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H110Hawk posted:You might find it pretty marginally more expensive to just have your electrician do it if you are having extensive work done. Hmm, didn't really think about that. Gonna bring in 3+ companies for a quote, guess I could have them price that out for me too while they're at it. In my experience though some electricians won't touch low-voltage stuff and/or you really don't want them to touch it because they have no clue how to terminate cables correctly.
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Feb 10, 2020 17:30
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Sirotan posted:Hmm, didn't really think about that. Gonna bring in 3+ companies for a quote, guess I could have them price that out for me too while they're at it. In my experience though some electricians won't touch low-voltage stuff and/or you really don't want them to touch it because they have no clue how to terminate cables correctly. For residential as an addon they might be willing to do it. Even if they just get it snaked a d leave you 2ft hanging out of the wall in a box you will have gotten the hard part done. Worst case they say no or charge more than the convenience is worth.
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Feb 10, 2020 17:39
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Sirotan posted:Hmm, didn't really think about that. Gonna bring in 3+ companies for a quote, guess I could have them price that out for me too while they're at it. In my experience though some electricians won't touch low-voltage stuff and/or you really don't want them to touch it because they have no clue how to terminate cables correctly. Depends on the person, I've found. Certainly I've cringed hard when one yanked on my ethernet cables like they would power cable. Even if you terminate them yourself, having someone else run them can save a lot of effort.
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Feb 10, 2020 17:41
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H110Hawk posted:For residential as an addon they might be willing to do it. Even if they just get it snaked a d leave you 2ft hanging out of the wall in a box you will have gotten the hard part done. Worst case they say no or charge more than the convenience is worth. Jaded Burnout posted:Depends on the person, I've found. Certainly I've cringed hard when one yanked on my ethernet cables like they would power cable. Yeah. I've already got all the supplies and the tools to do it and a friend who said they'll help for $Pizzaandbeer but running cable and drilling holes in the sill plates is still a bitch.
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Feb 10, 2020 17:43
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My backyard is in the west but I don't have any windows on that side of the house to have a view of it. Do window installation companies normally offer new window additions to a house? Who would I even call about that?
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Feb 10, 2020 17:48
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Sirotan posted:Yeah. I've already got all the supplies and the tools to do it and a friend who said they'll help for $Pizzaandbeer but running cable and drilling holes in the sill plates is still a bitch. It's certainly not the worst thing in the world to do yourself, especially with a pal to help pull cables. Polio Vax Scene posted:My backyard is in the west but I don't have any windows on that side of the house to have a view of it. Do window installation companies normally offer new window additions to a house? Who would I even call about that? I can't speak directly to how it works in the US but here I would call a general builder to put in the opening for the window (they'll put in a lintel to stop your wall collapsing) and a window company to fit the window. A builder might have a window fitter they usually work with and vice versa, so you may find that easier. Either way you're going to want the window fitter to be scheduled to show up as soon after the builders are done as possible so you're not left with a hole in the wall for too long.
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Feb 10, 2020 17:55
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punk rebel ecks posted:There is also dried piss on the outside of the toilet that I can't get out with a scrubber and bleach. (Feel free to ridicule my lack of cleasiness). Comet powder. Rub it in with a damp rag for mild abrasion
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Feb 10, 2020 17:58
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MetaJew posted:Please post some pictures of the process or results, if you can. Here's the test section I did a while back. This is with I believe 2 coats applied back-to-back with a masonry brush. It dries pretty quickly but takes a day or so to truly set.   You can go at it with a wire brush before it sets to sluff off sections for a more patchy look. And here's what it looked like before:  If it had looked like regular dark brick I would've left it but as it is I'm not super into the grey-pink effect so we decided to cancel the color and introduce exterior color elsewhere via door and landscaping. mutata fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Feb 10, 2020 |
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Feb 10, 2020 19:24
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Yeah that is some fugly brick. Looks good! A house down the street from me has that 'weathered' limewash on their brick and it looks really good. Like this: 
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Feb 10, 2020 20:03
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:Yeah that is some fugly brick. Looks good! Yeah, I like this aesthetic a lot.
