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As I am in the process of removing the top layer of subfloor in my kitchen to prepare for installing tile, I found a problem. Right in front of one of the cabinets there is a floor hvac vent. Upon removing the cover of the vent I found that on the back edge of it where there is a gap between the cover and the Cabinet, there is no subfloor. Just an inch wide gap into the crawl space that is the length of the vent hole. It is not easy to get to that area of the house from the crawl space so I would prefer to fix it from the top if possible. Any suggestions?
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Jan 7, 2017 21:57
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Jan 7, 2017 23:10
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lol. Looking for something a bit more weatherproof tho.
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Jan 7, 2017 23:28
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Rubiks Pubes posted:As I am in the process of removing the top layer of subfloor in my kitchen to prepare for installing tile, I found a problem. Right in front of one of the cabinets there is a floor hvac vent. Upon removing the cover of the vent I found that on the back edge of it where there is a gap between the cover and the Cabinet, there is no subfloor. Just an inch wide gap into the crawl space that is the length of the vent hole. It is not easy to get to that area of the house from the crawl space so I would prefer to fix it from the top if possible. Any suggestions? How about a picture? Will this area need to support any weight? Nostalgic Cashew posted:I have a basement window, with a concrete casing. Part of it bowed out and cracked into two chips, and it looks like it might have been part of a previous repair, or possibly part of the installation of these windows. My question is how best to repair it. The pieces are still in good condition, and could theoretically be epoxied back into place, if that would be a reasonable fix. Or I could get new concrete and shape it into place – though it seems I’d need a form, as any added material would likely fall? See pics: You could glue it back into place if you want, assuming the pieces are in good condition. As for the house corner breaking off under the brick, it does look like someone tried to repoint that at some time in the past. The good news is that you don't need a form. They make special cement mixes that set faster than the material can ooze away, plus additives that help it adhere to the existing foundation. Get a cold chisel, a hammer, goggles, a wire brush, spray bottle with water, some waterproof gloves, some fast setting cement, a bottle of the bonding agent additive, a bucket to mix it in that you can throw away and a margin trowel. The problem with that fast setting cement is exactly that: it sets quickly. Don't mix up more than you can apply in 5-10 minutes. Because of that "5 minute size" and disposable problem, I've cut open a gallon milk jug and used the bottom before. Is it winter where you live? The temperature for your cement and additive needs to be within the range on the packaging for best results. Anyway, the steps. 1. put on goggles, use hammer and chisel to clear out the broken material 2. use the wire brush to clean the surface of flakes and pieces. Make sure to get in the corners. 3. wash out the area 4. remember you only have 5-10 minutes to work with this stuff. Mix and apply quickly, don't play with it 5. put on gloves, mix up your cement and bonding agent in the bucket with the trowel, follow their instructions 6. spray down the location if it dried up while you were mixing. You want it saturated, yet with no standing water 7. apply material in layers. Push down down the first layer. Also push it into the corners in the hole. Overfill slightly 8. clean off your trowel 9. in 5-10 minutes, use the trowel to mold and shape the area
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Jan 7, 2017 23:30
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Actually now that I think about it I can probably just cut a strip of plywood and watt act it to the new top layer of plywood that I am adding to the subfloor to fill that gap. It doesn't have to support weight just close the gap. I wasn't thinking with portals.
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Jan 8, 2017 00:38
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kid sinister posted:How about a picture? Will this area need to support any weight?
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Jan 8, 2017 03:03
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Anyone recommend a good sump pump kit for a basement laundry sink? I thought i could hook into my main cast iron drain but it looks like I'll need to come up and connect higher up where it's already PVC. Quoting myself since it got lost.
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Jan 8, 2017 14:05
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Jerk McJerkface posted:Quoting myself since it got lost. What's to stop you from cutting the cast iron off lower and extending the PVC down with a tee for your sink? Post a picture of this cast iron section. You may need to replace a clean out too. Talk you your city or county building inspector. He can tell you what is to code. You might need to add a vent too.
