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Mthrboard posted:If you do hard wire them, make sure you wire them into the same circuit as your master bedroom lighting. That way if the circuit blows you'll know right away. Bad advice - as far as I know it's code to have smoke detectors on their own circuit with nothing else. Sure would suck to have no smoke detectors because your hair dryer popped a breaker. That said, any good hardwired detector should beep repeatedly when it's been disconnected from mains power. Not an alarm beep, but about once a minute or so. jovial_cynic posted:Regarding 10-year batteries, I was told by my local insurance claims guy that while the batteries may work just fine (which is demonstrated by pushing the test button), the actual sensor that detects the smoke isn't really meant to last more than 7 years or so, requiring a full detector change. I've seen this documented a few places, it seems valid to me. I don't think it's the radiation source that wears out, I think the receiver gets desensitized? I ended up replacing all of the detectors in my house for a different reason, anyway - they were all just shy of 10 years old, but at least two of them were killing 9V batteries in about a month. I'd put in a new battery and a month later it would be swollen, leaking, and dead. It didn't help that all of them were yellow and nasty anyway. It's not an expensive or difficult job, and it is something that can very well make the difference between life and death in a horrible situation. I'm not about to cheap out on it. I will admit I am slightly annoyed at how the builders laid my house's smoke detectors out, though. There are five, but realistically there's only three locations. In the front of the house there's one in one bedroom...then in the office (which is technically also a bedroom) there is a detector right by the door, and another one just outside of the door in the hallway two feet away. Same deal with the master bedroom, there's one just inside and one just outside of the door.
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Feb 9, 2009 23:30
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IOwnCalculus posted:I will admit I am slightly annoyed at how the builders laid my house's smoke detectors out, though. There are five, but realistically there's only three locations. In the front of the house there's one in one bedroom...then in the office (which is technically also a bedroom) there is a detector right by the door, and another one just outside of the door in the hallway two feet away. Same deal with the master bedroom, there's one just inside and one just outside of the door. Inside and outside the doors seem like a good idea, though, especially if people sleep in bedrooms with the doors closed. Having a hallway detector go off seems better than having to wait until the smoke enter my room to trigger the one in there.
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Feb 9, 2009 23:52
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I'm assuming his house is somewhat new. My house was built in 91, and all the detectors are hardwired together. Trip one, you trip them all. And I guess if they weren't hard wired, he'd have no problem moving them.
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Feb 10, 2009 00:13
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I have a question about circuits in a relatively old place (I think it was built in the 50s or 60s). The landlord plans to tear the place down so hasn't kept up any maintenance recently, that I can see. My boyfriend likes to leave the lights on all the time so this hasn't been a problem for him. I find that when I turn them off, when I try to turn them on again the next day the fluorescent bulb is busted. I've tested them in other lights and they're just dead. This has happened on separate occasions with both the kitchen and lounge room lights. What is going on here? One of the power outlets has stopped working (and it's not a fuse, that I can see), so the landlord has promised to send an electrician in... "when he can get around to it." Is this another issue that I should bring up?
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Feb 10, 2009 10:23
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helli bubbles posted:I have a question about circuits in a relatively old place (I think it was built in the 50s or 60s). The landlord plans to tear the place down so hasn't kept up any maintenance recently, that I can see. My boyfriend likes to leave the lights on all the time so this hasn't been a problem for him. I find that when I turn them off, when I try to turn them on again the next day the fluorescent bulb is busted. I've tested them in other lights and they're just dead. Have you tried just leaving the "dead" light on for a day? At my old place the kitchen light took FOREVER to turn on. Also, fluorescent lights waste a negligible amount of power; stop being so cheap.
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Feb 10, 2009 18:06
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jovial_cynic posted:Inside and outside the doors seem like a good idea, though, especially if people sleep in bedrooms with the doors closed. Having a hallway detector go off seems better than having to wait until the smoke enter my room to trigger the one in there. It seems like it would have been more effective to spread them out instead - and waiting for one to trigger is a non-issue since mine are all wired together. One goes off, they all go off.
