Home Zone: I see a baseboard and I want it painted black.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Home Zone: I see a baseboard and I want it painted black.

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Ghostnuke: Sep 21, 2005; Throw this in a pot, add some broth, a potato? Baby you got a stew going!

TheReverend posted:

Gutter guards..... Worth it? Which ones?

Depends on your tree situation I guess. They were absolutely worth it for me as I had to clean them out 2-3 times a year otherwise.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 14:34

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# ? May 10, 2024 18:16

The Dave: Sep 9, 2003

We really love having them. Tons of trees and poo poo that used to get in there now just sits on top and is way easier to remove.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 15:04

TheReverend: Jun 21, 2005

I have some severe tree situations. Big ole oak trees in Georgia.

What brands you all recommend?

# ? Apr 23, 2019 15:17

Ghostnuke: Sep 21, 2005; Throw this in a pot, add some broth, a potato? Baby you got a stew going!

Mine are Leaf Filter, I think?

# ? Apr 23, 2019 15:48

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

Send some soil samples out to the local ag extension to see what you may need (probably lime), apply that, then core aeration and over seed with whatever grass seed mix the ag extension recommends for your area.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 17:04

HycoCam: Jul 14, 2016; You should have backed Transverse!

TheReverend posted:

I have some severe tree situations. Big ole oak trees in Georgia.

What brands you all recommend?

The metal screen (metal plates with little holes--NOT the wire screening) covers have always been my favorite for working and not needing attention.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/smart-screen-aluminum-gutter-guard-5-in-x-20-ft/1000192439

The venturi effect type gutter guards look cool on TV and at trade shows, but suck if you have steep roof or heavy rain. Not a fan of the venturi. Venturi seems to be phasing out into something more like:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/amerimax-solid-gutter-cover-pvc-gutter-cover-6-in-x-4-ft/3057313

Way less expensive, but there is something to be said for bolting on your gutter guards and not thinking about them ever again.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 18:28

B-Nasty: May 25, 2005

HycoCam posted:

The metal screen (metal plates with little holes--NOT the wire screening) covers have always been my favorite for working and not needing attention.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/smart-screen-aluminum-gutter-guard-5-in-x-20-ft/1000192439

I have these, and they work great. One downside is that it isn't super easy to remove them to access the gutter, but I haven't needed to clean the gutter since they were installed, so who cares.

Never had any issues with ice/snow damming or water running over them, but my roof is a traditional, single gable 6/12 pitch.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 18:35

Hubis: May 18, 2003; Boy, I wish we had one of those doomsday machines...

That Works posted:

I have a new (to me) home and I don't know what I am doing with my lawn. Last time I owned a place with a lawn was in the southern tip of Louisiana so it was basically just mow constantly and everything grows like bananas and no need to ever water anything.

New place is in Rhode Island. The lawn seems like it was well kept up before but I have a couple of concerning spots and I'm not sure what the best way to treat them are. Any tips? I've mowed the lawn just once 2 weeks prior to these photos at the highest setting on the mower, mostly to just shred the remaining leaves. Leaf and grass clippings were just mulched back into the ground and not bagged. I intend to continue doing that unless convinced otherwise.

Anyway, 1st photo has the worrisome bare spots, 2nd photo represents the rest of the lawn and nice grass cover otherwise. Any advice on how to get those more bare spots looking like the 2nd photo? They get a bit more sun on the 1st side, both photos encompass much of the septic leach field, so there's not a bias there.

What happens when you get rain -- does it pool at all? Looking at the pictures my first guess is that line of bare spots is along a small local depression that holds water a little bit longer than others, which drowns the grass and then leads to compaction. If that's the case then buy a few bags of good quality top-soil and Paver Sand (NOT "Play Sand" -- you want the coarse stuff), mix them 50/50, and rake that over the area to level. Then seed, cover with a little peat moss, water religiously (but LIGHTLY) and let it fill in.

