moimoi
AV Clubber 
Posts: 5,091 
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Post by moimoi on Nov 13, 2017 10:36:19 GMT -5
Also, a question for the group. I would like to switch out my non-ducted exhaust fan for a ducted exhaust hood. I'm pretty sure there is already a vent on the side of the house to which it can connect, but in addition to installing the exhaust hood unit, I would need someone to put up the duct work. Who does this? An HVAC company? Could I get someone off Angie's list? Sears is having a big sale and I'm trying to do my part to keep that local institution afloat. Their installation doesn't cover putting in ducts, though.
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Post by nowimnothing on Nov 13, 2017 20:55:17 GMT -5
Also, a question for the group. I would like to switch out my non-ducted exhaust fan for a ducted exhaust hood. I'm pretty sure there is already a vent on the side of the house to which it can connect, but in addition to installing the exhaust hood unit, I would need someone to put up the duct work. Who does this? An HVAC company? Could I get someone off Angie's list? Sears is having a big sale and I'm trying to do my part to keep that local institution afloat. Their installation doesn't cover putting in ducts, though. I would say any general handyman type company. Even if there is not a vent it would be pretty straightforward, just cutting some holes in the walls and running a flexible duct through them. |
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Post by chalkdevil 😈 on Nov 14, 2017 9:39:25 GMT -5
Oh, 5 month goals.
1. Clean, sort, and purge boxes in the basement
2. Clean, sort, and purge junk in office
3. Clean, sort, and purge junk in bathroom closet (I mean, you only need so many 98% empty shampoo bottles)
4. Clean, sort, and purge kitchen cabinets (Once I free up some storage space in the basement, I'd like to try and move some of the bigger, rarely used kitchen appliances to the now open shelf space. I'm looking at you crockpot and food processor.)
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Post by ganews on Nov 27, 2017 16:19:13 GMT -5
tuck in bits of vinyl siding where edges are coming up - maybe I can do this with like a stubby flathead screwdriver? I haven't actually done this yet, but I did start attempting to scrub mildew off the back side of the house with bleach water and a big scrub brush. It is slow work. The mildew scrubs off OK, but the rinsing is difficult because for whatever reason I don't own a hose. I did some shopping for a pressure washer, but it's one of those things where you can't find good reviews for any product. So my sense of rationalization kicked in, and I've resolved to just do it the hard way on the back and side of the house where you can tell. And I bought a hose and sprayer to rinse off. Project for Saturday. |
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Post by Floyd Dinnertime Barber on Nov 28, 2017 20:07:00 GMT -5
tuck in bits of vinyl siding where edges are coming up - maybe I can do this with like a stubby flathead screwdriver? I haven't actually done this yet, but I did start attempting to scrub mildew off the back side of the house with bleach water and a big scrub brush. It is slow work. The mildew scrubs off OK, but the rinsing is difficult because for whatever reason I don't own a hose. I did some shopping for a pressure washer, but it's one of those things where you can't find good reviews for any product. So my sense of rationalization kicked in, and I've resolved to just do it the hard way on the back and side of the house where you can tell. And I bought a hose and sprayer to rinse off. Project for Saturday. You might try either a flat blade trowel (or whatever they call the thing you apply mortar with) or a tool you can get at auto parts stores that's used to tuck upholstery back in cars. They are wide and flat and might work with or instead of a screwdriver for your siding, with less chance of gouging it.  One of these guys, maybe? Looks like it's called a putty trowel. |
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Post by nowimnothing on Nov 29, 2017 5:49:16 GMT -5
tuck in bits of vinyl siding where edges are coming up - maybe I can do this with like a stubby flathead screwdriver? I haven't actually done this yet, but I did start attempting to scrub mildew off the back side of the house with bleach water and a big scrub brush. It is slow work. The mildew scrubs off OK, but the rinsing is difficult because for whatever reason I don't own a hose. I did some shopping for a pressure washer, but it's one of those things where you can't find good reviews for any product. So my sense of rationalization kicked in, and I've resolved to just do it the hard way on the back and side of the house where you can tell. And I bought a hose and sprayer to rinse off. Project for Saturday. I recently did this too, but I got one of those house cleaning bottles that attach to the end of your hose so no scrubbing. It did surprisingly well. |
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Post by Incense on Dec 1, 2017 16:06:13 GMT -5
First thing this morning, a guy came out to look at the hot water heater, which has been acting up. I scheduled this yesterday, saying that it was running a lot and that I just wanted someone to look at it and see if it was still okay.
