Home Improvement

Lanx

Lanx

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Any links for deck refinishing?

I know I'm gonna power wash the red paint off, sand the rails, and hammer in a few loose screws. But I got a loose board and rail, I think it's split where the screw is, what do I do in this case?

Also I found a $20 door on closeout that fits the closet in my bathroom, since it was an open archway
No idea why you put a spare closet in the bathroom, and no it's not a linen closet, it's a full two sided walk in.

Door is actually nice than all the interior doors in the rooms lol. It's a nice six panel, solidcore door, while the rest of the house has just hollow wood. (We plan to get all 6 panel doors to match)
 
chaos

chaos

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Any of you guys ever done an addition? We're doing a 2 story addition to add in an in-law suite on the lower floor and a new master suite on the upper floor, with the idea of using the old master bedroom to create a hallway and another bedroom so each of the kids has their own room. We've got a pretty firm price limit and we've had informal conversations with a few builders/contractors who all said they could come in under our number. Looking around the internet there's a lot of checklists for what to ask etc and it all seems really sensible. A couple of the contractor are trying to talk us into going with their architect and folding the drawing costs in with the project. To me, this seems like a bad idea, we wouldn't be able to take our drawings and shop around for bids. Am I right in this or is the "full service" contracting thing a standard model now? Are there any pitfalls in these huge builds that I should be concerned about? Aside from stuff like vague contracts, lien releases, etc.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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chaos said:
Any of you guys ever done an addition? We're doing a 2 story addition to add in an in-law suite on the lower floor and a new master suite on the upper floor, with the idea of using the old master bedroom to create a hallway and another bedroom so each of the kids has their own room. We've got a pretty firm price limit and we've had informal conversations with a few builders/contractors who all said they could come in under our number. Looking around the internet there's a lot of checklists for what to ask etc and it all seems really sensible. A couple of the contractor are trying to talk us into going with their architect and folding the drawing costs in with the project. To me, this seems like a bad idea, we wouldn't be able to take our drawings and shop around for bids. Am I right in this or is the "full service" contracting thing a standard model now? Are there any pitfalls in these huge builds that I should be concerned about? Aside from stuff like vague contracts, lien releases, etc.
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Never ever ever ever ever ever ever ever use an architect for a job like this. If you're designing a professional space that will be open to the public and has to have substantial visual appeal, possibly maybe consider an architect. (Though probably not.) If you need utility like bedrooms and bathrooms, get a design/build firm to do it start to finish. Save money, and you don't have to deal with a petulant child bitch who wants to add things to inflate the cost.

Did you know the architect's fee is derived from the final cost of the project? What the hell would motivate them to come in under budget? Nothing.

You don't need an architect for this, you could draw this up yourself, and a good design/build contractor can work out the details.

Things to ask: how many permits do you HAVE to pull? Some you won't be able to get away with, but you might not have to pull as many as you think. Additionally, ground work for foundations/footings can make a huge difference in cost, and how well the addition stands up. Make sure your contractor uses a good ground work firm. And get options on windows and doors. I always recommend solid doors for interior bathrooms/bedrooms, and windows can change a price by thousands. Get good windows that are easy to clean and give adequate ventilation. Finally, make sure the ridge line of your addition ties in to the existing house well. Nothing like a shitty roof line to make the house look like you had a cheap, shitty tack-on addition.
 
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chaos

chaos

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Makes sense, but how do people generally do bids without having the drawings in hand? Or us that shot just business as usual for them?
 
P

Picasso3

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"Don't hire an architect, but do all the shit an architect would do."

If you're paying for an architect then you're right to want to shop around for bids, that's a big plus. I think it depends on their fee, some inhouse deal that helps translate may be minimal but hiring a firm for a bid package is another story.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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i'm am flushing my water heater, at least i'm trying. atm i'm trying to remove the anode rod and it is basically impossible.

i bought the correct nut 1 1/6th, i guess i might have to get that long tube to put in my socket drive to get more leverage, do i just buy a long pipe that fits? or is there a specifc tube really?

so far i've just been beating on the wrench with a rubber mallet to the point i'm wearing gloves cuz callus' might form.

just turned off water and put gas on pilot, but this rod is stuck!
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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chaos said:
Makes sense, but how do people generally do bids without having the drawings in hand? Or us that shot just business as usual for them?
Click to expand...

Do rough drawings yourself, tell the design/build people to work out the details. That's what they do. They need to come back with a solid design that meets your demands. Come up with rough dimensions and what you want (number of rooms, bathrooms, plumbing/electric requirements), and they'll do the rest.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Lanx said:
i'm am flushing my water heater, at least i'm trying. atm i'm trying to remove the anode rod and it is basically impossible.

i bought the correct nut 1 1/6th, i guess i might have to get that long tube to put in my socket drive to get more leverage, do i just buy a long pipe that fits? or is there a specifc tube really?

so far i've just been beating on the wrench with a rubber mallet to the point i'm wearing gloves cuz callus' might form.

just turned off water and put gas on pilot, but this rod is stuck!
Click to expand...

