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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

I love the wood trim around the windows. Very impressive.

thanks! I had contemplated painting it white, since the rest of the trim in the house is white. It was half laziness not to paint it, but I do think it looks nice.
 
Wood trim with the light color looks really nice.

I painted my master bathroom this weekend so all the rooms are now painted. Now I'm just going to hang some pictures and all the big projects are done for a while.
 
Miter Saw recommendations. Is sliding capability necessary? Don't think i'll be cutting any 12" wide wood or anything, but def need to handle 1x6 laying flat. Go 10" sliding or 12" stationary? 12" blades are more expensive. What other features should i look for? Have used a dewalt without a laser and thought that having a laser would have sped things up. Not trying to spend an arm and a leg. Certain brands to stay away from?
 
I have a stationary Hitachi with a laser sight. It is very smooth and the angle gauge is extremely precise, so I would recommend the brand. I'm not sure if the laser sight adds much, as it is pretty easy to tell where a mitre saw blade is going to go just by dropping it to line it up before pulling the trigger. It works well for what I use it for (wood trim, metal pipes, etc) but if it is going to be your primary saw for large wood projects then I think it makes sense to get the sliding. As with many saws, unless you are a pro using it all day every day, I think you get more bang for your buck on the blades than the saw itself. For the weekend guy, I think a mediocre saw with a high quality blade does just as well as a high end saw.

I've got a Craftsman radial arm saw that I use for anything serious, so I use the compound mitre saw primarily for little stuff when I don't feel like firing up the big boy and cleaning the associated mess. If you have the room, I would try to pick up a used RAS rather than a new mitre, as it is much more versatile and powerful.
 
I will echo the thought to get the slider if you can. Also the laser, as mentioned for occasional users, it makes the lining up much easier, even if you bring the blade down. Nice to know what is under the blade as you bring it down - particularly if that thing happens to be your fingers.

I've done the floors in a couple of houses with the sliding miter saw - and a table saw for the long rips. Also have a radial arm saw that has its uses. Might look at getting gently used on Craigs list. I've seen good deals on all of these items.
Probably the biggest thing is to make sure that the saw is solid when set up in the cutting position. You don't want stuff wiggling when you cut, because that allows the grain in the wood to push the blade around, instead of cutting through cleanly and that makes your cuts not as accurate as you would like.
 
Thanks for the responses. I think i'm going to give Craftsman a chance. Seen some good reviews on a 10" slider at Sears. The dewalt i borrowed from a friend to do some trim work did a good job. A laser would have helped and kept me from having to drop the blade a few times to make sure i was lined up properly. Whats the old phrase, "line up 4 times cut once"?
 
Thanks for the responses. I think i'm going to give Craftsman a chance. Seen some good reviews on a 10" slider at Sears. The dewalt i borrowed from a friend to do some trim work did a good job. A laser would have helped and kept me from having to drop the blade a few times to make sure i was lined up properly. Whats the old phrase, "line up 4 times cut once"?

can you post a link to the product? Am in the market myself.
 
Craftsman is a good choice. Other manufacturers with good products include DeWalt, Bosch, Porter Cable, and Makita. Some of the differences are in what you feel, in how the saw slides in your hands, and how it feels when you pull it down. Also preferences in how you set the angles. Some saws are better for lefties than others.
 
I've been going through the process of resurfacing my garage floor. When we bought the place, there was a latex paint layer on the slab that was peeling off. The areas where the tires sat were pitted and spalled and it was in generally rough shape. Well, I went to the internet for advice and settled on using a floor sander from home depot for the first go at getting the paint off the slab. It worked pretty well, but the floor sander was a bit off(sanded unevenly) and didn't do very good job. It would have been awful if I was using it on hardwood.

There was still paint left in quite a few places. I went back and forth about how well the epoxy would stick to the surface, but never really felt good about it. I decided I wanted to try and angle grinder with masonry grinding discs. That worked much, much better, but it was difficult to keep the disc level. I found another attachment that has really been a lifesaver and what I would suggest if you ever have to resurface concrete.

