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Zhentar posted:In my garage, there are small gaps between the bottom of the wood in the garage door frame and the concrete floor. I'm pretty confident that this is how mice are getting into my garage, so I want to seal them off. What would be the best way to go about doing so? A picture might help but I'll throw out the spray can of expanding foam stuff for starters.
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May 25, 2014 23:27
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Zhentar posted:In my garage, there are small gaps between the bottom of the wood in the garage door frame and the concrete floor. I'm pretty confident that this is how mice are getting into my garage, so I want to seal them off. What would be the best way to go about doing so? Maybe look for a "garage door seal" or door sweep? That should fill the gap between the door and the ground and still allow you to use the door. If you don't use the door, spray foam that poo poo. Also check around the perimeter of your garage for rectangle holes about 3"x8" or so, and nail hardware cloth over those if it hasn't been done already.
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May 26, 2014 01:50
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Zhentar posted:In my garage, there are small gaps between the bottom of the wood in the garage door frame and the concrete floor. I'm pretty confident that this is how mice are getting into my garage, so I want to seal them off. What would be the best way to go about doing so? It's certainly A way they can get in. It's amazing how small of a spot they can get through. But how big are we talking here? Expanding foam was already mentioned, but caulk is probably a better and more durable option. Urethane foam turns nasty brown with enough exposure to sunlight and start to break down/flake. It also doesn't take paint well. Caulk on the other hand......that works. Even if you have to shove some backer in there first so you are using a whole drat tube for each gap (which is a good idea, because it will take forever to dry and finish shrinking if you're using a bunch of it).
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May 26, 2014 02:36
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Summer's rolling around, and the single window in my apartment isn't providing enough ventilation to keep my goon lair comfortably cool. At the recommendation of my apartment's maintenance guy, I've bought a fairly substantial portable AC unit, but I've run into two problems. First, the exhaust hose isn't long enough to reach my window unless I find some way to rearrange literally all of my furniture, so I need to extend it. Some Googling has indicated that I need to increase pipe diameter as I increase hose length so that I don't create back-pressure and overload the exhaust fan. Is this as simple as buying a 8" to 6" duct reducer and some tape? Second, how should I go about attaching the exhaust? I have awning windows, so I can't use the included window-mounting kit. I'm thinking that I'm going to have to remove the screen from the window and stick something else (like a sheet of plexiglass?) in its place, which is straightforward enough, but how do I attach the hose to the plexiglass in a way that's slightly more sturdy than liberal amounts of duct tape? Ideally, I would like to be able to close the window at night to keep the noise out, so something that sits flush with the exterior surface of the plexiglass would be ideal. Thanks in advance for the help, and let me know if this is big enough to warrant its own thread.
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May 26, 2014 04:36
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whoops been answered already Here, have a barrel on fire 
PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 05:04 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 05:00
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We're looking at kitchen cabinets and so far have talked to Lowe's. We're considering Kraftmaid or Shenandoah cabinets. Any pros or cons for these companies?
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May 26, 2014 05:45
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I have a question that might make me sound crazy, but I don't know what's going on. Last year I moved in to a new apartment that had been vacant for a while, and one night a mouse got in. I set traps around where there was evidence of a mouse, but I have never caught anything. I've also never seen any evidence that the mouse has been back. Out of paranoia I clean and reset the traps with peanut butter every once in a while and move them around just in case the mouse comes back. Today I went to clean the traps and rebait them and all of the bait is gone. All three traps are unsprung, but there is no peanut butter anywhere. Also, there is still no evidence that a mouse has been in my apartment. I clean my kitchen multiple times a week and aside from the one and only mouse incident I have never again found any droppings. I even clean behind my stove and refrigerator regularly and I've never found anything, whereas last year when I first set the traps it was very evident that the mouse had been there. What is taking the peanut butter from my traps?
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May 26, 2014 23:15
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There is no such thing as A mouse. If you've seen one, you have several. If the bait is gone, mice have eaten it. Do the traps spring if you hit them? If not, there's your answer. Alternately, they've been arranged in such a way that mice can steal the bait without springing the traps.
