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Jealous Cow posted:New builders here on Texas are still making wraps and gutters optional. Blows my mind. I don't think I've ever seen a house here built using house wrap here in Finland or any of the nordic countries. Only ever hear of it from north america.
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Jul 28, 2019 16:26
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I want to point out that like 90% of houses in the nordic countries are also lumber framed and we don't use old growth lumber either for framing. IMO there's nothing inherently wrong with lumber frame construction. Stone houses really don't work here where it's so cold. Even most brick houses are actually a lumber frame house with a brick facade, that's not thermally bridged to the inside. Maybe they are just a cheap and easy way to get results, or maybe the US is hotter, more houses are actually colder on the inside than outside, opposite of the nordic countries, and that puts more importance on slowing down moisture ingress from the outside in.
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Jul 28, 2019 17:50
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beep-beep car is go posted:I've found that quite a few Europeans don't realize what a variation in temperatures the US gets even in the same region over a year. In my area (northeast) the summers can be up in the 90s F (30s C) and the winters can get down to below 0f (-17 C) and that's not counting the highs and lows I've seen in my area. There have been over 100F (38C) for highs and I've seen -20F (-29C) for lows. That doesn't even begin to account for humidity. Summers in the northeast are humid. Well we're getting more extreme weather recently too. In the recent few years, I've had -30 to +34 celcius. But the average temp in summer here is below 20C.
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Aug 2, 2019 07:32
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Mine is white:
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Aug 9, 2019 06:58
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Jaded Burnout posted:Yeah, the aforementioned shelves, that could fit a bunch more tools with similar access characteristics. It's less optimal that is true, but IMO it's easier to keep track of tools and to return them to their proper places. Still I plan to add more shelves to store things.
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Aug 9, 2019 13:08
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We've had cheap leather sofas for over a decade now, they were around 1200€ or something for two of them, reclining lazy boy sofas. I am pretty sure they are made in china, but the leather seems real, though it's this kind with some plasticky layer on top that contains all the color and that is now wearing off. I really love these sofas though, they are sooo comfortable. Trying to find some pictures of them but I found nothing that shows any detail. I am planning to do something about the leather, I believe the top coat can be scrubbed off (worn off already in lots of places) and then dyed with the appropriate leather coloring. 
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Sep 3, 2019 06:43
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I can't really agree with the other comments, referring to my post on the previous page. Bonded leather has held up fine for us for over 10 year and will probably last 10 more years easily. Having leather sofas has been really good for us, we have cats and found the sofas work excellently with having cats. Leather even the bonded stuff we got seems quite resistant to scratching and any marks that do happen mostly just add to the patina of the sofa and can be retouched. This sofa has lived through one cat and the current two ones we got are young and they run and play straight over them with their claws out, like the other cat also used to when she was younger. The sofas still look fine, can't really see any scratches and the ones we do see don't bother us, that's the good thing, they can take damage and still look fine. His Divine Shadow fucked around with this message at 07:02 on Sep 4, 2019 |
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Sep 4, 2019 07:00
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Never heard of chimneys like that myself, don't think they are common here, but most houses are designed with fireplaces in mind anyway. Wouldn't want to be without one if power fails a longer time in winter. A google shows they do exist though.
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Sep 8, 2019 17:52
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We have no AC, instead we have a ceiling fan in the bedroom. Lifesaver during hot summer nights.
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Sep 9, 2019 05:56
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MetaJew posted:Why is it so hard to run a rag or towel around the seal after washing a load and leaving the door slightly ajar? Can't remember ever wiping down the washing machine like that and we still have no problems. And line drying is best.
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Sep 10, 2019 04:35
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4000 square feet homes and bigger seems extremely pointless unless you have 10 kids or something. Just wasteful and especially in today's world when we should be considering the long term sustainability of our lifestyles it seems really tone deaf to build stuff like that. Space is certainly not an issue where I am but most homes are around 1400 sq ft, around what we have for a family of four.
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Sep 10, 2019 19:09
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The thing to do wehen you live rurally and have glorious spaec, is to build the house as small as you need. You want to minimize the amount of space you need to cool or heat to comfortable living standards. Then you build more houses as you need! For storage you can build a shed that is unheated and uninsulated. You can build a workshop or garage that only needs to be heated a little, or not at all depending on your needs. That's the way to do it. Secondary buildings.
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Sep 11, 2019 14:04
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falz posted:New windows would have the added benefit of double pane with gas to help insulate and whatnot. Unsure what if anything a single pane will really do. but yeah, not cheap. Adding another pane will actually do quite a lot.
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Nov 4, 2019 15:55
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Carpet is always a bad idea is my motto. What goons feel about wallpaper I feel about carpet.
