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Medullah posted:I've got an unfinished basement with a concrete floor. I don't want to invest in finishing it, but I also wouldn't mind adding some level of comfort to it. Any recommendations for floor covering other than area rugs? We put down carpet squares, which were cheaper than getting actual carpet, let us do the areas we wanted whenever we felt like it, and can be replaced really easily. They were a breeze to put in and look fine. To the poster who had a continually clogged line, ours did something similar and we called out plumbers twice In two months, tho luckily it was our secondary line (so sink, washer, dishwasher). The second plumber said likely it was too small, and original to the house and so corroded and likely cracked. The cracks might be letting in sediment, which increases the likelihood of gunkups and clogs. Whenever we notice it backing up, or draining slow, we take a plunger to it. It might not be ideal, but it works until we can get a liner, or the pipe replaced entirely.
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Jul 13, 2019 20:35
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Subjunctive posted:My freestanding bathtub is not large enough for me to be comfortable in, and there’s room between it and the walls, so I’m looking to get a larger one. What should I keep in mind when choosing tubs and getting quotes? I don’t think I’m going to DIY it. Bath Doom
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Jul 13, 2019 21:06
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Medullah posted:I've got an unfinished basement with a concrete floor. I don't want to invest in finishing it, but I also wouldn't mind adding some level of comfort to it. Any recommendations for floor covering other than area rugs? Rugs.com has served us well so far in our living room. They do need a thick pad though so make sure to buy it at the same time. I think we got an 8x12ish thing for $150 on sale.
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Jul 13, 2019 21:07
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Subjunctive posted:My freestanding bathtub is not large enough for me to be comfortable in, and there’s room between it and the walls, so I’m looking to get a larger one. What should I keep in mind when choosing tubs and getting quotes? I don’t think I’m going to DIY it. If you cut the floor beams out, you can sink a bigger bathtub into the hole.
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Jul 13, 2019 21:17
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MrYenko posted:If you cut the floor beams out, you can sink a bigger bathtub into the hole. And we all know who to go for to get that advice.
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Jul 14, 2019 00:49
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Medullah posted:It's mostly storage and half is home gym stuff, but I do have a TV and futon there for super hot days or if a friend spends the night. Epoxy?
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Jul 14, 2019 15:37
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I just want to caution anyone and everyone to avoid purchasing an appliance from Home Depot. Their pricing and delivery timelines were great, but I have had to refuse two fridges now (with 12 day delays between each attempt) due to significant cosmetic and also functional damage to each one. The delivery guys also tried to cancel the attempts because it would require removing the fridge doors to get inside, despite the very clear fine print that delivery included door removal if necessary. They also refused to install it to my water line because it "doesn't look like the right size" despite being literally the right size. Home Depot doesn't actually do the delivery, but the people they hire to do it are absolutely awful
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Jul 19, 2019 23:37
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:I just want to caution anyone and everyone to avoid purchasing an appliance from Home Depot. Their pricing and delivery timelines were great, but I have had to refuse two fridges now (with 12 day delays between each attempt) due to significant cosmetic and also functional damage to each one. Home Depot hires local contractors to do this so people's experience is going to vary wildly from one town to the next. My Home Depot fridge delivery was flawless.
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Jul 19, 2019 23:57
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My experience with Home Depot contractors is also horrible. Never again. My parents had Lowes contractors install their hardwood floor, and halfway through installation my parents realized they were installing the wrong floor. They tried to argue it of course but ultimately had to do it again. They also had contractors from one of the stores install their granite countertops and after 5 attempts of them cracking or chipping the counters during install my mom just said gently caress it and has a countertop with a crack in it. Tldr; all big box contractors are horrible.
