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MJP posted:6" deep. Yeah, that's fine to pump out then. And yeah, you're gonna want to get the moisture out as quickly as possible. I don't know about running your central air fan all the time - depending on your house and setup that might just spread the humidity through the rest of your house.
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Sep 2, 2021 18:41
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State Farm is offering this thing for free and I'm curious if anyone has any experience with them? I'm really not sure how something plugged into a single outlet can monitor the whole house.
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Sep 2, 2021 18:56
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Tremors posted:State Farm is offering this thing for free and I'm curious if anyone has any experience with them? I'm really not sure how something plugged into a single outlet can monitor the whole house. Their website does the incredibly annoying thing where the 'how XYZ works' section doesn't actually say how XYZ works. It just blabs marketing speak on and on without any useful info. It looks like some relatively simple gizmo that monitors line voltage and differences in the current / magnetism that could indicate arcing elsewhere in the home. I didn't realize arcing or overcurrent on one circuit could be visible in any way to another circuit, but perhaps that is what this company's algorithms are banking on. State Farm is also doing a lot of business with this company as an investor. https://www.tingfire.com/how-ting-works/
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Sep 2, 2021 19:04
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therobit posted:So would you recommend that for a residential property that gets used for a weekend once or twice a month? We have had… an interesting time with a septic system at the old family farm. How big is your tank? In that use case it may be better just to plug the outlet and pump the tank frequently. That's not a use case that really works for septic. spf3million posted:That's really interesting. I work at a place with an industrial waste water plant and we always use glycerin to keep the bugs alive when there is a big reduction in chemical/biological oxygen demand (C/BOD). Probably a matter of scale choosing between dog food and huge totes of glycerin. Absolutely a matter of scale, the dog food approach works with really small systems - think 7.5m3/day processing rate. Motronic posted:Now that you mention it, I have seen that in some of the newest boxes, but a lot of the stock around my area is not that. I'd have to stick my head in there again but I'm pretty sure even the one at my current house isn't new/nice enough to have that. Yeah, I was pleased when looking at the drawings for the tank in mine and found that it was included, and it was installed in 2011. Of course mine is a raised bed, so I've got a 3rd chamber with a pump for added fun. Ones that just overflow from first to the second chamber are still out there for sure. TrueChaos fucked around with this message at 20:55 on Sep 2, 2021 |
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Sep 2, 2021 20:06
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Started to get quotes for some yard work, curious what everyone would feel about these. Project is converting a roughly 350 sqft area from two parking spots into a yard. Involves tearing out brick pavers, removing whatever underneath (probably gravel), removing several inches of dirt, then bringing in several inches of fresh dirt, then sod. First quote was from a very young guy for $1k, but I don't get a sense that he knows what he's doing. Second quote is from a larger, experienced company and should be between $5-$6k. They see the job as six days and the cost is basically entirely labor.
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Sep 2, 2021 20:21
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You got about $2k in new materials and disposal costs, not including labor.
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Sep 2, 2021 20:31
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Man, stay safe Philly goons. I'm wondering what happened to our old house. We lived in an area that was historically prone to houses having "issues" with extremely heavy rain storms. Essentially, our entire neighborhood was over a creek that ran underground, which made the water table super high. Everyone in the neighborhood had sump pumps that would go off fairly regularly, and several people that lived further/lower down the street had basements flood in the past. I bet the new owners loving hate everything, including us. 
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Sep 2, 2021 20:45
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Tremors posted:State Farm is offering this thing for free and I'm curious if anyone has any experience with them? I'm really not sure how something plugged into a single outlet can monitor the whole house. It's probably like the water leak detector thing (only good for leak detection where they are set up), and it's only good for detecting issues on the circuit it's on (and you'd need one for every circuit).
