Home Improvement

This is an odd one. The only whole house shut off is on the city side of my meter and the person from public works I talked to said only the city could operate it and if it were to break while I operated it I could be held financially liable.

Does anyone know of a ballpark price to get a plumber to install on my side of the meter?

Anybody familiar with them? I swear they make a ringing noise when cars and trucks pass by.

Our old house in New England has a steep pitched metal roof and no gutters. Our front door is right under a roof valley, so it is unusable on rainy days and all of winter. The water running down the valley has rotted out our building sill, and we have to get it replaced. I don’t want the same thing to happen to the new sill! Installing gutters is not currently an option because the winter snow avalanches would just rip them away. I have read about snow guards, but have never seen any in real life. How well do they work, are they hard to install, will they work when 18” of snow falls on the roof? Will the snow guards slow down the avalanches enough to keep gutters in place? Alternatively, should we just build a porch to divert precipitation further from the foundation? Any advice is welcome!

Hey everyone!

We are renovating our atelier to be a temporary house while we completely strip and redo the main house for a few years.

One thing I am really struggling with is how to make a large 255cm x 65cm dirty concreate workbench into a kitchen countertop for 2 years or so.

We are based in Belgium, so wood prices are about 2x what they are in the US (250cm x 125cm OSB board is 50€ or so).

The height is already quite high for a countertop (for me and my girlfriend it is perfect) so adding a thick slab of butcher block or something would make it unusable.

I don't really know what my options are. Maybe a wood veneer? Some sort of cheap-ish tile?

We used some iron-on white to finish the edge of our custom sink cabinet made from some old office cupboards, maybe there are larger ones like that that would work for concrete?

We are trying to stay below 2cm thickness. Idealy 0.5cm or so, but that would be difficult.

If anyone has any ideas to throw out, we would be open to it! It is just temporary, so it doesn't have to last more than a few years

Thanks!

Edit: I realized I didn't have any good pictures of the bench itself since it always took a back seat, but here are a few bad ones to give an idea from in the beginning https://imgur.com/a/KgiqHrC

So the "fails to complete a cycle without erroring out" rate finally seems to have reached 100%, on the Samsung dishwasher that came with the house.

What do I need to know when picking a new one, and/or what models do y'all recommend?

I'll take recommendations about how to fix the current one too, I guess, but I already got advice from an appliance repair man, who basically said "it would need a new control board, I.E. ditch it." The error code it's giving is supposedly about insufficient water or water flow, but the water feed is completely fine, as far as I can tell.

The shower diverter in our spare bathroom doesn't really work. The faucet is also gross and I want to change it.

I took the faucet off the wall and the pipe doesn't match what I'm seeing in videos. My faucet doesn't quite match the ones at Home Depot.

Most instructions I'm seeing show the pipe coming out of the wall:

My pipe is recessed in the wall:

My faucet has a piece of pipe extending out of it:

All the faucets I see in stores or online don't have any pipe on them. They're expecting the pipe to be sticking out of the wall.

Do I need to find a piece of pipe to make an adapter? Or is there a type of faucet I should be looking at that has this connection?

Hi all,

When I installed this sliding door, I foolishly put it straight on the slab thinking exterior sealant would be sufficient to keep water out.

Unfortunately it’s not…

Every time it rains heavily I get water creeping underneath it or collecting in the track and then seeping through.

Is there any waterproofing fix you guys can think off, that doesn’t involve taking the door (frame) out, shaving some of the header above it off, adding a sub sill and proper flashing tape underneath the track?

Also, would some concrete crack filler be sufficient to prevent water creeping through the crack in the slab?

Many thanks in advance!

I think some electronics in the motor have gone kaput. The wall mounted button works, but I have 2 remotes and neither works. (I did change the battery on one as well as try to re-pair it with the motor, to no avail.)

My options are to replace the circuit board ($125) or buy a new motor unit ($199). The original motor is a Liftmaster and the lift is a belt; it's probably about 20 years old. The cost of a new motor unit is not hugely more than the circuit board and I would get additional features like a battery backup.

If I go for a new unit will it work with the existing belt? I'm looking at a basic 1/2hp Chamberlain. Thanks!

I had a skylight in a small barn I have on my property which had a branch go through one of the plastic bubble like skylights. I have been trying to find a replacement for it but can't find any that match.

It doesn't need to match the old one but everything I find is flat around the edges or pre-flashed. Anyone happen to know the name of what was previously on there where it has sides on it too?

