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I went with C9's because it's what we had growing up. Mine arrived in the mail last week and I bought a string for them off of Amazon which arrived today. So I finally got to see them lit up and it immediately filled me with warmth and happiness seeing their warm glow like when I was a kid. I love them already and I don't even have them up on the house yet.
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Nov 15, 2023 04:11
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small butter posted:I guess it could be. Not sure, looks and feels like stone but I could be wrong. The edge is a bit beveled. There are no markings as far as I could tell. It does look like stone in that there are these small specks that look like other stone kitchen and other surfaces. For what it's worth, the kitchen countertops are quartz and the bathroom downstairs porcelain. I have a cheapo box store marble counter top in one of my bathrooms that also has a circular ring. Mine happened when I set down my spray bottle of CLR and the bit of runoff ate a nice rough ring. It took about 20 seconds. Anything I could do would make it worse so it now gives my counter "character". Your countertop appears to have a clearcoat or gloss layer. Some clowns at work came in and "remodeled" a work bathroom countertop by pouring epoxy and giving it a clearcoat. It looks stone like at a distance but any closer than a few feet and it's obviously lovely epoxy. It's hard to judge from the photo, but you may have something similar. Stone shouldn't scratch like that or have a clearcoat.
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Nov 15, 2023 04:11
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Tezer posted:I've never purchased light strings with larger bulbs, what are people's thought on c7 vs c9? Looking at the tru-tone LED offerings and not sure how to decide between the two sizes. I grew up with c7s on the tree:  (my sisters, 1967) They get damned hot. I have old blown-glass ornaments from my mom (some well over 100-years old; some visible in the above photo) that have holes burned through them from contact with the bulbs. You can feel the heat with your eyes closed. I still have all of the strings for them - old NOMAs with glass fuses in the plug - but haven't used them, ever; I picked up these incandescent pearl light sets from Frank's after I got married in 1990, and have used them ever since; they're warmer than LEDs, but nothing like C7s.  (pearl lights) I also have a ton of C9s, and strings for them, because I used them both to light my house, my Mom's house, and for 20+ years to light a 30' pine in my front yard.  That took 15+ strings (and a modified water heater timer) to light. I'm a belt & suspenders (i.e. anal) type, so over the years, I picked up strings and still grab bulbs whenever I find them. I also built a C9 system on my garage & sun room that runs all year so I replace a lot of bulbs. First got the Tru-Tones to test, and probably spent $400 this year stocking up. I expect that they will last far longer than the incandescents that remain up there. If you decide to light your indoor tree, I'd recommend the C7s; C9s are massive on a tree under 15' tall. And use all Tru-Tones; they are far, far cooler than any incandescent and use 10% of the energy. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 04:41 on Nov 15, 2023 |
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Nov 15, 2023 04:37
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Yooper posted:I have a cheapo box store marble counter top in one of my bathrooms that also has a circular ring. Mine happened when I set down my spray bottle of CLR and the bit of runoff ate a nice rough ring. It took about 20 seconds. Anything I could do would make it worse so it now gives my counter "character". So it's not possible to sand it down and apply some kind of marble-specific coat? It's not glossy now and has a light sheen. The parts that have rings, etc. have very little sheen.
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Nov 15, 2023 05:22
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A chain link fence separates my front yard from my neighbor's. I want to take it down and replace it with paving stones but my neighbor does not want to. I know I need to get a survey, but hypothetically if it's exactly on the property line, who gets to make decisions? Having a strangely hard time finding information about this. The Washington state code only mentions the following: "In most circumstances, a landowner who builds a boundary fence along a property line can seek reimbursement from the neighboring landowner for one-half the cost of the fence. A landowner building a boundary fence must first give notice to the adjoining landowner. Adjoining landowners are jointly responsible for maintaining boundary fences." None of this helps at all and I can't find anything about taking down a fence.
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Nov 15, 2023 05:51
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Tezer posted:I've never purchased light strings with larger bulbs, what are people's thought on c7 vs c9? Looking at the tru-tone LED offerings and not sure how to decide between the two sizes. I just got my 50 Tru Tones for the tree, C7 was the right size for it for me. Not too bigbut they're still pretty big. We have 8' ceilings so our tree is usually only 6' plus the stand. For outdoors I have C9s, and I do a full roofline for the first and second floors, and they bigger and brighter than my neighbor so that's a win. Based on your description of outside I would do C7 for both. Of course I'm a cheapskate so it would be so I could order very long sets and cut them to size and have it be somewhat efficient.
