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The front door on our house requires you to pull it tight to lock it (or push it tight from the inside). It's new construction (1 year) so door hardware, hinges, etc are all pretty fresh. It latches fine, so i've considered this a minor annoyance and otherwise not worried about it. But I installed a SimpliSafe smart lock yesterday and it unlocks fine, but struggles to lock the door since the deadbolt only aligns perfectly when you pull the door tight. It looks like this may be happening because the weather stripping is too thick and springy. It's this kind which basically is two layers, folded/sandwiched over each other and when closing the door it does seem to push back slightly when it impacts the stripping. I'm assuming I'll need to pull it out and find some thinner weather stripping, but am I missing some easier/better way to adjust the door? https://imgur.com/dk36tsr
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Mar 26, 2023 12:20
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Is this a new issue or has it always been giving you trouble? Sometimes as the new lumber dries a door can come out of alignment a tiny bit which is enough to cause issues. Double check if the door hinge screws are tight. Sanding/filing the strike plate for the lock a hair might solve the issue too. Those would be the quick n easy fixes I could think of anyways
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Mar 26, 2023 13:10
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Any tips on how to know when a toggle bolt is properly torqued? I had a floating shelf fall off of my bathroom wall and yank out the crappy broken anchor. I think the hardware is bent, so it won't hold the shelf for very long, anyway.
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Mar 26, 2023 15:45
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Drywall anchors shouldn't be used for situations where you're putting a substantial load on the fastener. What were you putting on this shelf? I always prefer to attach to the studs, if at all possible.
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Mar 26, 2023 16:57
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Following up on my leaky shower: I replaced the rubber washers and springs, and I think that did it! It's still dripping about once every minute, but in fairness I had to turn the shower on to make sure it still worked properly, so there's some water that has to make its way out of the system. In any case, one drip per minute is vastly better than one drip per three-four seconds, which is what I was getting before. I decided not to take a photo of the shutoff valves, since that would have required removing the faceplate. It's kind of a pain to get back on once removed, as it relies on two long screws that fit into holes on a fixture inside the wall.
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Mar 26, 2023 17:33
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Drywall anchors shouldn't be used for situations where you're putting a substantial load on the fastener. What were you putting on this shelf?
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Mar 26, 2023 22:19
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bort posted:Less than 5 lbs. It was a PO job. I agree, I was trying to repair it rather than having to remove both shelves, spackle, paint and reinstall new shelves that are in the studs. Oh, if it was the PO, then I'd bet it was falling apart before you moved in, and it was just a matter of time before it failed entirely.
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Mar 26, 2023 22:23
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caluki posted:The front door on our house requires you to pull it tight to lock it (or push it tight from the inside). It's new construction (1 year) so door hardware, hinges, etc are all pretty fresh. It latches fine, so i've considered this a minor annoyance and otherwise not worried about it. But I installed a SimpliSafe smart lock yesterday and it unlocks fine, but struggles to lock the door since the deadbolt only aligns perfectly when you pull the door tight.
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Mar 27, 2023 05:39
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i like nice words
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lil poopendorfer posted:Is this a new issue or has it always been giving you trouble? Sometimes as the new lumber dries a door can come out of alignment a tiny bit which is enough to cause issues. Double check if the door hinge screws are tight. I only needed a little bit more clearance, so I tried filing the strike plate idea and that did the trick... thanks.
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Mar 27, 2023 11:27
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Got a 1/2" Sharkbite fitting that won't come off with the removal tool and maybe an hour left until I leave. Should I try the removal tool plus slip joint pliers or just hit it with a reciprocating saw to split it? I sprained my right (dominant) hand the other day and can't really use it to apply any meaningful force to anything.
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Mar 27, 2023 19:49
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caluki posted:The front door on our house requires you to pull it tight to lock it (or push it tight from the inside). It's new construction (1 year) so door hardware, hinges, etc are all pretty fresh. It latches fine, so i've considered this a minor annoyance and otherwise not worried about it. But I installed a SimpliSafe smart lock yesterday and it unlocks fine, but struggles to lock the door since the deadbolt only aligns perfectly when you pull the door tight. They make adjustable strike plates. I'd try one of those.
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Mar 27, 2023 22:29
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Does anyone know how to remove a logo from a cloth shirt? I've got lots of shirts from random brands and I don't want people to associate me with them like I'm some walking advertisement.
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Mar 28, 2023 02:56
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America Inc. posted:Does anyone know how to remove a logo from a cloth shirt? I've got lots of shirts from random brands and I don't want people to associate me with them like I'm some walking advertisement. I recommend putting a patch you like on top of the logo. I don't think you'll be able to remove logos from shirts without leaving them at least somewhat damaged.
