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Meant to add that when I was a kid and didn't know any better a neighbor kid and I spent an afternoon putting rocks down the pipe into the septic tank in the yard. My dad was super pleased with that one.
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Dec 27, 2019 22:09
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Been walking around my house a lot being home on paternity leave and I got the sinking (get it?!) feeling that my floors have shifted ever so slightly. I wanted to start a basement remodel after new year but not with a foundation expert first 
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Dec 27, 2019 23:25
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Steve French posted:My theory: the backed up water in the shower suddenly draining all at once passed by the junction with the kitchen sink drain, the clog was just upstream of that junction, and the suction from the rushing water pulled it out after I loosened it with the snake? I went through that once with my my kitchen sink. Ended up snaking it to break up whatever blockage was there, then filling the sink which was running slow with water using the stopper. Pulled the stopper and let the added hydrostatic pressure push it clear to the next larger section. To my utter surprise it worked!
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Dec 28, 2019 03:58
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Niiiice snake those holes, boys
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Dec 28, 2019 07:06
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Frinkahedron posted:Been walking around my house a lot being home on paternity leave and I got the sinking (get it?!) feeling that my floors have shifted ever so slightly. I wanted to start a basement remodel after new year but not with a foundation expert first What age is the home? Creaky and/or bouncy floors are different from foundation settling. If your foundation is having bad issues, you'll typically see cracks appear in the vertical surfaces before the tilted floors begin.
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Dec 28, 2019 18:28
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HycoCam posted:What age is the home? Creaky and/or bouncy floors are different from foundation settling. If your foundation is having bad issues, you'll typically see cracks appear in the vertical surfaces before the tilted floors begin. Also where are you located? A settling foundation is different from cracking due to expansive soil (for example)
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Dec 28, 2019 22:04
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Home sperges, please share with me your opinions on the exciting topic of window blinds. I've got 11 windows that need blinds and I'd really like to spend less than $1000. Got a site you've bought from that you had a good or bad experience with? Have a style of blinds you think is the best? Think I should be calling them shades and not blinds?? Plz share I am leaning towards cellular shades (blackout versions in the bedroom) but I'm not really that thrilled about them. The only thing I know for sure is vertical blinds are the worst.
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Dec 29, 2019 15:43
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Sirotan posted:Home sperges, please share with me your opinions on the exciting topic of window blinds. I've got 11 windows that need blinds and I'd really like to spend less than $1000. Got a site you've bought from that you had a good or bad experience with? Have a style of blinds you think is the best? Think I should be calling them shades and not blinds?? Plz share Blinds.com cordless bali cell shades and pay for the measurements + install ($150 whole dollars). They are great. You can always cover them with curtains if you don't like the specific look. It won't be under $1000 though, short of ultra lovely minis no matter what, that's under $100/window without knowing their sizes.
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Dec 29, 2019 15:55
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Sirotan posted:Home sperges, please share with me your opinions on the exciting topic of window blinds. I've got 11 windows that need blinds and I'd really like to spend less than $1000. Got a site you've bought from that you had a good or bad experience with? Have a style of blinds you think is the best? Think I should be calling them shades and not blinds?? Plz share Cellular shades are probably the best for insulation purposes. They are also great for blackout purposes, with the caveat that you are always going to get a little light leakage around the edges of the window if they are set into the opening (as opposed to above/in front of the opening so they can be wider than the window). They work plenty well for sleep purposes, but might not be sufficient if you are trying to like block glare on a screen or something. For that you will want curtains. You probably won't be able to do this under $1k with cellular shades. You might be able to find some roller shades that work ok as blackouts. We have Bali shades we got from Home Depot and they work really well and look decent.
