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So just moved into a new house and my office has two windows that get direct afternoon sun and it gets pretty warm. In Texas and we've had 80 degree weather lately so I can only imagine it will be brutal in the summer. I put up some basic curtains but I am looking for other options that are short of replacing the windows (we will do this but probably not for a couple of years). Are there like insulated curtains or something made for this kind of purpose? Are there tint options of some sort for house windows? I don't know jack poo poo about this stuff so I am just trying to figure out what the options are and then I can do some research and quoting and make a decision.
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Feb 28, 2024 15:53
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You can definitely tint your windows and get some heavy blackout curtains. It won’t solve the problem but it will help.
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Feb 28, 2024 15:59
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How much do you hate your neighbors? Because aluminum foil on a sheet of foam tightly fit in the window frame is the In more serious advice though if you can hang a screen outside of the window it will dramatically reduce the radiation that is able to even hit your window to transfer. It's a tradeoff between tint and aesthetics. Tint helps reflect it back, and curtains slow down whatever does get through from mixing with the room air as quickly which increases effective comfort. They can also reflect heat back out of the window.
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Feb 28, 2024 16:20
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D-Pad posted:So just moved into a new house and my office has two windows that get direct afternoon sun and it gets pretty warm. In Texas and we've had 80 degree weather lately so I can only imagine it will be brutal in the summer. I put up some basic curtains but I am looking for other options that are short of replacing the windows (we will do this but probably not for a couple of years). Are there like insulated curtains or something made for this kind of purpose? Are there tint options of some sort for house windows? I don't know jack poo poo about this stuff so I am just trying to figure out what the options are and then I can do some research and quoting and make a decision. If you own it & it's not a rental, and you expect to be there a few years: consider installing awnings, either fabric or aluminum.
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Feb 28, 2024 17:23
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They have film that’s really easy to apply yourself. I haven’t done the heat one, but I did the same thing for privacy clingfilm in my last apartment, and it was magical
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Feb 28, 2024 18:20
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:They have film that’s really easy to apply yourself. I haven’t done the heat one, but I did the same thing for privacy clingfilm in my last apartment, and it was magical Indeed; I installed this on our east-facing window in the master bedroom last year and it noticeably dropped the temperature in addition to making it easier to sleep in the early morning.
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Feb 28, 2024 18:23
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I've got two quotes for a roof that are very close to each other. The higher one includes a drip edge, the lower one does not. I'm in the Philly burbs. I've already reached out to the lower one to see what the drip edge would cost, but I guess my question is is a drip edge necessary? An ice shield is included in both bids.
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Feb 28, 2024 18:25
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AFewBricksShy posted:I've got two quotes for a roof that are very close to each other. If you have wood fascia, a drip edge will help that last a lot longer
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Feb 28, 2024 18:28
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:If you have wood fascia, a drip edge will help that last a lot longer Thank you, the good news is that the lowest guy just said they included the drip edge, they just didn't put it on their bid because it's a standard thing. So that's $1,500 saved.
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Feb 28, 2024 19:29
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Invalid Validation posted:You can definitely tint your windows and get some heavy blackout curtains. It won’t solve the problem but it will help. I have 2 large windows about 14' up on a highwall that don't really lend themselves to window coverings very well, so we went with a 20-30% bronze tint and they made a pretty big difference. Too bad the sealed units failed and now they need to be replaced tho  e: Also, to wrap up my garage door opener saga from last week. Got my new garage door opener mounted. It went pretty smoothly but the Chamerlain MyQ app isn't great and was a little clunky to set up, but it does work. The biggest issue itself wit the install is that on teensy-weensy print on the opener box it says 7' overhead doors (like, seriously small near the California says this box will give you cancer print) and that it necessitates purchase for an 8' door which is a $5 piece of angle iron and a longer belt for the bargain price of $125 or something - easily more than a 1/3rd the price of the entire unit. Following the gillette/razor pricing model. All in all though, the opener is quiet and the camera seems to be decent quality. Reprogramming the old units to use the new opener (and vice versa, new controllers with old opener for the other bay) was a total breeze. slidebite fucked around with this message at 22:04 on Feb 28, 2024 |
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Feb 28, 2024 21:47
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Beef Of Ages posted:Indeed; I installed this on our east-facing window in the master bedroom last year and it noticeably dropped the temperature in addition to making it easier to sleep in the early morning. I put some of this 80-90% reflective tinting on all the windows in my last apartment, and it was amazing at cooling the place during the summer. The sunbeams coming in the through the windows were easily 20 degrees cooler through the tinting vs an open window during 90+f days. Do note that the instructions say not to install on double pane windows, because the tint is applied on the inside, and it can damage the windows by cooking the middle gas layer in dual panes. But If you have single pane windows you want to cool down or add daylight privacy to, it's great. Also the reflective side is always the brightest side, so at night, your windows will be reflective on the inside, while letting people outside see in.
