Facebook Aunt posted:

I have an apartment noise problem. No, not the neighbours, it's me. Well, not me, exactly.



That's Pippin. Pippin is sad. In March we moved from the townhouse where she'd spent all but the first few months of her life, to a 1 bedroom apartment. A few times when coming home, I've heard her standing inside the door hollering about the unfairness of it all. I don't think it's loud enough to get into the other apartments, but it is noticeable when coming down the hall. I can work on correcting the behavior when I'm here, but I have no idea how much she does it when I'm not here. Luckily the access point is pretty small, as you can see in the picture. There's a freezer on one side of the door and a closet on the other, both of which should be pretty good at muffling sound.

I'm looking for a cheap solution to help keep the sounds she makes in the apartment and out of the hall. I thought about trying old blankets, but I can't very well put nails into the door, it would look like rear end, it might be a fire hazard, and she's a cat so she'd probably just climb them and pull them down anyway.

Is this a situation where cheap acoustic foam squares could be effective? Or is there some other cheap (hopefully under $50) thing I can discretely stick to the door and bit of wall next to the door to reflect or absorb cat sounds?

Facebook Aunt posted:

I have an apartment noise problem. No, not the neighbours, it's me. Well, not me, exactly.



That's Pippin. Pippin is sad. ...

I'm looking for a cheap solution to help keep the sounds she makes in the apartment and out of the hall.

Facebook Aunt posted:

I can work on correcting the behavior when I'm here, but I have no idea how much she does it when I'm not here.

flashman posted:

I'm in the middle of a massive house remodel and I had a question for someone more familiar with construction than me. Im laying hardwood and am on a pretty strict time schedule here, but the plasterer is running behind and has not got the priming/ceiling painting done yet. He has reservations about the humidity level in the house rising too high when he paints and its effect on the hardwood. My plan was to lay the rooms and then cover in thick plastic vapor barrier and top with cardboard dunnage the prevent the physical damage. I've got a 3 dehumidifiers going in the house, one is industrial sized, so I don't really see that painting with a spray gun being too big an issue, but I am not experienced with any of this and don't want to gently caress up a few hundred square feet of hardwood just to try and save on getting someone else to install. Is there any merit to the plasterers concerns?

flashman posted:

I'm in the middle of a massive house remodel and I had a question for someone more familiar with construction than me. Im laying hardwood and am on a pretty strict time schedule here, but the plasterer is running behind and has not got the priming/ceiling painting done yet. He has reservations about the humidity level in the house rising too high when he paints and its effect on the hardwood. My plan was to lay the rooms and then cover in thick plastic vapor barrier and top with cardboard dunnage the prevent the physical damage. I've got a 3 dehumidifiers going in the house, one is industrial sized, so I don't really see that painting with a spray gun being too big an issue, but I am not experienced with any of this and don't want to gently caress up a few hundred square feet of hardwood just to try and save on getting someone else to install. Is there any merit to the plasterers concerns?

PainterofCrap posted:

Get a kitten.

Flipperwaldt posted:

As a general principle, plugging holes, cracks and gaps will do more to stop the sound than layering up without doing that. So if the door is loose-fitting, maybe some weatherstripping is also a good idea.

Some kinds of polystyrene may be a fire hazard I think, so I guess look up the fire rating of whatever you intend to use.

Mr. Mambold posted:

Typically you wait until those guys are done before you lay a floor so you don't get a bunch of crap falling on the hardwood. Like the other guy said, humidity is more seasonal, summer being the humid season. And you want a vapor barrier under it if you're on a concrete slab.

LongSack posted:

I can't find another thread that this question should go in, so I apologize if this is in the wrong spot, but here goes.

One of my windows doesn't stay open any more. It feels really "heavy" when I open it, and oddly enough when it's closed it's not all the way down since the window locks won't close (although I got them to engage a little bit with the help of a screwdriver since I was leaving on vacation for a week). The strings on the sides of the window appear intact and taut, if that means anything. The window is 15 years old, if that matters.

My concern is that if I go to a window place, of course they're going to try to sell me a new window when I am not convinced that's what I need.

Ideas?

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

Anyone had experience working with "Chinese Cedar" ?

We bought a playset for my kids last year. This year I've already noticed some splinters from the wood, as well as loosening of the fasteners The stuff is so soft that they aren't tightening well. The wood has a nice color and smell, but it's very light duty, with a similar texture and feel to balsa wood (a bit stronger, obviously). Most of my concerns are with the smaller boards which make up the walking surfaces and the picnic table underneath, the heavier beams seem to be fine.



I'm thinking I need to treat and reinforce this stuff if it's going to last. I'm actually considering putting the BEHR deckover on the horizontal surfaces, as the wood has a very porous texture which I think will allow the deckover to grip well.

My main question is on the fasteners, the softness of the wood isn't holding up well to any of the screws that are there, but I'm not sure what would be a good alternative.

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

Anyone had experience working with "Chinese Cedar" ?

We bought a playset for my kids last year. This year I've already noticed some splinters from the wood, as well as loosening of the fasteners The stuff is so soft that they aren't tightening well. The wood has a nice color and smell, but it's very light duty, with a similar texture and feel to balsa wood (a bit stronger, obviously). Most of my concerns are with the smaller boards which make up the walking surfaces and the picnic table underneath, the heavier beams seem to be fine.



I'm thinking I need to treat and reinforce this stuff if it's going to last. I'm actually considering putting the BEHR deckover on the horizontal surfaces, as the wood has a very porous texture which I think will allow the deckover to grip well.

