The Home Improvement Thread

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

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.

I think you mean addressable?

For those of you with a smart home hub of some sort, I am a huge fan of this company. They are releasing a Zwave controller and addressable lightstrips.

https://inovelli.com/red-series-smart-led-strip/

This company makes really great products and has fantastic customer support. The president of the company replied to my support email on a Sunday that was in regards to a weird wiring setup I had.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Barnes

I think you mean addressable?

For those of you with a smart home hub of some sort, I am a huge fan of this company. They are releasing a Zwave controller and addressable lightstrips.

https://inovelli.com/red-series-smart-led-strip/

This company makes really great products and has fantastic customer support. The president of the company replied to my support email on a Sunday that was in regards to a weird wiring setup I had.

Yes addressable I wrote it that way to be more simple. I have a couple different controllers I use. For wifi controlled I use ESPixel Sticks they can come from a variety of sources and have general software. https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick

I use a pocket beagle based board for my wired lights. https://kulplights.com/product/k8-pb/

I use Falcon Player to automate everything and play together and I use x-lights to create sequences/scenes to provide the color programming.

http://www.falconchristmas.com/wiki/Falcon_FPP
https://xlights.org/

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Yes addressable I wrote it that way to be more simple. I have a couple different controllers I use. For wifi controlled I use ESPixel Sticks they can come from a variety of sources and have general software. https://github.com/forkineye/ESPixelStick

I use a pocket beagle based board for my wired lights. https://kulplights.com/product/k8-pb/

I use Falcon Player to automate everything and play together and I use x-lights to create sequences/scenes to provide the color programming.

http://www.falconchristmas.com/wiki/Falcon_FPP
https://xlights.org/

All pretty cool stuff. It's amazing how far this stuff has come in a few years. About 4 years ago I had implemented a cheap RF controlled LED lightstrip as a TV backlight and used a Broadlink RM Pro to control it through Alexa. The integration was such that the Alexa skill on allowed for TV device types so I had to create a bunch of fake TV's, program button sequences into my fake TV remotes and I had to make one for each colour and lightstrip mode to turn them on and off, change colour as well as integrate them into routines and scenes.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by Barnes

All pretty cool stuff. It's amazing how far this stuff has come in a few years. About 4 years ago I had implemented a cheap RF controlled LED lightstrip as a TV backlight and used a Broadlink RM Pro to control it through Alexa. The integration was such that the Alexa skill on allowed for TV device types so I had to create a bunch of fake TV's, program button sequences into my fake TV remotes and I had to make one for each colour and lightstrip mode to turn them on and off, change colour as well as integrate them into routines and scenes.

Agreed! Now a 13 dollar part from china can control it with no problems. Pretty crazy. Unfortunately all my fancy controls don't have Alexa integration it seems like it is quite the coding project to make it happen.

[red sky]

NM can't get photos to load

[photon]

If you view one of the photos on that site, right click on the photo and choose "Copy Image Address" and use that in the image tags.

I.e. don't use https://ibb.co/pPZgwjw but use https://i.ibb.co/KG7Yhxh/IMG-20201221-162958-2.jpg

EDIT: Very nice BTW!

[RW99]

So I ended up ripping off the face plate of the thermostat and it looks like I have an L1 as below. So it sounds like I'm out of luck for Ecobee and Nest? Any recommendations for a smarter thermostat?

http://imgur.com/gallery/4Fi2FrC

Originally Posted by RW99

Yeah sorry, face plate is my first goal. I think the screws got over fastened, so I cant get them out. They appear to be holding the face plate in place. Short of breaking it, I think I'm out of luck. But thank you for the help!

[Wormius]

We had trim installed around the windows and there was a bit of tearing of drywall paper where the the old trim was. Any idea for repairing before painting? There isn't a lot of room there to work with, basically 2 cm between between the dome window trim and the other window trim. Should I just paint it, or is it better to some mud there and take a sanding sponge, and then paint it?

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by Wormius

We had trim installed around the windows and there was a bit of tearing of drywall paper where the the old trim was. Any idea for repairing before painting? There isn't a lot of room there to work with, basically 2 cm between between the dome window trim and the other window trim. Should I just paint it, or is it better to some mud there and take a sanding sponge, and then paint it?

If it were me, I would probably put some primer on it, then mud/sand it. Mud directly on the paper sometimes goes horribly wrong.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Ahuch

If it were me, I would probably put some primer on it, then mud/sand it. Mud directly on the paper sometimes goes horribly wrong.

