DIY Home Improvement Thread..

[dfitzo53]

Update for anyone who cares - the dishwasher works like a champ. Took two tries to get the hot water hose on tight enough to prevent leaks. I don't think I had enough Teflon tape on the first time.

The next day the bathroom faucet broke. The hot water handle just snapped right off in wifey's hand. She picked out a new bronze fixture at Home Depot and I installed it the next night. Good excuse to buy a couple new tools, like a basin wrench which was a life saver. The hardest part was getting the old fixture out. Took some WD-40, some elbow grease and a lot of patience. Putting the new one in was comparatively easy.

[LD0506]

Update for anyone who cares - the dishwasher works like a champ. Took two tries to get the hot water hose on tight enough to prevent leaks. I don't think I had enough Teflon tape on the first time.

The next day the bathroom faucet broke. The hot water handle just snapped right off in wifey's hand. She picked out a new bronze fixture at Home Depot and I installed it the next night. Good excuse to buy a couple new tools, like a basin wrench which was a life saver. The hardest part was getting the old fixture out. Took some WD-40, some elbow grease and a lot of patience. Putting the new one in was comparatively easy.

Woohoo! And you're on your way. This is how you get to be "handy", one job at a time, one tool at a time, looking for that next dose of satisfaction from "I did it! and I can handle that too!"

Just a sidebar on the sink fix, I've found that frequently getting the old one off IS the job, and faucets,etc., have a lot of wet/dry gunk, old soap, etc., gluing them in place. Nowadays plumbing is kinda fragile (PVC, etc) and you can't really torque it without courting disaster and more trips for parts. I've used a small, household steamer unit that cleans gunk, gently heats it up and wets it enough to act as a lubricant so that the old fittings come right apart.

[Koolblue13]

My gas stove is weak. It's actually pretty common here. I don't see any regulators to adjust either. I need more fire to cook my style properly.

Anything I can do?

[Park City Skins]

Update for anyone who cares - the dishwasher works like a champ. Took two tries to get the hot water hose on tight enough to prevent leaks. I don't think I had enough Teflon tape on the first time.

The next day the bathroom faucet broke. The hot water handle just snapped right off in wifey's hand. She picked out a new bronze fixture at Home Depot and I installed it the next night. Good excuse to buy a couple new tools, like a basin wrench which was a life saver. The hardest part was getting the old fixture out. Took some WD-40, some elbow grease and a lot of patience. Putting the new one in was comparatively easy.

[twa]

My gas stove is weak. It's actually pretty common here. I don't see any regulators to adjust either. I need more fire to cook my style properly.

Anything I can do?

change to a larger size orifice or drill it out a bit

[Park City Skins]

Sigh. Bad enough trying to repair things that people who think they know what they're doing have done. Now I have to fix stuff that someone who did know what they were doing did,(shortcut). Guy who previously owned this house is an electrician. I go to put in some new LED exterior lights and discover that there is no outlet box in the present ones.

[Koolblue13]

change to a larger size orifice or drill it out a bit

You mean the gas burners themselves?

[dfitzo53]

You mean the gas burners themselves?

Well let's hope he wasn't talking about you...

[Park City Skins]

Despite being against code,those lights look pretty darn cool when lit up. I'll be getting them up to code here soon though. That and replacing the porch light with something like the lights I just put up. Foundation work will start in a month or so. Budget wise,this is a relatively inexpensive fix. Once that is done and the roof bracing is redone,(looks like I'll have to do that too),we'll be able to start work on some interior stuff.

[Park City Skins]

So in between now and the time we raise the floor,we decide to get busy on a few landscaping projects,(while working on the exterior of the house too). These of course,quickly expanded as we thought long term and started to get things designed. We go out back to get some of that prepped as well,and beneath a small pile of river rock we wanted to get rid of we find an old diy pond underneath. Complete with a tarp as a liner. Instead of removing the tarp and backfilling it with dirt,one previous owner decided to dump a whole lot of river rock in to it. Sigh. Years of water collection and organic decay,(won't even think about what else might have been in there. It was a bachelor pad at one time. ),combined for quite the...er.......mess. Lord that stuff stunk. So my fiance' and I decided no to walk away but to attack the area. Yikes. Removed what had to be close to a thousand pounds of rock,scooped out the very stagnant water and drug out not one,but a couple of tarps,(one in very good shape. We'll keep that one). The whole time we're doing this,the area became an living insect museum. Several different kinds of spiders and beetles,ants,worms,centipedes,every fly in the valley,and one snake,(that one succeeded and making me jump,but I recovered and relocated the little guy). I swear the smell was around for days.
The other landscaping project is taking place out front. We're removing all the grass,grading the area,and putting in pavers,gravel,and a variety of plants and flowers that will be primarily indigenous to the area. I'll be taking up the poorly done diy paver border/walkway along the back side of the house,(needs to be taken up anyway. Hardly any sand and a some poorly compacted dirt that has buckled and is now causing some drainage towards the house),and using it in the front. We're going to convert the again,poorly done sprinkler system into a drip system in the front as well. Then I'll tackle the back and the floor. And the garage,and the planters and..........

