Homeowners: I own 8 different power saws, primarily to attract a mate.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Homeowners: I own 8 different power saws, primarily to attract a mate.

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Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Bird in a Blender posted:

At 3 hours you might as well hang it on a line.

I get that�s not an option most of the time but drat that is a brutally long wait.

Blame the DoE. Appliances have upper limits on energy and water consumption nowadays, so there's not much they can do. Getting rid of algae plumes and using less energy are generally good ideas, but they come with a cost.

quote:

Dishwashing cycle times have become dramatically worse under DOE standards, resulting in a drop in consumer satisfaction. A survey of 11,000 dishwasher owners by GE Appliances shows that cycle time is one of the four biggest reasons consumers are dissatisfied with the performance of their dishwashers. DOE itself has acknowledged this is caused by its regulations, saying: �To help compensate for the negative impact on cleaning performance associated with decreasing water use and water temperature, manufacturers will typically increase the cycle time.�

# ¿ Apr 19, 2020 21:52

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 15:05

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Yeah dude I did a dishwasher remove/replace including replacing all tubes and fishing those through under cabinets, re-wiring, and leveling and I didn�t know what i was doing and it took me less than 6 hours.

# ¿ Apr 25, 2020 19:42

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I have a buddy who built a place with tankless and a continuous loop so it�s near-instant whole house while not having a reservoir.

Although it�s gas fired, he�s got a whole-house generator and ATS so the system will work if the power goes down.

I�d totally do the same for a new build.

# ¿ May 18, 2020 16:06

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Bioshuffle posted:

Am I going to kick myself if I decide to paint and redo the flooring of my new house before moving in?

A part of me thinks it'll be good to get all that done before moving everything in, but another part of me thinks I should hold off on projects as moving into a house is going to be complicated enough as it is without home renovation projects.

I know for sure we will do painting, but I keep thinking of more things I can do in between closing and moving.

Do everything you can while you don�t have anything in there. I had pros do flooring and painting, the former would have been darn near impossible with our crap there.
There�s an endless stream of stuff you can do before so I�d say at least knock those out and by then you�ll probably be jonesing to get in and out every other project on hold. If not you will by necessity once you discover everything else you want/need to fix

# ¿ Jul 8, 2020 22:17

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

Structural engineer is going to take a look at my foundation to check for issues relating to some ceiling cracks, creaky floors, busted windows, etc. He's charging 300 bucks for a 2 hour consult. Does that seem reasonable?

The other 3 I reached out to just said they're booked through 2021

Yes, I think that�s reasonable

# ¿ Jul 27, 2020 19:35

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

devicenull posted:

We put in a whole house dehumidifier (hooked up to the hvac), and it's been great for keeping things not-gross when it's not AC time. I'm definitely happy we did it, despite the cost (unit was $1300)

I have so many questions... care to share which model? Does it duct to bypass your main AC?

It�s definitely on the list for me. I also have one unit per floor and have heard that you only need one since humidity can equalize a lot easier.

# ¿ Aug 18, 2020 02:14

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Bioshuffle posted:

Don't those fit under the seat? I thought you buy them separately from the seats and slide it in. The ones that come with the seats seem to have a much higher price point.

Washlets and the like replace the seat.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2020 18:33

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

B-Nasty posted:

See also, automatic withholding of income taxes by your employer.

Though, I suspect the real reason why this is required is because if everyone had to pay quarterly taxes, they'd really start to wonder why they are cutting a check for thousands of dollars to the Fed and state governments and receiving almost nothing in return.

Absolutely. The legend was that someone at the Treasury who ran department stores came up with automatic withholding.

# ¿ Aug 31, 2020 17:11

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

If he didn�t do a survey and get that fence diligence done and cleared before getting his title, well then that probably tells you all you need to know about dealing with this guy.

E: to be more helpful, I got a survey done and had the neighbors for whom existing fence meandered onto/off of our property signed off so that it was accepted as fine, and if any fences are rebuilt it will be done properly.

