Home Improvement Thread

Postby **NTP66** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:24 am

I honestly don't recall, no. I want to say that we saw a difference in a week, but I could just be remembering wrong.

Postby **nocera** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:29 am

I honestly don't recall, no. I want to say that we saw a difference in a week, but I could just be remembering wrong.

Thanks. Right now I feel like I'm just giving them a nice free meal. The self control required not to murder every last one of them is unbelievable.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:32 am

Are they near a door or something? In our case, there was a larger nest right outside of our glass sliding door. I doused that **** with Ortho, too.

Postby **nocera** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:34 am

I believe they got in through a large ant hill that was right up against the foundation. But, these guys are coming from under the floor trim of an interior wall, which runs perpendicular to the outside wall where the first ant hill was.

Postby **NTP66** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:38 am

Does your house have siding? I'd be spraying Ortho underneath it on the outside to get anything living in there. I had a massive wolf spider colony under our siding when we moved in. No joke, sprayed it and HUNDREDS ran out like it was a remake of Arachnophobia. I have never seen my wife run as fast as she did that day.

Postby **nocera** » Wed May 20, 2020 9:40 am

Haha nope, no siding. It's all brick.We haven't had any issues with ants before so it's pretty odd. There is a bigger than ant size gap between the floors and trim that I suppose should be filled. I don't think the dude who built this house really knew what he was doing.

Postby **nocera** » Fri May 22, 2020 2:05 pm

Ant update: after 3 days of bait, I only see two or three ants hanging around the traps. Compared to day one and two where there were hundreds, this is good news.

Also, hired a company to come haul a **** ton of concrete & brick debris from my backyard that's been sitting there since I tore up a sidewalk about 3 years ago. Feels good to get that out of there.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri May 22, 2020 3:45 pm

I have ants in my dishwasher. So I run the dishes thinking I’ll drown them. Nope, probably more in there now. There’s now a bait trap in the dishwasher

Postby **NTP66** » Fri May 22, 2020 4:46 pm

Pull the dishwasher - they’re definitely behind it.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Fri May 22, 2020 5:13 pm

I’ll let the bait run its course

Postby **meow** » Fri May 22, 2020 5:29 pm

Buy an anteater

Postby **LITT** » Fri May 22, 2020 11:04 pm

@LITT and everyone else in on the shop Vac talk

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-12-G ... t3ME3gI2k0

Well duck me i just bought a different one yesterday

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat May 23, 2020 7:30 am

Pretty much every top outlet in my living room is connected to a switch to turn the power on and off. Anyone know how to rewire the outlet so it isn’t in the switch anymore? I just want the switch to a couple outlets. Not all of them.

Postby **meow** » Sat May 23, 2020 7:46 am

I’m an awful electrician and I haven’t had a coffee yet today, it I believe you need to replace the receptacle. There is a tab on them that you snap or push or something to get the switch wire to control power.

Just google it. I don’t know why I posted anything about it.

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat May 23, 2020 7:51 am

thanks for the help, meow.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Sat May 23, 2020 7:53 am

Pretty much every top outlet in my living room is connected to a switch to turn the power on and off. Anyone know how to rewire the outlet so it isn’t in the switch anymore? I just want the switch to a couple outlets. Not all of them.

If all outlets operate off one switch, not easy. If they all have their own switch, it’s just a matter of removing the switch and splicing the breaker wire to the outlet wire.

Postby **NTP66** » Sat May 23, 2020 7:53 am

The easiest way to do it would be to simply wire but the wires in the switch receptacle together, bypassing the actual switch. Not sure if that’ll work for you if you intend to actually remove the switch altogether and drywall the hole.

Postby **shafnutz05** » Sat May 23, 2020 8:01 am

Pretty much every top outlet in my living room is connected to a switch to turn the power on and off. Anyone know how to rewire the outlet so it isn’t in the switch anymore? I just want the switch to a couple outlets. Not all of them.

That's so annoying man. My office is like that and it drives me nuts.

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat May 23, 2020 8:02 am

I want to keep the switch for a few of them. Just not all of them. Seems like you’re right, ntp. Easiest might be just connecting the switch wires and throwing a wire but on top.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Sat May 23, 2020 9:10 am

That will work if you don’t want the switch to operate any outlet. The outlets are daisy chained together, so if you wire nut the switch, the switch is useless

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat May 23, 2020 9:13 am

Not sure I understand. The switch is what breaks the circuit. Closing the circuit at the outlet in a different way won’t change the fact that the switch will work on all the other outlets still?

Postby **skullman80** » Sat May 23, 2020 2:54 pm

Since my in-laws are letting us live essentially rent free till we close on our new house we helped them redo their landscaping.

Weeded out all around the house, laid down new weed fabric and then spread out 6 yards of mulch and planted new plants. Even took out some old shrubs. Lots of work but looks 100% better.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Sat May 23, 2020 6:32 pm

Not sure I understand. The switch is what breaks the circuit. Closing the circuit at the outlet in a different way won’t change the fact that the switch will work on all the other outlets still?

You’d have to test it out, but I’m assuming all your outlets are in series meaning break the switch you break all outlets.

Unless you have a separate wire going to each outlet from the switch, this is probably what will happen

Postby **count2infinity** » Sat May 23, 2020 7:14 pm

I wanted the top one to be on permanently because I have a plug that covers the whole socket, so I just switched the wires on the top and bottom outlet and viola. No worries.

Postby **mac5155** » Wed May 27, 2020 10:21 am

Does anyone have french doors (both swing in) and also have a screen door on them? I am looking online and not finding that great of reviews on them, so was looking for any recommendations.