Home Improvement

Picasso_sl said:

I already have two 4" vents so I'm doing my duty

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Doing your duty so your doody disappears. Well done, sir.

joeboo_sl said:

So later this year there will be an Ikea opening in my city. I've never been to one before, there isn't one within 4-5 hours of here currently.

Do they have any products that are seriously worth looking at for home remodeling? I've heard that they actually sell kitchen cabinets, bathroom vanities, etc, and we are planning a bathroom remodel soon, so I guess I'm just curious if it would be worth waiting to see what Ikea has to offer, or should we just move forward getting most of our products from the usual places like Lowe's and Home Depot.

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Ikea has a couple levels of products. They have the looks pretty good, priced for students line of stuff, and the expensive, more serious stuff. My sister used Ikea cabinets in a kitchen renovation, and they really were some of the nicest non-custom cabinets I've ever seen. Really well made, very attractive. I think if you look really carefully at how things are made, you'll find good things at Ikea. I have a couple chests of drawers from Ikea I've had for almost 20 years, and they're holding up solid, look like new. Solid wood (no composites), natural finish.

Really it would be silly not to go and look at what they've got when you're renovating.

As has already been demonstrated, not all IKEA products are created equal. Yes you can get the cheapo fiberboard crap that falls apart after a couple years, but some of the stuff is really quality. Our daughter's dresser is from IKEA and it matches her crib from Pottery Barn perfectly for 1/5th the cost and you can't tell the difference.

I won't toot too loud, I actually work at IKEA. That being said, a lot of the stuff is really good quality, and a lot is poorer. But, hey if you like the design there's nothing wrong with checking it out.

I work mostly with bathrooms and textiles/rugs, ask away if you got any questions.

I'd be curious to know what you see as the most popular items/styles currently in bathrooms and textiles. We're basically just updating for the purpose of easier resale in a few years, so I want to make sure we remodel in a style that is a good balance of currently popular without being TOO trendy to where it will look obviously dated in a few years. We aren't really too focused on going in a direction that is purely our personal preferences, we want something that is modern but fairly universal as well.

I think we're somewhat leaning towards something like white tile floor(possibly with a small amount of black accent) with a dark/black vanity and a lighter (marble maybe) counter top. Possibly light grey walls. But beyond that, we don't have any specifics nailed down at all.

something like this, only with the walls a little more grey

I had a peek at IKEA's american website and it looks like the bathroomsection is lacking a bit compared to ours, and I know from experience (my brother lives in TX) Americans like their bathrooms more roomy and with more counterspace than whats common here.
That being said, with your preferred colors and style, it shouldn't be to hard to find something that won't fade in style and value the coming years.

For the vanity and other furniture there's a color called brown-black that's quite popular at the moment, you can get that in both the Hemnes, which is a traditional style comparable to the one in the picture, and Godmorgon which is a more "modern" style. If you want a more neutral color there's always high-gloss white and grey, which is also quite popular. One of the things IKEA is lacking is good selection of countertops and sinks for the bathroom, they're all basically all white sinks, and there's usually quite limited counterspace. But if you get a mirrorcabinet (fucking smart), you might not need it. Also, theres always the option of combining with kitchen/other furniture - e.g. most laminate or stone countertops is fine to use in the bathroom as long as you're aware of sealing all gaps with silicone etc.

Now, no matter where you buy your shit, get a good grip on what you want, and what youneedbefore choosing anything. I've had a lot of customers come in, decide on the fly and walk out with mediocre solutions.
Find out how much wall space you have on the wall where the vanity goes, that should be number one. Imo., 80 cm 2'6, should be a minimum.. Then see if you need any other cabinets, some people can easily cope with just the vanity. A highcabinet or two (or more) is nice for towels and more bulky stuff and you can use those both on the same wall as the vanity or separately, you can get those with mirrordoor too, if you want a fullfigure mirror in the bathroom. Lastly decide if you need stuff like a mirrorcabinet over the sink or other shallow wallcabs, and solitary shelves or movable knickknacks. Certain things you want hidden, but some stuff can just as well sit in an open storage rack.

