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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

Was not expecting it to be hard to find a 30x80 exterior door. Woof.
 
Deaconblue said:
Well, garages aren't that permanent. At 7:30 this morning there was a two car garage at the house across the street from my Dad's place. As of this posting, the last parts of it are being put into a rolloff construction waste container. Garage this morning. Container of waste before noon.

Im sure the neighbors are wondering, "what's next?"
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This is gonna be me knocking down (paying someone to knock down) my shitty detached 70 year old garage/shed (cinderblock construction?) sometime next spring. Hope it's not too expensive but I would be thrilled with that pace of work lol.
 
Last couple of days we’ve added window insulation kits to all of the (assumed) original windows. Single pane, wood, gappy trim windows let a lot of cold air in. Hoping these are an effective solution. We love the look of the windows but do not enjoy the drafts & cold air.
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Last couple of days we’ve added window insulation kits to all of the (assumed) original windows. Single pane, wood, gappy trim windows let a lot of cold air in. Hoping these are an effective solution. We love the look of the windows but do not enjoy the drafts & cold air.
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Drafty windows can cost you lots of heat.
 
YoungBuck95 said:
Last couple of days we’ve added window insulation kits to all of the (assumed) original windows. Single pane, wood, gappy trim windows let a lot of cold air in. Hoping these are an effective solution. We love the look of the windows but do not enjoy the drafts & cold air.
Click to expand...

We lived in a 1920's Craftsman house years ago. Only thing we found that helped was storm windows. Not that most period specific solution but it did allow us to keep the original windows and not heat and cool the outdoors too much
 
What is the word on duct cleaning? We have started seeing lots of dust in or BR despite the fact that we change filters regularly.

Does it actually work or is this more HVAC voodoo?
 
There are some things to check before spending on duct cleaning.

Is this one room or some or all over the house?
How much dust is on the filters? Do they look new or are they ready participants in the "This House Protected by Killer Dustballs" legions?
Are you using good quality filters?
Is there any way air is bypassing the filter instead of going through?
Do you have mire than one filter in your system?
Are your air return vents clean?
Remove the air delivery duct cover and use a rag or paper towel to wipe the duct as far as you can reach. Get anything?
 
Plumbing question:

  • the shower drain in our son's room has a foul odor when hot water runs.
  • We've checked the water and it's the drain, not the water
  • We done all the cleaning tips for the drain (drill brush, vinegar/baking soda, bleach and boiling water, bioclean - this helped some, but not much)
  • P-trap is not dry

had a plumber out once and he said to try the biocleen, but didn't really know what to do. We do have cast iron pipes in that bathroom, so he said maybe the biofilm has sunk into those pipes and they need to be replaced (but suggested the biocleen first b/c that's a lot less expensive)

Any thoughts here, or recommendations for triad plumbers?
 
I am completely useless when it comes to home repairs, so no help on that front, but I can highly recommend Jimmy's Plumbing in the triad area.
 
We are having two exterior doors replaced today and these dudes have been here for more than 7.5 hours so far. I've heard that hanging doors is hard, but fuck.
 
wfudkn said:
We are having two exterior doors replaced today and these dudes have been here for more than 7.5 hours so far. I've heard that hanging doors is hard, but fuck.
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Sounds like on the job training.
 
To be fair, it looked like they had to do some significant work on the interior of the wall behind the jamb for one of the doors. some of the 1870s brick didn't seem to be holding up super well so they constructed some reinforcements.
 
wfudkn said:
To be fair, it looked like they had to do some significant work on the interior of the wall behind the jamb for one of the doors. some of the 1870s brick didn't seem to be holding up super well so they constructed some reinforcements.
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That is always a potential issue with doors. If the wall holding the door isn't stout, the door will sag sooner or later.
 
IamThunderbolt said:
Plumbing question:

  • the shower drain in our son's room has a foul odor when hot water runs.
  • We've checked the water and it's the drain, not the water
  • We done all the cleaning tips for the drain (drill brush, vinegar/baking soda, bleach and boiling water, bioclean - this helped some, but not much)
  • P-trap is not dry

had a plumber out once and he said to try the biocleen, but didn't really know what to do. We do have cast iron pipes in that bathroom, so he said maybe the biofilm has sunk into those pipes and they need to be replaced (but suggested the biocleen first b/c that's a lot less expensive)

Any thoughts here, or recommendations for triad plumbers?
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Sounds like biofilm. We would also pour some oxyclean down the drain and scrub with a long-handled bottle cleaner. Repeat every 90-ish days.
 
so....we just moved into our new house. Still some things on the list to finish but it's mostly done.
We hired a guy to clean out the ducts- it seems builders dump copious amounts of random things down duct lines. So we decided to pay for a good clean out. Anyway, he noted mold on our floor joists in the crawl space. I also noticed this months ago. The crawl space is fully encapsulated and there is a dehumidifier (which we don't need in western NC this time of year). We brought the mold finding to the attention of the builder and he says this is "standard" and not worth worrying about. I understand how the wood got wet during building/framing but it seems a little dismissive to call it standard. I would have assumed he'd spray it with bleach and say ya'll are good to go now because the space is humidity controlled. Anyone have thoughts or opinions? Should i burn his house down? lol
 
BacktoBack said:
so....we just moved into our new house. Still some things on the list to finish but it's mostly done.
We hired a guy to clean out the ducts- it seems builders dump copious amounts of random things down duct lines. So we decided to pay for a good clean out. Anyway, he noted mold on our floor joists in the crawl space. I also noticed this months ago. The crawl space is fully encapsulated and there is a dehumidifier (which we don't need in western NC this time of year). We brought the mold finding to the attention of the builder and he says this is "standard" and not worth worrying about. I understand how the wood got wet during building/framing but it seems a little dismissive to call it standard. I would have assumed he'd spray it with bleach and say ya'll are good to go now because the space is humidity controlled. Anyone have thoughts or opinions? Should i burn his house down? lol
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Mold is a bitch. Don't fall for his BS.
 
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