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MrYenko posted:I use this stuff, definitely keeps me from having to break out the hot water and plumbing snake. This seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure how you access the condensate pan on my HVAC plenum/furnace thing. Is there usually a removable panel, or is this something that the AC installer would've sealed with mastic or tape?
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Oct 17, 2021 06:59
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MetaJew posted:This seems like a good idea, but I'm not sure how you access the condensate pan on my HVAC plenum/furnace thing. Is there usually a removable panel, or is this something that the AC installer would've sealed with mastic or tape? There should be a removable panel where you can reach the evaporator coils, the pan is under them. Look for coolant lines or drain lines
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Oct 17, 2021 18:38
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SpartanIvy posted:I've been on-and-off restoring a vintage Chambers stove for almost the last 2 years and finally got it moved into the kitchen today and setup. It rules and I have to brag. Unfortunately I'm too tired from moving it and getting it setup to actually cook anything on it tonight. What a beauty! That grill! That slow-cook recess! (Do you have a pot that fits it?) 
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Oct 17, 2021 19:33
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Arsenic Lupin posted:What a beauty! That grill! That slow-cook recess! (Do you have a pot that fits it?)  
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Oct 17, 2021 21:58
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Apropos of nothing, I recently bought a dumb-tier Roomba for my single level condo. It bumps into stuff so forcefully, it is quite jarring to be in another room and hear it working. *wham* *kerchunk* I also refuse to let it run unattended in my office/2nd bedroom, I'm going to leave that door shut while it's working. There is virtually no way to guarantee it's not going to grab onto a monitor, laptop, or table lamp power cord and completely destroy the item and my floor when it falls. It doesn't even need to grab/suck up the cord, even bumping into it and dragging it along would be enough to pull stuff off my desk. Its obstacle detection requires a fairly large force to stop and a cord dragging something wouldn't trigger it. Inner Light fucked around with this message at 17:50 on Oct 18, 2021 |
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Oct 18, 2021 17:46
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A couple months ago, I installed a new doorknob and deadbolt on my front door. It previously had no deadbolt at all, and I'm like half sure they knobs the PO used on both the front and side door were interior knobs because of how crappy and corroded they were. Although I knew I could special order a matching knob for the side door, I decided "I'll just get this one here on clearance, since it's a similar style to the other one (not exact, but close enough considering you can't really see them both at the same time anyway,) and I'm sure re-keying is easy!" Bought a rekeying kit...pricier than I thought it would be, HOWEVER, when I also eventually replace the old doorknob (possibly the whole door, honestly) to the garage and the back door to the house as well, I can re-key those and now I only need 1 key for all my doors. Hell, might even try to figure out how to get a lock on my shed that can use the same one, too! (Does Schlage make 5-pin padlocks with removable/re-keyable cores?) Problem #1. This is how the re-keying set arrived:  If you can't tell, those are a LOT of pins (mostly #7, 8, and 9, but some of pretty much all sizes) scattered everywhere in the case. The little plastic insert they have on it does nothing. Many pins also got into OTHER bins, so even among the ones that were still in place, I couldn't trust any of them. #1's got into the #2s, #4s into the #3s, etc...Looking at some reviews online, this is not an un-common occurrence. I also don't have a caliper/micrometer that can easily measure in decimal inches. I have 1, but really made for slightly larger things, only has a 1/32" resolution, but also it's analog anyway so hard to read for things that small. I did, eventually, manage to get the 5 pins I need, and I will borrow a good digital caliper from a friend to sort the rest later. Problem #2: I guess this is a "new" (in quotes because not sure HOW new) style of Schalge lock and knob, because the knob is in one piece, and the lock cylinder has a weird collapsible "top" (guess it's called the Bible?) that has to be squished down to remove it from the knob. "F" style cylinder, I guess.  Ok, whatever, just have to compress it to get it in or out of the knob. Well, on TOP of that, the end of the core is slightly different. While the core following tool included in the kit fits into it, I'm a novice, so I used the wrong end of the follower tool and it resulted in like 3 of the springs getting bent, so then I had to spend a bunch of time replacing those. Though I guess point in favor of this style, you can just remove the top of the bible, make sure the following tool is in place the right orientation, replace all springs at once (confirming T-pins are in place) then just push the bible cap back on. And also happier I did get the full kit and not just a cheaper, generic kit that was just a few pins of various sizes and a following tool that may or may not have ever worked right. SO, while it took probably well over an hour longer than it needed to (most of that time was just trying to be absolutely sure I had the right size pins I needed) I did, eventually, replace the knob and get it key-keyed to match the front door. DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Oct 18, 2021 |
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Oct 18, 2021 18:45
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DrBouvenstein posted:SO, while it took probably well over an hour longer than it needed to (most of that time was just trying to be absolutely sure I had the right size pins I needed) I did, eventually, replace the knob and get it key-keyed to match the front door. This is next level and you should pat yourself on the back. I say this without irony. Now you can re-key all the doors of your friends and family for decades to come!
