Home Improvement: Tore out finished basement and made a pirate themed bar and TV room |
- Tore out finished basement and made a pirate themed bar and TV room
- Custom Shower screw up?
- Question about corners when framing
- My handyman built this inexpensive built-in for me with some ikea pieces and pine. Which seams do I fill in with filler before paint?
- Whole house vacuum worth it?
- Finishing a basement while keeping it unfinished
- First time installing LVP... Need help.
- My wife and I are looking to build a new home, but we are sick of the traditional stuck build, can any experts weigh in on alternative methods?
- How do I fill this balcony gap
- Tried to change gfci at pool, now it won't work
- Routing cable up wall with load-bearing beam
- Whole house garage fan
- Quartzite Countertop Chip
- For those of you who have built a bar with seating, do you actually sit at those seats and drink? Wouldn't you rather sit on a couch?
- Gas Dryer
- Is this a normal noise for a new slide-in range to be making?
- Can unglazed matte terracotta flooring last a lifetime?
- We are building a new home, on a concrete slab. We would like to use a product called Fuzguard by Fuzion Flooring. It's a water resistant product. Anyone know anything about it?
- Painting over caulk in the shower
- Epoxy countertop without taking sink out?
- 5 BEST DEHUMIDIFIERS FOR GUN SAFES 2020
- Generac Whole Home System - Long Use?
- How to install sill pan on exterior door where the floor is very thin?
- Newbie question: how can i tell which brand/model lock is on my door?
| Tore out finished basement and made a pirate themed bar and TV room Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:24 AM PDT the first question you may ask is why tear out a finished basement? a few reasons. one being that most of the drywall panels were sagging from the ceiling, screws pulled through, and there had to be a reason (instead of me just adding more screws). there was an electrical issue somewhere above the drywall (people who originally finished it were evil). and there was a mouse problem in the house since forever, and i wanted to find where they were getting in, despite having killed them all off ( found there was a 3" hole going through the concrete wall outside to behind the siding, im guessing someone didnt read the directions for where to put the hole for the sump pump outlet. a wonderful little path for mice). but anyways, i had my reasons for tearing it out, and a plan for what to do instead. so i made a bar. why not. i like drinking. and i made it pirate themed, again, why not? i put notes about what i did and what i used in the imgur album pasted below. feel free to ask any questions, or tell me how pirates are for kindergarteners. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:02 PM PDT Hi there – I have a custom basement finish project in Colorado being done by a professional basement remodeler. While I've been generally happy with most of the work, they have really stumbled on the custom shower/tub. The design is a [large rectangular tub] (https://imgur.com/T6GMIfC) (4' x 7') which is about 24" deep. If this looks a little like a sunken roman tub without the sunken part, you're right. It's a custom tile job and there have been a number of problems. The big (remaining) problem is that it appears to leak. Also, the tops of the walls aren't sufficiently tilted, and there is [significant puddling/pooling] (https://imgur.com/iXVILyq). While it will be used as a shower most of the time, I specified (and the contractor agreed in the contract) that it would be useable as a tub – i.e. fully floodable. The walls were reinforced with additional bracing – 3/4" plywood. They constructed the floor with a foam pan type of product. It's like Schluter, but one of their competitors. When the tile subcontractor first completed it, [it had a "bird bath" in the floor, just before the drain] (https://imgur.com/gon8adR). Significant water was puddling there; and not making it to the drain. Their tile subcontractor came back in and removed some tile around the drain and redid that portion of the tile – ostensibly with a smaller amount of thin-set to lower the level in that spot so the water would flow past. That didn't work. So, their next solution (with a different tiling subcontractor) was to come back in and add a second layer of floor tile, directly over the first. This meant building up the thin-set a little bit where the birdbath was. They also did something with the drain (new? extension?); although I'm not exactly clear how that tie-in worked. I asked for a detailed plan prior to starting this fix, but never had one presented to me it before it was completed. Two weeks later, I did a leak test on the system – first time the tub has ever been filled. It lost 60 to 65 gallons in 12 hours (the water level dropped 4 inches in a 80" x 46" rectangle). When I pulled the plug and drained the tub, I also saw a small stream of bubbles coming from one of the corners. This is a [close up pic of the drain] (https://imgur.com/udJLryY). FYI, before I did the leak test, I used a copper scrubby to clean out the grout/detritus you can see in the picture, so that the plug would have a smooth surface. I [used a racquetball as the plug](https://imgur.com/EGBmDVu), which is a little wider than the narrowest part of the drain. I'm going to rerun the test with a more traditional drain plug to be sure the leak is not caused by an imperfect seal around the ball; but 5-6 gallons per hour seems like more than can be reasonably