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Home goons, I am a long time lurker of this thread. I haven’t seen a ton of posts about pest control so hopefully I can add some variety. I recently moved into an older (1924) home, and despite my pest inspection report claiming to see no evidence of rodents, I noticed rat droppings in the basement. I called a pest company to come out and take a look and give me an estimate for remediation. They said that although there were some droppings in the basement, there was much more activity in the attic, and the rats had gotten into the insulation. I saw droppings in the attic with my own eyes, but have no way to evaluate the insulation. They said I could either pay them to seal up exterior holes, trap and disinfect (and come clean out the traps for the next few weeks) for $1200, or, since the rats were inside the insulation, they could come and vacuum out the insulation and replace it with new stuff for an additional $3500. He also claimed these are ROOF RATS, and more likely to get into the attic. Replacing the insulation will supposedly reduce the presence of rat pheromones. I’ve had mice in homes before, but never rats. Is this guy selling snake re: the insulation? FWIW the insulation is somewhere in the ~20 year old zone (I dont have records from the previous home owner) and is adequate, other than pest issues.
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Jul 17, 2021 16:54
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| # ? May 27, 2024 07:51 |
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Roof rats are a thing. They are smaller (but still bigger than mice). Try to evaluate how they might be getting in the house in the first place. We might have had some and the fix seemed to be removing the trees that were touching the house.
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Jul 17, 2021 19:37
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Yeah. Roof rats are real, and if there's droppings in the insulation then something was in it at some point. If you can safely get up on the roof you can find their points of ingress. The price of replacing the insulation sounds reasonable to me, but whether it is depends on your local market.
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Jul 17, 2021 19:42
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Not sure about pheromones, but if there are rats the insulation may also be soaked in urine; not something you want to smell and probably unhealthy so i'd want it out anyways. That may be what the contractors meant by pheromones side I know urine and droppings are used for marking territories and pathways.
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Jul 17, 2021 19:50
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For our house it was the gable vent, we had a tree that actually touched it making it an easy point of entry.
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Jul 17, 2021 20:17
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My house had roof rats from a PO and they were getting on the roof from some crepe myrtles that touched the side and were squeezing under the gable vent to get into the attic.
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Jul 17, 2021 21:56
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I will now helpfully post this scene from Bad Boys 2 https://youtu.be/AeRxHCqrqjY
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Jul 18, 2021 00:04
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just another posted:Are laminate transition strips not as durable? We just had flooring put in and two of the t-molds already have good gouges out of them. Not sure what would have caused them besides the dog's nails. They should be the same material but are more pronounced and in high traffic areas so are subject to getting dinged. They are pretty easy to replace though if they get really messed up enough where you want to replace them.
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Jul 18, 2021 00:10
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Thanks for the rat tips, looks like I'm getting new insulation. Home ownership is great for your wallet, I recommend it to everyone!
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Jul 18, 2021 01:02
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It’s really cool how we find out that our chimney needs repairs, a major piece of furniture has decided to basically give up the ghost, and work solidified that I should actually invest in a home office space all at once. We’ll need to do siding within a couple years and it won’t be pretty. The house thinks we asked for this because we improved the patio/back steps- our first ‘fun’ project (that still included needed repairs because of a dumbass previous owner).
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Jul 18, 2021 01:23
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Love to come to this thread and find out about things I never knew, like roof rats! Good thing I have a tree touching the house near a gable window!
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Jul 18, 2021 03:18
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Blowjob Overtime posted:This is very subjective based on how many trees you have and personal preference. I would have gladly paid double what we did for ours, but that's in the middle of the woods where I could be up there every other weekend clearing them out. nm posted:Are your gutters on the second floor? If so, go with the guards because gently caress going up that high. Similarly, if the gutters are hard to access for reasons. One story house in the suburbs in Kansas City, but one that really likes trees. What we currently have was poorly installed by the DIY heroes who owned the house before us and had an aversion to YouTube. I guess I don't have a problem with paying for something good, but I don't actually have any good sources to illustrate if something like Master Shield or whatever is going to be worth a single poo poo versus having plain jane gutters that we get maintained.