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Oct 18, 2021 18:53
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I kinda miss working at a local hardware store in a college town. So many rekeys when semesters ended, there's something kinda zen and satisfying about just sitting down with a big old sack of locksets a landlord dropped off and taking them apart and putting them back together, and usually having to key them to a master key as well.
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Oct 18, 2021 20:34
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SpartanIvy posted:I've been on-and-off restoring a vintage Chambers stove for almost the last 2 years and finally got it moved into the kitchen today and setup. It rules and I have to brag. Unfortunately I'm too tired from moving it and getting it setup to actually cook anything on it tonight. this is awesome and I am envious. how does it cook with the fuel turned off, though?
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Oct 18, 2021 21:49
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Qwijib0 posted:this is awesome and I am envious. Retained Heat! Basically the whole oven and thermowell are made of heavy gauge steel and insulated like crazy and when you turn to gas valve off it closes a damper on the bottom and back of it that sort of seals it up. I just finished cooking a bunch of stew in the oven and I usually cook it for 3.5 hours at 350 but I only ran it for 2 hours and then let it sit for the last hour and a half. When I pulled it out the thermometer was still showing over 150 degrees.
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Oct 18, 2021 23:03
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cruft posted:Now you can re-key all the doors of your friends and family for decades to come! seemingly at random! again and again!
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Oct 18, 2021 23:07
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Installed one of these LED flood lights with a sensor, works pretty great, lights up the whole driveway between the house and garage when it's dark and detects movement. My house came with these lovely godawful house decoration lights, they suck poo poo at lighting the yard itself when it's dark out. They are mainly used by suburbians who want to destroy nature with light pollution and make everything look bad, lovely and tacky and should be illegal. I just wanna turn on the lights when I go out and it's dark... This one shines downwards and is only on for half a minute after it stops detecting movement. 
His Divine Shadow fucked around with this message at 12:09 on Oct 19, 2021 |
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Oct 19, 2021 12:05
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what colour temp is that LED? asking re: light pollution, usually you'd want them to be WAY warm scale at night to help w/ that.
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Oct 19, 2021 12:45
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First plumber call happening today, my POs somehow hosed up my toilet water valve. 
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Oct 19, 2021 12:52
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falz posted:what colour temp is that LED? asking re: light pollution, usually you'd want them to be WAY warm scale at night to help w/ that. It's 4000K, but I don't think that matters with regards to light pollution when it's an intermittent light with a usual running time less than a minute, and most importantly it points downwards and not into the sky. The real issue with light pollution is the constant light that is aways on from dusk until dawn, even if nobody is there to use the light, and which also escapes upwards into the sky, typically when people decorate trees, garden paths, house facades.
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Oct 19, 2021 13:35
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Finally stopped dragging my feet on installing a radon mitigation system, started disassembling things last night and had to make an immediate trip to the store for more supplies after I cut a pipe too short. I already put in another pickup order to HD so I'm guessing this will be at least a 4-trip project. Also TIL, at 2am: the sump alarm will only stay silent for 8hrs after you press the button. 
