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nwin posted:Water flowing freely to the drain and continuing to do so. That happens to us sometimes. The exterior waterproofing does its job, but the water comes in between the slab and the walls since it originally was a dirt basement and got a slab two owners before we bought it.
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Mar 10, 2024 17:09
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| # ? May 28, 2024 00:42 |
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Is a knife a good enough tool to cut some squares into the drywall? I could get a rotary tool but honestly would like to stop buying new tools for a bit.
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Mar 10, 2024 17:27
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At a minimum pick up a jab saw. Something like a utility knife will score it but would be a pain in the rear end to get through it completely.
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Mar 10, 2024 17:30
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GlyphGryph posted:Is a knife a good enough tool to cut some squares into the drywall? A jabsaw is the usual, simple, and effective way to cut into drywall. Fairly cheap hand tool. Otherwise, you can score the paper face with your utility knife and cut/carve/dig out the rest. But I'd just get the jabsaw. Efb
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Mar 10, 2024 17:31
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nwin posted:Have some water in the basement. Wondering if it’s a big deal and what to do about it. If the downspout goes underground it’s almost surely clogged or root infested unless it’s solid pvc wrapped in plastic. PO of our house had underground downspouts installed at our house and literally half of them are clogged and non functional after 5 years. You can stick a hose in the downspout to see if you get more water intrusion or see what type of drainage you are getting but the easy solution is to just get 10 feet of above ground downspout and let rain water drain above ground away from the house.
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Mar 10, 2024 17:38
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nwin posted:I’m on a well and I don’t know if this is possible at all, but could it be that with the ground thawing and the large amount of rain we’ve had (2.5” just last night) make it such that the water table is a bit higher which is allowing the water to find its way in the basement. This is possible, yes. Since you don't have a sump pump, you're just relying on passive drainage to move water to lower altitudes, and if that's too slow, then the water table will gradually rise until it's higher than your basement floor. Your options are either to install drains and a pump, or just deal with occasionally having water in your basement.
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Mar 10, 2024 18:01
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GlyphGryph posted:Is a knife a good enough tool to cut some squares into the drywall? A dry wall saw is one of the best cheap tools you can own. Being able to make a reasonably straight, clean cut and recover the piece of drywall that you removed makes it a LOT easier to poke your head in there and then patch it up when you're done. Of all the dumb specialty tools I own that's easily the one that gets the most use.
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Mar 10, 2024 18:41
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Looks like I will be getting the specialty saw then, sounds good. I doubt this tunnel over the stairs Im making will be the last time I use it, and it is gonna require four holes.
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Mar 10, 2024 19:32
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Thankfully a lil Irwin drywall saw cuts fine and costs <$10 iirc.
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Mar 10, 2024 20:12
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GlyphGryph posted:For what its worth I think that first pic looks dumb as hell even before considering that its useless and would be happier with the second, in terms of... well, everything. Like folks have pointed out, I think the main issue for me is the possibility that it is absolute garbage grade lumber. I may have weird preferences but I do prefer my wood to look nice if making it do so is possible.
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Mar 10, 2024 20:20
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On the other hand oscillating tools rule and are extremely useful when you need to make plunge cuts or hack away random things more gently than a reciprocating saw would.
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Mar 10, 2024 20:20
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If you're truly #blessed your house will just come with a drywall saw, sealed inside the attic, next to an abandoned section of knee wall built for no discernable reason
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Mar 10, 2024 20:24
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Sirotan posted:If you're truly #blessed your house will just come with a drywall saw, sealed inside the attic, next to an abandoned section of knee wall built for no discernable reason This almost happened to me yesterday. I was doing work up in the attic and came down with my linesman's pliers. I went back up and sure enough, it was half buried in insulation. This is why you count tools before, after AND during your repairs. That was also how I found a screwdriver 10 years ago.
