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I'd bet money it's just graphite lube. It's all over our house... not just the door hinges, but cabinet hinges. And on the drawer rollers... so it just spews graphite dust on to the stuff under the drawer. Good call, PO... I usually use 3-in-1 oil for hinges. I'm sure it's got its own issues, but it works and at least it doesn't leave a black mess everywhere.
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Apr 18, 2022 17:37
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3 in 1 is a great all purpose oil, but for a vertical hinge it will tend to gradually leak out and dry out, and it won't repel contamination like dust. The better option for door hinges is grease, which is much thicker and will tend to stay inside the hinge. Silicone grease is easy to deal with. I also have white lithium grease, which is... well, white, and typically used in automotive applications, I think because it's good at repelling water. It's available as an aerosol, which means you can apply it using one of those tiny straws, directly to the hinge without disassembly. It's also the right product to use for your automatic garage door parts. Silicone grease will lubricate rubber and wood, so it's a handy product to have around for when you want to slick up some non-metal surfaces like window seals. It also repels moisture and contaminants. Do not use ordinary WD-40, by the way. It's a solvent, not an all-purpose lubricant, which means it works fantastically to free stuck parts and initially everything will be super lubed but then it will rapidly dry out. WD-40 as a brand is fine, and they make both silicone and white lithium grease products, it's just the regular product gets massively overused in all manner of inappropriate applications. e. black powdery graphite is a dry lubricant, but I don't like it for basically any application because of the mess. Leperflesh fucked around with this message at 17:49 on Apr 18, 2022 |
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Apr 18, 2022 17:45
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Leperflesh posted:Do not use ordinary WD-40, by the way. It's a solvent, not an all-purpose lubricant I made this very clear to my wife early on and she is still annoyed by it. 2nding silicone spray, though you will likely have to hit the hinges again every six months or so.
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Apr 18, 2022 18:22
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The WD-40 fun fact is repeated by us internet nerds ad nauseum, and it's partially true, BUT The manufacturer/bottle itself says it is a lubricant good for hinges and a bunch of other stuff. It's what I use on hinges and it works fine and lasts a long while. Would 3-in-1 be better? Maybe, but WD-40 seems to work fine for me. My point is it's good as long as you stick to its intended usage.
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Apr 18, 2022 18:34
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WD-40 has solvents, corrosion protectants, and it displaces moisture; I use it to protect the steel surfaces of my garden tools and it's excellent at doing that. The thing about it is that it does work as a lubricant, so countless people just use it as such... but it's just not as good as a proper oil or (especially) grease at doing what those things do. If I had nothing else on hand and really needed to oil a squeaky hinge, I'd use the WD-40 instead of literally nothing. It's not actively harmful.
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Apr 18, 2022 18:47
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I would like to put an interior door or two into my house. The door frames already exist, the old owner just got rid of the doors and they are nowhere to be found. How hard would it be to just buy a new door and stick it on the frame? The only problem I can think of is placement of the latch on the old frame/new door needing to line up. If I can find such a door would it be pretty simple to stick on the old frame or am I way off and should just buy a full prehung door? I don't need anything fancy, just want to keep cats out of certain rooms.
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Apr 18, 2022 19:03
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dxt posted:I would like to put an interior door or two into my house. The door frames already exist, the old owner just got rid of the doors and they are nowhere to be found. How hard would it be to just buy a new door and stick it on the frame? The only problem I can think of is placement of the latch on the old frame/new door needing to line up. If I can find such a door would it be pretty simple to stick on the old frame or am I way off and should just buy a full prehung door? I don't need anything fancy, just want to keep cats out of certain rooms. I've always been told it's much easier to just replace with a new prehung door than to try to get just the door to line up in the existing frame. There's lots of things to consider of course. If it's an older home for example, you probably want period correct doors and not whatever LowesDepot has in stock.
