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DrBouvenstein posted:Finally got my living room walls painted, so the nasty carpet could be ripped up! (I know I could have ripped it up first thing, but I figured if paint was potentially going to be dripping everywhere (especially since I had to do the ceiling) might as well keep the built-in drop cloth.) Honestly, part of what I like about hardwood floors, especially old ones, is that you can see the wear and tear from over the years. The stains, scratches, even gouges and other marks can all add to the character of the floor. Might not be the look you are wanting but things like the black spots aren't always a detraction from the floor.
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Oct 29, 2019 15:17
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Ebola Dog posted:Honestly, part of what I like about hardwood floors, especially old ones, is that you can see the wear and tear from over the years. The stains, scratches, even gouges and other marks can all add to the character of the floor. Might not be the look you are wanting but things like the black spots aren't always a detraction from the floor. Agreed. I think all that floor needs is a maybe a light sanding and a new coat of polyurethane
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Oct 29, 2019 15:40
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Sirotan posted:I mean if you just wanna do that one room and the hallway I'm sure you could get the sanding done in one day. There are also some types of polyurethane that you can put down three coats in a day with no sanding in between. For tool rental you'd be looking at ~$200 and probably less than $100 for the finish and painting supplies if you don't have any. It will suck and your home will get filled with dust and be generally disrupted for a weekend but I think it's doable if your heart is set on it. Also Sirotan: Sirotan posted:Welp this is miserable and next time I will pay someone else to do it. :x But seriously, if doing the floor means you lose access to a part of the house, could you make do for a night or two? Especially if you can get someone to help you for a case of beer, it seems plausible to get enough done in a weekend that you could at least regain access to any part of the house you may have lost access to.
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Oct 29, 2019 16:54
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Sirotan posted:It will suck. Hey I never claimed otherwise 
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Oct 29, 2019 17:01
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Touche. Let me know if you ever decide that it was actually a lot of fun because I've got a house full of wood floors that need to be redone. I should have just done it in the week before I moved in but..  Who am I kidding, I'm totally going to end up paying someone to do it for me.
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Oct 29, 2019 17:08
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I think I'm gonna be doing my kitchen floor soon. There's a place here that says I totally can. Right now I've got some lovely vinyl tile over a layer of 1/4" plywood, and under that is the hardwood flooring. Really curious to see what the actual floor looks like.
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Oct 29, 2019 17:21
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totalnewbie posted:But seriously, if doing the floor means you lose access to a part of the house, could you make do for a night or two? Especially if you can get someone to help you for a case of beer, it seems plausible to get enough done in a weekend that you could at least regain access to any part of the house you may have lost access to. I could stay a couple nights at my girlfriend's place over a weekend. The other option is to "go around" my living room. It's not easy, but technically do-able. I can do a long step/jump to get from my bedroom to the bathroom, I can then turn around and do the same thing to get to the other bedroom next to mine (currently a "staging area" full of my tools and whatnot.) That room also has a second door that connects to the kitchen:  Very crude MS Paint diagram, not to scale, but you get the jist. Kitchen has its own outside door as well, so technically I could make do.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:09
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It'll be a pain but it won't take as long as you think for just sanding down wood. I've got decent equipment but I reckon I could sand that room with minimal dust in a couple of hours, using a random orbital sander, shop vac, and a few boxes of autonet pads.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:20
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Jaded Burnout posted:It'll be a pain but it won't take as long as you think for just sanding down wood. I've got decent equipment but I reckon I could sand that room with minimal dust in a couple of hours, using a random orbital sander, shop vac, and a few boxes of autonet pads. Yeah, if you have an alternate path AND alternate accommodations I wouldn't think too much about it. If you go live elsewhere just tape up plastic around the whole unused space (all doors and doorways into other rooms) and go to town. In the end shop vac it all up, toss a HEPA bag+filter in there and you don't even have to wonder about super-fine dust. These projects never take as long as you think if you dedicate whole days to them, wake up on time, and get to work.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:28
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H110Hawk posted:In the end shop vac it all up, toss a HEPA bag+filter in there and you don't even have to wonder about super-fine dust. These projects never take as long as you think if you dedicate whole days to them, wake up on time, and get to work. Hard disagree on both of these points, especially if you end up using the orbital sander. It will also take you longer than you thought if you have never done this before. Trust me I know. Also make sure you turn off your furnace if it's forced air during this process, to limit the dust flying around.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:35
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Sirotan posted:Hard disagree on both of these points, especially if you end up using the orbital sander. It will also take you longer than you thought if you have never done this before. Trust me I know. I don't want to disagree with your recent experience, it's totally valid, I'm just looking at the time it took me to do a wall about the same size of that floor and it was fairly quick, and with a vac hooked up to the dust port plus autonet pads I almost didn't need a mask (though I used one). I do agree that getting set up and into the rhythm of it takes longer than expected, as does cleaning everything up afterwards. Even innocent phrases like "just tape up plastic everywhere" assumes a lot about your access to the right kind of plastic sheeting and tape at the right price, and knowledge of what "the right kind" means in both cases. Certainly if you're renting the gear that's going to cause a bunch of faff also. But the amount of time you actually can't walk through the room should be limited.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:40
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Elder Postsman posted:I think I'm gonna be doing my kitchen floor soon. There's a place here that says I totally can.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:43
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Sirotan posted:Hard disagree on both of these points, especially if you end up using the orbital sander. It will also take you longer than you thought if you have never done this before. Trust me I know. Oh sure, it will take 2+ weekends no matter what, but with all those options available? One weekend of sanding (rent it on friday, wake up not hung over at 6am, eat breakfast, and get to work), and then clean up and just live in your house. The only part where you can't "live" in the house is the sealing, only if you don't want to deal with jumping over.