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Dec 29, 2019 16:06
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H110Hawk posted:Blinds.com cordless bali cell shades and pay for the measurements + install ($150 whole dollars). They are great. You can always cover them with curtains if you don't like the specific look. It won't be under $1000 though, short of ultra lovely minis no matter what, that's under $100/window without knowing their sizes. They are pretty tiny windows (6 of them are 27" x 52", the rest a mix), in the style and site you mention it looks like I can get one for about $90, corded. Not too bad. I'll measure and install them myself to save some cash. How do you feel about pull-down vs corded? Hubis posted:We have Bali shades we got from Home Depot and they work really well and look decent. Is 'bali' just a specific brand/style of cellular shade? Sirotan fucked around with this message at 16:13 on Dec 29, 2019 |
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Dec 29, 2019 16:11
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HycoCam posted:What age is the home? Creaky and/or bouncy floors are different from foundation settling. If your foundation is having bad issues, you'll typically see cracks appear in the vertical surfaces before the tilted floors begin. Built in 1980. It definitely feels like floors are worse off than when we bought the house 3 years ago, but no new vertical cracks. There’s a couple thin stair stepping cracks in the basement cinderblocks but those have been there since we bought the place. What would cause floors to start shifting? (Or am I crazy and should just get a contractor to look?) Hubis posted:Also where are you located? A settling foundation is different from cracking due to expansive soil (for example) Southwest Virginia. If it matters, we’re on a slope, so the west wall of the basement is fully underground and the east wall is not and we have a garage and a backdoor on that side. Frinkahedron fucked around with this message at 16:19 on Dec 29, 2019 |
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Dec 29, 2019 16:13
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Sirotan posted:They are pretty tiny windows (6 of them are 27" x 52", the rest a mix), in the style and site you mention it looks like I can get one for about $90, corded. Not too bad. I'll measure and install them myself to save some cash. We have cordless throughout the house save for 1 window where it would be hard for my wife to actually operate it. The cord has a good strong feeling. We greatly prefer cordless, and if you have kids or cats or birds you never have to deal with them futzing with them. My kid beats up his cordless ones and so far so good. He can slide them up himself, I don't think he has realized he can pull them down which is for the best. Definitely get a basket together and call to get a better deal. Their phone reps are great, but you will get an occasional nag call if you stall out midway through the process. I am generally pretty mad at nags but it's honestly not bad. They are home depot, so you can indeed go to the store and look at them if you want. They also will send you (I think free) samples of a bunch of options for you to look at. Edit: this is the level of light leakage that you should expect. These are double duty blackout + light filtering. 
H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Dec 29, 2019 |
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Dec 29, 2019 16:18
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H110Hawk posted:They are home depot, so you can indeed go to the store and look at them if you want. They also will send you (I think free) samples of a bunch of options for you to look at. Oh neat! I'd been holding off applying for the Home Depot credit card until I had a $1k purchase to make there so I could get the $100 off. Maybe I can finally take advantage of that.
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Dec 29, 2019 16:25
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Sirotan posted:Oh neat! I'd been holding off applying for the Home Depot credit card until I had a $1k purchase to make there so I could get the $100 off. Maybe I can finally take advantage of that. I would price it on the phone and in person if you're going to do that deal - make sure the store is giving you the better deal. I bet with a best offer from the phone printed they would beat it if you sign up for a cc right then. Kinda a jerk move for the commission driven phone rep but  Come to think of it check Lowes as well. Their card is 5% off. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 17:01 on Dec 29, 2019 |
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Dec 29, 2019 16:57
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I'm not a big fan of cell blinds aesthetically but they are at least available in different colours. They seem to work well for light blocking etc. IMO the best way to have 100% light blocking is for them to run in tracks or at least generally with the edges behind some kind of strip so you don't get light leak. My go to will likely be inset blinds plus outset curtains.
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Dec 29, 2019 17:55
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What's your preferred type, if not cellular?
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Dec 29, 2019 18:04
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Sirotan posted:What's your preferred type, if not cellular? Visually? Either plantation shutters..  bamboo..  or Venetian..  There's a lot of lovely Venetian blinds so gotta make sure they're good quality. I'm intending to make some plantation shutters for downstairs, and put them behind blackout curtains, though I'm also a fan of using shear white fabric for privacy inset curtains because I like the way they light up and billow when the window's open in the summer (NB no aircon here).
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Dec 29, 2019 18:11
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For our nursery we did inset blackout + blackout curtains and it gets real dark in there. I got the cell shades from (no poo poo) jcpenny online for about $65 each with a series of coupons, I’m pretty sure they’re never not on sale. These were for 30x55 windows.