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Sep 2, 2021 20:57
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e: Whoops, wrong thread
FCKGW fucked around with this message at 02:18 on Sep 3, 2021 |
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Sep 3, 2021 01:59
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Tremors posted:State Farm is offering this thing for free and I'm curious if anyone has any experience with them? I'm really not sure how something plugged into a single outlet can monitor the whole house. I signed up for it with SF, and 'installed' it a few days ago. I'm dubious it's that useful, but I'll check it out for free. In theory, it's somewhat legit. It's not that much different from what CAFCIs do, and basically a cloud-data-sending oscilloscope between Leg A or B and neutral. The fact that it only sits on one leg and doesn't grab current makes me think it's kinda suspect, but obviously doing more would require a panel install, and kill the marketability of the product. If nothing else, it's useful to see how low power dips during storm-related brownouts. I'm not worried about my house electrical, because I've personally inspected everything not behind drywall, added subpanels, and rewired any circuits I thought needed it. If you're concerned about your electrical system, do consider that you're inviting you insurance company to review the data it collects.
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Sep 3, 2021 02:04
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FISHMANPET posted:I believe this is what's being refered to by pump: https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-...cB&gclsrc=aw.ds Holy poo poo what is this wizardry? Could have used this for a couple of times we used our shop vac for water removal. Going on my shopping list. Northern NJ reporting in here, we had a ton of rain, probably over a foot of standing water in my back yard at one point. A couple hours into the storm the french drain / pump kicked in and worked steady throughout the night / day. I also have another pump in the middle-ish of the basement in the utility room that only gets connected and hose out the window when poo poo gets bad. It got bad. Had some back pressure and the fittings weren't right so I did not trust it to run unattended. I would up having to kick in on manually and hold the hose every 10 minutes. Who needs sleep? We did get some seepage in one corner of the house, what seems like up from the floor. Like the french drain couldn't handle the volume or the water from the back of the house wasn't making the turn as it came down that side before it sweeps it down to the sump pit? Once things calm down in a month or so I'll have the company come back in and take a look. Had to pull out some molding and kickplates on our cabinets and mop and towel dry it as it seemed up and get the fans and dehumidifiers going. Hitting the end of the day here and feeling safe enough to sleep though the night. Stay safe goons!
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Sep 3, 2021 03:27
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SouthEast Philly Burbs here, considering myself very lucky that the power stayed on all night and my sump has pretty much been running non-stop since. I did have a water-powered sump installed as an emergency backup a few years back, but thankfully it did not have to kick in. I did get some seepage through the cinderblocks in my basement, but nothing a few towels couldn't handle. On the plus side the roofing fixes I had done after last month's storms seemed to have worked, no water coming through the upstairs HVAC vents, and no signs of any new waterspots on the ceiling. I have to cross over the Delaware to get into Jersey tomorrow, hoping the local roads aren't totally flooded by tomorrow afternoon.
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Sep 3, 2021 03:42
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I'm pretty sure there's a cosmic conspiracy where things in your home break right before holiday weekends. . The upstairs sinks that my HVAC units drain into are clogged. It's both of them so I know the clog is in the vertical drain pipe that they share. Of course this happens after noon before a long weekend. On the positive side of things I get to buy a new tool. Going to run and grab the Ryobi drain auger, I figure for 70 bucks its worth a shot. I took about 300 pictures and 40 minutes of video when I built the house, so I know where every pipe is and where it goes, so I figure 25 feet is enough. I can always open the inside cleanouts if I can get it clear from the top. Being a homeowner is fun.
