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I used the term "little" wrong, It needs to be 63" by 14". Do they have scrap that big generally? I don't really care about the price, to be honest, I just need something very specific and everyone seems to want me to build an entire kitchen.
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Dec 9, 2013 04:38
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Yeah, it's quite possible. Heck, sometimes they'll even have whole countertops that for some reason or other didn't get installed and they have nothing better to do with them than scrap. And if you find something used on craigslist (not at all uncommon) you can get an entire countertop for practically free and just cut off what you want. Out of curiosity, what exactly are you doing? There may be alternatives you haven't considered.
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Dec 9, 2013 04:42
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RaoulDuke12 posted:Is there a website that lets you specify dimensions and order a cut countertop or tabletop? Everywhere I've seen wants to come out a do estimates and stuff. Does your city have some kind of surplus store? In Canada there's a chain called ReStore that sells surplus building supplies, which is great when you got a small project and not a lot of cash.
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Dec 9, 2013 04:46
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Oh yeah, those are always good. We have them in the states, too. The last time I was at one, aside from all the other stuff, there was a rack with half a dozen whole countertops and several partial tops just chilling out. I think they're run by habitat for humanity. e: http://www.habitat.org/env/restores.aspx It's like if Home Depot and the Salvation Army had an awesome little baby.
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Dec 9, 2013 04:47
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BANME.sh posted:In Canada there's a chain called ReStore that sells surplus building supplies, which is great when you got a small project and not a lot of cash. Got them in the states too. They are run by Habitat for Humanity. I use them all the time.....I even bring my leftover piece parts (that last 3/4 roll of insulation you didn't need, etc) to them. They use whatever they need on their building projects and sell the rest (CHEAP!) to fund the things they need that were not donated. I'm rocking two $20 windows and a $30 window in my latest project/addition from a ReStore. One of them is a brand new, still under warranty Pella that was worth about $350. It was missing the lock. Pella sent me one for free because it was still under warranty when I called them to ask where to BUY the parts. The other two are 10-ish year old Andersens that are much nicer than the $120 budget ones you get at the box stores. They are used but removed very carefully including the nailers. The only thing missing are the screens, which I'm sure I'll find there on one of my trips as they are a common size (screens go for $5 on average). Can't beat it. Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:55 on Dec 9, 2013 |
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Dec 9, 2013 04:51
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RaoulDuke12 posted:I used the term "little" wrong, It needs to be 63" by 14". Do they have scrap that big generally? I don't really care about the price, to be honest, I just need something very specific and everyone seems to want me to build an entire kitchen. Every counter top store will have extra laying around. If you want stone you can get remnant super cheap, just call and ask if they have some and bring your measurements and tape and figure out what will work. When I remodeled the master bath I paid $5/sqft vs $40/sqft, plus you find a piece that you like and will work and only pay a small amount vs having to buy a whole slab. I got a piece 75"x24" for $72. It was a couple hundred to cut and polish (then a bunch more for the sinks since they are undermount) and all told installed it was $800. The place we used came out and laser measured after I installed the vanity as part of the install cost.
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Dec 9, 2013 05:02
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edit: ^^^ thanks I'll consider that too! And look into ReStore.Bad Munki posted:Yeah, it's quite possible. Heck, sometimes they'll even have whole countertops that for some reason or other didn't get installed and they have nothing better to do with them than scrap. And if you find something used on craigslist (not at all uncommon) you can get an entire countertop for practically free and just cut off what you want. Well, I just built this bar into a little inset in my apartment:  (Don't worry, it's not cock-eyed, I just hosed up the panorama.) And I wanted a countertop material to span the center section. The countertop material I ordered was 1 1/2" thick, which looks ridiculous, so I'm looking for something more like 1/2" thick. It's not a perfect rectangle, it's 14" deep and 63" wide, but there's a rounded edge in the back left corner that's 3 inches deep and two inches wide, so I'll have to be able to cut that piece out to make it fit. But It's apparently weird for people to want something so thin so I'm having trouble finding what I'm looking for. RaoulDuke12 fucked around with this message at 05:11 on Dec 9, 2013 |
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Dec 9, 2013 05:04
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Stone tiles would probably look good and might be almost exactly the right thickness. And you should be able to nip the corner off a few times with a saw to get a round curve for the back corner. Just draw the shape you want in sharpie and then take successive cuts off at various angles until you've matched it.
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Dec 9, 2013 05:17
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Tiles, like multiple tiles? Would I have to baseboard/mortar/grout or something?
