Does anyone have a recommendation for a type / brand of caulk for exterior use, to block pests and moisture from cracks and crevices around the outside of a house?
Flexseal is good. Otherwise I've used this (DAP 10.1 oz. Gray Concrete and Mortar Filler and Latex Sealant) for vertical masonry cracks and it's worked well. Depends on the size of the gap. May need to pack in backer rod first as said above
MichaelLC on
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
It's about a half inch gap between the foundation and the concrete steps. I've got a tube of polyurethane masonry sealant that I bought forever ago and honestly don't even remember why I bought it, so I think I'll use that up.
I've got about a 4 inch gap between the garage and driveway that is currently filled with loose stone and some black foam stuff. For a gap that large, what should I use for filler? Maybe 2"-3" weeping tile pipe?
It's about a half inch gap between the foundation and the concrete steps. I've got a tube of polyurethane masonry sealant that I bought forever ago and honestly don't even remember why I bought it, so I think I'll use that up.
Thanks for the help peeps!
Another option is using foam backer rod and Sikaflex. It's self leveling so can fill in all the nooks and crannies. It's also super flexible so it will move with the seasons without tearing.
I'm looking at putting in more sprinklers, and was using this as a guide, but got some tut-tutting from my dad.
He says I need a backflow preventer, I say it's installed already. House from 2006, who's more likely right?
I'm looking at putting in more sprinklers, and was using this as a guide, but got some tut-tutting from my dad.
He says I need a backflow preventer, I say it's installed already. House from 2006, who's more likely right?
Your dad is correct. Sprinklers require a backflow preventer by code. That diagram has no backflow preventer.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
You can see if you have a backflow preventer or not by looking at the tie in to your supply on your exisiting stuff, which I'd guess would be by the hose bib closest to the valve box. But if you put in another run at another bib, then the new connection would also need a backflow preventer. Otherwise you'd only be preventing backflow at one hosebib and allowing it at the other, and still be contaminating the water system with your ground water. If you're chaining off the original sprinkler run then it should have one already but then your diagram is talking about things you're not trying to do.
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
If it were me, I'd just be lazy and put the sprinkler system on a multi tap connected to the outside faucet.
Also the setup in that diagram shouldn't be used anywhere that gets below freezing. You'd need another shutoff on the line inside to allow draining the exterior pipe for winter.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
Any tips on addressing a water hammer? I’ve read/tried shutting off the water in the house, then opening all the cold faucets starting from the highest point of the house down, but it didn’t seem to change anything. Also possible I missed something or did the order wrong (or that the shutoff at the basement entry point doesn’t actually close everything, and I should try the shutoff closer to the street).
Definitely didn’t drain the hot water heater, if that’s relevant, but the hammer is most clearly linked to one particular second-story toilet flush, the dishwasher, and the washing machine (latter two on the main floor, where the hammer is loudest).
Any tips on addressing a water hammer? I’ve read/tried shutting off the water in the house, then opening all the cold faucets starting from the highest point of the house down, but it didn’t seem to change anything. Also possible I missed something or did the order wrong (or that the shutoff at the basement entry point doesn’t actually close everything, and I should try the shutoff closer to the street).
Definitely didn’t drain the hot water heater, if that’s relevant, but the hammer is most clearly linked to one particular second-story toilet flush, the dishwasher, and the washing machine (latter two on the main floor, where the hammer is loudest).
Outside of better securing your pipes to the framing, about all you can do after the fact is install some water hammer arrestors.
Edit: water hammer isn't caused by an air bubble or airlock that can be cured by draining/shutting off your water. It's the force of the water physically moving the pipe when the valve is closed quickly and it can no longer flow. Water hammer arrestors provide a sort of shock absorber that takes that force instead of the pipe.
Any tips on addressing a water hammer? I’ve read/tried shutting off the water in the house, then opening all the cold faucets starting from the highest point of the house down, but it didn’t seem to change anything. Also possible I missed something or did the order wrong (or that the shutoff at the basement entry point doesn’t actually close everything, and I should try the shutoff closer to the street).
