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I thought when people are doing fancy custom builds like your situation, you all specify stuff like light fixtures and such. Can they just pop on down to Home Depot and buy whatever they want ? On the plus side like you said, it is looking better now. But you should make sure it's what you want long term. You are paying so you don't have to fix their work with DIY renovations like fixture changes in the near future.
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Aug 26, 2021 19:35
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Inner Light posted:I thought when people are doing fancy custom builds like your situation, you all specify stuff like light fixtures and such. Can they just pop on down to Home Depot and buy whatever they want ? We actually did specify a bunch of stuff up front, but for the can lights we couldn't care less. The only thing we told them was how many and that they need to be on a dimmer. To me, can lights are can lights, and as long as they function the way I want then that's all I really care about. They're generally a commodity item, and we weren't looking for any specific look/style. The electrician did actually ask at some point what temperature we wanted, but he also said that the LEDs he typically uses have a selector switch for temperature. Unfortunately the rule I'm learning here is that if you need to be super-specific. The whole beadboard debacle is proof of that... I THOUGHT I was being specific, but not good enough I guess. I mean, we had a whole "request for quote" document written up and everything, but a minor difference in terminology is all it took for them to nearly screw up my ceiling. But with regards to the end result, as long as what's installed is a standard size then it's all good. My only real concern is that I can drop in a replacement in 5-10 years when these lights die, and the fact that they replaced them a day later is somewhat comforting since that means it's unlikely to be some custom oddball size.
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Aug 26, 2021 19:53
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DaveSauce don't look behind the new trim, just live blissfully ignorant otherwise it will probably haunt you forever.
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Aug 26, 2021 19:56
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DaveSauce posted:Update on the almost-done-but-not-quite porch. I'm so glad we got to see a shot of the light installed in that hole. I think we all knew what that would look like.
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Aug 26, 2021 19:57
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DaveSauce posted:On the plus side, these things are hella bright. On the down side, I have no idea if they're dimmable, and I know they didn't install a dimmer like they were supposed to. But that's a punch list item... along with like 30 other little things that they screwed up. At least, that I've noticed so far... I recently put six of those bad boys in my kitchen to replace the single boob fixture that made it seem like I was making a sammich inside a crypt. The model I have has a switch on the box that houses the electrical components of the LED that enables you to change the color temperature; adjusting that down from 5000K to 4000K was nice for my kitchen; 3000K may work even better for your porch.
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Aug 26, 2021 19:59
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Beef Of Ages posted:I recently put six of those bad boys in my kitchen to replace the single boob fixture that made it seem like I was making a sammich inside a crypt. The model I have has a switch on the box that houses the electrical components of the LED that enables you to change the color temperature; adjusting that down from 5000K to 4000K was nice for my kitchen; 3000K may work even better for your porch. 3000K is the goal. We figured it's a good temp for a porch, especially since the lights will mainly be used at night when we're trying to relax. But also because that's the temp of the ceiling fan light, which is not adjustable. That said, looking at it briefly last night it seems pretty close as is, so it's probably fine. I definitely asked for the make/model or a manual, though. Need to know if these are dimmable. I'm sure they are, but you never know... but it's a requirement, so they don't really have a choice, and I'm not going to cross this off until I confirm it. lol on the punch list I put a $60 smart dimmer as what I wanted. Worth a shot, we'll see if they go for it.
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Aug 26, 2021 20:26
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Beef Of Ages posted:single boob fixture  at this actually being what this type of fixture is called.
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Aug 26, 2021 20:49
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biracial bear for uncut posted:
I'm immature as hell for posting this, but this tiktok cracks me up https://www.tiktok.com/embed/6640272513811090693
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Aug 26, 2021 21:00
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I hate my ceiling titties. I just know one of these days my hands will slip while unscrewing one to get at a burned out bulb and it’ll send glass shards across the realm.
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Aug 26, 2021 21:55
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DaveSauce posted:To me, can lights are can lights, and as long as they function the way I want then that's all I really care about. They're generally a commodity item They are very much not, unless you're looking at builder grade stuff. LED can lights are a whole thing, with varying levels of quality that impact longevity, dimmability (specifically how low they can dim), how they render colors (not color temperature....how they make things look that are lit by them), their cutoff angle (which impacts spacing), etc. If you don't care about any of they it's totally fine. But it's all a pretty big deal when you're looking to do something specific.