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Oct 19, 2021 13:35
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gently caress that reminds me I should look into one of those mail in radon tests
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Oct 19, 2021 14:51
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Johnny Truant posted:gently caress that reminds me I should look into one of those mail in radon tests gently caress that reminds me that I should look into why our radon mitigation fan doesn't seem to be working.
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Oct 19, 2021 15:29
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umbrage posted:
gently caress, this reminds me that I should look into why the blower fan on our fireplace doesn't seem to be working.
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Oct 19, 2021 15:38
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We have what is probably a small roof leak above one of the bedrooms. It has, over the course of a year or so, increased a spot on the plaster ceiling that gets a bit bigger when we have *very heavy* flash flood-type rains- it was an abnormally wet summer here. The spot had remained there after the PO got an area on the roof fixed in 2016 after an awful storm season- I suspect whatever fix was done there has failed. In the spring we are planning on getting a new roof (and new siding and gutters, we want to do everything at once if possible and are lining up a contractor now). How should we bide our time and get through the winter? I don’t want the plaster to get damaged, but it feels silly to do a big roof repair ~6mo before getting our roof redone. We’re very much the type to just suck it up and get the work done properly on our house in a timely manner, but I don’t really know what my options are here.
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Oct 19, 2021 17:45
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BadSamaritan posted:How should we bide our time and get through the winter? I don’t want the plaster to get damaged, but it feels silly to do a big roof repair ~6mo before getting our roof redone. Your plaster is already damaged, along with everything between it and the roof. I couldn't quite follow your narrative, but that area has been getting wet every major storm for at least a year and up to... five years? Or some amount of time before 2016, plus the past year? The short-term goal should be 'stop additional damage from occurring'. The only good suggestion that gets you there is 'call a roofing contractor and see if they can figure out where the leak is coming from' and develop a plan from there. If you can't afford that, use a hose to try and figure out where the water is entering. soak an area, then go inside and see (in the attic if possible) if there is water coming through. Then repeat in a different area. Water can 'travel' a long distance from an initial penetration before dripping down to the next layer. Start above the damaged area and work your way against the force of gravity up the roof slope. Once you've figured out where it is coming in, post some photos. There are two major things you want to avoid as a homeowner - getting the inside of the house wet and setting the house on fire. You're currently doing one of those which isn't great.
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Oct 19, 2021 17:57
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Agreed, The hard part is determining where/how the water is getting in. Once that has been identified you can figure out a temporary fix until the major roof repair can be accomplished. You are also probably looking at some ceiling/drywall/plaster replacement, possible mold remediation, and even potential wood rot issues that will have to be dealt with after the water has been stopped. Water is second only to fire on the scale of "not good" things to have inside the structure of your house.
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Oct 19, 2021 18:04
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NomNomNom posted:Take a shower head off the stub, hold a bucket up and run the water for a set amount of time. Measure volume and report back. Finally got around to actually doing this! I filled a 2-gallon bucket from the outside hose hookup (without a hose actually attached). It took 52 seconds. Does this literally mean my water flow rate is about 2 gallons per minute? Because that seems pretty insanely low. I think I'd prefer that to finding that my flow rate is inexplicably really good, because this way I have an explanation for why my water pressure seems to be lovely, that just seems like really low
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Oct 19, 2021 18:20
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loquacius posted:I filled a 2-gallon bucket from the outside hose hookup (without a hose actually attached). It took 52 seconds. Maybe. That hose bib or the line to it could be restricted. I've got a hose bib like that and it's just an awful freeze proof design.
