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SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf
That's actually his belt. The collars on the other side.

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daslog
Dec 10, 2008

#essereFerrari

Jaded Burnout posted:

Excellent, thank you. I guess the collar is there so you can tell one end from the other.

He's loves that couch for some reason.

knox_harrington
Feb 18, 2011

Running no point.

Jaded Burnout posted:

Is that in swiss francs, or euros or..? I guess it doesn't make much difference at the moment. Yikes.

Swiss francs. I'm going to need to dig into the quote as I was expecting the walls to be less than the terrace, but they're more than half the cost.

In the quote he said we can save some money by doing less precise stonework, gonna find out what exactly that means.

quote:

Il y a des techniques de finitions avec le prix qui varie, dans cette offre, j’ai choisis de vous proposer la qualité de finitions au top

On peut économiser environ 2000.00 frs en posant la pierre sans retouche (avec des finitions moins précises)

priznat
Jul 7, 2009

Let's get drunk and kiss each other all night.

knox_harrington posted:

Hmm your dishwasher is raised up, that's a great idea and not sure why I haven't seen it before. Aesthetically a bit less clean I guess.

Man, as a tall person I love that idea.

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

I'm putting in a new thermostat - the blue wire coming from the wall is just wrapped around another cable and is not exposed at the end. I noticed that my old thermostat did not have a blue wire spot, but my new one does. I assume I strip this one and put it in the blue spot? I'm just confused why one has a blue wire connection and one doesn't.

Anne Whateley
Feb 11, 2007
:unsmith: i like nice words

daslog posted:

There are small ones that will fit, but they don't really fill the space up and I'm thinking that will look weird.
Just put a cookbook or something in the remaining space. It'll look fine. I also have a weirdly small microwave space, so I got a small microwave, and it's fine.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

actionjackson posted:

I'm putting in a new thermostat - the blue wire coming from the wall is just wrapped around another cable and is not exposed at the end. I noticed that my old thermostat did not have a blue wire spot, but my new one does. I assume I strip this one and put it in the blue spot? I'm just confused why one has a blue wire connection and one doesn't.

Depending on what shade of blue that's probably the common wire, and your old thermostat was either battery powered or simply didn't require power.

Whether it's actually connected to the furnace or not would be the next question. You'd need to open it up to see.

falz
Jan 29, 2005

01100110 01100001 01101100 01111010
I'd definitely leave it disconnected until you check the furnace wiring. There are colour standards but that doesn't mean whoever last touched it used em.

daslog
Dec 10, 2008

#essereFerrari

Anne Whateley posted:

Just put a cookbook or something in the remaining space. It'll look fine. I also have a weirdly small microwave space, so I got a small microwave, and it's fine.

And it's the cheapest, so I'll start there!

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

Motronic posted:

Depending on what shade of blue that's probably the common wire, and your old thermostat was either battery powered or simply didn't require power.

Whether it's actually connected to the furnace or not would be the next question. You'd need to open it up to see.

I tried it with and without and no difference (i.e. nothing working either way). I'm having someone come by in a few hours to fix it tho

Omne
Jul 12, 2003

Orangedude Forever

Omne posted:

Dumb question: I have a one year old new construction home. The door hardware on my back patio French doors is showing some rust (as well as a hose bib). Do I need to replace them, or is there something else I can do to make them look good-as-new?

ETA: Also, there is a slight gap between a window frame next to the front door, and the overall front door frame. It's small and tapers as you move up the window frame, but I'm not sure what to use to seal that gap.

Anyone got any ideas?

SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf
What you're looking for for your door is weather stripping and if your door, like your house, is 1 year old it should have it already. Check the door frame for foam/rubber around the inside.

If it's missing then there are several types available. If it's there but ruined somehow you can just replace it.

actionjackson
Jan 12, 2003

Ugh, A/C and furnace stopped working. Turns out the evaporator coils or whatever totally iced over and so water was dripping into the pan below the furnace, and it reached the top so it tripped the off switch.

I have a question about what I was priced for. The condensers are only about five years old because they were replaced after vandalism, but apparently the new evaporator coils aren't compatible with them because they don't use freon, or do, or whatever. Anyway here's the options:

evaporator coil only, if they find one that works - 2250 (can't be financed)

replace both A/C and furnace with carrier units:

either 11363 - 750 rebate, can finance over five years no interest 190/month
or 10120 - 550 rebate, can finance over three years no interest 281/month

both have the same furnace, but the AC on the first one is nicer.

The furnace is as old as the building (15 years), and my understanding is that it's cheaper to replace both at the same time instead of just one in the long run.

