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Motronic posted:Better than a jackhammer? No. Possible to do without one? Sure. You've seen old prison movies where the inmates punishment is to break rocks all day with a pick? You could do that. I think the section we want to keep is fairly well preserved just by not being broken up with tree roots, but I didn't think about having to saw it. That's a good point. It really is ALL red clay. It's probably an area about 28' by 14', but not all of that needs to come out - some is planted, some will be keeping the concrete. I'm kind of secretly hoping we can just dump 3-4" of fill dirt on it to level it all out (to the height of the concrete pad is now) and throw some grass on it and somehow keep the dog from tearing it up. I'm 8mos pregnant, so I really doubt it'll happen this fall... but if it's better to seed in fall, we could definitely tear it up over winter/spring, fill in summer, and seed NEXT fall. Wagonburner, ours is sort of under the deck - not exactly, it's just dirt under the deck, but when you come down to ground level you step directly onto concrete patio. It seems like every house in our neighborhood has one in the backyard, must have been a 50s thing.
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Aug 8, 2013 15:31
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Tourette Meltdown posted:I think the section we want to keep is fairly well preserved just by not being broken up with tree roots, but I didn't think about having to saw it. That's a good point. It will still work in the spring, just not quite as well. So if you can't get to it by the fall it's not a big deal. That's just the optimal time to seed, and most people don't know that. And, yeah....depending on concrete depth and what else you find under there you may be down far enough to just top dress it.
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Aug 8, 2013 15:54
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I saw some cool product a few months ago where you drill some holes in the concrete and pour this stuff in. It expands and busts the concrete overnight or so. Found a product link : http://www.ecobust.ca/
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Aug 8, 2013 16:56
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priznat posted:I saw some cool product a few months ago where you drill some holes in the concrete and pour this stuff in. It expands and busts the concrete overnight or so. You could easily spend more on concrete hammer drill bits this way than you would on a jackhammer rental.
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Aug 8, 2013 17:10
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kid sinister posted:I'd put my money on JB Weld. Still, look up the cost of the part. If it's over $100, look into buying a new.. used washer. Piece of poo poo plastic impeller is surprisingly still intact and the pump still works fine, just leaks. JB PlastiWeld specifically says it does not adhere to polypropylene which has me concerned
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Aug 8, 2013 18:27
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Ahz posted:You could easily spend more on concrete hammer drill bits this way than you would on a jackhammer rental. A good carbide masonry bit is not cheap but if you need to demo a 4-6" concrete pad in a reasonable size, one bit should be fine. The expansion stuff seems like an interesting alternative. Jackhammer can be a royal pain in the rear end
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Aug 8, 2013 18:39
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priznat posted:I saw some cool product a few months ago where you drill some holes in the concrete and pour this stuff in. It expands and busts the concrete overnight or so. This is super cool. Way too heavy-duty for what we need, but cool. The pad is mostly broken up by tree roots, some of it into pieces that are probably already small enough to just pry up and dump. Speaking of weird chemicals that you pour in things to destroy them, our next door neighbor mentioned something you can pour into a tree stump to dissolve it (over 4-6 weeks I think). How worthwhile are those products? I actually kind of dig our giant stump, but my husband doesn't.
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Aug 8, 2013 18:58
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Tourette Meltdown posted:Is there a better way to break up and remove a 1-3" thick cracked concrete pad (about 10' by 20') than renting a jackhammer and going to town? About a third is salvageable and will stay there as a small patio, but the rest needs to go. I don't think there's any rebar or support mesh or anything in it. Keep a sledgehammer and a pick handy (and eye protection). It won't be long before you have one of those days. Best & cheapest therapy I ever had, when I was replacing my 1930-era garage.
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Aug 9, 2013 01:33
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Speaking of busting up concrete, I've done it with a sledgehammer when I was young and physically fit and even with someone trading off it was a bitch. I've also dug up permafrost which is about as hard as concrete, really, with both jackhammers and picks and even though jackhammers are a lot of work they are much preferable. Just food for thought.
