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vulturesrow
Sep 25, 2011

Always gotta pay it forward.
Approximately what size bead should I use to re-caulk the space between a granite tile countertop and backsplash?

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Bozart
Oct 28, 2006

Give me the finger.

cakesmith handyman posted:

Please explain why? (I genuinely don't know)

Lower frequency means more expensive and larger high voltage transformers and more expensive ac/dc components. Planes use something like 400 hz so that their components can be smaller and weigh less.

Mr. Mambold
Feb 13, 2011

Aha. Nice post.



Tinfoil Papercut posted:

I am in the process of sanding / stripping a failed stain from my deck. I want a clean slate to put on a high quality stain which won't require attention every 6 months. I plan on renting a floor sander this weekend - but I'm curious if anyone has any experience doing this.

-How many sanding pads should I pick up if my deck is~1000sqft?
-How long would such a deck take to sand? If I can get it in under 4 hours I can save some money on the rental.
-I plan on ending with 100 grit, or should I go finer?

I assume you ruled out ust painting over it with an oil based paint that would be approx. the color of redwood or whatever? I never sanded a deck with one. If it's sappy or grungy it'll muck those discs up quick. For a deck, I'd go 80 myself, it'll wear to 100 soon enough. Or get a few of each & returns the ones you don't use. I hope all the nails/screws whatevers are well countersunk.

vulturesrow posted:

Approximately what size bead should I use to re-caulk the space between a granite tile countertop and backsplash?


About *yay big* I reckon.:discourse:

CzarChasm
Mar 14, 2009

I don't like it when you're watching me eat.

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

I actually tried a sample spot with the Deckover - I wasn't too impressed with the coverage / sq-ft. From the reviews I see online and from contacting a Behr rep, the stuff is meant for heavily weathered wood for it to bond well. A lot of people say it peels up after only a year or two and are very unhappy with it. I would do some research before you commit.

Yeah, I was looking at Behr or someone else's super thick "cover all the sins" paints last year. Bad reviews all around kept me from pursuing it further. Lots of disappointed customers from what I found.

kid sinister
Nov 16, 2002

vulturesrow posted:

Approximately what size bead should I use to re-caulk the space between a granite tile countertop and backsplash?

At least at wide as the gap. Anything further is entirely cosmetic and your call.

Tinfoil Papercut
Jul 27, 2016

by Athanatos

Mr. Mambold posted:

I assume you ruled out ust painting over it with an oil based paint that would be approx. the color of redwood or whatever? I never sanded a deck with one. If it's sappy or grungy it'll muck those discs up quick. For a deck, I'd go 80 myself, it'll wear to 100 soon enough. Or get a few of each & returns the ones you don't use. I hope all the nails/screws whatevers are well countersunk.




That's what I've been doing, sadly. The stain I use is decent, the problem is that it's only as good as the old stain underneath. The failing stain flakes more and more over time, taking the new stain on top with it. In addition, the old coating seems like it's soaking up most the new stain itself - preventing much from penetrating to the wood. All in all I wind up staining the whole thing every year, sometimes twice.

Rocko Bonaparte
Mar 12, 2002

Every day is Friday!

Mr. Mambold posted:

That math's not right. Remember amperage halves when you go from 120 to 240. This is why we're idiots for having 120 at all while Europe are all about 240. Check what typical water heaters are rated at.

The best I could find with what I can run is the EcoSmart 8KW model. Assuming 240V then that's 33.3 amps. It can heat 1.5 gallons per minute to 105F (shower temperature) assuming it starts at 67F, which isn't too unreasonable. However, the quote I was getting for the existing wire takes me to a 30A breaker. If I could get to 40A and 1.5gpm is a reasonable flow rate then we can talk. If I really actually need more like 2.5gpm then I definitely need a bigger wire. They claim 1.5gpm is okay so meh?

They have a 1gpm heater that is 6KW. I could run that on a 30A breaker.

