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Alright first project at my new-ish house. phase 1: replace wire shelving on right side with something that won't sag like the wire poo poo does.  max width shouldnt be too wide for melamine to have to worry about sagging, but the stuff does look like poo poo. so is plywood my next best bet? any input on if it's really worth the extra time and effort to build as a cabinet with adjustable pin shelves? Phase 2: build cabinet with drawers for awkward space on the left (this is built under the stairs to the 2nd floor)  i have no other ideas how to use this space, it's way too short for me to get anything off the deep end of the shelving that's currently in there. open to other ideas if anyone has any.
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Dec 27, 2018 18:42
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At least that wire shelving bounces back. Check how melamine bows after a few years under load. I’d leave the wire. Looks fine. Rubbermaid sells center support bars if you really think you need them.
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Dec 27, 2018 19:25
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Have you thought about roll out shelving for that weird under the stair area? Something that comes out on tracks, similar to some cabinet interiors, might make that storage much more accessible.
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Dec 27, 2018 19:32
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^the wire has to go, it really can't take the weight it has right nowBadSamaritan posted:Have you thought about roll out shelving for that weird under the stair area? Something that comes out on tracks, similar to some cabinet interiors, might make that storage much more accessible. Yeah that's the only idea I've come up with thus far for that area (if my post wasnt clear about that)
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Dec 27, 2018 19:40
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How common is it to have mold on the interior side of windows? Like, along the bottom of the glass pane where it meets the wood. (It is indeed wood, these are old windows.) Presumably it has something to do with condensation building up and settling on the bottom. Which would be my second question -- how common is interior condensation on windows? We definitely have that too. Does it indicate that they're letting too much air in, or is it just something that happens with basically any window? There is not any massively high humidity as far as we know, and we have generally not been using humidifiers. It also happens both in rooms with HVAC vents and the few rooms that don't have them. It also only seems to be upstairs. The only thing I can think of to explain that is 1) a bit less air flow, even though we usually keep those doors open during the day, and 2) they're carpeted.
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Dec 28, 2018 03:17
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The internal temperature is higher than the outside of the window which causes the air to condense on the warmer side of the window. Get dehumidifiers next to the window or increase air movement (fans, hvac etc) to assist but basically impossible to avoid in older houses unless you replace the windows afaik.
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Dec 28, 2018 06:37
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Sir Lemming posted:How common is it to have mold on the interior side of windows? Like, along the bottom of the glass pane where it meets the wood. (It is indeed wood, these are old windows.) Presumably it has something to do with condensation building up and settling on the bottom. Which would be my second question -- how common is interior condensation on windows? We definitely have that too. Does it indicate that they're letting too much air in, or is it just something that happens with basically any window? Very common in my experience of older houses. Keeping things dry and well ventilated is a good combat against mold.
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Dec 28, 2018 09:23
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eddiewalker posted:At least that wire shelving bounces back. Check how melamine bows after a few years under load. I’d leave the wire. Looks fine. Melamine will bow too unless you add extra support along the front and back.
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Dec 28, 2018 13:03
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TheMightyHandful posted:The internal temperature is higher than the outside of the window which causes the air to condense on the warmer side of the window. Jaded Burnout posted:Very common in my experience of older houses. Keeping things dry and well ventilated is a good combat against mold. Ok, thanks. We were clearly overthinking this one. (We actually thought maybe the glass panels somehow lost their seal against the wood and were letting cold air in, and were thinking of caulking the edges of the panels. I think we are sleep-deprived.) New windows are on the list, but so are new doors... and possibly a new roof. It's gonna be a while.
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Dec 28, 2018 14:39
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We got a higher grade of window frames for the downstairs of the house to prevent condensation in the main living areas (and they work!) Our old house was so drippy and gross in winter.
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Dec 28, 2018 15:10
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I had a fun Christmas break. Found a wet spot in the ceiling of the garage, followed it to a blown wax ring on the toilet in the master bathroom. Large patch of subfloor under the tile floor was ruined and had to be replaced, but luckily the damage underneath was pretty localized. Ended up swapping the tile floor with leftover vinyl plank from our upstairs remodel. Also took the opportunity to get some color in there, which was sorely lacking. Really pleased with the results so far, still need to replace the baseboard trim and also going to replace the horrible stick on vinyl tiles above the shower with some glass backsplash style tile.  
