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Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




I'm already terrified. Why does your shower have a control panel in it.

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Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

Mine has one that's just a thermostat and re-balancer so my kid doesn't get scalded when the dishwasher is on.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


The Eco Cute water heater system automatically fills the bathtub, reheats bathwater, records hot water usage, lets you select priority for hot water between the bath and kitchen, and adjusts supply to meet demand (to save energy.)

Are you still fiddling with unmarked crystal knobs behind a plastic sheet?

Subjunctive
Sep 12, 2006

✨sparkle and shine✨

peanut posted:

reheats bathwater

Want.

therobit
Aug 19, 2008

I've been tryin' to speak with you for a long time

peanut posted:

The Eco Cute water heater system automatically fills the bathtub, reheats bathwater, records hot water usage, lets you select priority for hot water between the bath and kitchen, and adjusts supply to meet demand (to save energy.)

Are you still fiddling with unmarked crystal knobs behind a plastic sheet?

Out of all the things to miss about living in Japan, bathroom technology might be what I miss the most.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


lol I lost the (builder's) key yesterday sometime between moving furniture and taking my kid to her swim lesson. The real lock gets installed tomorrow but fml :roflolmao:

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


The key was found at the swimming school (*´∇`*) I enlisted the cousins to wipe the floors down. The glow-in-the-dark ceiling GALAXY wallpaper in the kid's room is crazy.
I found the perfect dining set at Hard Off (used everything store lol). 80's af with a storage bench and six pull-out drawers!

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GameCube
Nov 21, 2006

peanut posted:

The key was found at the swimming school (*´∇`*) I enlisted the cousins to wipe the floors down. The glow-in-the-dark ceiling GALAXY wallpaper in the kid's room is crazy.
I found the perfect dining set at Hard Off (used everything store lol). 80's af with a storage bench and six pull-out drawers!



Where did you get the GALAXY wallpaper? I don't have children, but I want the wallpaper anyway, because I'm an adult now and it's my turn to decide what that means.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


The Sangetsu wallpaper catalog has a page of glow-in-the-dark papers that look like normal textured ceiling in daylight. I bet US brands have some too. I'd hire a professional to do install it if you value your neck and sanity.

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therobit
Aug 19, 2008

I've been tryin' to speak with you for a long time

peanut posted:

The Sangetsu wallpaper catalog has a page of glow-in-the-dark papers that look like normal textured ceiling in daylight. I bet US brands have some too. I'd hire a professional to do install it if you value your neck and sanity.



That wallpaper is awesome for a kid's room.

Craptacular!
Jul 9, 2001

Fuck the DH
Is this the thread for me to talk about shame and misery in buying furniture, or do we have another thread for that?

For the life of me I have no luck getting a TV display table that can hold a 40" TV and not cost $100+.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Sperg on, forums user Craptacular!

GameCube
Nov 21, 2006

therobit posted:

That wallpaper is awesome for a kid's room.

I'm a millennial, so all of my rooms are Kid's Rooms.

Zhentar
Sep 28, 2003

Brilliant Master Genius

peanut posted:

The Eco Cute water heater system automatically fills the bathtub, reheats bathwater, records hot water usage, lets you select priority for hot water between the bath and kitchen, and adjusts supply to meet demand (to save energy.)

Do you use it for heating your house too? I wish I could get one of those things, but even if I managed to import one, none of the residential HVAC installers in the US have the training/equipment for the CO2 refrigerant :(

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Lol no houses are heated room-by-room with wall-mounted units here. Winter is terrible, summer is also terrible!
It should be better with our new double-paned glazed windows.

TheNothingNew
Nov 10, 2008

Craptacular! posted:

Is this the thread for me to talk about shame and misery in buying furniture, or do we have another thread for that?

For the life of me I have no luck getting a TV display table that can hold a 40" TV and not cost $100+.

I gave up and went wall mount.
http://www.harborfreight.com/large-tilt-flat-panel-tv-mount-61807.html

So long as you are okay with finding studs and drilling holes, etc.

Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person
So I bought a second house. Not to have two houses you understand, but because the old one hasn't sold yet. So, being stressed out and poor, it is the perfect time to begin restoring the new house. The house is more than 120 years old, so there is enough to do. Anyways, in one end of the house we have this fantastic view over the fields down to the water, trouble was that the old window was falling apart and that the window sill was built wrong, so that it collected water destroying the mortar of the brick wall beneath.

Out with the old.


In with the new.


Inserting slate cut to size with an angle grinder as the new external window sill.


All done. If I squint real hard and keep my distance, it looks pretty okay for the first time doing this.

