Home Zone: I see a baseboard and I want it painted black.

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Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Twerk from Home posted:

I bought a new construction house with a flat roof and a deck on top because I'm a moron in May 2017. It has had varying levels of water intrusion basically since the day I moved in, when I was too dumb to realize that the ugly crown molding joints were because of the MDF getting wet.

The builder has been cooperative at trying to fix things, and I've had many rounds of roof repair and interior refinishing followed by leaks after they declare that it has been fully repaired. The roof was originally a cheaper black EPDM, and has now had an entirely new layer of thicker white EPDM put over it. They've cut huge drainage holes into the railing around the deck, rather than the small scuppers that were there. The leaks have gone from catastrophic (water pouring from a recessed light fixture at a rate high enough to fill a storage tub) to just wet spots forming on the ceiling that are wet to the touch, and paint failure along the drywall where there is water getting in. The flooring has been refinished in some places, replaced in others, and there's been some drywall and trim replacement.

It's been almost two years of the repair attempts, and now my point of contact for warranty is setting up a meeting with the owner of the homebuilding company. It's a small local one, and I have no idea what they're going to propose, but I'm looking for a list of things that need to be done before repairs are truly complete.

My questions:
Should I be fighting for any insulation batts that got wet to be replaced, or will they dry if they just got moist and not entirely soaked? The places that leaked badly enough to require drywall replacement had some batts replaced when they cut out the drywall, and others were judged "ok" by eyeballing them.
Is having a flat roof just asking for it? Am I going to go through this whole thing again in 5 years, except not have the builder warranty to cover all the expenses?

Do you have a wooden deck built on top of the rubber roof or is the EPDM the surface you walk on? I'm having a hard time imagining how the railing would be attached. Penetrations are the enemy of any roof, and adding a deck is going to add a lot of penetrations. Was the deck over flat roof your design or something the builder had? In some ways the small leaks are worse than the big ones because they can go for years unnoticed until you find out a whole wall is rotten and full of termites because it collapses.

At this point, I would get a lawyer and get nasty-they have every incentive to keep half-assing this until whatever warranty runs out. I'd want to get a third party (not their roofer who apparently doesn't know how to do this right) to do the work and the builder pay the bill. They've had their chance to make good. While you're playing hardball, I'd go ahead and demand they replace whatever got wet ever and see what they come back with. Then sell your house to someone else who hasn't thought about how bad an idea it is to put a million extra holes in a flat roof.

Honestly the roof should be fixable and everything made right, but flat roofs especially need to be kept clean and well maintained which is going to be trickier with a deck built on top of it.

# ¿ Feb 13, 2019 00:56

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 07:27

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

That looks great. I put in a small one at my house a few years ago and it was waaaay more work than I thought it would be. What�s that cool looking grill/firepit/hibachi thing?

# ¿ Apr 28, 2019 18:41

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

That Works posted:

Any guidance on spraying vs rollers for interior wall painting?

We are going to eventually paint probably ~2/3 of the interior walls in the house in the upcoming year or so. I have a ~4ga Hitachi air compressor for the wood shop and while looking at July 4th sales etc saw sprayers and paint and the like on sale. That got me thinking about whether I should consider buying a sprayer and painting the interior walls with that instead? I would also likely use the sprayer outdoors or in a cabinet to put down finish on woodshop projects etc sometimes, so this wouldn't be a total one off expense if I went that way.

So, is it worth doing, or just a waste of time / effort / expense vs painting with rollers? Given that I already have the compressor etc I was curious if I should take advantage.

If it is worthwhile, any guidance on a cheap / mid-range sprayer to consider for interior paint applications?

A 4 gal compressor will spray paint for about 30 seconds before it kicks on and it�s probably never going to catch up. That being said, it actually can do sort of alright finishing small furniture kind of stuff-I�ve finished a bed before with just a little 4 gal hitachi compressor, but I wouldn�t recommend you do it all the time or you might burn the compressor up. For spraying, you need a fairly high volume of low pressure air, where a pancake compressor can supply a low volume of high pressure air. You would think capacity x pressure= volume and it would even out, but it doesn�t because physics or something.

