|
It looks like you can go to home depot and get 4 pounds of damp rid for $10 which stacks up pretty favorably to buying generic online.
|
# ? May 2, 2011 20:34 |
|
|
# ? May 22, 2024 14:53 |
|
Rhiley posted:It looks like you can go to home depot and get 4 pounds of damp rid for $10 which stacks up pretty favorably to buying generic online. But 4 lbs of damp rid can only remove about 1/2 a gallon of water from the air. Ever run a dehumidifier? You're talking GALLONS a day in most places.
|
# ? May 2, 2011 21:30 |
|
Right I wasn't saying get that instead of a dehumidifier but rather people saying buy silica gel online.
|
# ? May 2, 2011 21:42 |
|
Sockser posted:So I live in a tiny apartment (college yay) and I'm trying to sort out my kitchen a bit more. I'd like to move my myriad of cookie sheets out of my cabinets and replace the space with, I dunno, something else. http://www.kjmagnetics.com/ I have bought from them on multiple occasions, and they always ship what you order very fast and professionally. I even got a "sample pack" of little random shaped mini magnets a couple of times.
|
# ? May 3, 2011 04:56 |
|
NancyPants posted:It'd be extremely creepy if the pellets were noisy. I imagine they'd hum annoying songs.
|
# ? May 3, 2011 16:38 |
|
Does anyone have a recommendation for a good "best value" interior paint?
|
# ? May 3, 2011 18:53 |
|
taqueso posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for a good "best value" interior paint? I'm not sure what you mean by "best value." My wife and I like to wait for Sherwin-Williams to have 40% off sales and then just buy whatever quantity of Super Paint we need.
|
# ? May 3, 2011 19:11 |
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:I'm not sure what you mean by "best value." My wife and I like to wait for Sherwin-Williams to have 40% off sales and then just buy whatever quantity of Super Paint we need. I mean something that is cheaper than BM Aura but will still cover well and have a nice finish. A paint that is not the best or the cheapest, but a good balance of the two. I would like to get things painted in the next couple weeks, so I don't have a lot of time to wait for a sale. taqueso fucked around with this message at 19:24 on May 3, 2011 |
# ? May 3, 2011 19:18 |
|
taqueso posted:I mean something that is cheaper than BM Aura but will still cover well and have a nice finish. A paint that is not the best or the cheapest, but a good balance of the two. I would like to get things painted in the next couple weeks, so I don't have a lot of time to wait for a sale. Yeah, that would put a damper on things. I bet Memorial day would have a ton of good sales.
|
# ? May 3, 2011 19:26 |
|
Beer4TheBeerGod posted:Yeah, that would put a damper on things. I bet Memorial day would have a ton of good sales. I did some googling and it does seem like Memorial Day historically has been a paint sale bonanza. I am moving to a new apartment and have some overlap time where I can use both places. I was hoping to paint before I was entirely moved in, but 40% is hard to ignore. e: I'd still love to hear some goon paint recommendations, though taqueso fucked around with this message at 19:36 on May 3, 2011 |
# ? May 3, 2011 19:32 |
|
taqueso posted:I'd still love to hear some goon paint recommendations, though Sherwin Williams "Super Paint" is one of my favorites.
|
# ? May 3, 2011 20:01 |
|
taqueso posted:e: I'd still love to hear some goon paint recommendations, though Consumer Reports just did paints a month or two ago. They rated the following as best buys for interior paints: Kilz Casual Colors Satin Glidden Premium Satin Behr Premium Plus Satin Enamel Behr Premium Plus Flat Enamel Glidden Premium Flat
|
# ? May 3, 2011 20:07 |
|
taqueso posted:Does anyone have a recommendation for a good "best value" interior paint? You could also scope out Home Depot and Lowes "oops" paint as well. Just check back every few days and wait for a paint color you like. Typically you can get really good paint such as Ralph Lauren and Behr for about $10 a gallon. That is if you only need a gallon because good luck on finding matching colors if you need more than a gallon of paint for your project. Other than that, get the contractors 5 gallon bucket. We use the Home Depot brand du jour in semi gloss for our rentals and that works out well but you can get it in any finish you want. If you need bathroom paint though, all Behr has a base in it that won't mold or mildew.
