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I posted this in the discord, but I think the forum thread still gets a lot more traffic. Apologies if it's a repeat to you. I had a major reno including a full basement addition and a new porch. The company placed a large amount of gravel under the porch, but I can't figure out why. It's maybe 18" higher than grade, and just sits on the grade soil. It's slightly sloped from the house to the edge of the porch. This porch also has a roof, so it basically doesn't get weather or water.   
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Nov 9, 2020 14:56
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Bad Munki posted:Probably just meeting code requirements for grade. Has to be sloped away from the house. The existence of the roof above doesn't matter. I can see that argument, but it’s just dumped on the existing grade, which is basically flat all around the house. Does it count as proper slope when you just put a mound of dirt up against the house?
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Nov 10, 2020 04:25
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Not sure if this thread or the plumbing thread is best, but I'll start here as it's more likely to be seen. My mother's gas water heater keeps tripping the limit switch, or what the appliance manufacturer calls the 'resetable thermal switch' and 'burner high limit switch'. This is the one behind the lower access door, mounted on the inner door to the combustion chamber. I thought it was a spill switch, but it seems to be a thermal triggered safety switch. Anyway, it trips after about 5 minutes of running. If I take it off the inner door panel, it won't trip, so seems combustion chamber temperature is the factor. Water heater is a Giant UG40-38LF-N2U. It was installed in 2018. I have checked the following: 1. The chimney. It has a steel liner and seems to be clean all the way up. I vacuumed out a small pile of dust at the bottom where the water heater vent pipe connects. 2. The vent pipe. It is clean, sloped up properly, and gets hot with the water heater running. It does not seem to back draft, and the plastics on the tank are not melted or deformed at all. They look brand new. 3. The intake area. All outside vents are clean, I scoped under the combustion chamber floor and it all looks pristine. Vacuumed out a few cobwebs. We also had the gas company, who she rents the water heater from, come out twice now. They did the following: Visit 1. Replaced the limit switch and the inner door it's mounted on Visit 2. Replaced the anti-scald valve for some reason So far, no change. She is currently without hot water, unless I unscrew the switch and let the tank heat up. If I do that, there doesn't seem to be any obvious issue. No gas or exhaust odor, etc. CO detector has not gone off or anything. We're calling the gas company again, but it take a day to get an appointment, then they give you an all-day window to sit around and wait. Her husband is in a palliative care ward, and she spends the middle of every day there, so this is becoming a bit of an issue. If I can solve it for her, I'd be very relieved. TL;DR: My mom has no hot water and the gas company is useless. Please halp
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Mar 30, 2021 03:58
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Any tips for building a stud wall on an irregular, sloped surface? Both the surface and the slope are irregular. Rough concrete pour for my basement wall underpinning. The underpin sections protrude from the main wall about 4”, and I’m putting a stud wall from their rough top surface up to the ceiling for finishing. I don’t want to pull the wall out farther from the masonry wall and extend it to the lovely smooth poured floor for reasons, so I’m just trying to put down a sole plate on sections that slope up to 6” over 10 feet, and are not very flat.
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May 9, 2021 03:39
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Elviscat posted:The best way to do that is use a leveling mortar to make the surface flat. This is what I was leaning toward. And then cutting the studs angled at the bottom to match the slope of the sole plate. Sort of the opposite of building for a sloped ceiling. It won’t be carrying any real load, so just looking for a second opinion to tell me it’s not a stupid ineffective solution.
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May 9, 2021 15:57
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alnilam posted:I know that, i just know the breaker is supposed to be the weak point, like you might want to use 30A wiring and a 20A breaker to really ensure the wires never go over-current*. I didn't know if i was supposed to get a beefier outlet than i need, or just match the breaker rating. It’s kind of the opposite. You want anything running off that breaker to operate within the breakers limits. If you put a 20A outlet (or a 30A somehow) onto a circuit protected by a 15A breaker, you’re saying ‘hey you can plug 20 or 30 amps into me!’, which you absolutely cannot. If you put a 20A breaker with a 15A outlet, any user understand you’re not meant to load it with more than 15A. (Or 80% of that anyway) If you want to run heavier gauge wiring as added insurance, you can do that. It would also allow you to upgrade the circuit later with appropriate breaker and outlets.
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May 11, 2021 01:42
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Pretty curious about that wire splice that’s about to get buried in insulation again
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May 12, 2021 12:52
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fletcher posted:It's up! Thanks again That looks great! As an alternative, I would have sistered the joist on the other side of the outlet box, so that joist was double wide and mounted two screws in each piece. Your way is much stronger and gives better clearance to the outlet though.
