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Tezer posted:I assume your plumber inspected the work area, proposed the replacement water heater model, and provided the water heater. In which case all of the plumbers I work with would acknowledge this as their mistake with the specification and swap the water heater for a short model at no charge. Did you leave any details out of your story? Why isn't the plumber covering the cost of this issue? I agree with this. Plumber should have submitted a quote to do the work and pass inspection, and it's on them if they hosed up or got unlucky with the inspector.
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Mar 1, 2024 21:04
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Tezer posted:I assume your plumber inspected the work area, proposed the replacement water heater model, and provided the water heater. In which case all of the plumbers I work with would acknowledge this as their mistake with the specification and swap the water heater for a short model at no charge. Did you leave any details out of your story? Why isn't the plumber covering the cost of this issue? Appealable as in approach him in a better mood since they have a past relationship apparently or to double check the vent slope regs in the city, I am assuming nothing will change. And the rest of this shows my ignorance because I would think he would have to eat the replacement but I am hearing about the issue with buying another type of heater. I can see him looking at what needed to be done, measurements, etc. and making his own assumption on the slope which is not supposed to be my problem. Looks like this is an overall "cheap" lesson in who to get for any future work despite his past performance and really going over the written agreement given what other projects could have gone wrong. Got to get slightly harder demeanor for this process type if I do not want a repeat.
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Mar 1, 2024 21:31
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Smuggins posted:Appealable as in approach him in a better mood since they have a past relationship apparently or to double check the vent slope regs in the city, I am assuming nothing will change. If it's 1/8 inch per foot and code is 1/4 per foot.... ok, maybe it's worth trying to get the inspector to lighten up. That said, I imagine it must be a real problem (not just a fraction of an inch slope issue) if the vent can't just be tweaked a 1/4 or so vertically at one end to hit the slope requirement. quote:Looks like this is an overall "cheap" lesson in who to get for any future work despite his past performance and really going over the written agreement given what other projects could have gone wrong. If you're falling back to the written agreement and having a harder demeanor you're taking a reactive approach. You need to be proactive, evaluate and change your method of selecting contractors. I sign off on low hundreds of residential construction subcontractor proposals every year, most of which are very poorly written, and I rarely have more than one 'tough' conversation per year about contractors missing expectations.
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Mar 1, 2024 21:57
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Tezer posted:If it's 1/8 inch per foot and code is 1/4 per foot.... ok, maybe it's worth trying to get the inspector to lighten up. That said, I imagine it must be a real problem (not just a fraction of an inch slope issue) if the vent can't just be tweaked a 1/4 or so vertically at one end to hit the slope requirement. That is exactly what I mean, better in future selections.
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Mar 1, 2024 22:00
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I've been mapping out my new house and back yard, and thinking about where I might be able to put a workshop for doing carpentry in. This is still extremely early planning stages, I'm just trying to figure out what's possible. The main issues that I see are: 1. The power/internet cables from the utility pole that stretch over the yard. I have no clue what the easements are in PA for this kind of thing; they might rule out any construction in much of the yard. I'm planning to call up the power company to ask how much it'd cost to bury them (in a self-provided trench), but even assuming that's possible, it'd add substantially to the cost, I'm sure. 2. Similarly, I don't know what the allowed setbacks are, from the property's edge and existing buildings. 3. There's about 5' of irregular slope from the top-right corner to the bottom edge. The retaining wall around the fire pit accounts for about half of it, but if you go around the wall there's still that elevation difference to deal with. The way I see it, my three best options are: 1. Replace the shed with the workshop, oriented vertically (16' wide, 24' "tall"). This would require some re-grading of the yard due to the slope, and would also cut into the fire pit area a bit. It'd also make accessing the yard a little weird; you go out the side of the patio, through the gate, then you'd have to go around the workshop to get to the yard. 2. Put the workshop in the bottom-left corner. This is a nice, flat space, and there's enough room, though I might need to remove the dogwood tree. Downside is that it'd block some light from reaching the house, and also I wouldn't be able to use that nice, flat space for anything else, e.g. gardening. The "garden" right next to the house is some PO's half-assed and abandoned project, for the record. 3. Put the workshop in the top-right corner. This would definitely mean building underneath the power line to my neighbor, assuming it doesn't get buried/rerouted. It'd also mean trying to move the fruit tree. It's mostly flat up there though, and the workshop wouldn't block much light from reaching the rest of the yard. 4. Replace the (fully walled-in and insulated) patio with the workshop. The patio's roughly 16' long, so we extend it from its current 8' width to 24'. This means modifying the house's envelope, and also re-doing part of the roof; my calculations say that if the roof was a straight shot from the ridge down to the end of the workshop, and said end-of-workshop was 6' tall, then the slope would be 3:12...which ain't great. This also means having a big building sticking into the middle of the yard, which is kind of weird. Any thoughts? Anyone know the rules for setbacks and construction near power lines in PA? I have not been able to find building code information in a remotely easily-readable format anywhere.