A cheater is just a piece of pipe that will fit over the end of your wrench to give you more leverage but they can be dangerous. Did you hose it down with WD-40 to start with? That will help to get rust or corrosion to break lose. What size ratchet are you using? If it's a 3/8" drive you don't want a very long cheater on it or you will break your ratchet. With a 1/2" drive breaker bar you can torque it pretty good but even a 1/2" ratchet isn't that hard to break if you put a 4 foot cheater on it. I actually sheared off a 3/4" drive extension earlier this year but that was from putting a 6 foot cheater on and jumping up and down on it. I have broken a 3/8" drive breaker bar with just a 2 foot cheater though.

You might try whacking it a few times with a steel hammer instead of the rubber one as well. The shock of it might help break the corrosion. If you have an impact wrench that would also be helpful.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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BrutulTM said:
A cheater is just a piece of pipe that will fit over the end of your wrench to give you more leverage but they can be dangerous. Did you hose it down with WD-40 to start with? That will help to get rust or corrosion to break lose. What size ratchet are you using? If it's a 3/8" drive you don't want a very long cheater on it or you will break your ratchet. With a 1/2" drive breaker bar you can torque it pretty good but even a 1/2" ratchet isn't that hard to break if you put a 4 foot cheater on it. I actually sheared off a 3/4" drive extension earlier this year but that was from putting a 6 foot cheater on and jumping up and down on it. I have broken a 3/8" drive breaker bar with just a 2 foot cheater though.

You might try whacking it a few times with a steel hammer instead of the rubber one as well. The shock of it might help break the corrosion. If you have an impact wrench that would also be helpful.
Click to expand...
oh yea i got that impact wrench, lemme try that.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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BrutulTM said:
A cheater is just a piece of pipe that will fit over the end of your wrench to give you more leverage but they can be dangerous. Did you hose it down with WD-40 to start with? That will help to get rust or corrosion to break lose. What size ratchet are you using? If it's a 3/8" drive you don't want a very long cheater on it or you will break your ratchet. With a 1/2" drive breaker bar you can torque it pretty good but even a 1/2" ratchet isn't that hard to break if you put a 4 foot cheater on it. I actually sheared off a 3/4" drive extension earlier this year but that was from putting a 6 foot cheater on and jumping up and down on it. I have broken a 3/8" drive breaker bar with just a 2 foot cheater though.

You might try whacking it a few times with a steel hammer instead of the rubber one as well. The shock of it might help break the corrosion. If you have an impact wrench that would also be helpful.
Click to expand...
Hell yeah, impact drill
PHOTO_20171017_233634.jpg


, Now I can drain it, I got panty hose at the end catching the sediment
 
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Xarpolis

Xarpolis

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I used to flush out my hot water heater every 3 months (quarterly). I did it the same time I would replace the whole house water filter, refill my water softener with salt and replace the air filter on my AC/Heater unit. Get in the habit of doing that shit, and it never becomes a problem. I'd also clean the filter on my old humidifier, if it was winter. The new one was a cheap replaceable honeycomb style filter, as opposed to a piece of scotch-brite on a wheel. My water was pretty good quality for being just city water. I took pride in my system. Every time I would replace the house filter, it was black as shit, and REALLY heavy. It wasn't heavy due to water, just how much rust it had collected from the lines. Pretty disgusting, really. But the water tasted pretty good, all things considered.
 
Lanx

Lanx

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Qhue said:
http://amzn.to/2lfwr1u Genius or Nightmare? I suppose with the advent of keyless internet connected locks and various security services it was only a matter of time.
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If you live in ny or an apt, it's amazing, b/c you can actually get your shit w/o it being stolen, or get that annoying yellow sticker.

However as a budding lock enthusiast (just a consumer, and i know the market) so far the 3 compatible locks are... in a sense disgusting.

two kwickset locks and a yale lock. These are bottom tier shit locks.

Looks like the amazon camera will be the hub
 
error

error

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Is there a good way to strip stain off cedar siding? The previous owner stained the cedar the color grey and I'd like to return it to natural if at all possible. I'm guessing it's probably easier to just replace it, but I'm not rich.
 
Adebisi

Adebisi

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Built a workbench in the garage last weekend. Today putting up french cleats on the wall to hang muh tools.

Got to build a jig so I could cut the french cleats with the circular saw.

You get pretty handy building the stuff you're going to use to build more stuff.
 
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