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D-Pad posted:We have faux wood laminate flooring and have a soft/spongy spot. Moved in in August. I'm worried it might be a slow leak as it is right next to a wall that has bathroom sinks on the other side. Since we moved in the spot has gotten larger. We had a leak in another area a few months ago and those boards buckled, but these aren't and I can't detect any other signs of water. I know it could just be an uneven area of the sub-flooring but if that was the case would it be slowly expanding over the course of 3-9 months? What's the best way to determine what is going on besides ripping up that area of the floor? IMO you're going to be ripping up the floor eventually, but you could try a moisture detector to confirm there's water before you do
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May 28, 2021 04:32
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Are you able to take a look at it from underneath from the crawlspace?
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May 28, 2021 04:35
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Any advice on the best sort of water-leak detection I can put in my basement? Really looking to solve/be alerted to two separate problems since my basement's flooded twice in a year and a half now. 1) Water alarm to put in the sump closet. Either a high water alarm in the sump pit itself or a sensor on the floor after it's overflowed. Some way to know "sump isn't working get this fixed ASAP" anyway. 2) Water alarm to put in the utility area in case of the water heater or water treatment equipment leaking that could automatically shut off water to prevent further leaks. I'm on a well if that makes any difference. We had a power failure during a large storm in October 2019 that led to our sump overflowing and our basement needing to be gutted. I've got a generator now so I can cover that if I'm home and alerted to a sump failure condition. The second flood was improperly installed drain line for a water treatment filter that backwashed ~200 gallons of water all over our recently refinished basement floor in April. Thankfully it was part of the backwash cycle and stopped rather than just being a free-flowing leak until we discovered it, but if some sensor had been able to kill water, I wouldn't be looking at having to re-do my basement yet again. gay_crimes posted:More new home owner question stuff. Is repairing parging a DIY task, or should I hire a mason? Theres a 3 foot long bit out front near a corner that’s got some cracks and a bit has chipped off, and there’s a loose brick near the corner as well. Its the only section of the front of the house that gets rain on it occasionally, the rest of the front has stayed pretty dry in the few heavy rainfalls that have happened since moving in, which explains the disparity and why this corner of the house has a little more wear. The parging and bricks are in good shape around the rest of the house. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jYPp9w-0Uk
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May 28, 2021 14:23
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I need to replace the wax ring on a toilet - I saw these "Better than wax" rings - are they good? They seemed to be well reviewed everywhere I've looked at them online
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May 28, 2021 15:26
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The Slack Lagoon posted:I need to replace the wax ring on a toilet - I saw these "Better than wax" rings - are they good? They seemed to be well reviewed everywhere I've looked at them online I installed a new toilet with one of those rings a few months ago. Biggest pain was just removing all the old wax. You have more than one chance to position the toilet correctly with them which makes it easier than wax I guess. I guess time will tell if they hold up but they are supposed to be good for 10-15 years. Just leave a space in the caulk around the back of the toilet base so you can tell if there are any leaks. brugroffil posted:Any advice on the best sort of water-leak detection I can put in my basement? Really looking to solve/be alerted to two separate problems since my basement's flooded twice in a year and a half now. You can get 10$ water alarms (the watchdog) you can place on the floor or extend the sensor a little further away. They will screech like a fire alarm when the sensors touch water (or your hand so you can test them. Powered by a 9v battery. To turn off the water itself, they sell main water shut off things that will detect changes in pressure, but they are 400-600$ and I’m not sure if they work on well water. Would probably have to be professionally installed Look into something like this. Control 1-in 1-in Indoor Smart Water Leak Detector with Automatic Shut-Off Valve https://www.lowes.com/pd/StreamLabs-Control-1-in-Indoor-Water-Leak-Detector/1000860156
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May 28, 2021 15:43
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There’s also a $40 dlink water detector iot thing that will do notifications. Reliably detects and alarms but the push notifications are a little flaky.
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May 28, 2021 15:56
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My father in law tricked me into helping him with the 8’x32’ concrete pad in front of his barn. We had a tractor to prep the area, and making the forms was fine. Mixing that much concrete in a little 2-bag concrete mixer was a nightmare. Hundreds of loads. I am scarred for life and will never do concrete work again. It did turn out really nice though...
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May 28, 2021 17:46
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Vim Fuego posted:IMO you're going to be ripping up the floor eventually, but you could try a moisture detector to confirm there's water before you do gwrtheyrn posted:Are you able to take a look at it from underneath from the crawlspace? No crawlspace. If it's just uneven subfloor in that spot it should be fine to just leave right? Like it won't keep growing forever if the rest of the subfloor is fine. How do moisture detectors work? They can detect moisture through the boards even if the top is dry?
