Do people really check for wires before hanging things? I don’t think I have ever done that.
Don’t drill anything at the same height as electrical outlets. Try not to drill out the side of a stud. That’s about the only rules I follow.
Depends what you're hanging... a picture on a tack? No worries... drilling for big anchors? Yeah... the one time to skip it will be the one time to drill into a wire protector plate and have to patch all the holes you drilled beforehand because the whole wall mount {item} needs shifted to miss it.
Do people really check for wires before hanging things? I don’t think I have ever done that.
Don’t drill anything at the same height as electrical outlets. Try not to drill out the side of a stud. That’s about the only rules I follow.
I don't check but every time I drill a hole or drive a nail into a wall a little part of me halfway expects either water to gush out of the hole or to be electrocuted. Or both!
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MichaelLCIn what furnace was thy brain?ChicagoRegistered Userregular
Do people really check for wires before hanging things? I don’t think I have ever done that.
Don’t drill anything at the same height as electrical outlets. Try not to drill out the side of a stud. That’s about the only rules I follow.
I don't check but every time I drill a hole or drive a nail into a wall a little part of me halfway expects either water to gush out of the hole or to be electrocuted. Or both!
The old One-Two punch!
Just listen to the audio recording hidden in your tub to find out where to drill.
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Do people really check for wires before hanging things? I don’t think I have ever done that.
Don’t drill anything at the same height as electrical outlets. Try not to drill out the side of a stud. That’s about the only rules I follow.
Depends. If I'm just putting a smallish nail into drywall I generally don't worry about it. If I'm drilling into a wall I suspect may be hiding AC lines (because there's an outlet or switch nearby) then yeah I'm checking. Drilling into an AC line will earn you an expensive visit from an electrician and/or hospital bill and/or casket. Better to take a minute to check.
Anyone ever have to talk with neighbors about a flood light coming into your house? Not sure if this was just installed or was there and never turned on, but the one they have seems to just...point up/at our house. They are supposed to point down, right?
We don't have issues with any of our neighbors since we moved in at the end of May. Haven't really met these neighbors though besides the time a package of ours was brought over.
Seems like something simple enough to talk about. Will also probably tell you whether your neighbors are dicks or not.
Also, some lights can be pointed up if they're trying to light something up at night. I know some people like to light up their trees at night or their house or whatever. If it's pointed at your house, it could just be they pointed it wrong or something.
Edit: Thinking about it some more, if it's a high mounted floodlight pointing at your house, it could just be a light that's configured to throw light over an entire back yard or whatever but instead is pointed at a side yard and thus your house.
I 100% understand what you've said, but it is legit a high mounted floodlight that points up. Not toward their house or any trees. I think they mean for it to light the area between our houses, which is great! But yea, it is like they are trying to shine a light on a cloud or the sun or something.
I went over at lunch, but no one was home. They are in and out since they have been remodeling since we moved here. I just have to catch them when they are at this house so I can just chat. They have a Ring doorbell apparently, so they should know that I stopped by at least. I plan to go over after work/if I see them. If not, I think we will write a letter for now to just say hi and let them know we tried to stop by to chat.
Good luck!
So, letter was cancelled, which was good. I went over again at some point and the older son was there (who doesn't live there). We talked about the light and they didn't know it was up like that. Said he would call the mom to fix it asap. And they did! But it still shines into our rooms. Haha.
I think right now we are used to it in the bedroom (it isn't the worst and the room is still mostly dark). The wife has thick curtains in her office already so it helps a little and we have new shades being installed tomorrow.
Not trying to hang on this thing, but it makes the front of our house look like shit at night. The previous owners of our house have nice up lights on the house, pathway up, and whatnot. Now? Giant fucking sun is shining on everything. It sucks, but is livable. Just feels crummy to think they didn't think about their neighbors before or during installation. I'm not going to keep going back over there and making "demands." I'd 100% help pay for lights that have like...silencers?...on them so it isn't just a full blast of light.
On another fun note, another mouse caught in the pantry. Haha. Anyone have experience with those sonic things you plug into the wall? I grabbed a 3 pack and put them around (even though they don't go through the walls apparently and there is no outlet in the pantry). Might work on fixing the hole in the pantry wall this weekend with a friend. Not sure how much steel wool I need to pack in there. I wish I was more handy.
And then there is the estimate for fixing up our front plant wall (I don't know what to call it). Retaining wall? It is kind of borked a little and just needs to be replaced. One estimate was only, oh, like $14k.
