Home Improvement

Aarthi

05:15

Hey DIY! Ugh I know I've been totally absent forever, but I swear I still love you guys.

hugs everyone

Tim_P

05:50

I can't wait, in a few weeks I'm going to start building my workbench for the garage. I'm finally going to have a proper workspace!

Tester101

12:46

@TimP Sounds like a good project for the blog!

Steve Jackson

13:12

Man, I did the worst hack on my house last night. A squirrel gnawed a huge hole in my fascia. Slapped up some PT plywood and caulked the edge. Blegh.

I need to get all of my fascia replaced, I really don't want to do it (30 foot peak on my house). I wonder if a squirrel can eat through hardiplank.

Tim_P

15:01

@Tester101 I hadn't thought of that. Sounds like a good idea actually since I plan to do it with basic tools (Circular saw and drill) :)

Steve Jackson

@TimP Do it, Do it! Workbench is on my TODO list too, so I'll definitely read it to borrow some ideas :)

Tim_P

>:-D

Great, now I'm going to have to do a Google Sketchup :P

Tester101

15:33

@Aarthi were you gone so long, because you were working on your blog post?

JoeFish

19:44

Ahoy

BMitch

@JoeFish howdy mate

@Aarthi woah, it's the ghost of Chaos past

JoeFish

How's it going @BMitch?

BMitch

Productive, but not on DIY stuff

JoeFish

Well that's something.

I was just talking about putting in radiant floor heat

BMitch

well, since it looks like they might be doing some maintenance on the site, I'm going to kick this bad boy off now in case I get booted

Welcome to Project Update Thursday

JoeFish

19:58

I put down a laminate snap-together floor in my bedroom about a year ago, removing the hot water baseboard heaters to do so (they were in ridiculous places)

I never got around to putting the new ones in, and now I'm considering electric radiant instead

BMitch

Ridiculous as in inside the closet?

JoeFish

Yes, in fact

BMitch

hahah

JoeFish

There was a 3 footer inside the closet, a 4-footer on an interior wall, and a 5-footer on the exterior wall.

BMitch

sorry, that's terrible, don't mean to laugh at your pain

JoeFish

20:00

lol don't worry, I've done plenty of laughing at the previous owner :)

BMitch

at least your shoes would be toasty :)

JoeFish

And who doesn't love toasty shoes?

So there are 2 big reasons I'd like to do the radiant floor: first, propane is EXPENSIVE

We don't have NG out here, and I really don't want to put in an oil furnace.

The other issue is all 4 of the bedrooms in the house are on 1 zone.

And we only use 1 much of the time, so it's a lot of wasted energy.

BMitch

My entire town house is one zone, so I feel your pain

JoeFish

woof

So, I'm considering lifting the laminate floor and putting radiant underneath.

It shouldn't be too bad a job.

The room is only 14x12ish, which works out to around 2000 watts, from what I've read.

BMitch

The electric radiant that I've seen was specifically for small spaces (bathrooms) that you wouldn't leave on 24x7, supposedly because it wasn't very efficient

JoeFish

20:03

I guess it depends on your definition of efficient. 100% of the energy goes to making heat.

The question is whether it ends up using more energy overall than the baseboard hot water.

BMitch

yeah, should have said expensive

JoeFish

But the fact that it will zone the one room and I ccan leave the heat down in the other 3 would probably be a huge bonus.

BMitch

efficient considering that oil burned at a power plant, converted into electricity, transmitted over power lines, ... vs burning the oil at your home

is it possible to rebalanced the system so you aren't heating all the other rooms, or is it all in series?

JoeFish

It's all one ludicrously long series run.

The living room/kitchen circuit is even worse.

And don't get me started on the basement :)

So I could break it into more zones, but I've already got 5 zones at the boiler.

BMitch

you may be able to rebalance at the radiators themselves

JoeFish

20:08

Oh?

You have my attention :)

BMitch

The system in my family's home has covers that can open/close

the radiator gets warm, but since there's no air movement, the room will stay cooler

JoeFish

Ah, yes I already do that.

Have I mentioned the thermostat isn't in the bedroom?

It's in a small corner room halfway across the house.

On my list of things to move :P

BMitch

They never put those in the right place, but as long as it's not beside the front door or on an uninsulated wall, count yourself lucky

JoeFish

:)

BMitch

I've lost track of how many hotels made me miserable because the wall behind the thermostat was uninsulated and had a cold draft coming right through

JoeFish

20:11

I was spoiled by my last house. It was small, with electric 240V baseboard in every room on their own thermostats.

With electronic t-stats, I could keep my electric bills surprisingly low.

BMitch

With my GF, I'm sure it would be the reverse, her room in the basement would be turned up to "tropical"

JoeFish

hah!

