The Home Improvement Thread

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

If you don't mind me asking, how log did each stage take? (Demo, acquisition of materials, cleaning/ rough in and final install and final touches)

I'm assuming it would take around 30-50 hours to do (or around two full weekends of work), but I worried such a timeline is wildly incorrect.

It would be hard to make a guess.

Many trips to various places, for plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, colours, materials, mirror, tile, hardware and accessories, etc. MANY trips. It’s a good thing I enjoy going on such trips.

Other than trips, it’s several hours here, most of a day there, an hour there. Altogether several tens of hours.

Lead times? Well I waited several months for the shower control/fixtures. Tile was a month? I still don’t have my sink faucet, though they ordered in the wrong one first, which I waited for for a couple months, now I’m a couple months into waiting for the second try. Sink was a month and a half ish?

Tub I bought in stock and Home Depot. Light fixture was in stock, toilet was in stock, melamine and hardware for the vanity was in stock.

Flooring was actually reused (floating LVT), I just pulled it up, and relaid it down - adding a couple new tiles that I still had left over from the initial install.

The countertop I walked into the shop and ordered it one day, and it was literally templates, cut and installed the next day. Miracle that was.

Overall, I started the project in May, so it will end up being 5 months from start to finish. Probably 3-3.5 months without any portion of a usable bathroom.

[You Need a Thneed]

Also, I hated the crappy medicine cabinets selling for $300 (or much more), so I built the box for it today in 2 hours, using leftover offcut pieces of Baltic birch plywood.

I’ll have to buy a pair of cabinet hinges, but I’m also recycling the mirror I took down, for both the main mirror, and the medicine cabinet front.

[Sr. Mints]

I scraped the popcorn ceilings off most of the main floor of my mom's house. And it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. My brother came over and did all the ladder work where the ceilings are 14' high, and the ceilings were in pretty good shape so patching, mudding and taping was easy.

We left one of the bedrooms stippled as it was previously painted. And after having the ceiling in the entire house painted, I'm not sure why I went through the effort of removing the stippling: it looks fine with a fresh coat. (I do know why: there was water damage from last winter)

[topfiverecords]

tldr; Is there some Cat5 device you can get and connect to each end to trial and error figure out what goes where?

So my new place is heavily wired with Cat5 running to ports in various rooms. There’s a bunch running to the mechanical room at the spot where Shaw’s coax comes in, and two run to the storage room (on the other side of that level yay) that holds the elec panel and Telus’ fibre.

The Telus guy managed to trace one went to the kitchen and that’s were we setup the wifi router.

Now I want to connect from the router over to the office but of course none of these are labeled.

I need to figure out where #2 in the kitchen goes first and then tie it into the office one.

They also had a Sonos sound system with 4 units connected together all over the house so some of these lines might not even be going back to the mechanical room.

Is there some device you can get and connect to each end to trial and error figure out what goes where?

[Fuzz]

Do you have a switch with activity lights? You can plug in, say, a laptop at the destination port. In the mechanical room you can plug each one into the switch. Whichever port lights up is the one the laptop is plugged into(as long as every other port in the house is unused). Repeat for each port in the house until they are all labelled. Probably easier with 2 people.

[Hanni]

I have one similar to this and it works well, obviously all your ends need to be terminated. It also shows you if you have any connection issues.

https://www.amazon.ca/Flexzion-Netwo...s%2C125&sr=8-5

[opendoor]

A cheap wire tracer would work. I have a $30 one that has a Cat5 connector; I've only used it for tracing electrical circuits, but it worked quite well. And if they're not terminated, you can just use the alligator clips.

[powderjunkie]

Thoughts on laying new deck boards (wood) over the existing ones (instead of removing)? The current deck is generally still in very good shape, but the boards are laid on a 45 and a few of the edges are rotting. Spot repair won't be very efficient, and it's only a matter of time before more edges rot.

My dad is suggesting to just lay new boards straight and on top (still screwing into joists which are in great shape). Google tells me it is a somewhat common to do that with new composite decking, but there is some risk of moisture trapping between boards which would shorten lifespan of new boards. Big issue here in our relatively dry climate?

[Deviaant]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Thoughts on laying new deck boards (wood) over the existing ones (instead of removing)? The current deck is generally still in very good shape, but the boards are laid on a 45 and a few of the edges are rotting. Spot repair won't be very efficient, and it's only a matter of time before more edges rot.

My dad is suggesting to just lay new boards straight and on top (still screwing into joists which are in great shape). Google tells me it is a somewhat common to do that with new composite decking, but there is some risk of moisture trapping between boards which would shorten lifespan of new boards. Big issue here in our relatively dry climate?

Our summers are dry, and winter is wet. The expansion and contraction with each season is extreme and I’d guess you would have some pretty serious warping and the rot underneath would only happen quicker as the moisture won’t fully dry. I think you are only looking to create tripping hazards and to shorten the life of your new deck boards.

I would not do this with composite boards either. Composite boards have a real wood component to them. Usually a wood flour.

Source: I was a sales rep for a major composite decking brand for years and probably sold a few million board feet of lumber.

[CroFlames]

I've seen a deck like that. The underboards will continue to rot and cause unevenness at best, and at worse the deck won't drain proper and your joists start rotting.

Aesthetically it is not pleasing.

