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Less Fat Luke posted:Also on the subject of hot water tanks - when we bought this place during the inspection the tank was leaking and I commented that it's probably not a big deal since we'd like to go tankless. The real estate agent on the seller side told the home owners who immediately replaced the tank with a new SEVEN YEAR rental. Wow saddling the buyers with a lovely rental contract is a colossal dick move. Isn’t it waaaay more money over the course of the tank rental than just buying the thing? Is there a way to get out of it? I mean, our seller left us with a then 20-year-old tank (will be 23 this year), which to me is preferable because there are no strings attached and we can replace it at will with whatever we want. There was nothing wrong with ours other than being stupidly old, and even if it was on the fritz I still would have just taken it as is because we didn’t want the cheapshit seller further touching the house in any way. Motronic posted:At no point should the certainly fetid rusty rear end water in your hydronic heating loop be mixing with you Domestic Hot Water. So, a couple years ago we drained our system so we could move one of the radiators for floor work, probably the first time in 80+ years, and in doing so I got splattered with what came out. It was pitch black and disgusting, but it had no odor whatsoever. Full of rust and minerals, but nothing organic. But yeah, the water in these loops gets super gross and I wouldn’t want it anywhere near my hot water supply.
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Mar 15, 2021 17:38
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You can buy out the contract or thank tank for a few thousand dollars, however I think I may be able to get out of it because the contract was signed after the inspection (at which point an offer had already been made and deposit sent). To Motronic's point though the dual-purpose system should have two internal tanks with a heat exchanger between them, one for potable water and one for non-potable purposes so I think was just over-worrying. I do now have to ask the city why the water tastes a bit funky though lol. Less Fat Luke fucked around with this message at 17:44 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 17:41
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Less Fat Luke posted:To Motronic's point though the dual-purpose system should have two internal tanks with a heat exchanger between them, one for potable water and one for non-potable purposes so I think was just over-worrying. I do now have to ask the city why the water tastes a bit funky though lol. Here's a diagram, maybe of interest 
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Mar 15, 2021 17:47
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Yeah that's similar to what I've been looking up too, thanks!
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Mar 15, 2021 17:48
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Queen Victorian posted:Wow saddling the buyers with a lovely rental contract is a colossal dick move. Isn’t it waaaay more money over the course of the tank rental than just buying the thing? Is there a way to get out of it?
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Mar 15, 2021 18:30
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Less Fat Luke posted:Yeah that's similar to what I've been looking up too, thanks! Just out of curiosity, can you clarify the "funky" taste you mentioned? Edit: So looking at the piping, is that just a soft tubing of cupronickel? I'm wondering if there could be some pitting in the tubing that would allow cross over and the bad taste you're seeing? Canned Sunshine fucked around with this message at 18:49 on Mar 15, 2021 |
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Mar 15, 2021 18:45
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Less Fat Luke posted:I do now have to ask the city why the water tastes a bit funky though lol. You can pay to get it tested, but in all likelihood they're just going to tell you that it meets drinking water standards and to use a Brita filter. Wrong time of year for typical algae blooms affecting taste though, which is what it usually is (in Toronto anyway). The Brita for drinking water is your best option - if that doesn't work well enough you could look at installing a small undersink RO system for a specific drinking water tap, but I'd be surprised if that was really needed. Source: I'm a water/wastewater engineer in Ontario.
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Mar 15, 2021 18:54
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SourKraut posted:Just out of curiosity, can you clarify the "funky" taste you mentioned? TrueChaos posted:You can pay to get it tested, but in all likelihood they're just going to tell you that it meets drinking water standards and to use a Brita filter. Wrong time of year for typical algae blooms affecting taste though, which is what it usually is (in Toronto anyway). The Brita for drinking water is your best option - if that doesn't work well enough you could look at installing a small undersink RO system for a specific drinking water tap, but I'd be surprised if that was really needed. Thanks that is great to know.
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Mar 15, 2021 21:01
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Less Fat Luke posted:I'm starting to think it wasn't a dumb question because it really does look like the loop comes back into the tank: I love the tiny piece of pex used to offset the two copper pipes.
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Mar 15, 2021 22:02
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So it actually is possible your hot water tank comes out the cold tap, if you have something like a grundfos comfort valve (and a pump). Seems like a bad system, but they exist (I have one...)
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Mar 15, 2021 22:18
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I've seen a lot of radiant floor heating setups online that are just a loop from the hot water output of a water heater to the cold water input of it. A separate pump circulates it through the flooring and then back into the tank so that you're getting the most efficiency out of the hot water. I would definitely have concerns about poo poo growing in the pipes when it's not in use for months at a time, but that doesn't mean people don't do it.