If I'm drilling into a wall I'm probably going to be bolting directly into a stud so I worry even less than a nail into drywall.
That said, you can reasonably expect wiring and conduits to be in certain places in your wall. Anything above knee height that isn't directly above or below a light switch isn't going to really hit wires reliably (they're stapled to studs anyways). AC or water lines aren't just going to be randomly in walls unless the room has water.
Most drains and pipes try to centralize to a single point so it's near a venting stack.
You'll notice that they try to organize bathrooms and kitchens so they share walls in your house. Bathrooms that don't share a common wall will usually run along the basement or underneath the floor anyways.
AC lines are similar to other plumbing.
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
If I'm drilling into a wall I'm probably going to be bolting directly into a stud so I worry even less than a nail into drywall.
That said, you can reasonably expect wiring and conduits to be in certain places in your wall. Anything above knee height that isn't directly above or below a light switch isn't going to really hit wires reliably (they're stapled to studs anyways). AC or water lines aren't just going to be randomly in walls unless the room has water.
Most drains and pipes try to centralize to a single point so it's near a venting stack.
You'll notice that they try to organize bathrooms and kitchens so they share walls in your house. Bathrooms that don't share a common wall will usually run along the basement or underneath the floor anyways.
AC lines are similar to other plumbing.
I didn't say my fear was rational. It's the same part of my brain that wonders, every time I come around the corner into my subdivision, whether this time my house will have burnt down or been broken into.
Thanks for the thoughts all. I'll try turning off the breakers this week and testing then, though that won't necessarily answer whether there's mesh or something that's conducting just enough for a false positive off the detector. Most of the stuff is small nail hanging, so as long as I stick to the right-angle wiring rules, I guess I just take my chances.
The daddening continues apace. I finally bought a battery powered lawnmower(ego LM2101) to replace my ancient Scott reel mower, and holy crap it was so much better. Way easier to push, a wider cutting area, a clippings bag(never had one for the reel mower) if I want it, and at least a visually a much better cut lawn. I would always have variation in the height of the grass after I cut it, and while the electric potentially has a less clean cut on each blade of grass, overall it looks way better. I'm sitting at home in my office working, and just thinking about how I want to go outside and mow again.
So, it went all the way to a forced eviction on the people in the house we're buying. The sheriff showed up, along with the three local news affiliates the tenants had called. Who promptly left when they interviewed the owner and discovered not only had he given them nine months to buy it and they hadn't even come up with earnest money, while having stopped paying rent 3 months ago, but he had also offered to store all their stuff until they find a new place.
Should have inspection and appraisal by the end of the week.
The daddening continues apace. I finally bought a battery powered lawnmower(ego LM2101) to replace my ancient Scott reel mower, and holy crap it was so much better. Way easier to push, a wider cutting area, a clippings bag(never had one for the reel mower) if I want it, and at least a visually a much better cut lawn. I would always have variation in the height of the grass after I cut it, and while the electric potentially has a less clean cut on each blade of grass, overall it looks way better. I'm sitting at home in my office working, and just thinking about how I want to go outside and mow again.
Goddamn I want an ego mower. I'd like a trimmer too, but our Ryobi battery trimmer is working pretty well.
Yeah, we thawed our credit and started applying for refi. They came back with offers.
Recommend trying local banks first. One local bank was just a bit too slow for us and ended up responding the afternoon following us accepting Rocket Mortgage's offer.
Most places ask if it's a VA refi during application so that should cover you.
For us, we decided to finance the closing; though we probably could have covered it out of pocket.
Make your best effort not to pay points as it's just a junk fee.
Had to redo the soffits on my shed today because the vinyl ones weren't hanging well. Decided to just put some plywood up there so animals cant get in.
Holy shit on wood prices. They are quadruple what they were at the beginning of the year, a 2x4x8 framing stud was $8 at Home Depot and usually they are like $2. So glad we don't have any big projects going on right now.
Just the cheap quarter in lch plywood was $28 / sheet and subflooring was over $50 / sheet.
I wonder if lumber prices get spiked when wildfire season is happening?
It's the pandemic doing... pandemic stuff. They were spiking months ago.
Yeah, the problem is that the woodmills shut down back in march and many of the woodcutting operations as well for awhile. All while at the same time demand for construction and housing starts are at a record high. So basically demand far outstrips the supply for the foreseeable future, expect stupid prices for the next year or so probably.