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May 28, 2021 18:08
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D-Pad posted:No crawlspace. If it's just uneven subfloor in that spot it should be fine to just leave right? Like it won't keep growing forever if the rest of the subfloor is fine. How do moisture detectors work? They can detect moisture through the boards even if the top is dry? If it's dry rot, it can continue to grow without moisture.
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May 28, 2021 19:35
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Our new french door whirlpool fridge is barely getting the items in the right side door to 44 degrees. The bottom door freezer is fine at around 0F and the most of the main fridge seems to be at an okay temp between 33 and 40. The fridge is set to it’s coldest temp at 33. It seems like it is mostly an air circulation problem but I don’t know how that’s possible unless it’s a design flaw. The doors are level and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious leaks in the door seal. It’s only about 1/2 full and it’s been 4 days since we got it so it should have cooled down sufficiently by now. I really don’t want to return a fridge but goddammit this is so dumb for a 2000$ appliance to not work like it should. The side door bins are advertised as being “gallon bins” so that you can fit milk, juice, etc in them so there really is no excuse why they should be above 40F consistently.
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May 28, 2021 22:10
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D-Pad posted:No crawlspace. If it's just uneven subfloor in that spot it should be fine to just leave right? Like it won't keep growing forever if the rest of the subfloor is fine. How do moisture detectors work? They can detect moisture through the boards even if the top is dry? If you can't get at it from below you're going to be tearing up the floor/wall anyway because yeah, it shouldn't be expanding. You could also possibly get into the bathroom drywall and see, which you'll also be doing anyway. Or the drywall on the other side. I'd do this sooner rather than later so it's just some subfloor rather than joists and other structural members.
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May 28, 2021 22:16
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slave to my cravings posted:Our new french door whirlpool fridge is barely getting the items in the right side door to 44 degrees. The bottom door freezer is fine at around 0F and the most of the main fridge seems to be at an okay temp between 33 and 40. The fridge is set to it’s coldest temp at 33. It seems like it is mostly an air circulation problem but I don’t know how that’s possible unless it’s a design flaw. The doors are level and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious leaks in the door seal. It’s only about 1/2 full and it’s been 4 days since we got it so it should have cooled down sufficiently by now. I really don’t want to return a fridge but goddammit this is so dumb for a 2000$ appliance to not work like it should. The side door bins are advertised as being “gallon bins” so that you can fit milk, juice, etc in them so there really is no excuse why they should be above 40F consistently. Did you make sure all the packaging material, tape, foam, etc was removed after it was delivered? It sounds like a vent or something isn’t working properly or blocked. Are the doors aligned properly? Even a tiny seal issue can screw with a fridge. Put a really bright light inside and shut the door. Make sure you can’t see any light at all
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May 28, 2021 23:36
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slave to my cravings posted:Our new french door whirlpool fridge is barely getting the items in the right side door to 44 degrees. The bottom door freezer is fine at around 0F and the most of the main fridge seems to be at an okay temp between 33 and 40. The fridge is set to it’s coldest temp at 33. It seems like it is mostly an air circulation problem but I don’t know how that’s possible unless it’s a design flaw. The doors are level and there doesn’t seem to be any obvious leaks in the door seal. It’s only about 1/2 full and it’s been 4 days since we got it so it should have cooled down sufficiently by now. I really don’t want to return a fridge but goddammit this is so dumb for a 2000$ appliance to not work like it should. The side door bins are advertised as being “gallon bins” so that you can fit milk, juice, etc in them so there really is no excuse why they should be above 40F consistently. I also have a new french door whirlpool. I haven't experienced this issue, but I do know it can be pretty temperamental about airflow. Make sure nothing is blocking the vent in the back on the top left by the ice maker. My wife is bad about stacking things there in the way and I think that totally fucks with the fridge because we will start getting really bad cold spots
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May 28, 2021 23:45
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Thanks for the replies. I put a small usb/battery powered fan in there for now and the door gets down to 39/40 with it on. Called Costco and whirlpool will send a tech in 2 weeks. I’ll try the flashlight thing and check on the vents, but it didn’t look like anything was blocked. Vent seems to be in top center. This has an in door ice cube maker and everything else seems to be working fine but right side definitely has some uneven temperature. This is the model for reference: Whirlpool 27 cu. ft. 36-inch Wide French Door Refrigerator in Fingerprint Resistant Stainless Steel | Costco https://www.costco.com/whirlpool-27....100418664.html
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May 29, 2021 00:27
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brugroffil posted:I know this is a few weeks old but hopefully this helps: Thank you.
