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dupersaurus posted:fwiw I think tints are applied to the interior side of the glass lmao That explains why it was so easy! I think I knew this at one point but forgot about it.
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Apr 22, 2022 15:22
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Not a Children posted:Recent homebuyer here. Discovered a missing line of grout on a floor tile in my bathroom - looks like it's been chipping away in recent months. One side of one tile. Is that a you-must-fix-now-or-things-will-shift kinda deal or can I put that off a few weeks til I get the rest of the house tuned up? Thinking I might just get what it takes to regrout the whole floor if I'm gonna be working on it anyway. Tap on the surrounding tiles with your fist and see if any are loose. If so, you can try using fix a floor (in a caulk tube) to try and get some adhesive under there to keep it from moving and cracking again. I didn't do this for some cracking areas in my old house until I learned why my grout was cracking in the first place. Might be cracking for other reasons but very quick and easy to check just in case.
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Apr 22, 2022 16:16
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Skinnymansbeerbelly posted:Have drip from the showerhead in shower. Older Coralais valve, old enough that I can't identify it on the Kohler web support helper. Update for schad content: I called the plumber for diagnosis and repair, because I was out of my depth. He cleaned the mating surfaces, reinstalled the valve, and called it good. And, of course, a few hours later the drat thing was dripping again. So, I called him back, and my gut said it was new valve body time. However, he replaced the new mixing valve with another one off of his truck, and that one is holding back the deluge. Kohler sold me a bum replacement valve, which was sealed in the box when I installed it. And that ended up costing me $200 worth of plumber. The joys of homeownership. 
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Apr 22, 2022 18:01
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Not a Children posted:Recent homebuyer here. Discovered a missing line of grout on a floor tile in my bathroom - looks like it's been chipping away in recent months. One side of one tile. Is that a you-must-fix-now-or-things-will-shift kinda deal or can I put that off a few weeks til I get the rest of the house tuned up? Thinking I might just get what it takes to regrout the whole floor if I'm gonna be working on it anyway. If the floor is till tight (no loose tile), then clean it out well, finishing with alcohol; get a damp rag or sponge & buy a tube of pre-mixed grout & fill the gap; let it sit a few minutes, then wipe it down with the sponge/wet rag. Rinse between wipes.
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Apr 22, 2022 20:11
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So, our old house has a schoolhouse lamp in the bathroom, plus two individual fixtures at each side of the mirror, probably for shaving. The overhead bulb has burned out, and we need to replace it. Unfortunately, the guy the PO hired to prep the house for sale painted over the knobs, and they can't be turned. This would have been painted in the last year, so I'm sure it's not enamel. What solvent would be good for removing dried paint from a stuck knob? Thanks.
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Apr 24, 2022 00:55
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Arsenic Lupin posted:So, our old house has a schoolhouse lamp in the bathroom, plus two individual fixtures at each side of the mirror, probably for shaving. The overhead bulb has burned out, and we need to replace it. Unfortunately, the guy the PO hired to prep the house for sale painted over the knobs, and they can't be turned. This would have been painted in the last year, so I'm sure it's not enamel. What solvent would be good for removing dried paint from a stuck knob? Thanks. Try whatever "latex paint remover" you can find at the local hardware store/big box store to start. It's going to be the lest smelly/gentlest way to do it. I would suggest soaking the knob and a rag and tie/rubber band that soaked rag to it for a few hours to keep things in contact. Then see how it wipes/scrapes/brushes off.
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Apr 24, 2022 01:17
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You mean the little thumb-screws that hold the glass shade? If so: start them with a pair of pliers. Quarter-turn at most should break them loose.
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Apr 24, 2022 01:18
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PainterofCrap posted:You mean the little thumb-screws that hold the glass shade? Because of the shape of a schoolhouse lamp (small fitter, lamp body much wider) there's a limited space to insert pliers, so anything we can do to make it easier to turn is a good idea. Here's a general idea, but the stem of ours is much shorter than the one shown
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Apr 24, 2022 01:49
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The garbage disposal stopped working, but unlike when this usually happens, the movement isn't actually jammed. Things turn freely using the allen wrench at the bottom or moving the blades by hand. It makes the familiar 'motor stuck' humming noise when turned on. Fixable?
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Apr 24, 2022 01:55
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Arsenic Lupin posted:. I assumed that you had less than an inch of clearance. You can still reach in there with a pair of sub-nosed pliers and break it loose from the paint. It shouldn't take much.
