Home Improvement

Ok, that's all the videos. Enjoy.

It is that time of the year again folks and most of us last year had a whopper of a cold winter.
I did a inspection today of a home for drafts and so forth and it was a good day to do it since the inside temp was 76 and outside temp 51 all day.
I found vents where the flex duct had rotted/ripped away so heating was going to the crawlspace instead of the house.
I found weatherstripping on windows that had vanished away on the bottom sashes of the windows and I found doors with worn out weatherstripping that had visible light coming from it.

In addition using smoke and with the help of a windy cold day I found numerous plug/switch outlets with drafts and plumbing shutoffs that had massive air coming around them.

Most heat loss occurs in the attic and blown insulation is fairly cheap, oftentimes people don't need a whole new blown attic however but you should check to make sure it is covered uniformly if you have access to it but make sure your eves can breathe.
Preferably with the foam inserts and insulated up against. It is also a good time to make sure bathroom exhaust fans still have their ducting attached as I found 2 today that had no vents at all just venting straight out onto the drywall in the bathrooms and some serious mold/mildew issues.

If you live in a place like me( I rent a decent house ) that has single pane windows, the plastic really does work. I not only suggest it inside but outside as well( use gorilla tape outside! ). A house should never be sealed up 100% so I do my side and rear windows, as the clear isn't bad but it is a bit unsightly, but if it is stopping drafts which make you feel colder and losing heat, who gives a shit.

To put foam draft blockers on plugs/switches, weatherstrip doors/windows/shutoffs, cover your windows and spot some insulation in the attic and re tape busted ducts will only cost you around $100 now if you do it yourself, and trust me if the winter is bad, you'll get a full return and then some on investment if you have issues.

Also make sure your windows and doors are caulked ALL the way around. I constantly find windows and doors where the top casing is not sealed.
While you are at it, make sure the thresholds under the doors are sealed as well. Not only for cold but water/insects invade in that spot.

If your house was built right, insulated right and up to modern codes most of these things can't be improved upon, however that is a big if as most contractors don't give a shit and may have not spent the 5 dollars to seal that door, or caulked holes made for plumbing, electrical, hvac.

I'm sure most if not all of you already knew all this , but being in a 4200 square foot $750,000 home today to find the issues I did made me think I should bring it up.

Anyone have experience with glass vessel bathroom sinks? My house has fairly hard water so I worry it will get spotty if I don't religiously wipe it down. The sink would be going on top of a concrete countertop. Below is a picture of my other bathroom that I recently redid to give a color reference.


I was thinking about a sink similar to this;

Hate them, personally. I just don't see the appeal. And not having an overflow on a sink is always a recipe for potential disaster, IMO.

While I don't particularly hate them(glass vessel sink) or anything, I definitely see them as a fad that will instantly date a bathroom a decade or two from now. It'll be on par with lime green/yellow tile from the 70s, or carpeted bathrooms from the 80s/90s. Definitely not a timeless item.

Eomer_sl said:

Hate them, personally. I just don't see the appeal. And not having an overflow on a sink is always a recipe for potential disaster, IMO.

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^^ My thoughts exactly. I realize this isn't the advice you are seeking, but are you sure you want to go this route?

I'm not sold on it due to a lot of disappointing 1+ year ownership reviews. I like the look of the white ceramic in the other bathroom, but wanted something interesting in the guest bathroom. I thought about doing a concrete molded sink, but the forms for those are more than buying a natural stone sink outright.

Just picked up the backsplash tile today and got my concrete counterforms delivered (for any interested, they have a nice selection if you're into concrete). Just need to pick out a sink and faucet and I'll start demo work.http://concretecountertopsolutions.c...edge-profiles/

Next spring I'm going to be doing some major mulching around my house. What's is the best thing to do before mulching to minimize the amount of weeds growing in the mulch? Just spray the fuck out of it with roundup and put one of those weed screens down?

I've known people to actually get all the prep work done in the fall, and lay the landscaping fabric in place. That way, come spring, it's an easy job to dump the mulch, and you can do it before things start to grow.

Yeah, get the fabric, it works great. If you use fabric, you don't have to go crazy with 4+ inches of mulch in order to keep weeds away. The fabric isn't cheap, but it saves you money on mulch in the long run.

So just replaced my water heater, and the pressure of the hot water faucet in my shower has more than tripled. No other outlet in the house has been affected - even that bathroom's sink. Not complaining at all, just seems weird. I can only assume some blockage cleared up, even though I've seen nothing come out so far.

OneofOne_sl said:

So just replaced my water heater, and the pressure of the hot water faucet in my shower has more than tripled. No other outlet in the house has been affected - even that bathroom's sink. Not complaining at all, just seems weird. I can only assume some blockage cleared up, even though I've seen nothing come out so far.

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Single or two handle? Might be something to do with the pressure balancing mechanism if it's a single handle.

Wrap seal the windows with that plastic stuff from Home Depot/Lowe's. It doesn't sound like you have a "moist house", it sounds like you have a big heat loss issue. Caulking will also help.

I wouldn't recommend replacing the windows. Replacing windows is one of the worst investments for a home.

Deathwing_sl said:

Doesn't those wraps make the window cloudy? Never used the stuff but that's what my wife thinks.

Armchair physics inc: why does heat loss matter? Unless you put a ton of insulation on the window, it will eventually cool to the outside temperature. That point, moisture will condense on the window regardless? idk, it might be worth pointing out that the downstairs doesn't have this problem but we keep it 3 degrees colder since we're hardly ever down there.

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Well, you're not gonna be able to see out of the windows as well. It's not really "cloudy" but it's a layer of "clear" plastic over the windows. But tell you're wife you can take her on a nice vacation with all the money you'll save on heating the house this winter. It just sounds to me like you have drafty windows that are not sealed properly and are causing major heat loss. I'm no physicist but I do know that I used to have the same issues as you with my windows, and in fact on cold enough nights the condensation would actually freeze and I'd have frost on the inside of my windows. Once I started using that plastic wrap to seal them my heating bill went way down. You could always get an energy assessment. They might even be free through your energy company.

Eomer_sl said:

Single or two handle? Might be something to do with the pressure balancing mechanism if it's a single handle.

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Two handle. Our water is super hard, but, dunno, can't explain it.

I have another issue just popped up and I just can't figure out the best route to go. We have some super shitty 1/4" vinyl floors in the dining room, and I ripped up 3 spots while moving something really heavy. I've cut out the bad sections and glued in new ones, but it wasn't a very good job (IE a blind man could have cut straighter) so there's a little 1/16 - 1/8" gap between the new pieces and the rest of the floor. What's the best way to "fill in" the gap and smooth it out so that running your hand over the floor you can't feel the new pieces? As is I have a feeling the floor is going to start peeling up over time as people walk over it and kick the exposed edges, plus it just looks like shit /shrug I was thinking something like putty, but I can't imagine that's strong enough to have people walking over it all the time.