near future.

The main things that happened were me buying a ratcheting limb trimmer on an extendable pole so I can finally trim all the scraggly dead branches off the backyard trees and not have to hire it out, talking to a few fireplace/chimney outfits (they perked right up when we said we had four fireplaces and three chimneys), and got a free assessment/quote from LeafFilter (cool screens for your gutters).

The LeafFilter assessment led us to buying the LeafFilter for our horrible 29' gutters so we don't have to worry about them or climb up a 32' extension ladder to access them regularly. We'd been meaning to fix the gutters/downspouts - this was an area cited by the inspector as needing work sooner rather than later because of bad drainage and water retention around the perimeter of the house caused by bad gutters/downspouts that contributes to basement dampness.

Been wanting to fix up the yard and plant flowers and stuff but it's been really cold. Need to build a raised bed for anything we plan to eat due to lead in the soil and was hoping to do a ledge stone sort of thing instead of just the wood planks. So we need to get to a stone yard and explore options (there were no straight up stone yards at the convention, only landscaping outfits that built things with natural-stone-look cinder blocks).

Welp, hope I remember to post more soon.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Thx for updates, rooting for you!!!!
Now is the best season to do yard work/prep.

Ghostnuke
Sep 21, 2005

Throw this in a pot, add some broth, a potato? Baby you got a stew going!


LeafFilter is fuckin sweet. Saves me from climbing up there to do a lovely job a couple times a year.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

So this weekend I randomly decided to clean up the newel posts this weekend. I've been dusting, but that doesn't make it clean and shiny, only elbow grease does.



So much millgrain and intricate stuff going on, so I grabbed a bunch of q-tips, which actually suck rear end at this because they start falling apart on the first stroke. Need to get some sturdier cleaning/polishing implements.

I was all proud of myself for cleaning the one big newel post, but then remembered it was one of four..





There is more woodwork with these motifs on the wall, but the wall stuff has been painted over. Thank gently caress the newel posts were spared, even though I'll still have to do a spot work and perhaps refinishing because there are paint splatters on all of them because the painters the previous owners used were sloppy as gently caress.



I hope there is a special circle of hell for people who paint intricate woodwork. Stripping all this stuff is going to be a loving bitch. Still gauging whether it would be more cost effective to just have new balusters made or strip/refinish what we have.

Newel post looks pretty nice now:



Gotta get rid of that lovely white paint though. Kinda want to do it now (neighbor has two gallons of leftover stripper she'll give me), but since we have other construction work in our future, wondering if it's better to just leave it under the paint until after, or just wrap it up to protect it during construction.

Oh, and the treads are shot and need serious sanding. I think they are pine. Pretty sure that all the oak flooring in the house was added after it was built. Also the lighting in the foyer is terrible. Need to improve it, especially if all the woodwork goes dark. The current fixture I've identified as being for sale at Home Depot. It's actually not bad-looking, just totally inadequate for the space.

Also, I have an old wooden dresser that is literal garbage (former roommate needed a dresser, so he went out on garbage day eve and dragged in this thing) and in terrible shape, but it is solid wood (seems to be a low-end piece of furniture from the 40s or something), so I figured I'd restore and refinish it as a practice/calibration project for the real woodwork I need to fix. One of my hang ups is going in and irreparably loving something up, hence my desire to practice on the lovely dresser. Can't make it any worse than it is now. And it would be nice to make ourselves a non-lovely looking dresser for one of our guest rooms.

P.S. Made a new catte friend

n0tqu1tesane
May 7, 2003

She was rubbing her ass all over my hands. They don't just do that for everyone.
Grimey Drawer

Queen Victorian posted:

Also, I have an old wooden dresser that is literal garbage (former roommate needed a dresser, so he went out on garbage day eve and dragged in this thing) and in terrible shape, but it is solid wood (seems to be a low-end piece of furniture from the 40s or something), so I figured I'd restore and refinish it as a practice/calibration project for the real woodwork I need to fix. One of my hang ups is going in and irreparably loving something up, hence my desire to practice on the lovely dresser. Can't make it any worse than it is now. And it would be nice to make ourselves a non-lovely looking dresser for one of our guest rooms.

I've been watching this guy's videos lately, and he gives some pretty good insights into stripping/refinishing. He mostly does mid century stuff, but it should still apply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7b_iulx7w

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

n0tqu1tesane posted:

I've been watching this guy's videos lately, and he gives some pretty good insights into stripping/refinishing. He mostly does mid century stuff, but it should still apply.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv7b_iulx7w

Wow thanks! That vid is spot on. I watched a number of his videos yesterday evening - all very informative. I like very much that he states what he's doing and then he just does it. I like learning these sorts of techniques by just watching.

Here's the dresser in question:


The best aspect of it is the neato pulls, but unfortunately I'm missing two and have a broken one, so I'll need a new set (or a tabletop lathe). One of the drawers needs to be reglued (no dovetails here). Other than that, strip, stain, and refinish.

Oh, and there's another piece of furniture that needs some TLC:



This is a cedar-lined chest from the Syracuse Cabinet Company, made in the 1920's. It came with the house and is one of two actually good pieces the PO abandoned (we've been craigslisting the rest, which is all particleboard crap). I was going to unload it originally, but then I looked at it closely and it's a really nice piece (and still has its key and info sheet). Didn't notice the flame grain veneer on the sides until it caught the sun. The top is four-way bookmatched veneer, but the finish is chewed up and in horrible condition. Need to be careful because I don't want to compromise the veneer glue. Anyhow, I'll eventually fix it up and it can go in a bedroom and store linens n' poo poo. Much more advanced project than the dresser.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Pigsfeet on Rye
Oct 22, 2008

I'm meat on the hoof

Queen Victorian posted:

Wow thanks! That vid is spot on. I watched a number of his videos yesterday evening - all very informative. I like very much that he states what he's doing and then he just does it. I like learning these sorts of techniques by just watching.

Here's the dresser in question:


The best aspect of it is the neato pulls, but unfortunately I'm missing two and have a broken one, so I'll need a new set (or a tabletop lathe). One of the drawers needs to be reglued (no dovetails here). Other than that, strip, stain, and refinish.


Is that from J.B. Van Sciver? I have a set from my parents that has a strong resemblance.

  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
  • Post
  • Reply