Home Improvement

You'll have to patch it or redo the floor.

Cheap option: rectangular area rug in front of the door after

And they sell puppy pads for the duration. 2 of those and some newspaper. It's not like your dog is doing it just to be a dick, and she'd probably figure out what those are for.

I did another project this weekend. It was a smaller project, but it still took me all of Saturday and some of Sunday to finish.

I was annoyed with the Microwave hood thing always venting straight up onto the cabinet above, leaving an oily residue on the laminate. I decided that I was going to vent the hood to the outside of the house, so I spent around $50 total (including $20 to powder coat the exterior vent), and here is my final project.





I'm glad that it works well. I also put a foam baffle inside of the vent so that it would "seal" better than thin metal on metal that it was. Plus it doesn't rattle at all any longer either.

Anyone have experience with Microwave repair? My tenant, who doesn't take care of shit (surprise surprise) has a Frigidaire model FMT106T1B1 microwave (All the appliances in the apartment are mine) that started smoking when he tried to use it and now doesn't work at all. I'm trying to figure out if it could be an easy fix (like a line fuse, or something in the high voltage circuit maybe?) or if it's the main control board and not even worth trying to fix rather than just buying a new microwave. Sounds to me like it's fried and I should just get a new one but wanted to check with the RR masters before just going out and buying a new one.

Without physically taking it apart to look at it, it's hard to give you an accurate answer.

I mean, the microwave by itself shouldn't have started smoking. It's possible if he had something metal inside and started it, it might have caused a short somewhere. Aside from that, maybe he spilled something on top of it that caused a board to burn up? It's difficult to trouble shoot that one without actually seeing it. Sorry.

However, a good rule of thumb with electronics is if the magic smoke comes out, it's done.

With microwaves, unless you repair them yourself, you're gonna spend more money trying to fix it than just getting a new one.

A decent microwave is like 60 bucks. A crap one is about 40, and a good one is about 100.

I've read that smoke coming from a microwave indicates the problem is severe enough to warrant getting a new one.

He probably did blow a fuse, but the underlying issue is more than likely still there. I don't think repairing it would be economically feasible.

Yea I figured I'd have to buy a new one. Only problem is this is a 1.6 cu ft over the range mounted unit and the cheapest ones I can find are over $200. Not a huge deal but bleh.

Hell, make the tenant buy their own. Anytime I've ever rented, I've had to bring my own microwave with me. I don't think a microwave would be considered an necessary appliance that has to be furnished by the owner, like a stove or refrigerator.

Depends if it was in the lease contract

It's in the lease since the apartment came that way when I bought the house.

$200 microwave or take it to have it fixed for $300.

Yea I ended up just buying a new one.

I hope it fits the same. That's the other issue with microwaves. They all mount differently. Oh well, good luck.

Xarpolis_sl said:

I hope it fits the same. That's the other issue with microwaves. They all mount differently. Oh well, good luck.

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It's the same size. 1.6 cu ft.

Khane_sl said:

It's the same size. 1.6 cu ft.

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Xarpolis is correct that even the same size can mount differently. I've mounted 4 of these this year in remodels/makeovers and everyone used different holes in the upper cabinet and I think 3 of them I had to move the plate on. It wasn't a big deal to just make new holes and move, just be aware you may have too. No idea why they don't use a standard universal mounting system when in every aspect it appears they could. Even the damn power cords hole was slightly different spots in several of them. Some brands like to have the holes right near the cabinet front , some 2 in front further back and 1 semi far back for support and all that.

Really need 2 people even if you get the holes right, even though it mostly holds on the bracket until you get the bolts in it can be a huge pain in the ass to hold it up tight while getting the first bolt in.

Kovaks_sl said:

So my dog got cancer, and as a result she has been unable to wait for me to get to the door when she needs to go out, this has led to her peeing on the floor in front of the back door quite a bit, add to that while I'm at work and my wife has the newborn and toddler she doesn't always realize it or clean it up right away. As a result we have one board of our nice pergo coming up on one side because the moisture has gotten under it and expanded the padding. I have tried banging it back down with a rubber mallet but nothing... does anyone have any suggestions? it doesn't seem feasible to remove the board and repalce it, but I would rather not live with it if I can help it.

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You can replace it pretty easily. What you want to do is cut up the board (some sort of saw with a blade guard to keep depth from cutting down into the padding/subfloor is ideal). Once in pieces it should be easy to remove. At this point you're going to carefully cut off whatever lower-tongue is going to prevent you from seating the board, there's usually only 1 plus some elbow grease to fit the board in, though some with complicated short side 'locks' can require two. On most laminates this is the short 'back' end of the board. At this stage you'll likely want to glue that side along the seams where pieces were removed to make up for the lack of interlock, however it should seat lengthwise if done properly and generally stay put. You don't want to glue it to the underlayment or subfloor, obviously, however generally the laminate will expand/contract fairly uniformly and it should last a decent time.

As with all laminates when installing I highly recommend silicone around appliances that may experience condensation, in the kitchen, near entryways, etc. If the dog is that 'regular' you might want to silicone all the joints on that board just for extra security.

Thank you good sir!

Question for those who know a bit about sliding glass doors. Ours is pretty terrible, basically the base inside has metal shavings because the door is rubbing off on the metal pole it sits on. I've WD-40'd it a few times and it makes it work well for awhile but the issue comes back. I've used other people's sliding doors and they just move with no effort, ours requires a lot. The door lifts up a little when you pull on ours too, so I'm thinking it's either misaligned or something weird is going on.

Anything I can look at for fixing this? Any common issues? I can't visibly see anyting misaligned or off, just that it lifts when you pull it.

Sounds fucked up.

Bang on it with a sledgehammer. See if that works.

It's definitely an alignment issue. Might not be visible, but my guess is that the frame isn't square any more. How old is it? When things go even slightly out of square with sliding doors (especially if they're relatively inexpensive) the side of the door with the handle moves vertically some, and that makes it rub strangely along the track.

You might try waxing the rail. Use a taper candle, as you'll be able to fit it in all the slots, and wax the parts with friction. You might have to repeat fairly often, but it might result in a smooth sliding door that doesn't need replacing for a while longer.