Home-owners...What are your current projects? (1 Viewer)

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Disconnected the basement laundry utility sink to paint.

This has caused a dramatic drop in hot water pressure throughout the entire house. I dont know why or how, as it makes no sense to me but that is 100% the root cause.

I know this because I observed it immediately after disconnecting the sink but even with that fact, I still assumed that was crazy and pointed the finger at my 20 year old water heater being the issue, and it was juts a coincident that when i disconnected the utility the hot water pressure dropped.

Replaced the water heater, still low pressure at all fixtures.

Ive ran a new 3/4" copper line beside the old pipe so when Im ready to cut the old and replace the new it will all be ready.


That project is on pause because......my gas furnace started acting up and while cleaning the primary heat exchanger I broke the igniter.

Last week the water company told me they're not reimbursing me for the front water main being excavated (because they told me I had a leak, that I didn't have)



Took off today so I can fix my furnace if I can source the part locally. To say that Im overwhelmed would be an understatement.

 

[Fat Nick]

@STEADYMOBBIN 22 - I used to think Electrical was intimidating to work on...but Plumbing is the real pain. My kids clogged the toilet upstairs last week. They use way too much paper. I shut off the valve until I could plunge it (happened just before I left to for work). Got home, plunged it and turned the water back on. 2 days later, we get a leak below where that bathroom is in our newly renovated entry way...I thought it was a frozen pipe as that area has had issues in the past with freezing (not bursting though) and it was COLD. Ripped out a few feet of sheet-rock (double-layer in the garage too) to check. Nope. Not the pipe I thought. It was leaking from the shut-off from the toilet...So I went to the basement to turn off the supply to that bathroom so I could put on a new shut-off by the toilet. The knob on the shut-off broke off and now I had a drip in the basement. Had to shut off at the main (well water), replace the bathroom shut-off in the basement, then replace the toilet shut-off...Turned the water back on, and now the water pressure in our master was low (totally different part of the house). Removed the valves and screens/aerators from the fixtures and cleaned them, and now things are back to normal. HOURS of work all because my 6 year old uses handfulls of toilet paper.

Plumbing makes ZERO sense...it should. It's simple. Water goes through the house to the places where it can get out...but yet somehow working in the guest bath impacts the master. Kind of like your sink/hot water pressure thing. Zero sense.

 

[belljr]

@STEADYMOBBIN 22 - I used to think Electrical was intimidating to work on...but Plumbing is the real pain. My kids clogged the toilet upstairs last week. They use way too much paper. I shut off the valve until I could plunge it (happened just before I left to for work). Got home, plunged it and turned the water back on. 2 days later, we get a leak below where that bathroom is in our newly renovated entry way...I thought it was a frozen pipe as that area has had issues in the past with freezing (not bursting though) and it was COLD. Ripped out a few feet of sheet-rock (double-layer in the garage too) to check. Nope. Not the pipe I thought. It was leaking from the shut-off from the toilet...So I went to the basement to turn off the supply to that bathroom so I could put on a new shut-off by the toilet. The knob on the shut-off broke off and now I had a drip in the basement. Had to shut off at the main (well water), replace the bathroom shut-off in the basement, then replace the toilet shut-off...Turned the water back on, and now the water pressure in our master was low (totally different part of the house). Removed the valves and screens/aerators from the fixtures and cleaned them, and now things are back to normal. HOURS of work all because my 6 year old uses handfulls of toilet paper.

Plumbing makes ZERO sense...it should. It's simple. Water goes through the house to the places where it can get out...but yet somehow working in the guest bath impacts the master. Kind of like your sink/hot water pressure thing. Zero sense.

its all about proper venting

 

[Fat Nick]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

 

[Fat Nick]

@STEADYMOBBIN 22 - I used to think Electrical was intimidating to work on...but Plumbing is the real pain. My kids clogged the toilet upstairs last week. They use way too much paper. I shut off the valve until I could plunge it (happened just before I left to for work). Got home, plunged it and turned the water back on. 2 days later, we get a leak below where that bathroom is in our newly renovated entry way...I thought it was a frozen pipe as that area has had issues in the past with freezing (not bursting though) and it was COLD. Ripped out a few feet of sheet-rock (double-layer in the garage too) to check. Nope. Not the pipe I thought. It was leaking from the shut-off from the toilet...So I went to the basement to turn off the supply to that bathroom so I could put on a new shut-off by the toilet. The knob on the shut-off broke off and now I had a drip in the basement. Had to shut off at the main (well water), replace the bathroom shut-off in the basement, then replace the toilet shut-off...Turned the water back on, and now the water pressure in our master was low (totally different part of the house). Removed the valves and screens/aerators from the fixtures and cleaned them, and now things are back to normal. HOURS of work all because my 6 year old uses handfulls of toilet paper.

