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Queen Victorian posted:Also, one of my fiance's friends suggested (facetiously?) that we could try to get on Restored by the Fords, an HGTV renovation show in the Pittsburgh area. I don't really like that idea, especially after watching plenty of HGTV and seeing how seemingly little input and involvement the clients have. Also don't want to come off like gentrifying interlopers and dick over future buyers by putting a spotlight on the neighborhood and attracting yuppie assholes. And I don't ever want to be on TV anyway, or have our house on TV. Might be funny to apply for shits and giggles and post a trip report about the application process and if they write back, but I don't know if fiance would be into pulling that kind of joke. But what about the potential fallout from goon crafted 'traps' for extra shits and gigs? Do it for all of us. We can start with groverhaus and build up from there...
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May 15, 2018 17:55
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Weddings are just one day, kitchens are forever! Vintage stoves are adorable but I love my induction stove and massively powerful hood fan. Don't sacrifice everyday convenience for cuteness, the house (and you!!!!) is already cute!
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May 15, 2018 23:12
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Budgie posted:But what about the potential fallout from goon crafted 'traps' for extra shits and gigs? Do it for all of us. We can start with groverhaus and build up from there... I'm torn because I really want to apply to see if they'll talk to us, which is a probably, but I have serious doubts about being on one of these shows and generally really don't want to be on TV. We have what seems to be the ideal house and project they'd want for this show, and if the production company was talking to my coworker who's in the market for a postwar ranch in the suburbs, then they'd probably be quite interested in our Victorian. They're apparently serious about finding interesting properties to be on the show too, so they've been hitting up real estate agents about interesting houses they've sold recently. I finally got around to listening to a voicemail our real estate agent left me the other week, and it was about how the Restored by the Fords people were asking around and if we were at all interested she could get us in touch with someone. Or something like that. I'm curious. I just want to talk to them and see how it all works. The thing is, though, I'm incredibly apprehensive about being all "here's 50k of my own money to fix up my house - surprise me!". I'd be there every day (or living upstairs - apartment lease is over in 2.5 months) making sure they're not loving up my house. I checked out the casting application (yeah I said I was curious) and one of the questions was if anything was off limits to change/remodeling. That would be filled out with a lengthy explanation about how much I hate open concept floorplans and that if they even thought about ripping out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room I would murder and/or sue them. Same thing if they painted any of the remaining unpainted woodwork. I don't think I've seen an HGTV home renovation show episode where they didn't open up the floor plan proselytize about how much better/more desirable they are. Ugh. Also, their interiors mostly look like Joanna Gaines 2.0, which isn't my thing. I've been working on designing my own kitchen and it doesn't look anything like the Fords' kitchens. peanut posted:Weddings are just one day, kitchens are forever! Vintage stoves are adorable but I love my induction stove and massively powerful hood fan. Don't sacrifice everyday convenience for cuteness, the house (and you!!!!) is already cute! But with the wedding, time is of the essence, house can technically wait (though fiance is getting antsy - I'm already resigned to moving in before the kitchen is redone, because lol at getting anything significant done in 2.5 months when we don't even have a contractor yet - I've lived through house remodels and know how it goes, and also lived in a complete shithole of a house growing up, so the fact that the bathroom and kitchen are so lacking doesn't really phase me - we'll take care of it in time, and for when the kitchen is out of commission, we are two blocks from Wendy's). Also, the stove is the only vintage appliance I'm considering. Gas ranges haven't really changed that much technologically over the years - the cooking experience/performance on the old ones is pretty much the same as the new ones. Working on my grandma's old 50's gas stove was exactly the same as cooking on my parents' contemporary stainless gas stove. They just look different (and I like the old designs better). Also, new ones might have extra electronic bells and whistles of sometimes dubious value (like pointless electronic controls that make your gas stove unusable during a power outage). Now if we didn't have the option of gas, I would NOT be considering a vintage electric stove because why would I... old electric stoves suck and I hate them, and I'd be open to looking into induction and newer electric stove tech.
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May 16, 2018 06:04
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Sounds like a terrible gamble going on TV, you've nothing to gain you couldn't do yourself and everything to lose. Don't do it.
