Fix It Fast: Start here for DIY help! (You'll know when it's a problem by smell.)

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Fix It Fast: Start here for DIY help! (You'll know when it's a problem by smell.)

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

What I've read makes it sound like unless that window was nearly top-of-the-line when it was new, most anything new you get today is going to be at least somewhat better

# ¿ Oct 23, 2020 20:37

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 11:27

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

DrBouvenstein posted:

Man, I'm like 99% certain that bacteria is in my entire town's water supply.

I've lived in several apartments and a couple houses here over the years, and most of them end up with weird pink discoloration where water might pool slightly, the corner where the tub meets the tub/shower wall is the big one.

Weird that it's not removed by whatever process the town uses to purify the water, but I guess it's not harmful, so why bother?

How would one deal with that in a home with municipal water? Same thing, just replace "just past the well pump" with "just past the supply line"?

The bacteria isn't in the water, it's in the world

# ¿ Nov 12, 2020 19:10

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Toebone posted:

Are combo leaf blower/mulcher/vacuums any good at the vac & mulch part? My backyard is tiered so leaves have to be carried out to the street instead of just blown/raked, it'd be easier if I could just suck them up.

The Dave posted:

In my experience the bag fills up very quickly and dealing with that is way more cumbersome than taking the leaves onto a tarp and dragging them.

The suck range is also pretty small and prone to clogging at the nozzle, so along with dumping the bag a lot you're also not covering ground very fast

# ¿ Nov 16, 2020 14:53

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

two_beer_bishes posted:

Is there a type of thermostat that's less susceptible to erroneous readings from sunlight? I have an old mercury thermostat on the wall now but when the sun hits it, it reads 15-20F high. It's connected to a gas wall furnace in an out-building so it's not crucial that it's 100% accurate, but if a $20 electronic thermostat would fix it, I'd happily spend the money. It's a 2-wire system if it matters.

Any outdoor thermometer should be shaded from the sun

# ¿ Dec 7, 2020 20:25

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I've got a motion-detecting light switch in my mud room, with two doors. It's about 8ft away from the second door, and triggering it from that far away is a bit of a coin flip. The device doesn't say anything about range, but it's obviously struggling. Is there anything I can do (like maybe stick something reflective on the door) to help it out?

# ¿ Feb 8, 2021 21:16

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Wasabi the J posted:

Yeah if it's a Lutron switch there is definitely a setting for high sensitivity, and also you may have it in the wrong mode; Lutron sometimes has a really dumb "daylight sensing" option that is supposed to only work after the sun goes down but in reality just makes the poo poo really inconsistent.

I thought I had it set high (of course it doesn't tell you), but I re-set it just in case. Also turned daylight mode off. We'll see how it goes

# ¿ Feb 9, 2021 21:46

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Professor Shark posted:

I painted an "homage" of another artist (the name of whom I have forgotten) more than a decade ago and just rediscovered it during a move.

Homage to Unknown Artist, acrylic on cardboard

This thing is a honking 39"x 27.75" beast and I would really like to get it framed, however all my Googling shows a lot of cheap looking poster frames. Is there a go-to place for nice looking frames made from wood and glass instead of acrylic and plastic frames? I remember working hard on this and I love the bright colors, I feel it deserves to be shown rather than forgotten in a closet.

Big box places like Michaels have framing departments, and there are probably a bunch of dedicated framing stores around you. Just be ready to pay :10bux:

# ¿ Mar 7, 2021 22:48

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

floWenoL posted:

So I'm trying to get a vacuum breaker off a bib to replace it with something that won't squirt me every time i shut off the bib. I've looked around the vacuum breaker and I *think* there's no set screw, but the bib is in an awkward place (surrounded by bushes) so I wasn't able to get a good look.

However, when I try to unscrew it, it turns for a bit but then gets "stuck", almost as if it were tightening up against something else. Here's a photo and a video:

https://i.imgur.com/h3gxpgR.mp4

As you can see, it has about a quarter turn of give before stopping. I've tried putting some effort into it, as well as shutting off the water and raising the bonnet all the way up, but that hasn't helped, and I don't want to accidentally break something.

Has anyone seen this before? Is this a symptom that there's a set screw somewhere that I need to drill out?

I have something like that on one of mine, and there's definitely a set screw, but I think it's meant to get broken off after it's set so what remains no longer looks like a set screw. It's on the under-side and hard to see.

# ¿ May 1, 2021 22:32

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I have a toilet that was running a year ago, so I replaced all the tank internals and it stopped running until about a month ago when it started running again. Before I go and replace everything again, are there any hot tricks I could try to fix it again?

# ¿ Jun 24, 2021 20:38

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Corla Plankun posted:

This worked insanely well, thank you! I ordered a scraper with both plastic and metal blades. The metal end made quick work of the sticker on the chrome bumper. I used the plastic one for the window at first because I was worried about scratching the tint, and it sucked. When I gave up on it and switched back to the metal one the window sticker came off extremely easily and nothing got even close to getting scratched.