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Mar 15, 2021 22:26
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SpartanIvy posted:I've seen a lot of radiant floor heating setups online that are just a loop from the hot water output of a water heater to the cold water input of it. A separate pump circulates it through the flooring and then back into the tank so that you're getting the most efficiency out of the hot water. Sure, and I've done exactly that. The key here is that the water heater is used ONLY for radiant heat. You have another source of DHW and all is good.
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Mar 16, 2021 01:34
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Less Fat Luke posted:It's almost a little gritty and a bit of like, smokiness? It's not the worst; I'm okay with it but my wife doesn't enjoy it. Yeah, here in Phoenix, earthy/smokey smell and taste is usually associated with surface water sources where the runoff from areas that saw wildfire, etc., finally make it to the systems, and ultimately results in algae that produce geosmin in the water, so I could believe it would be something that could affect Toronto too if there are algae blooms. But that interior heat exchange piping within the hot water heater still freaks me out, lol.
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Mar 16, 2021 06:35
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So we're almost ready to close on a new construction home. The home inspector pointed out that the front gutter was crossing the sidewalk approaching the front door, which is a tripping hazard. We requested the builder reroute the gutter so it doesn't cross the sidewalk, and his solution was to simply remove the part of the downspout that takes the water away from the house... so now it discharges right at the foundation  Is there a reason why something like this (in blue) can't be done? Route the gutter around to the other edge of the porch, then discharge away from the porch through the yard: 
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Mar 19, 2021 00:58
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I think that could work although perhaps visually it would make the front door area look more cluttered from a street view. At our previous home I had a gutter sidewalk situation similar to yours but on the back of the house, we didn't have the alternate routing option but fixed it by having the downspout go into an in ground drainage tube that went under the sidewalk and discharged into a suitably sized french drain/bucket thing underground. It looks like in your picture the sidewalk could be easily dug under from the left side of the picture to meet a hole dug on the right side of the sidewalk, and a similar system could be installed without compromising the sidewalk integrity.* *caveats apply about being done properly and locating buried lines etc.
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Mar 19, 2021 01:12
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The Science Goy posted:So we're almost ready to close on a new construction home. The home inspector pointed out that the front gutter was crossing the sidewalk approaching the front door, which is a tripping hazard. We requested the builder reroute the gutter so it doesn't cross the sidewalk, and his solution was to simply remove the part of the downspout that takes the water away from the house... so now it discharges right at the foundation Like it literally had a blue-drawing like path straight over the sidewalk where the red squiggle is now? That is some lazy rear end building. Your blue line looks fine. What other lazy rear end stuff did they do to your house? Did you have an inspector in there before the drywall went up?
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Mar 19, 2021 01:15
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Ya, it's not exactly the best setup for a downspout as-is. I do agree that running it under the sidewalk would be a clean look (our current house and my parents' house does this) but I'm not certain we would get sufficient slope for a good discharge. Definitely a possibility, though. And no, we began the purchase process once the house was fairly complete, with all drywall up and finished, so we weren't able to send in an inspector of our own at that time. The inspector we hired did like everything he saw *except* the dumb downspout, but a well-finished surface can hide stuff. E: original discharge location 
The Science Goy fucked around with this message at 01:45 on Mar 19, 2021 |
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Mar 19, 2021 01:37
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So I have a partially finished basement. It was done with ‘wood’ paneling and drop ceiling that is low enough that I couldn’t really jump without smacking my head. Overall it’s not a huge space (maybe 15x15) but I want to make it more pleasant. I’m trying to improve the lighting situation to brighten it up a bit. I already plan to paint the paneling a light color, but I’m looking for light fixtures as well. There are no real ceiling lights except for a tiny one in the corner and this weird track lighting thing they have on two one of the walls, but that leaves the other corner dark. Essentially I’m looking for something I can install on a wall almost like a light bar that will give off omnidirectional night. Or something else I could use that isn’t just a floor lamp. I don’t think more ceiling lights would be great due to how low it is, drop ceiling aside.
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Mar 19, 2021 04:53
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The Science Goy posted:Ya, it's not exactly the best setup for a downspout as-is. I do agree that running it under the sidewalk would be a clean look (our current house and my parents' house does this) but I'm not certain we would get sufficient slope for a good discharge. Definitely a possibility, though. Why not run one of the flex hoses designed for gutter discharges from where it currently ends, around and at the bottom/beneath the brick veneer, and let it discharge right where the driveway begins? Alternatively, you could put a decorative greywater container right beneath the gutter, and then run a small little hose to wherever you want to trickle off the flow so it doesn't overflow during heavy rains. Otherwise, I'd personally wait for them to finish, punch through a PVC pipe beneath the sidewalk using the hose water jet method, and then daylight your PVC pipe wherever you want to discharge the rainwater to.