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Jan 8, 2017 19:20
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Both my furnace and thermostat (just bought a fancy new Lyric smart thermostat) have terminals and wiring available (3 spare conductors left on my thermostat cable) for 2-stage heating. It is only wired for 1 stage but I could easily program the Lyric for 2 stage and wire the W2 terminal on my furnace with a spare wire. Is there any advantage to this really? Or is single stage fine? My house is a fairly small 2bd/2ba bungalow so I'm not sure if I even need the 2nd stage. Edit: And I just realized there's an HVAC thread. Oh mang.
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Jan 8, 2017 22:21
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kid sinister posted:What's to stop you from cutting the cast iron off lower and extending the PVC down with a tee for your sink? Post a picture of this cast iron section. You may need to replace a clean out too. A friend that is a plumber looked at it and said it's probably not worth the hassle of cutting all the way off. I'll post a pic later. I'm not living there at the moment. EDIT: He works in a different state, so he's not sure of NJ code, but he was wondering if we can just vent the pump basin (Link: http://a.co/1lRpQjh) out the wall instead of going up to the plumbing vent. It's a little bit of a challenge connecting to that, so if that works, it'd be perfect. Super-NintendoUser fucked around with this message at 00:12 on Jan 9, 2017 |
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Jan 9, 2017 00:02
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I have a giant metal I-beam in my bar that I would like to utilize by putting shelves on it to display merchandise (Glassware, growlers, etc). I'm having difficulty finding instructions on how to build wooden shelves that will attach magnetically so that I can adjust them up and down. Any advice on how to do this?
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Jan 9, 2017 21:48
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raej posted:I have a giant metal I-beam in my bar that I would like to utilize by putting shelves on it to display merchandise (Glassware, growlers, etc). I'm having difficulty finding instructions on how to build wooden shelves that will attach magnetically so that I can adjust them up and down. Any advice on how to do this? Any magnets strong enough to hold up a shelf with heavy stuff on it will be hard to move or adjust later. I would use something like a beam clamp. They're normally meant for attaching electrical support equipment to I beams. Just mount the clamps and set your shelves on top. All you need to adjust the height would be a wrench and maybe a level. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 22:21 on Jan 9, 2017 |
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Jan 9, 2017 22:16
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Inclined to agree with Kid Sinister. The problem with magnets is that they're either always on (permanent magnets) and thus a bear to detach, or they're electromagnets and thus fall apart if you ever lose power. Is there a particular reason why you wanted to use magnets in this application?
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Jan 9, 2017 22:41
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If you're dead set on magnets, get yourself about ten of these cheap switchable magnetic bases: http://www.harborfreight.com/multipositional-magnetic-base-with-fine-adjustment-5645.html
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Jan 9, 2017 23:51
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I'm trying to replace my old style light switches with new decora z-wave switches and am having no luck. The old (2) switches are in a single plastic box, which has 4 sets of black and white wires coming in, the white neutrals are all clipped together, two of the blacks are clipped together and two run to each switch. The grounds are all clipped together. (not to the switches) First, I took the hot black and attached it to the black screw, and took the other black and hooked it to 'red'. Since the neutrals were all clipped together I left them alone. Re-energized the circuit and the switch didn't work. No locator LED either (it turns on when the switch is off) Second, I swapped the two blacks, same result Third, frustrated, I put the 'red' wire into the neutral. I got an LED light at this point, but the switch didn't work. At this point I undid the white neutral coming from the same bundle into the box as the hot black and white that in, and put 'red' back on 'red'. No joy. Between each step I shut off the breaker. The only thing I haven't messed with doing is attaching the ground (because they're banded together with some sort of metal, and they weren't attached to the old switch). Is that all there is? Did I kill the switch by miswiring it? Note: I left the other, older switch alone with the thinking that I would get one right, then do the other, it still works fine.
