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Pollyanna posted:Cheers maintenance. Absolute bangup fuckin job mates. Love it. Oh god I'm dying. Earnin' that thin beige line flag! 
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Jul 13, 2023 20:47
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Anyone have recommendations for motorized blinds? I need some for a skylight.
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Jul 14, 2023 22:23
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I am in a similar position but just for some inaccessible windows. We have Bali blinds which we quite like, but I'm not 100% sold on their motorized options or how long their battery packs last which is really important to me. I'm hoping someone makes something with a tiny solar panel that could act as a trickle charger as I think that would be ideal, if at all feasible.
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Jul 15, 2023 00:04
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Calidus posted:Anyone have recommendations for motorized blinds? I need some for a skylight. Ikea makes insanely cheap motorized blinds. They rely on gravity so I'm not sure it would work in your circumstance though.
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Jul 15, 2023 01:33
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Calidus posted:Anyone have recommendations for motorized blinds? I need some for a skylight. Hunter Douglas is always going to be the best imo. They will typically send someone to do a free consult so nothing to lose
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Jul 15, 2023 20:03
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PainterofCrap posted:I just went to Hechingers Hell yes  :softpretzel:
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Jul 16, 2023 00:41
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actionjackson posted:Hunter Douglas is always going to be the best imo. They will typically send someone to do a free consult so nothing to lose Can't say I agree, between 2 houses we've had to deal with 3 different sets of those with the most recent being bought in 2019 and they've all had terrible battery life, even with $20 of lithium's installed in each one. The first 2 sets were installed by PO and from the late 00's. This 3rd set we bought because we stupidly believed the salesman that "oh yah those old ones were terrible but they're much better now!"
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Jul 16, 2023 01:13
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We added outlets in the ceiling of our screened in patio addition contractor quote to handle motorized shades/blinds down the road. It looks like there are z-wave compatible motors out there, and will be a nice thing to automate with the full western sun we get.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:17
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Calidus posted:Anyone have recommendations for motorized blinds? I need some for a skylight.
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Jul 16, 2023 20:42
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Elem7 posted:Can't say I agree, between 2 houses we've had to deal with 3 different sets of those with the most recent being bought in 2019 and they've all had terrible battery life, even with $20 of lithium's installed in each one. The first 2 sets were installed by PO and from the late 00's. This 3rd set we bought because we stupidly believed the salesman that "oh yah those old ones were terrible but they're much better now!" I will say I've never used the motorized ones
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Jul 16, 2023 21:25
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HycoCam posted:Somfy has some great products that have proven to be very reliable. Power over Ethernet if you can.
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Jul 17, 2023 16:56
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slidebite posted:I'd love to see the look on my builders face when I tell him I want an RJ45 on the ceiling of my kitchen. Don't do it. The grease will gum up your ap. 
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Jul 17, 2023 17:02
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slidebite posted:I'd love to see the look on my builders face when I tell him I want an RJ45 on the ceiling of my kitchen. As long as the electrician/low-voltage tech is invited to the conversation, no big deal (lots of PoE cameras out there). The bigger problem is clients who say they don't need any low-voltage systems and then scramble to add it last minute. I've specified motorized blinds a couple of times, always wired never battery. The kind of person who can afford motorized blinds is typically going to be annoyed if they need to change batteries. And I agree with the recommendation for Hunter-Douglas.
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Jul 17, 2023 17:07
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I'm getting quotes now for a concrete patio. I am having a smaller seperate slab poured for use under a potential hot tub. A thing my wife was very excited about, and a thing I am dreading with my entire sense of financial responsibility.
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Jul 17, 2023 17:42
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StormDrain posted:I'm getting quotes now for a concrete patio. I am having a smaller seperate slab poured for use under a potential hot tub. A thing my wife was very excited about, and a thing I am dreading with my entire sense of financial responsibility. Hot tubs and pools are the only hills worth dying on. We got a fancy bathtub that makes bubbles as a delaying action.
