|
Towel warmer question! I've been eyeing this one, it is a freestanding plug-in one rather than hardwired and wall mounted. Could be worthwhile or not worth the half measure of a freestanding unit? https://www.amazon.com/Zadro-Luxury-Bucket-Style-Settings-Bathroom/dp/B07V9K611L
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2021 17:03
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 14:26 |
|
|
If I were to get a plug in one it would be the same design as the wall mounted ones so I can put my towels up to dry as well.
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2021 17:16
|
|
|
redreader posted:We've got a dry-rear end house in Denver with a basement, ground and 2nd floor. We have furnace/ac/blower in basement that goes to ground floor too, and also a furnace/ac/blower in the attic for the 2nd floor. I got an hvac guy over yesterday to install a humidifier in the basement. When he started work he brought out a hand humidity meter and it showed 20something %. I think it was 25% or so. He installed the humidifier and said that the furnace blower will blow the humid air all over the basement and ground floor levels, and that since we had our upper story stuff in the attic he couldn't put one in there (another hvac person said the same thing) but that we could expect to get up to 45% or so, and to use portable ones upstairs and also run the blower all the time upstairs to spread the air everywhere, so we're doing that. We have a big portable unit in our bedroom upstairs running 24/7, and since yesterday afternoon the downstairs humidifier has been running non-stop with the blower running non-stop too. Hey I’m late on this but 50% is quite high for winter. Dial it back ahead of any cold snaps. Dial it back if you see any condensation on your windows. Do you know if it’s evaporative or steam?
|
|
#
?
Nov 21, 2021 17:26
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:No vaporizer, we just stripped our suits and gloves and tossed them in the dumpster, they actually did a nice job - beyond that we just kept our respirators on 100% of the time we were inside and took bigass showers when we got home so I think our sinuses are fine. Literally everything except the stuff we found in the sealed tubs was thrown into a dumpster, and we aren't even done with cleaning out all the poo poo yet. We don't even know how they were getting in but we're definitely going to put out some of those cage traps for a few days to see if any of them show up. I suspect most of them are gone at this point since the cat food dried up in August when the lady died. Now it's a matter of figuring out where the holes are that they got in originally. I suspect the dryer/washer vent is chewed through or something. 20 inch box fan + thickest HEPA filter you can get would not be a bad idea to run while you're inside.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 03:32
|
|
|
Day 2 of cleaning the cat piss/rat poo poo house is complete. We got the remaining items out of the house and did a ton of vacuuming so that when we pull the carpet up we're not just kneeling in rat feces constantly. We will be needing a second dumpster to haul it all away, I was a fool to think we might be able to get it all inside of one. We wore all-new gear again today, including the hazmat suits and gloves. I used my old rat-poo poo covered shoes from yesterday. The house smells noticeably better inside now that a large amount of the rat and mouse turds have been vacuumed up and all of the porous poo poo that would capture smells like clothes and other clutter is out. We left the back windows open all night last night and we're running fans inside the house to keep the pestilent air moving around. I have to wonder, it's not "how could someone live like this", but rather "how could someone live in that house and *not* die?" Going through all of her old possessions, it seems like she had distinct phases. The bass guitar and "rocker crimson perfume" was probably when she met some rock and roll-loving guy and thought "maybe if I learn this instrument and dress in leather, he'll love me?". And then there was the cycling phase - a newish bike that probably only got a few rides, helmets and bike gear stashed in the back of a closet, now chewed up and covered in rat turds. Probably that was another "man X loves to bike, I will join him and make him love me" move. It seems that she stuck with some kind of samba dancing classes for the longest. The bottom of my feet are so, so smashed and tired. I will be back there on Friday to load up the second dumpster and to start slicing up the carpet. If you ever embark on an endeavor like this, I recommend waiting a day between action, because your body gets hosed up from doing all this moving and carrying really heavy poo poo. I lift weights 3x a week and this is draining as hell for me. To summarize - and I swear to god this is not set up - this was just serendipity as to how the mouse turds fell from the top of the bedroom closet. It was so perfect, we had to take a photo:  Stay tuned for next time when we rip up the carpet and see the stain nightmare we are about to contend with. Thank you for reading my turd blog, and may god bless your mess.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 04:32
|
|
|
Are you redoing all of the drywall? Are you redoing the baseboards?
