• Welcome to OGBoards 10.0, keep in mind that we will be making LOTS of changes to smooth out the experience here and make it as close as possible functionally to the old software, but feel free to drop suggestions or requests in the Tech Support subforum!

Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

I have a bearing going bad in a 13 year old GE dryer. The bearing is like $60 but not sure I can install it myself. Do you pay the $120 to have someone install it or do you buy a new dryer?

13 years is usually old for appliances. I would look at YouTube and try to find a video about the repair. If the part is still available, highly likely somebody put a vid of replacing it somewhere.

I would at least do some window shopping for dryers before deciding.
 
My suspicion is that the ones acting more like a filter (with holes of various sizes) must get clogged…?

But how quickly, and how difficult is it to clean them so they work again?

Mine are a mesh style that I got from Costco, and generally work well. No debris gets in the gutters, however if we have a deluge, the areas below where the 2nd floor downspouts empty onto the main floor's roof tend to have water going over the edge. Still much better than before when I had birds building nests and debris clogging the gutters and downspouts.
 
In the fall, leaves and acorns.

In the spring, oak pollen thingys.

One thing that helps is having larger gutters. That is, 6 inch K style vs 5 inch. With accompanying larger dropouts and downspouts (4x5 instead of 3x4). The larger dropouts decrease the "bridging" over the dropout.

The solid cover type gutter guards will be most effective against acorns. They will roll right off. Also generally good against larger leaves, like the oak leaves. As you found out, pine needles go right into that 3/8 inch opening and clog.

Because they are professionally installed, and most are permanently attached to the gutter and roof, they are hard to get into if you need to clean your gutters. There are varying opinions on these out there, particularly on the quality of the local installers. That seems to be a big variable.

Most of those mesh covers are pretty flat once installed, so debris tends to accumulate on top of them. However, big chunky debris (like acorns) tends to blow off eventually. Big leaves can blow off, or can get wet and matted on top, keeping water from getting into the gutter. The oak catkins (pollen thingys) tend to cling together because they have lots of soft spikey parts, sorta like velcro, that help them collect into mats.

The mesh covers are DIY installation, and will cut down on the debris in the gutter. They need to have debris on top cleaned off periodically. They are also a lot easier to remove and clean under if they don't keep everything out.
 
Thanks.

Yea, I'm considering a trial of the mesh type.

I'm guessing that I'd have to clean the top of them off no more, and maybe less, often than we have to clean out the gutters. Plus there are a couple of our downspouts that run under our driveway and when they get clogged it's almost impossible to unclog, so the mesh cover should decrease that risk, I'd think.

Just was worried they'd just end up shedding water constantly over the edge of the gutter if the mesh itself gets clogged up with micro-debris over time.

Thx again.
 
Mine are a mesh style that I got from Costco, and generally work well. No debris gets in the gutters, however if we have a deluge, the areas below where the 2nd floor downspouts empty onto the main floor's roof tend to have water going over the edge. Still much better than before when I had birds building nests and debris clogging the gutters and downspouts.

i also DIYd mesh style on my old house, they were pretty great; even if leaves matted eventually they'd dry/blow for the most part, rarely a twig would jam in there and create a little mat but otherwise they worked surprisingly well. my only problem was that my gutter nails were old, so in some places the pressure applied by the mesh screen stuck in there pushed the gutter out and i had to do some reengineering
 
i also DIYd mesh style on my old house, they were pretty great; even if leaves matted eventually they'd dry/blow for the most part, rarely a twig would jam in there and create a little mat but otherwise they worked surprisingly well. my only problem was that my gutter nails were old, so in some places the pressure applied by the mesh screen stuck in there pushed the gutter out and i had to do some reengineering

When nails get old and pull out you can put in gutter screws into the same hole. Better holding power.
 
anyone have thoughts on good patio furniture brands? been seeing some IG ads for Pollywood lately. Wanna upgrade my set-up this summer.
 
anyone have thoughts on good patio furniture brands? been seeing some IG ads for Pollywood lately. Wanna upgrade my set-up this summer.

Recently purchased a couple of Pollywood Adirondack chairs, and even though they are foldable and obviously not real wood, we're extremely pleased with how they look and sit. Our previous wooden, Adirondack chairs finally rotted and that's why we replaced them, but now I'm pulling for the wooden side tables to go ahead and rot so we can go ahead and replace them as well; regardless, I'm done painting them.
 
My parents are big fans of Pollywood. We looked at it but it was more than we wanted to spend.
 
Man, I forgot how expensive blinds are. We're looking to replace all of the blinds in our house and its gonna be hella expensive even on the low end.
 
Klaussner has great outdoor furniture. We use ours daily from March-November.

anyone have any ideas on what I can plant in my front yard that's prone to flooding? I'd like to plant some flowering trees/shrubs, along with some monkey or mondo grass borders, but can't find a lot on what does well in wet soil.
 
I'm a couple months away from having a screened porch project completed. We built a fireplace in the corner of the room and will mount a tv on it. The fireplace is about 60" wide so will mount a 60 or 65" tv. The screens are Eze-breeze windows so the room shouldn't get too much dirt or pollen in it. Everything is covered but it will get hot/cold in the summer/winter. Do I need to buy a specific outdoor-use tv? And a specific mount for the masonry? I'd like to connect to a wireless speaker as well but would like to keep it simple and we don't need anything high end. Any problem with using an Alexa or something similar or should I take the effort to mount a soundbar? Thanks for any advice.
 
If it's in a sheltered spot, you do NOT need an outdoor TV. I bought a regular TV 3 years ago, thinking that even if I had to replace it annually due to dust, bugs, etc, at $200/year it would still take me 5-7 years before the outdoor TV is worth it. 3 years later, no issues with the $200 TV. Buy a $50 cover for it and cover it up when you're not using it for an extended period.
 
Note: my porch is completely unscreened but roofed. I do get the occasional bee who thinks it looks like a good place to build a nest, but that won't be an issue for you.
 
Don’t worry about an outdoor TV. We have a fireplace in the corner of our porch and did the math that if we paid for a $500 TV every year it would still take 6 years to match the price of an outdoor TV.

That being said, I’d pay the money to get it professionally mounted.
 
Don’t worry about an outdoor TV. We have a fireplace in the corner of our porch and did the math that if we paid for a $500 TV every year it would still take 6 years to match the price of an outdoor TV.

That being said, I’d pay the money to get it professionally mounted.

Mounting objects to a masonry wall is a task that requires some skill. To properly hold something as large and heavy as a TV, you need large enough anchors drilled deep enough into the masonry.

In an ideal world, if you plan to put a TV on a masonry wall, embed some anchor bolts into the masonry as it is being built.
 
Just put up a TV mount in my bonus room; I hung a kettlebell from it for now but it looks to be plenty sturdy so far.
 
Back
Top