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I have a Dyson solely because my dog sheds just ludicrous quantities of very fine fur. Bagged vacuum cleaners clog up super quickly, and sweeping the fur up is impossible because it just floats into the air and then drifts down randomly. I'm well aware that they don't do a good job of pulling dirt off the floor and probably blast a lot of dust into the air too, but as a tool for picking up large quantities of dog fur, I haven't found a better option.
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Aug 8, 2022 01:50
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Inner Light posted:Sup home thread homies. Does anyone have a favorite or consensus best app that can take a wall color image and find the color of the paint from Benjamin Moore, Sherwin-Williams, etc. ? Or is there no good one that's not locked behind a big paywall? Basically looking for anything that can non-destructively (no need for a paint chip from the wall) identify a color, close-ish. The problem you're going to encounter is that true color is more or less impossible to determine from a photograph. It depends far too much on lighting, local room conditions (reflecting different-colored light onto the wall), cleanliness, etc. If you need to color match, get a paint chip. e:f;b
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Oct 2, 2022 02:36
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Never assume that professionals are doing things safely. It's way more likely that they'll think "I know the risks, therefore it's okay for me to ignore them."
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Oct 2, 2022 17:24
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PainterofCrap posted:The freezing air temperatures keep your metal gutters cold; the bright sun will raise the temperature of the roofing material, causing the snow to melt and run down into the gutters, where it freezes on contact with the sub-freezing metal. On a clear sub-zero day, your roof deck can have a surface temperature of over 100F. Would it make much of a difference if the roof was painted white, or is most of the heat coming from the climate control inside the house?
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Oct 5, 2022 00:38
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I tried to build a steam bending jig and never got it to work acceptably. I'm not entirely clear what I was doing wrong, but apparently kiln-dried wood at least does not steam bend well. And almost all wood you're likely to encounter is these days is kiln-dried.
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Oct 5, 2022 04:07
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If I recall correctly, romex is not rated for direct burial or indeed any kind of outdoor use. Also keep in mind that proper burial will require a fairly deep trench. IIRC it varies by location but at least 24" is common. Ask in the wiring thread if you need actual expert opinions.
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Oct 5, 2022 04:59
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I use a rare earth magnet as a stud finder. Just wipe it along the wall until it sticks, there's your stud.
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Oct 12, 2022 16:51
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Chaosfeather posted:Got the SJ Wave 16-in-1 water test kit. I think I'm reading this correctly but unsure how to interpret this. Does this show anything significant or just that I need to look elsewhere? If it's the alkalinity of the water (i.e. pH > 7), you can test that by adding some acid (e.g. vinegar) to water and seeing if you react to that. It shouldn't take much to neutralize a pH of 8. The MPS (microplastics, I think?) reading is also high, but I don't know what further tests you could do based on that.
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Oct 16, 2022 00:51
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Tangentially related to hot tub chat: does anyone here have any experience with endless pools? a.k.a. treadmills except for swimming instead of running. I've been curious about them for awhile, but everything I can find about them is advertising, basically.
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Oct 16, 2022 04:57
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tangy yet delightful posted:I'm pretty sure there's one canadian goon that just got one put into their house/shed, in a thread somewhere in HCH/DIY. Oh, I knew he put a pool in, but I thought it was just a chillaxing kind of pool. Looking at it again, though, I think you're right. There's certainly an awful lot of apertures in the side walls, anyway. Also, calling that place a "house/shed" is pretty drat funny 
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Oct 16, 2022 18:47
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Plywood is gonna be the best quality material for any budget furniture. It has excellent strength and stability. Solid wood has a better rep, but you're not going to see solid wood construction in budget furniture that's worth a drat. MDF, particle board, melamine, etc are all way worse: weaker, heavier, and less durable. But they're cheap and easy to shape, and there's plenty of uses where they're fine because their weaknesses aren't relevant. Source: am a woodworker.
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Oct 31, 2022 22:08
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ceebee posted:I'm building a floating (~illusion oooooh~) bedframe out of construction grade pine and it's coming along pretty good (I picked some particularly dense/low knot stuff). I'll post some pictures, but this slatted DIY bed frame is sturdier than any IKEA poo poo I bought and it's made out of soft woods I bought for about $60 (various 2x4s, some 2x6s, and one 4x4 I'm using for legs). I'm building up my tools to be able to do basic carpentry work. I've got miter saw, circular saw, all kinds drivers, orbital sander...next on my list I'd like is a jig saw. I'm terrified of table saws so I'm avoiding them as long as possible. If you aren't already, I recommend following the woodworking thread. And table saws are absolutely optional; I don't have one and I've always been able to work around it.