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Mar 28, 2023 03:02
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Patches! Make it fun! https://themidnightsociety.us/collections/fictional-national-parks/products/helms-deep-historic-site-patch
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Mar 28, 2023 04:10
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So my kid brought home some bedbugs at some point in the last month and we started noticing it last week and quickly got the house heat treated -- problem solved. Except that it super hosed our downstairs LVP floating floors. There's several planks that look cupped and one particularly bad spot that's separated with the tongue no longer in the groove. Is there any repairing something like this or is it basically refloor our downstairs.
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Mar 30, 2023 02:21
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Theoretically , over time the cupping might go down as the laminate re-acclimates, but I wouldn't hold my breath. If you can live with it for awhile, give it a month, see what happens. I've seen hardwood cupping/crowning from water damage go down, but 95 percent of the time, the damage is permanent. I wouldn't expect better odds with laminate.
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Mar 30, 2023 11:17
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Hardwood will lie back flat if the cupping / warping is not too severe. Depending on local humidity, it can take weeks to months to do so. Laminate probably will not, but, unless it's a trip hazard, Slugworth has the good advice.
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Mar 30, 2023 14:54
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America Inc. posted:Does anyone know how to remove a logo from a cloth shirt? I've got lots of shirts from random brands and I don't want people to associate me with them like I'm some walking advertisement. If it's embroidered on or a sewn on patch, you can remove it with a seam ripper. Just use the blade to cut the threads and the point to pull them out.
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Mar 30, 2023 21:27
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I want to remove some screws from drywall and fill them so that in 5-10 years I can paint over them. Should I do anything to them besides cut off any protruding drywall paper and shove some compound in there? Is a razor blade or sharp utility knife blade good for the task of cutting the paper?
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Apr 1, 2023 03:17
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wesleywillis posted:I want to remove some screws from drywall and fill them so that in 5-10 years I can paint over them. You got it. Sharp knife, don't be afraid to throw those blades out early and often. Chances are good you won't actually need to do any cutting but just in case you have the right idea. Nice clean unblemished putty knife so you don't have to do much cleanup. A new cheap plastic 1.5-2.5" one would be absolutely fine for this. Clean wet sponge with warm water once the compound dries should be all the finish work you need.
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Apr 1, 2023 03:32
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Motronic posted:You got it. Sharp knife, don't be afraid to throw those blades out early and often. Chances are good you won't actually need to do any cutting but just in case you have the right idea. Thanks, I remember about tossing blades but I'll probably forget when Im actually doing it. I used some razors to cut/scrape some silicone around my bathroom last year. The blade was working great for a while and then it stopped working and I was all like "why yhe gently caress is this fuckin piece of poo poo......."? Then I changed blades, and was all like "oh good, its working again" and 15-20 minutes later "why the gently caress is this........."? Changed to a new blade "oh yeah thats why" and then 15 or so minutes later.... Have another question. Is there a reasonably cheap tool to try and figure out where a coaxial cable goes to or what its hooked up to? There is a co-ax cable coming in to my condo (somewhere) and it splits in to two. Both run under the baseboard along a wall and two come out. From there, one goes to where my TV is (was, might rearrange some furniture) while the other runs, exposed along another wall before disappearing, runs under the baseboard to a box with just a blank cover on it. Somewhere in that wall, it splits off and goes to a co-ax faceplate that attaches to nothing, and then there seems to be another(?) split in that wall, it comes out and runs along the baseboards and comes out at the opposite wall. Sound confusing? Yup, it is. If Ihad more time I'd make an MS paint of how I *think* the wires run, but that still might not account for whats going on within the walls where I haven't been able to see. I'd have to pick up a scope for that. I suppose I could just use a multimeter and get some long wires attached to the lead and see if I cna figure it out, but if theres a tool that will tell me "things" like which wires have a signal or voltage or whatever, and which ones are dead, which ones might have continuity etc then that might make things a bit easier.
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Apr 1, 2023 16:21
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wesleywillis posted:Is there a reasonably cheap tool to try and figure out where a coaxial cable goes to or what its hooked up to? You're looking for a low voltage fox and hound. https://www.amazon.com/Electrical-G...e+tracer&sr=8-9 That piece of crap might do it? I dunno, I've got several nice ones from back in my days of datacenter work.
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Apr 1, 2023 16:33
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Thanks, that'll probably work, and I only (hopefully) need it to work once.
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Apr 1, 2023 17:15
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wesleywillis posted:
What problem are you trying to solve? If the coax isn't interfering with anything, does it matter if it is in the wall? If you are hoping to sell it, you won't get enough money back from the sale to justify the cost of such a specialized tool.You mentioned a condo, so I don't imagine that you are trying to use existing infrastructure to setup a data closet. If you are just trying to spend money, I had a kid and bought a house in the last 7 months, so just send it to me.