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Jul 20, 2019 01:41
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I've had a very bad experience with Lowes for appliance home delivery. I switched to a mom & pop appliance store. Their delivery guys were much better to work with. Home Depot I've had good experience for drywall delivery but never had an appliance through them. I used a Home Depot contractor for a 18 sq ft quartz counter install, no complaints. Edit: Lowes uses XPS for delivery which is already a shady company, so that is probably why they sucked so much Sepist fucked around with this message at 13:03 on Jul 20, 2019 |
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Jul 20, 2019 13:00
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My appliance delivery experiences have been great with Lowes and Home Depot, fwiw. With the last purchase, Lowes delivered our washer/dryer, noticed the dryer was dented, and immediately ordered a replacement and left the (functional) dryer here and installed until the replacement came, at which point they came and swapped it out. The guys doing the delivery/install were actual Lowes employees in a big Lowes truck though. Home Depot has been on my poo poo list after replacing a single window through their installer services. The installer we had was great, but the sales guy... long story short, after 3 windows and 5 months we finally had the window I ordered, which is why I've refused to buy anything at Home Depot ever since.
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Jul 23, 2019 03:16
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Question on screened in porches/decks. We have a deck on our 20 year old house. It's original, and south facing, and it sure looks like it's never had any paint other than when it was first built. In other words, it's an absolute wreck. We're going to rip it out and replace it with a slightly larger screened in porch + a side deck for grilling. We've found a few companies that can do this, but here's the kicker: We want electrical run (outlets/fan/lights), and there's a bunch of landscaping that will have to be ripped up (and then blocked over with weedblock/gravel/whatever). That's probably easy enough, but also it's on a slope and we think it's tall enough to build an enclosed shed underneath (also with lights/outlets, possibly with concrete slab floor), so we'd love to do that as well if it's not extraordinarily expensive. If we did the shed we'd probably need some grading done and a small retaining wall built due to the slope. So with all those other wants/needs, would we be better off getting a general contractor? Or would a typical deck/porch company be able to wrangle this project themselves? Also where would the line be drawn? I'm sure a deck/porch company can do some parts of it, but I'm not sure where they might avoid. I guess they'd likely sub some portions out, but I dunno if that's typical or if I'd be asking them to do something weird which means they'll probably screw it up. DaveSauce fucked around with this message at 12:35 on Jul 23, 2019 |
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Jul 23, 2019 12:31
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DaveSauce posted:Question on screened in porches/decks. There are lots of landscaping companies that do all the work. They sell full transformations that include decks/gazebos/patios, outdoor kitchens, along with the landscaping itself.
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Jul 23, 2019 13:01
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Jealous Cow posted:There are lots of landscaping companies that do all the work. They sell full transformations that include decks/gazebos/patios, outdoor kitchens, along with the landscaping itself. Interesting, I wouldn't think to look at landscaping companies when doing a deck/porch. Would this be the best route to go? We don't have experience with landscapers outside of basic shrub/tree maintenance. I know plenty do hardscaping sort of stuff, but I didn't know they went beyond that. That said, we're getting a paid consult in a couple weeks from a local garden center to make a plan to rip/replace all the garbage contractor-grade shrubs on the property. Maybe we can ask them about it.
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Jul 23, 2019 13:53
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SpartanIvy posted:Tldr; all big box contractors are horrible. If you were a quality contractor you wouldn't need odd jobs sourced from a big box store as you'd already be busy enough to be refusing jobs you get on word of mouth alone, so yeah.....totally agreed.
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Jul 23, 2019 14:27
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Motronic posted:If you were a quality contractor you wouldn't need odd jobs sourced from a big box store as you'd already be busy enough to be refusing jobs you get on word of mouth alone, so yeah.....totally agreed. The best services I've had come to my home have uniformly been those where 1) they were attached directly to a local company I knew and trusted, 2) I approached neighbors who had excellent work done and asked who they used or 3) have had a friend I know personally do the work. Everyone else has been - at best - adequate.
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Jul 23, 2019 18:11
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Well gently caress me
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Jul 25, 2019 22:07
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couldcareless posted:Well gently caress me That's due to the tax changes last year. Same thing happened to me.
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Jul 25, 2019 22:17
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Medullah posted:That's due to the tax changes last year. Same thing happened to me. I don’t understand this. They capped SALT. What else changed that could drive up assessments?
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Jul 26, 2019 02:41
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Yah same, my county does bi yearly assessments, I just bought my place last year and shocker, it's going up since it hasn't changed hands in 40 years and now they have a better judge of the real value. Federal tax changes shouldn't effect local taxes, honestly if anything the SALT deduction change would put pressure on local government (voters) to hold or lower (lol) taxes. I'm more inclined to pay local tax than federal knowing that it stays in my community especially if the overall bill stays the same.
