Home Improvement
- Thread starter Picasso3
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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!
BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I'm relatively happy with my brick hearth.
Here's the bricks glued to the floor...
I failed miserably at grouting them without getting mortar all over the bricks.
I actually think they look kind of cool like this, but it's not the look I was going for. So I spent 3 hours grinding the mortar off of them with an angle grinder and a cup brush. This sucked ass and covered everything in the house with dust. Check out the red dirt to the right of the bricks. That's all from the grinder, the floor is actually white. They looked a lot better, but still had kind of a haze on them.
So I cleaned them with a glycolic acid cleaner made for taking mortar off of tile/brick. I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm sure a pro would have nicer looking grout lines, but they're good enough for me. I have some 3/16" flat steel that I'm going to paint black and put around the outside but I'm going to wait until the flooring is in and hope the steel can cover the edges of the flooring. If not I may have to go around it with wood instead.
Here's the bricks glued to the floor...
I failed miserably at grouting them without getting mortar all over the bricks.
I actually think they look kind of cool like this, but it's not the look I was going for. So I spent 3 hours grinding the mortar off of them with an angle grinder and a cup brush. This sucked ass and covered everything in the house with dust. Check out the red dirt to the right of the bricks. That's all from the grinder, the floor is actually white. They looked a lot better, but still had kind of a haze on them.
So I cleaned them with a glycolic acid cleaner made for taking mortar off of tile/brick. I'm pretty happy with the results. I'm sure a pro would have nicer looking grout lines, but they're good enough for me. I have some 3/16" flat steel that I'm going to paint black and put around the outside but I'm going to wait until the flooring is in and hope the steel can cover the edges of the flooring. If not I may have to go around it with wood instead.
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Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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My lawn mower engine has been surging so I was opening up the hood to pull the carb and a bird flew out. Found a small nest behind the gas tank and some eggs zzz
Edit: Update: took the carb off and ran a single wire brush bristle through the injection needle orifices and it fixed my engine surging. That gave me enough experience to ding level 2 Amateur Small Engine Mechanic.
Edit: Update: took the carb off and ran a single wire brush bristle through the injection needle orifices and it fixed my engine surging. That gave me enough experience to ding level 2 Amateur Small Engine Mechanic.
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Brahma
Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
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Going to put down a path from my back porch to the deck across the yard. Going to do the work myself since I am home anyway. Was going to go single 15" stones. They arrived today, and the path looks MUCH better and easier to walk on doubled up side by side. Will be a few hundred more after I double them up and add some in front of the deck but I think I'll regret it if I don't double up.
The stones are thick/heavy as fuck. Will need to go down like 5 inches or so it looks like. Me just getting the stones out the driveway and in the yard KILLED me. This may take some time meees a thinkin'.
Not sure on the spacing between stones either. I kinda liked them tighter.
Anyway...Thoughts? Tips? Suggestions? (Ignore the brown shit called "grass")
The stones are thick/heavy as fuck. Will need to go down like 5 inches or so it looks like. Me just getting the stones out the driveway and in the yard KILLED me. This may take some time meees a thinkin'.
Not sure on the spacing between stones either. I kinda liked them tighter.
Anyway...Thoughts? Tips? Suggestions? (Ignore the brown shit called "grass")
Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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Tips: Two inches of crushed concrete (concrete fines) and 1/2” of paver sand under your stones will all but guarantee no shifting or movement (except for large tree roots of course).
Suggestions: Use a torpedo level and a long level (at least 3 ft) for the best result. Prior to laying any blocks, use stakes, masonry string, and a line level to establish the final height of your walkway. Setting a string line might seem like an extra step and added work, but it gives you peace of mind that your pavers are all the same height. When you’re done, use polymeric sand to fill in the gaps. It more or less acts as an adhesive that keeps your blocks where you placed them.
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Crone
Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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Fuck home inspectors, those pieces of shit. Lazy ass fucks that put a lot of useless words into a report to make it look like they did a lot of work when in they hardly did shit. Cunts.
Home inspector I feel cost me $14k in water damage repairs and future water proofing last year when it was discovered they didn't go but 3ft under the house to check shit. But hey, I'm not bitter!
Home inspector I feel cost me $14k in water damage repairs and future water proofing last year when it was discovered they didn't go but 3ft under the house to check shit. But hey, I'm not bitter!
