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grover posted:Sorry, I misunderstood then. Yeah, that's wrong, it shouldn't be doing that. Does the fan stop blowing if you remove the faceplate/disconnect the wires from the thermostat? You may be able to troubleshoot by manually shunting the wires. This will tell you if your thermostat was the problem. Be aware there's often a 5-minute built-in delay timer when switching from heat to cool, so depending on what your troubleshooting steps are or what failed in your thermostat, you might have to wait a while. Thanks. This is all stuff done at the thermostat control? I think the blower stopped when I had the batteries out of the thermostat. I'll see about trying that shunting out later, though at this point we've been doing a good job of beating the heat by not being home.
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Aug 15, 2010 23:13
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kid sinister posted:You could just buy the appropriate socket from your local hardware store, cut off the old one, and wire up the new one in its place. This seems ridiculous overkill for a fish tank light. As it turns out though, they make the bulb we needed with a normal base, so we're good to go on that.
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Aug 16, 2010 04:15
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Your Lottery posted:Thanks. This is all stuff done at the thermostat control? I think the blower stopped when I had the batteries out of the thermostat. I'll see about trying that shunting out later, though at this point we've been doing a good job of beating the heat by not being home. HVAC guy came today and it turns out the cct board is the culprit. He's ordered a new one and it should be installed tomorrow or the next day - just as the heat wave ends and we enter a period of highs in the low 70s.
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Aug 17, 2010 22:57
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I tried making a necklace for my anniversary a few days ago with some unexpected results. I had it all planned out, sculpting it was the easy part, I then made a high temp silicone mould and the plan was just to pour some low temperature melt alloy into the mould and voila, cool necklace right? I have no idea why, but the alloy was the most unco-operative substance I've ever worked with. I'd read that you heat the metal on the stove and scrape the impurities off that rise to the top, but after every scrape more would form almost straight away, and this went on for almost an hour before I gave up and melted it straght off the stick with a blow torch. Even when I heated the mould in the oven, and poured the alloy into the mould in the door of the oven where the air was hot, it solidified almost instantly, and I had to hit it with a blow torch to make it liquid again, at which point it sat in a mercury-like bubble in the middle of the mould. I tried coaxing it into the detail with a skewer, which just caught fire due to the heat of the metal, and also just passed straight through the bubble without moving it at all. I ended up just waiting for it to half-cool and jamming it into the detail while it was still soft which resulted in what actually ended up pretty cool, a biohazard symbol that looked like it'd been through the apocalypse. I would like to know how to do this properly though, I have heaps more things I'd like to make. Is white metal always such a bitch to work with or am I doing something wrong?
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Aug 19, 2010 16:01
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cindel posted:I would like to know how to do this properly though, I have heaps more things I'd like to make. I think you need flux, and a release to paint on the mold. You add the flux to the pot, this pulls all the impurites out. It's possible that your white metal was sucking crap out of the bottom of your pot, continually tainting it. Also, your mold has to be at or near the temperature of the molten metal, and is usually painted with some strange substance that lets the metal flow into the detail but won't stick in the mold; this is called "release." I've only poured into plaster (painted with straight paraffin wax), and have melted the metal in ceramic crucibles, all of which heated in a commercial temperature-stabilized kiln, so everything went very, very smoothly. Good luck.
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Aug 19, 2010 21:50
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Bathtub problem: When I was cleaning the tub, the caulking at the edge of the wall started coming off in little pieces, putty-like. Now in some spots it's started taking on water and turned into a mushy mess. Did the installer use the wrong kind of caulk or something? What is the appropriate type of caulk to use, and how do I remove the old stuff?
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Aug 19, 2010 22:50
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Papercut posted:Bathtub problem: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/improvement/interior/4213124
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Aug 20, 2010 02:53
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babyeatingpsychopath posted:I think you need flux, and a release to paint on the mold. This was my theory too, as I used a stainles steel bowl which is now less stainless than before. I forgot to mention I used graphite for my release. Flux sounds like exactly what I need, I knew goons would be able to help me 
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Aug 20, 2010 04:00
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GWBBQ posted:Probably just old caulk, maybe the wrong type but I doubt anyone who installs tubs could screw up and use non bathroom caulk. Here's what to do: Thanks!
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Aug 20, 2010 05:28
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IS this this forum the correct one if I need help selecting paints for my living room? Im looking to post images of my living room and having goons help me pick the right color as I dont have taste.