I keep my heat at 66 when I'm home, and 62 when I'm not, and I went through well over 1000 gallons of propane last year.

At $3/gallon...

BMitch

all I can say is thank goodness for NG, but some of the places we've built recently could be heated pretty cheap

thick insulation in the walls, and they passed the blower test so no drafts

JoeFish

What's a blower test?

BMitch

they were also condos, so you had a couple walls/floors heated by your neighbor

JoeFish

20:15

I do have some drafts that I've been taking care of as I find them.

BMitch

blower test is when they put the fan in the door and see how well you've blocked all the drafts

you need that for various green certifications

JoeFish

Huh

BMitch

I'm doing Habitat for Humanity builds, so they like to be certified as "green"

Aaron

I do need some way of finding the leaks in my ducting

JoeFish

Gotcha

Aaron

20:16

I'm thinking some sort of lasers and goggled would be best

JoeFish

@Aaron: You need a leprechaun

BMitch

If you blow a bunch of air in the front door and the house doesn't maintain it's pressure (they have some level of allowed drafts) then it's back to the expanding foam for us

JoeFish

Speaking of drafts, I was also considering the stick-on reflective insulation for my garage doors.

The garage is right under the bedroom, which I'm sure contributes greatly to the cold floors.

Anyone use that stuff?

BMitch

I'm guessing it's cheaper than a new insulated door, but no idea if it's any better

Tester101

@BMitch I though a blower test brought the house under negative pressure, then looked for places where outside air was coming in?

JoeFish

20:19

Yeah it's about $60/door

I realized theother day that I can see daylight around the sides of the doors, too. Should probably fix that first ;)

BMitch

@Tester101 not sure which way they blow it, so you might be right. But I don't think they spend much time finding the source of the leak for the certification because it was only after we failed the 3rd time that they realized they forgot to close off some outside ducts (I think it was the dryer duct).

Tester101

@BMitch That's why I thought they would do negative pressure, the dampers on exterior ducting would be pushed shut by the higher pressure outside.

BMitch

@Aaron rent a smoke machine and hook it into the duct lines

Aaron

Perfect

Steven

if you have a fire alarm connected to a monitoring serivce, make sure to notify them.. this one time with dry ice...

BMitch

20:23

@Tester101 Makes sense to me, but I know we ran around for a few weeks spray foaming and caulking the tiniest cracks before they realized their mistake

Tester101

Smoke Test = One situation where a contractor blowing smoke up your orifice, is not a bad thing.

BMitch

haha

Tester101

My project this week, was trying to find ways to promote the Blog.

It now has a Google+ page

and a facebook page

JoeFish

Google + is still around?

BMitch

I +1'd that

Tester101

20:28

I'm also trying to get the Twitter account hooked up, so it actually tweets.

BMitch

:)

Steven

100 million registered users.. how many of those actually use the service is anyones guess

JoeFish

I registered, but it seemed pointless.

BMitch

mention the blog, and like magic @SteveJackson appears

JoeFish

hah

Steve Jackson

20:30

Ding!

BMitch

@JoeFish it all depends on who you follow. Pretty dead for family/friends, but I've been watching some interesting people in the technology space

I also like photography, and that's thriving

Tester101

One more Blog related comment. As always, we are looking for contributors. Take lots of pictures during your projects, and share with the rest of the class!

7

A: How can I contribute to the DIY community blog?

I'm glad you asked! Give the team some ideas The easiest way to contribute to the blog, is to simply send the team a topic you'd like to read about. You can submit blog post ideas to blog.diy.se [at] gmail.com Contribute anonymously If you'd like to write a blog entry, but don't want to be ha...

2

Steve Jackson

So I tried to reseat a toilet last weekend. 3 hours later I left it with a new ring and the same fudged up way it was.

Triple whammy. Flange under the floor, flange cracked, and an uneven tile floor.

Tester101

Flange under the floor?

Aaron

@SteveJackson I keep thinking of this one whenever I hear stories like that:

Tester101

20:36

You need one of these guys.

Steve Jackson

they didn't raise the flange when they tiled. Floor is slab, so my retrofit options were limited as well.

Tester101

Steve Jackson

@Aaron Exactly how I felt. Wasted a gorgeous Saturday afternoon.

@Tester101 I bought the PVC version at lowes and realized I didn't have anything to screw into when I pulled the toilet (just a 1/2" of backer board then slab).

I was on a time crunch as well, it's our only wheelchair accessible toilet.

Next time it leaks I'll send my father-in-law away and either do a new one or cement an extender in.

Unless there's another way - I know jack about plumbing.

Tester101

You need a hammer drill, threaded rod, and concrete anchor epoxy.