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 04:49
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:The bottom of my feet are so, so smashed and tired. I will be back there on Friday to load up the second dumpster and to start slicing up the carpet. If you ever embark on an endeavor like this, I recommend waiting a day between action, because your body gets hosed up from doing all this moving and carrying really heavy poo poo. I lift weights 3x a week and this is draining as hell for me. Yeah, I did a ton of work on the house I lived in for 12 years in order to sell it. Thankfully nothing as gross as what you're dealing with - just doing a lot of maintenance that got deferred while I was living there, working too much and going back to school - but even just doing that type of work on the weekend, I was surprised how hard it was. As my dad (who was a diesel mechanic) always said: "working for a living sucks". Eventually my body did start getting used to it and I wasn't moving around like a broken old man at the end of the weekend, but it took awhile to work my way up to that point.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 04:58
|
|
|
Zarin posted:Yeah, I did a ton of work on the house I lived in for 12 years in order to sell it. Thankfully nothing as gross as what you're dealing with - just doing a lot of maintenance that got deferred while I was living there, working too much and going back to school - but even just doing that type of work on the weekend, I was surprised how hard it was. As my dad (who was a diesel mechanic) always said: "working for a living sucks". I will never think that people who work moving jobs or house cleaners are schlubs who couldn't hack it ever again. The job is insane and they earn every penny. I'm taking this week off from the gym because I'm that sore and demolished right now. ntan1 posted:Are you redoing all of the drywall? Are you redoing the baseboards? A good amount of the drywall, and all of the baseboards. That part in particular should be a learning experience. My carpenter friend gave me good advice: Start in the closets, that way if you gently caress up because you're inept, it's just in there.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 23:02
|
|
|
You may need more than 2 dumpsters then - what size are your dumpsters? I needed multiple 30cby dumpsters for both construction/demo. I'd also recommend after you clear out everything to fog the entire place down with Nisus DSV using a ULV fogger. Something like this: https://www.amazon.com/AlphaWorks-Disinfectant-IMPROVED-Adjustable-Particle/dp/B0892H34Q9/ But you will need to clear the rodents out first.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 23:28
|
|
|
The dumpster we got is a 20 yard one, and it's getting emptied and brought back again tomorrow. I know for a fact that the remaining stuff going in the dumpster isn't going to fill it more than half way, and the carpet and drywall won't be much more as the house itself isn't huge or anything, maybe around 20ish rolls of carpet. After this dumpster is full, if there's any demo stuff left, we'll just throw it in the back of my brother's truck and haul it to the dump. We're definitely hitting the entire place with Nisus one time once all the carpet is up and the damaged paint and/or drywall has been cut out. Still surprised we only found one dead rodent (so far). I just got back from the place and set up a couple of rodent cage traps armed with peanut butter inside and outside the house. Something I'm really not looking forward to is doing the vinyl planks in the bathroom around the toilet. Aside from the pain of just scrubbing the whole house down, it's going to be a hell of a ride popping the toilet off and seeing what the drain looks and smells like. Any tips on how to make that less disgusting? Is there any kind of "flush" I can do to clear the pipes out so that I'm not contenting with human feces to install my planks? I know how to cut them and get them to fit around the flange but I just don't want to experience a smell or liquid nightmare once we get the toilet off the floor.
|
|
#
?
Nov 22, 2021 23:50
|
|
|
AHH F/UGH posted:Something I'm really not looking forward to is doing the vinyl planks in the bathroom around the toilet. Aside from the pain of just scrubbing the whole house down, it's going to be a hell of a ride popping the toilet off and seeing what the drain looks and smells like. Any tips on how to make that less disgusting? Is there any kind of "flush" I can do to clear the pipes out so that I'm not contenting with human feces to install my planks? I know how to cut them and get them to fit around the flange but I just don't want to experience a smell or liquid nightmare once we get the toilet off the floor. There's not much you can do there. Also, the toilet itself is the trap, so sewer gas will be coming up when it's open. So even if the pipe is clean it will smell like poo poo. You need to cap or plug it. For a temporary measure I've always found some balled up plastic bags in the pipe (DON"T LOSE THEM DOWN THERE) with some painters tape over the top will do the job. But you should be able to find a legit cap at a big box store if you're worried about breaking/shoving things down there while you're doing the flooring.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2021 00:00
|
|
|
A throwaway rag + tape is the right way to do it, but honestly the toilet part is not *that* bad. You mentioned vinyl - is there any asbestos in the house? The two usual indicators are 9x9 square 70's vinyl and chunks around any HVAC piping.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2021 02:00
|
|
|
None that I'm aware of, the vinyl in this house is that crappy peel & stick kind from the 90s and is from a single giant sheet and not those old 9x9 or 12x12 squares.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2021 02:51
|
|
|
For the smell just get some organic vapor cartridges for your respirator and you won't smell a thing.
|
|
#
?