Lacquer/shellac/polyurethane etc are much less viscous and lower solids than paint and so much easier to spray. A turbine rig like an Earlex will do okay too with a fat enough tip, but it�s not going to get the atomization or control you really need for a fine finish without lots of sanding to get rid of orange peel, and it still struggles with thick paint. I�ve never met a paint sprayer aside from a big professional rig that could compete with brush and roller on time and certainly not price.

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 18:55 on Jul 1, 2019

# ¿ Jul 1, 2019 18:51

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

It�s pretty much just personal taste, but this is a good article:
https://www.houzz.com/magazine/how-to-size-interior-trim-for-a-finished-look-stsetivw-vs~2934773

For crown and stuff up in the air that doesn�t get any wear MDF is fine, but for base I would stick with solid wood. If you go to a real lumberyard/millwork supplier, they will probably have a wider selection and possibly better price than a big box.

# ¿ Jul 2, 2019 18:23

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

The Wonder Weapon posted:

Ceiling fans are ugly but quite good at what they do. If you've got central air you can skip them, but if you live somewhere that gets warm days at all, and don't have ac, you'll regret removing them.

I admittedly live in an uninsulated house in swamp, but I have literally not turned my bedroom ceiling fan off in 5 years. It keeps the air moving, winter and summer, and keeps things from mildewing and it makes it feel 5 degrees cooler in summer and helps my heat in winter distribute better. Ceiling fans are the best.

# ¿ Sep 9, 2019 04:23

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Umpteenthing �Hire an architect�. Different ones work differently (billing by the hour vs percentage of construction costs- 7%ish is fairly normal here) but all will probably save their clients money and make much more pleasant, liveable spaces. Any residential architect should be more than happy to show them around houses they have designed, and will know good contractors, and should be able to work to whatever their budget is. They may find an architect who can design something much smaller that still suits their needs, allowing them to have a nicer house.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2019 15:13

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

meatpimp posted:

Good question. The definitely say no steam mops, but I'll look into it.

They're both 3/4" floors. One is solid wood, the other is a 5.8mm thick veneer on a 11 ply birch plywood substrate. Both nail down. The engineered version has lengths up to 8', I'm unsure of maximum length of their solid pieces.

Pic of the engineered:

A 35� long run of solid wood is not problem. Wood moves less than 1% lengthwise from green to kiln dry-movement in service lengthwise is negligible. It does expand/contract a bit more width wise, but this is why floors are tongue and grooved together. If you do solid wood (I sure would) make sure the flooring sits unpacked in your climate controlled house for a a few days at least (weeks would be better) to acclimate to the humidity inside. If your dishwasher leaks again, solid wood floors might well survive it with refinishing-engineered are gonna be toast. There�s a good chance the solid is mostly short lengths of it is cheaper than the engineered.

# ¿ Sep 11, 2019 17:29

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

That Works posted:

Thanks!

So for the chimney, it seems to be just a pipe like you said enclosed in a box covered in siding on the house. I didn't plan on removing the chimney and if possible just sealing up the pipe on both ends and as Jaded suggested make sure the box itself still gets some kind of venting. Would that work or would the entire pipe etc going up the side of the house all need to be removed? If that was the case it's a much bigger job than I think I want to consider as DIY at all.

As far as the cubby goes I think if we have the same tile on the floor going into the recessed cubby as well and then make the drywall and repainting etc all match it's basically just a dugout with some stuff in it. If it looks too poo poo I can just build in a low bookcase or storage cabinet with a bench top to sit on along that wall or something instead and just trim that up with the same baseboard moulding etc.

I'm sure there are Reasons that aren't clear to me, but it seems way easier/cheaper to run whatever chimney pipe you need for the wood stove up the existing chimney? Put the wood stove on the current stone hearth (replace/expand it if needed since the stove will stick out in the room) and then remove/replace the existing mantel with whatever stone/tile you need to have around the woodstove.