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Apr 18, 2022 19:11
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dxt posted:I would like to put an interior door or two into my house. The door frames already exist, the old owner just got rid of the doors and they are nowhere to be found. How hard would it be to just buy a new door and stick it on the frame? The only problem I can think of is placement of the latch on the old frame/new door needing to line up. If I can find such a door would it be pretty simple to stick on the old frame or am I way off and should just buy a full prehung door? I don't need anything fancy, just want to keep cats out of certain rooms. I just replaced three bedroom doors. They were hollow doors that went in to replace old doors and were all about 1/4" too small for the opening. I went with prehung solid doors and it was a great choice. The tolerances were not as tight as I would like, however. If I was to do it again I would go all out and get Tru Stile doors, and pay a carpenter to hang em, since it would be a whole home deal. I'd hang two doors without a second thought though. It wasn't a tough job for me. The 30"x80" prehung doors are only like $150 too, not terrible for one. Adds up for a bunch though! Hollow doors are cheaper if you don't have a preference.
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Apr 18, 2022 19:42
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I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so apologies if not. I bought my house just over a year ago, and it has an inground basketball pole. Currently there is a backboard-less rim/frame. I'm thinking this was put in years ago, the backboard broke and the P.O. never did anything with it. They had a portable one when I was looking at the house. I did some research and I'm probably not going to be able to find the proper backboard to replace it with due to it's age so I just want to outright replace the board/rim with something new. It's been painted over so many times I don't think I'm going to find a make/model etc... I don't want to build my own, no matter how many people tell me it's easy etc... I'm not interested. Does any one have any experience with this? I feel dumb in that it looks like it should be easy, but the more I look the more confused I get. It's an 8 ft pole I'm fairly certain.
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Apr 18, 2022 19:51
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Comfortador posted:I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so apologies if not. The mounting looks pretty similar to the Spalding backboard. You might have a better shot of getting an entirely new bracket with a hoop though.
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Apr 18, 2022 20:20
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StormDrain posted:The mounting looks pretty similar to the Spalding backboard. You might have a better shot of getting an entirely new bracket with a hoop though. Thats exactly what I'm looking to do I think. I just don't know if there are any details I'll need. Trying to find one that looks like that (that goes up, not even with the pole) seems...hard to find? I'm not sure if I shbould be shopping somewhere specific.
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Apr 18, 2022 20:35
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Comfortador posted:I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this so apologies if not. Why not just take the backboard frame off and bring it to a sporting equipment store? There you can just compare to existing stuff on the floor models, or ask one of the high as gently caress teenagers if they know. If they don’t have what’s needed, you can probably get an idea of brand, then use google once you have brand to find model. If you take a better picture (dead on from the front so the shape of the backboard holder is more prevalent), you can probably get close or brand with reverse image search on google.
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Apr 18, 2022 20:41
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Comfortador posted:Thats exactly what I'm looking to do I think. I just don't know if there are any details I'll need. Trying to find one that looks like that (that goes up, not even with the pole) seems...hard to find? I'm not sure if I shbould be shopping somewhere specific. I'd expect a sporting goods store might have something like that. Professionally I've used BSN sports but they may be too expensive for home use. Or not! Idk maybe you're a baller!
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Apr 18, 2022 20:46
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StormDrain posted:I'd expect a sporting goods store might have something like that. Professionally I've used BSN sports but they may be too expensive for home use. Or not! Idk maybe you're a baller! Thanks yeah that would be a little above my pay grade.  I figured I'd be spending some dough, but I'm thinking like half that.
