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I am trying to figure out how to get my shower door to latch again. When I moved into my place in mid 2019, the shower door magnetic latch worked fine. In the winter, it no longer worked, and in the spring of 2020 it worked again. I'm fairly certain this is due to minor foundation movement (I live in an area with highly expansive clay and the house has a subdrain around the perimeter and I get very little seasonal movement as a result, but this has been driving us crazy). When I put my level up against both door jambs, they appear to both be plumb. However, something is tweaking the shower door, because the magnets no longer touch. I was hoping to remove the latch and install a thicker magnet. Alas, the latch is held on to the glass door via adhesive or pressure from the part and I don't want to take it off and the magnet slips into the metal bracket so I can't really install another magnet. I believe my shower door is this model: https://cwdoors.com/products-item/5400h/. Any advice on what to do? Should I just buy some magnetic cabinet latch material and adhere it to the existing magnetic strip?
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Jan 28, 2021 20:40
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On the topic of lighting, I have 10 sconces that I thought had LEDs in them. One burned out and it turns out they were 150w halogens (cue the realization they are likely the cause of our recent higher electrical bills). I found LED replacements, but as soon as I remove the last halogen in each of the 2 circuits, the LEDs all turn on at a very low intensity. I now have 1 halogen in each circuit to keep this from happening. The LED packaging had some broken english on it about needing LED as opposed to incandescent dimmers. Is that correct? Do I need to swap out my dimmers to finish my light bulb replacement?
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Feb 8, 2021 06:16
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Elviscat posted:Yeah, there's probably some very low level leakage through your old dimmer. Thanks you two for the replies. Now that we know this, my partner wants us to install smart switches. Lovely. Guess I need to go do some research now.
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Feb 8, 2021 17:01
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Raenir Salazar posted:My dad wants to draw some drawings of the house's foundation and frames, what's a good software program for doing so? There is always AutoCAD or Microstation. AutoCAD used to have a free version for students that would just watermark drawings around the title block. SketchUp used to be free and might still be. I don't know how easy any of these are to use these days. I learned AutoCAD over a decade ago but have barely touched it since. I sketch up floor plans and foundation repair details to scale quite a lot for work on graph paper. An engineers scale (or architects scale, depending on the scale he wants to use) make it easy.
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Feb 17, 2021 18:20
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HycoCam posted:The bay area might be a big factor in your costs. In the bay area, most jurisdictions require a permit for walls that are retaining 4' or more of soil, which includes the height of the footing (for a conventionally footed wall, which modular block walls are), so after the footing and the half buried first brick, you're over 4'. Modular block wall engineering done by the manufacturer also generally only accounts for level backfill. As a result, you'd likely need to install geogrid reinforcement, which would mean excavating a lot more slope than installing a drilled pier wall. Mira drain is not fancy. It's a run of the mill drain panel and will cost less than a rock curtain subdrain since there's no disposal of soil or import of gravel. All that said, as an engineer who works on retaining walls in the bay area, $10k sounds pretty light for a retaining wall with sloping backfill in the bay area. When I make some assumptions about the work, I'm seeing material costs of at least $3,500 (including disposal and delivery fees) before any sort of markup, which the contractor will certainly have (this covers things like time spent ordering and managing delivery of product, accounts payable, other company overhead, etc). Construction labor in the bay area (for a licensed, bonded company) is very expensive these days. Anyone who wants to work in construction right now in the bay area can find a job (and can likely find a second job offer willing to pay more). If my company was to do this work, the work would definitely cost more than $10k. I can see a couple of potential cost issues. The first is that the project is kind of on the small side. If there is good enough access for us to use an excavator large enough for a dangle drill, there are a lot of minimum costs associated with that (mobilization, day use rates, etc), and you wouldn't get the most bang for your buck out of the equipment. If access wasn't good enough for something that size, we'd be looking at hand excavating the hillside as necessary to install a new wall and using man portable drilling equipment to install new pier holes, which get terrible production compared to a track mounted drill rig (not as heavy, takes comparatively forever to move from one hole to the next, etc). The good news, however, is unless the slope in the yard is steeper than 1:1 (h:v), the retaining wall is only holding up a wedge of soil and not the entire hillside. If the wall failed, you'd likely lose some yard space until the slope reached a stable configuration (probably close to a 2:1 slope) and you'd have erosion problems until the exposed soil was covered or starts to get natural vegetation growing on it.
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Feb 20, 2021 07:46
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Sure, you could absolutely build a geogrid reinforced wall. I'm just saying that in the bay area, that type of wall would almost certainly need a permit, since bottom of footing to top of wall is going to be more than 4 feet and that there's sloping backfill, which also means paying for engineering. Just the block would run you $1,400 in the bay area if you bought it yourself. I don't see how anyone could get a licensed contractor here to do it for anywhere near your $4,500 estimate.