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Jul 25, 2021 16:48
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Waltzing Along posted:Siding is some sort of wood: Looks like furring or stood-off supports for your siding strapping. Just poke around to the left of that, and if there’s another 2 inches of space there, shift your hole to the left a couple inches.
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Jul 27, 2021 12:56
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Is that a 15A circuit? I’d be worried about that many loads of that size on one circuit. You shouldn’t exceed 80% sustained load. Probably worth adding a circuit in any case.
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Aug 31, 2021 13:12
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The Human Cow posted:Does anybody have any advice on repairing a crack in an acrylic bathtub? FWIW this seems like something that takes a lot of practice to get right, and I’d definitely pay a pro to do it so it’s right and looks good. I worked for an RV shop for a few years, and we had a mobile company that did this for us. The trailer manufacturers didn’t like replacing the showers and tubs if there were cracks due the amount of labour required, and the repairs were invisible. A local shop might be a reference source if you can’t find one by other means.
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Sep 1, 2021 12:43
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actionjackson posted:thanks - no idea which one I would select. I don't want to do anything permanent in case it doesn't work right (likely). Transparent Vinyl Tape with Self-Adhesive. (1/4 inch x 50 ft, Yellow) They probably have cheaper stuff at craft stores, too.
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Nov 4, 2021 13:27
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I am replacing a rotting floor at our family cabin. It’s a kind of unheated porch/mud room we usually enter through and is above a cold cellar type room with a dirt floor. There is a bit of a moisture issue there that probably won’t be dealt with for another year or two. Any tips for waterproofing the lower surface of the plywood I’m putting down? Is some kind of coating best, or would poly be better? I’m thinking the poly/vapor barrier may do more harm than good.
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Nov 12, 2021 05:55
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melon cat posted:Do you have a crawlspace or basement beneath? And what's causing that moisture? It's a basement. There are several causes to the moisture, the primary one in that area being the unfinished floor with a crappy sump pump. There are several planned projects for the basement that will help, including pouring a floor and a proper sump pit, but in the meantime the floor is unsafe and needs resheeting. In the interim, I want to protect it from the damp below as best as possible.
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Nov 12, 2021 12:39
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melon cat posted:You could lay down 6 mil plastic vapor barrier/sheeting beneath the plywood substrate. Problem is that if there are several causes to the moisture as you're saying and none of them have been addressed the moisture will get back into the problem areas even with the 6 mil laid down beneath the plywood then you'll be right back where you started. Oh yeah, the lack of long term mitigation is understood. Those steps will take place starting in spring. For now, I’m just looking for the simplest most effective way to add protection to the ply until the basement is damp proofed and de-humidified. Right now a dehumidifier will do exactly nothing. There’s too much ingress and no management happening. I looked at deck sealants, latex paints and drying oils. I looked at pressure treated ply. I even thought about painting the underside with redgard. I’m just checking with the goon hivemind to see if there’s a best option.
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Nov 13, 2021 04:57
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alnilam posted:or a fastener shop if there's one around you Not sure if you’re in the US, but I was surprised to find out these guys are only in Canada. Do y’all have Fastenal?
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Nov 19, 2021 13:10
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I. M. Gei posted:I'm dumb. It looks like I CAN install the bracket into my existing box. I just have to figure out how to position it first. No, that downrod is definitely screwed. It looks like it’s been crossthreaded, and now the threads are stripped and I suspect the female threads as well.
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Dec 6, 2021 13:02
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I. M. Gei posted:MOTHERFUCKER I’m sorry, doesn’t the fan box replace the ceiling box? Your fan mount should screw into the electrical work box already in your ceiling, else you remove it and install a fan-rated electrical box instead.
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Dec 8, 2021 05:40
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I. M. Gei posted:Okay here's a question. My ceiling box has a white wire and a black wire, but no green/grounding wire. The round metal plate that was up there earlier had a green wire screwed into it. I assume this box is made for a similar setup? If you loosen the wire clamp on the right, there may be some slack in the wire. If you pull it out a bit, you may find there is a ground that has been trimmed. You only need a little to tie to.
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Dec 8, 2021 13:48
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:How the hell can the cold water out of the shower be so much better (higher pressure/flow) than the hot, when the hot is clearly stronger before it gets to the cartridge? I'm so drat confused I think because it’s mixed in a shared space before exiting the cartridge, you’re getting an average net pressure coming out. That’s as long as neither inlet is fully closed. The fact that it’s less even when fully hot could be based on the cartridge exit orifice design. If you have one already dremel’ed, maybe see if the joined outlet can be modified somehow?