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Feb 10, 2009 18:15
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IOwnCalculus posted:It seems like it would have been more effective to spread them out instead - and waiting for one to trigger is a non-issue since mine are all wired together. One goes off, they all go off. Oh... yeah. Having them linked together does sort of negate that benefit. Disregard.
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Feb 10, 2009 18:26
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helli bubbles posted:I have a question about circuits in a relatively old place (I think it was built in the 50s or 60s). The landlord plans to tear the place down so hasn't kept up any maintenance recently, that I can see. My boyfriend likes to leave the lights on all the time so this hasn't been a problem for him. I find that when I turn them off, when I try to turn them on again the next day the fluorescent bulb is busted. I've tested them in other lights and they're just dead. Have you tried replacing the starters in your fluoro's?
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Feb 11, 2009 08:28
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My watch band broke off from the watch face. It looks like I should be able to glue it back, so I was wondering what type of glue would be best for a band made of polyurethane? The watch face is stainless steel.
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Feb 14, 2009 06:00
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What actually broke? You know you can get replacement pins that are cheap, right? An epoxy will bond a poly band to more poly or plastic. I don't know if you would get a good bond with the stainless though.
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Feb 14, 2009 06:17
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 The pin is intact, but this is where it went. There was some clear stuff similar to the band material that surrounded the pin and broke.
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Feb 14, 2009 06:48
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Just buy a new band.
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Feb 14, 2009 17:35
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mcsuede posted:Just buy a new band. I think there's a plastic housing that held the pin in place and it broke on both sides. That's the best I can figure out. I think a new band or new pin would fix nothing. If you still have those little bits that broke off, it's worth a try to use a two part expoxy to adhere things back together. Realize that once it's together you'll never be able to replace the band again. Also keep in mind that you want it to settle at a comfortable angle, probably not perfectly straight. You can get the epoxy at any hardware store, or at a Target or something. That or it may be time for a new watch. Get a Skagen.
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Feb 14, 2009 18:42
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Local Yokel posted:I think there's a plastic housing that held the pin in place and it broke on both sides. Yes, that's exactly it. For some reason I wasn't able to describe it like that. I'll look into getting a new band, but I'll probably just have to get a new watch. Thanks for the glue recommendation, though. I might give that a try first. This is the watch: http://tinyurl.com/dygssm I'll check out Skagen for the hell of it, but I just loved my classy digital watch.
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Feb 14, 2009 19:32
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I bought some photosensing socket adapters for my outdoor lights so they just turn on when it's dark. It says they are for use with incandescent bulbs, but it's working with a CFL. I guess I'll find out with time, but do modern CFL's break when used with whatever type of switch is in the adapter, or do they just flicker? Also, I have a welder and air compressor that use 3 wire 220 and I want to them to share a single plug (I'll just plug in whatever when I need to use it). I bought a 3 wire dryer outlet, and two dryer plugs to wire up. My air compressor has two hot wires, and the third you connect to neutral. My arc welder has two hot wires, and the third connects to ground. On a 3 wire system, what's the difference between using the ground wire or the neutral wire for the return? ease fucked around with this message at 03:11 on Feb 15, 2009 |
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Feb 15, 2009 02:46
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ease posted:I bought some photosensing socket adapters for my outdoor lights so they just turn on when it's dark. It says they are for use with incandescent bulbs, but it's working with a CFL. I guess I'll find out with time, but do modern CFL's break when used with whatever type of switch is in the adapter, or do they just flicker? Unless you get dimmable CFLs, don't use them with dimmers; other than that, I can't think of a switch technology that is incompatible with CFLs.
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Feb 15, 2009 03:12
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ease posted:I bought some photosensing socket adapters for my outdoor lights so they just turn on when it's dark. It says they are for use with incandescent bulbs, but it's working with a CFL. I guess I'll find out with time, but do modern CFL's break when used with whatever type of switch is in the adapter, or do they just flicker? The one I tried killed a CFL rather promptly. It worked at first but didn't make it but a couple of days.
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Feb 15, 2009 07:48
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I'm looking to buy a house with a huge backyard in Duluth GA. What would be involved with putting up a detached one bedroom/one bathroom/kitchenette "inlaw suite" cabin? Where should I start looking? Who would I talk to find out the proper way to do it, an architect? A general contractor?
