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We recently noticed a water spot in our bedroom, which is on the top floor. It's been an unusually rainy winter here. There is an attic/crawlspace above, but we have not visited it because it's only accessible from outside and the previous owners sealed up the outside entrance tight and it seemed like more hassle to open it than it was worth. We've been in the home about 6 months. I can't see anything obvious from the outside, but it looks like the spot might be directly below an attic vent, so it might be as quick as repairing the flashing. The roof was re-done a few years ago, though it seems to have been by someone of mid-quality. I'm very new to the home repair thing, and by my guess roof repairs seems like something that it's worth calling in a pro for. If I go that route do you recommend a roofer specifically or would a general home-repair person be able to do the job?
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Dec 28, 2023 16:21
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Your first step is going to be identifying where the water's getting in. That's not necessarily going to be close to where you're seeing the water inside the house, because water can flow down rafters, pipes, wires, or anything else it finds and cover an awful lot of horizontal distance before it starts intruding into your living space. Handymen can do spot fixes on roofs, but their quality can be spotty. If I were going to hire one, I'd want to be very clear on what the work was that I wanted done. The other critical thing is that a proper roofing company will carry liability insurance. That means that if someone falls off the roof and hurts themselves, you won't have to pay for their healthcare/rehabilitation/disability pay. Handymen don't generally have liability insurance, so there's a small but nasty financial risk to hiring them for roofing work.
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Dec 28, 2023 16:28
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Oh good roof leak chat... we recently found one, it's resulted in our ceiling drywall being wet for at least a month now, and probably a few more weeks by the time we get it fixed. Am I going to have to pull drywall because it's been wet that long? It still seems solid, I just really don't want to pull down ceiling drywall (and the ~18 inches of blown in on top of it) if I don't have to. No idea how wet it is, moisture meter immediately pegs as "wet" and doesn't give me a percentage.
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Dec 29, 2023 00:19
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That's a decision to be made many weeks after the source of the leak has been fixed. Because there is a lot of "it depends" going on. At a minimum I would be shovel up the loose fill if it's wet and running a fan to circulate air up there.
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Dec 29, 2023 00:23
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Doesn't drywall that's been wet kind of dissolve a bit? I would wager you'd need to replace some of it anyway. Removing the wet drywall will also make it possible to see how wet everything else is, and make it easier to dry things out.
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Dec 29, 2023 02:02
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We might end up needing to pull it to even gain access to figure out wtf... gary put an addition on and the roof from that overlaps with the roof from the original house. The leak is of course occurring somewhere around there, so I can't get a clear line of sight on it to see where it's coming from. Kinda depends on what the roofing company says... I'm not planning on calling them until after new years at this point. I drilled a couple drainage holes in the ceiling and nothing came out, but who knows how much moisture the blown in cellouse absorbed
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Dec 29, 2023 02:20
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I’m in the leaky roof boat too y’all. Attic drips near the dormer. Have a few quotes for a re roof already, ranging from 20000 to 40000. And the lead times are all 18 months out. Fortunately I have a roofer who said they can get us dry in the interim if we sign on with them
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Dec 29, 2023 02:41
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Might be worth checking your insurance policy to see if a new roof is covered
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Dec 29, 2023 03:22
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for mine at least, there isn't storm damage, its just old and lovely. I did ask and they laughed at me and said not to make a claim or id lose my no claims discount
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Dec 29, 2023 03:49
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devicenull posted:I drilled a couple drainage holes in the ceiling and nothing came out, but who knows how much moisture the blown in cellouse absorbed Get up there and tarp your roof. Also if you can't get into the attic to dry it out you're going to have a much mildew-ier problem very soon. Remember blown cellulose is basically shredded paper towels - it's absorbing a lot of water before it even gets to your drywall. You can "very easily" (lol) shovel it away to let stuff dry out, but some way some how it's gotta dry out.