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Apr 24, 2022 02:12
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Winty posted:The garbage disposal stopped working, but unlike when this usually happens, the movement isn't actually jammed. Things turn freely using the allen wrench at the bottom or moving the blades by hand. It makes the familiar 'motor stuck' humming noise when turned on. Fixable? Every time I've seen something like that on HVAC, appliances, etc, it's always been a capacitor on the motor going out. Easy-ish to swap but hard to diagnose definitely without swapping it. If you can find the part it'll be cheaper than a new disposal but there's always a slight risk something else is wrong with it and you've wasted time and money replacing an unnecessary part.
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Apr 24, 2022 02:18
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Hopefully I'm going to have a Fix it Fast Success Story later today. Five years ago, I was making the bed in the grownups' bedroom, and the comforter caught the fan light cord and yanked it clear out of the fan, so we've been without that light for 5 years. It just occurred to me this past weekend, while dusting the fan, to grab my drill and unscrew the cap on the bottom. Lo and behold, there was the switch. Shut off the breaker to that room, pulled the switch, a two-pack of them should arrive today from Amazon. With the help of my oldest as a second pair of hands to hold the light assembly, I'll reconnect that fucker and give an electrical science lesson in the process. EDIT: 
D34THROW fucked around with this message at 21:11 on Apr 25, 2022 |
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Apr 25, 2022 16:44
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D34THROW posted:Hopefully I'm going to have a Fix it Fast Success Story later today. Five years ago, I was making the bed in the grownups' bedroom, and the comforter caught the fan light cord and yanked it clear out of the fan, so we've been without that light for 5 years. It just occurred to me this past weekend, while dusting the fan, to grab my drill and unscrew the cap on the bottom.
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Apr 26, 2022 01:20
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I'm in a multi-unit building with a garage. a few days ago my garage door opener stopped working, only opening the door after pressing it many times, and now not at all. I first replaced the battery, but a new one hasn't resolved the issue (in both cases the light red light flashes when you press the button, so it definitely has power). No one else in the building is have an issue, so I have to assume it's not an issue with the garage door or receiver itself. Also the open button on the receiver works fine to open it. It's a linear multi-code, with switches like this. But I've never touched the switches to my knowledge, so how could this happen? I will go ahead and make sure my switches match the ones on the receiver - maybe I have to "reset" something since I put in a new battery?
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Apr 27, 2022 16:04
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Edit, my reading comprehension was low. If you are not the person responsible for the building, this is not your problem to fix. Go to whomever is responsible and tell them you need a replacement opener. PremiumSupport fucked around with this message at 16:15 on Apr 27, 2022 |
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Apr 27, 2022 16:13
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PremiumSupport posted:First thing to check is that the antenna on the main unit is still attached, as it may have snagged on something and been pulled off. It's most likely a short black wire hanging down from the opener, but do check your operating manual. thank you - if either of those were the case wouldn't everyone else's openers not be working as well?
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Apr 27, 2022 16:15
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If you didn't change any of the positions on those switches, that isn't going to be the problem. That's just so the control and opener can talk, if the control is producing flashing lights on the opener, then don't fool with those switches. How old is the garage door opener, to your knowledge? What brand opener is it? It's not uncommon to have an opener fail, there's probably an internal fault causing the problem. You might consider calling someone to inspect, likely replace the opener. I can't imagine spare parts are very handy with supply shortages everywhere for everything. E: are these individual garages or is it one door that everyone else has a clicker to? E2: actually, do what PremiumSupport said. Call the super. CRUSTY MINGE fucked around with this message at 16:18 on Apr 27, 2022 |
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Apr 27, 2022 16:15
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actionjackson posted:thank you - if either of those were the case wouldn't everyone else's openers not be working as well? Yeah, sorry. I completely read it wrong. See my above edit.
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Apr 27, 2022 16:16
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the opener is a linear multi-code. the garage door is from when the building was constructed in 2005. I can get more details on it later, I'll prob just email our management company and they can send someone out. edit: there is one door for everyone, and we all have the same opener
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Apr 27, 2022 16:17
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Yeah, that shouldn't be your headache. Call whoever handles maintenance, maybe they have a spare opener, but let them deal with it.
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Apr 27, 2022 16:20
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actionjackson posted:I'm in a multi-unit building with a garage. a few days ago my garage door opener stopped working, only opening the door after pressing it many times, and now not at all. I first replaced the battery, but a new one hasn't resolved the issue (in both cases the light red light flashes when you press the button, so it definitely has power). No one else in the building is have an issue, so I have to assume it's not an issue with the garage door or receiver itself. Also the open button on the receiver works fine to open it. Make note of which way all those little switches are flipped. Flip all of them in to the opposite direction, then flip them back to the way they were. If that doesn't work call maintenance.
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Apr 27, 2022 17:18
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Just a quick question, hopefully simple: Is it a bad idea to run the central air fan only 24/7? Many days the temperature is comfortable but the house gets kinda stale and stanky between the cooking and 5 people + dog living here. I'm only worried about lowering the life expectancy of the fan but I'm assuming they have a pretty long service life and can be replaced easily.