Plumbing makes ZERO sense...it should. It's simple. Water goes through the house to the places where it can get out...but yet somehow working in the guest bath impacts the master. Kind of like your sink/hot water pressure thing. Zero sense.

its all about proper venting

Doesn't venting just impact the drainage though? My issues are always with the supply lines and with debris and crap clogging up my valves/aerators.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

@STEADYMOBBIN 22 - I used to think Electrical was intimidating to work on...but Plumbing is the real pain. My kids clogged the toilet upstairs last week. They use way too much paper. I shut off the valve until I could plunge it (happened just before I left to for work). Got home, plunged it and turned the water back on. 2 days later, we get a leak below where that bathroom is in our newly renovated entry way...I thought it was a frozen pipe as that area has had issues in the past with freezing (not bursting though) and it was COLD. Ripped out a few feet of sheet-rock (double-layer in the garage too) to check. Nope. Not the pipe I thought. It was leaking from the shut-off from the toilet...So I went to the basement to turn off the supply to that bathroom so I could put on a new shut-off by the toilet. The knob on the shut-off broke off and now I had a drip in the basement. Had to shut off at the main (well water), replace the bathroom shut-off in the basement, then replace the toilet shut-off...Turned the water back on, and now the water pressure in our master was low (totally different part of the house). Removed the valves and screens/aerators from the fixtures and cleaned them, and now things are back to normal. HOURS of work all because my 6 year old uses handfulls of toilet paper.

Plumbing makes ZERO sense...it should. It's simple. Water goes through the house to the places where it can get out...but yet somehow working in the guest bath impacts the master. Kind of like your sink/hot water pressure thing. Zero sense.

Water is the worst. You got me thinking about the water valves- I checked the aerators (and found some small bits of debris) but I did NOT check the shutoffs below the fixtures. I’ll do that at one of them when I get home. Still don’t think that’s it but I’m getting desperate.

Used to do emergency construction- water causes far more damage than fires.

 

[Fat Nick]

@STEADYMOBBIN 22 - I used to think Electrical was intimidating to work on...but Plumbing is the real pain. My kids clogged the toilet upstairs last week. They use way too much paper. I shut off the valve until I could plunge it (happened just before I left to for work). Got home, plunged it and turned the water back on. 2 days later, we get a leak below where that bathroom is in our newly renovated entry way...I thought it was a frozen pipe as that area has had issues in the past with freezing (not bursting though) and it was COLD. Ripped out a few feet of sheet-rock (double-layer in the garage too) to check. Nope. Not the pipe I thought. It was leaking from the shut-off from the toilet...So I went to the basement to turn off the supply to that bathroom so I could put on a new shut-off by the toilet. The knob on the shut-off broke off and now I had a drip in the basement. Had to shut off at the main (well water), replace the bathroom shut-off in the basement, then replace the toilet shut-off...Turned the water back on, and now the water pressure in our master was low (totally different part of the house). Removed the valves and screens/aerators from the fixtures and cleaned them, and now things are back to normal. HOURS of work all because my 6 year old uses handfulls of toilet paper.

Plumbing makes ZERO sense...it should. It's simple. Water goes through the house to the places where it can get out...but yet somehow working in the guest bath impacts the master. Kind of like your sink/hot water pressure thing. Zero sense.

Water is the worst. You got me thinking about the water valves- I checked the aerators (and found some small bits of debris) but I did NOT check the shutoffs below the fixtures. I’ll do that at one of them when I get home. Still don’t think that’s it but I’m getting desperate.

Used to do emergency construction- water causes far more damage than fires.

I get little bits of debris in my fixtures a lot when I have to shut the main off. I've never totally figured out where it's from. We're on well water. I have a particle filter just before the softener that catches anything coming out of the well/pressure tank, so it has to be internal to the lines somehow. When we renovated our master bath, I had so much crap that I put another in-line particulate filter on the washing machine because it clogged up really really bad and was a pain to clean it out.

I'll get little bits of stuff that actually lodge in faucet cartridges sometimes. Sometimes just turning the faucets on and off a few times helps...sometimes I have to actually pull the cartridge and clean them manually. Needless to say I only cut off my water when I absolutely have to.