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Oct 29, 2019 18:54
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H110Hawk posted:wake up not hung over at 6am, eat breakfast, and get to work) Wow, hard pass on like 2/3 of those. That breakfast part sounds pretty good though, I'll take it under advisement.
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Oct 29, 2019 19:16
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80%+ of my house is hardwood and I want to refinish the floors. My dad did their inlaw apartment and said he'd be happy to help me do mine, but reading all this, I'm not sure I wouldn't be happier paying someone. What do you think it would cost to have someone redo 1800 sqft, including a set of stairs?
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Oct 29, 2019 22:06
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The napkin math figure I saw most often was $4/sqft. I didn't get any quotes myself but a local company advertised $1.25/sqft for "resurfacing" only.
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Oct 30, 2019 00:03
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Sirotan posted:The napkin math figure I saw most often was $4/sqft. I didn't get any quotes myself but a local company advertised $1.25/sqft for "resurfacing" only. I had about 700 square feet of oak done for $2.85/sqft in 2017. It was well worth the money to not have to do it myself.
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Oct 30, 2019 00:08
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Ok finally took back all the sanding belts I did not end up using, so here is what I've spent (so far) to refinish ~700sqft: Drum sander and edge sander rental: $259.58 (2x24hr rental on both) Sanding belts and pads: $80.96 Two gallons oil-based polyurethane: $97.05 (it's possible I'll end up needing more) Other supplies (paint trays, brush, lambswool applicator, sandpaper sheets for hand sanding): $101.34 Total: $538.95
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Oct 30, 2019 03:14
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Sirotan posted:Ok finally took back all the sanding belts I did not end up using, so here is what I've spent (so far) to refinish ~700sqft: Cool, not terrible. My living room is maybe 250 sq ft, so I will get by on less sandpaper and probably 1 gallon of poly, though I'll buy 2 just in case and return it if it's not needed. So you just used the drum sander between coats? I've seen some sites/videos that recommend a floor buffer but I'd like to avoid renting a third item for another $100/$125. I'm also lucky because after removing carpet and pad I've got almost an inch of space between the baseboard and floor, so I think I can get away with keeping them in place? Then I'll just install shoe moulding when I'm done. Question about a few stains:  That black spot on the right is the worst of them, but there's a couple like that. I assume they're deeper than I'll sand, so is just some wood bleach the go-to?
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Oct 30, 2019 22:01
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Sirotan posted:Ok finally took back all the sanding belts I did not end up using, so here is what I've spent (so far) to refinish ~700sqft: So doing a bit under 2,000 Sq ft yourself looks like it would save four to six thousand dollars. But you have to do it yourself. Ughhhh I guess at those cost savings it's worth it even if it means taking two days off work, buying a friend pizza and beer, and even getting a cheap hotel one or two nights
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Oct 30, 2019 22:04
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DrBouvenstein posted:So you just used the drum sander between coats? I've seen some sites/videos that recommend a floor buffer but I'd like to avoid renting a third item for another $100/$125. DrBouvenstein posted:That black spot on the right is the worst of them, but there's a couple like that. I assume they're deeper than I'll sand, so is just some wood bleach the go-to? I haven't put the poly down yet but my plan was to use a pad sander on a pole and just lightly hand sand with 220grit between coats. I'm trying some hydrogen peroxide on my dark stain, just did one coat tonight and will check in it tomorrow. So I drove over to my house tonight to start some hand sanding and what do I find but a goddamn water stain in the middle of my living room on my freshly sanded floors. Day 12 of home ownership: I discovered a roof leak. 
