The Home Improvement Thread

[MrCallahan]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Will tag on here, also looking for an electrician for about a 1hr worth of work, just to run some wiring from a Ring security camera

Will send you a PM with the guy I was eventually connected to through a CP user.

[PaperBagger'14]

If you end up needing a sparky still send me a PM and I can put you in touch with a good buddy of mine who's a master electrician.

[Shin Pad]

Originally Posted by d00little

I bought a house and the basement windows have been dug out and lined with wood, both the sides and bottom. Do I need to do anything to the wood in order to take care of it?

Do you mean an exterior wood window well? If so, hopefully they used pressure treated wood. If not, it will rot out. A surface applied wood preservative will only treat the inside surface - not the surface against the dirt. So, if it isn't pressure treated, you will have a problem down the road. If it is an exterior window well, then you don't want wood on the bottom, You should have gravel. Ideally, you should have a flexible drain pipe extending from the bottom of the window well, down to the weeping pipe at the footing level.


I have 2 window wells on my house. A few years ago when we had a huge rainfall, the window well filled up to the point where water was coming in under the window and into the house. It was a real mess to clean up. I had a hydrovac truck come in and hydrovac a hole in the window well, down to the weeping pipe and I installed a flexible pipe in the hole and backfilled the rest with gravel. I won't have that problem again.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Looking at installing floodlights over my driveway. It's dark when the sun goes down, and with the long winter months quickly approaching it would be nice to have.

My question: is solar the easiest way to go, how difficult is it to hardware into the house?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Looking at installing floodlights over my driveway. It's dark when the sun goes down, and with the long winter months quickly approaching it would be nice to have.

My question: is solar the easiest way to go, how difficult is it to hardware into the house?

Solar is easiest, but it is very anemic and doesn't have the greatest lifespan once the batteries age in our cold.

I would suggest hardwiring in some pot-lights into the soffit. Shouldn't be too difficult assuming there is power to tap into nearby in the garage. Its a fairly common job for electricians.

[PaperBagger'14]

I'm asking a question in here finally! Does anyone have some unique ideas for garage shelving and elevated storage without breaking the budget?

In the garage there's currently 1 vehicle, 1 motorcycle, a tool chest, and a few other odds and ends. The garage is a standard double (so way too small). The only tricky items are 2 ladders and a small float tube for fishing.

[Table 5]

Can anyone recommend a good residential boiler service guy/place?

My water circulation pump began leaking today, and the system feeder (whatever the hell that does) is acting wonky. This is not really my area of expertise, so figured Id call a pro.

[Bonded]

Spoilered for crazy size of the images.



Trying to adjust the limiter to let more hot water into the mix. I was just wondering if anyone here had an idea for the next step to get this handle off.



I am afraid to just pull on the thing until comes off. Do I need to unscrew the remaining part of the handle?

Spoiler!

[Fuzz]

You could try taking the handle off. Is there an allen key bolt inside the centre, or something else in there?

[Bonded]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You could try taking the handle off. Is there an allen key bolt inside the centre, or something else in there?

I don't think so but I will check again.

I took a screw out of the centre piece and there is no set screw I can find.



Maybe there is an allen key bolt beyond the screw.

[Fuzz]

Ah, if you took a centre screw out already you may just need to wiggle the whole handle portion a bit to get it unstuck.

[bob-loblaw]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

I'm asking a question in here finally! Does anyone have some unique ideas for garage shelving and elevated storage without breaking the budget?

In the garage there's currently 1 vehicle, 1 motorcycle, a tool chest, and a few other odds and ends. The garage is a standard double (so way too small). The only tricky items are 2 ladders and a small float tube for fishing.

I'd say it depends on how handy you are and how much time you have. You can't go wrong with building high shelves with 2x4's. I bought some good tire racks from Amazon so there's that.

I'm facing the same thing as we're moving next year and I'm going to have a way tighter garage.

Take a look at Pinterest as well because there's some pretty good unique and cheap ideas on there too.

[bob-loblaw]

Originally Posted by Bonded

Spoilered for crazy size of the images.



Trying to adjust the limiter to let more hot water into the mix. I was just wondering if anyone here had an idea for the next step to get this handle off.



I am afraid to just pull on the thing until comes off. Do I need to unscrew the remaining part of the handle?

Spoiler!

Is there an Allan screw underneath the handle at the back?

My showehead was leaking this year and it was the cartridge. That had to be the worst thing I ever had to replace. Unless you have the right tool to remove them it's impossible to take out without destroying it. Plus, Delta doesn't sell them to big box hardware stores. I had to buy a new shower set and remove the cartridge from it instead. I'm obviously not a plumber....

[Wormius]

Was there a screw or bolt or something down the center of the shaft? It looks like some decorative end-cap was taken off?

It looks kind of old. Maybe there is a c-clip down there.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by bob-loblaw

I'd say it depends on how handy you are and how much time you have. You can't go wrong with building high shelves with 2x4's. I bought some good tire racks from Amazon so there's that.

I'm facing the same thing as we're moving next year and I'm going to have a way tighter garage.

Take a look at Pinterest as well because there's some pretty good unique and cheap ideas on there too.

I'm pretty handy so some rough ish woodworking isn't too hard. One thing I'm thinking is having overhead shelving with a drop down bar (like a closet). The bar would be for motorcycle clothes, fishing and snowboarding gear.

Oh man I did the move from a huge garage to one much smaller. If you dont already have one, I'd highly advise getting a shed.

[Slava]

I was going to change a few light switches in my house and the first one has no ground wire? Is that common? It wasn’t what I expected so I just put it back and left it as is, because I don’t want to mess with electricity. Any thoughts?

[PaperBagger'14]

Lots of switches dont have them, mostly older. Its truthfully not a huge issue as the metal on the switch is in contact with the box which bonds it to ground. Having the ground wire is better but I wouldn't go replacing all your switches right away, just do it as needed.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Lots of switches dont have them, mostly older. Its truthfully not a huge issue as the metal on the switch is in contact with the box which bonds it to ground. Having the ground wire is better but I wouldn't go replacing all your switches right away, just do it as needed.

OK, but before I ruin things, do I just "ignore" the part where it says to attach the ground wire and wire the others as indicated? What I mean is nothing can go wrong doing it that way?

[Shazam]

Does your new switch require neutral? Then attach the ground just to be safe. If you're replacing a switch that does nothing but interrupt the black wire, don't bother.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Slava

OK, but before I ruin things, do I just "ignore" the part where it says to attach the ground wire and wire the others as indicated? What I mean is nothing can go wrong doing it that way?

It's just a regular old switch and not a dimmer or timer right?

Wire everything up as indicated by the manufacturer, if there is no ground wire then install a ground wire using the back screws inside of the box. Follow their instructions and you'll be fine.