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Apr 28, 2022 04:22
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wesleywillis posted:Make note of which way all those little switches are flipped. Flip all of them in to the opposite direction, then flip them back to the way they were. If that doesn't work call maintenance. that worked thk u friend
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Apr 28, 2022 05:29
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actionjackson posted:that worked thk u friend Glad to help.
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Apr 28, 2022 11:35
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erosion posted:Just a quick question, hopefully simple: Is it a bad idea to run the central air fan only 24/7? Many days the temperature is comfortable but the house gets kinda stale and stanky between the cooking and 5 people + dog living here. I'm only worried about lowering the life expectancy of the fan but I'm assuming they have a pretty long service life and can be replaced easily. Some thermostats have a circulate function that will just run the fan for a few minutes to move some air every so often if it's not going into a heating or cooling cycle. Might be worth just replacing the thermostat if you'd like some air movement and your current one doesn't do that.
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Apr 28, 2022 11:45
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erosion posted:Just a quick question, hopefully simple: Is it a bad idea to run the central air fan only 24/7? Many days the temperature is comfortable but the house gets kinda stale and stanky between the cooking and 5 people + dog living here. I'm only worried about lowering the life expectancy of the fan but I'm assuming they have a pretty long service life and can be replaced easily. Depends what you have. Variable speed fan? Run it all the time. Otherwise that could get expensive quick and would likely reduce the life of it.
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Apr 28, 2022 11:57
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For what it's worth, I run my fan 24/7, and have for years. Might it shorten the life, sure, but what price are you willing to put on your comfort? edit: When I was researching it, cost of replacement wasn't listed in the pros and cons list generated by most places I found. The main pros were: *less wear and tear on the system, as startup is the time when most wear and tear happens *cleaner, healthier air as it is constantly being filtered *more consistent temperature between rooms The main cons were: *more electricity use means higher bills *might move warmer or colder air than desired into the house depending on where ducts are run PremiumSupport fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Apr 28, 2022 |
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Apr 28, 2022 19:23
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We run ours 24/7 because it keeps the radon out of the in-slab ductwork. Haven't had any problems so far...
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Apr 29, 2022 01:51
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devicenull posted:We run ours 24/7 because it keeps the radon out of the in-slab ductwork. Haven't had any problems so far... Wait....what? How does radon get into your supposed to be sealed ductwork, and if it does where do you think it is going when you run the fan? Do you have a proper radon mitigation system?
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Apr 29, 2022 02:15
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Just to be absolutely clear, the thermostat we have has two switches, FAN (On/Auto) and SYSTEM (Cool/Off/Heat). Fan on and system off just circulates air, that's what I've been doing when the temperature is fine but the house stinks like poo poo. Doesn't help that the bathroom doesn't have a fart fan. Haven't had the money to buy one and probably couldn't install it if I did. Anyway, it sounds like some people think it could shorten the life of the fan, so I'm probably going to do this less now. I'll just open a couple windows. Motronic posted:Wait....what? How does radon get into your supposed to be sealed ductwork, and if it does where do you think it is going when you run the fan? Do you have a proper radon mitigation system? Actually it's funny you mention radon mitigation because for my part (different poster) we do have one, and I have no idea what I need to do to maintain it. Don't think it's been touched since we moved in. Fan's still running.
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Apr 29, 2022 05:10
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We run ours 24/7 at the advice of the company that installed it because it helps immensely in keeping our basement dry. They recommended we change the filters more often because they will clog up faster and increase wear on the fan. We don't buy the filters from them, so it wasn't to their advantage to have us buying them more often, so  we change it out every two months now.
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Apr 29, 2022 14:51
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Blowjob Overtime posted:We run ours 24/7 at the advice of the company that installed it because it helps immensely in keeping our basement dry. They recommended we change the filters more often because they will clog up faster and increase wear on the fan. We don't buy the filters from them, so it wasn't to their advantage to have us buying them more often, so You know what else keeps your basement dry without circulating the humidity throughout your entire home and running a fan 24x7? A dehumidifier in your basement.
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Apr 29, 2022 15:59
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Motronic posted:You know what else keeps your basement dry without circulating the humidity throughout your entire home and running a fan 24x7? A dehumidifier in your basement. Exactly. I have two dehumidifiers running in our basement; one came with the house and requires manual emptying of the water reservoir and I got a newer one that automatically drains into the drain in the concrete floor. Cheaper and easier to replace than your A/C unit fan and it keeps the humidity down and not being sucked in from outside all the time in the rest of the house.
