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The PTAC in my office nook is ineffective because the cool air goes right out of the area instead of going to the left/right and hitting the thermostat. Aside from installing a door, is there something I can attach to the PTAC (I think it's a GE Zoneline) to send the air to both sides? I've only found some deflectors that direct air up/down. Here's a handy diagram of what I mean:
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Jul 25, 2023 23:01
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| # ? May 8, 2024 19:42 |
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I absolutely hate fans that only operate via remote. I have no idea if the remote is messed up or the receiver box in the actual fan or what. All I know is that I can’t use the actual fan portion and it’s driving me mad.
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Jul 25, 2023 23:07
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Verman posted:A rickety wooden ladder and a manual hand drill lmao
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Jul 25, 2023 23:30
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Where the heck would you even find such a device anymore.
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Jul 25, 2023 23:39
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runawayturtles posted:The PTAC in my office nook is ineffective because the cool air goes right out of the area instead of going to the left/right and hitting the thermostat. Aside from installing a door, is there something I can attach to the PTAC (I think it's a GE Zoneline) to send the air to both sides? I've only found some deflectors that direct air up/down. would an air defector for mini-split units like this work?  Maybe with a small fan?
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Jul 25, 2023 23:50
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Reminds me of the two 8.5x11 I taped long ways side by side over the vent above my head at an office job long ago
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Jul 26, 2023 00:02
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FISHMANPET posted:Where the heck would you even find such a device anymore. If we're talking an old brace style drill they're not hard to find as antiques, and new ones are still manufactured. They offer precise control and more power than electric drills. If it's an eggbeater style then lol and it was probably his grandfather's.
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Jul 26, 2023 00:05
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Rotten posted:lmao You'd think the hand operated drill guy would be super excited about a loss of power for the neighborhood
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Jul 26, 2023 00:56
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TerminalSaint posted:If we're talking an old brace style drill they're not hard to find as antiques, and new ones are still manufactured. They offer precise control and more power than electric drills. If it's an eggbeater style then lol and it was probably his grandfather's. Hipsters gonna hipster. Wouldn't be the first time I saw someone trying to do something with an antiquated tool - perhaps their grandfather's perhaps just a yard sale pickup - because they have this ingrained belief that older = better. There's this quasi-mystical thing that some people ascribe to old stuff, like it's all an ancestral heirloom made of hanzo steel using lost techniques that gives the wielder +5 to whatever. I've seen it with tools, guns, occasionally cars, pretty much anything made of metal.
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Jul 26, 2023 01:00
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Egg beater style drill. 6th grade wood shop style. There's a lot of truth to people thinking heritage items are inherently better than modern stuff for no valid reason other than sentimental value is often associated with it. As a professional computer toucher myself, he seems like a developer or programmer by his personality. I'd guess he was given a wooden box of tools by his grandpa or something and maybe has some sentimental connection by using them? I have no idea. His bits were loose in a cigar box and he didn't even have a chuck key to tighten his bit which is why it fell off. I 100% thought he was going to break through the round rungs of the ladder because they were flexing under his feet. When he tried drilling over his head with both hands on a wobbly ladder, I nearly went home. I'm not trying to be an "alpha" guy or anything but watching someone do something so poorly and wrong is difficult to watch, and being stubborn to admit he needed help. I had other stuff to do that day so I just wanted it done. The other neighbors made a spectacle of it and all came out to watch/stand around and provide useless input. He just wanted to take charge for some reason. Hes quiet, but had a lot of opinions and any time I suggested something he has hesitation. It was weird. I would've had it done in 5-10 minutes on my own. It took more than an hour and hanging it twice because he insisted on the location the first time. People are strange 
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Jul 26, 2023 01:24
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Verman posted:His bits were loose in a cigar box and he didn't even have a chuck key to tighten his bit which is why it fell off. lol he literally never tried to use this before. Verman posted:I'm not trying to be an "alpha" guy or anything but watching someone do something so poorly and wrong is difficult to watch, and being stubborn to admit he needed help. You're not. This is one of the most painful software guy/never did anything with their hands kind of thing to watch. They saw some social media video about it, so they must know how to use the tools mom gave them when they moved out (from great gramps, mom was looking to free up space but didn't have the heart to pitch this garbage). (note: I have my grandfathers tools including the brace and bits, and now have picked up my wife's grandfathers brace and bits. I do not try to use them, I'm making sure they are in a place that will make it easy for my children to send to scrap metal recycling)