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Word of advice though, never use this thing without a dust shroud. The amount of dust it generates is unbelievable. I'm almost done with the floor and it doesn't look like the cup grinder has been used at all. Pretty impressive.

Next step is the epoxy. I've gone back and forth about which brand to use. Was almost set on using the Rustoleum Professional line, but am not entirely sold as it isn't a 100% solid based epoxy. I think I'm going to get the epoxy, epoxy primer(not sure about this yet), and paint chips here http://www.carguygarage.com/epgafl.html

Have any of you done this yourself?
 
Next step is the epoxy. I've gone back and forth about which brand to use. Was almost set on using the Rustoleum Professional line, but am not entirely sold as it isn't a 100% solid based epoxy. I think I'm going to get the epoxy, epoxy primer(not sure about this yet), and paint chips here http://www.carguygarage.com/epgafl.html

Have any of you done this yourself?

I epoxied my basement and garage when I built my house, using the Rustoleum Professional line. Its pretty simple to use, just make sure that the floor is cleaned and degreased prior to applying the epoxy. The one mistake I made was not mixing all of the coloring together from the get go. They came in 1 gallong increments. A couple of the gallons had a slight tint than the rest, so there are places that look slightly off. If I had it to do all over again, I'd figure up how much I'd need, put it in a 5 gallon bucket, mix it all together then apply.
 
I epoxied my basement and garage when I built my house, using the Rustoleum Professional line. Its pretty simple to use, just make sure that the floor is cleaned and degreased prior to applying the epoxy. The one mistake I made was not mixing all of the coloring together from the get go. They came in 1 gallong increments. A couple of the gallons had a slight tint than the rest, so there are places that look slightly off. If I had it to do all over again, I'd figure up how much I'd need, put it in a 5 gallon bucket, mix it all together then apply.

Did you put it down over new concrete? Has it held up well?
 
I put it down on new concrete. So far its been very durable. The only places that have worn down are where the tires sit while the vehicles are parked. I think a lot of that is from the friction of turning the front tires, which would have eventually worn down the concrete anyways.

Definitely spend the $$ and get the epoxy with the grit in it. Otherwise, its treacherously slippery when wet.
 
Just finished up media room in my basement. Did some myself and had the contractor do some (drywall etc). Need to hang some pics and get some furniture but so far very happy with the results. A fraction of the cost that local pros were offering to do it for. I did a ton of research and bought a lot from e bay.
 

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I put it down on new concrete. So far its been very durable. The only places that have worn down are where the tires sit while the vehicles are the parked. I think a lot of that is from the friction of turning the front tires, which would have eventually worn down the concrete anyways.

Definitely spend the $$ and get the epoxy with the grit in it. Otherwise, its treacherously slippery when wet.

So I went ahead and bought the 100% solids epoxy and concrete sealer. Also bought some electric blue paint chips and the non slip stuff to mix in. I'm going to etch and clean the shit out of everything this weekend. Concrete dust is everywhere.
 
OK, I need to make a decision and wondered if anyone here has an opinion... ha! Of course you do.

We have to replace a 20 year old gas water heater. The builder located the water heater in the attic. We had a leak about 5 years ago that flooded the house and, though insurance covered it, was a huge pain in the butt. That leak was in the pipes but now the heater itself has gone bad...

Our options - put a new gas water heater back in the attic. This will take longer to do because of the hassle getting the old one down the pull-down stairs and getting the new one up there. Therefore, it will be expensive in labor.

Put a new water heater in the crawlspace. This will prevent the risk of future flooding. However, because of the space available in the crawlspace, we would have to go with an electric water heater. This would be a much cheaper option - probably $400-$500 cheaper. But, gas is cheaper than electricity.

Go with one of the tankless systems. This avoids the problem of flooding altogether but would cost about $2k more than even the gas heater.

Any thoughts or experiences?
 
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