Here is a picture of the skylight hole itself. The dimensions are
Inner - 21 inch 3/4 x 21 inch 3/4 Outer - 26 inch 1/8 x 26 inch 1/8

I found this after I posted, so I guess it is called Dome over Frame but can't seem to find any online.

I just got a DIY kit quote for solar and it's ~$18,000. That would mean a contractor installing is at least $25,000 if not more. That's a big chunk of change upfront.

My basement flooded about 2 years ago right when we moved in. Tore out the floors, carpet, and the old 60s wood panels that were tacked to the concrete. No that drainage has been fixed and cracks stopped growing, I want to start re-finishing properly. I need some guidance on the following:

1. Basement subfloor. We are looking at carpet for the main area and then laminate for the landing, bar, and office/bedroom. Should I just pull the trigger on Dricore basement system, or is there a better idea for this? I guess there is DMX 1 step and OSB, not opposed to this either.

2. Floating walls. This has to be done in Colorado because of our fuck you soil that expands and moves. Should I frame the floating walls first then subfloor or do a subfloor then floated walls and screw through the floor into concrete (recommended by dricore)

3. Sound proofing the ceiling as much as possible with double 5/8ths or is there some better options out there?

Thanks a ton

Geico is offering me an amazing deal on home insurance compared to my current insurance provider. They said I need a "4-point inspection" to get the policy. The guy I used for the purchase was through word-of-mouth, but he's not doing them anymore. I've asked around, but no one I know has any recommendations. How do I find one that will be fair and not rip me off?

Sorry if this an elementary question. I don't know anything about home ownership and am winging it as I go.

I live in Florida if that matters.

Edit: Solved thanks to @Mister@lemmy.ca

I'm trying to find a certain kind of bracket to mount a cage fan like this on my porch.

The fan is currently bolted into an overhead 2x4, but I'd like to be able to move the fan to several locations around my deck easily.

I'd like to use brackets similar to those used to hang most ceiling fans except more compact obviously. They are like a "U" or "C" shape and a disk or ball slides in and drops down in the bracket. This would be ideal so I can easily pick it up move the fan to a different bracket.

The photo below is the closest I've found, but still not quite it. These don't have a drop or latch of any kind that would keep the fan from falling out if it's mounted to and overhead beam.

Can anyone find this bracket. I know they exist.... But Ive googled for hours and don't know the right term to find them.

I found the ones in the photo by searching "keyhole bracket" .

Any other quick connect bracket recommendations are also excepted.

Thanks!

They are bigger than I was able to capture on camera beauty of water heater being in the way.

Hey Y'all

Bought a new home in New England with a stone basement or a rubble basement, whatever you want to call it. The floor is concrete. The home is on a hill, and well above the water table, but it's got a stump pump because stone basements can still weep if it's wet enough, I believe. I know I'll need to throw a dehumidifier in there and aim for 40%.

The home inspection didn't turn up asbestos or anything like that, but I want to know if there are health hazards I should consider. Thinking about doing a radon test, are there any other tests I should do? Or items I should consider?

How do i remove these anchors? Is there maybe a way to push them further in so i can just add filler on top? I decided to refinish this piece of furniture but found myself stumped already. The anchors are flush with the furniture, so i can't grab them from the top.

Anyone else have trouble with these GE dishwashing machines?

Mine cleans dishes well enough, but the gaskets leak easier than any other dishwasher I've ever had. I replaced the gaskets a few months ago, but if a little bit of debris builds up then it's leaking again. Also, the racks are badly corroded, but the machine is only maybe five years old. Anyway, it's just kind of funny that my aunt is coming over tomorrow and the last time she was here she noticed the dishwasher was leaking.

#rant #appliance #GE #dishwasher

@homeimprovement@lemmy.world

I have a few apparently cast-iron chimneys bedded in concrete. They have no hats on them. I’m not sure how the fireplaces were blocked off but it feels solid, as if they bricked them shut and plastered over it.

Isn’t this a bad idea? They don’t seem to be filling up with rainwater yet it rains quite heavily. I assume the fireplaces have been blocked off for over a decade at least. There must be quite an ecosystem of creepy crawlies going on in there.

So what if I want to open the fireplace back up and install a boiler, sewer vent, wood stove, kitchen range hood, or ventilation system? Can they be restored or must they just be treated as wasted dead space?