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Nov 11, 2019 15:59
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Jaded Burnout posted:I agree with this part, i.e. it has its place and I'm planning on using both. It's dogmatic use of either that I feel gets you in trouble. I'm a never carpet, there are dozens of us.
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Nov 12, 2019 12:17
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Personally I leave the lights off or they are turned on only when needed. I like darkness to be well, dark. I hate this light show phenomenon, street lights are bad enough.
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Nov 20, 2019 14:07
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Sir Lemming posted:This might be kind of a weird question, but does anyone have a house with an exterior door that opens outward? We're thinking about getting a new front door and we're trying to figure out if we can get it outward-opening, since our entryway is really small and it's just kind of annoying. But then I started thinking of whether I've ever seen a house with an outward-opening door, and really, I'm not sure I ever have. I can think of a few reasons that might be the case: All doors here (scandinavia-ish) opens outwards.
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Nov 22, 2019 16:45
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MetaJew posted:Had my toilets backup last week despite not not flushing or putting any significant amount of solid waste down the drain. I remember sand was the thing that we put below and above our sewer main as we dug it down. It was important that we used sand and not gravel, it can damage the pipe over time because of sharp edges. I went with a bucket and shovel and laid out sand under the pipe to make sure there were no voids under it that could compromise support. Then the pipe was filled over with a layer of sand, then gravel.
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Nov 26, 2019 13:36
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MetaJew posted:I went and bought a trenching shovel and started digging. drat this sucks. I got about 2 ft down before the sun had gotten too low and I couldn't see what I was doing. I still haven't hit the sewer line yet. I was told it was 2'8" down, but the soil is so full of chunks of limestone that digging is slow work. I would never even consider digging mine up. But mine is over 7 feet deep and lol at finnish soil, it's more rocks than dirt.
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Nov 28, 2019 11:34
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I've not even known of the concept of a recirculating vent until a few years ago.
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Jan 17, 2020 14:21
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Waterproofing bathrooms and also the mud room are required by code here. Our previous neighbor had mold damage in his house because he previous owners had done the bathroom renovation themselves and not to code with the waterproof layers. They ended up having to pay for the repair and re-doing of the bathroom by a professional. Still that kinda thing doesn't happen often here, sellers usually get away with doing stuff like that.
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Feb 4, 2020 09:36
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Just wanna say, central vacuum rocks.
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Feb 10, 2020 07:26
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No we have one long hose and with 1-2 outlets that reaches the whole house comfortably. The thing that really rocks with a central vacuum though is that it doesn't use bags, it doesn't use filters because it vents the air out of the house.
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Feb 10, 2020 13:29
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House fire narrowly avoided.  God damnit it was the kids. I am home alone with them and I went out to get firewood, 5 minutes or so I was gone. When I get back the kids are standing by the door and crying. What the hell? They're crying and asking for mommy and I am wondering what the hell has happened? They say the bedroom is scary and other gibberish, but one blurts out the word fire and I instantly flip the gently caress out and dash first to the kids bedroom, not seeing anything but smelling smoke now in the living room. I run towards our bedroom and there's smoke in the air and holy poo poo there's smoke coming out of the drawer. And there's the lighter on top of the TV table. I flip out even more and I yank the drawer out so hard it breaks apart and that starts up the fire even harder. Oh drat now it smokes and the fire alarm goes off. In desperation I run for the cats water bowl (fortunately it's a huge 5 liter bowl) and pour it over the drawer and manage to put the fire out. gently caress. Been cleaning for hours now, having the doors open and fanning out as much air as possible and it's -10C outside, fortunately no damage except to the drawers of this lovely TV table we where going to throw away anyhow. And that's our new bed, we've slept it in for less than 4 days, drat close to catching fire and now it smells like paper smoke.
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Feb 29, 2020 10:54
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The kids are IMO not taking it seriously enough, even though I went full metal jacket sergeant on them, I lectured them a good long while and then grounded them to their room while I was cleaning up. I'm definitely considering fire extuingishers, but at the same time I am glad I did not have a dry powder one at hand, because I would have ruined the new bed and everything else in the room if I used it. I'm wondering if CO2 extuingishers are worth getting and maybe a foam one too.
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Feb 29, 2020 12:50
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I'm considering getting several types, after some quick research there seems to be water based ones, with an additive that makes it more effective than just water but is safe and not poisonous. So I am thinking one of those is a good idea for a first response and perhaps then I'll also have a powder and/or CO2 extuingisher as a backup if the water one can't deal with it. edit: Water mist extuingisher seems like a good first responder: https://www.safelincs.co.uk/ultrafire-water-mist-fire-extinguishers/ His Divine Shadow fucked around with this message at 13:17 on Feb 29, 2020 |
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Feb 29, 2020 12:58
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If not I'll probably get a foam one as my first choice.