Definitely didn’t drain the hot water heater, if that’s relevant, but the hammer is most clearly linked to one particular second-story toilet flush, the dishwasher, and the washing machine (latter two on the main floor, where the hammer is loudest).
Outside of better securing your pipes to the framing, about all you can do after the fact is install some water hammer arrestors.
Edit: water hammer isn't caused by an air bubble or airlock that can be cured by draining/shutting off your water. It's the force of the water physically moving the pipe when the valve is closed quickly and it can no longer flow. Water hammer arrestors provide a sort of shock absorber that takes that force instead of the pipe.
Thanks, I didn’t realize before now that these can be/are installed at the point of the individual water connections. That’s a lot more feasible for me than opening up the wall, so I’ll probably grab a few and throw them on this weekend.
Much obliged!
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
Simpsonia has already said the important parts, but water hammer is caused by the suddenly closing of a valve, so that the fluid velocity in the pipeline is still going full speed, but you suddenly have 3, 5, 15, however many pounds of water hitting the closed pipe and rebounding with all that kinetic energy.
Any tips on addressing a water hammer? I’ve read/tried shutting off the water in the house, then opening all the cold faucets starting from the highest point of the house down, but it didn’t seem to change anything. Also possible I missed something or did the order wrong (or that the shutoff at the basement entry point doesn’t actually close everything, and I should try the shutoff closer to the street).
Definitely didn’t drain the hot water heater, if that’s relevant, but the hammer is most clearly linked to one particular second-story toilet flush, the dishwasher, and the washing machine (latter two on the main floor, where the hammer is loudest).
Outside of better securing your pipes to the framing, about all you can do after the fact is install some water hammer arrestors.
Edit: water hammer isn't caused by an air bubble or airlock that can be cured by draining/shutting off your water. It's the force of the water physically moving the pipe when the valve is closed quickly and it can no longer flow. Water hammer arrestors provide a sort of shock absorber that takes that force instead of the pipe.
Thanks, I didn’t realize before now that these can be/are installed at the point of the individual water connections. That’s a lot more feasible for me than opening up the wall, so I’ll probably grab a few and throw them on this weekend.
Much obliged!
We had severe hammer and it turned out it was because there was a nearly 20 ft run of pipe that wasn't supported, between the basement and second floor. We found it when opening up walls for our kitchen.
My FIL supported the pipes and now we have significantly less hammering. I'm likely going to add an arrestor some time in the near future, to help.
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
I have an expansion tank to mitigate water hammer in my house.
The water hammer arrestor i installed on my washing machine did not seem to do anything to stop the hammering. Sigh
I assume you mean arrestors since you need one on both the hot and cold lines.
The size required does depend on pipe size, length of run, and quantity of fixtures on that line. It may just be that you didn't use large enough arrestors. It is odd you didn't notice any difference at all. Even undersized I'd expect some change even if it didn't stop it completely. I'd be wondering if the arrestor was faulty out of the box.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
The water hammer arrestor i installed on my washing machine did not seem to do anything to stop the hammering. Sigh
I assume you mean arrestors since you need one on both the hot and cold lines.
The size required does depend on pipe size, length of run, and quantity of fixtures on that line. It may just be that you didn't use large enough arrestors. It is odd you didn't notice any difference at all. Even undersized I'd expect some change even if it didn't stop it completely. I'd be wondering if the arrestor was faulty out of the box.
I did put two on, one for hot and one for cold. It might be a bit quieter.... but i wasn't really expecting to need to pay attention to the difference to compare and contrast.
I also realized I have an expansion tank on my water heater that might be pushing the end of its lifespan now, which apparently can worsen the hammering. Knowing one of the former owners was a big DIY type and probably would have wanted to fix this himself as well, I wonder if there’s already pressure relief valve that needs replacing somewhere too.
I’m gonna have to get one of those endoscope-style cameras eventually, and see what I can figure out from the basement (and also if the mysterious drainage pipe that I can’t find the inlet of connects to a clogged French drain I expect is necessary for proper yard drainage).
Edit: Well, checking the relief valve on the expansion tank just got me an eyeful of water, so that’s one thing I should probably deal with.
