|
What is the method for installing something on the outside of a house with vinyl siding? My home has vinyl siding, plywood underneath, I assume a moisture barrier of some kind (haven't seen it but it was built in 2004). I want to put in a couple of hook hangars to hang some seasonal lighting on / maybe a small bracket to hang stuff like a bird feeder, stuff that is light enough it would be fine without going into a stud or needing to cut into the wall etc. At the worst I'd like to put in a few small screw-in type eye hooks (say <1" shank length). What's the appropriate way to go about doing something like that?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 17:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 16:47 |
|
|
PainterofCrap posted:I have been in a home where they laid snaplock laminate right over the carpet. Whole time I was there I felt like I was drunk. I currently live in this home. Best part is that the carpet was glued to asbestos tile. Wait, no, the best part is that it was in the kitchen. It's all gone now.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 17:52
|
|
|
That Works posted:What is the method for installing something on the outside of a house with vinyl siding? Just get an outdoor rated screw long enough to get to your sheeting and screw that bad boy in. You could also use vinyl siding clips or hooks if it is something really lightweight like Christmas lights, ala https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07XG17SPY/ or https://www.menards.com/main/holida...44425676732.htm
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 18:02
|
|
Sirotan posted:Just get an outdoor rated screw long enough to get to your sheeting and screw that bad boy in. Oh sweet I did not know such hooks existed. That will work for much of what I was tossing around in my head. My initial thought was get a long stainless screw and then put a lil clear RTV around it once it's in place.
|
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 18:20
|
|
|
Johnny Truant posted:
Floating floors are legitimately a thing - you don't always have to fasten it down.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 18:57
|
|
this is sarcasm, right?
|
devicenull posted:Floating floors are legitimately a thing - you don't always have to fasten it down.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 19:07
|
|
|
My basement is half semifinished, half unfinished for utilities/storage, with drop ceiling in the semifinished portion. I want to do rim joist insulation to help with temp loss in the basement. All I have right now are some fiberglass batts stuffed into the spaces. I estimated approximately $450 in material costs for diy around the entire perimeter with 2” thick eps/spray foam/etc. I would then hot-glue the batts back onto the foam so they didn’t go to waste. Thoughts on that approach vs. contacting a spray-foam contractor?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 19:37
|
|
|
devmd01 posted:Thoughts on that approach vs. contacting a spray-foam contractor? Do what you proposed. The foam board + Great Stuff around the edge works well, and is cheaper than full spray foam, though obviously more work. Another option is buying one of the DIY spray foam kits and doing it yourself. That's pretty much the job this kit is designed for: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Touch-n-Foam-200-ft-Board-Polyurethane-2-Component-Spray-Foam-Kit-4006022200/204962748
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 20:12
|
|
|
So I have an old house that originally had knob and tube. The panel was upgraded along with some of the wiring at a previous time by the old owners. However there are still various outlets and switches that are using knob and tube in the walls, and random splices from romex into it. What I’ve seen of it is in okay shape in that the cloth shielding is not crumbling to dust when I touch it. My question before I go calling around for quotes, is how involved is the process of getting this updated? Am I looking at gutting whole walls, or is this something an electrician could take care of in a less invasive manner?
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 23:05
|
|
|
Spring Heeled Jack posted:My question before I go calling around for quotes, is how involved is the process of getting this updated? This 100% depends on your home and how it is constructed. Somebody who knows what they're looking at is going to have to crawl around in your basement/attic/whatever and tell you what is likely to be possible.
|
|
#
?
Sep 22, 2021 23:08
|
|
|
Ja, I had a wizard in my basement in 1974 that somehow installed Romex everywhere but tied it into the knob & tube whenever it went up inside a wall because the walls are all plaster+lath. It worked - hence the wizard part. Problem is as soon as the next idiot comes along and starts working on the wiring, all kinds of weird poo poo would happen. This idiot finally got sick of the weird poo poo like a receptacle in the laundry room being on the same circuit as a light in the front porch (the other end of the house) and random untraceable flickerage. And not having any way to install ceiling fans or to have grounded receptacles. I was able to locate every ceiling box and vertical wall drop and use a hole saw to cut access through the attic floor and fish new wire. It really does depend on your house. Mine is a 1.5 story balloon-frame bungalow with an unfinished basement. Your two-story+ house will have to have some plaster opened up for chasing new wire, and boy howdy will that ever create a gigantic lovely mess.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 02:30
|
|
|
In my 1909 house they were able to remove all the knob & tube with very little damage. Everything upstairs they could reach from the attic and fish down, and on the main floor they could fish up from the basement. In the kitchen they had to pull off one "tile" in my ceiling to make the transition from horizontal to vertical, and in the entry way they had to cut 4 holes in the ceiling to be able to run from the horizontal feed up from the basement to the porch and living room fan. If my floor joists had run front to back rather than side to side, it would have been a lot more holes. So it really does depend on the the very intricate specifics of your house. And they can have a general idea how they'd do it, but some of that stuff (like which way the joists run) they're not going to be able to really be sure about until they actually get into the walls. But if you get good people they should be able to do it without ripping down walls.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 05:03
|
|
|
I’m currently in the process of replacing knob and tube across my 2.5 story house and the vast majority of the damage I’ve had to do to the walls is carefully hidden behind baseboards. My kitchen ceiling got a couple big holes and there will be some small holes in the plaster near the ceiling in the interior hallways and living room. A professional crew will know what’s necessary but you can usually fish a lot through a small opening, especially if you also have access above and below.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 07:42
