Home Improvement

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Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,310
147,257
So, I read that you should stain a deck, not paint a deck. Mine is severely weathered red, and the bottom step, I powerwashed
PHOTO_20170813_103954.jpg


Do I just Thompson seal and stain, and paint it?
Also patio has cracked cement
PHOTO_20170908_190639.jpg


Do I just follow this guy just basically paint the patio with a thin layer of cement?
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,310
147,257
From bed room to kitchen is no light switch, so knowing 0.0% about home electricity, I decide to change a single pole to a three way
PHOTO_20170911_173053.jpg

Climbing attic I find it is impossible to add the 14/3 wire to the left most switch (living room light) there is a telephone box to the right with a random cable leading up to the attic, so I drilled through sideways. Unfortunately the 14/3 is so thick, I can't pull it up, even used dishwasher soap as lube.

Question, that for gang box controls
Living room lights, dining room ceiling fan, ceiling fan lights, kitchen lights.

All the grounds are connected together and not to the individual switches, is this kosher?
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,540
41,329
From bed room to kitchen is no light switch, so knowing 0.0% about home electricity, I decide to change a single pole to a three way
View attachment 153401
Climbing attic I find it is impossible to add the 14/3 wire to the left most switch (living room light) there is a telephone box to the right with a random cable leading up to the attic, so I drilled through sideways. Unfortunately the 14/3 is so thick, I can't pull it up, even used dishwasher soap as lube.

Question, that for gang box controls
Living room lights, dining room ceiling fan, ceiling fan lights, kitchen lights.

All the grounds are connected together and not to the individual switches, is this kosher?

It's an older code sir, but it checks out.

So it used to be fine in code not to ground light switches. It is now code. Basically, when switches fail mechanically, the contact strip can break/fall/bend and touch the metal housing of the switch. When that happens, you can effectively pull 120V through the switch plate screw. This can be dangerous, especially if it's not a AFCI protected circuit.

I had it happen to me in our master bathroom on the dedicated light circuit. Since then I've gone around and grounded out most of my switches and replaced all the oldest ones.

I wouldn't get too crazy over it, but I would fix them as I go at least.
 

Qhue

Tranny Chaser
7,614
4,571
I have a deck that is 10 years old and the owners never stained it / sealed it / took care of it at all. The thing was sickly grey and looked like garbage but I got an inexpensive power washer from Lowe's and went to town on it. Now it looks all fresh and new and I'm going to apply a Thompson's water seal semi-transparent natural cedar stain.
 
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Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,310
147,257
I have a deck that is 10 years old and the owners never stained it / sealed it / took care of it at all. The thing was sickly grey and looked like garbage but I got an inexpensive power washer from Lowe's and went to town on it. Now it looks all fresh and new and I'm going to apply a Thompson's water seal semi-transparent natural cedar stain.
This is my plan, down to the color stain, any idea on how much coverage one gallon gets you? I have half a deck and a gondola to stain.
 

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,640
5,560
People that paint wood, whether it be decks, fences or picnic tables, make me sick. They should be taken out and hung by their toe nails.

A beautiful natural-look stain is always the way to go and will be much less of a maintenance nightmare onward into the future.

Lanx Lanx nice work on the projects bro. Looks like you are really learning a lot. Pretty fun, isn't it?
 
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Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,540
41,329
People that paint wood, whether it be decks, fences or picnic tables, make me sick. They should be taken out and hung by their toe nails.

A beautiful natural-look stain is always the way to go and will be much less of a maintenance nightmare onward into the future.

Lanx Lanx nice work on the projects bro. Looks like you are really learning a lot. Pretty fun, isn't it?

So like I can't have painted baseboards now?
 

Fight

Ahn'Qiraj Raider
4,640
5,560
Do you walk, sit, or place things on your baseboards? Besides, baseboards aren't even made of wood these days. It is all pre-painted fiberboard foam shit.

Why are we talking about baseboards? lol
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,310
147,257
People that paint wood, whether it be decks, fences or picnic tables, make me sick. They should be taken out and hung by their toe nails.

A beautiful natural-look stain is always the way to go and will be much less of a maintenance nightmare onward into the future.

Lanx Lanx nice work on the projects bro. Looks like you are really learning a lot. Pretty fun, isn't it?
Well stuff is put on hold for now, dad is enter in stage 4, so I fly out tomorrow, cut the grass low in case it'll be a few weeks

I wish I could have snaked that 14/3 cable down, eventually lost my footing and hole in ceiling, so I'll learn how to patch up popcorn drywall.

Actually for the staining, I have two gallons
PHOTO_20170914_102356.jpg


Think that'll be enough?
 