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Mar 10, 2024 20:51
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How bad of a sign is it to see those red temporary jack posts all up in an old house’s basement? To be clear I’m not buying a house, I just want to know how much to tsk-tsk while fantasizing on zillow
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Mar 10, 2024 21:20
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i like nice words
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Anne Whateley posted:How bad of a sign is it to see those red temporary jack posts all up in an old house’s basement? To be clear I’m not buying a house, I just want to know how much to tsk-tsk while fantasizing on zillow A properly iunstalled lally column is not a problem, and sometimes is actually part of a home's design from the very beginning or based on a renovation. Of course, anything like that oculd be used to cover problems and be used incorrectly as well. So I'd say it's neutral without knowing more. They are often put into older homes simplt because out expectations of floor stability/load capacity are a lot different than they were in the 50s and 60s and it's an easy way to stiffen up a floor. This is particularly prevalent under kitchens that have been remodeled with tile floors to replace the old linoleum ones. Motronic fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Mar 10, 2024 |
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Mar 10, 2024 21:29
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Ace hardware is such a great store. It's a shame they're eventually all going to be subsumed by the internet and big box stores. I used to live close to one in South Pasadena and it was truly lovely. Just what you need, nothing you don't, and employees who want to and often can help. Today we learned you can repair a ~3'x2' ish window screen for $15.50/frame. Around double if you also need the frame. Why might you ask do I need to look into this? Well it turns out the kids (7.75, 4.5) the other day found out "you can punch a hole in it and go in and out of your window!!!" They were playing super well together off on the other end of the house and thus were being left nominally unsupervised. Well, we found out their activity. Times three windows. Glad we don't live in the 2 story house yet. Until I found out Ace was reasonable at repair prices my plan was to just remove the screens altogether. Lack of something stands out less than something broken.  My favorite part, and that part where my wife had to hold back laughter: "Why did you think it was OK to break part of the house?" "Well, we're moving soon anyway." "Yes, and then we're going to sell this house, do you think people will want to buy a broken house?" "We bought a broken house." Mother fucker. I am in so much trouble when he's older. We explained to him how we paid less for it because of that ("oh...") have now spent a LOT of money repairing/fixing it up ("oh...") and now we had to spend money to fix this which is less money on fun things elsewhere. Thankfully him and his brother have money from relatives and for ~$50 out the door I'm happy with them splitting the repayment. When he heard the price "That's not that bad!" "Times three" "still" "And I'm glad you think that because you and your brother are paying." The Ace guy found it amusing at least. 
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Mar 10, 2024 21:36
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Yeah, my parents house has one permanently added because Dad had a brick hearth and Jotul woodstove put in, and the scope of work included all the necessary reinforcements. Now, the floor was poo poo from the original builder, but even after he had tile flooring put in years later, it really hasn't shifted much. It DID take two full buckets of leveling liquid before doing the tiling. The test marble just went and went and went and went... I miss a nice woodstove with a full hearth and (nice) tile flooring. It radiated so much warmth in the winter.
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Mar 10, 2024 21:38
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:This is possible, yes. Since you don't have a sump pump, you're just relying on passive drainage to move water to lower altitudes, and if that's too slow, then the water table will gradually rise until it's higher than your basement floor. Your options are either to install drains and a pump, or just deal with occasionally having water in your basement. I think this is what’s happening. Lots of neighbors complaining about the same issues and they haven’t had problems in recent years either. Glad we aren’t going to finish the basement!
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Mar 10, 2024 21:47
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Ace hardware is big business in Humboldt. We have family franchises of them here and they sell everything. Better than Costco for lots of stuff
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Mar 10, 2024 22:14
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All the Aces in my town are owned by the same dude, but they are pretty awesome. One of them has a really sweet hobby shop attached. Always good for getting weird sodas and candy too.
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Mar 11, 2024 00:17
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Patronize your local hardware store whenever possible. GlyphGryph posted:Is a knife a good enough tool to cut some squares into the drywall? Steak knife will work. Use your cheapest, most hosed-up one, though.
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Mar 11, 2024 04:03
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All the ace hardwares around me just have very basic things and a tiny Hallmark store inside. If you need anything even slightly unique, you’ll have to go somewhere else.
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Mar 11, 2024 04:19
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Yeah every single local hardware store here has basically nothing in stock because they get priced out of competition probably by the size of their stocking order by the big Rona/Home Hardware/etc. So you go in there and they have a few prepackaged things of 5 deck screws for like $12 and yeah at some point it's not reasonable as a consumer. I do want to have hardware stores that aren't the big box stores but they can't be missing the staple items that you go to a hardware store for. Some of these places it's like they took the useless poo poo that's next to the till and filled an entire store with it.
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Mar 11, 2024 04:30
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This Ace was loaded. Aisle of speciality stuff, plenty of bulk packs of normal stuff, Benjamin Moore paint counter, full assortment of the actual useful Leviton and Lutron devices/switches/outlets, decent breaker selection, all the Klein tools you need to become an electrician, etc. I saw very little of the stuff I actually shop for that they didn't have. I will be going out of my way to shop there if I can. A startlingly large axe and mattock selection as well. Including a tool my kid found of a normal hammer with an axe head instead of a claw. Even had a "$10 if you're a jerk" sign behind the counter.