Edit: Actually, how bad a sign is that? Are we in, “Call a plumber immediately,” territory or could this at least wait until next week?
Edit edit: Called the plumber anyway to be safe, might go ahead have them help me diagnose the water hammer while they’re out since I’m barely a beginner on this side of things. Give me a chance to observe.
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
Learn the first time by watching, so when you do it yourself the second time, you know exactly how you screwed it up afterwards.
I've been reviewing what it takes to install vinyl/engineered wood flooring, and two stunning realizations
1: Wow, bamboo is cheap and looks amazing.
B: Except for some of the larger squares/Ts that would be really useful, I already have all the tools I need for doing something like this. And you (well not 'you' as in people in this thread, but 'you' as in OTHER people) laughed and said, 'why does an apartment dweller need a chop saw?'
Hypothetical plans for the future, but I want to turn the smallest bedroom into a library, so when I pull up the carpet there, I was thinking a darker flooring color would be nice. But then for the second floor landing, when I pull up that carpet I was thinking a lighter wood flooring would look better there. Is having two different colors of floor going to be some brutal design faux pas and I should pick one color and go with it for both, or no one is going to get a twist about it in the housing world?
I also realized I have an expansion tank on my water heater that might be pushing the end of its lifespan now, which apparently can worsen the hammering. Knowing one of the former owners was a big DIY type and probably would have wanted to fix this himself as well, I wonder if there’s already pressure relief valve that needs replacing somewhere too.
I’m gonna have to get one of those endoscope-style cameras eventually, and see what I can figure out from the basement (and also if the mysterious drainage pipe that I can’t find the inlet of connects to a clogged French drain I expect is necessary for proper yard drainage).
Edit: Well, checking the relief valve on the expansion tank just got me an eyeful of water, so that’s one thing I should probably deal with.
Edit: Actually, how bad a sign is that? Are we in, “Call a plumber immediately,” territory or could this at least wait until next week?
Edit edit: Called the plumber anyway to be safe, might go ahead have them help me diagnose the water hammer while they’re out since I’m barely a beginner on this side of things. Give me a chance to observe.
Are you talking about water coming out of the pressure relief valve or out of the expansion tank's air fill valve? If water is coming out of the fill valve, the expansion tank's air bladder has failed and you'll need to replace it. Water coming out of a manually opened pressure relief is normal as long as the water supply is on and supplying water pressure and/or any water is still in the expansion tank (the air bladder will continue to push water back into the system under pressure until the tank is empty).
Water leaking out of the relief valve during normal operation (not manually opened by you) is bad and either the valve needs replaced or the cause of excess water pressure fixed.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
I also realized I have an expansion tank on my water heater that might be pushing the end of its lifespan now, which apparently can worsen the hammering. Knowing one of the former owners was a big DIY type and probably would have wanted to fix this himself as well, I wonder if there’s already pressure relief valve that needs replacing somewhere too.
I’m gonna have to get one of those endoscope-style cameras eventually, and see what I can figure out from the basement (and also if the mysterious drainage pipe that I can’t find the inlet of connects to a clogged French drain I expect is necessary for proper yard drainage).
Edit: Well, checking the relief valve on the expansion tank just got me an eyeful of water, so that’s one thing I should probably deal with.
Edit: Actually, how bad a sign is that? Are we in, “Call a plumber immediately,” territory or could this at least wait until next week?
Edit edit: Called the plumber anyway to be safe, might go ahead have them help me diagnose the water hammer while they’re out since I’m barely a beginner on this side of things. Give me a chance to observe.
Are you talking about water coming out of the pressure relief valve or out of the expansion tank's air fill valve? If water is coming out of the fill valve, the expansion tank's air bladder has failed and you'll need to replace it. Water coming out of a manually opened pressure relief is normal as long as the water supply is on and supplying water pressure and/or any water is still in the expansion tank (the air bladder will continue to push water back into the system under pressure until the tank is empty).
Water leaking out of the relief valve during normal operation (not manually opened by you) is bad and either the valve needs replaced or the cause of excess water pressure fixed.