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Aug 9, 2013 06:29
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wormil posted:Speaking of busting up concrete, I've done it with a sledgehammer when I was young and physically fit and even with someone trading off it was a bitch. I've also dug up permafrost which is about as hard as concrete, really, with both jackhammers and picks and even though jackhammers are a lot of work they are much preferable. Just food for thought. Oh, I have no problem renting a jackhammer and letting my husband and his friends go to town. But, yeah, it's always a good idea to have a sledgehammer and pick just in case... and to be thankful that I'll be post-partum and not out there breaking my back.
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Aug 9, 2013 14:31
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socketwrencher posted:95% non-return sounds great. I'm going to give this a shot- thanks. Just be aware that for the first week or so, poo poo will grow like mad under the plastic-- all that water and a greenhouse effect. By the middle of the second week, things started browning.
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Aug 9, 2013 17:15
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dwoloz posted:Piece of poo poo plastic impeller is surprisingly still intact and the pump still works fine, just leaks. JB PlastiWeld specifically says it does not adhere to polypropylene which has me concerned A while back the plastic outer tub in my washer cracked on the bottom, and I had to debate whether to repair or replace. JB Weld was suggested to me as well, and I definitely considered it. In deciding I thought to myself "If this patch fails, how much water is going to end up on my floor, and is avoiding the aggravation and expense of doing it a second time worth the price of a new tub?" In the end I just got a new tub and haven't had cause to regret it since. I would definitely not just patch it without at least getting a price quote on a new pump.
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Aug 9, 2013 21:52
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This may not be the place to ask, so if not, let me know and I'll remove this. My husband I have DIY'ed EVERYTHING at our house--bathroom, plumbing, landscaping, etc. In the backyard last summer we built a patio and retaining wall. But this summer we just can't finish up our yard, which is approx. 1000 sq feet of dirt covered in weeds. If we were to hire landscapers to cover about half of it in river rock, what would be a rough estimate of what we might expect to pay? At three inches deep we'd need about 6 tons of river rock at about $30 a ton, if that helps at all. (We're in Colorado, where xeriscaping is common.)
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Aug 10, 2013 04:48
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PainterofCrap posted:Keep a sledgehammer and a pick handy (and eye protection). It won't be long before you have one of those days. Haha, yes--this is how my husband quickly removed two stubborn metal fence posts after a crappy day at work.
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Aug 10, 2013 04:50
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Far-off upgrade shopping (helping my dad remodel his bathroom, got me thinking about mine): I'd like to upgrade my bathtub eventually, but it's in a weird spot. The one I have now is in a 3-walled alcove; the current tub is 60" long, which is a hard limit (unless I wanted to start tearing out closet walls or add on to the house, which I don't), and 41" wide. I can go wider than that (much wider on the foot side, which is open to the bathroom, than the head side, which has a window about 5" from the side of the tub); are there 3-wall tubs out there that have a diagonal-shaped usage area? And if they do exist, are they affordable or are they unicorn expensive? Basically: 
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Aug 10, 2013 05:46
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Qwijib0 posted:Just be aware that for the first week or so, poo poo will grow like mad under the plastic-- all that water and a greenhouse effect. By the middle of the second week, things started browning. I dropped a glass patio door I replaced on my front lawn. First day: MAD MOLD. Second day: death. Black mold, mildew. Third day, everything was gray and brown. I moved the door, then, and the grass is dead, and not even ants have come back to that blasted landscape. Tourette Meltdown posted:Oh, I have no problem renting a jackhammer and letting my husband and his friends go to town. But, yeah, it's always a good idea to have a sledgehammer and pick just in case... and to be thankful that I'll be post-partum and not out there breaking my back. Speaking from personal experience, a pick is the opposite of useful. It makes noise, sparks, and tiny chips in concrete, but no progress. Strong determination, stamina, and a 12- or 16-lb sledge breaks slabs. Jackhammers just make cracks. A hammer drill (on hammer mode) is just as effective and probably way cheaper, quieter, and easier to move. Make a quick line of holes roughly 6-10" apart, then go to town with the sledge. It's physically demanding work, but easy. Every time you think you've broken a piece all the way through and can get it out, do so. Pieces of debris sitting on dirt REALLY suck the energy out of hammer blows. A pry bar will really help you here. A crowbar is acceptable, but a 6' rock bar works wonders for levering out large chunks of concrete. edit: rock bar isn't a useful google search. Look at "digging bar" and look at the pointed ones. Six-foot long piece of 1" hex stock, tempered and pointed at one end, mushroomed at the other. 10-30# or so.