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Jul 17, 2023 17:53
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Tezer posted:As long as the electrician/low-voltage tech is invited to the conversation, no big deal (lots of PoE cameras out there). The bigger problem is clients who say they don't need any low-voltage systems and then scramble to add it last minute. I wanted to murder management at my last job when we were building out nearly-gutted 1.5 floors of office space. I don't know the sq ft but it housed like 300 people plus conference rooms. Open floorplan tech company. At every step: "You need to bring us to these meetings so we can get you internet to the office, phones, and internet to the desks. No one will be able to work if you don't." Every time we were rebuked. Eventually we found out through the grapevine they had signed a lease, neat, still "no." They had selected a builder and had started construction "no." Eventually went to the CEO or something and said "If you don't get us in the room with the builders no one is going to be able to work for months after you are "ready to move in." This got me in the door, and as I started rattling off requirements (as a SRE/sysadmin/computer toucher, I don't know how you do your job but I know how to read a blueprint) the GC foreman got REAL mad at me because it was a HUGE change order at that point, who do you think you are some computer person coming in at the last minute with new requirements don't you know how this works etc. I threw our CFO, who was in the room, right under the bus about how I had tried to do this blah blah blah. It was confirmed true and then me and the GC were best buds and he turned his ire to the CFO. Was pretty funny to watch the CFO shrink. It cost six figures several times over to change order in like 1200 ethernet jacks and all required cabling. Two IDFs, one MDF. Only horizontal wiring and passive gear, we did all active gear and all patching. It was amazing though, union shop throughout. Plus the like $250k for the AV vendor to do the same, because they also didn't have anything you would expect in a conference room. They of course did this again and again when they leased half a third floor, and two other offices around the country, but by then I wasn't in charge of it. Was really funny to watch go down.
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Jul 17, 2023 18:12
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Yah sure, a wired motorized blind would be better but that's not a minor thing to add outside of new construction or major renovations. Unfortunately my experience with battery powered ones has been very poor, but I'd still rather have them than a 10 foot long cord hanging down from a second story window. If I ever do get the chance to build or at least gut a house I already planned to go wired, ideally with exterior rolling metal shutters.
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Jul 17, 2023 18:38
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PoE for motorized blinds is such a smart idea I wouldn't have had that on my own for sure. I would likely just run low voltage cabling for them with a centralized transformer though, because I'm cheap. Which has reminded me that I still have a to do list of adding ethernet that I keep kicking down the line.
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Jul 17, 2023 20:35
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I'm currently going the rounds with my city's permitting office. I want to install a concrete pad that will allow for a travel trailer, and a base to put up a metal kit garage. That's all. I understand permitting exists for a reason, that safety is important, etc. etc. but holy gently caress I want to slap someone (or many people) over there. It starts with me calling the permitting office (this is back in May) and saying "this is what I want to do, what do I need to do?" The lady I spoke with said "you need X, Y, and Z." Ok, easy enough. I do x, y, and z, and submit it to the office. I had specifically contacted the appropriate folks and asked if I needed engineer stamped drawings. "No, the specs from the manufacturer will be fine." A couple weeks later the office responds "no no no, you need A, B, and C." Grr. Ok, here's a, b, c. More time goes by. "We need engineer stamped drawings and the rear of your building needs to be 1-hour fire rated." Also the specs are apparently over-engineered for snow load (  isn't "more than necessary" better than less?) but not strong enough for wind so I have to go back to the company and change the specs. That's easy enough, I haven't paid for the thing yet, but the engineer stamps are kind of an issue because I don't get those until I buy the thing. If I buy the thing they ship it, then the building has to sit in boxes on the property while the city decides if they're going to approve it or not. And if they don't approve it wtf do I do with the building? Plus it takes like 30 business days for the drawings, around 6 weeks real time which shits the timeline up completely. I moved a restoration vehicle to a friend's house so work could be done but it's taking up space in his garage and if I'm not done soon then we'll have to tow it back over here and gently caress up the work area.If they'd said what they actually needed from the get-go I wouldn't be so annoyed but pretty much everything I was specifically told was wrong. My house is nearing a hundred years old and I've lived here 20 years without a garage. I just want a place to park a couple cars, maybe have 10ft of shop space so I can build a birdhouse or something. 
