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You have condensate draining into a basement window well and you have no sump pump?
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Jun 17, 2022 21:42
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nwin posted:No sump hole anywhere. But there is a condensate drip from the split unit. I have a split downstairs and central ac upstairs. No idea where central drains to. Solved the mystery of emptying the dehumidifier twice a day. E:f;b
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Jun 17, 2022 22:00
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Hadlock posted:Hard to tell, but is your ceiling more than 6' high? I would just get some pvc pipe and pvc glue and run a straight line from ground level outside, above the stairs, to your dehumidifier, now sitting on top of a 7' high bookshelf yeah raising the humidifier is what I'd suggest
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Jun 17, 2022 22:01
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Tremors posted:Engineer is coming Wednesday, dumpster is being delivered Thursday, and crane is coming Friday. Go with God, my son.
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Jun 17, 2022 22:17
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Motronic posted:You have condensate draining into a basement window well and you have no sump pump? I had this problem! Condensate drained into the crawl space with no sump pump! I would very, very much not recommend this problem. I would, however, recommend you physically stand at the lowest point of your crawl space during a home inspection prior to buying, in case the previous owner tried simply concealing an entire loving swampland by throwing sheeting over it. Though I can say our dehumidifier had a wee little hose, and the pump in the unit had no problem getting the water up four feet and out a window. I don't know about a full sized hose though that seems overkill.
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Jun 17, 2022 22:51
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So they could have had the mini splits empty into the yard and have it drain somewhat away but said nah let’s drip it into a casement window? That is just extra work to make a big problem for the house lol.
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Jun 17, 2022 23:52
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Motronic posted:You have condensate draining into a basement window well and you have no sump pump? Reached out to the previous owner who had the AC system installed 1 year ago: quote:
He also said he had to empty his dehumidifier twice a day during the summer and never got around to running a pump. I read on a few forums that people will put pea gravel or other substrate in window wells to help drain it. In my house I was renting in Virginia, all the window wells were tied to a sump pump, but this is Connecticut where maybe sumps aren’t as common?
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Jun 18, 2022 00:15
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Properly installed wells tie into the perimeter drain tile. You have no sump. Unless the drain tile (if it exists) drains to daylight somewhere you are putting water against your foundation which is causing increased humidity. You PO likey has no idea what they're talking about and the contract or who did that work doesn't either because it's an HVAC guy not a foundation guy or general contractor with broader knowledge. TL;DR redirect the condensate away from your foundation by 3 feet and make sure your gutter downspouts are too.
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Jun 18, 2022 00:51
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Motronic posted:Properly installed wells tie into the perimeter drain tile. You have no sump. Unless the drain tile (if it exists) drains to daylight somewhere you are putting water against your foundation which is causing increased humidity. You PO likey has no idea what they're talking about and the contract or who did that work doesn't either because it's an HVAC guy not a foundation guy or general contractor with broader knowledge. The only thing I know is: On the side of the house with those two window wells pictured, it’s on a downslope. So if I redirect the condensate away by 3 feet it will definitely roll downhill. The gutters all go in-ground to two big pvc pipes which run downhill about 150 feet to a storm drain, so I’m good there. How deep does a window well go? I’m wondering if they were thinking that since the hill slopes down, any water in the window well would go away from the house? Also: not seeing any visible moisture on the walls by the window well with the condensate line. Would I though? To do list: Get pvc pipe and get condensate line away from window well Seal leak on bilco door Drill hole near window for dehumidifier with built in pump. I’m guessing I’ll have it drain out to that same pvc pipe. Maybe get a T connection for it and the condensate.
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Jun 18, 2022 01:00
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I recall some peeps here had lovesac couches. Planning to buy my first not-secondhand couch and I like the feel of them plus like that they’re on sale this weekend. Also I like that I can add to it later or change fabrics if needed in 5 years. That said I’ve never spent more than $500 for a living room set. Anyone got the down fathers, is it worth the $700? Is it worth the $4000 price point? CarForumPoster fucked around with this message at 03:42 on Jun 18, 2022 |
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Jun 18, 2022 03:40
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CarForumPoster posted:I recall some peeps here had lovesac couches. Planning to buy my first not-secondhand couch and I like the feel of them plus like that they’re on sale this weekend. Also I like that I can add to it later or change fabrics if needed in 5 years. That said I’ve never spent more than $500 for a living room set. I don’t have the down. I’m on year 5? And still love it a lot.