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Jul 26, 2019 02:48
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I don’t want to be a grover or cut into Ibeams guy, so I wanna run this idea by people. We bought a house that has an original driveway that’s sunk like 4 inches over the past 50 years. On that side of the house, it hasn’t cause any particular issues save for one area, which has led to some seeping into the basement.  The downspout is typically attached and leading into the bed across the driveway. Even so, heavy rains tend to puddle there. I’ve patched up both the interior (with hydraulic cement) and exterior (with poly self leveling sealant) where possible, which has reduced but not eliminated the problem. This is also in a climate which would make any patching solution temporary. Mud jacking is not an option because it’s so cracked, and replacing the entire driveway would be really expensive, and we’ve got quotes coming in at like 7 to 10k, which seems insane. My idea would be to rip up the two slabs at the rear of the house, and replace them with sod, pavers or something.  I don’t know a ton about drainage, but it’s my understanding that you can grade it such that it would flow away from the house. I also don’t know a ton about cement removal, but looking at DIY things seems to suggest we might be able to get away with a heavy sledge, a trailer or dumpster and a shitload of elbowgrease. We can fit three cars in the driveway even with these two slabs gone. It would be pretty cool to have a patio or pergola type thing there, but I’d settle for just not having water in the basement and it not looking like trash. Is this dumb? meanolmrcloud fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Jul 27, 2019 |
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Jul 27, 2019 05:24
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meanolmrcloud posted:I don’t want to be a grover or cut into Ibeams guy, so I wanna run this idea by people. We bought a house that has an original driveway that’s sunk like 4 inches over the past 50 years. On that side of the house, it hasn’t cause any particular issues save for one area, which has led to some seeping into the basement. You can grade it but that drain means a *lot* of water ending up there. If it were me, when you break up the concrete to put in pavers or sod, I'd run the drain down to a PVC slowing away from the house a few feet to some location you'd be comfortable putting in a small dry well.
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Jul 27, 2019 06:03
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On solar power; Ikea is starting to sell kits in Sweden "after the summer", cooperating with one of our big solar installation companies. If this is successful they might do the same over in the US which will depress the cost. Worth keeping an eye out.
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Jul 27, 2019 12:46
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I replaced my bathroom sink faucet and figured I'd put a new trap since the previous owners used one of those flexible traps. If course I forgot that bathroom sinks are 1-1/4, and the PVC to connect to was 1- 1/2, so I went to Ace for a new one, and an extension since the wall rough is very low. Oh and also, the wall rough is far enough away from the sink drop that I couldn't connect it anyway. I need to put a bend in the PVC pipe so it lands closer. I guess the original sink wasn't centered in the area like this new one is. Also I got light headed from using oil based Kilz in a poorly ventilated space, knocked a couple of trim prices loose moving the vanity, and got a drop of that same primer on a dry clean only skirt of my wife's in the closet. Pretty great overall.
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Jul 29, 2019 00:47
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Had my Samsung gas dryer refuse to spin today, learned how to take it apart and found a half melted idler pulley. Incredible that it would go 3-4 years into the life of the dryer after only having ancient Kenmores going on 20+ years before. At least it’s something fixable, my first thought was ‘poo poo new dryer time’. Of course no one locally stocks em so to Amazon I go.
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Jul 29, 2019 01:27
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My wifes grandparents have a kenmore gas dryer that turned 50 this year. Manufactured Jan 1969. Still does 1-2 loads a day
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Jul 29, 2019 01:50
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meanolmrcloud posted:I don’t want to be a grover or cut into Ibeams guy, so I wanna run this idea by people. We bought a house that has an original driveway that’s sunk like 4 inches over the past 50 years. On that side of the house, it hasn’t cause any particular issues save for one area, which has led to some seeping into the basement. I don't know about the drainage but you can easily bust up concrete with a sledge into however small you want it.
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Jul 29, 2019 02:59
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howdoesishotweb posted:Had my Samsung gas dryer refuse to spin today, learned how to take it apart and found a half melted idler pulley. Incredible that it would go 3-4 years into the life of the dryer after only having ancient Kenmores going on 20+ years before. At least it’s something fixable, my first thought was ‘poo poo new dryer time’. Of course no one locally stocks em so to Amazon I go. samsung appliances are poo poo in terms of reliability.