Other guesses: Were there any trees in the area? Could be subterranian roots.

What happens if you try to stick a slot-head screwdriver in the bare spots? Is it harder than the surrounding areas? That would also indicate compaction.

More concerning: Fungus. Did that area look healthy when you moved in? What happened? Do you see other patches of grass that are yellowing/look unhealthy? You can treat this with a couple spring fungicide treatments and then patch it up in the fall.

If you have Bluegrass (which you might in RI, not sure) then you can shove nitrogen down it's throat in the fall -- Bluegrass is Rhizomatic and will respond by sending out roots and spreading aggressively. It doesn't like heat so doing this now can lead to it getting stressed out going into summer (or getting a fungus problem due to excess N) but fall is the perfect time. In this case you want to aim for about 1 lb of N / 1k sqft every month once the soil temps dip below 75'F or so down to about 50'F.

- 1 lb/1k SqFt means 5 lbs of 20-0-0 (for example)
- You probably want to break up the application so more like 0.5 Lb/K every 2 weeks
- Make sure the grass is getting enough water (0.75-1.5in/wk) if you try and push N into it
- a fall Fungicide application probably isn't a bad idea if you are feeding and irrigating, although it's less important as the grass will be going into its dominant season instead of its stressful one
- Likewise a fall pre-emergent application would be good since you have these bare spots. If you are seeding then you don't want to do this (unless you use something like the Scott's Starter with the grass-safe pre-emergent in it)

That Works posted:

New place is in Rhode Island. The lawn seems like it was well kept up before but I have a couple of concerning spots and I'm not sure what the best way to treat them are. Any tips? I've mowed the lawn just once 2 weeks prior to these photos at the highest setting on the mower, mostly to just shred the remaining leaves. Leaf and grass clippings were just mulched back into the ground and not bagged. I intend to continue doing that unless convinced otherwise.

This didn't cause those bare patches,, but my personal preference is to mulch the grass and bag when there's a lot of leaves on the ground (and either compost or apply as mulch in my beds). The leaves break down surprisingly slowly and they don't get chopped up nearly as finely as grass does so if they are mulched into the lawn in large numbers then they can suffocate the turf underneath. If you have dense grass then this is less of a problem as the grass itself will inhibit the leaves matting together; however, if you have thin/bare areas like this then I would avoid mulching leaves in large numbers as they will collect in those bare spots very easily. I definitely wouldn't do it if I have new seed on the ground.

Motronic posted:

Send some soil samples out to the local ag extension to see what you may need (probably lime), apply that, then core aeration and over seed with whatever grass seed mix the ag extension recommends for your area.

This., but like I've personally recommended elsewhere I'd make sure you're scratching up the bare spots really well with a gravel rake or tiller as well as the core aeration -- the cores aren't really that useful for seeding in and of themselves.

I'd also throw in a humic acid treatment to restore carbon to the soil. Anything that has HA in it is good -- Jonathan Greene makes one, there's lots of others on Amazon as well. HA can also help with compaction.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 21:50

Enos Cabell: Nov 3, 2004

Going to be painting most of the main floor of my house soon, and I'm thinking of picking up a few of these inner-fed paint rollers like this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/HomeRight-43-in-Inner-Fed-Paint-Roller/1000750400

Anyone used one and think it's worth the cost? Any other gadgets that will make my life easier?

# ? Apr 23, 2019 22:09

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Hubis posted:

What happens when you get rain -- does it pool at all? Looking at the pictures my first guess is that line of bare spots is along a small local depression that holds water a little bit longer than others, which drowns the grass and then leads to compaction. If that's the case then buy a few bags of good quality top-soil and Paver Sand (NOT "Play Sand" -- you want the coarse stuff), mix them 50/50, and rake that over the area to level. Then seed, cover with a little peat moss, water religiously (but LIGHTLY) and let it fill in.

Other guesses: Were there any trees in the area? Could be subterranian roots.