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Jun 18, 2022 03:45
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if you have pets they will piss on them would be my warning
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Jun 18, 2022 03:59
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Benagain posted:if you have pets they will piss on them would be my warning Uhh what I have two cats but they don’t piss on stuff so far Is it a magical piss magnet couch?
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Jun 18, 2022 04:11
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StormDrain posted:Put the humidifier on a small stand. Route the drain to drop water onto a small water wheel generating electricity and charging a small battery, hooked up to a small circulation pump in your new shrimp farm. Use the shrimp to grind into blood colagulant, sell this to the military, use the money to buy a sump pump
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Jun 18, 2022 04:20
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For goons that have done house extensions, yard rejiggering, patio construction, and so forth: how did you approach the design of the project? I’d like a small patio/seating area out back but drat if me or the Mrs. have anything approaching vision. Can contractors provide a playbook of sorts and let’s you pick and choose stuff to be built?
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Jun 18, 2022 14:01
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nwin posted:The only thing I know is: I don't know how deep YOUR window well goes. But the way they're supposed to be designed is to tie into the draininge tile that goes around your house at the base of the foundation. You may have this, you may not. The window well may be properly connected to it, it may not. Either way, you don't want water up against your house. If you have gutters that already gravity drain downslope and that far away from your house that's a perfect place to send your condensate as well (assuming they are somewhere close to those windows you showed). If not just put a 90 on that one above your window, go over a few feet, put another 90 on it and then go out a few more feet. You don't even need to support it/strap it down to do this little experiment and it's less than $20 in materials. If it makes a difference within a week it's the right thing to do. If it doesn't then maybe you have a proper drain tile with the window well tied in and it draining to daylight downslope like your gutters.
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Jun 18, 2022 15:05
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Warbird posted:For goons that have done house extensions, yard rejiggering, patio construction, and so forth: how did you approach the design of the project? I’d like a small patio/seating area out back but drat if me or the Mrs. have anything approaching vision. Can contractors provide a playbook of sorts and let’s you pick and choose stuff to be built? Built a garage last year with a contractor that came recommended from our not horrible buyer's agent. I knew what we had (a gravel parking pad roughly 28x28) and what I wanted (a square garage with sidewalk up to the house) but no real design thoughts other than not lovely and easy/simple to maintain. The contractor had a ready-made plan of a square 24x24 detached garage that he had built several of around the city and we went with that and it worked out really well. To me, it all boils down to how much you're willing to trust your contractor; the one I had was pretty good but still required constant follow-ups and the other normal headaches associated to contractors (their sub-contractors, materials, etc.). Alternatively, you can search for poo poo online with pictures to get ideas of what you like and then, inevitably, talk to a contractor and find out exactly why you can't have what you like (cost, material, etc.). Beyond that, a good contractor can also help with permitting and things of that nature.
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Jun 18, 2022 15:20
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Warbird posted:For goons that have done house extensions, yard rejiggering, patio construction, and so forth: how did you approach the design of the project? I’d like a small patio/seating area out back but drat if me or the Mrs. have anything approaching vision. Can contractors provide a playbook of sorts and let’s you pick and choose stuff to be built? A good contractor can - especially one geared to a design/build business - but not all will be able or willing to do this. I’m a landscape architect by trade - maybe post some stuff here and we can crowdsource some concepts? At minimum, we would need photos of the area, photos of your interior/home exterior, any specific notes on elements you want to include and a ballpark budget.
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Jun 18, 2022 15:21
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Beef Of Ages posted:Alternatively, you can search for poo poo online with pictures to get ideas of what you like and then, inevitably, talk to a contractor and find out exactly why you can't have what you like (cost, material, etc.). Beyond that, a good contractor can also help with permitting and things of that nature. I paid for contractors to pour the footings & pad, and to install the roof. The rest I did myself. Total cost by 2006 was about $30K. I did get a contractor's bid - for $75,000. In 2004.  This was the drawing approved by the township. I had to have a zoning hearing to get a variance to put my back wall 3' from the property line instead of 6' (even though the original garage was like 6-inches from the line...) The measurements show where I had to sink hurricane bolts in the slab.    
PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 15:49 on Jun 18, 2022 |
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Jun 18, 2022 15:47
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I live in an apartment currently (please don't run me out of the thread!) and the lighting here is . . . eh. There's too much of it, actually. There are enough lights in the ceiling - and they are bright enough - that I could probably perform surgery in my living room. I've been trying for a year to figure out better lighting, but haven't been happy with my results. I was in a neighbor's apartment yesterday and the lighting setup was just gorgeous - it turns out he's using almost entirely Phillips Hue lights and simply never turns his overhead lights on. Seems like everything is dimmable at the bulb-level, which is pretty appealing. I'm generally against IoT things, but I think I might be sold on it for this use case. I've seen different ecosystems discussed in the thread; if I'm going to dive into an IoT lighting system, which one should I be considering? Is Phillips Hue the best? Is there another option that is almost as good but a better value overall? And, how do I get started? Is there some sort of "Home Base" unit that is required to run everything? Or do I just get individual bulbs? Final question for the moment, I guess: where is the best place to purchase something like that? MenLowes Depot? Amazon? Direct from the manufacturer? Thanks in advance 
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Jun 18, 2022 19:31
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Benagain posted:if you have pets they will piss on them would be my warning maybe it was just my former roommate's cat but he had one of those and it was awesome except that when we moved he found the underlayer was covered in cat pee it would not be hard for your cats to be better than that cat but just keep an eye out, sitting on it was amazing otherwise
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Jun 18, 2022 19:46
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I also have a cat that pees on everything—all the couches are covered in waterproof covers, and I put pee pads on top of those so I don't have to do laundry every other day. Works okay but the room constantly smells like cat piss. We just clean it before guests come. Cat just loves (and has always loved) peeing on soft surfaces.
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Jun 18, 2022 19:54
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Zarin posted:I live in an apartment currently (please don't run me out of the thread!) and the lighting here is . . . eh. There's too much of it, actually. There are enough lights in the ceiling - and they are bright enough - that I could probably perform surgery in my living room. I can’t speak to other systems, but I have been using the Hue system for a few years. I’m not all-in but have a few rooms set up for it. You do not strictly need a dock, but you will be limited to 10 bulbs if you install lights without it. 50ish is the upper limit if you have the dock, I believe. The bulbs (both br30 floodlight type and typical A19s) come in 3 different styles: - Full spectrum color (RGB gamer lights basically) - Limited spectrum color (just white/yellow/blue) - Just on/off (2700ish K, still dimmable) All are more expensive than a typical dimmable LED, with the full spectrums being particularly pricey ($60/bulb iirc). I mostly have the cheapest one-color option because for me most of the point was to be able to adjust lighting from across the house. Best way I’ve found to get those is to get lucky with refurb sales through Amazon/Woot (I’d say they show up every month or so), though you’re just plain beholden to what’s in stock.