|
|
|
Good morning, woke up the sound of water trickling. I'm only so concerned, this is underneath this window. Never had a water problem there before, just got unlucky that were between driveways at the moment.  Pulled up the corner of the carpet to expose the pad, set up three fans, went to work.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 12:28
|
|
|
How much should I be paying to replace my old wood front door with a new fiberglass one? I had one installer quote me with $2.5k, and another with $5.5k, which is a bit more than I was expecting.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 13:26
|
|
|
A new exterior door with a prehung frame is roughly 1k, so 2.5k installed sounds about right in this market. It's not hard labor by any means but does take some experience.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 13:32
|
|
|
We got 2 new exterior doors in the middle of the pandemic and installation was just around $500 a door, so ymmv
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 13:39
|
|
|
NomNomNom posted:A new exterior door with a prehung frame is roughly 1k, so 2.5k installed sounds about right in this market. It's not hard labor by any means but does take some experience. Really depends on the door.. the contractor grade fiberglass door I got form LowesDepot was somewhere in the $300 range. Anything was better than the 60 year old hacked up wooden door that swelled when it rained and shrank in the cold so I could never mange the gap properly with weather stripping. That said hanging doors suck, took most of a day to hang it after loving around with the old nonstandard frame size and cutting out a 1/4 of an inch I needed for clearance, redoing the threshold etc etc. if they're doing the full shebang with trim on interior / exterior and everything 2.5k isn't outrageous if the door's a quality non contractor grade poo poo door.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 13:39
|
|
|
Whatever our front door is, is magnetic. so we can easily hang notes and wreaths and hooks for masks and to-do lists. 
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 14:17
|
|
|
peanut posted:Whatever our front door is, is magnetic. so we can easily hang notes and wreaths and hooks for masks and to-do lists. Just a hunch, but I’d say you’ve got a steel door.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 15:14
|
|
|
some kinda robot poo poo
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 15:30
|
|
|
Bubbacub posted:How much should I be paying to replace my old wood front door with a new fiberglass one? I had one installer quote me with $2.5k, and another with $5.5k, which is a bit more than I was expecting. https://www.menards.com/main/doors-...2215893&ipos=53 Probably save a few bucks, gives you more options than whatever doors some installer dude offers to sell. If it's steel, also gives you a chance to paint it and dry prior to install. Places like Menards (and I presume Home Depot/Lowes but idk) are pretty precise on telling you what to measure and how. I'd perhaps do this in opposite order - line up an installer to do the labour, discuss with them who makes poo poo doors or not, what else to look out for. I may be out of touch but I'd think a proper install is a 4hr job or so for someone to do it all including re-trim. Also don't forget about choosing handles and locks and the storm door, if you have those in your area.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 15:34
|
|
|
we are about to have the knob and tube pulled out of the attic that only supplies three light fixtures on the second floor. when we were seeking concessions for it the then sellers now POs said "what? all of that was taken out and rewired years ago!" to which we replied with a picture of tester on the line reading a hot. got 5k and the impression they were kinda spooked by the revelation.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 19:51
|
|
|
We'd been renting our house for over 6 years before we bought it, so upon learning that there were 2 hot knob & tube wires feeding 2/3rds of the house that the insulation had been all chewed off by squirrels. Yeah we were a little spooked about it.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 21:14
|
|
|
BigFactory posted:Just a hunch, but I’d say you’ve got a steel door. Could be cobalt! 
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 22:40
|
|
|
devicenull posted:This guy kinda started annoying me - but it's a good overview of wtf the CO standards are in the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_R9NaTRVFE. That Kiddie one linked above is not going to tell you about low levels (it's no different then the CO ones you already have) The code requirements of only going off for 400ppm after 4 minutes, or 70 ppm for 60 minutes, make a fair amount of sense. I work with automated alerts on a safety-critical system and these thresholds make sense when you take the human element into consideration. "Well I want to know if my family is breathing a poisonous gas!" Of course. Ok beep beep beep, someone lit a candle. The furnace kicked on. Guess what happens to that detector in a couple days? It gets unplugged and the batteries pulled out. Great, now there is no sensor at all. The #1 of automated alerts is they must not go off unless there is a problem, and when there is a problem they must trigger. Nuisance alerts are strongly counterproductive. People will check the first one or two and if there wasn't a problem? They ignore them from now on. Congrats, you're annoying people while simultaneously conditioning them to ignore the alerts. For an automated warning system to be effective, the alerts must be so infrequent that they stand out in your mind and the problem is so severe that it's human-perceptible. These alarms absolutely must stay silent until there is a no-poo poo emergency. The operator has to be thinking "whoa, this has never ever gone off before. Something must be wrong". In the video they indicate it's common for even the "oh poo poo" alert to be ignored. Setting off more alarms is the polar opposite of what you want.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 22:41
|
|
|
I have 3 upstairs bedrooms that get warm/humid with the door closed, seems like a classic case of poor air circulation to me. What are the options for addressing this, preferably with the least amount of noise transmission between rooms? Leaning toward something like this, but was curious if the thread has input: https://www.tamtech.com/product/perfect-balance-in-door-return-air-pathway/
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 22:53
|
|
|
Sirotan posted:I have one of these plugged in near my furnace, might be what you're looking for: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00002N86A/ I just bought some of these to put on each floor, even though we already have combo CO/smoke detectors, because I too just want to know the levels to get some sense of what's happening, especially considering my boiler is 60 years old now.
