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In a few months I am going to be fishing a walkout basement of my parents' townhouse. Two walls are concrete, but are shared by another townhouse (that is: our neighbor's basement is on the other side of the wall). Should I plan to finish these walls like any other concrete basement wall?
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Oct 16, 2015 03:15
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It's probably better to assume that the neighbors basement is a cold zone and insulate the wall. You could pay to have your drains inspected in case anything plumbing related needs to be fixed.
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Oct 16, 2015 08:00
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The basement bathroom in my house has a shower with a smelly drain. It is a vague sewage smell, sometimes stronger, sometimes non existent. I was thinking a dry p trap maybe, but I use this shower a few times per week so I think that is unlikely. The shower is pretty new, I think 2012, but the house dates to 1958. Is there a chance there is no trap at all here? What else should I be looking for before calling a plumber? The toilet and sink seem fine, and there is no gurgling coming from other drains.
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Oct 16, 2015 14:11
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Could be that there's a slow clog downstream from where that shower drain and another drain (toilet?) hook up. Enough "traffic" trying to head to the main sewer might overload the clog, which isn't a full clog, just a constriction, and so it backs up into the shower in a minor way, as that's the path of least resistance. Doesn't have to actually come up the drain to infect the p trap with poo poo water and then produce a smell. Common cause of that is feminine hygiene products, wipes, etc. They often say flushable but really aren't. If that is the problem, it would likely require getting the system snaked, shouldn't cost over $100. In my area, emergency (like 10PM) snaking only ran $180. In my case, the clog was sufficient that any time a toilet flushed, it would come straight up the shower drain, and the shower in question was downstairs in a part of the house we only use every couple days, so it had been doing that for a while and uggghhhhhh never again. I noticed the problem when I walked downstairs and suddenly noticed my socks were soaking wet from the carpet and OMG WHAT IS THAT SMELL Another possibility: are you sure it's actually the shower drain? Is there a toilet nearby? If so, check if the toilet is securely mounted. If it can shift at all, it may have broken the wax seal, which lets horrible smells waft up into the room. Again, from experience: the flange bolts in our primary bathroom got loose (the mounting holes in the flange had gotten a bit rusty) so the toilet would shift a little, and that quickly led to a faulty seal. Replaced it with one of those foam rubber deals, works great. The worst part was removing the old wax, and that just takes a putty knife and a sacrificial rag or two. e: Oh, also, there's a plumbing thread, may also be worth checking out  http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3131944
Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 15:01 on Oct 16, 2015 |
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Oct 16, 2015 14:52
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Bad Munki posted:Could be that there's a slow clog downstream from where that shower drain and another drain (toilet?) hook up. Enough "traffic" trying to head to the main sewer might overload the clog, which isn't a full clog, just a constriction, and so it backs up into the shower in a minor way, as that's the path of least resistance. Doesn't have to actually come up the drain to infect the p trap with poo poo water and then produce a smell. Common cause of that is feminine hygiene products, wipes, etc. They often say flushable but really aren't. If that is the problem, it would likely require getting the system snaked, shouldn't cost over $100. In my area, emergency (like 10PM) snaking only ran $180. In my case, the clog was sufficient that any time a toilet flushed, it would come straight up the shower drain, and the shower in question was downstairs in a part of the house we only use every couple days, so it had been doing that for a while and uggghhhhhh never again. I noticed the problem when I walked downstairs and suddenly noticed my socks were soaking wet from the carpet and OMG WHAT IS THAT SMELL The toilet is seldom used either, and we do not flush wipes from the kid. The bathroom is directly below the kitchen and dishwasher, so that may be part of the issue, although we had the sink in the kitchen snaked about a year ago and it drains well. The wax ring is a good theory, I will look at that as I had to replace the main bath wax ring due to a lovely install. Thanks for the thoughts.
