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Work the switch a bunch and it might fix it temporarily.
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Jun 18, 2023 02:00
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runawayturtles posted:Guess it's time for me to migrate over here from the (first-time) buying thread. Just closed on a condo yesterday and am trying to figure out internet installation before we move in. FIOS has two general types of setups: The older setup requires two cables between inside and a sizable ONT box outside - power and Cat 6. They will run them pretty much wherever you want as long as access is easy, but generally won't spend the time to fish cable around behind walls. The newer setup brings the fiber optic cable right into the house. Again they will be pretty flexible about routing but the fiber can't be bent tighter than a certain radius which might limit you. If you don't have a chonky box outside already you'll probably get the second setup. That's said here's two good news items for you: Firstly if the initial installation location proves to be annoying it is just a $99 service call to get it moved. Secondly if your condo is wired with coax you can use MOCA adapters to run a rock solid gigabit wired network over the coax, which might make placement easier. My FIOS setup has the exterior box/ONT and the installer was willing to go down into the crawlspace to bring the cat6 up in a small utility space under the stairs and left an extra 20ft for me to mess with positioning the router. The already installed power adapter is in an annoying spot but I haven't had the time to get them to move it. I have another cat6 cable that I ran to an upstairs office and I power the downstairs router using Power over Ethernet via that connection. That way the router is on my main uninterruptible power supply and I can power cycle the router easily by simply unplugging the network cable upstairs. Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 03:51 on Jun 18, 2023 |
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Jun 18, 2023 03:47
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runawayturtles posted:Thanks for all the helpful info. I took a closer look today, is this box the chonky version? No, this is the chonky version:  Bonus windows screensaver gas pipe layout included. Judging from the size and gradual bends of whatever is coming in I suspect that's just the fiber and the box is simply a cover for joining the outdoor fiber to the indoor fiber. Look around inside and see if there's a big Verizon-branded box in any closet, if not I bet they just ran the fiber to the door waiting for someone to order the service at which point they will run it the rest of the way. Your Gary never did that.
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Jun 19, 2023 10:49
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You need to replace the whole main, At this rate there's probably a section repaired with a toilet paper tube and rubber bands. Be sure to preserve the old one as a monument to Gary.
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Jun 19, 2023 17:17
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:Someone make a gang tag, obv. Something based on this would be choice 
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Jun 20, 2023 02:51
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runawayturtles posted:We complained about this in the walkthrough, but Gary didn't touch any of the child locks he was supposed to remove from all the doors, drawers, and cabinets. It's so annoyingly time-consuming to get rid of these goddamn things. My Gary took out half of them. As in, half of every single child lock, leaving the catches for the latch still attached to the cabinet opening. That part has a very sharp edge that will scratch the poo poo out of you, making the cabinets even less safe than they would be if nothing were installed. Thankfully they are screwed in and not glued so I'll be able to go around with a cordless drill and quickly take them off, if I ever get around to it.
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Jun 21, 2023 12:21
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A heat gun is your friend for getting foam adhesive off. A hair dryer on high temperature low speed isn't as good but it will work. As for any residual glue, here's one hell of a trick for getting it off without resorting to strong solvents: https://youtu.be/yO-7WVbl3uc
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Jun 21, 2023 17:43
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You use soft copper and yank it through right along the path of the old main: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RWjofBAWhg
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Jun 22, 2023 00:58
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I'm pretty sure I know what happened, it is a plain sawn board that is from close to the middle of the trunk. It was bark side down and the grain separated so a little half-moon popped out. I can't find a picture of it but this is close. You can see that the center has separated and is loose, but is being held in on this board because it is surrounded by other wood:  with the amount of filler you'd need it is probably cheaper, faster, and easier to just pull the entire board and replace it. If you are replacing the deck soon you can half-rear end finishing the board.
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Jun 25, 2023 13:14
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GlyphGryph posted:Also, and this is the main reason I'm posting right now - the basement smells incredibly musty now. There wasn't any detectable odour the previous times I visited the house, so this is an unpleasant surprise. It's really quite bad. How... Bad a sign is that? Are we talking "just throw a dehumidifier up and it will be fine" or something closer to "oh poo poo you walls are full of mold that's needs to be taken care of ASAP! Is the washer down there? They often have a little puddle of water in them from the last little bit of water in the hose draining back in when the pump cuts off, and that can cause them to get musty fast if they don't get used regularly. Run a maximum size load on the hottest setting with two cups of white vinegar in the drum to help fix it.
