Home Improvement: Thank you thank you thank you! |
- Thank you thank you thank you!
- Possible power outage in my future. How to prevent my pipes from freezing, especially my boiler?
- Replacing hollow core doors with solid doors.
- I made a Sump Pump Filter for my Driveway Channel Drain - Up to 4 Inches of rain Expected Tonight
- Our (Seller) Home Inspection Report - Major Concerns? This is a nightmare.
- Installed GFCI and now my garbage disposal won't turn on
- Bad contractor experience and we fired them, next steps?
- Just got my first circular saw!
- Misaligned water heater vent
- Currently in a crisis I’m so overwhelmed
- Removing scratches from stainless steel
- Delta RP19804 Question
- Anyone have any idea how to measure a door frame with the frame still fitted.
- Removing coaxial cable from old house?
- What kind of foundation/walls are these?
- What is this white dusting on the walls?
- Fencing Backyard Neighbor has Ugly Chain-Link
- What on earth just happened to my oven
- Do I you need to remove these plastic rings from the bathroom lock?
- Sill to Cement Contact... with Leveller.
- Urgent Help Needed. Need a temporary fix to leaning fence.
- Electric/gas insert for wood stove
- Please help. How to get rid of tiny black ants? They’re so annoying.
- Living room TV & cable box placement
| Thank you thank you thank you! Posted: 24 Dec 2020 04:55 PM PST I just wanted to thank you guys! You're all awesome! I've posted on here a handful of times in the last few months asking questions about various projects! You are helpful and you never make fun of me for not knowing as much as you! I appreciate you guys so much! :) Have a great holiday season! [link] [comments] |
| Possible power outage in my future. How to prevent my pipes from freezing, especially my boiler? Posted: 24 Dec 2020 05:41 AM PST Big wind/rain storm coming, and they're forecasting power outages. Temperatures will be below freezing. I have a well, so I won't be able to just let the water trickle. Should I just open all faucets to empty the pipes, thus relieving the pressure? My hot water boiler has me concerned also. Worried about the pipes that lead to the radiators, especially the ones in my attic that lead to the finished attic space. How do I keep them from freezing? Open the taps at the boiler? What about when the power goes back on? If I had let some water out of these pipes, will they automatically fill back up when the power goes back on, without air in them? Any advice would be appreciated, thank you. e: Thanks everyone for the advice! e2: Wow a lot of good discussion here. [link] [comments] |
| Replacing hollow core doors with solid doors. Posted: 24 Dec 2020 01:09 PM PST Hey Reddit, we are in the process of closing on a new home construction. It will be our first home and don't have a lot of experience doing DIY projects. We're interested upgrading the doors in the house from hollow core to solid doors. The builders quote to upgrade it for us was $5000 for all the doors. We initially felt this was high as we would only want to upgrade 5-6 doors to solid core and cost for a solid core door on Home Depot was about $169. It only later occurred to me that we might have to also upgrade the frame of the door to handle the weight of the door. I would still get a contractor to install the door for us. Am I over thinking this? Or is replacing the frame also necessary? [link] [comments] |
| I made a Sump Pump Filter for my Driveway Channel Drain - Up to 4 Inches of rain Expected Tonight Posted: 24 Dec 2020 10:41 AM PST We bought a house new to us with a driveway that had a slight slope to the house. There was a driveway drain and I guess we all just assumed it worked. After our first T-Storm we had a foot of water pooled up against the front of the house. The existing driveway drain was built with clay pipes that had collapsed. So I built a new channel drain which has worked great. The water goes into a sump basin and then is pumped out to the center of my lawn. The only problem is that we have pine trees next to the driveway and in the fall they drop a shit ton of needles and after our last storm clogged the sump pump. Luckily it was not a huge rain event, but it got me worried. Tonight in the North East we have a big storm coming and they say we can expect up to 4 inches of rain. In addition to the rain, last week we got 16 inches of snow. So it could be a doozy when the snow starts melt in addition to the rain. I kept thinking about the pine needles and leaves - so I ran out yesterday and spent about 20 bucks on two furnace filters and a 4 dollar Lowes bucket. I drilled a bunch holes int he bucket, wrapped the bucket with the furnace filters, and zipped tied them in place. I think this will work great, and tonight it will be put to the test. Pine needles will float until they get too waterlogged and finally sink, so I think the water flow will not be effected too much. My sump pump can push 80 gallons a minute, and I want to make sure the water flow to it is not overly restrictive. I am going to try to get some video of it in action, but this might not work out depending on how many covid Christmas cocktails I have tonight... I hope this works and may help anyone else out there in a similar situation. Check out the Pics: [link] [comments] |