Nov 23, 2021 14:59
|
|
|
A lot of people living in rotten conditions are failing physically, my 84 year old dad will sometimes smell bad and I have to tell him about it. He can't smell the bad smells until they're REALLY BAD and he can't see the dust bunnies accumulating or feel the dirt and sticky spots on the floor. Which is partly why I moved in with him, with each visit I'd be more and more concerned about his living conditions. His place (now my place) is dramatically cleaner and in better repair than it has been for a couple of decades.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 20:45
|
|
|
Stupid loving fridge is leaking, reservoir for the water dispenser is cracked. I love home ownership. Also any recs for a electric leaf blower? Would like to spend $200ish or less. Do not have a battery system currently so would need to buy a battery. Planning on grabbing something on Black Friday.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 21:31
|
|
|
Also - and this is not a project anytime this year, or next year, but maybe in the next 5 years - what's a rough estimate to sand and refinish 1500 sqft of wood floor? Its 110 year old heart of pine. $15, $20k? (becuase I'm a monster I would tear this out and replace it with modern wood floors in a heartbeat if it wouldn't knock $50k off the value of the home. same with our ugly rear end transome windows with stained glass)
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 21:36
|
|
|
Upgrade posted:Stupid loving fridge is leaking, reservoir for the water dispenser is cracked. I love home ownership. I went all Ego and have no regrets. 530 CFM model, I used it last weekend to blow the leafs, it's convenient enough that I use it every week to blow off the sidewalks, front porch and furniture. Also I charge it from a solar panel on my shed so I'm guilt free, it's not using any more energy than it took to create everything. Is that more or less than gas? Idk, but there's no further emissions.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 22:00
|
|
|
Upgrade posted:Stupid loving fridge is leaking, reservoir for the water dispenser is cracked. I love home ownership. Just to confirm, you want a battery-operated one, rather than an electric one that requires an extension cord and an outlet? Just asking because with a battery option, you're more or less buying into that entire ecosystem (at least, if you want to share batteries around) so you'd probably want to consider what else you might be interested in getting within the next few years that would use the same battery, and look at the products as a package (from the standpoint of is good/is not good, anyway). That being said, if you're going for battery, I'll ask what my dad is using and see how he likes it. (99% sure it's Kobalt, which iirc is the Lowe's house brand, but I'll want to confirm)
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 22:01
|
|
|
Upgrade posted:Also - and this is not a project anytime this year, or next year, but maybe in the next 5 years - what's a rough estimate to sand and refinish 1500 sqft of wood floor? Its 110 year old heart of pine. $15, $20k? I paid $1200 for sanding and refinishing ~500 sq feet, so I would assume for 1500 square feet it would be 3-5k. This is in 2020 Atlanta area dollars, ymmv.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 22:03
|
|
|
^^^ This. I paid $2000 for ~800sf of flooring in 2016 Portland dollars. Even if you double the sf (which shouldn't double the cost), and add in a pandemic upcharge, you're still looking at ~$5k?
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 22:56
|
|
|
Oh that's very nice.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:00
|
|
|
Zarin posted:Just to confirm, you want a battery-operated one, rather than an electric one that requires an extension cord and an outlet? I think people worry about this more than they should. It's advantageous to buy bare tools and cheaper. If you see a tool in another color that's better than the one you have batteries for, there's no reason to suffer with the worse tool to save $20-50. Don't forget who the poor bastard is that has to use the tool.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:10
|
|
|
So cat piss blacklight chat has been illuminating. I've got a cheapo blacklight I bought for $15 5 years ago on Amazon. The listing is removed so I can't even look at the details, but based on the age of it and the price (and the fact that it kind of sucks at finding cat piss) I'm guessing it's a 395 nm light. Last night's game of "find the smell" has made me want to upgrade. Looks like there's only a handful of actual 365 nm models on Amazon, just endless rebrands of the same designs. Anyway not sure if anyone has any specific recommendations, but I was looking at this one (which seems identical to this one but at half the price). They've both got a 5400uW/cm2 brightness rating. There's some cheaper/smaller ones, but they look to be a lot dimmer (found one that says 2000uW/cm2).
