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Call a good locksmith, they can sell you the new deadbolts, drill out the door, install everything, and key everything alike.
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Aug 18, 2022 21:05
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Hell, even a bad one can.
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Aug 18, 2022 23:00
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Honestly that does sound a lot easier. What's the ballpark $$$ on that?
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Aug 18, 2022 23:17
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Admiral Joeslop posted:Honestly that does sound a lot easier. What's the ballpark $$$ on that? I think I got our house done for a couple hundred with no new hardware. Most of it was trip charge. Don't be stingy on the key count. As I recall they were like $2 each so I got 10.
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Aug 19, 2022 02:59
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That's a lot of keys floating around if you're concerned about security. I would get 1 per (adult) resident plus a spare one to throw in the junk drawer. It's equally cheap to have a key copied down the road if you need to.
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Aug 19, 2022 05:29
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i like nice words
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The other benefit of having a locksmith do it is that they can match the new locks to your existing key. And if you have multiple keys, that'd be a good opportunity to have them rekey everything to match. Re: Cost: when we bought our place, it cost us $300 to rekey everything (8 locks, I think), and when they were here they found that one of the exterior doors lacked a deadbolt, so we had them install one for another $100. If they can re-use the existing bores then it might be cheaper. $80 of that was a trip fee, so the actual work is relatively cheap. edit: Anne Whateley posted:That's a lot of keys floating around if you're concerned about security. I would get 1 per (adult) resident plus a spare one to throw in the junk drawer. It's equally cheap to have a key copied down the road if you need to. I wouldn't get 10, but I'd get more than 1 spare, with at least 1 being a "never use keep in a safe place" master spare. The problem with copying keys is unless you go to a proper locksmith who has, or can figure out, the correct profile, your copy is going to be a like-for-like of what you feed the machine. So if the original is worn down, the copy will be equally worn (hence keeping a "master" spare). DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 12:51 on Aug 19, 2022 |
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Aug 19, 2022 12:46
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Do not get keys made anywhere there’s an automated machine doing it. I have had a very low success rate with those, usually the keys don’t work or take a lot of jiggling. Find a human on a grinder, TrueValue and Ace usually have somebody around here.
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Aug 19, 2022 14:31
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Anne Whateley posted:That's a lot of keys floating around if you're concerned about security. I would get 1 per (adult) resident plus a spare one to throw in the junk drawer. It's equally cheap to have a key copied down the road if you need to. They're all on a ring in said junk drawer and they all work great. We actively use 7 of them. Having 1 or 100 in the junk drawer is the same level of security. Lawnie posted:Do not get keys made anywhere there’s an automated machine doing it. I have had a very low success rate with those, usually the keys don’t work or take a lot of jiggling. Find a human on a grinder, TrueValue and Ace usually have somebody around here. And the one we had a machine do binds in 2 of the locks, one extremely tightly to the point we shouldn't ever use it in that lock. Someone bought us a novelty "~home~" key when we bought our house. If this happens expect to either need a recut or to hand file it a little bit if it didn't quite take off enough material. Obviously if it took off too much...
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Aug 19, 2022 16:33
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Freshly machine-ground keys have really sharp edges. Just take a metal file to the edges to knock off the burr - one or two swipes along the edges (the flat sides of the key, don't take off the "peaks" of the key's profile). A human grinding a key at a grinder will usually take off the burr for you which is why those work better.
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Aug 19, 2022 22:53
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The weird thing I've found is that our local key kiosk thing makes the key profile itself just fine but they key blanks they use are too long or something. If you stick them all the way in the lock they won't turn, but if you just pull them out about 1/8" they turn great.
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Aug 19, 2022 22:56
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Danhenge posted:The weird thing I've found is that our local key kiosk thing makes the key profile itself just fine but they key blanks they use are too long or something. If you stick them all the way in the lock they won't turn, but if you just pull them out about 1/8" they turn great. It's the wrong blank, but good luck having anyone care. Either it's out of spec or literally the wrong one. Just go to a locksmith rather lowesdepot. The cutter isn't grinding the keyway, just the top down notches ("biting"). You can get really good at using knockoff keys but sometimes the slide along the bottom is whoops wrong angle and it won't go in at all. Or you angle grind it off at home. Allegedly. And yeah they will hit them with a wheel to buff them.