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Oct 16, 2015 15:14
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In my case, the drainage pattern was something like shower drain -----> toilet ties in -------> upstairs everything ties in -------> basement access --------> municipal sewer The clog happened about 10' upstream from the basement access, so basically everything in the house was exiting through the shower drain 
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Oct 16, 2015 15:20
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Bad Munki posted:In my case, the drainage pattern was something like shower drain -----> toilet ties in -------> upstairs everything ties in -------> basement access --------> municipal sewer Based on the location of the subject drain I think it is Kitchen-->Basement Toilet-->Basement Sink-->basement shower --> Main drain to sewer. The main sewer drain is across the house from the bath. The smell has been in and out since we moved in about 15 months ago. I may just try and get a good cleaning in the drain line and see if that helps. The trap could be nasty.
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Oct 16, 2015 15:52
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Mercury Ballistic posted:The smell has been in and out since we moved in about 15 months ago. For what it's worth, that precisely describes the situation when the wax seal on my upstairs toilet was compromised (I mean, except for the time frame, I could only stand that mystery smell coming and going for a couple weeks before I figured out what the hell was causing it.) Which is a good thing, because it's a pretty cheap, easy, and fast fix if that's the problem. Good luck!
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Oct 16, 2015 15:57
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The Gardenator posted:It's probably better to assume that the neighbors basement is a cold zone and insulate the wall. It's also a good idea to insulate any shared wall/floor/ceiling with a neighbor, simply to help keep noise being transferred from one side to the other. Still, concrete is a pretty good blocker.
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Oct 16, 2015 17:42
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Well, just got done moving some wood and I noticed something. Previous owner was stacking firewood in the workshop of the house, and the inspector told me to move it out of there ASAP. While I didn't see any termites, I did find signs of powderpost beetles. A few logs on the very bottom of the pile had tiny little holes with frass around them. Now I didn't see any holes on the press board wall they were leaning on, but did see a small amount of frass that matched the color on the floor in one single spot: This may be previous damage. My thoughts right now are, 1) move all the wood out (which I did), and 2) clean the frass up and see if it returns. This wall butts right up against a bunch of insulation, and I don't see, hear, or feel any structural damage. Any recommendations on action to take?
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Oct 16, 2015 17:43
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Couple of questions for my workshop project. 1) Do I need to have a drip cap and framing around the doorway opening? 2) Ultimately I'm going to need to paint this thing. How much of a timesaver would it be to get a paint sprayer? Is one of those little handheld ones adequate or do I need the (much more expensive) larger ones on wheels? 3) Paint brands. Consumer Reports actually thinks quite highly of Home Depot's Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior paint. Any countervailing opinions? Thanks!
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Oct 17, 2015 16:56
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:1) Do I need to have a drip cap and framing around the doorway opening? Does water end up dripping on it or is it covered with a sizeable roof overhang? If water drips on it you want to protect it. But I'm not sure what you mean by framing. The if the door is in it was framed in. Do you mean trim? TooMuchAbstraction posted:3) Paint brands. Consumer Reports actually thinks quite highly of Home Depot's Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior paint. Any countervailing opinions? It's the best of the bog box store brands I've used, but I still prefer Benjamin Moore. Costs more, but it covers better so less time and less paint. I think it's worth it.
