The Home Improvement Thread

[metallicat]

Concrete will crack, that's just what it does unfortunately. You can limit that by having a good base and getting good people to pour it for you, but the threat can't be eliminated all together.

[calgarygeologist]

Speaking of cracks, is the City of homeowner responsible for cracked sidewalks? I have on section of my sidewalk that cracked at some point and the crack goes across the entire sidewalk. When I was shoveling snow a couple weeks ago my shovel caught the edge of the crack and a big chunk of the sidewalk broke off as a result.

I should probably get this fixed this year. Do I just call 311 and let them know?

[mrkajz44]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

Speaking of cracks, is the City of homeowner responsible for cracked sidewalks? I have on section of my sidewalk that cracked at some point and the crack goes across the entire sidewalk. When I was shoveling snow a couple weeks ago my shovel caught the edge of the crack and a big chunk of the sidewalk broke off as a result.

I should probably get this fixed this year. Do I just call 311 and let them know?

This happened to my sister and that is what she did. The sidewalk is the city's responsibility. However, they must get a ton of calls for these types of things, so unless its really bad, you'll likely be low on the priority list. We have a few cracks in our sidewalk but nothing has been fixed for us yet since they probably consider the damage to be minor.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Anyone have a suggestion for a place to find sliding closet doors? We have 5 closets, all of various widths, that I need to buy sliding doors for but can't find anything decent from the usual locations like Rona, Home Depot, Lowes etc....

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Anyone have a suggestion for a place to find sliding closet doors? We have 5 closets, all of various widths, that I need to buy sliding doors for but can't find anything decent from the usual locations like Rona, Home Depot, Lowes etc....

Send a PM to Bigtime. He might be able to sort you out

[Madman]

Kitchen cabinet dilemma.

Measured out for a new fridge without the finished hardwood being in, (my dumb mistake). Now that the floor is in, the opening is 1/2" too small of course. We're not prepared to go with a smaller fridge, so the only option is to make the opening bigger somehow.

Is my only option to remove the upper cabinet over the fridge opening?

If it is, it wouldn't be the end of the world for me. We've renovated most of the house but held off on doing anything to the kitchen for cost saving purposes. The current upper cabinet is shallow, so it's not tied into a return or anything else like that.

[puffnstuff]

When I removed the hood fan to install an OTR microwave (its a Panasonic, apparently it is also a camera) I bumped that upper cabinet up by 6 inches to get the proper clearance. Re-trimmed it and it looks good. It helps that its centered on that wall of the kitchen.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Madman

Kitchen cabinet dilemma.

Measured out for a new fridge without the finished hardwood being in, (my dumb mistake). Now that the floor is in, the opening is 1/2" too small of course. We're not prepared to go with a smaller fridge, so the only option is to make the opening bigger somehow.

Is my only option to remove the upper cabinet over the fridge opening?

If it is, it wouldn't be the end of the world for me. We've renovated most of the house but held off on doing anything to the kitchen for cost saving purposes. The current upper cabinet is shallow, so it's not tied into a return or anything else like that.

Is there a valence on that cabinet? Could it be removed to make room?

[V]

If it's anything like mine you can pull a couple screws, raise it, and screw it back into the wall. I guess that's just if there's room between the ceiling and the top of your cabinets.

[Madman]

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Took out a couple screws and it pulled away from the wall and it's neighbour pretty easy actually. Thankfully the cabinet it was screwed in to was the microwave section, so nothing was relying on the part I took out.

The good news is the crown moulding stayed up so I think I can get a piece of wood stained to match and cover up the space that is not used by the new fridge.

[Bill Bumface]

We extended one entire side of our house a few years ago. The basement wasn't touched, but instead we built on concrete piles at the new exterior wall, and tied into the existing structure.

Below the floor joists, a few inches down a floor was built out of treated plywood, and the entire bottom of this cavity was spray foamed. Basically the area between and just below the joists was a warm space, with the foam acting as the vapor barrier and insulation. This worked great, in that our floor isn't cold.

The entire extension was skirted with treated plywood, and parging applied so it matched the rest of the house.

The problem now is every spring the pill bugs start to emerge and show up everywhere. My theory is that the skirting and false floor are trapping a ton of moisture every spring and maintaining a nice damp dark environment that is bug heaven and they find their way in the house from there.

I was thinking about putting some foundation vents in that I can close in the winter to not let cold air whip through and get some increased energy efficiency by having another air cavity between the house and the elements, and then open them in spring and let the moisture blow out of there.

Thoughts? Good idea? Bad idea? Anyone know where to buy something like that? Tips for cutting through the parging without wrecking it?

[Calgary14]

Anyone know the best way to get rid of oil stains on an exposed aggregate stone driveway? They are dry but not deep at all, mainly just surface. I assume they'll go away eventually but hoping to speed up the process

[red sky]

Do I need a permit if I'm building a 5-6 foot privacy screen around a deck? I'd be removing the current railing system and replacing it with this.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Anyone know the best way to get rid of oil stains on an exposed aggregate stone driveway? They are dry but not deep at all, mainly just surface. I assume they'll go away eventually but hoping to speed up the process

Brake cleaner works great on regular concrete, I don't see why it wouldn't on exposed ag.

[fredr123]

The concrete steps leading to our front door are super smooth concrete. When they get a bit wet or icy they are super treacherous. I need some suggestions for how to fix that.

As a temporary fix, I'm probably going to add some of that black tread tape, but I would like something a bit more elegant. I've looked at Home Depot and haven't really found anything that seems to fit the bill. Surely, there must be some sort of gritty coating you can paint on to the steps to add a bit of texture or something, no?

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by fredr123

The concrete steps leading to our front door are super smooth concrete. When they get a bit wet or icy they are super treacherous. I need some suggestions for how to fix that.

As a temporary fix, I'm probably going to add some of that black tread tape, but I would like something a bit more elegant. I've looked at Home Depot and haven't really found anything that seems to fit the bill. Surely, there must be some sort of gritty coating you can paint on to the steps to add a bit of texture or something, no?

I wonder if something like this would work?

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.b...000112335.html

[Bill Bumface]

http://www.behr.com/consumer_ca/prod...m-granite-grip

There are lots of options. Or you can just add sand to concrete paint.

[Fuzz]

I used the "stone effects" system. There are two options, one with the chunks of rock that get trowled on and install is more involved. The one I used is a paint with sand type material in it. You roll it on. I think the steps are, clean it really well, paint, then seal. It has help up fairly well for 3 years, but I do have some pealing. This is due to carpet that was glued down, and I don't think I got it all off. I would recommend the product though, as it is a fairly easy job, and you can pick from lots of colours.

This stuff
https://www.rona.ca/en/coating---sto...-stone-coating

[OMG!WTF!]

Anyone ever built a secret door book case? There are a couple cool YouTube videos but I can't really do what the pros do. I need a simpler version...book case door for dummies.

[Fuzz]

Talk to Surferguy.