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Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

https://vimeo.com/163881804


If I seal this using cement or epoxy, should I be okay? Just had a guy (fully expected this) try to sell me a $2500 internal drainage channel system to sump. He would not do the simple epoxy of hydra cement. I have another guy coming tomorrow who seems willing to seal. Have people sealed around a main water line? Has it worked out alright?
 
discdude said:
https://vimeo.com/163881804


If I seal this using cement or epoxy, should I be okay? Just had a guy (fully expected this) try to sell me a $2500 internal drainage channel system to sump. He would not do the simple epoxy of hydra cement. I have another guy coming tomorrow who seems willing to seal. Have people sealed around a main water line? Has it worked out alright?
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All the pipe penetrations I've seen have been simply grouted in with a Portland cement product. That is what I would do. I'm somewhat surprised that whoever did that (a plumber?) didn't do that as part of the job.

I would use a waterproof portland cement product, not epoxy. Unless you have an active inflow of water (not just when it rains) you can use ordinary waterproof cement. Hydraulic cement just has additives to make it set faster. As deep as your hole looks to be, it will take time to work the cement all the way in to the back of it. You don't want the quick setting time, so whoever does the work has time to fill the hole before the cement sets.
 
Deaconblue said:
All the pipe penetrations I've seen have been simply grouted in with a Portland cement product. That is what I would do. I'm somewhat surprised that whoever did that (a plumber?) didn't do that as part of the job.

I would use a waterproof portland cement product, not epoxy. Unless you have an active inflow of water (not just when it rains) you can use ordinary waterproof cement. Hydraulic cement just has additives to make it set faster. As deep as your hole looks to be, it will take time to work the cement all the way in to the back of it. You don't want the quick setting time, so whoever does the work has time to fill the hole before the cement sets.
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Long story but, yeah, the plumber was a douche nozzle. So you wouldn't recommend something like Emocore?
 
discdude said:
Long story but, yeah, the plumber was a douche nozzle. So you wouldn't recommend something like Emocore?
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I've never heard of that product and neither has the google machine or Wikipedia. Urban dictionary has emocore as the older (1980's) name for emo music. That would seem inappropriate for your needs. Check your spelling and we try again?
 
Deaconblue said:
I've never heard of that product and neither has the google machine or Wikipedia. Urban dictionary has emocore as the older (1980's) name for emo music. That would seem inappropriate for your needs. Check your spelling and we try again?
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Emocole, ha.
 
Is the water leak an all the time issue, or just some of the time, during wetter weather?Are you sure it is coming from the outside (groundwater) and isn't a pinhole leak in your pipe?

OK, Emocole is at least in the ball park. It looks like what they are selling for pipe penetrations is a polyurethane foam. Looks like it should work. It is also expensive.

I'm probably old fashioned and tend to prefer concrete on concrete. As big as this hole is, you'll use a lot of whatever you choose - concrete or foam. I would use concrete now to fill the big hole. Save the foam for later if you develop hairline cracks around the concrete/pipe joint and they continue to let water in.

For as large as the hole is, you're going to use a lot. All the void spaces you can pack with concrete from there should be packed as full and tight as you reasonably can.

I'd get a bucket of premixed concrete (make sure you get enough!) Get premixed for patching walls, not "self leveling" floor patching. The latter is runnier. You need less runny so it stays in the hole. Also make a board big enough to cover the hole, and put a U-shaped slot hole (to fit around the pipe) in it.

Then clean/chip/rinse the dirt etc out of the hole. Everything you can feel inside the hole must be solid. No loose stuff in the hole! Make sure the surfaces of the hole are rough (looks like you are good there) and get the surrounding concrete and all the concrete surfaces in the hole wet. May want to do that, let it sit a few minutes, and then wet again. The existing concrete will absorb some water, and you want that to be water you put on it, not have it absorb water from your patch.

Pack the hole as well as you can, use a dowel, end of hammer handle, capped pipe or something similar to push the concrete well into the hole. Once it's full, use a trowel to smooth the surface, then put the board against it, and prop it in place for a day or two, based on recommendations for the product you choose. When you have completely filled the hole, put this over the patch against the wall from underneath the pipe (slot up!!) and prop it in place as firmly as you can. The idea is to keep a little pressure pushing the concrete into the hole until it sets.

If you use dry mix, make your mix pretty dry - just wet enough to stick together, not at all runny. This is the trickiest part if you mix your own.

Well that is enough for now. Good luck.
 
