Those Bluetooth earmuffs are the best thing ever aren’t they? I love mine, makes mowing the lawn far less tedious because I can just listen to audiobooks the whole time.
Yeah the worktunes are a fantastic bit of kit for sure. Definitely recommend them.
Just doesn’t seem space efficient. Rather have shelving I think. I have the same problem with the drawers on the tool chest. Do I put down foam with cutouts for each tool? Looks so nice, but the density of tools you can store is so low.
I have to admit though, it does look good.
This is a leading cause of why our grandfathers carried around four sets of spanners (two each [combination and offset ring] of Whitworth and AF{imperial}), and both a 1/2" and 3/8" ratchet and socket set, plus a hammer, screwdrivers, a bunch of pliers, and other assorted stuff in one of these:
And today one set of spanners takes up an entire drawer in one of these:
Probably would've been easier with a wheelbarrow. I am dead.
+13
webguy20I spend too much time on the InternetRegistered Userregular
edited August 2020
I've done this a lot in the manufacturing areas I've worked at. For the tools you use all the time, set them up on the peg board, make them easy to get, easy to see, and easy to put away. For the tool you use once a year? That can go in the drawer that you never look in except to get that tool. Just label the drawer so you remember the tool is in there. My two main drills are on my peg board along with a pack of bits. My sawzall and jigsaw live on the shelf a bit farther away.
I have a handheld tool box for the tools used to work on an ATV, because there aren't very many and are specific. It doesn't hold a full set of spanners, but the 4 I need, same with screw drivers and sockets. Just exactly the right tools needed to work on my ATVs, without any extra.
Now my peg board on my garage wall next to where the cars live have a full set of standard spanners and sockets well laid out and labeled because I use them a fair amount all across the house and cars. The impact sockets live in a drawer though, along with the deep sockets and the REAL big spanners.
I didn't realize there was a new thread and just found it.
@matt has a problem where did you get the wainscotting and did you use a kit? I've got a dining room that my wife wants some installed and my nailguns are underused.
@Mugsley I just used the standard 4x8 sheets and cut them in half-ish, and off the shelf beadboard trim. Then caulk, so much caulk. I think the room took me 12 tubes to fill all the seams and gaps.
I want to put an exhaust fan in the kids' bathroom. I had the vent installed a couple years ago when we had our roof redone from hail damage.
I have the fan; I'm just not 100% on how to tie in power. Can I splice into the incoming power for the light switch, or do I need to have separate power coming in? I'm planning to replace the single gang box at the light switch with a double gang and feed power up into the attic from there.
I'm confident I can do the job, I just want to make sure I'm planning it right
0
firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
So can we talk lawn care for a bit?
After talking shit on lawns for a long time, I'm now in that let's eat some crow phase of life. Now that I have a lawn, front yard and back, I want to care for it to the best of my abilities. It has been hot as hell out here ever since I've moved in, and I've been fighting to keep some patches from drying up and dying. Figured out a watering schedule that seems to have arrested most of the deathspiral, but I fucked up and cut it too short about three weeks or so ago, and I think it has been in recovery mode since.
Threw down some scotts ez seed in the worst patches about two weeks ago, and it looks like it's finally starting to take. Not sure what kind of grass it is, but it has a few patches of crabgrass(?) that seem to grow at 4x the speed as the rest of it.
I've read that fall is the time to fertilize so it can survive through the winter and thrive in the spring? I'm in Colorado for what it's worth, and I'd call the lawn partially shaded - two big maple tress but they shade maybe 30-40% of the back lawn.
Also need to figure out how to winterize the sprinklers... I might just pay someone to do it, but outside of blowing the system out (which I imagine I could do since I have a compressor?) it seems pretty simple. Just flush the lines and blow them out?
I want to put an exhaust fan in the kids' bathroom. I had the vent installed a couple years ago when we had our roof redone from hail damage.
I have the fan; I'm just not 100% on how to tie in power. Can I splice into the incoming power for the light switch, or do I need to have separate power coming in? I'm planning to replace the single gang box at the light switch with a double gang and feed power up into the attic from there.