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Feb 10, 2020 20:12
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eddiewalker posted:Comet powder. Rub it in with a damp rag for mild abrasion Thanks.
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Feb 10, 2020 20:15
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I want to hang a new solid wood fireplace shelf. Probably about 5 feet long, 6 to 8 inches wide, and 2 inches thick. My fireplace has a wood board mortared between the brick that is intended for mounting. The old shelf was nailed to it. There's also two small brick shelves that extended about 3 inches. My plan for the new shelf is to screw two or three L brackets into the wood, such that they sit flush with the brick shelves, creating four level contact points for a flat shelf to rest on. I'll screw the shelf into the metal brackets, but not the brick. Picture to follow. Does this sound sufficient, or do I need a more comprehensive mounting plan? 
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Feb 11, 2020 16:27
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Going to be tough to get a strong enough and thin enough L type bracket. The make sure the mantel stays in place, you'd want a beefy L bracket. Think: https://www.countertopbracket.com/pindex.asp (These are way too beefy, btw....) Instead--think of hiding all the fasteners with a hidden bracket:  https://shelfology.com/hardware/glenn-floating-mantel/glenn-hd-58-mantel-bracket Can do the same thing with rebar, epoxy, and a steady hand with a drill. Since everything is hidden, no one is the wiser it isn't as pro until the next owner wants to change the mantel...
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Feb 12, 2020 22:57
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I give up. Renting sucks, bad infrastructure sucks, landlords suck. I’ve outgrown this and I need to start thinking of home/condo ownership. Is this the right thread to ask newbie questions about house hunting, purchasing, financing, and maintenance?
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Feb 14, 2020 16:40
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Pollyanna posted:I give up. Renting sucks, bad infrastructure sucks, landlords suck. I’ve outgrown this and I need to start thinking of home/condo ownership. Is this the right thread to ask newbie questions about house hunting, purchasing, financing, and maintenance? This one might be better for three-quarters of that, but there's plenty of crossover: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3131399
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Feb 14, 2020 16:46
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Pollyanna posted:I give up. Renting sucks, bad infrastructure sucks, landlords suck. I’ve outgrown this and I need to start thinking of home/condo ownership. Is this the right thread to ask newbie questions about house hunting, purchasing, financing, and maintenance?  You seem like me. I rented a bunch of different places and I always wanted to fix and upgrade poo poo that wasn't right but I never did because I was specifically paying a premium not to by renting. I bought my first house almost 2 years ago and have been working on it ever since. I've spent more than I could ever save renting but my house is the way I want it, and if I don't like something I can change it. That's worth it alone for me. Also having a garage and a yard is 
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Feb 14, 2020 22:03
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That is very tempting. I like the idea of having power over my own place. But that loving investment though...jesus.
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Feb 14, 2020 23:49
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My toilet was filling really slowly for some reason. Like, 10 minutes slow. I uhh.. turned it off and on again. I mean, I closed the toilet water line valve and opened it again and it is filling up normally now, in a few seconds. Any theories on what the gently caress? I did just have my water meter replaced and while I did not specifically remember it going weird immediately afterwards, it is similar timing and very well could have been. Air bubble, maybe? But how would that work at all? It's not like the toilet side was blocked off - and how would turning the valve have fixed that if that were the issue? Edit 2: Apparently the toilet is now back to filling slowly. BUT turning the valve "fixes" it until the tank is full. Then the next flush, it's back to filling slowly. What the hell.. Maybe loving rocks like my sink? Edit 3: New theory: I think the mechanism to allow water into the tank is sticking or something. When the toilet wants to fill naturally, it's not able to open all the way, hence the low flow. When I turn off/on the valve, the sudden pressure pushes the thing open and so it's able to fill. Now, just gotta figure out if that's what's happening and, if so, how to fix it. Owning a house is awful. Edit: what an adventure. This made me decide to get around to clearing the line to my sink which was being partially blocked by some construction debris (mortar). After a bunch of valve/faucet turning, faucet water pressure is now no longer a 5 but a full 9 (I'm pretty sure there's still a couple pieces in there). That was when then pin operating my adjustable wrench fell out (I'm pretty sure this thing is older than I am) and down the loving drain. Great, so then I took apart the trap and fished it out. Hooray, I'm not completely useless. As I go to dump the water outside, the loving FIRE ALARM STARTS BEEPING (battery). Just insult to injury.. totalnewbie fucked around with this message at 12:45 on Feb 16, 2020 |
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Feb 16, 2020 02:34
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Nice house! If the pressure doesnt fix everything, then getting a replacement valve and then following the instructions on how to replace the toilet contraption will probably work pretty well. It's not that expensive to replace that interior toilet unit.