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Aug 19, 2022 23:14
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H110Hawk posted:It's the wrong blank, but good luck having anyone care. Either it's out of spec or literally the wrong one. Just go to a locksmith rather lowesdepot. The cutter isn't grinding the keyway, just the top down notches ("biting"). You can get really good at using knockoff keys but sometimes the slide along the bottom is whoops wrong angle and it won't go in at all. Or you angle grind it off at home. Allegedly. The only brick and mortar locksmith in my area that I'm aware of is a 40 minute drive. So if I need some keys quick (e.g. just realized that I haven't given our catsitter a key and we're leaving in an hour) then the lowesdepot is it. It's possible one of these guys in a van will come out and do it quick, but maybe not as cheaply and it works OK. Someday maybe I'll interact with a real locksmith.
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Aug 20, 2022 00:24
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DaveSauce posted:I wouldn't get 10, but I'd get more than 1 spare, with at least 1 being a "never use keep in a safe place" master spare. The problem with copying keys is unless you go to a proper locksmith who has, or can figure out, the correct profile, your copy is going to be a like-for-like of what you feed the machine. So if the original is worn down, the copy will be equally worn (hence keeping a "master" spare). I think I paid like a dollar a key when I brought my locks to the locksmith to get them keyed alike... makes more sense to get way more then you need then to have to go back. Bonus: If you have a shed or something, you can get a Abus 83/45 keyed alike to your regular house keys!
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Aug 20, 2022 01:06
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yeah I think I was reading that as "10 extra" but 10 total doesn't seem unreasonable for a typical family. But that said I don't even know how many we had made when we changed our locks. At least 4, more likely 5-7, but I can only account for 4 off the top of my head. If we had a couple stashed somewhere, I have no idea where or how many!
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Aug 20, 2022 01:49
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That's exactly the issue with too many spares, imo -- when you hand one to a dogwalker, house sitter, neighbor, visitor, etc., you won't be in a hurry to get it back and you may not realize it's gone at all. Having one spare in a designated (frequently visible) spot takes care of that.
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Aug 20, 2022 04:02
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I'm setting up a LED strip with a 12v power supply. The input is polarized and has both labels and wire color... which don't match. As far as I know, live should be brown but here it's blue (It's definitely not twisted around, there's just a small bend near the case). The product shots all show Live = Brown and Neutral = Blue.  I'm pretty clueless when it comes to A/C, is there any way to verify if the wires or the labels are correct?
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Aug 20, 2022 17:18
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Me, personally, would not worry about it. You could also crack open the housing and try looking at the markings on the PCB. With these sorts of things some guy is soldering wires on a 12 hour shift and it'll work whichever way he does, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he zoned out while doing yours.
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Aug 20, 2022 17:23
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I've had the Minutekey at walmart make tons of keys for home and work and they've always been fine. I however have had keys made at a local hardware store for locks at a work yard where the guy at the grinder used the wrong blank. We didn't find out till someone went to the yard to pick up some pile and couldn't get in.
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Aug 20, 2022 18:00
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yippee cahier posted:Me, personally, would not worry about it. You could also crack open the housing and try looking at the markings on the PCB. With these sorts of things some guy is soldering wires on a 12 hour shift and it'll work whichever way he does, so I wouldn't be too surprised if he zoned out while doing yours. Obviously somebody messed up during assembly... I just wasn't sure if they were more likely to mess up the wire colors or the labels  But you were right, I managed to open the case without breaking it and they brown is indeed live, they just stuck the board the wrong way. It works and nothing blew up.
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Aug 20, 2022 18:04
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Looking for some clever ideas for a dumb problem I've caused for myself. We found a great deal on some solid doors that we've been wanting to replace in our house (20 bucks per door), only problem being they're 2 inches too wide, and already cut for knobs. Pretend I'm too poor to just purchase the correct doors. Just, as like, a fun thought exercise. The current plan is make 2-1/8" plugs to pop into the current holes, and then cut the doors to width and drill out new holes in the correct spot. I can't find anyone selling plugs of that size in anything less than 250 count for some reason. I don't have a drill press, so a plug cutter of that size I suspect would be impossible to use on a drill. I could do a regular hole saw, but I can't figure out what the internal diameter would be on a slightly larger bit. I don't have access to a lathe.
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Aug 20, 2022 19:41
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Okay more fun at my parents home. All their toilets fill the bowl practically to the brim. I have adjusted the floats as low as they go and things are a bit better but there is still way to much water in the bowl imho. Is there anything else I can easily do to make this better? The toilets all flush fine and don't run. The house is in the US and from the early 70's. I'd guess the toilets are too. I know it toilets use more water so maybe this is just their style.