I'm confident I can do the job, I just want to make sure I'm planning it right
You might want to check code to make sure you aren't required to run the fan on a GFCI circuit, AFCI circuit, etc. Other than that, you can absolutely use the incoming power assuming the fan won't put you over circuit capacity. I've never seen it done any other way.
Steam - Synthetic Violence | XBOX Live - Cannonfuse | PSN - CastleBravo | Twitch - SoggybiscuitPA
After talking shit on lawns for a long time, I'm now in that let's eat some crow phase of life. Now that I have a lawn, front yard and back, I want to care for it to the best of my abilities. It has been hot as hell out here ever since I've moved in, and I've been fighting to keep some patches from drying up and dying. Figured out a watering schedule that seems to have arrested most of the deathspiral, but I fucked up and cut it too short about three weeks or so ago, and I think it has been in recovery mode since.
Threw down some scotts ez seed in the worst patches about two weeks ago, and it looks like it's finally starting to take. Not sure what kind of grass it is, but it has a few patches of crabgrass(?) that seem to grow at 4x the speed as the rest of it.
I've read that fall is the time to fertilize so it can survive through the winter and thrive in the spring? I'm in Colorado for what it's worth, and I'd call the lawn partially shaded - two big maple tress but they shade maybe 30-40% of the back lawn.
Also need to figure out how to winterize the sprinklers... I might just pay someone to do it, but outside of blowing the system out (which I imagine I could do since I have a compressor?) it seems pretty simple. Just flush the lines and blow them out?
Not that you have to use their products, but Scott's has some pretty decent articles on lawn care and what to do when/why.
Bullhead on
+1
firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
After talking shit on lawns for a long time, I'm now in that let's eat some crow phase of life. Now that I have a lawn, front yard and back, I want to care for it to the best of my abilities. It has been hot as hell out here ever since I've moved in, and I've been fighting to keep some patches from drying up and dying. Figured out a watering schedule that seems to have arrested most of the deathspiral, but I fucked up and cut it too short about three weeks or so ago, and I think it has been in recovery mode since.
Threw down some scotts ez seed in the worst patches about two weeks ago, and it looks like it's finally starting to take. Not sure what kind of grass it is, but it has a few patches of crabgrass(?) that seem to grow at 4x the speed as the rest of it.
I've read that fall is the time to fertilize so it can survive through the winter and thrive in the spring? I'm in Colorado for what it's worth, and I'd call the lawn partially shaded - two big maple tress but they shade maybe 30-40% of the back lawn.
Also need to figure out how to winterize the sprinklers... I might just pay someone to do it, but outside of blowing the system out (which I imagine I could do since I have a compressor?) it seems pretty simple. Just flush the lines and blow them out?
Not that you have to use their products, but Scott's has some pretty decent articles on lawn care and what to do when/why.
Super useful, thank you! I've only used their ez seed patch mix so far, and while it was fairly expensive, it seems to be working.
I want to put an exhaust fan in the kids' bathroom. I had the vent installed a couple years ago when we had our roof redone from hail damage.
I have the fan; I'm just not 100% on how to tie in power. Can I splice into the incoming power for the light switch, or do I need to have separate power coming in? I'm planning to replace the single gang box at the light switch with a double gang and feed power up into the attic from there.
I'm confident I can do the job, I just want to make sure I'm planning it right
If you splice in on the inlet to the switch, the fan will always be on. Unless you’re saying you want to add another switch, then sure, just find the nearest always on hot line (usually an outlet). Or really if there’s room, add another switch to the box that has the light switch.
Just so we are clear, the easiest place to make connections is inside current switch boxes or outlet boxes. Because you can NOT make splices just anywhere. They have to be inside a box that can be opened. So either a switch/outlet box, or a blank face place box. The blank face plate box can be in an attic if that is accessible (to not have random boxes in the room).
Also, technically any in wall wiring requires a permit most places. A permit that requires 2 or 3 visits by the permit official, including one when all holes in the wall are still open. This may or may not get ignored frequently (I can’t comment on that).