If I was building a house from scratch, I'd do home-runs for every fixture to a manifold like they do with Pex in the newer houses. It's such a pain having old shut-offs in random places in our basement drop-ceiling and having multiple things on some runs.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

If I was building a house from scratch, I'd do home-runs for every fixture to a manifold like they do with Pex in the newer houses. It's such a pain having old shut-offs in random places in our basement drop-ceiling and having multiple things on some runs.

Yes….Yes…YES!


/BackToSchoolDangerfield


I’m actually doing that now with the new line I’m running. Going forward I’ll be able to turn off different sections of the house all from one location.

 

[-OZ-]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

Good call. I’ll need to check on the chipper. What do you do for the stumps?

 

[Dezbelief]

I dig down a foot or two around the stump and chainsaw it below ground level. I will use the water hose to rinse off the stump and any roots I'm going to cut. Wait for it to dry.

 

[Fat Nick]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

Good call. I’ll need to check on the chipper. What do you do for the stumps?

Stump Grinder for the bigger ones or ones I need to take out ASAP. ~$300 for 4 hours from Home Depot. If they're decent sized, get the one that self-articulates. Having to move one by hand would be a real pain because if you go too aggressive, they stall out.

You were mentioning the ones you need are pines - if they're less than 15 feet or so you can probably pull the stumps out if you wait a season or two after you cut. Search YouTube for "Removing tree stumps with hi-lift jack" and the first or second one that comes up is actually me and my neighbor taking out some white pine stumps.

I'm big on the Home Depot rentals when equipment is involved. Found them to be competitively priced and they have pretty nice stuff. In many cases, I can do some pretty labor-intensive jobs for 1/4 or 1/3 the cost to hire someone.

**ETA - on the stumps, if you are going to do the French drain yourself and rent a backhoe, just use that for the stumps. Pines typically come up pretty easily unless they're really really big.

 

[mr. furley]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

Good call. I’ll need to check on the chipper. What do you do for the stumps?

Stump Grinder for the bigger ones or ones I need to take out ASAP.

call a service for this.

$25 to grind a stump out around here. takes a few minutes and they're on their way.

learned this after breaking myself trying to dig a huge stump out for way too long. had the guy come back out and grind it instead. awesome machine. works very well.

have since had the same guy take down another 5 trees and had the stumps ground out. $25 every time.

 

[Dezbelief]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

Good call. I’ll need to check on the chipper. What do you do for the stumps?

Stump Grinder for the bigger ones or ones I need to take out ASAP.

call a service for this.

$25 to grind a stump out around here. takes a few minutes and they're on their way.

learned this after breaking myself trying to dig a huge stump out for way too long. had the guy come back out and grind it instead. awesome machine. works very well.

have since had the same guy take down another 5 trees and had the stumps ground out. $25 every time.

$25 is a great price.

 

[Fat Nick]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

Good call. I’ll need to check on the chipper. What do you do for the stumps?

Stump Grinder for the bigger ones or ones I need to take out ASAP.

call a service for this.

$25 to grind a stump out around here. takes a few minutes and they're on their way.

learned this after breaking myself trying to dig a huge stump out for way too long. had the guy come back out and grind it instead. awesome machine. works very well.

have since had the same guy take down another 5 trees and had the stumps ground out. $25 every time.

If you can get a stump ground for $25, pay it and never think about doing it again in your life. I don't think anybody would even bring equipment to our house for $25, much less actually do work.

I've been seeing prices closer to what @-OZ- quoted originally - closer to $1,000 per tree to cut it and remove it all if they're sizeable. I had my super-cheap landscaper take out a root ball of a tree I already cut using his tractor (before I had access to my neighbor's) about 6 years ago and that was $300.

 

[Osaurus]

I’ve replaced 3 sinks and faucets. The catch/drain on one is squirrelly with the flange not sealing off the bottom of the sink so I need to replace all of it.

 

[mr. furley]

We need to do some landscaping, tree removal and install a new fence. I got a few quotes including once that do everything. The best fence value was not the do-it-all company. So we’re paying $8000 for the fence, and are looking at $5,000 for tree removal (6 large pine trees) and about $5000 for two French drains.
I won’t remove the trees ourselves although it’s tempting. I have removed multiple smaller trees but those are huge. I’ll shop around.

But the French drains seem doable.
Has anyone here done their own French drains?