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May 16, 2018 07:43
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Deffo agree, I get negative and surly just looking at the rusty spirals of an old electric stove.
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May 16, 2018 09:34
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Yeah I really don't want to because I know I'd regret it and it'd probably be a disaster. Don't want exposure on us, the house, or the neighborhood, don't want or need another designer (especially not one from HGTV) because I'm a designer and my dad has some major architecture chops (even though he's self-taught/uncertified), don't want to be recorded forever in a TV episode. Also we are kind of boring - we don't have any kids or pets, we have fairly boring jobs, and our hobbies include reading, playing video games, and drinking whiskey. Oh, and we have our own furniture and will receive more furniture (a lot of heirloom stuff that's been in storage for ages - I think I'm the first grandkid to acquire a house big enough to contain it) so I don't need or want their tacky staging furniture. I guess I can talk to our real estate agent to see what she knows (after telling her I don't actually want to be on TV) so maybe she'll be able to sate my curiosity.
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May 16, 2018 13:12
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So we got over to the house today to do some tasks - yard work and changing/adding light bulbs. We swung by Home Depot for some brooms and other supplies. Also brought over the step ladder for light bulbs. Once we got to the house, we realized that we'd forgotten the fastener or whatever it was we needed to fix the downspout that fell off a while back. Oh well, next time. One thing I'm super grateful for is that we're only two miles or so from Home Depot, so if we were to forget something crucial or found we needed a thing asap, it's pretty quick to get over there. Fiancé mowed the lawn (which we definitely need to be mowing more than once a week, dear god) and did some weeding, while I took care of sweeping the side yard (aka narrow gap between houses paved with sidewalk cement). Ended up having to do most of the sweeping with a square mouth shovel. Same thing with the walkout basement stairs. I basically want to murder whoever did those stairs (more on those later). Also changed/added light bulbs - previous owners had mostly incandescent bulbs, but had started replacing them with hideous morgue-lighting LED bulbs. The light they put off was so ugly I thought they were cheap CFLs. Anyways, took those out and put in incandescents. I'd eventually like to start putting in good quality LEDs with nice warm light, but I'm hyper sensitive to the flickering, so I'll have to do some research/testing with individual bulbs before I buy a bunch of them. Until then, incandescents. This is just a phone post, but I'll follow up with some more details and photos once I get on my computer.
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May 21, 2018 00:04
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By far the best LED bulbs I've ever purchased are these. You can't use them in total enclosures due to how they dissipate heat, but they're great for lamps and sconces. I prefer cool 4500k+ light (I enjoy daylight and abhor "warm" light, color rendering is bigger to me than warmth) but I totally understand the other side of the aisle and these have good reviews on the warm side, too. They're brighter than anything I've ever had before and I love how they throw light. Spendy at $10/bulb, but that's less than the electricity and extra heating load of incandescents. I'm a bit of a lighting geek and collected lamps as a kid/YA, and have been super stoked after finding these bulbs. I hope they last. When I lived in the PNW, the cooler summers and cold winters meant that incandescents were just reducing my heating load. But, now that I live in Phoenix in a cheap apartment with an in-wall A/C, the difference between five 60-75W bulbs (I like a lot of light) and five 13W bulbs is gigantic.
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May 21, 2018 01:16
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Our house is all LED and we only get a flicker on one chain of lights if they're dimmed, while the kitchen light is on. Most are warm but the kitchen and bathrooms are cool. The dining and living room area switches warm/cool.
