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Newf posted:The flapper sometimes goes halfway back down (but doesn't close) as the toilet operates, but this isn't the problem. The toilet 'non-flushes' the same way even if I hold down the handle and keep the flapper fully open for the duration. Try asking in the plumbing megathread. I suspect the answer will be something along the lines of snaking out your drains.
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Jul 25, 2010 23:19
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Thank you guys so much for suggesting the toggle bolts. It worked like a charm. Now to replace the unnecessary holes in my ceiling. You guys are awesome.
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Jul 25, 2010 23:24
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Newf posted:The flapper sometimes goes halfway back down (but doesn't close) as the toilet operates, but this isn't the problem. The toilet 'non-flushes' the same way even if I hold down the handle and keep the flapper fully open for the duration. Here's your required background reading. If you understand how it works the plumbing megathread will probably be more helpful. http://www.howstuffworks.com/toilet.htm
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Jul 26, 2010 03:10
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Has anyone ever painted a camping tent before? I'm going to an end of summer festival, and I want to paint my tent so I can eventually find it amongst the thousands of other tents, but wasn't sure what paint to use? Any suggestions as to what paint would stick to a tent, in hot conditions? I was thinking of acrylic, but I can picture it peeling off after day 2.
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Jul 27, 2010 19:29
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Chessna posted:Has anyone ever painted a camping tent before? I'm going to an end of summer festival, and I want to paint my tent so I can eventually find it amongst the thousands of other tents, but wasn't sure what paint to use? Just buy a bike flag and stick it in the dirt besides your tent. Bike flags come on 6 foot flexible rods: 
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Jul 27, 2010 19:47
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kid sinister posted:Just buy a bike flag and stick it in the dirt besides your tent. Bike flags come on 6 foot flexible rods: I'll stake a flag if I can't figure out the paint situation. A lot of other people use flags.
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Jul 27, 2010 20:50
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Paint the flag then!  I suppose if you wanted to, you could use colored duct tape or something to map out a design on your tent. It would be a non-destructive way to differentiate yours from others, but wouldn't make it as easy to locate as a flag.
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Jul 27, 2010 21:07
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Chessna posted:Has anyone ever painted a camping tent before? I'm going to an end of summer festival, and I want to paint my tent so I can eventually find it amongst the thousands of other tents, but wasn't sure what paint to use? I don't have an iphone, but I know it has a "find my car in a parking lot" app, which might be useful in this situation. Do you have an iphone?
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Jul 28, 2010 04:27
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Chessna posted:Any suggestions as to what paint would stick to a tent, in hot conditions? I was thinking of acrylic, but I can picture it peeling off after day 2. spray paint, maybe Krylon Fusion
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Jul 28, 2010 05:04
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Chessna posted:Has anyone ever painted a camping tent before? I'm going to an end of summer festival, and I want to paint my tent so I can eventually find it amongst the thousands of other tents, but wasn't sure what paint to use? Painting the tent itself isn't the hottest idea because you don't want to introduce chemical contaminants onto the fabric. Hairspray, anything with aerosols, anything oil-based, anything that will create opportunities for the tent to repeatedly crease in a particular area (such as dried paint) -- poo poo like can wreck a tent or create opportunities for it to take water. Further, just imagine painting it and letting it sit in the sun. Then you wad it into the stuffsack and bits of dry paint flake off. Then next time you set it up it's picking paint chips out of your hair, your clothes, your sleeping bag...
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Jul 28, 2010 15:14
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I'm off work today, bored and want to get something done. 2 things, gimme some advice. 1. my house came with a basketball goal, metal-post concreted into the dirt next to the driveway. What's the best way to get this out? The post was a lot of slip-fit sections, everything's gone now except about 20" still sticking up. Wrapping a tow-strap around it and pulling on it with a truck, 4-lo in my own driveway sounds fun but might be kinda risky. Do I just need to soak the ground and do some bullshit cool hand luke type work out in the sun with a shovel? (Diggin up the pole boss.) How long would I have to soak to make this easy if that concrete goes maybe 2 feet deep? 2. I have what's called I think a butcher-block kitchen table. The little varnish it has is getting nasty or rubbed off in spots. What grit should I sand it down with and what do I re-coat it with? My mom has a table she did some type of seal epoxy or varnish or something on and it's so thick it looks like you could dip your finger in it, I don't want anything like that.