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Mar 1, 2024 22:01
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:My driveway has this strip of grass down the middle and between the driveway and house which I hate: Motronic posted:That's awesome for them and you're a good person. But as you probably know nothing they would use would be an issue on even the thnniest of slabs since they need to actually operate it on dirt which means it's going to be low ground pressure and almost definitely tracked because of that. So your slab will be safe. H110Hawk posted:The filter under the bottom basket? There's a knob that is the spray arm. Turn it, lift it out. Clean the screen, replace. It clicks when you twist it shut. Do it at least monthly, technically it's like "every x loads if you do not pre-rinse" (which you shouldn't.) But cleaned it out again and it was fine. It is kinda gross though with the stuff it captures, but seems to work quite well.
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Mar 1, 2024 22:16
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Smuggins posted:Appealable as in approach him in a better mood since they have a past relationship apparently or to double check the vent slope regs in the city, I am assuming nothing will change. So talking to the city is a great idea. "Hey, I'm just trying to understand where we need to be so I can make sure we don't fail again. I thought hiring a pro would get it done so I want to make sure the next person I hire isn't going to screw it up." Emphasize this was a "like-for-like" replacement so you hadn't even considered needing to modify the slope of the vent pipe. If you can, know the date of a previous signed permit for it. As for the plumber - Did you hire this person to "Replace 40 gallon gas water heater and valves. - $X,000" ? If so, this is on them. If they can't return the heater that's a "them" problem. They can pawn it off on the next person. Calmly but firmly state that you need them to make this right and ensure it passes inspection. Surely any plumber around town is slinging at least one 40 gallon gas fired heater a week, this should be no problem for them to warehouse for a week or two. Have you already paid them? If so, stop doing that before final on small jobs. Larger jobs progress payments are normal but for this? They should be able to float that for a day or three while the inspector comes out to sign it off. Or make it like 50% tops.
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Mar 2, 2024 00:44
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:] Me? I'd go with the option that replaces the shed. It's going to be the least intrusive and at the end of the day you can use part of your shop space for storing shed poo poo if it comes to that. Plus, any future buyers will get it as a large shed instead of having what amounts to a large and small shed in the yard. you mention moving the fruit tree, but that's never a sure thing and is just as likely to kill the tree as not. Also expensive to get it done right. Presuming this is a mature tree and not a five year old thing. Chaos option is to tweak your measurements a bit and put it where the garden is, but extending out a bit further. This would let you put a door right in from the house into your workshop. Upside: direct access to your shop. Downside: shop noise is just going to be a thing in the house.
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Mar 2, 2024 00:50
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Cyrano4747 posted:Me? I'd go with the option that replaces the shed. It's going to be the least intrusive and at the end of the day you can use part of your shop space for storing shed poo poo if it comes to that. Plus, any future buyers will get it as a large shed instead of having what amounts to a large and small shed in the yard. Thanks for the thoughts! The fruit tree isn't super big. I'm no expert, but I'd guess it's 3-ish years old? Big enough to probably bear some fruit, but definitely not mature. I don't even know what kind of fruit it bears...I'm looking forward to finding out. Here's what the lot would look like if I put the workshop where the shed is:  I increased the shop size from 16x24 to 16x32 to compensate for the lost shed space. The main issue is that the back half of the shop is now smack in the middle of the steepest grade on the lot. So there'd need to be some earth moving, and/or a fairly extreme slope right behind it. I guess I could also do 20x24...it'd mean demolishing the firepit, most likely, but I'm not entirely sure I care. Connecting to the house via the "garden" spot isn't something I'd considered. The access would have to be through the bedroom in the top-left corner of the house, and you'd kill the windows in the bathroom entirely, as well as one of the patio windows. I think that's a pretty steep cost, but maybe there's a way to make it work. EDIT: here's a panorama of the yard, standing next to the shed. 
TooMuchAbstraction fucked around with this message at 02:29 on Mar 2, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 01:27
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slidebite posted:I think it might be a regional thing, but you can buy reclaimed asphalt here which is basically the ground up old asphalt when they resurface roads. It's inexpensive (relatively), more or less packs down to a quasi-asphalt/gravel mix, and doesn't migrate rocks like a gravel driveway.
