|
I have a shelf that I installed into some thick drywall ~a year ago. I couldn't find any studs in the wall (cheap NYC apt...), so I went with some heavy duty drywall anchors (albeit they were plastic). I've had books on the shelf since day one, and I thought all was fine until the other day I heard a creaking noise coming from the wall and I went and took a look and the top anchors were beginning to come out of the hole, less than 1/4 inch, but it still shouldn't be happening. I'm wondering if it would be safe to just drill or hammer the screws and anchors back in, or if I should ditch the shelf entirely and try something else. 
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 02:40
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 11, 2024 20:00 |
|
|
yoohoo posted:I have a shelf that I installed into some thick drywall ~a year ago. I couldn't find any studs in the wall (cheap NYC apt...), so I went with some heavy duty drywall anchors (albeit they were plastic). I've had books on the shelf since day one, and I thought all was fine until the other day I heard a creaking noise coming from the wall and I went and took a look and the top anchors were beginning to come out of the hole, less than 1/4 inch, but it still shouldn't be happening. I'm wondering if it would be safe to just drill or hammer the screws and anchors back in, or if I should ditch the shelf entirely and try something else.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 03:50
|
|
|
Slugworth posted:If they slid out once, you'll never get them to grip well again. Pop them out, and replace them with slightly larger ones. Or find a couple studs and screw the brackets into those. Edit: oh, I see you said you tried and couldn't find any. Yeah, go with larger anchors and screws and move them over a few inches, too. I've never had good luck re-using an anchor hole, even with a larger one.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 13:19
|
|
|
yoohoo posted:I have a shelf that I installed into some thick drywall ~a year ago. I couldn't find any studs in the wall (cheap NYC apt...), so I went with some heavy duty drywall anchors (albeit they were plastic). I've had books on the shelf since day one, and I thought all was fine until the other day I heard a creaking noise coming from the wall and I went and took a look and the top anchors were beginning to come out of the hole, less than 1/4 inch, but it still shouldn't be happening. I'm wondering if it would be safe to just drill or hammer the screws and anchors back in, or if I should ditch the shelf entirely and try something else. I would use toggles for this, and if the surrounding drywall is intact you can put a toggle through the hole made from a plastic anchor.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 13:44
|
|
|
I wanted to come back and ask for some advice on my sump pump in the basement. I'ts been running almost once a minute for a few weeks now, I know it's been raining out a lot, but it was going almost as frequently even before that. I pumped all the water out, and looked at the well, and it looks like there's two big cracks in the bottom of the plastic liner. If I turn the pump off, the water will eventually rise enough to overflow the basin as well. I also noticed that there's no pipes running into it, typically aren't the edges of the basement walls drained into ditches that dump into the sump and then pump out? I'm curious what the point of this one is. My drainage is pretty good, so I think just the ground water under the house is being pushed up through the cracks. But isn't there's normally a some water under/around the foundation, and you make sure the basement is well sealed so it doesn't seep in. In this situation I'm concerned that I'm just pumping out the entire town's water table and there's no benefit to it. I did some research and found that some people recommend sealing the bottom of the basic and fixing those cracks, others say to leave it so water can get in. I really think I'd like to just seal it up, and see what happens. At this point I'm one twenty minute power outage away from my basement flooding since water just gets pushed in. Even with a battery backup, it's constant, so I don't think it'd last long enough anyways. If I filled the hole and kept an eye on my basement just to make sure that no water was coming in, and if it does figure out how to deal with it then. I can use marine epoxy and patch it with some plastic, or just that hydraulic stop cement, since it's not a large crack. I'm also going to do some work on my drainage in a few weeks to make sure it's good, but there's no pools of water or anything forming around my house corners now, so I think that is sorted out. I'm considering calling a basement guy to get an opinion, but I'd like some goon advice first. EDIT: Also if it's a problem and sealing the crack causes my basement to start flooding, I can always just drill a few holes down there and open it back up again. One more item is that none of my neighbors have any problems with flooding, they all have sump pumps but they have barely went off during these weeks. Maybe mine is lower, I don't know but it's a problem. Super-NintendoUser fucked around with this message at 14:56 on Aug 14, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 14:46
|
|
|