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Aug 22, 2010 21:10
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mambo italiano posted:IS this this forum the correct one if I need help selecting paints for my living room? Im looking to post images of my living room and having goons help me pick the right color as I dont have taste. You could try that but you'll be getting a random sample of opinions that may or may not be any better at choosing colors than you. If you stop by home improvement stores the paint section will have little booklets with pre-matched color schemes, look through those and pick one. Or you could flip through some decorating magazines and pick a color scheme from those. Keep in mind that anything other than a very light color will significantly darken most rooms.
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Aug 23, 2010 03:36
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mambo italiano posted:IS this this forum the correct one if I need help selecting paints for my living room? Im looking to post images of my living room and having goons help me pick the right color as I dont have taste. Have you considered "eggshell?"
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Aug 23, 2010 03:53
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I just helped someone move into a home that she just started renting, a beautiful old home with lots of character. Thankfully the landlord, who doesn't give a drat about the place, has said she has free reign to fix up the house however she pleases. From her bedroom there are two small doors with a few window panes that were painted probably a year or two ago. Whatever idiots painted it forgot that you need to remove painter's tape from surfaces after you paint, and so each of the window panes (on the outside, so exposed to the elements) now has dried and flaking painter's tape on it. If you attempt to remove it, small pieces just disintegrate off, but it's drat near impossible to get any substantial amount of the tape off. She (and I) lives in New Orleans, so the tape has been exposed to ridiculous humidity, heat, and rainfall, tacking it that much more onto the windows' surfaces. I'd love to get the tape off but have as yet had nothing but trouble in attempting to do so. Anyone know of a reasonable and simple way to actually get this dried/year old painter's tape off of the windows?
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Aug 23, 2010 14:11
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Doorknobs I've got a house built in 1949, most of the doors look like they came with the house. I'm looking around on ebay and etsy, and there are a lot of cool old doorknobs for sale; I think it would look neat to have a different, vintage doorknob on a lot of doors in the house. Some come with spindles, some don't, and I'm wondering what I should know before getting into this. Are doorknobs the sort of thing that's been standardized for decades? Because it seems to me that I could buy ten knobs and find out they're threaded ten different ways and won't be compatible with each other. I'm going to find a door in the house that I don't care about and take it apart to see how doorknobs "work"; is there anything I should know? I'm usually wary of anything with springs involved; in my experience they're an absolute bitch to put back together once they're taken apart. I'm hoping in this case that it'll be as easy as unscrewing one knob, then removing the other knob/spindle combo and replacing them the same way. But I could easily be getting over my head here. Much thanks for any advice you can give me.  Seriously, how loving cool is this? You'd feel like a king, taking a dump in a room opened by turning this thing (I don't want anyone making GBS threads in my pantry, so I'll be sure to actually put it on a bathroom door).
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Aug 23, 2010 15:05
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I have a question about respirators/dust masks. I'm working on stripping and refinishing a small boat, and due to my living arrangements the majority of the work has to be done in my basement. I'm stripping with a heat gun/scraper and sandpaper, but the bottom of the boat is sheathed in fiberglass cloth held on with epoxy. Later in the process I'll likely be dealing with paint, varnish, and epoxy vapors while I'm refinishing. I've been using a basic dust mask while sanding to keep from breathing in paint dust, but I'm not sure what else I need to be doing. Does stripping paint with a heat gun release vapors I need to be concerned about? If so, what can I wear to protect myself? I know that heating and stripping epoxy/fiberglass can release some pretty nasty fumes, and I'm hoping to be able to do that outside, but I feel like I should still be wearing something protective for that as well. I don't want brain damage. 
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Aug 23, 2010 17:05
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Rossilius posted:I just helped someone move into a home that she just started renting, a beautiful old home with lots of character. Thankfully the landlord, who doesn't give a drat about the place, has said she has free reign to fix up the house however she pleases. From her bedroom there are two small doors with a few window panes that were painted probably a year or two ago. Whatever idiots painted it forgot that you need to remove painter's tape from surfaces after you paint, and so each of the window panes (on the outside, so exposed to the elements) now has dried and flaking painter's tape on it. If you attempt to remove it, small pieces just disintegrate off, but it's drat near impossible to get any substantial amount of the tape off. She (and I) lives in New Orleans, so the tape has been exposed to ridiculous humidity, heat, and rainfall, tacking it that much more onto the windows' surfaces. I'd love to get the tape off but have as yet had nothing but trouble in attempting to do so. Soak the tape with WD-40 or Goof-Off or something else made for dissolving adhesive and go at it with a razor blade. Hold it like a scraper and scrape the "sharp" part against the glass, if you saturate the tape with your adhesive remover it should come right off. Then you can clean the glass with windex or something.