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Dec 28, 2018 15:58
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Sir Lemming posted:(We actually thought maybe the glass panels somehow lost their seal against the wood and were letting cold air in, and were thinking of caulking the edges of the panels. I think we are sleep-deprived.) It could be that they're letting *damp* air in rather than cold air, or lack of insulation might mean the inside glass is colder and so more likely to cause condensation, or maybe cold air coming in and hitting the warm damp air inside... Ultimately something is causing moisture which is causing the mold, the moisture is probably from condensation, and condensation comes from humid air rapidly cooling down. If you can find and remove the source of the moisture the mold will go away. peanut posted:We got a higher grade of window frames for the downstairs of the house to prevent condensation in the main living areas (and they work!) Yeah I've never seen the issue with upvc window frames, but I don't know whether that's from a better seal or better glass insulation in the newer windows.
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Dec 28, 2018 17:12
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Enos Cabell posted:I had a fun Christmas break. Found a wet spot in the ceiling of the garage, followed it to a blown wax ring on the toilet in the master bathroom. Large patch of subfloor under the tile floor was ruined and had to be replaced, but luckily the damage underneath was pretty localized. Ended up swapping the tile floor with leftover vinyl plank from our upstairs remodel. Also took the opportunity to get some color in there, which was sorely lacking. Really pleased with the results so far, still need to replace the baseboard trim and also going to replace the horrible stick on vinyl tiles above the shower with some glass backsplash style tile.
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Dec 29, 2018 17:52
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I'm currently renting a home with a woodstove, which is great, my last house (well, technically still my current house, but I'm not living there, long story) has a woodstove, I love them...the smell, the "cozy"-ness, etc... Technically, the main heat for the house is gas-powered radiators, but the landlord/owner of the house (he winters in Florida) has maybe 1.5 cord of wood he told me I'm free to burn, which I am, to the best of my ability. Saves money, since I pay the gas bill, but, as mentioned, the wood is free. The problem is, a large portion of the wood, which is also the more dry/seasoned wood, is too wide to fit in the woodstove. It's mostly 18-20", and this is your standard stove that accepts 14-16" logs. Even trying to wedge them in at an angle doesn't work. There is maybe 1/2 a cord of smaller wood that fits, but it's wet and WET. But which I meant it's wet as in green/not seasoned long enough, and it's wet as in wasn't covered at all during fall and start of winter so just got rained on. I can get a fire going with kindling made from the dryer wood, and keep it going with the wet wood, but obviously it's not as efficient as it could be and creating a lot of ash...I am wondering what the best solution would be to essentially chop all the large pieces in half length-wise. I own a circular saw, but that would be tedious and I'd have to cut each log on at least two if not three sides, and even then on large pieces might have a small "tab" of wood left connected in the middle I'd have to break. Or I was thinking buying a cheap electric chainsaw from Harbor Freight to just cut several in half at once? I would prefer not to spend money, but even $50-60 on the chainsaw would likely save more than that much in gas money, since when the woodstove is going the gas furnace doesn't need to run at all, even with burning the "bad" wood.
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Dec 31, 2018 01:23
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Get a firewood splitter for 100$ on amazon and a sledgehammer You definitely don’t want to chainsaw half a cord of wood the long way. That sounds kinda dangerous unless you have an awesome jig to hold the wood in.
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Dec 31, 2018 02:07
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BigFactory posted:Get a firewood splitter for 100$ on amazon and a sledgehammer (Unless I'm totally misreading it, but I cant imagine he's feeding a stove 14-20" diameter logs.) Slugworth fucked around with this message at 02:16 on Dec 31, 2018 |
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Dec 31, 2018 02:13
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Slugworth posted:Sounds like he needs to cut it shorter, not split it. Cheap chainsaw seems like the best solution. That’s what I thought at first too, but he said it’s too wide, not too long?
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Dec 31, 2018 02:58
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BigFactory posted:That’s what I thought at first too, but he said it’s too wide, not too long? I mistyped, but yes, it's too long. The landlord left a splitting wedge and sledge and hatchet.