Also, switching taps and/or sink isn't to complicated, so in a few years if you're not happy with it, or you wanna change something before selling, it's totally doable, and shouldn't cost that much. The usually most expensive things when renovating bathroom is tiles, bath/shower and the work. I guess you have pretty strict regulations on what you can do yourself, but never underestimate doing the shit you're allowed to do


Sorry about the long post, got a bit carried away, I guess 8 hours a day don't tire me out on this shit.

Example of HEMNES:

Wanted to run something by you guys for something I've never done before. I have to run a bypass on my main water line (outdoors) - copper pipes are what's in there now. Unfortunately, I have no choice but to run about 7ft or so of it above ground. My initial thought was to simply use more copper pipes for this, with Sharkbite couplings and elbows, and figure out some way to insulate it. After doing some poking around on the intertubes, I came across PEX tubing, and now I'm wondering if that might be a better way to go. I wouldn't have to mess around building the line (lots of twists and turns for a line only running about 15 ft total). I have zero experience in this, so I thought I'd gather any opinions from those more versed in this.

If you're going to use the push on fittings anyway, go with PEX. I've stopped using copper for anything, and replaced most of it in my house with pex.

You have to have an exposed pipe out doors? Does it not freeze there? What on earth could make this necessary?

Insulation won't do a fucking thing if the water line is exposed to freezing temperatures for long periods with it not flowing. That shit will burst no matter what material you use if it's left to freeze. You'll have to heat trace it if it's going to be left with water in it year round. As far as pex goes, it's a good material that anyone can install. Depending on the crimping/expanding method you're using, there are some ways to fuck it up, but I'm sure there's videos out there of what to do and not to do. If you want to stick with copper, you can get soft copper tubing that can be bent and shaped as required.

Well, the reason I "have to" run the line above ground is because the current line, which I could otherwise just find the actual break and only repair that section, is under a concrete foundation, with a shit ton of other pipes above ground and in the way, and over which are a few interior walls. I don't claim to be an expert here, but if there was a worse place to run the line, I don't know of it. So we just decided, fuck it, where it goes into the foundation, I'm just going to cut it and run it straight through the wall outside (only like 2 feet away) instead, then run it along the base of the wall outside to where I can stick it in the ground again. I "have to" run it along the base of the wall because there's only a narrow strip of dirt between the building and a sidewalk, and in that narrow strip is an old and very productive fruit tree/bush that I'd have to otherwise remove, and the wife has vetoed that.

Send pictures. We'll come up with a solution. There are a bunch of smarties in here.

Yeah my bad, we don't have a basement. We have a well in a separate structure (well room, workshop, office, storage, etc - could be a nice sized mother-in-law unit if we'd ever allow one to move in). Anyway, the well room is the furthest away from the house, and the water line goes directly into the foundation right there in the well room, under the entire structure, under the open land between the house and it, into our home. That's why I have zero interest in digging up the foundation to try and find the actual break, and prefer to just rerun the line.

I've been thinking about the freezing thing (it was an original concern of mine as well), and discussed it with my wife, and we've decided we're going to chance it based on anecdotal evidence of all the other exposed water pipes throughout the property. (It's funny actually - I've been slowly removing and capping all these irrigation/spigot lines for the last year, and it never occurred to me there was a chance that with so much of it exposed we could risk a burst pipe. And yet it's not happened so...)

Picasso_sl said:

What's a 1k box? 40 bucks? I'm kind of a permanent home improver so I'm sure I'd need some for some reason before I died. You can use for other shit too.

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Uhh more like $100+ bucks unless you get some Copper Clad Aluminum shit.

As far as your list.

I don't see a punch down tool for the wall Jacks. I'd also recommend getting a Patch Panel so that you can label your ports/rooms and aren't just plugging them directly into a switch. There really is no reason to go direct to switch for what is a permanent wiring job despite your initial post.

Patch Panel

Punch Down Tool

1 Ft Patch Cables

Items listed aren't necessarily the best quality and/or price, but I wanted to link examples.

EDIT
Forget to mention it's pretty standard to use solid cable in all applications where the cable won't be moving. Also make sure the cabling is UL listed. If it seems too cheap it's likely counterfeit Copper Clad Aluminum which may work fine on shorter distances, but generally not worth it.