H.A. Monkey
Golden Knight of the Realm
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Figure this would be a better area for this question. Chainsaws! I need a new one. Having recently upgraded almost all my work tools to Milwaukee M18(Fuel for most) cordless, I also bought the string trimmer last spring. String trimmer is badass. Expensive, but I spent a week mulling over options. My chainsaw’s fuel line disintegrated and probably clogged the carb. I use my trimmer near weekly, the cost justification came from the fact that I’ve saved over 4-6 hours from dicking with fuel mixing. I will not use the chainsaw nearly as much.
Does anyone have a suggestion for chainsaws? Should I just bite the chain and just get the Milwaukee M18 one? Home Depot has the hedge trimmer+chainsaw combo for $400 and I’m thinking of getting them.
Does anyone have a suggestion for chainsaws? Should I just bite the chain and just get the Milwaukee M18 one? Home Depot has the hedge trimmer+chainsaw combo for $400 and I’m thinking of getting them.
BrutulTM
Good, bad, I'm the guy with the gun.
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I have a 36V Makita cordless chainsaw along with Stihl and a Husqvarna gas saws. For little jobs I love the electric one. No need to deal with mixing fuel, clogged carburetors, fouled plugs, changing oil, and everything else that goes wrong with small engines. On top of that it's so much lighter and quieter than a gas saw that it's just a pleasure to use. I have cut some pretty large trees with mine as well.
That said, if I'm going out to cut firewood all day, I'm taking a gas saw. I have used it some for that but it's done in half an hour and you sort of feel like you're abusing it. For jobs like trimming brush or whatever though, I wouldn't even think about starting up one of the big saws if the electric was available. It's light enough to use 1-handed, which is a pretty big advantage in close quarters and awkward situations.
That said, if I'm going out to cut firewood all day, I'm taking a gas saw. I have used it some for that but it's done in half an hour and you sort of feel like you're abusing it. For jobs like trimming brush or whatever though, I wouldn't even think about starting up one of the big saws if the electric was available. It's light enough to use 1-handed, which is a pretty big advantage in close quarters and awkward situations.
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Yeah, I can't imagine replacing my chain saws and going to strictly battery. Wouldn't do the job for me, especially if I'm in the back corner of my property and I don't want to be running back to the house to charge batteries.
I also have a Stihl and a Husqvarna one. Stihl is the way to go for chainsaws.
I also have a Stihl and a Husqvarna one. Stihl is the way to go for chainsaws.
Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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Assuming you don’t have the know-how already and are reasonably good at following instructional YouTube videos, you can find somebody that’ll show you how to replace your carb (they’re pretty cheap and relatively simple to swap/replace). Might not need a new chainsaw!
H.A. Monkey
Golden Knight of the Realm
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Cost is minimal to fix. Time to fix.....I could use that time to be doing other shit. Plus chainsaw is 15 years old already. Wasn’t the best one to begin with. I don’t have many trees, but I’d hire a company to fell an entire tree. A branch or two I’m capable of dealing with most of the time. The not having to deal with a gas mix ever again is worth it to me. Everything else is straight gas.
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So look carefully at those pictures from the home inspection I linked. I had to back out of the deal due to so many problems being found. My cousin estimates 30k, minimum, and that just handles the problems in the front. There wasn't a vapor barrier used between the manufactured rock and the wall. Nearly every peak was improperly framed. I have a terrifying video of water bugs coming through the wall upstairs. The seller was getting pissed because I kept having experts go out there and look at it, but the 3rd one sealed the deal. Dodged a bullet. It probably needs 60+k in repairs just due to water related issues before I put a single dollar into something that I could get back out of the house.
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Khane
Got something right about marriage
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Depending on what state you're in those issues have to be disclosed for all future contracts as well. So you may have done future prospective buyers a huge favor as well.
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Brahma
Obi-Bro Kenobi-X
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So I started my walkway. I will NOT be doing this again. Every muscle hurts.
There were so many roots/rocks I almost quit. I also have a cement block RIGHT in the fuckin pathway. Shit was buried like four inches down. Looks like it might have been a swing set or some shit. I also have no idea what I am going to do with all this dirt/grass clumps!!
There were so many roots/rocks I almost quit. I also have a cement block RIGHT in the fuckin pathway. Shit was buried like four inches down. Looks like it might have been a swing set or some shit. I also have no idea what I am going to do with all this dirt/grass clumps!!
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Dandai
<WoW Guild Officer>
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It's hard fuckin work, there's no doubt about that. Looks like you made a lot of progress though!
GuardianX
Perpetually Pessimistic
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Doing it all with shovel?
God damn dude didn't you recover from cancer or some shit?
Rent a bob-cat or some shit if you can!