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Dec 29, 2019 18:40
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Frinkahedron posted:Built in 1980. It definitely feels like floors are worse off than when we bought the house 3 years ago, but no new vertical cracks. There’s a couple thin stair stepping cracks in the basement cinderblocks but those have been there since we bought the place. What would cause floors to start shifting? (Or am I crazy and should just get a contractor to look?) Depends on how thin the stairstep cracks are. If there is any bowing or block displacement/movement, you need to get that checked out. If you're really worried about it, get a structural engineer out to look rather than a contractor. A engineer isn't trying to sell you work, and at least in theory, they are staking their professional licensing on correctly diagnosing your problem. It will probably cost a few hundred to a grand to get a stamped report, but they might do it cheaper if it's just eyeballing and making recommendations. The cost sounds like it might be worth it to you for peace of mind.
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Dec 29, 2019 19:35
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My bathroom sinks have this peel & stick caulk on them and they're starting to unstick in places. Can I peel this stuff up and replace it with real caulk or is there a chance the sinks are designed for this stuff in particular?
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Dec 29, 2019 22:10
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Jaded Burnout posted:Visually? Either plantation shutters.. I agree with all of this, but will also add Roman Shades to that list (e: which is basically what those bamboo shades are, but generalized)
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Dec 29, 2019 22:47
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just another posted:Can I peel this stuff up and replace it with real caulk
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Dec 30, 2019 00:20
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I'm having wood floors installed (solid 3/4" hard maple Preverco, if it matters) and we've started ripping the old carpet out. We have a few little creaks and squeaks here and there and I just want to do anything I can to make sure we get the best possible outcome while we've got one shot at this since the new flooring isn't ever going to come up during my lifetime, at least. The subfloor is tongue and grooved (maybe it always is?) OSB, I ASSume 3/4" but haven't been able to tell fer sure. Might be able to with a little more effort. Floor joists are the 2x4 truss style, 19.5" on center, so at least I should have a nice wide surface to screw into. I've read roughly a million websites and rando DIYer forum posts and found more conflicting info than I would have expected, including at least one person saying drywall screws were totally good for this which has not been my experience (brittle, heads prone to twisting off). Also found at least a few people saying finish screws were good but that seems like a bad idea to me due to their tiny head diameter. Saw maybe a couple people/websites saying to do two screws at/near each location, at opposing angles. For some reason this appeals to the physics/trigonometry 101 portion of my brain but at the moment I'm not inclined to do it due to meaning the screws have to be kinda rammed in there more so that an edge doesnt stick up past the subfloor surface. Saw one person say that screwing your subfloor down was a great idea but you absolutely needed to pull all the old nails up, which was obviously the ranting of a schizophrenic. Going to have the floor installed perpendicular to the joists. Saw recommendations for #8, 10, and 12 for this. Went with #10 just because 8 seemed a little skinny when I was looking at them at Home Depot. This is the screw I got. The top ~3/4" isn't threaded which is what I want from what I understand. Planning on going every 8". Or maybe 12". I don't really care about the cost or time involved so I guess 8" is probably better. https://spax.us/products/multi-purpose-construction-screws/t-star-plus-flat-head-hcr-x  Any tips? Advice? Something I'm doing wrong?
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Dec 30, 2019 00:20
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bird with big dick posted:I'm having wood floors installed (solid 3/4" hard maple Preverco, if it matters) and we've started ripping the old carpet out. We have a few little creaks and squeaks here and there and I just want to do anything I can to make sure we get the best possible outcome while we've got one shot at this since the new flooring isn't ever going to come up during my lifetime, at least. Sounds legit. I haven't finished doing all mine so I can't be 100% on the results, but IMO (and I'm sorry to say this after you bought your screws) but spax do an even better one for this purpose: https://www.toolstation.com/spax-wirox-t-star-plus-flooring-screw/p31871 aka spax renovation screws. They have a threaded shank, then plain, then threaded again at the top, which, for specific reasons I don't know, does a better job also. Another note is that my subfloor panels have "glue joints" or similar written on them, so might be worth considering that yourself, in addition to the screws. My builder went with generic wood screws along one side of each panel, one screw per joist that it crosses. I'm replacing their screws with the aforementioned spax ones, and I'm adding another opposite. So I'm going from pre:___|_______|___ | | - -|x - - -|x - | | | | - -|x - - -|x - ___|_______|___ | | pre:___|_______|___ | | - *|* - - *|* - | | | | - *|* - - *|* - ___|_______|___ | |
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Dec 30, 2019 00:47
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Every time my mom drives up from Texas she brings whatever she can fit in her car from a pile of tools, screws, and other useful items I picked out from my late dad’s workshop. This trip had a cheap 12V Ryobi cordless which is perfect for most basic household tasks. I was tired of having to go to the garage for a drill from the second floor when I needed one so I mounted it in the top cabinet of the second floor laundry room. 