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Dec 11, 2021 23:17
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The Dave posted:
100% what I’d do, but I like tearing things apart.
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Feb 20, 2022 18:34
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I won't take odds, but please film this either way. Is there any existing structure that you could use? 1200lbs isn't a lot in the scheme of things. I'd probably try to attach it to the opposite wall, ideally through several framing members.
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Mar 8, 2022 14:14
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PainterofCrap posted:Use wood glue or white glue. With this pieces both being finished in that ubiquitous modern semi-faux polished wood, I think something like gorilla glue is going to work better here. Apply it in a thin film and keep pressure for however long the bottle says.
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Mar 13, 2022 18:29
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Does anyone make a commercial-style pull down faucet with a metal sprayer? I don’t want to spend a fortune, but even the more expensive models seem to have a plastic sprayer. They seem junky and have no heft. Google yields lots of ads and ‘best of’ lists with the same 3 brands.
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May 8, 2022 17:06
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I wasn’t sure. Seems anything from $60 to $400+ in my searches was plastic. Good to know where I need to start from. This is for a summer cabin, so just want sturdy as many hands will abuse it.
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May 8, 2022 17:20
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actionjackson posted:I used to have a Kraus one that worked just fine, just not really my aesthetic Wasabi the J posted:I like this guy Thanks, both. I actually went with a Kraus Bolden as the quality/price point seemed the highest.  This is a one-hole model, and didn’t include the bottom deck plate, which I didn’t notice in the listing. I was able to salvage the deck plate from the old faucet, even though it’s sort of domed and hollow underneath, so I had to be careful tightening it down. Now it’s the nicest thing in this old cabin!
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May 20, 2022 18:24
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OwlFancier posted:I may get some rocks and some mortar mix and just try filling a bit in with rock and mortar and see how it goes then. I suppose I can hardly make it worse than it is, and I don't really mind the effort, nice way to spend an afternoon really. Have been looking up how to do it and it looks like something I should be able to do in theory and a bucket of mortar is cheap enough, and I can borrow a trowel. Can you pack it with clay, like that wild jungle house guy on YouTube?
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Jun 24, 2022 01:18
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I installed a fancy new shower set for my mom’s claw foot tub. It’s looks great, but the water pressure for the shower head went way down. The shower riser had a weird gasket/bushing between the two pieces, with a really tiny passage. Like less than 1/8”. Is this what’s killing the water flow? Would it be effective to enlarge the opening or try to find a replacement? It seals the two pieces of the riser so I can’t just remove it. It’s #17 in this diagram: 
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Aug 10, 2022 12:10
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PainterofCrap posted:Yes. That is a flow restrictor, doing its job. So I went ahead and drilled out the coupler gasket piece. It had no effect. The water is kind of just falling out of the shower head with no real pressure. I’m not sure where to go from here.
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Aug 15, 2022 11:48
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How am I supposed to get a nice loop on this brand new fancy outdoor GFCI outlet?  Taken before I flipped the loop to clockwise. But these screws have a captive nut inside the housing. They don’t stand out as you unscrew them, and the plastic surround doesn’t have any clearance above the screw to slip the wire through. There weren’t any other in stock options other than this brand, either.
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Feb 23, 2023 14:14
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PainterofCrap posted:Expose at least twice the length of copper that you have. This is kinda my usual method. The problem with this device, is the gap between the screw and the plastic is smaller than the wire thickness. I ended up with a loop that was too wide, kinda jammed it into the gap point-first, rotated it so it was under the screw, then tried to close the loop with a small flathead. Takes 2 minutes instead of two seconds quote:Third option is to back the screw all the way out (you will have to force it) and thread the screw through the loop & re-secure it. Yeah the captive nut under the contact plate is loose inside, plus there is some element that stops it from unthreading all the way out without excessive force. Then you can try your luck holding it upside down and trying to catch the threads to screw it back in. I just don’t see how this design made it out of prototype
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Feb 24, 2023 06:43
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STR posted:... This would be a double whammy of a ladder to.. access a ladder. What about a pair of magnets? I’ve seen tape strip like magnets. Then you can still just yank it down. neogeo0823 posted:I made a quick, hopefully not-confusing diagram. Left side is how it currently is, right side is how it could be. I think your shear plane and the tension moment are still at the head of the fastener, in the same direction, so you’re complicating your work for no gain 
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Mar 18, 2023 15:33
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Bloody Mayhem posted:I’m in Canada so I’ve never heard of these places in my province, sadly. The guy I talked to was reasonably old, but obviously not up to the task. Try the weirdest electronic store where the graybeard HAM radio guys are, or any weird surplus store. If all they sell is Chinese blenders and off-lease Dells, you’re in the wrong place
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Apr 5, 2023 13:19
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I’m looking for ideas on stopping my neighbours customers from destroying my hedge. I’m also thinking about putting a solid fence right up to the property line, with the hedge on the inside for me to enjoy. He has those parking blocks but they keep inching over the line, and lots of cars’ front or rear ends extend well past them and smush into my hedge anyway. 