Edit — I didn’t see the part that you were already switching from a single switch to a double switch box. Yeah, 100% both switches should be hooked up to the same wire coming in (for hot, neutral, and ground).
Jebus314 on
"The world is a mess, and I just need to rule it" - Dr Horrible
I've got a stone wall basement and the last couple times it's rained heavily some water got in. One place is where a pipe goes through, and just a trickle came in, but another spot seems like it's at the join where the top of the basement wall turns into house, maybe a liter or two came through. It's hard to see as it's behind an air duct, the water was dribbling off it and dripping lots of places. Is fixing this the kind of thing I can do myself, or should I hire someone? I want to get more handy around the house, if it's just spreading tar or some kind of sealant around I think I can probably handle that. I've never lived somewhere with a basement before so I don't really know what's involved.
My house is also on a hill, and the side the water is coming in is on the top side. I think part of the issue was the water was pooling a little up there, I guess I should try to build more of a slope to the side of the house, or install a drain or something.
I also need to figure out how to actually attach things to the walls down here - I think I need to get an impact driver? Apparently it's a fancy drill with a hammer inside it to punch through the rock.
SageinaRage on
0
ThegreatcowLord of All BaconsWashington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered Userregular
So I just had my first experience with Carpenter ants and it's an experience I wouldn't wish on anyone.
Apparently a nearby tree to our condominium complex died and fell down, disturbing a Carpenter Ant colony that had taken up residence there. This of course disturbed their carefully crafted lifestyle and caused them to swarm into the crawlspace under the building where my unit is where they decided to start noshing down on old foundation material that was left behind when the building was retrofitted with a concrete slab. Not content to eat there, they swarmed into my unit. Like holy hell, there is not a feeling in the world I can articulate that describes seeing a carpet of large winged insects pouring out of multiple sections of wall and baseboards in your condo.
This started about 3 weeks ago which is how long it took for our association to finally get some exterminators out here to tackle both the building and mine and several other units that also got hit by the swarm.
Holy hell.
You know the worst part about dealing with them was the fact that conventional ant/bug killer made things actually worse than dealing with the problem. I started spraying that which did kill them at least! But then apparently, as I found out from the exterminator, carpenter ants behave a lot like bees in that when they detect that several of their own are dying, they mass-release a bunch of pheromones attracting more ants to the spot of death for assistance. This of course brought even MORE ants out of the woodwork so to speak which brought them in contact with the poison which caused another cycle of death etc etc.
I then tried using the liquid ant bait traps to try and stem the tide, but this turned out to be more or less worthless as the ants just stuffed themselves into the traps and drowned in the bait.
I tried then using Diatomaceous Earth which did stop them intruding from certain points, but then this just caused them to swarm harder out of others which sort of defeated the purpose of it all.
Ultimately, I was forced to just vacuum up the corpses of all the ants twice a day for about the past couple of weeks while I waited for the exterminators to arrive. Thankfully, after spraying and injecting the poison directly into the walls along with solid bait traps they brought this appears to have done the trick. I've managed to go a full 24 hours without vacuuming which is an amazing feeling let me tell you.
Not walking to the bathroom every morning to see your toilet covered in winged ants is a very welcome sight.
firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
edited August 2020
AMATEUR PLUMBING WIN!
OK so earlier I shared my super stupid story of dealing with a rather scummy plumbing company that my home warranty company sent out. Long story short, quoted me over $500 to replace a saddle valve running to my fridge. Valve was fine (as much as these shitty little things can be fine I guess), just not enough flow to get water through the dispenser. Figured out dude was trying to scam me after posting here and doing a bit of research on my own.
Anyway! This morning I:
* removed the saddle valve
* cut the pipe (this was fucking scary - despite shutting off the mains and opening all the taps, there was a significant amount of water that came out of the pipe. I'd expected some but it was dicey there for a bit. All cleaned up and dry now but holy shit)
* put a sharkbite service stop in, and hooked it up to the fridge line
* called it a day (not before setting up a water alarm under the repair area just in case...).