Basically the sources for wood shut down but a bunch of people now stuck in their homes want to spend money making their homes better, so you get a reduction in supply and an increase in demand for a double whammy demand curve price increase.
I know it's for paper but I'm not sure about lumber. A number of suppliers are actually in the East. I believe Georgia is a significant supplier
I know a few people in construction in the Northeast and apparently getting anything beyond a few pieces for a bullshit project at Home Depot can be pretty harrowing at times.
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Come Overwatch with meeeee
I have not once ever been or even climbed up to look in the attic
Was just chilling in the backyard by the fire pit and noticed my attic looks like it might be 12’ high by 20’ wide by 40’ long- maybe I should build a loft-
Worth looking into, but likely pricy if you want to do it legally. It's likely that the joists are only ceiling joists (2x6) and aren't sufficiently load bearing for living space. Depending on the measurements and specs, you can potentially put in all new joists in the middle of every cavity, so every joist is 8" on center, rather than 16; or you can replace all existing joists with floor joist rated timber (2x10). A structural engineer should sign off on that for code/permits, but could be pricy if you've got a lot of infrastructure (electrical) in that ceiling already.
Eh it's an attic, probably just some spiders and/or the occasional ghost. 8 years and you've never been curious what's up there!? Shit, I couldn't. Even if it was just a crawlspace I inspected every last inch of my house before settling for it. It would drive me nuts. Just think of all the old piles of junk you could have collecting dust saved up there by now!
Eh it's an attic, probably just some spiders and/or the occasional ghost. 8 years and you've never been curious what's up there!? Shit, I couldn't. Even if it was just a crawlspace I inspected every last inch of my house before settling for it. It would drive me nuts. Just think of all the old piles of junk you could have collecting dust saved up there by now!
Shit, you could have a treasure map behind a picture or a magical book about a giant flying dog!
Our heat turned on for the first time and I swear I smell a hint of oil (we have oil heating). Is that typical for it being turned on for the first time or should I assume we have yet another thing to take care of around here?
edit: Like, I'm pretty sure that is what it is, but I know there is typically another smell when heat is turned on for the first time.
edit: Nope. Oil. Went to the furnace and there was a pool. Nice.
amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
I've been building a 900 sqft home I designed on 33 acres for the last six months while living with my wife in a 400 sqft airbnb studio with two dogs and I want to jump off a goddamn roof.
House is almost done though, and will be completely off grid in four years.
I've been building a 900 sqft home I designed on 33 acres for the last six months while living with my wife in a 400 sqft airbnb studio with two dogs and I want to jump off a goddamn roof.
House is almost done though, and will be completely off grid in four years.
What are you going to use the land for?
Since you're off grid are you going to convert some of it to subsistance farming?
I've been building a 900 sqft home I designed on 33 acres for the last six months while living with my wife in a 400 sqft airbnb studio with two dogs and I want to jump off a goddamn roof.
House is almost done though, and will be completely off grid in four years.
What are you going to use the land for?
Since you're off grid are you going to convert some of it to subsistance farming?
Yeah end goal is a working farm. We cleared 2 acres for high tunnels, chickens, and bees (eventually) that will grow/produce 80% of our food, the rest I'll buy/trade for with other farms (We'll get a side of beef for the year, etc)
It's got a spring and two creeks, and our well came out perfect. We're getting 15gpm flow through it, so that was one headache down.
I've been building a 900 sqft home I designed on 33 acres for the last six months while living with my wife in a 400 sqft airbnb studio with two dogs and I want to jump off a goddamn roof.
House is almost done though, and will be completely off grid in four years.
What are you going to use the land for?
Since you're off grid are you going to convert some of it to subsistance farming?
Yeah end goal is a working farm. We cleared 2 acres for high tunnels, chickens, and bees (eventually) that will grow/produce 80% of our food, the rest I'll buy/trade for with other farms (We'll get a side of beef for the year, etc)
It's got a spring and two creeks, and our well came out perfect. We're getting 15gpm flow through it, so that was one headache down.
I've been building a 900 sqft home I designed on 33 acres for the last six months while living with my wife in a 400 sqft airbnb studio with two dogs and I want to jump off a goddamn roof.
House is almost done though, and will be completely off grid in four years.
Are you blogging about it at all? Sounds like a fun project to follow.
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amateurhourOne day I'll be professionalhourThe woods somewhere in TennesseeRegistered Userregular
I'm putting together a photo journal of the build and the problems faced/total cost, and eventually I want to film setting up the farm from scratch. I didn't film the house because it's just a no frills house build.