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Oct 19, 2021 18:25
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Tezer posted:Your plaster is already damaged, along with everything between it and the roof. I couldn't quite follow your narrative, but that area has been getting wet every major storm for at least a year and up to... five years? Or some amount of time before 2016, plus the past year? Apologies, I agree it was unclear. PO had the roof fixed after a series of big storms in 2016. There is a mark on the ceiling left over from this time period, but attic and plaster were in good condition otherwise. No change until this summer after an extremely heavy rain, when I noticed the mark had grown by about an inch. There was then one additional heavy rain where it looked like it got a smidge bigger. I agree that we need to get at least a stopgap measure put in ASAP because Water is Bad. I just have no idea of the cost and variety of those sorts of things. We did have a chimney contractor up there recently (hello more PO deferred maintenance) and they didn’t see anything that stood out to them, but they were chimney people. Attic access/work is a huge hassle in this house- I’m sending my partner up into the attic this Friday for a bunch of pictures since I’m too short to get up there with our ladder.
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Oct 19, 2021 18:25
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loquacius posted:Finally got around to actually doing this! There's a lot of things that go into your GPM flow rate that makes a reading from a spigot totally different from your shower head. Things like pipe diameters, pipe distances, how many bends, etc. Do that test again but from your actual shower head or at least tub faucet. You'll definitely get a better rate than an outdoor spigot.
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Oct 19, 2021 18:26
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BadSamaritan posted:Apologies, I agree it was unclear. PO had the roof fixed after a series of big storms in 2016. There is a mark on the ceiling left over from this time period, but attic and plaster were in good condition otherwise. Is the area downslope from any roof penetrations, like the chimney? It could be a problem with flashing. Or just failed roofing, but flashing is easier to temporary fix
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Oct 19, 2021 18:39
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BadSamaritan posted:I agree that we need to get at least a stopgap measure put in ASAP because Water is Bad. I just have no idea of the cost and variety of those sorts of things. We did have a chimney contractor up there recently (hello more PO deferred maintenance) and they didn’t see anything that stood out to them, but they were chimney people. Leaks are tricky because they are an investigative process not a construction process. If the chimney contractor is just doing mortar repair/flue cleaning then they aren't going to spend the time to diagnose a leak that might not even be related to their area of work. Same with roofing - if the person you call just pulls and replaces roofing all day they may not have the frame of mind to do leak testing which may reveal an issue that doesn't even involve the roof. Water can get into home's in weird ways. A smart roofer will know how to check for leaks and, more importantly, will understand how to bill you for finding leaks. You want someone who views diagnosing leaks as part of their job description. It may not be the lowest cost roofer. I work for a general contractor and we generally do the leak investigation (one person with a hose, one person observing) and then call in a relevant contractor to discuss. We only do this for existing clients, as 'leak investigation' is not our bread and butter. Find a detail oriented roofer is your best option if you don't have a pre-existing relationship with someone you can trust.
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Oct 19, 2021 18:51
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Motronic posted:I've got a hose bib like that and it's just an awful freeze proof design. Awful and freeze-proof is redundant. The worst ones are the ones with the vacuum breaker. A nice metal spigot that leaks due to a blob of plastic and tiny spring. Places where I ignore building codes and DGAF: -No vacuum breakers on spigots -No GFCI/AFCI on fridge and freezer circuits
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Oct 20, 2021 00:18
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Took the shower head off, and from there it took 1m37s to fill the 2-gallon bucket. That's a rate of 1.24 gpm. That's low for a shower, right? Assuming it is, I'm guessing the next step is to get a high-flow showerhead? How do those work exactly? Do they just let pressure build up more inside them before letting any water out?
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Oct 20, 2021 00:47
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BadSamaritan posted:Apologies, I agree it was unclear. PO had the roof fixed after a series of big storms in 2016. There is a mark on the ceiling left over from this time period, but attic and plaster were in good condition otherwise. Ja as Vim Fuego said, first thing is to check wherever there is a created opening through the roof, be it for a chimney, vent, or skylight, particularly if they are 'uphill' from the ceiling spot. Could be flashing, could be a bad boot. Take strong light into the attic space. If it's been going on long enough, even if it's only during wind-driven rain, you should find some water staining on the roof framing and/or sheathing. Possibly some rot, if it's a really old intermittent leaker. The easiest & cheapest short-term repair, particularly since to are replacing the roof, is to cold-patch it, but keep it off of siding materials or anything you want to keep. In the Philadelphia area, expect to pay $250-$750, possibly more if the roofers are scarce, to have it sealed, even a little spot; factors will be height of roof, slope steepness, accessibility, and availability. If you are around here, let me know, I can reach out to the folks I work with if you have trouble locating someone. PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 01:58 on Oct 20, 2021 |
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Oct 20, 2021 01:55
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I am about to delve into home ownership. Looking at locksmiths to come after closing, and some are saying they recommend replacing the handles. I thought it was typical to just rekey the locks. Is this just upselling? The house is on the newer side (80's) but I'm not sure when the handles were last replaced.