RaoulDuke12 fucked around with this message at 09:27 on Dec 9, 2013 |
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Dec 9, 2013 06:04
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My countertops are about an inch and a half thick, but that included A 3/4 inch build up so they would sit flat on the IKEA cabinets and not block the drawers from extending. So the laminate portion of the countertops was actually only about 3/4 inch and the lip extended down the rest of the way, but only on front edge. Worth thinking about if your countertop store has a similar style.
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Dec 9, 2013 08:28
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Condensate pump questions: I just bought a house, and it has a nice new high efficiency gas furnace, but no condensate pump. Right now it drains condensate into a bucket, and I am basically the pump. So it seems easy enough to go buy a pump and hook it up, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything critical. 1) I don't know where to drain it. I think I have two options: I can run it out a nearby window to an area under the porch, and just let it drain outside, or I can run it over to the washing machine and tie it into the washing machine drain. Does it really matter which I choose? Is one option better than the other? 2) In both cases it will have to pump the water roughly to ceiling level before the tubing can run over where it needs to go. That is about 7 feet, and with the heat set low (60, still haven't fully moved in yet) it seems to only produce about 2 gallons of condensate a day (eyeballing how much ends up in the bucket each morning). In either case, the total tubing run length will be roughly 20'. I see statistics like "60 gallons per minute at 1 ft." and I assume that they pertain to this but I don't know how to translate them to my specifics.
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Dec 9, 2013 14:48
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armorer posted:Condensate pump questions: I just bought a house, and it has a nice new high efficiency gas furnace, but no condensate pump. Right now it drains condensate into a bucket, and I am basically the pump. So it seems easy enough to go buy a pump and hook it up, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything critical. I guess there's a plausible chance that it could freeze going outside, so my vote would be washing machine drain. This also seems like the tidier option. What you are looking for is something called head height-- this is the maximum height the pump can push water to, and it's not always linear. The pump manufacturer should have a graph that'll let you see exactly what performance to expect in your situation. I have no particular experience with this brand (and it seems oversized for your purpose), but this is the kind of data you want: http://www.plumbingsupply.com/zoeller-condensate-pumps.html
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Dec 9, 2013 15:42
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armorer posted:Condensate pump questions: I just bought a house, and it has a nice new high efficiency gas furnace, but no condensate pump. Right now it drains condensate into a bucket, and I am basically the pump. So it seems easy enough to go buy a pump and hook it up, but I want to make sure I'm not missing anything critical. 1.) It is not permissible to drain condensate into the sanitary sewer system. It needs to do into a sump pit or directly outside. 2.) That is nothing for a bog standard 1/30 HP condensate pump. (like this: http://www.amazon.com/Little-Giant-...condensate+pump) What you are missing is that the condensate pump will have two floats on it. One for turning the pump on/off and one slightly higher than that that is normally closed until the float lifts. This is there for you to wire into your furnace so it will turn off if the pump fails, preventing a mess of condensate all over the floor. You should find the red wire coming from your furnace to the thermostat. This should be disconnected from the furnace and attached to one leg of the overflow switch. The other leg of the switch goes to where the red wire used to go. This effectively shuts off the "call for heat" from the thermostat if the pump fails.
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Dec 9, 2013 17:12
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Awesome, thanks. I was worried about freezing outside as well, but maybe if the tubing doesn't extend too far outside and that section has a steep pitch it will be fine. I will be sure to wire up the shutoff switch as well.
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Dec 9, 2013 17:21
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armorer posted:Awesome, thanks. I was worried about freezing outside as well, but maybe if the tubing doesn't extend too far outside and that section has a steep pitch it will be fine. I will be sure to wire up the shutoff switch as well. You're right: all you need is a pitch on that section. It shouldn't be a big deal, and if it goes wrong you have the safety float to keep things from becoming a mess. Edit: remember to cut power to the furnace before messing with the control wiring. If you short something while working in a best case you blow a fuse on the board, worst case you blow the board and a transformer. Shutting the power off first removes this possibility.
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Dec 9, 2013 17:27
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RaoulDuke12 posted:edit: ^^^ thanks I'll consider that too! And look into ReStore. Generally slabs come in 2 or 3cm, which is roughly ¾" or 1¼". I'd absolutely call a local non chain place and see what they have available. How picky are you about color? The more open you are to different stones, the better your chances at finding something.
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Dec 9, 2013 20:56
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Motronic posted:1.) It is not permissible to drain condensate into the sanitary sewer system. It needs to do into a sump pit or directly outside. Most local codes allow draining condensate into nearby drains if there's an air gap. Of course, you would only need the pump if that "nearby drain" is actually higher than the condensate exit on the AC.
