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ShadowStalker posted:If you are going to use engineered hardwood flooring, could you cut the hardwood along each edge at 45 degree angles and attach them to the box like you would molding? That was actually my first idea, but I'd need to buy a table saw to be able to do that...not that I'm against buying a table saw. I'll probably actually need the table saw anyway just to make sure I get an exact fit on the edge. I'm open to other ideas for finishing it too, I figured the flooring was an interesting idea though, especially since I can lay it vertically and draw the eyes upward to the 9'4" ceilings. That wouldn't work for the desk though as I'm just putting the wood on one side of it since the sides are already finished.
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Sep 3, 2013 21:28
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I have track lighting in my place and I bought five 50-watt equivalent LED lights to replace bulbs in the areas we use more frequently and I have run in to a strange problem. Three of the bulbs will turn on as soon as I flip the switch, but there are two bulbs that will not turn on unless I dim the track first. It doesn't seem to matter where I place the track head or which order they are in on the track, the lights will not turn on unless I turn the dimmer down first. Are the bulbs bad? They still light up, but I'd like them to turn on right away, instead of fighting with them. Do these bulbs have problems on track lighting? I can't find any useful information on google.
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Sep 3, 2013 23:54
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I am a relatively new homeowner who has no experience with stucco. There is a small section on the back corner of my house where it looks like the stucco is pulling away from the rest of the house. Here you can see the separated stucco, with a gap between it and the rest of the wall. The part that is lifted away should be flush with the corner.  A slightly different view of the same.  This is the upper edge, where you can see a crack in the stucco leading down into the separation.  How big of a deal is this, can I expect to be able to fix it myself, and if so or not, how much will it run me?
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Sep 4, 2013 01:16
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Rockcity, why not just miter the aluminum angle.
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Sep 4, 2013 01:22
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Hello goons, I need someone to teach my about mowing my lawn  I've just moved into my first-ever house with a yard and since there's been a lot of rain in the 6 weeks since I moved in the grass has gotten more and more overgrown to the point where I need to do something about it and stop ignoring it. The problem is I've never mown a lawn or had to look after a garden so I have no tools and am not sure what I need to start with. First, this is what I've got to deal with:
So I've been looking at the local hardware store's website and figured I probably need these things:
Now my questions are:
Something else is that I live in Australia so I will be buying all my gardening stuff from this store so brand names and details may vary slightly from what you have in your part of the world. Also, if there's a more appropriate gardening / yardwork megathread please let me know. Thanks, goons.
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Sep 4, 2013 01:54
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wormil posted:Rockcity, why not just miter the aluminum angle. Do you think you could get it even enough that it would look good? That was mostly what I was worried about, especially since the corner goes out, not in, so it needs to be pretty much perfectly flush to look right.
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Sep 4, 2013 02:23
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cyberia posted:
Also since your grass sounds very high the first time you mow it do it at the highest level the mower has, then run it through again at a lower level around where you actually want the grass. You may struggle a bit in that the electric mowers typically don't have as much power as the gas, but once you make it through the first time you should be okay. Don't cut it super lower, especially in a hot summer - the grass can be damaged. You'll have to cut it a little more often though. Edit: Reading is hard. Grifter fucked around with this message at 03:38 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 03:29
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Grifter posted:I am not enough of an expert to tackle all your questions but I do have a few comments. The first one is why are you going with electric over a gas mower? Second, you shouldn't worry so much about the "right" way to mow. Unless you're going for a really extreme golf course type look most any method of mowing will be fine. If you are using an attachment to point the cut grass somewhere rather than using a bag, make sure to point that inward rather than outward and that's about it. Thanks for your input. I'm looking at an electric mower because it's cheaper, quieter and also less intimidating for a non-handy person like myself. Also because the lawn is quite small and I'm probably only going to be mowing it once every other week or two I don't really want to have to mess around with petrol and oil and stuff. However while the lawn isn't huge it's definitely too big to use a manual push-mower (mostly because I'm lazy) so a cordless electric mower seemed like a good starting point. I'm not so worried about getting a golf-course perfect lawn as much as I've literally never lived in a house with a lawn (even as a kid) so I wanted to make sure I'm not overlooking any seemingly obvious steps in the mowing process. And I'll keep in mind the multiple-mow method with the height of the blades. That would probably alleviate my need for a line-trimmer, too? Unless I'm going to need a line-trimmer to clear all the damned clover out of my garden beds.
