The Home Improvement Thread

[Ducay]

We have the Kohler Cimarron toilets throughout the house. I've never been more happy with a toilet.

We put 1 of those in, 1 American Standard Cadet, and a Delta (forget the name). All low-water, but not dual flush.

Anyways, the American standard flushes fine, but the sides are "sticky" and catch mess all the time. The Delta to a degree too, but it is the loudest flush. Airplane loud. And sometimes doesn't fully clear out the bowl.

The Kohler Cimarron has since replaced all of them. Nothing ever gets stuck to the sides of the bowl and no matter what you throw at it, its all cleared in 1 flush. (Sometimes I will hold the handle for larger loads just to be safe, and yes, that is a thing). Best toilet, ever.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Why not use strip lights? I guess the pucks will work fine though.

I just installed led strip lights under cabinet and not sure how I lived so long without it. Went rgb of course and wifi kit to control with Alexa. Downside is since it’s a rental I have cord running to counter top plug but it is hidden by coffee machine so still looks good.

[Fuzz]

Still haven't bought my under counter lights...but had another idea..resident electrician Paperbagger, I have a fluorescent tube light with the 14/2 directly wired into it. Is there a low profile outlet box I could mount externally, that doesn't look ghetto? It will be near the back of the undecided of the cabinet, so mostly hidden, but I don't want a janky metal one. Then I could use the low voltage cables. It's within a few feet of the sink. I've currently got it wired to the load terminals on a GFCI outlet.

[Fuzz]

Fundmark, which ones did you go with?

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Still haven't bought my under counter lights...but had another idea..resident electrician Paperbagger, I have a fluorescent tube light with the 14/2 directly wired into it. Is there a low profile outlet box I could mount externally, that doesn't look ghetto? It will be near the back of the undecided of the cabinet, so mostly hidden, but I don't want a janky metal one. Then I could use the low voltage cables. It's within a few feet of the sink. I've currently got it wired to the load terminals on a GFCI outlet.

Might be tough to find something to fit that bill, your best bet would be to look for a pvc box but off the top of my head I can't think of anything

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

Might be tough to find something to fit that bill, your best bet would be to look for a pvc box but off the top of my head I can't think of anything

I was looking around and found this, which looks like it would work for me:


https://www.lowes.ca/product/raceway...cal-box-215890

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I was looking around and found this, which looks like it would work for me:


https://www.lowes.ca/product/raceway...cal-box-215890

I've seen those products before but never actually installed any. The raceway portion of it is actually energized though, its not a wire inside of the raceway, similar to track lighting. Im not 100% sure on how you connect the raceway to a power source but you might be able to make it work. It would look cleaner than a metal box though.

[Fuzz]

Thanks, ya I shouldn't need any raceway, as long as I can get the wire in the box, it will be directly against the wall. This is from an Amazon review, so it would be something like this, but not painted black, or having exposed 14/2.

[Shazam]

Kohler only makes two flushing mechanisms and they're virtually identical, so all Kohlers will function the same given the same bowl height and elongated/non-elongated.

[MacDaddy77]

Running new Cat 6 cables in basement, if I was ever going to develop a basement myself I'd have ethernet and power on every wall or install a drop down ceiling. I Have to cut multiple holes in the wall to fish the cable

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by MacDaddy77

Running new Cat 6 cables in basement, if I was ever going to develop a basement myself I'd have ethernet and power on every wall or install a drop down ceiling. I Have to cut multiple holes in the wall to fish the cable

Fishing cable is one of my least favourite home jobs. You start trying to make no holes. Then you accept you need one. Then 3, then OMFG what have I done?

[MacDaddy77]

^^ exactly the point I'm at with at least 2 more to go lol

[Bill Bumface]

... but when you get the fish done with no drywall damage, and it only takes you 5 times as long as it would have... crack a beer in satisfaction my friend! You've done it!

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Doesn't really belong in this thread but does anyone know of a good place to take a chainsaw?

I bought a Husqvarna chainsaw this past summer and it's been a massive piece of crap from day 1. Takes a good 10 minutes to get it started and when you let off the throttle it stalls almost immediately.

It's not the fuel, it's not the sparkplug. I'm wondering if the carb just needs an adjustment.

Your carb needs adjusting to our altitude. These units are likley built at sea level and they need to be calibrated correctly. That what was told to me with mine worked amazing after.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Fundmark, which ones did you go with?

I forgot to look back in this thread. Because I have galley style kitchen I needed for both sides so I wanted the double power supply to save 13 bucks.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then I bought an extra wifi controller

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I only ended up using one of the rolls of leds so I have lots of extra to mess around with other projects. Unfortunately these are dumb led lights so I can't do anything too fun with them in regards to light shows.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

I forgot to look back in this thread. Because I have galley style kitchen I needed for both sides so I wanted the double power supply to save 13 bucks.

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Then I bought an extra wifi controller

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I only ended up using one of the rolls of leds so I have lots of extra to mess around with other projects. Unfortunately these are dumb led lights so I can't do anything too fun with them in regards to light shows.

You say they are "dumb led's", but they have a controller and app? What's dumb about them?

[Ducay]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Kohler only makes two flushing mechanisms and they're virtually identical, so all Kohlers will function the same given the same bowl height and elongated/non-elongated.

So all Kohlers will perform the same as long as its the same toilet?

[sa226]

I have a question regarding running toilets. We seem to have a slow creep of running toilets in our house. Started with the upstairs second bath and now it seems the bottom half bath as well. For whatever reason the ensuite toilet doesn't seem to run. I know that the most common cause of a running toilet is a leaky flapper valve. I guess the most prudent course of action would be to replace the toilet hardware, but it wasn't doing it 2 months ago, so why now?

The other thing is that, it seems to happen when another toilet is flushed or even a tap is run. Or the tub emptied. Its not 100% so I don't know if its confirmation bias or if im on to something. That leads me to believe that maybe there's a vent blockage or even a main drain blockage that is creating a bit of a siphon when something goes down the drain.

Curious if others have had this before?

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

You say they are "dumb led's", but they have a controller and app? What's dumb about them?

Sorry it’s light jargon. Dumb Leds can only be one colour at a time. I prefer to work with pixels which can be individually controlled.

The app works great for that kit and integration into Alexa has been flawless.

[Nufy]

I have noticed that when I have a leaky toilet its usually the fill valve.

Hard water deposits build up over time and it won't close fully and the water spills over into the overflow.

At 16 $ for a replacement I don't bother to try and clean them anymore.

1/2 hour downtime and its good to go again.

Originally Posted by sa226

I have a question regarding running toilets. We seem to have a slow creep of running toilets in our house. Started with the upstairs second bath and now it seems the bottom half bath as well. For whatever reason the ensuite toilet doesn't seem to run. I know that the most common cause of a running toilet is a leaky flapper valve. I guess the most prudent course of action would be to replace the toilet hardware, but it wasn't doing it 2 months ago, so why now?

The other thing is that, it seems to happen when another toilet is flushed or even a tap is run. Or the tub emptied. Its not 100% so I don't know if its confirmation bias or if im on to something. That leads me to believe that maybe there's a vent blockage or even a main drain blockage that is creating a bit of a siphon when something goes down the drain.

Curious if others have had this before?

Sent from my SM-G973W using Tapatalk