| Our (Seller) Home Inspection Report - Major Concerns? This is a nightmare. Posted: 24 Dec 2020 09:21 AM PST Hello all. We are in the process of selling our home and have already purchased a new home. The home we purchased is much older than our current and we are going to be putting a ton of money into it in order to make all the needed updates (including the roof, a/c, hot water water, windows, floors, appliances, etc). Our funds are pretty tight, so we were banking on the inspection of our current home to come back clean for our buyers. Absolutely everything in the home we are selling has been updated or replaced in the last 3 years. Roof and windows both new, HVAC and plumbing serviced for top notch utilization, new paint, new cabinets, new appliances, re-wired electric with new fixtures. When we bought the home, there were no notable dings on the inspection. It's been a great home. Well, we just got the report from our buyers. And now we are in panic mode. Damaged trusses?! Ductwork needs repair? The house was built in 1978. We have never had any issues with our home and it is in immaculate, move in ready condition. Now we see 4 "Major Concerns" as well as 60 other "repair suggestions" including things like front door needs repainting (it is new!), garage door opener button loose on garage wall, driveway needs re-paving to prevent trip hazards (it's already flat concrete). Can someone here please take a look at these "Major Concerns" and let me know what exactly we will be looking at money wise if our buyers demand correction. We can't believe this and feel this report makes it seem like our home should be condemned. Help! [link] [comments] |
| Installed GFCI and now my garbage disposal won't turn on Posted: 24 Dec 2020 08:43 PM PST I converted an old outlet into a GFCI outlet, but now the garbage disposal switch that was in the same wall box won't turn on the garbage disposal. Curiously, the outlet the disposal is plugged in to still has power on the bottom plug (which the switch doesn't control). Help me not call an electrician who wants to charge $200+ [link] [comments] |
| Bad contractor experience and we fired them, next steps? Posted: 24 Dec 2020 07:20 AM PST We're getting over a bit of a nightmare experience with a garage conversion with a raised wooden floor. We had tons of communication/detail/construction issues - I'll spare all the details here, it's a long story. In brief, after an extremely frustrating 7 weeks, the flooring they put in was totally unlevel and we have no faith that they could or would properly fix it (we pointed it out before they tiled and were told it would even itself out with the sub flooring). The detail work everywhere was atrocious, some of the electrical work seems unsafe, and they were moving at a snails pace. The main carpenter quit bc he said the GC wasn't paying him and constantly not bringing the materials he needed, and the second guy they brought out was obviously incompetent. He was here for a week and got barely anything done except knocking huge holes in brand new finished drywall looking for studs and hanging shelving at the wrong height twice, even though we marked where we wanted them on the wall with him standing right there. The final straw was that when my wife frustratedly pointed out the issue with the shelves, the carpenter started yelling at her and cornered her in a closet, telling her to stop telling him how to do his job. She was really shaken and called me, and I came home and threw them all out without paying them the remaining balance we owe them (about 5% of the total). We put all of our grievances in writing and delivered them to the GC upon termination. We went through and photo/video documented all of our construction issues as well. Do I need to take any next steps on this? [link] [comments] |
| Just got my first circular saw! Posted: 24 Dec 2020 08:44 PM PST I bought a house two years ago (fully renovated rowhome) and haven't had to do much work, but I do love taking on projects and DIY stuff. I'm pretty handy and can fix a lot of things, but I am not even sure where to start with this tool. (I'm quite the noob and have a great handyman for bigger projects) What is your favorite project to take on with circular saws? [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2020 06:54 PM PST My water heater has a misaligned exhaust vent. See link for a photo. Is this dangerous? And is it a DIY fix? [link] [comments] |