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May 21, 2018 02:29
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Re: lighting: I'll definitely look into the warm version of those SANSI bulbs - they look promising. I think what we'll probably eventually do is put LEDs everywhere there is NOT a dimmer, and then just have incandescents in light fixtures that we'd want to dim (living room and dining room, and possibly ceiling fixtures in a couple bedrooms, if we don't put in ceiling fans). Seriously though, I hate the flickering so much and can sense it even when most people don't notice. LED Christmas lights are the worst - all I see is flickering and it drives me insane. I could see flicker in the LED bulbs on display at Home Depot - so I don't trust the "no flicker" promises, hence needing to test various bulbs myself. However, I'm very pleased at the color quality and color temp options of LED bulbs - a massive improvement over CFLs. I never got on board with CFLs because the light quality of most of them was vile (and they didn't work well with dimmers). We are in PA, and even now that it's warmed up, the main floor of the house has been holding at around 65 without any AC (now I know why no one ever bothered to install central AC - it'd be overkill). Like, I want to keep the doors open to warm it up. I'm not worried about heat dissipation from bulbs much in the summer because keeping the house cool isn't a big deal, and it has good natural light in most rooms so you wouldn't need to use much interior lighting during the day, and we welcome light bulb heat in the winter. As for light color temp, I prefer the warm temp ones in general, but even if I didn't, they're absolutely needed for this sort of house, which was pretty much designed to be lit with incandescent bulbs and gas lights. The cold light made the rooms look dingy and unfriendly, and made all the woodwork look jaundiced. In the second floor hall, where the floor, doors, frames, and baseboard are all wood, changing the bulb from the cold LED to the warm incandescent made a HUGE difference - it looked like all the woodwork was suddenly refinished to a fuller, warmer tone. All the jaundiced yellow tones went away and the oaky gold, amber, and rich brown came out in full. On the flip side, I've seen sleek modern home interiors with overly warm lighting, and it doesn't really look right - those sorts of interiors, with lots of white and geometric features, need cooler/full spectrum lighting. Anyways, here's pics from today:   I spent a lot of time between our house and the one next door. The houses were all built like four feet apart (possibly less) and are really tall, so when you're right in between them, you get a sense of the height. The height, proximity of the houses, and the orientation (north/south) means that no sunlight ever gets down in there, resulting in perpetual dampness and darkness, which looks like it might have been causing some problems. I went to   Look at all that flaking and spalling. It felt like if I kept sweeping at it with the broom, it would all crumble away. I did get to a point where it was hard stone again, but it was pretty, uh, not good. PS: I was very excited to have found the outside spigot, but then I tried to turn it, and yanked it out two inches. I don't think it's connected to anything...  Interesting discrepancy between the top stones and bottom - top ones look original - jagged and also blackened from the old sooty days, while the lower stones look worn down and rounded out - wondering if some sort of prior work took place.  Old coal delivery hatch with the door installed upside down so it opens the right way. If it weren't for the fact that the electrical panel was installed on the other side, I'd fashion it into a package delivery chute thing.  Was trying to figure out why the gate didn't sit right, and it's because the conduit is wedged behind its post. The past electrician yanked the post away from the wall, shoved the conduit through, and then left it to never close properly again. Unacceptable in my book. I can fix it by cutting out a little notch so the conduit can pass through and the gate post can still be flush with the wall. Not hard. gently caress you, past electrician. Now I have to have a new electrician go over all this conduit poo poo extra carefully because suddenly don't trust it anymore. If you're going to be sloppy about working around this stupid little gate, then what else was done sloppily? But at least the walkway is clean now - all the wet spots were piles of dirt and rotten leaves. Oh yeah, and now the basement steps:  Me shoveling silt out of the basement. The threshold is actually loose and doesn't seem to be battened down to anything, and there's a gap between it and the basement floor, so everything from outside just flows under it. There was about an inch of rotten leaves and two inches of dirt right outside the basement door. The steps are brand new, but all angled in, and with no drainage to speak of. Need to redo these loving things, put in drainage, and also reinstate the slanted cellar doors (which the house used to have - there is evidence) so leaves and dirt can't fall down the stairs in the first place. gently caress the cheap assholes who approved and installed these.  And finally, the backyard with the trees leafed out. It's so pleasant out back - can't wait to fix up the yard (i.e. get rid of that pile of crap to the right of the porch) and hang out.
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May 21, 2018 05:28
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I'll guess 90% of keeping your outside stone and brick in good condition is maintenance so keeping that path clean is a great start, can you get to both sides to make sure they're both clear?
