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BonerGhost posted:What's the thing that looks like a folding table on the wall opposite the showerhead in the finished pics? Probably a two-piece cover for the bathtub to keep the water warm for the next family member to use.
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May 7, 2021 09:47
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Vintersorg posted:Should a HRV be good enough for a washroom? I've taken a few showers in my new place and with the system on by pressing the wall switch - it still gets insanely steamy. I can hear it working but it feels like at my FIL's, my old house, even my apartment the fan kept the mirrors and area generally steam free. Should I be worried? Do I need to set a speed on the device by my furnace? I just keep my bathroom door open while showering... substantially lessens the workload of the fan. We had ceiling mold issues at our last place, and it didn't come back once we started keeping the bathroom door open during showers.
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May 7, 2021 13:38
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peanut posted:Probably a two-piece cover for the bathtub to keep the water warm for the next family member to use. Ew.
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May 7, 2021 13:47
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Deviant posted:Ew. You fully shower before using the bathtub
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May 7, 2021 14:13
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BadSamaritan posted:You fully shower before using the bathtub they said as if the human body doesn't produce human body gunk 24/7/365 Still ew.
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May 7, 2021 14:15
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Vintersorg posted:Should a HRV be good enough for a washroom? I've taken a few showers in my new place and with the system on by pressing the wall switch - it still gets insanely steamy. I can hear it working but it feels like at my FIL's, my old house, even my apartment the fan kept the mirrors and area generally steam free. Should I be worried? Do I need to set a speed on the device by my furnace? A properly sized and functioning one certainly will. And yes, you should be worried if it's not functioning properly/undersized for the bathroom. The Science Goy posted:I just keep my bathroom door open while showering... substantially lessens the workload of the fan. We had ceiling mold issues at our last place, and it didn't come back once we started keeping the bathroom door open during showers. That doesn't work for everyone for both a lot of logistical reasons as well as weather/humidity reasons. It's not ever acceptable to have a bathroom without sufficient external ventilation to keep it from turning into a mold factory. That's a building defect and potentially (likely with an HRV) code violation.
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May 7, 2021 14:52
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Vintersorg posted:Should a HRV be good enough for a washroom? I've taken a few showers in my new place and with the system on by pressing the wall switch - it still gets insanely steamy. I can hear it working but it feels like at my FIL's, my old house, even my apartment the fan kept the mirrors and area generally steam free. Should I be worried? Do I need to set a speed on the device by my furnace? You should talk to whoever installed and setup the system for you. Since it’s a new build they had to run calcs at permit stages anyway and should know.
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May 7, 2021 16:46
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I just had an electrician come by and put in a new outlet by the toilet this morning, so now I can get a fancy bidet toilet seat. Now I just get to look at some hideous drywall for a while as it will take several weeks for the painters to be available.
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May 7, 2021 17:14
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BonerGhost posted:Every time you post a Japanese bathroom I'm just enraged. Having the shower with a bench and bath right there is so nice. Yeah, that little bathroom came out pretty nice
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May 7, 2021 17:17
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How silly/bad/wasteful would it be to get one of those seamless gutter replacements if we're anticipating needing a new roof in the next few years? The current gutter setup is pretty ramshackle.
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May 7, 2021 21:31
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Danhenge posted:How silly/bad/wasteful would it be to get one of those seamless gutter replacements if we're anticipating needing a new roof in the next few years? The current gutter setup is pretty ramshackle. If your gutters are attached to the fascia board there's no reason for the roofers to touch them when putting on a new roof, so you'd be all good to go. Just make sure the contractors you get quotes from know what you're looking for and find out if that is possible on your particular house (it probably is).
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May 7, 2021 22:23
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Ikea does it again! TV wall mount that doesn't have long enough bolts to attach to a 50"+ TV  eh close enough.
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May 7, 2021 23:25
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We recently bought a small home on a Rural Development loan. A ranch built in ‘57, it’s semi-updated but was an old disabled woman’s home, then rented out the past few years. The sellers lied about water seeping in to the basement so it’s been pretty musty and wet and I avoid going down there. We have waterproofers coming for an estimate on Monday. Most of the appliances don’t fully work or are the cheapest model available from ‘95. There are some nice things but it’s a bit of a fixer upper. I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and already have spent about $1,000 at Menards in a week. I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Anyway, I’ve been a nervous wreck and am honestly just looking for some solidarity in owning and working on a fixer upper in a poor rural MI town. I guess it beats paying a landlord the same amount for something smaller and 100 years older but I’m definitely having buyers remorse and can’t seem to be comfortable.
