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yippee cahier posted:How deep is that drywall screw? Wait for the plumber before answering... Thirded. It seems like someone either forgot the stud guard or used too long a drywall screw.
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Nov 14, 2020 04:13
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nwin posted:Not looking to solve the problem, but trying to find out who to contact. Any ideas?
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Nov 14, 2020 04:17
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FogHelmut posted:Thanks that was enough to find the part. Right, it’s not supposed to be covered. Correct answer was to extend the cover up a few inches and pour around that, which I suspect the water department would have gladly done if I’d asked beforehand. But the forms weren’t in place for the front half and I thought the stub out was high enough based on where things were excavated. So I hosed up and never talked to the contractor about it before everything was poured.  H110Hawk posted:Rotary hammer drill a drain in it? I’ve got a decent rotary hammer I could punch a hole in there with, but I don’t want to do that and have water eroding the base under the slab. I just want to level it out so it drains back to the street, but have it accessible. I guess put a sleeve around the shutoff and add a bag of quickrete over top?
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Nov 14, 2020 05:32
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Turns out my parents' unfinished basement has a good scattering of dried cat poo poo. The floor is concrete with chipping paint. My plan of attack: 1) gloves and respirator 2) get a big paint scraper and chip off what can chip off 3) rent this beast from Home Depot It is overkill, I would rent a smaller model if they had it, but they don't. And it's better than spending hours on my hands and knees. Anything else I'm not thinking of? Any suggestions on how to get a 90-lb unwieldy thing down a flight of stairs? There is an external bulkhead, access won't be a problem, but I sure wish I could have a friend come help. I can lift 90lbs but stairs aren't ideal.
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Nov 14, 2020 07:45
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:Turns out my parents' unfinished basement has a good scattering of dried cat poo poo. The floor is concrete with chipping paint. Down is easy. Gravity guarantees success. Up on the other hand... Buy some 2x6 or 2x8 16'ers to use as running boards. Remember to bring something to use as a flag when it hangs out the back of your vehicle. Why not just use a mop? It's concrete.
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Nov 14, 2020 07:50
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It's so dried and ground into the rough concrete. A mop will take forever and spread it around. The goal is to really get rid of the cat poo poo and get the floor sanitized. I'm not as worried about up, just get my shoulder behind it and shove. I'm more concerned about it getting away from me on the down.
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Nov 14, 2020 08:04
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Wouldn't a pressure washer work instead?
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Nov 14, 2020 11:19
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A pressure washer is going to get the poo poo everywhere. I’ve never used one of those cleaners before but have cleaned up some concrete floors and it really is elbow grease with scrubbers and a sponge. It may not be hard to do if you find a good cleaner that can sit on everything and eat away at things and make it easier to lift off the floor. That Home Depot rental is fairly cheap though, there’s probably some hidden cost like the shampoo isn’t included or something. I rented a jackhammer from them awhile back and I had to pay an extra $10 to rent the bits.
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Nov 14, 2020 13:18
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Steam cleaner.
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Nov 14, 2020 13:23
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nwin posted:Any ideas? There really isn't much more The main way to reduce water ingress is to get the water away from the house. Step 1 proper grading away from the house. In your case. Step 2. Get that sump pump from dumping water close to the house.
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Nov 14, 2020 15:00
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So I'm going to be replacing the ignighter in my oven for the third time in 6 years. Also, the digital display has dead/dying cells. Should I be looking at a replacement?
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Nov 14, 2020 16:18
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Is the cat poo poo really stuck on there? Unless they were blowing really loose movements, most cat feces turns into loose Tootsie Rolls / rock logs within a day or two. I'd wear a mask and gloves, get in there and shovel or pick it up & bag it. Then scrub the slab down with a general-purpose cleaning agent in hot water with a scrub brush on a broom handle, finish with a rag mop and, after it dries, mist down the entire slab with a 10:1 water:bleach solution from a windex bottle of small pump sprayer to sterilize. The concrete floor cleaner may work, but is overkill, based on what you are describing.