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Dec 29, 2023 04:56
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Doesn't drywall that's been wet kind of dissolve a bit? I would wager you'd need to replace some of it anyway. Removing the wet drywall will also make it possible to see how wet everything else is, and make it easier to dry things out. It does, but it's not instant death. That's why I suggested getting things dry up there ASAP. Leaving sodden insulation up against it isn't helping the likelihood that the sheetrock can be saved, and as H110 pointed out, it's going to be a mold factory. devicenull posted:We might end up needing to pull it to even gain access to figure out wtf... gary put an addition on and the roof from that overlaps with the roof from the original house. The leak is of course occurring somewhere around there, so I can't get a clear line of sight on it to see where it's coming from. If this is an access issue bite the bullet and cut an access hole in the sheetrock now and get to work. Go to Lowes Depot and get a half sheet of plywood, 2"-ish sheetrock screws to mount it in place of your new hole in the ceiling, a step ladder to reach it, a grain/plastic snow shovel to dig insulation, a shitload of contractor size garbage bags to put it in, and a pack of masks so you aren't breathing any of that poo poo. And if you're capable/safe for you to do - again like H110 suggested: a blue tarp big enough for that area of the roof and 1x furring strips to put it down. The same 2" sheetrock screws will work fine if this is going to be super temporary. If you can't get a contractor for months you'll have other issues, but some of them can be mitigated with epoxy coated deck screws. Roof leaks are no joke. It's likely you can't even see where all the water is going: it could be dumping into a stud cavity and doing damage elsewhere that you can't see yet. It's the single biggest thing that when undetected or left unrepaired causes the kind of damage that makes people have to run the numbers between repair and just bulldozing the house and starting over from the foundation.
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Dec 29, 2023 16:39
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And if you can't get up there call literally anyone to get up there and tarp it. And buy a 10x100' roll of 3mil tarp and heavy duty masking tape. Build yourself a little 4-wall area as big as you can muster around the wetness. You will thank me later when the first 10 bags of insulation come down all over your head. Looks like I need to spot treat some areas in the new house for termites. There are some areas that get Too Wet when it rains and ripping out all the flooring down to the foundation has uncovered a couple of termites crawling around. Or I need to bite the bullet and tent the house. We're fixing the too-wet with some gutters to redirect water as part of our so you're bulldozing everything but the established trees landscape project. Water is the enemy.
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Dec 29, 2023 17:48
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I just replaced the faucet cartridge in my shower. I haven't put everything back together yet because I want to make sure everything is good first. No leaks etc etc. The trim ring that covers it all up has this adhesive backed foam around about 2/3 of it on the inside edge of the trim ring. Being foam its obviously not for sealing, so it must be for absorbing some vibration/noise right? I don't have a pic but its not been evenly applied to the rim/edge if that makes sense. Like parts of it are stuck around the inside rim/edge, while other parts are just kinda stuck wherever. I took it off to clean the ring but will stick it back on with some 2 sided tape. My intuition says it should be stuck around the edge as opposed to wherever on the inside. Is that right, or does it not really matter that much because of reason X?
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Dec 29, 2023 19:45
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wesleywillis posted:I just replaced the faucet cartridge in my shower. I haven't put everything back together yet because I want to make sure everything is good first. No leaks etc etc. It's literally for keeping water out. Which it will do when brand new in an area that doesn't see a lot of water. Kinda. For a little while. At least through the warranty period. Because it's only "kinda" the bottom is not foamed, so the water that inevitably gets through will drain out. This is for fast installation requiring little to no skill for builder grade finished development houses and handyman hack jobs. Actual qualified plumbers would use silicone around the ring, leaving a 1-2" gap at the bottom in case the caulk fails before being replaced.
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Dec 29, 2023 19:53
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Motronic posted:It's literally for keeping water out. Which it will do when brand new in an area that doesn't see a lot of water. Kinda. For a little while. At least through the warranty period. Got it. My trim ring has a little notch at the bottom to drain it. The building, including my unit (I own, not rent) was re-piped a few years back and they had to open up the tiles a bit more on the left and right to get at the faucet to run the new pex. Theres now a bigger trim plate that the round one fits in to. Maybe I should loosen that one to see if they put any silicone behind that, but then again, maybe I should just leave it alone. The bits of drywall behind the tiles that I can see with the smaller ring off don't appear to have any water damage. I'm not in the habit of spraying the faucet down directly except when I clean the shower, but its also a shower so its going to get wet regardless. Excuse my rambling.
