The Home Improvement Thread

[fredr123]

Anyone here have personal experience with the Chamberlain MYQ garage opener kit? It's an after market hub and sensor combo that allows you to check on the status of your garage door on your phone and also open/close the door remotely.

I'm thinking of trying it out as it's $99 ($40 off) at Best Buy until tomorrow. There are some really polarizing reviews out there from people who either love it and had no problems with it or people who absolutely hate the dern thing.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Anyone here have personal experience with the Chamberlain MYQ garage opener kit? It's an after market hub and sensor combo that allows you to check on the status of your garage door on your phone and also open/close the door remotely.

I'm thinking of trying it out as it's $99 ($40 off) at Best Buy until tomorrow. There are some really polarizing reviews out there from people who either love it and had no problems with it or people who absolutely hate the dern thing.

I have it on a Chamberlain opener (which has the transmitter built in) that also came with the internet receiver hub.

Its nice, can set it up to alert you at certain times if it opens (ie when you're at work), and can open/close from iPhone app.

But for $100, thats a bit pricey if you can replace your entire opener with a stronger unit that has the MqQ built in for $200 including hub, which from what I have read, is much more reliable than the add on transmitter. But can't comment on that setup myself directly. At $100 for stand alone setup that is pushing what I would pay for the rare times I use it.

[fredr123]

Can anyone recommend a place that will fix furniture? We have an otherwise fine leather sofa but a couple springs have broken on some of the cushions. I am hoping that can be fixed before it pops through the leather.

I don't even know if that is a thing that is possible, fixing the springs in a cushion, so any advice would be greatly appreciated.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I'm not sure those plastic tines would hold up, or do nearly as good a job as the ones with the springs.

But yes, it does work, and yes, it can mangle your lawn if you set it to low. The thing is, I always run it early spring and even if I hit a high spot in the lawn and get a bit deep by the time things turn green it will all have fixed itself. I've never done any long lasting damage, and my yard is pretty rough. If you have a smooth surface it wouldn't be an issue at all.

Oh, a couple other things. The blade is smaller, so you have to do closer passes than normal mowing. It also won't direct the raked up grass into the bag so you still have to either given a manual rake after, or I usually put my normal blade on and "vacuum" up the lawn after, so you need to do 2 passes. You also want to get out early while it is dry. I don't think it works well on a green lawn.

I do think doing this yearly though has really improved the lawn.

I'll second this. I've been using the one with springs for years now and am very happy with the results. It does take a little time and effort (smaller blade, and you have to go over your lawn again with a regular blade to pick up the dethatched grass) but it's well worth it. And if your kids are old enough all you have to do is supervise while they do all the work.

[Ducay]

I've done mine with the "spring" de-thatcher for years, and get a ton of grass, but this year, I used a neighbour's power rake after using my spring one, and it was like I had done nothing at all with mine.

I'm converted and will probably use a power rake annually. The spring thing is better than nothing, but pales in comparison to a proper power rake job.

[DuffMan]

Originally Posted by Wormius

The one that originally caught my eye was this:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/po...l#.Vi2iR2uAqV4

I see the one that you're referring to with the spring tines. It looks like a better quality one. I had seen those but thought the springs and everything were just a special method for mouting the blade for a specific lawnmower, so I didn't really look into that any further.

My main concerns were that it a) works, and b) doesn't mangle my lawn. It looks like the one that you are using seems to be the better choice though.

I have one of those and it works pretty good, just adjust it to the proper height.

Another options is this.
If you are going to do more than one lawn it is worth it. and as always because it is CT it goes on sale a lot.
Some guys I work with bought one and I rented for $10 and it was well worth it.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I have it on a Chamberlain opener (which has the transmitter built in) that also came with the internet receiver hub.

Its nice, can set it up to alert you at certain times if it opens (ie when you're at work), and can open/close from iPhone app.

But for $100, thats a bit pricey if you can replace your entire opener with a stronger unit that has the MqQ built in for $200 including hub, which from what I have read, is much more reliable than the add on transmitter. But can't comment on that setup myself directly. At $100 for stand alone setup that is pushing what I would pay for the rare times I use it.

I sort of felt the same way and passed on the MyQ this weekend.

Fast forward to this morning. The neighbours across the street were burglarized. The culprits broke into one of their vehicles and used the garage door opener to access the garage. He's a contractor so there were plenty of tools to be had.

So I guess not having a physical garage door opener sitting in a vehicle that could be stolen is one plus going for the MyQ...

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Do a general check for structural issues like leaks, cracks or mold in the walls before you close em up. Personally, I would consider running some Cat5e cable in the walls incase one day you are doing work in your garage that requires a laptop but your wifi signal sucks. Always good to plan ahead when the walls are open.

Also, since you'll most likely be installing shelving to the walls, throw on a couple of these suckers to protect the existing electrical in the walls.

I recommend using acoustic sealer when installing the vapor barrier as well.

Spoiler!

Perfect, thanks. I did run the Cat5 cables already to two spots for just this reason and/or a TV in the future. I've watched quite a few youtube videos now and I think I got it down, but protecting the cables is a great idea and one I had not seen so far. I do plan to put a lot of shelving up.