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Sep 4, 2013 03:42
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Line trimmers aren't so much for varying height as they are mowing up against stuff and getting around trees and what have you. You just can't get close enough with a mower. They're extremely useful and you can get a reasonable one for under $100. There are also attachments you can add to them for edging along sidewalks. As for the electric vs. gas, I'd also lean toward a gas mower. Most electric ones are pretty weak and if you've got a thick lawn it could get bogged down if you're giving it more than a trim. I'd expect an electric to really struggle getting through the grass you're describing right now. Gas mowers are far from complicated and modern gas powered lawn mower motors are pretty rock solid. They need pretty much zero maintenance. I haven't had to touch the oil in mine for the 4 years I've owned it. The only thing I've had to do to maintain it is sharpen the blade which you'd also have to do on an electric. Also are you sure you only have to mow every other week or two? I'm not sure how fast grass grows there, but my lawn grows fast enough in the summer that I have to mow about every 4-5 days to keep it under control.
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Sep 4, 2013 03:57
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cyberia posted:Thanks for your input. I'm looking at an electric mower because it's cheaper, quieter and also less intimidating for a non-handy person like myself. Also because the lawn is quite small and I'm probably only going to be mowing it once every other week or two I don't really want to have to mess around with petrol and oil and stuff. However while the lawn isn't huge it's definitely too big to use a manual push-mower (mostly because I'm lazy) so a cordless electric mower seemed like a good starting point. quote:I'm not so worried about getting a golf-course perfect lawn as much as I've literally never lived in a house with a lawn (even as a kid) so I wanted to make sure I'm not overlooking any seemingly obvious steps in the mowing process. quote:And I'll keep in mind the multiple-mow method with the height of the blades. That would probably alleviate my need for a line-trimmer, too? Unless I'm going to need a line-trimmer to clear all the damned clover out of my garden beds.
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Sep 4, 2013 04:01
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rockcity posted:There are also attachments you can add to them for edging along sidewalks. I just turn mine on its side. As for them not being complicated, you've obviously never rebuilt a carburetor before. Then there's the issue of gas in the tank developing a skin of shellac over the winter if you don't use some stabilizer.
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Sep 4, 2013 04:03
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rockcity posted:Do you think you could get it even enough that it would look good? I would try cutting a V notch and bending so that you have continuous metal around the outside. If it's going out then the miters will be hidden in the back anyway. 