TACTICAL SANDALS
Nov 7, 2009

click clack POW, officer down
This might be outside the scope of a quick question thread but didn't know where else to ask:

Buddy and me are building a 12' x 16' cabin. At this point we have walls up and a loft with sheathing on top that is currently acting as our "roof." We're getting ready to put the real roof on and are a little stuck on how to best go about it. Here is where we are at this point, more or less:



What it looks like underneath the plywood:



We've been told that the "correct" way to do the rafters would be to remove the plywood on top, remove rim joist of the loft floor and tie the rafters directly into the side of the joists. For a lot of reasons, we'd like to avoid removing the rim joist and flooring, one of which being we'd like to have the flat loft surface to work on top of. Is something like the design below a terrible idea? We would create a new double top plate on top of the loft flooring to let the rafters rest on, then tie them to a 2x8 ridge beam and use collar ties to connect the rafters.



We're both amateurs so apologies if this is a dumb question, we've bumbled our way through this project so far with minimal fuckups but I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around how to get a roof on the structure as it sits now.

TACTICAL SANDALS fucked around with this message at 05:25 on May 17, 2017

PainterofCrap
Oct 17, 2002

hey bebe



That second diagram.

Measure & pre-build the roof framing (trusses) at the front & rear, cutting bird's mouths to fit as shown in that diagram. Set reference lines (nail string between the two) and set up the remaining truss assemblies to the lines so that you wind up with a flat & even run for your decking.




As visible in the top photo, I used the rim of the kneewall as a template to fabricate & assemble my trusses. I marked the rim/top plate with a sharpie, threw down the rafters, set the angle, struck off the bird's mouths for trimming, & assembled the truss. They weren't perfect because my kneewalls weren't 100% straight. We adjusted them somewhat as we installed each one until they were as close to the deck plane as possible on both sides. Think I still had to sister one or two to get the geometry right on. I'm an amateur too.

Make certain you choose sufficiently wide board for your joists, and that your rafters are low & robust enough to avoid sway-back & spread under heavy load (if you're in a snow area). Since your'e nailing straight to the subfloor sheathing/top plate, you don't have to be as concerned about joists kicking out or spreading under a snow load as I was, since I was building on a kneewall, which has zero lateral support for such loads; I had to install purlins to translate the load down to the top plate.



Support the trusses at the front & rear with a vertical stud nailed flush against the elevation, and extending high enough to hold the end truss in place. Then add trusses, supporting them with a 2x4 running under the centerline, nailing each truss at the rafter (the horizontal nailer) to temporarily hold it in place. If it's wobbly throw on more temporary supports across the trusses, then, pray for no wind & get your sheathing started as soon as possible.

In the alternative, you could install your front & rear trusses, install a ridgeboard, then stick your remaining joists to the ridgeboard & top plate. If you don't want an eave, cut the bottom end of your joists at the proper angle & butt them to the top plate.

Me, I like eaves. I have 24" eaves on the sunroom attached to my garage. Keeps the perimeter dry.

(edit) all visible in the second photo. I had help, so we only supported the rear truss, assembled & threw up the remaining trusses in the following 6-hours.

(e2) I also didn't use a ridge board, which is fine.

(e3) you can see the purlins below:



I designed & built mine in 2003, with 2x10 joists, 24" OC, 5/8" bolts to the rafters, and sheathed with 3/4" plywood. The purlins were also bolted in; this structure passed the framing inspection for a 100-year snow-load. Southern New Jersey.

PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 15:25 on May 17, 2017

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

TACTICAL SANDALS posted:

We've been told that the "correct" way to do the rafters would be to remove the plywood on top, remove rim joist of the loft floor and tie the rafters directly into the side of the joists. For a lot of reasons, we'd like to avoid removing the rim joist and flooring, one of which being we'd like to have the flat loft surface to work on top of. Is something like the design below a terrible idea? We would create a new double top plate on top of the loft flooring to let the rafters rest on, then tie them to a 2x8 ridge beam and use collar ties to connect the rafters.