# ¿ Sep 12, 2019 01:56

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Motronic posted:

That's how absolutely every pre-finished floor I've ever seen has looked. I can't imagine there is another way to do it. If you every seen/installed actual hardwood flooring you will understand why. Sanding after install and before finishing is NOT optional - and it's not just for the sake of prepping the surface for finish. It's simply not level enough to look good. To obscure that, the pre finished ones bevel every board, which just screams out "this was pre finished" to anyone who knows.

The little bevels also seem to trap dust in the groove they create and look bad if you don�t vacuum/mop reasonably frequently.

# ¿ Sep 23, 2019 12:42

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Trim is there to hide all the other mistakes, and there are always other mistakes, so it is the time to do whatever you have to do to make the trim look good so everything else looks good.

For something window sized, throw your tape measure away because it will only hurt you. Cut a miter on one end, line that up where it should go, mark the other end at the short point with a pencil. Start on the bottom or top (whichever is most visible-the last corner is where it will be hosed up so put it in the least eye-level spot), nail it off, then work up the sides sides. Fit each miter before you cut to length so there is room to mess around to get the angle right. It doesn't matter if the saw is cutting 45 degrees or not because your window opening probably isn't actually square. It can cut one side 46, and that doesn't really matter as long as the other side is 44. If you leave the piece long you can adjust your cut until you get a nice fit. The last piece is hardest, but you can leave it long and fit both ends individually and then when you know the correct angle you cut it to final length. If it's getting painted its easy and just caulk that poo poo. "Putty and paint make a carpenter who aint" is really actually good advice.

It's less mess, but not necessarily easier, to shave/sand off the back of the molding with a plane vs. shaving down drywall if that is indeed your problem. You could probably shim/caulk it and mostly be fine.

# ¿ Oct 23, 2019 03:04

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

SpartanIvy posted:

My house has old wood windows that each part, top and bottom, have 6 separate panes of glass with wood grilles between them. Like this:

Is there any way to convert each half of the window to one large pane of glass? I realize in the past it probably made more sense to have individual pieces so that when one got damaged you could swap it out with less waste. However, that's not really a concern of mine. From an initial inspection, it looks like I might just be able to pop out the grilles to convert them.

My reasons for wanting to do this are two. First, all the windows need reglazing and I would love to cut my workload down to a 1/6 of what it currently is. Second, the glass is really old and cloudy from being sandblasted over decades. The windows need all new glass anyway and once again, I would like to cut my workload down on that.

It's gonna be a whole lot easier, better, and stronger to just reglaze 12 panes of glass than it is going to be to cut apart and rebuild that window. The muntins and mullions (the skinny vertical and horizontal parts) are what holds the outside frame reasonably straight and square etc, and removing them is going to make the window weaker and probably out of whack. New window/new-to-you old window is probably going to be the next best bet, but installing a new window is kind of pain too.

Terminology-wise, windows are referred to as X over X where X is the number of panes of glass in the top/bottom frames. You have six over six windows and you want one over one. Might help you in searching for a new old window.

# ¿ Nov 3, 2019 21:03

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

SpartanIvy posted:

I'm not disagreeing they're not better in every way, but you're never going to recoup the cost of the windows in energy savings. Its a nice to have if you have to replace them, but it's still more practical to stick with whatever windows you've got.

Does anyone know where I would go to find someone or a company that would cut all the panes of glass I would need. Cutting 156 small panes sounds almost as bad as having to reglaze them all.

Any hardware store or glass company. They will also probably happily reglaze it for you, possibly for not all that much more money.

# ¿ Nov 4, 2019 19:18

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

The Wonder Weapon posted:

If I'm interested in determining whether replacing my windows is worth it or not, how would I go about doing that?

Cheap windows are vinyl and really look like butt, especially if you live in an old house. They might actually pay for themselves in energy savings but not in resale value. Real windows that look good cost pretty serious $$$ but probably never gonna recoup the cost on energy savings. If you're somewhere super cold it might eventually pay to replace them, but there's so much other insulation stuff you'd probably be better off doing first. My sister in law from Maine swears by some plastic film you stick over your windows every winter for drafts.

# ¿ Nov 5, 2019 01:15

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Square/roberts head 4 life.

But really anything but flat/phillips is okay.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2019 14:45

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

cakesmith handyman posted:

Other than Kreg pocket screws we don't really see those in the UK, Torx best second though.

