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Nov 28, 2019 23:12
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peanut posted:Oh no Did you die in mid-post? If so, use a Ouija board, quick!
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Nov 28, 2019 23:16
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Why would someone have put concrete in there in the first place?
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Nov 29, 2019 14:47
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I guess this was A Thing back in the day if you had a large void in a tree from rot, removing a limb, etc.
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Nov 29, 2019 15:22
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It was/is. I have some voids in a tree and there's a lot of articles I found online about filling them with concrete to keep water out (and why it doesn't work).
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Nov 29, 2019 16:46
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You're supposed to fill all your trees with expanding foam
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Nov 29, 2019 17:44
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I've thought long and hard about the best way to deal with it, and I'll be honest, I'm stumped.
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Nov 29, 2019 19:12
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Jaded Burnout posted:I've thought long and hard about the best way to deal with it, and I'll be honest, I'm stumped. 
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Nov 29, 2019 19:22
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You might wanna get tree fellers in to deal with it. Maybe even four.
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Nov 29, 2019 19:34
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If you keep barking like that you'll end up at loggerheads with anybody who might go out on a limb for you, then you'll never get that problem rooted out.
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Nov 29, 2019 20:15
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Nevets posted:If you keep barking like that you'll end up at loggerheads with anybody who might go out on a limb for you, then you'll never get that problem rooted out. Cut the puns and come up with some concrete solutions.
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Nov 29, 2019 21:20
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Going to throw this request/question here: Give me places to look for bar stools to purchase either in the greater Portland, OR area or via the internet. Will be buying 3-4 stools for in my kitchen, most likely looking to buy new but if there is some great dealer of lightly used barstools I guess throw the option at me.
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Nov 29, 2019 22:20
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tangy yet delightful posted:Going to throw this request/question here: Give me places to look for bar stools to purchase either in the greater Portland, OR area or via the internet. Will be buying 3-4 stools for in my kitchen, most likely looking to buy new but if there is some great dealer of lightly used barstools I guess throw the option at me. Same in another region . Fb marketplace and Craigslist, watch for a few weeks until something not terrible comes up. In my area Habitat for humanities restores and other Goodwill type of places have them too. Beware counter height vs bar height.
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Nov 30, 2019 00:19
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I don't remember if it was in this thread or on Reddit, but someone shared this bar store: https://www.mrbarstool.com/
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Nov 30, 2019 01:52
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MetaJew posted:I don't remember if it was in this thread or on Reddit, but someone shared this bar store: Wrong side of the country, but I was going to suggest them too. They will ship. It's extra nice when you live nearby because you can just walk in there of course, but they're definitely a good place.
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Nov 30, 2019 02:13
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Not sure if there's a better thread for this, I usually don't poke my head in the DIY forum. I rent, so honestly not sure if there's much I can do here, but I need to vent/toss some ideas around here. I live in a one bedroom apartment, not that big (maybe 750 sq ft) in the ground floor of an old house with completely dogshit insulation. The windows leak in cold air like a motherfucker (I live in Southern Ontario so we have real winters). I know electric baseboard heating is notoriously expensive and poo poo in general, but even by that standard I'm feeling like what I'm paying is getting absurd. It's my second winter in this place. I usually only run heating from about mid-october to march/April. Here's my daily usage chart over the last 2 months. Wanna guess what day I turned on my heating?  My bill basically triples or so once I turn the heating on. I go from paying 40-50 bucks a month for electricity to 120-150. I've been trying to turn off the heat at night for the last couple of days to see if that might help, and I don't even think that's been saving me many kw's. I've read "Electric heating can account for 50% of a homes electricity use in winter!" as a warning for high bills, and I loving wish that my heating was only 50% of my bill. Judging by the graph it's clearly significantly more. Maybe this is skewed because I don't bother having any heating on until it's consistently cold and other people don't, but I feel like I'm getting ripped off bad here. My landlord is both stingy and tends to be AWOL so a smart thermostat is probably out. On the plus side my landlord is stingy and AWOL, so I also mess with the house slightly more than I maybe should because they clearly don't give a gently caress. I fixed some of the drafting coming through my front door the weekend of Nov 17 by filling a dumb gap between my door and floor that that was left unfinished with some insulating foam and installing a door sweep, and that seems to have already made a difference both anecdotally and judging by the graph, but the windows are still a real issue. I tried putting some weather stripping in on them, but I took it off because it didn't seem like it was doing anything. These are old, multipane windows that don't really make sense and each have two parts that slide up and down into a small slot. Putting weather stripping on the bottom of the part that slides up and down seemed to be too thick so that they wouldn't lock into place anymore (because it was now too high for the latches on the edge to catch), which I'm assuming would also be bad for lettting air leak in. I've put thermal film on them, but I'm not sure it's really doing much. What should I be looking into? Any advice, other than "move"? My next idea would be something like thermal curtains. Do I be that guy who crumples up newspaper and puts it between the inner and outer window panes? Would running space heaters be cheaper than running my baseboards?
