The Home Improvement Thread

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Jawbone Hill

Hi all,
In an attempt to clean rust stains off a driveway I used a 50/50 mixture of CLR/water and brushed the stains slightly with the mixture to try and get it to penetrate. While it diminished the rust stains slightly, it also discolored the driveway somewhat so that there are now 'bleached' spots on my driveway that look lighter than the rest. Any idea how to resolve this? The driveway is brushed concrete which I thought would be OK, but the discoloration occurred anyway.
Thanks for any ideas you might have!

Is it possible the discoloration is actually just cleaning of garden variety dirt? Are you able to test and see if power washing will work?

Originally Posted by Sliver

Anybody gone all in on Edison bulbs in their house?

I picked up a six pack of these dimmable amber Edison bulbs. I put them in a few fixtures and I love it compared to bright white LEDs. I'm thinking of swapping out literally every bulb in my Canmore condo to these as I think they put off a super mellow vibe. There'd be about 20 bulbs required to do it all.

Advantage is the warmer feel, plus I'm kind of over smart bulbs to a degree. I still have some Hue bulbs on the main floor in my house and enjoy them, but in Canmore I don't want to fata around with extra crap...just want to show up and chill. These seem like a great spot to land so I don't have the bright-white-LED-standard-lightbulb thing going on, but I also don't need to worry about apps and syncing and potential issues.

I've only put them in the bathrooms. I quite like it. They're great for somewhere you want a warm feel. I wouldn't dump them in flood or spotlight areas though and a dining area might feel too dim or blinding when you look at them.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

I've only put them in the bathrooms. I quite like it. They're great for somewhere you want a warm feel. I wouldn't dump them in flood or spotlight areas though and a dining area might feel too dim or blinding when you look at them.

Appreciate the input. The bathroom was the one place I thought I'd leave the bulbs white for, like, looking in the mirror or whatever.

It'll be interesting to see what I think. You guys could be right that it'll be too dark. The fixture over the dining area has three bulbs, so hopefully I can go as bright as I'll want. Eating bar has three pendant lights, so again, that should bring the light low enough that I won't need super bright bulbs. We'll see how it goes. The place is getting painted right now so I can't put them in for another couple weeks, anyway.

[kcin]

Looking to get some new blinds - any recent positive or negative experiences from folks?

[Jawbone Hill]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Is it possible the discoloration is actually just cleaning of garden variety dirt? Are you able to test and see if power washing will work?

Unfortunately no. I immediately power washed the driveway after trying to remove the rust and the discoloration remained. Now that the driveway is dry it doesn't look as bad, but you can definitely still tell where I used the CLR. Lesson learned - I should have done a lot more research into the product instead of blindly trusting the 'for use on concrete' instructions on the label.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Appreciate the input. The bathroom was the one place I thought I'd leave the bulbs white for, like, looking in the mirror or whatever.

It'll be interesting to see what I think. You guys could be right that it'll be too dark. The fixture over the dining area has three bulbs, so hopefully I can go as bright as I'll want. Eating bar has three pendant lights, so again, that should bring the light low enough that I won't need super bright bulbs. We'll see how it goes. The place is getting painted right now so I can't put them in for another couple weeks, anyway.

I think 3000K Edison bulbs could work fine in a dining area, but personally, the allure of Edison bulbs was that homey yellowish glow. I have 2700K bulbs in the guest bathrooms and it's a great ambience, but bathrooms I use to get ready in, I use 3000K for better color accuracy for when I'm out and about.

The 2700K bulbs I use seem like the they'd work best in situations where you'd lounge. Poker table, reading area by fire place, calm bathroom experience etc. It'd definitely feel too dark or a little odd if I put them in the kitchen per se, but 2700K vs 3000K is a huge ambience and color difference, so you could get away with it. 2700K, 3000K and 4000K make my wall colors grey with bluish undertones, grey with purple undertones or white with grey undertones.

Originally Posted by kcin

Looking to get some new blinds - any recent positive or negative experiences from folks?

Before the below, I'd replace all my windows before putting in blinds. That way, I don't have to spend thousands of dollars again when I replace the windows.

IMO, if I could do it all again, all my bedroom and office windows would all be inside mount to avoid light leakage, all have blackout blinds to achieve near darkness even during the day and all have cafe style (sometimes called day/night) so that I can continue to have lots of light in the room, but leave the bottom closed so that I maintain privacy.

I have various combinations of this in different bed rooms and I can say it gets annoying.

No blackout on other windows, but definitely cafe style. That way I can pull it down to 2/3 and get full light, without someone being able to stare directly into my home. On the main floor, you'd have a house that would be weirdly too dark if you had all black outs there. Inside mount or outside mount doesn't make a huge difference to me on the main floors, but inside mount blinds you do have to be more careful than outside mount in the winter. Humidity can get trapped a little easier between blind and window for inside mount (humidifier etc.) and freeze/thaw/drip.

I accidentally got a blind on the main floor that doesn't have cafe style and it's a pain to get the angles right depending on the time of day.

Basically all blinds that are eye level or higher, I typically always have the window covered from the bottom to around 2/3 up.

Basement windows do not need cafe style unless it's a walkout basement. Then I'd consider similar rules to the main floor. However, I'd recommend blackouts there, especially if you have a media centre there that has a viewing experience that benefits from total darkness.

Bali blinds from Costco are decent. But there is stuff that looks nicer for incrementally more. When I replace the windows, I think I'll bite the bullet and pay the premium for Hunter Douglas or equivalent. I've had no issues with those ones, but I have three cafe style from Bali that are finicky but not failed after 2 years. I assume it'll be finicky for the remaining life of the blind and it will never actually fail (which IMO is more annoying).