| Currently in a crisis I’m so overwhelmed Posted: 24 Dec 2020 08:24 PM PST Welcome to my Ted Talk. I'm 21 and I stay with my parents while I go to college, there are 12 people living in my house that has 4 bedroom and 2 living rooms both converted to bedrooms and everyone with 2-3 people in each. It's an old pier and beam house that I know was built by a handy man that had no buisness building this house. The problem: a few years ago a pipe broke under the house and created a lot of damage, come to find out termites destroyed the entire floor and a few major beams under walls and such. Over the course of 3 years the floors have fell in in 3 areas and there are soft holes everywhere and the edges of rooms are sunk in most rooms, all heavy appliances and heats are miraculously above ground, I barley "fixed" the floor just to get to other parts of the house by sistering new wood to what I can only describe as rot and laying ply wood on top. There is worlds more to cover with electric, ceilings, plumbing. To sum it up this house should've never passed an inspection and been sold, and it should've been torn down , never remodeled. Now that's the house situation. The catch: when we bought the house the inspector said there wasn't an access point to look under the house "there is" but my dad bought it anyway because we really needed a home from being evicted from the last place. I think the house cost 120k or around there. So, after we found all this damage and a few court appearances later they got the houses value down to I think 60-80k, and we got some insurance money to fix the floor except they didn't think it looked that bad. This is what pisses me off, they have no idea the extent of this problem, this house isn't even worth 30k, the plumbing is fucked in the whole house, there's a small tank for waste but the rest of the house drains from a long pipe coming out of the house to a big mid pit behind our barn about 60 meters downhill from the house (we're rural). We have 2 bathrooms and one is sinking in behind the toilet. The other big bathroom the floor is forming soft holes and it sinks in front of the sink in the corner. The electrical is all tied together you can't do anything In the kitchen if the dishwasher is running while one other thing is on too add anything that pulls power in my parents room or their bathroom, the breaker trips. We trip breakers often. There is an attic but I haven't gathered the guts to go up there because I know how gross they are and I would like to not fall through the roof and add that to my list. Problem 2: I'm Incredibly sorry I'm ranting and going on and on but I don't know what else to do, this problem isn't for this sub but it's information you need. My parents have a lot to pay for, my dad is out of a job from covid still and is here but think of him immobile and uneducated in the construction area (I'm going to college to learn how to build houses/ be a general contractor. And the jobs I've had since high school have been the 3 big trades for housing, plumbing, electric, and hvac) so there is no money saving, and insurance won't help us. I've fixed a few minor things like shower heads and stopped a leak or 2, keeping water heaters going, the ac used to not work at all but I managed to take what I know so we at least have heating and cooling, etc etc etc. I can write a book. So the house has the quality of abandoned building, 12 people live in it. We can't afford anything, we're upside down as fuck on the house so we can't sell it because no one will buy it for the 60-80k the appraiser has it valued at. So that makes us stuck here. You can apply our house situation to our quality of vehicle too for more info. So everyone in the house looks to me to fix all the problems because I'm the only skilled laborer in the house. I'm so stressed and so mentally broke, and depressed. The last thing I am is suicidle but I want out. [link] [comments] |
| Removing scratches from stainless steel Posted: 24 Dec 2020 03:46 PM PST Hi all. We have a new stainless steel dishwasher with some superficial scratches on the handle. The installers kind of forced it through a doorway not quite wide enough. Any tips on removing scratches from stainless steel? Thanks! [link] [comments] |
| Posted: 24 Dec 2020 11:16 AM PST I replaced the delta RP19804 cartridge in our tub earlier this week to fix a leaky faucet. Since replacing the old cartridge I have not had hot water at the same level. I put the cartridge in as directed with cold water to flow first and am kind of stumped at this point. Any suggestions? [link] [comments] |