He took one look at the heater and said his company would absolutely not fix it if anything was wrong because it was too old. They'd replace it instead. I wasn't surprised, as it is really old (1980). There were another few minutes of talking about this, in which he made it really clear that he was not actually terribly well-versed in these sorts of repairs - vague answers to my questions, each of them ending in "uh, I'll have to call the office to find that out." I said, "great, could you?" I made it clear that I meant right now, please. He said "oh, uh, yes, sure," and started edging back out toward the front door. He wasn't even going to stick around but was going to leave and call me later. He'd only been there a little over five minutes!
Then he said, "of course, I'll have to collect the service call fee from you. That'll be $135." I was shocked. First of all, the scheduler I'd called yesterday to set the appointment said nothing whatever about a service call fee, and while I still expected one anyway, I was expecting more of a $35-$75 fee, as that's about average for all the plumbers, handymen, etc. who have come here to work on things. Secondly, you really do need to tell people about the fee and what it is before you schedule them. (Though I really should have thought to ask exactly what it was instead of assuming.)
As he was there five minutes, wouldn't even entertain looking at the heater to see if anything was wrong, had no answers for me, did not intend to stay for more than five minutes to do me the courtesy of calling for prices for me, and nothing was said during the initial phone call about this really high fee, I told him I had no intention of paying that and asked him to leave. He protested a little, but I was adamant and he left. I left a review on Angie's List (I found this company there) stating all of this before he even drove out of the parking lot.
It's put a nasty spin on the whole day. I've tried to put it out of my head, but I go back and forth between "oh my God, what did I do, I should have paid him" and "that was an absolute ripoff" and there's a side helping of yesterday's paranoia issue. I'm starting to fear that he'll come back and be threatening about the money.
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Post by nowimnothing on Dec 2, 2017 7:20:43 GMT -5
First thing this morning, a guy came out to look at the hot water heater, which has been acting up. I scheduled this yesterday, saying that it was running a lot and that I just wanted someone to look at it and see if it was still okay. He took one look at the heater and said his company would absolutely not fix it if anything was wrong because it was too old. They'd replace it instead. I wasn't surprised, as it is really old (1980). There were another few minutes of talking about this, in which he made it really clear that he was not actually terribly well-versed in these sorts of repairs - vague answers to my questions, each of them ending in "uh, I'll have to call the office to find that out." I said, "great, could you?" I made it clear that I meant right now, please. He said "oh, uh, yes, sure," and started edging back out toward the front door. He wasn't even going to stick around but was going to leave and call me later. He'd only been there a little over five minutes! Then he said, "of course, I'll have to collect the service call fee from you. That'll be $135." I was shocked. First of all, the scheduler I'd called yesterday to set the appointment said nothing whatever about a service call fee, and while I still expected one anyway, I was expecting more of a $35-$75 fee, as that's about average for all the plumbers, handymen, etc. who have come here to work on things. Secondly, you really do need to tell people about the fee and what it is before you schedule them. (Though I really should have thought to ask exactly what it was instead of assuming.) As he was there five minutes, wouldn't even entertain looking at the heater to see if anything was wrong, had no answers for me, did not intend to stay for more than five minutes to do me the courtesy of calling for prices for me, and nothing was said during the initial phone call about this really high fee, I told him I had no intention of paying that and asked him to leave. He protested a little, but I was adamant and he left. I left a review on Angie's List (I found this company there) stating all of this before he even drove out of the parking lot. It's put a nasty spin on the whole day. I've tried to put it out of my head, but I go back and forth between "oh my God, what did I do, I should have paid him" and "that was an absolute ripoff" and there's a side helping of yesterday's paranoia issue. I'm starting to fear that he'll come back and be threatening about the money. Sounds more like a free estimate type of situation rather than a service call. Of course it sound like he was not even qualified to do that. Unless you asked them to come out on an emergency basis, like after hours I would feel no compunction to pay for that sort of thing. |
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Post by Incense on Dec 2, 2017 11:07:21 GMT -5
Thank you! That makes me feel better. I got an email from them this morning explaining things.