That's probably because the guy that invented them, P.L. Robertson was kind of a nut who wouldn't let anyone else manufacture his screws so they never really took off and we got stuck with phillips as a legacy system that nobody seems quite willing to abandon. The cabinet/woodworking industry here has pretty much gone full square or combo square-phillips/pozidrive though because they are just so much better.

From wikipedia:

quote:

Robertson had licensed the screw design to a maker in England, but the party that he was dealing with intentionally drove the licensee company into bankruptcy and purchased the rights at a reduced price from the trustee, thus circumventing the original agreement. Robertson spent a small fortune buying back the rights, and subsequently refused to allow anyone else to make the screws under license. When Henry Ford tried out the Robertson screws, he found that they saved considerable time in Model T production, but when Robertson refused to license the screw design, Ford realized that the supply of screws would not be guaranteed and chose to limit their use in production to Ford's Canadian division.Robertson's refusal to license his screws prevented their widespread adoption in the United States, where the more widely-licensed Phillips head gained wider acceptance.

# ¿ Nov 10, 2019 15:29

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

tehllama posted:

We bought our first house this summer and are still learning homeowner things. Part of the deal at closing was installing a vapor barrier in the crawlspace since it didn�t have one. I noticed our floors were freezing the first few cold day�s we�ve had this fall (live in the SE US) and looked under the house and discovered there is no insulation between floor and crawlspace. We have an open crawlspace and am trying not o explore my options but it seems like the modern rec is to not have an open crawlspace at all and the �proper� fix is to encapsulate it. Since that�s like a $5000 job, an I going to regret just fixing the crawl space vents and putting batts under the floorboards?

I�m in a similar boat and haven�t done anything about it except put on more sweaters and fuzzy slippers, but I have done some research on it and this is a very good article:
https://www.lsuagcenter.com/NR/rdonlyres/D33F711D-DC4B-4E4C-9ED6-A97DCE9DB026/79805/pub3187insulatingraisedfloorsLOWRES.pdf
Tl,dr is basically rigid foam board on the underside of the joists is the best bet. If you�re in an area with termite problems (especially Formosan), talk to whoever has your termite bond first because covering up the underside of your house makes it pretty impossible for them to inspect every year.

# ¿ Nov 11, 2019 19:24

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Sirotan posted:

TIL: outswing doors are actually more secure https://www.finehomebuilding.com/2011/01/05/inswing-or-outswing-doors

I hadn�t ever thought about it before, but most commercial doors are made to be very secure and are required to be outswing for fire egress reasons.

# ¿ Nov 22, 2019 16:34

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

bird with big dick posted:

I�m now wondering if I should consider putting 1/2 plywood over my 18mm OSB while I�ve got the chance. My floors have always seemed excessively bouncy to me. My last house had TJIs which I believe are stiffer than trusses plus it�s possible my previous house was also just built better.

Apparently putting down a second layer of flooring is somewhat common to eliminate some bounce. It isn�t always recommended as a possible solution but does come up a fair amount of the time, and I�m seeing it said that even 1/4� plywood helps quite a bit.

Maybe the flooring itself will add a fair amount of stiffness compared to the carpet it�s replacing, being 3/4� and tongue in groove and nailed down.

Goddamn cheap rear end home builders.

A given thickness of plywood is stiffer than the same thickness of OSB, so it definitely wouldn�t hurt, especially if you overlap all the seams in the OSB. Plywood also has better nail-holding properties than OSB, but I doubt that would be a huge issue for flooring. Probably a good idea to attach the plywood with screws and construction adhesive for squeak minimization. I don�t think you need fancy screws for what you�re doing, but they won�t hurt. The 3/4� flooring should help make it feel stiffer too even without the plywood, and the plywood would be another expense.

I�ve been considering doing something similar in my 1920s house. It was built with no subfloor over an open crawl space and I�ve hoped it might help keep the humidity down inside in the summer. The finished floor/subfloor is really nice, straightgrain heart pine I would be sad to lose, but it�s pretty termite-eaten in places.