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Mar 19, 2021 05:51
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SourKraut posted:Alternatively, you could put a decorative greywater container right beneath the gutter, and then run a small little hose to wherever you want to trickle off the flow so it doesn't overflow during heavy rains. FYI I tried this method before and a normal diameter hose about 10 feet long loses the battle of draining a ~55 gal drum during what I would call a normal TN rain event of 30 min or so. Like it's better than nothing but I wouldn't consider it an appropriate long term solution.
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Mar 19, 2021 06:03
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tangy yet delightful posted:FYI I tried this method before and a normal diameter hose about 10 feet long loses the battle of draining a ~55 gal drum during what I would call a normal TN rain event of 30 min or so. Like it's better than nothing but I wouldn't consider it an appropriate long term solution. Yeah, that's why I'd personally just pop a 4" PVC beneath that sidewalk, connect flex pipe between the gutter and PVC, and then on the downstream end run it somewhere or have like a fancy rock decorative feature where the pipe stealthily daylights.
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Mar 19, 2021 06:32
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:So I have a partially finished basement. It was done with ‘wood’ paneling and drop ceiling that is low enough that I couldn’t really jump without smacking my head. Overall it’s not a huge space (maybe 15x15) but I want to make it more pleasant. You can get some really low profile led panel lights, about 15-20mm, I installed a couple in a garden office that has a really low ceiling and they don't 'intrude' into your space. I'd personally hate wall mounted light bars or panels because to light the room up they'd be brought enough to make looking in that direction uncomfortable. If that's won't work for you does the room have coving? Led strip mounted in coving (the light bounces off the ceiling and diffuses into the room) is another option.
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Mar 19, 2021 06:45
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cakesmith handyman posted:You can get some really low profile led panel lights, about 15-20mm, I installed a couple in a garden office that has a really low ceiling and they don't 'intrude' into your space. I'd personally hate wall mounted light bars or panels because to light the room up they'd be brought enough to make looking in that direction uncomfortable. Yeah I saw some of these wafer style LED lights in a house the other day and was impressed at how thin they were.
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Mar 19, 2021 06:54
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So I’m completely new to home ownership and was raised in apartments. Anyway wife bought a house up in the mountains, it’s very sloped to one side, can anyone recommend videos on how to level a backyard using pavers and how to build retaining walls.
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Mar 19, 2021 07:36
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a sexual elk posted:how to build retaining walls. Depending on how high the retaining wall is, this is something you may need to submit for permit. A lot of municipalities require a plan and structural calcs for retaining walls with bearing heights of 3 1/2 feet or greater. Edit - so it's not that you can't do it yourself, but in some cases, it's literally easier/cheaper just to hire someone to do it who will (hopefully) handle the permitting for you.
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Mar 19, 2021 07:40
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El Mero Mero posted:Yeah I saw some of these wafer style LED lights in a house the other day and was impressed at how thin they were.
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Mar 19, 2021 12:09
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So the front door in our new house...smells. Like, it gets this funk, especially when in sunlight. The old lady who used to own it looks to have repainted it to prep for selling, so it's probably something about the paint she used. But it's not a chemical smell, it's almost like B.O. I wiped it down one day and the smell lessened for a while. Is this smell bacteria in the paint or something? Is there any way to get rid of it without repainting the door? In related news the paint she used on the trim is incredibly cheap and the painter's tape is pulling small pieces off. Thank God her staging prep was all superficial things, I can only imagine the nightmare of buying some flip with more major "updates" done to this standard.
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Mar 19, 2021 13:24
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Either strip and repaint the door now to get rid of the smell, or in a year when the crappy paint she used starts flaking off?
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Mar 19, 2021 13:30
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shirts and skins posted:So the front door in our new house...smells. Like, it gets this funk, especially when in sunlight. The old lady who used to own it looks to have repainted it to prep for selling, so it's probably something about the paint she used. But it's not a chemical smell, it's almost like B.O. I wiped it down one day and the smell lessened for a while. Is this smell bacteria in the paint or something? Is there any way to get rid of it without repainting the door? Mildew/mold often has the BO smell to me, so probably something with that. Although I'd expect it when wet and not in sunlight... so who the gently caress knows?
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Mar 19, 2021 14:39
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H110Hawk posted:Like it literally had a blue-drawing like path straight over the sidewalk where the red squiggle is now? That is some lazy rear end building. Your blue line looks fine. What other lazy rear end stuff did they do to your house? Did you have an inspector in there before the drywall went up? Yeah, this is "checked out GC, trades being sloppy and misordered" looking stuff right there. SourKraut posted:Why not run one of the flex hoses designed for gutter discharges from where it currently ends, around and at the bottom/beneath the brick veneer, and let it discharge right where the driveway begins? Sounds like you don't live somewhere with winter. That would just create a clearly hazardous ice sheet. The only good way to deal with it based on what can be seen in the pic is under the sidewalk to daylight.