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Jul 26, 2023 01:34
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Verman posted:The main trunk was topped a long time ago around 15'. The other 120 feet are all spurs that grew out of it. There were two that were 90% rotten at the base where they met the primary trunk. It's an absolute miracle they didn't come down in a wind storm. This is probably 24" wide and was about 100' tall. Glad it worked out! (let us know if they bs you with the quote)
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Jul 26, 2023 01:51
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Verman posted:
Nah, you're fine on that regard. There's a lot of cultural baggage out there of what it means to "be a man" and a lot of people just have this assumption that certain skills are your natural right as the bearer of a pair of testicles. I've seen the same thing with guns and cars, too. If you don't know how to change a carburetor, sweat copper, and clean a shotgun you're basically not a man at all. I saw this all the loving time in college with people who would get themselves backed into trying to change some girl's oil because of course I know, I'm a guy right? (is a computer nerd that has no loving clue), and to a lesser extent I've seen it with suburban 30-somethings who own their first home and gently caress, my dad could remove the trap on the sink to clear a clog so CLEARLY this is something I should just be able to yolo. It's a dumb situation where people feel like they need to act like they know how to do these things and can't ask for help because of what being able to replace a faucet or whatever symbolizes in their head.
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Jul 26, 2023 01:52
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Motronic posted:garbage). (note: I have my grandfathers tools including the brace and bits, and now have picked up my wife's grandfathers brace and bits. I do not try to use them, I'm making sure they are in a place that will make it easy for my children to send to scrap metal recycling) Do your kids a favor like my late uncle did and keep all your sentimental stuff in a 40' container so it can be shipped directly to the landfill I feel awful throwing out 500 lbs of rusty vintage bear traps(?!) and 50 year old ammo reloading equipment but the eBay value of the stuff just isn't worth the trip and time out there to sort through it all
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Jul 26, 2023 02:04
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I like being woefully incompetent with my hand tools, so I can't really dis anyone for using them even if they're bad at it. I built a set of shelves a while back using nothing but an old hand saw, drill, and a set of chisels. Was it a good shelf? Not particularly, no. Did I have a great time making it without any power tools or screws or nails? Yes. But I also have a power drill because sometimes you just want to put a hole in something and be done with it. (or you have a project that's already big enough without making it harder, like the gate/sign combo I am constructing construct for my housewarming party this weekend and the box full of screws that will be involved in assembling it. Now I just need to find a place where I can get a couple gallons of methanol on short notice for the finishing touches. Automative store, I guess?) Good news: I got the new well filtration system installed, and they replaced my tank and a whole bunch of my pipes too, which means I have gone from having zero functioning water cutoff valves to having five, depending on where in the system I want the water to stop going. Probably a bit overkill, but whatever. Not good news: It looks like the toilet/plumbing/septic problems are almost certainly in the pipes themselves and not the septic, but the guy I had by to look at it (a plumber that lives next door and said he'd take a gander for free) said he couldn't do much more than that because where the pipes go (other than eventually to the septic system) is a bit of a mystery, and the normal plumbing access a house would have is apparently not something my house has? But he said the solution was probably just getting someone to come by and route the pipes, so that's my next step there. Also he agrees that the toilets are garbage and he too would replace them even if the routing fixed the problem. Also, he confirms the 2x4s under the sink are in fact structural and the whole sink will collapse and likely damaged part of the counter as well if they get dislodged, so need to make sure I don't do that until I get that fixed.
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Jul 26, 2023 03:40
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Shifty Pony posted:would an air defector for mini-split units like this work? Hmm, possibly, though I'm not exactly sure how it could be attached. Also, while the design is different from others I've seen, it still seems to be intended to redirect air up/down and not left/right.
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Jul 26, 2023 03:40
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eggbeater drills are cool but yankee style push drills are even cooler, especially if the spiral is exposed
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Jul 26, 2023 05:43
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Braces and bits are elegant. Me, I use an impact driver.