Qhue

Tranny Chaser
7,614
4,571
The stuff goes on pretty thin all things considered. I have two gallons for a much larger / taller deck and think I'll be fine.
 

Hoss

Make America's Team Great Again
<Gold Donor>
27,233
15,373
We just built a 980 sqft deck last year. We used 6 gallons of stain. 3 gallons on the deck itself, and the other 3 on hand rails and steps. If we'd used a sprayer, we were told it would have been between 50% and 100% more stain. The hand rails and steps took more than i expected because we used a brush on them and rollers were more efficient. Also, when doing the handrails, we were doing the edges of the deck where the wood had been cut and it seemed to soak up a lot more stain.
 

Lanx

<Prior Amod>
65,310
147,257
Goldblatt 9.65" Drywall Corner Trowel $1.25 + Free S/H w/ MyLowe's
$1.24 free shipping with free mylowes.
Get to muddin bitches
Out here they have Menards, sane price as hd/Lowe's but they give a 11% rebate on everything, basically you just get tax back in 6weeks. Since I bought the w&d from them, along with other purchases, should be getting back 150, which I'll spend buying 30x80 door slabs for my laundry room.

Which also is another issue, my bedroom doors are just plain hollow doors, means I'll then have to upgrade them, I mean I could also just swap the bedroom doors too, since they measure the same. (I was gonna take off two other bedroom doors anyway and put them on the laudry hall as a mock-up anyway.
 

Burnesto

Molten Core Raider
2,142
126
My dishwasher's control board bit the dust I think. It continuously stops halfway though the rinse cycle, shuts off, then restarts the rinse cycle. It's a Kitchenaid W10579098 A I believe. Does anybody have experience replacing one of these boards? I assume it's as simple as taking the inside of the door apart and plugging the new one in.
 

ShakyJake

<Donor>
7,912
19,957
Putting this here since I don't see a 'legal' thread and it is home improvement...

So, about two months ago I had my roof replaced with Lowes. They were having a nice 2-year, interest-free financing special plus they were about middle of the road as far as pricing goes. Roofers came out, replaced everything in two days. Looked great.

Here comes some rain, oh look the skylights leak (these were replaced too, so not the original skylights). Not bad, mind you, but I'm finding droplets of water on the hardwood floor. So every time it rains I have to put down towels.

Talked to the Lowes managers. They are always adamant that the problem will be fixed - they'll contact the contractors. I either hear nothing or finally someone shows up without my knowledge (I'm at work, no phone call no nothing) and does "something". Problem doesn't go away, in fact one skylight is worse.

Any idea what my recourse is here? Clearly the contractors they hired have no interest in fixing this. This is financed so I'm wondering if I could simply stop payment until this is resolved, but I don't want to take a chance at wrecking my credit.

Appreciate any input.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,540
41,329
My dishwasher's control board bit the dust I think. It continuously stops halfway though the rinse cycle, shuts off, then restarts the rinse cycle. It's a Kitchenaid W10579098 A I believe. Does anybody have experience replacing one of these boards? I assume it's as simple as taking the inside of the door apart and plugging the new one in.

How old is it? I'd just replace the unit if it's more than like 3-4 years. All the gasket seals, trim seal tab things, condition of the racks, hard water buildup if that's a problem etc. Those boards are insanely expensive in my experience.
 

Palum

what Suineg set it to
26,540
41,329
Putting this here since I don't see a 'legal' thread and it is home improvement...

So, about two months ago I had my roof replaced with Lowes. They were having a nice 2-year, interest-free financing special plus they were about middle of the road as far as pricing goes. Roofers came out, replaced everything in two days. Looked great.

Here comes some rain, oh look the skylights leak (these were replaced too, so not the original skylights). Not bad, mind you, but I'm finding droplets of water on the hardwood floor. So every time it rains I have to put down towels.

Talked to the Lowes managers. They are always adamant that the problem will be fixed - they'll contact the contractors. I either hear nothing or finally someone shows up without my knowledge (I'm at work, no phone call no nothing) and does "something". Problem doesn't go away, in fact one skylight is worse.

Any idea what my recourse is here? Clearly the contractors they hired have no interest in fixing this. This is financed so I'm wondering if I could simply stop payment until this is resolved, but I don't want to take a chance at wrecking my credit.

Appreciate any input.

Call the store and get the DMs number. In most districts they have a district install manager too, but get the DM themselves involved. In my experience the DMs generally did more than regional VPs because they had direct authority over the store managers and the contractor network.

BBB and contractor authority in the state after that to get some action.

If that doesn't work, I'd say small claims? Seems like just repairing skylight should be under that. If you have everything documented and just ask.The judge to be made whole it should be fine. I'd get a few independent quotes at that point.
 
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