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May 21, 2018 09:18
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cakesmith handyman posted:I'll guess 90% of keeping your outside stone and brick in good condition is maintenance so keeping that path clean is a great start, can you get to both sides to make sure they're both clear? I can get to the other side as well, so I'll probably do that next time (in a couple weeks -out of town next weekend). That side is going to be more of a challenge though, because it's uneven brick instead of the concrete sidewalk, and it's strewn with broken glass and probably other detritus more intense than leaves and dirt. I would like to get a surveyor out to determine where the property lines actually are and then figure out easements or whatnot for those side alleys - not sure if property line goes down the middle and us and the neighbors on either side both maintain them, or if the line is offset so that I have the whole alley on one side of the house and the neighbor has the next one. The fences in back are old, leaning, and ambiguous. I mean, as long as I have proper access to both sides, I'll be maintaining both sides because I want to make sure our house is taken care of. I'd even be interested in potentially doing concrete (and better drainage) on the other side if it means reducing moisture infiltration and the neighbor is cool with it (probably, that house is a rental triplex and the owner would probably be quite happy with me doing the work to make both our basements less damp). Survey would also be handy for figuring out who's responsible for what trees, since a couple of them look to be on the property line (but mostly overhang our yard), and want to know exactly where I'd b able to plant new trees etc. I'll get pics of the other side next time we go over there. Also, realized I forgot to upload the pics I took of the basement windows from the side I did do work on. The concrete is slightly higher than the base of the windows, which means there's a perfect little rut for wet leaves and dirt to get stuck there forever. Two of the windows had little wooden barriers, but it was missing from the other one - probably rotted out. I'll try to remember to post those tonight so you guys can get a look at them.
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May 21, 2018 12:59
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Oh man that house is super cool. My family is from Pittsburgh, and we used to live in a row house in Homestead, on the same block as the Carnage Library. I remember helping my dad fix it up, and it was converted to 2 apartments, but I always wanted to make it one house. I was pissed that my mom got rid of it after a pipe blew and then froze, but we couldn’t afford to put any money into it at the time. Edit: also after working in the production industry for a while, you really don’t want to do the show.
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May 30, 2018 02:16
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I still want to know about that secret little cupboard.
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May 31, 2018 19:30
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Blargh so behind on posting - was out of town visiting family for the weekend and haven't been able to get to my computer to make real posts with pictures and emotes and stuff. I'll try to respond to folks individually tomorrow night (or at least this weekend) and post more pics and updates. In short, figuring out some kitchen design stuff, the lawn grows too goddamn fast, and now the flooring in the hallway is buckling because it suddenly got humid. Also a small rant: I'm worried that fiancé is fixating too much on "being productive" when we're at the house and that he'll come to associate it with nothing but work and huge daunting projects. I mentioned going over this weekend and spending some time relaxing on the porch (haven't had a porch in six years and now that we own one and it's nearly summer, just wanna sit on the porch because I loving love porches) and he was aghast and started going on about how we had oh so much work to do and that we can't go over there and not work (of course we'd do some work, but we'd also sit on the loving porch how is this so hard to grasp). I've lived through multiple home remodel construction projects so I know drat well what's ahead of us (basically, I interpreted The Money Pit as a documentary), and I'm somehow not nearly as strung out as he is. I think what we need is to sit and relax on the porch for a while.
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Jun 1, 2018 05:55
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Queen Victorian posted:Blargh so behind on posting - was out of town visiting family for the weekend and haven't been able to get to my computer to make real posts with pictures and emotes and stuff. I'll try to respond to folks individually tomorrow night (or at least this weekend) and post more pics and updates. When we bought our house and was starting on things like tearing up carpet, painting, changing out light fixtures, etc. I made sure to set up a piece of plywood on a couple sawhorses in the living room so I could just sit, drink a beer, and enjoy the fact that we owned this place and could do all of those projects. It's now two years later and I'm still doing projects constantly--I mounted the TV on the wall (with an in-wall wiring kit) last week and tomorrow I'm getting started on framing in a window in the laundry room to increase the wall space and putting up some wainscotting. What I'm saying is sit his rear end down on the porch with an alcoholic beverage of his/your choice and just enjoy it because the projects will never end and at some point he needs to just enjoy the fact that you guys own this place and have years ahead of you to make it yours and make it awesome.
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Jun 1, 2018 07:26
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I also recommend day drinking while working around the property. Nuke the yard first, tall grass means more mosquitos!