Also yeah we're doing rain water for the high tunnels, I've got two 50 gallon barrels on the back gutters (the front ones drain away from the house) that i'm going to hook to a water pump.
I'm putting together a photo journal of the build and the problems faced/total cost, and eventually I want to film setting up the farm from scratch. I didn't film the house because it's just a no frills house build.
Also yeah we're doing rain water for the high tunnels, I've got two 50 gallon barrels on the back gutters (the front ones drain away from the house) that i'm going to hook to a water pump.
The dream. I don't get enough rain here to justify having a system.
Continuing our piecemeal upgrades in our kitchen, I'd like to put in a steel apron sink in the near future. I can modify the countertop no problem. The big issue is twofold:
1) What reinforcements do I need to install to properly support the sink? I think I can figure this out with a bit of web research and checking out the drop-in cabinets they have at HD/Lowes to support these sinks.
b) Is there enough clearance for our garbage disposal? The other option is to just get a new one with a compact motor or specifically made for apron sinks.
Is there anything I'm not thinking of that any of you would recommend I check? Our countertop just has a "laminate" cover over particle board and the longer term goal will be to install a new countertop, but I think we still want to redesign the cabinet layout. So in the short term, I'd expect we'll need some sort of cover/sealer where the counter transitions to the sink, since the sink won't be on top of the counter any longer.
The more I think about it, the countertop hole may be the limiting factor to being able to this job without fully replacing the countertop. But it's all in the theoretical stages at this point. More likely, we'll get our floors refinished and repaired in the near future.
Posts
Don’t drill anything at the same height as electrical outlets. Try not to drill out the side of a stud. That’s about the only rules I follow.
Depends what you're hanging... a picture on a tack? No worries... drilling for big anchors? Yeah... the one time to skip it will be the one time to drill into a wire protector plate and have to patch all the holes you drilled beforehand because the whole wall mount {item} needs shifted to miss it.
I don't check but every time I drill a hole or drive a nail into a wall a little part of me halfway expects either water to gush out of the hole or to be electrocuted. Or both!
The old One-Two punch!
Just listen to the audio recording hidden in your tub to find out where to drill.
Depends. If I'm just putting a smallish nail into drywall I generally don't worry about it. If I'm drilling into a wall I suspect may be hiding AC lines (because there's an outlet or switch nearby) then yeah I'm checking. Drilling into an AC line will earn you an expensive visit from an electrician and/or hospital bill and/or casket. Better to take a minute to check.
So, letter was cancelled, which was good. I went over again at some point and the older son was there (who doesn't live there). We talked about the light and they didn't know it was up like that. Said he would call the mom to fix it asap. And they did! But it still shines into our rooms. Haha.
I think right now we are used to it in the bedroom (it isn't the worst and the room is still mostly dark). The wife has thick curtains in her office already so it helps a little and we have new shades being installed tomorrow.
Not trying to hang on this thing, but it makes the front of our house look like shit at night. The previous owners of our house have nice up lights on the house, pathway up, and whatnot. Now? Giant fucking sun is shining on everything. It sucks, but is livable. Just feels crummy to think they didn't think about their neighbors before or during installation. I'm not going to keep going back over there and making "demands." I'd 100% help pay for lights that have like...silencers?...on them so it isn't just a full blast of light.
On another fun note, another mouse caught in the pantry. Haha. Anyone have experience with those sonic things you plug into the wall? I grabbed a 3 pack and put them around (even though they don't go through the walls apparently and there is no outlet in the pantry). Might work on fixing the hole in the pantry wall this weekend with a friend. Not sure how much steel wool I need to pack in there. I wish I was more handy.
And then there is the estimate for fixing up our front plant wall (I don't know what to call it). Retaining wall? It is kind of borked a little and just needs to be replaced. One estimate was only, oh, like $14k.
Home ownershiiiiiiiip.
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[3DS] 3394-3901-4002 | [Xbox/Steam] Redfield85
Is it sometime you can patch up with some spackling? Creates a more solid fix and looks better but still easy to do.
Something like this:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-DryDex-8-oz-Wall-Repair-Patch-Kit-12345/100493601
That said, you can reasonably expect wiring and conduits to be in certain places in your wall. Anything above knee height that isn't directly above or below a light switch isn't going to really hit wires reliably (they're stapled to studs anyways). AC or water lines aren't just going to be randomly in walls unless the room has water.