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May 26, 2014 23:45
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I put the traps perpendicular to the wall and only use a very small amount of peanut butter jammed in to the little bait wedge, so I didn't think a mouse would be able to get to the bait on three separate traps without setting at least one off. The traps do still spring, they aren't that old. I also haven't found any droppings anywhere, which is kind of odd. I've also never seen a mouse, only evidence that a mouse was in my apartment at one point in April 2013. Edit: I am beginning to think it may be ants, there are a lot of ants in my neighborhood. I haven't found any dead ants around the traps though, and I don't have an ant problem inside otherwise. I do find single dead ants around every once in a while though. Last edit: If it is a mouse and it is licking the peanut butter off of the traps, then I am better off just getting rid of the traps. It would mean that the mouse is coming in to lick the traps and not touch anything else, because all of my food is fine and there are no droppings or tracks or anything. This is driving me crazy. Deadite fucked around with this message at 00:36 on May 27, 2014 |
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May 27, 2014 00:05
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You were probably seeing old mouse poo poo if you've not seen any recently. My other suggestion would be to leave out leather and tiny cobbling tools before bed. If you have shoes in the morning, you'll know what kind of critters you have.
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May 27, 2014 01:19
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Zhentar posted:In my garage, there are small gaps between the bottom of the wood in the garage door frame and the concrete floor. I'm pretty confident that this is how mice are getting into my garage, so I want to seal them off. What would be the best way to go about doing so? How wide?
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May 27, 2014 01:36
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grapey posted:We're looking at kitchen cabinets and so far have talked to Lowe's. We're considering Kraftmaid or Shenandoah cabinets. Any pros or cons for these companies? They are more expensive than Ikea and of equal or lesser quality.
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May 27, 2014 01:54
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NancyPants posted:There is no such thing as A mouse. If you've seen one, you have several. If the bait is gone, mice have eaten it. Do the traps spring if you hit them? If not, there's your answer. Alternately, they've been arranged in such a way that mice can steal the bait without springing the traps. Those traditional wooden mouse traps are poo poo - replace them with the plastic toothy ones. EDIT: Bait taken but unsprung? Yah, lovely traps and you have mice.
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May 27, 2014 03:19
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Backov posted:Those traditional wooden mouse traps are poo poo - replace them with the plastic toothy ones. Bullshit, they work great if you know how to use them properly. That said, the single most effective thing is mouse poison. If you don't have any kids or pets, easily the best way to go. They leave the house to die, so you don't need to pick up any corpses.
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May 27, 2014 12:58
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We had trouble catching a mouse with a spring trap until we started putting two in a row. Found him caught in #2.
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May 27, 2014 13:01
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Squashy Nipples posted:Bullshit, they work great if you know how to use them properly. Or you can just do what the exterminators do, and not use them and not give a poo poo about using them properly.
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May 27, 2014 13:21
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Squashy Nipples posted:They leave the house to die, so you don't need to pick up any corpses. Really?
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May 27, 2014 13:22
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Deadite posted:Also, there is still no evidence that a mouse has been in my apartment. Some mice are sneaky bastards with good bowel control. I just had a mouse move about a cup of dog kibble (presumably one piece at a time) from a bag in my car into the glove compartment without ever leaving a visible dropping.
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May 27, 2014 15:22
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Zhentar posted:Some mice are sneaky bastards with good bowel control. I just had a mouse move about a cup of dog kibble (presumably one piece at a time) from a bag in my car into the glove compartment without ever leaving a visible dropping. So what did you do? Did you catch the mouse? In this case I am almost certain it was ants removing the bait from the traps. My real problem is that I don't know when to stop putting taps out. I use spring traps and the traps with the teeth, and I double them up like you're supposed to. I even used glue traps for a while and I have never caught anything, and there is no evidence of mice anywhere. I should just stop putting the traps out.