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Jun 1, 2018 09:14
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Queen Victorian posted:Also a small rant: I'm worried that fiancé is fixating too much on "being productive" when we're at the house and that he'll come to associate it with nothing but work and huge daunting projects. I mentioned going over this weekend and spending some time relaxing on the porch (haven't had a porch in six years and now that we own one and it's nearly summer, just wanna sit on the porch because I loving love porches) and he was aghast and started going on about how we had oh so much work to do and that we can't go over there and not work (of course we'd do some work, but we'd also sit on the loving porch how is this so hard to grasp). I've lived through multiple home remodel construction projects so I know drat well what's ahead of us (basically, I interpreted The Money Pit as a documentary), and I'm somehow not nearly as strung out as he is. I think what we need is to sit and relax on the porch for a while. So that used to be me, I would get overwhelmed by what needed to be done and depressed when I didn't get it all done immediately. Solution was to have a big whiteboard master list and strike off anything completed, even if it's "front room baseboards stripped" so any progress is visible. I also started to enjoy the garden more which naturally slows you down so you can take things in and not disturb the birds.
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Jun 1, 2018 17:13
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cakesmith handyman posted:So that used to be me, I would get overwhelmed by what needed to be done and depressed when I didn't get it all done immediately. Same, except I have two memo lists saved on my phone. "poo poo that needs doing" so I can toss stuff on there as I think about it and "poo poo that's done" so i can help stave off that overwhelming feeling. Also there's some jobs I enjoy more than others, so I try to stagger stuff I dislike and reward myself, not lining up hateful projects one after another if I can help it.
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Jun 2, 2018 18:24
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Okay finally get to respond to posts:spog posted:I still want to know about that secret little cupboard. I think we will get to find out soon - we will hopefully start dismantling all the poo poo along that wall to get some space back in the pantry so we can merge it with the kitchen. I really want to know what it is too. alternate.eago posted:Oh man that house is super cool. My family is from Pittsburgh, and we used to live in a row house in Homestead, on the same block as the Carnage Library. I remember helping my dad fix it up, and it was converted to 2 apartments, but I always wanted to make it one house. I was pissed that my mom got rid of it after a pipe blew and then froze, but we couldn’t afford to put any money into it at the time.  Carnage Library That typo/autocorrect has happened to me so many times I love PIttsburgh houses and the whole Pittsburgh architectural vibe in general - I've been around the area a lot and I enjoy observing all the architecture in different towns. I was actually just passing through Homestead a few weeks ago - was with a friend going to a party in Braddock, and we made a series of wrong turns and detours thanks to some road closures that put us a on a lot of the Homestead back streets. Definitely looking better than it was when I was in undergrad. And then Braddock is a whole other thing - very intriguing, honestly. The host of the aforementioned party was just really into the idea of being part of the reconstruction of Braddock so he bought a house for like 15k and has been living in it and being part of the community. Also John Fetterman, mayor of Braddock, won the democratic primary for lieutenant governor, so that should be interesting and probably pretty good. re: being on the show: yeah, definitely don't want to. I've embarked on designing my own goddamn kitchen and it's sooo specific. Definitely don't want HGTV trying to do that poo poo for me, and also having me be on TV. peanut posted:I also recommend day drinking while working around the property. Nuke the yard first, tall grass means more mosquitos! I agree - day drinking sounds awesome. We're going to start by loading the fridge (which is gross and needs cleaning) with a few cases of beer so that we know it's there and can be enticed to go over to the house whenever. Magnus Praeda posted:When we bought our house and was starting on things like tearing up carpet, painting, changing out light fixtures, etc. I made sure to set up a piece of plywood on a couple sawhorses in the living room so I could just sit, drink a beer, and enjoy the fact that we owned this place and could do all of those projects. It's now two years later and I'm still doing projects constantly--I mounted the TV on the wall (with an in-wall wiring kit) last week and tomorrow I'm getting started on framing in a window in the laundry room to increase the wall space and putting up some wainscotting. I agree with this - we need to get over being daunted by the sheer volume of poo poo that needs to get done, accept it, and then just take our time. We'll be having some relatives out in the coming couple of weeks to help us out, and I"m pushing to have them on floors and possibly painting so we can have the upstairs be all nice when we move our poo poo in the next month and a half and THEN focus on the downstairs (namely kitchen). Honestly, I've been chomping at the bit to go rip up the gross carpeting upstairs, but fiance was all "no we need to have a PLAN" - except ripping out carpeting doesn't need much planning, I just want it gone because it's gross and I want the hardwood underneath it, also doesn't take much in the way of planning or skills. Also I've done it before. Anyways.. I'll try to get some work and also porch sitting done in the coming days.