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Oct 31, 2019 01:54
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Sirotan posted:So I drove over to my house tonight to start some hand sanding and what do I find but a goddamn water stain in the middle of my living room on my freshly sanded floors. Day 12 of home ownership: I discovered a roof leak.  I'm sorry.
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Oct 31, 2019 02:10
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Sirotan posted:So I drove over to my house tonight to start some hand sanding and what do I find but a goddamn water stain in the middle of my living room on my freshly sanded floors. Day 12 of home ownership: I discovered a roof leak. Oh no! I would say it gets better, but... At least it's not renting!
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Oct 31, 2019 10:24
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I don’t know anything about lighting but want to purchase some dimmable indoor LED floods to replace my kitchen floods as they go out. While I’m pretty sure I know the answer, do I need a dimmable circuit for this, and if so how do I go about doing it? I have Philips Hue bulbs installed one some parts of the house but the bulbs are quite expensive and the floods even moreso ($50 for a single bulb), so I’m thinking traditional LED dimmable floods might be a much cheaper solution for dimmable lighting in other parts of the house, even if it requires doing light electrical work I wouldn’t have to do with Hue.
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Oct 31, 2019 17:58
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life is killing me posted:While I’m pretty sure I know the answer, do I need a dimmable circuit for this, and if so how do I go about doing it? If you want to dim them, yes - you need a dimmer. Replace the current switch with a LED-compatible dimmer. Be sure whatever floods you buy are rated to be in a can or they will die rather quickly as their electronics cook.
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Oct 31, 2019 18:08
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I bought a box of these last year and have been happy with them: https://www.amazon.com/Philips-LED-474312-2700-Kelvin-Equivalent/dp/B076XRT9Y6/ Much cheaper than using smart bulbs as long as you don't care about doing disco colors, and if you have 2 or more lights on the circuit it's still cheaper even if buy a smart switch to run them.
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Oct 31, 2019 18:15
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Motronic posted:If you want to dim them, yes - you need a dimmer. Replace the current switch with a LED-compatible dimmer. Be sure whatever floods you buy are rated to be in a can or they will die rather quickly as their electronics cook. I mean, is it a special kind of circuit or a certain way something has to be wired in order to work, or is it as simple as buying a dimmer switch? As to the bulbs, I bought 8 BR40 2700K LED floods that are dimmable and described by the website as suitable in cans or track lighting. My cans are 6" so 5" bulbs should fit perfectly and fill out the space so it doesn't look weird. I'd really just like more control over our lighting because we have no floor plugs in our somewhat large living room, so we can't have lamps without cords running to the wall we can trip over or my son can play with. Nevets posted:I bought a box of these last year and have been happy with them: Yeah a smart switch would be pretty awesome, my original thought was a touch dimming control switch or one of those switches that has the little slider on the right. A smart switch that works with bluetooth or even over wifi (we don't have internet at home and the main appeal of HUE is that it'll run on a router and doesn't need internet to work).
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Oct 31, 2019 19:38
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The traditional method is get a dimmer switch that support LED lights. Lutron makes one specifically for LED lights which eliminates the hum and winking at low settings. Alternatively, if you have a Smart house--I've been using these for the last year plus with great results: https://www.amazon.com/Recessed-Zigbee-Smart-Downlight-White/dp/B073P7HXHY They aren't a flood, but work in cans as a "retrofit".
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Oct 31, 2019 19:57
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Also if I buy two 1-way dimmer switches, can I make them work as a 3-way? As in, I have two locations that control the kitchen lights so I imagine it's a three-way circuit, but will they still work correctly from either location re: dimming and on/off if I buy two 1-way switches and install one in each location? This is a thinly-veiled attempt at being as cheap as possible since the 3-way dimmer cost almost twice as much in some cases.HycoCam posted:The traditional method is get a dimmer switch that support LED lights. Lutron makes one specifically for LED lights which eliminates the hum and winking at low settings. I do really like the sleek, modern look of downlights, but would want to replace all the can fixtures with them throughout the house, and that will be a task with the ones on my 18' ceiling. Unfortunately, I will never have a TRULY smart house, because no Internet is offered out here (we aren't in a rural area so I'm not sure why), so have to rely on things that don't require internet service to work. e: Holy gently caress do ANY smart dimmer switches come in 4-gang? life is killing me fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Oct 31, 2019 |
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Oct 31, 2019 20:04
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life is killing me posted:Also if I buy two 1-way dimmer switches, can I make them work as a 3-way? As in, I have two locations that control the kitchen lights so I imagine it's a three-way circuit, but will they still work correctly from either location re: dimming and on/off if I buy two 1-way switches and install one in each location? This is a thinly-veiled attempt at being as cheap as possible since the 3-way dimmer cost almost twice as much in some cases. those things just go inside the cans. you take out the old bulb, thread in the harness and push the new light up in there. they're also available at costco sometimes for a pretty reasonable price.