My main question is on the fasteners, the softness of the wood isn't holding up well to any of the screws that are there, but I'm not sure what would be a good alternative.

Mr. Mambold posted:

I read that first as Chinese Cheddar. You'll see splinters with any outdoor lumber over time. Have you considered bigger screws? Threaded thru-bolts? Idk how much of it you're looking at improving.

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

uwaeve posted:

Your picture didn't come through for me

uwaeve posted:

Your picture didn't come through for me, but we got a Costco Gorilla Playsets model, the cedar wood seems very similar to what you're describing. It was delivered stained reddish-orange but not sealed, the fine print buried in the instructions said to seal it. I bought their sealant (reddish-brown poo poo) and sealed it before assembly in July of 2015. This year there was a bunch of bare wood (worn off, not peeled or bubbled finish) on the ladder and climbing wall where the kids step on it, so I redid a bunch of those sections. So far I'm happy with the finish performance, so you may want to look into that stuff for finishing. I know a number of people that have had similar reddish-orange sets delivered this year or last year. I've seen those instructions which say the same thing: delivered stained but not sealed, and the people skipped sealing. I'm sort of assuming theirs are gonna turn grey and splintery in a couple years, hopefully if I continue sealing once every year or two I should be able to maintain mine better. Not out of spite, I just want the work I put in following the instructions to get me something, as it sucked balls sealing it before putting it up, took way more time than the assembly.

I haven't noticed any real deflection that I'm concerned about, and used an impact driver for all the hardware, which for sure dragged the t-nuts or washers into the wood somewhat. I tightened up a few bolts that were a little loose a couple times but nothing where I thought I was progressively tearing a fastener through the wood or I wasn't able to make it pretty drat stable. I guess if you're hand-tightening or using a clutched drill it may not hammer the stuff home? I assume the structure part of yours is bolts into t-nuts, with the decking and stuff just wood screws? If you're worried about the structure you an always add more hardware and/or bracing, t-nuts are sold at Home Depot and stuff. Not sure but getting some cedar for bracing shouldn't be too outrageous, you are probably looking at adding a couple joists to flooring and some diagonal braces strategically placed.

edit: reread and seems like the concern is with the screws on the decking. So keep in mind that the screws aren't really taking any load, they're just holding the boards to the joists which provide the support. It seems to me as long as you can keep tightening the screws without literally plowing completely through the decking, it should hold it down nicely. Are they trimhead or bugle (I don't know the actual term but drywall head-looking)? Depending on how perfect you want it to look, you can upsize screws (get some high quality stainless or coated for cedar I think, double-check me on this) star or square drive decking screws, or you can try washers if there's a few screws and you don't mind it looking like poo poo.

The other thing you mentioned was deckover, and I've heard nothing but complaints about that if you live anywhere with a real winter. I'm in the northeast, so based on reviews and complaints I ruled that out for a redecking project I'm doing. Not personal experience but I would say do your research because if you put that poo poo on and the finish fails, it seems like it'd be a nightmare to redo with something else. For what it's worth, Flexner's book on wood finishing (which I think is somewhat the Bible) essentially recommends solid or semisolid stain for horizontal traffic surfaces. Solid gives the best UV protection but fails by peeling once a film builds up, semisolid gives less UV protection but fails by wearing away, allowing what it seems like is less sanding and probably no scraping and just reapplying, where solid stain will eventually need scraping or much heavier sanding. I'm not an expert I'm just in the middle of a project I'm trying to learn about this stuff for.

DaveSauce posted:

Stupid newbie painting question:

What's the best way to touch up missed spots on walls/ceilings? I did a really poor job cutting in and there are some obvious places that I missed around the edges. Not like big sections, but smaller than dime-sized spots. Maybe 1/4" x 1/2" at the biggest. Big enough to be noticeable, but small enough where it seems like overkill to take a 2" brush to it.

If I just go back at it with a brush am I going to leave visible brush strokes, or will it be fine? Should I get one of those foam brush things, or stick with a normal brush? Or is this where I should get a set of those tiny model airplane type brushes?

Sir Lemming posted:

The tiny little foam brushes are dope. I use them any time I'm painting for tough corners and touch-ups, never had a problem with them.

H110Hawk posted:

I keep a very small artists paintbrush around. Lets you easily dab on little less-than-a-dime sized spots. You will feel very silly dabbing it into a gallon of paint.

Johnny Truant posted:

I'm moving in to quite a small apartment with my partner, and I'm trying to figure out storage for every nook and cranny in our place. I've got a metal frame for my bed which I'm going to buy some organizers for on the floor, but I'm wondering about my box spring. It's just a regular wooden box spring for a queen size bed, but is there any way to DIY storage into it? I was thinking of just getting some scrap wood from... somewhere that I could use as a kind of scaffolding for boxes/drawers of some sort, but I'm wondering if it would even be worth it, or if I should just look into a cheap box spring, already pre-built, with storage included. Thoughts?

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

Johnny Truant posted:

No?

Facebook Aunt posted:

Look at this guy who doesn't want a bunk bed. What an adult.

Johnny Truant posted:

I fell out of my bunk bed freshmen year and wrecked my poo poo, never again I say!

Tinfoil Papercut posted:

But seriously, if you're crammed for space, you gotta go vertical.

Bad Munki posted:

Ditch the box spring and just get a captain's bed.



Sometimes the storage is built in, sometimes it comes as a separate unit that slides in. In the latter case, you can get them on one side, both sides, maybe a hatch at the footboard, etc. Lotsa options, lotsa storage.

Johnny Truant posted:

drat that's awesome, and not a bad idea. Are those able to be broken down and put back together, do you know?