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Feb 16, 2020 19:47
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totalnewbie posted:As I go to dump the water outside, the loving FIRE ALARM STARTS BEEPING (battery). Just insult to injury.. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbSehcT19u0
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Feb 17, 2020 06:18
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I have been dealing with a rodent problem in my garage which continues to vex me. Christmas Eve I came out to find mice had been inside my car, eating foam and making GBS threads everywhere. It was disgusting and I had seen a mouse scurry out of the garage when I pulled in the night before but didn't think much of it at the time. It's one thing for them to live in my garage (it's detached), but getting into my car means war. Spent the day taking literally every single thing out of my garage, cleaning it, and covering all holes I could find with metal grate. It took hours, and I had help, triple checked and got every single visible hole. Set out a bunch of traps, cleaned my car, and threw a bunch of mint packs inside. That night I got 3 mice in the traps and have gotten another one here and there ever since. Fast forward to yesterday, I'm getting my gym bag out of my trunk. It's *full* of bird seed. When I get home I get out my shop vac and find bird seed not just on top of the trunk liner but also all under my spare tire as well. Don't see any evidence that they've been in my car besides the trunk but I have no loving clue how they continue to get into my garage let alone in the car. I looked all around the rest of my car and inside the engine bay for evidence, and my air intake had easily 2-3 cups of birdseed inside it. Goddammit. I set out some new traps, re-baited existing ones, and threw some more mint packs in my car. No evidence of mice this morning and no traps sprung. tl;dr I've got a mouse problem in my garage and am not (yet) willing to kill them with anything but snap traps. Looking for other creative ideas to keep them out of my car. I bought these mint packs made by Victor when I was doing my initial mouse purge and threw them in my car just hoping for the best. They seemed to work, at the time, but I also had no idea if it was a conicidence or actually effective. Now that I'm doing some reasearch on other ways to deter mice, I am finding that mint might actually be a good humane solution. Just passing this along in case it helps someone else: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNaNGH_hnEE And I might buy some of this just for the hell of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8zZW0Of20
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Feb 18, 2020 15:28
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Sirotan posted:Fast forward to yesterday, I'm getting my gym bag out of my trunk. It's *full* of bird seed. When I get home I get out my shop vac and find bird seed not just on top of the trunk liner but also all under my spare tire as well. Don't see any evidence that they've been in my car besides the trunk but I have no loving clue how they continue to get into my garage let alone in the car. I looked all around the rest of my car and inside the engine bay for evidence, and my air intake had easily 2-3 cups of birdseed inside it. Goddammit. This is amazing. Sirotan posted:tl;dr I've got a mouse problem in my garage and am not (yet) willing to kill them with anything but snap traps. Looking for other creative ideas to keep them out of my car. I The only thing I can think of is a couple of catch & release traps I saw a while ago, one of which is as simple as a bowl of oil. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxxFNkNf6q8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ABffYDM9EwU I can't endorse either, though, having not used them.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:06
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HycoCam posted:Going to be tough to get a strong enough and thin enough L type bracket. The make sure the mantel stays in place, you'd want a beefy L bracket. Think: The floating shelf metal bracket was the first thing I thought of. The only real concern I have is drilling the holes into the back of it perfectly straight. Even moreso because the front face will be live edge, ie not flat. Which means I can't stand the mantle on its front face and drill straight down, I have to do it parallel to the floor. I would presume these portable drill presses are an option. Think something like this would work? https://www.amazon.com/Milescraft-1...le+drill&sr=8-3 I could make a small wood adapter plate that I could screw into the back of the mantle, and then screw the press into the adapter to make sure everything stays lined up and steady.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:06