Sorry, it’s the air fill valve I’m talking about. The heater’s pressure relief valve is holding up fine, as far as I can tell (no leaks/evidence of leaks). And no leaks from the air fill valve, except when I attempted to check the pressure and got squirted.
Honestly, both the water heater and A/C are probably nearing end of life, but we’re not ready to put in the full cost of replacing either just yet. And they both still work well enough that if I’m replacing them I’d like to make it an upgrade. But it seems like the expansion tank is a safety problem, so I’m jumping on this one quickly, especially since I don’t know how long it’s been busted.
Plumber will be out on Monday, so hopefully nothing explodes before then!
I'm looking at putting in more sprinklers, and was using this as a guide, but got some tut-tutting from my dad.
He says I need a backflow preventer, I say it's installed already. House from 2006, who's more likely right?
Your dad is correct. Sprinklers require a backflow preventer by code. That diagram has no backflow preventer.
And a backflow preventer is not something easily mistaken:
You'll also note the cap on the feed line to the preventer - that's so the system can be blown out in the fall, since I live somewhere where the pipes would freeze if they were left filled. The master shutoff is in the house, where it's kept warm. There's also a shutoff to the sprinkler manifold - that doesn't get used much.
I'm looking at putting in more sprinklers, and was using this as a guide, but got some tut-tutting from my dad.
He says I need a backflow preventer, I say it's installed already. House from 2006, who's more likely right?
Your dad is correct. Sprinklers require a backflow preventer by code. That diagram has no backflow preventer.
And a backflow preventer is not something easily mistaken:
You'll also note the cap on the feed line to the preventer - that's so the system can be blown out in the fall, since I live somewhere where the pipes would freeze if they were left filled. The master shutoff is in the house, where it's kept warm. There's also a shutoff to the sprinkler manifold - that doesn't get used much.
I was going to get a pic of what the existing sprinkler hookup looks like, but it's been pouring rain every time I've had a moment. You've saved me the time, though - that picture is exactly what we did. My neighbor owns a plumbing supply, so I showed it to him and he asked why I did all that since we have a backflow preventer in the house. (His place is a mirror copy of mine) I can't find it though. Neither hose bib has a shutoff, either - I will probably add them this summer since we've had some crazy cold winters lately.
We have a stucco home with a lot of decorative wood siding (I'm not sure what the term for this is). Some of this siding is way up under our eaves above the windows on the 2nd story of our split level home. This home is on top of a hill with a very steep driveway, so there's not a ton of purchase for a ladder whose base comes far away from the wall of the home. I noticed a bird fly out of a small hole on one of these boards recently (maybe the size of a golf ball). Since them I've heard that bird INSIDE tapping on the the roof paneling we have in the room on the other side of this hole. It's a damned woodpecker*. It looks like they managed to punch out a knot in one of the siding panels and dig in to the void between.
I have absolutely no idea who I'm supposed to call for this. Handyman? Exterminator? Roof...guy? The boss won't let me hang over the egde of the roof and patch it so as to not plummet to my death, but I don't know how to get a ladder safely up there.
It's a bit of a quandry. Fortunately, I've got summer to figure it out once the birds migrate, but I really, really don't want to have a hole in my house when bugs and rain come calling.
*Alternatively, the previous owners buried someone in the roof, there is no bird, and it's a telltale heart situation, which is pretty much as bad.
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ShadowfireVermont, in the middle of nowhereRegistered Userregular
Generally pest control places will handle birds and bats and the like was well.
Generally pest control places will handle birds and bats and the like was well.
You can also try searching for specific wildlife handlers. We had squirrels getting into our attic through the eaves, and had the wildlife folk perform a full exclusion, going around the house to seal things up, setting up one-way traps on the main point of entry so that they could only leave, not go back in. Seemed to fix the problem (though one squirrel died in the trap, which was something I’d been hoping to avoid if possible).