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Nov 15, 2023 06:42
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Our refrigerator is an LG ThinQ with an air filter in it; is that some bullshit that LG is just using to get a regularly recurring revenue stream, or does it actually do something?
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Nov 15, 2023 06:51
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Not sure I have spent 400 combined in all my life on christmas lighting yet. I did buy two 25ft incandescent C9 strings this year but they haven't arrived. Tru-tones where out of stock for complete sets so I went that way. I'm in 230V land so I'll run them on a variac and probably even a lower voltage than 120V, 60-80V perhaps. I will replace the incandescents over time with leds as they break, though they might never break since I will run them at low voltage. I like the dim glow effect personally. Don't care for overpowered lighting, I don't even like it when people light up their yards when it's dark. Light pollution is a big pet peeve of mine, also makes christmas time lighting less a special even when everyone lights up their yards, and I never get to see a proper starry sky anymore  Also found out I could dim my regular 230V led lights with the variac even though it says non dimmable.
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Nov 15, 2023 07:39
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khy posted:Tried calling the city, went to voicemail, lady requested I email her so I did. N-th-ing the lawyer, big time. But on the repair front... https://nuflow.com/how-nuflow-works/
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Nov 15, 2023 08:49
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Ham Equity posted:Our refrigerator is an LG ThinQ with an air filter in it; is that some bullshit that LG is just using to get a regularly recurring revenue stream, or does it actually do something? My fridge takes LG LT120F filters. I believe you can get cheap knock-off filters on eBay. We used the fridge from 2014 to 2022 on the original filter. I never noticed any smells or contamination, although if you had open carafes of water you might. The genuine filters went on sale in 2022 so I bought some and installed one, and still haven't noticed any improvement.
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Nov 15, 2023 10:52
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small butter posted:So it's not possible to sand it down and apply some kind of marble-specific coat? It's not glossy now and has a light sheen. The parts that have rings, etc. have very little sheen. Probably not? My hunch is you have a paint on granite like finish with a clear coat. If so, it's unlikely you can fix just a spot. However you could re-apply a similar product. The biggest issue is going to be prepping the current stuff so it doesn't cause the new layer to peel.
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Nov 15, 2023 13:42
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Tezer posted:I've never purchased light strings with larger bulbs, what are people's thought on c7 vs c9? Looking at the tru-tone LED offerings and not sure how to decide between the two sizes.  just strung 100 c9 tru tones on my house on a dimmer. love em going with the mid century bulbs for the tree. those will be c7s though as we’ll probably only get like an 8’ tree since they’re hilariously expensive in the south compared to oregon lol
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Nov 15, 2023 14:13
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khy posted:I'm going to start calling around tomorrow to discuss this with a lawyer, but I agreed to nothing. The problem is that with all the pipes on his end, he can shut off my water and I don't know legally what I can do about that. It's not a situation I've ever heard of before or since - how often is it that a neighbor has access to the pipes that go to your house? That's why I know it's an odd situation and one I'm not entirely certain of where the legal aspects are Reiterating the key take away from everyone’s comments here. Lawyer lawyer lawyer! I work in a role where I regularly deal with inhouse lawyers and work with 6 firms depending on the matter, geography etc. Outside of work I’ve had to sue people on my own dime. I have never seen anyone save money by letting a problem grow before hiring a lawyer.
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Nov 15, 2023 15:02
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Shifty Pony posted:Maybe call a few small engine repair shops and see if they'd want the engine for dirt cheap since it uses the is notoriously lovely Kohler Courage 22 which they are almost certainly replacing on the regular. One of them will have a rollback and be happy to pick that up if you're giving it away I'm sure. Especially if it's known good/running at the moment.
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Nov 15, 2023 15:25
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khy posted:Tried calling the city, went to voicemail, lady requested I email her so I did. The only thing more expensive than a lawyer is not getting a lawyer.
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Nov 15, 2023 17:18
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lawyers are adults for when adults need adults or very forceful children idk this metaphor is falling down but get a lawyer any worthwhile one will give you a free consultation
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Nov 15, 2023 17:37
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A letter from a lawyer was the One Weird Trick that got my general contractor to fire one of their subs and hire a different company to tear off and replace a new (but still leaking) roof on my garage. $600 well spent.
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Nov 15, 2023 18:50
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Tremors posted:A letter from a lawyer was the One Weird Trick that got my general contractor to fire one of their subs and hire a different company to tear off and replace a new (but still leaking) roof on my garage. $600 well spent. Oh god, is that whole saga still going? Did you ever get the garage door aligned correctly?
