The Home Improvement Thread

[speede5]

So I checked with a journeyman and he says I’m wrong. Lol. So maybe don’t hang the cabinet there without checking with an inspector.

[STAMPEDRED]

Can you not cut an access hole for the junction box in the cabinet? Essentially the same as installing a outlet switch in a built in.

[Wormius]

I could, but the interior of the cabinet is mirrored, so it would look pretty bad.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by speede5

So I checked with a journeyman and he says I’m wrong. Lol. So maybe don’t hang the cabinet there without checking with an inspector.

Oh really? So it needs to be in a non-conspicuous location?

[PaperBagger'14]

I would be very careful with that splice kit, I've never seen it before and I highly doubt an inspector would let it fly with it being buried in a wall. I'm not an inspector but I would never pass it or put my name on it, CSA designation or not it doesn't reflect the electrical codebook.

Honestly fish in new wire, you can technically do a splice in a junction box in the ceiling but it's pretty hack. Are the walls insulated? If not it probably won't be a big deal. It sucks climbing around an attic but it's the best way of doing it.

[Wormius]

Yeah, I think I will have to fish a new wire. I was just hoping I didn’t have to now that the walls are finished.

My only issue is I doubt I will be able to use the old wire as a guide since it’s stapled and does through a bend. I would probably have to go straight down from the attic through the top plate, but there is a 2x4 half-way down before the switch that I would have drill down through as well.

[PaperBagger'14]

Is the cabinet currently in place? If it's just finished walls are up you shouldn't care because you can cut up the drywall, patch it and have it hidden by the cabinet afterwards.

[Wormius]

Well, I managed to get the wiring moved up into the attic into a unction box after miraculously drilling through the top plate and 2 blocking studs from an old recessed medicine cabinet and actually hit the target right above the switch.

Now, the new medicine cabinet (IKEA) obviously doesn’t have mounting that lines up with the studs. I can fit a couple of 2x4 sections behind the drywall and sister them to the studs. Would this be enough for mounting the cabinet to? It’s a pretty heavy medicine cabinet and a lot of people have said that using toggle bolts through the drywall isn’t secure enough.

Again this is mostly me not wanting to cut out the drywall section to put a full length of blocking there. Unless there is some other kind of bracing or blocking that is available.

[Robotic]

I'm in the process of renovating the floors in our first house by installing vinyl planks. Does anyone have suggestions for the heat registers? I've always liked the look of the wooden ones that are the same height as the floor and blend in so well.
Like this one:

Spoiler!

Don't think I can do the same thing as the floor is only 7.5mm in height and with the click lock vinyl floor its technically "floating" so I'm not sure if that would cause issues.

So far my only idea is to buy a wooden register that sits on top and paint it to the closest match I can find of the vinyl plank.

Like this:

Spoiler!

I've sourced a couple places that sell flooring, and its crazy how expensive they can get!!! $50-$95 for a single register!!!

If all else fails I'll just keep the current registers, and reuse them on the new flooring.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Anyone know of a calculator for window / door costs here in the Calgary area market? Something where you put in the dimensions of windows and you can get a rough idea of cost?

I just need a rough sense of what it's going to cost. $10K? 20K? Nothing precise enough to callout an estimator for a quote.

[Simon96Taco]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Anyone know of a calculator for window / door costs here in the Calgary area market? Something where you put in the dimensions of windows and you can get a rough idea of cost?

I just need a rough sense of what it's going to cost. $10K? 20K? Nothing precise enough to callout an estimator for a quote.

I'd also be interested in this, if such a thing exists.

[Dynamic]

Originally Posted by Robotic

I'm in the process of renovating the floors in our first house by installing vinyl planks. Does anyone have suggestions for the heat registers? I've always liked the look of the wooden ones that are the same height as the floor and blend in so well.
Like this one:

Spoiler!

Don't think I can do the same thing as the floor is only 7.5mm in height and with the click lock vinyl floor its technically "floating" so I'm not sure if that would cause issues.

So far my only idea is to buy a wooden register that sits on top and paint it to the closest match I can find of the vinyl plank.

Like this:

Spoiler!

I've sourced a couple places that sell flooring, and its crazy how expensive they can get!!! $50-$95 for a single register!!!

If all else fails I'll just keep the current registers, and reuse them on the new flooring.

I just had the same problem. Did vinyl plank in all the bedrooms and looked for a while for registers that would match. But it was damn near impossible so in the end went with white. White goes good with everything they say. Maybe an option?

[Madman]

Did you guys check with Bigtime at Timber Town?

[dubc80]

Looking for a dark navy-ish blue hexagon floor tiles for a bathroom reno.

Having trouble finding this color in the big box stores, so probably have to try some specialty stores.

Anyone got any recommendations on stores with large selections?

[dubc80]

Originally Posted by Robotic

I'm in the process of renovating the floors in our first house by installing vinyl planks. Does anyone have suggestions for the heat registers? I've always liked the look of the wooden ones that are the same height as the floor and blend in so well.
Like this one:

Spoiler!

Don't think I can do the same thing as the floor is only 7.5mm in height and with the click lock vinyl floor its technically "floating" so I'm not sure if that would cause issues.

So far my only idea is to buy a wooden register that sits on top and paint it to the closest match I can find of the vinyl plank.

Like this:

Spoiler!

I've sourced a couple places that sell flooring, and its crazy how expensive they can get!!! $50-$95 for a single register!!!

If all else fails I'll just keep the current registers, and reuse them on the new flooring.

I think it was Windsor Plywood who carried a product where you could order matching vents with your flooring. Perhaps they have a color which is close to yours?

[Shazam]

Ames or Daltile.

[Ducay]

There about 10 tile stores within 5 minutes of the Blackfoot Inn (Ames, Tierra, Julien, City, Daltile, etc, etc). One of them will have it.

[Fuzz]

Ah yes, the tile district.

[calgarygeologist]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Anyone know of a calculator for window / door costs here in the Calgary area market? Something where you put in the dimensions of windows and you can get a rough idea of cost?

I just need a rough sense of what it's going to cost. $10K? 20K? Nothing precise enough to callout an estimator for a quote.

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not but here are the prices that we paid a few years ago for our new windows. They were vinyl, double glazed with solar coating (middle of the line replacement window) and we went with sliders because casements were considerably more:

83x32 = $992
63x32 = $851
42x12 = $438
112x58 (we did this as a three section window 26, 60, 26 with one of the 26 sections being a casement window) = $2749

An entrance door with glass insert and an attached side window pane was $2386.

I also did another big window that was three sections 16x51, 92x51, 16x51 that I don't have my invoice for any more but it was around $4000.

[metallicat]

If you've put a hot tub in at home, did you do anything g special for the pad underneath it? I'm redoing my patio this summer and will also get a hot tub at some point, but I'm not sure if I need to either pour a separate pad altogether, or just reinforce the concrete directly below where the hot tub will go. Any advice?

The salesperson at the hot tub store today told me not to use concrete at all under it and just go with pea gravel. I guess I could do that too, and then just pour my patio around the hot tub.