| Anyone have any idea how to measure a door frame with the frame still fitted. Posted: 24 Dec 2020 04:56 PM PST We are looking to install a steel security door in place of a regular timber framed internal door. The steel door is obviously a fixed dimension and can't be adjusted. Does anyone know how I can measure the actual opening that the frame fits into without removing the frame as we need to know if the new door and frame will fit. Thanks [link] [comments] |
| Removing coaxial cable from old house? Posted: 24 Dec 2020 09:49 AM PST We bought an old house for the location not the house itself. The multitude of previous owners never removed any wiring when upgrading and instead ran the new wires/Romex along and around the old wires. They also installed coaxial cable to literally every room in the house. The problem with this is that the coax is looped through and around everything and not clipped to anything (floor joists, plumbing, wiring, HVAC, etc.). The end result is a mess of wires on the whole basement ceiling some of which are live, some dead, some attached and some hanging. Can anyone think of a good reason to not pull out all the coax to get some of the unused and hanging wires cleaned up? I've already ran CAT 5 to where I want it and installed a good router/antenna. Note: I have no intention of starting to pull out any electrical wires. I'm an engineer and fireman and know first hand how that could end. The coax seems like a simple thing for me to do to solve most of the visual problems with minimal risk but I don't want to pull it all out and then wish I hadn't done it down the road. [link] [comments] |
| What kind of foundation/walls are these? Posted: 24 Dec 2020 08:17 PM PST I'm curious if there is a name for this. I was told by our realtor (he remodels, builds, and obviously sells houses) and our home inspector our house was a balloon frame house just based on what year it was built (1923). They also said it was based on the area we are located in our city. I have looked up what balloon frame houses are and all the pros (not many) and cons (there's a few...) and when I went down to look at what the rim joists looked like I see that the joists are sandwiched between blocks (wood and stone). Is there a name for this? And is there any cause for concern as far as the joists being in direct contact with the stone? I highly doubt they are treated lumber. Other info (useful or maybe not, idk):
I'm sure I'm missing something. Questions are welcome! Thanks for any and all help! [link] [comments] |
| What is this white dusting on the walls? Posted: 24 Dec 2020 02:03 PM PST Here's a pic, this is in a sunroom addition. It's appearing on this painted wood paneling all over the place. Really sticks out when the lights are on. Can easily be wiped away http://imgur.com/a/CwCEkR5 [link] [comments] |
| Fencing Backyard Neighbor has Ugly Chain-Link Posted: 24 Dec 2020 03:20 AM PST We have been in our house for a couple years and I finally want to get around to fencing in the backyard for the pups. I am planning on a dog eared wood fence, my neighbor has a chain-link fence. I can build off his fence and save a lot of money but it is not a very nice fence, standard gray and a bit of rust here and there. Putting a fence right next to his just seems silly. Has anyone had to deal with this? Any options I am not seeing? [link] [comments] |
| What on earth just happened to my oven Posted: 24 Dec 2020 05:26 PM PST So basically I was cooking a pizza and suddenly the oven got extremely bright orange and started sparking very heavily. I unplugged it from the wall and it stopped the fire. Any clue what to even do to repair this? Do I have to buy a completely new oven? [link] [comments] |
| Do I you need to remove these plastic rings from the bathroom lock? Posted: 24 Dec 2020 06:34 AM PST Hello, we are having an argument about this. My friend says that these rings protect the metal from friction but the problem is that the lock barely moves and this white plastic can be seen from far away. So, do we need to remove them or are they supposed to stay? [link] [comments] |
| Sill to Cement Contact... with Leveller. Posted: 24 Dec 2020 07:30 PM PST Merry Christmas everyone, just need help. I have questions in regards to my pressure treated lumber making contact with the cement during our bathroom Reno and leveller concrete. This is in the basement of a bungalow in central Alberta, Canada. I have pressure treated lumber, acoustical sealant, poly construction adhesive currently and am looking to get sill gasket tomorrow hopefully for the remainder of the holiday to work on the bathroom. So no matter what I need I have it. Now as I said we're renovating a bathroom. Everything has been removed and we are to bare concrete with no walls. Everything will be built from scratch. I intend to use treated lumber, sill gasket and potentially a sealant of sorts (for only the sill) whether it be Poly sealant or acoustical sealant. I have used sealant and