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Nov 1, 2022 00:26
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devicenull posted:Just pick up one of these. It'll prevent you from immediately catching stuff on fire with the torch. ...that would have been handing when I was running a water line in my back yard. I just used a fence board that I soaked in water as my backer, which worked but was kind of awkward.
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Nov 4, 2022 00:38
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devicenull posted:I mean maybe don't buy that exact one because the only amazon review is "IT CAUGHT FIRE"... but the idea is solid. I have one I got from Lowes which doesn't have the hole and stuff but I can point the torch at and it doesn't ignite. Now I'm reminded of a barbeque I went to in college, where we tested a square of cafeteria-provided "cheese" by hitting it with a butane torch dead-center. It scorched that side of the cheese and left the other side untouched. So maybe we should be using fake cheese to protect our houses while soldering pipe.
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Nov 6, 2022 05:26
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My house has hardwood flooring in the kitchen and it's been fine. Sometimes I'll spill some water and I just kind of smear it out with my foot and let it evaporate, and I haven't had any trouble.
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Nov 8, 2022 17:49
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Some woods smell different, yeah. Red oak is nasty, cedar is lovely.
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Nov 13, 2022 03:27
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Qwijib0 posted:Is it still possible to buy relatively thick chrome plated brass square tube for bathroom towel rods? All I can find are stamped folded metal at big box stores, or aluminum. McMaster-Carr has chrome-plated brass pipe, but that's round, not square tube. And also doesn't go up to 36". Still, I'd give 'em a call; they can probably manufacture what you need, it's just a matter of how much they'll charge you for it. Why chrome-plated brass, specifically? That is, if it's being plated, what does it matter what the underlying material is?
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Nov 29, 2022 05:12
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Danhenge posted:Doorchat has got me thinking: is there any obvious reason why cold weather would make our front door stick it gets better in hot weather?. It's wood with many layers of paint, and I can't easily check the hinge screws easily because some idiot installed spring bronze incorrectly so it covers the hinges. There's some ancient termite damage underneath the front door that's been braced and has a metal column underneath about the hinge side of the door. Differential expansion temperature of metal and wood? Wood expands and contracts as the humidity changes. Doors getting stuck during certain parts of the year is very common.
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Dec 22, 2022 00:16
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Danhenge posted:I guess I just heard most people talk about doors getting stuck in the summer. I live in the midatlantic so it's way more humid then. High humidity is the main way for a door to have problems, because that makes it swell so it doesn't fit in its frame any more. But I've seen issues with doors no longer meeting the strike plate properly due to wood movement, and I could believe that wood movement could cause issues with the hinges or threshold. Both of those wouldn't necessarily be due to high humidity, just due to substantially different humidity from when the door was installed.
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Dec 22, 2022 01:52
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The tool is a basin wrench, for future reference. I don't have any advice on IDing your faucet, but it's not like sinks are only compatible with certain faucets, so you could just get a new one. I bet gaskets are also generic, if you want to try a repair.
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Dec 28, 2022 17:13
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Dec 28, 2022 19:53
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Seconding the advice to yell at your landlord. Your only responsibility is to the stuff that you bring into the apartment. Everything else is their business, up until they hear that you messed with it, at which point they'll try to pin all the blame (and expense of fixing it) on you.
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Jan 4, 2023 00:56
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Pentecoastal Elites posted:quick question -- I'm in Chicago and have to do a bunch of electrical work in a (framed, but unfinished) basement. It's going to be expensive one way or another but the price difference between 12AWG and 14AWG and 3/4 and 1/2 metal conduit is, while not negligible, pretty small. 12AWG is more of a pain to work with. In particular, it's harder to bend into the little hooks you need to attach it to outlets. I also dimly recall there's some kind of issue with misrepresenting what kind of load a circuit can handle if you use too-large wire. Like, someone looks at the wire, says "oh this must be OK for 20A because the wire's so thick" and then burns their house down or something. But I'm no expert. Ask the wiring thread.
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Jan 10, 2023 05:08
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Whatever it was (some kind of thinset or adhesive, I assume), it looks completely burnt.
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Jan 21, 2023 21:08
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I agree with Motronic. Controlling how water moves through peoples' territory is one of the most important jobs that government has, and indeed, regulating water is one of the primary reasons that governments are created in the first place. Altering the behavior of water can have massive ramifications for other people, so you shouldn't do it lightly. For example, maybe your back yard no longer floods, but now someone else's yard floods so badly that their house suffers permanent damage. Or the water ends up on a major road or something.
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Jan 28, 2023 05:15
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Man, that's a lot of expense. My sympathies. I had a row of a half-dozen crappy fast-growing trees along my back fence, probably north of 40' tall...we had a big windstorm and two of them tilted over so they were leaning on the fence. I got them all taken out for like $1000. Just the tree guy and one of his helpers, chopped the trees up into bits, carried them to their truck, and hauled them away in the space of a few hours.