"I am the office manager as well as the person who scheduled your call. I was off yesterday so I am just hearing about your experience today. [tech name] is a wonderful tech, however he is new to us, he made a mistake when communicating our pricing to you. Our service call for both plumbing and HVAC is $90 and our hourly rate for plumbing is $135 (slightly below average in the Columbus market), I believe he mixed the two up. With replacements, that $90 service call then comes off the price of the install. Please give me a call if you would like to discuss this further. Again, sorry about the miscommunication."
$90 is still outrageous (NOT below average in the Columbus market). I thanked her for this, and asked her to apologize to the tech for me and tell her I felt awful about it too. I left it open, but still will almost certainly not use them.
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Post by Pedantic Editor Type on Dec 2, 2017 16:43:33 GMT -5
Thank you! That makes me feel better. I got an email from them this morning explaining things. "I am the office manager as well as the person who scheduled your call. I was off yesterday so I am just hearing about your experience today. [tech name] is a wonderful tech, however he is new to us, he made a mistake when communicating our pricing to you. Our service call for both plumbing and HVAC is $90 and our hourly rate for plumbing is $135 (slightly below average in the Columbus market), I believe he mixed the two up. With replacements, that $90 service call then comes off the price of the install. Please give me a call if you would like to discuss this further. Again, sorry about the miscommunication." $90 is still outrageous (NOT below average in the Columbus market). I thanked her for this, and asked her to apologize to the tech for me and tell her I felt awful about it too. I left it open, but still will almost certainly not use them. I really don’t think you needed to feel bad, he didn’t do anything! There’s no reason to pay for a 5 minute call with no written or even verbal estimate or help. |
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Post by ganews on Dec 3, 2017 17:41:19 GMT -5
I'm just going to make a goals list here for the next five months: rake leaves - this is not too small a task for the list
tuck in bits of vinyl siding where edges are coming up - maybe I can do this with like a stubby flathead screwdriver?
scrub mildew from vinyl siding - on north side of the house and also where the old gutter used to be before I replaced it on the other sidefix up and hang antique posters in foyer paint dining room and kitchen - it only took me seven months to circle back and touch up the bedroom, so sure add trim to kitchen and dining room entrance-ways - the only task here I've not done before; I need that little saw to cut out the ends of the floor trim repair the cold water handle stem on the downstairs bath faucet - I have the socket set at work for this, I just have not done it despite months of thinking about it replace front door - I was supposed to do this in mild fall/spring weather, oops try to get the downstairs bathtub jet motor working - I was supposed to try this in mild weather too because it is hard-wired in to the house. The only way to work on it is to thrown the main breaker. It looks like it just needs a little encouragement to run, but it's in a very difficult spot to reach. Really kicked some ass this weekend. First the vinyl siding mildew removal on Saturday. The bleach-and-brush method was just fine as per my trial run, the challenge is in the rinsing. I had bought a hose and sprayer (no need to own one until now), but during set-up I made an important discovery: the exterior rear faucet doesn't work. I turned the water valve on just above the main, and so the front exterior faucet was fine. I assumed the valve controlled both! Turns out no and I've never tried in the back before. I talked to my neighbor, and he said when they re-modeled the basement bathroom they discovered the rear faucet valve behind drywall in a different room. The lower half of my split-level was finished separately, so I am 100% certain this is what happened to me. Well, anyway the 50' hose was long enough to get a few feet around the corner, so I was able to scrub mildew from where the old gutter was and the back of the house, then arc the water spray up enough from the corner to rinse down the side. The siding around the sliding glass door was too far though, so I rinsed it with...the $1 water gun we have for spraying squirrels. Ridiculous but effective! Before and after:   Not bad. I'm sure a pressure washer would have done a better job, but this was easy and effective enough. (Looking at the Before picture, man is it gross. So easy to be more motivated on the front of the house than the back.) Part 2: Leaves: The Rakening. Yeah that took nearly three hours, but it's done for the year and I only got one blister and it's my left hand. Meanwhile everyone else realized this was the weekend to do it, because it was dry and in the 50s and about to get way colder. So the air was full of damn leaf blower noise pollution. It's 5:30 and dark as I write this, but I can still hear one last blower trying to finish up before the daily high temperatures drop 15 degrees. Part 3: The LORD's Day. This very afternoon I finally fixed the two spots where the vinyl siding was popped up and not fixed in at the bottom. I did end up using a putty knife to work my way along the underside, pushing up on the vinyl line so back hook of the siding could pop in like it's supposed to. A small thing perhaps, but it was coming off right under the house numbers where I had the big hedge removed, and it irked me. Because that's right where a visitor's eyes would go when looking at the numbers trying to find the address. |