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May 29, 2021 00:45
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slave to my cravings posted:Thanks for the replies. I put a small usb/battery powered fan in there for now and the door gets down to 39/40 with it on. Called Costco and whirlpool will send a tech in 2 weeks. I’ll try the flashlight thing and check on the vents, but it didn’t look like anything was blocked. Vent seems to be in top center. This has an in door ice cube maker and everything else seems to be working fine but right side definitely has some uneven temperature. This is the model for reference: The fan that pushes air up to the fridge is actually in the coils in the back of the freezer, so if the defrost isn't working right, or the door was cracked long enough to build up enough ice that defrost can't clear it all, there could be a blockage preventing enough volume of air to make it to the fridge. This happened to me and I just manually defrosted it with a hairdryer and it's been fine since.
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May 29, 2021 00:55
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I forget which thread it was with the massive walkway the poster wanted to build. Some neighbors of grandma are having a 8'x100' patio poured this morning and we were invited over for our kids to watch the cement truck. One support truck just showed up in true form - going about 40+mph with the cement pump in tow down a small residential street, blowing past the house, hitting the brakes inches from their coworkers, and immediately slamming it into reverse to go up the driveway. There are 5 other pickups and around 8 people here so far. Forms and rebar are already done. 
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May 29, 2021 17:36
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I had to empty the freezer half of our Whirlpool side by side yesterday to defrost the drain plug. While holding the hair dryer I looked up, and in a fit of thread title inspired rage decided it was a good time to rip the ice maker out entirely. Stupid thing has been a leaky pain in the rear end for years, and we stopped using it entirely last year after the second bin shattered from huge ice blocks freezing at the bottom. Three screws and one plug later, and now we have plenty of room for an 18qt tub that can hold a 20lb bag of ice from the store.
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May 29, 2021 17:51
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H110Hawk posted:One support truck just showed up in true form - going about 40+mph with the cement pump in tow down a small residential street, blowing past the house, hitting the brakes inches from their coworkers, and immediately slamming it into reverse to go up the driveway. Sounds about right. I've yet to meet a concrete guy who doesn't start drinking first thing in the morning to deal with last night's hangover.
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May 29, 2021 17:55
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We moved our old kitchen fridge into the workshop to keep as a spare after we renovate, and I flipped the doors to make it more accessible. While I did it I removed the ice maker (no water line). Felt good.
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May 30, 2021 13:20
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I just bought a house built in 1962, and the kitchen drawers all have slides/rollers like this:  And a few of them are in not great shape - the wheels are broken/missing/ground down. I have no idea what I need to look for to fix or replace them. There's only about a 1/8" gap between the drawer and the face frame, so newer ones that need 3/8"-1/2" side clearance won't work. Maybe just a bottom center mount slide? I dunno.
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May 30, 2021 17:06
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Elder Postsman posted:I just bought a house built in 1962, and the kitchen drawers all have slides/rollers like this: Start here: https://www.rockler.com/hardware/cabinet-hardware/drawer-slides They have a little bit of everything and good measurements on the site. You might even be able to find direct replacements. Also, if your home is common/typical for the area and you have a hardware store that's been around there forever they probalby know exactly what you need and have a stack of them.
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May 30, 2021 17:15
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Oh man I didn't even think to check Rockler. They do in fact have direct replacements for these, and in stock at the one closest to me. Thanks!
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May 30, 2021 17:29
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Worked on grounding the office outlet today and holy gently caress whoever wired that place is an idiot. The entire house except the kitchen and the basement is on a single circuit. Half the three pronged outlets have no grounding. Halfway through the circuit they flipped the hot and neutral, and we had to pull out a ton of stray wire that connected to...nothing. So, at some point we will have to do a total rewire. Very cool. We are trying to catch and release the fat groundhog because we don’t think it has any babies but it has no interest in the bait and just stares at us all day. Tomorrow is a big thunderstorm rolling through, so we’ll see if adjusting the downspouts and caulking some cracks will help with the water leaking. Fingers crossed.
