Home Improvement

A5150Ylee

A5150Ylee

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Dandai said:
I’m way too excited about this new cordless drill and impact driver set I picked up today.

I’ve got a couple other tools I “need” but don’t necessarily need them to be new - clamps, drill press, router table, and a bench vise to name a few. Is it worth perusing craigslist or Facebook for used tools or is it usually a shit show?
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Craigslist worked great for me when I was putting together some good tools. I found a Dewalt compound miter saw for $80 where the guy just bought it for the trim in his condo, then sold it because he didn't have the room to keep it. Saved me over $200 and was like new. Found other deals on a wood plane, pressure washer, and a box of hand tools too. It's all about patients on finding the real deals, then moving fast when you spot them.
 
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Dandain

Dandain

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People buy tools they never use, family members receive tools they never use. Anyone selling tools probably doesn't want the tool, and they likely undervalue it. Anyone who uses tools takes care of them, and aren't often buying replacements. They are probably one of the best low use, low price buys on Craigslist.
 
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Lanx

Lanx

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BrutulTM said:
I'm assuming this is an attached garage? Is it actually heated? Or just getting some ambient heat from the house? If it's not actually heated, you're probably not going to get a lot of bang for your buck with insulation because there's just not that much heat to hold in in the first place.

Attic insulation is the shit though. My brother was living in his unfinished house last fall and hadn't put in a furnace aside from a wood stove in the basement and hadn't insulated the attic yet when we had a cold snap. This is an insulated concrete form house so it's super well insulated aside from the roof. He was starting a fire before he went to bed and then getting up at 2AM to start another one and it would still be down to 45 degrees by morning. The day we put the attic insulation in (20 inches of blown in), he set a fire in the evening, didn't bother getting up at 2, and it was 70 degrees in the house by morning even though it was still sub-zero outside. It's crazy how much difference that insulation made.
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Attached and ambient heat I guess, there are no vents, but it's so much more comfortable now getting in the car.
 
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Picasso3

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Per the board a fridge would have the c tab intact. Is there any way to get this to fridge status? Its a board in a chest freezer

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Archeron

Archdruid Archeron

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A couple of years ago, I renovated a house in the countryside of northern England for my ex-wife and daughter to live in. I thought I would share a few shots from the downstairs work with you lot.
IMG_1500.jpg


Lounge (Living Room) was shit hole when she moved in
IMG_1354.jpg


so I pulled up the brown carpet, the cheap/damaged flooring, and restored the original floorboards, only to find 1950's carpet glue. Note the original 1890s style white paint around the edge of the room painted to match the base boards:
IMG_1388.jpg


After some fun with a standing belt sander, edging tool, and hand sanding around the radiators and edges, I used a medium oil to oil finish then water seal (using some Danish product that I can't find the link for), and here was the result:
IMG_1463.jpg


Final shot is of the lounge at the 80% mark. I still hadn't finished the high gloss on the door to the hall, the revised satin metal plug plates (sockets), but you get the idea as she had already moved her shit in:
IMG_1653.jpg


It was a hugely fun project: I did flooring, tiling, crown moulding restoration, painting, electrical, plumbing, gardening, brickwork, and a bit of carpentry all by hand on a tight budget. I figure it added 10% to the value of the home given how poor the curb appeal was when it was purchased.
 
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Adebisi

Adebisi

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I just bought a new dishwasher to replace the broke ass 12-year old one we had. Installed it, started it up for a test run, no leaks, drains fine. Only thing is that the cycles are all weird. It'll turn on the sprayers for a few seconds then turn off. Then on for a few seconds, then off. A few minutes of these pulses it starts going.

Is this some new dishwasher energy saving feature? Is that why the cycles are so fucking long? Or did I fuck this thing up.
 
alavaz

alavaz

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I was replacing capacitors on my fridge board for a couple years. It would blow one every 3-5 months and it apparently was a recall thing but i was given the fridge for free quite a while after the warranty ran up. It was cheap to just desolder and solder a new one and I got pretty good at it but on Black Friday off all days I managed to buy a new one (that fixed the blown capacitor problem mine had) for 65 bucks.

If you take a look at any of the capacitors and the top is all bubbled up, they're probably bad.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Adebisi said:
I just bought a new dishwasher to replace the broke ass 12-year old one we had. Installed it, started it up for a test run, no leaks, drains fine. Only thing is that the cycles are all weird. It'll turn on the sprayers for a few seconds then turn off. Then on for a few seconds, then off. A few minutes of these pulses it starts going.

Is this some new dishwasher energy saving feature? Is that why the cycles are so fucking long? Or did I fuck this thing up.
Click to expand...

It's a newish thing. Get the dishes wet, then let them sit for a bit, then keep them wet, then go whole hog on washing. It's a short soaking type cycle built into the washing cycle. It's a good thing.

