Is that mold on the beam or just dirt/weird lighting?
Unrelated:
Riddle me this, house thread: I have two tankless water heaters now and while having a water softener and filter system installed today the plumber mentioned how I wouldn't need to flush the water heater as often, to which I was like, "Flush a what now?" He tells me that one should flush one's tankless water heater annually if you have good water - more often with water as hard as mine was. Then quoted me $750 to flush both. Is this a real thing? Or a "flush your coolant and blinker fluid at the car shop" kind of thing?
Yeah, I think you should flush your tankless water heater. I've been told that by multiple people. But it's not something you need to hire someone else to do. You just need a bucket and some hoses I think.
On the other hand, I have a friend with a tankless water heater, hasn't flushed it in 8 years. Seems fine.
Is that mold on the beam or just dirt/weird lighting?
Unrelated:
Riddle me this, house thread: I have two tankless water heaters now and while having a water softener and filter system installed today the plumber mentioned how I wouldn't need to flush the water heater as often, to which I was like, "Flush a what now?" He tells me that one should flush one's tankless water heater annually if you have good water - more often with water as hard as mine was. Then quoted me $750 to flush both. Is this a real thing? Or a "flush your coolant and blinker fluid at the car shop" kind of thing?
Definitely a real thing, and I'm pretty sure you can buy a kit with supplies to help you do it at Lowe's or Home Depot.
You should be aware if you've never flushed it before, flushing it now could actually damage it. If the heat exchanger were to clog, the unit becomes useless and you will likely be replacing it. The tankless water heaters are even more sensitive to scale buildup than tanked water heaters.
At least, that is exactly what happened when my dad flushed his for the first time in 5 years. He bought a tank water heater to replace it.
Steam - Synthetic Violence | XBOX Live - Cannonfuse | PSN - CastleBravo | Twitch - SoggybiscuitPA
Is that mold on the beam or just dirt/weird lighting?
Unrelated:
Riddle me this, house thread: I have two tankless water heaters now and while having a water softener and filter system installed today the plumber mentioned how I wouldn't need to flush the water heater as often, to which I was like, "Flush a what now?" He tells me that one should flush one's tankless water heater annually if you have good water - more often with water as hard as mine was. Then quoted me $750 to flush both. Is this a real thing? Or a "flush your coolant and blinker fluid at the car shop" kind of thing?
Definitely a real thing, and I'm pretty sure you can buy a kit with supplies to help you do it at Lowe's or Home Depot.
You should be aware if you've never flushed it before, flushing it now could actually damage it. If the heat exchanger were to clog, the unit becomes useless and you will likely be replacing it. The tankless water heaters are even more sensitive to scale buildup than tanked water heaters.
At least, that is exactly what happened when my dad flushed his for the first time in 5 years. He bought a tank water heater to replace it.
I've never flushed them but I've only lived here for 8 months. No idea what the flushing record was prior. Sounds like it would behoove me to get a professional to do it at least the first time provided I can get them to insure their work.
Is that mold on the beam or just dirt/weird lighting?
Unrelated:
Riddle me this, house thread: I have two tankless water heaters now and while having a water softener and filter system installed today the plumber mentioned how I wouldn't need to flush the water heater as often, to which I was like, "Flush a what now?" He tells me that one should flush one's tankless water heater annually if you have good water - more often with water as hard as mine was. Then quoted me $750 to flush both. Is this a real thing? Or a "flush your coolant and blinker fluid at the car shop" kind of thing?
From a quick googling, yes it's a thing that needs to be done to remove mineral deposits, but it's also something that can be potentially handled DIY:
Is that mold on the beam or just dirt/weird lighting?