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Aug 20, 2022 20:10
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Associate Christ
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other people posted:Okay more fun at my parents home. All their toilets fill the bowl practically to the brim. I have adjusted the floats as low as they go and things are a bit better but there is still way to much water in the bowl imho. Sounds like there's a plumbing issue. The toilets are either clogged or something downstream is. A toilet is a P trap. Water can only fill up so much before dribbling over the trap and going down the drain:  So unless you've got some weird non-standard toilets something else is going on. Adjusting how much water goes to the bowl when refilling is just to save water - it's to make the bowl fill just to where it starts spilling over to drain in the same time the tank fills. Most are adjusted wrong so extra water goes into the bowl and straight down the drain while the tank is filling.
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Aug 20, 2022 20:15
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other people posted:Okay more fun at my parents home. All their toilets fill the bowl practically to the brim. I have adjusted the floats as low as they go and things are a bit better but there is still way to much water in the bowl imho. The water level is controlled by a type of trap at the back of the bowl, the float only controls how much water is used in each flush (which will basically always be more than the normal volume in the bowl). If the bowl is suddenly filling too high then the trap could be partially blocked. 
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Aug 20, 2022 20:21
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I see what you guys mean. The toilets have always filled high afaict, I am just visiting for a while and thought to do something about it. If there is something plugging up all the toilets like that then I am not sure what tools they will have here to fix it. Nothing in this house works quite right and my aged parents don't seem to care much and definitely wouldn't know how to fix any of it even if they did. And I live on another continent so I'm no help. It's a beautiful house  .
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Aug 20, 2022 20:35
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If it is an old toilet that has always done it then maybe it is just a weird outdated design from someone who was thinking fuller = better than.
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Aug 20, 2022 20:38
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other people posted:I see what you guys mean. The toilets have always filled high afaict, I am just visiting for a while and thought to do something about it. If there is something plugging up all the toilets like that then I am not sure what tools they will have here to fix it. You could try to get them to swap the toilets with modern ones. Not only do they not waste as much water, you can get "comfort height", which is easier to get up and down from!
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Aug 20, 2022 20:43
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Actual question: could a toilet being off-level contribute to it filling too much (or too little, for that matter)?
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Aug 20, 2022 21:33
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The light switch in my bedroom only turns on if you wiggle it a little bit once it's flipped up. I was hoping just to easily replace it with a new switch, as I have zero electrical knowledge or experience. This is the new one, a single pole residential grade I guess?  Here's the old one I just pulled, and the wiring in the wall.      Is there an easy way to do this or do I need additional supplies or an electrician? My hunch is one of the black wires goes to that blue screw on the new one but again, no knowledge or experience. I also don't know which of the wires goes on which screw on the new one.
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Aug 20, 2022 23:05
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Admiral Joeslop posted:The light switch in my bedroom only turns on if you wiggle it a little bit once it's flipped up. I was hoping just to easily replace it with a new switch, as I have zero electrical knowledge or experience. You don't need any additional supplies or an electrician, but one thing is that you're not supposed to back out the screws all the way -- just enough to get the hooked wires off. There are a bunch of YouTube videos showing you how, e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM8_yHlyqR4 Also, the most important thing is to shut off the power before doing this, but I suspect since you got the old switch off you were able to do that. Edit: To answer your specific question, since it's just a two-way switch it doesn't matter too much which of the two wires go on which pole. Ideally you'd have a ground wire (bare copper) and that would go on the green screw, but it looks like that receptacle doesn't have one. (Disclaimer: not an expert or anything, but I have replaced a few switches before.) floWenoL fucked around with this message at 23:26 on Aug 20, 2022 |
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Aug 20, 2022 23:23
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Okay, so following up on my previous post, I did cut out a hole and put in a low-voltage bracket in for the ethernet jacks. However, I think I cut a little too much off on the right side:  Is there an easy way to fill that gap? I suppose I could use some caulk or space-filling foam, but I'm not sure if that'll stick to the drywall material. Also, it's not visible, but there's a stud peeking out from the right, which forces the bracket to hug the left side. I suppose I could try and cut some wood shims and glue it to the stud, also. Any other ideas I'm missing? Also, aside from that gap, it seems that the bracket adds more depth than I thought, such that the plate doesn't quite cover the gap around. Is this expected? Anything I can do to fix this? 
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Aug 20, 2022 23:37
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floWenoL posted:
For #1, google "oversized wallplate" and buy one of those then don't think about it again. Lesson learned for next time. For the depth, I think the issue is that you don't have the orange low voltage ring seated flush to the wall. I bet the protrusion from the top right of the low voltage ring is hitting the back of that blue electrical box I can see in the first picture. I would trim the finger on the orange ring so that it can sit flush into the wall, and go from there. Take a picture without the wallplate on and the screws tightened down from a few angles if you want a better diagnosis. If the orange ring is flush, it will sit down inside the wallplate and the wallplate will end up flush. Don't try to fill this gap with anything, you have an installation problem you need to solve.
