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BigFactory posted:I wouldn’t worry too much. In my experience it’s fairly uncommon to actually find asbestos in vermiculite, but the only way to rule it out is extraordinary amounts of testing, so states are very cautious
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Jan 9, 2022 21:48
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Has anyone ordered from these guys before? They have lots of interesting vinyl sheet flooring that I cant find with the big name brands (Armstrong, Mannington https://www.atrafloor.com/vinyl-flooring/pattern-vinyl-flooring/geometric/ What I think i actually want is very dark clean black hexagon look, but in vinyl sheet (because too cold without heated here if tile) and the patterns above are closest i can find. Anyone have another non-big name source of vinyl floor (sheet, not LVP) that may have something similar? 
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Jan 10, 2022 17:14
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Not sure if anyone is going to have a great answer on this, but thought I'd run it past you all. My wife and I bought our condo in October of 2019 from my cousin and her husband. Just this last December the H/COA had vendors out doing some kind of maintenance on our roof, and in the process of stomping around up there, knocked something loose that caused water to start seeping through the drywall. They got a tarp put over it as a temporary solution, and last Thursday got someone out to try to repair it. They didn't find anything obviously wrong aside from issues with a few singles and some caulking, so they addressed those, but did note that our skylight didn't seem to fit the roof properly. Later that night it started leaking again, and we repeated the process of getting it tarped up. The vendor came back out to take another look at it, and found that the leak only was happening when the skylight was in place. The condo association is saying that this isn't their fault and that homeowners are responsible for the replacement. I reached out to my cousin to see if they had had problems with it, and learned that this skylight was put in back in 2018 by a vendor that the association board chose (who have a 1.5 rating on Yelp, unsurprisingly), and sent me documentation reflecting that. The management company just changed at the beginning of November, and the guy I've been communicating with is claiming that they don't have any information on the skylight, which I find difficult to believe, given the recent involvement of the previous management company. I'm fully prepared to have to pay for it, since I imagine they're adept at weaseling out of paying for repairs, but does anyone here think I have a case in telling them that they should foot the bill? I'm going to do a consult with the legal assistance program my work offers also, just curious what you all thought.
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Jan 10, 2022 22:21
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Seems like it would depend on what the hoa documents say regarding who is responsible for roof maintenance and specifically for sky lights. Hoa community managers are notoriously dumb so you would probably have to spell it out for them and even then may not understand it. I would worry about repairing it yourself if it’s their responsibility because any other roof stuff they may then say was damaged by your repair. Try to talk to your neighbors to see if they have had problems. Maybe try to bring it up during an HOA meeting? Involving any actual legal work/lawyers might be a pain because they probably have a clause in the hoa docs that any lawyer bills will be paid for by you. edit: also possible they are saying the skylight is the problem when it’s something else. You could get someone out for a free estimate and go from there slave to my cravings fucked around with this message at 22:47 on Jan 10, 2022 |
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Jan 10, 2022 22:44
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an owls casket posted:I'm fully prepared to have to pay for it, since I imagine they're adept at weaseling out of paying for repairs, but does anyone here think I have a case in telling them that they should foot the bill? I'm going to do a consult with the legal assistance program my work offers also, just curious what you all thought. One of the difficulties of having an entity in charge of some parts of your home (such as the exterior) is that questions quickly escape the realm of 'how to fix' and enter the realm of 'who has the legal responsibility to fix'. You've correctly identified this, but it means that this question is much more difficult to answer. You may want to cross post this to the legal thread in ask/tell.
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Jan 10, 2022 22:45
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Tezer posted:One of the difficulties of having an entity in charge of some parts of your home (such as the exterior) is that questions quickly escape the realm of 'how to fix' and enter the realm of 'who has the legal responsibility to fix'. You've correctly identified this, but it means that this question is much more difficult to answer. Will do, thanks!