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moimoi
AV Clubber
Posts: 5,091
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Post by moimoi on Dec 4, 2017 23:28:27 GMT -5
Guys guys guys! I just installed a Ring video doorbell by myself - just me and my little 12V drill, powering through 4" of 100-year old brick. Truly, I am a badass bitch. And now I can ward off package thieves!
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moimoi
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Posts: 5,091
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Post by moimoi on Dec 8, 2017 12:57:14 GMT -5
Another pro tip: to motivate oneself to take on mounting clutter in a spare room, try combining the "konmari method" with furniture re-arranging.
My home office space had gotten crowded to the point of being psychologically overwhelming, so last night, I emptied the entire room and moved everything into the living room and dining room. As I moved stuff out, I sorted it into piles by category: papers, electronics, books, office supplies, decorative items (soft), decorative items (fragile), craft supplies, and one box of random shit-crap. Then I did some much-needed vacuuming and dusting before re-arranging shelves and the futon couch upon which I am sitting. The new configuration prevents tripping over my laptop charging cord, makes the printer more accessible, and provides space to display additional artwork! I only moved things back in after sorting through each pile and finding the items new and sensible locations (of course, I tossed things and set things aside to give away as well). I left the paper pile for last because it's a giant task by itself. It's useful, though, to see how much space each pile takes up on its own and then how much space it fills when you put it back. Even with everything but papers back in the space, the room feels more spacious and relaxing. Phase Two for tonight is to tackle the paper pile, the shit-crap box, and to finally arrange things back on shelves. Even though my whole body is sore from this effort, it feels really good. Plus, I have reserved a massage for myself as a reward :-)
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Post by Floyd Dinnertime Barber on Dec 10, 2017 0:36:44 GMT -5
I've been plumbing!
We've been having low water pressure on the cold water lines for a while now. This old farmhouse used to have really, really hard well water for about 40 years. We've only had city water here the last 20 years or so, and we figured that a lot of the plumbing was really limed up. We were seriously considering just ripping it all out and replacing it.
Yesterday, we suddenly had no cold water at all. We still had good pressure on the hot water lines. I looked over the layout of the water pipes, and noticed that the main line fed into the hot water heater just before it split off to the rest of the house, so I knew we had good pressure to that point. I also knew that the washing machine (in the basement) had been having low pressure on the cold side.
I disconnected the cold water line into the washing machine, and sure enough, no cold water at that faucet. Good news. I now knew the blockage was somewhere in the ten feet or so between the water heater inlet and the washing machine.
I went to disconnect the hot water hose into the washing machine so I could move it out of the way, and the entire faucet crumbles off. Bad news. I was worried that I now had two major problems.
There are two main effects of all those years of liquid limestone running through the pipes. They sediment up, and they corrode. I was afraid that every fitting I tried to uncouple would crumble (which has happened to me when working on the house before), but the faucet was the only fitting that gave me problems that way. I got a new faucet and installed it with no other complications.
Now, when my folks built this house, they did a lot of the work themselves, and they used whatever was handy. The pipes are a patchwork of steel and copper, with everything from standard pipe thread to gas fittings, but they've lasted over 60 years. There is a junction where the steel pipe goes into an adapter of some kind, and is connected to copper tubing using flare fittings. The coupler had reduced the opening a bit, and that was where the blockage was.
