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Any recommendations for a good mop for cleaning hardwood and concrete floors? Are microfiber ones the way to go?
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Aug 19, 2020 15:50
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Colonel Whitey posted:Huh, didn't realize that, thanks. Perhaps it would be better to wait then? Sounds kinda crazy to jump in now when things may be more costly than normal. I guess there's always risk of cost fluctuations, it's like trying to time the markets. As a counterpoint, I haven't changed our pricing at all. We are booked into 2021, but changing our pricing method is just going to lead people to doubt our honesty and professionalism. There has been some supply and pricing issues with composite decking and pressure treated lumber... And red cedar. $1k retainer is cheap. You have no design or selections, so they will be putting in a lot of work to get you to a buildable project. Pay them for that work.
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Aug 19, 2020 15:59
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Bioshuffle posted:Any recommendations for a good mop for cleaning hardwood and concrete floors? Are microfiber ones the way to go? For hardwoods get one of the microfiber or cotton flat mops that are designed for hardwood floors and make sure to get one with reusable and replaceable heads. Use Murphy's Oil Soap diluted in water to clean with after vacuuming and/or sweeping. For concrete if it's more than say 100 square feet but an industrial string mop with changeable heads and a lever activated wringer. They sell them at Lowe's or Home Depot.
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Aug 19, 2020 16:08
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So, I waited far longer than I could have and managed to lock in a 2.99% loan (3.1% APR). Feels good considering when I got relocated I had to go with 4.8% 18 months ago.
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Aug 20, 2020 03:24
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Hed posted:I have so many questions... care to share which model? Does it duct to bypass your main AC? I went with this one: https://www.santa-fe-products.com/product/ultra-aire-70h/ They suggest installing it with it's own return and exhausting into the HVAC supply side. There are a number of ways to install it though.
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Aug 21, 2020 01:21
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Current vendors I'm juggling / getting quotes from: Electrician (upgrade overall service to 200amp, several odd jobs) Handyman / General Contractor (refurbish rotting deck, redo cabinets) Solar Plumbing (repair toilet line, identify source of basement drip) Management company for condo building (old one was fleecing us) AC company (mini split ductless AC installation) Plus the building is getting quotes to shore up its stairwells structurally. Home ownership sure is fun!
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Aug 21, 2020 03:33
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Give me the skinny on toilet seats. I have a round toilet that needs a new seat. Should I stick with the $30 plastic slow closing one from Behr?
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Aug 21, 2020 16:13
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Bidet seat retrofits are big brain solutions. I'm not genuinely sad when I had to stay somewhere that doesn't have one.
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Aug 21, 2020 16:47
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The Dave posted:Bidet seat retrofits are big brain solutions. I'm not genuinely sad when I had to stay somewhere that doesn't have one. Don't those fit under the seat? I thought you buy them separately from the seats and slide it in. The ones that come with the seats seem to have a much higher price point.
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Aug 21, 2020 16:57
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$300 is a small price to pay to reach the next level of relationship with your butthole.
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Aug 21, 2020 17:56
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Bioshuffle posted:Don't those fit under the seat? I thought you buy them separately from the seats and slide it in. The ones that come with the seats seem to have a much higher price point. Washlets and the like replace the seat.
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Aug 21, 2020 18:33
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It feels like I've been working on a daily project since moving in, and it's getting close to two weeks. Fortunately, I'm almost done with the painting, I've filled in most of the outlet holes, and I've finished patching up the settlement cracks. I don't know how I can patch the settlement cracks that are in the popcorn ceiling though- Is there even a point to filling it with joint compound if I can't reinforce it with drywall tape? I almost think I should leave them alone, since I don't have the right paint to cover it up.
