Home Improvement

Ventless is easiest, you probably know, but they have some sophisticated electronics in them to keep them from killing you and those components are built in China by the lowest bidder. I wouldn't install one.

So a couple dozen pages back I was posting about our basement remodel. The contractor got about 90% done and just stopped coming around. He's still owed about $500, but I haven't seen him in nearly 3 months. There's still little touch ups to do and a few random minor things he never finished (sanding / paint around outlets, for instance), but I'm basically at the point of assuming he has no intention to return. I email him every 10 days or so, and get more chatter about health issues or how behind he is with other work.

He seemed like a nice guy and we are happy with the work he did complete, so I took his reasons at face value and have given him an awful lot of time. However, the last time he was around was the end of August. I feel like if he had any intention of finishing he'd have made efforts by now. I've remained polite the entire time, but the kid gloves need to come off.

I'd just let this go were it not for one major aspect of the job he hadn't finished yet. He has my cabinet doors which were supposed to get hung up in the kitchen. That's my property, and I'm not in a position to just replace them.

Do I have any recourse at this point? I do have a signed contract and a whole series of emails back and forth where he keeps assuring me he'll come by to finish, but this has gone on long enough.

Is he licensed? If yes, you can get in touch with the State License Board. They'll straighten him out.

He's got some kind of contract with state parks & rec, so I imagine he'd have to be.

edit: Yes, there's a license # on the contract he sent me back in summer. Trying to verify it with the state board.

I'm assuming the work he has left is worth less than he is owed, so have you tried asking for the doors back?
I would ask for the doors or a time to pick them up and complete yourself or hire someone for the minor stuff if that is all that is left.
If it is a situation where he has more work/finishing materials than owed however, sick the board on him.
Also if you have asked for the doors and not got them back sick the board on him.

Unless he has had heart surgery or some shit he could have come at nights/weekends or whatever by now if he was that behind on jobs to finish it.
I had this happen years back when I broke my foot and assisted the homeowner on the job I was doing to get it finished with another contractor for what I was still owed.

Uber Uberest_sl said:

You want to keep cold air from entering you house at all times. Leaving your spigot open gives winter air a direct line to it's shut off point. It's literally the stupidest fucking thing I've ever heard.

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Do you have every bit of cold water piping insulated in your house? The water coming from your main will make the pipe holding it MUCH colder than the pipe to an open spigot that goes all of 20-25 inches into your house before reaching the shut off valve.

Edit to include the previous message.

Ya was wondering if you meant Uber. To be honest I personally wrap all water lines from entry to within 12 inches of hot water heater and back to all subfloor entrances.
A person can save a shit ton of money putting insulation on the hot water pipe and putting it on the cold helps with condensation issues which lead to mold and whatnot, not to mention freeze protection.
$100 of pipe foam will probably pay for itself under a house within a year.

Anyone know much about Air Compressors and blowing out sprinkler systems? I have 5 houses that I am paying $65 a pop to blow out each year and I am finally ready to buy my own air compressor and save the money.

From my limited research, it appears that the PSI needed is only about 60 to 90 max. If I got a higher PSI rated unit, do they have the ability be toned down to a lower setting? Next it appears that the bigger the Gallon tank, the better? I have seen some tank in the $400 range that are 28 gallons, but is that over kill? What size should I target for residential uses?

Finally, I wouldn't mind getting one that could work for both blowing out sprinklers and hooking up a nail gun when needed. Also, I am noticing that stores like Home Depot & Lowes include a few air compressors in their Black Friday deals. I wonder if I might be able to snag a good deal?

I had a long conversation about this with someone who knows all about it recently. I was going to do my own with my Craftsman compressor, which is a decent one, but is portable. This dude told me that the issue is volume. You don't just need to get up to 60 PSI, you need to produce 60 PSI in what is often hundreds of feet of 1 inch or 3/4 inch pipe, and there are sprinkler heads leaking air the whole time. You really need to have one of those tow-behind compressors to produce that kind of volume while maintaining the pressure.

There is a guy in town here who does a 25$ cash deal if you get in with your neighbours. I got four people on the street in on it, and paid 25$ to get it done professionally. I'm sure there are deals like that to be found in your city, too.