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Jun 18, 2022 20:12
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Zarin posted:I live in an apartment currently (please don't run me out of the thread!) and the lighting here is . . . eh. There's too much of it, actually. There are enough lights in the ceiling - and they are bright enough - that I could probably perform surgery in my living room. While you're at it and improving light, think about the number and placement of lights. Good light design has general lighting, task lights and accent lighting. If you have just one light in your room and you dim it, it will feel dim. If you have layers of light fixtures and dim and shape the light you can achieve a comfortable ambiance at low levels of brightness. https://www.vibia.com/us/ambient-task-and-accent-lighting-101/
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Jun 18, 2022 20:20
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Anza Borrego posted:A good contractor can - especially one geared to a design/build business - but not all will be able or willing to do this. I’m a landscape architect by trade - maybe post some stuff here and we can crowdsource some concepts? Yeah I was gonna say, talk with a landscape design/architect person. Depending on how much money you want to spend you could employ an architect My brother in law bought a house with no landscaping in the back yard. We took some measurements and plugged those into the last good/free version of Google SketchUp and came up with a great paver patio + retaining wall + lawn thing Post some photos and broad measurements maybe someone here will have some ideas
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Jun 18, 2022 20:38
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Not a Children posted:I can’t speak to other systems, but I have been using the Hue system for a few years. I’m not all-in but have a few rooms set up for it. You do not strictly need a dock, but you will be limited to 10 bulbs if you install lights without it. 50ish is the upper limit if you have the dock, I believe. I assume all three options are dimmable, yeah? My current plan was to put the Gamer RGB lights in the three sockets over the island and rotate the color based on the holiday, etc. I need to figure out what to do about lighting for the rest of the living room (small lamp/s on a bookshelf/ves? Not sure yet) StormDrain posted:While you're at it and improving light, think about the number and placement of lights. Good light design has general lighting, task lights and accent lighting. If you have just one light in your room and you dim it, it will feel dim. If you have layers of light fixtures and dim and shape the light you can achieve a comfortable ambiance at low levels of brightness. Huge, thank you! That's exactly something that I've probably been looking for - and need to make my wife read, haha. I've been trying to tell her that while I like lighting "dim", we should be able to find a comfortable middle-ground with bright (but ambient) light. She's always just been one to turn every loving light on in the place and be like "there, done" and I'm like "this looks terrible and I hate it" 
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Jun 18, 2022 20:41
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I am waiting for forums poster Motronic to come here with (criticism I sometimes agree with) that Philips Hue is renter garbage. I am curious what the higher-end replacements would be like, if anyone including Motronic has a model recommendation to look at? And I want to know what the dislikes are around Hue, I like them decently enough.
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Jun 19, 2022 01:53
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Originally hue was the gold standard (still is, I suppose) Hue now works on some open standard and I guess the Ikea bulbs are compatible? Hue is probably overpriced, but I guess my oldest bubs are five years old now and I've never once had an issue, except for the fact that your phone and the hue base station need to be on the same wifi network to do the initial setup, but that's a pretty minor quibble We have 41 bulbs in our house, including the front porch and downstairs bathrooms, and some ludicrously expensive candalara bulbs for my wife's stupid lamp We have I think four of the led strip lighting, one behind the changing table in the nursery, one behind my desk as ambient lighting, one on our old media center turned credenza, and another behind the TV The other smart home lighting system is I think lumina? I'm not sure if they just do switches, or if they also do actual bulbs I would not do Bluetooth bulbs unless you live in a one bedroom or very small 2 bedroom, the range I think Google home now supports lighting groups, so you can do stuff like "ok google, turn off the downstairs lights" or "turn off the patio lights" etc Yeah $10 led full color bulbs exist but is their app going to be supported in three months?  hue has great support and seems to have wide compatibility
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Jun 19, 2022 02:16
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IDK much about the system designs of the home IoT systems out today and the idea of IoT on wifi that faces the internet is loving terrifying to me. (e.g. I don't let my TV connect to WiFi, I use an Apple TV). Much less so with something that is made by Apple/Amazon/Google acting as a hub and the individual devices only talk to the router-like hub. I have some physical security concerns but my biggest concern is a remote hack that lets someone take over a device on my network or make me part of some bot net DDoS. Is there a site out there that compares these systems from a cybersecurity attack surface and company history of surviving attacks perspective?
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Jun 19, 2022 02:31
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Warbird posted:For goons that have done house extensions, yard rejiggering, patio construction, and so forth: how did you approach the design of the project? I’d like a small patio/seating area out back but drat if me or the Mrs. have anything approaching vision. Can contractors provide a playbook of sorts and let’s you pick and choose stuff to be built? Hadlock posted:Yeah I was gonna say, talk with a landscape design/architect person. Depending on how much money you want to spend you could employ an architect We did this when we build our guest house which was a ~$40K project and the architect was $4K of that, I think "10% of budget" is common wisdom and it proved true for us. Every dollar of that was valuable for me even though I had done a rough mock in sketchup. I wanted to match as close as possible a lot of small details on the main structure, and her ability to take my rough ideas, then tweak them knowing codes, common local construction methods, and how to integrate some period fixtures I had acquired was well worth saved aggravation later on. Depending on how particular you are about everything being just right it might be a good option for you too.