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Aug 21, 2020 18:50
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I have a second story deck that has a rotting support post. We bought the place knowing that we need to tackle this sooner rather than later. Currently the wood supports go into rocks in the ground, and probably into cement under the rocks as there is a big metal support on the bottom of the wood beam. Seems like a bad design. We wanted to instead have a concrete slab poured and have that be a small patio and have the wood supports bolt into that. Assuming this is smart to do, who in the world do I reach out to, to get quotes? Our neighbor with a similar deck rebuild used a landscaper and looks to have put paver stones down over gravel. This seems suboptimal if I’m rolling a grill around on it. Do I find a general contractor? Landscaper? Deck repair co? This is in Seattle if someone has a local recommendation.
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Aug 21, 2020 21:27
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What are peoples' experiences with appliance buying during Labor day sales? I'm in the position where due to layout reasons I pretty much need to go for a french door style fridge, and I'd rather it in white to match the rest of my kitchen (although my appliances are all old, I just don't think SS would look as nice) and this combination seems to mean a pretty hefty price. I'm not in a desperate rush as my current one still works, but I don't think it's got a huge amount of life left in it.
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Aug 21, 2020 22:08
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What’s your question? Yes, they will be on sale.
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Aug 22, 2020 05:33
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Bioshuffle posted:Don't those fit under the seat? I thought you buy them separately from the seats and slide it in. The ones that come with the seats seem to have a much higher price point. I fear that you may be thinking a $300 bidet seat is only a nice convenience when in reality it's a god drat game changer for your rear end. Otherwise yeah, get the soft close things from Costco or whatever. Those were nice to use until I dropped the cash to get my life on its proper course.
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Aug 22, 2020 05:38
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EL BROMANCE posted:What are peoples' experiences with appliance buying during Labor day sales? I'm in the position where due to layout reasons I pretty much need to go for a french door style fridge, and I'd rather it in white to match the rest of my kitchen (although my appliances are all old, I just don't think SS would look as nice) and this combination seems to mean a pretty hefty price. I'm not in a desperate rush as my current one still works, but I don't think it's got a huge amount of life left in it. The sales are cyclical. You'll notice a pattern to them as well. Every major holiday has similar sales. I bought my washer and dryer around memorial day, and my fridge during a July 4th sale. If you're not in a hurry you have time to price shop and track the sales. One month Whirlpool and Samsung will be on sale, the next GE and Maytag. It's almost how Coke/Pepsi alternate sales every other month. If you're a member check out Costco for appliances. When shopping look at the total out the door costs. Delivery, haul away, etc.
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Aug 22, 2020 05:59
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Fallom posted:I fear that you may be thinking a $300 bidet seat is only a nice convenience when in reality it's a god drat game changer for your rear end. It’s not even a joke, it’s like next level living and it’s insane the rest of the country doesn’t have one as the standard.
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Aug 22, 2020 13:27
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skipdogg posted:The sales are cyclical. You'll notice a pattern to them as well. Every major holiday has similar sales. I bought my washer and dryer around memorial day, and my fridge during a July 4th sale. If you're not in a hurry you have time to price shop and track the sales. One month Whirlpool and Samsung will be on sale, the next GE and Maytag. It's almost how Coke/Pepsi alternate sales every other month. No Costco as BJs is right next to me but i can get a friend to log in and check members pricing just in case there’s a massively good deal. Yeah I’ll start tracking the few models that would fit me and have the potential to be affordable. I saw AJ Madison have their Labor Day sales up so that’s given me a good overview at least.
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Aug 23, 2020 02:02
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What am I going to do with all these phone jacks in my bathrooms
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Aug 23, 2020 03:51
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TheWevel posted:What am I going to do with all these phone jacks in my bathrooms Garfield phones.
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Aug 23, 2020 04:13
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I am looking to upgrade from blinds to curtains. Hoping to go with some simple hardware and natural colored linen. Do I need to order custom sized ones? Should I get help on this? Or should I just order some standard sized ones from CB2 or whatever.