Xenix fucked around with this message at 09:09 on Feb 20, 2021 |
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Feb 20, 2021 09:03
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Ah. Walls here tend to be for extending usable yard space, since it's at a premium. And labor in the bay is ridiculously expensive due to extremely high demand for skilled laborers.
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Feb 20, 2021 20:58
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fps_bill posted:Please tell me about self leveling concrete, or slme other type of solution to get a room in my basement level. When I pressure washed the block prior to drylok I noticed all the water was running towards the back wall. I set the laser level up this morning and shot the room, these are the measurements from the floor up. Are those basement dimensions inches or feet? A 135x54 foot basement seems huge, but a 4 foot wide basement seems tiny as hell (I live somewhere with few to no basements). With regard to the sloping, I wouldn't worry too much about it if it's sloping less than 1 inch over 20 feet. Usually if it's less than that, most people won't notice the out of levelness. You usually have to prepare slab floors to get the right surface profile for a good bond with a self leveling material (shotblast would be best, acid etch may be ok). Without the prep you risk it delaminating and cracking. You will risk the feathered edge cracking too, unless you cut in some sort of joint to give you the minimum required thickness of the product you use. You'll also potentially get shrinkage cracking, so don't add any more water than is called for. Some type of finished flooring will obviously hide any cracks if they occur. They are generally the consistency of runny pancake batter and the pot life is very short, so you need to mix and pour quickly (or mix in a hopper and pump continuously if that's available to you). You'll want to vent the space because the ones I've used in the past are fast set and the basement will get very warm and humid very quickly.
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Mar 12, 2021 08:01
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Ah ok. So that room slopes about twice as much as what the sort of "industry recommended" slope is for foundation performance where I'm at. If the house is old, the settlement from the new structure on the soil is likely complete. If it changes from time to time, you're on expansive soil, and it'll heave up a bit in the rainy season and settle back down in the dry season. If you're on a slope, you may want to monitor the area. If the sloping stops you from using the room how you like or it bugs you on a regular basis, then, sure, releveling it with a self leveler seems reasonable. I come up with needing about 2 cubic feet of material (possibly less). The sacks are usually something like 0.4 cu ft per sack, so you'd need 4-6 to level it out, so you'd be fine just mixing and pouring from 5 gallon buckets with a drill mixer.
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Mar 12, 2021 17:02
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A third option if you already have a product in a color you like is to paint or epoxy coat the stairs and broadcast concrete or play sand into it while wet and then back roll or install a second coat.
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Mar 12, 2021 23:55
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fps_bill posted:The house was built in 55 so I'd hope it's done settling by now, and I'm on a hill so I cant really see the rain season thing being an issue. Is there a specific self leveler that would work best? I'd really like to get the floor sorted before I set a 900lb gun safe in its final resting place. I've used Combimix 740 with good results, but I had to buy that from a specialty chemical company. Ardex also has good engineered concrete products and it looks like most of their self leveling products are high strength. I have not used their self leveling compounds but have used their other underlayments with good results. Quickretes fast set self leveling product has good max strength, but their regular set time self leveling compound looks relatively weak (5800 psi vs 2000 psi). I'd make sure you have the recommended minimum thickness at the location the safe is going to sit at and probably for at least 1 foot around it to keep the stuff from spalling. All of these products are underlayments so they all say they're supposed to have some sort of resilient flooring installed on top of them. I'm not sure if or how that will affect your specific situation.
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Mar 17, 2021 18:08
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While 45 feet is deeper than I'd expect pipe pipes to have to go for a 1-2 story house, they have a small cross section and are usually designed to develop and end bearing resistance of 20 tons, which is way heavier than the section of house they'll be supporting. I hope the settlement is not related to slope movement, because 2 inch steel pipe has effectively no lateral resistance. They also have very little skin friction, so if your soil is highly expansive you can still get some heave pushing your foundation up unless you installed perimeter drainage or something like void forms under the foundation.
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Mar 30, 2021 06:33
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My favorite fun time settlement problem was with a house that was built as part of a big development about a decade ago. No other homes in the area were having issues, so I pulled up google earth and flipped back through the historic photos. The portion of the house that was settling was right over the corner of a giant detention pond (about 10 feet deep) that was built during grading operations to control runoff during the rainy season. Come time to build the houses over it, they filled it up, obviously, but with the tight corners on the pond, it seems they didn't do a good job compacting soil there. I'm guessing the large compaction equipment couldn't hit the corner at all. Maybe they ran a jumping jack over it, maybe not. The house was on a PT slab, which is quite expensive to relevel, unfortunately.