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Aug 10, 2013 06:17
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grapey posted:This may not be the place to ask, so if not, let me know and I'll remove this. A lot of that depends on how far you are from a quarry (hauling fees) but figure that they need to lay fabric and spread all of this stuff so it's going to be about 10 man hours. So figure $350-500 at least depending on the market out there (for labor). This is assuming the best case scenario job site.
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Aug 10, 2013 13:18
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Tourette Meltdown posted:Is there a better way to break up and remove a 1-3" thick cracked concrete pad (about 10' by 20') than renting a jackhammer and going to town? About a third is salvageable and will stay there as a small patio, but the rest needs to go. I don't think there's any rebar or support mesh or anything in it.
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Aug 10, 2013 20:37
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Motronic posted:A lot of that depends on how far you are from a quarry (hauling fees) but figure that they need to lay fabric and spread all of this stuff so it's going to be about 10 man hours. So figure $350-500 at least depending on the market out there (for labor). This is assuming the best case scenario job site. Agreed, pricing will vary but to give a rough idea, I paid $100 per 3000 pounds with a $50 delivery fee (up to the truck's max load) in the Philly suburbs. Labor is cheaper where you live, but I don't know how plentiful/close the stone is.
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Aug 10, 2013 23:49
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Motronic posted:A lot of that depends on how far you are from a quarry (hauling fees) but figure that they need to lay fabric and spread all of this stuff so it's going to be about 10 man hours. So figure $350-500 at least depending on the market out there (for labor). This is assuming the best case scenario job site. Thanks, if I get that quote I'd be thrilled. There's a supply place three miles from our house, so that's the easy part of the whole thing. I just don't want them to kill me on labor, esp. since they have a small bobcat that will fit through our fence gate (and don't have to do it the wheelbarrow way, which is how we built our patio--exhausting)
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Aug 11, 2013 01:33
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Hed posted:If you have a pickup truck to move it, they rent out giant framed piledrivers that could rip up a basement in like 15 minutes. You can also rent a diamond cutter and cut about 1/3 of the height for the salvagable portion. We do, in fact, have a pickup truck! We're more interested in cost/labor rather than time, I think, but I'm going to look into this for sure. If its cheap-ish AND less work AND quicker... well, hot drat!
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Aug 11, 2013 01:38
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Qwijib0 posted:Just be aware that for the first week or so, poo poo will grow like mad under the plastic-- all that water and a greenhouse effect. By the middle of the second week, things started browning. Good to know- thanks. I'm planning to do it sometime this week.
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Aug 11, 2013 08:57
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GD_American posted:Far-off upgrade shopping (helping my dad remodel his bathroom, got me thinking about mine): I'd like to upgrade my bathtub eventually, but it's in a weird spot. This post is intriguing because I can't figure out what you're seeking. Your existing space seems fine for a standard size tub replacement, but I don't know what you mean by a "3-wall tub" with a "diagonal-shaped usage area."
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Aug 11, 2013 09:03
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socketwrencher posted:This post is intriguing because I can't figure out what you're seeking. Your existing space seems fine for a standard size tub replacement, but I don't know what you mean by a "3-wall tub" with a "diagonal-shaped usage area." I'd imagine like a corner tub but designed to fit into that alcove, rather than in an "open" corner
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Aug 11, 2013 14:11
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GD_American posted:Far-off upgrade shopping (helping my dad remodel his bathroom, got me thinking about mine): I'd like to upgrade my bathtub eventually, but it's in a weird spot. Search for 60x60" bathtub, you'll see examples.  You should be able to finish it with alabama plastic so it doesn't look out of place.
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Aug 11, 2013 14:59
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Ah of course- makes sense- thanks.