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Feb 28, 2024 22:17
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AFewBricksShy posted:I've got two quotes for a roof that are very close to each other. For what it's worth, i'm also in the Philly suburbs and I've had good experiences with Catalfano Brothers if you want a third quote. He did some repairs on our roof after a tree fell on it, and also fixed water issues we had on a flat roof over our sunroom. He was quick to respond and very good about answering my questions.
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Feb 28, 2024 22:58
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My Ryobi 18v electric mower has just given up the ghost after 5 years. I have a pretty small yard but the grass grows fast in summer, and since we have dogs we're not quite ready to move to a no-grass lawn. At this point I'm happy to move to another brand ecosystem, so are there any goon brand recommendations for electric push mowers (and probably a trimmer too)? In Australia if that changes anything. Hollandia fucked around with this message at 02:58 on Feb 29, 2024 |
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Feb 29, 2024 00:46
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tetrapyloctomy posted:For what it's worth, i'm also in the Philly suburbs and I've had good experiences with Catalfano Brothers if you want a third quote. He did some repairs on our roof after a tree fell on it, and also fixed water issues we had on a flat roof over our sunroom. He was quick to respond and very good about answering my questions. Thanks but I actually did get 3 quotes. The lowest one, one about 10% higher and one about 33% higher than the low bid. My neighbor used the low bidder and was happy with his, so I’m confident I’m good to go. What burbs are you in? I’m up by Lansdale
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Feb 29, 2024 01:14
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It's probably a bias but it always feels like there's more South East PA people in the threads I follow than normal. ... I post from my Delco empire.
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Feb 29, 2024 02:15
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Linoleum Mushroom posted:I had a window shatter spontaneously last week (cracked but no impact) and short of figuring out how to buy/cut a new double pane I for the life of me cannot figure out how to get it repaired. I had to deal with a similar situation a while back, for a certain definition of "spontaneously"  They are Marvin windows and a specialty subset at that so replacing was going to be ~6 months lead time. I finally found a company willing to replace the pane but it was a hassle and a half. (Also I still have a bullet hole in my dining room wall right at eye level that I walk by a dozen+ times a day)
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Feb 29, 2024 02:43
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The Dave posted:It's probably a bias but it always feels like there's more South East PA people in the threads I follow than normal. There are dozens of us. Dozens! (posted from central bucks)
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Feb 29, 2024 02:55
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PainterofCrap posted:If you own it & it's not a rental, and you expect to be there a few years: consider installing awnings, either fabric or aluminum. In 2018, I put a folding arm awning on the side of my house that I leave open almost all summer. (If the wind is loud enough to wake me up, I will fold it in.) It is getting worn, but it's still going strong so far. It only cost about $200 in the first place. It is relatively easy to install, just needing to be attached to the wall. I would recommend it.
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Feb 29, 2024 02:59
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AFewBricksShy posted:Thanks but I actually did get 3 quotes. The lowest one, one about 10% higher and one about 33% higher than the low bid. My neighbor used the low bidder and was happy with his, so I’m confident I’m good to go. I'm in Lafayette Hill. Since you're done with planning this job, if you need a plumber try Matthew Bryman, he's also been super responsive when I've needed him. I wish I could recommend my HVAC guy, but while he is great in true emergencies I can't ever get him out for routine stuff.