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Mar 30, 2021 22:47
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angryrobots posted:Concrete is expensive. Good reinforced concrete that will both last a long time and not crack under heavy load (delivery truck, utility truck, contractor, someone turned into the wrong driveway...) is very expensive. A lot of busted up driveways are old and under reinforced or not reinforced at all. My neighborhood has two types of driveways: new, or cracked to hell because they were poured 70 years ago without rebar in them (mine falls in this category) Putting number 4 bars on 12 or 18 inch centers won't significantly drive up the cost of a concrete driveway. Properly preparing the subgrade can drive up costs, but that applies to asphalt as well. I'd actually say properly prepared subgrade is more important for asphalt since it has no ability to span crappy subgrade unlike RC. Asphalt driveways are fine (and can look really good stamped and painted), but you need more than a 1-2 inch thick lift of asphalt slapped on native soil. You need at least a couple inches of compacted base on top of the soil.
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Apr 7, 2021 05:45
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If you're going to patch it with mortar, use a vertical or overhead repair mortar. They're designed to not sag,assuming you mixed it correctly. Sika has decent repair mortars like that. I think I've used Sika123 for something similar, but it has corrosion inhibitors and I doubt you need that. Since you're selling the place, I'd avoid patching it with something that's hard to dig back out in case the new owner doesn't like the exposed wires, so that foam and paint idea seems pretty good to me.
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May 5, 2021 03:57
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I'd just caulk it with something like sikaflex. I don't think rodents will chew at it. If they do, you could pack the hole with steel wool.
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May 12, 2021 18:42
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Danhenge posted:I'm not sure that waterproof caulk is the right move, because the house is 90 years old so that's historic brick ideally expands & contracts with moisture. I'd like to avoid doing anymore problematic "repointing" given that there are already patches around which look like portland cement. I don't know a ton about unreinforced masonry (being in earthquake country, it's a terrible building material), but sikaflex can accommodate something like 35% joint movement. It's not going to stop the mortar around it from absorbing moisture, so long as you only place it in the hole and don't smear it around on the joints. It looks like quickrete has a product specifically for this application that is a sanded acryllic (https://www.quikrete.com/productlines/mortarrepair.asp). I'm not seeing how much movement it would accommodate, though.
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May 12, 2021 19:21
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Is your mudsill going to actually be in contact with soil? That's what it means by ground contact. You can also go to your local lumber yard and get pt lumber with more chemical pumped in.
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May 18, 2021 02:27
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I am having some trouble with my central air and am looking for some advice. When I turned on my AC for the first time this season, it didn't run. I realized the furnace blower wasn't turning on properly. It worked fine in the winter when using the heat and last summer when using the AC. The furnace is a Carrier 58MVB. When I opened it up, it was throwing up a Blower Motor Fault code when I turned it on. The fan on the motor turned easily. I turned it back on while still open, and watched the fan turn one way, stop, turn the other way, and then continue this process forever. I followed the service manual for fixing this problem (after watching a generic video by Carrier which was very wrong for this furnace, apparently) and am running into some trouble figuring out what exactly I need to do. When I tested the high voltage wires, I had 119/120 volts (the manual calls for 115 volts). However, when I tested the low voltage wires, I was getting something like -1 and -5 vdc. The manual calls for 12 vdc. I didn't think to change which wires from my volt meter I used, so I'm not sure if I'd get 1 and 5 vdc and I had already closed everything up at the end of the evening. Is my next step to re-test those wires? The manual says if I don't have 12 vdc, I need to replace the variable speed furnace control. I am unsure if this means the motor controller (which at this point is disconnected, and I am not testing that) or if it's something else. Is this the circuit board that everything runs though, which I see called a Furnace Control Board? Is it something else entirely? Edit: I didn't realize there was an HVAC thread. Is this a better question to ask there? Xenix fucked around with this message at 06:38 on Jul 22, 2021 |
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Jul 22, 2021 06:36
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I see a lot of nail pops happen because someone is breaking stucco with a roto hammer just on the other side of a wall from nail pops. It makes me wonder if someone was doing roofing work after the drywall was finished or was redoing work on an exterior wall near that corner. Since this is new construction, document things like this. Look up what your state law provides for with regards to construction defects. Be wary of the builder saying things aren't a big deal when you ask them to fix them. Make sure they fix things completely if you ask for them to fix it via any warranty they offer.