I was able to knock the sediment out of the coupler with a hammer and screwdriver, but that pipe was completely blocked. I didn't want to have to start replacing pipe. Every junction was another chance to twist a fitting off.
The pipe was plugged just like it was filled with concrete, which gave me an idea. It was 1/2 inch pipe, so I got a cordless drill and a 7/16 masonry bit, held the pipe with a pipe wrench, and just drilled into the blockage like I was drilling through a concrete wall. After a few inches, I got through it, and water came squirting out. When I reconnected everything, we had good pressure all over the house again, hot and cold water. Since we now have soft water, it won't be depositing sediment any more, so there's a good chance we won't have to replace the pipes for several more years.
If we had called a plumber, and they didn't just throw their hands up and start babbling about codes and regulations, I imagine they would have charged a few hundred dollars at least. I spent ten dollars for a new faucet.
That's why I almost named my business CBE Engineering. It's how we do things.
Crude But Effective.
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Trurl
Shoutbox Elitist 
Posts: 7,699
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Post by Trurl on Dec 10, 2017 10:54:02 GMT -5
I've been plumbing! We've been having low water pressure on the cold water lines for a while now. This old farmhouse used to have really, really hard well water for about 40 years. We've only had city water here the last 20 years or so, and we figured that a lot of the plumbing was really limed up. We were seriously considering just ripping it all out and replacing it. Yesterday, we suddenly had no cold water at all. We still had good pressure on the hot water lines. I looked over the layout of the water pipes, and noticed that the main line fed into the hot water heater just before it split off to the rest of the house, so I knew we had good pressure to that point. I also knew that the washing machine (in the basement) had been having low pressure on the cold side. I disconnected the cold water line into the washing machine, and sure enough, no cold water at that faucet. Good news. I now knew the blockage was somewhere in the ten feet or so between the water heater inlet and the washing machine. I went to disconnect the hot water hose into the washing machine so I could move it out of the way, and the entire faucet crumbles off. Bad news. I was worried that I now had two major problems. There are two main effects of all those years of liquid limestone running through the pipes. They sediment up, and they corrode. I was afraid that every fitting I tried to uncouple would crumble (which has happened to me when working on the house before), but the faucet was the only fitting that gave me problems that way. I got a new faucet and installed it with no other complications. Now, when my folks built this house, they did a lot of the work themselves, and they used whatever was handy. The pipes are a patchwork of steel and copper, with everything from standard pipe thread to gas fittings, but they've lasted over 60 years. There is a junction where the steel pipe goes into an adapter of some kind, and is connected to copper tubing using flare fittings. The coupler had reduced the opening a bit, and that was where the blockage was. I was able to knock the sediment out of the coupler with a hammer and screwdriver, but that pipe was completely blocked. I didn't want to have to start replacing pipe. Every junction was another chance to twist a fitting off. The pipe was plugged just like it was filled with concrete, which gave me an idea. It was 1/2 inch pipe, so I got a cordless drill and a 7/16 masonry bit, held the pipe with a pipe wrench, and just drilled into the blockage like I was drilling through a concrete wall. After a few inches, I got through it, and water came squirting out. When I reconnected everything, we had good pressure all over the house again, hot and cold water. Since we now have soft water, it won't be depositing sediment any more, so there's a good chance we won't have to replace the pipes for several more years. If we had called a plumber, and they didn't just throw their hands up and start babbling about codes and regulations, I imagine they would have charged a few hundred dollars at least. I spent ten dollars for a new faucet. That's why I almost named my business CBE Engineering. It's how we do things. Crude But Effective. Did you consider running some descaler through the cold line before attaching everything up again? Maybe siphon a bunch into a faucet and letting it flow down to the open junction? I once had to replace a bunch of iron pipe under my kitchen sink because of 120 years of congealed fat. The couplings were a joke, but at least you can shatter iron pipe with a hammer. |
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Post by Floyd Dinnertime Barber on Dec 10, 2017 11:47:41 GMT -5
