The Home Improvement Thread

[Wormius]

Haha! I have finally completed the entire house cat6 wiring challenge. 5 bedrooms, upstairs and downstairs living rooms, and an office. 18 total runs. All connections running 100%. Possibly the slowest home reno project in history since starting last October. So glad I am finally done. Now just waiting for my patch cables to arrive to get everything hooked up to the switch. And then I guess fixing sone holes in the drywall and ceilings.

[V]

Haha, so you're not really done the project then. Kind of like when I 'finish' my hardwood project and then install the baseboard a year and a half later.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by V

Haha, so you're not really done the project then. Kind of like when I 'finish' my hardwood project and then install the baseboard a year and a half later.

It only took you a year and a half? We had our hardwood floors refinished about 2.5 years ago and I'm mostly finished installing trim and baseboards but I still have work to do on that project.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

It only took you a year and a half? We had our hardwood floors refinished about 2.5 years ago and I'm mostly finished installing trim and baseboards but I still have work to do on that project.

rookie stuff. My basement was without baseboards for 3 years, before I broke down and had surferguy do it :P

[fredr123]

We have a few pot lights in the kitchen and another outside our front door. Any kind of bulb we put in those fixtures, whether they be halogen or CFL (usually just get whatever is available at Home Depot), last a few months at most. Last fall, I sprung for a more expensive halogen bulb designed for outdoor use for the fixture outside our front door. Thing died last week.

Is it possible that the wiring to some of those fixtures is bad? Too much juice or something? Are there better bulbs to use? Changing the fixtures at this point isn't an easy option so an easier solution would of course be welcomed.

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by fredr123

We have a few pot lights in the kitchen and another outside our front door. Any kind of bulb we put in those fixtures, whether they be halogen or CFL (usually just get whatever is available at Home Depot), last a few months at most. Last fall, I sprung for a more expensive halogen bulb designed for outdoor use for the fixture outside our front door. Thing died last week.

Is it possible that the wiring to some of those fixtures is bad? Too much juice or something? Are there better bulbs to use? Changing the fixtures at this point isn't an easy option so an easier solution would of course be welcomed.

I'd try an LED - they are less vibration dependent. I'd guess you have kids and/or a high traffic area above this location, that is causing the bulbs to break.

IMO I'd try an LED bulb in that location and see how it lasts.

[V]

The LED will probably fail faster than any of the other options. LED needs to have a heat sink to wick away heat from the bulb, and unless you have pot lights designed for LED yu won't have that, meaning the bulb will be immersd in a much higher ambient temperature which will have very negative implications on the bulb's life.

[PaperBagger'14]

It could be a number of things:

Dimmer switches- if any of your lights are on a Dimmer and either the bulb or Dimmer itself isn't compatible, you'll experience bulb failure.

Location- are your outdoor bulbs rated for outdoor use? Are the LED bulbs good for use in an enclosed pot light?

Compact fluorescents (if dimmed) must be rated for dimming capabilities and used with a compatible dimmer.

Halogen bulbs are also extremely sensitive because they operate at a high temperature. If you touched the glass portion of it with your fingers at any point, the oil that sits on the bulb will cause early failure of the device.

[bigbadboss101]

Can you guys recommend a place to shop for vinyl flooring? Might go look at some this weekend. How about a recommended contractor? Looking for good quality, reputation and reference. Of course price is a factor too. Thanks!

[J pold]

Just bought my first house in Ramsay and while I love the place I am now realizing how much work and maintenance is going to be required regularly.

I am reading a few books on home ownership but I am wondering if someone has taken a course in Calgary on the basics of maintaining a home?

[mrkajz44]

When I first moved in I looked at a lot of "guides" online, and found this one to be most comprehensive:

http://www.moneysense.ca/spend/real-...tenance-guide/

It gave me a good list of things to check for on a regular basis, as well as provide some estimates of the costs involved so I could try to budget a bit for those expenses.

As for the actual act of doing these things, all I do it just follow youtube basically. You'll be very surprised at how much handywork you can do around your house with virtually no training. I don't touch plumbing and am very careful with electricity, but other than that you can DIY a ton of stuff with pretty much no prior experience required.