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:20
|
|
|
StormDrain posted:I think people worry about this more than they should. It's advantageous to buy bare tools and cheaper. If you see a tool in another color that's better than the one you have batteries for, there's no reason to suffer with the worse tool to save $20-50. Don't forget who the poor bastard is that has to use the tool. That's probably fair. Looking at the houses that people around here can afford, I've probably spent the bulk of my life on the lower end of the disposable income scale, so that kinda stuff probably mattered more to me than it otherwise should have. Also a good point about having to use the thing. I'd just typically see if most of the stuff was "generally good" or if maybe one brand had an awesome offering of one or two tools but the rest were pretty bad. Random thought: depending on climate, a battery-operated leaf blower could always find a home next to the door inside when it's thinking about snowing haha
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:22
|
|
|
My 5 year old Lennox furnace started flinging off codes a few weeks ago. Warranty repairs have brought 3 different parts replaced and still an error going to high stage. Not that it gets very cold where I live but Great timing!
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:27
|
|
|
Zarin posted:That's probably fair. Looking at the houses that people around here can afford, I've probably spent the bulk of my life on the lower end of the disposable income scale, so that kinda stuff probably mattered more to me than it otherwise should have. It's a privileged statement I made for sure. I think any major brand all has good tools and the budget tier are all good enough for the average person anyway. For landscaping I watched a bunch of videos for lawnmowers and they were are pretty close in performance. I like how the Ego folds up, saves a bunch of space in the shed. Ace had a good deal on the Ego mower at the time as well and I did just what you said and got the matching weed Wacker and blower so I could have an extra battery and buy one thing cheaper without any battery. If I find myself needing a chainsaw though and the reviews on the Ego are bad then I'll get something else. Same if someone releases an exclusive feature I must have.
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:41
|
|
|
Upgrade posted:Stupid loving fridge is leaking, reservoir for the water dispenser is cracked. I love home ownership. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Makita-18-Volt-LXT-Lithium-Ion-4-0-Ah-Battery-and-Rapid-Optimum-Charger-Starter-Pack-BL1840BDC2/310377140 HD has a special, 180 for 2 batteries and a free tool, which can be a leaf blower that i use and like. i think there's a dewalt special too
|
|
#
?
Nov 24, 2021 23:57
|
|
|
Any recommendations for Fall lawn care for a yard with a million trees and endless leaves? Mulching mower, super leaf blower, both, neither etc...? We have a massive oak tree in the back and a bunch more in front and back which we completely underestimated. I'm a lazy bastard.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 00:32
|
|
|
Comfortador posted:Any recommendations for Fall lawn care for a yard with a million trees and endless leaves? Mulching mower, super leaf blower, both, neither etc...? We have a massive oak tree in the back and a bunch more in front and back which we completely underestimated. I'm a lazy bastard. I'm in a similar situation and the best solution for me was getting the EGO SelectCut mower that has a double blade for lifting and mulching and the EGO leaf blower. The mower mulches pretty well and makes quick work of leaves over the yard. Other than the corners of the fence and some nooks and crannies, I don't really have to leaf blow much which is a huge time saver. My first year in this house I blew all the leaves into a giant pile and then mulched them with the vacuum setting of my old leaf blower. It took hours and hours. Mowing once in a while is way more effective and time efficient. The one thing I would change to make my setup better would be to somehow get a bigger bag for the mower so that I'm not emptying the bag as often. Another option that is even better but cost prohibitive would be a Billy Goat Leaf Vacuum. They work incredibly well. They suck up more leaves, mulch them better, and have a bigger bag than any lawn mower. However, they are like $1,000 starting out. I had a coworker who had a similar leaf problem and he ended up going that route and had no regrets.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 00:42
|
|
|
Comfortador posted:Any recommendations for Fall lawn care for a yard with a million trees and endless leaves? Mulching mower, super leaf blower, both, neither etc...? We have a massive oak tree in the back and a bunch more in front and back which we completely underestimated. I'm a lazy bastard. How big of a yard? Because my front yard is sizeable enough with enough tree cover to need this:  The leaves aren't even all down yet and my pile is about 8 feet tall and 12 feet around:  (at least I make a lot of good compost every year) So yeah, define the scope of this problem. Because the solutions will vary wildly based on that.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 00:52
|
|
|
