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Residency Evil posted:On the topic of windows/doors, the POs just replaced all of the doors/windows in the house with Pella windows/doors, with all of the side doors looking like this: Three deadbolts on a glass door? 
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Feb 16, 2022 18:40
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Speaking of windows, we have double glazing (or whatever it's called in the USA). It's cold, we have heat (and a humidifier) so I think we'd notice if there was a seal issue in this window, but, the rubber seal on the top of the window on the outside is coming off. It's a long strip going across the top of the window and half of it is just dangling. Looks like the previous owners taped it up and the tape has come off. Do I just tape it up?
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Feb 16, 2022 18:43
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:Three deadbolts on a glass door? Ruff neighborhood.
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Feb 16, 2022 18:56
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redreader posted:Speaking of windows, we have double glazing (or whatever it's called in the USA). It's cold, we have heat (and a humidifier) so I think we'd notice if there was a seal issue in this window, but, the rubber seal on the top of the window on the outside is coming off. It's a long strip going across the top of the window and half of it is just dangling. Looks like the previous owners taped it up and the tape has come off. Inside? Outside? What does it look like? Regardless of any of that, tape is almost definitely not the correct answer.
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Feb 16, 2022 19:13
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Motronic posted:Business, Finance, and Careers › House Ownership Thread: tape is almost definitely not the correct answer.
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Feb 16, 2022 19:43
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Motronic posted:Regardless of any of that, tape is almost definitely not the correct answer. Tell my POs that    
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Feb 16, 2022 19:53
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 My whole house has these door knobs, probably original to the house pre war, they squeak, rattle, and in the case of the master bathroom, I've almost accidentally locked myself in the room because it's not engaging properly Is it faster to just buy modern like-replacements*, or attempt to disassemble, clean and re-lube. I've lived in a lot of 100+ year old homes in various states of disrepair so I'm used to putting up with a little "just jiggle the handle" but the doors in this house really really the cake *trying to retain the character of the house
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Feb 17, 2022 18:47
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A lot of that can probably be fixed with a thorough disassembly/cleaning/dry lube. But you may fond some of them are just worn out and will remain loose. Depending on what's wrong there are various possibilities.
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Feb 17, 2022 18:57
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Worth trying to fix (lube/tighen) the cartridge first. There's so many different sizes that finding a replacement one can be hard. (I just did a pile of them in my house).
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Feb 17, 2022 20:47
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What's the story with lubing garage doors? I know I should hit the tracks and the latch, and presumably the chain just to avoid rust. What I"m curious about is what product to use? I'm seeing a lot of references to lithium grease and also people online saying red bearing grease is fine, but then I'm also seeing a bunch of purpose made lubricants. 1) if I can do this on the cheap with a trip to AutoZone, I'm all about that 2) I guess I'd prefer a spray lubricant just because I'm lazy and dgaf about anything in there, so liberally hosing lube onto chains and tracks is right up my alley 3) I suspect the last time this door saw lubricant was sometime in the Regan administration. First term. Maybe Carter.
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Feb 17, 2022 21:01
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Cyrano4747 posted:What's the story with lubing garage doors? I know I should hit the tracks and the latch, and presumably the chain just to avoid rust. What I"m curious about is what product to use? I'm seeing a lot of references to lithium grease and also people online saying red bearing grease is fine, but then I'm also seeing a bunch of purpose made lubricants. Yeah, lithium grease is the way to go. I've got a couple of cans of CRC white lithium grease that have lasted for years. They were about $4 when I got them but it looks like they're more like $10 on amazon now. My door was installed by Precision Doors and they have a video on the spots to hit, generally the hinges, torsion spring if you have it, and the top of the rail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1lUm7koF2A
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Feb 17, 2022 21:08
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Rexxed posted:Yeah, lithium grease is the way to go. Agreed. I've always used white lithium grease. It doesn't pick up filth like a lot of other lubricants. If there's anything on there now pick up a can of brakleen and some shop towels and cleans up all the old stuff and gunk first, then just hit it with lithium every 6 months/year.
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Feb 17, 2022 21:40
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I love white lithium. It lasts a while, stays where you put it, and it's great for metal on metal contact. My last rental house had an old cantilever garage door and it made a ton of noise when opening. A few sprays of white lithium and it was silent, and opened smoothly. I didn't touch it again the 4 years I lived there.
