Home Improvement Thread

Postby **meow** » Tue Jan 19, 2021 4:33 pm

Or your wife’s boyfriend broke it

Postby **dodint** » Wed Jan 20, 2021 12:01 am

Oh my.

What escalation. And the first post on a new page, too. Preserves and curates the element of surprise.

Very well done.

Postby **count2infinity** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:27 am

Anyone have power washer recommendations? With spring coming, it'd be nice to have one for usage. I have a fenced in back yard, deck, front porch, all sorts of stuff that'll need a good blastin.

Postby **Ad@m** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:34 am

I have this one. I also use ethanol free gas in it.

https://www.tractorsupply.com/tsc/produ ... ate)-61043

Postby **NTP66** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:34 am

Anyone have power washer recommendations? With spring coming, it'd be nice to have one for usage. I have a fenced in back yard, deck, front porch, all sorts of stuff that'll need a good blastin.

I have an electric one, and while it does a decent job, I'd probably go gas if I had to buy a new one. Hopefully somebody who owns a gas one can give you better details.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 10:44 am

I have a BlackMax from Sam's club. It has a mitsubishi motor. I like it a lot.

Postby **CBear3** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 11:15 am

Wall Framing question.

Pic of the wall:
It is about 25 feet long. At the top of the wall there is a 6 inch gap between duct work and the wall itself. It opens up slightly to 8 inch gap about halfway down. There are wires stapled to the bottom of the joist which power my sand mound dosing tank.

Also on this wall is a 4 inch drain pipe, that at the bottom sticks out 15 inches from the wall and has a clean out (for which I'd like to build in access).

I am not sure how I can attach my top plate/track to the joists and have room to accommodate the pipe.

I plan to use metal studs but can use wood if/when needed.

I was not going to finish the ceiling, so I am trying to avoid a soffit/bulkhead look around the ductwork so that it matches seamlessly with the rest of the basement.

My thought was to build a couple small "drop down" frames from wood 2x4s and tack them up at intervals to get below the duct work. At that point then put the metal stud top track on the bottom of the wood. Lastly, build a small "box" on the floor around the clean out. Is the drop down overkill? Should I just scab equal length 2x4s to get below the duct work and then put my top track on the ends of them? I don't think I can get in there to screw in the metal studs to the top track.

So you're going to build the wall offset from the bottom of the pipe (i.e. 15+inches from the foundation)?
I'd go with the 2x4 drop downs, even if it does look soffit-y.

On the other hand, if you're looking to go as close to the back wall as possible, I've used a 1 x 6" cedar plank attached to the foundation wall to screw my metal top rail directly to (horizontal through the leg of the U channel) when the floor joists changed direction on me and there wasn't one available anymore. So since it's non-load bearing you could do that and just build a box for cleanout & bump out at the bottom. Small caveat, the inspector hasn't seen that yet so I have no idea if it passes code.

Postby **mac5155** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 11:23 am

Yes, I'd like to build the wall as close to the, uh, wall, as possible and then have a bumpout for the drain.

I just thought of one more thing that's gonna complicate things. I want a doorway right underneath the ductwork.

It may end up not working out and I may have to move the door.

Postby **robbiestoupe** » Mon Jan 25, 2021 11:31 am

I'm putting a closet in our den to make better use of a weird alcove that was built-in near the fireplace. The issue is the header was 83.5 inches high and all closet doors at the big box stores are 80". So I built a 3.5" header over the weekend and started to blend it into the old wall/header. I have a bad feeling that my mudding skills are going to be on display once this is painted. Watched a crap ton of youtube videos but that skill is more like an art to me.

Postby **mac5155** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 8:27 am

Today the power went out around 2am, and still hasn't come back on. It's about 60 degrees inside here and I went to turn on the direct vent fireplace I have. It won't light (with a match). Does anyone have one of these that seems to require electricity? The whole point of putting this in was for situations like today.

Postby **Nuge** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 11:58 am

Our gas fireplace came with a spot to plug in batteries for when the power goes out.

Postby **mac5155** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 1:28 pm

Hm. I wonder if mine has that.

Postby **Nuge** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 3:20 pm

Hm. I wonder if mine has that.

It looks like a headphone jack on the side that takes 4 AA batteries

Postby **AuthorTony** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 7:23 pm

As I mentioned before, I'm converting two bedrooms into one media room. I've been slowly working at it for a couple weeks. Today I took down some old paneling. In the bottom of a wall cavity, I found what must have been 20+ dead mice. All I can guess is that a pregnant mouse climbed/fell in, gave birth, and then couldn't get out. They'd all been dead for quite a while, were dried out, etc. Still super disgusting to clean up.

This also occurred in a spot with an electrical outlet and I discovered one wire was chewed enough that copper is exposed, so I'll have to get that replaced.

Postby **Freddy Rumsen** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 11:36 pm

Sounds like a good idea to start a novel with

Postby **AuthorTony** » Sat Jan 30, 2021 11:36 pm

Ha - I might have to do that. It was mildly terrifying to open that wall up and see a 3-inch pile of dead mice.

Postby **mac5155** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 11:16 am

Hm. I wonder if mine has that.
It looks like a headphone jack on the side that takes 4 AA batteries

Mine is flush mounted to the wall. Is it on the outside (easily accessible)?

Postby **Nuge** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 3:29 pm

Hm. I wonder if mine has that.
It looks like a headphone jack on the side that takes 4 AA batteries
Mine is flush mounted to the wall. Is it on the outside (easily accessible)?

We framed ours out and wrapped it in stone. The jack is on the right side of the unit. The installer kind of hid it between two of the stones.

Postby **skullman80** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 8:11 pm

So our front door handle randomly stopped working tonight. It turns but it doesn't move the latch part away from the strike plate. The deadbolt moves fine no problem.

Thoughts? Do I just need to take the handle apart? It's 20 degrees out so I'm not doing it tonight since we don't use the front door often anyways but still annoying.

It's this lock and handle set.

Yale Security B-YRD226-ZW-NW-619

Postby **mac5155** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 8:16 pm

Perhaps the handle has stripped off around the "axle" (not sure of a better term). Happened to my mom's Anderson doorknob.

Postby **skullman80** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 8:20 pm

Perhaps the handle has stripped off around the "axle" (not sure of a better term). Happened to my mom's Anderson doorknob.

How does one fix that if that's the case?

When I turn the handle it feels like it tries to grip the lock to pull it back but it almost sounds like it's rubbing against it instead of gripping it. Hard to explain.

Postby **mac5155** » Sun Jan 31, 2021 8:40 pm

There was a set screw on the handle I had to remove, and then replace/tighten. No idea if it's the same thing with yours.

Postby **NTP66** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 8:59 am

@Willie Kool: You have a 2-stage snowblower, no? If so, what's the minimum depth you run it at? This past snowstorm might have been the final straw for me, and I think I'm going to upgrade.

Postby **count2infinity** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 9:05 am

There's a penis size joke in here somewhere... just can't quite put it together. Something along the lines of anything under 4 inches is funny and I laugh at it.

Guess that's why I'm not a comedian.

Postby **Willie Kool** » Thu Feb 04, 2021 10:29 am

lol

Depends more on the type of snow for me. 4 inches of heavy, wet snow and I'll most likely use it. 6 inches of light powder, I'm probably just going to grab the shovel. It's an absolute life saver when we get dumped on with a foot or more of lake effect, which usually happens a couple times a year.