The Home Improvement Thread

tx_shooter

It is not a war crime the first time.
Staff member
Why does the guy with no children have to install cabinet magnets?
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Because the Sammich Maker has a cat that likes to slam cabinet doors at 2am. The cat likes to open drawers and empty them (clothes, bathroom drawers full of q-tips / makeup pads) and then make a massive mess.
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Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
Installed a complete Ring alarm system over the weekend. Its got the Doorbell Pro, 4 outdoor plus cameras with solar power, all gutter mounted, 1 outdoor with lights camera with extra battery and solar power, 2 stationary indoor cameras for the garage, one tilt & pan camera (typically its privacy screen is covering it but its in the living room so if we go on vacation we can enable it), 2 motion sensors, contact sensors on main and 3rd bay garage doors, the base alarm, the retro alarm kit so it ties in with existing contact sensors in windows and doors, 2 chimes, z-wave extender, and I have it connected to my Chamberlain My-Q wifi garage door openers and a KwikSet smart lock. I do plan to add 2 more exterior cameras and another smart lock for the main entry door. The one I wanted was out of stock plus its $$ I need to save up a few more $ and hope it goes on sale during the next Prime Days or maybe at the Home Despot. But so far I am very happy with the system. Its tied into Alexa, I can see the cameras on any of the Echo Shows in the house.

We had Vivent and I have never hated a company more.. today they made the cancelation process as difficult as possible... it took 4 calls... I had to ask the woman if she was smarter than a 4 year old because even my 4 year old grand-daughter knows when I say No I mean no. I give the agent credit though, she never cracked, she held her ground... actually they sent me a survey to complete afterwards. The final question was the option to say anything to your customer service rep who "helped". I wrote that she needs to find a better job. She was better than that company and she knows it. She should go help people. LOL
 

balakay

BabyMax
More issues with our plumbing. Same issue we had earlier this year. Had a different plumber out to check things out yesterday. He was souch better to work with. Several smaller problems going on currently contributing to the backup. But the cast iron pipes are nearly 50 years old and the camera shows that they're damn near nonexistent in some areas. Looks like we're going to replumbing the entire house and all the way to the street to the tune of around $40k. And we have to move out for 2 weeks while the work is being done. Luckily the only thing it's affecting at the moment is the washing machine. But my MIL and SIL are both 2 miles away so we can go over there and do laundry until we can get the pipe project underway. Would have preferred to wait until spring but looks like that's not going to be an option. Oh the joys of homeownership.
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
HUGE balls!
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Of course... just saw Ring announced a new 4K doorbell pro... fuckers. lol
Return yours and get the upgraded one. Google is finally coming out with 4K cameras and I'm going to get one to upgrade my gate camera (most heavily used one).
 

PSU Taco85

Well-Known Member
More issues with our plumbing. Same issue we had earlier this year. Had a different plumber out to check things out yesterday. He was souch better to work with. Several smaller problems going on currently contributing to the backup. But the cast iron pipes are nearly 50 years old and the camera shows that they're damn near nonexistent in some areas. Looks like we're going to replumbing the entire house and all the way to the street to the tune of around $40k. And we have to move out for 2 weeks while the work is being done. Luckily the only thing it's affecting at the moment is the washing machine. But my MIL and SIL are both 2 miles away so we can go over there and do laundry until we can get the pipe project underway. Would have preferred to wait until spring but looks like that's not going to be an option. Oh the joys of homeownership.

40k, wtf. Probably a few thousand in material at most. Why not just DIY, rent an excavator and replace out to the street one weekend and do the rest a little at a time.
 

tx_shooter

It is not a war crime the first time.
Staff member
40k, wtf. Probably a few thousand in material at most. Why not just DIY, rent an excavator and replace out to the street one weekend and do the rest a little at a time.
Have you seen his luck with this house?
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
I'd take the shit you want out of the house and burn that fucker... then have tx_shooter delete this post. ;)
 

tx_shooter

It is not a war crime the first time.
Staff member
I'd take the shit you want out of the house and burn that fucker... then have tx_shooter delete this post. ;)
We both know it has been years since I was a proper practicing IT guy. I am shit on backups now.
 

balakay

BabyMax
40k, wtf. Probably a few thousand in material at most. Why not just DIY, rent an excavator and replace out to the street one weekend and do the rest a little at a time.
The material is the cheap part. It's the tunneling under the house that's expensive. The house to the street is about $6500. But under the house is all hand digging at $500/ft.
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
cough cough arson cough cough lol
 

PSU Taco85

Well-Known Member
Have you seen his luck with this house?
you are right, he could have had Tom Hanks stop by and made a money pit 2 sequel as a go fund me for the repairs
The material is the cheap part. It's the tunneling under the house that's expensive. The house to the street is about $6500. But under the house is all hand digging at $500/ft.
Damn, you know I forgot you did not have a basement so that makes sense. I would not want to be crawling under there hand digging that BS either. I hate paying anyone for anything I can do myself so I am way out of touch on labor costs for house repairs of any kind lol
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
Talk to me about driveway expansion joints filler. So the house was built and they used wood, its rotted away and in some areas there is a 8" or more gap under there. My plan was to use sand to backfill that up to a certain point. I was looking at some sort of concrete grout but damn.... I don't want to take out another mortgage to pay for it. That stuff was not cheap! Second thought was just to go back to wood, get some 1x4x12 pressure treated and hammer it in place. What says TOR?
 

tex

That's Mr Asshole to you
I don't know enough about that stuff to be of much help. I have seen some kind of caulk looking stuff to fill those gaps. No idea on price or how good it is.
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
I saw a caulk type stuff and then a rubber seal of sorts... but damn it would get $$ fast. I was thinking I would just go back to the wood, get some pressure treated stuff and call it good. Maybe coat it in some sort of water seal? I seem to recall @Taco Loco had some ideas. But that was years ago when the problem was not out of hand and I wasn't really looking to fix it that hard. lol
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
I saw a caulk type stuff and then a rubber seal of sorts... but damn it would get $$ fast. I was thinking I would just go back to the wood, get some pressure treated stuff and call it good. Maybe coat it in some sort of water seal? I seem to recall @Taco Loco had some ideas. But that was years ago when the problem was not out of hand and I wasn't really looking to fix it that hard. lol
Clean out the joint as best you can, then stuff a backer rod in so it'll save a ton of caulk: Sika 3/4 in. x 20 ft. Closed Cell Backer Rod, Expansion Joint Polyethylene Foam 108130 - The Home Depot

Then use this Sika self leveling caulk: Sika 10.1 fl. oz. Sikaflex Self-Leveling Horizontal Joint Elastic Polyurethane Sealant in Gray 7116070 - The Home Depot

There is no shortcut for this fix unfortunately. This is the longest lasting method but you'll have to redo in ~10 years again or sooner in high traffic areas.
 
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