What happens if you try to stick a slot-head screwdriver in the bare spots? Is it harder than the surrounding areas? That would also indicate compaction.

More concerning: Fungus. Did that area look healthy when you moved in? What happened? Do you see other patches of grass that are yellowing/look unhealthy? You can treat this with a couple spring fungicide treatments and then patch it up in the fall.

If you have Bluegrass (which you might in RI, not sure) then you can shove nitrogen down it's throat in the fall -- Bluegrass is Rhizomatic and will respond by sending out roots and spreading aggressively. It doesn't like heat so doing this now can lead to it getting stressed out going into summer (or getting a fungus problem due to excess N) but fall is the perfect time. In this case you want to aim for about 1 lb of N / 1k sqft every month once the soil temps dip below 75'F or so down to about 50'F.

- 1 lb/1k SqFt means 5 lbs of 20-0-0 (for example)
- You probably want to break up the application so more like 0.5 Lb/K every 2 weeks
- Make sure the grass is getting enough water (0.75-1.5in/wk) if you try and push N into it
- a fall Fungicide application probably isn't a bad idea if you are feeding and irrigating, although it's less important as the grass will be going into its dominant season instead of its stressful one
- Likewise a fall pre-emergent application would be good since you have these bare spots. If you are seeding then you don't want to do this (unless you use something like the Scott's Starter with the grass-safe pre-emergent in it)

This didn't cause those bare patches,, but my personal preference is to mulch the grass and bag when there's a lot of leaves on the ground (and either compost or apply as mulch in my beds). The leaves break down surprisingly slowly and they don't get chopped up nearly as finely as grass does so if they are mulched into the lawn in large numbers then they can suffocate the turf underneath. If you have dense grass then this is less of a problem as the grass itself will inhibit the leaves matting together; however, if you have thin/bare areas like this then I would avoid mulching leaves in large numbers as they will collect in those bare spots very easily. I definitely wouldn't do it if I have new seed on the ground.

This., but like I've personally recommended elsewhere I'd make sure you're scratching up the bare spots really well with a gravel rake or tiller as well as the core aeration -- the cores aren't really that useful for seeding in and of themselves.

I'd also throw in a humic acid treatment to restore carbon to the soil. Anything that has HA in it is good -- Jonathan Greene makes one, there's lots of others on Amazon as well. HA can also help with compaction.

Thanks! I'll go check for compaction but it's definitely not a low spot for water pooling up. Some small pine trees and a red maple at front and center of the lawn, problem area photo is on one side, good area equal distance on the other side so im not strongly suspecting tree involvement yet. The problem side gets a bit more sun due to tree placement and orientation of the property.

Will get soil tested as well.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 22:10

Jaded Burnout: Jul 10, 2004

Enos Cabell posted:

Going to be painting most of the main floor of my house soon, and I'm thinking of picking up a few of these inner-fed paint rollers like this: https://www.lowes.com/pd/HomeRight-43-in-Inner-Fed-Paint-Roller/1000750400

Anyone used one and think it's worth the cost? Any other gadgets that will make my life easier?

I've seen nothing but annoyance from decorators regarding any kind of technoroller, which maybe is a sign that they're bad or maybe is a sign that people who know how to do things one way prefer to keep doing it so.

Personally I've found that a regular roller and a good length extendable pole (even for doing walls) is all I need, plus a few small pots holding paint while cutting in and optionally a plastic-lined paint bucket if you're keen not to work directly from the tub (which is the recommendation but I don't bother myself).

Practice and technique is IMO far more valuable than any gadgets.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 22:41

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Hubis posted:

Awesome advice.

I checked the areas and the ground gave way equally on the good turf vs the dead spots, but... The deader spots definitely feel like soft clay and less like topsoil. Should I just dig them up and turnover at end of summer and seed it then?

Will also get soil tested in the meantime but that seemed different.