Did you consider running some descaler through the cold line before attaching everything up again? Maybe siphon a bunch into a faucet and letting it flow down to the open junction? I once had to replace a bunch of iron pipe under my kitchen sink because of 120 years of congealed fat. The couplings were a joke, but at least you can shatter iron pipe with a hammer. Honestly, I didn't even think of it. It's a good idea, but I was so glad that I was able to get the water flowing again without any more fittings twisting apart that it never occurred to me. Not having used it before, and not knowing exactly how descaler works, would there be any danger of sediment breaking off and causing another blockage elsewhere, or possibly a chemical reaction with the corrosion causing a leak in a weak point somewhere? That's most likely not a real concern, but I got off so easy, I just wouldn't want to push my luck. The lines that runs upstairs are only 3/8" copper, and I have now idea how brittle they are, or thin the walls might be from years of hard water by now. For now, I'll probably leave well enough alone. |
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Trurl
Shoutbox Elitist
Posts: 7,699
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Post by Trurl on Dec 10, 2017 21:22:24 GMT -5
Did you consider running some descaler through the cold line before attaching everything up again? Maybe siphon a bunch into a faucet and letting it flow down to the open junction? I once had to replace a bunch of iron pipe under my kitchen sink because of 120 years of congealed fat. The couplings were a joke, but at least you can shatter iron pipe with a hammer. Honestly, I didn't even think of it. It's a good idea, but I was so glad that I was able to get the water flowing again without any more fittings twisting apart that it never occurred to me. Not having used it before, and not knowing exactly how descaler works, would there be any danger of sediment breaking off and causing another blockage elsewhere, or possibly a chemical reaction with the corrosion causing a leak in a weak point somewhere? That's most likely not a real concern, but I got off so easy, I just wouldn't want to push my luck. The lines that runs upstairs are only 3/8" copper, and I have now idea how brittle they are, or thin the walls might be from years of hard water by now. For now, I'll probably leave well enough alone. The thought only occurred to me because I've done it, but only at the business end (faucet and under-sink supply valve), not anywhere where I couldn't keep an eye on things. I don't even know if its a stupid idea, but damn if It didn't fix up an antique faucet nicely. |
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Post by Powerthirteen on Dec 14, 2017 16:14:56 GMT -5
Living in an old brick house is fun in many ways, except when Christmas rolls around and I remember that there are no exterior outlets to plug Christmas lights into.
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LazBro
Prolific Poster 
Posts: 10,282 
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Post by LazBro on Dec 14, 2017 17:03:35 GMT -5
Living in an old brick house is fun in many ways, except when Christmas rolls around and I remember that there are no exterior outlets to plug Christmas lights into. This might have something to do with "old" but has nothing to do with brick. I live in a brick house from the 80's and have electrical outlets on every side. My previous house was from the 90's and was the same. And my parents house where I lived before that was also from the 90's and was the same. |
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Post by Powerthirteen on Dec 14, 2017 18:07:41 GMT -5
Living in an old brick house is fun in many ways, except when Christmas rolls around and I remember that there are no exterior outlets to plug Christmas lights into. This might have something to do with "old" but has nothing to do with brick. I live in a brick house from the 80's and have electrical outlets on every side. My previous house was from the 90's and was the same. And my parents house where I lived before that was also from the 90's and was the same. I assume the landlord never put them in because brick is harder/more expensive to modify. |
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Post by ganews on Dec 14, 2017 18:40:00 GMT -5
Work is finally beginning on the vacant lot next door. They cut down one of the smaller trees in the center at 7:30 AM a couple days ago, hauled away the dead pine tree that I pulled down after one of the branches fell on Wifemate's car, and trimmed one of the other pine trees hanging over the border. Now they've actually smoothed out a foundation space with a Bobcat. It's going to a be a real construction site; there's a porta-potty and everything.
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Post by nowimnothing on Dec 15, 2017 18:10:04 GMT -5
We got moved into our new house and we accepted an offer on our old house. Luckily we could swing both mortgage payments, but it is a relief to finally get an offer. The new house needs a lot more work than I imagined, mostly cosmetic, but I will probably have to gut the bathroom and kitchen before too long. First order of business is ripping out the carpet! in the half bath. Who does that? I will never understand carpet in kitchens and baths.