That said, based on my experience, I might have been more targeted about dealing with the one specific pest problem instead of doing the full exclusion. About 10 months later, we had another squirrel get into a different corner of the house. The wildlife people had put in steel bands to hold a couple of boards together, but the wood apparently wasn’t in great shape, and a squirrel managed to pry the band hard enough to pull nails/bolts out of one side and slip in. I was supposed to have a one-year warranty, but the company said the problem was the wood, not the steel, so we’d have to pay $Fuck Off And Stop Calling Me.
Which would be fine, but the guy never mentioned the wood being an issue, or I’d have paid to take care of it at the time. Message received in any case.
Anyway, I’m, ah, pretty sure the squirrel that got in didn’t manage to get back out, which seems to have gotten a message across.
I'm looking at putting in more sprinklers, and was using this as a guide, but got some tut-tutting from my dad.
He says I need a backflow preventer, I say it's installed already. House from 2006, who's more likely right?
Your dad is correct. Sprinklers require a backflow preventer by code. That diagram has no backflow preventer.
And a backflow preventer is not something easily mistaken:
You'll also note the cap on the feed line to the preventer - that's so the system can be blown out in the fall, since I live somewhere where the pipes would freeze if they were left filled. The master shutoff is in the house, where it's kept warm. There's also a shutoff to the sprinkler manifold - that doesn't get used much.
I was going to get a pic of what the existing sprinkler hookup looks like, but it's been pouring rain every time I've had a moment. You've saved me the time, though - that picture is exactly what we did. My neighbor owns a plumbing supply, so I showed it to him and he asked why I did all that since we have a backflow preventer in the house. (His place is a mirror copy of mine) I can't find it though. Neither hose bib has a shutoff, either - I will probably add them this summer since we've had some crazy cold winters lately.
If your outside spigots are a "freeze proof" style, they are about a foot long so the actual valve seat portion is well inside the house where it can stay warm and essentially only an empty pipe is exposed to the cold outside. They make needing a separate shutoff for freeze protection draining unnecessary. But adding some extra shutoffs aren't going to hurt anything either. Spigots with the knob on top or at an angle are definitely not a freeze proof type.
There's different looking styles of backflow preventers, but they are supposed to be accessible for testing so I wouldn't think it'd be hard to locate if you really had one inside the house.
Just remember that half the people you meet are below average intelligence.
I'm about halfway done with the wainscoting project. It's a dry run for the dining room. This combo of notched baseboard and panels gets me to about 32" high. The chair rail should be 3-4" more.
We'll get a new sink with a backsplash in the future so I'm not sure I'm going to put chair rail behind the sink.
We have a stucco home with a lot of decorative wood siding (I'm not sure what the term for this is). Some of this siding is way up under our eaves above the windows on the 2nd story of our split level home. This home is on top of a hill with a very steep driveway, so there's not a ton of purchase for a ladder whose base comes far away from the wall of the home. I noticed a bird fly out of a small hole on one of these boards recently (maybe the size of a golf ball). Since them I've heard that bird INSIDE tapping on the the roof paneling we have in the room on the other side of this hole. It's a damned woodpecker*. It looks like they managed to punch out a knot in one of the siding panels and dig in to the void between.
I have absolutely no idea who I'm supposed to call for this. Handyman? Exterminator? Roof...guy? The boss won't let me hang over the egde of the roof and patch it so as to not plummet to my death, but I don't know how to get a ladder safely up there.
It's a bit of a quandry. Fortunately, I've got summer to figure it out once the birds migrate, but I really, really don't want to have a hole in my house when bugs and rain come calling.
*Alternatively, the previous owners buried someone in the roof, there is no bird, and it's a telltale heart situation, which is pretty much as bad.
Decorative wood shingle type siding?
The term for those are shakes.
and I wonder about my neighbors even though I don't have them
but they're listening to every word I say
I'm considering getting a smart lock for my new place. One of my great phobias is locking myself out, and I love the idea of either have a keypad or an app on my phone or Apple Watch that I could use to let myself back in.
Does anyone have any experience with them? Any products to avoid, or any that they really love?
Civics is not a consumer product that you can ignore because you don’t like the options presented.