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Jun 3, 2018 03:37
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Also, here's a preview for my upcoming post about all the doors in the house: The house has a ton of rooms, therefore a ton of doors. There are a lot of doors missing, so need to find/make replacements eventually. And then find cool hardware to go with them. In regards to the missing doors, sometimes the loss of a door is harder on the door jamb than the door.
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Jun 3, 2018 03:40
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Holy poo poo 
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Jun 3, 2018 07:46
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Magnificent.
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Jun 4, 2018 15:14
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I was real close to buying a house in Pittsburgh before a series of events in my life led to me moving to Philly, but I still idly browse the Pitts urge real estate market and dream about the idea of affordable housing and all the awesome things that come with the territory, like those weird stained glass windows that are in like 40% of houses or the illegal fireplaces everywhere Watching you dig into this is a real treat
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Jun 4, 2018 15:29
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We bought all new doors from this place: https://www.solidhardwooddoors.com I'd definitely recommend them, we're very happy with the doors.
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Jun 9, 2018 17:20
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So actual work on the house has commenced. I have several stories to tell and also some pics to go with them: - Satan's Buttpee - Windows Home Edition: Cord Cutting Is For Assholes and So Is Vinyl - Floors, Glorious Floors - Door the Explorer: Excavating Archaeological Dig Sites in Paint to Find The Screws While Hoping There Is a Special Circle of Hell For People Who Paint Over Door Hardware I'll try to get them written up in the next few days, in no particular order unless there's one you want to hear first. devicenull posted:We bought all new doors from this place: https://www.solidhardwooddoors.com Those look pretty nice, and they also are relatively nearby. I'll inquire at some point, but for now, restoring existing doors is much higher priority than getting the new doors.
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Jun 11, 2018 01:35
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Oh boy I can't choose. Stay sane!
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Jun 11, 2018 08:40
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Referring to your story titles: I like the cut of your jib. I want to read them all, but especially "Satan's Buttpee".
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Jun 12, 2018 00:57
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Okay I'll get that one typed up first. Might be a while because my in-laws are in town helping us out (which is why serious work is finally happening), so my life has been going to work, going to the house after work to work on house stuff, and then going back to the apartment and playing host, which leaves no evening computer time. Anyways, there is SO MUCH stuff to do with this house, and we constantly uncover more mysteries and more poo poo to fix the more we pull up old paint and carpet and stuff. Like that little room I was wondering about? We spontaneously ripped up the carpet and carpet pad to discover ancient and crusty tar paper/vapor barrier material with impressions of old tile in it. Also evidence there might have been a sink in that room.  Also, it would seem that the floors in three out of four rooms on the second floor were never finished. We thought the flooring had been ripped out to install the lovely carpet (a criminal move), but the original quarter-round is mounted right on the subfloor (which, because this is a Victorian, is thankfully the same pine flooring as in the attic and not plywood or OSB). My future stepfather-in-law theorized that whoever built it ran out of money before it was finished. After we're done with the attic floors, we'll rip out more carpet and see how those floors clean up. Not sure if we have the immediate budget to lay new hardwood flooring.
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Jun 12, 2018 13:04
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Oh yeah, some tidbits from the weekend while I'm on my tea break at work: -Some good news is that what looked like possible water damage on the floor in one of the attic rooms was not in fact water damage. -Some bad news is that we found some carpenter ants outside on one of the attic window sills. Will probably call an exterminator to check things out since none of us are familiar with dealing with carpenter ants. -Ratcheting screwdriver with interchangeable heads was probably my favorite tool over the weekend. I will probably invest in a better quality one. -We have so many more house fixing skills now than we did before the weekend. -Stuck at work programming, would rather be sanding floors and poo poo.