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Aug 11, 2013 16:57
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Art (and crafty) people: I have this antique thing, and it's supposedly a tool for teaching kids how to draw and write pretty and create blueprints, it dates from 1913. It's pretty cool. Unfortunately, it's ripping, and I think I should take out the long sheet of paper and cut it or un-glue it somehow, and then frame each and every sheet on it's own. The problem is, it's rather fragile, as it's old paper, and I fear it'll rip apart if I roll it on these rollers too much. Ideally I'd unglue it and go from there.     Goals: 1. Safely uglue or cut the rolls into sheets (each sheet is one instruction, art, everyday life,etc) need direction with this How should I approach this, are there any paper nerds on the forums to help a Tangra out? I promise to photo them after they're framed and post it on the internet
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Aug 12, 2013 01:04
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I'm looking for some good ideas about what to do with an antiquated whole-house fire alarm. http://imgur.com/ba69DMl http://imgur.com/1hxXxgj http://imgur.com/XVDQ6Ni http://imgur.com/cq9GZ5i I've got this control panel and huge bell in the hallway, and lots of those little bell/sensor things in every room. They've all been painted over and presumably haven't worked in decades. But... it also means that my entire house seems to be full of what I assume is low-voltage wiring. Any ideas on how I could put this to use? Our wifi covers the house just fine, so a LAN would be pointless, and all the little bells are on ceilings or high on the wall anyway.
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Aug 12, 2013 18:24
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Its likely old enough that the insulation on the wires is coming apart and unusable. Probably not worth it
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Aug 12, 2013 21:37
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I am trying to finish my basement and I am up to the insulating part but I am not sure how to actually insulate it. Everyone I have talked to says to just throw up your frame, put in insulation between the studs, put your vapour barrier up, then drywall. After I had that planned, I started looking on the internet about it and people are talking about using these XPS foam boards instead, which are really costly and would cost me a minimum of $1300, or I will get mold on the insulation from moisture. I originally planned to just leave a 1 1/2 inch gap between the frame and the basement wall to let it breath so I wouldn't have this moisture problem but after reading about these XPS boards, it got me thinking that maybe I am doing it wrong and I will eventually have mold problems. I live up in Canada so it gets pretty cold in the winter and the house was built in 1962 so none of that outside membrane stuff on the exterior of the wall. As far as I can tell, the basement is normal basement like humidity but I run a dehumidifier. So can I just do it the way I originally planned or do I really need these XPS foam boards glued on the wall?
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Aug 13, 2013 03:16
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socketwrencher posted:This post is intriguing because I can't figure out what you're seeking. Your existing space seems fine for a standard size tub replacement, but I don't know what you mean by a "3-wall tub" with a "diagonal-shaped usage area." Yeah I'm not doing a very good job of explaining it. grover posted:There are a crapton of jacuzzi-style triangular tubs in the 60x60" size that will fill your alcove and come out a little further- is that what you're looking for? If you get a drop-in style, the rest of it would be custom-built out of wood and tile to however you want it to work. You could probably even extend the tub under the window if you wanted. They come as fancy or as simple/cheap as you want. Yeah this is more what I'm looking for; the problem with the straight up tub is that with 5' of length, that only gives you out 4'8" to lay out in and that poo poo gets old. I was hoping there was something that would still fit in that alcove, but put the actual bath well on a diagonal (or triangle, I guess I see) so you could stretch out more. The window is floor-length, unfortunately (a weird decision on an exterior wall on a bathroom that looks right out on our driveway, but ok) so it's a hard limit. That interior diagonal wall I can make up with something, either a built up little triangular cabinet on the backside (to even everything out) or just extend the wall.