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Nov 14, 2020 16:21
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I think part of the issue is the number of separate jobs that have to be done. 1) chunks up (by hand) 2) hot water down to hydrate what's left 3) scrub to loosen it 4) suck up the water/poo poo mixture 5) another pass of #3-4 to sanitize If I'm boiling water and carrying jugs up and down, #2 could take a seriously long time. #4 is another stumbling block, I'm not sacrificing every towel in the house, so that would mean renting a wet vac, which has most of the negatives of the cleaner rental. mobby_6kl posted:Wouldn't a pressure washer work instead? The Dave posted:That Home Depot rental is fairly cheap though, there’s probably some hidden cost like the shampoo isn’t included or something. I rented a jackhammer from them awhile back and I had to pay an extra $10 to rent the bits. PainterofCrap posted:Is the cat poo poo really stuck on there? Unless they were blowing really loose movements, most cat feces turns into loose Tootsie Rolls / rock logs within a day or two. I hear you guys saying elbow grease can do it, but I straight-up don't have the time and I'm rehabbing a knee injury. I'll give it a shot in one area and see if it goes much faster than I expect, but I'm not sure. I think the perfect solution would be renting this smaller model, but Home Depot doesn't offer it and I don't know anywhere else that rents tools (Lowe's doesn't). If there are any other labor-saving solutions, I would be down for those too.
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Nov 14, 2020 17:31
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Anne Whateley posted:I think part of the issue is the number of separate jobs that have to be done. You could search for “equipment rental *your city*” and see what comes up. A place like that might have a wider selection of cleaning devices. As for getting a wet vac, I can’t recommend having even a small shop-vac enough. Saved me from hand-cleaning mixed household waste water in my old poo poo rental more than once. I’m not sure it’s the right tool for this job but it is for many others.
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Nov 14, 2020 17:36
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Anne Whateley posted:It's so dried and ground into the rough concrete. A mop will take forever and spread it around. The goal is to really get rid of the cat poo poo and get the floor sanitized. You should not stand below your load trying to go up stairs. That is a short path to it or you slipping, sliding down the stairs (remember our friend gravity is always there to help), and being pinned under a 90lb machine with some number of broken bones. You could make it less dangerous by attaching ratchet straps/comealong to the top of it and going step by step click by click but eh don't. I don't care how big and strong you are you're one misplaced step from being a puddle at the bottom. Either way renting it is the nuclear option but bleach will sanitize, scrubbers will loosen, and a hepa vac (they make shop vac hepa filters, I have one) will suck up the microfine cat poo poo you reasonably don't want to inhale or have laying around.
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Nov 14, 2020 17:52
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tater_salad posted:There really isn't much more Yeah here’s a horrible drawing I made looking at it from the side.  So it seems the two options are to grade everything towards the house where the sump pump inlet is located on the right. Or to install a new sump pump under the patio and grade the dirt away from the house.
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Nov 14, 2020 18:10
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Here’s another question, this time for estimating construction costs. I think our house used to be a 4 bedroom with the master bedroom right next to a guest bedroom. At some point they decided to break the wall down and have an add-on to the master bedroom. We’ve got no use for that space and would like to put the wall back up and use it for an office. It’s got an HVAC Duct, it’s own window, and it’s own door, which is what leads me to believe that a wall used to separate the two spaces. Here’s a picture of the two rooms connected. Any idea what I’d be looking at spending for someone to put a wall back up? No outlets or anything, just some drywall, 2x4’s, and some molding on the bottom for the trim I’m guessing. I’d paint it myself. 
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Nov 14, 2020 18:32
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nwin posted:Yeah here’s a horrible drawing I made looking at it from the side. You'd want to grade everything away from the house and not put a sump pump anywhere outside. You should not have that section of diet that dips down by your foundation..
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Nov 14, 2020 18:44
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tater_salad posted:You'd want to grade everything away from the house and not put a sump pump anywhere outside. You should not have that section of diet that dips down by your foundation.. Yeah I can’t tell if that section by the foundation was man made on purpose or not...there’s a few dips underneath but they look like a fox or a dog would have gotten down there and dug it out themselves. I’ve seen a fox since I’ve been here and the previous owner had dogs. So if we move to grade everything away from the house, how would that work? The rest of the backyard is pretty flat and runs back to a forest which is also flat, so I don’t know how practical it would be to have the entire thing graded. Why wouldn’t we want to install a pump outside? It seems like that would help collect the water in a central location and then redistribute it elsewhere without having to grade everything. I’m renting this place and the landlord is in another state so I’m trying to ask all the right questions and look at all the possibilities. I’m not paying for the work to be done but I also don’t want to tell him the problem is “x” when in reality the problem is “x” and “y”.
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Nov 14, 2020 18:54
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nwin posted:I’m renting this place and the landlord is in another state so I’m trying to ask all the right questions and look at all the possibilities. I’m not paying for the work to be done but I also don’t want to tell him the problem is “x” when in reality the problem is “x” and “y”. You should be telling him that the problem is the basement is flooding. Full stop. You are renting.