I have a Bosch dish washer that I love. However, recently it has stopped drying things as well. Can't find any filter or air exchange anything to clean or swap, anyone have any ideas?
 
alavaz

alavaz

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Out of rinse aid? Modem dishwashers all need rinse aid (jet dry) to dry well these days.
 
lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Heating element seems fine, and there is rinse aid in it. It's a mystery.

So on another topic, my breaker box is full. When this house was built they put a ton of outlets, and every room has a breaker or two of its own, not to mention the four outlets in the kitchen are all their own breaker. I need more as I'm reorganizing the kitchen, so I'm thinking of just running a sub-panel right next to the main panel. While I've done a lot of electric, I've never done this. I have questions.

Should I pull 200 amps to the sub panel, too?
Is it okay to add another 20 space box to what I've already got?
Are there any tricks I should know?
 
Lanx

Lanx

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My sunroom I guess is an addition, 10 years ago, I rarely go, cuz it's colder than the rest of the house. This time I went wo slippers and felt a draft from the baseboards.
PHOTO_20180101_132536.jpg


Google says many ppl don't caulk baseboards cuz if settling. Well fuck that, the left is where I started, and how huge the Gap is. There are some spots where I see ice. I thought I got everything, and the biggest draft I felt was from my baseboards heater, I removed it and there was like nearly inch wide gaps.

Now the damn heater actually works well to heat the room. Used a tube and half.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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lurkingdirk said:
Heating element seems fine, and there is rinse aid in it. It's a mystery.

So on another topic, my breaker box is full. When this house was built they put a ton of outlets, and every room has a breaker or two of its own, not to mention the four outlets in the kitchen are all their own breaker. I need more as I'm reorganizing the kitchen, so I'm thinking of just running a sub-panel right next to the main panel. While I've done a lot of electric, I've never done this. I have questions.

Should I pull 200 amps to the sub panel, too?
Is it okay to add another 20 space box to what I've already got?
Are there any tricks I should know?
Click to expand...

20 more circuits? What in the hell are you doing in the kitchen that would make you want to add 20 circuits? Especially since it sounds like your house is already wired very conservatively? You don't need a breaker for every outlet in the kitchen unless you're trying to use a microwave, waffle iron, electric griddle, and a coffee pot all at the same time. If you're just adding a couple outlets I'd just chain them off of one of your existing ones and keep in mind that if you're using two high current appliances at once (doesn't happen that often) make sure they're not plugged into the two outlets on the same breaker. 4 circuits running into your kitchen is already a lot.

If you just need a couple more circuits I would just swap a couple of your breakers with tandem breakers.

p_SCW_278_08.jpg
 
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lurkingdirk

lurkingdirk

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Tandem circuits is a good idea for now. It isn't just the kitchen I have left to do. I have two bathrooms to go, all the outlets are on one breaker for those two bathrooms, and I want to add under-floor heating to both of them, so there are a few more. Additionally, I need to add a few outlets to my garage. There are almost no outlets in there now, and I am often frustrated by that.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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You can definitely add a subpanel, how much work it will be sort of depends on your current panel. Does it have extra large lugs where you could run some big wire to the second panel? If not you will probably have to get some kind of a junction box for your incoming power that you could run both panels off of. If it does have extra lugs then it should be pretty easy to just jumper over to the new panel with the same size wire you have feeding the current panel and just go from there. People do double up in the main lugs or even run a 50 amp breaker over to the sub panel but if you're going to be running that much shit out of it then 50 amps might not be enough and jamming 2 big wires into those lugs is pretty cheesy.

If you are going to pull permits and get inspections on any of these renovations you might regret doing it yourself.
 
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Picasso3

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I doubt a junction box prior to the main would be to code and since you'll likely want the utility company to pull the meter they'll require an inspection. I think youd have to use a new meter base with double taps to go to each box.

I ran a 60 amp sub panel to my workshop and its working out well, free to add circuits to my hearts content, having a panel exposed is no problem, and 6 gauge wire is workable.

Adding a second panel isn't hard except dealing with heavy gauge wire can be brutal and there are probably a ton of inadvertent code violations you can make, but you wouldn't have to get any inspection done.

If your shit is old and small id pay someone and swap it all out for a 40 slot and have a clean install and upgrade to arc fault breakers etc. Depending on space left there put a sub panel in the garage and as long as you don't weld in your hot tub you'll be fine.

I get triggered hard by multiple sub panels in a pile.
 
BrutulTM

BrutulTM

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Yeah, I live in the country and nobody cares if I burn my house down so I can do whatever I want. I have a subpanel in my house and I just used 3 split bolts in a plastic box as the junction. I'm sure that's not something any inspector would approve of though. We do have a few boxes like this around the ranch that seem more legit, but I don't know what the code would say about them.

20180102_172438.jpg
 
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