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Dec 29, 2023 20:27
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Found water bubbling under the paint under a window after todays rain help me https://imgur.com/a/o0EqPcM
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Dec 30, 2023 00:20
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The ground was too wet today for me to safely get a ladder up there, but I could get some drone pics.. That black spot is awfully suspicious to me, and that's right around the area I'm seeing the water. Here's a wider view:  It's happening right where the roof pitch changes to go the the addition. I did manage to clear the two joist bays of insulation where the water was. No real way to get a fan up there without it immediately being clogged with insulation. The stuff I pulled loose wasn't too wet, but there was definitely moisture.
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Dec 30, 2023 00:57
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Nice! Yeah that transition plus all penetrations are where I would look. Congrats on it being not too wet. Assuming you have proper soffit vents it's been drying any day it's not raining which is great news.
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Dec 30, 2023 01:05
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If the roofers find any problems there, I'm kinda inclined to have them redo the entire transition area. It's not really visible from anywhere so I don't particularly care if it matches. There were some interesting choices made in constructing this addition, and I would not at all be surprised if they hosed up the flashing.
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Dec 30, 2023 02:30
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devicenull posted:The ground was too wet today for me to safely get a ladder up there, but I could get some drone pics.. You have a laminate-shingle roof, Most of the seams that you see should just be in the top layer, but I am suspicious of this one:  I suspect that that one goes all the way through, and is lining up with a gap between two shingles. Now, it shouldn't matter all that much, as the felt underneath all of it should catch it. So it may not be that. SO it may be that the installing roofer sunk a nail a little too close to the bottom or side edge of it, missing the seal line, somewhere in that circle Rather than go with a large tarp, you (or a roofer) can employ a flatbar to loosen & gently bend back the shingle above that spot. It may be that the issue is solved with a healthy dollop of silicone adhesive roofing cement/caulk. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 03:56 on Dec 30, 2023 |
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Dec 30, 2023 03:49
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PainterofCrap posted:You have a laminate-shingle roof, Most of the seams that you see should just be in the top layer, but I am suspicious of this one: Should the roof have had some sort of ice/water barrier underneath that change in pitch? My years of watching TOH kinda makes me think it should. The addition has also settled a little bit since install - there used to be a 1/4 inch crack between the slabs that I've since filled in. It would not surprise me if the roof pulled away slightly because of it.
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Dec 30, 2023 04:12
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Ja, felt or I&W shield should be there. I forget where you are, and it doesn't look cold, but if it does get below 45-degrees, judicious use of a heat gun (VERY judicious) played on the affected shingle(s) should allow them to be bent back without creasing. About 40-degrees is as far as you should/need to go.
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Dec 30, 2023 04:34
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Hey just scraped the old popcorn ceiling off one of the downstairs bedrooms. Gonna patch, sand, idea was to paint. Do I need to retape these corners or can I just score off the tape? Or do I just need to re-mud them? I've never done that before and am not even sure what to search for on youtube exactly.   
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Dec 30, 2023 15:35
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Looks overall good, you don't necessarily need to retape, you could cut a little off the ceiling side lifted paper to clean up the edge but not too much. If there's damage to the tape elsewhere along the inside corners from scraping it will show after you sand, just be careful and don't sand the corners too much you'll get fuzzies. Or go over again. Get taping mud, the kind with glue, under any paper that lifted off the drywall. For YouTube videos I recommend Vancouver Carpenter. You can watch other videos showing taping, he explains why he's doing what he's doing better than any. And lots of reno projects. No matter where you need to begin he'll have a video for you. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIo0dFPsMQs
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Dec 30, 2023 18:28
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I'm musing on designs for a future workshop at a new site. How reasonable would it be to do a "shed roof" on a 16x24' structure? By that I mean a roof that consists of a single sloped surface, with no ridge. It'd mean rafters that are about 20' long, is the main downside that I can see. Assuming I'm reading the IRC's tables properly, it looks like if I wanted joists spaced every 24" (desirable to make it easier to store stuff on the joists), then I'd have to use SS-grade Douglas fir or SYP 2x10s, which isn't amazing. That's for the 20psf dead load rating; if I settle for the 10psf rating then #2 2x12 Douglas fir or #1 2x12 SYP also become possibilities. The location is Philadelphia, which does get some snow sometimes. I'm not super familiar with snowy climates, but my impression is that it's usually not a lot...but of course I wouldn't want a freak snowstorm to collapse the roof. The main attractions to the shed roof, as I see it, are: - Unusual aesthetics makes it stand out more - Easier to build. I solo'd the last build, and I remember setting the ridge beam and each of the individual rafters as being a major pain point Of course, manipulating a 20' 2x12 is not going to be easy. But it's only a little longer than the 18' 2x12s that I used for ceiling joists in the previous build, so I think it should be doable.