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Sep 4, 2013 04:24
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rockcity posted:Line trimmers aren't so much for varying height as they are mowing up against stuff and getting around trees and what have you. You just can't get close enough with a mower. They're extremely useful and you can get a reasonable one for under $100. There are also attachments you can add to them for edging along sidewalks. Yeah, I think I'll probably need a line trimmer for the front yard as there's a tree with clover and grass all around on a sort-of circular piece of ground so a mower probably wouldn't be super effective at getting right up against the base of the tree. For doing the edges of the lawn itself I was just going to get a starwheel edger which is literally a broom handle with a circular sawblade on the end that you run along the ground but I guess if I can get a line trimmer with an edging attachment that'd probably be more effective. quote:As for the electric vs. gas, I'd also lean toward a gas mower. Grifter posted:This sounds a little backwards to me - usually with a comparable gas and electric mower the gas one will be cheaper. The cheapest petrol mower at my local hardware store is AUD300, the cheapest cordless is AUD349 so they're close enough in price that it'll come down to which is most useful. I guess I'll have to talk to someone at the hardware store about what sort of maintenance a cheap petrol mower requires and how easy they are to operate. I think I'm biased from childhood experiences of watching my grandpa struggle with his mower (which was probably already old as gently caress 20 years ago when he used it) and how loud it was / how bad it smelled when he used it but surely in tyool 2013 petrol mowers must be slightly more user friendly. quote:The main thing to be wary of is debris. You should sweep any area you are going to cut thoroughly, looking for large stones or big sticks that could damage the mower when you run over them. This is good advice, thanks. I'll definitely give the ground a sweep before I mow. quote:Also are you sure you only have to mow every other week or two? I'm not sure how fast grass grows there, but my lawn grows fast enough in the summer that I have to mow about every 4-5 days to keep it under control. In Summer it tends to get very hot and there's not a lot of rain so I'm assuming the grass won't grow as fast as it does in Winter / Spring when it's raining 3 or 4 days a week but I won't really know until it happens. So what I've got so far is that i need to sweep the lawn of large debris before I mow. I probably need to talk to someone at the hardware store about petrol-powered mowers and whether or not a line trimmer is appropriate for my needs. Now the only thing I need to find out is how to combat all the clover in the garden beds. Eventually I'd like to plant some herbs and flowers so what should I do with the clover? Mow it? Try and rip it out?
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Sep 4, 2013 04:26
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Help me Hax0r my Washing Machine Ok SA, here's a nice little electrical puzzle for you: I have a top loading washing machine that has a door lock "feature". The mechanism which locks the door has since been removed, and the wires leading to the mechanism cut. The mechanism has four wires leading to it, hereby referred to by their colors: White (W), Yellow (Y), Blue (B) and Red (R). The door-lock mechanism featured a solenoid, which I presume runs on 120-VAC. I've carefully measured the AC voltages between each pair of wires with the machine plugged in, and the results are as follows: Y-B: 6.3 Y-R: 5.6 Y-W: 35 B-R: 6.1 B-W: 115 R-W: 115 I've tried tying together every above combination except for BW and RW, as these seem dangerous, and there have been no results. The only note is when I hooked up my multimeter to the R-W combination, the 'Door Lock' light flashed and then went away. So, any suggestions for how to proceed? Perhaps my next step could be to try to hook up the solenoid between the higher-voltage pairs. It seems as if it is going to be harder to fool this washer than I expected, but it will be done! Backstory My washing machine is a 'new' and 'smart' washing machine. It doesn't have a knob for the water level, but rather it 'senses'.... something, and determines how much water to use, in theory using less water and killing fewer dolphins. It also has a wonderful and completely necessary feature, the door lock. Mind you it's a top loading washer, so the door lock doesn't seem to keep any water from spilling on the floor if the washer is suddenly opened mid cycle. I'm not entirely sure why it was there, must have had to do with the 'sensing'. Anyhow, I washed some T-shirts a couple of weeks ago, and my smart new washing machine said they were done, except they were soaking wet. I set it to 'spin cycle', but all it could manage was to lock the door, flash its 'sensing' light, make some clunky noises, and then present me with my equally wet shirts. At some point it decided that the door should stay locked, despite my unplugging it, so I said, "gently caress you, these are my shirts, I'll take them back now," and I pried the door open. Of course, this broke the locking mechanism, which I soon found out is worth precisely the monetary value of the entire washer. At this point when I pressed the start button it would try to lock the door, fail, and proceed to not wash any clothes at all. In my frustration I removed the locking mechanism and ripped it open, and in my hurry I forgot to unplug the drat thing first. Sparks flew (it seems that the B-W combination was activated, judging by the burn marks on the contacts), and power to my whole house was lost. The silver lining is that losing power caused me to open my breaker box, and then my fuse box, and to realize how freaking dangerous the whole electrical setup was. Now the landlady is going to hire people to install electrical hardware that is less than 100 years old. But she still doesn't know what I did to her washer 
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Sep 4, 2013 04:54
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wormil posted:I would try cutting a V notch and bending so that you have continuous metal around the outside. If it's going out then the miters will be hidden in the back anyway. Wow, I would have never though of that, that's pretty interesting. The miters would still be visible as the cut seam would be facing forward in the room, but it's one less seem to worry about. What would be the best way to get a good crisp bend to it? The tough thing would be that to get it to be one piece it would need to be about 11 feet long. I know you can get them that long, but I'd have a hard time getting something that long home.