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Feb 16, 2009 03:50
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My range hood doesn't ventilate at all any more. The air just blows back out through holes in the vent frame, around the blades if I plug the holes. The blowback is strong enough that I wouldn't bet money that anything is actually getting through the duct. We've only owned this place for 8 months now, I don't recall if the ventilation ever worked, or if it just always There's only one duct exit on the exterior (actually there are 4, but we're in a 4 floor building with 4 condos) and the dryer works fine, so I don't think there is any problem there? Is there anything I can do on my own? I have no idea how I'd troubleshoot this without ripping drywall out. I don't even know where the ducting runs. Would a "pro" be able to do anything without ripping drywall out? Maybe this is a good excuse to buy a super cool fiber optic camera?  edit: is the kitchen hood usually seperate from the dryer and vented all the way up to the roof? (I'm on the 2nd of 4 floors) I guess it could be sitting under a ton of snow or something, but that seems like a really stupid design for Montreal. Kreez fucked around with this message at 06:35 on Feb 16, 2009 |
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Feb 16, 2009 06:23
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If you go into the ductwork section at a hardware store you can get a cable with a brush on the end to hook up to your cordless drill. You can stuff that sucker into the vent and it'll presumably catch the lint or buildup that may be in your vents. I'd say it's worth a try, though I don't remember how much it costs. I'm going to be dong some plumbing and electrical work in the next 24 hours, and I don't know whether I should post my myriad questions here, or start a new thread. That said, I can't find the main water shut off for the house. I'm starting to wonder if someone drywalled over it at some point. The house is all kinds of old. Any places I should check that I probably wouldn't think of?
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Feb 16, 2009 07:37
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Anyone know anything about Dremels? What i'm looking for is if anyone has any knowledge about these two doodads: The Mini Saw attachment and the Cutting/shaping wheel. While the Wheel can get a Quarter of an inch deeper, it seems like it wouldn't actually cut wood, simply burn through it like using a cutoff wheel. But then again, the Mini saw goes a paltry 1/4 of an inch, which I don't think would be enough for what i'm trying to do. Speaking of which, I plan on geeking it up and making some weapons out of wood, because I am crippled and bored.
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Feb 16, 2009 10:52
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So I bought my first house this past week and moved in on Saturday. Now that things are calming down a bit, I've got a few questions. The house is a ~1500 sqft ranch on 0.43 acres. Natural gas heat, half basement, half crawlspace. 1. The furnace is in the basement and supplies forced air heat through one set of ducts venting up from or close to the floor. The air conditioning unit is in the attic with ducts venting from the ceiling down. Each of these has a separate thermostat - the old, traditional round Honeywell kind. I'd like to replace them, but should I have an HVAC technician come in and just install one thermostat to replace both or should I just put in two new thermostats, one each for heating and cooling? No, these are not separate zones, just completely separate systems. 2. Since we've got two decently sized dogs, we're going to be fencing the backyard. I've never seen a simple stockade fence stay in good repair for more than a few years and I don't particularly like the look, so we're probably going to go with something like this. I don't really like the look of PVC fencing or chain link, but can anyone see a reason why we should go with either of them over this style of wood fence? We're probably looking at about 375 linear feet of fence here, so any recommendations for a fencing contractor in the Ewing, NJ area would be nice! 3. Does anyone have any recommendations for dog doors that install as an insert in glass sliding doors? I'm talking about something like this. We've currently got 'three seasons room' that is separated from the house by a glass patio door (and walled entirely by glass patio doors), so I'd like to put one of those pet doors in so the dogs can come and go as they please between the house and the room (and eventually the backyard once the fence is installed).
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Feb 16, 2009 15:35
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Unless you get dimmable CFLs, don't use them with dimmers; other than that, I can't think of a switch technology that is incompatible with CFLs. The problem is that most photosensing socket adapters essentially act as dimmers. I can't seem to find one that doesn't, which is annoying as hell because I'd love to switch my front light out for a CFL.