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Nov 14, 2020 19:45
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Motronic posted:You should be telling him that the problem is the basement is flooding. Full stop. You are renting. But the basement isn’t flooding. The water isn’t getting to the sump pump in the basement. Because of this, the backyard is flooding. Regardless, I get your point. I should tell him that and let him deal with it. But if he’s asking me to hire someone and look at it, I don’t know who to hire, which was what my original question was. I had a landscaping company come out first and they refused to look at the sump pump/basement area, and I’ve got another landscaper coming tomorrow. I’d think it’s more a landscaping issue than a basement issue since water is just pooling up outside, but it’s also weird that water used to come into the sump pump in the basement and now it doesn’t anymore. nwin fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Nov 14, 2020 |
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Nov 14, 2020 20:19
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you're renting. you're not supposed to design a solution, you're supposed to provide information in a timely manner.
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Nov 14, 2020 20:25
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Motronic posted:You are renting. pmchem posted:you're renting. Can't be emphasized enough. Neither your money nor your time should go into this. Your landlord should be the one calling people to figure it out.
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Nov 14, 2020 20:33
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tetrapyloctomy posted:Can't be emphasized enough. Neither your money nor your time should go into this. Your landlord should be the one calling people to figure it out. Yeah I guess you guys are right. It was his decision to rent and be located in another state. I guess I just try and put myself in the owner’s shoes and I’d hope that the renter would try and paint a decent picture of what’s going on and maybe make a few phone calls since I wouldn’t be in a position to come over and check things out myself. And definitely not putting any money into this. The only time spent was on the forums and going out to take some pictures.
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Nov 14, 2020 20:41
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nwin posted:But if he’s asking me to hire someone and look at it Then you tell him you can't do that because you are not a general contractor. He needs to make the property you are renting correct and needs to do it on his own with your only input being to provide reasonable access for contractor as required.
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Nov 14, 2020 20:51
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Update: my dad has duct-taped a postage-stamp-sized grill brush to a dowel so now we are all set  e: backstory: I live in an apartment in NYC, my parents live in the middle of nowhere. My mom (who usually does everything) is away taking care of other relatives and my dad isn't super great at caring for himself, so I came to take basic care of him and the house. But he was alone for a month first. I knew stairs were getting hard for him, but I didn't know apparently he just didn't ever go to the basement, which is where the litter boxes are, so the cats went rogue. This whole "look I fixed thing" is extremely mychildhood.txt. Dad never wanted to spend $10 on a purpose-built solution if he could jury-rig something that would end up costing $20 and a day of manual labor for mediocre results. It took me a long time and some real help to get out of that mindset. While I'm mostly making the decisions here for now, unfortunately the car is his so he has some level of veto power. I can order poo poo online, but a $1.5k scrubber is not among those things. Anne Whateley fucked around with this message at 21:35 on Nov 14, 2020 |
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Nov 14, 2020 21:17
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nwin posted:Yeah I guess you guys are right. It was his decision to rent and be located in another state. I guess I just try and put myself in the owner’s shoes and I’d hope that the renter would try and paint a decent picture of what’s going on and maybe make a few phone calls since I wouldn’t be in a position to come over and check things out myself. You're being nice, that's certainly nice, but you should find out if your landlord even cares that the backyard is flooding. It's good will to be eyes and ears for the people they send to look at it, and help as a bullshit detector, occasional picture taker, and verbal/email updater but in the end it's a job you're paying someone else to do via your rent. They might tell you to piss off and wait for it to dry out, which then has its own decision tree associated with it.
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Nov 14, 2020 21:32
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H110Hawk posted:You're being nice, that's certainly nice, but you should find out if your landlord even cares that the backyard is flooding. It's good will to be eyes and ears for the people they send to look at it, and help as a bullshit detector, occasional picture taker, and verbal/email updater but in the end it's a job you're paying someone else to do via your rent. They might tell you to piss off and wait for it to dry out, which then has its own decision tree associated with it. Yeah the guy cares about his lawn and was glad I brought it up. At first he said “let me know if it keeps up. I’m willing to throw $400 on someone to do some digging”, and he was a bit shocked that the first quote came back at $2500 (digging a trench about 70 feet to lengthen the sump pump piping). I told him that it’s obviously up to him and I just wanted him to be aware of what’s happening because if I was the owner and came back to a hosed up backyard with no knowledge, I’d be a little pissed. The main issue it’s creating for me is I’m responsible for lawn maintenance. When it’s this wet, the lawnmower is just tearing up all the grass even if it goes a week without raining.
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Nov 14, 2020 21:39
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nwin posted:Yeah the guy cares about his lawn and was glad I brought it up. At first he said “let me know if it keeps up. I’m willing to throw $400 on someone to do some digging” So he also has unreasonable expectations about what work costs. That should inform your decisions going forward. nwin posted:The main issue it’s creating for me is I’m responsible for lawn maintenance. When it’s this wet, the lawnmower is just tearing up all the grass even if it goes a week without raining. Perfect. Tell him you can't do what you agreed to because his property is deficient.