I did a short French drain when I built the lean-to off the back of my shed. I wanted to divert water around the shed. I had the benefit of my neighbor's small back-hoe tractor though. I'd never do it by hand, at least not here in NJ where it's clay and rock. The hardest part is just getting the hole dug and the grading done. I used pipe/gravel/landscape fabric, but if I was doing it again, I'd buy that pre-made tubing that has it all already wrapped. I also think it depends on how essential it was. I'm sure I didn't do the best job...but it wasn't like it was impacting my house - just my shed. It's do-able for sure - but personally I'd want some equipment. Even renting a tractor you should be able to save a few thousand DIY after materials and rental.

Flip-side - I'll take down trees all the time. You can rent chippers for $600-800 that will eat up anything smaller than fire wood, and pine trees are soft and easy to chip up because the branches come off the one main trunk, making them easy in the self-feed chippers.

Good call. I’ll need to check on the chipper. What do you do for the stumps?

Stump Grinder for the bigger ones or ones I need to take out ASAP.

call a service for this.

$25 to grind a stump out around here. takes a few minutes and they're on their way.

learned this after breaking myself trying to dig a huge stump out for way too long. had the guy come back out and grind it instead. awesome machine. works very well.

have since had the same guy take down another 5 trees and had the stumps ground out. $25 every time.

If you can get a stump ground for $25, pay it and never think about doing it again in your life. I don't think anybody would even bring equipment to our house for $25, much less actually do work.

I've been seeing prices closer to what @-OZ- quoted originally - closer to $1,000 per tree to cut it and remove it all if they're sizeable. I had my super-cheap landscaper take out a root ball of a tree I already cut using his tractor (before I had access to my neighbor's) about 6 years ago and that was $300.

never really questioned the price elsewhere. we've used the same tree trimming service for.. 15 years .. something like that.

stump grinding has been $25 every time. and they come in with good prices for felling and removing trees, too. not lowest, not highest, but always on a good timeline and a reasonable price. we recommend them to everybody.

 

[Brony]

Is stump grinding an euphemism for something? Cuz $25 sounds like a bargain.

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

Remodeled a spare/guest room into a home gym.

Need to improve the kitchen next. How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

 

[Uruk-Hai]

How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

Changing the fixture isn't a big deal. It's the cosmetic work that takes the most time.

 

[Fat Nick]

Is stump grinding an euphemism for something? Cuz $25 sounds like a bargain.

...if it is...even BIGGER bargain most likely.

 

[belljr]

How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

Changing the fixture isn't a big deal. It's the cosmetic work that takes the most time.

Yep it all depends on the old fixture vs the new. For us we were lucky because the whole for the wiring was where we were going to put the new one. So all we had was a few screw holes to patch and then paint

 

[Ron Swanson]

Jack Burke, Jr., oldest living Masters champion and two time major winner, dies at 100. Burke won the Masters and the PGA championship in 1956. He was also the oldest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and had 16 wins on the PGA tour. He coached many notable pro golfers including Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, and others.

How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

Changing the fixture isn't a big deal. It's the cosmetic work that takes the most time.

Yep it all depends on the old fixture vs the new. For us we were lucky because the whole for the wiring was where we were going to put the new one. So all we had was a few screw holes to patch and then paint

If you buy new LED flat panel fixtures that are larger than your old fixtures it may be as simple as disconnecting/connecting 3 wires and securing the fixture to the ceiling. Or if you don't hate your current fixture you could simply buy LED replacement bulbs that can operate on 120 VAC and bypass the ballast in the current fixture. It is much easier than it sounds.

 

[belljr]

Jack Burke, Jr., oldest living Masters champion and two time major winner, dies at 100. Burke won the Masters and the PGA championship in 1956. He was also the oldest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and had 16 wins on the PGA tour. He coached many notable pro golfers including Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, and others.

How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

Changing the fixture isn't a big deal. It's the cosmetic work that takes the most time.

Yep it all depends on the old fixture vs the new. For us we were lucky because the whole for the wiring was where we were going to put the new one. So all we had was a few screw holes to patch and then paint

If you buy new LED flat panel fixtures that are larger than your old fixtures it may be as simple as disconnecting/connecting 3 wires and securing the fixture to the ceiling. Or if you don't hate your current fixture you could simply buy LED replacement bulbs that can operate on 120 VAC and bypass the ballast in the current fixture. It is much easier than it sounds.