|
# ? May 4, 2011 21:32 |
|
Moron here. The only power tool I own is a screwdriver. Got two small projects: One, just got a wall mounted display cabinet that has a mirror backing and so weighs about 30 pounds. To hang it, there's two small tabs at the top. I think the previous owners had it in a stone wall. I need it to go on drywall and not come crashing down, which I think it will with the hang tabs. I'm hoping maybe two small L brackets from HD/Lowes will do the trick? Two, I'd like to put some shelves in a nook, just boards on the wall cut to the right dimensions, preferably painted and beveled. I assume there's an area in HD/Lowes where they'll cut wood for you over by the lumber, but I've never even been to that side of the store. Do they do things like beveled edges? Or do they just deal with larger pieces of lumber?
|
# ? May 6, 2011 06:12 |
|
Elijya posted:Two, I'd like to put some shelves in a nook, just boards on the wall cut to the right dimensions, preferably painted and beveled. I assume there's an area in HD/Lowes where they'll cut wood for you over by the lumber, but I've never even been to that side of the store. Do they do things like beveled edges? Or do they just deal with larger pieces of lumber? They do cut wood to size, but they won't do anything fancy with it. Your best bet is borrowing a router from your dad/neighbor/grandpa for a day or two.
|
# ? May 6, 2011 15:54 |
|
Elijya posted:One, just got a wall mounted display cabinet that has a mirror backing and so weighs about 30 pounds. To hang it, there's two small tabs at the top. I think the previous owners had it in a stone wall. I need it to go on drywall and not come crashing down, which I think it will with the hang tabs. I'm hoping maybe two small L brackets from HD/Lowes will do the trick? These are cheap and work beautiful. They are rated @ 159 lbs: http://www.lowes.com/pd_114823-10337-50325_0__?productId=3181731&Ntt=wall+anchor&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dwall%2Banchor Also, has anyone in here done stained concrete? If so, how big of a pain in the rear end is it or is it something that you would have just hired out since it's a time consuming process? My wife wants to go with it for our rear living room/kitchen hangout area where the kids spend alot of time. keykey fucked around with this message at 16:54 on May 6, 2011 |
# ? May 6, 2011 16:52 |
|
Elijya posted:Two, I'd like to put some shelves in a nook, just boards on the wall cut to the right dimensions, preferably painted and beveled. I assume there's an area in HD/Lowes where they'll cut wood for you over by the lumber, but I've never even been to that side of the store. Do they do things like beveled edges? Or do they just deal with larger pieces of lumber? The Lowe's where I live will cut full sheets to size for you, but that's about it. I don't know what their policy is exactly, but I don't think they're going to make more than a few cuts in a 4x8' sheet of plywood for you. No way will they do any finishing like bevels.
|
# ? May 6, 2011 22:08 |
|
I'm in the process of excavating my backyard to build a patio. Today I found what seems to be some sort of large old drainage system (house was built in the 1950's). About 8 feet from the house there is a large 4'x12'x5' concrete cellar with two open pipes on each end. This drain cellar is half full with standing water. The entire construct was built with cinder blocks and had three 6"-thick concrete slabs on top. The slabs are badly cracked and had they failed my backyard would have caved in, swallowing my family into the earth. Itlooks like a tomb with two pipes. What's the best way to deal with this? Am I right that this is some sort of drain? Can I just fill it with dirt or gravel and build my patio on top?
|
# ? May 7, 2011 00:39 |
|
stubblyhead posted:The Lowe's where I live will cut full sheets to size for you, but that's about it. I don't know what their policy is exactly, but I don't think they're going to make more than a few cuts in a 4x8' sheet of plywood for you. No way will they do any finishing like bevels. So without access or space to the necessary tools, where would one go for stuff like this? I spent an hour each at Lowe's and HD today. Lowe's employees were so utterly useless theylost me as a customer, but the HD guys were so unbelievably helpful that's where i'll be going back to. What's the consensus on the two companies?
|
# ? May 7, 2011 01:10 |
|
Elijya posted:I spent an hour each at Lowe's and HD today. Lowe's employees were so utterly useless theylost me as a customer, but the HD guys were so unbelievably helpful that's where i'll be going back to. What's the consensus on the two companies?
|
# ? May 7, 2011 01:17 |
|
Black Jasper posted:I'm in the process of excavating my backyard to build a patio. Today I found what seems to be some sort of large old drainage system (house was built in the 1950's). Decommissioned septic tank?
|
# ? May 7, 2011 01:18 |
|
Elijya posted:So without access or space to the necessary tools, where would one go for stuff like this? It entirely depends on the store. I have a HD and 2 Lowe's in my area, and we go out of our way to visit one Lowe's because the employees there are so friendly. We call it "the good Lowe's." The Home Depot is okay, but the other Lowe's has pretty crappy employees. In other words the companies are practically identical. I would recommend looking at premade shelving kits and seeing if you can't find something that meets your needs that way.