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Nov 15, 2023 18:56
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Alright goons need some advice. Few years ago we hired a contractor to demo our old kitchen and prep the space for an ikea install. His work ended up being pretty lovely and we fired him but not before he committed several sins. Sin #1  Large tiles, not adhered properly. Several tiles there have hairline cracks and starts to flex when you step on them. I've replaced three already in other spots and have run out of replacements and patience. I'd like to tear up the tile and cement board and go with a luxury vinyl tile. Problem is the the island, front cabinet feet, fridge, and dishwasher all rest of the tile. Under sink, looking right toward dishwasher. Tile goes all the back. Note the trendy divider panel between cabinets which will make my life hell I'm sure.  Under oven, looking toward fridge. (ignore romex, it's dead. Jackass contractor pulled 10ga before I stopped him because the oven needed 50A.)  I think I can prop up the cabinets temporarily while I remove the tiles. Biggest problem is the island, those cabinets rest on a 2x4 pedestal directly on the tile. Best solution I can think of is to use a dremel/angle grinder/ toe kick saw along the base to cut the tile and leave the island as-is. Is there a better solution that I'm missing? Island, looking toward oven  While I'm tearing things up I plan to redo that horrible backsplash tile (which a different contractor hosed up). NomNomNom fucked around with this message at 01:47 on Nov 16, 2023 |
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Nov 16, 2023 01:44
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When did you fire them? Because in theory if they did things wrong enough and they lack the skill to make it right this is why they have a surety bond. How did you fire them? What payments did you make, etc? (I don't know the details of the how and the why, but this is why it exists.) Edit: The basics for California, but there is a lot of nuance to actually executing on it. Generally speaking contractors will bend over backwards not to have a claim on their surety bond. https://www.cslb.ca.gov/resources/guidesandpublications/contractorslicensebondsguide.pdf H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 02:09 on Nov 16, 2023 |
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Nov 16, 2023 02:04
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NomNomNom posted:Under oven, looking toward fridge. (ignore romex, it's dead. Jackass contractor pulled 10ga before I stopped him because the oven needed 50A.) Tag yourself. I'm the random piece of 3/4" PVC just rolling around under there.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:05
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It's been several years. He was a contractor for a friend and she was happy enough with his work (I saw it too and thought it was good) , but when he came to us I think his health was failing. Honestly not sure if he's still alive. Regardless I'm not trying to pursue legal restitution. I'm in NoVA and I can't get a contractor out of bed for less than $10k so this is definitely DIY for me.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:09
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NomNomNom posted:Under oven, looking toward fridge. (ignore romex, it's dead. Jackass contractor pulled 10ga before I stopped him because the oven needed 50A.) I'm the visible gaps between the tile and the haribacker which should be mastic, but not the uncovered hardibacker itself.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:11
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Okay, but do you want to do it right or do you want to do another job similar to this? Because doing it right starts with exactly what you think it starts with: pulling all the cabinets. There is no secret work-around. E: to be clear, it's because from your photos this is a mess and you likely have subfloor problems or at least issues that require the entire floor to be exposed to resolve. I see self leveler in your future. Gallons of it.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:12
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I hoping it's not actually that bad. The subfloor is pine planks laid diagonally across the joists, over which contractor put 5/8 t&g, then 1/4" hardibacker. I'm thinking I can pull the hardibacker out without removing the cabinets, patch and level, and (maybe add more ply) lay some vinyl and call it day. I don't think he mortared the hardibacker to the ply so it ~should~ come up pretty cleanly. Also doubt he used the right screws. Pulling the cabinets and countertops is out of scope right now, there's no way we'd get the countertops back on correctly.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:31
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NomNomNom posted:I hoping it's not actually that bad. The subfloor is pine planks laid diagonally across the joists, over which contractor put 5/8 t&g, then 1/4" hardibacker. I'm thinking I can pull the hardibacker out without removing the cabinets, patch and level, and (maybe add more ply) lay some vinyl and call it day. I don't think he mortared the hardibacker to the ply so it ~should~ come up pretty cleanly. Also doubt he used the right screws. This is the kind of thing where someone inexperienced thinks it sounds easier and just might be in a magical world where everything goes right. In reality things don't and you spend more time fighting all the crap in your way and also make terrible compromises because you're too tired/need to get this done/don't know how to fix it right/I just want to be able to make loving dinner again/spouse it over it with all this poo poo in the way. If you can't do it right and it's not entirely falling apart don't do it. Wait until you can do it right.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:34
