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Anne Whateley posted:I think part of the issue is the number of separate jobs that have to be done. You could search for “equipment rental *your city*” and see what comes up. A place like that might have a wider selection of cleaning devices. As for getting a wet vac, I can’t recommend having even a small shop-vac enough. Saved me from hand-cleaning mixed household waste water in my old poo poo rental more than once. I’m not sure it’s the right tool for this job but it is for many others.
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Nov 14, 2020 17:36
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OSU_Matthew posted:Before you do anything, go to local library and check out a copy of The Black And Decker Guide to Home Wiring Thanks for posting these recs, I picked up several of the Black and Decker guides and the Popular Mechanics one for about $40 between AbeBooks (has tons of used copies of various editions for less than $5) and Amazon for the wiring book. My dad used to have pretty much an entire library of the Black and Decker references, probably from the late 80's or early 90's, that I was planning on inheriting until my parents' tinderbox of a garage was destroyed in a fire early last year.
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Jan 3, 2021 22:37
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melon cat posted:Is it worthwhile to buy a FLIR camera for home projects? Asking because I have an old century home with plaster and lathe and I'm doing all sorts of work that requires finding the studs. Stud finders and rare earth magnets haven't been helpful. I know that FLIR cams help find wall studs in drywall but I'm wondering if it will do the same with plaster and lathe. My house for some reason has 2 layers of drywall everywhere. Spent three months trying to find studs to hang things with 2 different stud finders before my dad and I figured out it was double drywall and neither studfinder I have could detect through that thickness. Cue 16 1” spaced pilot holes trying to find studs for the TV wall mount, which I obviously couldn’t afford to drywall mount.
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Jan 30, 2021 20:06
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Honestly, if you need to paint urgently I would highly recommend finding a Benjamin Moore retailer near you. They have a massive selection of colors and finishes and the regal select, although expensive, is really thick, covers extremely well, and looks nearly-professional even if you’ve never painted yourself before.
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Feb 11, 2021 18:23
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If you’re buying work boots then do yourself a favor and get a pair with a hard toe cap. You might not be required to have it but you would be surprised at how much peace of mind comes from wearing steel toes. Plus, you might need them in the future and this saves you another purchase, which would certainly be more expensive than getting one good pair of steel toes now. I wore mine the last time I moved, it’s great being able to rest furniture etc on your toe cap while you’re getting a handle on the item.
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Feb 12, 2021 17:36
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AFewBricksShy posted:I had a pair of steel toe docs about 10 years ago and the toe ended up being super uncomfortable (basically I could feel it pressing against the side of my toe when wearing them). That’s an issue with 1 pair of steel toes you tried on, not steel toes in general. Red wing offers a huge variety of sizes and widths. Mine are extremely comfortable, as comfortable as my LL Bean boots that I wear casually.
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Feb 12, 2021 18:14
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I’m going to be running cat-6 cable through the walls of my house. What kind of specs for the cable are important to shop for? I’m probably going to try to find a crimper to borrow so I’ll buy the cable in bulk. I’m planning on running one cat-6 cable to a switch in the attic, then several to ports in a few places around the house. Can I use the same holes in the top plate that the Romex or other wiring uses to run cables to outlet boxes in the same stud bay, or is it important to have separate holes for each? I haven’t gone up to look yet, but there’s definitely already some coax run in at least one place I want to put a port, so I’ll probably use whatever openings are already there for that port, but there are others in new locations I’m not so sure about. Another question: while I’m at it I’m also going to be running speaker wire for a couple surround sound speakers through the attic. What’s the best practice for poking speaker wire through the drywall, both from the receiver into the stud bay and also back out to the speakers? It doesn’t seem like the kind of thing that needs a box, but I’m afraid I’m in the area of “knowledge enough to know the terms and tools but not the requirements” for wiring projects.