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Jaded Burnout posted:This is amazing.    And thanks, but I think I definitely want to kill them, just as quick and painlessly as possible. I considered catch and release but then I'd probably be dumping my problem on some other poor sap. In the spring I hope to get a better look around the outside of my garage, right now theres a bunch of shite around 3 sides of it where the mice are probably all living. Arghhhh.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:13
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Yeah the only other one in my youtube watch history (why did I watch these things?) is this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqlwUXP-ubI
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Feb 18, 2020 16:17
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My wife left a bag of birdseed in the back of our Prius in the garage. Came out to find the back area of the prius now consists of empty birdseed and mouse poo poo. No clue how those little guys got inside the cab though.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:26
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I've heard good things about the fancier models of ultrasonic pest repellers (my el-cheapo one was human audible and worked poorly), and portable ozone generators for odor removal. The ozone might work as a temporary repellent too, I know my eyes start watering if I walk into a room without letting it fully air out after I've zapped it.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:40
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Nevets posted:I've heard good things about the fancier models of ultrasonic pest repellers The problem with any of the repellents (ultrasonic, moth balls, etc.) is that they only kinda work if there's nothing luring them in. If you have an enclosed bedding area or worse, food, available, nothing but a cat ready to pounce is going to dissuade them. The only steps that have really worked for me in my shed are (in order of importance): - Try to seal or close up any obvious holes, but it's unlikely you'll get to 100%. Those little bastards can squeeze in the tiniest of opening, and they'll happily chew the hole bigger - Nothing soft that can be used for bedding - Bleach spray for cleaning up existing bedding/poop trails to remove the sent of their former friends - Keep items off the ground as much as possible (they don't like to be exposed) - Zero foodstuffs - Multiple snap traps with peanut butter. These need to be checked daily, especially around the Fall when they are finding a house for the Winter.
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Feb 18, 2020 16:58
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Sirotan posted:I have been dealing with a rodent problem in my garage which continues to vex me. Christmas Eve I came out to find mice had been inside my car, eating foam and making GBS threads everywhere. It was disgusting and I had seen a mouse scurry out of the garage when I pulled in the night before but didn't think much of it at the time. It's one thing for them to live in my garage (it's detached), but getting into my car means war. Spent the day taking literally every single thing out of my garage, cleaning it, and covering all holes I could find with metal grate. It took hours, and I had help, triple checked and got every single visible hole. Set out a bunch of traps, cleaned my car, and threw a bunch of mint packs inside. That night I got 3 mice in the traps and have gotten another one here and there ever since. Do you have sweeps on the door? Mice can flatten ridiculously thin and go right under a door if you don't have a good stiff sweep on it.
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Feb 18, 2020 17:02
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Jaded Burnout posted:Yeah the only other one in my youtube watch history (why did I watch these things?) is this: This is supposed to be the best solution, particularly when mounted outside. For people who can't watch the video, it's https://www.automatictrap.com/ Basically, pheromone baited, co2 driven needle that's spring reset, and the corpse falls to the ground for natural predators to enjoy. Since there's no poison and the size controls entry, it targets mice and rats very effectively. It's just pricey.