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Sep 3, 2021 18:30
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I once made an impromptu pump out of a shop vac, soda can and duct tape. Why? It was all we had, we were in BFE california and there was 1/2" of standing water in my wife's grandmas house. Instructions: -Arrange shop vac so the hose sucks from the deepest water spossible, but the basket/receptical is outside. -Cut a flapper valve out of the coke cane by making a straight piece of aluminum to be covered completely (with room to spare) by the next steps hole pattern -Drill 5 1/4" holes in a square hole pattern with one hole at the center. -Apply duct tape (or screw it in if you have screws) such that the aluminum can acts as a flapper valve. -If possible, use a timer to turn the shop vac off after 5 minutes of sucking for 20 minutes to allow the water to flow toward the deepest part -If possible, turn on as many fans as possible + the A/C. How it works: The weight of the water will cause the flapper valve to leak. Once the water is insufficient to cause a leak, the valve will seal. Outcome: This made it so only a few foot patch under the flooded tile had standing water under it. Drywall was BAD but not completely destroyed. They had BAD water infiltration of their lowest floor (house on a hill) and this got by in a pinch to minimize water damage. Lesson learned: gently caress the bay area, CA. This house, that probably still has this problem, is currently valued at $1.2M. It is >45 minutes from SV and 2 hrs from SF. CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 19:11 on Sep 3, 2021 |
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Sep 3, 2021 19:04
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I'm going to war with the spiders in my outbuilding this weekend as I clean it out and go around caulking/sealing everything as part of the long-term project to turn it into a workshop. Last time I mowed the lawn there were several hand-sized spiders that went skittering away into the corners/ceiling when I went into the building to get the riding mower out and pulled the curtains that were over the windows over so I had more light to see by while inside. Safe to say those curtains are going straight into the trash can or fire pit this weekend. Thanks Previous Owners for hanging an ambush liner for the spiders to hide in.
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Sep 3, 2021 19:06
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I've always had good luck with Ortho home defense for spiders and basically any other bugs and it usually seems to last a few months. It might take a few doses going from nothing but spray two coats of a wide barrier path and when they all die, go in and seal everything up.
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Sep 3, 2021 20:49
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I never really understand what the point is of trying to even bother clearing out spiders (so long as they aren't black widows or recluse's or something). That poo poo's free pest control and whatever they're eating I'd hate much more.
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Sep 3, 2021 21:15
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I do not enjoy walking into cobwebs face first or watching spiders scurry across the walls/ceilings of my bedroom. I do not want any of their food crawling around my house either. If they get in the house, they will die. Stay outside, and they can live.
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Sep 3, 2021 21:23
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spiders don't stay around unless they are finding things to eat.
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Sep 3, 2021 21:29
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Yup, I have a few spiders living in my sump pit. No idea what they are eating but they are welcome to stay.
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Sep 4, 2021 00:13
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biracial bear for uncut posted:I'm going to war with the spiders in my outbuilding this weekend as I clean it out and go around caulking/sealing everything as part of the long-term project to turn it into a workshop. What state do you live in, are you in the south? We have a good number of spiders here in the Midwest but I've only seen 1 or 2 hand sized spiders in my life so far.
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Sep 4, 2021 00:18
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Inner Light posted:What state do you live in, are you in the south? We have a good number of spiders here in the Midwest but I've only seen 1 or 2 hand sized spiders in my life so far. Georgia, yeah. I'm sure they're mostly harmless (some species of Wolf spiders I think) but if they don't keep running away as I clean things out/etc. then we have a problem. I'll keep the Ortho handy if I come up on a "nope, gently caress that, spraying first, then cleaning it out tomorrow" situation.
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Sep 4, 2021 00:32
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tomapot posted:Northern NJ reporting in here Hi5 goon garden state buddy, Union representing. We had way way more water than I thought could ever accumulate, especially since not much of my area is low-lying. Millburn looks like Mad Max by ritzy suburban standards. Our final situation was a true 6" of water in the deepest part of the basement. I had a contest between our plumber and a guy from the neighborhood Facebook group as to who would get the $ to pump it out. Neighborhood guy won, plus he and his wife vacuumed it out. Then the flood came back the next day!!! In the course of the last 12 hours: -I got heartattacked when I saw that the flood had returned -Found a Home Depot not too far off that said they had "limited stock" of the Ridgid shopvac pump (two guesses as to whether they did or didn't) -I couldn't start my car (a 2018, what the gently caress) even though we had no flooding in the driveway at all -My wife slipped down the basement stairs (bruises and aches, but oof) -I rode a 110cc scooter down a fairly major highway to get to a Home Depot with submersible pumps (speed governed to 50mph on a 55 road, yay) -Wiped out pretty badly on said scooter when pulling into a strip mall to update directions thanks to hurricane runoff in the curb -Hot water heater looked like it was out BUT WE AT LEAST FOUGHT THE FLOOD BACK (finish the fight amirite halo 3) There's a sump cut into the floor (or I think it's a sump?). I got the pump into it, brought down the garden hose, and it did its job. I sucked out the majority with a shopvac and we are somewhat close to 90% of the basement being dry and accessible in normal shoes. Small swaths of basement floor paint got sucked up in the vac war. I've IDed two, maybe three points of leak ingress. Patching cement hasn't done much but it at least highlighted where they are. The sheer amount of injuries, aches, and stress entailed in this recovery so far have helped hurl any other personal problems and peccadillos into perspective. Homeowner's claim adjuster is assigned. I fully expect to get denied but I'm gonna make them work to shut me down. Goons, CLEAN OUT YOUR BASEMENTS WHILE THEY ARE DRY. Thank me later. We could have gotten off a lot worse. I'll take a badly scraped knee from scooter wipeout, muscle aches, and hopefully not too many thousands of dollars to clear this.