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Feb 11, 2023 00:07
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Are you trying to kill the ants in your yard? Because those are gonna be endemic. You might kill off a few nests, but there'll always be more ants migrating in from adjacent land.
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Feb 12, 2023 23:45
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Crossposting a bit from fix it fast: any opinions on heat pump water heaters? Pacific Gas & Electric (my utility) has some pretty juicy rebate incentives for 'em, and I'm about due to replace my gas heater. I live in a coastal area where it rarely gets below 40F and practically never goes below freezing. I should have plenty of space for a bulkier unit. Powering it will require some panel upgrades which I'm looking into. Mostly I'm wondering if there's any major drawbacks to the tech that I need to know about...all of the materials I can find online are relentlessly upbeat, basically marketing copy.
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Feb 15, 2023 06:17
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toplitzin posted:I was legitimately angry that my new range/oven required an internet connection to unlock half the physical button features.  what the gently caress? Are they worried someone's going to pirate an oven?!
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Feb 23, 2023 04:30
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ptier posted:Straightforward. I like it. Do be aware that paint is one of those "you get what you pay for" situations. Cheap paint does not last well. Also, proper surface prep is essential, do not skip it. The surfaces should be clean and dry before you paint or the paint won't adhere.
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Feb 28, 2023 17:31
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VelociBacon posted:Would a home inspection not have caught this kind of thing or was it not done? Not trying to make OP feel bad but just surprised it wasn't brought up if it's a visibly bowing wall. On a related note, isn't the PO required to disclose known issues with the house?
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Mar 12, 2023 02:31
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Sirotan posted:It took almost a month but I finally got my financing all set on Thursday for my kitchen remodel. I was all worried about lead times on cabinets so I rushed over to IKEA today to put in my order. Welp there's no longer supply chain issues I guess because I'll have them in less than two weeks. I don't even gut the kitchen until the first week of May, lol. Not a terrible problem to have except now I have to figure out where to stick all the boxes... I know of a great place to store 'em: in your kitchen! Just remove the old ones first...
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Mar 18, 2023 20:35
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Agreed re: do the walls first. Otherwise you'll have obvious lines in the floor where the walls used to be. Floorboards tend to change over time in terms of what stores stock, so buy all you need (including extras for repairs or unforeseen extra needs) in one purchase. If you need more later, you may not be able to get a good match.
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Mar 19, 2023 17:46
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How big a limb are we talking about, and how high off the ground? If it's at all accessible, I'd just ask the neighbor to let you cut it down and dispose of it. Regardless of your legal obligations, it's good neighborliness.
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Mar 28, 2023 16:30
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theflyingexecutive posted:Probably 12 feet long, 4" in diameter, and ten feet off the ground. I have a friend who's competent at chainsawing who could probably get it, just in an awkward spot and not particularly threatening anything. 4" in diameter is small enough that you can cut it down with a hand saw. Indeed I would much rather use a hand saw for that job than a chainsaw, even if I was well practiced at chainsawing. Chainsaws are dangerous, especially when you're up a tree. So get a lop saw or pruning saw, a ladder, and fifteen minutes of your time and it'll be done and dusted.
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Mar 28, 2023 18:05
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The paneling is presumably mounted to something. If there's studs you can attach the shelves to, they'd be fine. However, I would not rely on the paneling itself supporting any significant weight.
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Apr 2, 2023 20:48
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I think it depends on how much weight you expect to be putting on those things. The product you linked sounds like it's designed to support maybe 10-20 pounds per hangar (since it's designed for paintings, mirrors, etc). But that's just a guess, since I didn't see a weight rating on the product page. A French cleat would be the ideal solution, though also probably overkill. In any case I would definitely want to go into studs instead of using drywall anchors.
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Apr 9, 2023 02:31
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"So you're saying I need to dig down like four feet to make a stable foundation? It's just a deck! It'll be fine!"
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Apr 17, 2023 16:45
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I assume laser levels let you get more or less arbitrarily close to perfectly level...how close to level can you get with a taut string line and a 4' bubble level? Say you're trying to mark level along a 20' edge.
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Apr 19, 2023 19:58
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BaseballPCHiker posted:Im debating trying to make my own back yard deck. It'd be the biggest project I've ever undertaken, I consider myself only moderately handy. The big thing you get from doing it yourself is confidence that the work was done to your standards. It can be hard to get contractors that you can rely on to do work that is up to spec. But yeah, you shouldn't generally view DIY construction as a cost-saving measure. Having said that, a deck should be entirely within your skills. You'll need to do some reading on proper construction layouts, but the basic techniques are nothing special. Drilling, crosscuts, digging, and pouring concrete should account for most of it.
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Apr 20, 2023 00:27
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