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May 8, 2021 00:07
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Not even joking, but if you’re living rurally and mice/varmints are going to be an issue then getting a cat will help a bunch. Even if it’s a crummy mouser it’ll keep most of them away.
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May 8, 2021 00:18
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Unfortunately I can’t get a cat right now due to funds and my father (who is helping with most of the DIY fixes) having severe allergies.
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May 8, 2021 00:27
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Ball Tazeman posted:Unfortunately I can’t get a cat right now due to funds and my father (who is helping with most of the DIY fixes) having severe allergies. Is he also allergic to dogs? Rat terriers (along with several other terrier breeds) will gently caress up some rodents.
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May 8, 2021 00:39
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To be honest I’d like a solution that doesn’t require the expense of taking care of another life because I’m very not prepared for that added stressor.
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May 8, 2021 00:43
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Ball Tazeman posted:We recently bought a small home on a Rural Development loan. A ranch built in ‘57, it’s semi-updated but was an old disabled woman’s home, then rented out the past few years. The sellers lied about water seeping in to the basement so it’s been pretty musty and wet and I avoid going down there. We have waterproofers coming for an estimate on Monday. Most of the appliances don’t fully work or are the cheapest model available from ‘95. There are some nice things but it’s a bit of a fixer upper. I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and already have spent about $1,000 at Menards in a week. I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Anyway, I’ve been a nervous wreck and am honestly just looking for some solidarity in owning and working on a fixer upper in a poor rural MI town. Where do the gutters drain? A LOT, and I mean a LOT of wet basement problems in older home is because the downspouts go to the ground with a 90 degree bend that puts the water about 4" away from the foundation. Something as simple and cheap as this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Flex-A-Spout-White-Downspout-Extension-85010/100057879 Just to get the water 4 or 5 feet away can make a huge difference in a lot of cases. That plus a dehumidifier can often make the basement totally workable, with the added bonus that your house doesn't always have a low key mold smell that you will get used to very quickly but any guests will absolutely notice.
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May 8, 2021 00:58
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Ball Tazeman posted:I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Pick up some little mousey death chambers, something like: https://www.amazon.com/Victor-RZC001-Zapper-Classic-Trap/dp/B002665ZTC/ and a jar of the finest cheapest peanut butter you can find. Put them at various places where you've seen droppings and see what you catch. Go around and see if there are any open points they can get into your house via. Look up, look down, look behind bushes, etc. Anything larger than probably 1" you need to start sealing up. If it's a vent that means wire mesh (raised foundation vents, soffit vents, etc). If it's just a hole then spray foam can do a ugly job quickly. Beware that if you seal one in to your house it will eventually die... somewhere. You might consider sealing up some but not all of the holes to start and putting a mousey death chamber next to ones you intentionally leave open. Go look at all of your plumbing inside and out - if there is a gap to the drywall then seal that up too. I would go around and make a note of what you need and where before cracking the can of spray foam. Keep a can of acetone and a rag handy - it can dissolve it before it sets by only if you're quick. If you do intentionally leave a hole set a calendar reminder to seal it up in a few days if you aren't getting hits on your trap. Check your traps daily. It might take literal weeks of daily trips but eventually you will put a dent in the population in and around your home. It's unlikely you have that many mice. If you do, you're going to need to deal with the fields around you to make them less hospitable to mice. H110Hawk fucked around with this message at 04:58 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 04:55
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Ball Tazeman posted:I guess it beats paying a landlord the same amount for something smaller and 100 years older but I’m definitely having buyers remorse and can’t seem to be comfortable. I think it's pretty normal to be a little bit overwhelmed. I found it really useful to keep a list when I first moved in and had tons of things that needed doing, partially because it meant I didn't have to worry about forgetting poo poo and partially because it meant I could start prioritizing fixes a lot better. I still have a list now but a year later the entries are more like "replace the lovely light fixtures the previous owner put in the hallways" rather than "my toilet isn't seated correctly" or "half of my locks are installed upside down". It's really satisfying when things start coming together. H110Hawk posted:Pick up some little mousey death chambers, something like: https://www.amazon.com/Victor-RZC001-Zapper-Classic-Trap/dp/B002665ZTC/ and a jar of the finest cheapest peanut butter you can find. Can second that these work pretty good (not this specific model, but the electric mouse traps). I put peanut butter chip things (like chocolate chips but peanut butter) in them which seem to work well. Motronic posted:Where do the gutters drain? A LOT, and I mean a LOT of wet basement problems in older home is because the downspouts go to the ground with a 90 degree bend that puts the water about 4" away from the foundation. Also this. Fixing the downspouts to drain four or five feet away from the house instead of right next to the foundation basically solved my moisture problems in the basement and it didn't cost more than $20 in gutter extensions. Wallet fucked around with this message at 11:38 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 11:32
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I left some wood stacked on concrete for 4 years and it got gross and fungusy. The wood went to the dump but the concrete is stained so bad our Karcher pressure washer couldn't blast it away. Is there a recommend way to remove this, or should I just paint/tile over it?