|
# ? May 7, 2011 01:27 |
|
quadpus posted:Decommissioned septic tank? That sounds more like a bomb shelter than anything else, considering the time period. Expect it to be larger than you think. You'll want to rent a pump to get the water out first, probably to a storm sewer on the street. I would remove the top slabs, fill it with gravel then build on top of that. Hell, rent a jackhammer too and bust up the top slabs for use as fill. Elijya posted:So without access or space to the necessary tools, where would one go for stuff like this? Instead of a bevel you could just get boards cut to length, then glue and tack on some moulding on the front edge with finish nails. That would look nice.
|
# ? May 7, 2011 20:55 |
|
During excavation to build a patio in Washington DC we found a concrete slab and brought out the jackhammer. Punched through the slab and found a hole 8' deep and appearing quite large. Turns out it was a several hundred foot tunnel that was an unknown part of the underground railroad from Civil War days. A little exploration with a flashlight showed the client's house had a bricked-over entryway to the tunnel from their cellar. Queue complete job shutdown while archeologists or historians or some business were brought in. But it sounds like you have a old septic tank. You need to either remove it completely or drain it, break up the bottom(lest the whole area retain water), fill it with well compacted progressively larger material(riprap, drainage stone, #57, topsoil). Your patio will fail spectacularly if you don't take care of it properly. I suggest you just build a deck with footers outside of the septic area.
|
# ? May 8, 2011 03:43 |
|
I have just become the owner of a very nice antique dresser. Unfortunately, it is the smelliest goddamn thing I have ever has the misfortune of owning. The previous owner was a chain smoker, and the reek of stale tobacco sets my teeth on edsge at the best of times. The room I have placed it into smells like an old ashtray now, and after only a day, the articles of clothing I have placed into it smell like the carpet of a bingo hall. I need a very, very powerful deodorizer. Preferably something passive as I'd rather not ruin the wood, but some sort of scrub or spray is fine at this point, because gently caress it, if I can't get the smell out it's going to the curb.
|
# ? May 8, 2011 15:27 |
|
Walgreens has some stuff in the cleaner aisle called Lord Byron's Smoke Remover, it's really good but I don't know how antique wood would hold up to it. I think the ideal thing to do would be to seal off a closet or small room and stick it in there with an ozone generator for a few days.
|
# ? May 8, 2011 18:24 |
|
Vergeh posted:smoke 'em if you got 'em You can try a bowl of baking soda in the interior of drawers. Generally works ok. For getting the tar residue off, I like witch hazel with a couple drops of dawn in it. Scrub with that mess and a scotchbrite or something, then use some warm water and a wash cloth to wipe it off. Change water if it looks too gross and tarry. As always, test first on a small, hidden area to make sure it's not messing up the finish.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 02:59 |
|
Oh god, that water was disgusting. Changed it about eight or nine times. I ended up using Borax, because I couldn't find any witch hazel. It's a shade lighter now... though to be honest it looks a lot more like natural wood. I think most of the colour came from a thick layer of grime and nicotine. We're going to give it a nice rub down with Murphy's Oil Soap and then bring it back inside. It already smells significantly less funky (hey, it actually smells like wood!), but that could be due to it being out in the open air. I'm going away for a week, so I plan to leave it empty with baking soda in every drawer. I think it's gonna be okay.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 18:29 |
|
We're buying a 1959 slab home in Texas. The owners took out most of the carpet, so the floor is just concrete slab. Slab is in good shape, appears flat, no cracking. I hate concrete floors and want to add wood floors. I've learned that installing solid hardwood flooring over concrete slab is a really really bad idea, thus I'm looking an engineered wood floors. These can either be floated on the slab or plywood can be laid over the slab. Any downsides to floating the floors?
