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!
Palum
what Suineg set it to
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So I finished removing all wallpaper and ceiling texture in the living room I'm redoing. Decided to install can lights with no top access to the ceiling. Opened up the stud bay with the switch and on the ceiling and nearly wept with joy at the straight gorgeous 2x10 joists with blocking and full strapping. Put fish tape up and was able to sneak it through the entire room. Will even be able to sneak it up into coffered ceiling box and around the top plate.
I think I just used a decades worth of luck to avoid cutting like 6 access holes in the ceiling to drill and fish through joists, but maybe worth it.
I think I just used a decades worth of luck to avoid cutting like 6 access holes in the ceiling to drill and fish through joists, but maybe worth it.
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So just about done with my rebuilt greenhouse to finished proper patio room project......
Before (Patio destroyed by storms in Feb...):
After:
Still some finishing touches like a TV, wrap/paint the old fridge and freezer, but it's got me feeling honestly happy about the amount I've had to wrestle with insurance companies and subcontractors over it.
And yes the pic with the two dogs does show the integrated dog door behind the wheelbarrow....
Before (Patio destroyed by storms in Feb...):
After:
Still some finishing touches like a TV, wrap/paint the old fridge and freezer, but it's got me feeling honestly happy about the amount I've had to wrestle with insurance companies and subcontractors over it.
And yes the pic with the two dogs does show the integrated dog door behind the wheelbarrow....
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It's tall enough, and the framer put in the two fan mounts (look at the middle of the celling with the can lights on either side). It will be one of those touches I haven't done yet. But it's not super tall, so it will need to be a low profile fan.
And yeah
lurkingdirk
, effectively added over 450 sq ft to the house in proper finished space. But I will admit I've improved this house over 20 years now to the point I have probably overbuilt relative to the neighborhood in terms of valuation. The couch is the 15 year old Sactional that
Mrs. Haus
and I had in our living room, as to give her an excuse to go shopping for new living room furniture now. (Although the Sactional is still in great shape for it's age)When the storm damaged it, she wanted to just remove the structure and call it a day, But then where would I keep my patio fridge and chest freezer?!?. Also this was a good year in the Cybersecurity Consulting and Sales world for me, so I had the cash to add some to the insurance payout.
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moonarchia
The Scientific Shitlord
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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Yeah, the chain link fence (which I need to repair some of) divides the back yard from the driveway which goes to the detached garage as to contain and control the pack of wild hounds in the back yard.
This is the washer plumbing in my bathroom renovation. I have dealt with washer valve leaks and drain spills in every house I've ever lived in, so fuck that noise. Both wall compartments with plumbing get an interior waterproof liner, so if there's a leak it will run out under the trim and down into the floor drain I installed under the washer. This is all going behind a removable access panel so that I don't have to destroy and repair drywall for any future maintenance.
If anyone remembers my saga with plumbing quotes for $12,000 rough-ins, my contractor friend ended up doing the whole thing himself for ~$5500 including materials after consulting a plumber buddy regarding code. Took him a while, but well worth the savings and I get copper instead of the pex all the other plumbers were pushing.
If anyone remembers my saga with plumbing quotes for $12,000 rough-ins, my contractor friend ended up doing the whole thing himself for ~$5500 including materials after consulting a plumber buddy regarding code. Took him a while, but well worth the savings and I get copper instead of the pex all the other plumbers were pushing.
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Lanx
<Prior Amod>
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looks like he went w/ propress fittings instead of sweating, i'm guessing you didn't want to think you'll have to deal w/ a bad soldered joint
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It was more about how the plumbers were trying to convince me to replace the 10 year old copper in the rest of the house when I all I needed was the bathroom rough-in. Just bullshit high-margin sales attempts.
I do have reservations about pex itself. I've been in pex-piped houses with definite odors in the water, and studies have found measurable levels of dozens of toxic compounds leeching out of the plastic. Not high levels or levels currently understood to be dangerous, but if I have the extra budget for copper why run the science experiment on my family?
We researched and discussed the pros and cons of ProPress fittings. They're supposed to be airtight at 200 PSI and water tight at 600, which is obviously more than enough for residential water. If properly applied they seem to be about as durable as soldered joints and involve significantly less labor. There's still a bunch of soldering where the joints are in spaces too tight to get the ProPress clamps in.
