The Home Improvement Thread

[chedder]

Originally Posted by Bagor

Opinions please.



Installing new 60" vanity in main bathroom.



Single or double sink purely from a selling pov?



Leaning strongly towards single as double doesn't look worth it for the countertop space lost.



Is double just a gimmicky thing or something that carries weight or people actually look for when buying?

I would go double. I wish we had even if there wasn't much counter space. I keep nothing on the counter and spouse only has a soap and cream and maybe needs some space when getting ready. You don't need the two sinks often unless you get ready for work or going out at the same time but those times would make it go much smoother. Definitely a want and not a need and possibly bordering on trivial but nice none the less. I agree it would be a resale plus as well.

[topfiverecords]

We each have our own vanity in our ensuite and that is friggin awesome.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I counted about 30 last fall, though many are ~4" pots. A couple citrus trees(under 4 foot tall) probably doesn't help. And yes, I've tried getting rid of those first. It did not go well. So now I need a technical solution.

Yeah that's probably the culprit. I have a philo, once it got large my humidity upped to around 50%.

[Titan2]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I don't have A/C so "cool to dry" is not an option.

Ironically, you know what is really good at absorbing moisture?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Titan2

Ironically, you know what is really good at absorbing moisture?

That'd be a lot of moving it in and out of the house. Plus storage and drying areas. But if you want to give it a try at your place...

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

That'd be a lot of moving it in and out of the house. Plus storage and drying areas. But if you want to give it a try at your place...

Would a reusable desiccant work? I never confirmed what the contractor told me, but when I had a contractor in my garage spray painting panels, I got a bucket of moisture absorbing beads. He laughed saying it probably wouldn't work, but one day asked me what brand and how much because he told me it created a puddle under the colander I put it in.

I'm pretty sure mine wasn't reusable though and I can't find the listing on Amazon anymore. He didn't know for sure if the moisture beads were working, but he did say there was a puddle and he felt like it took half the time to dry to the same level as the first batch he did.

Other options might be to add plants instead if you cannot subtract. Stuff that sucks moisture out of the air. It could be stand alone plants in big pots or smaller plants that you can put on the soil of a bigger plant/move away from time to time if its absorbed excess moisture causing issues with the health of the plant.

[Fuzz]

I actually tried the reusable desiccant out of curiosity in the bedroom corner where moisture was condensing. Had them hanging in a mesh bag. Didn't do a thing. It was these:


https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01I5Y2DG6/

[Barnes]

Fuzz needs an HRV. HRVs are required in new home building codes in Alberta because houses are so sealed that they require greater ventilation to maintain air quality AND remove excess moisture from venting but also condensing at the heat exchanger. An ERV will transfer heat AND moisture to the fresh air whereas an HRV just transfers heat so an ERV would maintain the humidity level in the house and an HRV will lower it.

HRVs to lower high humidity in the winter. ERVs to regulate humidity with the outside year round. HRVs in Alberta.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I actually tried the reusable desiccant out of curiosity in the bedroom corner where moisture was condensing. Had them hanging in a mesh bag. Didn't do a thing. It was these:


https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01I5Y2DG6/

No that won't do SFA. Maybe if you had a whole room full of it.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Shazam

No that won't do SFA. Maybe if you had a whole room full of it.

Ya, I had some around. I was mostly curious if it would do anything at all. It did not.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Fuzz needs an HRV. HRVs are required in new home building codes in Alberta because houses are so sealed that they require greater ventilation to maintain air quality AND remove excess moisture from venting but also condensing at the heat exchanger. An ERV will transfer heat AND moisture to the fresh air whereas an HRV just transfers heat so an ERV would maintain the humidity level in the house and an HRV will lower it.

HRVs to lower high humidity in the winter. ERVs to regulate humidity with the outside year round. HRVs in Alberta.