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Sep 4, 2013 05:01
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NoSoup4U posted:washing machine Is your washing machine red or blue? E: But seriously you need to post the make and model if you want any form of helpful advice. corgski fucked around with this message at 05:10 on Sep 4, 2013 |
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Sep 4, 2013 05:05
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rockcity posted:Wow, I would have never though of that, that's pretty interesting. The miters would still be visible as the cut seam would be facing forward in the room, but it's one less seem to worry about. What would be the best way to get a good crisp bend to it? The tough thing would be that to get it to be one piece it would need to be about 11 feet long. I know you can get them that long, but I'd have a hard time getting something that long home. Aluminum is soft, shouldn't be difficult to bend but you might want to buy an extra piece and experiment.
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Sep 4, 2013 05:52
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cyberia posted:Lawn Stuff As long as your lawn is small enough for a battery powered mower to not require a charge halfway through, I say go for the electric mower. The mower should say on it how much area it covers without a charge Also, I would hold off on getting a line trimmer for now personally. I would mow the lawn and get some hedge shears (which you will probably need anyway) and get the grass around the tree by hand. If the edge of the lawn not being perfect bothers you then you can decide if you want an electric edger/line trimmer combo, or just a hand tool. And for the clover, it sounds like it isn't a huge area. I would probably just use a rake and a shovel and pull it by hand like it was weeds.
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Sep 4, 2013 13:54
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Deadite posted:I have track lighting in my place and I bought five 50-watt equivalent LED lights to replace bulbs in the areas we use more frequently and I have run in to a strange problem. Three of the bulbs will turn on as soon as I flip the switch, but there are two bulbs that will not turn on unless I dim the track first. It doesn't seem to matter where I place the track head or which order they are in on the track, the lights will not turn on unless I turn the dimmer down first. Do you have an "LED compatible" dimmer? I've had mixed experiences with the older rotary dimmers and "dimmer-compatible" bulbs, even the name-brand Phillips ones (which I've had do something close to what you're experiencing). If you do have a digital dimmer, you can set the high and low brightnesses which should let you find a point where they all turn on properly. The only "just works" bulb I've ever used is the new Cree A-style bulb that home depot sells.
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Sep 4, 2013 15:06
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thelightguy posted:Is your washing machine red or blue? Also, the door lock on top load washers is to protect stupid people from sticking their hands in mid-wash and getting them tangled and ripped off. The newer HE models (as you describe) spin at 5000+ rpm during the spin cycle. Yes, people are stupid and need protection from themselves.
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Sep 4, 2013 17:32
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Goober Peas posted:Also, the door lock on top load washers is to protect stupid people from sticking their hands in mid-wash and getting them tangled and ripped off. Well it's ironic then, that this stupid person almost burned his house down on account of the door lock. It's a Maytag Centennial. http://www.maytag.com/-[MVWC400XW]-1101156/MVWC400XW/
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Sep 5, 2013 03:03
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I haven't poo poo up the thread in the past with thanks posts, so thanks guys. My pipe strap shower head works great.  Now my quick question of today: I have a space in my tiny apartment kitchen that currently has a useless table that holds a microwave and collects litter. I want to replace that with a counter top extension. I'm thinking a counter top would be easy enough to get the right size, but I don't want to put a cabinet underneath it. Is there some steel pipe legs or something you can get to make a counter-top "table"? Ideally I'd like to make it the same height, sturdy but movable, and have pots/pans hang in the space underneath. Any suggestions?