I have used sill gasket in the past, however I've never used them together and it's confusing me as I don't see how you can air seal once you use the sill gasket. I've looked online for 3 days and can't find any of the questions I'm asking nor photos and would like to see a drawing or diagram of how people would layer the construction materials to seal and moisture barrier best between the sill and concrete. I want to verify as I don't remember clearly and would appreciate a refresher. I haven't built basements for a long time and my memory is quite vague on acoustical sealant. I don't remember if people use them under sills at all or if they use them in the corners (where the concret floor meets the concrete wall), maybe only under the exterior walls? I just remember putting it on concrete in a basement at one point haha. Do you think sealant is necessary or would you recommended me to use it in this case to completely air seal the sill? I've read people saying to use sill gaskets and poly adhesive to keep bugs and draft out, I've read people say only sill gasket so you don't trap water anywhere if you ever have a water issue. It's very back and forth and I'm uncertain. I do suppose I wouldn't want to trap water if it got back there at some point but let me know what you think please. Now I hope you read this all the way through before starting your replies... this is completely new to me but I'm trying to level our bathroom floor. I have self levelling concrete mix and all the necessary equipment, primer, etc. Ive never done it before but have researched it. Our toilet was always wobbling so I need to fix the concrete. Now with the toilet being tight to the exterior wall, it makes me also very VERY uncertain about how I should seal this sill. Idk if I should level and than build my walls or vise versa. However the basement floor slopes quite a bit the next room over (laundry room) in order to stop water from spreading in the basement. I feel building on top of the leveller is more ideal but without the walls in place I'm worried it might just shoot for the drain in the laundry room... how would you recommend I level this floor? Also what do you do for interior walls? A sealant and sill gasket or just sill gasket? I do intend to use Tapcons to secure all sills to the concrete on top of materials used under interior and exterior sills. Appreciate any help. Like I said I CANNOT find anything online and I have no friends that DIY so without you guys my imaginations the best guess I got... thank you for taking time to reply and have a happy new year 😄 [link] [comments] |
| Urgent Help Needed. Need a temporary fix to leaning fence. Posted: 24 Dec 2020 09:55 AM PST My backyard (wood) fence is leaning and we have a windy storm tonight. Tryna see if I can salvage it from actually falling off before I can get someone to fix it. Still in the process of searching who to call. Thanks all! [link] [comments] |
| Electric/gas insert for wood stove Posted: 24 Dec 2020 08:49 AM PST I bought a new house a few years ago that came with a wood stove/chimney. Unfortunately, the chimney didn't pass inspection and I was quoted $5k to replace/fix. What kind of insert could I get for this? Is it as simple as putting an electric fireplace insert inside? Fixing chimney is not an option, unfortunately. Edit: I should have added that this wood stove is surrounded on three sides by brick and walls getting rid of it or moving it is not an option. Also, it looks super cool. [link] [comments] |
| Please help. How to get rid of tiny black ants? They’re so annoying. Posted: 24 Dec 2020 01:01 PM PST Hello. My house isn't either dirty. They are most active on kitchen counter tops but i have now seen them in one of the bathrooms. Like I said, I always clean so there is really hardly any crumbs ever left out or anything... Idk what gives!? How do I get rid of these scum!? [link] [comments] |
| Living room TV & cable box placement Posted: 24 Dec 2020 05:58 PM PST Hey guys, Currently building a home and trying to figure out wiring stuff. Thanks so much for all your help with my previous post, you guys are seriously so helpful. First off, I know majority opinion is no TV over fireplace. But looking at the layout of this house (model home picture attached), I really have no place to put TV other than over the fireplace (I am also putting a bigger TV in the basement, but I still would like a TV on the first floor). If I go this route and get cable TV, any idea how I can place the cable box other than attaching it behind TV (which I'm guessing will be too thick anyway). I can have the guy pre-wire for TV mounting (but I wouldn't even know where to wire it to?) so I would love to hear any options (other than don't mount it haha). Thanks! [link] [comments] |
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