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Aug 23, 2020 21:50
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So I've been doing a bit of logging to see how much of a moisture problem I have in my cellar, and to try and work out if I can do anything about it.Turns out, it's absolutely perfect if I want to age cheese or keep wine in it, but uhh.. I don't want to be putting anything perishable in there right now: This is the cellar temperature, humidity and dew point over the last 2 weeks:  Avg humidity 93% over that time, avg temp 18C and this is what was happening outside in the shade:  Avg humidity 86% over that time, avg temp 19.4C Interesting things to note: I switched off the dehumidifier I was running down there at t=0 on these charts. It easily draws 6L/day when running but it's expensive to keep on all the time and probably underspecced for the area it is being used in so I'm looking for a cheaper and more permanent solution. After the humidity climbs back up, the cellar dew point tracks quite well with the outdoor dew point, while the temp and humidity are more like a 24hr rolling average of the outdoor ones. I'm wondering what I can do about this: The previous owners put a false ceiling in and packed the air bricks with insulation. I removed the insulation and the ceiling tiles nearest the air bricks, so there is some airflow, but the layout of the cellar is 4 rooms with different ceiling heights and lintels well below the ceiling, so in general it isn't conducive to airflow. The above charts were made after I opened up the vents, so this is the best I can hope to get without forced ventilation. Any damp experts got any tips? I was considering a continuous flow fan with a humidistat boost, but from what I can tell these usually only monitor the humidity at the fan, whereas this looks more like I'd want it to run it only when the outside humidity and dew point are well below the inside one, so I'd need something more complicated.
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Aug 23, 2020 23:20
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meta² posted:I am looking to upgrade from blinds to curtains. Hoping to go with some simple hardware and natural colored linen. Don't overthink it. Make sure you understand blackout vs not (sheer, some level of see through.) be prepared to iron them when you buy them. We installed light filtering cell shades under our curtains in the bedrooms so we could choose between privacy w/ light, privacy w/o light, and open. Look for sales and shop around. Curtains are curtains generally.
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Aug 24, 2020 00:51
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meta² posted:I am looking to upgrade from blinds to curtains. Hoping to go with some simple hardware and natural colored linen. Yeah just order standard ones, and get enough width that they're loose when closed. I like the grommet ones because they open and close with an easy pull. Also you can leave the blinds in place so it can be darker, or upgrade the blinds too. Our guest bedroom has a standard curtain that isn't a blackout, and faux wood blinds underneath, and that room is like nighttime when both are drawn. I've always just gotten hardware at like bed bath or Lowes too. If you hate money then yeah get a drapery company over to measure and get designer fabric custom made, hang them and you can have the pull strings on one side to open and close or motorized, with a shear panel and a blackout panel. Integrate it with your smart home to open when you wake up and then close to block the sun at the hottest time of the day.
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Aug 24, 2020 01:14
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StarkingBarfish posted:It easily draws 6L/day when running but it's expensive to keep on all the time and probably underspecced for the area it is being used in so I'm looking for a cheaper and more permanent solution. No such thing. Looks like you live in a humid area, and judging by the word 'cellar', it's probably not a modern basement with waterproofing and vapor barriers. There are more powerful, permanent install dehumidifiers (Aprilaire is one of the top brands in the US), but they aren't really any cheaper to run than the typical models you find at the appliance store. You can always run multiple units if one isn't able to cope.
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Aug 24, 2020 01:28
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Cheers. It's definitely not modern. 1930's brick cellar that has had some rooms drywalled and others not- the rooms that aren't drywalled have efflorescence on the walls, and the false ceilings have started to pick up black mould so it's definitely not sealed. Is extra airflow likely to help with the mould issue?
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Aug 24, 2020 10:12
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You probably want to either insulate the basement walls from the outside (hella expensive) or heat the cellar. The reason you're getting humidity is the warm summer air cooling down in the basement, which causes condensation. We have the same problem, which requires us to run radiators in the cellar in the summer.
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Aug 24, 2020 10:52
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Hawkeye posted:I have a second story deck that has a rotting support post. We bought the place knowing that we need to tackle this sooner rather than later. A concrete slab guy or driveway guy would know formwork, but you coordinate that with a carpenter if needed, you may need to jack the post slightly, beating an oversized double 2x4 or 6x6 in at an angle can do that, as long as it has something to keep it from sinking. You can also dig a bell shaped hole /-\ to concrete the posts in to keep frost from heaving it up and down.