Jealous Cow
Apr 4, 2002

by Fluffdaddy
That's ba I love old houses (101 years here) and hope you post more stuff.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004


Out here, everything hurts.




Zhentar posted:

Do you use it for heating your house too? I wish I could get one of those things, but even if I managed to import one, none of the residential HVAC installers in the US have the training/equipment for the CO2 refrigerant :(

Call your local cabonic gas guys and see who they'd recommend? If it's just bulk C02 plumbing, that poo poo's dead simple to work on and anyone who services fast food restaurants has someone certified to work it.

Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person

Jealous Cow posted:

That's ba I love old houses (101 years here) and hope you post more stuff.

Yeah, old houses have personality at the very least! I should say the the pictures depict a process that spans over 3 weeks, working on it in the weekends. Just to stress I'm no window installing superhuman. Currently I'm waiting for some panels and boards to finish up the inside of the window.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


You can use hot water tubing for heated floors. It's awesome but I won't make any promises about a cheaper electric bill...

babyeatingpsychopath
Oct 28, 2000
Forum Veteran

Liquid Communism posted:

Call your local cabonic gas guys and see who they'd recommend? If it's just bulk C02 plumbing, that poo poo's dead simple to work on and anyone who services fast food restaurants has someone certified to work it.

The pressures CO2 refrigerant runs at are fairly spectacular.

Zhentar
Sep 28, 2003

Brilliant Master Genius
On top of the high operating pressure, there are some extra hazards from the high expansion of trapped liquid CO2 or the formation of dry ice. And even aside from that, the critical point is 87.8f, so part of the refrigeration cycle is supercritical.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


I'm pretty excited about this little shelf I made to perfectly fill the gap next to the sink. It's wobbly as hell on its own but I stabilized it by glueing it to the side of the sink with those removable Command strips.

Edit: I fixed it to the side of the steel countertop with some little braces and the existing countertop screw holes. It's awesome.

peanut fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Sep 22, 2016

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


This gives me enough counter space to put a dish rack above the trashcans.

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Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person
Beginning to do the inside of the before depicted new window. It's actually a used window, made from plastic and aluminium, I got both window pairs for around 150 of your American pesos each, which was a good deal as they are expensive as poo poo from new. If I count professional labor hours I would guess I've saved at least around 1000 bucks so far.

Stuffing mineral wool around the windows:


As this building is old af, there is no such thing as moisture barrier around the window. I don't really know how important it is for the new window, it being in non organic materials and all, but I'm still going to put the boards I'm going to install atop a layer of plastic sheeting to seal it off. Anyone see a problem with that or have a better suggestion?

Zhentar
Sep 28, 2003

Brilliant Master Genius
Pull the mineral wool back out and fill the gaps with low expansion spray foam.

Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person
No pros around here wants to touch the stuff, what's your reasoning?

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Rnr posted:

No pros around here wants to touch the stuff, what's your reasoning?

Where are you that it's the case? It's fairly common around here (northeast US) and it's actually code in parts of Europe. This is not some new fangled thing.

And to be clear, we're talking low-expansion foam....the proper thing to put windows and doors in with. It's far superior as an air barrier and similar in insulation in almost all cases to shoving in rock wool or whatever else.

Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person
I'm in Scandinavia. The workers I talked to cited its tendency to 1) damage structure with expansion and 2) to absorb and keep moisture and 3) make a big mess where ever it is used - it the easy amateurish solution according to them. I can't talk to what is better, or if they're right, but its not a fit for the scenario I am in, so I'm leaving in the wool.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Rnr posted:

I'm in Scandinavia. The workers I talked to cited its tendency to 1) damage structure with expansion and 2) to absorb and keep moisture and 3) make a big mess where ever it is used - it the easy amateurish solution according to them. I can't talk to what is better, or if they're right, but its not a fit for the scenario I am in, so I'm leaving in the wool.

1.) means they don't know what they're doing and used the wrong product
2.) means they don't know what they're talking about - it's far more closed cell than rock wool
3.) means they don't know how to apply the product (and/or refer back to #1)

Either way, you did fine and what you installed will work fine just as it has for decades in other places. Just letting you know it's considered outdated in many places and by academics and professionals who study building performance and energy efficiency.

Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person
Sure, that's fine, I wasn't going to tear out the insulation to replace it with something fairly similar in any event. Edit: removed all the insulation discussion, I'm certain that for some applications some types of foam are superior.