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Dec 10, 2013 05:46
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kid sinister posted:Most local codes allow draining condensate into nearby drains if there's an air gap. Of course, you would only need the pump if that "nearby drain" is actually higher than the condensate exit on the AC. While the reference codes may allow it, the overwhelming majority of municipalities do not allow this by ordinance for one simple reason: your sewer bill is derived from your metered water usage. This is assuming you are on public water and sewer. Try to pass a C of O with that kind of thing going on. It's on the punch list for nearly every inspector.
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Dec 10, 2013 05:49
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I am on public water and sewer, so I'll do it "the right way" and run it outside. It is an equally straightforward run of tubing either way, so it doesn't really matter to me.
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Dec 10, 2013 14:23
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Laminator posted:Hooooo, got the water running again. I haven't ever been in my crawlspace so I got to explore around in there, and when they re-did my house before I bought it it was plumbed with Pex. I got over to the sink area and was trying to figure out where the pipe was frozen, so I gently bent them to feel for stiffness and heard ice cracking. Water started flowing after that. I've also got a space heater running under the sink to keep the area warm. Having my own frozen pipe situation, except it doesn't seem like this apartment complex has crawlspace access...
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Dec 10, 2013 14:41
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armorer posted:I am on public water and sewer, so I'll do it "the right way" and run it outside. It is an equally straightforward run of tubing either way, so it doesn't really matter to me. Check with your city. My city, everyone's condensate drips/pumps into the basement floor drain and it's fine for code.
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Dec 10, 2013 17:16
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Good of place as any: Going to buy a chest freezer today and other than consumer reports I'm going in blind. Besides making sure it fits down my stairs any things to look for or avoid? 2 adult & 2 children. Main goal is to provide freezer space for vegetables, tomato sauce, stock, and other things from my garden. Vegetarians so no carcasses or anything.
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Dec 10, 2013 17:54
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XmasGiftFromWife posted:Good of place as any: Going to buy a chest freezer today and other than consumer reports I'm going in blind. Besides making sure it fits down my stairs any things to look for or avoid? 2 adult & 2 children. Main goal is to provide freezer space for vegetables, tomato sauce, stock, and other things from my garden. Vegetarians so no carcasses or anything. I'm in the same boat as you. Having trouble finding a frost free chest freezer though. Do they even exist?
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Dec 10, 2013 17:59
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A self defrosting chest freezer would be a sin against humanity. I certainly hope they don't exist.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:07
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Zhentar posted:A self defrosting chest freezer would be a sin against humanity. I certainly hope they don't exist. Why so?
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Dec 10, 2013 19:14
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Humidifier chat: Does anyone sell a whole-house console humidifier that works on somewhat of the same principle as the classic "pot of water on the stove?" My new apartment has one of those stupid high-efficiency forced hot air furnaces, and the side effect is that it's dropping the humidity in my apartment to ~7% if I don't tend to it. I want something that I can just dump a couple pitchers of water in each morning without loving around with awkwardly shaped water tanks or anything like that. Currently I'm boiling off about 4 gallons of water a day to keep my place at around 40% RH, and each morning when I wake up it's down to ~20%. corgski fucked around with this message at 19:17 on Dec 10, 2013 |
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Dec 10, 2013 19:15
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adorai posted:My wife and I are planning our flooring replacement for next year. Our desire is hardwood flooring throughout most of the main level. We were considering a 3/8 bamboo product or at least a prefinished flooring plank. The problem is that we have a dog who is generally good, but does occasionally have accidents inside the house. In light of this, I am concerned that a prefinished hardwood floor may not be ideal due to the possibility of his pee seeping between the planks. The good news is he is a 4 lb yorkie, so an accident for him is about 1oz of liquid. I also have a yorkie; they really can't hold their pee. I've trained mine to go on a puppy pad in a tupperware container when he can't hold it. Speaking from experience, bamboo is the worst for dog pee - the fibers soak it up and turn it an ugly black that won't come out because it's inside the wood.
