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TheManWithNoName posted:Anyone else putting heat tape on their roof this winter? I don’t want ice dams again. Last year I was pouring boiling water down the gutters while standing on a ladder. Insulating/air sealing your attic is a better option.
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Oct 25, 2017 00:37
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whalesteak posted:"Whole house humidifier" will give you good search results. This one from amazon seems to have good reviews- https://www.amazon.com/URPOWER-Humidifier-Whisper-quiet-Ultrasonic-Adjustable/dp/B01M4O49V9/ but I couldn't vouch for the brand or anything. thanks. this one seems to be just what i need. we’ll see!
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Oct 25, 2017 04:23
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devicenull posted:Insulating/air sealing your attic is a better option. On the list to do (starter home contractor minimum insulation up there) but $$$.
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Oct 25, 2017 15:16
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OK so I just found out the house I'm buying has a polycarbonate roof on the extension. When the building survey said 'poor insulation' I thought more 'not as well insulated as the rest of the house' as opposed to a direct venting to the cold void of space. This is what it looks like:  I'm already getting the info on the planning permissions and building regulations to make sure it's all legal - but in the meantime what are my options? I can't speak authoritatively but it looks to me like the polycarbonate is thick enough to be twin or thin triple-wall. With a concrete pad and tiled floor, I'm suddenly realising this room is going to be cold as gently caress for the six months of drizzle and damp we call winter in the UK. Any thoughts?
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Oct 28, 2017 06:51
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Fitted thermal blinds? Other than new window units you've not a lot of options.
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Oct 28, 2017 08:21
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Do you mean thermal blinds on the roof itself, or the separating portals? It looks like the front and rear walls of the extension are single-course bricks (if you look at the window sill behind that round table, you can see the thickness of the wall) - would that be strong enough to hold double-glazed panels?
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Oct 28, 2017 08:33
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You can insulate/cover windows with bubble wrap, and use an electric carpet under the dining table. Condensation is the real enemy.
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Oct 28, 2017 12:41
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Southern Heel posted:Do you mean thermal blinds on the roof itself, or the separating portals? On the roof windows themselves. The wall will be strong enough to support the weight of the windows but oh jeez. If that's truly single brick construction you're going to lose so much loving heat through the walls. Right, interior insulation loses you internal space but is mechanically quite simple, just batten off the wall, insulate the gap and fit good thick plasterboard over that. Exterior insulation is a lot harder as it need to be weather proof, but is basically: stick eps sheets to the wall, render over them. Good luck whatever you decide to do.
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Oct 28, 2017 13:42
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It's a wet, cold environment. If you insulate the interior and prevent heat from reaching the wall, water that penetrates the brick and mortar during the day will crystallize at night, and walls that have stood solid for decades can crumble away in several seasons. See also: "Why I have not insulated the wall cavities of my 1920s home and at times curse the fact that I did not build new."
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Oct 28, 2017 15:00
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This is why I don't build houses, good point.
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Oct 28, 2017 20:20
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Only the end walls are single thickness - the long wall (on which the roof rests) is double thicknesss because it's a shared boundary wall. I will be getting the official details from the vendor's solicitors tomorrow. I think what they've done, is build it without planning permission as a "conservatory", then removed the intermediate doors and added the radiator in there (which make it cease to be a conservatory and end up being a non-compliant house extension until that is rectified). I think if it's not wholly illegal then my next course of action is to get some money off the house price, and put some rails and heavy curtains over the portals. In terms of a more long term solution, would be to obtain planning permission for a change of use to a livable area if I could keep glass/polycarbonate roofing, and then the subsequent work to rebuild the end walls as 9" thick ones (~£2000?). I know that the house a few doors down has done something very similar - so it might be worth just copying their layout (they have removed the intermediate wall entirely) at that point in time.
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Oct 29, 2017 11:16
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I only realized just now that the refrigerator is so far away from the cooking surfaces, which is a pain. If you can open up the floorplan to consolidate the kitchen appliances, great. If that long wall is a shared wall, it's not going to be a heating issue since presumably the entire wall will equilibrate based on your inside temperature, the neighbor's inside temperature, with some decrease due to thermal bridging with the brick of the side walls. So no insulation should be necessary there. Make extra sure that the roof at the junction of your house and your neighbor's is nice and tight, though, you don't want those bricks getting saturated when it rains. That's just scuffing and not a water spot near the table and chairs, right? I honestly would not rebuild the side walls, to be honest. Like I mentioned before, if you get seasons where it freezes overnight, you could end up destroying the outside brick if you cut off the house's heat from going through the wall cavity, though you might just get condensation in the walls which also is suboptimal. Your heat losses through the glass door and that relatively large window will minimize any gains you could make. I'd take the money you'd spend on rebuilding the outside walls and put it toward knocking down the partition and renovating the kitchen; then if you could stand to lose a little bit of room height you could put a radiant floor in to minimize how cold the room feels.