Jerk McJerkface posted:I wanted to come back and ask for some advice on my sump pump in the basement. You might want to check the... check valve. It's the blocky thing on the pipe coming out of the sump. A check valve is a one way valve. They keep sump pumps from short cycling like that. Think about it. The pump pumps water up the pipe, the water level in the sump lowers, the float switch in the pump turns it off, then gravity makes all the water still in the exit pipe that hasn't got past the crest yet flow back into the sump. The water level rises, the float switch turns on, the pump pumps water out, and the whole thing repeats. Check valves prevent the majority of that water from rushing back into the sump. They're cheap to replace. How far away from your house is the exit to your sump drain? If it's too close or the water out that far comes back toward the house due to the grade, Your pump could be just pumping the same water over and over in a big circle. You only have the perimeter drains if your basement walls leak. They channel it around the perimeter to the sump before it can ever reach the middle of the basement floor.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 20:01
|
|
|
kid sinister posted:You might want to check the... check valve. It's the blocky thing on the pipe coming out of the sump. A check valve is a one way valve. They keep sump pumps from short cycling like that. Think about it. The pump pumps water up the pipe, the water level in the sump lowers, the float switch in the pump turns it off, then gravity makes all the water still in the exit pipe that hasn't got past the crest yet flow back into the sump. The water level rises, the float switch turns on, the pump pumps water out, and the whole thing repeats. Check valves prevent the majority of that water from rushing back into the sump. They're cheap to replace. I've checked the check valve, it works fine. I took off the pump and no water came out of the pipe, you can see it clearly rushing up through the crack in the bottom of sump pit.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 20:06
|
|
|
armorer posted:I would use toggles for this, and if the surrounding drywall is intact you can put a toggle through the hole made from a plastic anchor. I picked up a few toggle bolts as well as some self drilling molly bolts. Is their a preference to one or the other? They seem equally simple to install. I'm leaning towards the toggle bolts since I can use the holes I already drilled (would like to keep the shelf in the same place), but the molly bolts are rated for a little more weight. Edit: this might be a total noob question, but when the anchor says it's rated for 50lb's, is that each individual anchor? If I have 4 of them holding up a shelf does that mean it can in theory support 200lb's? yoohoo fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Aug 14, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 20:19
|
|
|
yoohoo posted:Edit: this might be a total noob question, but when the anchor says it's rated for 50lb's, is that each individual anchor? If I have 4 of them holding up a shelf does that mean it can in theory support 200lb's? The rating is per anchor unless stated otherwise. But the max load for the shelf depends on how rigid the shelf is and how you distribute the load. If you stack all 200 pounds directly above a single anchor, then most of the load will fall directly on that one anchor, not on the others.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 20:36
|
|
|
TooMuchAbstraction posted:The rating is per anchor unless stated otherwise. But the max load for the shelf depends on how rigid the shelf is and how you distribute the load. If you stack all 200 pounds directly above a single anchor, then most of the load will fall directly on that one anchor, not on the others. Got it, that's what I was thinking I've just never *known*. The shelf has a max load of something like 60lbs per foot, and what I have on it (books and a plant) are spread out over it's total width (4ft), so I'm not worried about overloading it. Just curiosity.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 20:46
|
|
|
yoohoo posted:Got it, that's what I was thinking I've just never *known*. The shelf has a max load of something like 60lbs per foot, and what I have on it (books and a plant) are spread out over it's total width (4ft), so I'm not worried about overloading it. Just curiosity. Also use all 6 holes.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 21:06
|
|
|
Jerk McJerkface posted:I've checked the check valve, it works fine. I took off the pump and no water came out of the pipe, you can see it clearly rushing up through the crack in the bottom of sump pit. Just to give some more details, the sump and my two rear gutters meet up under my paver patio and run out to a dry well in my back yard. Here's a crappy mspaint drawing for the thread:  So basically the left gutter and sump pump meet up, and then they go under the patio (I think) to the right downspout where it goes to the dry well. I think maybe the pipe under the patio is broken or clogged so maybe the water isn't escaping. I stuck a hose in the gutter opening and ran it for a while and nothing came out of pipe in the dry well, however doing the same in the right gutter, closest to the dry well, water flowed right out. I think I may have to pull up the pavers and check on that pipe, the thing is that there's no water or anything accumulating around the pavers, but I guess they may hide it and it just flows under the house. I'm also going to redo the drainage to have it go infront of the house. There's a low area between our houses that gets standing water during really heavy rains, but I can slope a pipe through it and just have it dump in to my front yard. Can I just have it exit onto the sidewalk? or can I go under the sidewalk to the street or something? Not sure how to handle that end, but I figure If I get pipe in that direction it will be better than going into my backyard. The other idea is to dig up the right side of the pipe and to find the T to the left for the sump/left downspout and snake it and see what I can get.