I think in retrospect, we should have asked the window installers to give us some time to patch things up prior to them installing the trim.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Wormius

We had trim installed around the windows and there was a bit of tearing of drywall paper where the the old trim was. Any idea for repairing before painting? There isn't a lot of room there to work with, basically 2 cm between between the dome window trim and the other window trim. Should I just paint it, or is it better to some mud there and take a sanding sponge, and then paint it?

Don’t try to sand the paper. It will just pull it out and create a shredded mess. I’d cut it away with an exacto knife then fill with Dap DryDex, overlapping the cut line. Light sand with sanding block. Prime, then paint.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

Don’t try to sand the paper. It will just pull it out and create a shredded mess. I’d cut it away with an exacto knife then fill with Dap DryDex, overlapping the cut line. Light sand with sanding block. Prime, then paint.

I ordinarily would, but the region is really tight. I could maybe get a sanding sponge in edgewise. Are there tools that are slim enough to work in that limited space?

[hungryhun]

Originally Posted by Wormius

We had trim installed around the windows and there was a bit of tearing of drywall paper where the the old trim was. Any idea for repairing before painting? There isn't a lot of room there to work with, basically 2 cm between between the dome window trim and the other window trim. Should I just paint it, or is it better to some mud there and take a sanding sponge, and then paint it?

You can buy the yellow plastic taping knives at any of the big box stores and cut them to width with tin snips.

[Ducay]

Could even use a paint stir stick in lieu of the mudding knife. Free and might be easier to adjust width (only because I could see the yellow knives snapping apart). Lay down some spackle/mud and then sand it to look decent.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by RW99

So I ended up ripping off the face plate of the thermostat and it looks like I have an L1 as below. So it sounds like I'm out of luck for Ecobee and Nest? Any recommendations for a smarter thermostat?

http://imgur.com/gallery/4Fi2FrC

I cant help you as I don't specialize in low voltage stuff, but talk to an HVAC tech (aka tinbasher)

[hungryhun]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Could even use a paint stir stick in lieu of the mudding knife. Free and might be easier to adjust width (only because I could see the yellow knives snapping apart). Lay down some spackle/mud and then sand it to look decent.

Nah, they work just fine. My guys use them all the time in the industry to get into hard to work places. Allows you to apply just the right amount of mud and get it right the first time. The goal is to get it as smooth as you can before you sand. I will agree though that a paint stir stick is cheaper!

[Ahuch]

Anyone have any solid advice on changing doors out? I'm on a mission to continue removing all the Oak in the house. The frames are all square and solid, my first thought is that I could just change the doors and not bother with pre-hung.

Doors themselves - I'd like to find something a little more solid as opposed to the typical hollow doors you find at Home Depot. Maybe Finger jointed wood instead of MDF/HDF?

I have a cheap-o Ryobi router, so I was thinking of buying one of those mortising templates for the hinges.

Anything else I should be aware of? It seems like painting the existing door frame might show the oak grain unless I use wood filler / sand which could be a nightmare in itself.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Ahuch

Anyone have any solid advice on changing doors out? I'm on a mission to continue removing all the Oak in the house. The frames are all square and solid, my first thought is that I could just change the doors and not bother with pre-hung.

Doors themselves - I'd like to find something a little more solid as opposed to the typical hollow doors you find at Home Depot. Maybe Finger jointed wood instead of MDF/HDF?

I have a cheap-o Ryobi router, so I was thinking of buying one of those mortising templates for the hinges.

Anything else I should be aware of? It seems like painting the existing door frame might show the oak grain unless I use wood filler / sand which could be a nightmare in itself.

Have you considered just painting the existing doors and frames? If you get a melamine paint it will fill very well, and provide a harder finish than regular paint. Just clean everything really well with tsp first.

[Ahuch]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Have you considered just painting the existing doors and frames? If you get a melamine paint it will fill very well, and provide a harder finish than regular paint. Just clean everything really well with tsp first.

Unfortunately the previous owners had cats so a bunch of the doors have cat doors, which I'd like to get rid of.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Ahuch

Unfortunately the previous owners had cats so a bunch of the doors have cat doors, which I'd like to get rid of.

Ah, that is unfortunate. The melamine paint should still work well on the frames though, if you go that way. I just painted some pine with latex, and several coats still left some of the wood grain showing. I then grabbed some melamine and one coat covered it all up. It's a bit more expensive.