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The Wonder Weapon posted:If I'm interested in determining whether replacing my windows is worth it or not, how would I go about doing that? Cheap windows are vinyl and really look like butt, especially if you live in an old house. They might actually pay for themselves in energy savings but not in resale value. Real windows that look good cost pretty serious $$$ but probably never gonna recoup the cost on energy savings. If you're somewhere super cold it might eventually pay to replace them, but there's so much other insulation stuff you'd probably be better off doing first. My sister in law from Maine swears by some plastic film you stick over your windows every winter for drafts.
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Nov 5, 2019 01:15
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The problem with my house's windows is that they have deep tracks that are filthy. Is there any reasonable way to clean deep track aluminum windows?
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Nov 5, 2019 01:18
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SouthShoreSamurai posted:I think the 2nd option is way better aesthetically. If you have a small area blocked by a tree stump, maybe build a bigger landing? Or another small deck? Or grind the stump? Definitely agree with this. My understanding of stump grinding is it's just surface layer, then you cover with dirt and grass. I'd have to dig 4x 48" deep 12" wide holes for posts, almost perfectly surrounding the stump, which is 12" wide or so. I've seen bobcats with auger attachments have issues with roots of similar sized trees from much further away. I don't think it's possible, but I'd anyone knows of a magic thing, please let me know.
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Nov 5, 2019 01:20
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Sorry if this is a dumb question for this thread, but I am about to start a kitchen remodel and have spent hours and hours so far trying to make sense of what appliances to buy. Is there a thread for this? Do people usually just pick a brand and just choose whatever is in the discount bundle or w/e?
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Nov 5, 2019 01:30
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chupacabraTERROR posted:Sorry if this is a dumb question for this thread, but I am about to start a kitchen remodel and have spent hours and hours so far trying to make sense of what appliances to buy. Is there a thread for this? Do people usually just pick a brand and just choose whatever is in the discount bundle or w/e? I recently bought a "four piece" as apparently it's called. I attempted to do a bunch of internet research, including buying a month to month subscription to Consumer Reports. Turns out literally every model seemed to have reviews that said it was the worst thing ever, broke in a year, don't build em like they used to, etc. I also went to all local places that sell them, smaller regional places and national chains. Everyone has the same poo poo at the same price. I ended up focusing on what my budget was, including install, going to a very local chain that's been around forever and more or less get the style I wanted from whoever he recommend at that price point, seems fine I guess? If you're going for a French door fridge, they're wider than a traditional fridge. Mine didn't fit without modifying the counter top and a portion of a cabinet.
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Nov 5, 2019 02:00
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falz posted:Definitely agree with this. My understanding of stump grinding is it's just surface layer, then you cover with dirt and grass. Your understand is my understanding. Though I've also seen an episode of Building Alaska where they used a chainsaw to basically cut a block a couple feet down into the ground, two feet on a side. Maybe you could do that? (This can't possibly be good for your chainsaw... or potentially your life.)
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Nov 5, 2019 02:07
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falz posted:Definitely agree with this. My understanding of stump grinding is it's just surface layer, then you cover with dirt and grass. You can go as deep as you need to. The stump runs out eventually and you'e left with smaller roots. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU7ywfmqaGk&t=59s Get on in there. I ran the poo poo out of this rental.
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Nov 5, 2019 02:34
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I took an axe and a chainsaw to a stump in my front yard and had it below ground level in a few hours.
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Nov 5, 2019 02:49
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falz posted:I recently bought a "four piece" as apparently it's called. I attempted to do a bunch of internet research, including buying a month to month subscription to Consumer Reports. What brand did you go with? I’m leaning towards LG or GE.
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Nov 5, 2019 02:54
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Motronic posted:You can go as deep as you need to. The stump runs out eventually and you'e left with smaller roots. I paid a few gentlemen who barely spoke English a couple hundred bucks to decimate a stump in my backyard. Including them chainsawing a chicken wire fence out of the way it took them a bit over an hour. They used something similar to that thing. Stump grinders make short work of stumps, but no one is going to own one personally so stumps get a bad rap. (The chainsaw was used on the posts after the fence metal fence was gone.)
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Nov 5, 2019 03:03
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I've got a huge stump (10' tall, probably 12' in diameter) in my new yard that is way too big for me to try to remove myself, which makes me sad because I'll have to pay someone to do it and will miss out on a stump grinder rental. I did briefly consider other fun ways of getting rid of it, like starting a fire right at its center, but it's super close to the house and I'd probably regret it... 
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Nov 5, 2019 03:58
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Sirotan posted:I've got a huge stump (10' tall, probably 12' in diameter)  12 feet? Was it a sequoia or redwood?
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Nov 5, 2019 04:33
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Step 1) use a chainsaw to cut it to ground level Step 2) stump grinder E: surely you mean 12" not 12'. If 12' then holy gently caress
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Nov 5, 2019 04:43
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If it's really 10x12 feet then you need to make it a playhouse/mancave.