E: ^^^Also what B-Nasty said. I know most of my squish is between the joists and not the joists themselves. They�re 24�OC and the floor between is not in the best shape and is therefore squishy. If you can see the joists from below, invite your heaviest friend over to walk around and see if it is the joists that move or the subfloor between the joists.

Kaiser Schnitzel fucked around with this message at 20:01 on Dec 30, 2019

# ¿ Dec 30, 2019 19:56

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Sirotan posted:

All of the people I didn't listen to when they said I shouldn't redo my own floors told me Sherwin-Williams is the best, so I decided to follow their advice this time. Tbqh I didn't even price match other brands but based on paint that I know my mom has used in the past, the good stuff can get close to $100/gal.

The hardest thing was just picking a color scheme. The Internet told me I should start by picking a "whole -house color scheme" which should be based on existing elements (except there are none or it will all be ripped out soon) and my favorite color. I spent a long time looking at color palettes, and came up with this:

Literally the only thing I have right now that I need to match is some bright red lacquered bedroom furniture. I've had it forever and while I don't really love it anymore it still works just fine and I don't have the cash to replace it at the moment. I'm a little worried about the bedroom having too much of a patriotic vibe with that dark blue, but worst case scenario I can repaint. I briefly thought about using the lighter pink for the bedroom walls but I just wasn't into it after painting a little test patch. The pinks may come in as accents-throw pillows or whatever. Dunno yet about the office or the hallways (maybe the lighter blue/gray) but the living room will be the bright green. Then the white on all the floor/door/window trim and picture rail.

It's really hard to try to plan this stuff in advance, I mentioned I'm putting in a picture rail because I have a ton of artwork of all different shapes and sizes and colors and there's really no way to match that stuff unless my entire house is white. Which is boring as gently caress. I like bright colors. #yolo

Edit: As an added bonus all the walls in the entire house have a lovely orange peel texture to it and the spots where I've had to patch are kind of obvious. I hate it but I'm not going to spend the next six weeks of my life sanding it down or skim coating it. It's "character".

I really like the right half of your color scheme, but I�m scared of the lime greens and pinks personally. Im pretty timid with those kinds of colors though, and in small doses I think they�d be good. I think the navy blue will look great with red lacquered stuff.

Another thing about Sherwin Williams is that they give really big discounts to their commercial customers and definitely have retail/wholesale pricing and can be flexible with their pricing. If you hire a painter, they can buy the $65/gal stuff for $40. I was shocked at the sticker price on some fancy elastomeric masonry paint until I talked to their local sales rep who figured out I needed to repaint an entire building inside and out and gave me like a 40% discount off retail because I was gonna need 40 gallons of paint or whatever. It never hurts to ask-let them know you�re repainting the whole house and they might cut you a bit of a break, especially if you buy it all at once.

Benjamin Moore paint is also very good and maybe cheaper. All the interior decorators here seem to prefer it for some reason.

# ¿ Jan 3, 2020 15:27

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Sirotan posted:

I have crossed the Rubicon

It needs another coat but I think it looks great so far!

You missed about a foot up top OP

(color is nice though. But I think you're gonna need alot of lights)

# ¿ Jan 6, 2020 03:36

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

I�m investigating putting new floors in parts of my house and trying to see if prefinished solid hardwood would get me the look I want instead of unfinished. Are the �microbevels� most stuff has now really pretty micro and unnoticeable? My house is older (1920s) and so I�d like to keep as traditional a look as I can. Is there prefinished stuff available in longer lengths (not super long long, I just don�t want a bunch of 1� shorts) and specialty cuts like rift or quartersawn? What I�m finding seems to mostly be in wider widths and shorter lengths-I�d rather have 2 1/4�w x 3�-7� or something, but maybe I�m not looking in the right places.

# ¿ Jan 9, 2020 16:55

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Spring Heeled Jack posted:

Wow I�ve been trying to find out what the gently caress this dirt buildup on my living room hardwood floor is since I moved in a few months ago and it turns out to be wax (or a buildup of old �cleaning� product or both).

I�ve literally tried so many cleaners and someone pointed me towards winded and it�s just cleaning this poo poo off like no tomorrow.

