Home Improvement Thread

Postby **King Colby** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:23 pm

It's not too thick but looks good

Postby **tjand72** » Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:02 pm

Ollie's has some decent rugs.

Postby **King Colby** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 6:45 pm

I'm buying a nice Weber grill in the near future which will be over $1000. Havent decided how much over $1000 quite yet.

The insides of my old char broil that I bought for $300 about 6 years ago pretty much completely rusted out. Didnt feel like pulling the trigger on the Weber right now, so i found replacement parts for pretty much the entire inside for about $65 and just replaced today. Kinda excited about my thrifty cost avoidance.

Postby **Shyster** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 7:18 pm

Nice. Personally, I've decided to avoid making any big purchases (or even medium purchases) as much as I can. Being able to fix stuff is a valuable skill.

Postby **NTP66** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 7:30 pm

My dad bought a new Weber Genesis II E-315 a few years ago to replace his 10+ year old Weber. Quality is just not the same since the Weber family sold the business, and I would never buy one myself - especially at their ridiculous price point.

Postby **blackjack68** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 8:01 pm

I'm buying a nice Weber grill in the near future which will be over $1000. Havent decided how much over $1000 quite yet.

The insides of my old char broil that I bought for $300 about 6 years ago pretty much completely rusted out. Didnt feel like pulling the trigger on the Weber right now, so i found replacement parts for pretty much the entire inside for about $65 and just replaced today. Kinda excited about my thrifty cost avoidance.

Yep. I have a 6+1 burner CharBroil and just replaced the guts two years ago. Much cheaper to keep her!

Postby **mac5155** » Sun Apr 12, 2020 9:22 pm

I have rock (specifically "slate chips") around my house with a natural edge holding them in place.

I am trying to determine if an edger attachment will redo the edge, or if I need a specific "bed redefiner". Or if neither will work!

So, any input is welcomed.

It seems a bed redefiner will work great with mulch, I just don't know about with rocks.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 6:30 am

Anyone else get woken up in the middle of the night by all of your second floor smoke alarms going off? Nobody?

This is the second false alarm we've had on the one in our hallway, a smoke/co2 combo unit. Gonna have to call First Alert again and have them send me another replacement.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:31 am

Anyone have any experience with the karndean looselay on a cement floor?

Postby **DigitalGypsy66** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:50 am

We’ve never had that happen, but the low battery chirp at 2 am on a weeknight is the **** worst. Trying to hunt down which alarm it is in the dark is horrible.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 9:51 am

Thankfully, First Alert's customer service is terrific. Called, described the issue, and was told a new unit was being sent in 7-10 days.

Postby **Ad@m** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 10:04 am

We’ve never had that happen, but the low battery chirp at 2 am on a weeknight is the **** worst. Trying to hunt down which alarm it is in the dark is horrible.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 11:09 am

Anyone have any experience with the karndean looselay on a cement floor?

Not that specific brand, but I did do lifeproof flooring over plywood and it was pretty darn easy. Just get the tool to hammer in the edges and a few sharp razor blades/t-square and you're set.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:23 pm

Anyone have any experience with the karndean looselay on a cement floor?
Not that specific brand, but I did do lifeproof flooring over plywood and it was pretty darn easy. Just get the tool to hammer in the edges and a few sharp razor blades/t-square and you're set.

I don't mind doing the work, but they offered to install it for $2 a sq ft, so I'm leaning towards forking over the $700 and having it done correctly.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:29 pm

that doesn't seem overly pricey and I'd have probably done the same.

Postby **eddy** » Wed Apr 15, 2020 3:41 pm

that doesn't seem overly pricey and I'd have probably done the same.

I'm guessing they could probably use the money which also makes me want to do that more.

Postby **count2infinity** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:14 am

Does it make sense to just go ahead and prime all the walls before painting? Most of the colors that we're planning on are going from a dark color to light (which makes sense for a primer on its own), or from a dark color to a different dark color, would we need a primer then?

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:22 am

Does it make sense to just go ahead and prime all the walls before painting? Most of the colors that we're planning on are going from a dark color to light (which makes sense for a primer on its own), or from a dark color to a different dark color, would we need a primer then?

I would say no. Painter friend of mine said primers are needed when putting up new walls or painting over a rough surface (I put on an oil based primer when I removed wallpaper)

Two coats will most likely cover the dark colors. Either way, you'll be painting twice but you risk having to do it 3 times if you do the primer first.

Postby **count2infinity** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:23 am

Interesting... one room will be a removal of wallpaper, so I'm guessing primer is necessary after the wallpaper is gone?

Postby **meow** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:24 am

We've had really good success tinting the primer to match the final color we are using. The only tough part is that it covers the wall too well and it can be tough to see what is primer and what is new paint.

Postby **MWB** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 8:49 am

Does it make sense to just go ahead and prime all the walls before painting? Most of the colors that we're planning on are going from a dark color to light (which makes sense for a primer on its own), or from a dark color to a different dark color, would we need a primer then?

I’ve very rarely used primer, especially if you use a good quality paint. Dark to light, two coats. Or, if you want to save money, could use primer as first coat. Dark to dark, probably depends on how deep the color is, or how different from the new color. Could possibly get away with one coat.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:46 am

Interesting... one room will be a removal of wallpaper, so I'm guessing primer is necessary after the wallpaper is gone?

I would. Almost impossible to not have a little glue left over. Oil based primer is good for this, but it's messy

Here's a free tip: Use about 3 cups fabric softener/gallon of water. Use a sponger and wipe all over the wallpaper. It'll basically melt right off.

Postby **King Colby** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:48 am

Yep what MWB said. If you buy good paint, you wont need primer. Plan on 2 coats rather than try to get away with 1. You'll be happy with the result.

For the wallpaper room same deal, if its bare drywall under it, then prime it. If not, just prep the wall properly and do a light sanding to get all the wallpaper gunk off and 2 coats of good paint will look great.

Postby **Nuge** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:52 am

I second the fabric softener. When we moved into our house, every room had wallpaper and we removed all of it. We tried every trick to take it down. Vinegar worked ok, a steamer also worked ok, but with the fabric softener, we would let it soak for about ten minutes and whole sheets of wallpaper would peel off. We also didn't use any primer, just wiped down the walls and two coats of paint/primer in one and didn't have any issues.

Postby **count2infinity** » Fri Apr 17, 2020 9:57 am

Thanks for the advice all... PPG had a 40% off coupon on their website, but it's not for their diamond or timeless line of paints. Behr Ultra seems to have really great reviews. Price wise, it's inline with PPG diamond stuff at home depot. We have PPG colors picked out, but I"m sure it's easy to find equivalents in Behr's stuff. Might just go with Behr since the reviews (and people here) seem to really favor it.