$21 part, $40 in tools I'm sure to use again. And on top of that, I'm getting the warranty company to cover the cost of the part and refund me the $100 call out fee. Winning. These plumbing fuckers straight up lied and said the valve was leaking when they did the callout! On what planet would: A) a saddle valve that was leaking for over two months not cause crazy, obvious damage to the drywall below it, and I ever tell the guy to go pound sand if there were an active leak in the system?!
Some photos if anyone cares!
Tools: sharkbite disconnect clip, deburring and depth gauge, 3/4 pipe cutter (could have gotten a cheaper one but small work area and easy of use ruled the day here), sharkbite 3/4 x 3/4 x 1/4 service stop
Old, unsafe, low flow saddle valve garbage:
New, safe, sexy, high flow sharkbite service stop:
Not pictured: the dead field mouse that fell out of the ceiling as I was cleaning things up down there :bigfrown:
@SageinaRage most likely the leak at where the house meets the basement you can deal up with some bathroom silicone (since it's made to deal with moist environments). Seal both sides of the duct going through the wall.
For the leak at the pipe, is it below grade? Can you access the other side of the wall? If so, just silicone both sides. If not, it's best to let the water come in so it doesn't end up sitting in the wall of the foundation.
Yes, you'll need a hammer drill with masonary bit to drill holes. You'll need masonary-specific fasteners as well.
For anything you want to try to learn to do, look up YT vids. They will do a great job of teaching you the basics and should point out what to avoid.
@SageinaRage most likely the leak at where the house meets the basement you can deal up with some bathroom silicone (since it's made to deal with moist environments). Seal both sides of the duct going through the wall.
For the leak at the pipe, is it below grade? Can you access the other side of the wall? If so, just silicone both sides. If not, it's best to let the water come in so it doesn't end up sitting in the wall of the foundation.
Yes, you'll need a hammer drill with masonary bit to drill holes. You'll need masonary-specific fasteners as well.
For anything you want to try to learn to do, look up YT vids. They will do a great job of teaching you the basics and should point out what to avoid.
I described this poorly. The leak where the house meets the basement has a duct going lengthways across the wall, right along the seam. It doesn't go through the wall. It just blocks me from seeing the seam, and makes the water that drips on it spread out way further horizontally than it would normally.
The leak at the pipe, it's actually the main sewer out. The other side of the wall is actually underground due to the slope of the hill outside. I wonder if I should just try to pile up dirt around the edge of the house there to try to get the water to flow away more, this was something the inspector noted when I bought it, I just never got around to it.
But thanks for the advice! I'll look into all this.
Got probably the best option I could have for my new rental place. Corner lot, large yard, 3 bedroom, 3 bath. The house itself is bigger than the one I'm trying to sell but I want all the space!
Because if you're going to attempt to squeeze that big black monster into your slot you will need to be able to take at least 12 inches or else you're going to have a bad time...
The company has a clever strategy for their yearly lawn service where they focus exclusively on town homes. They’ll roll through and knock out a dozen homes in a half hour. The only downside is I never know when they’re coming but given they’re only here for a couple minutes I don’t really care.
In between those they’ll set up appointments for standalone homes which presumably cost a decent amount more.
A little irritated with my wife's parents. Our whole home buying experience was based around a criteria of being able to mod in a separate living area for them after purchase. We bought a house that fit that criteria and signed off on the proposals for the engineering drawing and constructions. Now they don't want to move here. I've let the contractors know we're changing plans, but we're still buying the drawings because they were almost done anyway. We're going to try to have the contractor change gears and do some interior remodeling that we had planned to save for after the addition, but man was that a trainwreck. Luckily we love the house even without having the addition built.
A little irritated with my wife's parents. Our whole home buying experience was based around a criteria of being able to mod in a separate living area for them after purchase. We bought a house that fit that criteria and signed off on the proposals for the engineering drawing and constructions. Now they don't want to move here. I've let the contractors know we're changing plans, but we're still buying the drawings because they were almost done anyway. We're going to try to have the contractor change gears and do some interior remodeling that we had planned to save for after the addition, but man was that a trainwreck. Luckily we love the house even without having the addition built.
