Home Improvement

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Oldbased

Oldbased

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The wraps are amazingly clear initially. In time the exterior ones will cloud up over the months of the winter.
As for replacing the window, depends on the size. If it is painted outside you can replace it yourself in about 2 hours for cost of window+some insulation+3/4x3/4 stock.
It'll look odd though since it won't match the other windows as I am assuming you don't have vinyl windows.
a 32x54inch window is about $140 at Lowes or whatever.

If your window is wood single pane open the window up. Measure from the sill at the top of the slant to the top channel to get height.
If it has a aluminum track measure deepest point to deepest point to get width.
If it has a vinyl track measure inside the wood to inside the wood and add 1 inch.

To remove the old one, get a wood chisel and from the outside chisel out the piece of wood around the window sashes top and sides. Yank out old window, caulk, slide in new window, insulate under, put on bezel on bottom, trim back out with a 3/4 by 3/4 wood nail in with finish nails to the sides only, not into the window, caulk, paint and done.

Should add- This method requires no action inside other than a bead of caulk once done. Also left out, the window will have 4 places to screw it into the jacks on the insides. Taller windows should have 6, if it is over 60inchs I add one in the center.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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For your floor probably the best solution is to make sure you have no raised edges on the cut parts - you can fix that easily with a utility knife - and then fill it with caulk. Get your finger good and wet and smooth that out right after you apply it. It might have to be redone every few months, and it won't be pretty, but it sounds like it's already not pretty.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
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It does depend on style, texture of the vinyl floor. Usually you want to cut it out in a pattern grove such as if it resembles tile, in the fake grout area. Since you've already done this and if you don't have pieces to make a better fit, it is going to be tough to correct and make it look like anything.
Post a pic maybe so we can see it.

If the room is not crazy big, the best solution is to pop up the shoe, go to Lowes/HD/Carpet shop, pick out a loose lay flooring plop it down, put shoe back over it and be done with it.
a 12x15 room size piece of ultraflex no glue vinyl is about $200.
They suggest gluing outside edges 6 inches but if you got shoe all around as it is you can pry up and nail back down , that'll work just as well unless it is a high traffic area with a lot of rolling then you do want to glue around the outside.
Smaller rooms will cost less.
Sometimes it is just easier to put down new stuff than fix old.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

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LOL. As good as I am fixing stuff I had a job 2 years ago where a lady bought a condo and it had brand new carpet and she wanted hardwood so I took the carpet out and put it in my house. Problem was a 2inch diameter hole cut out for a gas shutoff beside the fireplace in the old place and to make it work where I had enough would have been 2 feet out from wall in living room.
Shelly asked if I was going to fix that hole when I put it down, I said yup. I drained aquarium moved it over 2 feet, filled it back up.
Hole fixed.
 
OneofOne

OneofOne

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Lol that's awesome.

Thanks for the advice! Let me put this in context though. My wife is divorcing me and kicking me out of the house I've been (helping) pay the mortgage on and put in uncountable hours fixing shit, landscaping, etc. I just want the floor functional, don't really give a shit how it looks =) I'm tempted to dump a bunch of superglue in, put on some wax paper, and stick something heavy on top. Or maybe rubber cement? I went to a hardware store and there was a shit ton of stuff, but nothing that really sounded like what I was looking for /shrug

I'd considered the caulking, lurkingdirk, but came to the same conclusion that it's simply not made to be walked on and isn't "permanent" enough.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
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Oh , one of those women.
The best repair you could do is go out and get some gasoline, take a perfect pancake pan smack her over the head, pour it on her and light it on fire over the spots.
Should blend right in.

Seriously though, any cements you use will melt the vinyl. The proper way is to cut it to size best you can, use caulking( latex! ) and then a sealer over the repair.
They sell the sealer/seam kit at home improvement stores but it is costly like $18-20 bucks but it will also glue down/adhere both sides of the repair.
If it is close enough you can get by with this alone.
Shop domco Low Gloss Sheet Vinyl Seam Sealer at Lowes.com

You'll find it in the flooring section, in HD oddly enough it is usually near the tile section where they have all the sponges and tools for flooring.
Grab some min wage person and ask, rinse and repeat until you get one that doesn't say uhh
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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Any idea on what code is for venting a bathroom? When I first bought the house, our 2 upstairs bathrooms vented into just the attic. This never caused an issue because we had a ridge vent.