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Aug 21, 2022 00:13
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Slugworth posted:Looking for some clever ideas for a dumb problem I've caused for myself. We found a great deal on some solid doors that we've been wanting to replace in our house (20 bucks per door), only problem being they're 2 inches too wide, and already cut for knobs. I bet you could cut the door as-is, then take your newly minted scrap of color matched wood and cut out a 2" circle of wood using a hole saw. Borrow one off Facebook/Nextdoor. Or buy one. Assuming your door hardware hole (  ) is now only short around a 1/4" (measure thrice, cut once!) you should be able to basically sawdust and wood glue your way to success. Or plane off a strip and wrap your plug in it using wood glue until it's too big then sand it down. Wood glue and rubber mallet that sucker in there. Or? Buy an extra door at $20. Use a jig saw to cut out rough but slightly too large circles. Now belt sand / rasp off into a nice circle, wood glue in place. You want it nice and snug. Once you cut down the door you won't even have a whole hole to fill even if the circumference isn't perfect. Wood filler or sawdust and wood glue are your friends here, work on a clean piece of butcher paper or something to capture it. Though it will be easier if you have the whole hole, as you can basically friction fit the wood plug which will help the glue adhere. If you don't get it perfectly in plane sand the high side and wood filler the low side (or... sawdust and wood glue?) then sand it.
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Aug 21, 2022 01:02
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Slugworth posted:Looking for some clever ideas for a dumb problem I've caused for myself. We found a great deal on some solid doors that we've been wanting to replace in our house (20 bucks per door), only problem being they're 2 inches too wide, and already cut for knobs. Bondo!
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Aug 21, 2022 01:30
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Admiral Joeslop posted:
The only extra supply you need here is a wire nut and a short length of black wire. You aren't supposed to have two wires under a screw like that, so the fix is to wire nut the two existing wires with a new short length, and run just that one short wire to the switch.
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Aug 21, 2022 02:09
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H110Hawk posted:(Info) B) Going undersized and packing it with sawdust/glue/Bondo is something I'm trying to avoid just for, as you pointed out, strength of the repair. There will be a fair bit of stress at that spot, so the better the bond, the happier I'll be. It occurs to me I can just go to a hardware store and physically measure the internal diameter of a 2-1/4 or 2-3/8 holesaw and cross my fingers one of them works out to 2-1/8. Definitely could always sand to fit, but the closer I start, the better.
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Aug 21, 2022 02:33
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Slugworth posted:A) Using the cut-off from the door is a great idea. I'm cutting 3-4" off the bottom, so I'll have plenty of scrap. Wood glue is basically as strong as original wood with good adhesion (pressure) and complete curing. Literally make it the exact size of your hole, then sand it to the point where you can get it in there with a few taps of a rubber mallet. Paint inside and out liberally with wood glue. Jam that sucker in there and wipe off excess. Let dry for 2 days. As long as you're painting it though it won't matter much that there isn't grain. My suggestion of filler was basically trying to be as frugal as possible and I only had a 2" off cut with which to work in the original post. (You said you were broke, I was very much trying to land within one bottle of wood glue in price. )
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Aug 21, 2022 02:56
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Danhenge posted:Actual question: could a toilet being off-level contribute to it filling too much (or too little, for that matter)? Yes but it would probably have to be off significantly to matter. I.e. you would be sliding off the seat. Just mentally rotate the diagrams above, keeping the water line horizontal and at the level of the lip in the trap.
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Aug 21, 2022 04:09
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withak posted:Yes but it would probably have to be off significantly to matter. I.e. you would be sliding off the seat. Yeah, it seemed like it would probably need to be pretty significant.
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Aug 21, 2022 04:37
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TacoHavoc posted:For #1, google "oversized wallplate" and buy one of those then don't think about it again. Lesson learned for next time. Thanks, you were absolutely right! I sawed off part of the protusion and the screw and it's right as rain now, thanks!
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Aug 21, 2022 05:48
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There's a little alcove above the closet in our bedroom, I think it'd be useful for storing lightweight stuff (Christmas decorations, wrapping paper, etc). But I'd like to conceal that area with something decorative I thought about throwing up a tension rod, or installing an actual curtain. But what I'd really like is a folding screen, something like this:  But this is a short space, maybe only 3 or 4 feet high. I've seen shorter folding screens that could fit in that space before, but I don't know what they're called. Anyone know what I'm talking about? My ebay searches for stuff like "short folding screen" have been pretty fruitless
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Aug 21, 2022 06:01
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