[BlackArcher101]

Originally Posted by fredr123

Anyone here have personal experience with the Chamberlain MYQ garage opener kit? It's an after market hub and sensor combo that allows you to check on the status of your garage door on your phone and also open/close the door remotely.

I'm thinking of trying it out as it's $99 ($40 off) at Best Buy until tomorrow. There are some really polarizing reviews out there from people who either love it and had no problems with it or people who absolutely hate the dern thing.

I have the kit on my detached garage and love it. Very useful, such as leaving for work in the morning and as I drive away, I get notice the door didn't close. Also since my garage is detached and I don't have a view of the door, I can confirm quickly if I remembered to close it.

A few times a year I get an issue with the connection, but a reset usually fixes it. The remote opening feature is handy when someone needs to get into my garage and I'm not home.

[Bill Bumface]

^Agree on all points. I had mine not work twice so far in the 2 or 3 years I've owned it, a reset of the hub fixed it.

I have a garage that faces the alley, and after coming home twice to a door that was open all day I have appreciated MyQ quite a bit:

-I set the door to automatically close after a minute, so there is no forgetting to close it
-I use my phone instead of carrying an opener on my bike. I need a passcode to open the door, so no accidental opening when I ride away
-If I get a ride to hockey, I don't need to bring an opener, I can open the door when I get dropped off
-I can let people in if they need to borrow something or drop something off
-I can see when my wife is arriving home so I can close the necessary tabs on my browser

[You Need a Thneed]

I installed the Chamberlain opener on my detached garage around new years, and I have it programmed to automatically close after 10 minutes, but it will send me an alert if it is opened for more than 3 minutes, and immediately if it opens between 11 pm and 6 am.

I haven't had to yet, but I can open the grage door for someone if I'm away.

[Fuzz]

Anyone know where to get the 4 or 5x12 sheets of laminate for countertops from? Rona only has 4x8.

Thanks

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

Perfect, thanks. I did run the Cat5 cables already to two spots for just this reason and/or a TV in the future. I've watched quite a few youtube videos now and I think I got it down, but protecting the cables is a great idea and one I had not seen so far. I do plan to put a lot of shelving up.

I'm glad I helped!

If you can find some cheapy speaker cables, why not run those too? Have a poker night in your garage with music, or have fancy symphony orchestra music playing when you and the fellas are smoking 7-11 cigars and drinking $19 brandy acting all sophisticated, LOL.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I'm glad I helped!

If you can find some cheapy speaker cables, why not run those too? Have a poker night in your garage with music, or have fancy symphony orchestra music playing when you and the fellas are smoking 7-11 cigars and drinking $19 brandy acting all sophisticated, LOL.

Generally speaking, speaker cable is $50 ish a roll from home Depot. If you pull all of it through a conduit I highly advise pulling a string through it along with the cables. It will make further expansion a breeze.

Hell I even have 1/3 of a roll you could just have if you wanted.

[Bill Bumface]

I had a steel door threshold repaired as part of a major reno as it was damaged. Now the door is super sticky to close. It seems the new threshold is too high. It has screws on it to adjust it, but they seem to do nothing. I think the guy may have glued a piece onto the old threshold.

What are my options? Can I easily replace the whole thing? or does that involve removing door casing etc?

The door currently has the type of sweep on the bottom that is |_| shaped and goes on the bottom of the door. If I remove it, the door operates fine. Is there a kind of sweep that is decent that just screws to one face of the door so there is no bottom to it?

[TopChed]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I had a steel door threshold repaired as part of a major reno as it was damaged. Now the door is super sticky to close. It seems the new threshold is too high. It has screws on it to adjust it, but they seem to do nothing. I think the guy may have glued a piece onto the old threshold.

What are my options? Can I easily replace the whole thing? or does that involve removing door casing etc?

The door currently has the type of sweep on the bottom that is |_| shaped and goes on the bottom of the door. If I remove it, the door operates fine. Is there a kind of sweep that is decent that just screws to one face of the door so there is no bottom to it?

Depending on what door sweep you have currently, you could shave some of it off. Generally there are a few layers of vinyl/rubber or some fuzzy weather stripping that can be shaved away. If that isn't possible, you could replace it with a lower profile door sweep or modify a different one.

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by TopChed

Depending on what door sweep you have currently, you could shave some of it off. Generally there are a few layers of vinyl/rubber or some fuzzy weather stripping that can be shaved away. If that isn't possible, you could replace it with a lower profile door sweep or modify a different one.

You should be able to adjust it by unscrewing it, lifting it up, and re-screwing it down. Failing that: Trim it if possible, or just replace it. They're dead easy to install and fairly cheap.

[Bill Bumface]

The sweep in question is all the way up, and it's so tight the bottom thickness of the sweep prevents the door from closing nicely.

Could I go from this style, which is having the problem:


To this style that will give me greater adjustment?

[Ducay]

I'd just trim the tines down a bit where its sticking on the style you have now. Failing that, then you could switch to the other style. That second type may not give you the same seal depending on how your tread/threshold is setup.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Ducay

I'd just trim the tines down a bit where its sticking on the style you have now. Failing that, then you could switch to the other style. That second type may not give you the same seal depending on how your tread/threshold is setup.

Literally the thickness of the bottom of the first style, with tines completely trimmed off, is too tight to close nicely.