Unrelated:
Riddle me this, house thread: I have two tankless water heaters now and while having a water softener and filter system installed today the plumber mentioned how I wouldn't need to flush the water heater as often, to which I was like, "Flush a what now?" He tells me that one should flush one's tankless water heater annually if you have good water - more often with water as hard as mine was. Then quoted me $750 to flush both. Is this a real thing? Or a "flush your coolant and blinker fluid at the car shop" kind of thing?
after having flushed mine and seeing what comes out of it after a year, I would say yes, definitely flush your tankless water heater
Blurg, had a contractor out to replace a hot water heater and a bunch of old galvanized pipes with copper in my basement yesterday. Unfortunately, they couldn't get all of the galvanized as a lot of it goes up behind walls (my building is 120 years old). And now, our water pressure is crap in a lot of the building now with some water pulsing (on the cold side) which makes me think we have a pretty decent airlock somewhere. The other alternative (which I fear a lot more) is all of the work dislodged some corrosion in the galvanized pipes and has physically blocked it upstream somewhere. Contractor will be coming back out to check it out tomorrow, and I really hope they can fix it without having to open up any walls to get at the old pipes.
Blurg, had a contractor out to replace a hot water heater and a bunch of old galvanized pipes with copper in my basement yesterday. Unfortunately, they couldn't get all of the galvanized as a lot of it goes up behind walls (my building is 120 years old). And now, our water pressure is crap in a lot of the building now with some water pulsing (on the cold side) which makes me think we have a pretty decent airlock somewhere. The other alternative (which I fear a lot more) is all of the work dislodged some corrosion in the galvanized pipes and has physically blocked it upstream somewhere. Contractor will be coming back out to check it out tomorrow, and I really hope they can fix it without having to open up any walls to get at the old pipes.
I replaced an electrical panel that was under the main hot and cold line in our previous 100 year old house, both galvanized pipe, which involved a lot of bumping and jostling of the pipes. The next time I tried to do anything running water there was almost no water pressure because all the sediment and rust in those pipes had been shaken up and was now clogging the screen filter at every faucet. Just had to take the screens out of everything and run water to let the pipes flush themselves out for a minute and clean all the screens and it was back to normal.
The tape on the ceiling is our first thought at light locations.
Next week is flooring and following week is cabinets + counters.
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Red Raevynbecause I only take Bubble BathsRegistered Userregular
Damn do I love having the right tool for a job. Our kitchen floor is an inch and a half above the bottom of the space under the cabinets because of 5 floors stack on top of each other over the years, preventing me from putting a dishwasher in there. So I bought an angle grinder and a continuous disc to take care of the ceramic tile top layer. Unf, it just went through it like butter. Here's the archaeology after I took another layer of plywood and linoleum off as well.
My half baked idea is to do a little inset of decorative tile or something (at a much lower total height) to fill the cut out, later. But for now I don't care, this dishwasher is going in come hell or high water.
Blurg, had a contractor out to replace a hot water heater and a bunch of old galvanized pipes with copper in my basement yesterday. Unfortunately, they couldn't get all of the galvanized as a lot of it goes up behind walls (my building is 120 years old). And now, our water pressure is crap in a lot of the building now with some water pulsing (on the cold side) which makes me think we have a pretty decent airlock somewhere. The other alternative (which I fear a lot more) is all of the work dislodged some corrosion in the galvanized pipes and has physically blocked it upstream somewhere. Contractor will be coming back out to check it out tomorrow, and I really hope they can fix it without having to open up any walls to get at the old pipes.
I replaced an electrical panel that was under the main hot and cold line in our previous 100 year old house, both galvanized pipe, which involved a lot of bumping and jostling of the pipes. The next time I tried to do anything running water there was almost no water pressure because all the sediment and rust in those pipes had been shaken up and was now clogging the screen filter at every faucet. Just had to take the screens out of everything and run water to let the pipes flush themselves out for a minute and clean all the screens and it was back to normal.
Contractor came out and the first thing he went for was the screens in the faucet. They were real bad. Pressure is a lot better, but still not quite back to where it was before the work. He said that with as much galvanized as we have, anytime you do work you roll the dice. The galvanized that they did replace was reduced in diameter by about half (from 1" to .5" due to the corrosion. All the galvanized leftover now though at least has dielectric unions to the copper upstream, so that should hopefully at least slow the rate of corrosion. Eventually I'll have to have all the galvanized replaced, but that's a lot bigger and and more expensive job than we can do right now.
Our water heater failed yesterday. Not surprising since it was the next oldest thing in the house after the furnace at 13 years. Unfortunately, it's a direct vent heater, so the cost to replace wasn't much cheaper than a tankless, so that's what we're upgrading to. It'll be nice to be able to use both shower heads in the steam shower without running out of hot water. Once the new heat pump gets installed next month, this house is going to be pretty comfortable.
