The Home Improvement Thread

[surferguy]

What ever patch method you do: quick tip - cut the patch larger than your existing hole, hold up the new piece and trace the new outline around it. Cut the space on your line and the new patch will fit perfect.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

New random question:

I have a toilet that isn't working right. There are two issues as I see it:

(1) the handle needs replacing (this one is easy enough); and
(2) the fill valve sticks.

My question is with regard to the fill valve. When I flush, the water drains normally, the flapper comes down, but the fill valve doesn't fill the tank unless I give it a little nudge.

It appears that the while the arm comes down, it doesn't come down far enough to trigger the water refill action.

Is this a relatively easy fix, or do I need a new fill valve?

[Looch City]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

New random question:

I have a toilet that isn't working right. There are two issues as I see it:

(1) the handle needs replacing (this one is easy enough); and
(2) the fill valve sticks.

My question is with regard to the fill valve. When I flush, the water drains normally, the flapper comes down, but the fill valve doesn't fill the tank unless I give it a little nudge.

It appears that the while the arm comes down, it doesn't come down far enough to trigger the water refill action.

Is this a relatively easy fix, or do I need a new fill valve?

Get one of those QuietFill valves that don't have an arm. I changed all my toilets to this Korky one a couple years and haven't had any issues whatsoever. Can find them locally at Home Depot/Canadian Tire too.

Super easy to install, maybe like 30-45min per toilet.

[jwslam]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

New random question:

I have a toilet that isn't working right. There are two issues as I see it:

(1) the handle needs replacing (this one is easy enough); and
(2) the fill valve sticks.

My question is with regard to the fill valve. When I flush, the water drains normally, the flapper comes down, but the fill valve doesn't fill the tank unless I give it a little nudge.

It appears that the while the arm comes down, it doesn't come down far enough to trigger the water refill action.

Is this a relatively easy fix, or do I need a new fill valve?

How old is the toilet?
You can get a brand new one for under $150

Reasons to change to a new toilet:
-Your 1980's toilet is using 20L of water per flush. The new ones are 6L or under. Even with only me as the user, I found that I saved 2-3 cubes of water per month.
-The coating in your old one is wearing to the point where the water ring shows up in a week or 2
-Elongated is soooo much more comfortable
-You can get 'comfort height' if that's your thing
-You can get a soft close seat; I've definitely slammed a few friends' toilets by accident nowadays

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Turns out, I just wasn't patient. The fill valve works fine.

Fixed the whole thing with a $6 handle.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by jwslam

How old is the toilet?
You can get a brand new one for under $150

Reasons to change to a new toilet:
-Your 1980's toilet is using 20L of water per flush. The new ones are 6L or under. Even with only me as the user, I found that I saved 2-3 cubes of water per month.
-The coating in your old one is wearing to the point where the water ring shows up in a week or 2
-Elongated is soooo much more comfortable
-You can get 'comfort height' if that's your thing
-You can get a soft close seat; I've definitely slammed a few friends' toilets by accident nowadays

Considering what a toilet goes through in it's lifetime I don't know why people don't replace them more often. It doesnn;t matter how clean you are they still get grungy over time, for a couple hundred bucks its a nice thing to change when you buy a new house. And the upgrade for the other reasons you mention should make it a no brainer.

It takes less than an hour to change a toilet with common tools.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by speede5

Considering what a toilet goes through in it's lifetime I don't know why people don't replace them more often. It doesnn;t matter how clean you are they still get grungy over time, for a couple hundred bucks its a nice thing to change when you buy a new house. And the upgrade for the other reasons you mention should make it a no brainer.

It takes less than an hour to change a toilet with common tools.

Plus you get to smash the old one into a million pieces. Very rewarding.

[Ironhorse]

Woke up to a cold house and a dead (blank screen) thermostat. It is a 14 year old Sears branded programmable that was here when we moved in. So I guess I get to put a new thermostat in today. Any recommendations for a decent one that does heat and A/C?

[Madman]

Ecobee for sure.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Woke up to a cold house and a dead (blank screen) thermostat. It is a 14 year old Sears branded programmable that was here when we moved in. So I guess I get to put a new thermostat in today. Any recommendations for a decent one that does heat and A/C?