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Dec 31, 2023 01:24
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:The location is Philadelphia I know this isn't what you're asking, but chances are exceptionally high that you will not be able to purchase materials and build for less than you can get get three dozen strapping young amish gentlemen to come out and put up a pole barn for you in a weekend. Those places tend to advertise here: https://www.lancasterfarming.com/classifieds/buildings_and_supplies/?l=25
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Dec 31, 2023 15:40
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Motronic posted:I know this isn't what you're asking, but chances are exceptionally high that you will not be able to purchase materials and build for less than you can get get three dozen strapping young amish gentlemen to come out and put up a pole barn for you in a weekend. Those places tend to advertise here: https://www.lancasterfarming.com/classifieds/buildings_and_supplies/?l=25 I, uh...okay. How do they get their materials? I was planning to do the build myself, to be clear, so my expenses would be the materials and permits. And I guess if anything comes up that I'm not willing to do myself; I hired an electrician for the last build, to help me pull wire through conduit and to install the breaker on the main panel. I don't know much about pole barns; can they be insulated? My plan was to put in a mini split and insulation. If nothing else, wood finishes want to be applied in a relatively narrow temperature range.
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Dec 31, 2023 15:52
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I, uh...okay. How do they get their materials? I was planning to do the build myself, to be clear, so my expenses would be the materials and permits. And I guess if anything comes up that I'm not willing to do myself; I hired an electrician for the last build, to help me pull wire through conduit and to install the breaker on the main panel. They get their materials for trade price (at least 1/3 lower than you can) from AB Martin and similar https://www.abmartin.net/ TooMuchAbstraction posted:I don't know much about pole barns; can they be insulated? My plan was to put in a mini split and insulation. If nothing else, wood finishes want to be applied in a relatively narrow temperature range. Yes, absolutely. You put up 2x3s as "studs" and treat the inside just like a regular framed wall. You can also put rigid foam on the outside under the siding. I did that (taped all the seams for air sealing) plus regular batt insulation on the inside in an addition I built off of the old barn as an office and it was more efficient than the house.
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Dec 31, 2023 16:00
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alright, thanks for letting me know! Now I gotta let the "get it done quickly" and "but I wanna do it myself" sides battle it out.
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Dec 31, 2023 18:51
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:alright, thanks for letting me know! Now I gotta let the "get it done quickly" and "but I wanna do it myself" sides battle it out. If you want to do it yourself pole construction is a great plan in this area because of places like AB Martin. They are specialist suppliers, inexpensive and have magical things like laminated 4, 6 and 8x ground posts to use as your main poles that are dead straight over 20 foot lengths and pressure treated for the bottom 3-4 feet only so you can get below the frost line and then not have to deal with pressure treated above ground/in contact with metal siding and fasteners.
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Dec 31, 2023 19:38
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Motronic posted:If you want to do it yourself pole construction is a great plan in this area because of places like AB Martin. They are specialist suppliers, inexpensive and have magical things like laminated 4, 6 and 8x ground posts to use as your main poles that are dead straight over 20 foot lengths and pressure treated for the bottom 3-4 feet only so you can get below the frost line and then not have to deal with pressure treated above ground/in contact with metal siding and fasteners. Noted! So my next question then is: why didn't I hear about pole construction when I was planning my last build?  My current workshop is stick built and resting on a concrete slab foundation, which was expensive to pour...I'll grant that foundation requirements are gonna be drastically different between California and Pennsylvania, due to the frost line, different disaster risks (earthquakes vs. storms), maybe some other stuff. But if pole construction is so awesome, why isn't it used instead of stick building?