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Nov 5, 2019 05:05
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Err my bad, I meant to say 12' in circumference but honestly it could even be bigger, I've not actually measured it, but it's way too huge for me to try to whack at it with a chainsaw myself. No clue what kind of tree it was, looks to have been cut down years ago because the stump is rotting and appears to be the home of termites or carpenter ants or a similar type of wood-eating insect now. It's also about 6' from the house which is why it's gotta go. Just one of about a million things that I can't believe the previous owner or his family didn't bother to take care of in the last decade+
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Nov 5, 2019 05:34
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If it is 12 feet in diameter, you need to contact a mobile lumber mill and slab that up! I did it, it's not that hard-- although I should've saved more of the tree that I had cut down. The first 16ish feet were pretty straight. I only saved 8.      
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Nov 5, 2019 05:53
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falz posted:If you're going for a French door fridge, they're wider than a traditional fridge. Mine didn't fit without modifying the counter top and a portion of a cabinet. The design flow we and most of our friends used for kitchen reno appliances was 'what fridges can we have that fit in the fridge spot?', rapidly followed by 'and of that manufacturer and line, what range fits', and so on. We wound up with Fisher and Paykel, but it turns out that brand is now made in China by Haier, with very similar reliability. That said, we did the Bosch 800 dishwasher, and you should too. All the local stores sold all the same stuff with varying degrees of greasy sales staff and unworkable store hours, in the end we bought it all from appliancesconnection.com. I'll quibble that the online truck shipment locator service didn't update between NYC and CA, and we missed the first delivery, but the stuff showed up in ~18 days, got installed, everything's working fine. Would do again.
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Nov 5, 2019 06:34
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How would y'all feel about a gang tag contest? Is that something that would spark some interest?
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Nov 5, 2019 12:06
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how does that work, I'm still waiting for a china thread gangtag
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Nov 5, 2019 13:39
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peanut posted:how does that work, I'm still waiting for a china thread gangtag I set up a thread with some ground rules, people contribute suggestions and images, I manufacture some kind of voting system, the winner(s) is/are picked, everyone who participated in the thread that wants one of the tags gets one for free.
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Nov 5, 2019 14:03
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Nov 5, 2019 14:31
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chupacabraTERROR posted:What brand did you go with? I’m leaning towards LG or GE. I also did the old man thing and temp got a monthly subscription to Consumer Reports, which was sorta helpful. But again, literally any review site for everything seemed to love it or hate it. Here was my planning sheet, things were grouped, I ended up getting the stuff at the top group. Also I REALLY wanted a convection oven microwoave, my old place had an old GE Advantium 120, these were amazing, but my new place didn't have enough space above the range for it.  Main comments on what I bought so far: * Microwave is fine/good, it's a smaller model. * Dishwasher doesn't dry that well (still playing with settings). It's SUPER quiet though * Fridge: I'm not as much a fan of french doors as I thought I would be (most of the time have to open both doors, probably fixed with organization). I got this type for a cleaner look, so no extra window on it or water on the outside, that's hidden on inside. * Range top is eternally dirty/smear-ey, hard to keep pristine and clear, at least compared to my old one.
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Nov 5, 2019 15:19
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Jaded Burnout posted:I set up a thread with some ground rules, people contribute suggestions and images, I manufacture some kind of voting system, the winner(s) is/are picked, everyone who participated in the thread that wants one of the tags gets one for free. Crossposting is good for use lame-os who usually just phonepost in bookmarked threads
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Nov 5, 2019 15:24
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MetaJew posted:If it is 12 feet in diameter, you need to contact a mobile lumber mill and slab that up! It's gross and rotted and I don't think I can do anything cool with it at all. 
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Nov 5, 2019 15:26
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peanut posted:Crossposting is good for use lame-os who usually just phonepost in bookmarked threads Sorry I should clarify, I was speaking in the future tense there as to how it would work. I've not set the thread up yet.
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Nov 5, 2019 15:28
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chupacabraTERROR posted:Sorry if this is a dumb question for this thread, but I am about to start a kitchen remodel and have spent hours and hours so far trying to make sense of what appliances to buy. Is there a thread for this? Do people usually just pick a brand and just choose whatever is in the discount bundle or w/e? Honestly some brands just suck all around, and/or some brands make a certain type of appliance that sucks and their others aren’t as sucky. For example, we have a Samsung French door fridge with a middle drawer and a freezer drawer. It works still to refrigerate and freeze but that’s it. The ice maker stopped working like a year after we bought the thing, it would freeze ice together in clumps and stop it from working. Now it doesn’t even do that, and I can’t get the ice maker door off for some reason. Our Samsung dishwasher also isn’t great but no major problems, it’s just finicky on the type of dish soap and no longer totally rinses dishes so we have soap scum that has to be scrubbed off, no matter what we do it still does this. Anyway, it might not hurt to talk to a repairman however you’re able to. The guy who fixed our ice maker before it broke the second time said Samsung fridges are notorious for having lovely ice makers. The guy who fixed our dish washer said not to follow the instructions per soap, he said to put the soap in the silverware basket and run the hot water first. We found out more from the repair men than we thought we needed to know. All our other Samsung stuff has been just fine.