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Mar 2, 2024 02:14
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Thanks for the thoughts! You really need to figure out setbacks before you do any more planning... around here that would not work (it's like what, a foot off the fence?)
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Mar 2, 2024 03:21
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How thick around the trunk is the tree? Bear in mind that, as a general rule, the root ball underneath the tree occupies the same amount of space as the part above the ground including leaves. Think about how much of the root ball are you amputating: are we talking a sapling, or an established tree?
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Mar 2, 2024 03:43
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:Yeah I've thought about asphalt I just really don't like the look. The steel slag is much more grey like gravel. I would love to have like stone dust or something if I could keep it in place and not washing away. Maybe some sort of permeable pavers then put gravel in? Thinking those octagonal plastic ones that you fill with gravel afterwards, but i don't know if that completely solves the migrating issue.
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Mar 2, 2024 04:13
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Well the good news is I know where the screw went. The bad news is into the garbage disposal is the answer. 
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Mar 2, 2024 05:05
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H110Hawk posted:Well the good news is I know where the screw went. The bad news is into the garbage disposal is the answer. Turn it off, reach down there, and get it. Losing poo poo down the disposal is no big deal.
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Mar 2, 2024 05:12
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Cyrano4747 posted:Turn it off, reach down there, and get it. Losing poo poo down the disposal is no big deal. Yeah I'll get it out just an obnoxious end to my day.
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Mar 2, 2024 05:18
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Just turn it on. If the disposal can't grind up one screw it wasn't worth having anyway
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Mar 2, 2024 05:27
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devicenull posted:You really need to figure out setbacks before you do any more planning... around here that would not work (it's like what, a foot off the fence?) Yeah, I know.  That's why that was my main question in the prior post. I just have not had any luck finding the actual documentation online. I don't remember having this issue when I built my workshop in California; the code was a bit tedious to read, but it was all nicely laid-out and accessible.I'll probably just have to call up the building and planning department to get my questions answered. Which is still annoying, because I'm gonna also need to know things like the spanning tables for joists and rafters, rules for burying power lines, required roof slopes, etc
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Mar 2, 2024 12:46
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I got it out but had to use my little magnet on a stick. My big goony hands didn't fit in with any ability to grasp it and the kids were asleep. Combo made it come right out though.
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Mar 2, 2024 16:41
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Is there such a thing as a "wide kerf" blade for a 6 1/2 inch circular saw? I have a deck and the boards are laid too close together. Water pools up in some areas. I think I have two options. 1: Pull them all and relay them spaced out properly to allow drainage. Essentially rebuild the entire deck surface. 2: Run a saw down the joins between the boards to saw like 1/8 inch gap into them. I'm trying to do option 2 because it sounds like way less work than 1.
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Mar 2, 2024 18:34
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Trying to buy a new fridge and want to make sure it fits. Can someone check this math or figure out a better way? I measured a few by hand at Home Depot but that's a limited selection. The problem to solve: the fridge is located next to the oven. The oven has a handle located 2.25" from the fridge. This means that if the door pivots out any more than 2.25", it will bump the handle as I open it, and the fridge door won't be able to open. Single side open fridges are fine, but French door fridges might have an issue. Not looking to necessarily buy this exact fridge, but a lot of them don't have the measurement I need so I have to do this math on a lot of them. https://www.geappliances.com/applia...ator-PWE23KYNFS https://products-salsify.geappliances.com/image/upload/s--uE57ISdA--/175b5d475770f3997cdfff8f3415ddf7107e7d2d.pdf a) Depth without Handle: 28.75" (from specs) b) Overall Depth: 31.25" (from specs) c) Handle depth: 2.5" (calculated = b-a) d) Width w/Door Open 90 Degrees Incl. Handle: 44.625" (from specs) e) Overall Width: 35.75" (from specs) f) Bump-out on each side, including handle: 4.4375" (calculated = d/2-e/2) g) Bump-out on each side, excluding handle: 1.9375" (calculated = f-c) g is less than the 2.25" clearance I have so it will open to at least 90 degrees.
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Mar 2, 2024 19:45
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You're basically looking to get the "thickness" of the door, right? There should be a measurement of how big your openings need to be for moving the fridge, which will be the measurements without doors, so could you combine that measurement of the installed size which should include the handles, and subtract those two?