# ¿ Sep 14, 2020 18:47

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Also if you have oaks it�s going to sound like a constant war zone / drive by every autumn

# ¿ Oct 7, 2020 16:45

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I have the stupidest contractor grade bullshit ones in the rest of my house and apparently can�t even order the right battery + hardwired option from HD since I ended up with battery only that have to go back.

I even have the 14/3 ran and boxes all ready to go!

# ¿ Oct 30, 2020 21:16

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Residency Evil posted:

I spent more time trying to get the plug flush against the wall plate and failed at that, however.

Yeah so far I�m:
20 percent of time: wiring new outlets and replacing switches
80 percent: going back and fixing drywall or j boxes so that it�s not immediately obvious what horrors are behind the faceplate

# ¿ Dec 2, 2020 18:04

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Motronic posted:

I have a benchmark series which has the extra drying thing in it (it's just a heat sink with an extra marketing wank name) and it's sooooooo good that it dries plastics nearly all the time.

This makes me want to return what I bought from Costco 6 months ago and get it. The ONE time I don�t ask SA for help�I looked at Bosches and talked myself out because some random reviewer probably named xX420Jeepathon69 said it didn�t dry well, which was one of my top criteria

# ¿ Dec 10, 2020 04:26

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

If you guys want to show up in the fix it fast thread asking what to do when your bathtub falls through to the main floor, please buy meth house.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2020 14:27

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Is HF residue testing not included in your state? Amateurs.

# ¿ Dec 11, 2020 15:48

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Just a general comment on the Toto washlets. I have found the Toto stuff to be good but sized for smaller people in terms of aim and points. If you�re a large framed American you will probably want something from Brondell or Biobidet and get a Toto for the wife. My buddy has that exact setup and everyone is happy. YMMV.

# ¿ Dec 31, 2020 21:46

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

OSU_Matthew posted:

6�4 Sasquatch with a Toto C200 checking in�after about 9 months I�m still very much liking it!

That�s great, I�m glad you like it. But are you just comparing that to... no toilet? I�m specifically saying the spray on the BB-2000 is better placed than the Toto for me and a buddy of mine agrees. I own both so I don�t really care about one over the other.

# ¿ Jan 1, 2021 00:32

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Unless I�m misunderstanding you why not use your county / property tax jurisdiction�s plot lookup tool?

# ¿ Jan 5, 2021 00:47

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I didn�t use escrow because I�m a turbonerd control freak. In year 1 I ended up with several thousands saved over what I needed for property taxes and insurance because I challenged my assessment and won and I was pessimistic.

On the IRS income taxes side of the coin I got over �prepaying money to the other party� when I hosed up the withholding and almost had to do quarterly filing the following year.

I guess what I�m saying is sometimes you win sometimes you lose. Trade offs in simplicity are everywhere.

# ¿ Jan 26, 2021 18:59

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Friend had an uncle who was super awesome at tile.. didn�t use spacers and said they just propagated errors in squaring through the room. He was meticulous and the work was freaking great. What I�m saying is definitely worth paying the best if it�s worth it to you... there is a difference.

# ¿ Feb 12, 2021 20:31

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Tezer posted:

What's the manufacturer on that one? Don't recognize the driver box.

Some of them like the Lithonia WF4/6 have low voltage accessory cables that let you put the driver 20 feet away, which is nice when you're doing lighting under a wrapped beam or something and don't even have the three inches required for the driver (which is already pretty small).

Word. I put in a ton of WF6s with nice warm color temp for the main area and cooler work lights for my office. Some day I�ll be able to switch without physically changing the box and they�ll be perfect.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2021 20:59

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

IME If lowes or HD has it they will be cheaper on devices.��For boxes and conduit supply house will always be cheaper.��HD or lowes will always be cheaper on wire if they have it.

# ¿ Apr 9, 2021 15:17

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Do you not have an appeal process?
Similar thing happened to me and well I just happened to have a purchase agreement and a comp report that showed fair market value better than their drive by. It was pretty painless, just fill out a one pager and attach my documentation annotated with highlights around the correct numbers.