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Jul 31, 2021 03:19
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I have a bunch of casement windows with cranks that open them. The cranks have a little tiny set screw that is supposed to hold them in place, but the set screw is for a flat head screwdriver and I can't really tighten them tight enough that the cranks stay in place. Anything I can do to keep from pulling the drat things off every other time I open or close them?
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Aug 2, 2021 05:30
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Tezer posted:Search 'mudjacking' in your local area. Mudjacking/compaction grouting is expensive and won't be worth paying their minimum daily rate for 6 square feet of concrete. That concrete piece looks like it's been undermined. I'd try to figure out what caused that problem (next to a slope? Irrigation line under there leaking?) and address that when replacing it. It'll be hard to find a GC or even concrete contractor for such a small job. You might have better luck with a day laborer or handy man who is confident with their concrete finishing skills.
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Aug 30, 2021 20:44
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melon cat posted:
I think you mean before the excavation for the basement is backfilled. The waterproofing needs to be on the outside. Negative side waterproofing is a bandaid, at best. Xypex can work ok, but I've never seen it work well.
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Oct 29, 2021 01:24
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TheBeardedCrazy posted:I need to put up a short fence in my front yard so my wife can let the dog out without a leash but there are a few complications: T-posts and some sort of wire fencing (like hog fence or deer fence) sounds like it'd do the trick. Not sure how hard it'll be to remove the posts from the ground after you're done with the fence, but at least there's be no concrete slugs to contend with.
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Nov 22, 2021 22:24
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The handheld sprayer for my kitchen faucet recently broke. It has a plastic female threaded end that screws on to a braided water line. The plastic threaded bit broke, and now the handle pulls off sometimes when using it. The faucet is some Amazon/Wayfair brand called Daweier, and I can't seem to find a new spray nozzle anywhere. What are my options here?
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Dec 3, 2021 06:09
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TrueChaos posted:http://daweierusa.com/ Is this them? Give them a call and see if they'll sell it to you directly. Don't know why I didn't think of that. When I saw they only seemed to be sold through Wayfair and Amazon, I assumed they were some cheap crap from overseas. Looks like if I can find the receipt in the huge briefcase of documents the previous owner left me, they'll replace it for free.
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Dec 3, 2021 20:00
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Look carefully at your garbage disposal services contract. I live in an urban area and they will pick up 10 extra big rear end bags of yard waste something like 5 times a year as part of the service I pay for. It just needs to be scheduled with them ahead the regular pickup day.
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Dec 19, 2021 18:22
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There are backup pumps that use your municipal water supply and the venturi effect to pump water out of a sumo. If you've a nearby water supply line, that's an option. I think the one I've seen before is called Basepump.
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Jan 24, 2022 00:19
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My puppy is currently teething and is trying to chew everything in sight when the urge strikes her. We usually shove something to chew on in her mouth when we see her getting agitated, but the other day we didn't notice and she went and did this: What are my options for repair? Do I need to replace the corner bead or can I just sand the area down and apply new drywall mud and then paint?
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Feb 26, 2022 21:06
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I had a refrigerator problem for the longest time. It was dripping water into the refrigerator compartment from the freezer and it was the common problem: something got into the condensate drain line and led to an ice plug forming. I fixed that problem but now have another. When I turned the fridge back on after unclogging the condensate drain, the fan in the freezer compartment didn't sound like it was turning on and the fridge compartment wasn't cooling to its normal temperature. I also realized I can't adjust the fridge temp via the buttons inside. I think the problem is the fan in the freezer compartment isn't turning on to circulate the air. I removed the back panel and checked that it was plugged in and would spin freely when I touched it. I think my next step is to check the voltage on the wires connecting to the fan and the resistance on the leads to the fan. Does that sound like the right direction to go in?
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Mar 31, 2022 06:02
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Calidus posted:I going put fancy radon cap on my sup pump. I requires drilling into concrete floor in my basement. I have a Dewalt hammer drill and some Bosch masonry bits from a project where I added an outlet to a brick wall. There anything special I know before drilling concrete? My plan is drill hole, use shop vac, use impact driver, repeat. How many holes do you need to drill? I'd recommend just renting or borrowing a rotohammer if you need to drill a bunch of holes or if they're going to be deeper than a couple of inches. It'll potentially save you a lot of time. I've drilled holes in pots with masonry bits, some of which have taken an entire battery to get through. I recently drilled some 3-inch deep holes thin a concrete curb with a rotohammer, and each was done in about 5 seconds. Once you've got the holes drilled, you should either jet them out with compressed air or brush them out with a wire brush. Both epoxy set anchors and redheads need clean holes.