On a more practical note, given the economic situation I probably have to anyway as then I can do the long term financing.

Spring Heeled Jack
Feb 25, 2007

If you can read this you can read

priznat posted:

Man, as a tall person I love that idea.

My grandparents did that when they designed their kitchen. Puts it a litter lower than waist height for minimal bending over.

SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf
So project posting.

I've wanted a medicine cabinet with an electrical outlet in it for charging my toothbrush and other poo poo, but if you look at how much a medicine cabinet with that feature costs. It's utterly ridiculous. I think the cheapest one I could find was around $800.

Fuuuuuuuck that. So I pieced together my own solution utilizing my existing 1950 medicine cabinet, a recessed media outlet box, and a dremel.

I still have to finish wiring it, which will be done after I put in another outlet in the wall below the sink, but I think it turned out pretty great.


Steve French
Sep 8, 2003

I've ordered a play structure for my kids. Starting to prepare the area where it'll be installed, where it's supposed to be level and have some soft material under it, apparently e.g. 12" of mulch/bark/chips given the height of the structure, out 6' on all sides. This is a pretty large area, about 34x29'. Any recommendations on best way to level this out and put down material? Default was a bunch of shoveling, then pressure treated or redwood 2x on edge for the border.

Any tools (eg power tools I could rent) that would be worth getting to make the leveling a lot easier? It's gently sloped as is and not far off level.

Should I put anything down under the mulch? It's not a terribly friendly environment for weeds to grow as is, pretty dry...



Surprisingly hard to see but the stakes and twine marking the area are there

His Divine Shadow
Aug 7, 2000

I'm not a fascist. I'm a priest. Fascists dress up in black and tell people what to do.

knox_harrington posted:

Hmm your dishwasher is raised up, that's a great idea and not sure why I haven't seen it before. Aesthetically a bit less clean I guess.

It's awesome, the area above the diswasher is also at a super handy height for various stuff you don' want the kids to have easy access to.

Tiny Timbs
Sep 6, 2008

daslog posted:

So my next problem in my new house is the microwave opening in the kitchen. The frame in this picture it shows a 27-in wide by 15 and 3/4 high. The depth is 11 and 3/4. And there is a shelf that is 16 and 1/2 deep.

I can only find one or two microwaves that could possibly fit in the size opening which really sucks. The cabinet itself is 29 in which seems to be standard for microwave width.

What am I supposed to do here with this weird size opening? it's like it was designed before hanging microwaves was even the thing





mine has this except a previous owner gouged out a big ragged hole in the drywall to fit a deeper microwave

I framed it in with some scrap wood and it looks 1000x better

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


SpartanIvy posted:

I've wanted a medicine cabinet with an electrical outlet in it for charging my toothbrush and other poo poo, but if you look at how much a medicine cabinet with that feature costs. It's utterly ridiculous. I think the cheapest one I could find was around $800.

They do seem to be strangely more expensive in the US, but:

$430
https://www.amazon.com/Vertical-Ill...90559597&sr=8-9

$395
https://www.amazon.com/AQUADOM-Paci...s%2C213&sr=8-34

$413
https://www.amazon.com/Robern-CB-PL...ps%2C213&sr=8-5

Elem7
Apr 12, 2003
der
Dinosaur Gum
When we moved into our current house we had a built-in microwave that had to be replaced, didn't work. It was literally the smallest microwave I've ever seen, something like .4 cubic feet, the actual space it went into wasn't to small but for whatever reason it had a large surround of vented faceplates, don't know why a 600 watt microwave would need that, 80s tech or not.

I found some drop-in replacements online but they were $300, for an absurdly small microwave. After removing the face plates the space still didn't have the depth for a bigger microwave BUT it was perfect for a toaster oven so now we have a counter top microwave and a toaster oven fitted into the old built-in space.

ntan1
Apr 29, 2009

sempai noticed me
Yup - products in the US have a markup built in, so that you hit the normal price when they are marked down.

I swear, you should be able to buy everything at minimum 40% off.

knox_harrington
Feb 18, 2011

Running no point.

ntan1 posted:

Yup - products in the US have a markup built in, so that you hit the normal price when they are marked down.

I swear, you should be able to buy everything at minimum 40% off.

Aahaha. You don't know how good you have it.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


Yeah, I think I mentioned this in the tools thread, but buying two nail guns on US Amazon and having it shipped internationally to the UK, including customs charges, was still about half the price of equivalent local tools.

Sirotan
Oct 17, 2006

Sirotan is a seal.


It's time for another round of "gently caress around with sirotan's water line"!!!