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Dec 1, 2019 21:02
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CRISPYBABY posted:My next idea would be something like thermal curtains. This is what I did, and it helped hugely. Specifically, blackout curtains (which afaict are the same backing material that gets referred to as "thermal") that touch both the floor and the wall around the windows. The goal is to provide a kinda-sealed bubble around the window so the cold air drops down behind the curtains and is trapped by the fact that the curtains touch the floor, and can't go around the sides either. It's less important for them to "seal" at the top because cold air is more dense. For me this involved a 228cm drop. Heavier materials are also going to withstand draughts better.
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Dec 1, 2019 21:42
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Get some window insulating film kits. They're plastic sheets you tape around the inside of the window frame and then heat with a hair dryer so that it shrinks into the right size. Works wonders. Sometimes I've had the tape damage the paint but it's worth it imo. Also if there are gaps in and around the frame/casing, fill them with caulk. It's a fairly easy job that requires a little bit of skill to get it looking right, so a lovely landlord's house is a great place to learn how to do it. E: Blackout curtains are great too.
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Dec 1, 2019 21:48
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Is there a particular type of foam gasket that you install at the bottom left and right corners of the door, on the jamb? I installed a new sweep on my front door to try and improve the air sealing some, but I can still see some daylight at the corner, below the hinge.
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Dec 1, 2019 22:21
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MetaJew posted:Is there a particular type of foam gasket that you install at the bottom left and right corners of the door, on the jamb? I've used general weatherseal foam insulating tape from Home Depot on my door and it worked out fine.
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Dec 1, 2019 23:20
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CRISPYBABY posted:My bill basically triples or so once I turn the heating on. I go from paying 40-50 bucks a month for electricity to 120-150. I've been trying to turn off the heat at night for the last couple of days to see if that might help, It may be counter productive to turn the heat off at night; most places will have peak rates during the day and cheaper standard rates at night.
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Dec 1, 2019 23:35
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glynnenstein posted:It may be counter productive to turn the heat off at night; most places will have peak rates during the day and cheaper standard rates at night. Tru. I was just trying to take advantage of the lying under the cover things. This is definitely where a smart thermostat would come in handy -- definitely doesn't need to be up all the way during the day, but I'd like the place to be warm when I get home from work. Unfortunately I'm pretty sure that that's not a viable option for me right now. Modus Pwnens posted:Get some window insulating film kits. They're plastic sheets you tape around the inside of the window frame and then heat with a hair dryer so that it shrinks into the right size. Works wonders. Sometimes I've had the tape damage the paint but it's worth it imo. Already filmed em (although I was lazy and only did the bottom half this year) -- didn't do that much. Maybe I should double layer em. Curtains and caulking is a good call. Ironically, I've already replaced the blinds myself on these fuckers.When I moved in were trashed from smoke damage. The landlord offered to replace them....if I paid half, and he kept them. Real great deal. The blinds are mounted inset deep in the frame though, so I could definitely mount curtains on a bar just above the frame. Would probably look silly, but they're cheap at least. CRISPYBABY fucked around with this message at 23:56 on Dec 1, 2019 |
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Dec 1, 2019 23:53
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CRISPYBABY posted:Tru. I was just trying to take advantage of the lying under the cover things. This is definitely where a smart thermostat would come in handy A normal programmable thermostat can do that for a quarter of the price. Until you deal with the drafts you're not going to get any benefit from iot garbage. If the walls are hollow unfortunately you're likely to keep needing a ton of heat. Resistive heating is 100% efficient, but kwh aren't cheap. Wool socks and an electric blanket (bed + couch) are likely the cheapest option, but it doesn't help you at the dinner table or in the bathroom.
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Dec 2, 2019 00:21
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Consider creating a traditional American kotatsu
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Dec 2, 2019 00:23
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CRISPYBABY posted:Already filmed em (although I was lazy and only did the bottom half this year) -- didn't do that much. Maybe I should double layer em. I don't know how you'd do just the bottom half of the window frame with these kind of films. They go all the way around the frame and get taped to the wall outside of the window. There isn't much point to attaching them to the window itself to just cover the glass, since you are probably losing more heat from around the window or between the two halves. I have some ancient falling apart windows waiting to be replaced and having the full-window film covers have made a huge difference along with some stout curtains.
