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Bioshuffle posted:My only point of confusion was that outdoor extension cords have a third hole for the grounding prong which does not get covered, as the christmas lights only have 2 prongs. Is it safe to just plug it in and leave an empty hole in the extension cord ? Yes. There is an outdoor cable forgotten unplugged from the device but plugged into the gfci outlet w/ in use cover half buried in shredded mulch that gets sprinklered and rained on in my front yard right now. Hasn't popped in the week it's been there.  (Don't do this.)
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Nov 23, 2020 02:47
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Recently close don a condo. The kitchen doesn't have a backsplash. Wife wants subway tile, and I was looking in to planning that out, but the gap between the counter and the cabinets is roughly 13.5 inches, so with 3" tiles we'd still have a sizeable gap. How would you go about tiling something like that? Have an accent tile on the top or bottom to fill that space? Do something right in the middle? Related, I've never done any tiling, but it seems fairly straightforward. Is this a doable project for someone that is fairly handy?
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Nov 23, 2020 03:57
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Related, I've never done any tiling, but it seems fairly straightforward. Is this a doable project for someone that is fairly handy? Absolutely. Buy a tile saw, spacers, the correct mastic thing with the teeth on the side, and more tile than you think you need. Lowes let's you return tile. Make sure the lot codes match. Plan and lay it out on some cardboard or whatever first, use spacers and everything. Grouting is the hardest part, watch some how to videos where they show you how to recover from too much grout on the tile. It's easy to fix but you want to get it before it sets. Set timers on your phone for sponging it down.
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Nov 23, 2020 04:13
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For your gap at the top I think you would just cut the tiles in half-ish (measure don't listen to me) and continue with your pattern as before. Account for the grout gap when you measure after laying the preceeding rows. Probably best to rent a tile saw for the work but I'm no expert so hopefully some others can chime in.
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Nov 23, 2020 04:23
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If you want to do an accent stripe in the middle, a 1" black tile accent stripe partway up would look pretty awesome, and cut way down on cutting. something like this 13.5" works out pretty good with 4 courses of subway tile, a 1" strip, and space for grout.
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Nov 23, 2020 04:35
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Ants! We get on and off little black ants which clear up easily with borax baits. This is now the second of a much larger ant that I haven't seen before the other night, and now this is ant #2 like this. Is this just some new and exciting harmless ant or is it time to have the annual termite inspection early? They're like twice as large in every dimension, smushed little normal ant and 3"? tile for scale. (I tried to move it alive... oops.) 
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Nov 23, 2020 05:38
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Carpenter ants. Looking for dead, wet wood to eat. They aren't nearly as destructive as termites. In fact, they kill termites... but if you see a lot of them in a specific area, it may be a sign of wood rot setting in somewhere. I see them in my house occasionally, usually at a seasonal change. I've found them nesting twice: once, in my mom's popup camp trailer...she used paper towels for something (probably folded the thing when the canvas sides were wet); it was not used for a couple of years...then I opened it up (which involves kneeling near one corner and cranking) and got rained on by a million ants & their eggs. They were eating the paper, damaged nothing else. The other place was in my front porch - during a major remodel, we found a thriving colony...living in the plastic tube-like cells of the roll-up blinds. Apparently, they were munching on a wet area of wall framing & found the window shade to be a boffo nesting site. Again, the framing had a little channeling on the surface - nothing like the ventilation job termites do.
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Nov 23, 2020 05:47
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That's what I figured. Thanks. I imagine that means there is a little leak somewhere under this tub. loving pandemic. (Both bathrooms were supposed to be redone by now, contracts signed.) This seems like "have someone crawl under the house and look, but it can definitely wait until after Thanksgiving" level of worry?
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Nov 23, 2020 06:43
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Christoph posted:
What the other guy said about cement board isn't wrong though. If you're using the fancy dancy schluter system, and installing it properly, they claim green board is fine, but if it were me, I'd still use cement board for the walls. If you're *not* using the schluter system, then you definitely need cement board on the walls.