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Aug 13, 2013 04:25
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So, I have a dryer venting issue. I bought a 1950s era house a couple weeks back and the washer and dryer were 70s era poo poo so I had them replaced before I did even 1 load of laundry. The installers came out and installed the new unit and hooked up the unit to the existing in-wall vent in my finished basement. I was washing dishes during a dryer cycle the other day when I noticed that hot, humid dryer air was coming out of the HVAC register under the kitchen sink(!). I checked outside and there is air coming out of the dryer vent, but I'd say the exhaust is split half and half with the outside vent and heat register. I'm guessing I have 3 problems: 1) there is a clog in the vent and 2) there is a leak in the vent somewhere between the clog and the dryer. Unfortunately the third problem is that because the basement is finished the vent goes up an interior wall shared with a basement bedroom and through the ceiling above that bedroom (for some reason) before venting outside. I'm guessing that the vent does at least two 90 degree turns and has maybe 15ft of vent length before hitting the outside. I also noticed when the installers were connecting the vent hose up to the in-wall vent that the vent was very loose and there was a really lovely patch job around it like someone had probably opened the wall before. So, who knows what's going on in there. Do I have to open up that wall and/or ceiling or are there other options here? I thought about buying a cleaning snake from Home Depot and getting the clog out to see if that fixes it for the most part, but obviously the air is escaping from the vent somehow that problem would remain. For now we're using the dryer, but the risk of mold in the wall and a potential fire has me very concerned. I know there are vent cleaning companies out there, but are there any that use cameras? What might that cost? Maybe it's worth calling a pro before getting nuts with a sawzall and getting my entire house full of sheetrock dust. Thoughts?
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Aug 13, 2013 04:55
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A sawzall is not the appropriate tool for drywall. Cutting a clean hole and patching it isn't a huge deal, especially if the walls aren't textured and you can avoid getting within a few inches from corners or ceiling texture. You can do it with a few YouTubes.
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Aug 13, 2013 05:35
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Yeah, the lovely thing is I'd have to cut a long channel because I have no idea where the problem is, and this channel would include a ceiling which has a texture of some sort on it. It just seems like a bigger job than I'd like right now given all the other stuff that's on my to-do list. And I'd probably have to hire someone to mud and do the ceiling texture because I'm horrible at it. I've cut open walls with a sawzall and a drywall blade before without any problems. Is that not a preferred method?
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Aug 13, 2013 13:00
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I'd rather a sharp utility knife or a manual saw if I wasn't sure what was going on behind the wall and didn't want to throw dust everywhere.
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Aug 13, 2013 16:16
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stupid puma posted:Yeah, the lovely thing is I'd have to cut a long channel because I have no idea where the problem is, and this channel would include a ceiling which has a texture of some sort on it. It just seems like a bigger job than I'd like right now given all the other stuff that's on my to-do list. And I'd probably have to hire someone to mud and do the ceiling texture because I'm horrible at it. Maybe you could measure the temperature of the wall after the dryer has been running for a while to try and narrow down where the leak might be starting? If you bought a temperature gun it wouldn't be too labor intensive so it might be worth the effort. Edit: The fire department has cameras that do this. I can't imagine they would be too bothered about coming over because (based on talk earlier in the thread) a poorly vented dryer is a pretty dangerous thing. Corla Plankun fucked around with this message at 16:56 on Aug 13, 2013 |
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Aug 13, 2013 16:54
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stupid puma posted:I've cut open walls with a sawzall and a drywall blade before without any problems. Is that not a preferred method? Once you go rotozip you never go back.
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Aug 13, 2013 18:38
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That's a really good idea. I'll call my local fire dept and see what they say. Otherwise, I think my friend has access to an infrared thermometer.
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Aug 13, 2013 18:55
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Motronic posted:Once you go rotozip you never go back. I bought one second hand but never use it; just doesn't seem to have a suited task. If I want to cut a hole in drywall, I grab a jab saw. If I want to cut a hole in wood, I grab a jigsaw.
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Aug 13, 2013 20:10
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dwoloz posted:I bought one second hand but never use it; just doesn't seem to have a suited task. If I want to cut a hole in drywall, I grab a jab saw. If I want to cut a hole in wood, I grab a jigsaw. I bought one when I was putting low volt rings into a combo drywall and plaster/lathe building. I'm not sure what else I would have used on the plaster walls. Since then, it's just a useful go-to tool for that stuff. I suppose it depends on what you are doing and if you already have power around, but I'll sure as hell never jab saw another hole for a can in a ceiling again. Also, having "no brainer" depth control is quite useful.
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Aug 13, 2013 20:20
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