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Jul 18, 2023 04:10
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You have my sympathies, I've had a similar experience in the past. The problem, I think, is that there's multiple people with different specialties, who all have to review your plan. And they all want different stuff and some of them won't even look at the plan until the others are happy with it. This minimizes wasted labor by the government, but means a ton of back and forth with random homeowners. Builders that do work in the area will have working relationships with the department, and more experience with the system, so they don't have to deal with anywhere near as much friction. It sucks to go through though, no question.
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Jul 18, 2023 11:41
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Some permitting offices really make it easy to see why people will go out of their way to avoid permits and hide work. I would ask the permitting office to cite the requirements they're asking for. If they can't, or if you look it up yourself and find the office is grossly misinterpreting the code you'll know pretty quickly whether they're incompetent or not. If they're actually following the book then I'd wonder why your building designer isn't aware of the requirements because most places follow the same code. It's odd the building office would comment about over-engineering though... you might be in for a fight.
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Jul 18, 2023 12:09
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StormDrain posted:I'm getting quotes now for a concrete patio. I am having a smaller seperate slab poured for use under a potential hot tub. A thing my wife was very excited about, and a thing I am dreading with my entire sense of financial responsibility. How much are they coming in at? Are you getting a pattern stamped? About to do the same for our backyard.
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Jul 18, 2023 12:12
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I’m not even sure what thread is best for this but hooollllyyyyy poo poo. https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8RBerbw/
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Jul 18, 2023 13:12
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SubponticatePoster posted:More time goes by. "We need engineer stamped drawings and the rear of your building needs to be 1-hour fire rated." Also the specs are apparently over-engineered for snow load ( Call the vendor and ask them how much you need to pay for the engineering services required, and then pay that amount. If your building gets approved, then purchase the building package. If your vendor is unwilling to provide design services, find a new vendor. It's a very standard request and they shouldn't have a problem with billing you for it.
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Jul 18, 2023 13:47
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I’ve found the least bad way to communicate with permitting people is via email so you have whatever they say in writing, with time stamps to match. What they say in writing isn’t actually binding, and just because low level minion X said Y when Y is wrong doesn’t mean you get to do Y, but I’ve found it will at least get you a little sympathy from the person who knows that Y is wrong. I think they get a lot of people calling and saying ‘but that other person I talked to (they never talked to them) said my death trap on my neighbor’s property would be fine’ and having receipts shows you actually are trying to do the process right. And if it become a total boondoggle, you have something to show your city councilor or w/e and sometimes that can help get things done. Especially if you can say ‘look at it takes them a week to respond to my emails and that’s with 3 follow up emails’ Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 13:51 on Jul 18, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 13:48
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If you're close to the inspectors office and you can ask questions there it could be worth visiting in person and playing nice. I recently had my first inspection and the inspector recognized me from my visits. He pretty much just waved his flashlight around and called my basement reno good... He spent more time telling me how I can fix my sticky front door than performing the inspection.
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Jul 18, 2023 14:24
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:I’ve found the least bad way to communicate with permitting people is via email so you have whatever they say in writing, with time stamps to match. What they say in writing isn’t actually binding, and just because low level minion X said Y when Y is wrong doesn’t mean you get to do Y, but I’ve found it will at least get you a little sympathy from the person who knows that Y is wrong. I think they get a lot of people calling and saying ‘but that other person I talked to (they never talked to them) said my death trap on my neighbor’s property would be fine’ and having receipts shows you actually are trying to do the process right. 100% this, get everything in writing at every step of the way. You don't want to be a massive prick about it, but being able to say "well I was told on 4/14/23 by <person> (cc'd on this email) that we only needed X, Y, and Z - was this incorrect? I can have A, B, C to you by COB Friday, but I would like some clarification on what the requirements are" can go a looooong loving way to making people realize that you at least have the potential to be a pain in the rear end and to try and do things right the first time. And, worst case scenario, you've got a bucket of poo poo to dump on a supervisor or councilman's desk if it really is a them problem.
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Jul 18, 2023 14:35
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Finishing up my closet redo where I had to pull up carpet to put down peel and stick (from a leak). Looking for cheap vinyl to carpet threshold strip. Anything anybody recommends? Or is this just a "order whatever is cheapest off amazon" situation? BonoMan fucked around with this message at 15:59 on Jul 18, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 15:57
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BonoMan posted:Finishing up my closet redo where I had to pull up carpet to put down peel and stick (from a leak). Why are you looking at Amazon and not just buying a $12 strip and a hacksaw at the big box store?