# ¿ Apr 16, 2021 14:18

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

My money would still be on someone set up a three way switch for a lamp and it�s actually wired so that both switches have to be in a certain position. Perhaps your problem is in combinatorics.

Good news is you can just put in a new outlet with an intact bridge for a dollar.

# ¿ May 6, 2021 04:49

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I don�t mind STL to KC and there�s great food in Columbia and KC of course but boy the drop off after that is going to be :v:

# ¿ May 7, 2021 19:38

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

In school we had this old guy from Bussman fuses come talk and he gave one of the most informative and entertaining engineering talks I�ve ever seen. Catastrophic failures, talking about fuse and breaker innards, and stories about big machines. Awesome.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2021 13:01

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

DaveSauce posted:

I work in industrial automation and I've seen Bussmann sales guys present a bunch of cool stuff over the years. The videos they have for SCCR are particularly interesting:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a9B9jgVmys

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmu4eECh1c4
(interesting bits are at 0:30 and 1:35)

Thanks for these, brought back memories of the talk.

Also enjoyed that the guy in the video is �Nick Offerman, P. E.�

# ¿ Aug 22, 2021 18:17

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I used the Stanley Steamer van on all my carpets before I moved in. They drained into my workshop sink and the smell was enough for me to gag. Seems like a good idea.

Verman posted:

Also my wife loves using the loppers. She asked if we could name it Cindi Lopper. Whatever has her out here with me clearing brush. I'll buy a whole suite of punny yard tools if it means extra hands.

Hell yeah my loppers are named Cyndi as well.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2021 03:18

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I'm building some bookshelves for the back wall of my office and want the shelves to have some lighting. I feel like this has come up on the forum before but couldn't find it in this thread.

My plan was to add some lip to the front of each bookshelf cover and mount a bracket to make LED tape lights downcast by 45 degrees and diffuse it. So just cut those to length for my bookshelves, and run wires up to the brackets.

Questions:

Is this a good plan to light up my bookshelves to provide some ambiance?
Thoughts on that bracket above? How do those get mounted to the shelf?
I want RGB/warm-white led strips, any recommendations on brand/type?
What to use to power/control the RGBwW strips? I have ZigBee/Zwave but want home assistant to be able to control.
I'll have almost 36 linear feet of bookshelf space, any other considerations for power/control?

Thanks, I feel like this would be a fun project to really make these cabinets "mine" but really haven't messed with LED strip lighting before.

# ¿ Oct 30, 2021 22:12

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

H110Hawk posted:

You didn't need to pay a second time, the original one was in force this whole time. Sorry for your loss. The refi company would want their own title insurance though in theory. Does your state bundle them together?

Wait really? I need to read it but I never considered that would be the case. I guess since I bought title insurance for us originally it doesn�t matter that we are buying out the loan and replacing it with a new one. That sort of makes sense now that I think about it.

# ¿ Dec 3, 2021 14:02

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

GoGoGadgetChris posted:

Gutter guy is telling me I need to add gutters to the circled dormers. Will gutters there actually DO anything?! There is only about 3" of awning so the water hitting that siding is just coming in sideways and very little is running off that direction.

Although I guess gutters would add another 2" of awning...

You should ask your gutter guy why he's leaving out the two middle dormers!!!

# ¿ Jan 5, 2022 19:34

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

unknown posted:

Speaking of under cabinet lighting...

The PO installed some horrid janky "led strips" in our place that are fed via hardwired 120v to multiple transformers which have some weird custom connections (think really old Ikea).

Been searching for newer stuff, but I haven't found any decent hardwired transformers (120ac to 12dc) that weren't hugely expensive in order to feed newer brighter strips. Any suggestions?

I used this one recently as a dimmable driver. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08QZBVDHS it has a 12V version. They also have a cheaper one with a pigtail if you need it. The one linked I just ran lamp chord to the screw terminals.

If you don�t care about dimming then something like this https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/power-supplies/12vdc-waterproof-mean-well-led-power-supply--lpv-series/1172/ or there might be some cheaper non water resistant options.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2022 05:38

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

I�ve posted this either in the Costco or this thread but when my Dyson started acting funny i called them and they either wanted to ship it back or take it to a local Dyson repair center. They effectively gave us a new one and an extra battery.