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Aug 26, 2021 22:19
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Democratic Pirate posted:I hate my ceiling titties. I just know one of these days my hands will slip while unscrewing one to get at a burned out bulb and it’ll send glass shards across the realm. I only have one left in the entire house and it is in the small hallway upstairs that connects the stairwell to the master bedroom and second bedroom (that is my wife's office). I feel like that's an appropriate place for an lumière des seins, but one of the few.
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Aug 26, 2021 22:46
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I did a double luminarire mastectomy in my kitchen, it completely changed the way the space looked and made it much more pleasant to work in. One was over the fridge, the other was behind you if you were facing the stove. So both were worthless. They were replaced with five can lights, positioned to overlap light at any work area.
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Aug 26, 2021 23:09
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StormDrain posted:And for about 170 you can get a big heavy duty shelving unit from Costco, and for $80 a smaller one that is a better cost per square footage of shelf. It's not as nice, but you can put them together quickly and adjust as needed. I have a lot of them, 6-8, I've lost count. Yeah no Costcos near me. The wood shelves cost me like 100 or so per 8x4 or so when I made em.
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Aug 26, 2021 23:37
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tater_salad posted:Yeah no Costcos near me. The wood shelves cost me like 100 or so per 8x4 or so when I made em. I’m interested to see the number of Costco’s built in the next 3-5 years. Their books have to be looking fantastic since COVID started.
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Aug 27, 2021 00:16
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Thanks for the input all. Motronic posted:Depends on where you live, the exact soil type, what kind of perimeter or other drains you have, your landscaping/slope to house, how well your gutters discharge from the house......... I’m in the Boston area, the city’s map says “Urban Land, Wet Substratum” for soil type, the slope to house is flat, all gutters drain at least 6 feet from the foundation, we haven’t moved in yet so I haven’t seen them in action. I’m not sure about perimeter drains, something to look into. Once we’re in and have some rain I’ll have a better idea of what the baseline is. Nitrousoxide posted:Some stuff you can do for cheap is: Thanks. tater_salad posted:#1 is huge. You can build some Nice quality 8' 2x4 & OSB shelves somewhat easily for somewhere around $120 I overbuilt mine they can probably hold several adults.. I don’t think I have the skill set to handle this yet… I’m moving from an apartment with minimal tools and experience. StormDrain posted:And for about 170 you can get a big heavy duty shelving unit from Costco, and for $80 a smaller one that is a better cost per square footage of shelf. It's not as nice, but you can put them together quickly and adjust as needed. I have a lot of them, 6-8, I've lost count. Are the cheaper units sturdy? I saw them last time I was at Costco, and was planning on picking a few up.
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Aug 27, 2021 00:41
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I mean as a homeowner youre going to need the tools at some point. You can do it with a drill and circular saw.but yeah I'd unsure the Costco ones are generally recommend by goon from what I've sse
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Aug 27, 2021 00:53
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EPICAC posted:
Absolutely. They are better made than the equivalent from Home Depot or Lowes too, I have one of those racks as well. The vertical posts are double wall material. The shelves are coated with plastic and that seems to help with longevity. And the shelf supports are shorter overall but have a good sturdy shape that means you can fit taller stuff under them., All of them at this type do a thing I don't like that the intersection in the top and bottom sections is built using shelf supports to tie them together. But the Costco ones come with plastic inserts to align them that are captive. Here's a side by side.  Nothing wrong with building your own, just the cost of lumber lately makes that less appealing and it's more time consuming. I think a lumber one is also nice for having a longer shelf. I nearly sprung for the bigger Costco ones that are like mini pallet racks but the cost per shelf SF was too high... And I still nearly got one but the package was too heavy to buy alone, I think it was 180lbs. StormDrain fucked around with this message at 00:59 on Aug 27, 2021 |
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Aug 27, 2021 00:55
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Motronic posted:They are very much not, unless you're looking at builder grade stuff. Yeah, none of those were really huge concerns for us. I know that not all lights are created equal, especially LEDs, but the primary concerns for us were 1) make light, 2) dimmable, 3) approximately the right temperature. We might look in to that stuff more in the future, since our bonus room could really use some more lighting, but we just wanted to get lights in to the porch here. If we hate them, we can swap them out for something different later on, but really we just needed lights on the porch. I am slightly concerned about how far down we can dim them, especially now that they're bigger, but worst case we still have the ceiling fan light to fall back on if these end up being too bright.