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
Going back to the discussion on flooring, I wanted to dig deeper into people's experience with bamboo flooring. Talking to a family member who's done a lot of flooring stuff, as soon as i mentioned 'bamboo' he went 'nopenopenopenope.' In his experience, it absorbed moisture from the air and buckled and warped, although being out in eastern VA, it might be humid enough to cause trouble, or things have gotten better in the years since he did that.
I'm considering getting a smart lock for my new place. One of my great phobias is locking myself out, and I love the idea of either have a keypad or an app on my phone or Apple Watch that I could use to let myself back in.
Does anyone have any experience with them? Any products to avoid, or any that they really love?
We use Schlage for the deadbolts on the two main doors in our house. The back doors still have traditional locks. We did *not* connect them to Alexa.
My brother has a Simplisafe lock (we also have a Simplisafe system and we're considering changing but haven't) that he likes for the front door.
No issues at all with ours. The locks use 9V batteries and last a good long time. I try to remember to replace them yearly. The locks still use keys as backup.
Going back to the discussion on flooring, I wanted to dig deeper into people's experience with bamboo flooring. Talking to a family member who's done a lot of flooring stuff, as soon as i mentioned 'bamboo' he went 'nopenopenopenope.' In his experience, it absorbed moisture from the air and buckled and warped, although being out in eastern VA, it might be humid enough to cause trouble, or things have gotten better in the years since he did that.
Most engineered flooring will have this problem. They way you’re supposed to solve it is that the entire floor has to “float.” So nothing can be nailed down and the entire border has to have a gap of like 1/2”. That way when things get humid the floor can extend into the the gap instead of buckling up.
We have engineering wood and it works fine everywhere except one little area in front of a sliding door where the installer tried to ignore the gap so they wouldn’t have to deal with any base in front of the door. Now it’s a pinch point and will cause the boards to buckle up when it’s really humid out.
Jebus314 on
"The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
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Gabriel_Pitt(effective against Russian warships)Registered Userregular
Ahh, that makes sense. It's certainly a possibility that there weren't appropriate gaps and that's why buckling ensued.
Just out of curiosity, what do you go with a gap in front of a door like that?
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
I'm considering getting a smart lock for my new place. One of my great phobias is locking myself out, and I love the idea of either have a keypad or an app on my phone or Apple Watch that I could use to let myself back in.
Does anyone have any experience with them? Any products to avoid, or any that they really love?
Most of them have some form of secondary access, either key, password or 9 volt. So as long as you always leave your house with your keys, or phone, you won’t, but if you routinely did that anyways you might be prone to locking yourself out regardless.
A lock smith can bypass them as readily as a “dumb lock.” Sometimes more easily because full on features often means shitty security.
Posts
Flexseal is good. Otherwise I've used this (DAP 10.1 oz. Gray Concrete and Mortar Filler and Latex Sealant) for vertical masonry cracks and it's worked well. Depends on the size of the gap. May need to pack in backer rod first as said above
Thanks for the help peeps!
Another option is using foam backer rod and Sikaflex. It's self leveling so can fill in all the nooks and crannies. It's also super flexible so it will move with the seasons without tearing.
He says I need a backflow preventer, I say it's installed already. House from 2006, who's more likely right?
Your dad is correct. Sprinklers require a backflow preventer by code. That diagram has no backflow preventer.
Definitely didn’t drain the hot water heater, if that’s relevant, but the hammer is most clearly linked to one particular second-story toilet flush, the dishwasher, and the washing machine (latter two on the main floor, where the hammer is loudest).
Outside of better securing your pipes to the framing, about all you can do after the fact is install some water hammer arrestors.
Edit: water hammer isn't caused by an air bubble or airlock that can be cured by draining/shutting off your water. It's the force of the water physically moving the pipe when the valve is closed quickly and it can no longer flow. Water hammer arrestors provide a sort of shock absorber that takes that force instead of the pipe.
Thanks, I didn’t realize before now that these can be/are installed at the point of the individual water connections. That’s a lot more feasible for me than opening up the wall, so I’ll probably grab a few and throw them on this weekend.
Much obliged!
We had severe hammer and it turned out it was because there was a nearly 20 ft run of pipe that wasn't supported, between the basement and second floor. We found it when opening up walls for our kitchen.