I�m happy with the Dyson but I wouldn�t sleep on the other brands they sell at Costco, etc.

This is after two years of multiple daily use (small kids). Also the MAX setting is only supposed to be for hard to get stuff, not run on all the time.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2022 15:22

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Omne posted:

Leviton or Lutron for smart switches? A few are 3-ways

I have no idea how the Lutrons are. Do you know if the wiring has the switches then the load on 3ways? If they are switches with the load in between then the Leviton models I�m familiar with (DZ6) do not support those configurations. I like their action and configurability more though.

The Honeywell/GE/Jasco/Inovellis do support every N-way scenario I�ve seen.

# ¿ Mar 20, 2022 03:51

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Omne posted:

So you'd recommend the Lutron Caseta's over the Leviton's? I'm hesitant on the Leviton's because the gen 1's broke in most of the homes here and I'm not sure I trust them.

Then again, the look of the Caseta's is different than what I'm used to and would require switching everything out, and I'd prefer true three-way switches vs. the wall remote option

I know several folks who standardized their entire houses on Leviton and don�t have any issue. These people did the electric on their own houses though (no grover). My only issue is if the house is wired by numbskulls (like my upper floors) just get the Innovellis or GE/Honeywell.

# ¿ Mar 21, 2022 03:55

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

StormDrain posted:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rqZZgVxnCk

On the serious note I should have my heat pump installed by this time next week. They did offer a discount to do the furnace and coil install at the same time. I would for sure get them both done together. I agree that minisplit are not as attractive as using the ductwork you already have.

The Sears commercial takes me back. Also I never noticed the �and you know Sears will be there to back it up� line :newlol:

# ¿ May 15, 2022 04:53

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

In complete First World problems Costco delivery folks dropped a TV on my wood floor and damaged 3 planks that need to be replaced in the middle of the room. It�s veneer that interlocks.

The delivery people offered to �settle� for $485.xx, our flooring company who installed it said their crews are �only doing big jobs right now�. I guess I�ll keep calling different floor places, we have the plank stock in the basement for at least these 3.

Any ideas how to proceed and close this out? Of course I�m tempted to say sorry we have to get all new floors like PainterOfCarp said for roofs.

# ¿ May 27, 2022 12:15

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

While we're talking about water heaters I'd like to wish a special place in hell for the folks who thought this was a good design--to replace the anode I have to 1) move the powered vent out of the way (and all that entails to decouple from the PVC) and 2) get my wrench jaws around this stupid nut:

Look at how offset it is! Of course my sockets can't get around it so I finally bought a 1 1/16 wrench just for this purpose:

This will never work, even with a mallet this is the most contact I can get:

This project of doing basic home maintenance on my 2004-era water heater was a fail. I'm going to spec a tankless to replace it just because I have a large family who will eventually take showers and if I get a return-ready one I can hook up the master bath in a few years when I reno that and get some hot water circulation instead of it being one of the longest-wait-for-hot-water places in the house.

# ¿ Aug 8, 2022 03:49

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

Thanks. There were ten screws around the circumference of the cap, given the weird angles to work with and that it would be difficult to maneuver while also being obviously never done 15 of those 18 years under the previous regime I decided to forget it

# ¿ Aug 8, 2022 12:42

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# ¿ May 9, 2024 15:05

Hed: Mar 31, 2004; Fun Shoe

vs Dinosaurs posted:

Do we think it is possible for insulators to properly seal gaps in an attic that currently has shallow fiberglass blown in (just a couple inches of depth)? In my mind you would need to vacuum everything out in order to see what's going on.

First updated quote for a three zone system came in at $13.5K - I swear these companies do not want customers.

I've always seen them vacuum everything out, seal the gaps/joints/lightboxes and then blow back in.

# ¿ Aug 26, 2022 03:44

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > Business, Finance, and Careers > Homeowners: I own 8 different power saws, primarily to attract a mate.

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