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Post by Floyd Dinnertime Barber on Dec 15, 2017 18:27:44 GMT -5
We got moved into our new house and we accepted an offer on our old house. Luckily we could swing both mortgage payments, but it is a relief to finally get an offer. The new house needs a lot more work than I imagined, mostly cosmetic, but I will probably have to gut the bathroom and kitchen before too long. First order of business is ripping out the carpet! in the half bath. Who does that? I will never understand carpet in kitchens and baths. I always think of carpet in a bathroom as basically a pee sponge. What's worse are those "soft" toilet seats. Don't people realize all they are is foam rubber with a thin layer of vinyl? And I have seen some with the vinyl cracked. Literal pee sponge. *gak* |
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Post by Incense on Dec 15, 2017 19:01:56 GMT -5
We got moved into our new house and we accepted an offer on our old house. Luckily we could swing both mortgage payments, but it is a relief to finally get an offer. The new house needs a lot more work than I imagined, mostly cosmetic, but I will probably have to gut the bathroom and kitchen before too long. First order of business is ripping out the carpet! in the half bath. Who does that? I will never understand carpet in kitchens and baths. I always think of carpet in a bathroom as basically a pee sponge. What's worse are those "soft" toilet seats. Don't people realize all they are is foam rubber with a thin layer of vinyl? And I have seen some with the vinyl cracked. Literal pee sponge. *gak* An ex-friend's bathroom not only had the cracked vinyl puffy seat (SO GROSS) but carpet, soaked over and over again over several decades, and in one particularly wet corner - I am not making this up - mushrooms would regularly grow. |
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GumTurkeyles
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Post by GumTurkeyles on Dec 27, 2017 12:08:18 GMT -5
Doing work in the basement of my wife's house this week, since we have the week off from work. There's two work benches that were assembled down there by the previous owner. With the bench we just took apart, the main water pipe was affixed to it. WHY?! I'm glad I noticed that before I started moving it. The bench was made from a door, assorted shelves metal legs, a hand saw turned facing up, with the blade covered with a cork, and they also had an electrical box secured to it, running into another electrical box (a grounded one going to the old-style 2-prong outlets). So, all in all, this house is really safe.
So, we took that down, and now we're headed to lowes to get another 5-tier metal shelf. We'll finally be able to see the floor of this room. All my stuff is on two of these shelves that I brought over from my house, and they work great. Once it's above 10 degrees, we'll go outside and sawzall the scraps until they fit in the garbage (except the metal legs. No idea how to junk those).
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Post by ganews on Dec 30, 2017 15:36:09 GMT -5
It is bloody cold out. I am getting a damn pellet stove for downstairs. Maybe it can't be used as an effective replacement or even much of a supplement, but at least during real cold snaps like this there can be one really warm room in the house. And if it keeps the heat running for less than 90% of the day, so much the better. I wish I had already pulled the trigger on this.
Today I fixed up the towel rack in my bathroom. It took all of two minutes, so it was well worth waiting over a year to do it.
A task that unfortunately must be done in this house periodically is to clean the floors. Wifemate has very long hair, and she sheds constantly. The vacuum isn't enough; most of that hair has to be scraped up by hand. I use a dollar-store rubber squeegee that gets worn down. It's a crummy job that takes a good two hours. At least it keeps one warm.
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Post by Buon Funerale Amigos on Dec 30, 2017 16:41:24 GMT -5
I just spent about 2 hours messing around with plaster buttons, wood screws, fiberglass screen, drywall tape and joint compound, but at least the entry hall is a little bit closer to looking like it did in 1900.