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 21:09
|
|
|
H110Hawk posted:Also use all 6 holes. I was just pulling out the plastic anchors that I had used but hammering them through the hole into the wall. I got the first 3 through with no problems but the 4th one was particularly grabby and ended up taking a decent chunk of drywall with it. The wall side looks fine, but the inside looks like a mess. Is this at all salvageable or am I going to have to move the shelf to a safer place?
|
|
#
?
Aug 14, 2018 21:39
|
|
|
yoohoo posted:I have a shelf that I installed into some thick drywall ~a year ago. I couldn't find any studs in the wall (cheap NYC apt...), so I went with some heavy duty drywall anchors (albeit they were plastic). I've had books on the shelf since day one, and I thought all was fine until the other day I heard a creaking noise coming from the wall and I went and took a look and the top anchors were beginning to come out of the hole, less than 1/4 inch, but it still shouldn't be happening. I'm wondering if it would be safe to just drill or hammer the screws and anchors back in, or if I should ditch the shelf entirely and try something else. I've tried a variety of wall anchors. The ones that seem to work best with regular screws are ones like these guys. When I'm hanging important stuff I use an appropriately-sized Snaptoggle. Those are not coming out unless you destroy the wall.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 02:26
|
|
|
I can second the snaptoggles. They have the secondary advantage that you can remove the bolt without the toggle nut dropping inside the wall like a normal toggle bolt would.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 03:21
|
|
|
Jerk McJerkface posted:Just to give some more details, the sump and my two rear gutters meet up under my paver patio and run out to a dry well in my back yard. I think you're right. Water shouldn't come back to the sump pump that quickly. Ehh, exiting onto the sidewalk might be an issue if it freezes where you live. The city might not like little old ladies doing splits while they walk their dogs. But you got the right idea. You need to figure out why your sump water isn't going as far as it needs to.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 04:29
|
|
|
Jerk McJerkface posted:Just to give some more details, the sump and my two rear gutters meet up under my paver patio and run out to a dry well in my back yard. Leaky water service line? I mean leaky as opposed to completely broken.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 11:28
|
|
|
wesleywillis posted:Leaky water service line? The water line comes in at the bottom right corner of the house, if it was leaking I guess I'd see some water pooling up there? How do I even deal with that.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 15:33
|
|
|
Do you have water filling the sump basin all the time or just after a hard rain? If the perimeter of your house is dry and there is water filling the sump basin my bet would be you have water main problem.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 18:40
|
|
|
It does follow the weather somewhat, if it was a water main it'd be pretty constant. When it's super hot and dry for a few days it slows down to one pump and hour, but does not completely stop. I really think that it's the back drains under the patio are leaking. I'm going to attack it form that perspective. However I still think fixing those cracks in sump basin is worth looking into.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 19:02
|
|
|
I've got a weird issue I hope I can get some input for. Background: My mini dachshund recently suffered from IVDD and had to have emergency back surgery to fix a bulging disk that was putting pressure on his spinal cord. He was unable to walk on Sunday. He's better now, still not walking but getting sensation back, and I want to help his recovery by maybe building a small "treadmill" of sorts I can put in the bathtub and submerge in water so we can do a little makeshift hydrotherapy at home since I don't think we'll be able to get him to as many "real" sessions as we'd like. This is a very, VERY rough sketch of what I'm thinking (I'm at work and only have access to MS Paint)...not to scale or anything. Basically, the frame would be small diameter PVC, just dry-fit, with some holes drilled in it so it can sink. The rollers I'm not sure of yet...maybe just some 3 liter soda bottles with wooden dowels through them?  Top view on the left, partial side view on the right. What I'm stuck on is what to make the treadmill "track" out of. It will have to be something at least a little water resistant, and also not slippery so his little dog feet can grip it. I plan to probably use a piece of plexiglass mounted to the PVC frame for the support underneath the track, if that seems lke a decent option. Any advice/opinions is more than welcome. (Oh, and between my oversized tub and small dog, I believe I can make it small enough so that it will fit in and still be able to have the water level high enough for it to work, in case anyone had concerns about that.)