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You either need to accept jank under the cabinets and future cursing even if you do the rest of the not under cabinets stuff right up to the threshold, or pull all the lowers. Much of this does not even look screwed to the floor - hiring out removal into a pod might be a not terrible cost. Then you can figure out the hardiboard situation. It's technically a 1ish week job if you know how to do tiling and such. 1 remove the lower stuff (hire out) 2 remove the tile and hardiboard. If it's truly not attached to the subfloor you're going to be so so lucky on demo. Maybe hire this as well, but pre-tape the plastic to contain dust. Consider a box fan in a kitchen window going max as a "negative pressure" bit. 3 fix subfloor horrors. Pray to various gods. This is where it spirals. Hopefully your subfloor is actually level. 4 hardiboard 5 tile 6 grout 7 cure 8 replace (hire out) Oh right you want to use vinyl. I would tile it. It's more forgiving. Either way it's about the same timeline. Double it if you haven't done tile before.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:48
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Motronic posted:This is the kind of thing where someone inexperienced thinks it sounds easier and just might be in a magical world where everything goes right. In reality things don't and you spend more time fighting all the crap in your way and also make terrible compromises because you're too tired/need to get this done/don't know how to fix it right/I just want to be able to make loving dinner again/spouse it over it with all this poo poo in the way. Jesus Christ man, are you ever not a dark storm cloud of pessimism? I have a plan for getting the tile out without loving up my cabinets or costing $50k. More direct question for the hivemind, what tool do I use to cut/score tile underneath a cabinet, say 4“ of clearance?
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Nov 16, 2023 02:49
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NomNomNom posted:Jesus Christ man, are you ever not a dark storm cloud of pessimism? I have a plan for getting the tile out without loving up my cabinets or costing $50k. Then fine I won't offer suggestions from years of experience. You can enjoy your half rear end job that takes twice as long.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:52
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H110Hawk posted:You either need to accept jank under the cabinets and future cursing even if you do the rest of the not under cabinets stuff right up to the threshold, or pull all the lowers. Much of this does not even look screwed to the floor - hiring out removal into a pod might be a not terrible cost. Then you can figure out the hardiboard situation. It's technically a 1ish week job if you know how to do tiling and such. I don't really care if there's jank under the cabinets that what toe kicks are there to hide. The little plastic ikea legs don't care what they're sitting on. Why is vinyl less forgiving than tile? I've laid both and the click lock stuff is so much easier.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:53
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They make 3" saws you could use a masonry blade on to cut along the toe kicks. Then clean it up by hand with a chisel? Sounds very tedious, but replacing flooring without pulling cabinets and countertops is a thing. Check floor leveling tolerances for whatever replacement flooring product you choose.
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Nov 16, 2023 03:03
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The vinyl planks I'm looking at say 1/4" in 10' which is pretty darn flat. Luckily I'm not going to be covering a very large area, it's like 80 sq ft.
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Nov 16, 2023 03:07
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Harriet Carker posted:A chain link fence separates my front yard from my neighbor's. I want to take it down and replace it with paving stones but my neighbor does not want to. I know I need to get a survey, but hypothetically if it's exactly on the property line, who gets to make decisions? Having a strangely hard time finding information about this. Did you look at the actual code? https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=16.60&full=true First the law has some very specific definitions on what constitutes a fence (although 16.60.011 is ambiguous and IANAL). However if this law applies, 16.60.060 covers removal: quote:When any party shall wish to lay open his or her inclosure [enclosure], he or she shall notify any person owning adjoining inclosures [enclosures], and if such person shall not pay to the party giving notice one-half the value of any partition fence between such enclosures, within three months after receiving such notice, the party giving notice may proceed to remove one-half of such fence, as provided in RCW 16.60.055. So if one party wants to remove the fence, the other party can pay half the value of it to stop them I guess (by basically purchasing the other half of the fence). And if they don't pay, you can only remove half of the boundary fence (since the other party still owns half the fence). Maybe I'm reading this backwards, but consider paying a few hundred for a quick consultation with a lawyer. Ask about hog fencing. If the laws for livestock fencing don't apply and the fence is on your side of the property line, you probably own it. Slanderer fucked around with this message at 06:54 on Nov 16, 2023 |
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Nov 16, 2023 06:50