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Aug 24, 2020 11:05
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StarkingBarfish posted:Is extra airflow likely to help with the mould issue? Airflow from where? If I'm reading your charts right, it's almost as humid outside, and certainly well above the humidity that mold loves. When the RH gets high enough, you get that condensation that causes mold. Like Struensee said, you can raise the temp down there to lower the RH, or you can just remove the water from the air with a dehumidifier.
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Aug 24, 2020 13:59
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B-Nasty posted:Airflow from where? If I'm reading your charts right, it's almost as humid outside, and certainly well above the humidity that mold loves. This is where I trip up a bit in my thermodynamics: The air outside is almost as humid, but it's also warmer. If you pull in air from outside that is warmer than the cellar but of a similar humidity level, it raises the air temp above the dew point. This is me assuming that the formation of mould relies on surface moisture, ie: when the dew point is close to the air temperature.To put it another way: why isn't everything outside mouldy if it's nearly as humid? I assume you guys are right though, so does this mean in addition to firing back up the humidifier I should block all the airbricks back up too, in order to stop the now drier air from being replaced by humid air from outside?
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Aug 24, 2020 14:54
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StarkingBarfish posted:I assume you guys are right though, so does this mean in addition to firing back up the humidifier I should block all the airbricks back up too, in order to stop the now drier air from being replaced by humid air from outside? Modern building science recommends that even crawlspaces should be encapsulated (as best as possible) and treated as part of the building envelope. That means, air is not introduced from outside purposefully, and it is dehumidified as necessary. More permanent fixes are not going to be easy or cheap, so if a dehum or two can keep the humidity reasonable (~60% or less), that will be the less-costly option.
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Aug 24, 2020 19:30
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StarkingBarfish posted:This is where I trip up a bit in my thermodynamics: The air outside is almost as humid, but it's also warmer. If you pull in air from outside that is warmer than the cellar but of a similar humidity level, it raises the air temp above the dew point. This is me assuming that the formation of mould relies on surface moisture, ie: when the dew point is close to the air temperature.To put it another way: why isn't everything outside mouldy if it's nearly as humid? An increase in temperature only decreases relative humidity if the amount of water vapor in the area stays the same. Adding warmer air that is also saturated with water vapor will increase the dew point. There's not as much mold outside because the sun warms surfaces above the dew point, on one hand, and the same amount of water will lead to higher relative humidity in colder air. I.e., your basement with the same volume of water vapor as outside will have a higher relative humidity because the air is cooler, and will have cold surfaces where the water vapor can condensate.
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Aug 24, 2020 19:36
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[edit - removed!]
Bernie Panders fucked around with this message at 19:53 on Aug 24, 2020 |
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Aug 24, 2020 19:41
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You're looking for the house buying thread, friend.
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Aug 24, 2020 19:52
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Thanks for the advice! Covering the vents and dehumidifying it is, then.
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Aug 24, 2020 21:04
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One of my upstairs windows has no window screen. Is it possible to buy a kit to install one from inside so I don't have to get up really high on a ladder trying something I've never done before?
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Aug 24, 2020 22:04
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EDIT: Turns out there's a dedicated HVAC thread in the DIY forum. I have moved this post to there. Chimp_On_Stilts fucked around with this message at 23:10 on Aug 24, 2020 |
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Aug 24, 2020 23:06
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New roof time! This 1981-original cedar shake roof is coming off and a presidential asphalt shingle is taking its place. I need to pick a color. Should I try and replicate the copper color of the cedar or should I just go for a universal black? The house will probably get painted a different color at some point too so it'd be nice for the roof to be a flexible color to work with.
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Aug 24, 2020 23:23
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:New roof time! White is massively more energy-efficient. e. in hotter/sunnier climates of course, but IIRC you're in California, right? Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Aug 25, 2020 |
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Aug 25, 2020 00:19
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