# ? Apr 23, 2019 23:50

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

That Works posted:

I checked the areas and the ground gave way equally on the good turf vs the dead spots, but... The deader spots definitely feel like soft clay and less like topsoil. Should I just dig them up and turnover at end of summer and seed it then?

Will also get soil tested in the meantime but that seemed different.

I'd pull samples from those spots and some other random spot and see if it's different visually. If it is, you have a different problem to solve that might involve topsoil and a complete re-seeding.

# ? Apr 24, 2019 00:48

Hubis: May 18, 2003; Boy, I wish we had one of those doomsday machines...

That Works posted:

I checked the areas and the ground gave way equally on the good turf vs the dead spots, but... The deader spots definitely feel like soft clay and less like topsoil. Should I just dig them up and turnover at end of summer and seed it then?

Will also get soil tested in the meantime but that seemed different.

Motronic posted:

I'd pull samples from those spots and some other random spot and see if it's different visually. If it is, you have a different problem to solve that might involve topsoil and a complete re-seeding.

If you can, get a trowel and try to dig a solid 4-6" slice out of one of the bare spots and one of the good ones. That should give you a rough idea what the soil is like in the root zone.

The hardness may just be from it drying out and compacting. Grass keeps the soil moist and roots break up the dirt and maintain pore spaces. In their absence rain will collapse the pores and compact it.

It may have just been disease or weed pressure thinning the grass and then the thinner grass not holding onto moisture and dying out in a heat spell.

I'd do just what you suggest. Add a little organic matter when you do, that'll help.

# ? Apr 24, 2019 02:57

Southern Heel: Jul 2, 2004

Jaded Burnout posted:

Inside or outside the garage?

Depends. I know this sounds stupidly obvious but ventilation would work by moving damp air from inside the garage and replacing it with dry air from outside, but if the air *outside* the garage is 75%RH then you're going to be pulling in damp air and not getting anywhere. This works well in bathrooms because the water is coming from the bath/shower so it makes sense to pump the air outside and pull drier air from the rest of the house.

You need to figure out where the water in the air is coming from and make it go away. If the outside is drier then ventilate, if not you'll need a dehumidifier to grab the water from the air and pump it outside rather than moving air around.

Also bear in mind that the RH in %RH stands for "relative humidity", because it's relative to how warm the air is, as that moves the dew point. So you can avoid condensation by either having less water in the air or by warming it up. (it'll probably stop in the summer)

You can get fans which seal when not active.

Dense block or lightweight? Dense block can be a real poo poo to core out, it took my gas plumber an hour to core drill through two skins.

The humidity was outside the garage, I don't have a humidistat for just going by Google.

After having the windows/door open for a couple of hours I ran the dehumidifer (it seems to have a humidistat built in, but no display) overnight and it took about two pints of water out of the air of the double garage. Since then, I've been in and out of the garage so kept the roller shutters open. It's now not going to be raining and cooler,t and the humidity is around 65-70% for the rest of the week. Right now I've got the windows cracked open, but now I'm storing my new, rather delicate car in there and the last thing I want is bloody mold growing on it!

The concrete blocks are lightweight so not to worry there, and with regard to fans I keep seeing tiny little 100mm fans with built in humidistats but that feels like it would be much too small? (we discussed this for my bathroom, I think) https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-xf100h-15w-bathroom-extractor-fan-with-humidistat-timer-white-240v/15722 - I thought I might need https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elixir-The...gateway&sr=8-16 and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Industrial...gateway&sr=8-25 ?

# ? Apr 24, 2019 06:51

Jaded Burnout: Jul 10, 2004

Southern Heel posted:

The humidity was outside the garage, I don't have a humidistat for just going by Google.

Just as a technical note a humidistat is like a thermostat in that it's a control for keeping a fixed humidity. Something to measure the humidity in the garage would be a hygrometer, you can get roughly accurate ones fairly cheap on Amazon.