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Feb 29, 2024 03:48
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Motronic posted:There are dozens of us. Dozens! Gloucester County New Jersey representin'
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Feb 29, 2024 03:50
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So I noticed some activity along side my neighbors side of their fence yesterday as I was leaving. So I chatted with Mrs. Neighbor for a sec on my way out. They're good people and we get along well. Turned out they had some water in their basement off and on. First thought it was an internal leak something, but on further inspection turns out its a cracked foundation. They found the crack and have a photo of it. Where we live there is 10 years of new home warranty on major structural like that.... and they're going to be right on the cusp on that time frame. I really hope they are able to utilize that. To make matters worse for them, the lots we live on have zero rear access (there is a controlled irrigation canal about 10'-15' from our back fence). Great for security and privacy, not so great if you want to get into your back yard with anything. So any heavy equipment is going to need to come in via the front. And it's limited space. Luckily for them, their neighbor is some rear end in a top hat named Slidebite that has a pull-thru garage and a poured pad immediately next to the suspected area that he may make available if necessary. Suspected crack area in red, you can see my pull thru pad immediately next to it. I don't recall how deep I made the slab. Since they would have to drive thru my garage to get there none of the equipment could be massive but a small skid-steer type equipment could easily do it. In fact that's what I used for our back yard landscaping. slidebite fucked around with this message at 16:05 on Feb 29, 2024 |
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Feb 29, 2024 15:40
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Skid steer bobcats are hella cool. I have seen them do some rad things and radical this.
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Feb 29, 2024 16:06
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slidebite posted:Where we live there is 10 years of new home warranty on major structural like that.... and they're going to be right on the cusp on that time frame. I really hope they are able to utilize that. They need to make a claim today. No matter what getting that on the books let's them sue to enforce the warranty later when the builder laughs and delays then tries to pretend it expired. "Construction Defect" is the lawyer you're looking to hire. The claim doesn't need to be substantiated by anything other than "We found this crack and have this water coming in. We believe it to be a construction defect according to our warranty. <photo attachment>" End of claim.
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Feb 29, 2024 17:32
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Oh yeah, they're all over that. I haven't spoken to them since but if they get a  and a "it's been 10 years, buh-bye" pal, pretty sure speaking to a lawyer would be in the cards.I actually doubt their builder will have tons to do with it, the warranties are, from my understanding, sort of a 3rd party thing, not necessarily a "builder issued" warranty/guarantee like an appliance. The "warranty" or insurer for the warranty may want to deal with the builder, maybe they won't. I don't know the specifics of it. But I'm sure I'll hear about it as they go down the road. I don't even know if the builder even exists anymore. peanut posted:Skid steer bobcats are hella cool. I have seen them do some rad things and radical this. I kinda want one  My builder was a totally stand up dude and just lent me his for a few days. Actually, it meant a lot to me that he trusted me with it... and just lent it. He didn't even know me well other than I bought a house off him a few months earlier. Didn't even charge me for it. I fueled it up and gave him several cases of craft beers as a thank you though - still an absolute bargain.
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Feb 29, 2024 21:12
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Anne Whateley posted:They have film that’s really easy to apply yourself. I haven’t done the heat one, but I did the same thing for privacy clingfilm in my last apartment, and it was magical It's also not crazy expensive to get a pro to come do it, we paid $660 for all the windows & sliding door in our house. The guy was in and out in a couple hours, and you can't tell there's film. Window film is so effective I'm surprised it's not more standard.
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Mar 1, 2024 02:45
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slidebite posted:Luckily for them, their neighbor is some rear end in a top hat named Slidebite that has a pull-thru garage and a poured pad immediately next to the suspected area that he may make available if necessary. That's awesome for them and you're a good person. But as you probably know nothing they would use would be an issue on even the thnniest of slabs since they need to actually operate it on dirt which means it's going to be low ground pressure and almost definitely tracked because of that. So your slab will be safe.