However, 2 years ago, when I replaced the roofing, I got rid of our ridge vent in favor of a nice gable w/ thermal fan. As a result, the upstairs remains MUCH cooler in the summer, where as it used to be incredibly hot. We ran into a problem last winter, though. I went up into the attic for the first time in a while in the middle of the summer, and it was still extremely hot up there. The problem wasn't the heat though (upstairs is much cooler now), but the fact that black mold must have started growing in the winter, and about 25% of the roof was covered in it. I rented one of those black mold fogger things from home depot, and that really took care of the issue (as far as killing off what was up there), and last weekend I began to finally correct the problem by venting the bathroom to the exterior of the house. Now comes the question.

I'm venting it out via the roof soffit. I was wondering what code was in order to vent out via soffit. I know that I have to replace a piece or so of the vented soffiting for the solid type, then mount the exhaust hood thing into the solid soffit. My question is how much do I actually need to replace to hit code? The soffit in question is the shit from home depot. 3 panel. I'm going to mount 2 different 4" vents, so do I need to replace 3 "sections" of soffit, or 9 total panels? Or is replacing only the 1 section sufficient? I have no idea about this stuff. Thanks.

EDIT: It probably doesn't matter, but here's a picture of the soffiting. Exactly the same as every other house.
5UZymb0.jpg
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
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Code is it must be vented to the outside. You used to be able to strap up a hose near a vent and it pass but not anymore. It needs to have it's own 4 inch pipe to the outside due to moisture.
Now it does NOT have to go through the roof. You can get gable/wall vents ( dryer vent basically ) or a soffit vent.
I happened to have this picture handy as I did 2 bathroom vents this morning.
rrr_img_80189.jpg


Edit- Also if your soffit is vinyl you can get the vent to match most common colors at a siding place.
The house I did today was cream on soffits and you could barely tell there were there.

Missed second part so ya just get a exterior vent for soffit,cut a hole , attach and done.
If you have the hose ran out to the eves already you can just reach up and pull the hose through the hole, attach with good hvac tape push back up and screw in the vent.

Last edit-
Some choices for soffit that doesn't stick out like a dryer wall vent would
Siding places may have better selections, our siding store does.
Deflect-o 4 in. x 4 in. Plastic Undereve Vent-EVE/6 at The Home Depot
Master Flow 4 in. Resin Circular Mini Wall Louver Soffit Vent in White (4-Pack)-RLSC4 at The Home Depot
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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Olebass_sl said:
The wraps are amazingly clear initially. In time the exterior ones will cloud up over the months of the winter.
As for replacing the window, depends on the size. If it is painted outside you can replace it yourself in about 2 hours for cost of window+some insulation+3/4x3/4 stock.
It'll look odd though since it won't match the other windows as I am assuming you don't have vinyl windows.
a 32x54inch window is about $140 at Lowes or whatever.

If your window is wood single pane open the window up. Measure from the sill at the top of the slant to the top channel to get height.
If it has a aluminum track measure deepest point to deepest point to get width.
If it has a vinyl track measure inside the wood to inside the wood and add 1 inch.

To remove the old one, get a wood chisel and from the outside chisel out the piece of wood around the window sashes top and sides. Yank out old window, caulk, slide in new window, insulate under, put on bezel on bottom, trim back out with a 3/4 by 3/4 wood nail in with finish nails to the sides only, not into the window, caulk, paint and done.

Should add- This method requires no action inside other than a bead of caulk once done. Also left out, the window will have 4 places to screw it into the jacks on the insides. Taller windows should have 6, if it is over 60inchs I add one in the center.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice. I don't know if I'm ready for replacing windows just yet. And I'd definitely not do that now. All the cold air I'd let in would probably negate any savings I'd make over the season.

You're right, I have aluminum frames. I'll caulk the gap between the drywall and frame and test out some film on a window to see if it stops condensation and doesn't get cloudy(inside). Since I have a metal frame, should I apply the film to it as well?
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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16,354
I just added a picture of the soffit on my house. It's night out, so the picture is dark.