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May 8, 2021 12:02
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Scrub with bleach?
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May 8, 2021 12:29
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Ball Tazeman posted:We recently bought a small home on a Rural Development loan. A ranch built in ‘57, it’s semi-updated but was an old disabled woman’s home, then rented out the past few years. The sellers lied about water seeping in to the basement so it’s been pretty musty and wet and I avoid going down there. We have waterproofers coming for an estimate on Monday. Most of the appliances don’t fully work or are the cheapest model available from ‘95. There are some nice things but it’s a bit of a fixer upper. I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and already have spent about $1,000 at Menards in a week. I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Anyway, I’ve been a nervous wreck and am honestly just looking for some solidarity in owning and working on a fixer upper in a poor rural MI town. Mice in house sucks. You could get an exterminator, I did and unfortunately it costs $350ish per year with monthly check ins and bait fills. Not that you should be forced to get a pet, $ aside, I'd consider them a stress reducer more than anything, especially if you dont travel a lot and are home most of the time. On the 90s appliances, unfortunately you probably had to consider budgeting to replace those soon. Congrats on the house tho, it can definitely be overwhelming the first time and you will be futzing with stuff for a few years, but that's not a bad thing.
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May 8, 2021 12:49
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For mice you really have to walk around your perimeter, look for any hole or opening 1/2" or larger (like a dime size hole is big enough). It takes a while, but you can make your house an impenetrable fortress. If you have a brick exterior make sure you you look high too, mice have no problem climbing brick, and most brick fascias have weep holes. If you have vinyl siding, make sure the corners and bottom edges are well sealed. If you have overhanging trees, that can be another avenue.
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May 8, 2021 13:01
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I think owning any sort of home can definitely be overwhelming at times, no matter the type, size, age, etc. It's just a lot to be responsible for.
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May 8, 2021 13:43
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For mice, I find a tin cat works pretty well https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07Q7DN41N/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_5W4PKW4YT016NE1H3CP3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 my luck with my actual cats varies, the one flung a live mouse at me while the other cat just watched. 😐 Anyway, the tin cat can be used as a catch and release option, or a self baiting death chamber since they'll go cannibal.
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May 8, 2021 13:50
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Ball Tazeman posted:We recently bought a small home on a Rural Development loan. A ranch built in ‘57, it’s semi-updated but was an old disabled woman’s home, then rented out the past few years. The sellers lied about water seeping in to the basement so it’s been pretty musty and wet and I avoid going down there. We have waterproofers coming for an estimate on Monday. Most of the appliances don’t fully work or are the cheapest model available from ‘95. There are some nice things but it’s a bit of a fixer upper. I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and already have spent about $1,000 at Menards in a week. I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Anyway, I’ve been a nervous wreck and am honestly just looking for some solidarity in owning and working on a fixer upper in a poor rural MI town. Hi fellow Michigoon. My mom bought a house last year and had a similar water issue. The original drain piping filled with silt and, like Motronic said, the gutters weren't going anywhere but next to the foundation. So the easiest place for the hydraulic pressure to go was inside. They dug up the foundation, added new drain system, and piped it off a hill. This wasn't enough to totally alleviate the issue so a basement specialist came in, cut grooves in the perimeter of the basement flooring, and added a pump system. As far as mice, stick some snap traps on your floor joists, at corners, and chokepoints. I'm a fan of the JAWZ mouse trap they sell at Menards. Comfort will come with some more time once you "make it your own." We recently moved into our house and it's just starting to feel like our place.