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Oct 29, 2017 16:00
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Good calls all around. The neighbours a few doors down have opened up the kitchen and I believe used standard housing construction (as opposed to conservatory construction) and turned the whole wall with the sink/back door into folding glass doors. I guess because they wouldn't have been able to use glass/poly roofing if they were looking too extend the kitchen as opposed to just adding an conservatory. Lastly, I don't think I'll be able to knock that wall down until I can legally make that part of the house livable (instead of an conservatory) - because if so I would need to adhere to regulations which mandate wall thickness, wall underpinning/etc. that these guys haven't done. Either way I very much appreciate your thoughts. I'm not sure I understand why fully rebuilt walls would be a risk of damaging outside brick? Why would they be at any more risk than any other wall in the house?
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Oct 29, 2017 16:16
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They wouldn't? I'd definitely spring for decent triple glazed roof window units though, as that'll be your main source of great loss after fixing the single brick walls.
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Oct 29, 2017 18:07
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That insane roof will definitely loose more heat than the walls. One way to correct the walls could be to add insulation on the outside of the walls.
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Oct 30, 2017 10:39
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Kitchen sink update: builder buddy came out to check the leaky faucet head, and was impressed by the lack of hot water. First we'll put on a new faucet, hopefully with the extending hose thing, and see if that improves thermal mixing. If not, then we'll need a guy under the house to check the pipes 
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Nov 2, 2017 08:06
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Looking to put up some attachment points in the garage for my wife's workout stuff. TRX bands and the like. Is it safe to sink two big eyebolts through these beams? It was originally at the back of the garage, but they added an addition decades ago. It's 3 beams together. Ideally I'd just put the bolts on either side of my hangboard (which is just screwed into beam #1. Above it is a small room with a desk and a shitload of lego. Pics https://imgur.com/a/E62Gg
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Nov 3, 2017 04:14
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It seems that an "indemnity policy" might be on the cards for this strange extension - basically, get that and leave it as it is - and then when it comes down the line to more significant structural work in the kitchen (i.e. opening up that wall) then get planning permissions to make the whole area livable and block out the roof/walls properly in a single fell swoop a few years from now. The only question I have is, how much should I ask to be taken off the house price?
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Nov 3, 2017 07:39
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Southern Heel posted:It seems that an "indemnity policy" might be on the cards for this strange extension - basically, get that and leave it as it is - and then when it comes down the line to more significant structural work in the kitchen (i.e. opening up that wall) then get planning permissions to make the whole area livable and block out the roof/walls properly in a single fell swoop a few years from now. Depends on asking price, cost to rectify properly, house value after rectifying etc etc. As it's not currently "right" it needs either the interior walls/doors putting back or the extension bringing up to standard, those are your immediate costs/bargaining points. What you do with the saving and when is up to you.
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Nov 3, 2017 09:16
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pbpancho posted:Looking to put up some attachment points in the garage for my wife's workout stuff. TRX bands and the like. Is it safe to sink two big eyebolts through these beams? It was originally at the back of the garage, but they added an addition decades ago. It's 3 beams together. Ideally I'd just put the bolts on either side of my hangboard (which is just screwed into beam #1. Above it is a small room with a desk and a shitload of lego. You're just looking to hang up some equipment right? You'll be fine unless the plan is to hang like 1,000 lbs. of stuff.
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Nov 3, 2017 13:17
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Bird in a Blender posted:You're just looking to hang up some equipment right? You'll be fine unless the plan is to hang like 1,000 lbs. of stuff. Yep, luckily my wife is well under 1,000lbs  I was 99% sure it was ok, just didn't want to end up in the Crappy Construction thread down the road...
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Nov 3, 2017 16:22
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Quick plumbing question... I've lived in my super old house for about 18 months. My only bathroom is upstairs, and it almost never completely flushes properly. I bought a toilet auger thinking maybe there was a partial plug, but didn't really get anything out with it - maybe it just pushed something in further? If I flush the toilet and dump a gallon bucket of water with it, it seems to flush well... it's a 90s style toilet I think, could it just be a terrible toilet?