Southern Heel posted:

with regard to fans I keep seeing tiny little 100mm fans with built in humidistats but that feels like it would be much too small? (we discussed this for my bathroom, I think) https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-xf100h-15w-bathroom-extractor-fan-with-humidistat-timer-white-240v/15722 - I thought I might need https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elixir-The...gateway&sr=8-16 and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Industrial...gateway&sr=8-25 ?

This I don't know, sorry

# ? Apr 24, 2019 12:54

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Southern Heel posted:

The concrete blocks are lightweight so not to worry there, and with regard to fans I keep seeing tiny little 100mm fans with built in humidistats but that feels like it would be much too small? (we discussed this for my bathroom, I think) https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-xf100h-15w-bathroom-extractor-fan-with-humidistat-timer-white-240v/15722 - I thought I might need https://www.amazon.co.uk/Elixir-The...gateway&sr=8-16 and https://www.amazon.co.uk/Industrial...gateway&sr=8-25 ?

That fan pulls 85m³ per hour, that's exchanging the air in a 6m x 6m x 2.4m space completely once per hour, that's fine.

# ? Apr 24, 2019 17:35

Southern Heel: Jul 2, 2004

Interesting on both counts. So if I understand correctly, I could just cut a hole in the wooden panel in my garage and push the Manrose van output through (it'd be under an eave rather than exposed directly to the elements), wire it into a normal 3 pin socket and just leave it plugged in and turned on all the time, with the humidity level set to 70% or whatever?

# ? Apr 24, 2019 19:20

Jaded Burnout: Jul 10, 2004

Southern Heel posted:

Interesting on both counts. So if I understand correctly, I could just cut a hole in the wooden panel in my garage and push the Manrose van output through (it'd be under an eave rather than exposed directly to the elements), wire it into a normal 3 pin socket and just leave it plugged in and turned on all the time, with the humidity level set to 70% or whatever?

I dunno about the electrical bits but 50%RH is a good target.

# ? Apr 24, 2019 21:09

cakesmith handyman: Jul 22, 2007; Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

Reading the instructions, yes exactly.

# ? Apr 24, 2019 21:11

Spring Heeled Jack: Feb 25, 2007; If you can read this you can read

So this is a bit odd but one of the toilets in my house has a strong smell of body odor coming from it? I�ve lived here about a month and the toilet doesn�t seem to be super old or anything. I�ve cleaned the tank and the bowl as best as I can with a brush and Clorox but it seems to linger.

The smell is definitely in the bowl and nowhere else in the bathroom. Can anyone suggest any intense as hell cleaners to help with this?

# ? Apr 25, 2019 17:53

life is killing me: Oct 28, 2007

So my A/C unit has not been working correctly lately. This is on auto, heat, cool, both units (not to mention the builders didn't put in a return air in our son's room, serviced by the second unit in the attic and I can't figure out what the gently caress). The main problem is the unit on our side of the house, which today was set to 72 and the actual temperature was 76 on the thermostat. So, I turned it down three degrees to 69 and the unit kicked on, but not only can I not feel air blowing from the grates, but the thermostat stayed the same for about 45 minutes and then went UP a degree to 77. This unit services two bedrooms and our living room, and again, no air from any of the vents on this side even though I can hear the unit running. Not sure this is as simple as the heat from outside, auto isn't kicking the temperature down when it detects high temperature and neither is cool, so as a result it's unbearably hot in the house and there's nothing we can do about it. To be fair I'm warm at night under just the sheet with the temperature at 69, while my wife of course wants the fan off and the temperature up to 71. But even she says it's hot right now.

Is there something I'm missing here? Reset the unit's breakers maybe (it's a Trane and has two breakers on the unit itself)? Reset breakers in garage? Or is this a condenser problem? I'm going to call an A/C tech probably, but want to try everything I can before I do so I can avoid a service charge just for them to tell me something that should have been obvious to me.