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Pasteton
Blackwing Lair Raider
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The homes are all attached and shared walls so they can’t do a full bulldoze or something for that reason I’m told. The contractor literally said exactly that , a complete bulldoze and new home would be cheaper but not possible so to actually do a foundation retrofit in a space like that is apparently insanely expensive. Anyways I backed outta that place.
now I’m looking at a top floor unit in a triplex. Seems to be in solid shape, but the roof and hvac only have a few years of life left. But main issue is apparently there is a water leak into the boiler room in the garage, the inspector wasn’t sure but guessed it’s coming from the shower of the bottom floor unit. So have no idea if that owner did or will do anything about it. Is this also a stay the fuck away kind of situation? Not my unit but his shit is leaking into the garage seems like could spell disaster for the building I dunno. No water stains elsewhere
now I’m looking at a top floor unit in a triplex. Seems to be in solid shape, but the roof and hvac only have a few years of life left. But main issue is apparently there is a water leak into the boiler room in the garage, the inspector wasn’t sure but guessed it’s coming from the shower of the bottom floor unit. So have no idea if that owner did or will do anything about it. Is this also a stay the fuck away kind of situation? Not my unit but his shit is leaking into the garage seems like could spell disaster for the building I dunno. No water stains elsewhere
Palum
what Suineg set it to
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I mean there's definitely no recent case of poor construction and water intrusion causing degradation in structural concrete members which could lead to punching shear and a complete building collapse.
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So in tangent to a conversation I saw around humidity and dehumidifiers in the house. I have a conundrum, so of course I come to my favorite strangers on the interwebs... I have a dual thermometer/hygrometer the base of which is in our kitchen, the remote "outside" sensor is on the aforementioned patio room. Patio room has it's own little window unit built in for supplemental AC and it blows and goes and definitely dehumidifies (it drains outside).
Ideas?
- Average humidity in DFW these days is around 45-49%
- Humidity measured on the patio room is around 35%. Even though it's set a few degrees higher than the house it always feels cooler and better these days.
- Humidity inside the house is hovering around 55-59%, even
Mrs. Haus
has commented it feels somewhere between "stuffy" and "humid" to her.
Ideas?
So in tangent to a conversation I saw around humidity and dehumidifiers in the house. I have a conundrum, so of course I come to my favorite strangers on the interwebs... I have a dual thermometer/hygrometer the base of which is in our kitchen, the remote "outside" sensor is on the aforementioned patio room. Patio room has it's own little window unit built in for supplemental AC and it blows and goes and definitely dehumidifies (it drains outside).
Our AC unit combined with a Nest thermostat apparently supports "cool to dry" which I have turned on. But it's still higher than I expect and higher than the outside air. Debating if I should consider a dehumidifier for use in the house to pull that down and wondering if that will help the AC not have to go through quite as grueling a Summer.
- Average humidity in DFW these days is around 45-49%
- Humidity measured on the patio room is around 35%. Even though it's set a few degrees higher than the house it always feels cooler and better these days.
- Humidity inside the house is hovering around 55-59%, even
Ideas?
Where is the water coming from to keep the house humid? Have you checked your dryer vents, vents in your showers, etc? Do you have a shitload of plants, some kind of water feature?
I would think natural air exchange should keep your house essentially in line with ambient unless you were specifically altering the air. And assuming you're running the AC that would tend to dry the air out. Maybe you have a problem with your AC and are somehow recirculating the condensate? Maybe your AC is oversized compared to your living space and not running cycle times long enough to dry out the air?
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That's what I'm investigating right now. No bad bathroom vents (only one of 2.5 bathrooms has a venting fan, it's an old house), dryer vent is clear and good. No moisture or leaks under any of the sinks. AC unit is pumping it's condensation out it's drain as it should be...
I know it's not oversized AC. Last year during peak heat it was needing to run almost 24/7 it felt like. This year with the patio no longer being an oven attached to the south side of the house it's had it a bit easier, but still runs pretty much solid from 10am-10pm it seems. I am wondering if the humidity is more localized in the kitchen. So i'm going to test moving the remote sensor around the house and see what it's like in different rooms. But I doubt that's going to be illuminating, since both the indoor/outdoor and the Nest both say 59% right now. But if the remote doesn't line up with that once I've put it in the house then I know the remote unit is inaccurate.
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That could contribute a lot. Are people taking showers in those bathrooms? Maybe consider having vents installed. Bound to be cheaper in the long run than dehumidifiers.