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Jun 27, 2023 16:25
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Would bronze weatherstripping work instead? It is a thin "V" of material that you attach around the frame and contacts the outer perimeter of the door, not the part facing outward. It isn't as good of a seal as foam or rubber weatherstripping but it doesn't alter how far the foot swings to shut and it would bridge the gap: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFqedJQTkRY
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Jul 2, 2023 02:04
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Cyrano4747 posted:Lmao that is perfect, at first blush I thought it was some kind of weeb katana shadow box. Same, it is straight up art imo. When you were partying, I studied the shovel blade.
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Jul 2, 2023 11:31
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skybolt_1 posted:This is defeatism! But tomorrow it will be comfortable defeatism
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Jul 4, 2023 00:57
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DaveSauce posted:Finally installed the magvent that had been sitting around since like thanksgiving: Mine is also offset by about 10" vertically from where any dryer would realistically vent, I'm guessing there is some minimum clearance needed on the outside of the house. Additionally Gary hosed up the alignment between the outside part of the vent kit and the inside hole for the duct. They ended up just shoving the duct into roughly the same region as the exit and I guess saying "good enough" when turning the dryer on opened the outside vent flap, ignoring that there was a good inch or so of gap at the bottom of where the ducting joined the vent flap. I redid it with an angled cut on a new duct and it all fits together very nicely now. I hope the space between the brick and the wall wasn't too badly hosed up by the moisture over the years.
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Jul 4, 2023 02:59
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I suspect it comes down to whether or not you have a credible second option in your area or not. When I did the "I'm canceling" dance I always had success with quoting a competitor's offer and asking them to beat it, even if that competition was pretty lovely like a cellular ISP.
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Jul 4, 2023 11:44
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Edit: that's an electric oven. Post a picture of the whole oven if you can. My day job involves finding poo poo online and I'm pretty drat good at it. marchantia posted:Looking for any recommendations for smart deadbolt locks or even numberpad locks. I have ADHD and have left my keys in the door officially Too Many Times. Looking for first-hand reports, I've read a lot of the reviews/rankings online. My parents really like their Lockly branded lock but some reviews say it doesn't do well in hot full sun and the door we have is south facing. I have Schlage FE-595 keypad knobs and they get my enthusiastic thumbs up. They use a standard (in ways that matter) Schlage 5-pin cylinder that any locksmith can rekey and the mechanical lock cylinder actually directly actuates the locking mechanism so it works with a dead battery. The mechanism only draws power when switching between locked and unlocked so the single 9v lasts many many years (the last place we were at it was going strong after 4 years). They default to locked when the door closes so you never forget to lock the door but also are never locked out (if you know the code). The place before our last place had the deadbolt equivalent and it was very good as well. They do stick out more than other knobs which might make for trouble with a storm door with a knob right at the same spot as the knob in the mail door, so check that first. Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 19:48 on Jul 4, 2023 |
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Jul 4, 2023 19:45
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reasons but I can't argue with the convenience of it.
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KariOhki posted:Thanks - everything I saw online about "gas vs electric oven" said that electric ones also have a coil on the bottom and gas ones are flat. GE Model JT912SFSS https://www.geappliances.com/appliance/GE-Profile-30-Built-In-Single-Convection-Wall-Oven-JT912SFSS Edit: looks like a part directly from GE is going to run like $700 for the part since GE sells the entire control panel and controller as one unit. Shifty Pony fucked around with this message at 20:50 on Jul 4, 2023 |
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Jul 4, 2023 20:44
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If it is humid you can also get condensation that triggers the detector.
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Jul 8, 2023 14:27
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A bunch of the windows in the house we bought in Feb had failing seals in the panels which were causing the low-e coating inside to corrode. The windows are a pretty low end brand (actually made Ply Gem but they don't admit to it on their main website) and while they have a "lifetime" warranty it is for the original buyer only and explicitly non-transferable. I said what the hell and submitted a claim to Ply Gem anyway, and they approved it. So now I have over a thousand dollars worth of new window sashes being shipped to me lol. I guess it makes sense for them to only invoke that clause in extreme cases; I will need to replace these windows at some point and this changed my mind about not to even consider anything from Ply Gem.
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Jul 13, 2023 11:08
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Getting some heat rejecting window film would make a huge huge difference as well. Every window is roughly equivalent to a 1kW space heater running full blast. A restaurant I used to get lunch at had heat rejecting film in every floor to ceiling window except for one pane that I guess they had replaced at some point but didn't spring for the nice film. The difference between sitting behind that particular window and the other windows was frankly astounding; in the winter I would be shivering if I sat anywhere else but pleasantly toasty in that sunbeam.