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Feb 29, 2020 18:32
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The stuff I've read claims water mist extinguishers are rated for grease fires as well, and that they are very new on the market. I will get an ABC powder extinguisher but it will be the backup if foam doesn't work. I also wonder if we use different codes because foam extuingishers are rated AB here. Class A - fires involving solid materials such as wood, paper or textiles. Class B - fires involving flammable liquids such as petrol, diesel or oils. Class C - fires involving gases. Class D - fires involving metals. Class E - fires involving live electrical apparatus. (Technically ‘Class E’ doesn’t exists however this is used for convenience here) Class F - fires involving cooking oils such as in deep-fat fryers. https://www.marsden-fire-safety.co.uk/resources/fire-extinguishers
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Feb 29, 2020 18:45
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Last night I bought a foam extinguisher, it's AB and F rated. I kept reading and at least in Finland new types of foam that are effective on grease fires are now getting more common. It's rated 43A, 223B and 75F which based on looking at different 6 liter models was good for it's size. I also found a 2 liter small ABF foam extuingisher and am considering if I should buy one and place it in my shop, or if I should get an ABC. C is for gas fires but I have no gas in my shop except argon. Or maybe I should put the small one in the house and the big one in the shop. I found that TUKES (Finnish Safety and Chemicals Agency) tried a bunch of extuingishers on the market on a grease fire, here is the small model I was referring to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-JbBThP-3E&t=98s This is a government organization so no commercial interests, I saw they made one manufacturer recall their powder extinguishers because they didn't perform good enough.
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Mar 1, 2020 08:29
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So that means even smoke detectors like ours which use the mains instead of batteries, only last 10 years?
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Mar 26, 2020 05:34
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mr.belowaverage posted:Just renewed at 2.35% Friday. We're at 1.412%, adjusted every 12 months. Still 16 years left though.
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May 6, 2020 13:44
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Motronic posted:Didn't you just build that place? Or maybe I've just been here too long and it was what, 4 years ago? So the original term was 20 years? We moved in August 2014 so 6 years now, the original loan term was 22 years IIRC which seems to match up.
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May 7, 2020 06:21
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Motronic posted:Wow......time flies on the forums. I still remember all the crazy wallpaper hate going on (I thought it all looked great). I get the impression that a lot of people get longer loans than we do, because they wanna build bigger and also in more expensive locations and that's the only way you can afford that. In Finland I believe it's max 30 years, and we had to put up 10% cash to get our loan. Nowadays I think it's 15%. I usually compare this to Sweden where it's not even a goal to pay off your loan, only keep paying interest and use the mortage money for something else. The idealized fairy tale they paint up as a defence is this allows people extra money to wisely invest in the stock market with bigger gains than you get by paying off your mortgage. In reality it's consumption money, and of those that invest, a lot of people lose money.
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May 7, 2020 15:45
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Get a microwave that fits or rebuild the shelf until it fits. I mean there isn't really anytihng else you can do if you want a microwave in there. Alternatively you decide to use it for something completely different. Like fit a small TV or something, or maybe a food processor or stand mixer will fit there. Or turn it into a buncha shelves for spice storage.
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May 26, 2020 12:09
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We originally wanted a built in microwave but they where so expensive we said gently caress it. Just put a regular microwave in it.... poo poo it was hard to find a picture, this from when we weren't even done with our kitchen: 
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May 26, 2020 13:54
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knox_harrington posted:Hmm your dishwasher is raised up, that's a great idea and not sure why I haven't seen it before. Aesthetically a bit less clean I guess. It's awesome, the area above the diswasher is also at a super handy height for various stuff you don' want the kids to have easy access to.
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May 27, 2020 06:32
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DrBouvenstein posted:Enough "Live, Laugh, Love" hangings will make any house look nicer. Yeah as little as zero of those has a tremendous impact.
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Jun 2, 2020 15:08
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Time to re-oil the deck, been a couple of years, maybe three since last time. I used my own mix last time and I am using it again Boiled linseed oil, pine tar, mineral spirits and some pigment for additional coloring, though it gets a pretty nice brown color just as is so entirely optional. 
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Jun 4, 2020 19:33
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Hed posted:That looks great! As someone whose deck is looking pretty shabby, I'd love to learn more about your application... Just using a brush. A cheapo 4-6" brush, a tar brush won't be getting clean again so it's no use for anything else after you are done with it. Can wrap it in foil to stop it hardening, but not for 3 years.
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Jun 5, 2020 04:26
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Some windy weather today, but on the plus side now I can oil in the top of the swing without a ladder.  
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Jun 7, 2020 18:34
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