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Mar 2, 2024 19:58
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Sort of. What I've found is that the pivot point on the door is in the actual door of the fridge. On my current dead fridge, the doors themselves are like 5" deep, but the actual pivot point of the door is forward inside the door, so 3" of the door fits within the normal width profile and only 2" of the door has to clear the stove handle. At Home Depot I measured an LG fridge that had similar size doors, but a different pivot point so it would not be able to open. Here is the gap, the edge of the fridge (left) has a very small gap against the oven handle (right):  The current door is 4.5" or so, but it can open without bumping the stove.  edited for clarity and pictures. esquilax fucked around with this message at 20:15 on Mar 2, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 20:03
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Vim Fuego posted:Is there such a thing as a "wide kerf" blade for a 6 1/2 inch circular saw? The dangerous thing would be to stack two blades together on the saw. The option is to employ a router. The proper way is to take the boards up and reset them, because if you try either method above (and survive method #1 unscathed), you'll still have to sand or round-over the cut edges.
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Mar 2, 2024 20:57
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Hmm. Yeah. The router would be the correct tool for my incorrect method. I just really don't want to do it the right way because it seems like exponentially more work than just routing a gap into it. But maybe I should test how hard it'll be to take up the boards before I make that decision. There's like 10-16 fasteners per board and the heads are clogged with heavy texture deck stain. Lol I really don't want to start that. When I get enough dry weather I'll test the router setup in one of the worst drainage spots. Vim Fuego fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Mar 2, 2024 |
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Mar 2, 2024 21:29
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So new house has tankless water heaters. Two of them actually and we aren't really sure why they put two in instead of just one. Anyway when taking a shower the water gets hot for about 45 seconds then will slowly go to lukewarm or even cold for a little while then go back to hot and repeat despite the handle never being moved. Any ideas what's causing this?
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Mar 2, 2024 23:53
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Are there prefab sheds people like? I could just build a shed, but if the price was right, I would be willing to pay someone to have done most of the hard work and just put some footings in myself. Looking for something that is probably 6x8 or so inside, but flexible on size to an extent.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:08
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D-Pad posted:So new house has tankless water heaters. Two of them actually and we aren't really sure why they put two in instead of just one. Anyway when taking a shower the water gets hot for about 45 seconds then will slowly go to lukewarm or even cold for a little while then go back to hot and repeat despite the handle never being moved. Any ideas what's causing this? Are they right next to each other? Are they both working? What's your cold tap water temperature? How many BTU are the tankless heaters? What are they doing while you're showering? Get your shower into this state and go outside and see what they're doing. They're probably supposed to be working in tandem somehow and this may be broken. When was the last time they were descaled? When was the last time the prefilter was changed (if you have one?) Do you hear the ignitor going a bunch when they should just be on? (Flameout, low gas pressure, too low a flow so thermal cutout.) You can very easily descale them yourself if you don't know or it's been a while. I just did this with mine and I can't believe I paid someone to do it all these years. When you say "new" - do you mean "new to you" or "literally brand new construction, a year old" - because the second one of those is a "call the builder situation.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:09
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I'm not entirely certain how _well_ it descaled as I sort of assumed the water would become cloudy or something? I meant to post about this to get opinions on my process. I took an empty jug of vinegar and rinsed it out. I put ~200g of "Urnex dezcal" I bought for my coffee maker in it then filled it with water, shaking it up really well about 2/3 full. It all dissolved. I used this to descale the heater for about 45 minutes using a harbor freight pump, bucket, and some $23 "laundry hookup" hoses I got at Lowes. After some fiddling I managed to get it zip tied so it wouldn't cause so much turbulence as to run air through the pump. I sat there holding it for like 15 minutes like a sucker at first. I unplugged the water heater, killed the gas and water, then hooked this up. I did not drain it first. Once I was done I turned on the fresh water feed and blew out the tank onto the gravel for a minute to make sure there wasn't any residual descaler in there.  Did this... do anything? I found a kit home depot sold that used 200gram : 1gallon as the descale solution so I just went with that, since no one actually stocks the "purpose made" solution. I know some people just use the gallon jug of vinegar. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L8V966/ https://www.harborfreight.com/plumbing/pumps/transfer-pumps/18-hp-non-submersible-super-mini-transfer-pump-450-gph-58011.html (They didn't have a low enough power submersible one in stock. Dr Google told me to keep it under 1/3 hp.) https://www.lowes.com/pd/GE-2-Pack-6-ft-L-0-75-in-Hose-Thread-Inlet-x-0-75-in-Outlet-Stainless-Steel-Washing-Machine-Fill-Hose/1000505975 (Not these exactly, but they sell $35-45 ones and $25 ones. I got $25 ones.) https://www.homedepot.com/p/Superior-Pump-Tankless-Water-Heater-Descaler-Pump-Kit-91660/315550254 (inspiration)
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Mar 3, 2024 00:24
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D-Pad posted:So new house has tankless water heaters. Two of them actually and we aren't really sure why they put two in instead of just one. Anyway when taking a shower the water gets hot for about 45 seconds then will slowly go to lukewarm or even cold for a little while then go back to hot and repeat despite the handle never being moved. Any ideas what's causing this? We have the same issue. It seems to be an issue of your desired temperature at the shower valve leading to a slow enough flow rate of hot water that the heater turns itself off because it drops below the minimum gallons-per-minute flow threshold that the heater needs to remain on. Our extremely dumb solution is to leave the bathroom sink hot water tap slightly open while showering. Then between the sink and the shower we’re using enough hot water volume to keep the heater constantly on and get a stable temperature in the shower. It’s my least favorite aspect of this tankless heater that we inherited with the house. It’s probably exacerbated by having a low-flow shower head in our shower.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:36
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D-Pad posted:Two of them actually and we aren't really sure why they put two in instead of just one. How cold is the water as it comes into your house? Tankless heaters have a limit to how much heat they can put into water and the colder it starts out the less flow they can handle. If you're in the north and you want multiple people to be able to take a shower at the same time 1 tankless heater may not be able to provide enough hot water flow, so you use 2.