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Oct 18, 2015 17:36
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Couple of questions for my workshop project. I would absolutely put drip cap flashing over the door, and sandwich your trim underneath. I just pressure washed, scraped, and primered my detached garage, which has tongue and groove siding. After wasting seven hours switching back and forth between a brush and a roller and only getting one side and part of the front done, I got pissed off and started looking into paint sprayers. It's stupid expensive to rent one, and I'm hesitant to buy one off craigslist because if you don't immediately and thoroughly clean it after every use, it's trash. What I landed on was buying an airless paint sprayer from harbor freight. I normally avoid anything with a cord at harbor freight, but I figured even if I only get one use it's already paid for itself. HOLY poo poo THAT THING IS FREAKING AWESOME! Best purchase I've ever made at HF. I bought it at 200$, with the 20% coupon bringing it down to the price it's listed for now on their website. It's super easy, prime it with a bucket of water, put the feed tube in any bucket of latex paint (no thinning or specialty paints needed!), and spray away! Easy, controllable, portable, very little overspray, this thing couldn't have worked any better. I finished the whole garage in an hour, and it worked so well I even repainted the area I did by hand. Clean up was a snap, just stick the feed tube in a bucket of water, and run it till it's clear, and take apart/clean the gun with water. I'm gonna use it for my house next year, this thing was an awesome investment. Just don't forget to pick up some good goggles (not safety glasses) and a paint respirator (15$ at harbor freight). E: as far as brands go, killz2 latex primer is kinda thin, and valspar paint is great.... that's all I got on that.
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Oct 18, 2015 17:57
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Sewage stench update: I pulled the toilet in the basement bath. There wad no rocking, it came right up with the old wax ring. It looks like there was no airtight seal at all. Put on a new one and no contact as the flange was too low so I doubled up with two wax rings and got a good squish and seal. Fingers crossed it was a few bucks in parts.
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Oct 18, 2015 18:16
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Motronic posted:Does water end up dripping on it or is it covered with a sizeable roof overhang? If water drips on it you want to protect it. Uh, yeah, I meant trim. Sorry. There's a 2' overhang, so the doorway should be pretty well protected most of the time. We do sometimes get windy rain though. Is this something I can retrofit on after putting up siding if it turns out to be necessary? quote:It's the best of the bog box store brands I've used, but I still prefer Benjamin Moore. Costs more, but it covers better so less time and less paint. I think it's worth it. Good to know, thanks. OSU_Matthew posted:Shilling for Harbor Freight Heh, thanks for the rave review. Will definitely keep that in mind when it comes time to paint. I don't think I have a whole lot of painting to do on this project, fortunately; the siding will be vinyl, so it's just the trim and door that need paint.
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Oct 18, 2015 19:19
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:3) Paint brands. Consumer Reports actually thinks quite highly of Home Depot's Behr Premium Plus Ultra Exterior paint. Any countervailing opinions? It's probably fine. We just used 3/4 gallon of Valspar Reserve and it was magic. Single coat with a roller over otherwise unprepared prior paint of a different (but not TOO highly contrasting/dark) color. Fastest I've ever painted a room. Home Depot Paint Guy said it would be stretching it given the dimensions of the room but it was so easy. We probably would have gotten closer to the whole gallon if it weren't for one wall being 60-70% window.
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Oct 18, 2015 19:39
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We are about to close on a house that needs some light (?) renovations. My DIY skills are basically nonexistent, so all of these things need to be hired out: - bathroom vanity removed, new vanity/sink installed - existing carpet, linoleum, and tile removed - existing baseboards removed - new paint on literally every surface - all cabinets repainted - laminate flooring and tile installed - new baseboards painted and installed Am I better off hiring different crews/installers myself for each step, or should I just say "gently caress it" and hire a contractor to oversee the whole mess?
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Oct 18, 2015 21:09
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TheNinjaScotsman posted:Am I better off hiring different crews/installers myself for each step, or should I just say "gently caress it" and hire a contractor to oversee the whole mess? This is all a question of how much you value your time and how willing you are to get your hands dirty. Probably the hardest projects on there are replacing the sink (only if this requires reworking pipes though) and installing new flooring -- and that mostly because the existing carpet flooring probably has staples or folded-over nails in your subfloor that'll be a pain to get out. The ultimate hands-off would be to hire a general contractor who then subcontracts everything for you. That's of course also the most expensive and you need to trust the GC to not cheap out on you. Personally I'd at the very least do the hiring of contractors myself. You may also want to consider doing the painting yourself; it's not at all difficult, just time-consuming. Just do the prep work correctly (cleaning and priming the surface) and you'll be fine.