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Feb 17, 2022 21:44
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Residency Evil posted:Ruff neighborhood. That’s probably some pella proprietary thing that they sell as an option. Did you try their website? I am gonna guess not though.
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Feb 17, 2022 23:50
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Elephanthead posted:That’s probably some pella proprietary thing that they sell as an option. Did you try their website? I am gonna guess not though. Yeah I've dug around but I'm not sure if I've found anything.
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Feb 17, 2022 23:52
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What should I be looking for to build 2x 20x20 "accessory buildings" in my yard? Feels like 800sqft is maybe too small for an architect/GC? I reaalllly don't want to be the GC though.
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Feb 18, 2022 02:14
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Are you OK with just having one plonked down there? At that size, you can get prefabs. Aside from that, you gotta check codes, zoning, planning permission. You gonna run utilities? What's your soil like, are you gonna put in concrete, foundation, anything like that? Do you need to deal with snow? Are you building on a slope? These are all answers a GC can give you, but if you are just buying prefab sheds or something, you can maybe get away without it. There's a goon or two around here who have built their own, but they had to do all of the above homework before getting into the design stage and being able to actually price out the costs, materials, and guesstimate labor etc.
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Feb 18, 2022 02:18
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My gutters sing. When it's windy, the gutters on our new porch sing... 2 distinct tones, so it's at least 2 of the 3 new downspouts. It's been doing this ever since they were installed, I just keep forgetting to figure out how to fix it. Is there a known cure for something like this? I would suspect something over the exit that blocks the wind or something? Like a plastic diverter/extension or something...Google doesn't have much that I can find, more for rattling, buzzing, or scraping. This is a pretty solid tone, like a gigantic flute or something.
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Feb 18, 2022 02:22
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Leperflesh posted:Are you OK with just having one plonked down there? At that size, you can get prefabs. Prefab is fine, that's actually what we've been looking at quote:Aside from that, you gotta check codes, zoning, planning permission. You gonna run utilities? What's your soil like, are you gonna put in concrete, foundation, anything like that? Do you need to deal with snow? Are you building on a slope? All the planning/zoning/utilities/subcontractor stuff is exactly what I *dont* want to deal with. I definitely want to outsource all that, since when I look at it the scope of the project is massive and I can't possibly seem to wrap my head around it. At the same time, everything I'm hearing suggests it would be tough to find a GC to do such a small project.
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Feb 18, 2022 02:36
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:
In what context is this true?
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Feb 18, 2022 02:46
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devicenull posted:
There's lots of tailgate contractors that would take on a small job like this. I'd start with a talking to your building department to determine exactly what is allowed/required, and then if you need drawings talk to a drafter or a contractor that does design/build.
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Feb 18, 2022 02:48
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DaveSauce posted:My gutters sing. IMO the solution is to call the people who installed your new gutters and tell them to install them properly at no additional cost to you. This is not your problem.
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Feb 18, 2022 02:54
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Pilfered Pallbearers posted:IMO the solution is to call the people who installed your new gutters and tell them to install them properly at no additional cost to you. Is this an installation problem? I can see if they were super loose and rattling, but it's definitely different than that. They're not just shaking, they're making a very solid tone.
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Feb 18, 2022 03:00
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Sloppy posted:In what context is this true? ...So in that case.
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Feb 18, 2022 03:05
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The installers are gonna laugh and hang up on you Can you get a rubber flap on the downspout with a magnet to hold it closed, but not so strong that it won't open fully in a storm? Or a very nonrestrictive grate on the bottom and/or top?
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Feb 18, 2022 03:16
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Sloppy posted:In what context is this true? A functioning building envelope loses about 75% of its heat through the walls, floors and ceiling, and only about 25% through the windows! (assuming a 2 story house with unfinished basement, pitched composition asphalt roof and 15% window area on the envelope)
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Feb 18, 2022 08:52
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Paint and sills are in too bad of repair to make it financially feasible to revert to cedar clapboard siding on our house for our residing project. The wood itself is in great condition- probably old growth cedar- but the P(PP?)O decided to slap vinyl up instead of investing in a good paint job, and the vinyl guys cut out hunks of labor intensive windowsill that would need to be replaced. Boo. At least it’ll look nicer than it does now.
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Feb 18, 2022 16:50
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DaveSauce posted:Is this an installation problem? I can see if they were super loose and rattling, but it's definitely different than that. They're not just shaking, they're making a very solid tone.
