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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Remove the current screws, drill a pilot hole, and insert longer screws. The drillbit you use for the pilot hole should be at most as big as the shaft of the screws you plan to use (i.e. not including the threads). This and I'd slather the wood with construction adhesive. Some of that stuff is insanely strong, probably wouldn't even need to put screws in. Loctite PL or Liquid Nails heavy duty.
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Jan 25, 2019 17:29
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QuarkJets posted:He's mad at the concept of frontloaded interest payments, it's true that loans generally work that way but they don't have to. I suppose but does anyone offer a different type? If you averaged the p and i for each payment the banks wouldn’t earn as much for taking the risk, so I’m guessing the rates would be higher to make up for it. If you had equal principle payments and a declining interest it would put a lot more stress on those early years. Of course you could just pay extra each month and create that type on your own. The current annuity system balances risk and motivation pretty well.
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Jan 25, 2019 18:56
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just buy your house with a credit card, geeze
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Jan 26, 2019 09:49
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QuarkJets posted:just buy your house with a credit card, geeze Think of all the rewards points!
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Jan 26, 2019 15:08
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Jealous Cow posted:
Have you tried heat tape? Some sort of lid over the pit to slow down air movement might help as well.
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Jan 26, 2019 15:31
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devicenull posted:Have you tried heat tape? Some sort of lid over the pit to slow down air movement might help as well. Yeah I’m going to put heat tape on the pipe above the pit. I also put the cover back in place. I think I need to change to an external float switch so the water level stays above the pump. Right now the top 2/3s of the pump is above the waterline when the pump is off.
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Jan 26, 2019 15:46
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drat why are 36 inch wide stoves $4000 more then 30 inch wide stoves. What in the hell. I just want to cook frozen pizzas.
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Jan 27, 2019 05:15
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So, question for you fellas; I have a ranch with an attached garage (just one rectangular footprint and a simple roof with an attic crawlspace). The garage is deep, so I've been setting up the back 1/3 to use as a workshop, but the space is completely uninsulated all the way up to the roof since there is no crawlspace in the garage. This weekend I have been putting in wall insulation, followed by drywall. The questions I have are: Should I care that I'm not insulating the roof/creating a false ceiling with insulation? Should I insulate above the stud wall up to the ridgeline of the roof? I could glue rigid insulation cut to the roof's slope but I am fairly sure that section of the wall isn't sheathed with as good of a weather barrier than the stud walls.
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Jan 27, 2019 07:16
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Elephanthead posted:drat why are 36 inch wide stoves $4000 more then 30 inch wide stoves. What in the hell. I just want to cook frozen pizzas. Electric toaster for frozen pizza boats, just saved you 4k. Isn't every stove 30 inches except for those crazy chef stoves you see on HGTV or the minis in NYC apartments?
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Jan 27, 2019 13:29
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Sepist posted:Electric toaster for frozen pizza boats, just saved you 4k. Yes this is part of the problem but I want to remove my island cooktop and put a stove where the built in oven microwave is which is exactly 36 inches wide. Probably going to buy some Chinese knock off of a crazy chef stove.
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Jan 27, 2019 18:29
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or you'll just have to get a 30 inch and cover up the extra space or put in a small cabinet
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Jan 27, 2019 18:36
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Elephanthead posted:Yes this is part of the problem but I want to remove my island cooktop and put a stove where the built in oven microwave is which is exactly 36 inches wide. Probably going to buy some Chinese knock off of a crazy chef stove. Put in a 6"-wide cabinet with a pullout that holds your spices or something. Blindeye posted:So, question for you fellas; I have a ranch with an attached garage (just one rectangular footprint and a simple roof with an attic crawlspace). I'm not an expert on these things, but my impression is that you want to insulate the ceiling/roof first, because heat rises. Insulating the walls is less important than making sure your heat isn't all going up out the top of the building.
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Jan 27, 2019 18:41
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According to some efficiency contractors I know, ceiling insulation alone is way more effective than wall insulation alone. Definitely do both if you want to insulate a room properly
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Jan 28, 2019 01:27
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QuarkJets posted:According to some efficiency contractors I know, ceiling insulation alone is way more effective than wall insulation alone. Definitely do both if you want to insulate a room properly I agree and know completely, in principal, but there's a few things making me want to hesitate: I'd have to work in a vaulted ceiling 15+ feet in the air just to reach the garage ceiling. The garage ceiling is the roofline and it's actually all wood boards, which are a nice surface as opposed to something ugly. I'll never have this place fully temperature controlled. There's a garage heater that, admittedly, is already overkill now that I have the wall insulation in. Before I would run a 1500 watt heater and feel now difference in winter and now that I'm done with the walls I'm sweating after running it for an hour. In the summer, though, there's no hookups to the central air so it's just going to be ventilated through the door/windows. I would be on board with doing it if it meant getting a drywall lift and covering up insulation in a relatively low ceiling but doing so gets rid of easy access to my crawlspace/the beams I can store wood and other things on in the garage, and it would be a much more involved undertaking to try to build a low ceiling in my garage. The question is, with that in mind, is spending that much in the garage worth it? I plan to upgrade my attic insulation from R-20 to R-38 which is required for my region, but doing the same in my garage would be a gargantuan effort.