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May 27, 2014 15:34
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Totally TWISTED posted:A picture might help but I'll throw out the spray can of expanding foam stuff for starters.  Motronic posted:It's certainly A way they can get in. It's amazing how small of a spot they can get through. I wouldn't really believe that the holes are big enough, but there are a whole bunch of box elder bug wings scattered near a couple of them. Deadite posted:So what did you do? Did you catch the mouse? So far, all I've done is clean the dead mouse babies out of my car's ventilation. I figured there wasn't much point to trapping the mice currently in the garage as long as there are holes welcoming more to take their place (although maybe now that it's not so cold out it would seem less inviting). Once that's taken care of, I'll either use one of these or a cardboard tube perched over a garbage can (or perhaps both). Deadite posted:In this case I am almost certain it was ants removing the bait from the traps. You can sprinkle baby powder around the traps to see if the thief leaves behind mouse footprints.
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May 27, 2014 17:48
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Deadite posted:So what did you do? Did you catch the mouse? If ants are cleaning off your traps then it'll be very obvious, because there will be ants all over your kitchen.
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May 27, 2014 18:04
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nwin posted:Really? In theory. It's supposed to make them really thirsty so they leave go to find a source of water. In my experience, they usually just crawl under a lawnmower or into a corner and I find them when it gets warm outside.
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May 27, 2014 18:13
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I apologize for continuing to spam the thread with my construction-related questions, but I have another one! I'm looking at the MicroLam LVL stat sheet (PDF) ridge beam table (on page 11), since I'll need to be submitting it with my workshop plans. I noticed this text: "Minimum beam supports to be two trimmers (3") at each end and 7.5" at continuous-span supports." What is meant by "continuous-span supports"? And by "trimmer" for that matter? Google has availed me naught. My plans have the ridge beam supported by a 6x6 post at each end, with nothing in the middle. Functionally those 6x6s are augmented by an additional 2x6 each since the space between them and the next stud is pretty tight, and I could easily add another stud (making, more or less, a 10x6 support post). I just want to make certain that I'm providing adequate support for this thing. Mind, the table only allows for house widths of at minimum 24', and my workshop is only 16' wide, so even if I build to the minimum tolerance according to the table, I'll still be overengineering things.
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May 27, 2014 18:13
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stubblyhead posted:If ants are cleaning off your traps then it'll be very obvious, because there will be ants all over your kitchen. Well this did happen last summer. I checked a trap one day and it was swarming with tiny ants, so small I thought they were coffee grounds at first. I switched to cheese for bait and nothing took the cheese, so over the winter I went back to peanut butter. The peanut butter was untouched all winter but now that it is warm it has disappeared. I guess I will switch back to cheese (or maybe bacon, I have read that works).
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May 27, 2014 18:18
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Zhentar posted:I wouldn't really believe that the holes are big enough, but there are a whole bunch of box elder bug wings scattered near a couple of them. If you have girly little hands and you can wedge the tip of your pinky in a hole it's big enough for a mouse.
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May 27, 2014 18:39
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I'm installing some light fixtures to hang from the ceiling in my basement. I'm using some simple hooks from Home Depot that are rated to 90lbs when driven into wood. I've got 3 of them in - it's basically a Phillips head screw that's about 2-3 inches long that goes through a round metal part that the hook slides onto for 360 degree rotation. The 4th one though...it went about 3/4 of the way in and my power drill nor any hand screwdriver will make it go in any further and it's half stripped from the attempt. The Phillips just spins in the screw. Did I just hit a hard knot in the wood of the stud? Should I just cut it off with my dremel and try again with another? Or use and extraction bit to get it out and then try again in a slightly different location?
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May 27, 2014 20:07
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Did you drill pilot holes for your screws? Always drill pilot holes for your screws. Who knows what you hit; could be a knot, could be a nail or something similar.
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May 27, 2014 20:14
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:Did you drill pilot holes for your screws? Always drill pilot holes for your screws. Yeah, oops. Generally speaking do you just use a drill bit that's a little smaller than the diameter of the screw?
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May 27, 2014 20:25
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Use a drillbit that's the same diameter as the shaft of the screw. Ideally if you hold up the screw in front of the drillbit, you should just barely not be able to see the drillbit. Better to go with a smaller pilot hole than a larger one if you don't have the right size, but even a 1/32" variation in the diameter of the pilot hole can make a huge difference in how hard it is to get the screw in place.