My FIL supported the pipes and now we have significantly less hammering. I'm likely going to add an arrestor some time in the near future, to help.
I assume you mean arrestors since you need one on both the hot and cold lines.
The size required does depend on pipe size, length of run, and quantity of fixtures on that line. It may just be that you didn't use large enough arrestors. It is odd you didn't notice any difference at all. Even undersized I'd expect some change even if it didn't stop it completely. I'd be wondering if the arrestor was faulty out of the box.
I did put two on, one for hot and one for cold. It might be a bit quieter.... but i wasn't really expecting to need to pay attention to the difference to compare and contrast.
I’m gonna have to get one of those endoscope-style cameras eventually, and see what I can figure out from the basement (and also if the mysterious drainage pipe that I can’t find the inlet of connects to a clogged French drain I expect is necessary for proper yard drainage).
Edit: Well, checking the relief valve on the expansion tank just got me an eyeful of water, so that’s one thing I should probably deal with.
Edit: Actually, how bad a sign is that? Are we in, “Call a plumber immediately,” territory or could this at least wait until next week?
Edit edit: Called the plumber anyway to be safe, might go ahead have them help me diagnose the water hammer while they’re out since I’m barely a beginner on this side of things. Give me a chance to observe.
I've been reviewing what it takes to install vinyl/engineered wood flooring, and two stunning realizations
1: Wow, bamboo is cheap and looks amazing.
B: Except for some of the larger squares/Ts that would be really useful, I already have all the tools I need for doing something like this. And you (well not 'you' as in people in this thread, but 'you' as in OTHER people) laughed and said, 'why does an apartment dweller need a chop saw?'
Hypothetical plans for the future, but I want to turn the smallest bedroom into a library, so when I pull up the carpet there, I was thinking a darker flooring color would be nice. But then for the second floor landing, when I pull up that carpet I was thinking a lighter wood flooring would look better there. Is having two different colors of floor going to be some brutal design faux pas and I should pick one color and go with it for both, or no one is going to get a twist about it in the housing world?
Are you talking about water coming out of the pressure relief valve or out of the expansion tank's air fill valve? If water is coming out of the fill valve, the expansion tank's air bladder has failed and you'll need to replace it. Water coming out of a manually opened pressure relief is normal as long as the water supply is on and supplying water pressure and/or any water is still in the expansion tank (the air bladder will continue to push water back into the system under pressure until the tank is empty).
Water leaking out of the relief valve during normal operation (not manually opened by you) is bad and either the valve needs replaced or the cause of excess water pressure fixed.
Sorry, it’s the air fill valve I’m talking about. The heater’s pressure relief valve is holding up fine, as far as I can tell (no leaks/evidence of leaks). And no leaks from the air fill valve, except when I attempted to check the pressure and got squirted.
Honestly, both the water heater and A/C are probably nearing end of life, but we’re not ready to put in the full cost of replacing either just yet. And they both still work well enough that if I’m replacing them I’d like to make it an upgrade. But it seems like the expansion tank is a safety problem, so I’m jumping on this one quickly, especially since I don’t know how long it’s been busted.
Plumber will be out on Monday, so hopefully nothing explodes before then!
And a backflow preventer is not something easily mistaken:
You'll also note the cap on the feed line to the preventer - that's so the system can be blown out in the fall, since I live somewhere where the pipes would freeze if they were left filled. The master shutoff is in the house, where it's kept warm. There's also a shutoff to the sprinkler manifold - that doesn't get used much.
We have a stucco home with a lot of decorative wood siding (I'm not sure what the term for this is). Some of this siding is way up under our eaves above the windows on the 2nd story of our split level home. This home is on top of a hill with a very steep driveway, so there's not a ton of purchase for a ladder whose base comes far away from the wall of the home. I noticed a bird fly out of a small hole on one of these boards recently (maybe the size of a golf ball). Since them I've heard that bird INSIDE tapping on the the roof paneling we have in the room on the other side of this hole. It's a damned woodpecker*. It looks like they managed to punch out a knot in one of the siding panels and dig in to the void between.