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Jan 10, 2017 08:25
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Nurbs posted:I'm trying to replace my old style light switches with new decora z-wave switches and am having no luck. First thing I would do is separate out all the black wires, re-energize the circuit, and figure out which ones are the line and the load. It's likely that only one of those is providing power, one is for the light (guessing the old switch was wired that way) and the other two are connected to the hot wire to power other downstream devices. Once you figure out what is what, there you can rewire your switches, keeping in mind that brass screws usually indicate hot and silver usually indicate neutral. Verify your cables are that way first, it's possible the neutrals could be energized from being miswired somewhere else. The switch should be grounded, or have a green screw for it. You can pigtail a small bit of wire to the bundle of grounds to achieve this. Being a powered device, it should also need a neutral wire (I'm assuming). Refer to the documentation on the switch.
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Jan 10, 2017 13:22
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Nurbs posted:I'm trying to replace my old style light switches with new decora z-wave switches and am having no luck. 4 romex cables coming in to that box: My suspicion is that one is the incoming power, two go to the lights, and the final one heads off to somewhere else. Look for two short black wires going from the nut to the switches, that'll be your hot, undo those from the big nut. the other black from each switch will probably go into the wall paired with a white that's part of that neutral bundle. That'll be the run to the fixture for each switch. undo those from the neutral bundle. At this point you will have two b/w pairs that go to the lights, and two pairs that are still wirenutted together. That's your 'source' line and neutral at which point you can follow the wiring instructions that came with the switch.
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Jan 10, 2017 19:00
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kid sinister posted:What's to stop you from cutting the cast iron off lower and extending the PVC down with a tee for your sink? Post a picture of this cast iron section. You may need to replace a clean out too. The issue is that the cast iron pipe has a curve in it that is a little too tall for the sink to meet up with it. So it's kind of tricky to cut into it. The drain isn't too much of a problem, I already have a cut off and plugged drain from where they removed a sump pump I can tie in to. The issue I'm running into now is venting the sump pump. The plumber noted that getting to the main vent stack is a challenge since it's running right against it right up against the floor. He said to just vent the pump box independently out the wall just go up and 90 right out, and if someone gave me a hassle just disconnect it. Figure that's easy enough. I can later cut the wall above the vent to give us a place to connect but I don't feel like doing that now. EDIT: I decided to do it right, and open up the kitchen wall to get to the vent stack. Seems like it's a much more solid solution and I can actually pass inspection. I don't mind doing a little drywall work, it's plaster, but I can just patch it with some dry wall, not a big deal. EDIT2: to keep beating a dead horse, I think I figured out what is the "pluming code" for NJ: This site: http://www.state.nj.us/dca/divisions/codes/codreg/ Links to this site: http://www.phccweb.org/Tools/content.cfm?ItemNumber=12450&RDtoken=11837&userID=50621&ewebToken={token}&Site=PHCC Which has all the code. Time to read up on it. I want to make sure I do it right and I can actual pull and pass permits. I want to do learn and do it all right. Super-NintendoUser fucked around with this message at 21:03 on Jan 11, 2017 |
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Jan 11, 2017 16:13
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In the house I just bought (which was a flip), they used grout for all the tiling in the two showers, including the corners. There is now a vertical crack all the way down the grout in all the corners. My understanding of what I should do is dremel out the grout, and then just get a silicone caulk and caulk the whole line down the corners, which will stretch and move as the house does and therefor not crack. Does that sound right?
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Jan 12, 2017 15:52
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One of my smoke detectors went off twice last night. Both times I couldn't smell any smoke, see anything, etc. Perhaps more importantly, neither could my dog. The first time I cancelled the alarm, waited a bit, then went back to bed; the second time, about two hours later, I just said "gently caress it" and took the detector upstairs, in the interests of salvaging as much sleep as possible. The detectors are less than a year old, and battery-operated (the 10-year lithium battery style). There's another detector just on the other side of a closed door that didn't go off. This detector is the closest to the kitchen (which was not in use) and the furnace return register (I didn't notice if the furnace was running). I probably should replace the furnace air filter, but other than that, can anyone think of other things to check on that could explain the alarms?
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Jan 12, 2017 15:56
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Are they smoke-only or smoke and carbon monoxide detectors?