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Feb 16, 2009 16:58
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Anyone have any advice on repainting/refinishing an old white sink? The paint is starting to get stained and is chipping. I'd love to find a way to refinish it since the size is pretty odd and tough to find a replacement. Any advice on how to go about refinishing this sucker? What type of paint to use?
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Feb 16, 2009 17:03
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Vaporware posted:I'm looking to buy a house with a huge backyard in Duluth GA. What would be involved with putting up a detached one bedroom/one bathroom/kitchenette "inlaw suite" cabin? Where should I start looking? Who would I talk to find out the proper way to do it, an architect? A general contractor? Start with your city zoning office to see if you are permitted to build that sort of cabin in your city.
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Feb 16, 2009 18:37
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I gots to make two bollards.. I was thinking of just using 4" Rigid Steel Pipe and filling them with concrete.. sound good? And of course pouring a concrete base. I'm not sure what bollards are usually made out of.. but I'm assuming 4" EMT wouldn't be as good as rigid.. but it's gonna be poured with concrete, so does it matter? BAM! Piece of rigid is $120 emt is $40 Jihad Me At Hello fucked around with this message at 14:41 on Feb 17, 2009 |
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Feb 17, 2009 14:15
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drumone posted:I gots to make two bollards.. I was thinking of just using 4" Rigid Steel Pipe and filling them with concrete.. sound good? And of course pouring a concrete base. I'm not sure what bollards are usually made out of.. but I'm assuming 4" EMT wouldn't be as good as rigid.. but it's gonna be poured with concrete, so does it matter? BAM! I had to look up what a bollard is, but you should be able to buy pre-filled lally columns for short $$$ - much cheaper than making your own. The red vertical pieces in the following article are lally columns. http://www.jaygaulard.com/blog/2006/09/05/installing-lally-columns-and-footings-for-girder-beam/
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Feb 17, 2009 15:32
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Dracon Wolf posted:Anyone have any advice on repainting/refinishing an old white sink? The paint is starting to get stained and is chipping. I'd love to find a way to refinish it since the size is pretty odd and tough to find a replacement. Any advice on how to go about refinishing this sucker? What type of paint to use? I'm guessing that's enameled, and while there are DIY repairs, the best thing to do is to have it professionally refinished. My folks did this, and the results were spectacular. This is the refinishing process on a tub: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/article/0,,197046,00.html
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Feb 17, 2009 15:39
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Local Yokel posted:That said, I can't find the main water shut off for the house. I'm starting to wonder if someone drywalled over it at some point. The house is all kinds of old. Any places I should check that I probably wouldn't think of? I am under the impression that water mains are separate from the house. At my parents house, the main water shut-off is underneath a black plastic manhole-like covering in the far corner of their lot near the driveway. Have you checked outside at all?
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Feb 17, 2009 17:14
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Corla Plankun posted:I am under the impression that water mains are separate from the house. At my parents house, the main water shut-off is underneath a black plastic manhole-like covering in the far corner of their lot near the driveway. Have you checked outside at all? Hmm, the driveway has been covered in snow and ice pretty much since we've moved in. Perhaps it is part of that. I will check when I have an opportunity.
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Feb 17, 2009 18:38
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Your main water supply should have two shut offs, one near the street, within a few feet of a curb usually, and one inside where it first enters your house. The one at the street is going to be either a metal or plastic cover (usually metal) that opens an access hole to the main which is a few feet below grade, sometimes deeper if you live in a deep frost area up north. To turn the main off at the street, you need a special t-bar type wrench, which you could probably make if you really wanted to. Technically, it's the towns job and their property so they really don't want you touching it.
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Feb 17, 2009 22:03
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Local Yokel posted:Hmm, the driveway has been covered in snow and ice pretty much since we've moved in. Perhaps it is part of that. I will check when I have an opportunity. The fun thing is that the main shutoff is likely filled with much and you will need the hose to clean it out and the mains shutoff wrench to shut off the water (I think those are available at Lowes now a days). Now, are you looking for the water shutoff that is normally near the meter?