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Nov 14, 2020 21:49
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Does a pressure treated bottom plate on concrete in a basement need to have its end treated if cut? It's close but not really on the concrete... but is it too close?
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Nov 15, 2020 03:47
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Jenkl posted:Does a pressure treated bottom plate on concrete in a basement need to have its end treated if cut? The whole board is impregnated with the treatment with pressure. No.
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Nov 15, 2020 03:52
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For ground contact it's a good idea. I wouldn't worry about it in a basement.
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Nov 15, 2020 04:01
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Jenkl posted:Does a pressure treated bottom plate on concrete in a basement need to have its end treated if cut? No, and no part of it should be touching the concrete anyway including the sides. You should have a sill gasket the entire way along. While we're doing building 101 class, please make sure you aren't putting anything other than corrosion resistant fasteners into this PT lubmer. Hot dipped zinc, galvanized, stainless....... And not just how you're fastening the plate to the floor. This is also how you fasten the studs to them. I've seen entirely too many basement partition walls that are basically not connected anymore because of idiot contractors using the wrong fasteners. Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:13 on Nov 15, 2020 |
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Nov 15, 2020 04:07
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Yeah there's plastic under the PT, all fasteners are appropriate (hot dipped for studs tapcons for baseeplate to floor). I just saw the end cut and it got me wondering how close is close when it comes to wood picking up moisture.
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Nov 15, 2020 14:56
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So the bottom of these panels is looking a little weathered and I have a few questions for you wise, kind souls: 1) What's the best thing I could do to spruce it up? 2) What's causing it? 3) Should I be worried? The basement does not smell like mildew and I have so far detected zero moisture intrusion.    
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Nov 15, 2020 20:01
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Are the ends of that paneling sitting directly on bare concrete? I bet they are and that's your answer as to what's causing it.
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Nov 15, 2020 20:19
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Christoph posted:So the bottom of these panels is looking a little weathered and I have a few questions for you wise, kind souls: 1) Six-inch baseboard. If possible, remove a bottom inch or so on that paneling before you do, and install the baseboard about a quarter-inch off of the floor as well. 2) surface/subsurface water, either coming down or through (or both) the foundation walls. 3) if it happens more than a couple times a year, then you will need to get used to the concept of having a damp basement. Keep a dehumidifier down there, and make sure anything that you value is sitting a couple inches minimum off of the slab. If it's rare, then I wouldn't worry unduly about it. I either case, it's manageable. If you start seeing mold, mist the sources, and the rest of the basement occassionally, with a mild bleach solution (10:1, water:bleach) in a Windex bottle. You own a rowhome?
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Nov 16, 2020 00:11
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Hello, I've met my max of failing at google for 4 hours, so I'm asking here. I want to build a loft for my kids in their play room. The dimensions are 13'6" across on one wall and 3'10" wide on two walls. I know I need to frame it with big pieces of wood screwed a lot to the studs and use joist hangars to put in joists between them. However, I don't know if I should run 3 long board joists or 10 short joists or why either is better. Also I don't know if I need to go full on 2x10's or skimp and use 2x6's for extra head-room. I'm also 90% sure I need at least one 4x4 post for support in the middle of the unsupported side, but I don't have any facts to back up this hunch. Are there any quick answers out there or no-nonsense links that would apply to my situation? I don't plan on having adults on the loft, but I assume there will be 200-250 lbs of kids up there at one point in time. Thanks
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Nov 16, 2020 05:07
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I'm worn out so I'm having trouble visualizing the exact setup you're going for, but what you should do to figure out board size and spacing is look up the building code for floor joists, particularly the max unsupported span allowed. The code will have a table saying things like "if you use a 2x8 joist, it can have a maximum unsupported span of 7'6"; if you use a 2x10, then it's 8'10", etc. etc. etc." (those numbers are made up). There may well be some kind of Simpson Strong-Tie product for properly supporting boards through drywall and into studs, but if so I don't know what it's called.
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Nov 16, 2020 05:25
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Gimpalimpa posted:Hello, Can you draw and label a top down plan? Either in some sketchup/draw.io kinda thing or literally print graph paper and just do 1" = 1' scale. Label anything that cuts into the walls - windows doors etc. Dimensions all around. Sketch into it where want the loft. Do the same thing as an elevation showing the loft. It doesn't seem super hard to do. Also consider using a pre-made bunk bed made to put a desk under.
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Nov 16, 2020 06:00
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