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Jan 12, 2017 16:04
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The optical sensor can be triggered by dust or even condensation.
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Jan 12, 2017 16:11
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Flipperwaldt posted:The optical sensor can be triggered by dust or even condensation. I've needed to sweep up the downstairs for awhile, but I wouldn't think there'd be much that could kick dust up to the ceiling level. What kind of range does the detector have? It's near the stairs; I guess there could be some weird airflow pushing dust off of the stairs and near the detector? Condensation seems unlikely though; we did have rain overnight, but we've had much worse storms on prior days and nothing happened. Thanks for the insight though. NancyPants posted:Are they smoke-only or smoke and carbon monoxide detectors? Smoke only; I have separate CO detectors. I bought these basically on an "oh yeah, I need to replace my smoke detectors" whim at Costco. Looks like maybe I should have done some more product research. At the moment "you bought lovely detectors" seems to be the most likely explanation.
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Jan 12, 2017 16:31
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I've needed to sweep up the downstairs for awhile, but I wouldn't think there'd be much that could kick dust up to the ceiling level. What kind of range does the detector have? It's near the stairs; I guess there could be some weird airflow pushing dust off of the stairs and near the detector?
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Jan 12, 2017 17:12
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I bought these basically on an "oh yeah, I need to replace my smoke detectors" whim at Costco. Looks like maybe I should have done some more product research. At the moment "you bought lovely detectors" seems to be the most likely explanation. At least Costco has a near unlimited return policy. I bought 4 of these and haven't had a false alarm yet: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PC5SX98/ . This includes when the air was 50% plaster dust by volume.
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Jan 12, 2017 17:52
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Is it illegal to sell a smoke detector that isn't permanently tuned up to "light breeze detector" sensitivity or something? I'd immediately buy a new one if it had a snooze feature, a gradual (10-15 seconds?) ramp up on alarm volume and didn't go off when I cook two rooms away.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:00
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yippee cahier posted:Is it illegal to sell a smoke detector that isn't permanently tuned up to "light breeze detector" sensitivity or something? I'd immediately buy a new one if it had a snooze feature, a gradual (10-15 seconds?) ramp up on alarm volume and didn't go off when I cook two rooms away. I have nest smoke detectors, and they kind of do that. They have different levels of warnings, including a "The alarm is about to go off" announcement. Plus I can silence them from my phone.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:02
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Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:I have nest smoke detectors, and they kind of do that. They have different levels of warnings, including a "The alarm is about to go off" announcement. Plus I can silence them from my phone. The downside to that being that your spouse knows when you are cooking bacon even when they are across the world.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:06
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H110Hawk posted:At least Costco has a near unlimited return policy. I bought 4 of these and haven't had a false alarm yet: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00PC5SX98/ . This includes when the air was 50% plaster dust by volume. When I was looking at smoke detectors on Amazon, I couldn't find any that could be shipped to California, presumably due to regulations on shipping radioactive materials. Weirdly, that restriction appears to no longer be in effect! Awesome. Time to replace all my smoke detectors...again.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:15
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Well, smoke detectors are known to the state of California to cause cancer. Also the boxes they ship in.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:26
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yippee cahier posted:Is it illegal to sell a smoke detector that isn't permanently tuned up to "light breeze detector" sensitivity or something? I'd immediately buy a new one if it had a snooze feature, a gradual (10-15 seconds?) ramp up on alarm volume and didn't go off when I cook two rooms away. Get a photoelectric one (not ionizing or combination). I've not had issues since replacing my old kitchen one with one of these.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:38
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Elysium posted:In the house I just bought (which was a flip), they used grout for all the tiling in the two showers, including the corners. There is now a vertical crack all the way down the grout in all the corners. My understanding of what I should do is dremel out the grout, and then just get a silicone caulk and caulk the whole line down the corners, which will stretch and move as the house does and therefor not crack. Does that sound right? Quoting you because I have the same problem. Previous owner did the shoddiest tile work I have ever seen. I can't easily fix all the mis-spaced, uneven, not-level or flush tiles, but I can at least try to fix the cracked grout in the corners, and where tile meets tub and sink.