Will we see more sparkly water? Will they bust a hole in my sewer line? Stay tuned to find out!

oh god i hope they don't

SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf

I feel like I searched every version of "medicine cabinet electrical outlet" possible so no idea how I missed those. At $30 total though my solution is probably a better value anyway.

Hasselblad
Dec 13, 2017

My dumbass opinions are only outweighed by my racism.

No one forgot that I exist to defend violent cops, champion chaining down immigrants, and have trash opinions on cooking.

SpartanIvy posted:

So project posting.

I've wanted a medicine cabinet with an electrical outlet in it for charging my toothbrush and other poo poo, but if you look at how much a medicine cabinet with that feature costs. It's utterly ridiculous. I think the cheapest one I could find was around $800.

Fuuuuuuuck that. So I pieced together my own solution utilizing my existing 1950 medicine cabinet, a recessed media outlet box, and a dremel.

I still have to finish wiring it, which will be done after I put in another outlet in the wall below the sink, but I think it turned out pretty great.




I kind of wouldn’t want to keep a toothbrush in a closed space like that. Could get funky.

SpartanIvy
May 18, 2007
Hair Elf

Hasselblad posted:

I kind of wouldn’t want to keep a toothbrush in a closed space like that. Could get funky.

I had that thought as well but there's a sizeable gap around the door when it's closed that I think will be enough to keep the air moving.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


SpartanIvy posted:

I feel like I searched every version of "medicine cabinet electrical outlet" possible so no idea how I missed those.

They were quite hard to find! It helped to search for ones with lights first, since they already have power, the outlets appear to be a "luxury" add-on, and not always listed.

SpartanIvy posted:

At $30 total though my solution is probably a better value anyway.

Agreed. As long as you're safe it sounds like a good solution.

Aquila
Jan 24, 2003

Steve French posted:

I've ordered a play structure for my kids. Starting to prepare the area where it'll be installed, where it's supposed to be level and have some soft material under it, apparently e.g. 12" of mulch/bark/chips given the height of the structure, out 6' on all sides. This is a pretty large area, about 34x29'. Any recommendations on best way to level this out and put down material? Default was a bunch of shoveling, then pressure treated or redwood 2x on edge for the border.

Any tools (eg power tools I could rent) that would be worth getting to make the leveling a lot easier? It's gently sloped as is and not far off level.

Should I put anything down under the mulch? It's not a terribly friendly environment for weeds to grow as is, pretty dry...



Surprisingly hard to see but the stakes and twine marking the area are there

34'x29'x1' is 36 cubic yards of mulch (or anything) and would be at least one truckload, probably more. Mulch comes in many types and qualities and can cost $50-100+ a yard plus delivery, and you definitely want delivery. If at all possible have it dumped directly into the prepared area. Preparing the area would probably take a bulldozer a few hours at most, or many days to do yourself with a shovel and wheelbarrow. Either way where are you going to put 36 yards of dirt. At a minimum you should probably put weed mat and a pre-emergent herbicide down. Also consider other mulch like substances. My neighbor had some sort of rubber mulch put down in his backyard for the play area for his kids, 3" of it I think. I'm not an expert, I've just talked to my neighbor about what he had done and am planning to put down ~1000 sqft of mulch in my backyard.

Happiness Commando
Feb 1, 2002
$$ joy at gunpoint $$

Why do you need a 12" depth of mulch?

tangy yet delightful
Sep 13, 2005



Happiness Commando posted:

Why do you need a 12" depth of mulch?

The legal department of the playset company.

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Aquila posted:

34'x29'x1' is 36 cubic yards of mulch (or anything) and would be at least one truckload, probably more.

That's an insane amount of material for this, and it's WAY more than one truckload. A triaxle only holds like 20 yards. A long quarry trailer might just kinda sort of fit 36 while looking like an ice cream cone.

This is well into "you need a skid steer" territory, but in reality what is needed is less material because that's just an insane way of trying to do this.

Sirotan
Oct 17, 2006

Sirotan is a seal.


I have a new water line now. Seems to be working just like the old water line. Success.

So like how long should I wait before I plant grass on my new dirt piles? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process of it settling? Water it a bunch? Stomp on it?

devmd01
Mar 7, 2006

Elektronik
Supersonik

tangy yet delightful posted:

The legal department of the playset company.

I agree. Do I want my kids to be safe? Sure. I went the route of “gently caress it, they’ll be fine” with the playground I built but it also doesn’t have a very tall platform, monkey bars, etc. The least safe part is the transition up and over the top of the climbing wall in to the inside of the platform and I have lots of handles installed for that.