I'm not a construction expert, but the "correct way" described to you is the method that I used for my workshop build. A standard roof is composed of triangles made out of two rafters and a joist. Gravity and the weight of the roof want to push the ends of the rafters out (bowing out the walls), but the joist is in tension and holds the rafters in place. If the rafters aren't properly secured to the joists (or I guess to other things that are secured to the joists) then your roof will eventually collapse and take the walls out with it.

This is why you plan things out in their entirety before you build them.

The workaround I would advise if you really don't want to take down your decking and rim joists would be to lay a second set of joists on top of the decking and tie the rafters to that. Obviously that's a big waste of materials and a bunch of extra work (and makes for a really thick attic floor, too). Failing that, see if you can chop out enough of the decking and rim joists that you can fit the rafters into place against the existing joists. Note that you need enough of the rafter side-by-side with the joist to be able to securely nail the two together. For my workshop I needed to use 7 16d nails per rafter. Put 'em too close together and they'll split the wood, which is no good. I had a 16' span instead of your 12' span; it's possible you won't need as many nails. Look it up in the building code.

Super-NintendoUser
Jan 16, 2004

COWABUNGERDER COMPADRES
Soiled Meat

Jerk McJerkface posted:

I do have another question about windows. I got some nice Pella replacement windows for a pretty good deal. They were the only ones I could find that weren't special order that fit my rough opening, so I'd like to use them. I've done a ton of research and I have the installation process pretty down, but I was reading the installation manual for the windows and it says this:


I didn't realize they had an integrated j channel, which they do. The manual says you can remove it, but that means just cutting it off? I looked up online and I can't find anything other than a Youtube video of a guy cutting it off a similar with (that has a nice line for you to follow with a knife, which these do not).

I had not planned on residing all the way up to the window, I was going to use some PVC trim and case out the outside. I'd rather do that since I have cedar siding and I don't feel like painting after. Should I just cut it off or should I just trim up to, or under the j channel? I didn't expect this so I'm not sure what to do.

EDIT: I'm going to call Pella in the morning, I doubt they are available right now.

So incase anyone was waiting for a resolution on this, I figured I'd post an update to help someone else with window troubles. Pella said just cut it off with a knife. So I went over it real gently and found there's a little groove covered by the plastic that I was able to stick the knife in and cut off, revealing a perfect accessory grove, like in this pic:



The red is the jchannel piece, the orange is the three cuts, first to remove the channel to get under it, and then two on each edge. Came right off, super easy.

YggiDee
Sep 12, 2007

WASP CREW
Is it feasible to patch/repair a pair of jeans by hand or is that something I would need a sewing machine for?

kid sinister
Nov 16, 2002

YggiDee posted:

Is it feasible to patch/repair a pair of jeans by hand or is that something I would need a sewing machine for?

Denim is a little harder to stick a needle through, but it really depends on the size of the area that you need repaired.

Tinfoil Papercut
Jul 27, 2016

by Athanatos

YggiDee posted:

Is it feasible to patch/repair a pair of jeans by hand or is that something I would need a sewing machine for?

They make stuff you can glue denim on and heat with a standard clothing iron. It bonds well but can feel like you have a roofing shingle on your knee. If you have a well-worn pair of jeans that's beyond salvaging, that makes for the best patch material.

Michael's has the stuff I've used: (I think this was it, or similar) http://www.michaels.com/10152947.html#start=20

YggiDee
Sep 12, 2007

WASP CREW
The jeans are pretty well-worn as it is, I just figured I could get a bit more life out of them if I cut 'em into shorts and used the leg bits for the patching. It's probably a long shot either way but it's not like I'm doing anything else with them.

Tinfoil Papercut
Jul 27, 2016

by Athanatos

YggiDee posted:

The jeans are pretty well-worn as it is, I just figured I could get a bit more life out of them if I cut 'em into shorts and used the leg bits for the patching. It's probably a long shot either way but it's not like I'm doing anything else with them.

That glue should work well for you then - just hem the new ends and you'll be money.