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May 27, 2014 20:28
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I've always used this chart and had good luck. Never used anything ridiculous like Ipe, so your results may vary on really really hard wood or really soft wood. http://www.engineershandbook.com/Tables/woodscrewpilotholes.htm
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May 27, 2014 20:56
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Looked at a house for sale tonight, saw a couple things that just looked kinda unusual and I have no idea if they are A Big Problem(tm) or not. First up, the driveway was showing signs of the dirt settling underneath. From above, the driveway did not show any signs of damage, there were no uneven spots and only one hair line crack which I didn't even notice until looking closer.  In glorious MS Paint vision, the green would be grass, the light gray would be the driveway, and dark gray would be the house. The only sign of settling under the driveway was that the gap approximately two inches high and a foot or two long visible from the corner of the house. I did not bring any measuring devices so the size is just a random guess. Next, the basement appeared to settle slightly around the sump pump:  The tan circle would be the sump pump hole, there was a crack from the edge of the sump pump hole that lead pretty far across the utility room. The concrete was discolored (green area) bit did not feel damp. There was a very slight dip (or rise?) in the floor. The homeowner left a level in the basement, so I placed the level on and around the crack, the floor appeared to be level on both sides of the crack, but about a half bubble off if the level was placed with one edge over the crack such as in the picture. Also of note, there was a noticeable line where the concrete had been cut out and repaired in the past, and in the middle of this repair was a floor drain with the AC evap line running to it. I was a little surprised to see the floor drain only six inches from the sump pump hole, I wonder if the drain simply went into the sump well or if it was plumed into the sewer.  Do either of these issues that I have described seem like major problems? I liked everything else about the house, and it's only nine years old, at least I know whatever problems it has will be nothing in comparasion to Kastein's
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May 28, 2014 02:21
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grapey posted:We're looking at kitchen cabinets and so far have talked to Lowe's. We're considering Kraftmaid or Shenandoah cabinets. Any pros or cons for these companies? I've been looking into new cabinets recently as well and have spent many many hours doing research on the subject. I've considered everything from building them myself entirely from scratch to buying them at somewhere like Lowes. If you can fit standard sizes into your space and are not too picky about styles, you can probably find a line of stock cabinets to fit the bill cheaper than custom. Kraftmaid I believe is the Lowes/HD "semi-custom" line, while Shenandoah and/or American Woodmark is their stock line. The custom ones aren't generally built any better, but are more expensive since the manufacturer offers them in more sizes and styles and so has less economy of scale. I was able to find a local supplier of Bridgewood cabinets for about 20% less than comparable Lowes/HD stock cabinets. Hi-Lo is the parent company that makes Bridgewood...I think Hi-Lo makes RVs or something, so they must have the supply chain figured out really well. They use Blum hardware with soft close drawers and doors standard, so it would probably be a bit better than Lowes/HD actually. If you are feeling adventurous, there are RTA cabinets available quite a bit cheaper than even the cheapest you are likely to find anywhere at a store, and they can be quite high quality. I'd stay away from the Chinese poo poo though. There's probably plenty of people who have bought them and been very happy, but almost all of them use some janky construction techniques and the glue they use for their plywood is made from dead babies. I'm actually going to end up going with Conestoga RTA cabinets, unfinished (I've got no problem spraying catalyzed finishes), which should end up being about 40% cheaper than the lowest price from Lowes/HD, and about 30% less than the Bridgewood ones. I don't know if you would at all be interested in RTA, so I won't ramble about it anymore, but there is certainly a lot that could be said. I have no doubt that IKEA stuff is good and it is surely cheap as hell. The problem I have with it is that the sizes are so loving strange (can't fit it into my layout), and I don't like the frameless design. They use what is essentially Blum hardware branded with IKEA logos, so it is good stuff. IKEA cabinets are particle board, which really isn't so bad, but it has a really bad rap so there's that to consider potentially for resale. Their cabinets are constructed very different than their furniture - much more durable. From my research, the prices break down about like this: -Custom cabinets are generally the most expensive, depending on where you get them from -Stock lines from HD/Lowes/Costco/etc. in plywood construction = baseline -The above, with particle board construction is about 20% less -American made, pre-finished RTA cabinets in plywood is about the same cost as PB home center stock cabs -Unfinished RTA plywood are 20% less than pre-finished -Higher-tier Chinese RTA pre-finished are about the same as unfinished American made plywood. Chinese RTA are all plywood and all finished. -Pre-finished PB are about the same as un-finished plywood -Un-finished PB is 20% less than that -Bargain-basement Chinese RTA junk is probably somewhere down here, both in terms of cost and quality Really I could talk about this forever, so I'll stop now. What are your drivers...budget, optimizing available space, look, etc.?