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Jul 26, 2023 06:08
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I need advice from the folks here: Our house is a remodeled church from the 60s. It's very cool, but understanding how proceed to get work down is...tough. The current issue: There are two floors - the main and the basement. The main floor has a couple lofts built on it. One of the lofts has a large support beam coming down to the main floor. The main floor is entirely spancrete, and we want to put some kind of support right below this in the basement as there is none. The basement is currently is unfinished, and part of finishing it is thinking about adding this support structure. My question is this: Who do I call to answer the questions around this? "Should we add a support? How do we add a support? Do I need to prepare the basement somehow? Can I just throw cinder blocks between the spancrete and the basement floor?" A general contractor is right out, but looking around, I can't really find a 'concrete floor and building expert' as a trade. Is there a specific kind of skillset or contractor I should call about this?
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Jul 26, 2023 07:07
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The wood hauling crew came for a pickup today. Nice guy, had two machines, a motorized tracked wheelbarrow and a dingo walk behind mini skid steer with a grabber on the end for heavy rounds. I would love to have one of those things but I have zero need. I took the fence panel out to give them an easier entrance. They even replaced the fence when they left (I was at the office). I will say I was much less nervous about their work. Fingers crossed for Thursday and Friday when the tree crew returns.
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Jul 26, 2023 07:08
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:I need advice from the folks here: You probably need a full blown structural engineer to take a look at it. Some specialize in the renovation of historic buildings. The floor being spancrete will help significantly since that's a nice well documented structural element and not some strange bespoke design that they would have to spend significant amounts of time investigating. It probably won't be cheap though. That house sounds pretty rad, how much of the church feel is still present?
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Jul 26, 2023 09:41
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:
Yup, structural engineer. They can tell you what is needed (or not) and the recommended way(s) to go about it. That will help narrow down what sort of trade/contractor you need.
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Jul 26, 2023 10:28
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:I need advice from the folks here: Jesus. No, I mean, like, maybe call him. The Good Book says he was a carpenter but I bet he had some engineering chops. This may depend on how much stained glass is still there. I got the impression from my reading that he was pretty low-key and chill but I figure more stained glass never hurt anyone (only their utility bills)
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Jul 26, 2023 11:47
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Verman posted:The wood hauling crew came for a pickup today. Nice guy, had two machines, a motorized tracked wheelbarrow and a dingo walk behind mini skid steer with a grabber on the end for heavy rounds. I would love to have one of those things but I have zero need. Wait . . . you . . . let them . . . take? . . . the wood?   But, think of all the bonfires . . . . 
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Jul 26, 2023 11:47
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some men just don't want to watch the world burn
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Jul 26, 2023 12:05
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I already have a lot of wood for bonfires from a few of the other trees we've had work done to or removed, and better wood. This is all Lombardy poplar. It's poo poo. When it's dry and seasoned it feels like balsa wood, plus it burns so fast it's not great for fires. We live in an urban/suburban area so I'm not having raging bonfires often, we just have a medium size solo stove. The amount of wood is also shocking. I would lose my entire yard if I kept it. And that was just from one tree. The next one would bury my yard in logs. If I lived somewhere people go camping I'd sell that poo poo for $5 a bundle.
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Jul 26, 2023 16:19
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Shifty Pony posted:You probably need a full blown structural engineer to take a look at it. Some specialize in the renovation of historic buildings. This is good advice! I'll seek out a structural engineer! The house is really cool. The main floor is basically one giant open area with 25ft~ cathedral ceilings at their peek with a bunch of beautiful woodwork for the curve supports / ceiling. The lofts are just defacto offices that look over the main floor. That part is very churchy, and I love it. Also very churchy from the 60s is an unfinished basement who's floor is almost certainly asbestos tiling, so... That's another project for future me.
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Jul 26, 2023 16:49
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Today is insulation day and the contractors are late. I'm not fussed about it because I've come to expect it with these guys. It's on them if they're gonna be here late in the day or have to come back tomorrow, I'm not paying them by the hour.
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Jul 26, 2023 17:20
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:Also very churchy from the 60s is an unfinished basement who's floor is almost certainly asbestos tiling, so... That's another project for future me. A lot of K-mart/Kroger style stores had asbestos tile because it stands up to traffic the best out of any tile (I think) If it's in poor shape that's a whole different story and matching it may suck.
