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Motronic posted:That's probably a good way to solve this. Or a hose bib hardware store pieces parts contraption that move the backflow device and outlet to above the highest emitter. Hard to give specific advice without knowing the layout to tell what looks least ugly/weird with a minimal effort. That could actually be pretty slick, the hose valve is basically on a covered concrete patio so I could run pipe beneath the patio cover to keep it out of the way. Hose bib and backflow preventer would be at ~8 feet whereas my highest emitters are at about 3 feet I'll have a lot less tubing overall if I do the sprinkler riser conversion though, so I'm going to try that first; I have about a 30 foot tubing run along the edge of my yard that this will eliminate
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May 5, 2018 20:18
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I believe - and Motronic may correct me here - that one of the reasons you have a backflow preventer is because typical garden watering fittings are not rated for contact with potable (for human consumption) water, and therefore backflow from any of those fittings could contaminate your drinking water. E.g., some fittings might have unacceptably high levels of lead, for example. What I'm seeing cited online is that garden fixtures could be used to inject fertilizers or pesticides, and drip irrigation or undersurface irrigation pipes could be in direct contact with the soil, which can contain contaminants, so that's what the backflow preventer is preventing. But, I also know a lot of people don't realize that garden hoses etc. are often not rated for potable water so... yeah. Basically regardless of what you do, I suggest you make sure everything upstream of the backflow preventer is using explicitly potable-rated water fittings and pipe.
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May 6, 2018 08:22
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Anyone here use solar panels? We live in an area that has 300 days of sun on average per year with summer-ish temperatures from April-November. What companies are good? Thinking it might be a good long-term investment.
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May 6, 2018 14:38
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IT BURNS posted:Anyone here use solar panels? We live in an area that has 300 days of sun on average per year with summer-ish temperatures from April-November. What companies are good? Thinking it might be a good long-term investment. General guidance around here is $100/month on electricity can be break even if you have access to a net metering program. There are no national companies that I know of because the whole rooftop solar thing popped up in the last 5-10 years due to credits that go away this year. 3 methods to pay: lease (don't), finance, or cash. Anything other than cash expect to be a hassle if you have to sell your house. Other than that there are too many variables to discuss it here intelligently. How much sun does your roof get? How old is your electrical panel? How much does your local utility play ball? How complex is your roofline and how old is it? Talk to folks with solar. Get estimates, reviews, etc. This person is going to drill several dozen holes in your roof to affix something to it for 25 years. They sprung up overnight so I would presume their warranty on leaks is bullshit past a year or two.
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May 6, 2018 15:18
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New roof o’clock! Does anyone have any input on the cost/performance benefits of asphalt shingles vs a metal roof? I have a little cape cod style house so the roofline is nothing crazy. I’m in the process of getting some quotes as well.
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May 6, 2018 15:20
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We have solar panels, they came with the house. An important thing to consider is how much you can actually earn from the panels; some states will credit production directly against usage, but some others pay much less than that
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May 6, 2018 19:42
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five hours into trying to fix a clog in the kitchen sink caused by the wife doing ??? and all I've accomplished so far is replacing rotten plastic washers in the trap pipe. clog still remains in mystery location. I hate this garbage disposals are the worst invention ever, it's just more poo poo to go wrong
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May 6, 2018 20:46
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Security system door sensor (face plate and battery removed) Any idea how to remove this? It is several decades old and I can't find any product info on it. Googling for removing a generic security door sensor thing suggest it should be attached with just two sided tape but I scrapped behind it and still can't remove it. It is still very secured to the wall and I can feel something on the bottom still attached. There's no screw I can see on this side. I cut off the magnetic sensor that is running through the door frame and wall so I should be able to pull the wire through but still can't get this thing off. The system is old and even the previous owners didn't use it so they don't serve any purpose and this one is in the way.
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May 6, 2018 22:52
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FuzzySlippers posted:but still can't get this thing off. You obviously don't want it off if you are going to let it win like that. Who is in charge here anyways? Take the pokey end of something and pry the guts out. Tin snips or cutters will trim it down. Eventually it will either reveal a faster or it was put on with construction adhesive and the paint is a goner no matter what. Wear eye protection. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 23:04 on May 6, 2018 |
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May 6, 2018 23:02
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Have you tried to just smash it with a hammer a bunch of times? You're just throwing it out anyway, right?
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May 7, 2018 00:05
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Oi the renter in me is still worried about getting my deposit back. Alright home owner empowered destruction commencing.