attributed to the ball. Besides, seeing the bubbles coming up, [as you can see from this video at the edge] (https://imgur.com/RSs9eDm) also tells me there's a lot more going on that's not acceptable. I have about had it with this contractor, but I haven't fired them quite yet. It's taken the better part of 3 months for them to figure this out – and they still don't seem to know what to do. The completion of the project is about 4 months overdue. When I ask the project manager about how/why the bird-bath problem had occurred in the first place, she said the shower-pan sub and the tile sub (two separate companies) were pointing the finger at each other. For whatever reason, the main contractor is unable to crack heads and resolve the issue. My attitude is to hold the contractor responsible; what happens with their subs and who's to blame, etc. isn't really my business (that's why I pay the contractor the big bucks). However, I think I'm getting to the conclusion that as far as this shower/tub is concerned, they are in over their heads; and I haven't given them their holdback money yet. I'd appreciate any thoughts, advice. I'm currently starting to talk to other shower/tub tile specialists to get bids on what it's going to take to fix this. My suspicion is that the whole of the tile work, as well as the shower pan needs to be ripped out and start over. Any guesses as to the ballpark of what that ought to cost? Thanks in advance! [link] [comments] |
| Question about corners when framing Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:17 PM PDT Hello all! First time here and I have some questions about framing (to which I am also brand new). I'm renovating my basement, and finally making a little progress on framing out the walls. Basically, I have 8ft lumber only, so have been making 8ft sections on the ground, lifting them into place, and nailing/screwing them to the floor joists above. What should I do when I get to a corner? https://imgur.com/a/04LZzVL I've seen a 3-stud corner recommended, like so: https://i.pinimg.com/474x/4d/f3/98/4df3982cc051f0c6a43627afeb87b3e9--framing-walls-studs.jpg This makes sense to me, but does it matter which wall gets the stud-scrap-stud sandwich and which gets the single stud? Also, I have been going along 16 inches on center, but because I'm framing an existing length, the section from the last stud to the end is only 13 inches -- less if I put the corner studs in. So should I do it anyways? How do I insulate the 'scrap' width that will be left in that space? Once I turn the corner, I have another challenge -- the west wall of my house has metal bracing beams, so I'm not sure if I should go 'through' them, or butt up my wall against them, like so: The green line would be a bunch of shorter 5-6ft segments between the posts, while the blue would let me run 8ft segments all along that wall, with a 2-3 inch gap from avoiding the bracing. I've heard it's good to leave space between the framing+wall anyways? (even though mine has been waterproofed) That wall has 2" of drift anyways, so I wouldn't be able to rely on it for a straight frame the way I did on the north wall. Any help would be appreciated -- I'm a rank amateur! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 02:24 PM PDT Here are some pictures. https://imgur.com/Z3DX4mZ https://imgur.com/FD0NPTZ https://imgur.com/Kx4Px2S https://imgur.com/nwy6pcp There are some seams and I'm not sure where exactly to fill in with putty. I figured anywhere that isn't even or may collect dust. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. ** The embarrassing before: https://imgur.com/x1qBI3Y [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:45 PM PDT Has anyone installed a whole house vacuum in a house that didn't have one before? How was it to install and are you glad you did it? I have a house built in 1989, it seems like it would be fairly easy to install the pipes for a whole house vacuum and I'm wondering if it would be worth it. [link] [comments] |
| Finishing a basement while keeping it unfinished Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:12 PM PDT I live in an area with extremely high property taxes. I don't plan to use my basement a whole lot, but I'd like to utilize the space. It's 850 sq ft, id like to finish about 500-600 sq ft of it for living space like a tv / couch etc. Does anyone know how I can make it comfortable, clean & cozy without entirely finishing it where it goes on property taxes as finished living space? State is Ohio. If you've done something similar I'd love to see photos for inspo! [link] [comments] |
| First time installing LVP... Need help. Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:19 PM PDT Hello all... I'm looking to install some LVP this week, and this is my first time doing it. I'm laying it over hardwood floor that is stained to death thanks to cat urine. It's just easier to lay something over top and call it a day. I'm planning on picking up a couple of boxes of thisthis Shaw Matrix flooring. It's going to be in my home office and a rug is going over top of it. First off... is this going to be fine? I don't need something insanely fancy in that room. Ideally, I'm going to save that money for the kitchen, bathrooms, and dining room. Secondly.. I watched a couple of videos on how to install and it looks fairly straightforward. However, does anyone have tips or pointers on how to install this properly in one go? I shouldn't have to undercut anything because there was carpet in this room, so laying it down over top of the hardwood with its thickness should give me plenty of room. What do I even need to do this job properly? I want to make sure I have everything I need. Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:47 PM PDT Can't edit the title, meant to say "stick build" My wife and I are looking at getting out of the renting market, and we are absolutely not impressed by the selection on 100+ year old broken-down homes or manufactured heaps available to us. Seriously, either they look OK and are being sold "aS Is, wHeRe iS" or they are visibly showing red flags. We dont want or need 2180sqft of hard to insulate house with a floor plan thought up by a drunk toddler. So we turned our attention to building. In our internet explorations we came across a bunch of novel and apparently affordable building alternatives, here are a few examples: The concrete dome home, http://www.aidomes.com/ The website has a huge list of amazing floor plans, at reasonable prices, but the company has apparently gone under. Another method we read about involved reusable inflatable concrete forms to cheaply and quickly build small to medium sized domes, but again, this seems to be a dead end. Which sucks, because I love the idea. Simple and fast to build affordable shell, where the end product is totally unique and durable with lots of room for me to make custom built-ins and furniture. After the that dead end we discovered the Japanese company, https://www.i-domehouse.com/ This idea seems brilliant, mass produced structural Styrofoam blocks are shipped to your door, with the correct configuration to meet your needs. You and a buddy assemble the shell of the house in a couple hours, stucco the interior/exterior and then all that's left is trim, for a couple grand... Too good to be true though, this cheap, customizable, durable, well insulated, rot immune, mortgage side-stepping, perfect solution, is not available in the US. So my ask reddit question is this: What the fuck? Why are my only options to buy an old shitty stick built home or a new shitty stick built home? With a follow-up question of has anyone managed to pull either of these options off, or something like it that you know of? [link] [comments] |
| How do I fill this balcony gap Posted: 14 Mar 2020 04:41 PM PDT |
| Tried to change gfci at pool, now it won't work Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:09 PM PDT Hi everyone, first post here! About a month ago my pool light stopped working. I wasn't going to mess with it because I was going to empty my pool and refill a few weeks later. A few weeks later, I drain and refill my pool. While empty, I replaced the bulb and gasket. I put the light into a bucket of water and test it, nothing. I figured it needed to fill submerged, so I screw it back into the pool and refill. I get my multimeter out and test all the connections and power is getting everywhere, but there light isn't turning on. I figured it was the switch, so I went to Home Depot today and bought a new single pole switch and figured what the heck I'll just get a new GFI. I take pictures of the wiring before and replace the switch and GFI. I turn the breakers back on and I'm not getting power. I have a plug in tester thing and am getting no lights on that. I'm not great at this stuff, but not a complete goof either. I check all the other GFIs and they are all working. When I wired the GFI, I made sure that black and white coming in went to line and that the wires out for the switch were on load. Any thoughts? Than you so much. [link] [comments] |
| Routing cable up wall with load-bearing beam Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:07 PM PDT I have a light switch on a load-bearing wall, and the cable connecting it needs to get past ten inches of beam to get from inside the wall to the ceiling where can go to a light fixture. I'm a bit hesitant to notch the beam, even though it'll be a pretty darn small cut (just enough to fit the cable, then some metal plating will hold it in place and protect it from future nails). Obviously, just stapling the cable up the side of the beam and puttying over it would work, but that might be harder to hide the work, and it's obviously more dangerous and couldn't possibly resemble being to code. Any tips on best practices (or even reassurance that digging a romex-sized trench in a load-bearing beam won't flatten my house) would be really appreciated. I've done quite a bit of wire work behind the walls in this house, but until now I've avoided touching anything load-bearing. [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:56 PM PDT Hey guys, Has anyone installed a whole house fan just for their garage? If so I'd love to hear your experiences and recommendations [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:40 PM PDT Our quartzite countertop just chipped around the sink :/ we are debating getting it filled in but it costs $150 from the seller so we're not sure. Does the initial chip put us at higher risk for more chips, or that one propogating? Or are we basically in the same situation as before? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 08:02 AM PDT I've always thought it would be cool to do something like this, but I can't imagine sitting in bar stools in a line looking in one direction when you could sit at a table and converse while looking at each other or on the couch watching a game. Also, does someone stand behind the bar and "bartend" the whole time? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 07:14 PM PDT I live in an apartment and have a gas dryer. I noticed as I was drying clothes it was hot in the kitchen and smelled a little gas. But not like rotten egg but like gas when the pilot light goes out on a stove gas. I immediately turned off the dryer and checked the back and noticed the dryer vent was off of the back. I opened all the windows and aired out the apartment. I did a gas line check with soapy water and no bubbles. It's been a few minutes and the smell is gone. I reattached the hose but didn't want to turn it on. Could the smell have been from the vent being off? [link] [comments] |