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 20:30
|
|
|
Do you know any roofers or gen. contractors? They may have offcuts from some rubber roofing membrane they'll give you. Instead of that, maybe try a big roll of rubber drawer liner, turned inside out so the rubber side is face up. That might be too flimsy for doggy nails though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 21:11
|
|
|
My local hardware store sells rubber floor mats on a roll, and you buy it by the foot, stuff like this: You could buy a few feet, and stitch it on the end with some leather stiching or something.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 21:38
|
|
|
DrBouvenstein posted:What I'm stuck on is what to make the treadmill "track" out of. It will have to be something at least a little water resistant, and also not slippery so his little dog feet can grip it. I plan to probably use a piece of plexiglass mounted to the PVC frame for the support underneath the track, if that seems lke a decent option. I immediately thought of these large rubber mats I got to cut up as "cheap" litter mats. The grooves on top are nice and grippy, the mats flex easily along the grooves, and they should be lightweight enough for your doge. I imagine you'd have to sew/attach several cuts end-to-end to make a little tread, though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 21:44
|
|
|
Jerk McJerkface posted:My local hardware store sells rubber floor mats on a roll, and you buy it by the foot, stuff like this: Ooh, that could work, thanks. The biggest challenge I see is that the track/rollers will be too stiff/hard for my dog to move them... Might have to incorporate some sorry of small crank to turn it myself?
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 21:50
|
|
|
I'm expecting the whole idea to be difficult to make work right. My first thought was bicycle rollers. If you can find some that fit your tub. They're rigid in construction and often extendible in length, so you could tension the track to what works best. Which I would expect to be difficult with a pvc constuction.
|
|
#
?
Aug 15, 2018 23:40
|
|
|
Maybe cordura? I don't know how well that would hold up to claws though.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 03:05
|
|
|
Cut and flatten a bicycle inner tube and glue it?
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 03:59
|
|
|
Flipperwaldt posted:I'm expecting the whole idea to be difficult to make work right. Oh, yeah those rollers look like a good idea. Wondering how they'll hold up in water, but they'll probably be ok? Only going to be for like 15 minutes at a time.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 12:50
|
|
|
I don't know anything about back surgery or physical therapy, so this might be a stupid idea, but is the point of the submersed treadmill to reduce the strain on his back? What about a little A-frame carriage with casters & a sling suspended from the top that would support his chest & abdomen. Adjust the sling height so that he can just barely put his paws on the ground, and it shouldn't be any more stressful than laying down.  Basically a baby walker for quadrupeds. You could put him on a hard floor and let him run around on his own.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 15:24
|
|
|
Need help diagnosing a water heater. It heats the water too much, like anything short of just cold water is uncomfortably hot, and after a day or two the water heater shuts off and has to be restarted.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 16:56
|
|
|
I assume you've tried adjusting the thermostat on the heater. How old is it? They don't last forever and aren't the kind of thing I'd personally want to try fixing, so my advice would be to replace it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 17:06
|
|
|
there wolf posted:Need help diagnosing a water heater. It heats the water too much, like anything short of just cold water is uncomfortably hot, and after a day or two the water heater shuts off and has to be restarted. Thermostat probably. It's staying on too long and then kicking out on the reset (red button on the thermostat itself). They're easy to replace; I'd replace both the upper and lower thermostats as they're only about $10 or $15 each. Check the sticker on the water heater to see what the wattage is (generally 4500 or 5500watt) but if it's a standard 40 or 50 gallon home water heater the replacement thermostats are made to replace anything below 6000 watts. Edit: should have checked, is the WH gas or electric? Either way, it sounds like a thermostat. Blackbeer fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Aug 16, 2018 |
