The Home Improvement Thread

[Fuzz]

Is the door wood? You could cut it shorter.

[Wormius]

On the topic of doors, I have a couple of steel exterior doors. How do I get dents out? Bondo and repaint?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Is the door wood? You could cut it shorter.

steel

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

steel

Grinder?

/notseriousresponse

[Fuzz]

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Wormius

On the topic of doors, I have a couple of steel exterior doors. How do I get dents out? Bondo and repaint?

Skip the bondo and just paint it. If you must fix it, steel doors in standard sizes are $100 or so. Some things are just not worth the effort.

[Wormius]

So back to ethernet wiring - I decided to explore my mechanical room a bit more and climbed up on a ladder to see where the ductwork went. This bulkhead goes across the basement ceiling from one end to my mechanical room.











I can clearly see the joists and so my question is, in a "standard" house, does that mean I could run my ethernet cable all the way down this bulkhead and take a left or right, and be above the wall - then just drill a hole up from the location I want the wallplates to be? The desired spot is about 15 feet away along the wall.

I wish it were simple - I am just not sure how to account for any obstacles that might be hidden.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Wormius

So back to ethernet wiring - I decided to explore my mechanical room a bit more and climbed up on a ladder to see where the ductwork went. This bulkhead goes across the basement ceiling from one end to my mechanical room.











I can clearly see the joists and so my question is, in a "standard" house, does that mean I could run my ethernet cable all the way down this bulkhead and take a left or right, and be above the wall - then just drill a hole up from the location I want the wallplates to be? The desired spot is about 15 feet away along the wall.

I wish it were simple - I am just not sure how to account for any obstacles that might be hidden.

Generally speaking, yes you could follow your plan.

Although you'll usually run into some unplanned obstacle and you'll just have to use ingenuity to find a way around it. I've pulled tons of ethernet in the places I've lived as well as for others. Something unexpected will always pop up

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Generally speaking, yes you could follow your plan.

Although you'll usually run into some unplanned obstacle and you'll just have to use ingenuity to find a way around it. I've pulled tons of ethernet in the places I've lived as well as for others. Something unexpected will always pop up

Yeah. I am kind of unsure what to expect. With the exception of what I can see through this bulkhead, I will be blind to whatever obstacles are in the way. Sort of hoping that a joist at the end just runs straight across over the wall.

Question is should I start at the destination and try to work my way to the router/switch or vice-versa?

[Hugh Jahrmes]

Whoever was mentioning running some speaker wire along with cat5 or HDMI, mono price is absolutely the best for that stuff imo.

Im going to be running cable through a bulkhead In my basement similarly soon and hope it's that easy but know it won't be ..

[Wormius]

I have been checking online as well, and Cable Sales Canada has good prices on Cat6. I will be putting in an order there soon.

[puffnstuff]

When I ran cabling I would start from both ends. Determine where you want to terminate your line and start there. From that point because already have a chase to run the cables thru beside the hvac trunks, you just need to get from that termination point down to the roof of the basement.

[Ducay]

I would also suggest not hesitating too much in cutting a hole in the drywall halfway. Too many times I've spend extra hours trying to run a line (be it plumbing, Cat, electrical) within the confines of whatever shoddy access I had just to avoid making a hole in the drywall. There is a reason no professional does it that way. Patching a small hole can be pretty inconspicuous versus the alternative of killing yourself trying to make it work with poor access.

[Fuzz]

Ermahgerd....So this weekend I was going to put in a new laminate countertop. I figured, hey, I'd take half of Thursday off, go get supplies, and my dad and I could get it down on Friday, leaving me the weekend. Here we are, Sunday afternoon, just finished. Still need to cleanup, put the Kitchen back together and put tools away.

Lesson: never underestimate the amount of time it is going to fix the many unforseen challenges, mostly due to the previous guy taking shortcuts(which is why the first laminate failed).

Whelp, time to finish the coffee, and go ..sigh..clean. At least I'll have time tonight to watch F1 and have a beer...

[mrkajz44]

Home Improvement Tip: Everything will take at least 3 times as long as you first anticipate and you will make at least 2 more trips to the Home Depot than planned

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Home Improvement Tip: Everything will take at least 3 times as long as you first anticipate and you will make at least 2 more trips to the Home Depot than planned

Uh oh...I was going to change a light switch today.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by mrkajz44

Home Improvement Tip: Everything will take at least 3 times as long as you first anticipate and you will make at least 2 more trips to the Home Depot than planned

Agreed - my rule of thumb, double it and add a bottle of rum

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Yeah. I am kind of unsure what to expect. With the exception of what I can see through this bulkhead, I will be blind to whatever obstacles are in the way. Sort of hoping that a joist at the end just runs straight across over the wall.

Question is should I start at the destination and try to work my way to the router/switch or vice-versa?

I guess that really depends on the specific situation. I've done both ways. Always choose the path of least resistance first. I get a confidence boost each time I pull one through the wall, so do the easiest ones first.

And like another guy said, cutting an extra hole in the wall is not the worst thing in the world. It can be patched easily enough. Obviously avoid it if you can, but if you are seriously running into a huge issue, just cut an extra hole for access.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Uh oh...I was going to change a light switch today.

Still true about the Home Depot thing.

I changed out a plug to put in one of those plugs that has 2 built in USB ports for charging.

Problem is, it charges my BB and Samsung phone, but won't charge my Samsung tablet or PS3/4 controllers.

Will need to go back for such a simple job.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Still true about the Home Depot thing.

I changed out a plug to put in one of those plugs that has 2 built in USB ports for charging.

Problem is, it charges my BB and Samsung phone, but won't charge my Samsung tablet or PS3/4 controllers.

Will need to go back for such a simple job.

The big thing to look for is the amp hour (AH or mAH) output of the USB ports. There are some for sale which have 2 USB ports with different AH ratings.