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Jul 28, 2010 18:07
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I would just rent or borrow an electric jackhammer for the concrete and break it up and toss it. I doubt you would be able to safely pull with enough force to get the post out with your truck. I usually see them lift out posts with a skidsteer which can pull directly up vs. to the side like your truck would. Though if the post hole is narrow enough, maybe digging around it is an option. Then you have to consider how you're going to lift and move a 100-300lb rock without breaking it up anyways.
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Jul 28, 2010 18:26
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My bathroom ceiling...is oozing yellow gunk  When I bought the place, the bathroom was painted pink and had nasty yellow gunk. Previous owners were smokers, figured it was tar. Sanded the best I could despite the texture put THREE coats of Killz primer and then one or two coats of cheap Behr paint. Now a couple months later, yellow oily gunk is back! Doing some research, this could be surfactant leaching from the cheap paint. Or, I suppose it could be tar somehow rising to the surface (really though??). It is mostly located above the shower, the moisture must be doing it. It is thin yellow and oily and drips off the ceiling and down the walls. It cleans off very easily with a soapy rag but it comes back rather quickly Any advice regarding this grossness?
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Jul 28, 2010 19:23
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How do I know when to fix up a house to sell, and just throw in the towel and sell the house as-is? I currently live in a mid-50's house with MY WIFE and her mother and brother. The house is in serious disrepair from neglect, and we're planning on selling the house and moving to another newer, larger house so we can start our family. Among the repairs needed to be done:
*There is a hole 6'x8' hole in the celeing of one of the bedrooms where the roof caved in years ago. Roof was relaced and a piece of plywood was put up with toggle bolts to replace the hole. *Some termite damage. I replaced a bedroom air conditioner and all the surrounding wood was rotted out and I saw a few live termites. I replaced all damaged wood (studs were OK) and sprayed termite killer all over as best I could. *Kitchen needs new tile/vinyl and counter, maybe new cabinets. *Patio covering needs to be replaced *Stucco is falling off around base of house *Need to repair various large holes in drywall around the house, complete repainting inside and out, carpet needs to be installed throughout the house. *Whatever else I can't see. Any repairs or electrical were done without permits and were "temporary fix made permanent" situations We obviously want to get the most money from this house, but we've got maybe 15k saved up and I don't want to go broke fixing up a house that we won't get out money back on. There's only 15k left owed on the house that was purchased many years ago for 65k, and the current value is around $280k. Should I just sell the house as-is and let a flipper do all the work? Should I work on major projects and leave cosmetic issues for the purchaser? Who would I talk to about getting a value on the house in current condition, an Appraiser? EDIT: I have photos of the horrifying damage if necessary. FCKGW fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Jul 28, 2010 |
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Jul 28, 2010 19:25
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dwoloz posted:My bathroom ceiling...is oozing yellow gunk We had exactly the same thing in the bathroom here, massive smoker in before us. We cleaned the bathroom ceiling twice a week for 6-8 months. Then we painted it. I've painted it three times in 5 years, last time was 18 months ago & it's not showing up again. It's tar, I had a sample tested at the materials lab at work 
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Jul 28, 2010 20:02
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dwoloz posted:My bathroom ceiling...is oozing yellow gunk Yeah, it's tar. Wish I had more advice on how to fix it, but our landlord blessfully managed it. Our apartment had been lived in by one person for almost 20 years, super smoker. They cleaned it up very well overall but you'd find it in odd places they missed like under the smoke detectors or underneath a drawer. One day, the old gal above us let her bathtub run over for several hours it flooded our bathroom and seeped out the walls, there was disgusting tar-juice running everywhere.
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Jul 28, 2010 20:09
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I want to build a cabinet with a motorized door that slides up. Basically, I need a motor with a gear on it, and a strip of something that meshes with the gear to put on the door, so that when the motor turns, it drives the door up or down. Where do I go to find something like this?
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Jul 29, 2010 01:08
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The Human Cow posted:I want to build a cabinet with a motorized door that slides up. Basically, I need a motor with a gear on it, and a strip of something that meshes with the gear to put on the door, so that when the motor turns, it drives the door up or down. Where do I go to find something like this? You could use a length of roller chain, which comes in a varieties of sizes. Search for "roller chain" on McMaster; they have miniature chain in plastic. Alternatively if it needs to move in a straight line you could use a rack and pinion.
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Jul 29, 2010 01:16
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:You could use a length of roller chain, which comes in a varieties of sizes. Search for "roller chain" on McMaster; they have miniature chain in plastic. Alternatively if it needs to move in a straight line you could use a rack and pinion. A rack and pinion is exactly what I had in mind. Thanks!