[HotHotHeat]

Hey guys and girls

I'm looking to drywall my detached garage, right now it's just exposed framing, standard two car.

Question I'm hoping someone here can help with... Is it necessary to insulate before drywalling? I'm not concerned about temperature loss, the drywall is simply to give it a more finished look. Thinking I will leave the unfinished so I can hang things off it.

Any help is great!

[fredr123]

Outdoor pot light update:

Installed a $32 LED bulb from Home Depot. It's rated for outdoor use, wet conditions, in an enclosure, and is supposed to start instantly at sub zero temperatures. It has a two year warranty to boot.

As a buddy mentioned, you could probably convince me to buy a ketchup popsicle if I was wearing white gloves so a $30 light bulb that doesn't even change colours is probably par for the course. Guess we will see if this last longer than any of the others...

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Hey guys and girls

I'm looking to drywall my detached garage, right now it's just exposed framing, standard two car.

Question I'm hoping someone here can help with... Is it necessary to insulate before drywalling? I'm not concerned about temperature loss, the drywall is simply to give it a more finished look. Thinking I will leave the unfinished so I can hang things off it.

Any help is great!

Personally, I would still insulate and vapor barrier. If you, or any future owners, ever decide to put a heater in there it would royally suck to have to take the drywall down to insulate and then put it back up.

[GreenLantern]

Insulation is pretty cheap and anyone can do it, I just did my garage 24x26 for $400 with one of those Home Depot buy 3 get 1 free sales. Poly materials was another $120 including acoustic sealant, staples, tape and poly. Each one took a weekend picking away at it doing about 60% by myself, it helps to have someone to get the poly hung then you can go around and finish it up on your own. I have no idea if you need to do it first before dry wall, but I do know that if you plan to spend any time working in there in the summer you will get absolutely cooked without insulation. Just turns into a sweat box even with the big door open. I noticed a massive difference already this spring with the +15-20 days versus the fall days when we moved in.

[mrkajz44]

+1 for the insulation in the garage. We didn't put it in ourselves (was there from the previous owner) and it makes a huge difference for working in there. You don't freeze during the winter, and it's a nice cool feeling in there during the summer. You only need to work in there a handful of days a year to really make it feel worth it.

[Tyler]

I've got a bathroom sink that won't drain properly and I can only assume that there is a bunch of hair or something clogging up the drain. Tried draino and CLR down the drain and it doesn't seem to make a difference.

Do I need a snake or should I just wrench open the pipes under the sink and clear the obstruction? Anything a non-handy person should know before embarking on such a project?

[Fuzz]

I'd just open up the plumbing and clear it out. Since you have used chemicals, make sure you flush lots of water through if you can, and wear gloves. There should be a drain under the trap, so open that to let water out first. Have rags on hand, and be prepared for nasty smells.

One issue that I have ran into was hair getting caught on the sink drain plug, and that really slowing it down. You may just have a problem there, and not further down. You can usually remove that by looking behind the downpipe, and finding where it connects. There is a fitting you can unscrew and pop out the lever, then you can lift the drain plug out.

Here is the assembly:


https://www.handymanhowto.com/how-to...-drain-part-1/
Instructions If you get confused.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Hey guys and girls

I'm looking to drywall my detached garage, right now it's just exposed framing, standard two car.

Question I'm hoping someone here can help with... Is it necessary to insulate before drywalling? I'm not concerned about temperature loss, the drywall is simply to give it a more finished look. Thinking I will leave the unfinished so I can hang things off it.

Any help is great!

I have heard, that as an alternative, plywood works really nicely in garages. Mine was already dry walled, but if I had to do it from scratch I might go with some 4x8 plywood sheets. It probably won't look as nice as a cleaned up drywall, but it has its own benefits.

[sevenarms]

Originally Posted by calgarygeologist

It only took you a year and a half? We had our hardwood floors refinished about 2.5 years ago and I'm mostly finished installing trim and baseboards but I still have work to do on that project.

What was the cost per square foot for the hardwood refinishing?