SpartanIvy posted:I'm in a similar situation and the best solution for me was getting the EGO SelectCut mower that has a double blade for lifting and mulching and the EGO leaf blower. The mower mulches pretty well and makes quick work of leaves over the yard. Other than the corners of the fence and some nooks and crannies, I don't really have to leaf blow much which is a huge time saver. My first year in this house I blew all the leaves into a giant pile and then mulched them with the vacuum setting of my old leaf blower. It took hours and hours. Mowing once in a while is way more effective and time efficient. The one thing I would change to make my setup better would be to somehow get a bigger bag for the mower so that I'm not emptying the bag as often. Thanks man, that Billy goat is expensive but I'd certainly consider it. Maybe a good mulching mower is my best bet.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 00:54
|
|
|
I've tried burning, bagging, and iust throwing them in my truck bed to take to the dump and ended up settling on using the mulching blade for my Ego electric mower and just leaving the shreds in place.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 01:01
|
|
|
StormDrain posted:It's a privileged statement I made for sure. Nah, don't get me wrong, I don't mean it like that! Aside from the cost, there's also trying to keep track of different batteries and if they're charged and . . . I'm already terrible enough at keeping track of if my phone is charged  For the OP, my dad has the 80v Kobalt stuff and he likes it well. He's not sure if 80v is being phased out, though. My brother has the 40v versions of those items and they seem to work well for his use case, too. (He has a pretty small yard)
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 01:19
|
|
|
Zarin posted:there's also trying to keep track of different batteries and if they're charged and . . . This plus the fact that batteries just....expire...when not used/charged on the reg makes me not want to have a bunch of different battery systems for different things. Also the cost of having sufficient spares when I'm never likely to be using more than one tool at a time, or maybe 2-3 tops for a job where swapping would be annoying as I change tools. I think it's really valid to ask "what else might you be doing with battery tools?" to guide people into a battery ecosystem that might work for them longer term. I've been in dewalt for 2 generations, and that's partially because all of my contractor fiends also have this so borrowing tools I don't have and rarely would need is super easy......I've already got the batteries and chargers. And that poo poo isn't cheap. Tools are going to the disposable razor model. Give away the handle for free, make money on the blades. The batteries are the new blades. So choose wisely. If that means more than one ecosystem for you that's totally fine, but know what you're getting into/think about it.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 01:28
|
|
|
Upgrade posted:Also any recs for a electric leaf blower? Would like to spend $200ish or less. Do not have a battery system currently so would need to buy a battery. Planning on grabbing something on Black Friday. This was $199 a month and a half ago: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07CKZF6TH/ Wouldn't be surprised to see it at that price again for black Friday. I got it and cut down my time clearing leaves by 50% over my lovely corded leaf blower.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 01:38
|
|
|
Upgrade posted:Also - and this is not a project anytime this year, or next year, but maybe in the next 5 years - what's a rough estimate to sand and refinish 1500 sqft of wood floor? Its 110 year old heart of pine. $15, $20k? Both times that i have purchased a home, I had the floors sanded and polyurethaned before moving in. I don't think I've paid over about 3k either time and the square footage was around yours. When selecting a contractor make drat sure you ask for references that you can talk to. Ask whether they had any issues with sanding swirl marks or the poly not sticking. Like any coating job this is all about the prep work, and you don't want to be staring at a swirl mark in a hallway where you see it every morning.... Also insist on 2 coats at minimum, 3 preferably. Oil based, the good stuff that is bad for you if you are dumb enough to hang around for the 3 days a decent initial cure will take.
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 04:04
|
|
|
Rodent GET Caught one in the cage, released it at the field of a nearby Catholic middle school 
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 10:14
|
|
|
The DeWalt blower is good. Ace Hardware had a deal where if you bought another yard tool they'd send you a free blower. They ended up cancelling my weed whacker and sending the blower anyways  Worth every penny!
|
|
#
?
Nov 25, 2021 16:25
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 14:26 |
|
|
Motronic posted:How big of a yard? Because my front yard is sizeable enough with enough tree cover to need this: God drat that's a beautiful setup. While we're talking blowers maybe I can push us forward a season and ask if anyone has strong opinions on snowblowers? I'm eyeballing the medium-quality two-stage Craftsmen at Lowe's that comes in at 850$. It's maybe a tad excessive for my modest Colorado suburban driveway and sidewalk but I'd rather get one that's big enough to handle the large dumps and might even join us if we migrate somewhere rural with a larger area to clear down the road.
|
|
#
?
Nov 28, 2021 01:30
|
|