Spring Heeled Jack posted:

So this is a bit odd but one of the toilets in my house has a strong smell of body odor coming from it? I�ve lived here about a month and the toilet doesn�t seem to be super old or anything. I�ve cleaned the tank and the bowl as best as I can with a brush and Clorox but it seems to linger.

The smell is definitely in the bowl and nowhere else in the bathroom. Can anyone suggest any intense as hell cleaners to help with this?

I had a similar problem, different odor though. Turned out to be the wrong kind of gasket that didn't give a good seal on the sewer line. Are you absolutely sure it's the bowl and not a bad seal? Because what may seem like it's coming from the bowl could be the plumbing underneath, directly above which sits the bowl. Worth looking into, at least.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 02:40

Jaded Burnout: Jul 10, 2004

Peanut, should we be directing people who want to post photodumps of their own project work here, or should we start a new megathread for that?

# ? Apr 26, 2019 08:26

peanut: Sep 9, 2007

here is good because people are already reading here and not always checking for new threads

clean your ac filters .

# ? Apr 26, 2019 11:10

life is killing me: Oct 28, 2007

peanut posted:

clean your ac filters .

They are pretty new and not very dirty at all--I checked the main unit last night (the other unit is in the attic and requires crawling to get to, I'm told the filter lasts a little longer for that one and it's a different size).

Are you talking an air compressor attachment?

# ? Apr 26, 2019 13:30

Spring Heeled Jack: Feb 25, 2007; If you can read this you can read

life is killing me posted:

I had a similar problem, different odor though. Turned out to be the wrong kind of gasket that didn't give a good seal on the sewer line. Are you absolutely sure it's the bowl and not a bad seal? Because what may seem like it's coming from the bowl could be the plumbing underneath, directly above which sits the bowl. Worth looking into, at least.

I can go in the basement under where the toilet is and there's no discernible smell as far as I can tell. Like no poo poo I've smelled around the bottom of and behind the toilet, it's seems to only be in the bowl itself.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 13:37

life is killing me: Oct 28, 2007

Spring Heeled Jack posted:

I can go in the basement under where the toilet is and there's no discernible smell as far as I can tell. Like no poo poo I've smelled around the bottom of and behind the toilet, it's seems to only be in the bowl itself.

Have you tried odor tabs or whatever you call them? Or that stuff that turns the water blue in the bowl?

The reason I say it could be the sewer line is that all your poo poo and piss goes in that line, and unless the line is open down there for whatever reason you may not smell it anywhere--a bad or incorrect gasket would let the smell out only around that area and not in the basement possibly. But, I don't have a basement and wouldn't know for sure.

Only other thing would be to turn off the valve and flush so the bowl doesn't fill and see if the smell goes away, and/or clean the bowl that way. I'm just not sure what could make a toilet bowl itself smell bad like that constantly, unless it's the water itself--I don't know how ceramic could hold a smell.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 13:47

His Divine Shadow: Aug 7, 2000; I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

I don't got an AC to clean. But I do have a centralized ventilation system with built in heat-exchanger (FTX ventilation). I clean those filters 3-4 times a year. I always am ready with the vacuum when I pull out one filter, bugs, dead wasps and stuff tends to fall out. I have considered putting a finer meshed net over the air intake, just a grille now.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 13:49

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

life is killing me posted:

So my A/C unit has not been working correctly lately. This is on auto, heat, cool, both units (not to mention the builders didn't put in a return air in our son's room, serviced by the second unit in the attic and I can't figure out what the gently caress). The main problem is the unit on our side of the house, which today was set to 72 and the actual temperature was 76 on the thermostat. So, I turned it down three degrees to 69 and the unit kicked on, but not only can I not feel air blowing from the grates, but the thermostat stayed the same for about 45 minutes and then went UP a degree to 77. This unit services two bedrooms and our living room, and again, no air from any of the vents on this side even though I can hear the unit running. Not sure this is as simple as the heat from outside, auto isn't kicking the temperature down when it detects high temperature and neither is cool, so as a result it's unbearably hot in the house and there's nothing we can do about it. To be fair I'm warm at night under just the sheet with the temperature at 69, while my wife of course wants the fan off and the temperature up to 71. But even she says it's hot right now.