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Jul 18, 2021 06:33
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I got seamless steel gutters on my house. No guards. Suburb with tons of very old tall oaks and trillions of leaves. I clean it about once a quarter. I don't know how much guards cost but it's not a huge effort to just clean them myself.
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Jul 18, 2021 15:27
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Synastren posted:One story house in the suburbs in Kansas City, but one that really likes trees. We live in a one story house in Lenexa in a neighborhood with an absolute shitton of old maple and oak trees. There isn’t a time of the year when some crap isn’t being dropped on our roof. We had Gutter Helmet guards installed last fall and it was a loving godsend compared to having to scrape them out pretty much weekly in the fall and spring. Make sure your grading and ground cover around the house is good though. Gutter guards promote icicle formation and the melt from that will absolutely carve out a divot in the ground around your gutter line.
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Jul 19, 2021 00:18
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I'm thinking about mounting some heavy load-bearing shelves and I'm trying to figure out what my apartment's studs are made of. I have a strong magnet that I ran along the studs and there's some force all along the entire height of the studs. There's a much bigger force at certain intervals along the height, like there's much more metal there, perhaps from a cross piece or maybe nails or screws that are holding things together/attaching the sheetrock. The thing is, I'm pretty sure that there's wood there, too. I have screwed things into the studs before, and the way I can describe it is the drill/screw doesn't want to go past the sheetrock for a few seconds, but after really pushing the drill, the screw will go in and screw in like it's wood. As in, it doesn't feel like there's empty space that the screw goes past as if I simply made a hole in a full metal stud and the screw is just hanging in the air. Seems very sturdy and all that. But, I could be wrong. What does this sound like? Is it a wood stud with metal in the front (which would explain the magnet's attraction and the extra push I have to give the drill until the screw starts to scew in past the sheetrock)? What is this type of stud called? Also, what are those small sections along the stud with the much heavier magnet attraction? small butter fucked around with this message at 01:16 on Jul 19, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2021 01:12
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That sounds exactly like metal studs. The hesitation when driving a screw is the screw boring a hole for itself. Wood has resistance but will drive in much faster. Hanging stuff on metal studs is tricky and not fun in my experience. If you're renting I'd think twice.
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Jul 19, 2021 01:15
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NomNomNom posted:That sounds exactly like metal studs. The hesitation when driving a screw is the screw boring a hole for itself. Wood has resistance but will drive in much faster. Renting but my landlord doesn't care. Why does the screw seem so sturdy? Why does it feel like screwing into wood past the resistance? Am I screwing pretty much into the air past the gauge-thickness of the stud? EDIT: I recently had part of the ceiling sheetrock removed and there was no metal there as far as I could tell. Is it normal to have metal studs and full wood for the ceilings? EDIT Again: Whoops, no, I looked at another photo and there's definitely metal and wood. I guess the studs are probably fully metal? small butter fucked around with this message at 01:53 on Jul 19, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2021 01:18
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Yesterday afternoon my AC stopped blowing cold. The outside unit was just buzzing - neither the fan or compressor was starting up. I could get the fan going by tapping it with a screwdriver, though. Turns out, this is exactly what you’d expect to see when the start capacitor fails. Replaced that this afternoon with a spare that a friend had. It took literally five minutes and now I have cold air again 
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Jul 19, 2021 01:21
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small butter posted:Renting but my landlord doesn't care. Is this a dividing wall between units?
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Jul 19, 2021 02:48
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rdb posted:Is this a dividing wall between units? Both the walls between units and all the other walls between rooms.
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Jul 19, 2021 03:22
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I also have metal studs and am dreading figuring out how to mount a TV. I might outsource it to a Task Rabbit person, hopefully they don't screw it up.