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Nov 23, 2020 12:10
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Got back from the trailer last night. Left just as the snow started really coming down. It wasn't that treacherous, but saw a few accidents including a GMC van pull the bumper off a Chrysler Sebring right in front of me. The power line running behind us probably helped. Damage *appears* to be not that bad. One small hole in the roof. And a bent piece of metal that runs the length of the trailer on the inside (Upper frame rail?). On the other hand, it seems like its going to be dozens of hours of labour toe replace a few hundred bucks worth of materials/parts. But thats for the insurance company to decide. Some pics: The hole  Back side:  Turns out there were two trees down...   Branch trimmings. You could hide a car under that quite easily.  Pile of Firewood. THe stuff under the blue tarp was already there.  We taped some plastic over the hole and then put this tarp up. Got it done just in time. The snow started coming down as we were tying it off. 
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Nov 23, 2020 12:38
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Recently close don a condo. The kitchen doesn't have a backsplash. Wife wants subway tile, and I was looking in to planning that out, but the gap between the counter and the cabinets is roughly 13.5 inches, so with 3" tiles we'd still have a sizeable gap. That's a kind of unfortunate size because imo the "right way" to tile and have it look right is to have the same amount of partial tile on both edges, rather than a whole tile and then a partial at the end. Looks more professional. But with that space you'd end up with a 3/4" tile for the top and bottom rows, so I'd probably look for a 1.5-2" accent row.
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Nov 23, 2020 13:49
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Thanks all, great info. Going to spend some more time thinking this out and figuring out what to do, but I have a related question. Currently there is a piece of countertop (quartz counter), that sticks up from the back of the counter and against the wall. It's attached in some way, I assume adhesive, to the counter itself. It makes kind of an L shape from the counter to wall. Would it be possible to remove that piece of quartz from the top of the counter and tile that space instead? I think it's about 3 inches or so. I think it would look a lot better to have counter then tile, instead of counter, counter, tile. Plus the piece is about 2" thick so it's taking up a decent chunk of counter real estate.
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Nov 23, 2020 15:50
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I feel like you'll never be able to match the finish on the cut surface to the finished surface.
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Nov 23, 2020 16:04
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Thanks all, great info. Going to spend some more time thinking this out and figuring out what to do, but I have a related question. Currently there is a piece of countertop (quartz counter), that sticks up from the back of the counter and against the wall. It's attached in some way, I assume adhesive, to the counter itself. It makes kind of an L shape from the counter to wall. Would it be possible to remove that piece of quartz from the top of the counter and tile that space instead? I think it's about 3 inches or so. I think it would look a lot better to have counter then tile, instead of counter, counter, tile. Plus the piece is about 2" thick so it's taking up a decent chunk of counter real estate. Post a picture of this please, I need to see exactly what you're dealing with.
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Nov 23, 2020 16:20
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AFewBricksShy posted:Post a picture of this please, I need to see exactly what you're dealing with. If I understand correctly, he wants to cut off the backsplash portion of the quartz countertop.
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Nov 23, 2020 16:38
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regulargonzalez posted:If I understand correctly, he wants to cut off the backsplash portion of the quartz countertop. Understood, but the question is how the splash is attached to the top.
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Nov 23, 2020 16:51
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AFewBricksShy posted:Post a picture of this please, I need to see exactly what you're dealing with. Here are some pictures. Let me know if you need a picture of another part of it. https://imgur.com/a/NteaIUZ
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Nov 23, 2020 17:01
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The Slack Lagoon posted:Here are some pictures. Let me know if you need a picture of another part of it. If you're lucky, they just put silicone between the bottom of the splash. Take a razor blade and see if you can make any progress that way. If you can get a putty knife all the way to the back wall between the splash and the top you're good to go. Just get a pry bar and rip the splash off (go from the side so you aren't causing the backsplash to dig into the countertop, you could end up chipping it) If you're unlucky and they used epoxy.... you have a very nice backsplash. Some of the epoxies that work with stone can be dissolved with alcohol (ask me about the time we epoxied a drink rail onto a fancy bar using standard stone epoxies! Good thing no alcohol ever ends up in a drink rail!) but it's going to be next to impossible to pull that splash off without breaking the stone countertop as well.
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Nov 23, 2020 17:11
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Slugworth posted:What the other guy said about cement board isn't wrong though. If you're using the fancy dancy schluter system, and installing it properly, they claim green board is fine, but if it were me, I'd still use cement board for the walls. If you're *not* using the schluter system, then you definitely need cement board on the walls. It's a 5 year bathroom in the making! OP's still got a chance to make this right. I'd suggest they take it.
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Nov 23, 2020 17:55
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Christoph posted:
Green board is for moist/humid environments. Green board holds up great to the hot shower steam and splashes from washing your hands/brushing your teeth. Green board will crumble/degrade in a wet environment. The core of the green board is the exact same as regular drywall. The paper is considered water resistant--not water proof.