[Bliz]

Looking for some advice on temperature balancing. My daughter's bedroom is noticeably warmer than the rest of the upstairs, by several degrees, even at night when you maybe wouldn't attribute it to just how much sunlight it gets. The run from the unit in the attic to her room is not particularly long. Of the 4 upstairs rooms, it's 2nd closest, but consistently the warmest in the summer. It's a newer house, built in 2001.

What I can do here? Will hiring someone to clean the vents be effective for this sort of problem?

Thanks.

[pointyfootball]

Looking for some advice on temperature balancing. My daughter's bedroom is noticeably warmer than the rest of the upstairs, by several degrees, even at night when you maybe wouldn't attribute it to just how much sunlight it gets. The run from the unit in the attic to her room is not particularly long. Of the 4 upstairs rooms, it's 2nd closest, but consistently the warmest in the summer. It's a newer house, built in 2001.

What I can do here? Will hiring someone to clean the vents be effective for this sort of problem?

Thanks.

I'm not an HVAC pro, but I wouldn't think dirty vents/lines would be the primary reason for significant temp differences. Is it also the coolest in the winter? Are the supply lines sheet metal or are they those flexi-tubes they lay down (maybe her line is not straight). Ductwork correct size? Insulation good on all exposed sides? Anything that generates heat that borders her walls?

If anything, I would hire an HVAC guy on the side to get him to come out and advise. Good pro could probably figure it out w/in an hour or so of exploring attic & house.

[Stew]

There are thermostatically controlled dampers that can be installed to re-route cooler air to your daughters room.. Her room is upstairs, on the sunny side of the house, probably on a corner of the house? There are a ton of companies that offer similer products. get multiple estimates if this is the way you go.

http://zonefirst.com/

Another option is to get an attic fan cut into your roof or gable if you do not have one. Attic fans are really a goo investiment into your home because it exchanges the air in your attic (depending on the unit) about 20 times an hour or so, dropping the temp in the upstairs considerably in the summer. The also help prevent mold by keeping air circulating in your attic while preventing condensation from building on beams. It is a cheaper alternative to Zoning, and it really is a worth while product to purchase. It will also help out your ac system by helping reduce temps and in turn taking a little stress off your unit.

If you have any questions let me know. I used to work HVAC for a number of years and I still do it on the side as a hobby. Im ripping out my gas furnace/AC this summer and putting in a duel fuel gas furnace/AC system in my own place.

[Bliz]

There are thermostatically controlled dampers that can be installed to re-route cooler air to your daughters room.. Her room is upstairs, on the sunny side of the house, probably on a corner of the house? There are a ton of companies that offer similer products. get multiple estimates if this is the way you go.

http://zonefirst.com/

Another option is to get an attic fan cut into your roof or gable if you do not have one. Attic fans are really a goo investiment into your home because it exchanges the air in your attic (depending on the unit) about 20 times an hour or so, dropping the temp in the upstairs considerably in the summer. The also help prevent mold by keeping air circulating in your attic while preventing condensation from building on beams. It is a cheaper alternative to Zoning, and it really is a worth while product to purchase. It will also help out your ac system by helping reduce temps and in turn taking a little stress off your unit.

If you have any questions let me know. I used to work HVAC for a number of years and I still do it on the side as a hobby. Im ripping out my gas furnace/AC this summer and putting in a duel fuel gas furnace/AC system in my own place.

Thanks man. Good info. And you're right. Upstairs, sunny side on the corner.

WHat would the cost of an attic fan install be (ballpark)?

[youngchew]

besides turning the water off, what else do I have to do to remove a toilet??? Wife and I will be putting new flooring in our downstairs half bath this weekend, and we have to remove the toilet and pedastal sink.