The Home Improvement Thread

[Bill Bumface]

Do you have to prove it? Every time we've put in pilings for a project on our house, they don't dig them up when they inspect them. We could have poured 6" of concrete and they'd never know.

[Fuzz]

The permit is easy, you don't need to prove anything. It's the inspection you want to worry about. I'd call the TAC desk and ask in a round about way..."If I finish the at grade level with pavers, do I need to leave an area open to somehow prove how deep the footings are for the deck? What inspection is required for those parts of the project, I'm just at the planning phase now."

[Fuzz]

Oh, and I was paranoid about the footings inspection for my garage(on a bit of a slope), but they didn't even really look. All those pictures, for nothin!

[d00little]

Does anybody know where I can get an under door weather stripping that's insulated like this? The ones at Home Depot are just the standard kind.



https://imgur.com/a/ct5rfQc

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by d00little

Does anybody know where I can get an under door weather stripping that's insulated like this? The ones at Home Depot are just the standard kind.



https://imgur.com/a/ct5rfQc

Probably not easy to find. Could you not just use a regular u-channel door sweep that’s deep enough and put your own strip of insulation between it and the door?

[Torture]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Probably not easy to find. Could you not just use a regular u-channel door sweep that’s deep enough and put your own strip of insulation between it and the door?

Kinda looks like that's exactly what they did in the picture.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Torture

Kinda looks like that's exactly what they did in the picture.

They usually don’t have that interior flange though.

[DoubleF]

Has anyone ever used a sewer jetter or hydro jetter kit on a power washer to clean out a rain gutter downspout that's clogged with leaves and sticks? Anything to be aware of? Or just stay out of the range of the backwards jets and basically let it rip?

My downspouts are clogged pretty bad and water leaks out vs drains out. I've tried plumber augers and stuff to no avail but somehow stumbled on a video of these. For $50-100, it seems like it's worth a shot before calling in a pro.

Err... after the water restrictions are lifted, of course...

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by photon

We're looking at having the upper deck built on our walkout basement finally. A few years after we moved in we put in a stamped concrete deck downstairs, and when we did that we had them put in concrete pilings for the eventual top part of the deck.

Now that I'm thinking of doing the top part I'm thinking of the permit and what they'll need. I'm not sure if "sure we did them 15 years ago" will cut it. I couldn't find any pictures of when they were doing it either.

This is the idea



Though we're only doing the part on the left hand side of the render, not the part across the back or on the right hand side.

The pilings are at the 45 degree corners where the cantilever starts and then one half way between those.

Any ideas on how to "prove" they exist for the purposes of a permit?

My only two ideas are to either dig from the sides of the deck enough to expose the pilings or to drill though the top with a long enough concrete drill to verify it's concrete down far enough. The ones on the sides seem like wouldn't be that much digging but the one in the middle might be tougher (that's almost 2' of overhang).

The concrete drill they're going to have to drill holes for the things to mount the poles anyway but I'm kind of doubting they'd have a concrete drill bit long enough, and not sure pictures of that still bringing up concrete instead of dirt would be enough for a permit.

Sonar imaging??

Any other ideas? Or am I hooped?

I'm guessing without paperwork detailing the pilings poured last time it won't work. It might not even anyway as standards change a lot over time and it's likely the piles would need to be different/more this time. The pilings are probably the least costly part of the project anyway lol.
Good luck!

[photon]

The concrete pad isn't that old, one guy doing an estimate for me said if the piles are there and 4' down then it would be ok.

He said worst case would be he'd just ignore the concrete pad entirely and put in screw piles at the corners where the 45's start. Obviously that would cost more but no problems with permits.

I guess maybe I'll call the city and see what they'd want.

[photon]

Oh and he thought he'd just do the deck square, not following the line of the concrete deck like I have in the drawing.

I mean he's right, we'd get more space that way.

My worry is that if it doesn't follow the line of the concrete it'll bug me until I sell the house or die.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by photon

Oh and he thought he'd just do the deck square, not following the line of the concrete deck like I have in the drawing.

I mean he's right, we'd get more space that way.

My worry is that if it doesn't follow the line of the concrete it'll bug me until I sell the house or die.

Do a border around the concrete patio in a different colour so it looks intentional, but doesn't attempt to totally match. Done! Just a $ problem.

[Geraldsh]

Originally Posted by photon

Oh and he thought he'd just do the deck square, not following the line of the concrete deck like I have in the drawing.

I mean he's right, we'd get more space that way.

My worry is that if it doesn't follow the line of the concrete it'll bug me until I sell the house or die.

It’s your house, your design-why let him do it the easy way ? He’s not the one that will be looking at it every day.

[photon]

Oh he said he'd definitely do it to the same line if I wanted, he just thought square was better.

[Table 5]

Anybody have a decent handyman and/or roof guy they recommend? The bathroom vent seems to have fallen off our roof, and I need someone to go up there to reinstall. I have a fairly pitched roof, and bad experiences with heights/ladders, so am totally ok with subcontracting this to a braver man.

[Nufy]

Just got a quote for $1000.00 to supply and install two receptacles in an adjacent room from where the panel is located.

Approx 20 feet away.

Ceiling is open all the way for access.

Is that reasonable?

[timun]

It's expensive, but not totally crazy. You have to factor for ancillary costs like travel time, mileage (gas/insurance/maintenance/depreciation) on the van, setting up invoicing, blah blah blah, and pay for the guy's overhead too.

The ceiling is open; is the wall where the receptacles are going open? Have any obstacles to work around? (E.g. is this in a crowded mechanical room?) Anything to patch and repair?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Anybody have a decent handyman and/or roof guy they recommend? The bathroom vent seems to have fallen off our roof, and I need someone to go up there to reinstall. I have a fairly pitched roof, and bad experiences with heights/ladders, so am totally ok with subcontracting this to a braver man.

I need some vents moved for solar panels and had these guys recommended:

https://www.calgarycityroofing.com/

They haven't done the work yet, but the person on the phone was great to deal with and their prices seem very good. When I called earlier in spring they were one of the few companies that didn't just say "#### off, we're busy". Instead they said "#### off, we're busy for now. Call us back in a month if you don't hear from us".

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Nufy

Just got a quote for $1000.00 to supply and install two receptacles in an adjacent room from where the panel is located.

Approx 20 feet away.

Ceiling is open all the way for access.

Is that reasonable?

Need more info but is the wall where the outlets will be installed an interior or exterior wall? Do they have open access to the wall assuming the mechanical room isn’t dry walled? Is there anything that would make it more expensive (near a sink etc).

You’re looking at a 3 hour minimum charge (let’s say $360), $75 for an afci breaker, wire and other misc materials for another $150. Right there we’re at just shy of $600 and that’s if everything goes smoothly (it won’t).

The price is high ish but really this could be a 6 hour job trying to fish wires down a wall depending how ####ty it goes and that would put you in the $1000 range.

[81MC]

Recommendation for Electrician to do the Electrical part of an A/C install? Family member is HVAC guy doing supply and install of unit, but I need an electrician. I’d do it myself but can’t as per permit rules.