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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

DeaconCav06 said:
I have white quartz and it's kind of a pain in the ass. Stains really easily.
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I have white/light grey marble, and it too will stain pretty easily if we aren't careful. I don't really mind so much since I think the added patina gives it character. My wife feels quite differently tho.
 
Anyone have recommendations for landscape lighting? I'm looking to do some path lights for the walk leading to my front door, probably low voltage ones. Anyone know if the lights sold at Lowe's are any good? I kind of like the look of this pagoda style led light from Lowe's. According to specs, they light between 6 and 8 feet which means I would need 8 of them. They only use 3 watts so pretty much any transformer would work.
 
HeltonCreek said:
Anyone have recommendations for landscape lighting? I'm looking to do some path lights for the walk leading to my front door, probably low voltage ones. Anyone know if the lights sold at Lowe's are any good? I kind of like the look of this pagoda style led light from Lowe's. According to specs, they light between 6 and 8 feet which means I would need 8 of them. They only use 3 watts so pretty much any transformer would work.
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just get a bunch of these and wire them up

jockey.jpg
 
HeltonCreek said:
Anyone have recommendations for landscape lighting? I'm looking to do some path lights for the walk leading to my front door, probably low voltage ones. Anyone know if the lights sold at Lowe's are any good? I kind of like the look of this pagoda style led light from Lowe's. According to specs, they light between 6 and 8 feet which means I would need 8 of them. They only use 3 watts so pretty much any transformer would work.
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That sounds about right for spacing. One big issue I've seen with all of these is lawnmowers. Unless they are put where lawn mowers can't get to them, invariably I have seen mower knock them over and/or pull them out of the ground. Also, longer stakes are better, to keep them upright against ordinary bumps of life. Also try to put the wire underground somewhere it is not likely to be disturbed by gardening activities.

You might need one or two more than you think. Many times the manufacturer is pretty optimistic about what constitutes sufficient light at the edge of the range.
 
Deaconblue said:
That sounds about right for spacing. One big issue I've seen with all of these is lawnmowers. Unless they are put where lawn mowers can't get to them, invariably I have seen mower knock them over and/or pull them out of the ground. Also, longer stakes are better, to keep them upright against ordinary bumps of life. Also try to put the wire underground somewhere it is not likely to be disturbed by gardening activities.

You might need one or two more than you think. Many times the manufacturer is pretty optimistic about what constitutes sufficient light at the edge of the range.
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Thanks. I will put them in a flower bed next to the house, not in the yard, and plan to bury the cable. My front walk goes around a flower bed next to the house and has steps down to my driveway. There are no street lights in my neighborhood so this would be nice to help see at night. The orientation of my steps is pretty close to 8 feet apart so I can light each step. Three will go on the other side of my front door to just kind of balance things out.
 
RollTheQuad06 said:
I have a few in mind. Back door is going to take a fair bit of work as there's almost an inch difference between the width at top and bottom. Front door should be more straightforward.
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Will be interesting to see if the difference is a result of somebody doing a poor install or if the rough opening (header and studs on each side) is that far off.
 
Anyone ever worked with a tap and die set? I've got some bolts i plan to drill out and then retap, but have never done it before.
 
tsywake said:
Anyone ever worked with a tap and die set? I've got some bolts i plan to drill out and then retap, but have never done it before.
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What material are you planning to rethread? steel, iron, aluminum, plastic or???

Running new threads in holes freehand is not easy. However, the softer the material (plastic, aluminum) the easier it is. It really helps to use cutting fluid ("Tapaid" or similar) to lube your tap if you are threading metal. Don't use on plastic until you test, because the cutting fluid could destroy the plastic depending on what it is. (Solvents and plastic sometimes don't play nice with each other.) Be very careful to keep the tap square to the hole and not let it wobble. The threads you cut need to be sharp to work well. If the tap wobble too much (and this is easy to have happen) the thread won't be very sharp, but will tend to be rounded.

Sounds like you have existing threaded holes with bolts in them. What is the reason you need/want to rethread the holes? Are the threads in the holes too worn to use, or are the bolts stuck, do you need to install larger bolts or ??
Would it make more sense to use bolt extractors, liquid wrench, heat or something?
 
I've got some bolts that sheared off inside of an aluminum exhaust pipe on my jet ski. The bolts corroded inside and sheared off when i tried to remove them. I figured itd be easier to bore out and retap. Dad has some tap grease, but isnt around and I've never done it before.
 
Metal in wet locations tends to corrode. And a jet ski by definition really doesn't have any dry locations.

I think I'd try Liquid Wrench and screw/bolt extractors before I went to drilling out and tapping the holes. At least aluminum is easier to drill and tap than steel.

You may need two different types of taps if the hole is a "blind" hole. A tapered tap to start the process and a bottoming or plug tap to finish the threads all the way to the bottom of the hole. Although because aluminum is soft (relative to steel) just the bottoming tap may work. Obviously they need to be the same diameter and thread pitch.

Don't forget to back the tap out occasionally and clean out the chips, both from the hole and the tap. Good luck
 
Deaconblue said:
What material are you planning to rethread? steel, iron, aluminum, plastic or???

Running new threads in holes freehand is not easy. However, the softer the material (plastic, aluminum) the easier it is. It really helps to use cutting fluid ("Tapaid" or similar) to lube your tap if you are threading metal. Don't use on plastic until you test, because the cutting fluid could destroy the plastic depending on what it is. (Solvents and plastic sometimes don't play nice with each other.) Be very careful to keep the tap square to the hole and not let it wobble. The threads you cut need to be sharp to work well. If the tap wobble too much (and this is easy to have happen) the thread won't be very sharp, but will tend to be rounded.