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Aug 27, 2021 00:58
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DaveSauce posted:Yeah, none of those were really huge concerns for us. I know that not all lights are created equal, especially LEDs, but the primary concerns for us were 1) make light, 2) dimmable, 3) approximately the right temperature. We might look in to that stuff more in the future, since our bonus room could really use some more lighting, but we just wanted to get lights in to the porch here. If we hate them, we can swap them out for something different later on, but really we just needed lights on the porch. Yeah, I get it , just saying general for the thread that these are not all created equal. I went through all kinds of things to find and get the right lighting for my most recent reno project as detailed here: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3967128&pagenumber=1#post514581581
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Aug 27, 2021 01:52
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Suggestions for a long telescoping ladder? We don't have the storage space for a full-sized one but have 3 floors of gutters we need to take care of.
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Aug 28, 2021 00:17
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cut out new ones and replaced all of the fence post topper pieces all around the perimeter; the existing ones were all pretty rotted out. next up is replacing four posts in the back along with some rotted support beams and then I can re-stain everything. Home ownership is fun! devmd01 fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Aug 28, 2021 |
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Aug 28, 2021 00:33
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There's no secret ladder that does large heights - the more joins on it (be it hinges or extensions), the less stable it is (due to flex). I do like my extending + collapsible ladder, but it only does like 18ft at max extension and like 6ft in a frame mode (a very useful feature). Edit: there is probably one out there, but it'll be worth its weight in gold most likely.
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Aug 28, 2021 00:36
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I'm looking at getting a Little Giant multi-purpose ladder for getting on top of my one story house. They had a 26 footer I saw too.
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Aug 28, 2021 00:43
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Blinkz0rz posted:Suggestions for a long telescoping ladder? We don't have the storage space for a full-sized one but have 3 floors of gutters we need to take care of. Sounds like a good job to hire out due to inconvenience / annoyance rather than difficulty, you really want to DIY this? Just wondering if you considered a pro. I am hiring out window cleaning and feel like I'm wasting money, but it'll probably feel good when it's done. I also noticed lots of the window cleaning guys do gutters.
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Aug 28, 2021 00:47
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papa horny michael posted:I'm looking at getting a Little Giant multi-purpose ladder for getting on top of my one story house. They had a 26 footer I saw too. I have the 26', because we have a 2 story on a slope. It's heavy as gently caress, usually use my fiberglass 8' for most tasks in and around the garage, which is where I mostly need a ladder. But I wouldn't want to not have the little giant. It gets used a few times a year at least. Just make sure you get one that's size appropriate for your house. If you don't need 26', don't get it. edit: if you're ever going to do electrical stuff, get a fiberglass. Wood would work I guess, but you need a non-conductive ladder for electrical work.
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Aug 28, 2021 01:29
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Two story house here. 6' fiberglass for around the house, I think the little giant is a 16'? It's fine, useful, heavy though. I sprung for the model with adjustable feet for the unlevel terrain, which is fantastic. I've never been on the top roof, just the lower one. I'm sure leaves don't get that high. Probably pretty clogged. No regrets on the little giant ladder, but I'll be augmenting it with a 22' aluminum ladder someday.
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Aug 28, 2021 01:39
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I have a 6' fiberglass ladder for most stuff around the house and a 16' fiberglass extension for the other stuff like getting on the roof etc. I'm not going to lie, anything over 16' and I might be hiring it out. $200 to have my 30' high gutters cleaned out is a lot better deal than falling and rendering myself unable to work ever again.
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Aug 28, 2021 03:02
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I picked up a 20 foot extension ladder on advice from Dads. 16 wouldn't be big enough to get onto my porch roof, and even if it was, the 16 footers I could get only had a 225 pound capacity, leaving only 25 pounds for stuff. I went with the 20 foot 300 pound ladder. As I told my father in law as we were at Menards buying it, I never want to buy another extension ladder in my life, so that's why I went with the fiberglass. Also father in law helped me relight my unfinished basement, went from a couple of bright CFLs (don't know exactly how many lumens) to 5 fixtures with over 16000 lumens (the fifth fixture we just reused one of the old CFLs. Color temperature is a disaster (3 different types of light sources) but it's an unfinished basement so I don't really care.