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Mar 6, 2021 16:47
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devicenull posted:Doesn't really matter for the distance's you'll be going in your house. Something like this would be fine: https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=40658 You're planning on doing wall plates right, not just shoving ethernet through the wall and putting a connector on it? For sure will be using wall plates. quote:
The description for the gang box says that it adjusts to fit wall plates flush with the mounting surface - this is the back surface of the plate, correct? Is there a way I can recess the speaker connection plate so I can hang the speaker on the wall directly in front of it and just use a little junction of speaker wire to connect the two? Maybe that’s how this configuration installs anyway and I’m just not picturing it correctly. I browsed around on monoprice and saw they have quite a lot of options for low voltage wall plates. I’m planning on going to a big box hardware store this weekend, so I’ll look at what they have in-person and see if I can wrap my head around the configurations. E: can I just plug a banana plug right into these connectors? That seems much simpler than I was imagining. E2 to answer my own question: I need a pin connector to stick into the speakers. I think i can just buy these and attach them to the wall plate, then plug directly into the speaker. 
Lawnie fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Mar 6, 2021 |
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Mar 6, 2021 17:19
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kid sinister posted:How is that switch going to hold up to the heat of summer? Anyway, you'll want riser rated cat6, the cheapest kind. Max operating temperature for the switch i purchased is 104*F, what temperature should I expect my attic to be during the summer? High 90’s? Hotter? If that’s the case then I’ll just put the switch with the router in the living area and run from that. It’s just more ports in a plate.
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Mar 8, 2021 00:46
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DrBouvenstein posted:I'd like to have it right now as just regular grass. I might put some raised beds for fruits/veggies in there next year, but right now I've got enough space for my garden plans in my beds in the backyard. If you’re planning on making some grass into garden, consider using a sod cutter to just move healthy grass from the garden spots into the ugly spots (you can use the sod cutter to get a fresh surface to lay your sod into). I did this in my backyard with what’s essentially just a patchwork of healthy sod chunks laid onto flat-cut dirt, and it took pretty much right away. The sod cutter was pretty fun to use, too.
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Apr 15, 2021 20:42
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Slugworth posted:Looking at a house in a rural area today, and saw this thing in the yard. I'm embarrassed to admit I can't even begin to guess what it is. Maybe it’s processing methane or other emissions from the septic system?
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May 1, 2021 02:41
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NotNut posted:How reliable an indicator of effectiveness is the NRR rating on hearing protectors? Look at the attenuation rating, and subtract it from whatever the volume level is of the thing you’re being exposed to. Shoot for less than 85 (or it might be 95, can’t recall) dB after attenuation. If you need, you can combine ear canal plugs with earmuffs, in which case the attenuation is approximately additive.
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May 2, 2021 02:03
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It bears repeating that the NRR is only a measure of how much reduction in volume the muffs or plugs can provide. If the thing you’re being exposed to is 130 dB, then the difference between 24 and 30 dB is pretty significant. If it’s only 110 dB, then both will provide enough protection to get you below the permissible limit. Most of the stuff in the previous post is probably around 110-120 dB at a guess. You can combine disposable or re-usable earplugs with Bluetooth muffs to reduce the amount of attenuation you need out of the earmuffs, which might expand your selection a lot if you’re willing to combine with another type of protection.
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May 3, 2021 18:20
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McMaster delivers stuff to my lab same-day if it’s ordered early enough. They do big business supplying just-in-time widgets and whatsits.
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May 19, 2021 20:31
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Hed posted:What did you use to make those beautiful annotations? They appear to be MS Word annotations. The drawing tools are very good for annotating images, with some practice.
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May 25, 2021 13:54
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Someone please help me figure out how to install this little plastic thingy in my new French door freezer drawer, I’ve looked everywhere and simply cannot figure out where this thing goes. It’s from a whirlpool model no. WRF535SWHV03 and the installers didn’t put it in when they dropped off the fridge. 
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Jun 2, 2021 02:55
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Yep, thanks for sorting that out for me. Glad it’s there now... I guess?
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Jun 2, 2021 04:14
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AFewBricksShy posted:
Probably resin or epoxy if you’re thinking it needs curing after coming out of a needle. Dymax is a brand name of a company that makes such needle-delivered materials. We use one at work to mask pinholes that cures under UV like a dentist’s adhesive.