Meh I like the smallish domes not those large panels

But LED wasn't even a thing when I did it

 

[NorvilleBarnes]

Jack Burke, Jr., oldest living Masters champion and two time major winner, dies at 100. Burke won the Masters and the PGA championship in 1956. He was also the oldest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and had 16 wins on the PGA tour. He coached many notable pro golfers including Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, and others.

How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

Changing the fixture isn't a big deal. It's the cosmetic work that takes the most time.

Yep it all depends on the old fixture vs the new. For us we were lucky because the whole for the wiring was where we were going to put the new one. So all we had was a few screw holes to patch and then paint

If you buy new LED flat panel fixtures that are larger than your old fixtures it may be as simple as disconnecting/connecting 3 wires and securing the fixture to the ceiling. Or if you don't hate your current fixture you could simply buy LED replacement bulbs that can operate on 120 VAC and bypass the ballast in the current fixture. It is much easier than it sounds.

I've got the new bulbs but haven't bypassed the ballast.

 

[Osaurus]

Jack Burke, Jr., oldest living Masters champion and two time major winner, dies at 100. Burke won the Masters and the PGA championship in 1956. He was also the oldest member of the World Golf Hall of Fame and had 16 wins on the PGA tour. He coached many notable pro golfers including Phil Mickelson, Hal Sutton, Steve Elkington, and others.

How hard is it to change a ceiling fixture from fluorescent to something better/quieter?

Changing the fixture isn't a big deal. It's the cosmetic work that takes the most time.

Yep it all depends on the old fixture vs the new. For us we were lucky because the whole for the wiring was where we were going to put the new one. So all we had was a few screw holes to patch and then paint

If you buy new LED flat panel fixtures that are larger than your old fixtures it may be as simple as disconnecting/connecting 3 wires and securing the fixture to the ceiling. Or if you don't hate your current fixture you could simply buy LED replacement bulbs that can operate on 120 VAC and bypass the ballast in the current fixture. It is much easier than it sounds.

Did this with a light in my garage. Super easy and now bright af

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

Retaining wall fell behind my house.

When it rains it pours.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

A few months ago, my life was magnificent. I literally had a thought in my head, wow everything’s just going so well. Somethings gonna go wrong. I’m not a pessimist by nature, but it was just preparing myself for the inevitable.

In the past month or so my hot water pressure tanked and I had to replace piping, water heater replaced, furnace broke,30’ of retaining wall fell, dryer failed, garage refrigerator failed, excessively high water bills which resulted in a $6500 plumbing repair that was totally unnecessary because they misdiagnosed the leak.

(Good news is my water bills returned to normal after they changed the meter)

Every-ting…….gon-a-be-ight!!!!!

 

[Fat Nick]

Random comment - for anyone who hasn't done so, I highly recommend busting out the flow restrictors on all your shower heads. Night and day difference for 10 minutes of your time using a screw driver, a pick, and some needle-nose pliers. My 9-year old said "it almost knocks me over now!" A bit of an exaggeration, but something I should have done way sooner.

 

[nightmare]

Re-installed a wall gas heater. I have a pipe flare but not a tubing bender. Home depot and Lowes
sell crappy versions but not 1/2" OD. Auto parts store sell a crappy version of a large tubing bender.
On the way home from work I stop at a NAPA. The kid behind the counter shows me who has one.

It's the NAPA two towns away which means I drive through my town to get it then come home.
I go there and the old man behind the counter and is tiffed I don't have the part number. After some
time on the computer he pulls up the tool and it shows one in stock, Looks, but He can't find it. Tells me I
should've called first. Fine. I go to HomeDepot and realize they have 1/2" ID in 5 foot lengths but not
1/2" OD which works out to my advantage. I bought a roll of copper tube(33$) and didn't have to mess
with trying to get that bend just right or it kinking. The only difficult part was the bend and length after
it comes through the wall.

Unrolling the tubing is a LOT easier then trying to bend it. Also. if you get something wrong, you have
tube to spare.

Tractor Supply, Grainger, and Harbor Freight all sell lower buck tubing benders that size but none in stock.

 

[playin4beer]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

It seems to be all the rage on social media right now. We all saw it gain popularity in commercial spaces about 15 years ago. I feel like it’s a trend being pushed by house flippers.

pros

It’s cheap and allows easy access to the floor above

Cons
Looks commercial
Loud
It’s going to get dusty

 

[Fat Nick]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

It seemed to be all the rage on social media right now. We all saw it gain popularity in commercial spaces about 15 years ago. I feel like it’s a trend being pushed by house flippers.

pros

It’s cheap and allows easy access to the floor above

Cons
Looks commercial
Loud
It’s going to get dusty

Honestly, I'd never consider it simply for the noise factor. If you have a TV playing in your basement with just the painted sub-floor above, you're gonna hear it clear as day. Maybe you don't have a TV down there, but just in case...