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Apr 29, 2022 16:16
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I choose to run a dehumidifier rather than a 1hp motor 24/7
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Apr 29, 2022 18:58
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Any recommendations on how to seal a hole about 1/8? diameter with a wire through it? Underwater? I'm working on an automatic plant watering system. It's reservoir based, not hose based, for reasons. I have submersible things (pumps, level switches) in this reservoir that require wires, so I need to get these wires out to dry land. The reservoir is about 19 gallons or so. So I need something that will hold against that much water weight. Is this a "flex seal can fix that" scenario? Specifically looking at something like this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/Flex-Seal-14-fl-oz-Clear-Aerosol-Spray-Rubberized-Coating/50299807 https://www.lowes.com/pd/Gorilla-Gorilla-Waterproof-Patch-and-SealClear-Spray-14OZ-6PC-Display/5001609117
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Apr 29, 2022 19:35
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DaveSauce posted:Any recommendations on how to seal a hole about 1/8? diameter with a wire through it? Underwater? 100% silicon caulk sounds like the ticket. Aside from various home waterproofing purposes, it 's used in aquariums as a sealant so it's up to the task of being submerged dunno if it--or anything--could reliably withstand the pressure of 19 gallons though
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Apr 29, 2022 20:46
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The height of the water level above the seal is the relevant issue, not how many gallons there are, but 19 gallons is going to be pretty easy unless you're storing it in a 2 inch diameter x 30 foot high container. 100% silicone caulk is indeed the simplest answer. Clean all of the surfaces carefully--ideally with some isopropyl alcohol and maybe acetone depending on the material of the container, but at least some dish soap (be sure to rinse thoroughly). Let it cure fully before testing the seal.
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Apr 29, 2022 21:29
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Interesting, I was thinking silicone caulk initially, but for some reason decided it might not be sufficient for some reason. Thanks! Separate subject, follow up to an earlier issue: DaveSauce posted:What's the he best way to fix this screen door? Finally got around to taking at least one part of the frame off:    So in the first image, I think part of the issue is the ginormous bead of caulk they had on there. not sure if that was the root cause, or if piss poor mounting required that much to fill the gap. Anyhow, I scraped it away and am going to try to fix this up. Plan is to screw down the trim piece (unpainted bit, currently held in by finish nails), fill the old holes in with toothpicks/wood glue, and then make new screw holes for the frame. I dry fit the frame and tightening up that trim piece should give me space to stop rubbing on the left side, at least. Not sure what's under the top piece... might need to sand it down, but shouldn't be too bad since it's just the top left corner. Any thoughts? My initial concern is that screwing down that trim piece will cause issues with expansion/contraction. Seems like it's already suffered a bit, though I'm not sure how much of that is settling/moving versus sheer incompetence of the installer.
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Apr 30, 2022 02:03
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Motronic posted:Wait....what? How does radon get into your supposed to be sealed ductwork, and if it does where do you think it is going when you run the fan? Do you have a proper radon mitigation system? Ductwork is in the slab. It's from the 60's, lol if you think that was even remotely sealed. We had a contractor come in and spray some poo poo inside it to seal it better, but even then we got a bunch of water in it during the last hurricane. Keeping the HVAC blower on keeps that ductwork under positive pressure, which means the radon can't seep in. We have an airthings detector which pretty much proves this - we can turn the hvac fan off and the levels start creeping up. I have to get around to calling a radon mitigation contractor and asking if they can do anything, but I'm pretty sure the answer is going to be "abandon the ducts in the slab and rerun new ones in the attic".
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Apr 30, 2022 02:56
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Doing a bathroom renovation, and it's been a lot more frustrating than I thought it would be. Basically none of the studs or the bathtub are plumb/level, so just a poo poo-ton of shimming and prep before I can even replace the walls, let alone put up fresh tile. My current frustration is that that there is a 3" vent pipe in the wall that is actually sticking out past the studs by a quarter inch. They apparently dented the pipe during construction to fit the rim of the bathtub there. With the old walls, there was a slight bulge where I guess they just wrapped the drywall around it. I can't easily bang on it and flatten it, because some little 1/2" copper pipes are right behind it in the wall, and those would be crushed long before the 3" is. I don't have any brilliant ideas of how to fix this... - I could cut the pipe and replace it with something smaller, but as it passes behind the tub in the wall, the union would just add to the thickness I need to deal with. - Squashing the pipe seems tricky. Maybe if I used a clamp to do it, rather blunt force? Possibly in combination with some slight heat? But if the sweated joints on it came unsweated, the bathroom would stink forever. - I could notch out the back of my wall material, but taking a 1/4" out of a 1/2" thick piece will significantly weaken it. - I could do something wacky like shim the entire wall, but that would be such a pain in the rear end.
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Apr 30, 2022 03:03
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