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Nov 3, 2017 20:06
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Kashwashwa posted:Quick plumbing question... I've lived in my super old house for about 18 months. My only bathroom is upstairs, and it almost never completely flushes properly.
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Nov 3, 2017 20:41
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Kashwashwa posted:Quick plumbing question... I've lived in my super old house for about 18 months. My only bathroom is upstairs, and it almost never completely flushes properly. Get a new toilet! They're pretty easy to install, and new ones are way better then 90s era ones.
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Nov 3, 2017 23:37
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Get a Toto with heated bidet seat.
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Nov 4, 2017 00:13
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Kashwashwa posted:Quick plumbing question... I've lived in my super old house for about 18 months. My only bathroom is upstairs, and it almost never completely flushes properly. If you don't want a new toilet the entire guts of one is <$20. Or just adjust the float so it fills more or the chain so it pulls the flapper all the way up quickly.
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Nov 4, 2017 02:30
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peanut posted:Get a Toto with heated bidet seat. Bidet talk, is there a way to do this without spending a ton of money? Any of the nicer ones I see are way too much and the cheap ones look pretty sketchy
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Nov 4, 2017 06:41
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Pay $1000 and love your rear end forever.
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Nov 4, 2017 08:11
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w00tmonger posted:Bidet talk, is there a way to do this without spending a ton of money? Any of the nicer ones I see are way too much and the cheap ones look pretty sketchy I bought this one for 100 bucks on amazon and it's the best 100 bucks I've ever spent. I'm sure the ones that have electronics and stuff are fancier and have more features but if you just want a straight up bidet this works great. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00TCN0NP8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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Nov 4, 2017 09:22
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Does anyone know the technical term for those cheaper-end metal curtain rods that slide-adjust, end in a curve, and have a little hole on the top and bottom of the ends that fit onto the small pointy wall brackets? I'm finally replacing the blinds in my apartment and I'd rather use the pointy wall brackets that are already on the windows.
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Nov 4, 2017 17:18
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99 CENTS AMIGO posted:Does anyone know the technical term for those cheaper-end metal curtain rods that slide-adjust, end in a curve, and have a little hole on the top and bottom of the ends that fit onto the small pointy wall brackets? I'm finally replacing the blinds in my apartment and I'd rather use the pointy wall brackets that are already on the windows.
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Nov 4, 2017 18:05
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I just had my ducts and dryer vent cleaned. Apparently it had never been done since the house was built (1999), and it was pretty nasty!
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Nov 7, 2017 02:52
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Bidet schmidet. Get a handheld showerhead, poop before you shower, then blast your rear end clean at 60psi.
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Nov 7, 2017 12:53
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We put our 2 year old in the shower after a poop but I gotta warn you, my poops are too erratic for that.
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Nov 7, 2017 13:10
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Southern Heel posted:It seems that an "indemnity policy" might be on the cards for this strange extension - basically, get that and leave it as it is - and then when it comes down the line to more significant structural work in the kitchen (i.e. opening up that wall) then get planning permissions to make the whole area livable and block out the roof/walls properly in a single fell swoop a few years from now. These sneaky gits wanted me to split the cost of the indemnity policy! The nerve of these people!
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Nov 7, 2017 14:33
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Our deck gets a big puddle underneath, which leaves the slab covered in algae and mud. I built a slope thingy to channel the rain, it's longer than the deck, but shorter than the slab so water just falls on the slab anyway. I can't make the slope any longer because we'll bump into it. What the heck can I do next, maybe add on a little gutter channel? Give up? We don't want (can't afford) to put a roof on the deck.
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Nov 8, 2017 04:34
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Apply some Ultra Ever Dry and blast it with a hose once in a while?
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Nov 8, 2017 04:59
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peanut posted:Our deck gets a big puddle underneath, which leaves the slab covered in algae and mud. I built a slope thingy to channel the rain, it's longer than the deck, but shorter than the slab so water just falls on the slab anyway. I would add a small gutter type thing and then have it feed into a downspout. You could mount a small downspout (or device like it) the post, and then have one of the downspout extensions send the water out. 
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Nov 8, 2017 05:21
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Squeegee?
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Nov 8, 2017 06:39
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peanut posted:Our deck gets a big puddle underneath, which leaves the slab covered in algae and mud. I built a slope thingy to channel the rain, it's longer than the deck, but shorter than the slab so water just falls on the slab anyway. If you can't help but care, I'd say either crawl in there and clean it periodically or obscure the view with some lattice type stuff that suits your style.
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Nov 8, 2017 13:09
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