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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

it happens every year when you first turn on your heat. don't freak out. just give it an hour. it'll go away.
 
I just turned on the heat for the first time and noticed a burning smell coming from the air vents. It was enough to set off the smoke alarms, which beeped for a few seconds. Any idea What it could be? It doesn't occur with the AC set to cooling.

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why are you turning on your heat in mid-august?
 
How can I tell if I've used enough primer to move on to paint?

I finally primed my knotty pine paneling yesterday. First I washed down the walls, then puttied a ton of holes (but I found so many more while priming), then sanded it all down. First I gave all the knots a coat of primer - Zinsser BIN at $50 a gallon on sale! - then did a full coat of the same on the walls. The stuff is pretty thin, smelly, and annoying to work with, so I'd like to move on to paint if possible, but I want to do a good thorough job on this so it doesn't need to be re-done. Everything got covered but some areas are thicker than others due to the initial coat on the knots, then brushing versus rolling and overlapping some areas.

thoughts?

wj6yy1.jpg
 
Valspar pain and primer in one from Lowe's might be a good idea at this point. What color are you planning for the walls? Very dark might require two coats but otherwise one coat of the paint I mentioned would probably do it. Good luck
 
How can I tell if I've used enough primer to move on to paint?

Valspar pain and primer in one from Lowe's might be a good idea at this point. What color are you planning for the walls? Very dark might require two coats but otherwise one coat of the paint I mentioned would probably do it. Good luck

I like to do a base coat of plain primer, then add a tinted primer as BacktoBack mentioned for the second coat. Generally, two coats of primer will allow you to only do one coat of paint if you get good coverage. Zinsser is the worst primer I've ever used, mainly because of the smell. I bought it once, and have never used it again. On the bright side, our house was bug free for a few weeks after using it.
 
Valspar pain and primer in one from Lowe's might be a good idea at this point. What color are you planning for the walls? Very dark might require two coats but otherwise one coat of the paint I mentioned would probably do it. Good luck

thanks! on first thought it seems that might be primer overkill but those "paint and primer in ones" are really just high coverage paints. So that is not a bad idea. I'll be going with a light color, probably a pale sage green.
 
thanks! on first thought it seems that might be primer overkill but those "paint and primer in ones" are really just high coverage paints. So that is not a bad idea. I'll be going with a light color, probably a pale sage green.

ooh, i love the idea of a pale sage green. make sure you post pictures of the finished product!
 
I like to do a base coat of plain primer, then add a tinted primer as BacktoBack mentioned for the second coat. Generally, two coats of primer will allow you to only do one coat of paint if you get good coverage. Zinsser is the worst primer I've ever used, mainly because of the smell. I bought it once, and have never used it again. On the bright side, our house was bug free for a few weeks after using it.

So you would do a plain primer, then a tinted primer, then paint? BacktoBack just mentioned using the paint & primer in one.

I think I'd rather do two coats of paint than another coat of this Zinsser BIN primer. (though I'd rather just do one coat of anything!) It was definitely pungent, but everything I read online said it was the best for painting over wood and ensuring no bleed through from the knots.

I used some online calculators for figuring out how many gallons I'd need, and I ended up buying three. However, I finished using just one can. As I already mentioned it is sort of thin compared to paint so I imagine I'll need more paint, but it will be nice to get $100 back when I return the 2 unused cans of primer.
 
So you would do a plain primer, then a tinted primer, then paint? BacktoBack just mentioned using the paint & primer in one.

When going from a dark color to a light color definitely. The extra coat of primer helps ensure the paint color you pick out will be the final red color. Its not as vital if you are going light to light, or dark to dark, but really makes a difference when drastically changing colors.
 
When going from a dark color to a light color definitely. The extra coat of primer helps ensure the paint color you pick out will be the final red color. Its not as vital if you are going light to light, or dark to dark, but really makes a difference when drastically changing colors.

red?

And jeez. I know I said I want to do this right, but I'd rather not have to buy two more kinds of paint.
 
I like to do a base coat of plain primer, then add a tinted primer as BacktoBack mentioned for the second coat. Generally, two coats of primer will allow you to only do one coat of paint if you get good coverage. Zinsser is the worst primer I've ever used, mainly because of the smell. I bought it once, and have never used it again. On the bright side, our house was bug free for a few weeks after using it.

Agreed. That's what I was going with too. A plain ole white primer first and then the paint and primer in one. You don't want to be cheap, but no reason to just keep putting up more and more paint if not necessary.
 
red?

And jeez. I know I said I want to do this right, but I'd rather not have to buy two more kinds of paint.
If you just put the red on top of the white primer, the red will dry lighter than what you intended. You can fix that by adding another coat of the red paint, or by tinting the 2nd coat of primer with some of that paint color. A lot of places will tint the primer for free, but when I'm shopping at those that charge a fee, I just go: white then mixed then final color paint.
 