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Sep 5, 2013 03:51
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I've been looking at something like these to make a kitchen table. Maybe they would work for a countertop? http://www.hairpinlegs.com/
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Sep 5, 2013 04:33
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Backov posted:I haven't poo poo up the thread in the past with thanks posts, so thanks guys. My pipe strap shower head works great. Look for movable islands. A butcherblock top with open space and casters on the legs.
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Sep 5, 2013 13:23
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XmasGiftFromWife posted:Look for movable islands. A butcherblock top with open space and casters on the legs. I was just going to post that. They make exactly what you're looking for and they're on lockable caster wheels. You just need to find one that is the right height.
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Sep 5, 2013 13:43
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ShadowStalker posted:I'm assuming you have plywood on top of the floor joists that you are attaching the hardwood floor to? If so, it doesn't matter which way the flooring runs as the plywood will distribute the weight to the joists. Yea there is a subfloor down. Maybe going perpendicular is more of a rule with dealing with floating floors, we did laminate in another bedroom and did perpendicular to the joists.
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Sep 5, 2013 13:57
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How do I get this leftover carpet out from under this wall? There's a shower on the other side of the wall so I don't want to try taking the wall down. Also the edge of the wet floor in the first picture runs under the wall. How do I go about replacing it?  
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Sep 5, 2013 15:43
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rockcity posted:I was just going to post that. They make exactly what you're looking for and they're on lockable caster wheels. You just need to find one that is the right height. Not just that - it also needs to be the right dimensions. Most of the movable islands I've seen are crap, small and very pricey.
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Sep 5, 2013 17:17
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Account_Username posted:How do I get this leftover carpet out from under this wall? What floor? Whats beneath it? I would suspect first that the shower is leaking or otherwise identify the source of moisture.
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Sep 5, 2013 18:05
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Account_Username posted:How do I get this leftover carpet out from under this wall? There's a shower on the other side of the wall so I don't want to try taking the wall down. Also the edge of the wet floor in the first picture runs under the wall. How do I go about replacing it? You won't be able to get the carpet or flooring out from under the wall without lifting, moving or removing the wall.
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Sep 5, 2013 18:44
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That's a crappy contractor that doesn't take the 20 minutes to remove a chunk of carpeting to properly secure a wall to the subfloor. With the wetness, I'd want to inspect it more to determine the cause. That's not normal.
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Sep 5, 2013 19:22
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Grifter posted:Huge stucco pics. Man, stucco is a pain. If you don't deal with it, it'll eventually come down. It's not bonded properly. The problem is that stucco doesn't mend well. You can patch it, but you'll always see the patch there. A few years ago I came across these special screws. They were basically masonry screws with a really wide, thin washer around the pan head. The wash was about the size of a silver dollar. Anyway, the idea was you could drill through the stucco and the screw and washer would hold it in place. I never had a chance to use them, and I haven't seen them since. So, your best best is going to be to chip away the bad stuff and patch in the good stuff. IT's well within the ability of an average DIYer, but you'll need patience, and you better be the type to follow directions. You'll also need a lot of cooperation from the weather. A real pro can get a patch to about 99% perfect, so you should go into it expecting to always have the patch be visible.
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Sep 5, 2013 19:38
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dreesemonkey posted:Yea there is a subfloor down. Maybe going perpendicular is more of a rule with dealing with floating floors, we did laminate in another bedroom and did perpendicular to the joists. You're both right. The truth is that these days running flooring perpendicular to the joists isn't as much of a necessity as it used to be. The stability of modern engineered lumbers means you're probably safe either way, but it's still a good idea, of aesthetics allow, to run them perpendicular if you can.