EDIT: Do I not need to replace the vented soffiting with solid where I mount the 4" round vent? I was under the impression that I had to.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
28,436
67,422
If you want to reduce condensation you want to use exterior kits. They are easy to apply but you will need a hairdryer once down to remove the wrinkles and make them look decent.
Most improvement stores sells frostking, which the plastic is ok but they use cheap as hell tape.
Order 3m if you can instead like this:
3M Outdoor Window Insulator Kit, 2-Window - Weatherproofing Window Insulation Kits - Amazon.com


Let me ask this. When you say condensation you do have a single glass pane and you can wipe the water around right?
If so ignore below, it is the cloudy part that makes me ask the following:

Usually cloudy condensation is from double pane windows where the seal in the glass has broken and no longer filled with the gas that prevents moisture from thermal transfers.
If that's the case you can remove the window, take it down to a window place and have the glass replaced.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
28,436
67,422
Xarpolis_sl said:
I just added a picture of the soffit on my house. It's night out, so the picture is dark.

EDIT: Do I not need to replace the vented soffiting with solid where I mount the 4" round vent? I was under the impression that I had to.
Click to expand...
All of your soffit is vented? I usually do half and half. Hmm to be honest I am not sure. I've always vented it using soffit vents on solid sections. Not sure since it is forced air down and out if it would come back in or evaporate prior to that. It would be blowing out with 50-120 cfm of force depending on bathroom vent type.

Edit-Just scrolled up and saw picture. I would get the soffit vent like in the first picture I posted. Flat vent with a boot you can tape the duct on.
Or these would be a much better choice since it has a internal flap( making now 2 from outside to inside to keep the air out since you are in PA ) much better than the HD ones I linked earlier.

Shop IMPERIAL 4" and 6" Soffit Exhaust Vent at Lowes.com
 
Xarpolis

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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Yeah. I'll just play it safe and replace 3 small sideways sections. It's easy enough, and a 10 foot length of soffit (which will do all 3) is only $14 from Home Depot.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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Olebass_sl said:
If you want to reduce condensation you want to use exterior kits. They are easy to apply but you will need a hairdryer once down to remove the wrinkles and make them look decent.
Most improvement stores sells frostking, which the plastic is ok but they use cheap as hell tape.
Order 3m if you can instead like this:
3M Outdoor Window Insulator Kit, 2-Window - Weatherproofing Window Insulation Kits - Amazon.com


Let me ask this. When you say condensation you do have a single glass pane and you can wipe the water around right?
If so ignore below, it is the cloudy part that makes me ask the following:

Usually cloudy condensation is from double pane windows where the seal in the glass has broken and no longer filled with the gas that prevents moisture from thermal transfers.
If that's the case you can remove the window, take it down to a window place and have the glass replaced.
Click to expand...
Single pane windows.

Why does the plastic insulation on the outside work better than inside?
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

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Because the window is condensating due to the temp difference between inside and out along with the moisture difference. The plastic gives a barrier between outside and in which helps keep the glass more the inside temp and regulated. Last year I did the plastic on some inside and some outside. The ones I did inside the glass actually froze over in ice on those days where it only got to 10 degrees. The windows I did it outside( out back and sides ) never had any ill effect.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
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67,422
Also deathwing, have you considered a monitor? I use Acurite which I bought in Walmart but amazon carries it as well for under $10 often. It displays the temp and humidity and keeps track of the last 24 hours high and low. The battery in mine has been going over 2 years now.
It has been invaluable in my home and homes I am working in to tell a homeowner what's going on. Like last year a nice house I was working on had drywall issues, her house at constantly at 65-70% humidity.
Mine right this minute is 58% which is too high for the temp ( it will tell you on screen to low, right or too high based on moisture+temp ).
Last winter it got low like 22% which is not healthy due to all the electric heat which prompted me to buy infrared heaters for this year.

For under $10 it is handy as hell. Even better to sit on problem windows and see how it differs 10 feet into a room. Your issue may not be your windows, it may just be showing up there due to airflow/temp difference.
 
Deathwing

Deathwing

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I gauge the humidity based on how much water the dehumidifier pulled out. I usually try to keep it under 55% since I think mold starts to grow at 60%? If it pulls a lot out for a certain time period, I know to run it again sooner. But, if a monitor is only $10, why not?

Why is 22% humidity bad? Excepting maybe the humans that are breathing in too dry air.
 
Oldbased

Oldbased

> Than U
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30-50% is the target. Condensation issues should vanish at 40-45% which is idea.
Low humidity results in dry skin, agitated eyes and so forth. For me it makes my lungs agitated.
Also static electricity and the fact it makes you feel colder ( and you are more vulnerable to colds as well! ) due to how fast body moisture evaporates.
That is why I am trying infrared heat this year at a semi safe wavelength, supposed to not dry out the air thus 68 degrees feels warmer.
 
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