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Mar 19, 2021 15:11
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Thanks all, appreciate the responses. My only concern would be the length of run from the downspout to daylight - the best run would be under the sidewalk and emerging near the downspout on the corner of the house, which should be 20-25 feet underground. I wouldn't want that to freeze over and back up or whatever in the winter.... But if that's not expected to be an issue (assuming proper installation and such) then I'll propose it to the builder or just say gently caress it and get our own person to assist with the project this summer.
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Mar 19, 2021 15:37
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The Science Goy posted:Thanks all, appreciate the responses. My only concern would be the length of run from the downspout to daylight - the best run would be under the sidewalk and emerging near the downspout on the corner of the house, which should be 20-25 feet underground. I wouldn't want that to freeze over and back up or whatever in the winter.... If the pipe clogs/freezes you'll just have what you've got now if it's installed properly (there should be an air gap at the bottom of the spout before the pipe).
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Mar 19, 2021 15:40
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Speaking of gutters....our downspout ends are 3"x5", which seems larger than standard (3"x4"). Any ideas how to find an attachment so that I can extend the downspouts?
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Mar 19, 2021 16:15
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Sometimes old plastic smells like BO. Especially whatever plastic they use for laundry clips and sand castle toys.
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Mar 19, 2021 16:15
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Spring Heeled Jack posted:So I have a partially finished basement. It was done with ‘wood’ paneling and drop ceiling that is low enough that I couldn’t really jump without smacking my head. Overall it’s not a huge space (maybe 15x15) but I want to make it more pleasant. If it is drop ceiling with either 2x2 or 2x4 grids--add the LED lights talked about above. In drop ceilings you have a few options: LED panels or LED troffers tend to be the most popular. For you, is sounds like LED panels are the way to go. Troffers are basically remakes of the old florescent tube style lights you'd see in basements. And more importantly, LED panels mount flush with the ceiling while troffers may extend below the ceiling. (This guy sells a crap ton of different style LED's If you buy from him, I'd recommend staying away from the "dimmable with remote" LED panels until all the kinks get worked out--only style of his lights where I've encountered any problems. https://www.ebay.com/sch/e-protect/m.html) You can mount traditional lighting fixtures in a drop ceiling with something like Westinghouse's Saf-T-Grid: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B000P259RW Not sure about the code ramifications, but recently I've been seeing the recessed "clip" lights being installed with 1/8" birch plywood (to prevent sagging) as a backer behind the ceiling tile.
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Mar 19, 2021 20:01
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Motronic posted:Sounds like you don't live somewhere with winter. That would just create a clearly hazardous ice sheet. I lived half my life in a suburb of Chicago, and am clearly aware of the hazards of ice sheets on driveways, since my former house there had the furnace in the garage and fairly close to the garage door, which caused the warm drafting around and beneath the garage door to melt snow, which then drained toward the lower 1/3rd of the driveway and refroze. A lot of salting, and sometimes even portable heaters, were involved at times. Which is why I didn't say I'd personally recommend it, but that it was an option, because at least when I lived there at the time, most people salted their drive ways... Motronic posted:The only good way to deal with it based on what can be seen in the pic is under the sidewalk to daylight.
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Mar 20, 2021 03:28
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Yes I clearly ignored it after your completely dangerous idea, that even you admit is a dangerous idea. Sorry I didn't give you more credit for being reasonable after first providing osha.txt material.
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Mar 20, 2021 03:33
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The last of my basement demo went into the dumpster today. Just have to sweep and mop the floor to get the various bits of sawdust and carpet fuzz and whatever up. Then I can pull out all of the odd scraps of wiring that aren't connected to anything any more. And deal with the approximately 37,000 nails left behind in the walls.
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Mar 20, 2021 21:30
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working trimming the basement area where the stairs go after finishing the basement and putting a ceinling up in the fall. It became too much of winter before i could do it. there's 2 sections of walls so that's not "even" with each other, there's metal trim around the basement window that doesn't need to be there but I don't want to pull it off and damage teh wall behind it. nothign is level, nothign is straight. I keep telling my fiancé.. 2 options.. make it look as good as we can.. or burn it all down, those are the options.
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Mar 20, 2021 22:00
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cakesmith handyman posted:You can get some really low profile led panel lights, about 15-20mm, I installed a couple in a garden office that has a really low ceiling and they don't 'intrude' into your space. I'd personally hate wall mounted light bars or panels because to light the room up they'd be brought enough to make looking in that direction uncomfortable. I’m looking at these right now, then seem great and it would be nice to swap out a few 2x4 panels with these things. I’m painting over the wood look paneling this weekend with a nice light grey so that alone will brighten the space significantly.
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Mar 20, 2021 23:22
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