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May 31, 2021 01:51
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Ball Tazeman posted:Worked on grounding the office outlet today and holy gently caress whoever wired that place is an idiot. The entire house except the kitchen and the basement is on a single circuit. Half the three pronged outlets have no grounding. Halfway through the circuit they flipped the hot and neutral, and we had to pull out a ton of stray wire that connected to...nothing. So, at some point we will have to do a total rewire. Very cool. We redid all the wiring in our 1930s house when we moved in. Was a mix between original and weird poo poo done by previous owners. Had a light switch in the kitchen that didn't do anything. Finally found that someone had just cut off the wires and then put some wallboard over them. They were still live. Found _7_ junction boxes that had been wallpapered or boarded over. An outlet had been added in the bedroom using 0.75mm2 wire (suitable for lamps basically) since it could be tucked in under the baseboards. Good chance of causing a fire if you'd plugged in e.g. a vacuum cleaner into that one. Blows my mind how clueless people can be when it comes to electrical.
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May 31, 2021 06:35
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Clayton Bigsby posted:We redid all the wiring in our 1930s house when we moved in. Was a mix between original and weird poo poo done by previous owners. Had a light switch in the kitchen that didn't do anything. Finally found that someone had just cut off the wires and then put some wallboard over them. They were still live. Found _7_ junction boxes that had been wallpapered or boarded over. An outlet had been added in the bedroom using 0.75mm2 wire (suitable for lamps basically) since it could be tucked in under the baseboards. Good chance of causing a fire if you'd plugged in e.g. a vacuum cleaner into that one. Blows my mind how clueless people can be when it comes to electrical. Amazing. That's 20awg for those who only know  spec. (I had to Google it.) pretty sure even lamp cord is 18awg.
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May 31, 2021 06:41
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The past month has been a marathon of fixing deferred maintenance. I'm past a lot of it and making my way to the irritants and things that will probably not kill us or destroy the house if we leave them alone for a bit, though one of these things will probably do me in before I get to it. Which brings me to this nail pop issue (two visible nails, or maybe screws, you can see an indention where I pressed on one a bit) This is the only place in the house with nail pop, I went around and inspected everywhere else. The house was built in the 1960s, though this bathroom was remodeled within the past 10 years, so I assume this may be from the remodel. This bathroom has been a headache. It's about halfway up the wall. I can push in on the upper panel and it has some give and deepens that crack along the joint, not substantially and it takes some force. It only has give where the nail pops are visible, it's solid on the other studs. The bottom panel is solid and feels like I'm pushing on a solid wall. The nail pop fix videos I've seen simply have nail pop and don't have a horizontal joint crack, the nail pop fix seems straight forward enough but I wonder if the crack here indicates something more serious. How would you fix this horizontal crack and nail pop? biceps crimes fucked around with this message at 00:13 on Jun 1, 2021 |
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Jun 1, 2021 00:11
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Is there any reason not to buy primed MDF moulding for the two remaining doorways I need to do in this house, when the primed MDF is in stock and pine not only is out of stock but is a special order? Everything else in the house is solid wood and I'm going to be painting this anyway so you won't even be able to tell, but it just feels wrong on a completely irrational level. I paid $1/ft for the replacement pieces I got months ago so I assume with wood prices what they are now and it needing to be a special order I'm looking at 4x that or something stupid. 
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Jun 1, 2021 00:45
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Sirotan posted:Is there any reason not to buy primed MDF moulding for the two remaining doorways I need to do in this house, when the primed MDF is in stock and pine not only is out of stock but is a special order? Everything else in the house is solid wood and I'm going to be painting this anyway so you won't even be able to tell, but it just feels wrong on a completely irrational level. I paid $1/ft for the replacement pieces I got months ago so I assume with wood prices what they are now and it needing to be a special order I'm looking at 4x that or something stupid.
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Jun 1, 2021 00:52
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gay_crimes posted:The past month has been a marathon of fixing deferred maintenance. I'm past a lot of it and making my way to the irritants and things that will probably not kill us or destroy the house if we leave them alone for a bit, though one of these things will probably do me in before I get to it. Which brings me to this nail pop issue (two visible nails, or maybe screws, you can see an indention where I pressed on one a bit) Is that crack about ~4ft up on the wall? If so, it's the joint between two sheets of drywall, and isn't surprising it's there if you've got nails popping out. I would add some drywall screws an inch or two above and below that nail, as well as on the lower sheet. After that, it's just regular spackle, sand, texture, and paint. You may have to dig out a little bit of that crack before you spackle in order to get it to lay right. (I don't have any experience with textured drywall, but it sounds like a huge pain in the rear end to match the texture to what's there) I'd guess the nails stopped holding, which let the two panels move independently of each other, which revealed that crack.