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Apr 18, 2022 21:05
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I live in a condo, and have discovered water damage on the ceiling of my primary bathroom. It is real slow getting the property management company to even respond to emails about this, and the property manager is basically not reachable on the phone. The damage is above my shower, which leads me to believe it may be from the shower drain of the above unit. The people upstairs seem to frequently not be home or they do not wish to answer the door, even if they did answer I dunno if they would be able to say anything useful, a drain leak wouldn't be visible to them. The difficult part is deciding whether to have a plumber come and cut open my ceiling to access the piping, or wait until it's dry and repaint over it. I've lived here about a year and this never happened before. It's been about a week since I first discovered it and cleaned off the residue, and it's still damp to the touch compared to surrounding ceiling. Either it's still the original leak drying, or it's a slow drippy leak. Is this enough cause for most people to cut it open vs. use Kilz and paint and hope it doesn't reoccur? Photo for reference: 
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Apr 18, 2022 21:50
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Comfortador posted:
Literally just measure the frame, then get a piece of 1/2" plywood from the hardware store and they'll cut it for free to those dimensions. Then splat some 3M 5200 on the frame and zip tie plywood to the frame with the 5200 adhesive sandwiched in between and stand it back up the next day If you don't want to do it I'm sure a task rabbit handyman can do this in under an hour, maybe 1:15 if you want them to paint the wood too
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Apr 18, 2022 21:54
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Inner Light posted:It's been about a week since I first discovered it and cleaned off the residue, and it's still damp to the touch compared to surrounding ceiling. Either it's still the original leak drying, or it's a slow drippy leak. Is this enough cause for most people to cut it open vs. use Kilz and paint and hope it doesn't reoccur? You've been there for a while now, so if it's still damp to the touch you have an ongoing issue. You're gonna need to open up the ceiling in that spot and figure out where the water is coming from. The sooner the better.
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Apr 18, 2022 21:58
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Don't repair your landlord's property for them without making it 100% clear they'll reimburse you for the costs, though. In some areas the law actually provides for tenants to do this and deduct costs from their rent, but that's hardly universal. Contact your local tenant's or renter's association, they can assist you with processes for either forcing your landlord to respond, or your options for recouping your costs.
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Apr 18, 2022 22:22
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skipdogg posted:I've always been told it's much easier to just replace with a new prehung door than to try to get just the door to line up in the existing frame. This, I had this same situation at my old house where the PO removed the doors to a den and trashed them. I eventually had them replaced and it was cheaper by far to have them just rip the old frame out and install a new set of doors.
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Apr 18, 2022 22:23
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Sirotan posted:You've been there for a while now, so if it's still damp to the touch you have an ongoing issue. You're gonna need to open up the ceiling in that spot and figure out where the water is coming from. The sooner the better. Understood! Luckily after I wrote the post the association finally got off their butts, should have a plumber coming soon to give their thoughts and probably a sawz-all to the situation. Leperflesh posted:Don't repair your landlord's property for them without making it 100% clear they'll reimburse you for the costs, though. In some areas the law actually provides for tenants to do this and deduct costs from their rent, but that's hardly universal. Contact your local tenant's or renter's association, they can assist you with processes for either forcing your landlord to respond, or your options for recouping your costs. If I was a renter I wouldn't give a drat. I own the condo so I wouldn't want a leak situation that 1. would throw off buyers in the future and 2. is required to be disclosed in my state. It's a large enough building where we do not self-manage, so that's where the management company comes in.
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Apr 18, 2022 22:28
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skipdogg posted:I've always been told it's much easier to just replace with a new prehung door than to try to get just the door to line up in the existing frame. StormDrain posted:I just replaced three bedroom doors. They were hollow doors that went in to replace old doors and were all about 1/4" too small for the opening. I went with prehung solid doors and it was a great choice. The tolerances were not as tight as I would like, however. If I was to do it again I would go all out and get Tru Stile doors, and pay a carpenter to hang em, since it would be a whole home deal. I'd hang two doors without a second thought though. It wasn't a tough job for me. IOwnCalculus posted:This, I had this same situation at my old house where the PO removed the doors to a den and trashed them. I eventually had them replaced and it was cheaper by far to have them just rip the old frame out and install a new set of doors. Dang, was really hoping it would be easy enough to just stick a new door in there. Looking at videos installing a door frame seems like a lot of work. I just want to keep my stupid cats separate on separate floors when I'm not around because they don't get along.
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Apr 18, 2022 22:30
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Oh you said you were trying to get the property manager to deal with it, so I assumed you were a renter, my mistake. What you said makes sense!
