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 Got a little crack under the quarter round below my desk that’s got a pretty wicked draft. It’s like an AC directly on my bare feet. Besides a pair of slippers, how could I best seal this? “Regular” caulk?
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Feb 22, 2022 23:22
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| # ? May 31, 2024 20:18 |
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comedy option: another, smaller quarter round
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Feb 23, 2022 00:49
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I'd use an eighth round
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Feb 23, 2022 00:59
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Stuff some foam gap filler rod into it, and then maybe caulk. But start with gap filler.
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Feb 23, 2022 00:59
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Head Bee Guy posted:
Is that an exterior wall? I'd remove the quarter round and depending on the insulation of the entire wall cavity (none/exterior) maybe you want to actually do it full up insulated. Or maybe it's some weird interior wall where cold air is falling down from the attic? In which case maybe you do just stuff some insulation in from the bottom then put the quarter round back. I wouldn't recommend backer rod and foam for an interior application in a finished space like that. edit: a rod made of foam maybe? As I reread posts here..that sounds like it could be useful I guess
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Feb 23, 2022 04:44
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If the people in the snow on the other side of the wall offer you turkish delight turn them down.
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Feb 23, 2022 05:12
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Head Bee Guy posted:
Do not caulk the base shoe (quarter round) to the wood floor, It expands and contracts, and so has to ride under the shoe. Caulk will get ripped out & the shoe may come with it. Either pack it with something, or remove the shoe and pack under the baseboard. Seems odd that it would be noticeably drafty. I'd look into the cause of that before packing.
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Feb 23, 2022 06:23
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tangy yet delightful posted:edit: a rod made of foam maybe? As I reread posts here..that sounds like it could be useful I guess Yep. Foam backer rod is a spongy foam rod that comes in different sizes. Useful for gap filling, a backing for caulk, etc. 
Vim Fuego fucked around with this message at 07:19 on Feb 23, 2022 |
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Feb 23, 2022 07:09
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tangy yet delightful posted:Is that an exterior wall? I'd remove the quarter round and depending on the insulation of the entire wall cavity (none/exterior) maybe you want to actually do it full up insulated. Or maybe it's some weird interior wall where cold air is falling down from the attic? In which case maybe you do just stuff some insulation in from the bottom then put the quarter round back. I wouldn't recommend backer rod and foam for an interior application in a finished space like that. lol i rent, so i’m looking for as lazy, cheap, and shortsighted a solution as possible That wall is an exterior wall, though.
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Feb 23, 2022 19:51
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Head Bee Guy posted:lol i rent, so i’m looking for as lazy, cheap, and shortsighted a solution as possible Rental option, put a door snake up along that stretch of the wall. Owner option, look into insulating the house sill. It’s a pretty cheap job and helps cut down on that draft.
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Feb 23, 2022 19:55
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Just get a palette knife and stuff it with thin foam weather stripping.
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Feb 23, 2022 20:20
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Head Bee Guy posted:lol i rent, so i’m looking for as lazy, cheap, and shortsighted a solution as possible Backer rod for sure then
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Feb 24, 2022 01:48
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This house previously had no central heating or cooling, just baseboards and a whole-house exhaust fan. Later, two-stage central heating and AC was added. Is there any reason to keep the whole-house exhaust fan? To my eyes it's just another hole in the exterior of my house. The AC handled the humidity pretty well in the summer. The only times I remember trying the whole-house fan was on extremely humid days and early in the cooling season when the furnace was running intermittently and it was just a touch too cold to have the windows open. In neither case did the hygrometer budge very much. I'm also hoping that, if we can get rid of the exhaust fan, I can hijack the exhaust ducts and tie them in to the cold air return, which will open up some headroom in the basement ceiling when we reno in a few years.
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Feb 24, 2022 04:07
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Question for my door competent goons: Is there any trick to determine if an existing external door is prehung? I bought my house about 4 years ago, and the door that's in place is so old and flexible it's a security risk, so it's due for replacement. I'm trying to determine if I can easily swap a pre-hung for a pre-hung, or if I'm going to have to go the other route.
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Feb 26, 2022 18:24
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Measure the door and see if it's a standard size, still square and then the spacing of the hinges, then see if you can find a match. If the hinges aren't the same but the spacing is, you can just swap the ones in your current frame without having to do mortising. You'd then just buy a new pre-hung and not use the frame. (I don't think you can just get a hinged slab?)
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Feb 26, 2022 18:45
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 Looks like some of the sealant on my windows is peeling back. What's the simple repair on this?
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Feb 26, 2022 18:49
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Rythe posted:
Clean up / remove anything loose. Get a tube of caulk and a caulk gun. Go hog wild.
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Feb 26, 2022 19:39
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EVERYWHERE 
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I figured it was as simple as that, didn't know if it had to be a specific caulk.
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Feb 26, 2022 20:33
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Well it does, but you’ll easily see exterior window trim stuff labeled as so.