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Jan 28, 2019 03:19
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It really just depends on how much time you want to spend in your garage, like if you need it to be habitable then figuring out a solution to insulate your ceilings would probably be good but if you just want a work space occasionally and can make it comfortable enough with a heater? Eh. That's something only you can answer
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Jan 28, 2019 04:12
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are service line warranties a scam? I feel my scam alarm going off but im a big dumb idiot that doesnt understand why this isnt something that would be covered under a typical homeowner insurance claim
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Jan 28, 2019 04:24
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ex post facho posted:are service line warranties a scam? I feel my scam alarm going off but im a big dumb idiot that doesnt understand why this isnt something that would be covered under a typical homeowner insurance claim It depends on what you mean by scam. Insurance is always designed to collect more in premiums than they pay out, so it's quite likely that even if you have an issue with one of your lines, they'll do whatever they can to deny your claim or give you the least amount of money possible. Generally, the separate service line warranties are offered by shady companies, so I'd be even less likely to trust them than say, State Farm. If you're really worried about it, I'd check to see if your regular homeowners insurance provider offers some kind of extra rider policy you can buy, because, as you mentioned, this is typically excluded from general homeowners policies. Otherwise, you just do what 99.999% of other people do and hope for the best. It will probably be $5000+ out of pocket if something goes wrong, but it's probably not worth buying insurance for.
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Jan 28, 2019 15:47
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Exception: you have a polybutylene ("big blue") service line. These are ticking time bombs but, in my limited experience, the insurance is not priced differently from that for more robust materials.
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Jan 29, 2019 00:33
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If the service line warranty or insurance is something you are getting in the mail, perhaps even with a logo from your local utility company, then yes it's a borderline scam. Here in Southern California SoCal Gas has made a deal with an insurance company that claims to cover the repairs of your natural gas line that would not normally be covered by homeowners insurance or the utility company. SoCal Gas is even nice enough to let you pay your premium as part of your monthly gas bill. That's because SoCal Gas gets a kickback for allowing this company to advertise directly to their customers. I won't go into why it's particularly dumb to buy insurance for a natural gas line, but I will mention that the same company does the same thing for water lines or you name it depending on what municipality or state they are trying to sell insurance in, and which utility company is getting the kickback. That company in particular basically won't cover any actual damage and is basically just bilking you out of money. However service line insurance is an additional insurance that many homeowners insurance companies will allow you to add to your plan. Mercury Insurance for example already has this insurance included in my homeowner's insurance, and will cover up to $10,000 worth of damage to any service line including sewage, which is actually the one I'm worried about. The premium I'm paying for that service line insurance is far lower overall than what I would be paying for the company selling through SoCal Gas. In all things the best answer is to just read the internet for a while and compare prices. EDIT: Also, yay, I finally finished reading this thread from start to finish, now to start contributing my housing woes.
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Jan 29, 2019 04:38
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Anonymous Zebra posted:However service line insurance is an additional insurance that many homeowners insurance companies will allow you to add to your plan. Mercury Insurance for example already has this insurance included in my homeowner's insurance, and will cover up to $10,000 worth of damage to any service line including sewage, which is actually the one I'm worried about. The premium I'm paying for that service line insurance is far lower overall than what I would be paying for the company selling through SoCal Gas. In all things the best answer is to just read the internet for a while and compare prices. What is the specific name of the coverage you're referring to?
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Jan 29, 2019 05:13
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Dango Bango posted:What is the specific name of the coverage you're referring to? This is the insurance from Mercury I mentioned.
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Jan 29, 2019 07:30
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Thanks for the link. Just wanted to make sure you weren't thinking sewer backup - which is a very common additional coverage - covered the service line.
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Jan 29, 2019 13:16
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Can anyone in here maybe answer some questions about water heaters We have an ao smith promax electric water heater, size is I should've gotten the model number when I was home for lunch. It's at least between a 30-55 gallon as it's approx 5' tall. For the most part the hot water coming out of it is hot, as expected. However, it doesn't last very long at that temperature, in fact it's not long enough for my wife to fill up our bathtub for a bath. There are 2 thermostats on my heater. I adjusted the top one a while back and that made the water hotter than it used to be  But until today I didn't realize there was a bottom one  Would adjusting the bottom one make the water stay hotter longer? Or what would be some other issues for water not staying hot for very long.
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Jan 29, 2019 18:59
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mattfl posted:Can anyone in here maybe answer some questions about water heaters Electric heater? One of your elements might be out. This would mean the tank can heat up when no cold water is being added, but cannot maintain temperature once there is significant flow such as a bathtub spigot.
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Jan 29, 2019 19:29
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H110Hawk posted:Electric heater? One of your elements might be out. This would mean the tank can heat up when no cold water is being added, but cannot maintain temperature once there is significant flow such as a bathtub spigot. My brother suggested it might be one of the elements, said they're cheap and easy to replace so I might give that a shot.