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Jun 1, 2021 00:54
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Door casings/trim and baseboard at the two mouldings that tend to get a decent bit of abuse and solid wood is definitely better there. If it’s not too hard and more expensive I’d go with solid wood, but if it’s a huge hassle/delay/expense, MDF is okay and isn’t going to melt or anything. Good point, I had not actually considered this. Guess I'll be giving the lumber yard a call tomorrow.
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Jun 1, 2021 01:07
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Sirotan posted:Good point, I had not actually considered this. Guess I'll be giving the lumber yard a call tomorrow. Depends on your lumber yard, but don't think too hard about it being special order - Basically all the primed pine trim we bought was special order, and we had it a week or two after ordering. I think a lot of places just don't keep it in stock, since there's so many varients.
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Jun 1, 2021 01:20
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devicenull posted:Is that crack about ~4ft up on the wall? If so, it's the joint between two sheets of drywall, and isn't surprising it's there if you've got nails popping out. thanks!
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Jun 1, 2021 02:50
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I missed old house window chat by a month but I have old house windows. Our house is an 1890s Dutch colonial. A lot of them are in fairly rough shape but at least POs kept all the wooden double hung windows and at some point installed storm windows outside all of them. Most of the windows open, but there are several that are glued shut with a few layers of white paint, even if they had storm windows. Dining room has cool swing windows and miraculously it was never painted white along with the rest of the house trim.  One of the painted-shut windows.  The two smaller windows there actually have outer sections that are kept in place by hooks. I guess the idea was before there were screens you’d remove them in the summer to let air in.  A lot of the houses in the neighborhood have stained glass features. I’m in the process of getting an estimate to fix it because I have no clue what it would cost. Window is painted and nailed shut, I guess to avoid breaking it further. Had a contractor guess that the old storm window was acting as a greenhouse and heating up the air and over the years caused some warpage in the lead and glass.  Finally two dumb questions: 1) A lot of the old storm windows have what I assume is weather stripping peeling off. Is this something I can effectively replace myself?  2) The glass in our front door is slightly loose in its seating behind the molding. It’s not a big deal but if you close it a bit too hard it can really rattle. Would adding a small head of silicone caulk be a bad idea? 
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Jun 1, 2021 15:56
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Sounds like that window probably needs to be reglazed.
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Jun 1, 2021 16:22
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Yep, if a pane is rattly it just needs to be reglazed. Here's a video: https://youtu.be/xh6cGkRtBE0 As for the weather stripping, I don't see any reason you shouldn't be able to replace that yourself. For that stained glass piece (which is awesome - jealous of everyone who still has stained glass because my house was stripped of all of its), I highly doubt that the storm pane greenhouse effect did anything to warp it. Back in the day, they used pure lead, which is very soft, so those stained glass pieces would just deform after a while due to gravity, regardless of the presence of a storm pane. You can get it re-leaded, where they separate the glass panes and put in new leading, which nowadays they add tin or something to so it's a bit stiffer and less prone to warping.
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Jun 1, 2021 16:42
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Queen Victorian posted:Yep, if a pane is rattly it just needs to be reglazed. Here's a video: If it was ever glazed at all, it's long gone. It's actually an interior door, sort of. There's a pair of swinging doors to the outside, a tiny vestibule, and then this door, so I guess weather proofing it wasn't much of a priority.
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Jun 2, 2021 16:20
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z0331 posted:If it was ever glazed at all, it's long gone. It's actually an interior door, sort of. There's a pair of swinging doors to the outside, a tiny vestibule, and then this door, so I guess weather proofing it wasn't much of a priority. The window might just be really dirty, but the staining around the edges suggests to me that it might have been glazed at some point.
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Jun 2, 2021 17:09
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z0331 posted:1) A lot of the old storm windows have what I assume is weather stripping peeling off. Is this something I can effectively replace myself? I would consider having some window restorers come over to take a look and make recommendations. You can go anywhere from just getting someone to open up the stuck windows to full restoration and paint removal depending on interest and budget. I landed somewhere in the middle--I didn't fully strip everything but had them get rid of all paint in any friction locations and repaint the sashes. It was expensive but of all the house repairs I've done its one of the ones I'm happiest with.
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Jun 3, 2021 03:11
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mcgreenvegtables posted:Be careful of that paint, there is a very good chance it has lead in it, and some of it is flying off every time you operate those windows. I read some studies that said operating painted windows is one of the biggest sources of lead contamination in a house, and also that regular house cleaning significantly reduces lead exposure. There's nobody within 2 hours of me who does this, so I'm planning to travel to the middle of the country to learn how to restore windows from Bob Yapp.
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Jun 3, 2021 03:27
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