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Jul 14, 2023 09:35
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Qwijib0 posted:The state of modern box fans depresses me. There has to be a middle ground between lowest possible cost flimsy plastic blade with almost no pitch and makes a racket, and 1950s vintage chop your hands off wind tunnel. Blower style fans like this window one and this freestanding unit are the way to go if you want large amounts of airflow and not much noise.
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Jul 14, 2023 20:26
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Jato posted:I have officially graduated from the home buying thread and I am here with my first struggle to share... 1) Yes, very common. It allows a single GFCI to protect a bunch of outlets, especially useful in a kitchen. 2) If you're sure the router cutting off happened at the same time that gives you a starting point. "Test" the GFCI to trip it and make note of which outlets cut off. Then cut off the power to that entire circuit at the breaker panel and start pulling those receptacles, starting with the one furthest from the GFCI. You're looking for newer different wire exiting the box, that's probably where Gary tapped into the circuit to go to the shed.
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Jul 16, 2023 18:14
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Jato posted:Our inspector plugged one of these into a lot of outlets when he was here and didn't note anything unusual in the report. If the neutral and ground are jumpered together the outlet tester will read correct even if there isn't a ground conductor to the box. The only tell that something is up is if the receptacle is on a GFCI and pressing the "test" button on the outlet tester doesn't do anything (the GFCI sees all the current coming back on the neutral so it won't trip). First house I tended in Austin had all the outlets wired like that, even the ones in the kitchen and bathrooms. It also had a Federal Pacific Electric Stab-Lok panel.
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Jul 17, 2023 01:23
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SpartanIvy posted:Post your breaker labeling itt My actual panel is a Gary-special:  Gotta love the "computer receptacle" markings. Also the third down on the left doesn't control anything in the kitchen because of course it doesn't. So I sketched out rough floor plans and marked everything that each circuit powers, scanned it in, and put a copy on my phone, tablet, and printed next to to the panel. It looks like this: 
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Jul 17, 2023 15:24
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Ham Equity posted:How dumb would doing a gas-to-electric conversion for a hot water heater/furnace be? Gas furnace to electric heat pump is quite reasonable, especially if your AC is closer to end of life and you don't live in a super cold area. Gas water heater to electric is going to bring some serious but not insurmountable trade offs. A traditional resistive tank water heater will be considerably more expensive to run. A heat pump water heater will either be significantly slower to bring water up to temperature in purely heat pump mode or it will be significantly more expensive to run because it will use a resistive heater to speed things up. Electric tankless should be completely out of the question if you have gas available, in theory they are simpler to install than a tank but the power demand is so crazy you'll need serious electrical work done to install it. I guess the summary is that if you don't use a ton of hot water and spread out your usage across a day a heat pump water heater is reasonable to go with over gas, especially with the rebates being made available now.
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Jul 18, 2023 17:45
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We listed "free moving supplies" on buy nothing to force ourselves to unpack poo poo.
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Jul 18, 2023 23:54
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Tiny Timbs posted:this part is where your 30 minute fix can go very wrong lol Also this step: "5. screw new toilet guts in, attach hose" is when you find out that the manufacturer changed up their design at some point but didn't bother to mention on their website that their part selection guide don't apply to older toilets, and you need to run to the store, again. Yeah I'm looking at you Kohler and your "match the color of the flush valve body" bullshit.
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Jul 19, 2023 11:03
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Forced attic ventilation is generally a bad idea outside of special circumstances. It tends to pull conditioned air up from the living space. An energy audit would be a very good idea, so you aren't just throwing money at a sub optimal solution. It might be that replacing/sealing the windows, sealing the attic, or sealing up duct leaks would be the biggest bang for your buck. That said, adding more insulation to the attic isn't going to hurt anything, and probably will reduce some energy leakage. It's just a question of whether that's where most of the heat energy is getting in or not. Also, holy poo poo $800 for electricity, that's insane
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Jul 25, 2023 00:59
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Highbrow Slick: in the meantime you might want to go pick up a window unit or two and use that in the rooms you occupy while letting the rest of the house get warmer. That's what we did when we were living in a near-original 1950s house in Texas build under the illusion that The Atom would soon make electricity "too cheap to meter". Single pane windows, literally zero insulation in the walls, uninsulated air ducting through the attic, and a thin blow in of cellulose in a tiny attic made for an oven. Using a window unit in the bedroom while we slept and in the office while I worked cut our overall use by half which easily paid for the units in two or three months. Just don't get "portable" units.