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Apr 1, 2023 18:59
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These little crack pipe toners work great, but I'll second the "what is it you're looking accomplish?". If you want to take it all out of the walls for some reason you're just going to set up a future pain in the rear end for yourself when you want cable in X room
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Apr 1, 2023 19:43
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The bottom element of my range oven stopped working, so I unscrewed it in preparation of removing it, only to find that one of the wires had disconnected and retreated back into the casing. I removed the back panel of the oven and found the missing wire.  As you can see in the photo, the end of the wire is damaged, and the black, charred part kinda disintegrates when touched. The wire connector is also damaged, and the perpendicular piece fell off quite easily as soon as I picked up the wire. This is my first time doing any kind of electrical repair and I’m not sure how to proceed. Do I need to replace the yellow wire? It connects to this thing here.  Frankly, I don’t know how to unfasten those from there. But maybe the damaged part can be repaired without having to replace the whole wire? I also don’t know how to change the wire connector, or the specific kind of connector I would need to get as a remplacement. In both cases I’ve tried finding DIY videos, but admittedly I’m kind of lost. Any help appreciated, but at least I know enough to have unplugged the oven while I was fiddling in there.
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Apr 2, 2023 21:46
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That’s just a standard spade connector, I’m guessing the other side had one too, on the element itself there should be two little metal tabs, one you would have undone already the other I’m guessing has that piece attached still, so depends on if it’s fused or not
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Apr 2, 2023 22:00
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The element itself looks like this.  Or from the front.  Doesn’t seem like anything is fused, though it looks kinda rough. I have a spare element if ever I need to get rid of this one. So my main issue it seems will be the damaged wire that I don’t know how to repair.
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Apr 2, 2023 22:17
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You can get those ends at any place that sells wiring stuff, I'd just run a new wire of the same guage and crimp some on. The greater concern would be WHY that wire melted and that's where you might be better off consulting a professional if there's no obvious issue
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Apr 2, 2023 22:32
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Opopanax posted:You can get those ends at any place that sells wiring stuff, I'd just run a new wire of the same guage and crimp some on. The greater concern would be WHY that wire melted and that's where you might be better off consulting a professional if there's no obvious issue
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Apr 2, 2023 22:36
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Opopanax posted:I'd just run a new wire of the same guage and crimp some on. Apologies, I’m so newbie that I don’t understand what you mean here. Buy new wire and spade connectors basically?
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Apr 2, 2023 22:47
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Imasalmon posted:What problem are you trying to solve? If the coax isn't interfering with anything, does it matter if it is in the wall? Opopanax posted:but I'll second the "what is it you're looking accomplish?". Its difficult to explain, and being that I'm lazy, its something thats been on and off the back burner for a while (over a year) so I forget some details of what I've already done or figured out. Mainly what I'm trying to accomplish is figure out which wires come/go from where and how they're hooked up. What I *suspect* is that the cable comes in, and goes to a splitter inside a wall. Then two wires come out of the wall and run beside each other under the baseboard. Both come out. One terminates and I've had that hooked up to my tv. The other continues on, exposed before going under the baseboard and disappears in to the wall. From there I'm not quite sure where it ends up, if there are further splits or what, before it comes out again, goes under some flooring to the opposite wall and comes back out again where it terminates. I don't have cable, but despite that, when I plug my tv in to that cable, I still get a couple actual tv channels, and some radio stations that I can listen to on my tv. You may think "who gives a gently caress?" but (probably) as a result of lots of concrete and rebar in my building and my being on the first floor and somewhat blocked by trees radio reception is really lovely, so having a few stations to listen to via the tv is nice. Not to mention one of the "channels" that I get is the camera feed to the vestibule at my building. Useful for seeing if pizza delivery guys show up or whatever. I do have internet, to shitpost through my phone, but I don't like streaming poo poo over that because the phone signal/data service sucks here too. I've rearranged some furniture and and mainly interested in seeing what happens with the cable in the second wall so I can figure out if I need to run wires across the floor, or if I can fish something out of the wall to hook up my tv in the new spot.
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Apr 2, 2023 22:53
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Bloody Mayhem posted:Apologies, I’m so newbie that I don’t understand what you mean here. Buy new wire and spade connectors basically? Should be enough slack in your existing wiring to cut off the burnt end and slap a new connector on. Also, if there isn’t, stove wiring sometimes has insulation rated for higher temperatures, random hookup wire might not be sufficient. You’ll have to strip the end of the wire and crimp that in the inner set of jaws on the new spade connector to make a good electrical connection. Ideally you’d have a crimping tool, wire strippers sometimes have a crimping function, but pliers will work in a pinch. The backmost tabs are designed to clamp onto the insulation and provide some amount of mechanical connection. I dab a bit of solder on when I do this kind of stuff to ensure it’s a good connection, but it should be fine without.
