The Home Improvement Thread

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Looks good, other than the spooky face in the bottom of the second picture.

Corsi is building on an old burial ground. Dude dgaf.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by sa226

Do you have a water softener?

I've kinda wanted this one as well, but the hard water is an obstacle I'm not ready to deal with just yet. Meaning those disc's must get pretty gross. Or is it not an issue?

I see they claim it's not.

I don't have a water softener. My maintenance regime:

- Once a week, drain the reservoir that usually has a bunch of hard water crud in it by that point

- When I go to shut it down for summer, fill the reservoir with vinegar and manually set it to "on" so it cycles a few hours in the vinegar. Pull it out and rinse it, good as new.

[blender]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Got back to site now that the crew is off for a little while for the holidays and had a closer look... hoping those knowledgeable like Blender or anyone else who has done this can take a look and let me know if any of the result is of concern or if it looks like normal concrete imperfections that don't matter.

Spoiler!

I would agree with what the other guys said. Nothing structural to worry about.
The air pockets should be filled if they are above the frost line and there is a chance that water can get to them as you don't want water to freeze in there and start causing the concrete to flake away.
Overall the finish on the tops of the walls looks less flat that I would like, so make sure your builder attends to sealing any gaps between he sill plate and the topmof concrete. It's a prime spot for air to.leak.

[Fuzz]

I do love that we can just make artificial rock that mates perfectly with the rock below. Man smacking our hand print on nature in a brutalist way. Go man!

[T-Dog]

Has anyone here had a driveway repaired and resurfaced with an aggregate? I'm looking for recommendations for companies that do this type of work.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I do love that we can just make artificial rock that mates perfectly with the rock below. Man smacking our hand print on nature in a brutalist way. Go man!

I prefer the term 'peoplekind'.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I prefer the term 'peoplekind'.

You can’t spell cement without men

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Back at it.

Originally Posted by blender

I would agree with what the other guys said. Nothing structural to worry about.
The air pockets should be filled if they are above the frost line and there is a chance that water can get to them as you don't want water to freeze in there and start causing the concrete to flake away.
Overall the finish on the tops of the walls looks less flat that I would like, so make sure your builder attends to sealing any gaps between he sill plate and the topmof concrete. It's a prime spot for air to.leak.

Thanks for this. I forwarded this on and the response was that for the top of the concrete they do a quick grind of the wall once framing starts so there won't be any gaps underneath, and they use "Siga fentrim tape", whatever that is, to air seal the moisture barrier to the foundation wall. For the honeycombing they're using roof patch to seal all those areas, but there is "no concern structurally or for water egress" as the slab portion is well above all those areas.

Now I'm looking at this stuff for soffit and accents... hoping it's a bit cheaper than aluminum options, Alberta-based company and the product looks really good in person. https://chamclad.com/finishes/

[CroFlames]

That is some good looking drainage they are putting in around the foundation. I would be happy with that.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Framing begins...

[Brendone]

Being a dork, I would be lidar scanning each stage if you have an iPad or iPhone Pro (think Samsung galaxy might have lidar as well). Sure would have made finding my basement rough ins a lot easier. Oh, the drain pipe can be anywhere under the slab within a 4’ radius of the hole? Guess I’m scooping out as much gravel as I can reach through the hole to find this thing.

Could be handy to find other things behind the wall in the future as well. Pictures are great, but you can measure with the lidar apps.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

So this isn't my place but it's a sort of stand-in for what I'm doing and I'm trying to choose between Hardie's "Deep Ocean" and "Mountain Sage" colours. And I am looking at doing the soffit and accents in pine T&G much like this house (mine is a different design obviously but the same sort of style).

The green in this is a bit off of the Hardie colour but just to give an idea... what would people here pick?

[CroFlames]

God damn. Those are both nice.

I think I might lean towards green because your property is kinda rugged and wooded and would look awesome with all the trees around. Blue is great too because you are close to the water so kinda beach house motif.

Can't miss with either color though.

[Fuzz]

Absolutely green.


Are you worried about rapid weathering of wood soffits and features? I'd expect the moisture out there to make it either a big maintence item, or long term ugly.

[Manhattanboy]

Does anyone know about code for running hot and cold water lines and a drain pipe in the back of kitchen cabinets?

I want to build a coffee station with a sink and connect to the water and drain below my kitchen sink, which would be about 30 feet in length, including a 90 degree bend in the corner.

Thanks!

[Fuzz]

Guide for Calgary:

https://www.calgary.ca/content/dam/w...bing-guide.pdf


Permit info:
https://www.calgary.ca/development/h...s-permits.html


You can email any questions here, I've found them helpful


plumbing&gas.tac@calgary.ca

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Are you worried about rapid weathering of wood soffits and features? I'd expect the moisture out there to make it either a big maintence item, or long term ugly.

I am a bit concerned, yes, especially with pine. I've asked what they do to try to address that. But the reality is that wood-look PVC is much, much more expensive, so even if it's something that has to be replaced in 10 years I am better off deferring the expense than taking it on now. If it's 5 years though, then I start to really worry about it.

[Fuzz]

Is cedar an option? For low maintence you can just let if fade to gray/silver and it might look pretty good with the green.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

So this isn't my place but it's a sort of stand-in for what I'm doing and I'm trying to choose between Hardie's "Deep Ocean" and "Mountain Sage" colours. And I am looking at doing the soffit and accents in pine T&G much like this house (mine is a different design obviously but the same sort of style).

The green in this is a bit off of the Hardie colour but just to give an idea... what would people here pick?

I can answer your question but I usually charge $150/hr.

[Titan2]

My free answer is the blue.