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Apr 18, 2022 22:31
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dxt posted:Dang, was really hoping it would be easy enough to just stick a new door in there. Looking at videos installing a door frame seems like a lot of work. I just want to keep my stupid cats separate on separate floors when I'm not around because they don't get along. I have replaced just a door slab and it's not much easier, although it's less invasive. You've got to locate and cut the hinge pockets, and locate and drill the handle location as well. I can and would do it to replace a door as well, depending on the circumstances. It's cheaper but takes a lot more time and if you miss the location of the handle, not cheaper at all when you buy that second replacement door. Plus you'll have to get jigs and have tools. Maybe you do, I don't know what your skill level is, but it's safe to assume that you have a drill, tape measure and a hammer. You'll want a hinge and door prep kit, and a good chisel. Edit, all this also assumes the door frame is a standardish size, like 30" or 36" or something. You'll probably need to cut the bottom of the door as well to clear the floor properly or maybe not. Also it assumes the opening is square! Planing down a corner to get the door to shut properly is a real possibility. StormDrain fucked around with this message at 23:28 on Apr 18, 2022 |
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Apr 18, 2022 23:25
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Residency Evil posted:Is there anything special about this valve: Late but they sell the guts to this in a repair kit, which is likely all that needs to be replaced. You take off the two screws on top, fish out the shattered plastic bits, and install the new one. Takes 3 minutes if that's what's wrong. The valve is $$$ and the repair kit is far less.
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Apr 19, 2022 00:23
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StormDrain posted:I have replaced just a door slab and it's not much easier, although it's less invasive. You've got to locate and cut the hinge pockets, and locate and drill the handle location as well. I can and would do it to replace a door as well, depending on the circumstances. It's cheaper but takes a lot more time and if you miss the location of the handle, not cheaper at all when you buy that second replacement door. Plus you'll have to get jigs and have tools. Maybe you do, I don't know what your skill level is, but it's safe to assume that you have a drill, tape measure and a hammer. You'll want a hinge and door prep kit, and a good chisel. I just closed on my first home on Friday so I am not very experienced at all on home projects. I have a drill, tape measure, and hammer, but not much else. I didn't even think about the hinge pockets. I may be in over my head here. dxt fucked around with this message at 01:15 on Apr 19, 2022 |
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Apr 19, 2022 01:11
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dxt posted:House Ownership: I may be in over my head here.
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Apr 19, 2022 02:28
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Apr 19, 2022 03:37
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Man. Do never buy. Rough two days. Septic problems found yesterday, today we have to call the fire dept out because our kitchen randomly started smelling like smoke and for hazy then the power went off in it. Then after they finally left (after not finding anything with their heat cameras) I sit down and my ISP decides to have an outage. Whose bright idea was this home ownership thing anyways.
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Apr 19, 2022 06:38
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Hadlock posted:Literally just measure the frame, then get a piece of 1/2" plywood from the hardware store and they'll cut it for free to those dimensions. Then splat some 3M 5200 on the frame and zip tie plywood to the frame with the 5200 adhesive sandwiched in between and stand it back up the next day I mean literally in the first sentence of the post I say I'm not interested in doing it myself, but thanks for the suggestion I guess? Thanks to everyone else's pointers, it's good to know there's not one definitive solution that I'm being dumb about. I just want something more official than a quick solution.
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Apr 19, 2022 12:51
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Comrade Gritty posted:Man. Do never buy. cavemen had it right.
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Apr 19, 2022 13:04
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Comfortador posted:I mean literally in the first sentence of the post I say I'm not interested in doing it myself, but thanks for the suggestion I guess? You're in that middle ground where it's beyond what you want to tackle, but too small for hiring out. Like he said, you might be able to find a handy man type to do that sort of work. It's probably easier to find someone to install a whole new one, but obviously that's more money.