Naphtha is an A++++ wax dissolver too. Kinda stinks though, but it�ll get you feelin a little groovy. The trick with wax removal is that you still have to get it off the floor once it�s dissolved, not just spread it around, so change rags frequently.

# ¿ Jan 15, 2020 03:28

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

ntan1 posted:

yaaaaaay termites?! Hopefully not active and hopefully not Formosan.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2020 01:22

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

I�d stay away from poison if you can. The only thing worse than dealing with a dead (or sadly not quite dead) mouse in some sort of trap is having to smell it for a week when it dies inside the wall from poison.

I�ve found the glue traps pretty effective if you can find whatever route they are taking from point A to point B. It seems like if one gets caught, their friends come to investigate and get caught too. They are less humane than the snap traps, but I�ve turned into a heartless bastard in my war on rodents.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2020 19:55

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

just another posted:

There must be a cheaper way to get wood paneling or shiplap than buying from a big box hardware store, right? Can you buy direct from lumber mills?

Home Depot here here in Canada wants $9.00/sqft for pine paneling. It'd be cheaper to do my ceiling with hardwood flooring.

You probably can�t buy direct from the mill unless you need like a house worth and arrange your own freight, but calling a real building supplier/lumberyard will probably get you a bigger selection, better quality, and better price.

E: grade matters a lot too. If you want all clear stuff it will cost you a lot more than if you can live with a few knots.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2020 17:00

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

The Wonder Weapon posted:

I've got a bunch of bushes that grow along the edge of my property line, pictured below. Once they're in bloom, they end up 6 or 7' at their tip. I want to rip them out and replace them. What's the easiest way to get them out of the ground so that I can plant privacy trees?

The lazy option: cut the bushes off at ground level, immediately paint the cut parts with undiluted glyphosate to kill the plant, and mulch over the stumps. Plant your trees between the bushes, and let the roots of the bushes rot in place.

# ¿ Mar 19, 2020 14:02

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

B-Nasty posted:

It would, and it also hides any rot issues affecting the sill plate. The risk/reward is too high, IMHO.

I run a bead of spray foam around the edges and stuff some fiberglass in there. Gets you 90% of the benefit, and you can pull out the batts occasionally to check for water, rot, or bugs.

To add to this, if you are in a termite-prone area, do not put spray foam on or near your sill plates (or anywhere under your house) without checking with your pest control company first. It will usually invalidate any damage replacement portion of your termite bond.

# ¿ Mar 22, 2020 04:39

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Baronash posted:

I am putting a climbing wall in my house, but I hit a roadblock on my second look at the ceiling joists above the room I was planning to use. They were buried under insulation and I figured they would match the rafters (rough sawn 2x6), but turns out they are 2x4s and span around 12 feet with a wall in the center.

I know the answer might be "get an engineer," but can I reasonably trust those joists to hold up the wall? The wall as designed (pictured) is 12 feet wide, so the top plate should be hitting about 10 joists. My best guess is that the wall is going to be coming in at around 400 lbs, with a 150-200 lb person climbing on it and loading the thing in all kinds of weird ways.

Are your rafters/ceiling joists part of an engineered truss? Be very very cautious messing with trusses.

I am not an engineer, but I think it would be fine. Maybe sister a 2x6 onto a couple of the joists if you can, and/or run a few strongbacks perpendicular to the joists to tie them together and distribute the load. Tying the the climbing wall back up into the corner where the rafter meets the ceiling joist/wall would probably help too. A lot of the load is pulling down on the ceiling joists, but a lot is also going down into the wall at the bottom of the climbing wall.

# ¿ Apr 6, 2020 16:08

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

MetaJew posted:

I've heard of using "rot boards" at the base of fences, that would run parallel to the ground to keep the end grain of the fence picket end grain off the ground, but I've never seen a fence with a concrete "gravel board" in Texas.

That is mostly likely just because it's cheaper and easier not to do it-- and for that matter, I don't think I've seen any privacy fences in recent memory with a rot board.