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Oct 21, 2021 17:17
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JerikTelorian posted:I am about to delve into home ownership. Looking at locksmiths to come after closing, and some are saying they recommend replacing the handles. I thought it was typical to just rekey the locks. Is this just upselling? The house is on the newer side (80's) but I'm not sure when the handles were last replaced. Depends on the hardware. If it's all junk (i.e. Kwikset-level) then yeah, just replace it. It's something you can probably do on your even cheaper own with a bulk pack of similar builder grade sets from LowesDepot that will already be keyed the same. If you want nice lock hardware you're gonna have to spend some money on it.
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Oct 21, 2021 17:23
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Motronic posted:Depends on the hardware. If it's all junk (i.e. Kwikset-level) then yeah, just replace it. It's something you can probably do on your even cheaper own with a bulk pack of similar builder grade sets from LowesDepot that will already be keyed the same. What would decent hardware be? Is schlage considered acceptable nowadays?
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Oct 21, 2021 17:51
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JerikTelorian posted:What would decent hardware be? Is schlage considered acceptable nowadays? Anything you find at a big box store is various level of junk, but the schlage stuff it nicer junk. Any decent locksmith is going to have access to the actually nice stuff, which you can probably find online as well. I've got schlage stuff on my house (not the big box store kind) and it's nice, but I mostly chose them because I have several sliding glass doors that have schlage barrels in them so if I wanted one key for everything I really didn't have another choice.
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Oct 21, 2021 17:55
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JerikTelorian posted:What would decent hardware be? Is schlage considered acceptable nowadays? Baldwin and Emtek are a step up from the Schlage and Kwiksets of the world, I went with Baldwin for all my interior and exterior doors since I had to replace everything and have been really happy with them. It's definitely more expensive but a solid brass fixture just feels more substantial in your hand, build quality is so much better. If you wanna pay top dollar, check out Rocky Mountain Hardware: https://www.rockymountainhardware.com/product-category/products/door-hardware/
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Oct 21, 2021 18:12
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Is this the place to ask for recommendations on home security cameras/video doorbells? Or is there a better thread elsewhere on the forums? A buddy recommended Wyze doorbell and cameras, which seem pretty reasonably priced compared to the competition.
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Oct 22, 2021 01:13
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Quarterroys posted:Is this the place to ask for recommendations on home security cameras/video doorbells? Or is there a better thread elsewhere on the forums? Here’s a thread that might have a bunch of info for you https://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3635963&perpage=40&noseen=1&pagenumber=137
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Oct 22, 2021 01:39
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Long time reader, first time homeowner: We inherited a decent washer and (gas) dryer from the PO. The dryer seems to take longer than it should and everything points to a clogged hose. I’d love to just replace the whole thing, but the hose runs out of the dryer and six feet behind drywall up to the vent, which is very inconveniently under a small patio behind the back door. Should I: -hire a person to clean it professionally? -hire a person to replace the whole hose, which may or may not involve ripping and patching drywall? -diy clean it with a big hose scrubber thing? -diy replace it and maybe I can fish up a new hose without ripping out the drywall? I’m in Brooklyn, NY, so services are pretty expensive here.
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Oct 22, 2021 07:03
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How handy are you? Dryer vent cleaning kits are cheap and easy to use. So cheap that if you hire someone you’ll be very annoyed that you paid that much after watching what work is involved.
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Oct 22, 2021 08:02
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