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Mar 1, 2024 03:39
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My dishwasher threw error code E-15 "Water where it shouldn't be" - this is where water is detected in the part under the tub of the dishwasher where the motors and stuff are to hopefully prevent a leak from turning into a disaster. gently caress. After a lot of swearing and taking too many screws out of the front which nearly caused me to rip a bunch of wires off the control panel I got the front door cover off and then the lower cover. ENHANCE  Sure enough, water was under there triggering the float valve before it leaked through the overflow drain, yay. The water inlet valve wad dripping about a drop every 30-60s. Neat. Quarter turn valve worked though! Anyways I disabled the sensor, mopped up the water, ran my load, and then turned off the valve again. It wasn't going to flood with just the water in the hose. What I was dreading was when we first installed the dishwasher we didn't have a real counter there, we were replacing what was the fridge cutout with a counter/shelf/dishwasher but only the dishwasher was in. To make it functional Gary (me) just screwed that bad boy to a 2x4 and then to the wall, tomorrow me's problem. We eventually had a handyman frame and install a counter. To the best of my knowledge... that was that. I was banging and unscrewing things dreading how much destruction I was going to need to do to get the dishwasher out. Eventually I realized I should verify my assumptions. Nope, handyman did it right, thing slid right out. Thank god. After some near misses with the screwdriver trying to pry the hose off the barbed valve the whole thing was replaced in about 15 minutes. I spent more time prying the drat hose off and routing hoses in/out of the cabinet to make enough slack.   Side note dishwashers are LOUD when you take off all their insulation and have them slid out from the cabinet. Thing scared the hell out of me when the solenoid fired to let the water in (which I was staring at directly through the side of the dishwasher.
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Mar 1, 2024 03:50
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This thread told me long ago that there's an important but not obvious thing you need to clean on Bosch dishwashers. Where is it?
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Mar 1, 2024 05:28
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Arsenic Lupin posted:This thread told me long ago that there's an important but not obvious thing you need to clean on Bosch dishwashers. Where is it? The filter under the bottom basket? There's a knob that is the spray arm. Turn it, lift it out. Clean the screen, replace. It clicks when you twist it shut. Do it at least monthly, technically it's like "every x loads if you do not pre-rinse" (which you shouldn't.) Hot water and a little dish soap gets it done, I don't touch the gunk other than to hold it by the smallest possible surface area and use the spray arm on my sink to do it. That's all dishwashers though.
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Mar 1, 2024 05:37
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Arsenic Lupin posted:This thread told me long ago that there's an important but not obvious thing you need to clean on Bosch dishwashers. Where is it? The gasket under the bottom of the door that you can't see unless you're inside the dishwasher. Causes the exact same error code because the water drips into the same place/pan and raises the float switch that sets that code.
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Mar 1, 2024 14:10
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Motronic posted:The gasket under the bottom of the door that you can't see unless you're inside the dishwasher. Causes the exact same error code because the water drips into the same place/pan and raises the float switch that sets that code. Oh yeah. This was GROSSSS. I saw some horrors when I got into it. Thankfully it was clean fresh water which was leaking.
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Mar 1, 2024 15:13
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My driveway has this strip of grass down the middle and between the driveway and house which I hate: The plan was to excavate and pour concrete between the existing tire tracks and in the grass strip by the house but the concrete contractor I thought I had lined up to do the work has apparently fallen off the planet, so I'm looking at other options. I just want something I don't have to mow and edge and poo poo, so now I've started thinking about DIYing it. I wouldn't mind gravel aesthetically, but I don't like how gravel tends to wander away from where it's put. Would 3/4" and finer steel slag be a good option? It's super cheap ($30 ton vs. $180/yd for concrete). A friend has a driveway made with it and it has compacted down really well, but it gets driven on alot where as this wont. Any other materials I should consider? Similar but different:  Since the concrete people were going to have to get a line pump to get to the back yard already, I was going to get a pad poured on the back of my garage to make a lean-to for yard tool storage. If I'm not going to pour 4" of concrete back here, I'd like to raise it up a bit as it does tend to flood a bit. I was thinking maybe pour a concrete curb and then fill that with slag? Maybe with pavers on top?