Any suggestions around home security? ADT seems kind of restrictive with requiring a bunch of stuff we don't need (we already have wired in smoke/monoxide detectors). Our insurance agent mentioned a discount on home insurance if it's a monitored system.
Anyone suggestions around home security? ADT seems kind of restrictive with requiring a bunch of stuff we don't need (we already have wired in smoke/monoxide detectors).
Nest has mostly-a-la-carte security doohickies available (as well as package deals).
Weird that ADT is requiring you to have more detectors. When I last had them like 5 or 6 years ago they put up a couple of motion sensors, door-open sensors, and called it a day. Then insisted there was nothing they could do about the fact that my cats would set off the motion alarm every afternoon.
Looking at their site and reviews, it seems like you lease the equipment from them and I didn't see anyway to parse that. It seemed to just be Option A, Option B, etc with more stuff the more expensive the monthly fee. At this point, I'm leaning towards simply safe to start off.
Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
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AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
Any recommendation for interior paint? Need something that will hopefully last a long time and stand up to kid messes / crayons / etc.
Fun kitchen reno details:
Got new outlets run and existing outlets moved to accommodate the new cabinets.
I have a mess of a plumbing situation under the sink but it's just tedious.
My FIL measured for the vent hood at least 12 times.
There was a stud in the wall behind the stove that was held up by drywall and optimism. It was cut about 24 inches from the header to make room for the sink vent. I still don't understand why the sink vent went there when the stack vent was equal distance the other direction.
We put in a new partial stud and toe-screwed into the bottom plate (I think that's what it's called) and some 2x4 pieces we put in place to act as a mounting plate for the vent hood brackets.
I fucking hate doing drywall.
I'm still pretty good at electrical work. Also apparently electricians don't put covers on splice boxes. (that's a joke; at least it wasn't a flying splice. And I added covers myself)
My FIL likes paddle switches for lights and I like toggle switches. Which do you prefer?
Apparently my tools aren't dirty enough (that was just gentle ribbing on his part).
@Trajan45 we use Simplisafe and we like it. Our smoke alarms are tied into it along with entry sensors and a door cam.
With monitoring I *think* it's $35/mo. All a la carte pieces but you can buy kits.
I will plug them because they've sent me hardware to fix or upgrade my base station more than once (incl a set of rechargeable batteries and a new SIM).
They are also SUUUPPPEERR fast to respond to any event involving the alarms going off. And false alarms are minimal for our us (2 dogs, 2 cats but my wife teleworks and the animals get boarded for vacations)
Oh, I forgot one. We thought we had bad water hammering.
N O P E
There were just 3/4" copper lines running vertical for 15 feet that weren't laterally supported AT ALL. So they just rattled like church bells any time a water valve shut upstairs.
Oh, I forgot one. We thought we had bad water hammering.
N O P E
There were just 3/4" copper lines running vertical for 15 feet that weren't laterally supported AT ALL. So they just rattled like church bells any time a water valve shut upstairs.
This is the entire upstairs plumbing in my double brick house. This place was plumbed by a genius and a mad man - everything is bent copper, but it's all bet copper at the smallest possible intervals so there's literally no straight sections in a lot of places. I don't know how they managed to not go insane doing it. Of course, it also means a ton of it is pretty much freestanding.
The punchline is at some point I'm going to be ripping the whole lot out, but in the meantime antihammer valves are vital.
@Trajan45 we use Simplisafe and we like it. Our smoke alarms are tied into it along with entry sensors and a door cam.
With monitoring I *think* it's $35/mo. All a la carte pieces but you can buy kits.
I will plug them because they've sent me hardware to fix or upgrade my base station more than once (incl a set of rechargeable batteries and a new SIM).