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Aug 23, 2010 20:10
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jackpot posted:Are doorknobs the sort of thing that's been standardized for decades? Because it seems to me that I could buy ten knobs and find out they're threaded ten different ways and won't be compatible with each other. No, there are 2 types, old and modern. The only difference is that the modern style has a larger hole cut into the door so that more parts can fit in that larger space. New types are typically held together by 2 screws through one outer plate that fit through the door and into threaded holes on the hidden side of the other plate. Their springs are typically part of one handle/base assembly. Old style handles like you're talking about are pretty much standardized as far as part sizes go. Their springs are inside their latches. Each handle screws onto the square spindle and is held in place with a flathead set screw in its base. They still do make parts for these types of handles, but you'll have trouble finding them. I've seen them in one or two mom-and-pop hardware stores, but you'd probably have better luck with the interwebs.
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Aug 23, 2010 21:17
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kid sinister posted:No, there are 2 types, old and modern. The only difference is that the modern style has a larger hole cut into the door so that more parts can fit in that larger space. New types are typically held together by 2 screws through one outer plate that fit through the door and into threaded holes on the hidden side of the other plate. Their springs are typically part of one handle/base assembly. The keyword you are looking for is "mortise" lock. Those are the old school ones: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortise_lock Mortise are generally one piece that slides into a big slot in the door jamb, whereas the new knob/locks keep the magic in the knob mechanics. I'm not sure if there's a technical name for the newer ones.
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Aug 23, 2010 21:47
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The good news is I took two doorknobs apart (just the knobs and spindle), one fairly old and one fairly new, and the threads were a match, so I'm assuming/hoping anything I buy will also fit. The bad news is I can't do anything with any of the locking doors in the house (bathrooms, bedrooms) unless I want to also install old-style deadbolt locks everywhere, since they're all using the push-button modern style and I don't feel like getting that serious about this. I can't believe I never noticed that until now; I guess I don't lock the doors much. Ha: Also, I just noticed one of my bathrooms has a push-button lock (I don't know the name for it, but it's this) on the inside but a keyed knob on the outside. Which we don't have the key for. Which means if someone ever accidentally bumps that lock button and shuts the door, I'm gonna be pulling the door off its hinges to get the drat thing open. Nice, I think I just found House Project #143.
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Aug 24, 2010 15:51
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jackpot posted:Ha: Also, I just noticed one of my bathrooms has a push-button lock (I don't know the name for it, but it's this) on the inside but a keyed knob on the outside. Which we don't have the key for. Which means if someone ever accidentally bumps that lock button and shuts the door, I'm gonna be pulling the door off its hinges to get the drat thing open. Nice, I think I just found House Project #143. Most bathroom locks can be opened with a safety pin, paper clip or credit card, so maybe give those a try before unhinging!
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Aug 24, 2010 16:33
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Corla Plankun posted:Most bathroom locks can be opened with a safety pin, paper clip or credit card, so maybe give those a try before unhinging! I grew up with a knob with a broken button that just locked when you shut it. We always grabbed a butter knife to slide between the trim when company closed it to be polite.
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Aug 24, 2010 17:06
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Corla Plankun posted:Most bathroom locks can be opened with a safety pin, paper clip or credit card, so maybe give those a try before unhinging!  I totally forgot the door opens outward, so yeah, the credit card/butter knife will work.
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Aug 24, 2010 17:19
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Before I make my own thread on sprinkler systems, anybody used a valve locator before? One of my sprinkler zone valves is stuck in the open position so I have to turn on/off the entire system at the backflow preventer attached to the main water line every time I need to water the lawn. I can't find the valve because it is buried somewhere in the yard. Of all seven zones I know where one valve is so I thought I'd rent the locator and just find all of them and put on some new covers.