My original question was about internal moisture barrier, and I'm going to install that as close to the warmth of the room as I can without it being visible. It's not going to be optimal in any sense, since the rest of the construction in this part of the house just wasn't built with that in mind. But I'm going to make sure that the cold air from the attic above the room can't access it, for instance. The external window installation is completely weather sealed of course (I would have preferred breathable mortar or foam strips... I don't know the english term - edit: this stuff: http://www.dafa-as.com/products/construction/products-(construction)/illmod-600-sealing-tape but that wasn't feasible with the spacing and materials I was dealing with, so it was sealed with flexible construction silicone), I'm just sperging about the air that moves around between the rooms and the exterior/attic...

Rnr fucked around with this message at 18:45 on Sep 16, 2016

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


Curtain rails! Now we have to alter most of our old curtains :/

Hubis
May 18, 2003

Boy, I wish we had one of those doomsday machines...

Budget Dracula posted:

Any housegoons have any good tips/articles for bringing a yard back to life? Our backyard is looking pretty patchy and I want to try to salvage it before it completely turns to mud.

Budget Dracula posted:

Yes I live in VA so all the research I have done says to wait til the fall, I messed around with hand aerator I bought and put a bit of seed down but it sounds like I shouldn't go full hog until the Fall.

Hello, fellow Virginian lawncare goon!

Since I am also now trying to rehabilitate the well-meaning-but-patchy mess of a lawn I purchased three years ago, I'll share my own battle-plan. It's a little after the fact in some cases, but I'll list it all just for reference:

Late August
1) Pulling up mature crab-grass wherever I find it, as it seems pretty resistant to selective herbicides
2) Zone weed with a broad-leaf herbicide (2,4-D)
- Wait until peak daytime temps are < 90'F (ideally more like 80-85'F) and you've got at least 48 hours of no predicted rainfall
- Don't have to/want to hose down the whole yard, just cover anywhere with non-grass weeds
- Use a pump sprayer and add some surfactant if you can, as it'll make it way more effective
- You want to do this as early as is feasible, since you will want to wait at least 3-4 weeks before overseeding

September
1) Aerate
- I also bought a hand-aerator, and it woks fine/is necessary for some awkward strips, but you can rent a machine for probably $50 and knock it out in an afternoon, which is definitely going to be better. There's no way I would have been able to do my whole yard by hand, at least not to the 8-12 holes/sqft standard you want to achieve
- Make sure whatever you are using is a plug aerator (hollow tube that leaves little cylinders along the ground). Spike aerators don't achieve much in actually compacted soil, and can actually make things worse since they will compress the soil around where the spike goes in
- If you've got a mulching mower, just go over the lawn and chop up the plugs afterwards. They'll break down with a few good rains
2) Dethatch
- Not strictly necessary if you've got something like fescue/bluegrass, but can still be important if you've got a lot of matted grass in your bare spots because your seed isn't going to take nearly as well without good seed-soil contact
- In my case I had a lot of grass that was cut way too long and so didn't break down well over time, meaning I had a thick layer of matting that was both preventing seed soil contact and causing my existing grass to kind of grow out into a tangled mess. After dethatching even part of it, it already looks way healthier and happier.
- In this case I am being dumb and doing it all by hand using a thatching rake. It's a lot of work, but probably for the best since it's letting me deal with the uneven ground left by some bare spots better than I could with a machine. It's definitely better than trying to use a regular gravel rake. If you are smart/lazy though you can probably rent a power rake for another $50.
3) Level/Fill Holes
- I'm just using general top-soil to fill some depressions, but they also make stuff specifically for lawns. I don't know if it's much better.
- I put down a little bit at a time and go over the area lightly with a rake to both spread out the soil and pull the buried grass back up so it grows/anchors the soil

October
1) Lime and Fertilize
- I picked up a $15 soil testing kit and hit a few patches around my lawn to get an idea of what my pH and nutrient levels were. I then applied lime and fertilizer accordingly.
- Since I am seeding a LOT of bare patches, I'm going to put down some "starter" fertilizer.
- Personally I'd avoid any "Weed-n-Feed" products. You don't really need the pre-emergent, it may mess with your grass germination, and you can put it down sepately in the winter later on.
- You probably want to water/let a light rain wash this into the soil a little bit, at least a few days before you seed. No reason you can't push this up to September if you want
2) Seed!
- You can seed before now, but I've pushed it off this long because I wanted to give the herbicide time to break down, and because temps have still been too hot anyways.
- Fescue seems to do best when daytime temps are below 80'F and night time gets down below 60'F
- Ideally you also want to do this at least 40 days before first frost, but it's all a trade-off
- Mow the lawn down to about 1-1/2" to 2" before seeding to give the best chance of getting the seed into bare spots. Bag the grass to keep it off the ground
- I'm doing a general broad-cast seeding, then going and sprinkling more by hand around the bare patches

