The Home Improvement Thread

[Madman]

Toying with the idea of turning our current deck into a 4 season sunroom. The deck is roughly 6' off the ground, so support and load are my biggest concerns. I'm guessing I would need a structural engineer to come out and assess by current structure and what would need to be added to make it safe and up to code - or is there some guideline that I could take a look at?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Tankless is great for never running out of hot water. Loved that part in our old house, when we had one.

It also takes up much less space in your furnace/utility room, if that's an issue.

But overall did you like having it? I think Peanut was saying in a thread that she has it would tell everyone not to get it. I've debated this for a few years and haven't done anything. I think that this is the year to finally do something though.

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by Slava

But overall did you like having it? I think Peanut was saying in a thread that she has it would tell everyone not to get it. I've debated this for a few years and haven't done anything. I think that this is the year to finally do something though.

When I was quite young, my grandpa had one installed in his house. It was not common yet in North America and the performance was pretty crumby. That really coloured my view of those things, but I have to think now - 20 years later - the tech has to be in a place where they've got the kinks ironed out, right?

[Fuzz]

I've heard in warmer areas they work well, but around here the water entering is a lot colder so takes more to heat up. To get a unit that can perform adequately you need to spend a lot. It probably comes down to how complicated your install is and how badly you want to get rid of a big tank.

[V]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Spent 6-7 hours on Saturday cutting melamine piece for the cabinet boxes.

Now on to mortising, pre drilling, fastening ash front edgeing, etc. It is so nice to use good quality tools. Tables saws with a sliding table are the best.

I think it's time for another update. How are things progressing?

I'm going to be doing my kitchen next year, and I'm interested in the details. I'm hoping to do it from scratch as well. My Dad teaches shop at the school, so I have access to very nice tools.

[burn_this_city]

Tankless water heaters are great if you don't mind standing there for 3 mins while the shower gradually warms.

[You Need a Thneed]

Originally Posted by V

I think it's time for another update. How are things progressing?

I'm going to be doing my kitchen next year, and I'm interested in the details. I'm hoping to do it from scratch as well. My Dad teaches shop at the school, so I have access to very nice tools.

Most of the boxes and drawers are built. We are going to start building doors and drawer fronts soon.

When the boxes are are ready, we will have to demoloish the existing flooring and cabinets (I don't know yet if we will demolish all of the existing at once, or try to leave ourselves with somewhat of a working kitchen for almost all of the transition.

There will be a little bit of electrical revisions to be made (stove is in a different place).

The whole thing is coming along. Nothing really to see in terms of pictures yet.

[Gundo]

Im going to be building a deck on my new house and I'm looking for info on the best place to buy lumber and metal railing? Or even any tips on how to get the best deal possible would be great.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by Gundo

Im going to be building a deck on my new house and I'm looking for info on the best place to buy lumber and metal railing? Or even any tips on how to get the best deal possible would be great.

I bought all the stuff for my deck at Timbertown. Seemed much cheaper than Home Depot or the like. Might also check out Windsor Plywood.

[surferguy]

Originally Posted by Gundo

Im going to be building a deck on my new house and I'm looking for info on the best place to buy lumber and metal railing? Or even any tips on how to get the best deal possible would be great.

Send BigTime a PM. Timbertown is the way to go!

[You Need a Thneed]

My kitchen build update:

The Boxes and drawers are mostly built, the drawer front slabs have been put together, and the doors have all their pieces cut.

Lots of work done, lots of work to go.

A couple of pictures from today:




We switched to doing frame and style doors, but kept the solid drawer fronts. We are definitely not trying to hide that wood grain.

[You Need a Thneed]

That's one of the smallest doors, so there will be a lot more panel for most of the doors.

[surferguy]

Looks great! Keep with the updates

[Hockeyguy15]

So there is a leak coming from the top of my walkout basement door. Just recently they (condo board) did new decks, which is above the walkout and I'm thinking they damaged something when they re-did our deck.

I have an email in to the management company and will talk to them tomorrow, but I'm wondering if anyone knows how long it takes before I have to worry about mould? I don't think this was a long term leak since I've never seen any water damage before (we bought the place last May) but there is a soft piece of drywall in the top corner, about an inch or so. Could that be done by the rain today, or would that be a long term thing?

[You Need a Thneed]

Started demolition this eve in my kitchen. Not full out demolition, as we are going to need a semi functional kitchen for a couple of weeks yet.

I removed the hanging upper cabinets above the peninsula, took of the moldings all around the top, removed baseboard, and removed about 65% of the floor tile. Tomorrow I'll finish removing the tile and the underlay board, and scrape the stipple off of the ceiling. Also, I'll likely widen the entrance opening into the kitchen area( only a few inches to where it meets another wall), and raise the top of the opening right up to the ceiling, instead of having it at 6'8", or whatever it is currently.

I'll have to do a bit of electrical rough in prior to flooring.

[Hugh Jahrmes]

Workin on the backyard, it's fence time. Gonna be a crappy weekend hava

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by You Need a Thneed

Started demolition this eve in my kitchen. Not full out demolition, as we are going to need a semi functional kitchen for a couple of weeks yet.

I removed the hanging upper cabinets above the peninsula, took of the moldings all around the top, removed baseboard, and removed about 65% of the floor tile. Tomorrow I'll finish removing the tile and the underlay board, and scrape the stipple off of the ceiling. Also, I'll likely widen the entrance opening into the kitchen area( only a few inches to where it meets another wall), and raise the top of the opening right up to the ceiling, instead of having it at 6'8", or whatever it is currently.

I'll have to do a bit of electrical rough in prior to flooring.

Scraping the stipple off the ceiling is not easy, and makes an incredible mess. I don't think I would do it that way again. I'd strap it and hang new drywall if it were me.
Good luck man - big job ahead, but will be welll worth it in the end.

[Wormius]

You might have some luck with a shop vac if you can somehow rig it up to suck the scrapings while you do it.

[puffnstuff]

Keep the dust down by spraying a bit of water on the stippling. Dont soak it but a light misting works great.

[Duruss]

Originally Posted by burn_this_city

Tankless water heaters are great if you don't mind standing there for 3 mins while the shower gradually warms.

That just means you have an under spec system, you need a variable intensity boiler designed both for the incoming water temp and total flow rate. Plus the boiler must be gas fired and properly maintained.

Which all of this means is more cost, which could easily mean 10 or more years before you break even on any potential energy savings.