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Jul 8, 2021 15:23
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kid sinister posted:I've got a gas dryer that I can't figure out. Usually but not always, it will run forever on the auto dry cycle because it never gets hot. However, once I take the front panel off and look at it, it ignites on startup just fine. All of the sensors and the fuse ring out with my multimeter. If I take the panel off, I can watch the dryer go through its paces like it's supposed to: start button gets pushed, drum spins, ignitor lights up, gas solenoids open, flame lights, it burns until the thermostat turns it off, lather, rinse, repeat. I had this issue where my dryer would start the flame initially but never re-light to maintain temperature. I tried replacing a fuse and when that didn’t work, I ordered a solenoid (can’t remember exactly what it was called) and replaced it, which fixed it right up.
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Sep 10, 2021 01:04
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Based on the pics you’ve posted, that’s definitely not a ceiling fan-rated box. The screw holes for a plain fixture and the ceiling fan are in the same place, so a lazy installer won’t make sure there’s the correct box mounted to a joist or bracer before attaching a ceiling fan. All the fans in my house were like this, just stuffed into drywall in the ceiling between joists. DaveSauce posted:IIRC downrods are in fact tapered threads. I agree those threads look hosed. The shiny flattened thread tips are a dead giveaway for smearing damage usually from cross-threading.
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Dec 7, 2021 04:46
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Someone who likes statics and dynamics more than me can calculate what effective load is applied to the downrod when a 42” ceiling fan is spinning at max speed, but I’m comfortable saying that the strength of JB weld wouldn’t provide enough of a safety factor to hold up the heavy thing above my face while I’m sleeping. Just replace the downrod - threads are a really strong joining method so if they’re specified for something structural I wouldn’t cut corners.
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Dec 7, 2021 16:33
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DaveSauce posted:OP seemed hellbent on keeping the downrod for some reason, and a lot of people were telling them that the threads were just fine. I was just trying to offer options Yep, no shade on you, I totally understand wanting to offer solutions with the tools someone’s willing to use.
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Dec 7, 2021 20:24
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DrBouvenstein posted:Finally got around to replacing a kitchen drawer with a busted drawer slide this weekend. Can you tell the manufacturer it doesn’t fit and ask them to fix it? Unless you’ve got calipers you really don’t have any reason to blame yourself for mis-measuring; they just as easily could have messed up their tolerances setting up the machine to make your drawer.
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Feb 22, 2022 20:24
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melon cat posted:All of the plastic lightswitch fixtures in my basement are splitting and cracking like this: I’m guessing the humidity, some plastics can hydrate and become very brittle. The foundation shifting maybe could do it? The plate should be fixed to a single piece of drywall, though, so there shouldn’t be any stresses induced to the plate from two structural members shifting, since it’s mechanically fixed to only one of the members.
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Mar 30, 2022 13:53
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:Maybe youve checked but see if all the screws on the hinges are snugly fastened. thats the most common cause for poorly closing doors ive found. replacing one screw on each hinge on the jamb side with a 3" deck screw can help draw a loose jamb tight again My dad did this to a couple of my doors when he was loving around while I took care of my kid right after he was born and it made a big difference in how nicely the doors fit and hung.
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Apr 12, 2022 04:29
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Does anyone have a handy source for accurate diagrams and illustrations of simple home structural elements? I’m especially interested in cross-sections just because I grok those most easily. a variety of installation types for each feature would also be helpful. The reason I’m asking: I have a cinderblock foundation on concrete slab garage with an entry door to the backyard that opens onto a poured cement pathway. My hose bib is on the east (right) side of the pathway, and my garden is on the west (left) side. The bib is closed in by this concrete path. To run irrigation to my garden, I’m going to need to get a water line across this cement path somewhere, and my first thought was to put it beneath this threshold across the width of the door, which would span the concrete as far as I need it to.  I just don’t know what’s underneath the metal threshold, and I’m not keen on tearing it out to find concrete beneath it that I can’t cut through, anyway. Hence, cross-sections of various installation configurations, so I can see what I might run into before cracking it open.