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Sep 4, 2021 01:39
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Holy hell, all of you all in the path of that storm have been through some poo poo. I'm just about 75% of the way unpacked from our move last weekend. Xfinity is supposedly showing up tomorrow morning for what will be their fourth scheduled appointment, hopefully they'll actually show up. I installed a new kitchen sink faucet, the same model that we purchased for our landlord to install in our rental 4 years ago. And I bought my first grill today. 
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Sep 4, 2021 05:45
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I bought some fiskars loppers yesterday. I always knew what they were as a tool but didn't know the name. It's shocking how sharp they are but gently caress if they're not incredibly useful. My pole trimmer has a great one on it but not convenient unless the branch is 6'+ away. They've really helped for breaking down the brush/branches from the corkscrew willow I had taken down earlier this week. Tomorrow I'll get the saw out and break down the larger logs. I probably won't be chopping wood anytime soon (thanks lumbar disc) but at least the logs will be smaller and the brush less of a pile. I did reach the point in my transition to becoming an old man where we got a noticeable amount of rain and I ran outside to happily witness my gutter guards working. I also just had a birthday and I received nothing but home Depot gift cards. Guessing the AARP card will be showing up any day now.
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Sep 4, 2021 06:08
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Verman posted:I did reach the point in my transition to becoming an old man where we got a noticeable amount of rain and I ran outside to happily witness my gutter guards working. I also just had a birthday and I received nothing but home Depot gift cards. Guessing the AARP card will be showing up any day now. Welcome to the club, my dude. We've got Advil and an unhealthy affectation for wood working tools we don't know anything about; come on in.
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Sep 4, 2021 15:20
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I found my stud finder that I bought years ago when we lived in an apartment with drywall. Being in a house with thick lath and plaster for nearly 7 years it's been useless. But when I found it, I immediately had to run upstairs and show my wife how to test a stud finder.
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Sep 4, 2021 15:55
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FISHMANPET posted:I immediately had to run upstairs and show my wife how to test a stud finder. Yeah, just point it in my general direction ayyyyy Okay so if my washer starts and drains, and the tub starts to move but never actually spins or agitates, and the warranty doesn't cover labor at this point, should I even bother having a repair person take a look? We bought it in 2017, and we all know appliances suck these days. Feels like I shouldn't even bother. Attempting to reset the motor fault code doesn't help.
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Sep 4, 2021 15:58
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How does steam cleaning your carpets work Ever since I was a kid, seems like major super markets had DIY steam cleaners for rent. Is this a valid option. Either this is a valid business model or an elaborate decades long scam We mostly have "hardwood" floors but all the bedrooms have carpet and there's some coffee stains in the nursery, and pretty sure the cat peed in the walk in closet, and the previous owner didn't get the carpets cleaned before selling 2 years ago, only "professionally vacuumed" I can't imagine steam cleaning the carpets more often than annually, and we don't have space to store something like that
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Sep 4, 2021 21:00
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Hadlock posted:How does steam cleaning your carpets work Not exactly this, but I’ve used something similar to this https://www.bissell.com/little-green-pet-pro-portable-carpet-cleaner-2891.html And the results were way better than I expected (and way grosser).