Thots and Prayers
Jul 13, 2006

A is the for the atrocious abominated acts that YOu committed. A is also for ass-i-nine, eight, seven, and six.

B, b, b - b is for your belligerent, bitchy, bottomless state of affairs, but why?

C is for the cantankerous condition of our character, you have no cut-out.
Grimey Drawer

YggiDee posted:

Is it feasible to patch/repair a pair of jeans by hand or is that something I would need a sewing machine for?

http://sewsitall.blogspot.com/2010/10/hand-sewing-needles.html

This is a pretty good intro to sewing things by hand - what needle works best for what and so on.

http://www.shushanna.com/handsew.html

And here's how to do it.

YggiDee
Sep 12, 2007

WASP CREW
Thanks, folks! It looks like I have a project for tomorrow.

SoundMonkey
Apr 22, 2006

I just push buttons.


Rocko Bonaparte posted:

The best I could find with what I can run is the EcoSmart 8KW model. Assuming 240V then that's 33.3 amps. It can heat 1.5 gallons per minute to 105F (shower temperature) assuming it starts at 67F, which isn't too unreasonable. However, the quote I was getting for the existing wire takes me to a 30A breaker. If I could get to 40A and 1.5gpm is a reasonable flow rate then we can talk. If I really actually need more like 2.5gpm then I definitely need a bigger wire. They claim 1.5gpm is okay so meh?

They have a 1gpm heater that is 6KW. I could run that on a 30A breaker.

i'm usually a fan of running things with electricity since power is piss-cheap here but i did a spit take at how godawful electric tankless heaters were unless you happened to have a 300 amp panel because reasons

honestly it sounds like this project might benefit from a real big propane tank

vulturesrow
Sep 25, 2011

Always gotta pay it forward.

SoundMonkey posted:

i'm usually a fan of running things with electricity since power is piss-cheap here but i did a spit take at how godawful electric tankless heaters were unless you happened to have a 300 amp panel because reasons
.

Can you elaborate? Our home inspector recommended we look into a tankless when our hot water heater kicks the bucket.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

SoundMonkey posted:

i'm usually a fan of running things with electricity since power is piss-cheap here but i did a spit take at how godawful electric tankless heaters were unless you happened to have a 300 amp panel because reasons

honestly it sounds like this project might benefit from a real big propane tank


vulturesrow posted:

Can you elaborate? Our home inspector recommended we look into a tankless when our hot water heater kicks the bucket.

Water takes a LOT of energy to raise 1 degree, let alone 20-40 degrees. Now factor in that you want it right now with no reserve at a rate measured in gallons per minute and it adds up to kilowatts of load for the duration of the faucet being turned on. Tankless is great in that you in theory have very little waste energy for infinite hot water.

Raised by Hamsters
Sep 16, 2007

and hopped up on bagels
Also don't forget that your cold water temperature is not as stable as you might think. Come late winter it can be significantly colder than it is the rest of the year, depending on how your local water system is set up. So if you go on-demand / tankless, don't size the system to be juusssst big enough for what you think you need.

SoundMonkey
Apr 22, 2006

I just push buttons.


vulturesrow posted:

Can you elaborate? Our home inspector recommended we look into a tankless when our hot water heater kicks the bucket.

beaten to some extent but...

yeah a bit. i don't know how more or less efficient it is to use electricity to heat water than gas (although i suspect a lot less) but the difference is you're real unlikely to have to upgrade your gas line to accommodate another gas appliance (presuming you have gas service already), and i'm the furthest thing from an expert, but with the wattages i'm seeing on house-sized tankless electric... your house would either have to have been built with that in mind or you'd better enjoy getting a bigger service run to your house.

looking at the first hit on amazon, a whole-house tankless electric is going to run you, according to the specs, a hundred and fifty amps at 240V. sure it's half the price of the gas tankless one i got, but all i had to do to get my place ready for it was pay a dude $150 to pull a gas permit and run it five feet over from the furnace.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

SoundMonkey posted:

a hundred and fifty amps at 240V.