I have absolutely no idea who I'm supposed to call for this. Handyman? Exterminator? Roof...guy? The boss won't let me hang over the egde of the roof and patch it so as to not plummet to my death, but I don't know how to get a ladder safely up there.
It's a bit of a quandry. Fortunately, I've got summer to figure it out once the birds migrate, but I really, really don't want to have a hole in my house when bugs and rain come calling.
*Alternatively, the previous owners buried someone in the roof, there is no bird, and it's a telltale heart situation, which is pretty much as bad.
You can also try searching for specific wildlife handlers. We had squirrels getting into our attic through the eaves, and had the wildlife folk perform a full exclusion, going around the house to seal things up, setting up one-way traps on the main point of entry so that they could only leave, not go back in. Seemed to fix the problem (though one squirrel died in the trap, which was something I’d been hoping to avoid if possible).
That said, based on my experience, I might have been more targeted about dealing with the one specific pest problem instead of doing the full exclusion. About 10 months later, we had another squirrel get into a different corner of the house. The wildlife people had put in steel bands to hold a couple of boards together, but the wood apparently wasn’t in great shape, and a squirrel managed to pry the band hard enough to pull nails/bolts out of one side and slip in. I was supposed to have a one-year warranty, but the company said the problem was the wood, not the steel, so we’d have to pay $Fuck Off And Stop Calling Me.
Which would be fine, but the guy never mentioned the wood being an issue, or I’d have paid to take care of it at the time. Message received in any case.
Anyway, I’m, ah, pretty sure the squirrel that got in didn’t manage to get back out, which seems to have gotten a message across.
If your outside spigots are a "freeze proof" style, they are about a foot long so the actual valve seat portion is well inside the house where it can stay warm and essentially only an empty pipe is exposed to the cold outside. They make needing a separate shutoff for freeze protection draining unnecessary. But adding some extra shutoffs aren't going to hurt anything either. Spigots with the knob on top or at an angle are definitely not a freeze proof type.
There's different looking styles of backflow preventers, but they are supposed to be accessible for testing so I wouldn't think it'd be hard to locate if you really had one inside the house.
We'll get a new sink with a backsplash in the future so I'm not sure I'm going to put chair rail behind the sink.
I'm going to use angle molding for the corners.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/fK3jkJUjHQXX4xFy5
Part of me wanted to run the wainscoting all the way up to the windowsill but I couldn't find the right sized paneling.
Also the baseboard is 3/4" while the paneling is 1/4" so I'm going to use a shoe molding or quarter round to fill the gap.
Decorative wood shingle type siding?
The term for those are shakes.
but they're listening to every word I say
I'm considering getting a smart lock for my new place. One of my great phobias is locking myself out, and I love the idea of either have a keypad or an app on my phone or Apple Watch that I could use to let myself back in.
Does anyone have any experience with them? Any products to avoid, or any that they really love?
We use Schlage for the deadbolts on the two main doors in our house. The back doors still have traditional locks. We did *not* connect them to Alexa.
My brother has a Simplisafe lock (we also have a Simplisafe system and we're considering changing but haven't) that he likes for the front door.
No issues at all with ours. The locks use 9V batteries and last a good long time. I try to remember to replace them yearly. The locks still use keys as backup.
Most engineered flooring will have this problem. They way you’re supposed to solve it is that the entire floor has to “float.” So nothing can be nailed down and the entire border has to have a gap of like 1/2”. That way when things get humid the floor can extend into the the gap instead of buckling up.
We have engineering wood and it works fine everywhere except one little area in front of a sliding door where the installer tried to ignore the gap so they wouldn’t have to deal with any base in front of the door. Now it’s a pinch point and will cause the boards to buckle up when it’s really humid out.
Just out of curiosity, what do you go with a gap in front of a door like that?
Most of them have some form of secondary access, either key, password or 9 volt. So as long as you always leave your house with your keys, or phone, you won’t, but if you routinely did that anyways you might be prone to locking yourself out regardless.
A lock smith can bypass them as readily as a “dumb lock.” Sometimes more easily because full on features often means shitty security.