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May 8, 2021 13:54
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peanut posted:I left some wood stacked on concrete for 4 years and it got gross and fungusy. The wood went to the dump but the concrete is stained so bad our Karcher pressure washer couldn't blast it away. Scrub with Muriatic acid
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May 8, 2021 14:00
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also get a dehumidifier, it's going to be mandatory in any damp basement. Re mice, part of the service I have checks for holes and refills them with expanding foam. They keep chewing through it so it's not one and done.
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May 8, 2021 14:14
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Ball Tazeman posted:We recently bought a small home on a Rural Development loan. A ranch built in ‘57, it’s semi-updated but was an old disabled woman’s home, then rented out the past few years. The sellers lied about water seeping in to the basement so it’s been pretty musty and wet and I avoid going down there. We have waterproofers coming for an estimate on Monday. Most of the appliances don’t fully work or are the cheapest model available from ‘95. There are some nice things but it’s a bit of a fixer upper. I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and already have spent about $1,000 at Menards in a week. I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Anyway, I’ve been a nervous wreck and am honestly just looking for some solidarity in owning and working on a fixer upper in a poor rural MI town. I know the logical thing is to focus on big things first, but it really helped me to pick some small things for easy wins, in one area of the house. Something like painting the front door or adding just some potted plants to the entryway. Put some lipstick on that pig.
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May 8, 2021 16:15
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falz posted:also get a dehumidifier, it's going to be mandatory in any damp basement. 100% this, used one in my old place since without it all my stuff was getting damp to the touch.
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May 8, 2021 16:34
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Ball Tazeman posted:We recently bought a small home on a Rural Development loan. A ranch built in ‘57, it’s semi-updated but was an old disabled woman’s home, then rented out the past few years. The sellers lied about water seeping in to the basement so it’s been pretty musty and wet and I avoid going down there. We have waterproofers coming for an estimate on Monday. Most of the appliances don’t fully work or are the cheapest model available from ‘95. There are some nice things but it’s a bit of a fixer upper. I’ve been extremely overwhelmed and already have spent about $1,000 at Menards in a week. I managed to catch a mouse the other day and keep finding droppings in the bedroom which honestly has me unable to sleep at night. Anyway, I’ve been a nervous wreck and am honestly just looking for some solidarity in owning and working on a fixer upper in a poor rural MI town. A whole lot of this is similar to our situation in the far outskirts of the Twin Cities. You can do it. This place is a treasure trove of experience and advice. Mice: a whole lot has been said about this already on how to stop them from getting in. We've had very good luck with the Home Depot equivalent of the JAWZ traps Yooper mentioned. I would recommend just putting them in random spots perpendicular to the wall butting right up against it. Mice like to travel against something instead of just running through the middle of the room, so they run right next to the wall. We catch a lot that weren't even going for the bait, they just ran across the trap. Water ingress: definitely +1 on Motronic's recommendation. Not a quick fix, but also assess where your downspouts are see if you think it would make sense to drain from the other side. Our house is built into a little bit of a hill, and when we moved in there was a downspout (without an extension, just like Motronic said) that was dumping water at the highest elevation corner of the house. We've since had it moved to drain the other direction. Also, if you have any window wells, make sure they're covered. It just takes one rain with the wind blowing right to turn it into a bucket of water up against your house. Moisture in the basement: on the recommendation of our HVAC contractor, we run the fan on our forced air system 24 hours a day to keep air moving in the basement. He suggested this in lieu of the in-line dehumidifier we initially asked about, so it wasn't just "guy selling air blower suggests you heavily use air blower". Obviously that only applies with forced air, but setting up some box fans to move air in the basement can help as well. Between keeping the air moving and keeping the water out, ours is much better than it was when we first moved in. Note: if you do run it 24/7 you need to be replacing the furnace filters more frequently. e: Are you on septic for the first time? If so it is definitely worth learning about what shouldn't go in there. Blowjob Overtime fucked around with this message at 17:02 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 16:59
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We're replacing our gas range with a 6 burner and taking out the recirculating over the range microwave to put in an actual wall mounted ducted range hood. Are all range hoods basically the same? I can get a GE or Kitchen Aid one for up to 2000 bucks, or a Zline or Cosmo one for a couple hundred; what separates the two? Not really concerned with aesthetics, just want it to work and let us put in baffle filters. PageMaster fucked around with this message at 17:21 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 17:13
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PageMaster posted:We're replacing our gas range with a 6 burner and taking out the recirculating over the range microwave to put in an actual wall mounted ducted range hood. Are all range hoods basically the same? I can get a GE or Kitchen Aid one for up to 2000 bucks, or a Zline or Cosmo one for a couple hundred; what separates the two?