Best way to pull up old deck boards is a digging bar. Jam it between boards and pull. The weight of the bar does the work.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Do you have a switch with activity lights? You can plug in, say, a laptop at the destination port. In the mechanical room you can plug each one into the switch. Whichever port lights up is the one the laptop is plugged into(as long as every other port in the house is unused). Repeat for each port in the house until they are all labelled. Probably easier with 2 people.

No switch and no laptop with a port. Have a Microsoft Surface that’s wireless only.

Originally Posted by Hanni

I have one similar to this and it works well, obviously all your ends need to be terminated. It also shows you if you have any connection issues.

https://www.amazon.ca/Flexzion-Netwo...s%2C125&sr=8-5

That looks like it should do the trick assuming they’re all terminated correctly to begin with. So it won’t give any reading until it’s connect at both ends? Seems simple enough to sort this out then.

[Hanni]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

No switch and no laptop with a port. Have a Microsoft Surface that’s wireless only.



That looks like it should do the trick assuming they’re all terminated correctly to begin with. So it won’t give any reading until it’s connect at both ends? Seems simple enough to sort this out then.

It has an led for each wire, so even if they aren't terminated correctly you will still get something. I finished a bedroom in the basement and messed up one of my outlets, all but two of lights came on so I knew which outlet it was but also knew there was an issue. Came in handy to know it needed to be fixed it before someone tried to use it.

Edit: misread the question, yes it won't give any reading until connected at both ends.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Hanni

It has an led for each wire, so even if they aren't terminated correctly you will still get something. I finished a bedroom in the basement and messed up one of my outlets, all but two of lights came on so I knew which outlet it was but also knew there was an issue. Came in handy to know it needed to be fixed it before someone tried to use it.

Edit: misread the question, yes it won't give any reading until connected at both ends.

Awesome, thanks for the insight.

I was surprised the Telus install tech didn’t have anything like that considering they are always trying to chase wires and should be testing them too. He only had a POS wire tracer that never seemed to give a reading on anything. What should have taken 10 mins took 90 and then I asked him if he figured out where any of the other wires he looked at went to he said no. When I asked him if there was something to get like what you’ve suggested, he said no.

Thank god the Cat5 that ran to the spot where the fibre came in went to a main floor central spot.

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

I've seen a deck like that. The underboards will continue to rot and cause unevenness at best, and at worse the deck won't drain proper and your joists start rotting.

Aesthetically it is not pleasing.

Best way to pull up old deck boards is a digging bar. Jam it between boards and pull. The weight of the bar does the work.

Originally Posted by Deviaant

Our summers are dry, and winter is wet. The expansion and contraction with each season is extreme and I’d guess you would have some pretty serious warping and the rot underneath would only happen quicker as the moisture won’t fully dry. I think you are only looking to create tripping hazards and to shorten the life of your new deck boards.

I would not do this with composite boards either. Composite boards have a real wood component to them. Usually a wood flour.

Source: I was a sales rep for a major composite decking brand for years and probably sold a few million board feet of lumber.

Thanks for the confirmations...I wasn't crazy about the idea, but it was hard to refute in the moment since he brings most of the tools and 'experience'.

[You Need a Thneed]

Vanity with medicine cabinet in progress.

[PaperBagger'14]

Originally Posted by topfiverecords

No switch and no laptop with a port. Have a Microsoft Surface that’s wireless only.



That looks like it should do the trick assuming they’re all terminated correctly to begin with. So it won’t give any reading until it’s connect at both ends? Seems simple enough to sort this out then.

If you look on Amazon or even in home depot or other electronics stores, the tool you're looking for is called an ethernet toner. That's the same tool Hanni linked for you.

Connect the transmitter to one end of the ethernet cable (say at the switch in the basement) and take the tracing end around to your ethernet ports throughout your house. Maybe get a label maker as well and label each port on the switch and wall ports

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by PaperBagger'14

If you look on Amazon or even in home depot or other electronics stores, the tool you're looking for is called an ethernet toner. That's the same tool Hanni linked for you.

Connect the transmitter to one end of the ethernet cable (say at the switch in the basement) and take the tracing end around to your ethernet ports throughout your house. Maybe get a label maker as well and label each port on the switch and wall ports

Amazon came through with a great $20 set that came with tester, crimper, rj45s, and many various other tools. I’ve successfully sorted out where they all go except for one that weirdly seems to have no location.

[Fuzz]

For that last one, fashion a RJ45 to NEMA 14-30 plug. Plug the one end into your dryer outlet, the other end into the unknown cable. Run around the house quickly looking for where the sparks come out. Flame may also be visible.

[topfiverecords]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

For that last one, fashion a RJ45 to NEMA 14-30 plug. Plug the one end into your dryer outlet, the other end into the unknown cable. Run around the house quickly looking for where the sparks come out. Flame may also be visible.

I envision my house in a pile of smoking burning rubble with me in the middle of it. “Oh hey, there’s the other end. Nice”

[You Need a Thneed]

finally got my faucet, and installed it today, what a pain in the ass that was.

making and buying spacers, needing more than two hands, fighting a supply line thats so close to the tightening nut that you cant turn the tightening nut, multiple trips to the hardware store…

doesnt help that its all in an uncomfortable to get into space as well.