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Feb 26, 2022 20:36
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Also get one of those rubber scrapers sold next to the caulk to help with a nice clean bead. Have lots of rags/paper towels on hand for cleanup.
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Feb 26, 2022 22:00
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And get the solvent for whatever caulk you're using. Silicone uses mineral spirits.
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Feb 27, 2022 12:54
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If your caulk-game is strong, I highly recommend one of the high-quality elastomeric blends for outdoor stuff. OSI Quad is my go-to. It stays flexible and withstands the elements for a very long time. Be aware, though, that it can't really be tooled once applied. Your bead is the only chance you have to make it look nice.
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Feb 27, 2022 22:07
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Motronic posted:Maybe? What you got? I realized today that I completely forgot to respond to this from weeks ago. Whoops. Thanks for your excellent questions and advice. Water heater looks like this:  There's a shower in a bathroom 10' away that's lower than the valve on the heater, but not lower than the very bottom. Outside door is considerably farther away, probably 30 feet. Sounds like kind of a pain in the rear end. So that's where I'm at - we have plenty of money for some light improvements, and with small kids we'd rather replace the heater before it breaks if we can. I imagine, like with most equipment these days, it's not easy to get a new one quickly.
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Mar 1, 2022 01:52
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So are far as flushing all you need is a how long enough to get from that valve on the bottom right to somewhere you can drain it. Hopefully you have a floor drain or something. Don't just go opening it.....you have to turn it off and you also want to turn off the water coming in to the heater. Looks like you've got a nice gate valve right there - the pipe coming in the top - hopefully you have one on both sides, but if it's only on one it's almost definitely the cold line - you can test that by running some hot water and feeling both of them to see which is cold and which is hot. I can't see your ceiling height in the pic, but I'm doubting its tall enough to get the anode out in one piece unless you have another <nearly how tall the heater is> above it. So that gets a little trickier.
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Mar 1, 2022 02:41
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Motronic posted:So are far as flushing all you need is a how long enough to get from that valve on the bottom right to somewhere you can drain it. Hopefully you have a floor drain or something. Don't just go opening it.....you have to turn it off and you also want to turn off the water coming in to the heater. Looks like you've got a nice gate valve right there - the pipe coming in the top - hopefully you have one on both sides, but if it's only on one it's almost definitely the cold line - you can test that by running some hot water and feeling both of them to see which is cold and which is hot. No floor drain in that room unfortunately but the walk-in shower next room over should work - it's basically a floor drain, hahah. Almost certainly not enough space to get the anode out in one piece, it's your typical 8' ceiling. Guess I could check what it looks like if I flush the heater. If the rod needs replacement is it reasonable to pull it out and cut the rod? Seems like you can get shorter replacement rods.
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Mar 1, 2022 03:02
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That's typically what you do I think. Pull it out as much as possible, vice grip it at the bottom, cut off the top above the vice grip, and repeat. They make segmented replacement rods that unfold or screw together
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Mar 1, 2022 03:05
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Not sure if this belongs here or not, but seems better here than the DIY thread: Our power went out twice overnight two nights ago, the second time after they allegedly fixed whatever issue caused the outage. Find out in the morning yesterday that the water heater breaker is tripped, so I reset it. Well, I’ve reset it like four times now. It worked a bit last night for hot water to do the dishes, but I’m pretty sure our shower in the master bath trips the breaker when we start it. As a result we cannot seem to get a hot shower and I’m left wondering what the hell about the outage caused this. But more importantly, do we call a plumber or an electrician for this? I’m thinking electrician but not really sure what to do here. Heater is tankless, but does have a hot water storage tank. We have never had problems with the water heater, but we’ve had problems with the HW recirculating pump before, to the point where it just plain doesn’t work.
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Mar 1, 2022 13:59
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the old spicy water heater
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Mar 1, 2022 15:02
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I want to replace the hinges on some of my interior doors but they’re an odd size, 3.5” tall by 2.5” wide. Everything at Home Depot seems to be 3.5” square, too wide for the existing doors. House is from the mid-1800s and mostly has original door hardware, no idea if the hinges are original too. Any ideas where I might find suitable replacements?
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Mar 1, 2022 15:28
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You could poke around at your local Habitat for Humanity Restore, or look for architectural salvage places.
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Mar 1, 2022 16:09
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I was going to suggest House of Antique Hardware but they do not seem to have anything close to that size. You might want to reach out to their customer service though, I've contacted them before with unique issues and they've been really helpful.
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Mar 1, 2022 16:29
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Toebone posted:I want to replace the hinges on some of my interior doors but they’re an odd size, 3.5” tall by 2.5” wide. Everything at Home Depot seems to be 3.5” square, too wide for the existing doors. House is from the mid-1800s and mostly has original door hardware, no idea if the hinges are original too. Any ideas where I might find suitable replacements? McMaster Carr will probably have something suitable, you'll just have to dig to find it, and they might not be cheap for small quantities. Of course, finding what you want on McMaster means you now know exactly what to google for to find it cheaper.