:stonk:

36kW of water heating goodness. We run 14.4kW server racks at work which seems like "a lot" (despite 20kW showing up in bespoke installations.)

TooMuchAbstraction
Oct 14, 2012

I spent four years making
Waves of Steel
Hell yes I'm going to turn my avatar into an ad for it.
Fun Shoe

SoundMonkey posted:

yeah a bit. i don't know how more or less efficient it is to use electricity to heat water than gas (although i suspect a lot less)...

As it turns out gas and electric are pretty close in terms of efficiency (scroll down to the summary table). Gas is a bit more efficient if your electricity comes from burning fossil fuels (if your electricity is renewable, then electricity is significantly better than gas), but they're in the same ballpark. Electricity is easier to deploy -- no need to run gas lines -- but doesn't have the instant on/off that gas does (mostly only relevant for the stovetop).

Tricky Ed
Aug 18, 2010

It is important to avoid confusion. This is the one that's okay to lick.


Also remember that if you have any sort of hard water problems, your tankless heater is going to need annual service to descale it. Tankless is probably better for many situations (it seems amazing for hydronic heat, for example), but it's definitely not the best solution for all the places plumbers are pushing it right now. They like 'em because they're small and costly and need more maintenance.

SoundMonkey
Apr 22, 2006

I just push buttons.


H110Hawk posted:

:stonk:

36kW of water heating goodness. We run 14.4kW server racks at work which seems like "a lot" (despite 20kW showing up in bespoke installations.)

i have absolutely no idea what the power company charges to run a new service with an extra couple hundred amps but the gas company charges seventeen dollars to hook up a new line if you're less than 35 feet from the street

Tinfoil Papercut
Jul 27, 2016

by Athanatos
During my journey to refinish my deck I had to replace the board which housed the cutout for my grill propane connection. (Hard piped to my house propane tank)

After reconnecting the termination fitting, the thing leaks like hell. The fitting is on a flexible stainless corrugated pipe line, which apparently crushes the pipe when the fitting is tightened. I think I have to reset the connection by trimming the end of the tubing.

Can I cut the end of this type of tubing with a hacksaw? They want me to use a $30-40 roller cutter.

shovelbum
Oct 21, 2010

Fun Shoe
I am not familiar with this style of tubing or connection, could you post pics of what's leaking and what kind of tubing and connections we are dealing with? I am trying to learn more myself about the kinds of fittings and pipe that are common in residential installations and it would be neat to see.

Anyway, whatever it is, generally a roller cutter is indeed what you want to use with most kinds of tubing, you can get real issues if it's not square and it's very hard to get a square cut with a hacksaw with any kind of regularity. It might work once, or it might not, but it's definitely difficult to do anything repeatably.

H110Hawk
Dec 28, 2006

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

During my journey to refinish my deck I had to replace the board which housed the cutout for my grill propane connection. (Hard piped to my house propane tank)

After reconnecting the termination fitting, the thing leaks like hell. The fitting is on a flexible stainless corrugated pipe line, which apparently crushes the pipe when the fitting is tightened. I think I have to reset the connection by trimming the end of the tubing.

Can I cut the end of this type of tubing with a hacksaw? They want me to use a $30-40 roller cutter.

Did you put PTFE/Teflon tape on it? I think there is a special one for propane.

If it's the sort of thing home depot sells by the foot you might be able to take it there and have them cut it fresh for you.

Phanatic
Mar 13, 2007

Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

TooMuchAbstraction posted:

As it turns out gas and electric are pretty close in terms of efficiency (scroll down to the summary table). Gas is a bit more efficient if your electricity comes from burning fossil fuels (if your electricity is renewable, then electricity is significantly better than gas), but they're in the same ballpark. Electricity is easier to deploy -- no need to run gas lines -- but doesn't have the instant on/off that gas does (mostly only relevant for the stovetop).