I've also read that getting this done to look nice (i.e. painting EVERYTHING black) can get very costly and is hard to keep up with as you do work becuase you constantly have to repaint parts.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

It seemed to be all the rage on social media right now. We all saw it gain popularity in commercial spaces about 15 years ago. I feel like it’s a trend being pushed by house flippers.

pros

It’s cheap and allows easy access to the floor above

Cons
Looks commercial
Loud
It’s going to get dusty

Honestly, I'd never consider it simply for the noise factor. If you have a TV playing in your basement with just the painted sub-floor above, you're gonna hear it clear as day. Maybe you don't have a TV down there, but just in case...

I've also read that getting this done to look nice (i.e. painting EVERYTHING black) can get very costly and is hard to keep up with as you do work becuase you constantly have to repaint parts.

I didn’t think of that either. It would probably behoove you to color match a color that you can buy off the shelf.

Although I imagine flat black can be pretty forgiving.

 

[Fat Nick]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

It seemed to be all the rage on social media right now. We all saw it gain popularity in commercial spaces about 15 years ago. I feel like it’s a trend being pushed by house flippers.

pros

It’s cheap and allows easy access to the floor above

Cons
Looks commercial
Loud
It’s going to get dusty

Honestly, I'd never consider it simply for the noise factor. If you have a TV playing in your basement with just the painted sub-floor above, you're gonna hear it clear as day. Maybe you don't have a TV down there, but just in case...

I've also read that getting this done to look nice (i.e. painting EVERYTHING black) can get very costly and is hard to keep up with as you do work becuase you constantly have to repaint parts.

I didn’t think of that either. It would probably behoove you to color match a color that you can buy off the shelf.

Although I imagine flat black can be pretty forgiving.

I'd also suggest to just look at some of the more modern drop ceiling tiles too. Our basement is drywalled in the front, and then drop-ceiling in the back where most of our plumbing and other stuff runs. The tiles are very nice looking honestly, and I really like being able to run a new CAT-6 or some other line and just hide it in the drop ceiling.

 

[belljr]

They have nice drop ceiling options. When we first moved into my house that's what ours was like. It wasn't the noise from the basement up that was a pain although it was. You would here every little sound and creak from people above you that drove me nuts

 

[Orange&Blue]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

It seems to be all the rage on social media right now. We all saw it gain popularity in commercial spaces about 15 years ago. I feel like it’s a trend being pushed by house flippers.

pros

It’s cheap and allows easy access to the floor above

Cons
Looks commercial
Loud
It’s going to get dusty

no sound/heat insulation between levels

 

[playin4beer]

My wife and I just bought my parents house on a lake a Month or so ago.. Older, smaller house than we had, but our youngest of (4) daughters is 18 and a Senior in high school. So the smaller house doesn't matter, but it needs some renovations. The upside is, it's on a lake.. location, location, location. That being said, we have a contractor to gut/refinish the walk out basement as that's the focal point in the Summer. We are ripping out the old nasty drop ceiling. He recommended leaving it "open" and painting everything up there flat black. It seems to be getting more and more common now. Does anybody have that in their house now?? Would you recommend it??

It seemed to be all the rage on social media right now. We all saw it gain popularity in commercial spaces about 15 years ago. I feel like it’s a trend being pushed by house flippers.

pros

It’s cheap and allows easy access to the floor above

Cons
Looks commercial
Loud
It’s going to get dusty

Honestly, I'd never consider it simply for the noise factor. If you have a TV playing in your basement with just the painted sub-floor above, you're gonna hear it clear as day. Maybe you don't have a TV down there, but just in case...

I've also read that getting this done to look nice (i.e. painting EVERYTHING black) can get very costly and is hard to keep up with as you do work becuase you constantly have to repaint parts.

Good points.. I think we are going to maybe do a combination of a drywall ceiling and unfinished painted ceiling. The good part is the finished ceiling will be where the TV and living room is going. The unfinished part will be where the kitchenette and laundry room is.

 

[Wingnut]

Had a shower valve leak that turned out to be worse than we thought, so we are gonna do a whole bathroom remodel, which we planned on doing down the road but it makes sense to do it now.