They are also SUUUPPPEERR fast to respond to any event involving the alarms going off. And false alarms are minimal for our us (2 dogs, 2 cats but my wife teleworks and the animals get boarded for vacations)
We've had pretty good experience with them as well (other than the base station freaking out one time and going off constantly for an hour until the customer support figured out how to shut off the entire system) - we got a new chip emailed to us to replace out of that
The smoke & CO2 alarm added some cost, but was basically equaled out by a decrease in home insurance cost due to having monitoring active
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
I bought a super cheap wifi security system off Amazon a few weeks ago. It has an app is blows up my phone when it gets tripped. It came with wireless sensors and was super easy to setup. I just installed an app, connected the hub to my wifi and stuck the sensors to my doors and windows. You get 80% of a high end system for like, 20% of the cost.
for security, everyone's needs will probably be different. all i wanted was a door camera so i got a eufy. there's no subscription and installing it myself was easy. I've thought about getting some more floodlights and other cameras. if you want one ecosystem eufy has lots of options but so do lots of other companies. if you want to record and keep your own video then you get more limited. But Nest, Ring, TP-Link/Kasa all have their own ecosystems. Vivint might be another option if you want to pay a company to do the monitoring.
Trajan45 we use Simplisafe and we like it. Our smoke alarms are tied into it along with entry sensors and a door cam.
With monitoring I *think* it's $35/mo. All a la carte pieces but you can buy kits.
I will plug them because they've sent me hardware to fix or upgrade my base station more than once (incl a set of rechargeable batteries and a new SIM).
They are also SUUUPPPEERR fast to respond to any event involving the alarms going off. And false alarms are minimal for our us (2 dogs, 2 cats but my wife teleworks and the animals get boarded for vacations)
We've had pretty good experience with them as well (other than the base station freaking out one time and going off constantly for an hour until the customer support figured out how to shut off the entire system) - we got a new chip emailed to us to replace out of that
The smoke & CO2 alarm added some cost, but was basically equaled out by a decrease in home insurance cost due to having monitoring active
The thing I don't like about Simplisafe is that you have to get the monitoring if you want to use the app, and adding the app use costs extra. It's pretty dumb. In that way, I tend to prefer the Ring stuff just so I can choose to not have the monitoring if I don't want it, but still get dings when doors open that shouldn't. But I prefer the Simplisafe equipment, so it's kind of a tossup there.
I have some Eufy cameras for our cats. They work really well. If we go no subscription, that might be a good option. I’ll have to ask our insurance agent how much of a discount a subscription gets.
Edit: I’m trying to stay away from Nest and Ring. I don’t trust any of these companies but I especially don’t trust Amazon and Google with my video.
Trajan45 on
Origin ID\ Steam ID: Warder45
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KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
Went down to the basement to get something and stepped in an extremely wet patch of carpet. After investigating a bit it's too large and too wet of an area to be a drink spill or anything similar that might have been the kids' fault. It's near the foundation at the front of the house, appears to be water and not any other liquid, and it is very cold. All of which seems to indicate a crack somewhere that is letting snow melt seep in. Somewhat quickly at that since I know that area was completely dry 12 hours ago.
It's a finished basement and I don't see any signs of water anywhere on the wall there, but it's also largely obscured by some big shelving units filled with board games. The wetness in the carpet does go all the way to the wall. I pulled out all of the games from a few of the cubes in that area though and still no visible water stains anywhere on the wall thus far. There's also an exposed section between the two units where I can clearly see the wall from floor to ceiling and nothing looks off at all.
This basement did have some cracks that needed to be filled in the unfinished storage areas when we moved in about 2.5 years ago. Which always meant that more cracks in other areas were possible, but there hadn't been any issues until now. I can call up the place that took care of the cracks we knew about, but what's going to happen here? I'm guessing they'll need to tear open the wall and/or pull up carpet and whatever's under in the area?
We use a SmartThings hub with generic door, window and motion zwave sensors. Then Arlo cameras because it's really nice not having to run wires. As long as you aren't constantly getting hammered with notifications you only need to charge the batteries every 6-8 months or so. And the hub lets you hook up a USB hard drive for local recording storage so you don't even need the paid Arlo cloud storage plan.
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KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
Yes, most likely. Also maybe I'm being naive but why would one finish a basement and not put in a French drain as extra protection? Not accusing you.
I understand the expense; it just seems to make sense to prevent from having to rip the finishing out.