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May 7, 2018 00:35
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 Looks like that is a clip holding the board in the housing. Poke at it with a flathead and you should be able to pop it out. There are probably screws behind it.
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May 7, 2018 00:37
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Tricky Ed posted:
Boring, use a bigger hammer. Walls are replaceable.
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May 7, 2018 02:37
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:New roof o’clock! Does anyone have any input on the cost/performance benefits of asphalt shingles vs a metal roof? I have a little cape cod style house so the roofline is nothing crazy. Generally, metal roofs last significantly longer than asphalt shingle roofs, although some of the higher quality asphalt roofs can get close. The question usually is "how long do you want to live there, and how much of a rush will you be in to sell?". While some folks will see a high quality roof and be willing to pay more, as we know, most homebuyers are terrible dunces who care more about "move in ready" than "roof won't fall on my head in two weeks". So getting the return on your investment for a new metal roof is tricky if you're looking to sell in the next 10 (maybe 20 even?) years or so. Make sure you get a good installer for metal roofs though, I had a friend who bought a house with a "new" roof, but the shithead installer had forgotten (or cheaped out on) the rubber washers when screwing it onto the decking, so the entire thing weeped slowly like a sieve. Poor bastard DIY'd the fix with a buddy, unscrewing each one and adding the missing piece.
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May 7, 2018 02:57
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I bought a house built in 1929 and while much of the wiring (including the breaker panels, kitchen, and utility room) has been upgraded, a lot of the outlets are ungrounded. There may even be some knob and tube wiring remaining in-use. We don't really have the money to pay for the old circuits to be rewired right now since there have been other unanticipated up-front repairs and improvements. I'd still like to replace the outlets (partly just to replace beige with white). Is my best option to find the first outlet in each ungrounded circuit, replace it with a GFCI, and label that + the downstream outlets "No Equipment Ground". In that case still nothing is truly grounded - should I just replace the downstream outlets with new two-prongers? I'm not too concerned about lights and clocks in the bedrooms. However I am a goon who owns and uses computer stuff, and our office is one of the rooms with only two-prong outlets. Is there anything I can do about surge protection, etc. without running new wires to that room?
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May 7, 2018 15:45
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Sobriquet posted:I bought a house built in 1929 and while much of the wiring (including the breaker panels, kitchen, and utility room) has been upgraded, a lot of the outlets are ungrounded. There may even be some knob and tube wiring remaining in-use. We don't really have the money to pay for the old circuits to be rewired right now since there have been other unanticipated up-front repairs and improvements. This sounds correct (first in string plus stickers) but there is a dedicated thread for electrical questions. Check out the "don't burn your house down" thread and its 3 prong upgrade post.
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May 7, 2018 16:39
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H110Hawk posted:This sounds correct (first in string plus stickers) but there is a dedicated thread for electrical questions. Check out the "don't burn your house down" thread and its 3 prong upgrade post. Oh awesome. Thanks!
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May 7, 2018 17:12
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Home ownership tip number 1: Don't leave the stove on when you leave the house. Next door neighbor forgot to shut everything off Saturday and they lost their two dogs to smoke inhilation and most of their stuff to smoke and water damage. Watching fire fighters give CPR to dogs that I played with loving sucks.
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May 7, 2018 19:46
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Oh god that's horrible.  Still going to ask the question I came here for - is there a less-than-impossible way to get rid of English ivy? We have a ton of it. Some of it makes sense, like on the steep hill that leads from the house level down to the sidewalk/street, but other areas I want to try to rip it out and put in nice plants/ground cover. Eventually I'd like to remove it entirely and replace it with a better cover like maybe periwinkle and some shrubs? But my understanding is removing English ivy fully can be a huge undertaking. Should I just rip as much out, till everything, mulch, and monitor?