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Sep 5, 2013 19:42
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Backov posted:I haven't poo poo up the thread in the past with thanks posts, so thanks guys. My pipe strap shower head works great. Requests like this are pretty common here, it seems. Most folks get referred to ikea and seem pretty happy with the options on that website. If space is limited though, and you're feeling ambitious, maybe consider going super fancy, and putting the counter addition on hinges, so it can fold away when not in use? It's your kitchen, but my first few workshops were really small, and I used tricks like that to maximize space all the time. Just came across some folding table legs here. Not the most stylish, but maybe they'll inspire you. Killing Flies fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Sep 5, 2013 |
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Sep 5, 2013 19:46
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Anybody know of a good website/resource I could check out for getting started working with sheet metal? I'd like to see if I can eventually start making up my own ductwork for some modifications I am trying to do to the air distribution in my house. Things like rectangular plenum adapters and such. I've done some googling but it doesn't seem like there is much available as far as detailed instructions go for free, so I am probably looking at buying a book or something if such a thing exists. There are plenty of tin shops around I could probably have do it for me, but I think it would be fun to learn to do it myself if at all possible.
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Sep 6, 2013 00:44
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Qwijib0 posted:Do you have an "LED compatible" dimmer? I've had mixed experiences with the older rotary dimmers and "dimmer-compatible" bulbs, even the name-brand Phillips ones (which I've had do something close to what you're experiencing). If you do have a digital dimmer, you can set the high and low brightnesses which should let you find a point where they all turn on properly. The only "just works" bulb I've ever used is the new Cree A-style bulb that home depot sells. I don't have a digital dimmer, so I just turn down the dial to the point where the LED bulb turns on and then I turn it back up to full strength. Once the bulb is on everything works fine, but finding the sweet spot of dimness when it will switch on is tricky. It might be a problem with the track head and not the bulb. A clerk at a local lighting store told me that the LED bulbs draw so little power that the fixture can't power them, but I don't know anything about electricity to figure out what to do. It might just be a problem with these two bulbs though, as the other three work fine. They're philips and have a three year warranty, but I threw the box out like an idiot.
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Sep 6, 2013 01:26
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I'm putting together a desk - I have a filing cabinet and a leg that are the same height. I'm looking for a desk-appropriate piece of wood that's 30" x 40". What's the best solution to find a "custom" sized piece of wood like this?
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Sep 6, 2013 01:27
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Zyme posted:Anybody know of a good website/resource I could check out for getting started working with sheet metal? I'd like to see if I can eventually start making up my own ductwork for some modifications I am trying to do to the air distribution in my house. Things like rectangular plenum adapters and such. I've done some googling but it doesn't seem like there is much available as far as detailed instructions go for free, so I am probably looking at buying a book or something if such a thing exists. There are plenty of tin shops around I could probably have do it for me, but I think it would be fun to learn to do it myself if at all possible. Depending on your tolerances and overall design it may be far far easier and cheaper to have a local hvac shop do it. If you dont have a way to achieve perfect bends and cut to size you will have more problems that are difficult to solve. Take a look online to see if any premade solutions exist otherwise call a sheet metal shop and ask them about cost and provide your dimensions. I think the cost of tools is going to put the project out of your league.
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Sep 6, 2013 01:36
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No Wave posted:I'm putting together a desk - I have a filing cabinet and a leg that are the same height. I'm looking for a desk-appropriate piece of wood that's 30" x 40". What's the best solution to find a "custom" sized piece of wood like this? A door! I have made 3 different desks out of doors. Where I used to live, there was a habitat for humanity outlet that had a ton of doors of varying quality. If you get one with a pre-cut hole for a knob, you've got a nice place to thread your cables through.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:00
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Corla Plankun posted:A door! I have made 3 different desks out of doors. Where I used to live, there was a habitat for humanity outlet that had a ton of doors of varying quality. If you get one with a pre-cut hole for a knob, you've got a nice place to thread your cables through.
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Sep 6, 2013 02:10
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