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Mar 11, 2024 04:44
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My local Ace is also a gun store, they're great.
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Mar 11, 2024 11:28
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PainterofCrap posted:Patronize your local hardware store whenever possible.
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Mar 11, 2024 11:44
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I guess I am lucky that my local stores are usually cheaper than most big box alternatives. I get the impression the big chains are greedier and want bigger margins which allows the small places to compete.
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Mar 11, 2024 11:51
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His Divine Shadow posted:I guess I am lucky that my local stores are usually cheaper than most big box alternatives. I get the impression the big chains are greedier and want bigger margins which allows the small places to compete. That's funny, it's the opposite here. Box stores sell more in volume so their retail is close to cost on most items. Local stores have comparable prices on big ticket items like water heaters, but more markup on smaller items like nails and fittings.
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Mar 11, 2024 13:47
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mutata posted:Earthships loving rock. So do geodesic domes, too, by the way, even though they are awful and make awful homes. The Tom Scott video about the rotating house in San Diego or wherever was awesome too. Absolute pro click holy poo poo. That grooved slip ring design for the facilities is insane. Edit: Need some advice. We have this little channel that goes the length of our shared driveway (but the driveway and this side piece are technically my property so this is my responsibility). The water pools in the roundabout so this helps channel it into the culvert and away to parts unknown. I'd like to do something a little more permanent here. And hopefully something easy enough to do myself. (but this is over the water mains so it might make more sense to call in a professional - not sure how deep down they are. Two of the houses water shutoff valves are right there where the pooled water enters in the roundabout). 
BonoMan fucked around with this message at 14:00 on Mar 11, 2024 |
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Mar 11, 2024 13:50
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H110Hawk posted:a normal hammer with an axe head instead of a claw. That sounds like a drywall hammer, and I don't know a single person who has the skill to operate one anymore. But it's an excuse to post one of my favorite videos showing how its done: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whF4q5S1flw
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Mar 11, 2024 14:03
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Motronic posted:A properly iunstalled lally column is not a problem, and sometimes is actually part of a home's design from the very beginning or based on a renovation. Of course, anything like that oculd be used to cover problems and be used incorrectly as well. So I'd say it's neutral without knowing more. Properly installed is a big part. Jfyi the red ones are normally for permanent installation and come filled with concrete. Part of permanent installation should involve sinking the post into concrete with appropriately sized footers. So if they're red and the base is beneath concrete it's probably fine. Temporary lally columns look pretty obviously temporary by comparison. The ones I bought came in 2 pieces that had quite a bit of ability to adjust the height. Permanent ones are basically fixed height with a little screw part on the top that moves a few inches max.
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Mar 11, 2024 14:10
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I bought a laser level (buying one way fancier than I needed because just think of all the things I'll be able to do with it, just imagine, dont think about how likely those things are just think about how cool they'd be) and a drywall saw. Now you motherfuckers are enticing me into buying a drywall hammer I don't have any clue how to use. Man I am really bad at not buying tools.
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Mar 11, 2024 14:11
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GlyphGryph posted:I bought a laser level (buying one way fancier than I needed because just think of all the things I'll be able to do with it, just imagine, dont think about how likely those things are just think about how cool they'd be) and a drywall saw. Skip the dry wall hammer, you will never ever use it. But a laser level is a solid purchase and if nothing else will help get your pictures hung right.
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Mar 11, 2024 14:14
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The dry wall hammer is the one I have not actually bought and merely want to, since I have no practicality arguments to justify it. But look how much fun that thing looks to use!
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Mar 11, 2024 14:18
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it just looks way cooler than a normal hammer. some day I will find the flimsiest reason to buy one
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Mar 11, 2024 15:05
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This got skipped over in groverceiling chat. Anybody able to help?D-Pad posted:So I went to open a window in my office in the new house and apparently somebody nailed it shut:
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Mar 11, 2024 15:28
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You could try just yanking with pliers from the outside but that might cause more damage.
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Mar 11, 2024 15:37
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Lightly hammering on the pointy end of the nail might push the head out far enough for you to see it. I have no clue why someone would nail a window like that, though.
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Mar 11, 2024 15:39
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I saw the window posts, I just don't actually understand what's going on in it.
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Mar 11, 2024 15:49
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:
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