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Oct 18, 2015 22:51
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Ah FFS. So I've been trying to find studs in this wall with no luck. I even drilled small holes 1/2" apart for a 26" stretch and didn't contact with a single stud. What I did find however, is that there are horizontal strips about 16" apart running the entire length of each wall. For exploration, I pulled off the baseboard and drilled a larger hole to see if I could poke in there and find a stud. However, I drilled through the fibrous plate on the outside, a solid wood kickboard, a small amount of cardboard-like material, and then a sticky black paper. That's where I stopped. I also took a long shim and poked it in along both sides of the electrical outlet. It sunk in 5.5" on both sides, no stud interaction. So here's where I'm standing: Vertical bead board thickness: 3/8" Stud depth: allegedly 2x6 Stud spacing: 24" (basing this on a vent in the house where I can see both studs) Can't find any vertical studs after 26" of drilling pilot holes I have detected horizontal strips running behind the bead board on all walls (both the exterior one I want to mount to and other interior walls Just what in the hell is going on with this wall? Can I possibly mount to this mystery horizontal strip? I was hoping to eventually feed Ethernet and HDMI cables in through this wall as well, but seeing as I can't even figure out what the hell is going on behind this bead board...
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Oct 19, 2015 04:09
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Would this happen to be an exterior concrete wall? Also, those horizontal strips are called "fire blocks". They're usually staggered between studs, mainly so that nails can be driven in straight.  if bad comes to worse, I suppose you could attach to them, but it would be hard due to that staggering. Oh, and fire blocks make it a bitch to fish cables in wall cavities. kid sinister fucked around with this message at 04:43 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 04:33
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Uh, yeah, I meant trim. Sorry. There's a 2' overhang, so the doorway should be pretty well protected most of the time. We do sometimes get windy rain though. Is this something I can retrofit on after putting up siding if it turns out to be necessary? Totally depends on your siding. I mean, "yeah" no matter what but the diffculty level varies. Like if you were doing vinyl you're need to put a J channel around the door. If you want to add trim later you'd need to remove the j-channel to the outside of the trim and recut the siding. I'd say trim it out now, but with a 2' overhang you probably don't need to flash it (but it's easy to do now and hard to do later......at least caulk it) TooMuchAbstraction posted:The ultimate hands-off would be to hire a general contractor who then subcontracts everything for you. That's of course also the most expensive and you need to trust the GC to not cheap out on you. Personally I'd at the very least do the hiring of contractors myself. If someone is coming on here saying they aren't very handy I'm not sure how they would be able to evaluate any contractors for quality, least of all the typical subs. This is kind of a textbook case of asking around for a good GC and pay them for the knowledge, experience and local experience (with subs) that they have.
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Oct 19, 2015 04:39
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kid sinister posted:Would this happen to be an exterior concrete wall? I thought it may be fire blocks as well, but there is more than one strip. I'm finding them 16" apart, 3 on the wall so far. The internet tells me that they may be furring strips? Hazed_blue fucked around with this message at 05:18 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 04:49
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Motronic posted:Totally depends on your siding. I mean, "yeah" no matter what but the diffculty level varies. Like if you were doing vinyl you're need to put a J channel around the door. If you want to add trim later you'd need to remove the j-channel to the outside of the trim and recut the siding. Sounds good; thanks again for sharing your experience.
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Oct 19, 2015 04:53
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Just bought our first house and due to circumstances I won't go into we discovered that the a good chunk of the floor had to be replaced immediately. After pulling up the layer cake that was the kitchen floor we discovered a 2 'x 3' concrete patch that is a quarter inch above the rest of the slab. We're thinking about renting a demolition hammer + cart to smash that quarter inch down to be level with the rest of the slab. Is that good idea, is there a better/easier way?