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Jan 10, 2022 22:56
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How bad of an idea is it to air seal the attic and spray foam the roof deck in a one story, truss framed roof home in central Texas? The house is a little under 1700 SQ ft. and the air sealing sucks. Humidity in the house equalized to the outside if I'm not running the AC or furnace all the time. Windows are single pane aluminum, but they are being replaced with nicer modern double pane windows in a few months. In addition the house doesn't have a house wrap, just tar paper, but it is getting wrapped and a layer of rigid foam insulation at the same time I do windows and Hardie plank siding. The person selling/ recommending the spray foam says the alternative that they offer is to vacuum out all of the old insulation, then they will go throughout the attic and spray foam/seal all of the header and sealing penetrations, and blow in new insulation to R38. The spray foam roof deck is open celled foam and they say they will do 7.5" on the roof and 5.5 on vertical faces, but there is only one section over the front door of the house that has a vertical face so it is pretty small. The new blow in job includes pre and post blower door tests and the price is $8100. The spray foam job is quoted at $10,000 and I am assuming that still includes the blower door test. I replaced the roof/shingles in December 2014, so presumably it won't need any new work for many years. Are there other alternatives I should consider? My cedar allergies (going on right now) are awful and my mold allergies are pretty bad. I have several air purifiers around the house and run one of the highest pleat count filters I can run in the furnace. I assume part of these allergies and humidity issues come from air leaking into the house from outside and from the attic. Does anyone else live near Austin that might have a business they recommend to get bids from? The guys I got the quote from were featured in this Austin custom home builder's YouTube channel (obviously a commercial for them). It seems like the nice modern homes have the spray foamed attics which make the attic a conditioned space and should improve the efficiency of the air conditioning system. Since the ducts are no longer exposed to exterior temps, but I don't know how well this adapts to a house not designed for it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BcqeQJqp08
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Jan 10, 2022 22:58
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You mentioned humidity being a priority for you, and not wanting to run the A/C or furnace all the time. Have you considered a system such as Aprilaire / a whole house humidifier which runs independently of A/C or furnace but through the same ducts? It sounds like that might be significantly less expensive than an insulation job, but of course you would not gain the other benefits.
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Jan 10, 2022 23:10
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Inner Light posted:You mentioned humidity being a priority for you, and not wanting to run the A/C or furnace all the time. Have you considered a system such as Aprilaire / a whole house humidifier which runs independently of A/C or furnace but through the same ducts? It sounds like that might be significantly less expensive than an insulation job, but of course you would not gain the other benefits. I have thought about a whole home dehumidifier but have not looked into it enough to figure out how much it would cost to add. Is there a ballpark for what that sort of job typically costs?
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Jan 10, 2022 23:12
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MetaJew posted:I have thought about a whole home dehumidifier but have not looked into it enough to figure out how much it would cost to add. I asked my HVAC company when they were here for a check-up and it would be around $1k all-in ballpark, but I'm in a big city. Probably cheaper elsewhere. e: Oh you posted Matt Risinger lol. His stuff is really nice but universally seems very expensive. Dude builds homes for absolutely loaded people, he knows the game.
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Jan 11, 2022 00:36
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IDK how big a problem termites are in Austin and if you have a termite bond of any sort, but if you do, ask your termite company about it. They are getting really picky about anything to do with spray foam. They're mostly worried about crawl spaces, but I'd ask first.
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Jan 11, 2022 00:46
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Welp so much for the first project I posted earlier, day 1 needed a furnace repair, day 3 needed a new furnace and pest control. I'm looking at all these cracks now like "what have I done to myself". We still need french drains ASAP and also will need to attend to the foundation within the next couple of years. To be fair we did know from the structural engineers report that the foundation needs reinforced in one corner soonish and we need to take some aggressive action with grading and drainage around the perimeter. Is it a bad idea to patch knowing that we are likely to experience more settling until we reinforce the foundation?
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Jan 11, 2022 00:48
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Welp, had a guy come out to haul away the trash, he noticed there was moss on the roof, came down and showed me pictures, and there was definitely a lot of moss that needed to be removed. Today he came back with a ladder, and there are two vent pipes leading to nowhere over the bathroom and the dishwasher. Not connected to plumbing, as far as we can tell not connected to anything. He's going to give me contact info for a general contractor friend who does small jobs, because if the piping's still there we can put a fan in the bathroom and maybe even an exhaust fan in the kitchen. It's always something. e: Moss-noticing dude is a licensed contractor.
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Jan 11, 2022 00:54
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Justa Dandelion posted:Is it a bad idea to patch knowing that we are likely to experience more settling until we reinforce the foundation? For what purpose? And how difficult/expensive will this patching be? If you're trying to stop leaks looks towards grading first and maybe smear some drylok in the cracks. I wouldn't do more than that when you already know you need more extensive work.