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Dec 31, 2023 19:59
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Noted! So my next question then is: why didn't I hear about pole construction when I was planning my last build? Everything has it's plusses and minuses. Pole construction is pretty great when you have multi-foot frost line because of the cost/labor/material reduction of doing a deep footer, which is probably one of the reasons it's so popular around here. Also you don't have to worry about pouring footers outside in below freezing temperatures. Pouring a slab in it after the fact is also kinda nice because you don't have to worry about getting rained on and even if you're pouring in the winter you can get away without concrete blankets if you just toss a bullet heater inside. Also, spend the extra $100-200 in oxygen barrier pex and zip ties to put in a heated slab. Even if you don't intend to hook it up right away, just have the pipe in the slab. With minimal supporting hardware (tankless heater, expansion tank, a circulator pump and some plumbing bits and bobs with some supporting electronics to make a thermostat) you can have in floor heat. The popularity of this construction type is definitely area by area, because you need some specific building materials for it/to make it easier so not every place is going to have the "specialty" supplies. Why not use it instead of the other types of stick building? Dunno. It goes up real fast, has fewer components than traditional framing.......people definitely build houses out of it. I guess a big part of it is that it's always gonna look like pole construction. There's only so much you can do with it inside of the confines of the construction type. It's best suited for just making big open unsupported spans which is why it's so popular for barns.
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Dec 31, 2023 20:15
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We have an old refrigerator in our basement that's been here since we bought the house 2.5 years back. It works fine (guessing it may have been the original fridge from the 90s that got moved to the basement when the main one got upgraded?) but I decided to replace the water filter in it instead of trudge my lazy rear end upstairs when I'm thirsty. I did this and flushed about 3 gallons through it, but previously I've not really used it (outside of one time when I realized the water tasted awful likely because the filter ). Everything seems fine with that...the problem is that now I'm seeing water on the floor. Not a ton but enough that I've wiped it up a few times and it keeps coming back. There doesn't seem to be any leak around where the filter was replaced and nothing inside the fridge or freezer is leaking, just underneath. Quick googling says maybe water inlet valve? Anything else I should check?
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Jan 1, 2024 03:50
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Blocked drain. These have a defrost cycle: resulting meltwater drains down a pipe in the back, into a plastic tray under the compressor, where the collected water is evaporated by waste heat from the compressor. Crap can block the pipe and/or accumulate in the tray, resulting in weird but chronic leaks under the front.
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Jan 1, 2024 08:33
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What's the best way to clean hand prints and other grease off a stainless steel range hood?
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Jan 2, 2024 01:34
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Jenkl posted:What's the best way to clean hand prints and other grease off a stainless steel range hood? Soap and hot water. Unless we talking crazy caked on grease, but I don't think so if you're talking hand prints. What to keep them looking nice longer? Stainless Steel "cleaner/polish" formulas have a decent amount of something in them.....which I think is wax. Clean it off spray it on, buff the spray out with a clean and dry terrycloth or microfiber towel and things stay nice for a while.
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Jan 2, 2024 01:40
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Barkeeper's friend and a few towels is kryptonite for anything in stainless, including carbonized oil, but you gotta re-protect the bare finish.
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Jan 2, 2024 02:13
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Can anyone recommend a good tutorial for replacing a shower diverter? Mine is getting worn out, and I want to see how doable it would be for me to do rather than call in a plumber.
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Jan 2, 2024 15:58
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CzarChasm posted:Can anyone recommend a good tutorial for replacing a shower diverter? Mine is getting worn out, and I want to see how doable it would be for me to do rather than call in a plumber. Its pretty entry level, I’d recommend giving it a try first
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Jan 2, 2024 17:01
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Oh that's dead simple. Don't know why I thought I would have to take the spout off the wall to fix it. Thanks.
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Jan 2, 2024 18:50
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