We bought this place 2.5 years ago. The basement was finished by the previous owners, and based on some other issues we've run into I'd say they always went with the cheapest possible option that looked good when working on the house.
If I had the money for it, I would install room presence sensors. The really good ones don't just detect motion but also if there is someone in the room sitting still. I don't think there is any practical difference between toggle and paddle switches. It's just what you think looks best. If you have a 3 ganger a paddle might not fit.
I prefer toggle over paddle.
More than either, though, I like the old-school two-button switches.
I put motion-activated lights in my powder rooms and the stairway down to my (finished) basement and they're awesome. I've got another one to put in the pantry one of these days (after I figure out which breaker goes to the pantry...).
Yes, most likely. Also maybe I'm being naive but why would one finish a basement and not put in a French drain as extra protection? Not accusing you.
I understand the expense; it just seems to make sense to prevent from having to rip the finishing out.
We bought this place 2.5 years ago. The basement was finished by the previous owners, and based on some other issues we've run into I'd say they always went with the cheapest possible option that looked good when working on the house.
Check that your sump pump is working and that none of your downspouts are clogged and pooling water near the house before getting too into the weeds. Had water in the basement at the last house for each reason before. Also, have experienced and warned neighbors about seeing sump discharge pipes becoming disconnected during thaw times, so it just dumps the water right next to the house instead of pushing it out to the storm sewer.
Speaking of lights. I bought some Philips Hue lights a few years ago for some of my rooms and they are quite awesome (but expensive if you want the ones with different colors). The best part about them are the ones I got in my window lamps. All are controlled by the smart app to turn on automatically. In the morning I have it by timer in the app and in the evening they turn on half an hour before sunset. It’s pretty great not to have any old manual timers ticking away in the windows.
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zepherinRussian warship, go fuck yourselfRegistered Userregular
AbsoluteZeroThe new film by Quentin KoopantinoRegistered Userregular
So I'm getting ready to paint 3 bedrooms, but first I have to contend with the incredibly shitty paint jobs the prior owners have done.
There is old paint on the trim in like a gazillion places. The worst is when it's right in the crevice between the wall and trim.
The blue isn't old painters tape, it's paint, sadly.
I considered tearing out all the trim and installing new stuff, but I don't have the budget for it. So instead I need to clean up the existing stuff. I've been using a rag and isopropyl alcohol, which is working but will take until the heat death of the universe to finish. Also it's really hard to get into the crevices where the trim meets the wall. There has to be a better way. Any ideas?
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That_GuyI don't wanna be that guyRegistered Userregular
So I'm getting ready to paint 3 bedrooms, but first I have to contend with the incredibly shitty paint jobs the prior owners have done.
There is old paint on the trim in like a gazillion places. The worst is when it's right in the crevice between the wall and trim.
The blue isn't old painters tape, it's paint, sadly.
I considered tearing out all the trim and installing new stuff, but I don't have the budget for it. So instead I need to clean up the existing stuff. I've been using a rag and isopropyl alcohol, which is working but will take until the heat death of the universe to finish. Also it's really hard to get into the crevices where the trim meets the wall. There has to be a better way. Any ideas?
You'll have to refinish your baseboards regardless but paint stripper works wonders. Outside of that, maybe a razer blade and a stead hand? When you go to repaint, make sure you pull the tape off when you are done, not when the paint is dry. Even if you perfectly mask off the area, paint will seep under the tape through capillary action and smudge like that. Pulling the tape off right away will give it a nice clean hard line to dry against.
I still haven’t got a planer, so I’ve been running some 2x4s through the table saw to do a half-assed jointing operation for a bar-height table. Not my favorite thing since with my current setup it involves more awkward leaning than I’d like (though not over the table saw).
Results are surprisingly decent (after a great deal of sanding), but one of the little off-cuts got spit back by the table saw and left a small but visible dent in the water heater.
So I think it’s officially past time I rethink this workshop layout.
Posts
Yeah, I think you should flush your tankless water heater. I've been told that by multiple people. But it's not something you need to hire someone else to do. You just need a bucket and some hoses I think.
On the other hand, I have a friend with a tankless water heater, hasn't flushed it in 8 years. Seems fine.