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Apr 22, 2023 17:07
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Flipperwaldt posted:Moat This is the real dream Blowjob Overtime posted:If you build a fence you're just going to end up with a fence that has been bumped into a hundred times by cars instead of bushes. True. I added the plan for a fence to my post as whatever I do, I’d like it to function to protect the fence. Motronic posted:This as well as any other idea I could think of is heavily dependent on what you're allowed to do, which is a very local jurisdiction thing. Not directly, but I am familiar with our codes. I can’t make it tall, ie; no spite fences. Most other constructs would be ok withak posted:Push a thin, bendy pole into the ground behind the concrete thingy at each spot, make it tall enough to stick up above the hood. Parkers will stop after their bumper hits the pole. I’ve thought of the rebar idea, but experience tells me it will still get mushed. It will just also do a little damage to the many parkers that hit it every day. withak posted:Subtle approach: go in after hours and shift the concrete thingies six inches or so into the parking lot. They’ve been moved many times. Sometimes the guy even removes them, then puts them back. It’s a deli and European imported food store. There are dozens and dozens of customers per day. Small lot, but lots of turnaround.
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Apr 23, 2023 00:41
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Ask your neighbor to compensate you the damage to your hedge in the form of free food. He’s friendly, but not accommodating. Requests are instantly forgotten or ignored. I’m thinking of some kind of reinforced rail running about average bumper height. It would be on their side of the fence to prevent the most frequent impact. Then fence, then hedge. I’m thinking some kind of tubular steel, with vertical posts, and a 45 degree brace that could run through the fence. I guess I’m wondering if there is a more elegant solution.
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Apr 23, 2023 14:55
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What’s the correct way to finish the edge of a an EPDM flat roof deck? My mom’s patio door opens to a deck above a basement room, serving as its roof. The deck is flat or very low slope, covered by EPDM membrane directly on the sheeting. On top of that is outdoor carpeting. It’s held up fairly well for a number of years, but the rim joists are rotting at the corners. There is no flashing or edge trimming whatsoever. What’s the correct way to finish this so the fascia and rim joists are protected? Edit: follow up question: this deck has the old notched 4x4 carriage bolted to the rim joists for its railing. What’s the current thinking on adding a railing that’s strong and safe? My mom is tiny, but a toddler could push that railing off currently, which is why it’s gone in the picture.   
mr.belowaverage fucked around with this message at 03:28 on May 8, 2023 |
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May 7, 2023 22:19
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Cool NIN Shirt posted:The slit in the membrane at the corner looks like it’s dribbling water directly on the rotting joists. Extending the membrane to go over the joists all the way to the concrete so the water never touches the wood would hopefully prevent further rotting. Really the joists need to get replaced but I’m sure you’re aware. Yeah, the damaged joist and top plate under the joist are being replaced. I can’t really “extend” the membrane. I wonder if blueskin brought up under the membrane overhang and down to the concrete would do it. I still feel like it needs some kind of kickout flashing. The split corner is where I pulled it apart. It was overlapped and sealed there before. There is a retractable awning over the deck, and it is slightly smaller than the deck, so directs water right onto the rail posts and paneling. I’d like to move the railing out further so attaching to the concrete won’t work. I guess anything I move off and away from the existing structure will have to reach the ground and get a footing in the ground.
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May 8, 2023 23:32
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actionjackson posted:I'm not sure if it's supposed to be that way or not, but I thought that it if it was locked, it would be impossible to open from the inside without unlocking that thumb lock I have these on my addition doors. They are called emergency exit handlesets, and they open from the inside even when the deadbolt is engaged. Possibly your model is the same? Baldwin Hardware 6401.003.RFD Devonshire Emergency Exit Lockset
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May 21, 2023 13:09
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I'm asking because this thread is full of people who Know Stuff. Courier will be super expensive, so you want a shipper that does LTL service. Most of these companies seem good at dealing with shipper/receiver types that are familiar with the process, but otherwise their customer service sucks. I’ve had good luck with netparcel, which is like Expedia for freight
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Jun 15, 2023 12:29
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