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Jun 12, 2022 16:28
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Motronic posted:The rest of the door frame, and then your sill plate and then your cinderblock foundation. No basement, the garage is a later addition to the house. Here are some pictures:  Bib is the blue thing on the other side of the... stuff.  The door, threshold, and cement pad to be crossed.  From the door towards the backyard, with the dog and the plants that need watering. There's more pathway to cross, obviously, but there's already a gutter drain line ran underneath it that I was going to just tap into at the soil level.  Orange line is the gutter drain line. It goes down a slight incline, maybe a foot and half or two before coming out at a low point in the yard. Irrigation line can come out somewhere on the other side of the pathway.  Overall view of the yard to be watered. Both slightly raised and in-ground beds. I can measure/estimate square footage if necessary. BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:Ya some more photos would help. You can undo the screws in the threshold and see if you can work it free, but I don’t think it’ll be helpful for you. This is the obvious solution, but I've never personally cut nor poured concrete by myself. I would be comfortable learning and doing it, though, and it's probably about as simple of a job as can be to learn on. I think I like this idea best even though it's probably the biggest pain. The pressure regulator I have for the faucet attachment specifies 25 psi, which (without calculating it) almost certainly isn't going to get over the doorframe in 1/2" irrigation line. If only the threshold were slightly higher than the concrete, I would just build a simple wooden platform to clean shoes and hide the line underneath. It would be too awkward with how flush the threshold already is to the concrete, though. NoSpoon posted:Can you just dig a hole either side of the path a foot out from the house and tunnel under the path? Ideally jam some kind of conduit in there (drain pipe?) and push as much material back around it as you can, but shouldn’t cause too much drama if (big if) the path has any reinforcing at all. I’d certainly feel more comfortable with the water being there rather than in the door threshold. I could dig on either side no problem (FWIW an auger that fits my drill makes this kind of thing super-easy). I wasn't sure how deep I would have to go, whether there would be reinforcement to deal with beneath the concrete, and whether or not the pressure would be enough to make it back up from the necessary depth. I could carefully dig around and see what I find - this might be the easiest solution that hides the line.
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Jun 15, 2022 02:44
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Motronic posted:Do that. Run your line below it. It's probably all of 4" deep. There’s one in the faucet attachment kit. Thanks, I wasn’t sure if I was going to find 4 more inches of gravel and/or sand beneath the concrete.
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Jun 15, 2022 03:45
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Thanks for all the advice everybody. I hate to start a project and then find that every assumption I made was wrong, so I appreciate the explanations. Much more confident in getting under the concrete around my house in general.
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Jun 15, 2022 13:53
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Beef Of Ages posted:Having been on a trip out of town recently, I was slightly dismayed to find the side door to my garage standing wide open upon our return. I was further disquieted to learn that someone had stolen a bunch of my poo poo from the garage (my chop saw, my tool box, our bikes, etc). Initial evidence suggested that my wife didn't close the door properly when we left. A new occurrence of finding the door standing wide open this morning after I know good and drat well I closed it has caused me to mount a new investigation. Installing a deadbolt. It’s not your fault or your wife’s you got robbed, but a good deadbolt will both give you secure peace of mind that the door is latched and locked as well as actual security, since a deadbolt can’t be defeated nearly as easily as a latch and strike plate.
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Jun 29, 2022 14:13
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Beef Of Ages posted:This is fair, but also dramatically more invasive as the door is not cut for one and I didn't have the tools to create such a hole even before all my poo poo got jacked. Considering an internal bolt lock for when we're out of town as an additional protection measure that accomplishes a similar goal. Cardboard is more widely available (pretty much everyone has scraps around), maybe? It’s also compressible compared to a wooden shim. Not sure what advantage that would have in this situation, though. Your internal bolt lock sounds good, so long as there’s no safety or ease-of-access issues presented by not being able to unlock from the outside.
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Jun 29, 2022 14:24
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Do not get keys made anywhere there’s an automated machine doing it. I have had a very low success rate with those, usually the keys don’t work or take a lot of jiggling. Find a human on a grinder, TrueValue and Ace usually have somebody around here.
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Aug 19, 2022 14:31
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Slugworth posted:A) Using the cut-off from the door is a great idea. I'm cutting 3-4" off the bottom, so I'll have plenty of scrap. Buy a dowel rod at 2-1/8” and cut disks using a circular or table saw to the thickness of the door, then do as everyone else said and wood filler that in there. It doesn’t make any sense to try to cut 6 circular blanks compared to slicing off a dowel rod, at least to me.