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Aug 24, 2010 18:10
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A water stain has appeared in the ceiling above my bathroom. I live in a condo, so there are people who live upstairs. The stain is damp still because it's new, right above the toilet, and running down the wall. Things I have done: - Put pencil marks around the edges of the stain to track it's growth. - Took photos. - Took my exhaust fan out and felt around inside the wall the stain is running down, but felt and saw no wetness on the inside. On that wall at least. The stain looks like its coming through the line between drywall pieces. Things I plan to do: - Talk to the person upstairs when they and I get home from work. Hopefully, they just had a spill or something, and it's not an ongoing leak. I'm not sure where things go from there, though. Do I have to replace the drywall? Let it dry and just paint over it? If I have to replace the drywall, I'm going to get her for the costs. I don't know if insurance handles this or what. If it's just a dry and paint situation, then I don't care really because I was going to paint in there anyway. Does anyone have any advice? edit- Image with high contrast to increase visibility  Click here for the full 449x750 image. FogHelmut fucked around with this message at 14:20 on Aug 26, 2010 |
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Aug 26, 2010 14:11
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FogHelmut posted:A water stain has appeared in the ceiling above my bathroom. I live in a condo, so there are people who live upstairs. The stain is damp still because it's new, right above the toilet, and running down the wall. If upstairs neighbors caused it their insurance should cover it. Old lady above me in apartment let her bathtub overrun and completely ruined our bathroom and their insurance paid us out about $300 for the personal property destroyed.
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Aug 26, 2010 17:05
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FogHelmut posted:Does anyone have any advice? Do you have an HOA or some sort of tenancy agreement? It should lay out responsibility. If yours is like mine, then damage in your unit caused by something in her unit is completely her liability.
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Aug 26, 2010 17:52
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FogHelmut posted:Does anyone have any advice? A) Determine who's insurance is responsible. Yours, your upstairs neighbor, or your building. If it's from a tub or sink overflow, it's the upstairs neighbors. If it's a pipebreak of any type, it's generally the building's. Rarely is it your insurance that would be responsible in this situation. However, sometimes it can be faster to have your insurance get involved, and send out a restoration company, and subrogate the costs to your neighbor's or building's insurance at a later time. This sometimes involves you paying your deductible up front, and hoping to get reimbursed later. B) A restoration company would come out, and assess the damage. What is visible is not necessarily all that's wet. A restoration company has moisture meters and thermal cameras to help identify the full extent of the damage. It's impossible to say from photos, but generally the ceiling cavity in a condo is insulated. If that insulation is wet, it needs to come out. If it's not insulated, standard practice is to punch a couple 1" holes here and there in the ceiling, and setup a fan to blow on it for a few days, drying the cavity from the inside out. For wet walls, the baseboard is usually removed, and vent holes are punched along the bottom of the drywall. C) Once the restoration company has declared it dry, you are ready for repairs. All that being said, if you're not super concerned about mold, and don't want to go through a whole big process, make sure the source of the water has been resolved, and setup a box fan blowing on that wall and ceiling for a week. That small of an area has a decent chance of drying out on its own with no ill effect. Just understand that it's a bit of a gamble. Sometimes the restoration process can feel like it's making a mountain of a mole hill, but for a lot of people, its better than risking mold growth.
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Aug 27, 2010 05:51
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Update: The person upstairs rents and the owner had replaced the toilet earlier this week. I am working on getting ahold of this guy. Also, the stain grew between 6:00 and11:00 last night, but not between the previous night and 6:00 last night. I have a fan on it now. Update 2: The owner up there is going to fix the toilet tomorrow. I have a claim out with my insurance company. This is actually good in a way, because whoever had done the original taping on the drywall joints in that spot did a lovely job of it. FogHelmut fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Aug 28, 2010 |
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Aug 27, 2010 12:33
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My sink is clogged and I need to remove the stopper--but it won't budge.Are there any tricks or things I should do, besides just pull harder?
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Aug 31, 2010 21:53
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Brennanite posted:My sink is clogged and I need to remove the stopper--but it won't budge.Are there any tricks or things I should do, besides just pull harder? Like a bathroom sink? The rod that pulls the stopper goes through a little linkage under the sink, and threads into the back of the drain pipe. You can unscrew it from the pipe and the stopper will be free.
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Aug 31, 2010 22:05
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eddiewalker posted:Like a bathroom sink? The rod that pulls the stopper goes through a little linkage under the sink, and threads into the back of the drain pipe. You can unscrew it from the pipe and the stopper will be free. You are correct. I am a moron. 