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Oct 19, 2015 14:13
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robziel posted:.After pulling up the layer cake that was the kitchen floor we discovered a 2 'x 3' concrete patch that is a quarter inch above the rest of the slab. Something that small should be pretty easy to knock out with a sledgehammer or engineers hammer and cold chisel. At least give it a shot before stepping up to a demo hammer. TooMuchAbstraction posted:Heh, thanks for the rave review. Will definitely keep that in mind when it comes time to paint. I don't think I have a whole lot of painting to do on this project, fortunately; the siding will be vinyl, so it's just the trim and door that need paint. Your original question made it sound like you were painting the whole thing. Don't get a sprayer for trim, that's just dumb. A 2-3" brush is more than adequate for what you're doing.
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Oct 19, 2015 14:50
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OSU_Matthew posted:Something that small should be pretty easy to knock out with a sledgehammer or engineers hammer and cold chisel. At least give it a shot before stepping up to a demo hammer. Really now? Huh, thanks we'll give it a shot.
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Oct 19, 2015 16:08
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AH HAH! Kid sinister, I think you were on the right track. Found an image of the attic from the inspection. Take a look at that exterior wall! It all makes sense now. Horizontal beams, no vertical studs, black insulation paper behind the beams? It all falls in line with my findings (and confusion) from yesterday. And the only way this would be structurally sound is if the outside of the home is masonry under those cedar shingles. So I think what I'll do is mount the TV to one of these horizontal 2x4's. Between 3/8" bead board and the solid wood beaming, that should be more than enough to hold 60 lbs, yeah? edit: or maybe I should pound a 1" plywood that runs at least the length of two horizontal beams for extra support Hazed_blue fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Oct 19, 2015 |
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Oct 19, 2015 16:54
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I have a silly running toilet problem that I can't successfully figure out a google phrase for. It seems to me like the hinge for the arm holding the float is a little stuck. To fix the water running, we just have to tap the arm up a bit and it fixes itself. Here's the part in question. Do we need to replace it, or is using some WD-40 or oil sufficient?
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Oct 20, 2015 02:20
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Toilet valve assemblies are cheap. Not familiar with that specific style, but the gasket may be gunked up. Replacement is pretty easy. Before you do anything, make sure the cut off valve by the wall works. If not it is a bigger mess. In older houses the valves seize and stop working because no one bothers to cycle them.
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Oct 20, 2015 02:29
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I've noticed that with most of my interior doors, the latch doesn't hit the strike plate first--it hits the door frame. I looked around for a wider strike plate but no dice. Should I move the strike plate? What?
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Oct 20, 2015 03:11
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Mercury Ballistic posted:Toilet valve assemblies are cheap. Not familiar with that specific style, but the gasket may be gunked up. Replacement is pretty easy. Before you do anything, make sure the cut off valve by the wall works. If not it is a bigger mess. In older houses the valves seize and stop working because no one bothers to cycle them. I think it works? My house is 8 years old so I don't think it falls into that category. Thanks for the help.
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Oct 20, 2015 03:25
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Rurutia posted:I think it works? My house is 8 years old so I don't think it falls into that category. Thanks for the help. There is no need to guess. Shut it off and flush the toilet. Does water come back in to the tank at all? If not, good.
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Oct 20, 2015 04:45
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Motronic posted:There is no need to guess. Shut it off and flush the toilet. Does water come back in to the tank at all? If not, good. It's literally step one of toilet repairs.
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Oct 20, 2015 05:52
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Rurutia posted:I have a silly running toilet problem that I can't successfully figure out a google phrase for. It seems to me like the hinge for the arm holding the float is a little stuck. To fix the water running, we just have to tap the arm up a bit and it fixes itself. Here's the part in question. Do we need to replace it, or is using some WD-40 or oil sufficient? Replace the entire fill valve. You can get one for 10 bucks. Fun fact: the old name for the fill valve is "ballcock".