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Jan 11, 2022 01:08
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MetaJew posted:How bad of an idea is it to air seal the attic and spray foam the roof deck in a one story, truss framed roof home in central Texas? Really, really bad. Blow in more insulation. Consider increasing the airflow via more vents/vent fan. But do not spray foam on the top-side of the ceiling (ceiling joists) and absolutely do not spray anything on the roof deck or roof framing. The attic space needs to 'breathe' to the outside via vents (gable or soffit or turtle). To mitigate heat, spray more blown-in. There's not much you can really do about the ceiling holes (lights & vents). The roof deck experiences radical swings in temperature depending on sun exposure, and drops in temperature, particularly in areas that typically experience high humidity, can cause vapor to form. Free airflow in the attic space helps prevent this by preventing wide variations in attic vs. ambient temperature. Hope you chose a light-colored shingle. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 03:07 on Jan 11, 2022 |
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Jan 11, 2022 03:04
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Does anyone have any experience with blown in cellulose in walls (drill and fill)? There is some existing insulation but with the house being built in 1980 I guess it's inadequate. We had an energy audit and this was a recommendation. There is a grant which should cover 100% of the cost but every company I've had in to quote has basically said it's a bad idea, a last resort and the auditor is an idiot for suggesting it.
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Jan 11, 2022 03:13
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Honey Im Homme posted:Does anyone have any experience with blown in cellulose in walls (drill and fill)? There is some existing insulation but with the house being built in 1980 I guess it's inadequate. We had an energy audit and this was a recommendation. 1980s homes around here by and large had fiberglass batt insulation. Even if it wasn't kraft-faced and stapled I can't imagine blown in is going to so much of anything compared to the cost of installing it. Did they have something like.....a thermal imaging camera showing that the top X inches of your insulation had slumped and this was a meaningful amount to "top off" stud bays with blown in? Knowing you need to rep[air drywall in every last stud bay and then repaint the room for this probably minimal gain? At that point your money would be better spent or saved when you need need siding (insulate from the outside while doing it) or want to remodel rooms with exterior walls (insulate from inside while the sheetrock is down). Maybe your market is different, but i doubt it based on what you heard from the contractors you talked to.
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Jan 11, 2022 03:18
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They did have a thermal camera but it was more of "look at this cold wall" than specifically saying insulation had sagged. I'm in southern Ontario. We are essentially gutting most of the rooms so I guess it makes sense to do it piecemeal as we go. There is also almost zero insulation in the full height basement and polystyrene in the rim joist which is probably going to have more impact when we have it spray foamed.
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Jan 11, 2022 03:24
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Honey Im Homme posted:They did have a thermal camera but it was more of "look at this cold wall" than specifically saying insulation had sagged. Yeah, so....I have no doubt a 1980s house has under insulated walls compared to modern code and/or what you'd want, but "a cold wall" doesn't mean the insulation has sagged. A wall that is colder on the top in the middle of every stud bay does. This is really really obvious on a TIC if you're doing it right.  That's REALLY bad sag. Something like that would benefit from blown in. Most times we're talking about the first few inches, and that's simply not worth it.
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Jan 11, 2022 03:29
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I did blown-in myself, Home Depot rents a kit. Did my 1930 bungalow. About a week of prep (cutting out asbestos shingle & two layers of fir to make the openings; stuffed in fiberglass batt from the basement); the actual blowing-in part took less than six hours. I know it'll slump, but it was literally better than the nothing that was there; doing it from outside saved a hideous mess, since the walls are all plaster & lath. The rental machine & bales of (recycled, treated newspaper?) was about $600. Diamond hole saw blades were $40 each, used four.  Paid for itself the first winter.
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Jan 11, 2022 03:55
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.. how did you patch the asbestos siding? and re-paint your house?
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Jan 11, 2022 13:14
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Had a contractor replace a couple of forced hot water heating pipes going upstairs from my boiler system. He took out some bad copper and replaced it with PEX. Down at the floor, the side of the new PEX is touching an old copper elbow going to a baseboard heater (the copper gets hot when the hot water runs through it). I know that hot water copper pipes can touch wood safely without risk of ignition; is there any risk of the PEX melting if it stays against the copper? edit, pic below: https://imgur.com/lByu7t6 Eason the Fifth fucked around with this message at 18:21 on Jan 11, 2022 |
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Jan 11, 2022 18:17
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Nope, you're good.
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Jan 11, 2022 18:25
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Pex is good up to 180 or 200 degrees depending on pressure and stuff. You can check the specs of your Pex out if you like. I'm not sure how hot those pipes get, but if it's less than 180 degrees it should be fine.
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Jan 11, 2022 18:32
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Thinking about just hiring a company to install a sump and french drain. My partner and I work so much that I can't get the energy to do it. Plus maybe they'll bring a trench digger and be done in a day.