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Jul 25, 2023 10:13
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runawayturtles posted:The PTAC in my office nook is ineffective because the cool air goes right out of the area instead of going to the left/right and hitting the thermostat. Aside from installing a door, is there something I can attach to the PTAC (I think it's a GE Zoneline) to send the air to both sides? I've only found some deflectors that direct air up/down. would an air defector for mini-split units like this work?  Maybe with a small fan?
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Jul 25, 2023 23:50
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Canine Blues Arooo posted:I need advice from the folks here: You probably need a full blown structural engineer to take a look at it. Some specialize in the renovation of historic buildings. The floor being spancrete will help significantly since that's a nice well documented structural element and not some strange bespoke design that they would have to spend significant amounts of time investigating. It probably won't be cheap though. That house sounds pretty rad, how much of the church feel is still present?
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Jul 26, 2023 09:41
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GlyphGryph posted:I wish my place had plumbing access panels. Maybe I should get one installed since apparently according to the drainage people I had come in today my pipes are kind of hosed. I have something they described as a "bad belly" (according to their cameras) and suggested I get it fixed sooner rather than later. A belly is basically a sag in a drain pipe where instead of a continuous downward slope part of the pipe goes uphill a little. Wastewater isn't pressurized so it relies on gravity to flow. A puddle of water stays in the pipe as a result and stuff that would otherwise flow along with the water to the sewer will instead precipitate out in the stagnant water. That drastically increases the chances of a clog. That isn't a problem in pressurized systems.
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Jul 27, 2023 17:00
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Is it possible to rodent-proof an old-construction house? Or should I continue to be grateful I have cats? Or what else? You can absolutely rodent proof an old house. Yes. You should have more cats because cats are great. No, but on a more serious note remember that rodent proofing doesn't have to be structural, waterproof, air tight, or really anything other than chew proof. If you hire a professional exterminator they will come out with a big spool of 1/4" hardware cloth and a caulking gun loaded with construction adhesive. Copper wool also works very well at filling small cracks since rats and mice absolutely hate biting into it. You probably should hire a professional in this case, especially one that comes with a guarantee that they will actually exclude the mice. They've almost certainly seen houses like yours before and know the ways that the mice normally get in and out. They also know the telltale signs that indicate spots that mice are using to enter and exit.
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Jul 27, 2023 20:57
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I vote give it six months then have another company scope the line to see the level of buildup. A belly isn't good but it also isn't imminent catastrophic failure. It is a spot where poo poo can collect, but as long as it is just literal poo poo it should be mostly ok since the next slug of water will come along and wash it past. Where you'll get problems quickly is if there are oils and fats to congeal in the line with stuff like wipes. If you are reasonably diligent about not sending grease and other semi-solid fats down the drain this could very well be a "have the line hydro-jetted every couple years" thing.
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Jul 28, 2023 04:15
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The photo ban is so you can't comparison shop. Since all those stores are just resellers you can almost always find the product online for a fraction of the price.
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Jul 29, 2023 21:39
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Arlo and Netgear both are American, have automatic updates, and aren't part of Amazon's police surveillance botnet. Logitech is Swiss-American and has automatic updates, but is iOS/HomeKit only. That gives much much higher privacy since Apple is significantly more through about privacy, but can be a bit of a pain to set up.
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Jul 30, 2023 15:42
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I just noticed my downstairs bathroom lamp isn't centered. 
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Aug 1, 2023 03:08
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raggedphoto posted:Is it an exhaust fan as well? Maybe it needed to be between joists? It is a light/fan combo so that's exactly why it isn't centered. Still going to see it every time I use the bathroom now.
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Aug 1, 2023 10:52
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FISHMANPET posted:I went with quartz. When I did my research what I learned was that quartz isn't a raw natural product, it's an engineered stone. Which is actually good, it's made with ground-up quartz and an inert resin. The resin is food safe but the overall product is non-porous. So correct on less maintenance. Doesn't need to be treated or sealed, and won't stain. The resin leads to the only downside of quartz: you can burn it if you put a very hot pot directly onto it.
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Aug 1, 2023 21:09
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That sucks to see, especially given how easily silica exposure can be completely mitigated as a health hazard. I really hate how lax industry is about airborne particles and PPE. Hell even that Cambria promotional video above has a guy polishing/grinding the countertop with his maskless face right next to the tool. It appears to be wet polishing and the guy looks like a model for the PR shot, but still it isn't a good look.
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Aug 7, 2023 08:52
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