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Jul 26, 2023 17:32
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With all the energy talk I finally got around to schedule a home energy audit, the next available appointment isn't until October 
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Jul 26, 2023 17:39
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The contractor is telling me that doing more than 6.5" of cellulose insulation may have some weight issues for the ceiling drywall, i'm having trouble finding anything about this anyone got any advice on it?
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Jul 26, 2023 17:51
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Quaint Quail Quilt posted:If the tile isn't cracking or chipped or obviously worn to end of life I'd keep it. It's damaged in places and makes me very nervous. Getting all the tiling in the basement removed professionally would cost about 20k so uh.... gently caress. The plan right now I think is to put wood veneer over it and pretend it doesn't exist...
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Jul 26, 2023 17:55
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I found my answer, https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/will-thick-cellulose-cause-your-ceiling-to-sag  I have 16" spans on the joists so it should more than handle it, I talked to the guy and he's getting enough for the full 18" like I want. gonna have R-60 up there aw yeaaaah.
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Jul 26, 2023 18:07
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:It's damaged in places and makes me very nervous. Getting all the tiling in the basement removed professionally would cost about 20k so uh.... gently caress. The plan right now I think is to put wood veneer over it and pretend it doesn't exist... Genuine ignorance: what's wrong with that? AFAIK undisturbed asbestos can't get into your lungs and you're perfectly safe.
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Jul 26, 2023 18:48
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Genuine ignorance: what's wrong with that? AFAIK undisturbed asbestos can't get into your lungs and you're perfectly safe. I actually don't know if anything is necessarily wrong with that - it's a question I need to get answered definitively, but I'm not there in that process yet. Someone probably knows more about the nuances of asbestos then I do because my knowledge begins and ends at, 'Asbestos, bad'.
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Jul 26, 2023 18:54
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getting my pipes cleared is a lot more expensive than I thought it was going to be, huh. Hopefully this actually fixes the issues, if it doesn't I get to look into septic system repairs which I don't want to have to do hah
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Jul 26, 2023 18:57
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:I actually don't know if anything is necessarily wrong with that - it's a question I need to get answered definitively, but I'm not there in that process yet. Someone probably knows more about the nuances of asbestos then I do because my knowledge begins and ends at, 'Asbestos, bad'. That type of asbestos is not very friable (so its very low risk) and is typically remediated by "encapsulation" - i.e., cover it with other flooring. If it's fine you can absolutely just leave it alone. Reason for encapsulation is that removal requires breaking it up and get particles airborne, making a benign installation into an active hazard. Often times the mastic they are adhered to the floor with also has asbestos, so it's just a big mess to undo, and very not worth the risks involved.
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Jul 26, 2023 19:01
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installed a toto washlet. heated water and seat 
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Jul 26, 2023 19:28
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right arm posted:installed a toto washlet. heated water and seat Aww hell yeah. Need to get someone out here to put an outlet in so we can get one.
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Jul 26, 2023 19:30
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| # ? May 8, 2024 19:42 |
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Well two years into owning a home I got to make my first claim with homeowners insurance. My husband was upstairs taking a shower and I was downstairs working in my office. I heard a suspicious dripping noise from the kitchen and found water was leaking from our cabinets somehow. This was awesome because the cabinets are crappy 90s particle board so the one where the leak is has already disintegrated. So we call a bunch of friends and one knows a plumber he thinks can help and another knows a contractor. We call both and the contractor shows up first. He immediately starts taking pictures and breaks out a thermal camera to try and find the source of the leak which he narrows down pretty fast. The plumber gets here, they confer and a hole is cut where the contractor thinks the leak is- he's right! They find a crack in a drainpipe. So plumber calls his boss to get us a quote to fix the leak and the contractor starts taking pictures for the insurance claim. Boss says $1600. Contractor (who is a friend of a friend that I've seen around but didn't really know) takes us aside and advises this is a rip off. We tell the plumber thanks but no thanks. The guy who showed up was really nice and even gave us a can of flex seal but then the boss calls and cusses out my husband for wasting his guy's time. Contractor offers to fix the leak for $200 bucks and does it in about 10 minutes with about 30 bucks worth of parts. So yeah, glad my friend's friend is a real upstanding guy and for saving us from being ripped off he gets first dibs on the kitchen remodel.
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Jul 27, 2023 00:25
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