|
# ? May 9, 2011 19:29 |
|
Seventyfour posted:We're buying a 1959 slab home in Texas. The owners took out most of the carpet, so the floor is just concrete slab. Slab is in good shape, appears flat, no cracking. I hate concrete floors and want to add wood floors. I've learned that installing solid hardwood flooring over concrete slab is a really really bad idea, thus I'm looking an engineered wood floors. These can either be floated on the slab or plywood can be laid over the slab. Any downsides to floating the floors? I actually just saw something about this on This Old House this weekend. They were using some sort of flooring with a synthetic surface, but with a real wood substrate. They put down a vapor barrier first to prevent the flooring from warping. I would imagine that real hardwood would be fine if you put a vapor barrier down first, but I'm not an expert.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 20:56 |
|
Where did you get the idea that hardwood on concrete is a bad idea? If you've ever walked through the terminals at MCI that's exactly what it is and it's nice and well-trafficked; been in service a long time. If you do decide to go the veneer route, it should also be fine to place directly on the concrete. Watch out for your finishes, though. The concrete needs to breathe so if you use a petroleum base (urethane) sealant or something that doesn't permit moisture exchange the concrete will eventually pop.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 21:27 |
|
Seventyfour posted:We're buying a 1959 slab home in Texas. The owners took out most of the carpet, so the floor is just concrete slab. Slab is in good shape, appears flat, no cracking. I hate concrete floors and want to add wood floors. I've learned that installing solid hardwood flooring over concrete slab is a really really bad idea, thus I'm looking an engineered wood floors. These can either be floated on the slab or plywood can be laid over the slab. Any downsides to floating the floors? As others have said, wood over concrete is fine as long as the two don't meet. Concrete needs to breath, and wood will just absorb moisture from the concrete and do all sorts of Very Bad Things. A vapor barrier is critical for that purpose. Or at least that's what watching an obsessive amount of Holmes has taught me.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 21:48 |
|
Hed posted:Where did you get the idea that hardwood on concrete is a bad idea? If you've ever walked through the terminals at MCI that's exactly what it is and it's nice and well-trafficked; been in service a long time. If you do decide to go the veneer route, it should also be fine to place directly on the concrete. Watch out for your finishes, though. The concrete needs to breathe so if you use a petroleum base (urethane) sealant or something that doesn't permit moisture exchange the concrete will eventually pop. I didn't have that idea until I started doing some research, and the universal response is never put solid hardwoods on concrete as you'll have problems with moisture. Might just apply to Texas and more humid places, don't know.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 23:22 |
|
Seventyfour posted:Any downsides to floating the floors? I'm going to add one thing... put down your vapor barrier, then a layer of rigid insulation which will help keep the slab from transferring outside heat/cold to the inside, then a slip layer to protect the insulation from the floating floor, then your flooring. I would do the whole house. With that, even a wood floor should be fine. To answer the question, no, there should be no problems floating the floors.
|
# ? May 9, 2011 23:39 |
|
OK, in addition to flooring, we're also thinking about adding a couple of Solatubes (14" diameter) or equivalent products; it looks like parts + install (including the part where they properly seal up the hole in your roof) will be about $1000 per. Anyone have any experience with this product? Any downsides (condensation, heating up the house, ceiling falling in, etc)?
|
# ? May 11, 2011 20:38 |
|
Has anyone here DIY'd invisible fence for dogs? I'll be taking in my fiancee's chow and chihuahua in a few weeks and I'm wondering if its a feasible option. I don't want to put up a real fence because my yard continues into a nice open city park, and I have a rear-entry garage that would require a big drive-in gate. The soon-wife's snobby coworkers have convinced her that it's not something I can properly do myself, but I've remodeled a kitchen, swapped a transmission, and covered the house in vinyl siding this year, so they can be quiet. I'm just curious if anyone has any tips. I'm also worried about my liability if a kid has an encounter with a dog while using my yard as a shortcut to the park.
|
# ? May 13, 2011 01:24 |
|
eddiewalker posted:Has anyone here DIY'd invisible fence for dogs? I have and it wasn't a big deal but my dog was grown and he never adapted to the fence, instead he would just getting a running start and bolt right through it. Then he was afraid to come back into the yard. The installation was just burying a wire and putting up some flags.
|
# ? May 13, 2011 10:02 |
|
I'd like to build a new crawlspace hatch cover for my house. I think I have enough scrap wood to make it, so I'm hoping to avoid a trip to the store. I'd like to use exterior grade plywood, which I have some of, but I have some interior grade as well. How can I tell them apart?
|
# ? May 13, 2011 16:43 |
|
Moved into a new place and when I went to take a shower I bumped into the soap dish and this happened. How should I go about fixing this without to much work because I can probably get maintenance to fix it since it happened on day one but this would take a week or so and I'd rather have it done sooner but depends on what I would have to do and cost. http://i.imgur.com/oIlrR.jpg
|
# ? May 13, 2011 16:53 |
|
|
# ? May 22, 2024 14:53 |
|
Pheloz posted:Moved into a new place and when I went to take a shower I bumped into the soap dish and this happened. How should I go about fixing this without to much work because I can probably get maintenance to fix it since it happened on day one but this would take a week or so and I'd rather have it done sooner but depends on what I would have to do and cost. What consistency is the brown poo poo? looks like some kind of adhesive, scrape as much of it away as possible, then get some more & stick it right back on.
|
# ? May 13, 2011 21:52 |