If you just put the red on top of the white primer, the red will dry lighter than what you intended. You can fix that by adding another coat of the red paint, or by tinting the 2nd coat of primer with some of that paint color. A lot of places will tint the primer for free, but when I'm shopping at those that charge a fee, I just go: white then mixed then final color paint.

so you are just talking in general. I am aware of the existence of tinted primer. :)

I'm going for a color something like this below, perhaps even lighter. I think I'll probably go for 1-2 coats of the paint and primer in one. If it looks good enough after one coat, then I can stop there. If I do an additional layer of a different primer first, then I have no choice but to finish that and then move on to the actual paint.

mla104089_0908_guestbed_xl.jpg


oh, also I am glad that I did not paint the wood trim. I'm liking the contrast as it stands against the pale walls. It might look odd compared to the rest of the house with its white painted trim, but I'm going to keep it for now. I can always go back and paint it later.
 
I took apart my stone firepit, rearranged the stones, and drilled about 10 holes in the inner metal fire ring to line up with the gaps I created in the stones. The idea is to create better air flow for the fire. I think I used a 13/32 drill bit, mainly because it was a size I couldn't imagine ever needing to use again and I knew drilling through the metal would ruin the bit (it did). Any opinions, educated or otherwise, on whether this will help the airflow?

The pit is 11 inches deep and the airflow holes are about 3 inches off the bottom.
 
I am hoping to put down some grass seed this weekend. Any suggestions on which kind of grass to get, or general tips?

My front yard (particularly where no grass is growing) is heavily shaded but the back yard should get moderate sun. I borrowed a "garden weasel" to help aerate the soil and I need to kill some weeds that are growing where I want grass in the backyard. Basically I was just planning on getting the dirt chewed up a little, using a handheld spreader to put the seeds down, then watering. Hopefully I don't need to put something down on top of it. I'm not aiming to have a lawn that looks like a golf course or anything, just want to cover some of the dirt patches and resolve the area where the previous owners' dog had kept anything from growing, which is now full of foot-tall weeds.

Garden%20Weasel2.jpg
 
RTQ, I'm in the middle of a seeding so I've done a lot of reading on grass. In heavy shade growing grass can be an exercise in futility. You might be better off researching ground covers for the front yard, especially sections right under trees.

That said, if you want to seed you probably want tall fescue in North Carolina. If you had time I'd recommend calling an online seed retailer like Hogan Seed because they have higher quality seed. But if you're seeding this weekend, most seed you pick up at Lowes/Home Depot will be probably be a mix of several kinds of grasses. If you look on the label on the back it'll say how much is tall fescue versus kentucky bluegrass, fine fescue, etc. So pick one that has a higher tall fescue percentage. It does well in the shade relative to other grasses.
http://turfselect.ncsu.edu/

You don't really need (or necessarily want) to chew up the dirt too much before seeding. It stirs up weed seeds and makes them more likely to germinate when you start watering the grass seed. I'd recommend mowing the existing grass/weeds as short as possible, dropping the seed, then going over it with a rake to help the seeds settle down and scratch the dirt a bit. Then put down starter fertilizer. If you're okay with some chemicals I'd recommend Scott's Starter with crabgrass preventer. It has an herbicide in it which will help prevent weeds but will allow the grass to germinate. I'd just keep dogs and kids off the lawn for a few weeks, which you'd want to do anyway while the grass is young. If you want organic, maybe try milorganite as fertilizer. Be aware that it kind of stinks since it's made from sewage. You don't need to topdress the seed with anything, but it can help keep it moist. I didn't topdress and my grass has come in fine.

Then just water often. Give it a good soaking to start. Then try to keep it a little most, not soaking wet, at all times. 3 times a day for 5-10 minutes should be enough in cool weather. You should see germination start in about a week. You'll need to keep watering a couple times a day for 2-3 weeks after germination.
 
thank you - very helpful! I think I am already behind on getting this done, so I don't want to wait longer to buy it online.

Good point on the shaded areas. If weeds are barely growing there right now, grass probably won't have much of a chance either. I'd definitely like to do something to help that area look better, so maybe I'll try some seed now if I have leftovers from the sunnier, heavily weedy backyard, and look into something else when that doesn't take. Maybe a rock garden or something would be something I could manage.

I am totally okay with chemicals - anything that will help the yard look better. No kids or dogs to worry about, and the neighbors' dogs stay in their own yards. But my goodness, water 3 times a day? Maybe I don't want grass after all...
 
busy weekend! I painted my wood paneling and put down grass seed. I've been asking lots of questions about these things on this thread so I figured I'd share the results.

For the paint, I first primed a couple weeks ago with Zinsser BIN and then this weekend painted 1 coat of Sherwin Williams Super Paint. I'm very happy with the coverage from one coat, and it was such a pain to get it done that I decided 1 coat would be sufficient regardless.

when I bought the house:

343gepl.jpg


now (painted walls and refinished floors)

m79ysx.jpg


I also put down the grass seed as I just posted about above. I got Sta-Green brand tall fescue blend that has some fertilizer on each seed.

before - weeds everywhere:

e82wcl.jpg


now - can't wait to see some grass grow:

14ak66a.jpg
 
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