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Jun 12, 2018 15:45
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Another small update - brought a contractor in this morning to check things out and get a sense of what is possible/reasonable. We mostly just need hired help to add 1.5 small bathrooms, redo the existing bathroom, and then do the kitchen, which involves stuff that's a bit beyond us like removing a couple small walls/rerouting basement steps (no major layout changes) and some plumbing, wiring, and finishes. He was a no-nonsense Russian guy who listened and observed more than he talked, and wasn't pushy about me wanting to design and procure custom millwork separately. We'll have an estimate in a few days, but the guy is booked until November. Also it's a bit of gun jumping because my dad (in real estate/construction business) had recommended doing demo before bringing in contractors (which we haven't done) in order to get a more realistic estimate. Anyways, I'll finally get some downtime after work to write some story posts with actual content and pictures - going straight home (to the apartment) after work to cook dinner and be by myself for once.
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Jun 13, 2018 14:46
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Queen Victorian posted:So we got over to the house today to do some tasks - yard work and changing/adding light bulbs. I've been really happy with replacing a bunch of mine with Edison-look soft white/amber LED bulbs that have started to come out. Efficient -and- easy on the eyes, since my working hours mean I really need my home lighting to be less blue. Liquid Communism fucked around with this message at 08:46 on Jun 15, 2018 |
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Jun 15, 2018 08:42
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Liquid Communism posted:I've been really happy with replacing a bunch of mine with Edison-look soft white/amber LED bulbs that have started to come out. Efficient -and- easy on the eyes, since my working hours mean I really need my home lighting to be less blue. I've always been on the soft white train (and I've got f.lux or night shift on all my computers/devices) but I've also started using floor/table lamps and dedicated task lighting rather than overhead lights in the evenings as well and it's definitely helping to trigger the "okay, time to sleep soon" response at a reasonable hour.
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Jun 15, 2018 17:20
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Liquid Communism posted:I've been really happy with replacing a bunch of mine with Edison-look soft white/amber LED bulbs that have started to come out. Efficient -and- easy on the eyes, since my working hours mean I really need my home lighting to be less blue. I've seen these and would be very interested in trying them out in fixtures with exposed light bulbs. Would be on par with the era of the house too, since that's what light bulbs looked like in 1910 when the house was built. Actually we need a bunch of light fixtures in general, because the ones that came with the house are for the most part ugly and/or broken, with a couple that are just outright missing (only the base where the bulbs screw in remains). I also need to find a really pretty antique for the living room that's worthy of the plaster ceiling medallion. And an epic one for the dining room, too. Magnus Praeda posted:I've always been on the soft white train (and I've got f.lux or night shift on all my computers/devices) but I've also started using floor/table lamps and dedicated task lighting rather than overhead lights in the evenings as well and it's definitely helping to trigger the "okay, time to sleep soon" response at a reasonable hour. I grew up in a house without overhead light fixtures in the bedrooms, so using lamps instead of overhead light is automatic for me. There's a boob light on the living room ceiling in my apartment and I've literally never turned it on in the six years I've lived here. I'm all about the lamps. And yes, it's much better for evenings than glaring overhead lighting, especially you can't dim the overhead lighting. I don't get how the previous owners dealt with all that stark blue light in the bedrooms. Judging from the state of the house and the style/quality of furniture they left behind, I don't think they were all that into lamps or good lighting.