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Jul 18, 2023 16:11
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eddiewalker posted:Why are you looking at Amazon and not just buying a $12 strip and a hacksaw at the big box store? Because it's cheaper on Amazon and I live in a city that gets same day shipping. I'm specifically looking for the strip that is high on one side and low on the other to transition from carpet to vinyl. And visually matches the peel and stick I'm using. Lowes/HD don't offer it as far as I can tell.
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Jul 18, 2023 17:02
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If you've got a Menards locally you would check them out. I was recently in your same position and found they had the best selection by far. The one I ended up buying (I can post the brand once I get home) was pretty cheap and self leveling since I've also got an uneven level to span.
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Jul 18, 2023 19:26
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Crossposting, but this just happened to my dryer (Maytag) - one month out of warranty. (It stopped heating up which led me to check everything. I noticed some black dust in the bottom of the back when I removed the backplate). Edit: I bet Lowe's - who installed it - installed that plug too. The right screw in this picture was missing. 
BonoMan fucked around with this message at 20:12 on Jul 18, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 20:07
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After working at Lowes and getting to know some of the people there I would not trust them with anything but loading mulch. One of the guys I worked with would tell people he was a professional wrestler. He'd post pictures Facebook pictures of his TV with WWE on and claim it was him. He was also constantly having to turn down sex from 3 sister-models from NYC named Sandi, Brandy & Mandy. Or so he claimed.
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Jul 18, 2023 20:23
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For those not dryer or electric inclined what exactly are we looking at aside from a rapid unplanned disassembly of the wire, why did that happen?
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Jul 18, 2023 20:28
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Inner Light posted:For those not dryer or electric inclined what exactly are we looking at aside from a rapid unplanned disassembly of the wire? That's the 240v 3 prong plug coming into the dryer. Since appliance outlets can be 4 or 3 prong, often Lowes (or whomever) will swap out the plug to adapt to whatever the home has. It's a small bathroom where this is located and it's super cramped so I was not in there with them. Looks like they swapped out the plug for a 3 prong but either installed it wrong or damaged the cable enough in the install to cause a short.
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Jul 18, 2023 20:30
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The screw was missing, so the wire could be vibrated out of place by operation of the machine. When it got juuuust far enough from the contact, ZAP ZAP, heat, burning, &c
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Jul 18, 2023 20:33
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Probably didn't install that crimp-on connector properly, resulting in a high-resistance connection, causing heat buildup and a significant fire risk. Fortunately all that happened was the wire melting. e:f;b
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Jul 18, 2023 20:33
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It almost looks like the rightmost wire was shorting against the metal housing, if that ??felt grommet isn't in the right place I'd be really up their rear end about this, you could have had a major fire in your home. Which screw was missing? I wonder if that rightmost wire was left under tension with it's insulation against the sharp metal inside edge of that stamped steel housing. The vibration of the dryer could conceivably over time cause the metal edge to wear through the insulation, causing a short. If that's a design issue with the lack of a proper grommet I wonder if that should be recalled?
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Jul 18, 2023 20:35
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Vim Fuego posted:The screw was missing, so the wire could be vibrated out of place by operation of the machine. When it got juuuust far enough from the contact, ZAP ZAP, heat, burning, &c I read it wrong whoops I thought the hole at far right was for a screw.. the other theories seem like they're on the right track. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 20:40 on Jul 18, 2023 |
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Jul 18, 2023 20:36
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VelociBacon posted:It almost looks like the rightmost wire was shorting against the metal housing, if that ??felt grommet isn't in the right place I'd be really up their rear end about this, you could have had a major fire in your home. Which screw was missing? This was the screw missing:  Like Inner Light said, it's for the faceplate (and there's 2 or 3 other screws holding it on) so likely it didn't have much or anything to do with it... but it DOES let me know that Lowes was in there swapping out the wiring and probably screwed something up. I bet you're right about the wearing down. The metal edge is rolled so that seems like it really shouldn't happen (at least over a year?) but not sure. Maytag has already slid into my DMs on Twitter about it. Waiting on Lowes.
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Jul 18, 2023 20:41
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