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Dec 31, 2018 03:00
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I would do the cheap chainsaw and make a jig to hold the wood. Since its a rental and you mention burning wet wood, sweep the chimney and make sure you have good insurance.
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Dec 31, 2018 03:15
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http://imgur.com/a/z02jWzR A half-assed sketch of the kind of jig I imagine for this sorta thing. Make it a few inches shorter than the length of the shortest piece you need to cut. For less chance of binding but more work you would make another set of Xs close to the middle and just cut between them. I'd also recommend making the cross brace, if you have one a good bit lower than where the logs will rest, so you don't accidentally go cutting it with the chainsaw along with the log.
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Dec 31, 2018 03:40
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rdb posted:I would do the cheap chainsaw and make a jig to hold the wood. Chimney was swept right before I moved in, and I guess I'll have to get renter's insurance again...I'm guessing things I own in a rental aren't covered by my existing homeowner's policy on the home I own?
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Dec 31, 2018 14:42
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DrBouvenstein posted:Chimney was swept right before I moved in, and I guess I'll have to get renter's insurance again...I'm guessing things I own in a rental aren't covered by my existing homeowner's policy on the home I own? It depends on too many unknown factors to render an accurate assessment here, of course; but generally, it depends on how temporary this situation is, and the reason for it. "Things you own" are often covered to a pretty surprising extent, actually. As in, if you pick the building up and shake it, the stuff that falls out is "personal property". If it's part of the building, that's another story. But then, that's generally on the building owner's policy... But anyway, obviously check with your agent
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Dec 31, 2018 14:53
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Sir Lemming posted:It depends on too many unknown factors to render an accurate assessment here, of course; but generally, it depends on how temporary this situation is, and the reason for it. "Things you own" are often covered to a pretty surprising extent, actually. As in, if you pick the building up and shake it, the stuff that falls out is "personal property". If it's part of the building, that's another story. But then, that's generally on the building owner's policy... Though ironically if you literally pickup the building and shake it nothing is covered without a earthquake policy.
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Dec 31, 2018 15:37
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DrBouvenstein posted:Chimney was swept right before I moved in, and I guess I'll have to get renter's insurance again...I'm guessing things I own in a rental aren't covered by my existing homeowner's policy on the home I own? Its more the liability of lighting a fire in someone else’s living room. Your existing homeowners may or may not cover that. As a landlord my agent said damages from tenants using the wood stove would not be covered and it was best to remove it.
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Dec 31, 2018 17:26
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Our tenants' insurance covers our property not in our home, but we paid extra for that. Something to check, definitely. And yeah, as above ^^^, it doesn't cover damage to someone else's property.
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Jan 1, 2019 00:54
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Are there any smart outside soffit LED systems out there? Or is my best bet to get some regular fixtures installed and spring for some hue or other smart bulbs that are outdoor rated?
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Jan 10, 2019 01:59
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couldcareless posted:Are there any smart outside soffit LED systems out there? Or is my best bet to get some regular fixtures installed and spring for some hue or other smart bulbs that are outdoor rated? Why would you want "smart" individual bulbs for soffit lighting. I'm just being really judgy here, but have you heard of structural electrical wiring? You can even run that to a zwave compatible switch if you want to control it with home automation. I'm not sure in what circumstance you would need to individually change the color temperature of your soffit lights on the fly from your smartphone.
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Jan 10, 2019 03:15
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BraveUlysses posted:Alright first project at my new-ish house. still not sure what to do with this dumb AF pantry: any thoughts on how deep i should make the shelves? any thoughts about adjustable shelving (with shelf pins)? ive never had a real pantry and its nice and all but i dont want to do this twice.
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Jan 10, 2019 03:23
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Motronic posted:I'm not sure in what circumstance you would need to individually change the color temperature of your soffit lights on the fly from your smartphone. Ever heard of Christmas?!?