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Oct 31, 2019 20:43
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life is killing me posted:Also if I buy two 1-way dimmer switches, can I make them work as a 3-way? As in, I have two locations that control the kitchen lights so I imagine it's a three-way circuit, but will they still work correctly from either location re: dimming and on/off if I buy two 1-way switches and install one in each location? This is a thinly-veiled attempt at being as cheap as possible since the 3-way dimmer cost almost twice as much in some cases. You can wire a 3-way compatible dimmer into a 3-way circuit, but the remote switch can't also be a dimmer, just a regular on/off 3-way compatible switch. life is killing me posted:Unfortunately, I will never have a TRULY smart house, because no Internet is offered out here (we aren't in a rural area so I'm not sure why), so have to rely on things that don't require internet service to work. Not sure what the internet has to do with a smart home. My home automation does NOT touch the internet, on purpose. It is largely Honeywell z-wave switches and Home Assistant. life is killing me posted:e: Holy gently caress do ANY smart dimmer switches come in 4-gang? Switches don't come in "gangs". You just buy 4 of them and put them in a 4-gang box. This might be tough with dimmers depending on how much wattage you need them to run just due to size/packaging constraints.
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Oct 31, 2019 20:52
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Motronic posted:Not sure what the internet has to do with a smart home. My home automation does NOT touch the internet, on purpose. It is largely Honeywell z-wave switches and Home Assistant. Alot of the vague terminology out there seems to conflate 'smart home' with 'connected home' and alot of the devices are able to do both if you choose to. I bought Leviton smart switches for a few place in my home (mostly for timed security lighting) and while they only require a wifi network in order to setup the instructions seemed to imply you needed it to be online. Motronic posted:You can wire a 3-way compatible dimmer into a 3-way circuit, but the remote switch can't also be a dimmer, just a regular on/off 3-way compatible switch. Some of the pricier 3 ways can do this if the main switch is smart and the others are type matched remote switches.
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Oct 31, 2019 21:27
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Nevets posted:Some of the pricier 3 ways can do this if the main switch is smart and the others are type matched remote switches. Yes, my honeywell zwave switches can as well, but I was talking about regular switches. Should have made that clear.
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Oct 31, 2019 21:40
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Lutron has Maestro dimmers with companion switches that I don’t think are “smart”. Might be, all I know is , they work and don’t connect to any of my networks. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-...HW-WH/203486520
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Oct 31, 2019 22:45
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Sirotan posted:So I drove over to my house tonight to start some hand sanding and what do I find but a goddamn water stain in the middle of my living room on my freshly sanded floors. Day 12 of home ownership: I discovered a roof leak. x______x thoughts and prayers
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Oct 31, 2019 23:28
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There's a rat in my in-law's house. They gassed the kitchen and replaced the ugly old cabinet where we found the nest. But no one can chill until we catch and destroy it. My mission today is to buy or make a trap :/
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Oct 31, 2019 23:37
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peanut posted:There's a rat in my in-law's house. They gassed the kitchen and replaced the ugly old cabinet where we found the nest. But no one can chill until we catch and destroy it. I have the perfect plans for a trap, just need an old bathtub, a couple of marbles, some gears, and an old boot
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Oct 31, 2019 23:44
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Most of the diy traps look like that lol I'm hoping for a snap trap that I can just roll up in newspaper and throw away afterwards.
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Oct 31, 2019 23:50
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peanut posted:Most of the diy traps look like that lol https://www.amazon.com/Victor-Metal-Pedal-Rat-Trap/dp/B00004RAMW Look at the hand + trap picture for scale.
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Nov 1, 2019 00:00
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peanut posted:There's a rat in my in-law's house. They gassed the kitchen and replaced the ugly old cabinet where we found the nest. But no one can chill until we catch and destroy it. High powered air pellet rifle and a lot of patience and stillness + bait. Adopt a large cat like a maine coon. Or just like buy that trap I guess.
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