Home Improvement

  • Guest, it's time once again for the massively important and exciting FoH Asshat Tournament!



    Go here and give us your nominations!
    Who's been the biggest Asshat in the last year? Give us your worst ones!
Lanx

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,315
147,287
First home project, fix the fins. Many were so bad had to get in there work with a knife, then I found out a putty scrapper is easier to use. I bought a set of those plastic Combs
PHOTO_20170813_092904.jpg

To this
PHOTO_20170813_181846.jpg

Washed it off inside and out too, seemed to work since it cooled down the whole house from 81 to 74 in like 45 min. I plan to put a misting system on it, and to level it out, it is leaning pretty bad, and I should be done with the compressor aside from a yearly hose down.

Next is to learn how to mow a lawn 101.

Anyone try the misting system?
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user
Qhue

Qhue

Tranny Chaser
7,614
4,571
Lanx said:
Anyone try the misting system?
Click to expand...

If, by this, you mean the devices that place a fine mist of water around your compressor then please do not do this.

The best case scenario is using this in a very arid environment where you can gain a benefit of evaporative cooling that bleeds excess heat off the condenser.

In most cases the reason people see improvements after they install one of these is that they haven't maintained their coolant levels at all and their compressor is just working overtime trying to do even some net work. Then having all that increased moisture leads to corrosion on those fins you just spend an afternoon straightening and things go downhill fast.
 
Siliconemelons

Siliconemelons

Naxxramas 1.0 Raider
11,875
17,838
GG on the fin fixing, it does help a lot and - if you keep up on it not that bad to fix a dent area here and there...but to do the entire thing or even and entire side- its like ARGH- and to go and get the "correct" fin space comb is annoying lol
 
Qhue

Qhue

Tranny Chaser
7,614
4,571
The fin fixing reminds me of my aunt who went to the trouble of smashing all the fins on the condenser so that they made a smooth flat surface. She was worried that the sharp edges were a safety hazard you see. I tried to convince her otherwise, but who is going to believe a 9 year old talking about the effect of surface area on efficiency...
 
  • 2Picard
Reactions: 1 users
Fight

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,640
5,560
Old Kitchen, vintage 1950's metal cabinets. Many of them dented and rusted out. The sink had a bad leak and rotted out the metal cabinet down to the floorboards. None of the outlets were GFCI. The counter-top had a few chips in it. The floor was some original laminate that was cracked, chipped, and discolored through out.

IZyf2Rh.jpg


The tear out begins.

h6vGdm6.jpg


Same layout, everything new. Also added a dishwasher.

kncVekz.jpg
 
  • 7Like
Reactions: 6 users
mkopec

mkopec

<Gold Donor>
26,235
39,954
wonderguy101 said:
Great work. Did it just happen to be the exact same dimensions?? Are these pre-fab?
Click to expand...

They make cabinets in all sorts of sizes. you just have to plan it out. Usually rooms like that are standard dimension, like 12'x20, or 10'x16, etc, so its pretty easy to mix and match cabinets to get proper size.
 
P

Picasso3

Silver Baronet of the Realm
11,333
5,322
3 inch increments pretty standard so I'd say ending up perfectly flush is pretty rare.

Looking at it more he did use a filler but at the dishwasher.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

AssHat Taint
<Medals Crew>
46,628
214,670
Nice work, man! That's a serious upgrade. Cabinets look great, counter top suits the space, floor matches great. The GFCI upgrade is such a good idea, too. Did you replace the window, or just clean it up?
 
Mrs. Gravy

Mrs. Gravy

Quite Saucy
<QUITE SAUCY>
1,696
2,174
Someone needs to come to my house and update it. It is 19fucking83 here. *sigh*

You guys are really good at this...will try and take what you are sharing and put to use.

ty
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user
T

Talenvor

Lord Nagafen Raider
927
222
Palum said:
Well, the drywall is easy, take off can trim, KILZ prime and paint.

The can is probably a bigger issue. You likely have an issue of cheap assholes. You need cans rated for direct contact with insulation. My guess is they put that one in and all they had left over was the single wall like you'd use for drop ceilings. Then someone moved the insulation away from it. Well, this is the consequence.

So I'd first check the insulation around it in the attic and then get a model number from it (some are labeled on the housing what it's rated for under where the trim ring hooks in).

So best case: rated can, no roof damage, someone just moved insulation.

Mid case: unrated can, no roof damage, need to replace can then insulate.

Worst case: it's all coincidental, there's roof damage right above the can and drizzled down into a live fixture and you need to hire a roofer then inspect everything for damage to avoid an electrical fire.
Click to expand...