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Jan 11, 2022 19:16
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great info on the PEX! 
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Jan 11, 2022 19:20
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Inzombiac posted:Thinking about just hiring a company to install a sump and french drain. If you're talking an interior perimeter drain it will probably be 4 guys and a jackhammer and shovels driving you crazy for 2-3 days straight. Two years ago today I was stupid enough to think I could WFH while all that racket was going on one floor below me. Would not recommend attempting to DIY this: https://i.imgur.com/qnqVBO8.mp4 Sirotan fucked around with this message at 19:33 on Jan 11, 2022 |
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Jan 11, 2022 19:27
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No, I'm thinking about an exterior drain that leads to a pump that goes down the side of the driveway and to the street. The geometry of the space is a little weird so I can't just dig a standard trench and run graded pipe and be done with it. I'll have to see what the contractors say is feasible/cost-effective.
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Jan 11, 2022 19:30
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MetaJew posted:How bad of an idea is it to air seal the attic and spray foam the roof deck in a one story, truss framed roof home in central Texas? How old is this house. In other videos, Matt has been against sealing (or even insulating) really old houses (I do not know the line, but these have been pre-wwii houses) because they'll basically never be truly watertight unless you tear off the siding and put a modern water barrier there. You get water in and then it can't dry. Given that Matt is a "loving seal everything" guy those videos stood out to me. PainterofCrap posted:Really, really bad. nm fucked around with this message at 19:35 on Jan 11, 2022 |
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Jan 11, 2022 19:32
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I'm against foam insulation spray for a couple reasons. First and foremost, if the chemicals are mixed wrong they will off gas forever and your only remediation is to have it all torn out and redone which is no small job because it is basically glued to the wood. Second, and related to the first, is if you need to inspect or replace framing or decking under the foam, good loving luck. You can't. It seals you off from inspecting for trapped moisture or insect damage until it's way way too late. With batts you can just pull them away and replace when you're done. Plus with the right batts, the house can still breath to mitigate moisture buildup. For my attic in my 1950 house I'm insulating the ceiling rafters with mostly rockwool (R-23) and moving the remaining good blown in insulation to the exterior of the house near the soffits. I will also probably be adding rafter baffles to try and keep more of the blown in from falling into the soffits. After that's done I might even staple up a radiant barrier on the back side of the roof rafters, but I'm afraid it might contain the heat too much and cook my shingles, so depending on the performance I might not bother.
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Jan 11, 2022 19:44
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I was so hoping I could avoid posting here again. The HVAC guy has been unable to get the electrical subcontractor to answer his phone, for over a month now. He (HVAC guy) has asked me three times now if I know anyone else who could do the work. My most recent reply is "I could help if you needed computer work, but I'm not well-connected when it comes to construction. Have you thought about any of these solar installers?" His reply: "You should ask them". The only reason I went with this company with their $29k quote for 5 minisplits is because the quote included a service upgrade. I've only paid half, so he's still expecting almost $15k from me. It seems like he is now asking me to find an electrical subcontractor to fulfill the terms of his quote. Like, I hired him specifically because he said he could do this work. I was under the impression that finding a way to accomplish the service upgrade was part of the exorbitant cost. Is this a standard thing to do, or am I correct in thinking it would be appropriate for me to get indignant at this point?
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Jan 11, 2022 19:46
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cruft posted:Is this a standard thing to do, or am I correct in thinking it would be appropriate for me to get indignant at this point? Lol no it's not standard and it's well past time to start getting indignant. How is the guy completing any of his other jobs if he doesn't have a reliable electrician?
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Jan 11, 2022 19:50
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Motronic posted:Lol no it's not standard and it's well past time to start getting indignant. I'm guessing most clients don't need a service upgrade. I feel like the skilled labor shortage is hitting my part of the country extra hard or something. There's just nobody around to do the work.
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Jan 11, 2022 19:54
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I live in a row house (built 100 years ago) with 4+ houses on either side. My place has been renovated recently, but new people just bought the place next door and are doing some much needed renovations on it. There is an exposed brick wall (or the brick is exposed on my side at least) between the houses. I kind of assumed that there was another layer or maybe a small gap between two brick walls, but I never thought about it too much. Today, the construction guys were doing some sort of drilling in the wall, and I could hear the vibrations really clearly. Then, I noticed a bunch of grit falling on my side from the mortar between the bricks. They seemed to be working right at floor level because the loose sediment was falling from the crack where the plaster of the ceiling meets with brick of the wall. I called the new neighbor and he said he'd check to see what they were doing, but I haven't heard back yet. How worried should I be about this? There's a very noticeable collection of sand that fell in several spots on my side of the wall from the cracks between the bricks. It's not thick, and it's all tiny grains with a few pea-size chunks here and there, but it's pretty hard not to imagine that I'm about to see a drill bit punch through into my house, followed by loose bricks and chunks of mortar.
