Home Improvement

Yea LEDs are the way to go now with pricing on warm white bulbs so low. I redid my entire house in LED, excepting a few specialty bulbs that were hideously expensive or unavailable that I had to get in CFL.

Anyway found the shocker. Turns out the shocks were just static electricity placebo, but one of the bathroom GFCIs failed and seemed to be somehow shorting or something internal wasn't quite connecting anymore so the outlets were reading slightly lower than the usual 124 for my house. Reset and it's back to normal and of course the woman then says "oh yea it keeps going off but I just reset it." Ugh. Anyway on the list for this weekend.

Anyone replaced an exterior door with a pre hung? My current door is old, drafty, installed by blind people and misaligned. I'm kind of wary doing it myself only because the bottom left of the door warps in slightly so it's very tight so something looks wrong. I'm afraid the jack stud itself is warped or damaged somehow. Then again maybe they just used too aggressive of an expanding foam insulator and it ballooned the jamb over. Ugh. The only thing I have going for me is it's 36x80 door on 2x4 construction so I can buy one anywhere.

Studs marked, put table in trying to figure out shelving is harder than we thought it would be.

Hammock is up!

Picasso3 said:

Hardest part is tying into exterior siding imo, of course I've never had a normal house.

I wouldn't count on alignment getting better with a new door, but the seal probably will, you could probably add a bunch of stick on stripping and get yours ok though.

Click to expand...

Well the problem with alignment is that it is actually barely closing right now. Basically I have to make it better. I don't think the door frame was ever plumbed and squared. In fact I think the repairs included rebuilding the jamb and replacing the old sill which isn't fully attached to the frame on one side. Just seems like a botch job but I'm at the point where it's warping bad now and it ain't even 115 out yet.

Siding wise I think it should be easy. Stucco on the outside drywall inside so should be as simple as brick moulding and caulk around it outside I think.

At some point I'm going to replace our sliding glass door with some french doors.

From looking at what all needs to be done, I'm thinking matching the stucco will be the worst part. Otherwise it's just a lot of grunt work. Leveling is squaring the door shouldn't be that difficult.

The more stuff I've "redone" with my house, the more I realize that most people who build houses are fucking idiots and cut a ton of corners. Maybe it's just because things get subcontracted out so much to the lowest bidder, but I haven't been impressed with what I've seen. I know that if I were to build a house myself, the craftsmanship would be higher than what I get with a professional "homebuilder."

Just as an example, the electrical wiring in my attic is just fucking cables run all across the tops of the rafters/insulation. Apparently that's still "within code" but my OCD hates it. I'd replace it, but that's an expense I'm not taking on. I just know that if I were going to redo it, all of that shit would be immaculate.

four more bags of river rocks then 3-4 fancy rocks for edges and spread around for color and I am done with this part, tried to get them all in one load but was worried about exploding my tires or worse. Either way Giles was right, MORE STONES!

Thanks, first time doing this kind of stuff. I live in Houston and it has been high of 76 lately, today was high of 54 so I said fuck yeah lets do this. My back hurts, and I feel old but beer is helping.

Pulled casing off door. It's literally held onto the house with 2 nails and some molding on the outside. The frame is warped and super thin on one side, looks like they replaced part of the jamb with shit wood and just painted it over 30 times in the last decade. I hate contractors.

Good news is perfectly sized rough opening and everything is in good (and completely unsealed) condition so ready to install. Bought everything I needed for $300 vs paying some idiot contractor who will probably be just as bad $1000+ which is what all the quotes I keep getting are.

Done!


Not sure if I want to lay sod or just use fill dirt around the outside.

looks nice. I thought from the drawing you were doing a much larger area than that.

Yeah the original plan was boulders and shrubs but after some research we decided on as low maintenance as possible.

So replaced my door this weekend.

Really scary project, not having a front door in is kind of a bad position to be in if something went terribly wrong but it worked out.

Turns out front wall section of house is very misaligned (some settling over three decades I'd guess) and was neither plumb nor level. Thankfully the slab right there still was. New door looks like it leans in nearly a half inch at the top, but it is actually plumb and level in all directions. Works like a dream. Was sketchy getting in because the left jack stud was bowed slightly near the bottom but everything was clean so just went with it. Had to build up a fascia base on the front of the door frame to extend it so the moulding would be flat with the stucco - used long shims and built it out at the angle to meet with the wall.

Old door had no insulation, none of the moulding was caulked and in fact the old molding turned out to have an inch gap at the top that just was open to hot air. New door is fully sealed, caulked on the trim, opens and shuts nicely and overall is just great, didn't get a chance to test during the day with my IR thermometer but compared to the old shitty door it even cuts down on exterior noise getting in a ton.

Gotta prime the exterior trim at least soon and then finish the trim paint and then worry about making the casing look nice inside next weekend.

Nice having a door that has actual color now too so it stands out.

random but home project-y in terms of my converted porch conversion upgrade or whatever... into "the craft room"

Wife and I have been talking about getting a deep freezer and have priced some out - while in Sams she was like look they have some and they are 30-50 cheaper, cool put it on note... while in the back by the discounted stuff, oh look one with a dent, that was a 7.1 CU ft marked down from its original price - but not the 7.1's price the 5.0 price - so 90$ for the 179$ one... already on a flatbed cart, sold, thanks Sams! I'll take its little dent lol. Got my dryer there for 200$ from 800...

So - I am not going to get this "bonus room" or whatever it is added to my central AC - I am at 2.5 tonnes with 1800sq ft so its already kinda maxed out - anyone got an idea on if I throw a 8k BTU window unit in there that has a real thermostat so it turns on and off like the central and they are matched temps if that will workout fairly well? Edit: the room is about 230 Square ft.