Thanks Barnes, I've still got a third of a chimney to remove to make room for it, but hope to have it done this fall sometime. Will report back! Leaning towards this unit due to the better efficiency and port size matching my existing ducting.


https://gasexperts.ca/product/lifebr...hex-tpd-new-2/

[Shazam]

Not sure I'd trust a place called ga sexperts.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Not sure I'd trust a place called ga sexperts.

I'm sure they know the ins and outs of their ducting.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, I had some around. I was mostly curious if it would do anything at all. It did not.

If you use that desiccant please wear a mask, the dust that comes off of it is horrible if you breath it in. Those beads are typically used in high voltage transformers to prevent oil degradation and breathing in the dust from them can dry out the inside of your lungs to the point it causes health issues.

This is mostly from long term and repeated use, but just chuck a mask on.

Edit: 2 other conditions from exposure to silica dust are silicosis and everyone’s favourite lung cancer.

[Shazam]

What a terrible SDS.

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/11...f?v=1686605675

[Fuzz]

Hrmm, maybe I'll send these to my worst enemy.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

No, I haven't. I had wanted to take advantage of the federal program, but missed out on it so haven't done an audit. Kind of annoying. But maybe it's worth doing anyway so I know "how it started/how it's going". I did do one about 15 years ago with one of the previous programs, so I may have a before reference around.

I think that's a good idea. If the culprit is having an extremely air tight house, you may be facing indoor air quality issues as well, and an HRV would be very important as others mentioned.

[Titan2]

My new house has two switches by the front door. There are small hallways leading away from the door and each has a switch that controls the light above the door. The light at the door turns on the outdoor light and ... nothing. I assume there is a wiring issue and that it should turn on the light at the door as well. Is it common to have a 3-way (hehe) switch? How can I figure out what the problem is with the switch past taking off the plate and checking the wires?

Also, we have a nunber of mystery swithches throughout the house. How can we find out what these control? Am I into hiring an electrician territory?

[Fuzz]

I assume the front door one someone replaced a broken dual pole switch with a single. You will probably find a wire in the box that is capped, because they didn't know what to do with it. I'd look for that, first.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Titan2

My new house has two switches by the front door. There are small hallways leading away from the door and each has a switch that controls the light above the door. The light at the door turns on the outdoor light and ... nothing. I assume there is a wiring issue and that it should turn on the light at the door as well. Is it common to have a 3-way (hehe) switch? How can I figure out what the problem is with the switch past taking off the plate and checking the wires?

Also, we have a nunber of mystery swithches throughout the house. How can we find out what these control? Am I into hiring an electrician territory?

I had this. My electrician laughed at me for thinking it was a useless switch and then demonstrated how it works to me by submitting his guess as to what it did. It controlled an outlet outside above the door. He plugged in a testing light and it turned off an on with a flick of the switch.

What's the point of a switch you can control outside that's 10 ft up? Christmas lights.

I had a ton of other switches I had no clue what they did. Then I realized they were for outlets. So for instance, they could plug in a lamp at a specific outlet and then turn it off at the switch without going all the way to the lamp. I pulled up some pics of the house before my refresh and I realized some switches went to outlets on the wall because there used to be display lights that plugged into those outlets and illuminated a painting below it.


I don't think you can randomly have dead switches or switches that aren't connected to anything (ie: It's not safe, might be against code etc.). I think one of the first things for you to do is to figure out what the switches do is figuring out the logic of the people of the era of the build. After that, it's figuring out if the switches are live and then wandering around to figure out where it possibly could end up. Look for "dead outlets" in your house and then see if the "useless switches" cause the outlets to suddenly have power. An electrician would basically be doing the same thing, but perhaps might have a better idea for a guess, but you'd have to pay them for that. Another thing to do is figure out if there's a really thin slider which is a dimmer slider on the switch. I had some of those as well and some of the sliders were reversed (slide up for dim and down for bright and vice versa). Move them to the middle instead of assuming top or bottom. The switches look almost identical to a normal switch, but has a 1mm line to the side where the slider sits.