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Sep 4, 2021 21:07
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Hadlock posted:How does steam cleaning your carpets work Idk about steam but in the supermarkets here I usually see the Rug Doctor I think, a big rear end carpet cleaner. Sprays water (hot?) on the carpet, agitates and sucks it back up. Always looks super nasty in the collection tank. Works well. Generally not worth owning but worth renting when needed. A little spot cleaner like the prior post is fantastic for spills or pet stains or whatever. Don't steam clean wood floors. That came from my trusted flooring installer. It's injecting your wood with moisture and that's bad, it can warp. Just mop them with a moist, not dripping wet, mop. I really like to hit them with a vacuum cleaner, with the right attachment so there's no beater on it, to pick up dirt from any cracks or crevices.
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Sep 4, 2021 21:14
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StormDrain posted:Idk about steam but in the supermarkets here I usually see the Rug Doctor I think, a big rear end carpet cleaner. Sprays water (hot?) on the carpet, agitates and sucks it back up. Always looks super nasty in the collection tank. Works well. Generally not worth owning but worth renting when needed. A little spot cleaner like the prior post is fantastic for spills or pet stains or whatever. Can confirm that Rug Doctor will pull some loving poo poo out of your carpets, holy cow. I make a point of renting one every time I switch rentals because it goes a long way towards making the place look nice enough to hopefully get your deposit back, and the rental is cheap.
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Sep 4, 2021 21:24
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Yeah rug doctor is probably what I'm thinking of, ok wasn't sure about it, never seen it used or heard from anyone whose used one Yeah we have enough problems with cat splashing water out of the bowl ruining our builder grade "hardwood" floors, I can only imagine what injecting hot detergent water into what's basically compressed sawdust with a thin veneer on top would do. Probably turn it into soup
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Sep 4, 2021 22:24
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Hadlock posted:Yeah rug doctor is probably what I'm thinking of, ok wasn't sure about it, never seen it used or heard from anyone whose used one Can confirm, I've used the the grocery store rental rug doctors on many a rental apartment. They work pretty well. Make sure you buy the right supplies for them. It's not like a pro steam cleaning where the equipment is in the back of a van and the drag a long hose into your house, but it's a whole lot cheaper and does a pretty good job.
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Sep 4, 2021 22:38
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If you have a Lowe's near you they rent out the Bissel commercial units which I've been told work much better than the Rug Doctors, mainly due to the rotating brush head on the Bissel vs. vibrating brush on the Rug Doctor Vacuum wars did a test with both https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mR4q_HOPP6s
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Sep 4, 2021 23:46
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Mildly sad that I've entered the stage of my life where youtube channels like "Vacuum Wars" have brand recognition with me now Thanks Sounds like I'm renting a bissell thingy next weekend Hadlock fucked around with this message at 00:37 on Sep 5, 2021 |
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Sep 5, 2021 00:34
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Hadlock posted:Mildly sad that I've entered the stage of my life where youtube channels like "Vacuum Wars" have brand recognition with me now Wow. Beaten. I read that post and thought the very same thing. Also my wife loves using the loppers. She asked if we could name it Cindi Lopper. Whatever has her out here with me clearing brush. I'll buy a whole suite of punny yard tools if it means extra hands. Only bad part is she's now talking about landscaping plans for the whole yard, thankfully it's small but we've got interior stuff in the house to worry about first, then exterior paint, fence etc. Landscaping anything more than just maintenance is very low on the totem pole.
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Sep 5, 2021 00:58
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I used the Stanley Steamer van on all my carpets before I moved in. They drained into my workshop sink and the smell was enough for me to gag. Seems like a good idea. Verman posted:Also my wife loves using the loppers. She asked if we could name it Cindi Lopper. Whatever has her out here with me clearing brush. I'll buy a whole suite of punny yard tools if it means extra hands. Hell yeah my loppers are named Cyndi as well.
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Sep 5, 2021 03:18
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Hed posted:Hell yeah my loppers are named Cyndi as well. I've got an appliance dolly named Salvador, does that count?
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Sep 5, 2021 13:08
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My robot vacuum is named Dusty 
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Sep 5, 2021 14:13
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