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Jan 12, 2017 18:53
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I have a tile shower and a fiancé with long hair that constantly clogs the sink. The normal drain catches I've used in tubs won't fit on this shower drain, because the circular drain is about twice the diameter of a standard tub drain. Plus since it's all tile around the drain, the circular traps with a silicone ring around them don't catch everything since the grout on the tile is lower than the tile itself. Any ideas or suggestions besides throwing draino down there (which I'd rather not since it's a rental and not my house).
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Jan 12, 2017 19:00
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You could shave your fiance
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Jan 12, 2017 19:01
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In my experience, draino/liquid plumber/etc don't really do much on actual hair anyhow, they just hope to remove the gunk caught on the hair so the whole lump can flow downstream, which is a hit or miss plan. If you're not going to do as suggested above, you may just have to resign yourself to getting one of those zipper things and sticking that down the drain every once in a while when it gets slow. They work fantastically well, and once you get used to it, you barely throw up in your mouth at all. Something like this, although there are a thousand variations: https://www.amazon.com/Cobra-Products-Drain-Cleaning-1-Pack/dp/B00OM31OOM/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1484245194&sr=8-8
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Jan 12, 2017 19:20
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Bad Munki posted:In my experience, draino/liquid plumber/etc don't really do much on actual hair anyhow, they just hope to remove the gunk caught on the hair so the whole lump can flow downstream, which is a hit or miss plan. If you're not going to do as suggested above, you may just have to resign yourself to getting one of those zipper things and sticking that down the drain every once in a while when it gets slow. They work fantastically well, and once you get used to it, you barely throw up in your mouth at all. Make sure you have two buckets handy when you use this: one to carry the dripping slime-infused hair pile you drag up from the depths of hell and one to blow lunch int Bad Munki posted:Nah, just the one. See, you yank the clog out and see the horrific, vile thing writhing under the light of day, then you gag and puke into the tub, which now drains fantastically well because you have just exorcised the evil within. Fuckin lol I just saw I replied to the wrong person AND you mentioned puking. Literally one of my least favorite home maintenance things to do... uwaeve fucked around with this message at 19:43 on Jan 12, 2017 |
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Jan 12, 2017 19:27
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Nah, just the one. See, you yank the clog out and see the horrific, vile thing writhing under the light of day, then you gag and puke into the tub, which now drains fantastically well because you have just exorcised the evil within.
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Jan 12, 2017 19:29
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Elysium posted:In the house I just bought (which was a flip), they used grout for all the tiling in the two showers, including the corners. There is now a vertical crack all the way down the grout in all the corners. My understanding of what I should do is dremel out the grout, and then just get a silicone caulk and caulk the whole line down the corners, which will stretch and move as the house does and therefor not crack. Does that sound right? Yes. Best practice is to use caulk at any change of plane unless you're super sure your walls won't move due to temp, moisture, etc.
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Jan 12, 2017 19:39
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sex swing from IKEA posted:I have a tile shower and a fiancé with long hair that constantly clogs the sink. The normal drain catches I've used in tubs won't fit on this shower drain, because the circular drain is about twice the diameter of a standard tub drain. Plus since it's all tile around the drain, the circular traps with a silicone ring around them don't catch everything since the grout on the tile is lower than the tile itself. https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OCEBMFM/ ? Also it is your landlords problem. Make them clean the drain. Ask them for a hair trap. Maybe buy one of those plastic hair snakes? https://smile.amazon.com/Drain-Snake-Northfall-Direct-cleaning/dp/B01G0US578/
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Jan 12, 2017 20:01
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H110Hawk posted:https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OCEBMFM/ ? Until you find out your landlord is actually worthless and cares not for contracts, decency, or common sense. In most places landlords will do the absolute bare minimum to continue to collect rent, and sometimes not even that. Usually much easier to fix it yourself even when it means money out of pocket or multiple trips to the hardware store.
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Jan 12, 2017 20:33
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