My dad has an ancient compressor with a handle/dolly wheels maybe the size like 2 toilets side by side. (Couldnt think of anything that was similiar sized on the fly). He's done his own house for years. Colorado cold. Hasn't been an issue. If these arn't huge properties, I imagine it would work fine. (Perhaps pro hauled one makes it bone dry vs a smaller one gets enough out that even freezing doesn't expand much to burst pipe.)

One thing on the volume is, unless older ones couldn't perhaps, when my dad does ours, the pipes are blown by zone. (So average $300k house lot, is divided into 6 zones) Certainly makes for less volume I'd imagine.

That said I would agree if you can find a neighborhood deal with everyone for cheap that is some peace of mind perhaps over doing it yourself and the time.

It varies by sprinkler size/lengths/zones and other factors.
My 6 gallon bosch is enough to do Joel's the house I am doing the bathroom in right now, I do his every year. It isn't enough to do the neighbors though. Joel has sprinklers only at the landscaping where his neighbor has various runs out in the yard and whatnot.
There is all sorts of formulas for size of pipes to cfm of compressor at various PSI's but without having a massive compressor to overcome all the variables you need to know what you have as far as run lengths and all that and figure up what size you do need to just do yours.

Fight_sl said:

Anyone know much about Air Compressors and blowing out sprinkler systems? I have 5 houses that I am paying $65 a pop to blow out each year and I am finally ready to buy my own air compressor and save the money.

From my limited research, it appears that the PSI needed is only about 60 to 90 max. If I got a higher PSI rated unit, do they have the ability be toned down to a lower setting? Next it appears that the bigger the Gallon tank, the better? I have seen some tank in the $400 range that are 28 gallons, but is that over kill? What size should I target for residential uses?

Finally, I wouldn't mind getting one that could work for both blowing out sprinklers and hooking up a nail gun when needed. Also, I am noticing that stores like Home Depot & Lowes include a few air compressors in their Black Friday deals. I wonder if I might be able to snag a good deal?

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I worked with/sold/designed compressed gas systems for 8-9 years. What do you need to know?

What is the typical ID of the sprinkler system?
What is the length of the system?
What is the pressure required to actually push the residue out of the system?

P1 x V1 = P2 x V2

P1 = Pressure of the tank (i.e. max pressure of the compressor)
V1 = Volume of tank
P2 = Pressure required to push out residue
V2 = pi x Length of Pipe X (ID / 2)^2

EDIT: Make sure your volumes have the same unit of measurement.

You will want to solve for V1.

That V1 will give you the total amount of compressed air you would want to store if you wanted to do the whole job without a compressor. (Assuming a fully compressed line does the job? You might need run time to keep the stuff pushing.)

Compressors are rated in Horepower and should give you a CFM rating. If you have trouble getting a CFM rating for your compressor, multiply the HP by 4 and it'll give you a ballpark number. Compressors are also rated with a maximum PSI. They also have an operating range. While the max pressure may be 125 psig, it might not be able to maintain 125PSIG at full blow, so keep that in mind. I usually would give it a 15psig range on it, unless you buy a compressor with controls to keep the pressure up. But then you run your motor a lot.

Once you have your CFM rating, you will be able to figure out how fast you can generate the volume of air necessary to maintain pressure and flow throughout the system.

The real real world concerns you'll come up against is leak rate. How fast is the air leaking out of the system at the end points/joints.

What you'll find at Home Depot are simple 1-5 gallon pancake compressors that might not have enough oomf for what you need to do.

Draegan_sl said:

So never by shitty lights. I had to redo all the electrical on Friday. Good thing that I was able to worm my hand sup into the ceiling and remove the boxes. Proper install now.

All that is left is a few more pieces of wood to put trim on the bottom of the doorway.
Cleanup
Caulk
Paint
Cleanup

So close.

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All is done except for the wall color, which I'll do today.



So close. This picture is pre-2nd coat on the white paint.

ITT TIL that Draegan sold propane and propane accessories for 9 years.

I have some bad news for you, Olebass. My wife prepped the piece of furniture, then painted it with Behr Marquee. Unfortunately, it still has a slight sticky type of finish. I'm hoping that if we let it sit out for a few more days, that will go away, but if it doesn't, we're going try some clear polyurethane to seal it for good. Then it definitely won't be sticky. It'll stink horribly for a few days, but at least it won't be sticky.

Sorry Olebass is taking a little vacation for being a racist shithead in another thread.