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May 8, 2021 18:14
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Also note for mice no one here has said poison - don't use it. Period. If you want natural predators to help you with mousing they need to not die from rat poison when they catch a slow mouse in a field. If you don't want snap traps because they're disgusting the zap traps let you just dump the corpse into the trash and never see it. Either way is fine.
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May 8, 2021 18:16
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Okay wow everybody here is incredibly helpful. 1. We are on the city’s sewer still so no septic 2. We unfortunately have radiators in the house but a long term goal is to get forced air in the place one day. That will be a massive expense I’m sure. So today I cleared the yard while my partner and my dad were in the basement mouseproofing. They found and removed a nest above the breaker box and placed aluminum along the foundation thete , filled in nearly every access to the upstairs with foam, filled an old dryer vent (that was just....completely open) with foam and we will probably place some steel wool in there as well. Right now we are mixing up some hydraulic cement to fill some gaps in the brick and foundation outside and I guess I’ll just keep buying traps. Hopefully they are now just contained to the basement and walls and not my loving bedroom, which will be much less anxiety inducing. To be honest, I’m still in panic attack mode and all of this had caused a pretty severe nervous breakdown to the point where I’m on medical leave right now. So for the time being my respite is (although I’m sure it doesn’t help at all with the mouse problem) just watching the plethora of birds feeders being visited every day. It’s definitely a treat to see all the woodpeckers and goldfinches hang out right on our deck. You’ve got to have small things, right?
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May 8, 2021 18:17
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Additional mouse note, the place im using put traps outside, near the entry points, as well as inside. Sorry, but they were some sort of poison. My dog doesn't care about them, I don't want a cat and didn't see any other option. I don't think live trapping and relocating would work, the reproduce so quickly. Hey at least we're not in austrailia right now!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAdNJ1jczVI
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May 8, 2021 18:21
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Ball Tazeman posted:Okay wow everybody here is incredibly helpful.  you got this. It's amazing what a few weeks of hard labor will do to a house. You will quickly realize why people defer maintenance. In sane times materials are a tiny fraction of the cost of a project, it's knowing how to properly install them that gets you and the sheer amount of labor to do things like mix a bag of quickcrete or clear a bin full of brush. Every hole you fill in is one fewer place critters of all shapes and sizes can intrude on your domicile. Every one you kill is one fewer that is reproducing. It's a numbers game. You make it slightly harder and slightly fewer and it all adds up.
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May 8, 2021 18:29
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I’m having trouble with our sprinkler system. One zone just randomly goes off and won’t turn off unless I kill the water to the sprinklers. It’s the middle one in the attached picture. When the system is off, I can hear some water start to fill in the white pipe and I’m assuming when enough water is in there or the pressure builds, that zone just goes off and needs to be manually killed. I’m not 100% sure how these sprinklers function, but it’s almost as though the valve at the top isn’t working properly. I unscrewed the valve on the top and it seems to be in working order and looks the same as the others. Is there a simple fix that I should look into or do I just need to call someone out to take a look? https://imgur.com/a/SbEAxcO ScooterMcTiny fucked around with this message at 18:39 on May 8, 2021 |
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May 8, 2021 18:36
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Radiators are old school but can actually be pretty great for heating- if they’re all functioning ok then I wouldn’t feel too badly about an upgrade being off on the horizon. Do you have an old steam system? (I’ve had prewar steam heat in every place I’ve lived since uhhh 2009ish).
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May 8, 2021 18:42
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