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Nov 5, 2019 17:08
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Presumably your windows can be bad enough at some point that you'll make your money back in energy savings with new windows, but that line might be close to "square holes in your walls," and I don't think I'm there. Ours do feel a little drafty but it's not worth spending $20,000+ to change. This winter I think we're sticking with the interior plastic sheeting plan. I've two questions, both window-adjacent. First, is it worth looking at re-applying weather stripping of some sort into the inside of our windows? Is that a thing people do? I     Second, this is the outside of one of our window frames. The frame wasn't installed correctly (way before we bought the house), and the wood inside rotted. We're not interested in having it professional repaired at the moment, because we may end up blowing the whole wall out. In the meantime, what's the best way to patch this out? I was thinking of just digging the rotted wood out, packing it full of some sort of insulating material, and putting the bracket back over it. What would you do? (We're in Buffalo.)  
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Nov 5, 2019 17:43
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Having lived in draughty old houses for almost all of my life and now living in modern draught-free places I'd have to say its a major life upgrade. Wouldn't necessarily trade nice sash windows for grim plastic ones but if you can swing nice replacements I would personally go for it. I forgot to reply: Pigsfeet on Rye posted:Gorgeous view, where is it? Do you have a wood stove? It's in the Val d'Anniviers in Switzerland. Really amazing place and it feels remote while actually being quite accessible. Wood stove is on the list, it is fitted with a chimney but no stove installed yet. I have basics like light fittings to do first, and then deciding between getting decking sorted and the stove. It should be warm enough for the time being and I think a stove will be really expensive so may put it off a bit.
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Nov 5, 2019 18:06
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Gang tag contest! https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3903115
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Nov 5, 2019 18:41
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falz posted:Definitely agree with this. My understanding of stump grinding is it's just surface layer, then you cover with dirt and grass. ** If you want the least expensive method to change levels--spiral stairs are it. Spiral stairs typically cost less than the railing system will for the stairs.
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Nov 6, 2019 15:47
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HycoCam posted:Alternatively--the goon solution is to fill the holes with kerosene and let the stump burn for a few days. There is also some approach that involves not-kerosene but I don't remember what it is. Might even be thermite. I very nearly took this approach with a stump I had, which was away from the house, and I got the gas company in to make sure there were no pipes under the area. In the end we pulled it out with a backhoe.
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Nov 6, 2019 16:03
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Stopped by my house for the first time since I put on the last coat of poly. So. Many. Bubbles. Looks like I'll be sanding it and putting on another coat tomorrow after work. 
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Nov 7, 2019 00:54
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Sirotan posted:Stopped by my house for the first time since I put on the last coat of poly. I have absolutely no idea if this would work or is a good idea or will burn your house down or ruin your finish, but an approach I've seen for releasing bubbles in things in general is to give them a quick pass with a blowtorch. The air expands, bubbles, and pops straight away while the medium is still liquid enough to let the air out, rather than forming more slowly while it's curing.
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Nov 7, 2019 10:55
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I think my problem was the viscosity of the urethane. Putting it down it had the consistency of honey-very thick and hard to spread. I think it just dried so fast there was no time for bubbles to escape. I'm going to thin it with some mineral spirits and just apply a coat to a single room after I sand it tonight, to see what kind of results I get. I don't really know how I'm getting bubbles into the poly on the first place though, maybe my technique sucks or the lambswool pad I was using wasn't great. Worst case scenario I can do a final coat by hand with a flat brush, which will take a bunch more time but should not produce any bubbles I guess??
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Nov 7, 2019 12:26
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Sounds like you're on the right track. Any kind of folding, swirling, or mixing will introduce air. Maybe a warmer environment would help?
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Nov 7, 2019 12:47
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Had the heat set to 70 while doing the last two coats, I could probably bump it up a bit but I don't feel like it's going to make a huge difference.
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Nov 7, 2019 13:12
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What kind of applicator are you using?
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Nov 7, 2019 13:53
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Lambswool pad on a pole and a 3" flat bristle brush for the places the pad can't reach.
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Nov 7, 2019 14:49
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This obviously isn't everyone's situation, but in my case the windows all have absolutely terrible screens to the extent that we really can't leave them open as much as we'd like, which would potentially save us a lot of money on A/C. On top of that, they're very old and drafty, and frequently get mold buildup (inside) due to excessive condensation. But if you're strictly talking about saving money by way of improved insulation, then yeah, I guess you shouldn't get your hopes up.
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Nov 7, 2019 14:59
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Sand your floors with 150 grit and your 2nd coat should have less bubbles. The 2nd coat is adhering to a smoother, more uniform surface so it should cure better. With that said, diluting with mineral spirits helps to slow the cure so the bubbles can pop out. A heat gun is my preferred bubble removing method, but the larger the area the more impractical, especially if you don't have spiked shoes to walk on the urethane. Stairs, counter tops, railings, trim work--heat gun is great. Lot of work on a floor or ceiling. You should be ok with 1 to 10 ratio of mineral spirits.
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Nov 7, 2019 22:00
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