| Is this a normal noise for a new slide-in range to be making? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:49 PM PDT I just had this range delivered today. I have since found some complaints about this range for having a "loud fan," but I'm still in absolute shock if this is normal operation for this range. I can't imagine anyone being okay with this situation. It's a GE Profile range, PGS930SELSS . It does this as soon as it passes about 160 degrees and keeps doing it until about 20-30 minutes after you turn it off. I know that slide-ins have cooling fans but this particular fan has to be screwed up, right? Link to a video of the stove in comments. Thanks! :) [link] [comments] |
| Can unglazed matte terracotta flooring last a lifetime? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:27 PM PDT So I am building a Spanish style house and I really like the look of the matte unglazed Terracotta tile. I went to the tiling place with my architect and the people there were trying to recommend against matte terracotta. Saying that I can't wash it with water, that it is fragile etc... I really want my house to look like one of those old andalusian mansions and love the look of unglazed matte terracotta tiles. The ones I have seen in southern spain seem to have lasted for hundreds of years and yes, while they are stained I didn't really find it horrible and very few were broken. Is this a case of "they don't make them like they used to" or are the people at the tile shop just full of cr*p? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 14 Mar 2020 06:26 PM PDT |
| Painting over caulk in the shower Posted: 14 Mar 2020 02:33 PM PDT Okay, so I had a contractor tile my bathroom floor and shower 2 weeks ago. When he finished, he said he went the extra mile and ran a bead of clear silicone caulk around the live edges of the shower. great, except now that I'm trying to paint the bathroom of course the paint doesn't stick around the tile, because caulk. What can I do about this? first thing that comes to mind is sanding off the caulk which would be a pain in the ass, but I suppose better than not having the paint match for that bead around the shower. Any other suggestions? [link] [comments] |
| Epoxy countertop without taking sink out? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:42 PM PDT I was wondering if it is ok to epoxy a countertop without taking the sink out? I live in a rental that I am trying to make a bit nicer on the cheap. I bought one of those DIY countertop paint kits. I want to epoxy instead of the provided clear coat (as recommended by many of the reviewers.) I have my sink all taped off and I'm wondering if it is safe to epoxy this way without removing the sink? Also there is a bit of a raised lip on one of the counters that sticks up a bit before it rounds out. Is this ok? I am thinking the epoxy might not pool correctly if the edge is raised. [link] [comments] |
| 5 BEST DEHUMIDIFIERS FOR GUN SAFES 2020 Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:42 PM PDT |
| Generac Whole Home System - Long Use? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:32 PM PDT Hi everyone, I've been heavily researching Generac/Home Standby Generators. We moved to Florida in October last year and want to purchase a generator that can power our little townhouse. My concern is that a lot of people have posted reviews online saying that long-term generator use killed the generator. We're talking maybe 3-4 days. I need to make sure I'm purchasing a generator that can last longer periods of time in the event a Hurricane does significant damage. Luckily I am in Central Florida and wouldn't expect power outages of more than maybe a month at worst case. Is 1 month run time excessive for 24/7 operations? [link] [comments] |
| How to install sill pan on exterior door where the floor is very thin? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 09:31 PM PDT I noticed that my kitchen had some water damage in the subfloor around the exterior door, probably because there was no sillpan (or flashing, for that matter) in the doorway. So I plan to rip up the trim and install flashing and a sillpan to avert further damage. The problem is that all of the videos I am seeing online show a floor with substantial thickness (e.g., a hardwood floor) where the back of the sillpan can rest against the floor and prevent water from running into the room and ruining the subfloor. If the actual floor (vinyl) is only a few millimeters thick, how do I install a sillpan? [link] [comments] |
| Newbie question: how can i tell which brand/model lock is on my door? Posted: 14 Mar 2020 03:26 PM PDT I want to replace the lock but want to keep using all the existing holes in the door. Photos here: https://imgur.com/a/wxeoKJj On the side, the only engravings are "PAT APR 17 06, OTHER PAT PEND.". I guess these are patent-related details. [link] [comments] |
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