Xadion said:
Good call on the can light condensation - it seems to me too uniform and circle to be a leak that wicked and traveled over to the light and didnt cause a short or anything... also if it is a normal attic and you can get up there and look, if its water leak damage that travels on over to that location- you most likely will see mold, or other water damage along the route.. if it happens to be a drip leak directly above it... then you should be able to find and patch it.
Click to expand...

Had the company that did my home inspection when I bought the place a few weeks ago come back. It was a courtesy call since they missed the damage initially. Said there was no attic access in that part of the house, and they weren't sure what was causing that leak since it was so uniform and the sheet rock had the staining on it, but otherwise didn't show any typical symptoms of a leak (bulging or soft spots I guess) When they went on the roof nothing looked suspicious, but above that can light is a roof air vent. He guessed that maybe the snow piled up around the vent and some seeped down into the space above the ceiling. I suggested the possibility of an ice dam but he didn't think so since the ceiling is on a slope and the leak was a good 4 feet above the gutter line. The air vent idea was his best guess since all the other cans, even the ones with other vents above them, have no issues. From what he could see the problem looked minor and I could just monitor it this fall/winter to see if it happens again, but then suggested I have a roofing company come take a look at it. So, not out any money...yet since it was a free follow up by the inspector, but I'm sure that will change quickly once the roofer takes a look.
 
Last edited:
Palum

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,543
41,332
Talenvor said:
Had the company that did my home inspection when I bought the place a few weeks ago come back. It was a courtesy call since they missed the damage initially. Said there was no attic access in that part of the house, and they weren't sure what was causing that leak since it was so uniform and the sheetrock had the staining on it, but otherwise didn't show any typical symptoms of a leak (bulging or soft spots I guess) When they went on the roof nothing looked suspicious, but above that can light is a roof vent. He guessed that maybe the snow piled up around the vent and some seeped down into the space above the ceiling. Was is best guess since all the other cans, even the ones with other vents above them, have no issues. From what he could see the problem looked minor and I could just monitor it this fall/winter to see if it happens again, but then suggested I have a roofing company come take a look at it. So, not out any money...yet since it was a free follow up by the inspector, but I'm sure that will change quickly once the roofer takes a look.
Click to expand...

Ah that makes sense too, especially if wind pushed snow through the vent and it fell into a can full of hot air.
 
Fight

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,640
5,560
wonderguy101 said:
Great work. Did it just happen to be the exact same dimensions?? Are these pre-fab?
Click to expand...

It was close, but there were some modifications that I had to do. I had to order the counter-top at 12' (or 144"), but actually the space was 11'11" (or 143"). So, I had to cut it with a fine-toothed blade on my circular saw.

This extra inch also was a problem for the bottom-floor sitting cabinets. Initially I thought I could recoup the space with the dishwasher area, but that didn't work. I had to return the right most 30" cabinet to the store for a 27" one and use a spacer strip that I cut to 1.5" or so wide (as Picasso noted).

I replaced the windows in the entire house prior to kitchen renovation, when I resided the place. Everything you see in the picture from the floor, to the cabinets, handles, counter-top, sink, fixtures, dishwasher, etc. was purchased from Lowes when they were running 20% - 40% off sales. The whole job came to about $2500 and about 3 days of my work.

Cabinets, Hardware & Counter-top: $1800
Flooring: $200
Dishwasher: $250
Sink, Faucet, Plumbing Supplies: $250
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user
Lanx

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,315
147,287
wow, what the shit do i need for a lawn? i just bought an electric mower, 50ft extension wasn't enough i barely missed the outer edge of my property so i have to extend that. don't worry i made sure to get 12/3 gauge extention, i found out thats why most electric mowers die, cuz ppl get 16/3 and fuck that shit up, even 14/3 is iffy so i just said fuck it and went all 12/3.

why electric? i don't want to bother w/ more fucking motors beyond the two cars, and it worked really well, in fact my neighbor saw me doing my backyard(i was testing on my backyard first) and he wanted to push it and was amazed it was eating shit up (since the backyard was neglected, grass was tall, etc), he said it was pretty good, so i'll take his word for it, he showed me how to like pivot it on the two back wheels, etc.

mind you i'm a city boy so this is the first time i've ever touched a mower in my life, i stopped mowing cuz i didn't buy those black grass bags and my neighbor just ran out cuz grass pickup was on monday.

So i guess i need those black bags and a trimmer, i'll get corded too, since i already have the expensive extension cord, why not. I guess i'll need rakes and shit since i have a tree too, i thought the mower would just suck up leaves.

oh and the front lawn came w/ a sprinkler system, i just used the previous owners settings... i really need a lawncare for dummies or 101, along with all these moving boxes i gotta deal with too.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.