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Feb 18, 2020 17:02
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Gunjin posted:Do you have sweeps on the door? Mice can flatten ridiculously thin and go right under a door if you don't have a good stiff sweep on it. Yep. Brand new garage door installed when I bought the place in October. Even filled in some channels with concrete that were deteriorating away. I guess the middle of the pad slopes down a bit to allow for drainage so it's possible they could get through there, but it's such a narrow gap... The garage is 80yo and not insulated, I can only assume there are holes at ground level around the exterior that are not visible from inside. My mom thinks I need to set up a game camera. Can mice climb well/at all? I've probably got some gaps between the wall and roof that I did not seal but I didn't think they'd be able to get up there. Nevets posted:I've heard good things about the fancier models of ultrasonic pest repellers That was gonna be the next thing I tried, but then I watched this video and now I'm not convinced: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZIy0lRxvPY Sirotan fucked around with this message at 17:34 on Feb 18, 2020 |
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Feb 18, 2020 17:32
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Sirotan posted:Yep. Brand new garage door installed when I bought the place in October. Even filled in some channels with concrete that were deteriorating away. I guess the middle of the pad slopes down a bit to allow for drainage so it's possible they could get through there, but it's such a narrow gap... The garage is 80yo and not insulated, I can only assume there are holes at ground level around the exterior that are not visible from inside. My mom thinks I need to set up a game camera. They can climb, a common entry point is where power enters a building. You'd be amazed how small a hole/ gap they need, no exaggeration they can flatten themselves to slide through a gap about the size of a pen, and fit through a round hole slightly smaller than a dime. Mice will go right up a wall with zero fucks given: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL6VGoU_WPo Gunjin fucked around with this message at 17:47 on Feb 18, 2020 |
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Feb 18, 2020 17:37
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This happened to me several years ago when I first moved into my house, except it was dry dog food in the air filter. I don't store my dog food in the garage anymore.
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Feb 18, 2020 17:47
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I've got the bird seed in a sealed plastic tub, but I've got a bird feeder out in the yard. Only the squirrels and mice seem to be eating the seeds. 
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Feb 18, 2020 18:00
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If mice are anything like rats, not only can they climb but you can't stop them from having at it and they love being up high. Squared cubed law suggests they'd be even better at it.
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Feb 18, 2020 18:04
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At least it's not squirrels, I've had to replace the wiring harness on two separate vehicles because those little bastards love the taste of the soy based wire shielding.
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Feb 18, 2020 18:15
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Sirotan posted:I've got the bird seed in a sealed plastic tub, but I've got a bird feeder out in the yard. Only the squirrels and mice seem to be eating the seeds. Cayenne pepper helps. Also get the suet with cayenne pepper in it. The birds go nuts on it and the squirrels etc won't touch it.
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Feb 18, 2020 18:15
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Sirotan posted:Yep. Brand new garage door installed when I bought the place in October. Even filled in some channels with concrete that were deteriorating away. I guess the middle of the pad slopes down a bit to allow for drainage so it's possible they could get through there, but it's such a narrow gap... The garage is 80yo and not insulated, I can only assume there are holes at ground level around the exterior that are not visible from inside. My mom thinks I need to set up a game camera. Matthias Wandel has done a good number of experiments as to how small a space mice can squeeze into. They're pretty enlightening. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGXYZwZEZa0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHOx39xJack
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Feb 18, 2020 18:34
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n0tqu1tesane posted:Matthias Wandel has done a good number of experiments as to how small a space mice can squeeze into. They're pretty enlightening. The mouse squeezed through a gap of 11.5 mm (.45 in), as a comparison a AA battery is about 14mm (.55 in) thick. It's really hard to keep a mouse from getting in if they want in.
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Feb 18, 2020 18:51
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Just don't sleep on a rodent problem. I tried being humane when I noticed a rat in my house, but it never fell for the snap traps or poison. By the time I'd resorted to glue traps it was too late and I had to catch and kill an entire litter.
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Feb 18, 2020 19:00
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