Home Improvement

Erronius · Feb 28, 2014

Vinen_sl said:
Speaking of cleaning drains. Anyone here have experience using a root killer to keep roots that have breached a sewage pipe at bay? Wife and I had a minor sewage backup we caught before it got bad this weekend. Had a plumber come and snake it out but we'd like to perform preventative maintenance for a few years until we decided to get a new line run.

Question necro, but I'm not sure if it really works or not. We have a greywater line that still gives us fucking grief, and after using a ton of rootkiller it alleviated it...a little bit...to the point that it was useable but it would still drain slow. Until the other day that is, when someone (not me) decided to wash some cat bed (blanket?) or whatever the fuck without vacuuming the fucking cat hair off first, so now the fucking washing machine backs up every time it drains and now you literally have to stand guard while doing laundry so you can stop/start the drain cycle before it overflows. Which I forgot about this morning so I just had the pleasure of having a"Why did you let it overflow?"discussion. I'll probably just have to bite the bullet and go rent a snake tomorrow.

I have no idea if the drain has collapsed, is plugged fully/partially, if it is tree roots or not...so maybe the metric fuckton of root killer I used (twice) does work but there is some other fucking issue...or i it is just roots then that shit is completely fucking worthless, but I'll find out when I snake that motherfucker I guess.

Julian The Apostate · Feb 28, 2014

How old are the current windows? I would say the majority of the noise in coming in through the window and frame. I would replace the window with a good vinyl replacement window and insulate/seal the hell out of it before I would even consider replacing drywall etc.

Vinen · Feb 28, 2014

Julian the Apostate_sl said:
How old are the current windows? I would say the majority of the noise in coming in through the window and frame. I would replace the window with a good vinyl replacement window and insulate/seal the hell out of it before I would even consider replacing drywall etc.

We got replacement windows (STC 44). I have been suspecting it's the frame... Not sure the installers did that great of a job.

Julian The Apostate · Feb 28, 2014

Vinen_sl said:
We got replacement windows (STC 44). I have been suspecting it's the frame... Not sure the installers did that great of a job.

Sometimes you can pop off a piece of trim and see if the cavity between the replacement window and original window frame(usually 1/4" each side, top and bottom)has been filled with insulation. Pretty easy fix if that's the case. I just wouldn't use some bullshit expanding foam to fill it as it might fuck up how your windows operate. Take a putty knife and cram in some fiberglass insulation. Not always possible though depending on what the old windows were and how the new ones were installed etc.

mkopec · Feb 28, 2014

I used expanding foam on my replacement windows I did at my old house just fine. Key is not to be an asshole and overfill the void. The foam is self expanding but not that much. It works better than fiberglass because when you squish fiberglass to fill that void you are also diminishing the value of the fiberglass as it does not work when compacted. also the expanding foam will fill the void completely.

Picasso3 · Feb 28, 2014

There's different foam for windows and doors

Julian The Apostate · Feb 28, 2014

Well if there is a low expanding foam made for that then go ahead and try it. I would still use fiberglass because I can't imagine trying to put foam into a 1/8"-1/4" gap without making a fucking mess. Either will work.

Erronius · Mar 1, 2014

In all my years doing construction, I don't think I ever saw anyone use expanding foam around windows. It was always lengths of fiberglass. Even in the places where they used industrial grade expanding foam, I can't remember anyone using expanding foam around the windows.

I know that homeowners use expanding foam, I just don't think that I've ever seen it done on the new work or construction side.

lurkingdirk · Mar 1, 2014

Erronius_sl said:
In all my years doing construction, I don't think I ever saw anyone use expanding foam around windows. It was always lengths of fiberglass. Even in the places where they used industrial grade expanding foam, I can't remember anyone using expanding foam around the windows.

I know that homeowners use expanding foam, I just don't think that I've ever seen it done on the new work or construction side.

There is foam that's just for windows and doors - it expands less, so the chance of pushing the window or door off square are reduced. I do know some construction folks who use it, but yeah. In all the years I worked in construction, it was always fiberglass.

I don't know about this newish spray foam insulation stuff that everyone who can is using now. That might be super cool in those gaps around windows.

Kaige · Mar 2, 2014

If you're going to replace the sheetrock, consider the insulation as well. Insulation will also help drown out some of the noise.