Is there something I'm missing here? Reset the unit's breakers maybe (it's a Trane and has two breakers on the unit itself)? Reset breakers in garage? Or is this a condenser problem? I'm going to call an A/C tech probably, but want to try everything I can before I do so I can avoid a service charge just for them to tell me something that should have been obvious to me.

What "unit"? Are you talking about the compressor outside? If so, turn the thermostat to fan after it's been off for a while. See if you get any air through the vents. If no, you need to look at the inside unit: the blower fan or the start/run cap is probably bad.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 14:49

That Works: Jul 22, 2006; Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy

Any advice / guidance on repairing drywall tape?

In the corner of our bathroom sitting over the shower the tape between the ceiling / top of the wall has started to separate away. Just an 18" or so length of it has opened up 1/4" or so but the inspector said it would only get worse and need to be repaired eventually.

We had a contractor set up to take care of it along with some more minor maintenance things but he rescheduled about 4 times then told us he could no longer work on the house as he had another big job come up out of state. Rather than do the song and dance again at this point I'd rather just do it myself unless this is a job best left to the pros. I have some woodworking experience and a fair bit of tools, but nothing drywall specific. I've watched a few videos on it so far and it all seems pretty easy to do but am curious if this is a job that might just best be left to someone more professional? We have a 2nd bathroom and are comfortable using that in the interim, so I can take my time with it if need be.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 14:52

stupid puma: Apr 25, 2005

A project like that is the perfect opportunity to learn how to mud and tape if you�re at all handy. Watch a couple videos and buy a couple of taping knives (I�d go with like a 6� and a like a 12�), some tape and some light mud and some sandpaper and go to town. It�ll take you a while to figure it out but if you take your time (and don�t try to make it perfect on the first or even second application) you�ll do fine.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 15:11

life is killing me: Oct 28, 2007

Motronic posted:

What "unit"? Are you talking about the compressor outside? If so, turn the thermostat to fan after it's been off for a while. See if you get any air through the vents. If no, you need to look at the inside unit: the blower fan or the start/run cap is probably bad.

It�s the indoor units.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 15:20

Sir Lemming: Jan 27, 2009; It's a piece of JUNK!

Any advice on dealing with carpenter bees? Fortunately they're not attacking my house as far as I know, but they are burrowing into a wooden playground in the back yard, leaving lots of sawdust and just generally being annoying. I know they're not aggressive, and they are pollinators so I don't want to kill them outright, but all the same I'd prefer not to run the risk of my kids getting stung by them. They're allergic to some stuff and I'd rather not find out about a bee allergy the hard way, at least for a while. Too much else to deal with as it is.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 16:51

B-Nasty: May 25, 2005

Sir Lemming posted:

carpenter bees

Carpenter bees don't really sting often, and it's generally the male bees you see being annoying, and they don't have a stinger at all.

Your best bet is to caulk or wood putty any existing holes, and stain or preferrably paint the playground. That may cause them to find somewhere else to go. If they persist, you would want to apply a pyrethroid-based insecticide directly to the wood.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 20:05

Ghostnuke: Sep 21, 2005; Throw this in a pot, add some broth, a potato? Baby you got a stew going!

What brands are the best/most reliable these days for lawn tractors? My yard is only half an acre, but the back is pretty steep and I'm going to have a heart attack using a push mower pretty soon.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 20:54

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

life is killing me posted:

It�s the indoor units.

So the indoor units are making noise like the fan is on but you are getting no air out of the vents?

Sounds like you have a multi zone setup. I'd start looking at the dampers and see if they are actually moving.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 21:35

Hubis: May 18, 2003; Boy, I wish we had one of those doomsday machines...