On the plus side, now you don't have to live with your wife's parents?
I pay $30 a week and I had to look hard for that. Nice!
They mow your lawn every week? Fast-growing grass, huh?
Yup! We get so much sun and rain in the Northeast that if you leave your lawn for longer than maybe 10 days, the grass and weeds will big down your mower
+3
lonelyahavaCall me Ahava ~~She/Her~~Move to New ZealandRegistered Userregular
We pay $75nzd for a fortnightly mow.
Only they don't actually mow. Two guys come through with weed whackers and they run the grass down, then another person follows with a leaf blower.
They're here and gone in twenty minutes tops. And they come on recycling week, so when they've been I know to put the recycling bins out to the curb.
I pay $30 a week and I had to look hard for that. Nice!
They mow your lawn every week? Fast-growing grass, huh?
During the spring I have to mow my lawn twice a week to keep up with it. In the right climates grass grows incredibly fast.
My grass in Florida grows a 1/2 foot or more a week in the wet seasons (May-December), an is often nearly a foot during July and August when we have daily torrential rains.
+4
firewaterwordSatchitanandaPais Vasco to San FranciscoRegistered Userregular
I don't understand mowing with a weed whacker. That can't possibly be easier or faster than a mower. Is it just that it's easier to truck around?
If you have a smaller lawn or one that has narrow areas and a bunch of trees with stone work around them (my front yard) it can be easier to just cut it with the string trimmer rather then try to finagle a big mower around obstacles. I use a trimmer for most of my front yard and a mower for the back.
The main reason why I went for a trimmer for all my mowing needs was because the back yard is a story below the front yard and I didn't want to have to cart a mower up and down the hill leading back there. I still need to experiment with different types of string to best find the one that "cuts" the way I like the most, I keep forgetting to check out the different types when I'm in the hardware store.
Posts
Yeah the worktunes are a fantastic bit of kit for sure. Definitely recommend them.
I am probably super paranoid but I’d rather not have all my power tools in plain sight when my garage door us open.
This is a leading cause of why our grandfathers carried around four sets of spanners (two each [combination and offset ring] of Whitworth and AF{imperial}), and both a 1/2" and 3/8" ratchet and socket set, plus a hammer, screwdrivers, a bunch of pliers, and other assorted stuff in one of these:
And today one set of spanners takes up an entire drawer in one of these:
Come Overwatch with meeeee
Nah, not an unreasonable fear. It's a super safe neighborhood though, so I don't sweat it too much.
Garage? I use a basement thank you!
Also, hauled a ton of rocks up a hill.
Probably would've been easier with a wheelbarrow. I am dead.
I have a handheld tool box for the tools used to work on an ATV, because there aren't very many and are specific. It doesn't hold a full set of spanners, but the 4 I need, same with screw drivers and sockets. Just exactly the right tools needed to work on my ATVs, without any extra.
Now my peg board on my garage wall next to where the cars live have a full set of standard spanners and sockets well laid out and labeled because I use them a fair amount all across the house and cars. The impact sockets live in a drawer though, along with the deep sockets and the REAL big spanners.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
New washer is quiet
Always buy corded whenever possible!
@matt has a problem where did you get the wainscotting and did you use a kit? I've got a dining room that my wife wants some installed and my nailguns are underused.
Trying to track down a left blade circular saw corded for a reasonable price. I've been keeping an eye on Skilsaw worm drive prices in a few places.
I have the fan; I'm just not 100% on how to tie in power. Can I splice into the incoming power for the light switch, or do I need to have separate power coming in? I'm planning to replace the single gang box at the light switch with a double gang and feed power up into the attic from there.
I'm confident I can do the job, I just want to make sure I'm planning it right
After talking shit on lawns for a long time, I'm now in that let's eat some crow phase of life. Now that I have a lawn, front yard and back, I want to care for it to the best of my abilities. It has been hot as hell out here ever since I've moved in, and I've been fighting to keep some patches from drying up and dying. Figured out a watering schedule that seems to have arrested most of the deathspiral, but I fucked up and cut it too short about three weeks or so ago, and I think it has been in recovery mode since.