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Jan 29, 2019 19:31
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On that note, would flushing my (gas) hot water heater actually do anything for the popping noises? It’s pretty old, and I have no idea when it was flushed last. All the online things make it sound pretty easy
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Jan 29, 2019 19:37
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We're having some asbestos pipe-wrap insulation removed from our basement. It's currently covering all of our hot-water radiator pipes. Would something like this (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frost-King-1-in-Fiberglass-Plumbing-Pipe-Wrap-Insulation/3131255) work as a good replacement once its all out? Or is there some better alternative?
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Jan 29, 2019 20:47
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mattfl posted:Can anyone in here maybe answer some questions about water heaters when my hot water heater would run out super fast it ended up being two things: 1. the bottom heating element was burnt out 2. the water heater had like two feet of gross slurry in the bottom of it (it was like sediment/minerals and who knows what else). this is likely what burnt out the heating element i ended up draining the entire thing but the sediment didn't come out so i had to buy a smallish tube that would fit through the heating element hole that i then duct taped onto the end of my shop vac hose so I could get it in there to suck it all out. it all took a couple hours but worked great afterwards
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Jan 29, 2019 21:04
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100 HOGS AGREE posted:when my hot water heater would run out super fast it ended up being two things: I'll give the draining it a go and see if a buncha gross stuff comes out and if so I'll replace the element as well. Thanks all!
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Jan 29, 2019 21:18
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Elephanthead posted:drat why are 36 inch wide stoves $4000 more then 30 inch wide stoves. What in the hell. I just want to cook frozen pizzas. I think a 36" Viking is only 5500 compared to a 4000 30" so get one of those 
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Jan 29, 2019 21:26
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:We're having some asbestos pipe-wrap insulation removed from our basement. It's currently covering all of our hot-water radiator pipes. Would something like this (https://www.lowes.com/pd/Frost-King-1-in-Fiberglass-Plumbing-Pipe-Wrap-Insulation/3131255) work as a good replacement once its all out? Or is there some better alternative? Why not foam? It's super easy to install and doesn't fill your lungs with glass.
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Jan 29, 2019 22:38
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If you have a multimeter (every homeowner should) you can test the heater elements yourself, 15-ish ohms is what mine are normally. I actually just replaced the lower thermostat which was stuck "on" and tripping the overheat reset. If you need to replace the element It is DIYable but make sure you have a good wrench that fits well, sometimes they are really stuck in there and of course drain the tank first or you'll have a big mess. You can get a whole rebuild kit, both thermostats and both elements for about $30. When you turn off the power check both across the terminals and to ground, older/bad installs sometimes pull each half of the 240 from separate fuses. It's always a good idea to drain sediment every few years.
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Jan 30, 2019 00:15
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H110Hawk posted:Why not foam? It's super easy to install and doesn't fill your lungs with glass. I saw foam in my search results looking for pipe wrap insulation, I just assumed it wasn’t intended for use with pipes that would get hot. I think the furnace has a peak temp of 145F or something like that.
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Jan 30, 2019 00:22
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totalnewbie posted:I think a 36" Viking is only 5500 compared to a 4000 30" so get one of those I think those are ebay prices. Also every Viking stove on craigslist is apparently a scam. Seems odd.
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Jan 30, 2019 01:10
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:I saw foam in my search results looking for pipe wrap insulation, I just assumed it wasn’t intended for use with pipes that would get hot. I think the furnace has a peak temp of 145F or something like that. It's literally for that.
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Jan 30, 2019 01:16
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Our fairly trustworthy nerd local plumber (he'd rather play WoW than make a house call) claimed the heating elements usually don't give out before the whole heater is dead, not true? We have old style bus fuses near the h.w. heater in addition to a breaker on the panel. One of those fuses finally died after 20 years here but the elements were ok. On well water here though, got a sediment filter installed to avoid sediment buildup but only recently.
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Jan 30, 2019 06:14
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sadus posted:Our fairly trustworthy nerd local plumber (he'd rather play WoW than make a house call) claimed the heating elements usually don't give out before the whole heater is dead, not true? Not in my experience or many others in this thread. sadus posted:On well water here though, got a sediment filter installed to avoid sediment buildup but only recently. ....and when is the last time you flushed the heater tank? Because as I believe was already mentioned you probably have 1/3 of a tank of sediment which is both reducing your volumetric capacity and already overwhelmed and ruined the lower element. Depending on your water chemistry and if the rod has ever been changed it very well could be time for a new heater entirely, but a burnt out element or even sediment to this extent isn't enough information to make that call.
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Jan 30, 2019 06:56
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How often SHOULD I flush the heater tank? Annually?
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Jan 30, 2019 15:56
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I've read annually, that's my plan.
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Jan 30, 2019 16:06
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EAT FASTER!!!!!! posted:How often SHOULD I flush the heater tank? Yep. More if annually it's burbling sludge for 10 minutes (and at that point you should be looking at additional filtration for sediment - like a smaller micron filter past the one you just had installed).
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Jan 30, 2019 17:33
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