I think the question is less about overall thermal efficiency than it is about cost-efficiency. For example, to heat your house in the winter with electric heaters is pretty much close to 100% efficient: every joule of electrical energy flowing into the heater is actually turning into heat in your house. But that's going to be way more expensive than gas heat, because the heat you get from burning gas is a lot cheaper than the heat you get by forcing electrons to heat up a resistor.

Average cost for 3.6 megajoules of electricity in my state is 13.6 cents. Average price for natural gas in my state is $1.14/100 cubic feet. 100 cubic feet = 100,000 BTUs = 105 megajoules, so 3.6 megajoules worth of natural gas costs about 4 cents. Both the electric tankless heater and the gas tankless heater are probably roughly as efficient in actually turning the energy input into hot water, but on the output side hot water from the electric system is going to be about 3x as expensive as hot water from the gas system. I think that's what he meant by efficiency.

Tinfoil Papercut
Jul 27, 2016

by Athanatos

shovelbum posted:

I am not familiar with this style of tubing or connection, could you post pics of what's leaking and what kind of tubing and connections we are dealing with? I am trying to learn more myself about the kinds of fittings and pipe that are common in residential installations and it would be neat to see.

Anyway, whatever it is, generally a roller cutter is indeed what you want to use with most kinds of tubing, you can get real issues if it's not square and it's very hard to get a square cut with a hacksaw with any kind of regularity. It might work once, or it might not, but it's definitely difficult to do anything repeatably.

After some more research and experimentation:

The piping I have is called : "Wardflex," the piping runs from my foundation back out to the deck to a terminal fitting. It seems the fitting operates similar to this:

http://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/US6173995B1/US06173995-20010116-D00000.png

The bushing halves mate within the fitting and compress (deform) the tubing. Then you screw the nut in and it seals everything. No teflon is needed / required / might actually screw it up.

I tried with a hacksaw and it's not possible - the corrugation is spiral shaped so there's no way to keep a straight line. It was sloppy AF after the cut, and you can't get the bushings to mate close enough to the end to successfully makeup the connection. I'm worried all my monkeying around with the fitting has damaged the seating surface - but we'll find out once I get a roller cutter, which is absolutely mandatory.

SouthShoreSamurai
Apr 28, 2009

It is a tale,
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.


Fun Shoe
Can someone point me in the right direction for learning how to frame a wall that intersects a wall that has baseboard heat on it?

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


I have a closet in my basement guest room, and for some reason, they didn't bring the slab up to level in there. I think maybe they had plans for utilities or something, but put them elsewhere. Anyhow, it means that closet has a rough, uneven, lowered floor, and it's a bit silly. So, I filled it in with concrete. Great, no problem. But, being a cramped space and with the wall already finished (drywall, anyhow, but no baseboard trim) bringing it flat and even was nigh impossible, at least for me. I'm looking for a self-leveling something-or-other that I can just pour in there to bring it flat and the rest of the way up. What sort of product should I be looking for? Rando employee at Lowe's recommended some sort of skim coat but reading that product's directions, it looks like it still relies on me to trowel it smooth and flat. Is there a better option? If possible, I'd like to have gravity do the smoothing. Most of the floor is within 1/4" of the final grade, I left it a little low on purpose, but might dip as much as 1/2" below final grade in a couple places. Only doing like 8 square feet here. Preferably looking for a product that'll be off the shelf at Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, Ace, whatever.

Bad Munki fucked around with this message at 21:28 on May 19, 2017

kid sinister
Nov 16, 2002

Bad Munki posted:

I have a closet in my basement guest room, and for some reason, they didn't bring the slab up to level in there. I think maybe they had plans for utilities or something, but put them elsewhere. Anyhow, it means that closet has a rough, uneven, lowered floor, and it's a bit silly. So, I filled it in with concrete. Great, no problem. But, being a cramped space and with the wall already finished (drywall, anyhow, but no baseboard trim) bringing it flat and even was nigh impossible, at least for me. I'm looking for a self-leveling something-or-other that I can just pour in there to bring it flat and the rest of the way up. What sort of product should I be looking for? Rando employee at Lowe's recommended some sort of skim coat but reading that product's directions, it looks like it still relies on me to trowel it smooth and flat. Is there a better option? If possible, I'd like to have gravity do the smoothing. Most of the floor is within 1/4" of the final grade, I left it a little low on purpose, but might dip as much as 1/2" below final grade in a couple places. Only doing like 8 square feet here. Preferably looking for a product that'll be off the shelf at Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, Ace, whatever.