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Jul 29, 2010 01:23
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We're reflooring the "basement" in our house. I put basement in quotes because the house is on a hill, and while one side of the basement is underground, the other side has doors that open into the backyard and has windows facing east. There's a kitchen and foyer in the basement which will be tiled, but the contractor suggested tile in the living space and basement bedroom too instead of wood laminate because of potential moisture issues. I think tile everywhere would be kind of weird, especially since we'll be selling the house in 3 years when we finish grad school, and the windows should help with ventilation. Thoughts?
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Jul 29, 2010 23:29
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Josh Lyman posted:We're reflooring the "basement" in our house. I put basement in quotes because the house is on a hill, and while one side of the basement is underground, the other side has doors that open into the backyard and has windows facing east.
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Jul 30, 2010 00:32
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FedkaTheConvict posted:Have you historically had issues with getting too moist down there? The basement was subsequently waterproofed with vinyl wall covers that catch the water and direct it to an underground trough running around the entire basement wall. The water is collected and then pumped away. The water damage occurred during a 100 year flood here in Atlanta last fall. Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Jul 30, 2010 |
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Jul 30, 2010 00:57
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^^^ Maybe you could use a product like this to prevent the moisture from being a problem? I'm in the process of removing a built-in cabinet from our family room. The whole thing was glued and screwed to the wall, and during the process of removing it a LOT of drywall paper came off. After reading about the best process to fix drywall with exposed paper I got to work. The first thing you're supposed to do is use a razor to cut away the torn paper. Unfortunately the cabinet was glued right over a seam, and now that I'm done I have about four square feet of exposed drywall. I've painted it with an oil-based primer-sealer as recommended, but it still seems pretty rough. Will a few skim coats of compound still work, or should I do something else beforehand? I plan on putting seam tape across the seam, but should I put it anywhere else? Beer4TheBeerGod fucked around with this message at 05:22 on Jul 30, 2010 |
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Jul 30, 2010 05:18
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I'm in the process of removing a built-in cabinet from our family room. The whole thing was glued and screwed to the wall, and during the process of removing it a LOT of drywall paper came off. After reading about the best process to fix drywall with exposed paper I got to work. The first thing you're supposed to do is use a razor to cut away the torn paper. Unfortunately the cabinet was glued right over a seam, and now that I'm done I have about four square feet of exposed drywall. I've painted it with an oil-based primer-sealer as recommended, but it still seems pretty rough. Will a few skim coats of compound still work, or should I do something else beforehand? I plan on putting seam tape across the seam, but should I put it anywhere else? Is this going to turn back into a finished wall? If so, then skim coat should clean up nicely enough that the texture will cover any patchy areas. Just skim, let dry, sand, and if necessary, repeat.
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Jul 30, 2010 18:38
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:Is this going to turn back into a finished wall? If so, then skim coat should clean up nicely enough that the texture will cover any patchy areas. Just skim, let dry, sand, and if necessary, repeat. Yeah, that's precisely what we're doing. The built-in had laminate that was glued directly to the drywall, so when I removed it most of the paper came with it. I'll put down the first skim coat tonight. Any tips on installing trim?
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Jul 30, 2010 19:46
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Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Any tips on installing trim? Measure twice, cut your pieces long and then trim them to perfect length. Use masking tape over your lines to help keep the wood from splintering along the cut. If you want a really close cut to match a wall, use a compass to trace the wall's curve onto your wood and use a coping saw to hand cut it. Cut inside corners at a 45, cut outside corners 1 straight across, the other piece butted up against it. For outside corners it's easiest to if you first cut the 2 two pieces to both butt up to the corner, then their backs one against the other and trace the cut to the other one, then cut away with a coping saw.
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Jul 31, 2010 06:13
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BorderPatrol posted:How do I know when to fix up a house to sell, and just throw in the towel and sell the house as-is? BorderPatrol posted:We obviously want to get the most money from this house, but we've got maybe 15k saved up and I don't want to go broke fixing up a house that we won't get out money back on. There's only 15k left owed on the house that was purchased many years ago for 65k, and the current value is around $280k. Where did the $280k figure come from and is that after the repairs or before? $15k isn't enough to pay for those repairs but if the house is worth anywhere near $280k then you have $265k of equity, plenty to get a loan for repairing the damage even if you have to hire out the work. Who owns the home/gets the money from the sale, you or your mother-in-law? I would very roughly guestimate around $25-30k to do the repairs yourself leaving you ~$235k in gains toward a new house (if you get the money). BorderPatrol posted:Who would I talk to about getting a value on the house in current condition, an Appraiser? BorderPatrol posted:EDIT: I have photos of the horrifying damage if necessary. I'm curious to see the photos.