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Jul 19, 2021 04:46
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Inner Light posted:I also have metal studs and am dreading figuring out how to mount a TV. I might outsource it to a Task Rabbit person, hopefully they don't screw it up. Some rando person is a crapshoot. What you want a molly bolts. They come in various capacities. Modern TVs aren't that heavy, so I'm assuming that's what you're talking about. You still want to try to get 2 bolts of the tv mount into a stud. Any quality mount will be wide enough where you should be able to cover at least two studs with it, resulting in 4 bolts into studs in standard framing. I do have a 80+ lb plasma still but it's amazing that thing still even works and that's a super exception that probably doesn't matter for most people. There is no way you want to try to hang something like that off of drywall. You need to find better and more reliable contractors. People like that don't need to rely on apps/gig economy to get work. Motronic fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Jul 19, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2021 04:51
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Motronic posted:Some rando person is a crapshoot. What you want a molly bolts. They come in various capacities. Modern TVs aren't that heavy, so I'm assuming that's what you're talking about. Are you saying you wouldn't bother trying to mount a modern TV into the metal stud, and/or that mounting it to the stud is not possible? My current TV is 55" and 38 lbs, not including the weight of any mount, but ideally I would want to future proof the mount location in case I go bigger in the future.
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Jul 19, 2021 04:54
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Inner Light posted:Are you saying you wouldn't bother trying to mount a modern TV into the metal stud, and/or that mounting it to the stud is not possible? 38 lbs is no big deal, but see my edit about the kinds of people you need to find to do this work. You can hang 38 lbs from decent 1/2" drywall if you are careful and use the right anchors and mount. I would use no less than 6 mounting points with 20lb+ molly bolts. Edit: JFC, the correct search term appear to be "metal expanding hollow wall anchor" Why is all of this poo poo so hard to find?  It's those things. Motronic fucked around with this message at 05:05 on Jul 19, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2021 04:57
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small butter posted:I'm thinking about mounting some heavy load-bearing shelves and I'm trying to figure out what my apartment's studs are made of. In random bullshit stud stuff, I think my bedroom has something thinner than 2x4s holding up the drywall. I think they filled in a doorway or something, because above 80 something inches, I very clearly have a real stud, but below that, I screw in, get what is clearly wood (which I can tell because I get wood shavings), but it breaks through and spins freely. It's like on 2 studs and it's loving weird. I need to get a camera in there. The house is from 1922, but had a major reno where they put in drywall maybe 8 years ago.
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Jul 19, 2021 07:28
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nm posted:In random bullshit stud stuff, I think my bedroom has something thinner than 2x4s holding up the drywall. I think they filled in a doorway or something, because above 80 something inches, I very clearly have a real stud, but below that, I screw in, get what is clearly wood (which I can tell because I get wood shavings), but it breaks through and spins freely. It's like on 2 studs and it's loving weird. I need to get a camera in there. The house is from 1922, but had a major reno where they put in drywall maybe 8 years ago. The wall between the dining room and master bedroom in my house has only 1.5" inside between the backs of the drywall sheets. The kitchen wall that was in there when we bought it (not original, I don't think) was also "framed" with 1.5" sticks. People do stupid poo poo to save 3 inches.
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Jul 19, 2021 07:36
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BonerGhost posted:The wall between the dining room and master bedroom in my house has only 1.5" inside between the backs of the drywall sheets. I do the opposite here and not only frame with our 2x4 equivalent (45x70mm) but put up OSB first, then drywall. It's wonderful just being able to screw into wood wherever you please.
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Jul 19, 2021 09:12
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Motronic posted:38 lbs is no big deal, but see my edit about the kinds of people you need to find to do this work. In the past I've used toggles in this scenario. Are these things better than toggles in some way? Both expand out behind the drywall.