November
1) Mulch leaves
- I don't want to disturb the new grass by raking too aggressively, and apparently leaf mulch is good for young grass anyways so the first light leaf-fall I'm going to just mulch in (making sure it doesn't get to the point where it's outright smothering the grass)
2) Apply Milorganite
- From what I've read, this is a great thing to apply in addition to regular fertilizer because it helps improve soil ecology and add iron. I'll be doing this periodically throughout the year

Late Feb/Early March
1) Pre-emergent herbicide
- Basically, try and target this about a week before night time temps are above freezing, as that's when crabgrass seeds germinate
2) Starter Fertilizer
- Apply to the whole lawn once low temps are above 45'F or so
3) Milorganite

April
1) Spot-seed remaining bare patches
- Wait about a month after you apply the pre-emergent

May
1) Zone-Apply Herbicide
- selectively spray more 2,4-D as before. Hopefully you need a lot less. This will kill most new weed growth, and any young crab-grass that managed to germiniate
2) Nitrogen Rich Fertilizer

June
1) Milorganite
2) Grub Treatment (if needed)

July
1) DON'T fertilize
- As I understand it, this will encourage Fescue to continue growing aggressively instead of going dormant, meaning you'll get dead patches instead of just dormant grass
2) Raise cutting height to 3.5"
- Help the lawn retain moisture and deal with heat better

August
1) Aerate
- Get on this a little earlier, hopefully...
- Once the lawn is established and soil is in better shape, I should only need to do this every 2 years or so

By then things should be in a much healthier place, and the remaining work will be more maitainence and less rehab.

e: my god, what have I become :spergin:

Hubis fucked around with this message at 17:41 on Sep 22, 2016

Rnr
Sep 5, 2003

some sort of irredeemable trash person
That is indeed hardcore spergin' Hubis, awesome stuff!

I myself am still working on the inside of the window, installing boards and wood molding. But before having to travel on business today I did a side project. The old house came with a custom built wood stove, which I think is all kinds of awesome, however it of course comes with its own set of installation issues. I've already fixed the chimney on the roof which was leaking due to decaying mortar, however in our living room the smoke pipe from the stove was inserted directly into the brick of the chimney, and while it has run like that the last 20 years and not killed the inhabitants or set fire to the chimney, it's not the right way to do it.

So I pulled out the smoke pipe from the chimney, painted it with some heatproof matte black to freshen it up, and installed a metal sleeve into the chimney after cutting into the brick with a carbide blade on the multitool. Process and result, including work dogge:

Old homemade pipe, surface rust:


Not good:


Mixing:


Metal sleeve installed:


Work dogge:


Next day, mortar has cured, finish install. Looks good, I do love that big block of metal:

French Canadian
Feb 23, 2004

Fluffy cat sensory experience
Is there a magic tool for pulling staples from subfloor? We are theoretically switching to hardwood. The prior carpet installation means that millions of staples are in the floor. Granted, they're in nice rows, but it's a bitch. I have a small deadblow hammer and a tiny pointy prybar that can get under the staples, and then I just whack them horizontally and they pop/slide out. Doesn't really hurt the subfloor.

Also...potential trigger warning...

My wife wants to paint the subfloors instead of going hardwood. It wouldn't necessarily stay like that forever but we don't have the utmost in dollars for hardwood floors.

I know you can either stain and clear coat (water based?) or prime and paint (and clear coat?). But I don't know the optimal types of product to use. I see there's interior/exterior decking primer and paint, as an example of the latter option.

Still, walking on paint barefoot just weirds me out. Wouldn't it be all tacky?

French Canadian fucked around with this message at 17:29 on Sep 25, 2016

coathat
May 21, 2007

A pair of fencing pliers might work.

French Canadian
Feb 23, 2004

Fluffy cat sensory experience

coathat posted:

A pair of fencing pliers might work.

I wouldn't mind trying them but I'm concerned the hollow section behind the clamping front doesn't start soon enough, so it can't get under the staple.

Magnus Praeda
Jul 18, 2003
The largess in the land.
When I pulled the carpet out of the bedrooms in my house, I just used a pair of lineman's pliers and pulled straight up. Only took about 30 minutes per room.

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peanut
Sep 9, 2007


We have laminate flooring... the fancy stuff looks great! The cheap stuff still looks ok if you have nothing to compare against.
Painting (staining) the subfloor isn't a terrible short-term solution. When I was a kid, my neighbor's house was bare subfloor forever... probably for tax evasion XD

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