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May 29, 2014 03:28
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Hey, thanks! That's very helpful. We're mainly constrained by budget (of course) and space--the kitchen is very small, and to get the most useful cabinet space and the best look, we need a semi-custom like Kraftmaid. I looked into Ikea, but they don't have the widths we need, so things would look weird plus we'd be using a lot of big fillers I think. And, when I did the rough math, the Ikea cabinets would only save us about $1,500. I've decided that it's important for me to deal with someone locally--to at least have a point person (like our kitchen designer at Lowe's) who will help us deal with mixups, scratches, etc. The closest Ikea is an hour away, and we don't have the time/patience to deal with mixups in ordering. And because of everything above, I don't want to risk the ready to assemble stuff online. I want to be able to feel how the drawers open and physically look at everything, in person. I think I'm leaning toward Kraftmaid because I like what I've seen, including in my mother in law's house, haha. They have a couple colors I really love, and I couldn't find a color I even "mostly" liked in Shenandoah (which I understand is the same as American Woodmark at Home Depot). I'm going to ask about ways to bring down the cost--like using a cheaper door style. We're also going to not do crown molding and some other thigns to cut the cost. Any other things you would suggest for lowering the price? We're doing super basic laminate countertops and inexpensive tile floors--both of which we're installing ourselves--so the cabinets are by far the most expensive thing. That first quote was an eye-opener :S Thanks again for sharing what you've learned! Very helpful.
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May 29, 2014 06:28
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For lowering cost, you could see about getting unfinished cabinets and doing your own staining/finishing. It's not at all hard, just a bit tedious and you need a (well-ventilated) space where the stain and finish can dry. This also gives you more options regarding color, since you can pick your own stain to use.
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May 29, 2014 17:25
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My toilet is leaking foul liquid directly out of the base. It's been going on for a while, but my GF has been so diligent about cleaning it up that I didn't realize how bad it's gotten. I installed the toilet brand new two years ago, have had no problems with it before now. Plan is to remove toilet, replace wax ring, re-seat toilet, and re-caulk. Am I missing anything?
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May 29, 2014 18:10
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Roto-rooter the poo poo out of the drain. Do you pour hot water down your toilet om a regular basis? If so, that might have caused the wax ring to melt.
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May 29, 2014 18:20
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Squashy Nipples posted:Plan is to remove toilet, replace wax ring, re-seat toilet, and re-caulk. Am I missing anything? That's the general idea. Some people like to leave a few inches' gap in the caulking in back so if the seal on the wax ring fails the water has somewhere to go, but I think that's kind of personal preference.
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May 29, 2014 18:28
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Is it possible to buy a magnetized wire? Something like a metal clothes hangar that I can bend and it will keep its shape, but would stick to a refrigerator?
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May 29, 2014 19:57
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THF13 posted:Is it possible to buy a magnetized wire? Something like a metal clothes hangar that I can bend and it will keep its shape, but would stick to a refrigerator? Not really. All magnets are solid. The flexible sheet ones you see are actually small magnetic particles suspended in plastic. They're so weak that they need to have a fairly large surface area to stay attached, so large that it keeps them from being flexible side to side like you would want. Your best bet would be to use some other substance to keep the shape you want, then use magnets to hold it to the fridge.
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May 29, 2014 20:12
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:For lowering cost, you could see about getting unfinished cabinets and doing your own staining/finishing. It's not at all hard, just a bit tedious and you need a (well-ventilated) space where the stain and finish can dry. This also gives you more options regarding color, since you can pick your own stain to use. I'd be too worried about screwing them up. My staining experiences haven't been great. I was thinking today--can you buy countertops online? Laminate.
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May 30, 2014 02:01
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