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Nov 23, 2020 18:20
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Shower waterproofing systems and their pros/cons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f0KkcorhcPM
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Nov 23, 2020 18:21
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HycoCam posted:I think others pointed this out--but none of that is going to work. Any of the walls inside the shower need to have: https://www.lowes.com/pd/DUROCK-Brand-0-5-in-x-36-in-x-60-in-Cement-Backer-Board/1000383889 cement board as the backer. And to make sure this poster understands: mortar and grout are not water tight. They are "waterproof" as in, not damaged by water. But they will allow water to pass through. This is normal and expected, and it evaporates out and around the water-impervious tiles and everything works: as long as there is a water impervious barrier somewhere behind the waterproof layers. Green board is not that.
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Nov 23, 2020 18:25
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How do I deal with the discoloration in the caulk here? This was right after I sprayed on scrubbing bubbles and went at it with a toothbrush.
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Nov 23, 2020 20:30
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H110Hawk posted:That's what I figured. Thanks. I imagine that means there is a little leak somewhere under this tub. loving pandemic. (Both bathrooms were supposed to be redone by now, contracts signed.) This seems like "have someone crawl under the house and look, but it can definitely wait until after Thanksgiving" level of worry? You can wait. Don't sweat it. Josh Lyman posted:How do I deal with the discoloration in the caulk here? This was right after I sprayed on scrubbing bubbles and went at it with a toothbrush. There's mold behind it. Use a razor to peel it back, let it dry out; treat the joint with a mild bleach solution or Lysol, hit it with isopropyl alcohol, and re-caulk it. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 22:14 on Nov 23, 2020 |
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Nov 23, 2020 22:10
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Josh Lyman posted:How do I deal with the discoloration in the caulk here? This was right after I sprayed on scrubbing bubbles and went at it with a toothbrush. Remove and re-caulk would be the long term solution.
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Nov 23, 2020 22:14
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I just replaced some ceiling fans with new ones from Hunter. The LED bulbs they came with just aren't bright enough for the rooms. I tried some of our preferred LEDs from the rest of the house, GE Reveal LED in 100w replacement but they buzz like a motherfucker in those fixtures. I had some GE Reveal Halogens around which are 100w replacement/ 72w usage and they work fine and light is good, but the fan fixture specifically says LED/CFL 14w max. Is there any safety or other concern with using the higher draw bulbs in these fixtures? Besides the power bill, of course.
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Nov 23, 2020 22:55
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Final Blog Entry posted:I just replaced some ceiling fans with new ones from Hunter. The LED bulbs they came with just aren't bright enough for the rooms. I tried some of our preferred LEDs from the rest of the house, GE Reveal LED in 100w replacement but they buzz like a motherfucker in those fixtures. I had some GE Reveal Halogens around which are 100w replacement/ 72w usage and they work fine and light is good, but the fan fixture specifically says LED/CFL 14w max. Is there any safety or other concern with using the higher draw bulbs in these fixtures? Besides the power bill, of course. If it's not rated you risk fire, plain and simple. It's probably the same fixture but with a California compliant sticker, but why risk it? Try different bulbs, or RMA the fan - I seem to recall others in this thread having an issue with the lights in Hunter fans.
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Nov 23, 2020 23:42
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Putting a halogen/incandescent in a fixture rated for LEDs will burn your house down. Don't do it.
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Nov 24, 2020 00:05
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H110Hawk posted:If it's not rated you risk fire, plain and simple. It's probably the same fixture but with a California compliant sticker, but why risk it? Try different bulbs, or RMA the fan - I seem to recall others in this thread having an issue with the lights in Hunter fans. Thanks, that was pretty much my thought process and electricity is not something that I'm ok with gray areas. corgski posted:Putting a halogen/incandescent in a fixture rated for LEDs will burn your house down. Don't do it. And this is the to the point response I needed to show my wife who insists it's fine for no other reason than she's picky about the color and temperature of light bulbs and she likes these ones.
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Nov 24, 2020 01:33
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Final Blog Entry posted:And this is the to the point response I needed to show my wife who insists it's fine for no other reason than she's picky about the color and temperature of light bulbs and she likes these ones. Former fire marshal checking in. I've investigated this cause and origin before. Don't be cheap. Buy the right stuff or do without. Or you'll be doing without your entire house. Motronic fucked around with this message at 03:21 on Nov 24, 2020 |
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Nov 24, 2020 02:37
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You can buy a lot of different color temps so find an led with the one she likes?