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H110Hawk posted:You either need to accept jank under the cabinets and future cursing even if you do the rest of the not under cabinets stuff right up to the threshold, or pull all the lowers. Much of this does not even look screwed to the floor - hiring out removal into a pod might be a not terrible cost. Then you can figure out the hardiboard situation. It's technically a 1ish week job if you know how to do tiling and such. This is mostly my opinion too, and here's some more color from my perspective having just completed another tile job. The comments on the hardi backer under the cabinet photo are giving me suspicions as to why you're tiles are cracking and moving. It looks like I can see bare hardi Backer and then raw subfloor behind it. Below is a screenshot of the install instructions. If I had done this work, there would be cement troweled beyond the hardi backer and that section would be screwed down. I don't see any, now it may be it was done and cleaned up, but I have doubts, since someone who does a bad job and doesn't screw the board likely also leaves a mess of cement where it won't be seen. For reference, where the previous owners tiled the floor direct to leveling compound on sub floor, I have broken tiles and missing grout. Under my washer and dryer I used hardi Backer and followed the directions and have zero issues, and the washing machine is not an easy load.  Large format tile on a square floor is a great starter tile project, and I prefer it to a plastic floor. Now for my own hard truths here. Removing the base cabinets is required, and is going to be a pain. Removing the counter tops will be a challenge since you want to save them, perhaps a counter company can be of assistance to remove and reinstall for a fair price. The rest isn't so bad, just a lot of moving. The island definitely has to go and won't be that bad. Demo and cleanup of the floor will take a day but not too bad. If you had skills in tiling overall the tiling would be a long day but not the worst. Any thing short of pulling the cabinets is as hard and sucks in a different way, plus it'll be wrong underneath the cabinets and you'll end up with a lip. I'm sure it can be done, Motronic is abrasive and he's right that it will take longer to do a worse job. If the island is stand alone I'd move it no matter what. You're gonna want to take time off and knock this out so you can have a kitchen ASAP. You're going to spend real money on wood, leveling compound, mortar and grout, plus tile and tile levelers and spacers. If you don't do it, it will get worse though. Just to reiterate, pull the base cabs. You'll not be able to get a clean cut and picture frame it. Your backsplash is pinning your countertop in, so you won't be able to lift the cabinets. Your countertop has thin edges around the sink and is ell shaped and will break if you are not careful with it.
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Nov 16, 2023 07:29
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StormDrain posted:. If the island is stand alone I'd move it no matter what. Ya this. Also I don't see how you could prop up the other cabinets and remove/ tuck things under. Maybe I'm not thinking creatively enough, but I have done this type of floor replace (at work, using flooring contractor) and the seams are quite janky
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Nov 16, 2023 15:24
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I went with the consensus C7 for the tree, and I bought the sampler color packs in C9 to gauge size for the exterior fence. I wanted to review the colors anyways before committing to enough for the entire fence. I would have never known about the tru-tone LEDs without this thread, thanks!
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Nov 16, 2023 15:44
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I will add that I was blown away by the depth of the red. Much closer to the 1950s-60s-American-made. Starting in the late ‘70s the bulbs gradually moved offshore, most of them were exterior-paint only, and the lit colors reflected that: much brighter. The really old bulbs have very deep color. It’s hard sometimes, for example, to even tell if a blue bulb is even burning, until it’s almost full dark outside Some of the Tru-Tones still do this - white paint on the inside glass, color outside- but I think the reds are painted red on the inside. You’re gonna love ‘em. I also like the ‘off’ colors, like pink, teal, and violet. And yes, I spent a ton on them this year, but may never have to buy another bulb. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Nov 16, 2023 |
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Nov 16, 2023 16:12
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I really thought I was going to go ham on those this year but these renovation bills are eyewatering. Why yes I would like to discover all the 240v wiring is rat chewed. Love it. Next year! (The previous owners left us a bunch of decorations though which is fun, and I bought some more for like $10 at their garage sale. Once they met me and saw my kids they were SO excited.)
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Nov 16, 2023 16:25
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PainterofCrap posted:I will add that I was blown away by the depth of the red. Much closer to the 1950s-60s-American-made. Starting in the late ‘70s the bulbs gradually moved offshore, most of them were exterior-paint only, and the lit colors reflected that: much brighter. The really old bulbs have very deep color. It’s hard sometimes, for example, to even tell if a blue bulb is even burning, until it’s almost full dark outside same. they rule. I can’t wait to get my tree so I can string the mid mod ones. I popped a few on a line I had out and they looked great. I’ll be running both on dimmers and the C9s look great on the house when I’ve got them at like 10% to not annoy my neighbors lol
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Nov 16, 2023 16:41
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H110Hawk posted:I really thought I was going to go ham on those this year but these renovation bills are eyewatering. Why yes I would like to discover all the 240v wiring is rat chewed. Love it. Next year! There's something I like about holiday decorations staying with the house and being passed to new owners.
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Nov 16, 2023 17:18
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