I'm also annoyed that most places are cordless blinds now. That means that shorter people may have difficulty pushing the top of the blind to the very top. That's part of the reason I would go Hunter Douglas because I feel like be happier with their Ultraglide wand cord system vs automated/electrical or push/pull (currently have).

[Sr. Mints]

Funny, I just put in some light fixtures, and the Edison bulbs I tried were so bad I had to swap them out. I too am, I guess what you'd call light colour/temp fussy, and coupled with poor vision in low light, they just had to go. Lighting the house with candles would be better than the Edisons.

[Wormius]

Plumbing question: I have to go through the exercise of shutting off the outdoor faucets every year. The problem is after I shut off the water, the bleeder is facing towards a wall and there is enough pressure still in the line still that the water gushes out onto the wall. Is there an attachment or something with a short hose so I can direct the water into a bucket or something? Does such a thing exist or do I need to jury-rig something?

[Fuzz]

Can you just shutoff the water and then open the faucet outside to relive pressure? Never used one with a bleeder valve before.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Can you just shutoff the water and then open the faucet outside to relive pressure? Never used one with a bleeder valve before.

I did, but no luck. It's pex tubing from the supply to the outdoor taps, so I suspect that it won't be a completely level path to outside, and there'll probably be some water that drains outside and some inside.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I did, but no luck. It's pex tubing from the supply to the outdoor taps, so I suspect that it won't be a completely level path to outside, and there'll probably be some water that drains outside and some inside.

I usually just leave the outdoor one open, so if there is any freezing, it has space to expand and won't crack anything. I don't know if that is the right way to do it, but never had issues.

[indes]

Swap it out for a frost free one and forget about it!

[Sliver]

Fata, was that hell. Just replaced my over-the-range microwave. You have to install a plate/bracket at the bottom wall edge, and pre-drill the hole for the plug and support bolts in the cupboard above - there's a paper template for this, so it's easy. You then tip the back edge of the microwave into your wall bracket, lift the front edge up and drill in two bolts from above where you've already pre-drilled the holes.

The fataing ####ty part of it was I could not find studs into which I had to mount the bracket. The whole wall was tile and my stud finder couldn't penetrate the tile to find any studs. So I had to drill through tiles to try to find the studs. I started like an inch to the left of one stud, then drilled about 15 more times going an inch at a time to the left until I finally hit a stud. I've never had to drill though tile before and it's the worst. I had to do a run to a hardware store and buy more bits because I must have been pushing too hard or something at first because I'd only get like three holes per bit and sometimes only two.

Anyway finally did it and everything worked, but having to go through tile to hunt and peck for a stud added three fataing hours including the drive to the store.

[topfiverecords]

Does your cabinet above have screws in the back going into the wall? That would show where your studs are.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Does your cabinet above have screws in the back going into the wall? That would show where your studs are.

No, it must be hanging on a bracket itself. No visible hardware.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Fata, was that hell. Just replaced my over-the-range microwave. You have to install a plate/bracket at the bottom wall edge, and pre-drill the hole for the plug and support bolts in the cupboard above - there's a paper template for this, so it's easy. You then tip the back edge of the microwave into your wall bracket, lift the front edge up and drill in two bolts from above where you've already pre-drilled the holes.

The fataing ####ty part of it was I could not find studs into which I had to mount the bracket. The whole wall was tile and my stud finder couldn't penetrate the tile to find any studs. So I had to drill through tiles to try to find the studs. I started like an inch to the left of one stud, then drilled about 15 more times going an inch at a time to the left until I finally hit a stud. I've never had to drill though tile before and it's the worst. I had to do a run to a hardware store and buy more bits because I must have been pushing too hard or something at first because I'd only get like three holes per bit and sometimes only two.

Anyway finally did it and everything worked, but having to go through tile to hunt and peck for a stud added three fataing hours including the drive to the store.

Usually the bottom plates come with toggle bolts for studless installation. If not, they're cheap. As long as you aren't doing a chin up on your microwave it'll be fine. I've had one with only those in a rental that's lasted quite a few tenants (one of whom wrecked enough stuff that they weren't gentle on it).

https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/h...w.ds#store=611

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Plumbing question: I have to go through the exercise of shutting off the outdoor faucets every year. The problem is after I shut off the water, the bleeder is facing towards a wall and there is enough pressure still in the line still that the water gushes out onto the wall. Is there an attachment or something with a short hose so I can direct the water into a bucket or something? Does such a thing exist or do I need to jury-rig something?

Funnel and a hose? Alternately can you just hold a rag up to it while you open it? Probably not a lot of volume remaining in the line.

[Misterpants]

Originally Posted by Sliver

No, it must be hanging on a bracket itself. No visible hardware.

I replaced one and just trying to figure out how it is all hung and connected to the vent was such a chore. Compound that with doing it by yourself and worrying about the old microwave crashing down onto the cook top. Such a pain.

[Hemi-Cuda]

I will never go back to an over-the-range microwave again if I can help it. They're so much easier to clean and maintain when they're separate, and you can get so much more suction from a proper hood fan than you get from one under a microwave

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I will never go back to an over-the-range microwave again if I can help it. They're so much easier to clean and maintain when they're separate, and you can get so much more suction from a proper hood fan than you get from one under a microwave

Agreed. They're not that great.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

I will never go back to an over-the-range microwave again if I can help it. They're so much easier to clean and maintain when they're separate, and you can get so much more suction from a proper hood fan than you get from one under a microwave

Agreed, the place we bough in 2017 has this microwave set up over the stove.

I hate it, but then I hate microwaves, such a waste of space for limited use.

When we renovate the microwave/range hood is getting #### canned.