Got 2 estimates so far, one for $30k and one north of $40k.

WTF?! 2 years ago we completely gutted and remodeled our kitchen and had tile floor put in the entire house and it was less than that. Why are bathrooms so damn expensive? Sheesh.

 

[STEADYMOBBIN 22]

A few months ago, my life was magnificent. I literally had a thought in my head, wow everything’s just going so well. Somethings gonna go wrong. I’m not a pessimist by nature, but it was just preparing myself for the inevitable.

In the past month or so my hot water pressure tanked and I had to replace piping, water heater replaced, furnace broke,30’ of retaining wall fell, dryer failed, garage refrigerator failed, excessively high water bills which resulted in a $6500 plumbing repair that was totally unnecessary because they misdiagnosed the leak.

(Good news is my water bills returned to normal after they changed the meter)

Every-ting…….gon-a-be-ight!!!!!

I am the type to help everyone but never ask for help. Mostly because I’d rather do it myself at my pace.

This Ron had to wave the white flag and call in the big Ron.

HVAC - I took the whole thing apart and put it back together, cleaned the secondary heat exchanger, wire brushed every damn thing. I spent probably 20 hours or more on it.

Turns out when the gas company replaced my gas meter out front my furnace flame needed to be adjusted.

Sonuva


Water was a different story. Said he had never seen anything like this in 30 years. He had to literally drill through the calcium with a drill bit. Impacted at a hard to reach “T”.

Eventually I’ll replace the pipes but they’re in an extremely difficult spot to get to and it’s a long story.

Near future I’m going to flush the hot side out with something that will liquify the calcium and I’ll flush it out.

Last night was my/our first good/really hot shower since September 20th, 2023!!!!

Fixed the dryer.

Defrosted and changed out the capacitor for the garage fridge.


Still fighting with the water company


Every-ting. Gonna-B-ight!

 

[Ron Swanson]

Water was a different story. Said he had never seen anything like this in 30 years. He had to literally drill through the calcium with a drill bit. Impacted at a hard to reach “T”.

Eventually I’ll replace the pipes but they’re in an extremely difficult spot to get to and it’s a long story.

Near future I’m going to flush the hot side out with something that will liquify the calcium and I’ll flush it out.

That actually makes sense. Calcium is unique in that it is less soluble in hot water vs. cold.

 

[Snotbubbles]

Have to repair some loose wall outlets.

Clean the dryer vent, will outsource that since my laundry is on the second floor and the vent is probably 10 feet long.

Have the AC units checked to make sure they're good to go for summer.

 

[Snotbubbles]

Had a shower valve leak that turned out to be worse than we thought, so we are gonna do a whole bathroom remodel, which we planned on doing down the road but it makes sense to do it now.

Got 2 estimates so far, one for $30k and one north of $40k.

WTF?! 2 years ago we completely gutted and remodeled our kitchen and had tile floor put in the entire house and it was less than that. Why are bathrooms so damn expensive? Sheesh.

The cost of materials has gone up.

 

[berndog]

Had a shower valve leak that turned out to be worse than we thought, so we are gonna do a whole bathroom remodel, which we planned on doing down the road but it makes sense to do it now.

Got 2 estimates so far, one for $30k and one north of $40k.

WTF?! 2 years ago we completely gutted and remodeled our kitchen and had tile floor put in the entire house and it was less than that. Why are bathrooms so damn expensive? Sheesh.

The cost of materials has gone up.

Anyone ever tackled a project like this on their own?
I can tille, plumb and do flooring so thinking about remodeling my master bath. The one thing that gives me pause is the shower pan and waterproofing. Anyone have a kit they recommend?

 

[belljr]

Had a shower valve leak that turned out to be worse than we thought, so we are gonna do a whole bathroom remodel, which we planned on doing down the road but it makes sense to do it now.

Got 2 estimates so far, one for $30k and one north of $40k.

WTF?! 2 years ago we completely gutted and remodeled our kitchen and had tile floor put in the entire house and it was less than that. Why are bathrooms so damn expensive? Sheesh.

The cost of materials has gone up.

Anyone ever tackled a project like this on their own?
I can tille, plumb and do flooring so thinking about remodeling my master bath. The one thing that gives me pause is the shower pan and waterproofing. Anyone have a kit they recommend?

The Schluter - Kerdi systems I think are the standard for DIY and professionals.