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Aug 21, 2022 15:01
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El Mero Mero posted:I've got a one inch thick plate of steel that's 16" long that i need to take an inch off of. Would a regular angle grinder do the trick or would that be an exercise in futility? You need a bandsaw if this needs to be a straight cut. An angle grinder would do it eventually but you’d also end up ruining the heat treat along the cut face. You could try a hacksaw, it would take forever but would be pretty straight.
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Nov 12, 2022 17:10
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:the cutting wheel exploding thing is wayyyy overblown, especially for 4.5" zip discs. they're flexble and fiber-reinforced, twisting them under load just chews them up big time. Even if they did explode, they're too lightweight and flexible to penetrate proper safety gear .. that picture of the safety glasseswith the piece of the grinder wheel is a hoax I have personally exploded dozens and dozens of abrasive wheels while freehand cutting with a hand grinder without a guard, back-cutting hardware to reveal crack surfaces. They have almost no mass and if you wear long cotton sleeves and a face shield, this poster is right that you can’t really hurt yourself with a 4” wheel. Bigger wheels are in enclosed cutting chambers because those actually are dangerous. We use to have a saw everyone in the shop called the suicide saw because it was a pretty unguarded abrasive cutter with a 5-axis vise you could use to make delicate cuts very straight (like 18” straight through plate steel). Even with 8 inch wheels, which I popped plenty of, any face shield will easily protect you from harm. Honestly, the important piece of PPE that people often forget is hearing protection. Those grinders can get very loud and earplugs are dead easy to wear regularly.
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Nov 14, 2022 15:27
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melon cat posted:I’d suggest putting a worm clamp over the taped joining of the duct and exhaust outlet for added security. I have a whirlpool OTR microwave that advertises 400 CFM airflow at max speed, with a 90* elbow about 18” from the outlet and a couple more downstream. Never had a problem with excessive back-pressure, for what it’s worth. Big difference between 18” and 6”, though.
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Feb 20, 2023 16:07
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C-Euro posted:Trying to figure out how to secure a pressure-mounted baby gate in a stairway with no flat surfaces. Got some little bits of wood and was planning to secure two of them to the floor with a couple of wood screws each, then secure one to the wall with a couple of masonry screws. These would be on a landing that has hollow space underneath it where air blows out, I looked in the associated vent and I wouldn't be drilling into any hidden metal ventilation ducts. Any obvious pitfalls with this plan or viable alternatives to it before I start drilling holes in everything? They have mesh extending baby gates now. I wonder if you could affix one side to the wall and extend it out to catch on the red railing rather than trying to pressure-mount something. I haven’t tried them with my 16-month old yet but we also don’t have any stairs in our house. He doesn’t need to be protected.
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Mar 10, 2023 15:52
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neogeo0823 posted:I'm pretty sure I know the answer to this one, but I'm gonna ask here anyway. I'm looking for some blocks of metal. Preferably something soft and lightweight, yet strong, like aluminum. I'll need 10 pieces total, and I'll need them to be about 1inW x 1.5inH x 2inL, but I would also take a single longer length that I can cut down into pieces. These blocks don't need to be clean, pristine new metal, either; They can be part of something else and taken off of whatever in order to make this. Also, I know I have a local metal supplier that I can buy this from, but if I can get them relatively cheap from somewhere that's nationally available across the US, then all the better. Try searching for key stock, zinc is pretty soft. I’m not sure it comes that large, but Home Depot carries a bunch of sizes.
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Mar 12, 2023 17:05
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Bloody Mayhem posted:Shoot! I’ll go back to the hardware store tomorrow then. The guy I talked to last time wasn’t as knowledgeable as I had hoped. Is there a TrueValue or Ace near you? I have found those places have significantly more useful employees for less straightforward questions.
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Apr 4, 2023 19:18
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DNK posted:Which side of my workbench should I attach the vice to? I’m right handed and there’s plenty of room on either side. Right-hand side, so you can hold the workpiece with your left hand and tighten the vise with your right by free-wheeling the handle.
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Jun 25, 2023 17:22
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