It�s crazy and dumb that it is cheaper and easier to do it twice badly than doing it once the right way, but that�s the world where PT pine is cheap af we live in.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2020 03:51

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

falz posted:

If this anywhere near accurate, they're middle of the road-ish. $17k on a property assessed at $950k seems pretty sane to me.

https://wallethub.com/edu/states-with-the-highest-and-lowest-property-taxes/11585/

And holy poo poo are HI, CO, AL really that cheap? My particular state is on the bottom 5 sadly, so that's what price I'm used to (~$6k on a $300k property, more or less)

AL does have a super low state property tax/regressive tax system because timber companies and farmers still run the state govt and they don�t care about education, but counties and cities can add their own property taxes for their own education budgets. Mountain Brook in Birmingham has fairly high property taxes (and values) but also a great public school system. I�m not even in mountain brook and I pay about 1.5x what that site says I should at the state rate. Still a whole lot cheaper than my brother in Connecticut!

# ¿ Apr 23, 2020 19:52

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

MetaJew posted:

I have some Schlage double cylinder deadbolts. Can you buy just the toggle half to replace the interior side cylinder with a keyless toggle or do I have to buy a complete new lockset?

Also, I installed a keyed Andersen storm door on my back door that came with a Kwikset cylinder. It looks like I can buy a replacement Schlage lock cylinder and rekey it to my house keys. Is rekeying a cylinder very difficult, and is there an affordable rekeying kit out there to do this? Results on Amazon were in the $70+ range and included way more pins than I would ever use in a lifetime.

Couldn't you leave the key in the interior cylinder? My front door is mostly glass so I don't want a toggle and I don't want to have to gently caress around with my keys all the time, so I leave the key in the lock all the time when I'm home.

I don't think it's that hard, but it's probably easier and cheaper to get the people at the hardware store to rekey the new cylinder to match your existing key.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2020 13:02

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

BonoMan posted:

Amazing stuff thanks! I'm going to go out and take pictures this afternoon so I can provide some better info.

For now I'm in central Mississippi and, embarrassingly, I don't know what grass I have. Well not embarrassingly I guess since the whole point of this is me trying to learn this stuff. I dont do anything other than now the front lawn and I'm pretty sure I do it too short. For the back yard, it was over shaded and almost all dirt when I moved in. I cut down 5 trees in the back yard and seeded it lightly (can't remember the grass type... I'll check my Lowe's acct) and the grass has grown fairly well in the last two years. It's weedy as well but honestly we were trying to get any cover we could as it was straight dirt.

As far as toxicity, I'm mostly just nervous because I have kids 11 month and 6 years old. With the pandemic we're in the yard a lot so I just want to make sure I dont harm them (environment too). I'm probably being over reactive there and can be talked off that ledge easily.

Listen to Felder Rushing on the Gestalt Gardener on MS public radio. Also available as a podcast. He's funny and a huge font of knowledge, and very responsive to emails and has a masters degree in turf grass management from MS State or something ridiculous.

For this summer, fertilize with a high nitrogen fertilizer now, and set your mower to mow at it's highest height and mow every week during the summer. You probably don't need to water unless it really gets dry, but that depends on your soil.

You can use a weed and feed fertilizer, but I'd wait until next year- spend this year getting the grass good and healthy so when you do do battle with the weeds, the grass is ready to take over. Getting the grass healthier may be enough to deal with the weeds on its own. You want to make sure your grass is good and healthy first so you don't kill all the weeds and find out that 75% of the green stuff in your yard was actually weeds and now you have a sad brown yard. My neighbor just did this to himself, lol. What kind of grass you have makes a big difference as to what kind of chemicals you can use for weeds-St. Augustine in particular is pretty sensitive to 2-4, D, and it can do as much damage to the grass as it does the weeds. After years fighting with creeping charlie, I finally went chemical and used scott's weed and feed with atrazine and it has worked wonders in my little test patch.

# ¿ May 12, 2020 18:39

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

BonoMan posted:

Thanks for the advice. I f'ing love Felder. Listen to him all the time. My wife and I were actually thinking about writing him as well so good idea.

Man he has that Bob Ross level of "makes you feel good positivity."

I was just listening to him and he was talking about his �yard of the month� sign that he has in his yard.....that he stole from some neighborhood.