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Apr 2, 2023 23:19
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yippee cahier posted:Should be enough slack in your existing wiring to cut off the burnt end and slap a new connector on. Also, if there isn’t, stove wiring sometimes has insulation rated for higher temperatures, random hookup wire might not be sufficient. Thank you! I hadn’t thought of just cutting the burnt part. I’ll check again, but I do think I have enough slack. I’m going to go to a hardware store asap to get the spade connectors and maybe a bit of hands on advice. I’ll need to buy a wire stripper/crimp tool, but I’ve never soldered anything so I’ll avoid it if I can.
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Apr 2, 2023 23:38
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Make sure to ask for a heavier spade connectors. Most off-the-shelf packs of spade connectors are thin, sufficient for 12V and they will work OK...but there is a heavier-gauge type, usually brass-colored; they're beefy enough to stand up to anything.
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Apr 3, 2023 03:49
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If you do need more wire, the rating is stamped right on there. You can see it in the picture just can't read the whole thing. It's the part that says "600V", it will likely also have some letter codings. Transcribe the whole thing here if you need help. Crimp on spade connectors are easy to do but also subtle to gently caress up. Watch some videos and practice. Those connectors are dime a dozen. Nearly literally I think it's like $10/100.
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Apr 3, 2023 03:52
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 This door doesn't have a proper threshold and I would like to remedy that. The actual threshold installation seems fairly straightforward but I will need to cut back that carpet a little bit. I'm guessing whatever I do, the carpet is going to look lovely until I replace it so I'm hoping I can do the least amount of damage as possible. This video makes it seem fairly straight forward (I assume the metal strip he is using is the correct thing to look for) but this is with new carpet and obviously the carpet I have is quite old. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11rcaQRs10U Does anyone have any suggestions on the best way to go about this? Should I do anything differently since this is old carpet and not new? I'm mostly worried about the edges fraying and not holding together too well when cutting and securing it. What I am currently thinking is cut the carpet to release it from the transition strip, remove the old strip, and then install the old carpet into a new strip as shown in the video but maybe not as clean or tight as you could with new carpeting. I saw a different video by this same guy and he used only tack strips which I'm going to guess is not ideal mostly due to the fraying concerns I have. Any suggestions on a better way to go about this?
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Apr 3, 2023 19:25
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Thanks for both your help. I went to the hardware store and bought myself a multi tool that cuts, strips, and crimps.  I also bought two packs of spade connectors since I wasn’t sure. This is the wire/connector that was still intact.  It seems to correspond to this one I got (16-14).  The only thing I’m not sure about is that the ones in the box say “16-14 K.S” and the one still in the oven says “16-14 H” (or HT, it’s a weird inscription where the right branch of the H is also the vertical branch of the T). I’m not sure if that means anything or if they’re just brand names. I didn’t buy more wire in the end, since there is slack. I looked at a video about crimping a spade connector and it seemed easy enough, but now that I can’t really practice I’m a bit worried. From what I gather, the wire shouldn’t go farther inside the connector than the blue plastic casing? Thanks again.
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Apr 3, 2023 23:40
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Teabag Dome Scandal posted:
They have asymmetric thresholds you can buy at the home center that are really easy to install, just drill and fasten with the attached fasteners. A 4 inch one ought to work without cutting the carpet, imo Something like this  It’s hard to say which one is best without sizing it up to the application at hand so go to your home center and grab a couple that you think might work and then just return whatever you don’t end up using. lil poopendorfer fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Apr 4, 2023 |
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Apr 4, 2023 00:34
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lil poopendorfer posted:They have asymmetric thresholds you can buy at the home center that are really easy to install, just drill and fasten with the attached fasteners. A 4 inch one ought to work without cutting the carpet, imo The problem with not cutting the carpet is it ends under the door when closed so if I were to install something like https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-D-36-in-x-5-625-in-Aluminum-Wood-Door-Threshold-Install-with-Screws/3071271 I believe I would need to have it where the carpet currently is. There is about a 1/2" gap under the door so really what I'm trying to do here is eliminate a draft. I guess something like https://www.lowes.com/pd/M-D-36-in-x-3-75-in-Aluminum-Door-Threshold-Install-with-Screws/3125963 might work so I can just lay it over the existing carpet trim and still get a seal? I would need to drill into the concrete with that one rather than being able to use adhesive which is not my preference.
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Apr 4, 2023 01:09
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