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May 8, 2018 15:48
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z0331 posted:Still going to ask the question I came here for - is there a less-than-impossible way to get rid of English ivy? We have a ton of it. Some of it makes sense, like on the steep hill that leads from the house level down to the sidewalk/street, but other areas I want to try to rip it out and put in nice plants/ground cover. Eventually I'd like to remove it entirely and replace it with a better cover like maybe periwinkle and some shrubs? But my understanding is removing English ivy fully can be a huge undertaking. Should I just rip as much out, till everything, mulch, and monitor? English Ivy is the worst, possibly second only to bamboo. Basically anything you are going to do is going to require a lot of manual removal and long-term monitoring. The latter will get easier over time as you hunt down the biggest roots. Some options: 1) Exactly what you suggested -- manual removal and mulch to keep it down. If you're not planning to plant anything immediately you can rip out the ivy and then lay down a layer of brown cardboard where the ivy was, which will serve as a bio-degradable weed barrier and essentially smother any remnant ivy, which should do a pretty good job of keeping it suppressed after you clear it. 2) If the ivy is in an area that gets sun you could solarize the soil after you pull the ivy. Essentially you will pull out the major vegetation, wet the area, and then lay down a clear plastic tarp which will trap heat and "cook" the soil underneath to kill any weeds remaining. This is similar to the cardboard trick, except much more aggressive. You could try solarizing directly without pulling the ivy, but I suspect that won't work very well. 3) Herbicides are tough to use on english ivy, but if you want to go the chemical route you can pick up a 1 Gal Pump Sprayer and then use something like a heavy duty herbicide to kill it off. It won't be 100% effective, but you'll probably see better results if you mow/weed-whack the ivy down to ground level and then spray the new growth once it re-emerges (repeating throughout the season). This can be done before or after manual removal, but you'll probably still want to pull out the roots even if you do kill it by spraying. You can also get a small spray bottle and use it to kill off any re-emergent ivy after you clear and re-plant. When picking your herbicide you want something with Glyphosate or Triclopyr in it, but make sure you avoid anything that says something to the effect of "extended control" on it if you are planning to re-plant the cleared area any time soon.
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May 8, 2018 16:43
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Hubis posted:3) Herbicides are tough to use on english ivy, but if you want to go the chemical route you can pick up a 1 Gal Pump Sprayer and then use something like a heavy duty herbicide to kill it off. It won't be 100% effective, but you'll probably see better results if you mow/weed-whack the ivy down to ground level and then spray the new growth once it re-emerges (repeating throughout the season). This can be done before or after manual removal, but you'll probably still want to pull out the roots even if you do kill it by spraying. You can also get a small spray bottle and use it to kill off any re-emergent ivy after you clear and re-plant. When picking your herbicide you want something with Glyphosate or Triclopyr in it, but make sure you avoid anything that says something to the effect of "extended control" on it if you are planning to re-plant the cleared area any time soon. Add a spreader/sticker when you mix your herbicide or it'll just roll off the leaves since they're so waxy. I like Bonide Turbo. You might also try a gasoline + matches combo for quick removal.
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May 8, 2018 17:11
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Two questions pertaining to a house I just purchased. 1) who do I contact in order to get potholes in a gravel road repaired? It’s a private street kind of curious to see how much it would be to fix some of the bigger holes. 2) currently have a gravel driveway but want to get it asphalted. But also want to build another garage. Which comes first?
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May 8, 2018 17:45
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I'm no gravel road expert but couldn't you just pour some gravel in the holes?
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May 8, 2018 17:54
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Etrips posted:Two questions pertaining to a house I just purchased. Since it's a private drive, you'll have to call a contractor for that. Any driveway paving or excavator can deliver some gravel and fill some holes. If it's small though, you can look into just getting some stone delivered and you wheelbarrow/shovel it to the spots you need and fill it. You can usually find some gravel suppliers in your area, but they likely have a minimum amount required to order, like 2-3 yards. Do the garage first. That way the machines coming in to build your garage don't ruin your new driveway. Then the paver can just run a new driveway up to your new garage after it's all done. If you have that much work, you could look into getting a general contractor to build the garage and redo the driveway in one package.
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May 8, 2018 18:03
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Bird in a Blender posted:Since it's a private drive, you'll have to call a contractor for that. Any driveway paving or excavator can deliver some gravel and fill some holes. If it's small though, you can look into just getting some stone delivered and you wheelbarrow/shovel it to the spots you need and fill it. You can usually find some gravel suppliers in your area, but they likely have a minimum amount required to order, like 2-3 yards. Isn’t there a more involved process of actually doing something to the hole other than just filling it with more gravel? ie: if I just fill it with gravel it will only be a very short temporary fix.
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May 8, 2018 18:14
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Hubis posted:English Ivy is the worst, possibly second only to bamboo. Thanks for this - it's basically what I was expecting. I think I'll start the manual process with the smaller patch on the side of the house and then if that goes well attack the huge area in our front in a year or two. That one will take a lot of planning because I'll probably need to replace it with something fairly quickly to keep soil from sliding off into the sidewalk.
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May 8, 2018 19:11
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Etrips posted:Isn’t there a more involved process of actually doing something to the hole other than just filling it with more gravel? ie: if I just fill it with gravel it will only be a very short temporary fix. Yes, although most folks keep buying more gravel and filling stuff in, because it's cheaper in the short run than fixing the driveway. You often have to strip the gravel drive and rebuild it properly, or build it up significantly. If you're going to spend the money pave it, then you should also look into putting down a proper road base so it lasts.