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Oct 20, 2015 15:56
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Rurutia posted:I think it works? My house is 8 years old so I don't think it falls into that category. Thanks for the help. There's a solid chance that it doesn't work after eight years... The old style shutoff valves with the octagon handle that twist shut are complete poo poo and if you have hard water sieze up after a couple of years. Quarter turn valves are just plain magical though, they don't freeze up and break that way  Sounds like your flapper just isn't seating correctly. Check the chain to make sure it isn't kinked up or simmering, readjust if necessary. From there check the flapper to see if it's obstructed by anything, replacements are cheap. Check your float valve, ballcock, replace as necessary. There's tons of step by step guides with pictures for the internal workings of a toilet. Oh, the main suspect, at least in my mind, are bleach tablets. Do you use tank cleaner tablets? Those eat away at the rubber and cause seals to fail, especially the flapper. If you do, just replace everything inside the tank and chuck the rest of your cleaning tablets in the garbage.
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Oct 20, 2015 16:20
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It's a quarter turn valve, but I will test it later. I've been through those step by step things and none of them talk about the hinge. The flapper and chain and ball are fine. The water is going into the overflow tube when this happens, and it's just the fill valve hinge is slightly stuck at the end range of its movement. So an incredibly small amount of pressure on it fixes it.kid sinister posted:Replace the entire fill valve. You can get one for 10 bucks. Ordered a fluidmaster on Amazon. Thanks.
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Oct 20, 2015 16:31
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I've got a Trane 2twr3030a1000aa heat pump that won't heat. Everything appears to be wired correctly. The green LED on the board blinks at approximately 1Hz. I can flip the breaker and the blinking goes away until the unit is called for heat. Cold works fine. Emergency electric heat works fine. Any ideas? I'm striking out in the usual places to find manuals and blink codes and the like.
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Oct 20, 2015 17:33
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devicenull posted:LED retrofit fixtures are basically that easy. You remove the existing trim around the light, screw a connector into the socket, and stick the new LED light up there. No tools required, not really any harder then changing a lightbulb. I replaced all of my incandescent can lighting in my kitchen with these. I hope they don't malfunction before we remodel the kitchen next year because I have absolutely no idea how to get them out.
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Oct 20, 2015 19:03
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Rurutia posted:It's a quarter turn valve, but I will test it later. I've been through those step by step things and none of them talk about the hinge. The flapper and chain and ball are fine. The water is going into the overflow tube when this happens, and it's just the fill valve hinge is slightly stuck at the end range of its movement. So an incredibly small amount of pressure on it fixes it. Good deal! You're probably in good shape then. I'd try adjusting your fill level in the tank. Depending on what kind of toilet you have, it might be as easy as threading a plastic nut up and down on the fill valve, or an adjustment screw with a flat head screwdriver indent on top.
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Oct 20, 2015 19:32
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| # ? Jun 8, 2024 11:04 |
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Rurutia posted:It's a quarter turn valve, but I will test it later. I've been through those step by step things and none of them talk about the hinge. The flapper and chain and ball are fine. The water is going into the overflow tube when this happens, and it's just the fill valve hinge is slightly stuck at the end range of its movement. So an incredibly small amount of pressure on it fixes it. Good deal. Here's the way to replace it without making a huge mess since they mount through a hole in the bottom of the tank. Get some rags, a crescent wrench and maybe a knife to shorten the included hose in necessary. 1. turn off that supply valve and remove the tank lid 2. hold down the flush lever until you see the tank empty as much as it can 3. use a rag to sop up any water still left in the tank. You can ring the water out right into the toilet bowl. 4. pull the little hose out of the overflow tube. Hold onto any hardware that might be there that clips onto the overflow tube, you may need to reuse it. 5. put some rags on the floor under the tank and by the supply valve 6. unscrew the supply line from the bottom of the tank. Try not to destroy it. 7. unscrew the nut on the bottom of the tank that holds in the old fill valve. 8. follow the instructions for installing the new fill valve Expect a murky flush for the first one or two since you'll be stirring up all the sediment that settled to the bottom of the tank over the last few years.
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Oct 20, 2015 20:15
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