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Aug 28, 2021 04:12
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Got a quote for a new concrete patio and driveway. Cost is $11-14/sq ft depending on finish, and that's in a addition to the cost of removing the existing asphalt driveway. I think he's correctly assuming that he won't be able to reuse any sub base and will have to do some significant grading. Sound reasonable? I'm working on getting some more quotes.
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Aug 28, 2021 12:01
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I'm trying out gutter guards that I bought from costco, to minimize the time I'm up on the roof. So far it works pretty well it's the aluminum type with small holes so leaves and needles don't go in. I'll have to see how it handles the winter when ice/snow builds up on it.
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Aug 28, 2021 23:46
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Living with large mature trees is a blessing and a curse. In related news I sliced the poo poo out of my thumb installing the second cheapest gutter guards from home depot. Would have bought the Costco ones but I only needed 8 feet.
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Aug 29, 2021 19:57
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Blinkz0rz posted:Suggestions for a long telescoping ladder? We don't have the storage space for a full-sized one but have 3 floors of gutters we need to take care of. Echoing that the upper level gutters are probably more effort than they're worth to clean, but for my two cents I'm a fan of my 18' reach Gorilla ladder. Was like $170 at Home Depot on sale and I think it's super sturdy, even with a hinge in it.
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Aug 29, 2021 20:03
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I'm about to turn 37 years old and I just completed the purchase of my first house! I'm excited to be a future participant in this thread. 1937 farm house with updated interior, structurally solid (knocks on wood), chickens, bees, a nice vegetable garden, a couple dying cypress trees that need to go. Plumbing seems good, the electrical is a mess. Previously upgraded 200 amp service but existing knob and tube in the basement. Lots of DIY-looking shenanigans in the attic and detached garage. Many two prong outlets and questionable grounding on the three prong-ers. We budgeted for a complete re-wire, getting the ball rolling on that is near the top of the priority list. We had our first misadventure trying to activate cable/internet this morning. I was super organized and pre-arranged for Xfinity start service at the new house on move in day. Their system said our new house was already wired up and I could activate without needing a tech. Tried, no connection. Tech is available to come the next morning. Takes a look at it, we have cables for both Wave and Xfinity, PO used Wave apparently. He hooks his sensor thingy up to th Xfinity cable and the signal(?) is terrible. Starts walking out the wire and apparently it had been damaged at some point previously where it crosses the road and whoever fixed it used an old wire or the wrong kind or something, didn't really catch the full explanation. Need to schedule a bucket truck to come out tomorrow to string a new cable over the road, then a tech can follow them and re-wire it to the house. I'm very appreciative the tech didn't just hook me up to the lovely wire and call it a day. Also glad it wasn't me who was the idiot not knowing how to turn on my modem or something.
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Aug 29, 2021 20:10
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spf3million posted:I'm about to turn 37 years old and I just completed the purchase of my first house! I'm excited to be a future participant in this thread. Couple years older but in the same boat--my offer was accepted yesterday and I'm now in escrow. Waking up at 1am overwhelmed with worry and doubt and unable to get back to sleep until 5am is a normal part of the process.... right??
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Aug 29, 2021 20:36
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gp2k posted:Waking up at 1am overwhelmed with worry and doubt and unable to get back to sleep until 5am is a normal part of the process.... right?? Yeah, we closed earlier this month, and I had many night like this.
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Aug 29, 2021 20:42
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gp2k posted:Waking up at 1am overwhelmed with worry and doubt and unable to get back to sleep until 5am is a normal part of the process.... right??
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Aug 29, 2021 21:11
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spf3million posted:gently caress-off bright street light pouring in through my open curtain-less bedroom window. Do you live in a crime noir novel? Good luck on your purchase!
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Aug 29, 2021 22:51
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EPICAC posted:Yeah, we closed earlier this month, and I had many night like this. Good luck on your purchase! I hope you like it.
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Aug 29, 2021 22:52
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gp2k posted:Couple years older but in the same boat--my offer was accepted yesterday and I'm now in escrow. I'm so excited to leave this HOA and these neighbors behind. Appraisers have been backed up in this area and holding up closings, so that's where all my worry focus is 
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Aug 29, 2021 23:57
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Wiggy Marie posted:I'm so excited to leave this HOA and these neighbors behind. Appraisers have been backed up in this area and holding up closings, so that's where all my worry focus is Praying you are soon free of HOA fees...
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Aug 30, 2021 03:32
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