Sir Lemming posted:

Any advice on dealing with carpenter bees? Fortunately they're not attacking my house as far as I know, but they are burrowing into a wooden playground in the back yard, leaving lots of sawdust and just generally being annoying. I know they're not aggressive, and they are pollinators so I don't want to kill them outright, but all the same I'd prefer not to run the risk of my kids getting stung by them. They're allergic to some stuff and I'd rather not find out about a bee allergy the hard way, at least for a while. Too much else to deal with as it is.

DoMyOwn Pest Control has a good guide with products: https://www.domyown.com/how-to-get-rid-of-carpenter-bees-wood-bees-a-501.html

That being said, what B-Nasty said is basically on point: it's only the females that even have stingers, and they sting rarely. Unlike honey bees or bumble bees, Carpenter Bees are solitary -- they have individual little galleries rather than a whole hive to defend, and so as a result are way less aggressive.

If you can live with them it's great if you leave them alone.
If not, but it's not an immediate problem, the best bet would be to ignore it until the fall, then fill the holes with some balled up tin foil and wood putty over them. This will discourage them from resettling in the same holes next year.
Otherwise, the link I posted above has some recommendations.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 22:01

life is killing me: Oct 28, 2007

Motronic posted:

So the indoor units are making noise like the fan is on but you are getting no air out of the vents?

Sounds like you have a multi zone setup. I'd start looking at the dampers and see if they are actually moving.

Yep, the units are on and no air out of vents.

Yeah, it's just two zones on separate units each.

We had a guy come out and adjust the dampers recently, for the third time. This was on my wife's request mostly, but she wasn't wrong in her assessment--in our room it would be frigid at night and you could instantly feel a temperature difference upon opening the door and walking into the living room. It's like our room and the office on this side of the house were not getting heat. So, we had them adjust the dampers and then a few months later, same poo poo. So we had them do it again and he showed me the temperature coming from the vents and it has been working fine until recently. So basically we're not sure what the gently caress. I'm not about to have them out every quarter to adjust the dampers so the units will work properly, I just want poo poo to work the way it's supposed to work without having to pay a service charge. I don't know exactly how it's SUPPOSED to work, I just am pretty sure that it's not supposed to require damper adjustment all the time and should keep the temperature even throughout the home when auto is on and not have certain rooms be too hot or too cold.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:24

Motronic: Nov 6, 2009

I mean....the obvious answer here is to go find the dampers. See if they are closed and open them. Figure out why they are moving (probably just not tightened down enough), tighten them up and figure out a good balance and then make them with a black marker in case they move again.

If you're not up for that call someone, potentially even the same people, and tell them "these keep moving, please fix it so this stops happening." Perhaps have them show you where they are/mark them in case it happens again.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:28

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# ? May 10, 2024 18:16

rex rabidorum vires: Mar 26, 2007; KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN KASPERI KAPANEN

SOOOoooo big sorry to Jaded Burnout.

I've been toying with some ideas and projects around the house. Now that it's starting to get nicer decided to take a swing at one today:

Our rough sketch/math for the whole garage

Fetch our important bits

Target area

lovely cheap paint sprayer and some Thompson's - paint the wood to keep the termites out and away.

Apparently didn't clean it well enough after the last time I used it. Sigh...keep your poo poo clean.

We paint

Go away rain

Drying

First shelf in

Support for the corner

4 total Shelves ready to go

2nd shelf in

3rd

4th, middle support, and end support

My circular saw is somewhere else....I hand cut a piece of OSB by hand and left it 2 inchs short because measuring is for smart people that aren't me. Tomorrow I go out and go get another circular and probably another piece of osb.
So what I have left that I would like to do is another 2 shelves like that particular one, a work bench of some kind, and probably a work table/shelf along the back of the garage wall and large box for stacking firewood. Also, I might have to delve into the dark arts of electricity because there are 3 total double sockets in the whole garage and none of them are at all useful.

# ? Apr 26, 2019 23:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Home Zone: I see a baseboard and I want it painted black.

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