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Jul 19, 2021 12:47
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armorer posted:In the past I've used toggles in this scenario. Are these things better than toggles in some way? Both expand out behind the drywall. Assuming your television isn't an ancient CRT a reasonable number of most anchors should hold it fine in good drywall. Of course if you live in a really old house or something YMMV. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHb-Tcvkn7M Wallet fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Jul 19, 2021 |
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Jul 19, 2021 13:26
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We used these things for a fairly large (70 inches) tv (in a conf room at work) and have no issues so far. https://www.lowes.com/pd/TOGGLER-10-Pack-Assorted-Length-x-1-4-in-Dia-Toggle-Bolt-Drywall-Anchor-Screws-Included/3183831
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Jul 19, 2021 13:29
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I've also got an old 90lb plasma down in the basement that my wife really wants me to put up on the wall, but I'm trying to stall long enough for it to finally die. The permanently burned in Rock Band menu/note bar was apparently not reason enough to justify replacement yet.
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Jul 19, 2021 14:32
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Any thread recs on electric stovetop / ovens? We have a ~16 yr old Samsung glass top model with convection oven. We're not in a place / situation for using gas, going to likely replace it with an identical type of unit and am just looking for a good manufacturer / model there.
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Jul 19, 2021 14:49
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That Works posted:Any thread recs on electric stovetop / ovens? IF you can get induction, it's really the nicer electric option. You can also get double ovens in drop in ranges too, which are nice. https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-electric-and-gas-ranges/
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Jul 19, 2021 15:01
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toplitzin posted:IF you can get induction, it's really the nicer electric option. Thanks! I was literally just reading that same wirecutter review page after making the post. Induction would be nice, but just looking at prices at HD it's easily ~4x more cost for an induction top. I have a single plug in induction plate I use from time to time and it's great, but I didn't find it so massive of a QoL improvement that I want to drop $3-4k on a stove with it. If I was a little more wealthy I definitely would.
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Jul 19, 2021 15:06
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Wallet posted:Assuming your television isn't an ancient CRT a reasonable number of most anchors should hold it fine in good drywall. Of course if you live in a really old house or something YMMV. I never expected to sit through a drywall anchor testing video, but that was great.
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Jul 19, 2021 15:07
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Motronic posted:Edit: JFC, the correct search term appear to be "metal expanding hollow wall anchor" Why is all of this poo poo so hard to find? Weird, I def found them agree searching molly bolts. I've only ever used snap toggle bolts, so I'm curious to hear an answer to armorer's question, as well!
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Jul 19, 2021 15:10
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My favorite sheetrock toggle bolts are the zip tie kind. They're so much easier to use than the older styles. I recently mounted a Samsung The Frame (2021) and holy hell is that an awful mount to have to mount, but 2 lags in a stud and 2 of the zip toggle bolts per mount piece and I'm real confident it's not going anywhere. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IU6HG48?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
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Jul 19, 2021 15:23
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armorer posted:In the past I've used toggles in this scenario. Are these things better than toggles in some way? Both expand out behind the drywall. Toggles should be fine, but I prefer these because they have three points of contact behind the drywall instead of 2 (which is actually more like 4 tiny ones) of toggles. Especially for older drywall at risk of getting the paper torn up these seems to be a better bet. If you're assuming good drywall I'm going to say that any anchor properly rated for the weight style of anchor is going to work fine. These are belt and suspenders, and I'm fine with that because they aren't all that expensive. I haven't seen or used the snap toggles that won the project farm testing, but that guys testing usually seems pretty legit so the results are probably close to correct.
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Jul 19, 2021 15:27
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It sounds like the guys with big plasmas to unload and those looking for electric stove tops should talk.
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Jul 19, 2021 17:44
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| # ? May 27, 2024 07:51 |
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Hed posted:It sounds like the guys with big plasmas to unload and those looking for electric stove tops should talk. I just gave away my 2008 Viera yesterday. In a win for hoarders everywhere, the new owner took it away in its original box. 
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Jul 19, 2021 17:49
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