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Dec 30, 2019 02:30
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bird with big dick posted:Saw one person say that screwing your subfloor down was a great idea but you absolutely needed to pull all the old nails up, which was obviously the ranting of a schizophrenic. As with many ramblings of the insane there is probably a nugget of truth here that you should check for nails which have popped out from the screwing, pull them. Look for serious sagging while you're at it, use the nails as guides. Now is your chance to replace the decking that has issues.
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Dec 30, 2019 02:36
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devmd01 posted:Every time my mom drives up from Texas she brings whatever she can fit in her car from a pile of tools, screws, and other useful items I picked out from my late dad’s workshop. This trip had a cheap 12V Ryobi cordless which is perfect for most basic household tasks. IDF and tool closet. Nice. Also, nice multmode run. I'm glad I'm not the only one with residential fiber.
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Dec 30, 2019 03:22
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I’m now wondering if I should consider putting 1/2 plywood over my 18mm OSB while I’ve got the chance. My floors have always seemed excessively bouncy to me. My last house had TJIs which I believe are stiffer than trusses plus it’s possible my previous house was also just built better. Apparently putting down a second layer of flooring is somewhat common to eliminate some bounce. It isn’t always recommended as a possible solution but does come up a fair amount of the time, and I’m seeing it said that even 1/4” plywood helps quite a bit. Maybe the flooring itself will add a fair amount of stiffness compared to the carpet it’s replacing, being 3/4” and tongue in groove and nailed down. Goddamn cheap rear end home builders.
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Dec 30, 2019 19:30
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bird with big dick posted:I’m now wondering if I should consider putting 1/2 plywood over my 18mm OSB while I’ve got the chance. My floors have always seemed excessively bouncy to me. My last house had TJIs which I believe are stiffer than trusses plus it’s possible my previous house was also just built better. It will help, but the best way to deal with bounce is from below. Is this a first floor with basement/crawlspace under? If so, you could do some blocking between the joists with cut pieces of 2x10 (or whatever your joists are) wedged perpendicular between them in the middle of the span alternating a slight offset for Simpson 3" lag screws. If there are particular areas of bounce, you could also sister up another joist before installing the blocking.
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Dec 30, 2019 19:45
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bird with big dick posted:I’m now wondering if I should consider putting 1/2 plywood over my 18mm OSB while I’ve got the chance. My floors have always seemed excessively bouncy to me. My last house had TJIs which I believe are stiffer than trusses plus it’s possible my previous house was also just built better. I’ve been considering doing something similar in my 1920s house. It was built with no subfloor over an open crawl space and I’ve hoped it might help keep the humidity down inside in the summer. The finished floor/subfloor is really nice, straightgrain heart pine I would be sad to lose, but it’s pretty termite-eaten in places. E: ^^^Also what B-Nasty said. I know most of my squish is between the joists and not the joists themselves. They’re 24”OC and the floor between is not in the best shape and is therefore squishy. If you can see the joists from below, invite your heaviest friend over to walk around and see if it is the joists that move or the subfloor between the joists. Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Dec 30, 2019 |
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Dec 30, 2019 19:56
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B-Nasty posted:It will help, but the best way to deal with bounce is from below. Is this a first floor with basement/crawlspace under? If so, you could do some blocking between the joists with cut pieces of 2x10 (or whatever your joists are) wedged perpendicular between them in the middle of the span alternating a slight offset for Simpson 3" lag screws. If there are particular areas of bounce, you could also sister up another joist before installing the blocking. Finished walkout basement underneath it. I probably won’t do it and it’ll probably be fine but if I don’t do it and it sucks im gonna be real bummed. I’m at work now but i’ll take a look at it some more tonight and think about it. I want to look at the transitions to the tiled areas and think how much an extra 1/2 will impact them. I’ve got a table saw and it seems like this is something I could easily knock out over a weekend for maybe $500 in materials so I definitely need to think about doing it. I’m guessing the flooring will stiffen it enough that I’ll be happy I just don’t know for sure.