Steve Jackson

I saw this JTec thing you can screw into the existing flange in a video, but didn't see one at lowes. That might work too.

Threaded rod? As the toilet bolts?

Tester101

20:41

Threaded rod, so you can use a nut to hold the new flange down.

Steve Jackson

Aha

Tester101

I just like threaded rod. Threaded rod is to me, as subpanels are to @jaybazuzi.

2

JoeFish

hahaha

Steven

lol

Tester101

It's good for so many things.

Steve Jackson

20:44

I feel like I'm taking a SAT threaded rod : tester :: subpanel : ?

Tester101

I found out this week These things suck!

Steve Jackson

Tool review time!

For pocket screws, or what?

Steven

amazon reviews agree with ya

Tester101

It's like a portable drill press. but the thing does not slide along the tracks.

I spent 5 minutes thinking my drill bit was dull, or the steel I was drilling was really hard.

"What is this steel made of, Titanium!?"

Steve Jackson

Good stuff that titanium steel

Steven

20:57

sometimes when i'm at home depot I feel like im at a kitchen store with all these silly gadgets..

Aaron

What is that, a manual drill press?

JoeFish

A portable one

ChrisF

Looks like it, but not a very stable one

Tester101

@Aaron It's a useless waste of ~$20.00

Aaron

@Tester101 that's what return policies are for

Steve Jackson

21:01

I'm leaning towards redoing all my fascia in hardie board. However, that stuff is not cheap. Besides keeping out my new mortal enemy (Rocky the squirrel aka $300 down the drain), my understanding is that I won't have to paint again for at least 15 years.

I have a feeling I'm going to balk once I start looking at prices. Assuming I can keep the squirrels away from my new fascia in another way, is there a good exterior paint that will last a decade or so? I'm looking at MiraTec too, but wood isn't out of the question. I have 3 big gables that no one painted for awhile (which why I need to replace it) - I don't want to paint it either :)

Aaron

ok w-t-f

Tester101

@Aaron I just smashed it with the sledge.

Best $20.00 ever spent...

Aaron

I ordered a netgear wi-fi extender from amazon, it really didn't do what I wanted, and when I try to return it it sys "items that are classified as hazardous materials etc etc cannot be returned to amazon.com"

Steve Jackson

It's all that radiation man. It's like, bad for you and stuff.

JoeFish

Heh, I went on a business trip to California for a week a few years ago.

Tester101

21:04

@SteveJackson hardie board would be a great idea.

JoeFish

My wife called and asked, "Joe, where do we keep the sledgehammer."

6

Never, ever, a call you want to get while on a business trip.

Tester101

@JoeFish Not a call you ever want to get.

Aaron

@JoeFish, better than "Where's the fire extinguisher" ?

JoeFish

heh, well yes.

I came home to a less-than-half-finished bathroom remodel that she and her parents started.

Tester101

"we have home owners insurance, right?"

JoeFish

21:05

We had plaster walls with tile.

Steve Jackson

@Tester101 "Yeah, y'know I slipped and accidentally took out half a wall. Where's my check?"

@Joe, I think this story is extra hilarious because my wife waited 16 hours once for me to come home to kill a spider. "I didn't know where the fly swatter was"

JoeFish

hahahaha

Steve Jackson

Did you let her finish the remodel? I think I saw this episode on HGTV :)

JoeFish

In good news, we got almost 3" extra of bathroom width after taking out the 1" thick plaster plus 1/2" of tile :)

heh no. I was stuck finishing it myself.

I remember one load of plaster+lath+tile was around 1200lbs in my poor little Tacoma.

Going to the dump

Steve Jackson

Yikes

JoeFish

21:10

Yeah. I was quite proud of the little 2wd 4-banger :)

Aaron

21:23

Wow

so I called amazon and they were firm on not allowing me to return the netgear WN3000

So they gave me a credit for it, but they don't want it back

JoeFish

huh

Tester101

@Aaron does it have an internal Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator?

Amazon's return policy = the birth of eBay.

Aaron

21:55

@Tester101, that was the same thing I thought

@Tester101 I decided not to bring this line of questioning up to the amazon rep, as I don't think they would appreciate that particular line of humor

@Tester101, But that line of humor I did bring up in the serverfault SE chat room, and it was appreciated there

BMitch

Thank you for joining this weeks PUT!

ChrisF

Sorry I've not been around recently.

JoeFish

Time to head home. Night, Putters

BMitch

Project Update Thursday - 2 Feb 2012

2 hours ago, 2 hours 3 minutes total – 170 messages, 7 users, 2 stars

Bookmarked 13 secs ago by BMitch

@ChrisF no worries, I haven't either, but for me that's been a good thing

l8r @JoeFish

Project Update Thursday - 2 Feb 2012

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