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Mar 1, 2024 18:59
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I am currently painting my walls. What do I do to clean the brushes? I am on septic, and everything I'm reading says not to send paint down the drains. Or to do anything else with it, ever.
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Mar 1, 2024 19:56
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I always just hosed my latex paint brushes down in my back yard You could look up the material safety data sheet (MSDS) if you're really worried, e.g. this PDF is the Benjamin Moore interior latex paint/primer data sheet, and it basically says "it's not toxic". As for disposal, there's literally no data, and the sheet just says "obey your local laws". About the only thing that looks remotely concerning is a note about the dangers of lead paint, which you might scrape off in the process of a painting job.
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Mar 1, 2024 20:06
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GlyphGryph posted:I am currently painting my walls. What kind of paint are we talking about?
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Mar 1, 2024 20:09
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Cyrano4747 posted:What kind of paint are we talking about? It's water based latex primer for now, which is on the list of things the septic says shouldn't go in it. Maybe washing it in the back yard would be a good idea, although it is also literally freezing out so it is a bit unappealing. Is it fine to just dump in the lawn? I'm not really worried about the toxicity, but I just spent months getting my plumbing and septic and a bunch of related poo poo working properly, finally, because the previous owners did not treat it well, and I don't want to immediately start loving it up again. GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 20:22 on Mar 1, 2024 |
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Mar 1, 2024 20:18
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Kaiser Schnitzel posted:My driveway has this strip of grass down the middle and between the driveway and house which I hate: If you hate the grass you can just spray some Ortho GroundClear and kill the gently caress out of it in the mean time while you look up ideas for ribbon driveways.
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Mar 1, 2024 20:26
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Well i have been truly dipped in the regret of doing things the right way. I've already encountered the previous flipper (oh I mean owner) doing things generally correct and then not sticking the 10% at the end. Put in a new plumbing stack? No reason to connect it to the actual vent. Rebuild the small bathroom? Stone Tile it to the ceiling to turn it into massive heat sink. Etc. I wanted to do anything in the future basically correct given my goals, take my time, get a relationship with good tradesmen, pull permits, etc. So I come to replacing my water heater. Bog standard gas 40 gallon over 12 years old. There were marks on the previous home gas inspection about valves not hand tunable, vent the wrong metal so I decided to get a new heater as well as long as all the pipe work is being done. (And good thing too as it had JUST start leaking/seeping the previous week.) So the work gets done and everything looks well done and in the same position as the previous heater and vent but all the new work is clearly new. Old parts left for my knowledge of what was done. And I had permits pulled for this and allegedly the builder has done enough work over the years he is pretty sure who is going to come by to certify it, should be good news eh? The inspector goes to the wrong house and was already cranky even before that. I soon hear a loud conversation on the slope of the vent for the gas water heater. "Just get a short boy and put it in." After they are done builder is going to see what he can do to kinda appeal this. But I get why inspectors inspect work, for safety, quality, legality, all good reasons. But it feels like being a sucker, this things went through 3 other inspections and the gas inspection over a decade and I get the shaft. The new heater cannot be returned and adding the short-boy and labor almost doubled my costs which has a serious knock-on effect. I get having a house is an eternal project but hell if doing the right thing makes you feels stupid and broke right now. Only takes one person having a bad day to wreck your own day. Pausing a possible eternal homeowner rant.
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Mar 1, 2024 20:39
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Smuggins posted:The inspector goes to the wrong house and was already cranky even before that. I assume your plumber inspected the work area, proposed the replacement water heater model, and provided the water heater. In which case all of the plumbers I work with would acknowledge this as their mistake with the specification and swap the water heater for a short model at no charge. Did you leave any details out of your story? Why isn't the plumber covering the cost of this issue? What is the 'appealable' circumstance?
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Mar 1, 2024 20:53
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GlyphGryph posted:I am currently painting my walls. We wash ours out in the yard if it's anything more than a quick touch up
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