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Dec 2, 2019 00:24
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MetaJew posted:I don't remember if it was in this thread or on Reddit, but someone shared this bar store: Thanks for this and the other local tip with CL/FB/Habitat.
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Dec 2, 2019 00:40
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I'd second the blackout curtains and window film. The window film that really helps is the stuff that seals the whole window like so: Another thing to check is whether you can feel a draft when you put your hand in front of your electrical outlets. You can get inexpensive gaskets that fit under the wall plates, and they make an astonishing difference if you do every outlet.
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Dec 2, 2019 06:25
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Fallom posted:Consider creating a traditional American kotatsu kotatsu x padded mat in living room = nap paradise
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Dec 2, 2019 09:36
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We bought a new house this summer. It was built in the late 80s and has a crawlspace. I was down in the crawlspace last night and since we are having heavy snow and rain, I wanted to check it out and see if there was water anywhere. I noticed some spots where water was seeping in tiny amounts, but not pooling. It's dirt underneath except one area that is concrete, and that area does not have any water coming into it. Is this normal? Might be able to get some pics later today.
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Dec 2, 2019 16:31
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TofuDiva posted:I'd second the blackout curtains and window film. The window film that really helps is the stuff that seals the whole window like so: I might try this with the film, but this would seal my blinds behind it (they're deep inset in my frame). Who needs daylight, right? Honestly I probably don't, it would just look funny tho.
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Dec 2, 2019 17:24
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CRISPYBABY posted:I might try this with the film, but this would seal my blinds behind it (they're deep inset in my frame). Who needs daylight, right? Buy another curtain rod or move the existing one and mount it outside of the window for while the film is on?
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Dec 2, 2019 17:32
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CRISPYBABY posted:I might try this with the film, but this would seal my blinds behind it (they're deep inset in my frame). Who needs daylight, right? Yeah, in that case there might be another option that's better. Maybe take a look at the Warm Window System? You could do an outside casing mount (so they'd be closer to the room interior than your blinds are). They have four laminated layers, with normal-looking fabric on the front and back, and a moisture/vapor barrier, batting, and "space blanket" film on the inside. Companies like the one whose description of them I linked can make them for you, or you can buy the materials (online or in fabric stores), and make them yourself with exactly the look you want, if you're ok with sewing some straight seams. They work, as long as they are mounted so that they skim the wall over your window, without gaps. I made a set for my bedroom when I lived in the mountains, and it was much warmer.
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Dec 2, 2019 18:15
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Faustian Bargain posted:We bought a new house this summer. It was built in the late 80s and has a crawlspace. I was down in the crawlspace last night and since we are having heavy snow and rain, I wanted to check it out and see if there was water anywhere. I noticed some spots where water was seeping in tiny amounts, but not pooling. It's dirt underneath except one area that is concrete, and that area does not have any water coming into it. Is this normal? Might be able to get some pics later today. You want your crawlspace to be dry. Pooling would be worse. The question is where did the water come from? Pipe condensation would be acceptable, but you may have either an internal plumbing issue (hose spigots that have frozen for example), a leak from the roof running though your walls, or water penetrating your foundation.. The last three are issues you'd want to fix asap. If snow is drifting against your foundation it shouldn't be getting into your crawlspace unless it is blowing through a vent or something. When the snow melts, in a perfect world it is going to melt through the ground to a french drain/be diverted away from your foundation/footings. Is your stem / crawlspace wall made out of solid concrete, concrete block, or brick?
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Dec 2, 2019 23:03
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HycoCam posted:You want your crawlspace to be dry. Pooling would be worse. The question is where did the water come from? Pipe condensation would be acceptable, but you may have either an internal plumbing issue (hose spigots that have frozen for example), a leak from the roof running though your walls, or water penetrating your foundation.. The last three are issues you'd want to fix asap. If snow is drifting against your foundation it shouldn't be getting into your crawlspace unless it is blowing through a vent or something. When the snow melts, in a perfect world it is going to melt through the ground to a french drain/be diverted away from your foundation/footings. Is your stem / crawlspace wall made out of solid concrete, concrete block, or brick?  
Faustian Bargain fucked around with this message at 01:55 on Dec 3, 2019 |
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Dec 2, 2019 23:08
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Most smart thermostats don’t support 120VAC baseboard heaters AFAIK and the electric systems Ive seen have a thermostat in every room which also complicated things a lot.
