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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

One thought for you: would it make sense to make one column of shelves at tighter vertical spacing and get an extra shelf in for short books, like paperbacks? My eyeballs say you used about 12 vertical spacing on the shelves. Paperbacks are a little less than seven inches high.

If you went with eight inch spacing, you could get an extra shelf in for an additional batch of paperbacks - if you are putting any in there.

Obviously I don't know how many books you have, but in my experience, a book collection grows over time, so the capacity for as many books as possible is useful, IMHO.
 
Deaconblue said:
One thought for you: would it make sense to make one column of shelves at tighter vertical spacing and get an extra shelf in for short books, like paperbacks? My eyeballs say you used about 12 vertical spacing on the shelves. Paperbacks are a little less than seven inches high.

If you went with eight inch spacing, you could get an extra shelf in for an additional batch of paperbacks - if you are putting any in there.

Obviously I don't know how many books you have, but in my experience, a book collection grows over time, so the capacity for as many books as possible is useful, IMHO.
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We actually discussed doing that, but ultimately symmetry won out. Plus, we're going to use the open space to store records until I can get the matching record unit built.
 
I figured you thought about that. I look at projects and am very prone to asking "what if something was done differently...?" That sometimes slows progress as I investigate alternatives.
 
Deaconblue said:
I figured you thought about that. I look at projects and am very prone to asking "what if something was done differently...?" That sometimes slows progress as I investigate alternatives.
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I've got a thermostat question for you. I upgraded our standard digital Honeywell thermostat with a programmable this past weekend. I took a pic of the wiring diagram and wired the new thermostat exactly the same way, including the jumps from E to AUX and from R to Rc. The thermostat is reading the temperature correctly, but the unit is not cutting on. There was a small short between the R and C wires during wiring, but I've checked the breakers that I know of any all look to be untripped. Any insight? Here are the pics of the two wirings, sorry for the potato quality of the second pic.
 

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Is it worth renewing our home warranty? It's been a year since we bought the house, and the policy is set to expire.

For context, I used it only one time in the last year: an A/C repair that took less than an hour & needed a $30 part.
 
How old are the HVAC units? Mine are 20, that's going to be reason enough to likely renew next year for me.
 
tsywake said:
I've got a thermostat question for you. I upgraded our standard digital Honeywell thermostat with a programmable this past weekend. I took a pic of the wiring diagram and wired the new thermostat exactly the same way, including the jumps from E to AUX and from R to Rc. The thermostat is reading the temperature correctly, but the unit is not cutting on. There was a small short between the R and C wires during wiring, but I've checked the breakers that I know of any all look to be untripped. Any insight? Here are the pics of the two wirings, sorry for the potato quality of the second pic.
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I had that issue when I replaced my Honeywell and had to get the Landlord to send out his handyman. The units wiring had changed from year to year or something. It was pretty emasculating.
 
I removed the E/Aux jump to no prevail. It's a similar thermostat to my downstairs unit, but the downstairs unit is dual gas/electric. I'll most likely call my hvac guys tomorrow to come look at it.
 
tsywake said:
I've got a thermostat question for you. I upgraded our standard digital Honeywell thermostat with a programmable this past weekend. I took a pic of the wiring diagram and wired the new thermostat exactly the same way, including the jumps from E to AUX and from R to Rc. The thermostat is reading the temperature correctly, but the unit is not cutting on. There was a small short between the R and C wires during wiring, but I've checked the breakers that I know of any all look to be untripped. Any insight? Here are the pics of the two wirings, sorry for the potato quality of the second pic.
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tsywake said:
I removed the E/Aux jump to no prevail. It's a similar thermostat to my downstairs unit, but the downstairs unit is dual gas/electric. I'll most likely call my hvac guys tomorrow to come look at it.
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Shorting the thermostat to C, that is usually the common power line bringing the 24 V to the thermostat. That could kill the thermostat without being enough to pop a breaker.

One thing I see is pretty large amount of copper wire showing above the connections on a few, particularly the yellow. Are the wires making good contact inside the new thermostat? I would make sure the connections are good before I do anything else.

You probably should turn off the breaker to the HVAC before playing with these again.

When you say it doesn't work, can you get even the inside air handler to start? It should run if you set the fan to "on" or high/med/low instead of auto. Or will nothing work at all?

If you can get to it, check the position of the various color wires where they attach to the inside air handling unit. The wiring from the air handler to the condenser should be good because it ran properly before.
 
HailToTheDeacons said:
Is it worth renewing our home warranty? It's been a year since we bought the house, and the policy is set to expire.

For context, I used it only one time in the last year: an A/C repair that took less than an hour & needed a $30 part.
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I opted not to renew mine after the first year and the following year had to replace my furnace. Would have been nice to have the warranty (if it would have covered the replacement). Like 06deacon said, it depends on the age of the larger costly items in your house that would be covered. HVAC, water heater, kitchen appliances, etc. If nothing is too old, don't renew and put the cost of the warranty into a savings account.
 
If you had older HVAC units or water heaters (both pushing 15-17 years), if you buy a home warranty will they cover to replace one of these big ticket items?
 
At least mine will cover it. The sellers got mine from American Home Shield, or something like that, and I read the fine print to make sure hvac was included. I already replaced a furnace in one house this year 100% out of pocket, did not want to do it again.
 
DeacWatcher said:
If you had older HVAC units or water heaters (both pushing 15-17 years), if you buy a home warranty will they cover to replace one of these big ticket items?
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no, they will patch it up with duct tape as cheaply as possible until it can no longer be fixed. I know from experience.
 
You need to read the details on the home warranty. Many only give a modest amount on the really big ticket item-HVAC system - but cover other stuff OK. Unless you have really old stuff, you may be better off sticking the $600 or so into a dedicated appliance repair/replacement account.
 
Needed new dishwasher for town home. Went to home improvement giant box store and asked man in appliance section for quietest dishwasher they have. Man pointed me at a LG dishwasher that makes 44db. Brought home, installed, because dishwasher installing is mucho simple. And dammit, it's silent. I mean seriously, unless I put my head right up next to the thing, I don't even know it's running.

Thanks, dishwasher people. You made my life better. Well, you and my $1000.
 
WhatUTalkinBout Willis said:
Needed new dishwasher for town home. Went to home improvement giant box store and asked man in appliance section for quietest dishwasher they have. Man pointed me at a LG dishwasher that makes 44db. Brought home, installed, because dishwasher installing is mucho simple. And dammit, it's silent. I mean seriously, unless I put my head right up next to the thing, I don't even know it's running.

Thanks, dishwasher people. You made my life better. Well, you and my $1000.
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Dishwasher manufacturers have finally gotten the message that there is a huge market for quiet dishwashers. There are quite a few that come in under 50db. One trade off is losing the "food grinder" capability. Many older dishwashers had a mini disposal unit built in that got rid of those chunks of food that were left on dishes. Now that is done with a filter that needs to be checked before or after each load and cleaned when needed.
 
I have a infiltrated cast iron pipe that runs off a my kitchen sink/dishwasher/clothes washer waste line. It is below the concrete. It looks to be clogged at the 7 ftish mark, and the floor drain links past the clog/infiltration. My ground is super saturated and I am leery of having to excavate and follow the line out. I have the option of rerouting to the main line above ground, but the last (of many plumbers) spooked me by saying that rerouting and cutting into the main line could cause other problems, and he would prefer excavating. I really would prefer to just reroute and avoid the excavation and line chasing. Should I trust my gut and go with the reroute?
 
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