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Dec 10, 2013 19:47
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Zhentar posted:A self defrosting chest freezer would be a sin against humanity. I certainly hope they don't exist. Why? The defrost/revovery cycle of a modern refrigerator/freezer doesn't use very much energy-- note the cooling cycle right after defrost ran a bit longer but nothing obscene.  They do exist, but as they're targeted commercial, you pay for the convenience. http://www.compactappliance.com/SCFF120-Summit-Frost-Free-Chest-Freezer/SCFF120.html
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Dec 10, 2013 20:00
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The defrosting causes the temperature to fluctuate further above 0 degrees more frequently, and reduces the humidity in the freezer. Both factors significantly increase the rate at which freezer burn occurs, making self defrosting freezers much worse for longer term food storage. Since that's exactly what people buy chest freezers for, it's not a very good "feature" for them. Also, chest freezers don't transfer as much air when you open them (since cold air sinks, it's happy to just sit there in the chest even with the door open), so they don't frost up as quickly. I went 5 years without defrosting mine and only had minor ice accumulation.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:01
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thelightguy posted:Humidifier chat: Either get a fancy steam whole house humidifier for $500-$1k installed, or get a bypass humidifier. Either require plumbing and duct work to install but once it's done its a hell of a lot more efficient and easier than boiling water on a pot (holy crap that's a waste of power). Whole house drum humidifiers are garbage.
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Dec 10, 2013 21:52
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Zhentar posted:The defrosting causes the temperature to fluctuate further above 0 degrees more frequently, and reduces the humidity in the freezer. Both factors significantly increase the rate at which freezer burn occurs, making self defrosting freezers much worse for longer term food storage. A properly-designed freezer with auto defrost should "flash defrost" just the coils and not raise the ambient temperature in the freezer above 0C, and the product should see even less change since it has thermal mass.  That being said-- yes, you will have more stability in a manual defrost freezer, and yes, the frost buildup in a chest should be *much* slower for the reasons you describe 
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Dec 10, 2013 22:07
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What if the chest freezer in the garage in a humid area? Our summers stay at 90% and above humidity. Will that cause it to frost up more quickly?
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Dec 10, 2013 22:11
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:What if the chest freezer in the garage in a humid area? Our summers stay at 90% and above humidity. Will that cause it to frost up more quickly? I haven't defrosted mine in 3 years and it's still fine. It's in a separate unconditioned building and it's plenty humid here. The worst I get is a few lines of ice buildup near the top cols which easily comes off by smacking it with your hand.
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Dec 10, 2013 22:15
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I've heard that running a chest freezer in your super-hot garage during the summer is an enormous energy black hole. Is that accurate?
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Dec 10, 2013 23:32
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canyoneer posted:I've heard that running a chest freezer in your super-hot garage during the summer is an enormous energy black hole. Is that accurate? Well, considering that the amount of heat outside is going to effect both the compressor's cooling capacity as well as the amount of thermal transfer......yeah, of course it's gonna cost more. If you want to be pedantic, this is offset to some extent by the fact that you aren't dumping the waste heat from the compressor into a space that you are air conditioning. In any case, it's not really all that expensive to run. Certainly less costly if you're using it "right" (i.e. filling it up when you can get deals or from things you've shot/grown/prepared).
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Dec 10, 2013 23:42
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I ran a 10+ year old chest freezer in 2 garages and a laundry room over several years living in Orlando and any extra electricity costs were more than offset by the ability to buy all my meats in bulk for cheap, and only have to do so roughly 3x a year. It was nondefrosting and the only place I ever had buildup was where the rubber gasket was damaged on the back, don't sweat it. I've seen people rub the sides with vaseline and other junk to help prevent it but a gentle, authoritative whacking with a meat tenderizer takes ice off easy.
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Dec 11, 2013 08:12
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Met posted:Having my own frozen pipe situation, except it doesn't seem like this apartment complex has crawlspace access... Didn't get any solutions, but after a night of drinking I came home to find one of the faucets that was unintentionally left in the 'on' position was blasting water. None of the pipes in the house seem to be frozen despite no significant rise in temperature or intervention from either me or my housemate. Problem solved! No doubt it was thanks to the drinking!
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Dec 11, 2013 10:13
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Why not get one of those stand up freezers? They look so much easier to organize your frozen stuff.
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Dec 11, 2013 14:43
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ShadowStalker posted:Why not get one of those stand up freezers? They look so much easier to organize your frozen stuff. They're not nearly as efficient. I think my 15 cubic foot chest freezer costs something like $10-$15 a year to operate.
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Dec 11, 2013 15:06
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Ahz posted:Either get a fancy steam whole house humidifier for $500-$1k installed, or get a bypass humidifier. Either require plumbing and duct work to install but once it's done its a hell of a lot more efficient and easier than boiling water on a pot (holy crap that's a waste of power). I'm in an apartment, I can't install poo poo. It has to be a freestanding console unit.
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Dec 11, 2013 15:24
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