The Home Improvement Thread

[GreenLantern]

I also have some nosey neighbours and unfortunately in these new developments trees are lacking. I planted a row of Brandon Cedars from Costco along both sides of my fence, it will take them years to grow but they started at just below the fence line so that is nice.

[speede5]

Originally Posted by surferguy

Have you tried setting fire to their deck?

A colony of termites would be less dangerous. Takes a bit of time though.

[rain_e]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I also have some nosey neighbours and unfortunately in these new developments trees are lacking. I planted a row of Brandon Cedars from Costco along both sides of my fence, it will take them years to grow but they started at just below the fence line so that is nice.

Columer Aspens are grow very fast

[GreenLantern]

Yea I had no idea about those or I would have planted them instead. The thing I like about the Cedars is they are designed to handle scorching heat and blistering cold on the prairies, how do those other plants hold up?

I wanted something that was next to no maintenance.

One thing I've always wondered is, what if you came home and someone had chopped the tops off all your cedars? You're blocking their view, they are only a few feet from the fence line, they just get a ladder and lop the tops off. 5 years of growth in 30 seconds, and probably killing the plant. You could never prove it was them.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

Does anyone know if there is a height limit with decks?

My neighbor had a deck installed that the floor of said deck is higher than our fence (his house is a walkout basement type, and the terrain sloping).

Anyways, it's kinda annoying, as anytime we're in the yard, they walk out to see what we're up to (I think I've mentioned they are kinda nosy and a bunch of loudmouths)

apply for a development permit to build a fence higher than the 6'6" maximum?

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by rain_e

Columer Aspens are grow very fast

I have a couple that I planted last spring that were 5-6 feet tall, and have grown 2 feet since.

[Flames_Gimp]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

I also have some nosey neighbours and unfortunately in these new developments trees are lacking. I planted a row of Brandon Cedars from Costco along both sides of my fence, it will take them years to grow but they started at just below the fence line so that is nice.

I have Brandon Cedars, they grew about 3' in 3 years, not the fastest growing trees, but they are awesome!

[GreenLantern]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

I have Brandon Cedars, they grew about 3' in 3 years, not the fastest growing trees, but they are awesome!

I also wanted them for the wall effect, I planted them 3 feet apart center to center so if they grow like my friends they should be touching and create a wall of privacy. That was my goal and I am excited for it. If they grow 3 feet in 3 years that would put them right at the height I need them and would be perfect.

[Ducay]

If its a walkout, even if it is not permitted (maybe was done while ago?), even when they eventually do get it permitted, it will be above your fence line.

My whole street is walkouts like this, trees are your friend. You're never going to win this battle, even if you do force them to get it permitted, that height is still fine. And now you've got an angry and nosy neighbour. In this case, you may be on the right side of the law, but as long as it is not a safety issue or infringing on the setbacks, you're just being a snitch

Only real suggestion I have beyond trees, is that any deck within (I believe 1.5m) of property line needs to have a 6'+ privacy fence on any portion of the deck that runs along the property line. City's page on decks has the actual details

[bob-loblaw]

Originally Posted by calf

We are thinking of putting in built in shelves on both sides of our fireplace (large cabinet on the floor, then shelves above). Anyone with experiences doing this or have a recommendation of place that would build and install?

How about cost? Would be floor to ceiling, apx 5 ft wide on each side. Not too picky on type of wood, but would be painting it white.

Depends how handy you are, and what you want the cabinets to look like. You can do it pretty inexpensively by getting cabinets from the hardware store or IKEA and then stacking them and installing them. You can just put trim on the front edge of the cabinets to cover them up, and in front against the edges to cover the space between the walls and fireplace. Essentially use the prebuilt inside and make a nice frame around it.

It also depends on the inside of the cabinet and how you want it to look, whether white/melamine versus another colour. A lot of big box places have inexpensive cupboards that are only white melamine inside.

[Muta]

Quick question guys... I'm planning on replacing my carpet in my condo and doing the entire place (sans bathrooms) in engineered flooring in a very light color. I'm also planning on painting the entire condo in a light grey, with a darker grey feature wall above my fireplace. Starting to go for that ultra modern / minimalist look.

My question is - should I do the flooring first and then the painting, or the painting first and then the flooring?

[V]

I would paint first. Just cut the carpet in strips small enough that you can remove it without wrecking the walls.

[OMG!WTF!]

Ideally you paint first so you don't have to worry about protecting the floors. It depends though if you are installing baseboards over top of the new floors. If so then you probably at least do the final wall coat after. - I'm sure you did check but sometimes condos have requirements for underlayment to prevent noise.

[Regular_John]

When we redid out bathroom last year surferguy recommended doing the floor first, then the painting for the same reason OMG!WTF! just said, the baseboards.

Although we were replacing linoleum with tile, so carpet might be different.

[GreenLantern]

So anyone have any experience with building sprinkler manifolds? Any tips on what to avoid? I've got all my underground sprinklers done front and back, tested them out with the compressor, I just need to hook up the manifold now. The main tip I've gotten so far is to run the extra tap off the same route as the sprinklers themselves and not before as it will restrict the flow.

[blender]

Originally Posted by Muta

Quick question guys... I'm planning on replacing my carpet in my condo and doing the entire place (sans bathrooms) in engineered flooring in a very light color. I'm also planning on painting the entire condo in a light grey, with a darker grey feature wall above my fireplace. Starting to go for that ultra modern / minimalist look.

My question is - should I do the flooring first and then the painting, or the painting first and then the flooring?

The correct order would be remove flooring, paint walls and pre-paint baseboards, install flooring, install baseboards and caulk tops, fill nail holes and face roll.

[REDVAN]

On TV home shows, they always seem to put the flooring in first and then paint the walls.

Personally, I always paint first and then do the flooring (and baseboards/trim last obviously).

[OMG!WTF!]

Good painters prefer to go last...carpet installation always scratches baseboard and walls really badly. Other trades ding up the walls which have to be repaired by the painters after they were done. That can often require a full repaint of some walls in high end homes. So there is for sure a reason to install flooring first. It's actually pretty easy to protect floors from paint. If you want the definitive opinion ask Calgaryblood. He da man.

[J pold]

Anyone know a good carpet guy? Need to re-carpet my stairs.

[opendoor]

If you're hiring tradespeople to do the work, painting often comes last so the painter can do everything at once and there's no chance of damage from other trades. They're also skilled enough to cut in around everything and not make a mess on the new flooring.

But if you're doing it yourself, blender's order above is probably the quickest and least error prone way.