# ¿ May 12, 2020 19:40

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

That Works posted:

Ah yeah. Well since they are going to be uniform I could drop in some dividers in the drawer that make little boxes sized to pint Ball jars.

Or just use it to store empty jars so it�s always full or nearly full, and size it so it fits X jars without much room to wiggle.

# ¿ May 13, 2020 18:50

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Oppression posted:

Thanks for the advice overall guys, looking forward to that info Jaded. This house is a little bit unique overall and it has been interesting to find more and more weird stuff in it over time. I found this thing in a hidden space last year:

The top comes off to expose this arrangement of things. Seems like some weird bedknob/key thing that reminds me of some Transformer 1 or National Treasure plot device, has a space for a screw to input into the base like a bedknob. Guessing that it was probably used to position something in an engraving machine. Heard the original owner was a gunsmith/jeweler and left some of his gear here and it's still around. Bolts of leather, copper sheets, metal tooling gear, etc.

Don't be such a tease, show us that good dogge. My guess is that thing was probably holding some little stamps or dies or punches or ends for an engraving tool or something (Source: my old boss did something amazingly similar).

# ¿ May 24, 2020 02:27

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Sirotan posted:

Tool chat: owners of reciprocating saws, how often do you actually use them? I want to pick up a new cordless drill and I can either pick up the drill only, drill with a couple batteries, or the drill in a combo with a reciprocating saw which would save me ~$80 off buying the saw separately. There is some demo in the future where I could probably use one, or I could also just borrow my mom's...

They are great for demo/remodeling and sometimes cutting metal stuff roughly to length, but I don't use mine a ton more than that. They are also good for fixing fuckups when they are bad enough to fall into the 'demo' category.

The Wonder Weapon posted:

I ordered these cabinet soft-close mechanisms (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B078H4CV97/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1), and now that I'm getting around to installing them, I'm finding that they've got too much tension even at the lowest setting to allow the door to close without pushing it shut. I tried mounting them both as close to the hinge as I could get, and also further along the door. Any ideas on how to adjust them so that they don't have quite as much force?

I've been mounting them so that the face of the mechanism is flush with the back of the door, which is what you're supposed to do, but I guess I could set them back a few millimeters into the cabinet. That might be enough. It would require me sanding the lip of the mechanism though.

Most of those are meant to be used with self closing Euro hinges that have a spring in them that pulls the door closed. Are you using them with that, or with normal hinges? You can always just move the soft close thing back further so it just barely sticks out in front of the face frame.

# ¿ Jun 5, 2020 23:59

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Motronic posted:

And if you have an actual yard that you are maintaining they are freaking great with a pruning blade. Of if you are doing work that required cutting small amount of metal (pipes, etc) with the right blade.

So how you can use them is very situation specific. But in the right context they are very useful, not just for demo work.

It is actually the one tool I really wish I had a cordless version of and that's probably why I don't use it as much as I might. My bigass, corded 13 amp, still made in USA, elbow breaking SuperSawzall just ain't that portable.

# ¿ Jun 6, 2020 00:36

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Yeah always talk to a lawyer before you talk to a lawyer imo.

# ¿ Jun 8, 2020 20:47

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Yeah those suckers are gonna weigh at least 150lb each and should probably have some steel reinforcing mesh in them. Concrete has very little tensile strength and I doubt they would move around very well. I would think about pouring them in place (you could use a reusable form there too, and it would just be a simple box). You wouldn't need to make them as thick then I don't think either. Not as DIY friendly, but pouring a slab and stamping it or w/e to make it look like pavers is probably the best option if you want it all to be flat and level.

Your yard might look like a creepy pet graveyard with a bunch of rectangular, dog sized slabs scattered around it too.

# ¿ Jul 17, 2020 18:44

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# ¿ May 7, 2024 07:27

Kaiser Schnitzel: Mar 29, 2006; Schnitzel mit uns

Hubis posted:

It's like a BYOB sig made real

Lol it really is. Definitely some great av material in there.

# ¿ Aug 7, 2020 23:29

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Hobbies, Crafts, & Houses > Home Zone: I see a baseboard and I want it painted black.

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