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Jun 19, 2022 02:49
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Inner Light posted:I am waiting for forums poster Motronic to come here with (criticism I sometimes agree with) that Philips Hue is renter garbage. I am curious what the higher-end replacements would be like, if anyone including Motronic has a model recommendation to look at? And I want to know what the dislikes are around Hue, I like them decently enough. I thought he had a good opinion of them. Maybe I'm wrong on that, though. It's me, I'm the renter garbage  Hadlock posted:Originally hue was the gold standard (still is, I suppose) Much appreciated! I didn't realize they did LED strip lighting too. I need some of that under the kitchen cabinets . . . Zarin fucked around with this message at 03:54 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 03:51
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If your are super handy you can cut up the Phillips hue led strip lighting and reconnect it using cat 5 Ethernet cable and a soldering iron. My under cabinet project used a single led strip and about 30' of wiring + judicious use of drill bit
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Jun 19, 2022 04:06
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Hadlock posted:If your are super handy you can cut up the Phillips hue led strip lighting and reconnect it using cat 5 Ethernet cable and a soldering iron. My under cabinet project used a single led strip and about 30' of wiring + judicious use of drill bit I'd probably be handy enough for that if I had a space to work and inclination to do so, but I'm wondering if I won't be able to just get away without doing that. Worst case, my buddy is an EE and he DEFINITELY has all the stuff needed for this in his garage. He just lives 3 hours away.
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Jun 19, 2022 04:21
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Hue probably is overpriced but it works well and has been supported for a while. I doubt it's going anywhere. I have my UI gripes with their control app, but there are a fair number of 3rd party apps out there that add some of the missing functionality, and apart from a couple multi-packs of white only bulbs bought from Amazon, haven't had any hardware issues. We have around a couple dozen bulbs. You can set up rooms and areas and routines within the Phillips app, and it talks to Google, Amazon, and Apple for voice control and some scheduling functions in your home apps, which is really convenient. Marrying a Google account to the Phillips account to allow assistant control can be a pain in the rear end, but once you get it working you don't have to mess with it, typically. We bought it to deal with terrible overhead apartment lighting and it was great for that function.
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Jun 19, 2022 08:23
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BonerGhost posted:We have around a couple dozen bulbs. Haha oh poo poo are you my downstairs neighbor? Sorry your zucchinis aren't doing well, I'm going to try and do some research this week and see if I can't help out there.
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Jun 19, 2022 09:02
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Zarin posted:Haha oh poo poo are you my downstairs neighbor? Not unless you've lived in Saudi Arabia for the last year  E: vvv the opposite of tumescent BonerGhost fucked around with this message at 09:17 on Jun 19, 2022 |
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Jun 19, 2022 09:06
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BonerGhost posted:Not unless you've lived in Saudi Arabia for the last year Hmm, unlikely. Could be interesting in short amounts, but I feel like more than a week and I'd accidently drop my guard and do something offhandedly casual that would get me stoned to death. Edit: How are your zucchini doing in the heat?
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Jun 19, 2022 09:12
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Heads up: Schneider Electric is recalling QO Plug-On Neutral Load Centers manufactured between February 1, 2020 and January 12, 2022. These were sold at Lowes Depot as well as through electrical supply houses. More details and affected product numbers here: https://www.se.com/us/en/work/products/local/safety-notices/2022/qo-pon-loadcenters/
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Jun 19, 2022 14:11
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Only centers from a particular plant, the pdf instructions there tell you where to look at the label to see if you're impacted. I have the right models, but mine are from plant 73, when it's plant 15 where the problems were.
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Jun 19, 2022 15:05
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| # ? May 8, 2024 15:25 |
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Inner Light posted:I am waiting for forums poster Motronic to come here with (criticism I sometimes agree with) that Philips Hue is renter garbage. I am curious what the higher-end replacements would be like, if anyone including Motronic has a model recommendation to look at? And I want to know what the dislikes are around Hue, I like them decently enough. All of this should be in the home automation thread where it's been covered ad nauseum: https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3635963 Also, all IoT stuff is inherently garbage. There are better ways to do this. The only application for phillips hue is for people renting apartments. Everyone else can and should do better because you're allowed to change the wiring in your own home.
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Jun 19, 2022 15:27
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