My company works on a lot of high-rise apartment buildings and some low-income housing. The walls these contractors make to separate units is sometimes just framing with a lot of fiberglass insulation, and they double-wall the sheetrock on each side. You'd be surprised how much sound that blocks.

As for around windows, I don't think I've ever seen anyone really use the expanding foam. I have seen caulk used pretty heavily, mostly on metal frames.

Vinen · Mar 2, 2014

Kaige_sl said:
If you're going to replace the sheetrock, consider the insulation as well. Insulation will also help drown out some of the noise.

My company works on a lot of high-rise apartment buildings and some low-income housing. The walls these contractors make to separate units is sometimes just framing with a lot of fiberglass insulation, and they double-wall the sheetrock on each side. You'd be surprised how much sound that blocks.

As for around windows, I don't think I've ever seen anyone really use the expanding foam. I have seen caulk used pretty heavily, mostly on metal frames.

Yeah, I have metal frames. Once spring rolls around going to look into either having a contractor come by and do it or I will myself. You know of any proper guides? Has anyone done this before? I can post a picture of my frame.

Intrinsic · Mar 2, 2014

Got the wax ring replaced and so far it looks like no leak. But it has hardly been long enough for me to be comfortable. My concern is that there is a little "play" in the toilet now and I'm scared to tighten it anymore and risk cracking the ceramic. Had no idea what # wax ring to buy so went with uhh... #3 I think it was. Maybe it'll flatten out over time? Just doesn't seem like a good idea to have that flange moving back and forth, even a little, whenever someone sits down.

lurkingdirk · Mar 2, 2014

Intrinsic_sl said:
Got the wax ring replaced and so far it looks like no leak. But it has hardly been long enough for me to be comfortable. My concern is that there is a little "play" in the toilet now and I'm scared to tighten it anymore and risk cracking the ceramic. Had no idea what # wax ring to buy so went with uhh... #3 I think it was. Maybe it'll flatten out over time? Just doesn't seem like a good idea to have that flange moving back and forth, even a little, whenever someone sits down.

There can be no play in a toilet. It has to not move whatsoever. Every toilet that has play will eventually leak.

Intrinsic · Mar 2, 2014

Okay thanks, will tackle that tomorrow while the city is apparently going to be frozen over and I can't do anything anyways. I'm assuming I need to try and squish the wax ring down some to make it sit more flush? Or just scrape it all back up / off and get a smaller thickness one?

lurkingdirk · Mar 2, 2014

Yeah, that wax ring needs to be squished. Your toilet needs to be solid enough so that a 380 pound haas can sit on it and not move it.

Eomer · Mar 3, 2014

You can buy "wobble wedges" or something similar to shim under the toilet to prevent it from moving around due to irregular flooring. Back in the day we used to use little pieces of lead, but now they're little plastic/rubber shims. You shouldn't be using the wax seal itself to try to level or stabilize the toilet. The only thing that seal should be doing is sealing. It's not supposed to provide structural support.

mkopec · Mar 3, 2014

At my old house I had to replace the entire flange around the cast iron pipe for one of the toilets. It was basically rusted through and would not keep the bolts tight anymore. And because of the floor I installed, I needed it raised up as well.

So what I did is bought a kit, new thicker metal flange with a rubber gasket thing that fit into the existing pipe. The problem was that the floor around it was in bad shape as well. So I went to the basement and reinforced the area around the flange with pieces of 2x4 screwed in from the basement around the pipe, and then it allowed the new flange piece to be screwed into the new 2x4 pieces from the bathroom.

It was perfect too because the new flange piece screwed on top of the old mess raised it up just enough because of my new tile floor in the bathroom, which consisted of 1/4 in backer board and then the tile. Then when I put the toilet on and tightened it, it was solid as a rock.

It was something like this, but the metal ring was cast iron and like 1/4 in thick...

Picasso3 · Mar 3, 2014

I heard caulking around the base of the toilet was becoming popular and maybe even in code. I have a toilet on tile that wobbles and I think I'll end up doing that instead of shimming

Falstaff · Mar 3, 2014

We caulked around the base of our toilet when we put it in... thought that was standard so we did it.

mkopec · Mar 3, 2014

Yeah, every toilet I ever seen is caulked around the base.

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