 

[Terpman22]

Bought the house last year, 3 bedroom with a den. Separate garage. Me and wife both work from home, but us both being in the house did not work. So the front bedroom was my office, the den was hers.

Now: The Garage is mine and the front bedroom is her office.

Den - currently working on turning this into a a "Cocktail Room"

It doesn't have a door, so its a room that steps down for whatever reason about 6-8 inches. Going to paint the walls gray/charcoal/brown - something dark. We just got our little bar cart in the mail yesterday so that literally is the first step. Going to add some "Western Prohibition" decor to the room, whatever that is. Add a couple dark brown leather coaches and a nice dark coffee table to really get the vibe going.

Nothing major, but it should be fun.

The garage - sometime down the road "may" convert to some sort of ADU. That is my dream at least.

 

[Hastur]

We bought our home several years ago, and it came with smoke alarms that are wired with 9v battery as a 'backup'. Whenever a 9v battery goes bad in one of the alarms, ALL the smoke alarms in the house go off. We quickly learned to change out the batteries every year, regardless of how much 'juice' still remains in them. Also, we have 15 foot ceilings in parts of the home, so I have to run out to the garage and grab the big ladder. Having all the smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night at the same time is PTSD inducing.

I had never heard of smoke alarms wired into the house. Is this common? Is it worth it to uninstall them? They sure are annoying.

 

[belljr]

We bought our home several years ago, and it came with smoke alarms that are wired with 9v battery as a 'backup'. Whenever a 9v battery goes bad in one of the alarms, ALL the smoke alarms in the house go off. We quickly learned to change out the batteries every year, regardless of how much 'juice' still remains in them. Also, we have 15 foot ceilings in parts of the home, so I have to run out to the garage and grab the big ladder. Having all the smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night at the same time is PTSD inducing.

I had never heard of smoke alarms wired into the house. Is this common? Is it worth it to uninstall them? They sure are annoying.

Mine are wired but when one battery goes low only that one chirps..... I never had them all go off with a low battery in one

ETA - if you remove the battery they stop. The battery is there in case of a fire that knocks out the wired power.

 

[Wildcat]

We bought our home several years ago, and it came with smoke alarms that are wired with 9v battery as a 'backup'. Whenever a 9v battery goes bad in one of the alarms, ALL the smoke alarms in the house go off. We quickly learned to change out the batteries every year, regardless of how much 'juice' still remains in them. Also, we have 15 foot ceilings in parts of the home, so I have to run out to the garage and grab the big ladder. Having all the smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night at the same time is PTSD inducing.

I had never heard of smoke alarms wired into the house. Is this common? Is it worth it to uninstall them? They sure are annoying.

Mine are wired this way. I am pretty sure it's code. My house was built 10 years ago. Although when a battery is low, just that alarm chirps - they don't all go off. However, when one goes off due to an alarm, they all go off. Thanks for the reminder to swap out my batteries!

 

[Hastur]

We bought our home several years ago, and it came with smoke alarms that are wired with 9v battery as a 'backup'. Whenever a 9v battery goes bad in one of the alarms, ALL the smoke alarms in the house go off. We quickly learned to change out the batteries every year, regardless of how much 'juice' still remains in them. Also, we have 15 foot ceilings in parts of the home, so I have to run out to the garage and grab the big ladder. Having all the smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night at the same time is PTSD inducing.

I had never heard of smoke alarms wired into the house. Is this common? Is it worth it to uninstall them? They sure are annoying.

Mine are wired but when one battery goes low only that one chirps..... I never had them all go off with a low battery in one

ETA - if you remove the battery they stop. The battery is there in case of a fire that knocks out the wired power.

Yeah, I wish mine only chirped when the battery is low. All alarms go off mega phone LOUD. They also do not stop when the battery is removed. They must all be unplugged to shut them up.

 

[FBG26]

We bought our home several years ago, and it came with smoke alarms that are wired with 9v battery as a 'backup'. Whenever a 9v battery goes bad in one of the alarms, ALL the smoke alarms in the house go off. We quickly learned to change out the batteries every year, regardless of how much 'juice' still remains in them. Also, we have 15 foot ceilings in parts of the home, so I have to run out to the garage and grab the big ladder. Having all the smoke alarms go off in the middle of the night at the same time is PTSD inducing.

I had never heard of smoke alarms wired into the house. Is this common? Is it worth it to uninstall them? They sure are annoying.

I'd be finding some lithium 9V batteries that last for several years so that I didn't have to deal with that. That sounds unpleasant.