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Mar 1, 2022 17:46
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Some other options: Van Dyke Restorers https://www.vandykes.com/door-hinges/c/1626/ Historic Houseparts https://www.historichouseparts.com/door-hardware/door-hinges/butt-hinges/ Olde Good Things https://ogtstore.com/antique-door-h...20Hinges&is_v=1
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Mar 1, 2022 18:17
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I want to say thanks for the feedback on the water filtration systems from like, a week ago. I sort of forgot amidst the chaos of a new baby and my wife just went ahead and ordered a new Brita pitcher instead of waiting for me (fair), so I think I'm going to skip it for now. I may return to the topic the next time a more comprehensive water project arises. Our bathroom door stopped closing properly almost overnight a few days ago. It went from closing flush to the top half leaning several degrees outward relative to the bottom, so that in order to get it to latch you have basically slam the door. I checked all the hinges and nothing has budged. All I can figure is that it's the house moving with the weather, which means there's nothing to do but tolerate it. I don't need help here, I'm just complaining.
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Mar 1, 2022 18:53
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shirts and skins posted:No floor drain in that room unfortunately but the walk-in shower next room over should work - it's basically a floor drain, hahah. Almost certainly not enough space to get the anode out in one piece, it's your typical 8' ceiling. Guess I could check what it looks like if I flush the heater. If the rod needs replacement is it reasonable to pull it out and cut the rod? Seems like you can get shorter replacement rods. On draining - when mine died, I drained it into a bucket via short hose, then had a submersible pump (from brewing) push it from the bucket to the sink, but you could pump it where ever really.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:00
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Head Bee Guy posted:lol i rent, so i’m looking for as lazy, cheap, and shortsighted a solution as possible A towel or blanket pressed against the wall.
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Mar 1, 2022 19:59
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Toebone posted:I want to replace the hinges on some of my interior doors but they’re an odd size, 3.5” tall by 2.5” wide. Everything at Home Depot seems to be 3.5” square, too wide for the existing doors. House is from the mid-1800s and mostly has original door hardware, no idea if the hinges are original too. Any ideas where I might find suitable replacements? This guy, in Adamstown, PA probably has what you need. He strips old buildings before demolition. https://renningers.net/bob-roths-antique-hardware/ I stop at his booth whenever I'm up there (3-4 times/year).
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Mar 2, 2022 05:11
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Update on my water softener question: I went ahead and found a local place to install one of their systems which I probably overpaid for a bit, but it works very well. They also set up a RO filter for drinking taps which I definitely overpaid for, but I didn’t have to do any of the work and the water is extremely pure. Makes great ice, too.
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Mar 2, 2022 14:30
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PainterofCrap posted:This guy, in Adamstown, PA probably has what you need. He strips old buildings before demolition. Hey, my wife bought a ton of small door knobs from that booth. I do remember seeing some narrow hinges too. That was about six months ago, so who the hell knows.
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Mar 2, 2022 19:34
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Removing some radiator coverings today, because I've got new radiators on the way.  It's fun! It also shows that the guy who lived here in 2015 (I found a tiny scrap of newspaper in a wall outlet that I used to Google the date) and renovated the place had really strong PO energy. He was a plumber or an electrician, going by the brochures I still get in the mail for him. As all good craftsmen, he obviously knew better than to use purpose built materials for something as basic as a radiator cover. Instead, he kludged together this monstrosity. It creaks like hell when there's any hot water flowing through the pipes at all (which is 9 months out of the year, because the building has shared heating) because of all the different sizes and types of wood all working and warping against each other.  As you can see, he used structural lumber throughout, including to create some kind of wall support below the valve, presumably because he cut a hole in the side to be able to reach in, but he didn't plan for the support to be at the same height. And sure, there's two very long torx screws in there on one bar, but mostly it's held together with four finishing nails per 2x4 (ish, Dutch lumber probably has different dimensions). The visible pieces were all held in place by random scraps of different colors and dimensions. Obviously stuff he had lying around. Oh, and there's a cigarette in there, taped to the pipe, because of course, why not?  To think that I considered paying someone to remove these things (I've got another one). I just hacked away at it with a saw and a crowbar for a few minutes on my lunch break and half the thing basically fell apart.  Also on display here is the craftsmanship of the owner before me (a music producer, hence the 3.5mm to 6.3mm audio jack that was also hidden in there) who wanted to paint the radiators white, but didn't want to do it badly enough to put in any effort. So he just sprayed some white paint into the slits and called it a day. The thing I removed today was only 6ft wide. I've got another one double the size. At least I can now attack that one with confidence and a lot of knowledge about the lovely practices of previous owners. Next step is new windowsills and then once the new radiators have been placed, I'll get someone competent to put together some new radiator casings. The radiator install guy who came by to measure my place said it'd be best to put a slit either in the top or directly underneath, for air flow. That seems like another great idea that the previous guy didn't have. EricBauman fucked around with this message at 17:28 on Mar 3, 2022 |
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Mar 3, 2022 16:16
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