The Home Improvement Thread

[BigNumbers]

Originally Posted by metallicat

I don't know if this really fits the home improvement category, but does anyone own their own power rake/scarifier? I'm thinking about getting my dad one for Christmas because he still rakes his large corner lot by hand with a rake from about 1921. It seems they're not all that expensive, but I don't know much about them. Anyone own one?

I bought a sunjoe electric, corded scarifier/rake. Worked well this past spring to bring up the dead grass and aerate the lawn a bit. First I used the aeration tine blades, then I used the scarifier.

I think you'd still need to get the lawn aerated every couple years, but it worked well for me.

The only issue is the size of the bag is comically small. I soon decided to keep the bag off and just leave the piles of dead grass, and go over them with my lawn mower in mulch mode afterwards to bag it... Worked decently.

[Madman]

Originally Posted by metallicat

I don't know if this really fits the home improvement category, but does anyone own their own power rake/scarifier? I'm thinking about getting my dad one for Christmas because he still rakes his large corner lot by hand with a rake from about 1921. It seems they're not all that expensive, but I don't know much about them. Anyone own one?

I have one of these and it works awesome. (which sounds like exactly the same as BigNumber's)

https://www.homedepot.ca/en/home/p.1...001035942.html

And yes, I left the bag off all the time and mowed over it.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I just use the spring blade you attach to the mower. Works well enough for me, and only $20!


Just never pull the mower backwards, that's how you break the springs.

I tried one of these and wasn’t sure if my mower was set too low or if that is how it’s supposed to work, but it looked like it was doing some serious damage to the sod.

[Fuzz]

Probably set to low. There is a bit of a sweet spot, but ya, the lawn will look a little rough if you have high patches. Never had any permanent damage from it though, seems to grow back OK.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Closet doors......

Mirror doors or something that resembles the bedroom door?
Mirror seems a bit dated to me but makes a room feel a bit bigger. Cheap too.

[GoinAllTheWay]

To make the above post look less like crazy random mumbling and more of a question.....what would you prefer to see in a house you were considering buying?

[Slava]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

To make the above post look less like crazy random mumbling and more of a question.....what would you prefer to see in a house you were considering buying?

Just regular doors. I bought a house this year with mirrored closet doors, but it’s in spite of them. They’re not going to be there very long!

[bizaro86]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Closet doors......

Mirror doors or something that resembles the bedroom door?
Mirror seems a bit dated to me but makes a room feel a bit bigger. Cheap too.

Mirrored doors are pretty old fashioned. I've done faux wood/frosted glass a few times, and think it looks nice.

[photon]

Anything but bi-fold doors.

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by photon

Anything but bi-fold doors.

I get butterflies in my stomach and nausea every time I think about the potential for fingers to get pinched in the bi-fold doors.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by photon

Anything but bi-fold doors.

Oh God no....bi-folds are the work of Lucifer.

Only reason I was considering mirrored was for making a room feel a bit bigger.

Patterns it is!

[speede5]

My two cents.

I built all my closet rough in's to accept a standard door, and never got to the point of installing doors. I am rethinking my plan. Standard doors look way better but you lose a lot more space in your bedrooms as they have a wide arc. I have a chair in the master bedroom that will have to disappear if I chose the standard door, and in my other room it gives me only one option for bed placement.

Bifolds aren't as nice but they are functionally a good option.

[Fuzz]

What about a sliding barn door style?


Something like this?

Spoiler!

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by speede5

My two cents.

I built all my closet rough in's to accept a standard door, and never got to the point of installing doors. I am rethinking my plan. Standard doors look way better but you lose a lot more space in your bedrooms as they have a wide arc. I have a chair in the master bedroom that will have to disappear if I chose the standard door, and in my other room it gives me only one option for bed placement.

Bifolds aren't as nice but they are functionally a good option.

Its sort of funny. We just bought a new house, and didn't think closet doors would be such a big deal. But after looking at a bunch of houses we decided we just couldn't stand the bifold doors. Now, I don't think that would have decided on the house for us but I just couldn't stand looking at them when looking at houses.

[Wormius]

I would like to do something like a barn door to open up a panty along a wall that is hard to access.



The interior of the pantry is about twice as wide as the door - which is standard width, and makes accessing things at the far end difficult. My concern is the hardwood along the floor by the opening. If I took out a portion of the wall along the pantry to open it up, there would be a section of flooring that doesn't match. The flooring in the kitchen is all site finished, so I assume this would require refinishing the entire floor?

[Hockeyguy15]

Originally Posted by Wormius

I would like to do something like a barn door to open up a panty along a wall that is hard to access.



The interior of the pantry is about twice as wide as the door - which is standard width, and makes accessing things at the far end difficult. My concern is the hardwood along the floor by the opening. If I took out a portion of the wall along the pantry to open it up, there would be a section of flooring that doesn't match. The flooring in the kitchen is all site finished, so I assume this would require refinishing the entire floor?

Go on...

[Wormius]

Originally Posted by Hockeyguy15

Go on...

Oops. Time for a coffee.

[GoinAllTheWay]

Can't do barn doors (which I'd really like to do) as the closests "jut out" from the walls. It's hard to explain as this condo has a pretty unique plan but the doors would basically extend into open air, they wouldn't stay flush against a wall.

Can't do standard doors either due to room size.

Only options that I can do are bi-folds (barf) or sliders. One of the many reasons I'm looking forward to moving.

[photon]

Could also do a curtain, though I personally don't like the look.

Sliders would be fine too IMO, I've never actually used them anywhere so can't comment on them from a maintainability point of view, but they look like they'd be better than bifold doors.. they're basically like two smaller barn doors that overlap so seem like they'd be simple.

[OMG!WTF!]

Just put up bead curtains like a normal person. Gawd!