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Post by Floyd Dinnertime Barber on Dec 30, 2017 22:14:23 GMT -5
It is bloody cold out. I am getting a damn pellet stove for downstairs. Maybe it can't be used as an effective replacement or even much of a supplement, but at least during real cold snaps like this there can be one really warm room in the house. And if it keeps the heat running for less than 90% of the day, so much the better. I wish I had already pulled the trigger on this. Today I fixed up the towel rack in my bathroom. It took all of two minutes, so it was well worth waiting over a year to do it. A task that unfortunately must be done in this house periodically is to clean the floors. Wifemate has very long hair, and she sheds constantly. The vacuum isn't enough; most of that hair has to be scraped up by hand. I use a dollar-store rubber squeegee that gets worn down. It's a crummy job that takes a good two hours. At least it keeps one warm. Have you looked into stoves that can use either wood pellets or corn? I have no recommendation one way or the other, but I'm sort of curious about them. I don't know if corn would be practical as a fuel in your area, but here in Illinois, one thing we have lots of is corn. I see pellet stoves and fuel in stores in the area and I sometimes thought about looking into a stove where I could use corn as a primary fuel (cause Illinois) and pellets as a backup, sort of like the wood/coal stove I have in my warehouse building. I always wonder about the pellet fuel, is it available from multiple suppliers? Since it is a processed fuel, and still sort of a niche product, do you worry that you might become dependent on one fuel supplier? I'm not trying to talk down wood pellets as a fuel, this is just stuff I wondered about, and haven't bothered to investigate. We use propane as our primary heat and since we have a lot of timber on our property and a neighbor who cuts wood for shares, we still have a (stick) wood burning stove in the house as our supplemental/backup heater. There is nothing warmer than wood heat. |
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Post by ganews on Dec 30, 2017 22:44:29 GMT -5
It is bloody cold out. I am getting a damn pellet stove for downstairs. Maybe it can't be used as an effective replacement or even much of a supplement, but at least during real cold snaps like this there can be one really warm room in the house. And if it keeps the heat running for less than 90% of the day, so much the better. I wish I had already pulled the trigger on this. Today I fixed up the towel rack in my bathroom. It took all of two minutes, so it was well worth waiting over a year to do it. A task that unfortunately must be done in this house periodically is to clean the floors. Wifemate has very long hair, and she sheds constantly. The vacuum isn't enough; most of that hair has to be scraped up by hand. I use a dollar-store rubber squeegee that gets worn down. It's a crummy job that takes a good two hours. At least it keeps one warm. Have you looked into stoves that can use either wood pellets or corn? I have no recommendation one way or the other, but I'm sort of curious about them. I don't know if corn would be practical as a fuel in your area, but here in Illinois, one thing we have lots of is corn. I see pellet stoves and fuel in stores in the area and I sometimes thought about looking into a stove where I could use corn as a primary fuel (cause Illinois) and pellets as a backup, sort of like the wood/coal stove I have in my warehouse building. I always wonder about the pellet fuel, is it available from multiple suppliers? Since it is a processed fuel, and still sort of a niche product, do you worry that you might become dependent on one fuel supplier? I'm not trying to talk down wood pellets as a fuel, this is just stuff I wondered about, and haven't bothered to investigate. We use propane as our primary heat and since we have a lot of timber on our property and a neighbor who cuts wood for shares, we still have a (stick) wood burning stove in the house as our supplemental/backup heater. There is nothing warmer than wood heat. Corn is not too practical in the suburbs. Pellets are easy. You can get them at Home Depot or online. Like most home products I have looked up online (water seal comes to mind), any brand of wood pellet you can buy has a two star rating at best. I would love to have a proper wood stove like my parents have had all my life. Unfortunately, I can't just go out and cut up a dead tree on my property anymore, after 18 years of carrying and splitting firewood paying for logs is against my religion. At least I can have easily stackable pellet bags delivered. |
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dＬᵒ
Prolific Poster
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Posts: 4,533
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Post by dＬᵒ on Dec 31, 2017 3:35:40 GMT -5
I always wonder about the pellet fuel, is it available from multiple suppliers? Since it is a processed fuel, and still sort of a niche product, do you worry that you might become dependent on one fuel supplier? I'm not trying to talk down wood pellets as a fuel, this is just stuff I wondered about, and haven't bothered to investigate. Funny how you should mention that, lately I've been getting targeted ads for pellet makers. It looks like gun reloading stuff my dad used to have.  |
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