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Jan 11, 2022 21:26
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cruft posted:I'm guessing most clients don't need a service upgrade. The thing is, you can't do HVAC in a vacuum. Dealing with electrical is part of doing just about any HVAC job. Wires need to be run for A/C units, furnaces, etc. and HVAC technicians are not the people to be doing that. The HVAC contractor should have their own in-house electricians or a reliable subcontractor. What you are encountering is not normal.
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Jan 11, 2022 21:29
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nm posted:How old is this house. My house was built in 1991. There's no house wrap at the moment. Just lovely wood-produxt siding that's rotten, tar paper, then studs. I'm getting the windows and siding replaced in April or may depending on when materials arrive I guess. They tell me they will install a Tyvec house wrap, some rigid foam insulation, and then Hardie plank. Hopefully between that and the windows air sealing there is improved. I will also replace the front door at the same time but I have picked one out just yet.
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Jan 11, 2022 21:33
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falz posted:.. how did you patch the asbestos siding? and re-paint your house? I kept the discs of siding that I cut out. I cut the asbestos 1/2" larger than the holes through the underlying wood (two layers of 5/8"). This left a ridge to re-attach the siding discs. I also saved as many of the wood bungs as possible, and re-used them as well: Fill the wall, glue them back in with wood glue, then go back in a couple days and stick the asbestos back with adhesive silicone; then, caulk the groove & drill hole with paintable caulk & touch them up with house paint. I had re-painted the house (myself) a year or two before (yes, yes, I should've thought of it...) and the paint matched.well. Up close, you can see them. Like most house quirks, they're not really visible to most people unless they know to look for them. Racing Stripe posted:I live in a row house (built 100 years ago) with 4+ houses on either side. My place has been renovated recently, but new people just bought the place next door and are doing some much needed renovations on it. Call the city immediately. If these fucksticks are hammering a wall with anything other than hand tools, they're risking serious problems. I spent sixteen years working claims in Philadelphia. Rowhomes are built with brick partition walls, typically using salmon brick that is so soft it can't handle exposure to the elements for long. By the time Eisenhower was President, the mortar retaining this brick had lost all adhesive properties so that the only things holding up these walls are Newton's First Law and institutional habit. The floor framing is set into pockets in the brick, so when idiots start loving with it, sections of floor support can disappear quickly, and on the opposite side from where they're working. If this is in Philadelphia, call L&I first thing. The rowhomes are safe otherwise. They're overbuilt. Just leave the brick & any other load-bearing walls alone. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 00:51 on Jan 12, 2022 |
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Jan 12, 2022 00:48
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It’s starting to get down to freezing temperatures overnight here. I’ve always shut off and drained garden hose bibs when winter rolls around. My house has those “frost proof” bibs, do they actually work as advertised or should I still be shutting them off for winter?
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Jan 12, 2022 01:31
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Toebone posted:It’s starting to get down to freezing temperatures overnight here. I’ve always shut off and drained garden hose bibs when winter rolls around. My house has those “frost proof” bibs, do they actually work as advertised or should I still be shutting them off for winter? The way those work is that the knob on the outside turns a long rod to close a valve that is not in the outside part of the faucet, but is actually at the indoor end of the fixture. If properly installed, the entire fixture will slope downwards slightly towards the outside, and the inside of it will be inside the foundation wall. The idea is that when you close the valve, any water inside the fixture will drain out to the outside (which requires that the hose has been disconnected.) So assuming that it's not below freezing inside the wall at the back of the fixture, that it was installed correctly, is long enough, and there's no hose connected, then yes it should work as advertised. Edit: Google "freeze proof hose bib diagram" and you'll get a few cross section images that will make what I said super clear.
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Jan 12, 2022 01:54
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Toebone posted:It’s starting to get down to freezing temperatures overnight here. I’ve always shut off and drained garden hose bibs when winter rolls around. My house has those “frost proof” bibs, do they actually work as advertised or should I still be shutting them off for winter? It should be ok but imho shutting off water to them is also a good idea that takes all of 2 seconds to do. Better safe than sorry
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Jan 12, 2022 02:03
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