Threw down some scotts ez seed in the worst patches about two weeks ago, and it looks like it's finally starting to take. Not sure what kind of grass it is, but it has a few patches of crabgrass(?) that seem to grow at 4x the speed as the rest of it.
I've read that fall is the time to fertilize so it can survive through the winter and thrive in the spring? I'm in Colorado for what it's worth, and I'd call the lawn partially shaded - two big maple tress but they shade maybe 30-40% of the back lawn.
Also need to figure out how to winterize the sprinklers... I might just pay someone to do it, but outside of blowing the system out (which I imagine I could do since I have a compressor?) it seems pretty simple. Just flush the lines and blow them out?
You might want to check code to make sure you aren't required to run the fan on a GFCI circuit, AFCI circuit, etc. Other than that, you can absolutely use the incoming power assuming the fan won't put you over circuit capacity. I've never seen it done any other way.
Not that you have to use their products, but Scott's has some pretty decent articles on lawn care and what to do when/why.
Super useful, thank you! I've only used their ez seed patch mix so far, and while it was fairly expensive, it seems to be working.
If you splice in on the inlet to the switch, the fan will always be on. Unless you’re saying you want to add another switch, then sure, just find the nearest always on hot line (usually an outlet). Or really if there’s room, add another switch to the box that has the light switch.
Just so we are clear, the easiest place to make connections is inside current switch boxes or outlet boxes. Because you can NOT make splices just anywhere. They have to be inside a box that can be opened. So either a switch/outlet box, or a blank face place box. The blank face plate box can be in an attic if that is accessible (to not have random boxes in the room).
Also, technically any in wall wiring requires a permit most places. A permit that requires 2 or 3 visits by the permit official, including one when all holes in the wall are still open. This may or may not get ignored frequently (I can’t comment on that).
Edit — I didn’t see the part that you were already switching from a single switch to a double switch box. Yeah, 100% both switches should be hooked up to the same wire coming in (for hot, neutral, and ground).
My house is also on a hill, and the side the water is coming in is on the top side. I think part of the issue was the water was pooling a little up there, I guess I should try to build more of a slope to the side of the house, or install a drain or something.
I also need to figure out how to actually attach things to the walls down here - I think I need to get an impact driver? Apparently it's a fancy drill with a hammer inside it to punch through the rock.
Apparently a nearby tree to our condominium complex died and fell down, disturbing a Carpenter Ant colony that had taken up residence there. This of course disturbed their carefully crafted lifestyle and caused them to swarm into the crawlspace under the building where my unit is where they decided to start noshing down on old foundation material that was left behind when the building was retrofitted with a concrete slab. Not content to eat there, they swarmed into my unit. Like holy hell, there is not a feeling in the world I can articulate that describes seeing a carpet of large winged insects pouring out of multiple sections of wall and baseboards in your condo.
This started about 3 weeks ago which is how long it took for our association to finally get some exterminators out here to tackle both the building and mine and several other units that also got hit by the swarm.
Holy hell.
You know the worst part about dealing with them was the fact that conventional ant/bug killer made things actually worse than dealing with the problem. I started spraying that which did kill them at least! But then apparently, as I found out from the exterminator, carpenter ants behave a lot like bees in that when they detect that several of their own are dying, they mass-release a bunch of pheromones attracting more ants to the spot of death for assistance. This of course brought even MORE ants out of the woodwork so to speak which brought them in contact with the poison which caused another cycle of death etc etc.
I then tried using the liquid ant bait traps to try and stem the tide, but this turned out to be more or less worthless as the ants just stuffed themselves into the traps and drowned in the bait.
I tried then using Diatomaceous Earth which did stop them intruding from certain points, but then this just caused them to swarm harder out of others which sort of defeated the purpose of it all.
Ultimately, I was forced to just vacuum up the corpses of all the ants twice a day for about the past couple of weeks while I waited for the exterminators to arrive. Thankfully, after spraying and injecting the poison directly into the walls along with solid bait traps they brought this appears to have done the trick. I've managed to go a full 24 hours without vacuuming which is an amazing feeling let me tell you.