Kids are pretty good at evaluating risk and not doing dangerous stuff they’re not capable of. Sure, accidents can happen but in this particular instance I feel like the risks are minimal. Hell, the three year olds are jumping off the slide most of the way up now.

daslog
Dec 10, 2008

#essereFerrari

Sirotan posted:

I have a new water line now. Seems to be working just like the old water line. Success.

So like how long should I wait before I plant grass on my new dirt piles? Is there anything I can do to speed up the process of it settling? Water it a bunch? Stomp on it?


Plant grass right away. Water it and use starter fertilizer. Some of it will die in the hot summer sun, so plan on killing the weeds that grow and plant grass again on labor day.

Steve French
Sep 8, 2003

Aquila posted:

34'x29'x1' is 36 cubic yards of mulch (or anything) and would be at least one truckload, probably more. Mulch comes in many types and qualities and can cost $50-100+ a yard plus delivery, and you definitely want delivery. If at all possible have it dumped directly into the prepared area. Preparing the area would probably take a bulldozer a few hours at most, or many days to do yourself with a shovel and wheelbarrow. Either way where are you going to put 36 yards of dirt. At a minimum you should probably put weed mat and a pre-emergent herbicide down. Also consider other mulch like substances. My neighbor had some sort of rubber mulch put down in his backyard for the play area for his kids, 3" of it I think. I'm not an expert, I've just talked to my neighbor about what he had done and am planning to put down ~1000 sqft of mulch in my backyard.

I've checked into mulch prices here; I can get "playground chips" from a local landscaping supply company for $50/yard plus $50 delivery, though I imagine they wouldn't do that for 36 yards. I can also get mulch/chips in varying grades for 10-20 per yard. That said, I'm certainly inclined not to do the full 12" if it seems overly conservative, but also willing to pay/do what it takes to do things right without cutting inappropriate corners.

I should clarify that I don't intend to _remove_ dirt to a depth of 12 to make the mulch even with the surrounding dirt; I just want to ensure the dirt under the mulch is sufficiently level. As I said it's not that far off right now (need to get around to determining exactly this weekend what the high/low difference is). My default plan was to box the area in and the mulch would be slightly above grade. Have thought about other materials but think chips/bark/mulch is right for us.

Motronic posted:

That's an insane amount of material for this, and it's WAY more than one truckload. A triaxle only holds like 20 yards. A long quarry trailer might just kinda sort of fit 36 while looking like an ice cream cone.

This is well into "you need a skid steer" territory, but in reality what is needed is less material because that's just an insane way of trying to do this.

Yeah, it certainly seemed like rather a shitload when I first ran the numbers. Definitely curious to hear more experiences from others with play structures installed.

For reference, this is the sort of monstrosity we ordered

https://www.backyarddiscovery.com/collections/swing-sets-playsets/products/skyfort-ii

tater_salad
Sep 15, 2007


A foot of mulch is stupidity. It's cyoa in case a kid falls and gets hurt. A foot of mulch? Contemplate that.. have you ever been to any playground anywhere that you have 12" of mulch to dig to before you hit dirt.

Just toss a few inches down over some fabric and call it a day. Or let your kids hit the ground they should be fine.

peanut
Sep 9, 2007


quote:

some soft material under it

I think grass and dirt is ok. They're just afraid of the injury and cracks liability of concrete.

Steve French
Sep 8, 2003

tater_salad posted:

A foot of mulch is stupidity. It's cyoa in case a kid falls and gets hurt. A foot of mulch? Contemplate that.. have you ever been to any playground anywhere that you have 12" of mulch to dig to before you hit dirt.

Just toss a few inches down over some fabric and call it a day. Or let your kids hit the ground they should be fine.

Haha, I think it has been a few decades since I dug up playground mulch before hitting dirt.

It's funny how different my default perspective is from a risk management standpoint now that I've got kids of my own, though not surprising. I figured I'd start off on the cautious side here and ask for input, not wanting to err too far on the side of being hands off and carefree. (I've been surprised a lot in the past few years with home stuff how stringent/conservative some code and safety things are, and learned that a lot of them are for quite good reasons, so didn't want to be dismissive of the suggested safety measures here).

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BonoMan
Feb 20, 2002

Jade Ear Joe

Oh... Yeah just leave the dirt underneath it. A thin layer of mulch or chips if you absolutely must. Maybe just throw an old mattress under the monkey bars.

That is a very straight up playground and does not need what they're suggesting.

Edit: fwiw I have two kids and am over protective to a fault and I wouldn't put anything under that. How old are they?

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