Razor blade scrapers work way better than I expected and my motor skills are absolutely dogshit so if I can do it, anyone can.

fwiw I think tints are applied to the interior side of the glass

# ¿ Apr 22, 2022 13:56

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

In my master bath, the shower is right next to the door to the bedroom. Whoever renovated the bathroom set the bathroom stone tile floor a smidge higher than the carpet next door, but didn't put anything to separate them, so any water that escapes the shower happily dribbles over to the carpet. So I want to put a thing on the floor under the door to keep the water in, but what is the term for the thing that I want to put down?

# ¿ Jul 6, 2022 18:01

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

While we're talking replacing plumbing, are SharkBites legit? I need to replace a broken hose bibb and was about to call a plumber since I didn't want to deal with copper soldering, but saw some people talk about doing it with SharkBite fittings and PVC or PEX. That looks easy enough but is there a catch? (I'm in the south so there's no real freezing concern)

# ¿ Apr 12, 2023 19:55

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Blowjob Overtime posted:

It's a semi-regular talking point with opinions varying from "they're fine" to "never in my house", but in general the HCH consensus is SharkBites are acceptable for short-term fixes (let's say <1 year) and they are only to be used in areas where the fitting will always be visible (i.e., never put them behind drywall). They are easy and will likely work, but will not be as reliable long-term as soldering copper pipe.

That said, incredibly highly recommended to have 1/2" and 3/4" SharkBite endcaps on-hand at all times (https://www.homedepot.com/p/SharkBite-1-2-in-Push-to-Connect-Brass-End-Stop-Fitting-Pro-Pack-4-Pack-U514LFJ4/305971899), as they are an amazing emergency fix if something starts leaking to the point where you need to turn the water off to stop it. Water off, cut pipe, put on cap, then you can turn the water back so it is running to everywhere else in the house, and you don't need to pay for a 5-alarm emergency call to the plumber.

Also if you would rather spend the money a plumber would require to fix it on a torch, a few tools, and some supplies instead, there are a whole lot of people here who would be more than happy to talk you through the basics of soldering copper so you can do it yourself this time and most/all future times something like this comes up. It is pretty easy if you follow the prep work steps, and you can buy a length of pipe and some couplings to practice on before going in for the real deal.

Yeah I think I�m leaning towards trying out soldering after all. I�ve read and watched some stuff but I�ll take anything else y�all can throw at me. I�m familiar with electrical soldering if that matters any.

# ¿ Apr 13, 2023 00:41

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Are there any sites good for buying stuff like good quality individual hex keys?

# ¿ May 29, 2023 19:09

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I�ve heard of occasionally giving smoke detectors a puff of canned air to clean it out. But I think false alarms from errant dust is just a fact of life with photovoltaic detectors; a couple weeks ago I had two detectors in give me an unexplained alarm each at 4am, but they�ve been quiet since (and my house hasn�t burned down).

# ¿ Jul 24, 2023 19:15

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Yeah that�s definitely a burnisher

# ¿ Sep 14, 2023 19:44

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I have a murphy bed that�s been lag bolted to the wall studs until today when we took it off to replace the flooring. We went from carpet to laminate so of course 1) the holes don�t align, 2) even if they did the hole is stripped and 3) the difference is small enough that new holes aren�t biting either. How screwed (lol) am I?

I don�t have the exact number with me but the bolts are in the vicinity of 1/4�. I used every stud it reaches so there�s nothing fresh to attach to. Is there any way to patch the studs, or some bracket system I could use to relocate the mounting point?

# ¿ Nov 29, 2023 01:38

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Wasabi the J posted:

Put some wood filler/glue/skewers in the hole to fill it like how you fix a sagging door hinge?

That was my first thought but I'm not sure how sound that is with a 1/4 inch hole?

wesleywillis posted:

If you have a Murphy bed, you probably don't have a lot of space to move, but can you move it over by 16 inches, or whatever your stud spacing is?

I could scoot a couple of inches to get to one fresh stud, but that doesn't fix the other four

PainterofCrap posted:

Raise it an inch or two.

Probably the way to go

# ¿ Nov 29, 2023 19:13

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

I had a microwave that tripped if you opened it before stopping it, replaced it without touching the wiring and everything is fine

# ¿ Dec 7, 2023 02:54

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

The track record of fiber layers isn�t great since they dig pretty shallow but that looks more like the ISP hooked the wire up and are waiting for the diggers to come?

# ¿ Dec 23, 2023 02:49

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

If I wanted to add a room to my house, who do I go to to start? If it�s just a box can a general contractor do it or do I need to hit up an architect first? And what order of magnitude do I need to expect to spend, middle five figures?

# ¿ Jan 11, 2024 16:14

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Save some space and put the toilet in the shower

# ¿ Apr 2, 2024 00:37

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# ¿ May 14, 2024 11:27

dupersaurus: Aug 1, 2012; Futurism was an art movement where dudes were all 'CARS ARE COOL AND THE PAST IS FOR CHUMPS. LET'S DRAW SOME CARS.'

Yeah I�ve got an ego mower and whacker for a few years and they�ve been great. Plus the box fan they make runs for loving ever even on the smaller batteries, great if you�re sitting in the heat for a long time

# ¿ May 9, 2024 16:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Fix It Fast: Start here for DIY help! (You'll know when it's a problem by smell.)