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Apr 19, 2022 18:08
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m0therfux0r posted:I have a weird (not at all urgent) window question. I've noticed that when it rains, if the wind is blowing towards my house, one of my outer window frames drips water from a screw hole onto the (outside) sill. I'm not super concerned about it, because the bottom half of the window on the outside is a screen, so water gets on that part of the sill anyway, but it does mean that water is somehow getting inside the frame (the other identical window across the room doesn't do that). I've looked all around the window and can't see anywhere that water could possibly be getting in there. These windows are relatively new- they were either installed while the immediate previous owner lived here or were installed by the owner prior to that to sell the house- the earliest they would have been installed would be 2016. So, I usually don't lock this particular window because it's in a spot that would be *extremely* difficult to get to and it's the window I open the most in that room. I've since tried locking it, which revealed the problem- the water was getting in between the screen and the bottom of the top window sash. With it locked, the water drips from the screen and not through the hole since the lock puts extra pressure on the point where it was coming through- I'm also thinking that it's possible it wasn't actually coming *out* of that hole, but that the surface tension on the water was making it look like it was. It would be ideal if this didn't happen at all, but I'm not particularly concerned about water traveling half an inch between two pieces of metal that were built to withstand rain. TL;DR- if you have an issue like this just try locking your drat window. m0therfux0r fucked around with this message at 18:40 on Apr 19, 2022 |
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Apr 19, 2022 18:38
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Comrade Gritty posted:Rough two days. Septic problems found yesterday, today we have to call the fire dept out because our kitchen randomly started smelling like smoke and for hazy then the power went off in it. Then after they finally left (after not finding anything with their heat cameras) I sit down and my ISP decides to have an outage. Yowch. Hearty sympathies. Septic and fire, it's hard to think of a worse combination.
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Apr 19, 2022 19:44
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We have two light switches controlling the vanity light in our bathroom (one for each door into the Jack and Jill bathroom). One light switch is normal. The other when you flip it on makes crazy buzzing noises and the light flickers and then eventually stabilizes. Is this something someone who has never done electrical can diagnose and repair or call someone? I’m guessing the switch went bad which seems like it should be a simple fix (after shutting off power to the room and confirming that it’s dead with a voltmeter, unplug the current switch and put in a new one?).
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Apr 19, 2022 19:58
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Well, one problem solved     New boxes, outlets, and wire installed to fix the damage, plus I had them install an AFCI breaker on that circuit just in case and we're back up and running. Now just the septic to get sorted...
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Apr 19, 2022 20:33
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that aint' great.
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Apr 19, 2022 20:52
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tater_salad posted:that aint' great. Yea :| According to the electrician, the GFCI outlet has "compression plates" to make contact with the wire, and it looked like whoever installed it didn't tighten the screws down tight enough. Then over time as the wire slightly expanded and contracted from load, it loosened and started arcing until it got bad enough that it started melting inside from all the arcing. The rest of the house has backstab, which he said can have a similar problem just from the spring failing over time, so I guess I'm going to make a project of replacing all of the backstabs this weekend. I'm not an expert, but according to him, this is how that device is intended to fail. Burn itself out then trip the breaker before it can cause more damage to the house. To my eyes it looks like it was trying pretty hard to cause damage to the house, but what do I know. At least the AFCI breaker will keep that particular circuit from having problems again, just hope it doesn't end up with a bunch of nuisance tripping.
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Apr 19, 2022 20:57
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Solar install giving back
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Apr 19, 2022 21:39
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Comrade Gritty posted:Yea :| I was watching a YouTube video that was randomly suggested to me and it turns out that at least on electrical boxes, the combo phillips+straight looking screws are actually designed to take a square drive bit in the center. Apparently you can get a much larger amount of torque on the screw that way.
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Apr 20, 2022 00:56
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dxt posted:I just closed on my first home on Friday so I am not very experienced at all on home projects. I have a drill, tape measure, and hammer, but not much else. I didn't even think about the hinge pockets. I may be in over my head here. Comedy college-level engineering option: You could try to find a bi-fold door the size of the opening and just install that in the doorframe. I ended up doing that in my first house where we had a door that split the levels in half, but I wanted airflow between the levels (because of the whole house fan) but also wanted to keep the cats out (door was solid): I just put a louvred bi-fold door up in the space and closed that when I wanted Air, But No Cats. I did have to get a bit creative once the one cat figured out how to open the door, though.
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Apr 20, 2022 01:00
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