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Jun 18, 2018 04:15
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And finally, story time from last weekend and posted at the end of this weekend commences. This first one is the shortest out of the lot of them. The other ones are longer with more pictures, so they're taking longer to put together. Also this is the first time in a week that I've been able to get to my computer (sick of only phone posting). Also with all the stuff that happened during the week, I have more to add anyway. Without further ado: Satan's Buttpee So this tale is technically a side adventure to Floors, Glorious Floors. We are up in the attic sanding the floors in all the rooms, but then we get to the hallway, and there is a cast iron radiator in the hall that is in the way. We need to move it so we can sand underneath. If you have dealt with hot water radiators, you probably know where this is going. Also, I probably have some details wrong. Fiance and his stepdad start going about getting it moved (they did research). They turn it off from the basement, and I guess set it to drain (I was doing other stuff at this point). Then they go back up to disconnect it. Clear water starts coming out, so we catch it with pans and the shop vac. Fiance's stepdad remarks that the water is way too clean, so it's still pulling water into the system despite trying to drain it. So I'm told to go down to the basement to see if water is gushing out anywhere. I get to the basement, but I do not see or hear water anyhere, so I decide to check the expansion tank:  This thing is normally supposed to be for air, I guess, but not today... Like an idiot, I stand under the spigot, reach up, and open it. Out comes Satan's buttpee. All over my hand and arm and splattering everywhere. It's foul, black water that had probably been circulating in those pipes for a hundred years. So gross. I ran to the laundry sink to wash off. I didn't get any pics because my hands were covered with Satan's buttpee. In the end, we figured out how to actually drain the radiator system. Now we'll be able to move other radiators for more floor restoration, at least before it gets cold again and we have to turn it back on. Here's the radiator back in place with the paint gone from underneath it:  Footnote: The in-laws had a plumber over while we were at work to get a quote for plumbing a couple new bathrooms, and the plumber said he could help us refill the system in the fall, but said to try not to drain the system ever again (dunno how you'd avoid it if you ever want to redo floors - though I guess it would be a every half century sort of thing). I got conflicting info from the in-laws as to why it was a bad idea - either it's bad because we unleashed Satan's buttpee into the unsuspecting sewer system, or because we shouldn't be refilling the system with today's city water that has additives in it that are bad for pipes or something. I'll have to do research and possibly consider installing a water filter or something if regular tap water is going to rot my radiator pipes or something.
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Jun 18, 2018 04:25
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I had Satan's buttpee spill out of the legs of an indoor laundry drying rack. It was only 5 years old, I can only imagine the stuff in your old tank 
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Jun 18, 2018 06:05
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You can get rust inhibitor chemicals to add to the system when you refill, never draining it is a bad idea because Satan's buttpee will just come back and clog everything up. On that note did you flush out that radiator any?
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Jun 18, 2018 06:17
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cakesmith handyman posted:You can get rust inhibitor chemicals to add to the system when you refill, never draining it is a bad idea because Satan's buttpee will just come back and clog everything up. On that note did you flush out that radiator any? We did not flush it out - the radiator in question was in the attic and weighed at least a couple hundred pounds, so safely moving it down two flights of stairs and outside to clean it out, and then hauling it back up would have been a hell of a job requiring more people than we had. Probably would be a good idea to clean them out... And yeah, I will look into rust inhibitors for refilling the system. Now I definitely need to do more serious research - you're saying I should be draining the system more often, which I agree with more than keeping the same sludge in there forever. Maybe the in-laws misheard the plumber? I didn't meet the plumber so I wasn't able to ask questions. Also, met with the Amish contractor this morning. I think we will probably hire him. His father-in-law does custom millwork and carpentry, so I'll be able to get my dream cabinets for the kitchen. He charges by day, which was interesting, but will probably work out well for us - he and his crew will come in, do a day's hard work doing whatever needs doing in the project for the flat per-day fee, and if we need to wait for materials or our next paychecks to clear or something, they'll not come. Also, he was upfront about us being able to save some money if we procured materials and fixtures and stuff ourselves, which we can definitely do. He's booked until December, but we're willing to wait until then and just deal with the crappy kitchen and bathroom for a few months if it means we can get quality work for a good price.
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Jun 18, 2018 18:21
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Queen Victorian posted:We did not flush it out - the radiator in question was in the attic and weighed at least a couple hundred pounds, so safely moving it down two flights of stairs and outside to clean it out, and then hauling it back up would have been a hell of a job requiring more people than we had. Probably would be a good idea to clean them out... I've never personally dealt with the cast iron ones, only the stamped steel jobbies so I didn't realise they weighed that much. I carried a 6' steel one outside and just flushed it both ways with a hose for about 15 minutes, I'm amazed there was space for water inside with the gunk that came out and that was only about 15 years old at most.
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Jun 18, 2018 22:26
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Amish carpenters is so dreamy 
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Jun 18, 2018 23:13
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