Sounds like you have existing threaded holes with bolts in them. What is the reason you need/want to rethread the holes? Are the threads in the holes too worn to use, or are the bolts stuck, do you need to install larger bolts or ??
Would it make more sense to use bolt extractors, liquid wrench, heat or something?
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That long paragraph is just fantastic
 
We are building a new house in Blowing Rock. The builder has recommended a 5 ton unit zoned for upstairs versus downstairs. The unit will be dual fuel to deal with the cold weather here. Any thoughts on this approach versus two smaller units- one for upstairs and one for downstairs? I can't find a definitive answer on the web. My concern is when one zone is off the unit will be oversized for the other zone. Thoughts?
 
BacktoBack said:
We are building a new house in Blowing Rock. The builder has recommended a 5 ton unit zoned for upstairs versus downstairs. The unit will be dual fuel to deal with the cold weather here. Any thoughts on this approach versus two smaller units- one for upstairs and one for downstairs? I can't find a definitive answer on the web. My concern is when one zone is off the unit will be oversized for the other zone. Thoughts?
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A few thoughts. When you say dual fuel, do I understand that means gas/oil heat and electric A/C or is it a heat pump with gas/oil backup instead of electric?

With today's variable speed compressors and fans, using a single unit for two zones isn't the deal it was when A/C systems were single speed. With single speed compressors that were oversize the issue was that they would technically cool to the set temp, but would not remove enough moisture from the air, so the house would still be uncomfortably humid. With a variable speed compressor and fan, the system should be able to run slowly enough to dehumidify the air even when servicing only one zone. In the heat mode, you need to find out if the burner has multiple burn rates or single. If single, and only one zone is demanding heat, be prepared for pretty heavy air flow, as the air handler has to remove the heat from the firebox and move it to the vents. If only half the house needs heat, it could be a little noisy. Or if the burner has variable heat output, the variable speed fan should be able to run slowly enough to only push the necessary air into one zone.

The important issue in a system like that is whatever is used to separate/switch the zones. That is there needs to be some sort of air flow controllers that allow the HVAC output to be directed to upstairs or downstairs or both as dictated by thermostat settings and readings. This needs to be good enough so that the non-demand area is at near zero air flow.

Another downside is that if you like to run the fan at low speed all the time just to keep stuffiness down it won't happen as much. I run my fan on low all the time because I have an electronic air cleaner and like to keep air moving past it. A single source for heating and cooling will not allow just air circulation in the zone not demanding heating/cooling. If you have two completely separate units, this isn't an issue.

If you have two completely separate systems, it will be extremely rare when you are totally without heating or A/C. If you have only one unit functioning, the heating/cooling may not be as good, but you will have something (half), not nothing, This may or may be important to you, but is something to think about. Say its winter, and it just snowed a foot and your only heating system goes out. Panic time! need a repairman ASAP. Now, if you have two units, and one goes out you simply prepare to be somewhat chilly, as one unit may only keep your house around 60 degrees. But no worries about pipes freezing etc.

With two separate systems, you have twice as much maintenance to do - filter changes, cleanings etc. and almost twice as many things to break, and you have two of everything. Two outside unit and two inside units. How does this work with your house?
With five tons total system need, two systems at 2.5 tons will be near the smallest units made.

An off the wall thought for you: Geothermal sourced heat pump.
 
Thanks for all the feedback.
Dual fuel as I understand it uses heat pump for heat until it gets below freezing and then uses gas/oil. Basically heats when the heat pump becomes less efficient.
 
BacktoBack said:
Thanks for all the feedback.
Dual fuel as I understand it uses heat pump for heat until it gets below freezing and then uses gas/oil. Basically heats when the heat pump becomes less efficient.
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You've got it. Crossover (heat pump to gas) point varies with manufacturer, but that's a decent approximation.
 
tsywake said:
I think I mentioned this before, but we decided to build a new bed based upon this design, modified to a king.

http://www.ana-white.com/2011/09/farmhouse-storage-bed-storage-drawers

So far things have been going well. We dropped maybe $400 total in lumber, with the most difficult find being 4x4's that were not treated. We finally found some fir posts that were untreated, but cost around $35 apiece. Oh well, the price you pay to not breathe in chemicals. We started Monday after work, and are almost ready to put the pieces together. We decided to paint the bed rather that stain, because we are using fir, spruce, pine, and maple on different places. I'll post some final pics, but I'm pretty stoked to have a bonafide bed again. We've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for a couple months now.
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So it took a little bit longer to do the waxing, but we really like the way it turned out. We finally slept in the bed last night. Here's a progress pic and the final pic. Instead of drawers, we did doors with milk crate style boxes. We werent able to find any sliders that suited our tastes, so we went with the easy out.

9c01438cac8cb71d7f2f2ae0a8776ae2.jpg

126ac78b2b953d56883ace40485e6045.jpg
 
That is really well done!

What materials were used? Looks like maple plywood for the headboard/footboard.

Did you drill those holes out to make the frame lighter?
 
Maple plywood, fir corner posts, and oak veneer. The progress pic doesnt show all of the slats, there are 13 total, and this thing is built like a rock. The holes served two purposes, lightening the overall weight and allowing the mattress to breathe a little more.

It sits up pretty high, higher than I expected, but that is primarily due to the thickness of the mattress. Its a great height for getting in and out of the bed though.
 
Greetings Homeowners.

I am now a member of the club and am mostly clueless about everything.

I know next to nothing about lawncare - as a neophyte, what should I be thinking about and doing on a regular basis? I just want a respectable lawn that doesn't get laughed at by the neighbors.
 
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