Check the wires you have feeding your existing thermostat to make sure they are compatible with what ever you buy. Your’s should be new enough that it would have its own dedicated power line but if not the fancy thermostats may not be functional.

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GGG

Check the wires you have feeding your existing thermostat to make sure they are compatible with what ever you buy. Your’s should be new enough that it would have its own dedicated power line but if not the fancy thermostats may not be functional.

If you don't have enough wires you can add the functionality of more using a fast-stat. I only have 2 wires and I have converted it to a common (for my nest) plus wires for controlling heat, fan, and AC. It was pretty easy, but you have to get the fast-stat at an hvac supplier.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by GGG

Check the wires you have feeding your existing thermostat to make sure they are compatible with what ever you buy. Your’s should be new enough that it would have its own dedicated power line but if not the fancy thermostats may not be functional.

This worked well. I pulled the cover off to look at the wiring, and noticed it had batteries inside. I put new ones in, and it came back to life. Magic! But here is the thing: I’ve obviously never put batteries in this thing, and neither has my wife. It is 14+ years old. Unless the service guys, who fixed the thermocouple module in the furnace about 10 years ago, or Everlast who serviced the furnace a few years ago, put batteries in, it has ran on the same set of AAs the whole time. Is this normal, or some sort of record?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by bizaro86

If you don't have enough wires you can add the functionality of more using a fast-stat. I only have 2 wires and I have converted it to a common (for my nest) plus wires for controlling heat, fan, and AC. It was pretty easy, but you have to get the fast-stat at an hvac supplier.

The Honeywell I had installed 6 years ago had something like this built in.

I only have two wires, but it has a unit in the furnace room that you can connect all the wires you need to, and then the signal goes to the thermostat with just the two wires.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Hey is there any magic way to pump more heat into my ensuite? It gets really cold in there. I should have installed in-floor heating when I renoed in 2016, but didn't. I'd rather not rip out the tile and redo it now.

Currently I have a space heater on a timer that warms it up in the morning and evening. Kind of lame to have a space heater sitting in there all the time, though.

What I'd like is some sort of heater that fits under the vanity. I'm lucky in that the utility room is right below the bathroom, so it would be easy to screw around basically anywhere below the bathroom.

Also, there is a heat vent that goes into the bathroom. Are there any little heaters I can buy that you shove into that duct to blast heat? I could power it from the utility room. I'm not talking about a fan booster in the duct... I mean like an actual heater.

So I ended up just getting an electric baseboard heater. It's great because it's totally silent, was really cheap ($110, plus installation - haven't received the bill from the electrician yet, but it only took him 90 minutes), and it looks slick. This one has a built-in thermostat. I have it set at 24 degrees. I sleep with my bedroom window open and the furnace set to 17, so having this one room hot is great. Usually I'm just in there in my ginch, so having it warm feels really nice.

Anyway, not the invisible solution I was originally going for, but the fact that it is silent, cheap and easy to install made it a winner. Really wish I had done this 11 years ago when I first moved in hah.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Is this normal, or some sort of record?

It's clearly the work of sorcery.

[Calgary14]

Anyone know where I would find pine/poplar for some basic home wood projects? Ive been told the stuff at Home Depot etc is garbage and to look elsewhere, not sure where though

[prarieboy]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Anyone know where I would find pine/poplar for some basic home wood projects? Ive been told the stuff at Home Depot etc is garbage and to look elsewhere, not sure where though

Black Forest Wood Company?

https://blackforestwood.com/

[Deviaant]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

Anyone know where I would find pine/poplar for some basic home wood projects? Ive been told the stuff at Home Depot etc is garbage and to look elsewhere, not sure where though

What dimensions are you looking for? What kind of projects are you doing?

Windsor Plywood is alright for actual Knotty Pine boards. If memory serves they carry pine in most standard 1x dimensions and maybe a few 2x sizes. I believe they sell Clear Pine in select sizes as well.

If you are just looking for a high quality spf (spruce, pine, fir) board you could always look for J grade. Again I'd try Windsor for that.

[surferguy]

Windsor is where I get my craft wood

[Calgary14]

^Thanks, I will check out both. Just looking for small quantities/sizes to build basic stuff like a small table and eventually a dog kennel (newbie here)