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Feb 18, 2022 17:16
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Shrink or close off the ends of the beer bottle with some sort of flap There's got to be a product for this, you can't be the only person on the planet with pan pipes for a gutter system
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Feb 18, 2022 17:25
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Arsenic Lupin posted:I'm betting you're getting the blowing-across-the-beer-bottle effect: the top of your downspouts are acting as a flute. I have no idea what you do about this. That's exactly what it sounds like to me. I dunno if the problem originates at the top or the bottom, though... so to fix it I'd need to know which end to look at. Hadlock posted:Shrink or close off the ends of the beer bottle with some sort of flap That's what I thought! Google isn't much help, but I might just be poo poo at finding it. Everything I've found talks about shaking/rattling/etc., and unless the supports are looser than they look, I can't visually spot any issues with the install. Definitely going to try to make a video next time we get some wind... but in the meantime I'm thinking some plastic extension/diverters might help.
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Feb 18, 2022 17:36
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What about a short length of that triangle sponge looking stuff I see at HD in the gutter aisle that prevents sticks and leaves from falling down the downspout but supposedly let's water filter through? Seems like you'd just need something to interrupt the air flowing over the orifice.
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Feb 18, 2022 17:40
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If you were in the 3D printer thread someone would have designed you some grate that covers both ends but still lets water through You could probably take a hole saw drill to the side(s?) of a largeish red automotive funnel and drop it in the top and maybe that'll fix it
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Feb 18, 2022 18:09
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I would suggest maybe grabbing some gutter guards just for the section getting loud.
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Feb 18, 2022 18:15
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Tune the downspouts.
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Feb 18, 2022 18:31
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If it happens to be the bottom end, you could probably disrupt the effect by cutting some small notches in the edges.
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Feb 18, 2022 18:46
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GoGoGadgetChris posted:A functioning building envelope loses about 75% of its heat through the walls, floors and ceiling, and only about 25% through the windows! Gotcha. I misread that you were saying windows had a better R-value than other assemblies.
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Feb 18, 2022 18:57
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I ask this question with the caveat that I’m stupid and know nothing about wiring. We want to replace our ceiling fans with something nice and modern looking. They are currently wired to two wall switches, one for light and one for the fan off/on. What do I need to look for in a ceiling fan with light that would allow me to use my switches? Can you always wire up the fan? I see so many listings that include remotes - can I also wire these in? Or they include a wall control that’s hideous and weirdly sized.
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Feb 19, 2022 20:14
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Recently replaced 4 grandma fans with modern ones (fanimation - we like them). If you have 2 switches for them, 99% chance they were wired 12/3 or 14/3, with the hot and common wires going to fan motor and light. When you replace, you can do it the same way and ditch the remote altogether, which is what we did. The remote brain that goes up in the fan is just totally unused. On one fan we did where there was a light, we ended up just mounting the remote next to a single switch. The switch will still turn the whole unit on/off. There are fancy switches that basically act as hardwired remote that fit a 1 gang box to control fan and light without a loose remote. For our 2 gang lights we use a a generic LED dimmer for the light and a 3 speed fan controller for the fan. Everything works pretty well for us. I’m not sure if you can both hardwire switches and use the remote. Well you could, but if you switch them off the remote won’t do anything, so that’s probably pointless. TLDR you are already wired correctly- rejoice, buy whatever fan and skip the remote wiring and just wire the fan switch to black/ fan motor and the light switch to blue/light on the fan (vast majority of models).
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Feb 19, 2022 23:33
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Yeah you can skip the receiver if you want to continue to use your switches, however depending on the fan you may have to cut the wires as some use connectors to the receiver. You also might lose functionality if the fan doesn’t have pull down chains but you could replace the switches. You can also use the remote and forgo one of the switches, ie cap off one of the switches and put the remote over that section of the plate, unless you want to do a patch work. So I’ve pulled out some old shelf/bar top and cabinets that the po had in a recessed area in our bonus room. My intention is to build some built-ins and mount the tv within.  I’ve sketched out a little of what I’d like to build but should I build them right into the existing walls or should I frame the built-ins first for a snug fit then attach to the walls? 
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Feb 20, 2022 00:44
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If you're really going to put uprights on either side of the TV, paint behind them and put them in last so when the next owner wants to have > 40" TV they can put one in. Or at least give yourself room to put a 65" TV in there
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Feb 20, 2022 01:59
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