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May 8, 2018 20:33
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Economic Sinkhole posted:Add a spreader/sticker when you mix your herbicide or it'll just roll off the leaves since they're so waxy. I like Bonide Turbo. You might also try a gasoline + matches combo for quick removal. Yeah, this. I wasn't sure about recommending a surfactant with consumer mixes as I wasn't sure if they might have already had some added, but get some of this and add at the recommended rate (I think it's like 1 tbsp/gal). I've also read that pre-spraying with a dilute solution of Borax and water and letting it dry will break down some of the waxy coating. However, if you mow it down and spray the new green growth it should be most readily absorbed anyways.
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May 8, 2018 21:35
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Etrips posted:Isn’t there a more involved process of actually doing something to the hole other than just filling it with more gravel? ie: if I just fill it with gravel it will only be a very short temporary fix. Probably, I'm not really a gravel road guy, but you're also talking about putting in an asphalt drive, so why would you do anything more than a temporary fix?
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May 8, 2018 21:46
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Etrips posted:Isn’t there a more involved process of actually doing something to the hole other than just filling it with more gravel? ie: if I just fill it with gravel it will only be a very short temporary fix. Call your nearest sand and gravel supply company and just chat in the middle of the day. If it’s a big enough driveway have them deliver enough that you have a stockpile for repair later.
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May 8, 2018 21:52
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Bird in a Blender posted:Probably, I'm not really a gravel road guy, but you're also talking about putting in an asphalt drive, so why would you do anything more than a temporary fix? Well one is a gravel road that leads up to my property. About a half mile long in total, but there are probably three patches that are in really bad shape. My actual driveway is in pretty decent shape, but want it paved.
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May 8, 2018 22:29
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z0331 posted:Thanks for this - it's basically what I was expecting. I think I'll start the manual process with the smaller patch on the side of the house and then if that goes well attack the huge area in our front in a year or two. That one will take a lot of planning because I'll probably need to replace it with something fairly quickly to keep soil from sliding off into the sidewalk. You could clear it in August/September (have fun!) then seed the hillside with Annual Ryegrass as a kind of cover crop, which will grow quickly and stabilize the soil and then die off by next summer letting you plant the bed as you see fit.
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May 8, 2018 23:58
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I need to buy a fridge for the kitchen. My budget is about $1500. Any recommendations? Do I just go to Best Buy or whatever and just shop for something, or is there a better "process"?
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May 9, 2018 16:45
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Your budget would cover the Wirecutter recommendation. The only other thing I can think of is just make sure the new one will fit in the space properly. There are several standards, but I'd check the height, width, and depth to be sure.
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May 9, 2018 16:50
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I'm fond of going to Consumer Reports for that kind of question; they have a good presentation of details and model coverage, plus they've been doing appliance reviews for decades. You have to pay for a subscription, but it's peanuts compared to the cost of whatever you're planning on buying.
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May 9, 2018 16:56
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:You have to pay for a subscription, but it's peanuts compared to the cost of whatever you're planning on buying.
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May 9, 2018 17:17
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enraged_camel posted:I need to buy a fridge for the kitchen. My budget is about $1500. Any recommendations? Triple check the space you have to put the fridge first. Second, do you have a water line there already to hook up for ice makers/water dispenser? If not, can you run one easily?
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May 9, 2018 18:57
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Also check the door the fridge will be coming through.
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May 9, 2018 22:50
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Good tips. Thanks guys! Where to shop for fridges though? Online? In-person?
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May 9, 2018 23:03
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I went in person to: Fry's, Home Depot, a local appliance store, and another local appliance store. In my case I needed a nonstandard width side by side with an ice maker, which ended up only being available from Home Depot. But you wanna go mess with a bunch of fridges to see how the shelves are arranged, how deep and wide they are on the inside, look at where the light is positioned/whether it will be blocked, all that poo poo. Then you can narrow it down to styles and brands and from there shop around to get a good price. One point of data: if your fridge has water/ice dispenser or icemaker that takes a filter, find out where to get filters and how much they cost. My GE's filters are pretty pricey, there are a bunch of knockoff cheaper ones but none of them are fully rated and some are pretty questionable so I just buy the genuine ones. I found a supplier on eBay that was cheaper than the best prices on Amazon by a fair amount.
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May 9, 2018 23:09
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