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Feb 17, 2009 22:06
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I've always been able to use a plain adjustable wrench or Channel-Lock to turn my water back on at the meter. Err, I would never do that (but its possible).
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Feb 18, 2009 04:33
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Vaporware posted:I'm looking to buy a house with a huge backyard in Duluth GA. What would be involved with putting up a detached one bedroom/one bathroom/kitchenette "inlaw suite" cabin? Where should I start looking? Who would I talk to find out the proper way to do it, an architect? A general contractor? After you check zoning laws, start researching small prefabs like http://www.modern-shed.com/ You can get some really amazing stuff now that would definitely add to the value of the property and function as a really nice detached guest room.
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Feb 18, 2009 05:30
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Hmm, I think I just found it. There was some kind of divot on the driveway, but it's so packed with snow and ice that I don't think it's an option. Tucked underneath the stairs in the dark was this: I think that's our winner. Here are the valves I want to replace:  I also want to ask about some electrical work. The box in that picture has a line from the breaker box and splits from the box to (1) an electrical outlet, (2) the garbage disposal, and (3) the dishwasher. We got new countertops put in, I installed a new faucet, hooked the drains up, replaced a lot of the crappy old plumbing (three pretty bad kinks in the copper line to the dishwasher, I'm surprised it worked at all). I also want to install a hot water tap and heater. I've got one, but it needs an electrical outlet. My plans are to: -Cut the cable going to the dishwasher (it's solid core in wall electrical cable) -Install a male grounded plug onto the washer end of this cable. -Wire the live end into a box that I'll mount in the corner of the under-sink space. -Instal a GFCI outlet into the box, and plug the dishwasher and the hot water tap into it. -celebrate with all the french press coffee, tea, instant oatmeal, and ramen that I could possibly want. I don't have a lot of experience with electrical work. Is this s feasible plan? Oh, and I assume that the existing box should have been nailed into that stud?
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Feb 18, 2009 07:53
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If they are both permanent fixtures, why not wire them permanently?
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Feb 18, 2009 14:25
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ease posted:Your main water supply should have two shut offs, one near the street, within a few feet of a curb usually, and one inside where it first enters your house. Worth it to mention the fact that if you try and turn this off and bust the valve, it can run you several thousands of dollars to fix. We had that pay an extra 1.50 a month and get full coverage, and drat was it ever worth it. Anyone who owns their house: Pay the line maintenance fee for your water service. Backhoes and paving machines are not cheap to rent.
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Feb 18, 2009 17:08
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EVERYTHING I SAY ABOUT JAPAN OR LIVING IN JAPAN IS COMPLETELY WRONG, BUT YOU BETTER BELIEVE I'LL 
ABOUT IT.
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The cable guy came to do some work and after he left I noticed something awkward. The faceplate for where the coaxial comes through the drywall came loose. I tried to screw it back in, but the holes are basically busted. What do I need to do, use longer screws? Fill the holes in and rescrew? I don't want this ugly faceplate dangling in the air.
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Feb 18, 2009 22:44
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ZentraediElite posted:The cable guy came to do some work and after he left I noticed something awkward. The faceplate for where the coaxial comes through the drywall came loose. I tried to screw it back in, but the holes are basically busted. What do I need to do, use longer screws? Fill the holes in and rescrew? I don't want this ugly faceplate dangling in the air. Did he just put a new box there? If it's a "new work" box, you can pretty easily get it out and replace it. If not, you could probably put some loctite into the two holes, and use the same screws. It's pretty shoddy work if he striped the holes though. I mean, he works with them every day, he should probably know how much he can tighten it without ruining it.
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Feb 19, 2009 00:33
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Local Yokel posted:Did he just put a new box there? If it's a "new work" box, you can pretty easily get it out and replace it. If not, you could probably put some loctite into the two holes, and use the same screws. It's pretty shoddy work if he striped the holes though. I mean, he works with them every day, he should probably know how much he can tighten it without ruining it. He didn't put in a new box, I live in a building with terrible wiring and he pulled it out to replace the connection at the plate. Unfortunately after he screwed everything back in it just popped right back out.
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Feb 19, 2009 01:50
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