Home Improvement Thread

nocera
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Postby nocera » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:05 pm

Got one side poured, at least the initial pour.. still working on it.
Image


This feels voyeuristic now.

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:09 pm

Haha. My wife wanted updates throughout the day, and I'm trying not to just be obvious that I'm taking pictures.
Last edited by skullman80 on Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Nuge
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Postby Nuge » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:09 pm

Get a manual post hole digger c2i. It'll take you an hour at most, unless you hit some serious rock. Get one of those 90* levels that wrap around the corner of the post and some string, and you're golden.
I just put two posts in the ground for my mom. Those levels are definitely worth having. We put a 4x4 in the quikcrete and slid a vinyl sleeve over top then filled in dirt over the bottom of the sleeve.

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:40 pm

What a day to pour Crete. 90 degrees

willeyeam
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Postby willeyeam » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:42 pm

What uh, kind of crete?

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:44 pm

Con

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:58 pm

I think they finally decided to take a lunch break since they taped everything off for the time being...

This picture not taken through the window but actually outside sorry @nocera ..
Image

nocera
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Postby nocera » Mon Jun 28, 2021 1:59 pm

I think they finally decided to take a lunch break since they taped everything off for the time being...

This picture not taken through the window but actually outside sorry @nocera ..
Image
:lol: Not enough shirtless men in this one.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:00 pm

That's a lot of concrete. I don't even want to ask what you're spending on it.

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:05 pm

That's a lot of concrete. I don't even want to ask what you're spending on it.
I feel like I mentioned it in this thread when I was pricing stuff out earlier this spring. In any event ... lets just call it an even 10k.

We got quotes ranging from 9k to almost 15k between different contractors. Its alot of money, but it needed done and it should hopefully last us as long as we live here.

Our driveway from garage to street is 950 sqft or so give or take a little bit.

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:12 pm

:lol: Not enough shirtless men in this one.
Image

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 2:20 pm

:lol: Not enough shirtless men in this one.
Image
:lol: :lol:

mac5155
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Postby mac5155 » Mon Jun 28, 2021 3:36 pm

$10k is a great price for what you had done. That's got to be close to 15-20 yards

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:02 am

Driveway is done... they just left. The darker side just got put down this morning, the lighter side is what they put down yesterday. Overall very happy with how it turned out.. especially compared to what it looked like prior.

Before
Image
After
Image[/spoiler]
Image

NTP66
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Postby NTP66 » Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:06 am

Gotta say, that's an interesting way to handle the sidewalk/curb section. My question is, was the previous area between your driveway and the ramp considered the easement? I honestly don't know. Just curious, more than anything.

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Tue Jun 29, 2021 11:19 am

Gotta say, that's an interesting way to handle the sidewalk/curb section. My question is, was the previous area between your driveway and the ramp considered the easement? I honestly don't know. Just curious, more than anything.
Honestly not sure. I deferred to them on what to do with everything. Any of the newer driveways that are in our neighborhood (asphalt or concrete) are all the same as far as how they did the sidewalk/curb section.

Tomas
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Postby Tomas » Mon Jul 05, 2021 6:20 pm

In our new house, the two HVAC outside units are right next to the office wall. When the AC kicks in, the sound that goes through the wall is somewhat annoying (especially when both units work at the same time). (The units are actually in the corner between the office and bathroom walls. Which is good because the noice does not travel to the bedrooms, but I guess the office gets affected a lot.)

Does anybody have a reasonably cheap solution that would work and would not interfere/damage the HVAC units?

(I am thinking about starting with putting a bookcase on that wall, but I don't think it will help much.)

Shyster
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Postby Shyster » Mon Jul 05, 2021 8:19 pm

Looks like my AC has croaked. I have an appointment to have someone from Tudi come and look at it tomorrow, but my gut feeling is that it's fatal. The compressor outside just buzzes for a couple seconds and then shuts off.

My furnace and AC are both 20+ years old, so I'm thinking if the AC needs to be replaced, it may make the most sense to just go ahead and replace them both as a combo pair. It doesn't make as much sense to me to have a new AC unit installed on top of a furnace that could also croak at any time due to advanced age.

Dickie Dunn
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Postby Dickie Dunn » Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:16 pm

In my experience with friends and family, you’ll be hard pressed to find an HVAC guy that doesn’t tell you that both need to be replaced at the same time, especially at that age.

Shyster
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Postby Shyster » Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:30 pm

I think I'd also just like the peace of mind of "Both of those are new, so I shouldn't have to worry about those for years." Plus, I have a feeling that they're going to need to temporarily disconnect, drain, and move my hot-water tank out of the way in order to get the old HVAC units out and the new ones in, so that's something I'd prefer to not have to pay to do twice. The furnace is sort of back in an alcove that has the water tank halfway across the front of it.

Ad@m
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Postby Ad@m » Mon Jul 05, 2021 11:44 pm


count2infinity
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Postby count2infinity » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:09 am

We're just waiting on our AC unit to crap out. The furnace is a year and a half old (got replaced the winter before we bought the place). The AC unit is from '97, so it's only a matter of time at this point. My guess is during a heat wave in august. :lol:

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:14 am

Another benefit of replacing a unit or units that old.. is newer ones will be way more efficient and probably save you a good bit on monthly bills.

Our old house had a 25 year old A/C and our bills in the summer were pretty nuts for a house that was barely 1200sq ft. The AC unit in our new house is from like 2011 I think and our electric bills don't go above $130ish or so in the summer even with the A/C unit running a a ton on super hot days, and this house is almost 1900sq ft.

Shyster
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Postby Shyster » Tue Jul 06, 2021 8:56 am

The AC problem turned out to be an old/bad capacitor. The tech installed a replacement cap and the compressor started up. Still, I'm going to schedule an appointment for an estimate, with an eye toward a full replacement this fall in the September range. I think it's time to pull the trigger on that, regardless.

Good thing it was a simple fix. The tech said that Tudi's wait to just get the sales team out for an estimate is something like four weeks into early August. I can't imagine that the other HVAC companies out there are going to be much better. I guess along with lumber and other building materials being in high demand, a lot of people are replacing their HVAC systems, in addition to all the systems that break down this time of year.

skullman80
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Postby skullman80 » Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:36 am

The AC problem turned out to be an old/bad capacitor. The tech installed a replacement cap and the compressor started up. Still, I'm going to schedule an appointment for an estimate, with an eye toward a full replacement this fall in the September range. I think it's time to pull the trigger on that, regardless.

Good thing it was a simple fix. The tech said that Tudi's wait to just get the sales team out for an estimate is something like four weeks into early August. I can't imagine that the other HVAC companies out there are going to be much better. I guess along with lumber and other building materials being in high demand, a lot of people are replacing their HVAC systems, in addition to all the systems that break down this time of year.
Not sure where you are but my brother in law used Kuehn's heating/cooling to replace both their furnace and install a central A/C (they didn't have central prior), and they had someone out within a day or two for an estimate, and had them installed within like 10 days. This was about a month or so ago. They are out of Monroeville. I think they were around 5k for both the furnace and a/c install.

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