Definitely a real thing, and I'm pretty sure you can buy a kit with supplies to help you do it at Lowe's or Home Depot.
You should be aware if you've never flushed it before, flushing it now could actually damage it. If the heat exchanger were to clog, the unit becomes useless and you will likely be replacing it. The tankless water heaters are even more sensitive to scale buildup than tanked water heaters.
At least, that is exactly what happened when my dad flushed his for the first time in 5 years. He bought a tank water heater to replace it.
I've never flushed them but I've only lived here for 8 months. No idea what the flushing record was prior. Sounds like it would behoove me to get a professional to do it at least the first time provided I can get them to insure their work.
From a quick googling, yes it's a thing that needs to be done to remove mineral deposits, but it's also something that can be potentially handled DIY:
after having flushed mine and seeing what comes out of it after a year, I would say yes, definitely flush your tankless water heater
I replaced an electrical panel that was under the main hot and cold line in our previous 100 year old house, both galvanized pipe, which involved a lot of bumping and jostling of the pipes. The next time I tried to do anything running water there was almost no water pressure because all the sediment and rust in those pipes had been shaken up and was now clogging the screen filter at every faucet. Just had to take the screens out of everything and run water to let the pipes flush themselves out for a minute and clean all the screens and it was back to normal.
The tape on the ceiling is our first thought at light locations.
Next week is flooring and following week is cabinets + counters.
My half baked idea is to do a little inset of decorative tile or something (at a much lower total height) to fill the cut out, later. But for now I don't care, this dishwasher is going in come hell or high water.
Contractor came out and the first thing he went for was the screens in the faucet. They were real bad. Pressure is a lot better, but still not quite back to where it was before the work. He said that with as much galvanized as we have, anytime you do work you roll the dice. The galvanized that they did replace was reduced in diameter by about half (from 1" to .5" due to the corrosion. All the galvanized leftover now though at least has dielectric unions to the copper upstream, so that should hopefully at least slow the rate of corrosion. Eventually I'll have to have all the galvanized replaced, but that's a lot bigger and and more expensive job than we can do right now.
Nest has mostly-a-la-carte security doohickies available (as well as package deals).
Weird that ADT is requiring you to have more detectors. When I last had them like 5 or 6 years ago they put up a couple of motion sensors, door-open sensors, and called it a day. Then insisted there was nothing they could do about the fact that my cats would set off the motion alarm every afternoon.
Got new outlets run and existing outlets moved to accommodate the new cabinets.
I have a mess of a plumbing situation under the sink but it's just tedious.
My FIL measured for the vent hood at least 12 times.
There was a stud in the wall behind the stove that was held up by drywall and optimism. It was cut about 24 inches from the header to make room for the sink vent. I still don't understand why the sink vent went there when the stack vent was equal distance the other direction.
We put in a new partial stud and toe-screwed into the bottom plate (I think that's what it's called) and some 2x4 pieces we put in place to act as a mounting plate for the vent hood brackets.
I fucking hate doing drywall.
I'm still pretty good at electrical work. Also apparently electricians don't put covers on splice boxes. (that's a joke; at least it wasn't a flying splice. And I added covers myself)
My FIL likes paddle switches for lights and I like toggle switches. Which do you prefer?
Apparently my tools aren't dirty enough (that was just gentle ribbing on his part).
I need a second Shop Vac.
With monitoring I *think* it's $35/mo. All a la carte pieces but you can buy kits.
I will plug them because they've sent me hardware to fix or upgrade my base station more than once (incl a set of rechargeable batteries and a new SIM).
They are also SUUUPPPEERR fast to respond to any event involving the alarms going off. And false alarms are minimal for our us (2 dogs, 2 cats but my wife teleworks and the animals get boarded for vacations)
N O P E
There were just 3/4" copper lines running vertical for 15 feet that weren't laterally supported AT ALL. So they just rattled like church bells any time a water valve shut upstairs.
This is the entire upstairs plumbing in my double brick house. This place was plumbed by a genius and a mad man - everything is bent copper, but it's all bet copper at the smallest possible intervals so there's literally no straight sections in a lot of places. I don't know how they managed to not go insane doing it. Of course, it also means a ton of it is pretty much freestanding.