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Aug 31, 2010 22:12
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Garage door issue, didn't think it warranted its own thread... I've got an ancient 7x8 wooden garage door (not a single piece) that used extension springs. One of the springs broke last month and I finally got around to buying replacement parts. I'm only replacing the springs and cables, the pulleys are still solid. I bought two Holmes P378Cs because the product description said that they were for a wooden garage door the same size as mine. I got the two hung with the pulleys and cables set up correctly, but I think the springs are too tight. When I pull down on the garage door, I can get it about 3/4 of the way down before it's too hard to pull it anymore. If I loosen the cables, the springs and cables end up just kind of hanging and I know that's not right. Did I get the wrong springs or is there some trick to stretching them out? Also, the springs appear to have some sort of wire running down the center of them that wasn't pictured in any of the product pictures. Could this be for shipping? perhaps it keeps the springs compressed? I haven't had time to check today as I just thought about that potential issue on my way to work.  Thanks.
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Sep 1, 2010 17:07
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This fridge was here when I moved in, but it looks fairly new, and it hasn't had a problem maintaining temperature in the last two years. However, its big, and as a single guy, I usually keep it pretty empty. Yesterday I decided to maybe give the fridge some thermal mass, and also make it more convenient to drink water, so I loaded it up with 48 plastic bottles. I don't think I over-stuffed it, and I tried not to block the vents, but now 24 hours later, the compressor hasn't stopped running and the freezer portion is 10 degrees above its target and its contents are soft. Is this normal? How much time is normal for the thing to reach temp? Why did the freezer temp drop so much, but the fridge part bounced back?
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Sep 1, 2010 17:11
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Anybody have experience with pool tables? Wanting to shop used, didn't know if there were particular things to watch for or things that make them seem lovely but is actually easy to fix, etc.
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Sep 1, 2010 20:41
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Not Memorable posted:Anybody have experience with pool tables? Wanting to shop used, didn't know if there were particular things to watch for or things that make them seem lovely but is actually easy to fix, etc. In my case (helping someone), it was a 12' pool table (or at least that was what I was told) so 6'x4' slabs, a bit over an inch thick and extremely heavy. As long as the slate is in good shape (not chipped too badly, not cracked) you should be able to get it re-felted pretty cheaply, and since most modern pool tables use thinner slate, major damage to one section wouldn't be bank-breaking costly to repair if necessary. Any wood or leather repairs should be fairly simple unless it's horribly broken (or termite infested).
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Sep 2, 2010 03:33
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Not Memorable posted:Anybody have experience with pool tables? Wanting to shop used, didn't know if there were particular things to watch for or things that make them seem lovely but is actually easy to fix, etc. Pool tables do come in different sizes, so don't go assuming that any old one will fit in your room.
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Sep 2, 2010 05:30
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Short version: guy cleaned ducting/furnace maintenance during summer and it worked when he tested it before leaving but now furnace won't start for heating. I think the first thing to check is that the thermostat is even sending a signal to the furnace but I don't know what to look for? I'm not hearing a click or anything like usual. Any ideas how to test a thermostat? Even on the highest setting it doesn't start, but what to do to fix it? It's a gas furnace for only heat, and I've got the instructions out and the only switch is on and the gas line is open but it doesn't even show me a way to start the furnace on it's own. Feeling retarded.
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Sep 2, 2010 17:21
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is the pilot light lit? if not, are there instructions for lighting it on the inside of the access panel? E: vv guess i have an older furnace! electronic ignition would be awesome lighting that poo poo is terrifying andy17null fucked around with this message at 02:56 on Sep 3, 2010 |
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Sep 2, 2010 21:48
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^^^^that's only for older furnaces. Newer furnaces use electronic ignition. Still, here's the procedure for lighting a pilot light: http://homerepair.about.com/od/heatingcoolingrepair/ss/pilot_light_3.htm It could still be an electrical problem. Check to see that the circuit breaker for the furnace is on. Also there's usually a switch on the side of the furnace itself. Make sure that's turned on too, it sounds like you did.
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Sep 3, 2010 02:48
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Hi! I have these two Lay Z Boy seats that were given to me by a friend for use in my new apartment. However they are ugly as balls.  There are two issues; 1) They are ugly forest green. 2) They are worn away.     I really don't care enough/have enough money to get them reupholstered. I would like to change them to black. Problem is I'm not sure if it's plausible to use a dye/spray to do this. I also don't know how expensive something like this would be. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks!
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Sep 3, 2010 20:46
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