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Jan 10, 2019 03:27
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Motronic posted:Why would you want "smart" individual bulbs for soffit lighting. Not temp, I want to adjust color accordingly. I'm getting jealous of the houses around us lighting theirs up purple, green, and gold for mardi gras because it looks really slick
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Jan 10, 2019 03:46
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I got smartbulbs for 3 front outdoor lights because their switches are in stupid places in this 90s era house and I can set a schedule for them and forget about them forever now.
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Jan 10, 2019 04:41
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BraveUlysses posted:still not sure what to do with this dumb AF pantry: 45cm is a pretty reasonable depth. You may not be able to make all of that understairs space useful, and that's ok. As long as you can stack rolls of paper towels or toilet paper. It could also accommodate large items like folding stools or store a vacuum.
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Jan 10, 2019 08:31
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mutata posted:I got smartbulbs for 3 front outdoor lights because their switches are in stupid places in this 90s era house and I can set a schedule for them and forget about them forever now. I have trouble understanding why folks go for the smartbulb here, except maybe in cases where you want finer grained control of individual lights on a switch circuit. I just dealt with a similar problem and smart switches seemed like a much better solution.
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Jan 10, 2019 16:46
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Sounds like their three lights are on more than one switch, in which case it’s kind of a wash, cost-wise. Other more general reasons that spring to mind: You need a three-wire circuit for smart switches. You may be renting. And it’s easier.
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Jan 10, 2019 18:27
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Yeah they're on different switches and one of them is on a huge switch bank of, like, 8 switches in a row all in one plate because sure why not! Not gonna lie here either, being able to control color and wam/cold tones is nice as well. I mainly just did it for the easy scheduling though.
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Jan 10, 2019 18:32
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WithoutTheFezOn posted:Sounds like their three lights are on more than one switch, in which case it’s kind of a wash, cost-wise. Fair enough, though Lutron smart switches don't need three wire circuits.
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Jan 11, 2019 05:21
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BraveUlysses posted:still not sure what to do with this dumb AF pantry: I have some 12 inch deep cabinets, 18 inch deep shelves and 24 inch deep cabinet/shelf combos (ikea IVAR) in my kitchen, but no pantry. 24 inches is probably too deep for cabinets, to be honest. I mostly put appliances and larger items on that depth, but I also use it for canned goods and food. I am unable to take advantage of the depths very well with food items, though. I have 2 6ft long 18 inch deep shelves spanning across 3 windows over my sink. I store cups and plates and large items like mixing bowls here. 12 inch deep standard cabinets hold a variety of items.
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Jan 11, 2019 16:22
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So our open kitchen is about to make me commit murder. As you can see, the kitchen is directly behind the couch, and the noise when anyone is cooking/cleaning/moving/breathing shoots right out into the living room. It's finally driving us all nuts (after a remodel thanks to Harvey). We can't really rearrange the room due to placement of the fireplace, back door, and windows. What I'm looking for is a way to block the sound from the kitchen. I've thought of closing it off entirely or partially, making some kind of removable sound barrier, etc. At this point I'm about to hang a loving acoustic blanket up just as a temporary fix. Any suggestions/ideas? I'm open to pretty much anything at this point. I don't really want to remove the granite because that poo poo is expensive, but we don't use the breakfast bar for anything except for Christmas cards and such. 
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Jan 13, 2019 18:42
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But HGTV told me that every house must have a fully open concept or it's a claustrophobic, outdated, shithole from the 80s. If I can't walk in the front door and see all your dirty pans in the sink, I'm telling my agent to scratch that house. Seriously though, you already covered the ghetto fix: some type of temporary barrier sitting on that shelf or blanket from the ceiling. It would be worth closing it in correctly by ripping into the ceiling and extending a new frame down to the half wall's frame, after you stripped the countertop. Then, drywall the new frame. Most of the effort is drywalling/finishing work, the frame itself would be simple to build.
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Jan 13, 2019 19:14
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B-Nasty posted:But HGTV told me that every house must have a fully open concept or it's a claustrophobic, outdated, shithole from the 80s. If I can't walk in the front door and see all your dirty pans in the sink, I'm telling my agent to scratch that house. I love my old colonial with a giant kitchen totally separated from the giant living room by a formal dining room and the center hall. It used to have a swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. So happy no former owner tore out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room.
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Jan 13, 2019 19:46
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