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Aug 2, 2010 04:00
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Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions.wormil posted:You should always fix it up to sell it unless you are unable to do the repairs or are crazy enough to take a massive rear end pounding on the price. I'm curious to what the difference is, but I'm assuming anyone buying the house in the current condition would be a flipper and not someone looking for a fixer upper. wormil posted:Where did the $280k figure come from and is that after the repairs or before? $15k isn't enough to pay for those repairs but if the house is worth anywhere near $280k then you have $265k of equity, plenty to get a loan for repairing the damage even if you have to hire out the work. Who owns the home/gets the money from the sale, you or your mother-in-law? I would very roughly guestimate around $25-30k to do the repairs yourself leaving you ~$235k in gains toward a new house (if you get the money). After repairs, but it could be higher into the 300k-315k range. I got the figure from Zillow, but looking at recent sales it could be higher. Here are two houses that are both on the extreme ends of sales in my neighborhood: This one was recently renovated and has .75 more bathrooms than us and a pool - $390k This was an absolute unlivable shitbox sold to a flipper who's doing renovations on it right now - $248k Most of the other houses fall somewhere in between depending on bed/bath and amenities. Would we be able to get a loan from the bank if we're going to sell it right after? I read some place banks might not lend if they won't be able to collect much interest on us. Mother-in-law owns the home currently, her and me would co-sign on a new house with 100% of the proceeds from the sale. wormil posted:I'm curious to see the photos. Here's the horrible, horrible truth.              Hold in the hallway behind the shower  Hole in ceiling  Kitchen ceiling/cabinents   Stucco falling out exterior   Patio covering  Replaced A/C, needs stucco work 
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Aug 2, 2010 06:38
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I would definitely fix it up if you can get the money. I'm sure it will be more than my earlier estimate but if the value is there, you might as well take advantage of it. Otherwise get an appraisal and see if you get any offers.
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Aug 2, 2010 07:51
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 This is my dryer hose! It goes under the house and then sort of vanishes. I have not crawled under to see where it leads, but it doesn't exit the side of the building anywhere that I can see. I have a sneaking suspicion that it just exits into the crawl space. I can't imagine that venting into the crawl space is up to code or a good idea. If I want to make this proper, what exactly do I need to do? The area with the washer/dryer does not match an outside wall. The area is on the ground floor, and there is a floor above. It's basically in the dead center of the house. It couldn't be in a worse place. I picture inflexible steal/aluminum tubing in the crawl space to a proper hole cut in the foundation. And then the area in the picture needs a proper connection where I can attach a standard dryer hose to connect to my dryer. Am I close? How the gently caress do I cut through the foundation? Is that really what I need to do? I hate the person who hosed up this house before I lived here so so so very much. Every day is a new discovery!
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Aug 3, 2010 00:24
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I recently bought this place. It has a 30 year old (original) aluminum sliding glass door. Aside from my air conditioning getting out, bugs are getting in. Short of buying a new door, how do I seal this up? I just chased a cricket back outside. It went through the hole I assume it came through. Last week, I had sprayed poison along the ground around the door, around the door, and along the door track. It seems the crickets move through the large hole too quickly to care. See picture of gap below:  The left is a window, the right is the door that slides. The white stuff is probably some dry lube I sprayed on the track to make it slide easier. You can see the window seal broke on the window by the dried moisture stains on the inside, but I'm not worried about that at the moment. My main concern is the bugs. I need to be able to seal this, but also the door has to continue to be able to slide. Not sure how to go about it.
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Aug 3, 2010 03:39
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Say I want to remove a portion of the pictured below foundation to install an at grade doorway instead of what is currently there What tool would you recommend? Any tips regarding the process would be appreciated
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Aug 3, 2010 05:18
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dwoloz posted:Say I want to remove a portion of the pictured below foundation to install an at grade doorway instead of what is currently there You can rent a concrete saw to cut the bottom but if the door is below grade you'll probably want to leave it as-is or risk getting water inside.