The punchline is at some point I'm going to be ripping the whole lot out, but in the meantime antihammer valves are vital.
We've had pretty good experience with them as well (other than the base station freaking out one time and going off constantly for an hour until the customer support figured out how to shut off the entire system) - we got a new chip emailed to us to replace out of that
The smoke & CO2 alarm added some cost, but was basically equaled out by a decrease in home insurance cost due to having monitoring active
Blizzard: Pailryder#1101
GoG: https://www.gog.com/u/pailryder
The thing I don't like about Simplisafe is that you have to get the monitoring if you want to use the app, and adding the app use costs extra. It's pretty dumb. In that way, I tend to prefer the Ring stuff just so I can choose to not have the monitoring if I don't want it, but still get dings when doors open that shouldn't. But I prefer the Simplisafe equipment, so it's kind of a tossup there.
Edit: I’m trying to stay away from Nest and Ring. I don’t trust any of these companies but I especially don’t trust Amazon and Google with my video.
It's a finished basement and I don't see any signs of water anywhere on the wall there, but it's also largely obscured by some big shelving units filled with board games. The wetness in the carpet does go all the way to the wall. I pulled out all of the games from a few of the cubes in that area though and still no visible water stains anywhere on the wall thus far. There's also an exposed section between the two units where I can clearly see the wall from floor to ceiling and nothing looks off at all.
This basement did have some cracks that needed to be filled in the unfinished storage areas when we moved in about 2.5 years ago. Which always meant that more cracks in other areas were possible, but there hadn't been any issues until now. I can call up the place that took care of the cracks we knew about, but what's going to happen here? I'm guessing they'll need to tear open the wall and/or pull up carpet and whatever's under in the area?
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.
I understand the expense; it just seems to make sense to prevent from having to rip the finishing out.
We bought this place 2.5 years ago. The basement was finished by the previous owners, and based on some other issues we've run into I'd say they always went with the cheapest possible option that looked good when working on the house.
Ok it's a Tuesday. Time for a subjective debate!
Light switches:
Toggle Switch or Paddle Switch?
If I had the money for it, I would install room presence sensors. The really good ones don't just detect motion but also if there is someone in the room sitting still. I don't think there is any practical difference between toggle and paddle switches. It's just what you think looks best. If you have a 3 ganger a paddle might not fit.
I prefer toggle over paddle.
More than either, though, I like the old-school two-button switches.
I put motion-activated lights in my powder rooms and the stairway down to my (finished) basement and they're awesome. I've got another one to put in the pantry one of these days (after I figure out which breaker goes to the pantry...).
Check that your sump pump is working and that none of your downspouts are clogged and pooling water near the house before getting too into the weeds. Had water in the basement at the last house for each reason before. Also, have experienced and warned neighbors about seeing sump discharge pipes becoming disconnected during thaw times, so it just dumps the water right next to the house instead of pushing it out to the storm sewer.
Paint. Sherwin Williams emerald for colors and super paint for white (trim and ceilings) is what I use.
Money not an issue, I'd love to go with these haha
https://www.busterandpunch.com/product-category/electricity/
There is old paint on the trim in like a gazillion places. The worst is when it's right in the crevice between the wall and trim.
The blue isn't old painters tape, it's paint, sadly.
I considered tearing out all the trim and installing new stuff, but I don't have the budget for it. So instead I need to clean up the existing stuff. I've been using a rag and isopropyl alcohol, which is working but will take until the heat death of the universe to finish. Also it's really hard to get into the crevices where the trim meets the wall. There has to be a better way. Any ideas?
You'll have to refinish your baseboards regardless but paint stripper works wonders. Outside of that, maybe a razer blade and a stead hand? When you go to repaint, make sure you pull the tape off when you are done, not when the paint is dry. Even if you perfectly mask off the area, paint will seep under the tape through capillary action and smudge like that. Pulling the tape off right away will give it a nice clean hard line to dry against.
Results are surprisingly decent (after a great deal of sanding), but one of the little off-cuts got spit back by the table saw and left a small but visible dent in the water heater.
So I think it’s officially past time I rethink this workshop layout.