|
|
#
?
Sep 23, 2021 23:03
|
|
|
$300 off the speed queen dryer that matches our washer because it was a display model? Yeah I’ll take that.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 00:18
|
|
|
I just had an electrician in to do some stuff in my 1931 house. It, too, has knob-and-tube pigtailed down to Romex in the crawlspace. All of the walls are beadboard nailed to redwood 4x8s (logging area). The electrician told me that replacing the rest of the wiring would be a nightmare, because there would be drilled holes through all those studs, with knobs on each side of every hole. And you can't just drill a hole through beadboard and slap on some plaster on top of it. Furthermore, the beadboard in the house is in various widths and of various ages, often in the same room. To fix it, we'd have to put wiremold on top of the walls to every socket and switch. No, thanks.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 00:34
|
|
|
Anything wrong with throwing a bunch of flattened cardboard boxes on top of the dirt in our crawl space? I plan on crawling around down there to do some wiring projects over the next couple of months and it'd be nicer to be laying on cardboard than dirt. No evidence of previous water intrusion.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 01:18
|
|
|
NomNomNom posted:Good morning, woke up the sound of water trickling. I'm only so concerned, this is underneath this window. Never had a water problem there before, just got unlucky that were between driveways at the moment. spf3million posted:Anything wrong with throwing a bunch of flattened cardboard boxes on top of the dirt in our crawl space? I plan on crawling around down there to do some wiring projects over the next couple of months and it'd be nicer to be laying on cardboard than dirt. No evidence of previous water intrusion.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 01:19
|
|
|
Slugworth posted:Pull the baseboard, and drill a 1" hole every 16 inches below the baseboard line to get some air inside the wall cavity. If there is wet insulation in the wall, your best bet is to instead carefully remove the paneling on that section so you can put it back when everything is dry. It's funny that you think there's insulation. Drilling holes behind the baseboard is a good idea though. Will do tomorrow if it's still wet. This afternoon has been nice and crisp and the weather looks good for the next few days, so fingers crossed there's no more rain before my concrete gets poured on Monday.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 01:27
|
|
|
Arsenic Lupin posted:I just had an electrician in to do some stuff in my 1931 house. It, too, has knob-and-tube pigtailed down to Romex in the crawlspace. All of the walls are beadboard nailed to redwood 4x8s (logging area). The electrician told me that replacing the rest of the wiring would be a nightmare, because there would be drilled holes through all those studs, with knobs on each side of every hole. And you can't just drill a hole through beadboard and slap on some plaster on top of it. Furthermore, the beadboard in the house is in various widths and of various ages, often in the same room. To fix it, we'd have to put wiremold on top of the walls to every socket and switch. No, thanks. It'd be expensive, but you could just rerun the entire house from the crawlspace, fishing new wire up to the existing receptacles.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 01:29
|
|
|
spf3million posted:Anything wrong with throwing a bunch of flattened cardboard boxes on top of the dirt in our crawl space? I plan on crawling around down there to do some wiring projects over the next couple of months and it'd be nicer to be laying on cardboard than dirt. No evidence of previous water intrusion. No, but be sure to retrieve it when you're done. Cardboard is crack to termites.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 03:59
|
|
|
$30,000 to install 5 minisplits. I mean, at least this company actually returns my calls.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 13:49
|
|
|
holy poo poo
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 13:52
|
|
|
cruft posted:$30,000 to install 5 minisplits. it's not THAT insane.. it's over by a few grand per unit or something I dunno.. I think I was quoted 4-5k for a single minisplit as an add-on for an out of the room way when they were also doing new central Air / Heat.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 14:52
|
|
|
I'm doing a 2 head system for $11k, so yeah $30k does not seem all that crazy for 5 heads.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 15:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 27, 2024 16:47 |
|
|
I super appreciate people chiming in on this, because I have no reference point. We were already inclined to go ahead with it, but this will help us justify spending a year's worth of cruft jr.'s college fund on air conditioning. Global warming sucks. I'm still holding out a shred of hope that the one company left will come back saying they can put in a ground source hydronic heat pump for $5000... although I guess that won't help a whole lot with cooling.
|
|
#
?
Sep 24, 2021 15:15
|
|