Many thanks. There is no hole for sure. City came out multiple times and concluded there is no hole. I ended up digging down to the water line outside. I used xypex on both the inside and outside, then used a hyrdoseal spray. I will be backfilling the hole tomorrow and hoping that the rains later this week prove the work was a success.
 
discdude said:
Many thanks. There is no hole for sure. City came out multiple times and concluded there is no hole. I ended up digging down to the water line outside. I used xypex on both the inside and outside, then used a hyrdoseal spray. I will be backfilling the hole tomorrow and hoping that the rains later this week prove the work was a success.
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I thought you probably had checked the pipe, but, in this situation I'd rather say something than assume. Lots of groundwater in some areas around Denver, so pretty easy to have water seep in through a hole like you have. I'll be interested to hear how it all turns out when you are done.
 
Hello Pit, need some advice and ideas. Wife and I live in Winston. We "hired" a contractor to do some dry wall in our finished bedroom upstairs. By hired, I mean he came recommended from from my in-laws' "guy" who does a lot of work on their rent houses. Usually refers great people. Long story very short, he's done about half of the work, but is horrible with communication, and has had an excuse every time he said he says he will come finish the job or call me back to discuss times. He gave me his word that he'd be there yesterday at 10am and was a no-call no-show. We want to fire him and just get the damn job done (we've only paid half). My thought process is get someone else to come out and give us an estimate to finish the job, and then fire his ass. He's been a huge pain in the ass for the aforementioned reasons, and also this room is our bedroom so we've been in the guest room for about two weeks now and we just want to be back in our bed. Does anyone have any recommendations for dry wall contractors or business who could help us out in Winston? Or, do I wait it out with this guy, as it is "typical" contractor behavior? Hear me when I say that he has been horrific to deal with. Help me out, Pit!
 
Well, just DIY'd some rip off artist appliance repair guy on an electric dryer repair. He told my next door neighbor that she needed both a new heater assembly and a new thermal fuse. And he would "only charge her $200" to do the repairs. These two items are pretty much mutually exclusive. One going bad keeps the other from needing to do anything and hence it can't break. I was pretty sure the issue was the heater. Dryer would go round and blow air, but the air never got hot.

New heater is $50 on line. Internet said 90% of no heat issues are bad heater. Took the dryer apart, (two spring clips and two screws) and sure enough, the heater element had an obvious break. As an FYI for those who have never seen the inside of a dryer, the heater element is a coil of nichrome wire that gets hot when electricity goes through it. Four screws remove the old heater and in goes the new one, reassemble dryer, and voila, problem solved. Dryer now gets plenty hot. As I suspected, the thermal fuse was just fine.

Probably should have put a new belt on at the same time, cause I had to take the belt off to do the heater. Belts are cheap ($10-15). ,They are just annoying to install because the drum tensioner arm, which compensates for the weight of the clothes put in wet vs dry, wants to slip out of place and lose its spring.

Project took about 3 hours, but about half that time was removing lint from various places inside the dryer cabinet and the ducts. Shop vacuum very useful for that chore. Wanna try and delay that dryer fire for as long as possible.

If anyone wants all the deets on tearing down a dryer, pm me. Its not that hard. Many brands come apart the same way.
 
Anyone have thoughts on Engineered versus traditional hardwood floors for above grade flooring?

We live in Boone so the weather is more extreme than other parts of NC. We had planned for traditional hardwood but or builder is recommending engineered. We don't want to deal with cupping or creaking from moisture issues. The house will be over a crawlspace with a commercial grade dehumidifier in the crawlspace.
 
BacktoBack said:
Anyone have thoughts on Engineered versus traditional hardwood floors for above grade flooring?

We live in Boone so the weather is more extreme than other parts of NC. We had planned for traditional hardwood but or builder is recommending engineered. We don't want to deal with cupping or creaking from moisture issues. The house will be over a crawlspace with a commercial grade dehumidifier in the crawlspace.
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We just put in a new floor a few months ago. Went with LVP throughout except the bedrooms where we went with carpet. We liked the durability and ease of putting down on concrete slab. Our contractor kept pushing for engineered hardwoods. There are lots of options/quality levels with them. Most are soft and scratch easily. Thicker ones can be sanded and refinished but by the time you pay for the really nice ones, you could have just gone with traditional hardwoods.
 
BacktoBack said:
Anyone have thoughts on Engineered versus traditional hardwood floors for above grade flooring?

We live in Boone so the weather is more extreme than other parts of NC. We had planned for traditional hardwood but or builder is recommending engineered. We don't want to deal with cupping or creaking from moisture issues. The house will be over a crawlspace with a commercial grade dehumidifier in the crawlspace.
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My folks place in Blowing Rock had hardwoods and they do fine.

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