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Aug 3, 2010 05:44
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I'm curious to know how easy it would be to recover something like this myself vs having it professionally done. My cat tore a hole in the fabric cover of this chair cushion. It's a very simple squarish cushion that sits on top of a wooden chair. Like so:  Click here for the full 992x761 image. I know nothing about upholstery but it looks like it would be pretty easy to detach the cushion from the chair. To me it looks like I'd just have to take out those four screws that go straight through the chair and into the cushion. Take the underside material off, take the chair covering material off, which I would use as a pattern for the new material. Then, reverse the whole process to get it back together.  Click here for the full 1094x821 image.  Click here for the full 1094x620 image.  Click here for the full 1277x1003 image.  Click here for the full 1457x809 image. Will this not be as simple as I think? Will I have a hard time finding fabric to match the rest of the set?
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Aug 5, 2010 02:31
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Comrade Quack posted:Will this not be as simple as I think? Will I have a hard time finding fabric to match the rest of the set? It is exactly as easy as you think. As for matching fabric, that all depends on what local stores near you carry. Looks like a microfiber sort of thing? It is such a neutral color I'm sure you can find something at least similar, if not identical. Some people recommend replacing the interface underlayer when you reupholster, because more than likely it is all held together with staples which have weakened it. Also a good time to redo the padding itself if you think you need it.
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Aug 5, 2010 02:59
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I need to remove an old adhesive pad that was holding a dealer badge to my car. What, in the UK, would I want to get my hands on? I need to do the same to a hollow door in the house, same question.
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Aug 5, 2010 09:53
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FogHelmut posted:I recently bought this place. It has a 30 year old (original) aluminum sliding glass door. Aside from my air conditioning getting out, bugs are getting in. Short of buying a new door, how do I seal this up? Look for a roll of self-adhesive weatherstripping at your local hardware store.
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Aug 5, 2010 21:26
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Cakefool posted:I need to remove an old adhesive pad that was holding a dealer badge to my car. What, in the UK, would I want to get my hands on?
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Aug 5, 2010 21:27
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We're getting FIOS installed in our new house tomorrow, and after ignoring it for too long I decided to take a thorough look at how everything is currently wired. It all started with a coax line connected to a plate that I wanted to replace. When I pulled the plate off (and the socket that was poorly crimped on to the coax behind it, I discovered that there were actually TWO coax lines in the junction box! Now I knew that the previous owner had installed a satellite dish, and that the coax installation was entirely wired outside and then put in through the walls, but I didn't realize that there was a second and completely separate coax system previously installed. I started to explore, first outside where the lines had been run through the house then inside. What I found was no less than EIGHT coax cables running in to the family room. There's also a coax line running outside the house and in to the washroom, and finally another coax line that comes out of the master bedroom, goes down the chimney, and then suddenly terminates where it looks like someone cut it with snips. Here are some pictures: First we have the box that started it all. The cable without a terminator is the one that was connected to a wall plate; it turns directly outside the house. The other cable was shoved into the box.  Next we have the unholy mess that was on the other side of the fireplace. On the left you see TWO coax cables that come into the house from the outside. On the right is what was behind a painted over panel. Inside that panel is 3 coax cables; two are connected to each other and the third just hangs there. All of that was tucked into the junction box.  And finally we have the last coax cable, which was located behind another painted over wall plate on other side of the entrance to another room. I wanted to show you just how close it was to the other cables.  I can only guess that the homeowner decided to switch from cable to satellite, and rather than try and connect with the existing system they decided instead to just run their own mess. I'm optimistic that the FIOS guy will be able to patch into the original cable system and I can get rid of the crap left from the satellite installation. My question is this; what can I do with all the holes that have been drilled into my house? One side of the house has five holes in it and the back of the house has another. On top of that it looks like the previous homeowner tried to install some additional phone lines by running them outside the house and then drilling through the siding. All of it looks incredibly ugly and I want to get rid of it. None of the holes are very large (just enough to allow the coax or phone line to get through). Can I remove the coax and plug up the hole? I also have some of the original siding left over, is there a way I can use that to repair the damage?
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Aug 6, 2010 05:33
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Quick question. I'm about to mix concrete to pour the pan for a shower stall in my basement. I have a few bags of sand mix concrete that I was going to use, but they're a little over a year old. I remember reading somewhere that as concrete mix gets older, it loses its strength. Will my ~15 month old mix still be good, or am I better off buying new bags? They've been sitting in my unheated garage the entire time on the floor if that makes any difference. I'd just buy new mix to be on the safe side, but I'm without a vehicle today, and I'd like to pour it this afternoon.
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Aug 6, 2010 20:10
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