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Apr 1, 2022 22:01
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My big rule of thumb for home improvement projects is do not pay everything up front and do not pay the final payment until you are satisfied with the work. Check your state's contractor license board so you know what is and isn't allowed. For instance, in California, a contractor, licensed or not, for permitted work or not, cannot charge you a down payment of more than 10% of the cost of the job or $1,000, whichever is lower. If your contractor is violating these basic rules, I'd avoid them.
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May 2, 2022 21:44
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:picking it up and towing/operating it is an expense to consider. honestly i expected it to tow behind the concrete truck and get operated by the truck driver Not to mention cleanup if the crew doesn't wash it out well. We charge $750 per day for our line pump before mark up, so it's ultimately more than $1,000 per day (sf bay area), which includes getting it to and from the site, cleaning the hoses afterward and scraping/scabbling off any dried concrete from the hopper once it's back to the yard.
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May 6, 2022 17:50
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:I forgot about brackets; good suggestion. One option with those is to use brackets that embed into the still-wet concrete. Requires a bit more work during the pouring phase, but you don't need a fancy drill. Just a heads up with those brackets: they typically say they are not for fences over 4', fences that will need to resist wind loads, or they require lateral restraint. I think this is the specific bracket shown: https://www.strongtie.com/fences_decksandfences/ez_base/p/e-z-base and it says quote:Post bases do not provide adequate resistance to prevent rotation about the base and therefore are not recommended for non-top-supported installations such as fences or unbraced carports I don't see it often, but I have seen 6' fences with these fail, typically when there are long, straight spans. If you live where it's very windy, you may want to look carefully at their cut sheets. I have no idea why they advertise it for fences and then say it's not for fences ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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May 18, 2022 04:27
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:ha wow a fencing guy was telling me that the brackets are becoming code. wonder if he was talking about a different bracket type but everyone uses simpson so idk I don't want to turn anyone off using them, since I don't really do fences. However, I see the issue come up occasionally in the construction defect stuff I'm involved in. Just be aware of the manufacturers recommendations. I think the last time I saw a failure of brackets like this, it was (mostly) due to the fence being on a narrow curb without enough concrete cover over the embedded bracket or fastener.
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May 19, 2022 17:18
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There is, or was, a free student version of AutoCAD. Unsure if you need a university email account to get a copy.
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Aug 2, 2022 15:41
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I'm having a sprinkler problem. One of my drip irrigation zones has stopped working. I have a temporary solution (piggy backing off of an adjacent drip zone, which means they have to run for the same duration), but would like to fix the root cause of the problem, preferably without having to chase a buried wire through my yard. At first I thought my problem was a broken solenoid. Upon replacement it still didn't work, so I tested the zone at the control box. I got 30v AC when touching my multimeter to the lead for the zone and to the lead for the common wire. When I perform the same test at the valve box, I get 2v AC. When I test another zone in the same valve box, I get 30v AC. This appears to point to a failed or failing wire. However, it seems odd to me for a single wire to fail or be damaged by rodents, as all 4 valves in this part of my yard are fed by the same 1/4-in buried wire (which has 4 colored wires, each controlling a solenoid, plus a white common inside the sheathing). When I disconnect the solenoid for the zone that's not working, I get no notification at the sprinkler controller of a problem. However if I disconnect a solenoid for any other zone, I get a notification at the controller that there is a fault for that zone. This makes me wonder if there is a problem at the controller (except I was getting voltage at the lead for the zone...). Any thoughts on what I can try next to troubleshoot this?
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Aug 7, 2022 19:47
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I went on vacation and came back to a running toilet. When I pulled the lid, it looks like the valve to fill the tank stops filling the tank at the correct height, but the fill tube continues to fill the bowl. All the advice I'm finding via Google is to adjust the float (which does not solve this problem). Is this a pull the valve off, clean all the parts, and reinstall it kind of repair?
Xenix fucked around with this message at 00:58 on Aug 27, 2022 |
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Aug 27, 2022 00:52
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BIG-DICK-BUTT-gently caress posted:might be the flapper. If it's not sealing perfectly, you'll get a small leak into the toilet bowl and the toilet will 'run' constantly to maintain the water level. fiddle around with it, see if you can get it to stop running by pressing down on the flapper No. The tank is not losing water. The valve has a fill tube to fill the bowl (like this valve has https://www.lowes.com/pd/Fluidmaster-Universal-Toilet-Fill-Valve/1001097428) and the fill tube won't turn off when the valve is done filling the tank, so it just continues to put a small amount of water into the bowl constantly. I bought that valve and will be replacing the whole thing today.
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Aug 27, 2022 21:16
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Is there an irrigation pipe that takes water from one side of the driveway to the other? I'd guess that's the culprit.
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Sep 3, 2022 23:33
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