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 17:13
|
|
|
there wolf posted:Need help diagnosing a water heater. It heats the water too much, like anything short of just cold water is uncomfortably hot, and after a day or two the water heater shuts off and has to be restarted. As noted, the thermostat is either bad or has a lot of scale built up on it and is insulated from the water so it is overheating it.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 17:39
|
|
|
It's electric and probably about five years old? Can't say for sure since it's in a rental. I'm not fixing it but I wanted something to take to the plumber since the last service call just hit the reset button and left. Thanks for the responses.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 17:49
|
|
|
there wolf posted:It's electric and probably about five years old? Can't say for sure since it's in a rental. I'm not fixing it but I wanted something to take to the plumber since the last service call just hit the reset button and left. Thanks for the responses. There is a plate/sticker on there somewhere with the manufacturing date. If it's already poo poo the bed at 5 years either you have comically hard water, that was the literal cheapest thing the supplier has, or both. I would test and verify the over-pressure valve works and drains appropriately.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 18:01
|
|
|
FWIW, in the dozens of water heaters I've replaced thermostats on, I've never had a thermostat not function correctly due to buildup on the tank interior. I've also had thermostats fail after a few years, though this is not the norm.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 18:31
|
|
|
Blackbeer posted:FWIW, in the dozens of water heaters I've replaced thermostats on, I've never had a thermostat not function correctly due to buildup on the tank interior. I've also had thermostats fail after a few years, though this is not the norm. I had a pretty serious problem with it on a couple 3 phase electrics for domestic hot water in a commercial building. Though, apparently I was the first guy to do any drain-downs on those in... a while. The floor of the pump room looked like the high tide line at a beach. "Seashells!"
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 18:37
|
|
|
glynnenstein posted:I had a pretty serious problem with it on a couple 3 phase electrics for domestic hot water in a commercial building. Though, apparently I was the first guy to do any drain-downs on those in... a while. The floor of the pump room looked like the high tide line at a beach. "Seashells!" My worst was a trailer house. Drained it (which was a miracle) and went about replacing the bottom element. Handfuls of those "seashells" spilled out; it was piled up higher than the hole and I couldn't replace the element if I wanted to. Was old enough that it wasn't worth the hassle of trying to clean it out thankfully. Cleaning is good for tank life and efficiency, but I just don't think there's enough buildup on the glass or poly lining on the inside of a home water heater that it would ever cause a noticeable difference in the heat transferred through the steel lining into the thermostat. If a big commercial water heater has a submerged probe/thermocouple (not something I've run in to) then buildup on it might be an issue.
|
|
#
?
Aug 16, 2018 23:34
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 11, 2024 20:00 |
|
|
Hey guys. I have some questions about painting the wood exterior of my house. If there is a thread more suitable for this, please let me know and I'll head over there. But here are my questions: as far as removing the previous paint, there are some pretty big areas that are bubbling or cracked. Should I use a paint with primer mixed in for the whole house, even areas where I'm not scraping off old paint? Or should I use a separate primer and just use that on areas where I had to remove damaged paint? I don't know much about the pre-mixed primer stuff but I'm guessing it isn't necessary if I'm mostly painting over old paint? Along those lines, any brands I should use or avoid in particular? I tend to get too wrapped up in research on projects like this and don't want to spend forever comparing brands but I don't want to use something known to be garbage. Also, some of the wood boards have a decent gap on their underside where I see ants crawling in sometimes. Should I maybe caulk the gap first? maybe nail it in some more? I guess that's about it for now. Any advice would be appreciated!
|
|
#
?
Aug 18, 2018 15:15
|
|