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Dec 30, 2019 21:01
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 Can anyone confirm that this is a carpenter ant, or if there are any other possibilities? Probably 3/8 inch long, maybe a half inch. In the mountains near CA/NV border if that makes any difference.
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Dec 31, 2019 02:17
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I want to install a few basic light fixtures in my attic to make it easier to work up there, install other things, etc. When running romex from one light fixture to the next, should I be running it up a truss, to the junction box, and then back down before crossing to the next location, or can I run the wire overhead? This will be perpendicular to the trusses.obviously having exposed wire overhead could snag on things or get in the way, so maybe running it overhead is already a stupid idea. But I also see how running the wire up and down the truss for each light could burn an extra 5-6 ft of wire per fixture. I have found a few forum posts elsewhere talking about stapling down romex every four feet when running perpendicular to joists/trusses, but I'm really not sure what the accepted installation technique is for putting up some overhead-ish lights.
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Dec 31, 2019 02:26
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Jaded Burnout posted:Sounds legit. I actually saw that sort of screw made by GDK at home depot before I bought the ones that I've got and I avoided it because: 1. I don't really understand how or why it works. 2. I'd be worried about being able to tell if I missed the joist. 3. I'd be worried about those upper threads tearing the poo poo out of the OSB if I do miss a joist. Started screwing and I'm actually feeling quite a bit better. One of the areas I'd identified as a potential problem area (feels wonkier than the rest of the flooring) it turns out one of the OSB panels was very close to the edge of the joist (which is pretty loving lovely of the builders considering all they have to do is hit a 3.5" truss top chord rather than 1.5" dimensional lumber) making quite possibly every single nail miss the joist. Screwed it in about every 8", had to do it pretty close to the edge of the sheet and also did it at a bit of an angle to get a little bit more of the meat of the 2x4, but it feels a world different now and it'll be even better once there's 3/4" solid wood going perpendicular across the top of it. I know I could make it even better by cutting out part of that 4x8 and replacing it, but I don't think it's necessary. Thanks for the advice everyone I'm feeling a lot better now.
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Dec 31, 2019 03:52
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Steve French posted:
Based on my expert google image searching, it certainly might be.
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Dec 31, 2019 04:48
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Motronic posted:IDF and tool closet. Nice. Thanks. I plan on putting in POE exterior cameras at some point in the future, so it only made sense to have an IDF upstairs to handle them separate from the main rack. I helped a friend run some speaker wire in his new house and he hooked me up with 3x100m OM4 he had left over in return. I also ran 4 cat6 while I was at it.  I tend to err on the side of overkill.
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Dec 31, 2019 14:19
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bird with big dick posted:Started screwing and I'm actually feeling quite a bit better. New thread title?
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Dec 31, 2019 14:23
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Happy New year everyone! Forgive the slightly self indulgent photo but this was the year we finally bought our own house, and while there's a lot we want to improve I cant wait to spend the next year doing it!
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Dec 31, 2019 15:15
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I don't understand how bugs don't flood houses in tropical areas without window screens.
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Dec 31, 2019 15:31
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falz posted:I don't understand how bugs don't flood houses in tropical areas without window screens. They do, although one advantage of the heatwave is that it's been so dry there are less mozzies. The previous owners had painted all the windows shut maybe for that reason (or just that they enjoyed living in a smokers den) but I've opened them up and built screens which are actually on them in that photo. Edit: I quite like how the size of the windows means that from a few feet away you can't see the screens I made. 
Senor Tron fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Dec 31, 2019 |
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Dec 31, 2019 17:16
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