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Mar 3, 2024 00:40
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Vim Fuego posted:Hmm. Yeah. The router would be the correct tool for my incorrect method. Don't forget if you're cutting/routing the wood, you're gonna have to stain it again. The "easy" way could very easily end up being more work than the "right" way.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:06
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I don't know, as someone who just did a partial rebuild of a medium sized deck including an all new surface, it's a lot of work and much more time consuming than you'd think for 1 person to do. That's not even getting into the removal part, it won't take as long but good luck getting every screw to just come easily, or avoiding ruining some boards if they don't. I'd probably try the saw method and see how it works personally but then I have a track saw to keep it straight and do a second pass if 1 isn't enough. Running a sander quickly over the cuts to break the edges isn't the end of the world. The refinishing part, well, not like the boards were likely finished before being installed in the first place.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:15
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Rat Poisson posted:We have the same issue. It seems to be an issue of your desired temperature at the shower valve leading to a slow enough flow rate of hot water that the heater turns itself off because it drops below the minimum gallons-per-minute flow threshold that the heater needs to remain on. Our extremely dumb solution is to leave the bathroom sink hot water tap slightly open while showering. Then between the sink and the shower we’re using enough hot water volume to keep the heater constantly on and get a stable temperature in the shower. It’s my least favorite aspect of this tankless heater that we inherited with the house. It’s probably exacerbated by having a low-flow shower head in our shower.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:26
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How about just buying a squeegee on the end of a pole to get rid of the standing water after it rains? Cheap, no back breaking labor required.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:26
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Rat Poisson posted:We have the same issue. It seems to be an issue of your desired temperature at the shower valve leading to a slow enough flow rate of hot water that the heater turns itself off because it drops below the minimum gallons-per-minute flow threshold that the heater needs to remain on. Our extremely dumb solution is to leave the bathroom sink hot water tap slightly open while showering. Then between the sink and the shower we’re using enough hot water volume to keep the heater constantly on and get a stable temperature in the shower. It’s my least favorite aspect of this tankless heater that we inherited with the house. It’s probably exacerbated by having a low-flow shower head in our shower. Gonna try this thanks. Elem7 posted:How cold is the water as it comes into your house? Tankless heaters have a limit to how much heat they can put into water and the colder it starts out the less flow they can handle. If you're in the north and you want multiple people to be able to take a shower at the same time 1 tankless heater may not be able to provide enough hot water flow, so you use 2. I'm in Texas so I don't think that is it.
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Mar 3, 2024 01:49
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ROJO posted:Are there prefab sheds people like? I could just build a shed, but if the price was right, I would be willing to pay someone to have done most of the hard work and just put some footings in myself. Where you at? There are a number of shed companies in Pennsylvania.
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Mar 3, 2024 02:06
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PainterofCrap posted:Where you at? There are a number of shed companies in Pennsylvania. Other side of the country unfortunately, CA bay area.
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Mar 3, 2024 03:20
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At that size you might be able to just buy a premade shed for cheaper than it would be to build or even a kit. Depends on what kind of shed you’re needing. There’s tons of places around here that just sell them on lots. They probably all come from the same company but I can’t specifically remember what one ours came from. We just poured a slab and they delivered it for us.
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Mar 3, 2024 05:51
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H110Hawk posted:Did this... do anything? Probably, but that looks like a LOT of pump for descaling. You want something pretty slow (like 1/6 hp, 1400 gph). You may just not have a lot of obvious chunky scale like some of us do. And if so, good for you. But keep descaling it anyway.
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Mar 3, 2024 06:48
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