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Dec 3, 2019 03:41
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Faustian Bargain posted:Solid concrete. I'm pretty sure the water is just coming from outside, since it's not localized to one wall/area. Lots of efflorescence--the white stuff on the concrete. My internet troubleshooting would be your concrete wall was never waterproofed or the waterproofing has lost its effectiveness over the years. The closer to the 70's your house is the worse the waterproofing is going to be. In our area any 60's era house with a basement/foundation has efflorescence all over the ground contact walls because the builders back then didn't bother with waterproofing. The fix for the older homes is to dig out all the dirt against the foundation. Waterproof the wall. Put in a french drain. Cover it with clean stone. Put down a layer of geo-textile cloth. Then landscape away, making sure to you have a grade away from the house. The job is typically in the $15K to $25K range. You'll basically need to do a subset of those tasks. Since your dealing with a crawlspace, you won't need to dig very deep. And also the damage doesn't look like it extends the length of your foundation, so no backhoe or mini excavator needed. In the spring time, when things are a little less messy, dig out the area on the opposite side of the leaks. The big leak--inspect the stem wall where it meets the footing and make sure the concrete is not crumbling. The bottom of the wall in your big leak picture looks like it is crumbling a bit. You'll want to repair any concrete damage. Slather on a bunch of water proofing tar below ground level. And then comes the tricky part--figuring out how to cover everything backup while making sure the water won't pool/drains away from the house. If there is a french drain already in place and it is filled with dirt, you're at a crossroads. Replacing a french drain typically requires a bunch of digging--probably more than you'd want to do by hand...so you'll most likely skip that step. Unless you live on a hill, with a lot of water flowing against one side--then you'll want a functional french drain. A few bags of drainage rock, a bit of geo-textile cloth, and put your landscaping back--making sure to grade away from the house. If you still get water penetration during heavy rains in the same spots or they move--you'll need dig out/replace your french drain.
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Dec 3, 2019 15:55
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Thanks. There’s no French drain. I asked the previous owner about locations of anything like that when he showed us around. The larger one is part of the foundation that was done in 2008 as an addition (weirdly this section is not insulated like the old sections). The other is from 1986 or 1987 when the house was originally built. I asked a friend about it and he has a guy so I will get in touch with them.
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Dec 3, 2019 16:35
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My house's slab foundation was fixed before we moved in but I think the company didn't put enough dirt under the house or something. There were burrow holes around the house and due to lovely drainage in my backyard and a skunk(s) problem, the holes have grown and grown and I think are connected from the front yard to the back. In an attempt to evict the skunks, I threw some mothballs into a couple of the holes in the back, and a bathroom on the other side of the house immediately started to smell strongly of mothballs? Never smelled the skunks in that bathroom, but it has reeked of mothballs for like two weeks. (Black holes in the yard are where mothballs were thrown) So my question is, can I just start shoveling dirt into the holes and hope things sort themselves out, or do I need a professional to come out and refill the void properly? Everything on the internet tells me how to evict/kill the burrowing animal, but the only resource I found about filling in the hole was from a garage forum suggesting I blindly pump concrete down them.
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Dec 3, 2019 18:43
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Friend posted:My house's slab foundation was fixed before we moved in but I think the company didn't put enough dirt under the house or something. There were burrow holes around the house and due to lovely drainage in my backyard and a skunk(s) problem, the holes have grown and grown and I think are connected from the front yard to the back. In an attempt to evict the skunks, I threw some mothballs into a couple of the holes in the back, and a bathroom on the other side of the house immediately started to smell strongly of mothballs? Never smelled the skunks in that bathroom, but it has reeked of mothballs for like two weeks. I adore your map (plan? rendering?) of the house and its annotations. It sure does seem like there must be some sort of direct connection between the bathroom and the burrow, but the distance is perplexing. I don't have direct experience with slab foundations (e.g. where the ductwork and plumbing are located when you have one), but if it was my home, I'd want to understand the nature of that connection as much as you do. But I do have sad experience with bad drainage, and if you were to just fill the holes I'd be worried about the drainage issues just creating new ones and possibly undermining the slab, so I'd probably start by having a landscape architect or engineer advise me on correcting the drainage problem in the back yard. Hopefully someone else will have more specific and informed advice than I do, though.
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Dec 4, 2019 18:00
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| # ? May 24, 2024 14:14 |
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TofuDiva posted:I adore your map (plan? rendering?) of the house and its annotations. Same...what program was used? Edit: I'm going o start my bathroom reno soon...I've got almost two straight weeks off from work, so that will give me some time to work on it. Not a total reno, but will sort of be going down to the studs in parts. Basically, I have tile on the bottom half of my wall, so rather than try to remove the mortar, I'm just removing the bottom half of the drywall and replacing with cement board. But I'm not touching my tub area, and the upper walls and ceiling are good enough to just prime+paint over. I plan to remove a tiny, pointless closet that's right up against the vanity, and replace it with just a couple floating shelves, try to open up my tiny bathroom as much as possible. DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 18:26 on Dec 4, 2019 |
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Dec 4, 2019 18:09
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