Most drains and pipes try to centralize to a single point so it's near a venting stack.
You'll notice that they try to organize bathrooms and kitchens so they share walls in your house. Bathrooms that don't share a common wall will usually run along the basement or underneath the floor anyways.
AC lines are similar to other plumbing.
I didn't say my fear was rational. It's the same part of my brain that wonders, every time I come around the corner into my subdivision, whether this time my house will have burnt down or been broken into.
"maybe this will be the time you have to spend $1200 to fix something stupid because you missed something obvious"
Should have inspection and appraisal by the end of the week.
I used the VA home loan for my home. Paid 175k, its appraised at 198k now and I owe about 120K.
I have read a little about VA Cash Out Refinance, but I don't need the money.
I think we are at 3.5% now and I think we could get below 3 easily as it is a VA refinance.
Refinancing confuses the shit out of me.
― John Quincy Adams
It's applying for a new loan, fundamentally - and has similar costs.
Recommend trying local banks first. One local bank was just a bit too slow for us and ended up responding the afternoon following us accepting Rocket Mortgage's offer.
Most places ask if it's a VA refi during application so that should cover you.
For us, we decided to finance the closing; though we probably could have covered it out of pocket.
Make your best effort not to pay points as it's just a junk fee.
Holy shit on wood prices. They are quadruple what they were at the beginning of the year, a 2x4x8 framing stud was $8 at Home Depot and usually they are like $2. So glad we don't have any big projects going on right now.
Just the cheap quarter in lch plywood was $28 / sheet and subflooring was over $50 / sheet.
It's the pandemic doing... pandemic stuff. They were spiking months ago.
Yeah, the problem is that the woodmills shut down back in march and many of the woodcutting operations as well for awhile. All while at the same time demand for construction and housing starts are at a record high. So basically demand far outstrips the supply for the foreseeable future, expect stupid prices for the next year or so probably.
I know a few people in construction in the Northeast and apparently getting anything beyond a few pieces for a bullshit project at Home Depot can be pretty harrowing at times.
Come Overwatch with meeeee
I have not once ever been or even climbed up to look in the attic
Was just chilling in the backyard by the fire pit and noticed my attic looks like it might be 12’ high by 20’ wide by 40’ long- maybe I should build a loft-
First thing I gotta do is just look in it to see what the insulation condition is, then maybe storage options before living space
There might be a mess of critter nests up there!
Shit, you could have a treasure map behind a picture or a magical book about a giant flying dog!
edit: Like, I'm pretty sure that is what it is, but I know there is typically another smell when heat is turned on for the first time.
edit: Nope. Oil. Went to the furnace and there was a pool. Nice.
Tumblr | Twitter | Twitch | Pinny Arcade Lanyard
[3DS] 3394-3901-4002 | [Xbox/Steam] Redfield85
House is almost done though, and will be completely off grid in four years.
What are you going to use the land for?
Since you're off grid are you going to convert some of it to subsistance farming?
Yeah end goal is a working farm. We cleared 2 acres for high tunnels, chickens, and bees (eventually) that will grow/produce 80% of our food, the rest I'll buy/trade for with other farms (We'll get a side of beef for the year, etc)
It's got a spring and two creeks, and our well came out perfect. We're getting 15gpm flow through it, so that was one headache down.
You going to do any rain water capture?
Are you blogging about it at all? Sounds like a fun project to follow.
Also yeah we're doing rain water for the high tunnels, I've got two 50 gallon barrels on the back gutters (the front ones drain away from the house) that i'm going to hook to a water pump.
The dream. I don't get enough rain here to justify having a system.
1) What reinforcements do I need to install to properly support the sink? I think I can figure this out with a bit of web research and checking out the drop-in cabinets they have at HD/Lowes to support these sinks.
b) Is there enough clearance for our garbage disposal? The other option is to just get a new one with a compact motor or specifically made for apron sinks.
Is there anything I'm not thinking of that any of you would recommend I check? Our countertop just has a "laminate" cover over particle board and the longer term goal will be to install a new countertop, but I think we still want to redesign the cabinet layout. So in the short term, I'd expect we'll need some sort of cover/sealer where the counter transitions to the sink, since the sink won't be on top of the counter any longer.
The more I think about it, the countertop hole may be the limiting factor to being able to this job without fully replacing the countertop. But it's all in the theoretical stages at this point. More likely, we'll get our floors refinished and repaired in the near future.