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Jul 29, 2019 07:06
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skipdogg posted:My wifes grandparents have a kenmore gas dryer that turned 50 this year. Manufactured Jan 1969. Still does 1-2 loads a day Nice
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Jul 29, 2019 08:21
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I conveyed my previous washer/dryer set (Samsung units about 5~ years old) and got stuck with what the sellers left behind at the new place, a Whirlpool sub-brand gas dryer and an ancient kenmore washing machine with an agitator. They both work excellent, with the exception of the washing having an issue draining fully once or twice due to the size of the load I crammed in. The one thing I miss 100% and the only thing that makes we want to replace them is the steam option on my old dryer. It was amazing never having to iron clothes. Throw the wrinkliest linen in there and it would come out flat in 15 minutes.
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Jul 29, 2019 12:52
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You can sorta simulate the steam by tossing an ice cube into the dryer with the item to release the wrinkles from. I've been doing that since college and it works pretty well
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Jul 29, 2019 13:32
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meanolmrcloud posted:I don’t want to be a grover or cut into Ibeams guy, so I wanna run this idea by people... It's tough to say without knowing the rest of the layout of the house, and your water table, but that looks like a good situation where a rain barrel or downspout planter, combined with a dry well or other infiltration feature for overflows. Any idea what your soil is like or if you have a high water table?
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Jul 29, 2019 15:53
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LogisticEarth posted:It's tough to say without knowing the rest of the layout of the house, and your water table, but that looks like a good situation where a rain barrel or downspout planter, combined with a dry well or other infiltration feature for overflows. No idea about the soil or water level, but thanks for the rain barrel and planter suggestion. I’ll have to look more into dry wells too, though the only area that has a natural slope is towards the rest of the driveway, with the neighbor directly on the other side.
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Jul 29, 2019 16:25
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ntan1 posted:samsung appliances are poo poo in terms of reliability. I generally agree with this, even though I bought a pair of the Samsung Flex machines. I've got 7 years of total warranty coverage on them though, so hoping nothing major happens, but I fully expect it to.
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Jul 29, 2019 17:45
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My front loader washer has So Much Mold in the gasket, holy crap. Soaking it in vinegar and doing a hot cycle with vinegar didn't do a drat thing
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Jul 29, 2019 17:49
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:My front loader washer has So Much Mold in the gasket, holy crap. Soaking it in vinegar and doing a hot cycle with vinegar didn't do a drat thing The washing machine cleaner packets do a pretty good job of clearing it up. Won't get rid of it all, but they make a huge difference.
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Jul 29, 2019 18:15
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meanolmrcloud posted:No idea about the soil or water level, but thanks for the rain barrel and planter suggestion. I’ll have to look more into dry wells too, though the only area that has a natural slope is towards the rest of the driveway, with the neighbor directly on the other side. The whole point of a dry well is that you can trench a pipe with its own pitch towards a sub-grade dry well, and it'll infiltrate from there. So the surface slope isn't that important. If you have a high water table though, infiltration doesn't work so well as there is nowhere to perc to.
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Jul 29, 2019 18:39
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I stopped buying front load washers. The last one had some kind of special self-cleaning gasket and I did a super hot load with bleach at lest once a week AND I left the door open between loads and it still gross, along with the detergent tray. I’ve got a Maytag too loader without an agitator now and it stays clean, but I don’t think it gets clothes as clean and it takes for loving ever.
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Jul 29, 2019 18:49
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:My front loader washer has So Much Mold in the gasket, holy crap. Soaking it in vinegar and doing a hot cycle with vinegar didn't do a drat thing Leave the door open after you finish a load. Also a lot of them have a magnet to catch the door and leave it slightly cracked which helps when you're not using it too.
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Jul 29, 2019 19:07
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Rubbed a bunch of Vaseline on the gasket for my freezer and it's actually staying closed again instead of popping open slightly every time the fridge door closes giving everything a nice coat of frost. Should not have gotten a side-by-side in the first place but at least it's functional again.
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Jul 29, 2019 19:29
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