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Nov 24, 2020 03:07
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tater_salad posted:You can buy a lot of different color temps so find an led with the one she likes? And for $lol they make programmable ones. ($lol to me, totally normal to others.)
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Nov 24, 2020 03:58
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tater_salad posted:You can buy a lot of different color temps so find an led with the one she likes? Been there and done that a couple of years ago but the Reveal LEDs we've been using throughout the house are the ones that are buzzing bad in these fixtures. I'm gonna go grab 2 or 3 others tomorrow and hopefully find something that works decently and doesn't buzz. Either way the halogens are coming out
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Nov 24, 2020 05:02
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Final Blog Entry posted:Been there and done that a couple of years ago but the Reveal LEDs we've been using throughout the house are the ones that are buzzing bad in these fixtures. I'm gonna go grab 2 or 3 others tomorrow and hopefully find something that works decently and doesn't buzz. Either way the halogens are coming out Here's a good place to search for what good quality LED bulbs might be for what you need: https://www.1000bulbs.com/category/led-light-bulbs/ Not necessarily to buy them there (not always the cheapest), but they have a good search/filter system. I've been buying from them for a couple years now. They need to drop their shipping rates and things would be much better. Look for the temp you want or "halogen replacement" and look for a high CRI. Also be careful about what you buy if the bulbs are going into enclosures.....there is a choice for filtering enclosure rated.
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Nov 24, 2020 05:04
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Hey how big a deal would using fine threaded drywall screws in wood be? I need about 400 fine for some metal studs, 2700 coarse for the rest, but just the way they sell the drat things I can get that by the pound for 50 bucks, or 8000 fine for 55...
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Nov 25, 2020 01:24
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Jenkl posted:Hey how big a deal would using fine threaded drywall screws in wood be? Fine thread should work just fine in wood.
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Nov 25, 2020 06:10
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So after moving into this house a few months ago, we're finally thinking of buying a washer/dryer (we've been holding off b/c of the pandemic, and a laundry pickup/delivery service was working well enough). However, after making measurements of the place in the garage where the laundry is supposed to go, we've run into a problem: Specifically, the floor where presumably the washer and dryer is supposed to go is raised, and it's not quite deep enough (29") for most non-compact washers/dryers, especially considering that we'd need some clearance in the back. I'm guessing the previous owner had a compact washer/dryer there, but those are more expensive and do less, so we don't want to do that unless there's absolutely no other option. My current thinking is that if I can lay something down in front of the raised area so that it's about level that can support the weight/movement of the washer/dryer, that'll let us buy a regular model. What do y'all think would be the best thing to use? Searching the internet for ideas, I've found this old MetaFilter thread with some ideas: - horse mats - sheets of tile from Home Depot the latter of which seems particularly attractive, since I can stack up a bunch of tile sheets to get the required height (~3.5"). Any other options that I'm missing? I don't really care about how it looks, but I don't want to make permanent changes to the garage, nor something that'd require a bunch of handywork (which I've never really done before). Would appreciate any input or other ideas!
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Nov 25, 2020 08:40
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I’m moving into a recently purchased home where the rear exterior siding is composed of asbestos shingles. My gf and I are making a list of work to do before move in, and she wants to have the siding cleaned and painted. The handyman and contractor we have talked to have both said that they would power wash the siding to clean it. Which strikes me as a very bad idea? Even on a low setting, doesn’t power washing have the potential to damage the shingles and create friable material? Am I being unreasonable if I reject the power washing idea completely? I feel like I could manually clean it with a garden hose and soft bristle brush in more time but with less risk.
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Nov 25, 2020 09:03
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floWenoL posted:get the required height (~3.5"). What about a 4x4 stick of timber. A dressed one should be close on 3.5” and after you sit a washer on it it shouldn’t go anywhere.
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Nov 25, 2020 10:47
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NoSpoon posted:What about a 4x4 stick of timber. A dressed one should be close on 3.5” and after you sit a washer on it it shouldn’t go anywhere. That would be my suggestion as well. Ideally pressure-treated since it's in direct contact with concrete, though since this is a readily-accessible area, and you're not putting structural load on the wood, I don't think it's a big deal.
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Nov 25, 2020 16:19
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