Not walking to the bathroom every morning to see your toilet covered in winged ants is a very welcome sight.
Fuck Carpenter Ants.
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
OK so earlier I shared my super stupid story of dealing with a rather scummy plumbing company that my home warranty company sent out. Long story short, quoted me over $500 to replace a saddle valve running to my fridge. Valve was fine (as much as these shitty little things can be fine I guess), just not enough flow to get water through the dispenser. Figured out dude was trying to scam me after posting here and doing a bit of research on my own.
Anyway! This morning I:
* removed the saddle valve
* cut the pipe (this was fucking scary - despite shutting off the mains and opening all the taps, there was a significant amount of water that came out of the pipe. I'd expected some but it was dicey there for a bit. All cleaned up and dry now but holy shit)
* put a sharkbite service stop in, and hooked it up to the fridge line
* called it a day (not before setting up a water alarm under the repair area just in case...).
$21 part, $40 in tools I'm sure to use again. And on top of that, I'm getting the warranty company to cover the cost of the part and refund me the $100 call out fee. Winning. These plumbing fuckers straight up lied and said the valve was leaking when they did the callout! On what planet would: A) a saddle valve that was leaking for over two months not cause crazy, obvious damage to the drywall below it, and I ever tell the guy to go pound sand if there were an active leak in the system?!
Some photos if anyone cares!
Old, unsafe, low flow saddle valve garbage:
New, safe, sexy, high flow sharkbite service stop:
Not pictured: the dead field mouse that fell out of the ceiling as I was cleaning things up down there :bigfrown:
For the leak at the pipe, is it below grade? Can you access the other side of the wall? If so, just silicone both sides. If not, it's best to let the water come in so it doesn't end up sitting in the wall of the foundation.
Yes, you'll need a hammer drill with masonary bit to drill holes. You'll need masonary-specific fasteners as well.
For anything you want to try to learn to do, look up YT vids. They will do a great job of teaching you the basics and should point out what to avoid.
I described this poorly. The leak where the house meets the basement has a duct going lengthways across the wall, right along the seam. It doesn't go through the wall. It just blocks me from seeing the seam, and makes the water that drips on it spread out way further horizontally than it would normally.
The leak at the pipe, it's actually the main sewer out. The other side of the wall is actually underground due to the slope of the hill outside. I wonder if I should just try to pile up dirt around the edge of the house there to try to get the water to flow away more, this was something the inspector noted when I bought it, I just never got around to it.
But thanks for the advice! I'll look into all this.
Admittedly, townhouse lawns are tiny but for what averages out to about $10 each visit that’s a steal.
The company has a clever strategy for their yearly lawn service where they focus exclusively on town homes. They’ll roll through and knock out a dozen homes in a half hour. The only downside is I never know when they’re coming but given they’re only here for a couple minutes I don’t really care.
In between those they’ll set up appointments for standalone homes which presumably cost a decent amount more.
On the plus side, now you don't have to live with your wife's parents?
They mow your lawn every week? Fast-growing grass, huh?
During the spring I have to mow my lawn twice a week to keep up with it. In the right climates grass grows incredibly fast.
Origin ID: Discgolfer27
Untappd ID: Discgolfer1981
Yup! We get so much sun and rain in the Northeast that if you leave your lawn for longer than maybe 10 days, the grass and weeds will big down your mower
Only they don't actually mow. Two guys come through with weed whackers and they run the grass down, then another person follows with a leaf blower.
They're here and gone in twenty minutes tops. And they come on recycling week, so when they've been I know to put the recycling bins out to the curb.
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My grass in Florida grows a 1/2 foot or more a week in the wet seasons (May-December), an is often nearly a foot during July and August when we have daily torrential rains.
If you have a smaller lawn or one that has narrow areas and a bunch of trees with stone work around them (my front yard) it can be easier to just cut it with the string trimmer rather then try to finagle a big mower around obstacles. I use a trimmer for most of my front yard and a mower for the back.