Did you just fill in a sump or floor drain? Anyway, unfinished basement floors are supposed to be sloped towards the floor drain.

Or was this spot a patch where a PO chopped through the floor to fix or add to a drain pipe under it?

SoundMonkey
Apr 22, 2006

I just push buttons.


right outside the exterior access to my crawlspace there's a little half-step down to a few square feet of concrete with a drain in the middle right outside the crawlspace door (and at least from trying it with the hose, the concrete appears to be sloped sensibly for it.)

thing is, it's just a 3" bit of drain pipe onto dirt. it does not take much for it to fill. this isn't a massive issue since the area immediately surrounding it is drainage gravel (that doesn't drain into the same place it does), but during a really heavy rain, which does happen here, it could still need to clear a bit of water.

it doesn't need much though, i was thinking i might just auger down like a foot and dump some gravel in to improve it a BIT. decent/terrible idea?

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


kid sinister posted:

Did you just fill in a sump or floor drain? Anyway, unfinished basement floors are supposed to be sloped towards the floor drain.

Or was this spot a patch where a PO chopped through the floor to fix or add to a drain pipe under it?

Ha, no, this was not a sump or anything like that, but holy crap that'd be a mess. And it's not even an unfinished floor! It was carpeted! The carpet ran into the closet and just down the 3" or so step to the bottom of the un-floored closet. It was a concrete floor, but rough and uneven. Just this one spot, the closet floor. It's totally inexplicable. It was clearly not cut out after the fact. Maybe they had a false floor in there and that's where they kept their weed, I dunno. Not sure if I have a before pic anywhere, I'll look later.

No, the sump pit is elsewhere, and there's zero plumbing, electrical, gas, nothing at all. The garage slab runs along the top of the wall at the back of said closet, above this space is just another closet with nothing of note. It really is inexplicable as to why it's not filled in. I think most likely is some concrete monkey put a bit of form in the wrong spot and they didn't notice until after the pour and then said "too late, gently caress it."

devicenull
May 30, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Bad Munki posted:

I have a closet in my basement guest room, and for some reason, they didn't bring the slab up to level in there. I think maybe they had plans for utilities or something, but put them elsewhere. Anyhow, it means that closet has a rough, uneven, lowered floor, and it's a bit silly. So, I filled it in with concrete. Great, no problem. But, being a cramped space and with the wall already finished (drywall, anyhow, but no baseboard trim) bringing it flat and even was nigh impossible, at least for me. I'm looking for a self-leveling something-or-other that I can just pour in there to bring it flat and the rest of the way up. What sort of product should I be looking for? Rando employee at Lowe's recommended some sort of skim coat but reading that product's directions, it looks like it still relies on me to trowel it smooth and flat. Is there a better option? If possible, I'd like to have gravity do the smoothing. Most of the floor is within 1/4" of the final grade, I left it a little low on purpose, but might dip as much as 1/2" below final grade in a couple places. Only doing like 8 square feet here. Preferably looking for a product that'll be off the shelf at Lowe's, Home Depot, Menard's, Ace, whatever.

http://www.tecskillset.com/tile-installation-products/prepare-the-surface/tile-underlayment.html

Should be available at Lowes (in with the tile stuff)

Bad Munki
Nov 4, 2008

We're all mad here.


Thanks. I thought that was what I wanted but wanted to ask someone besides a Lowe's employee.

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devicenull
May 30, 2007

Grimey Drawer

Bad Munki posted:

Thanks. I thought that was what I wanted but wanted to ask someone besides a Lowe's employee.

I might as well be... a bunch of the Lowes employees recognize me at this point.

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