Broke It, Bent It, Tried To Fix It: Home Improvements

[Zola]

My on-side headlight bulb died on me this morning. But rather than take the car to my local dealer to replace, which would have probably cost me 30 or 40 quid, i decided to do the job myself (with YouTube in tow).

Went to my local Halfords, and bought 4 new bulbs (2 as future spares). Back home I followed the YouTube tips and managed to replace not only the dead bulb but the near-side working bulb too (reason being is that eventually this bulb will pop anyway; plus new bulbs are more brighter, so makes sense to replace both).

Took a bit of time to remove the headlight housings and rubber seals, but after a bit of faffing about, I finally got the job done, and now both headlights are as bright as ever. (I also wore Marigold gloves to keep my hands free of oil, grease and dirt)

Encouraged, and with Autumn/Winter just round the corner, I am going to replace the air & oil filters next weekend (have ordered both, along with a replacement sump plug, and a new torque wrench). Might even change the sparkies too, although that's a little more daunting. 

[Bastet]

I cannot explain why, but I find changing spark plugs fun.  Other tasks I particularly like, I have a reason - e.g. I like laying down tile because I like "playing" with mortar.  But changing spark plugs?  No clue why it pleases me.

It used to be so much easier to change a car's bulb.  Now it seems like you have to dismantle half the car.

[auntlada]

You clearly never tried to change he spark plugs on a 1982 Monte Carlo. My then-boyfriend, now-husband, changed mine once. He had to remove the tire to get to two of them.

[Zola]

19 minutes ago, Bastet said:

I cannot explain why, but I find changing spark plugs fun.  Other tasks I particularly like, I have a reason - e.g. I like laying down tile because I like "playing" with mortar.  But changing spark plugs?  No clue why it pleases me.

It used to be so much easier to change a car's bulb.  Now it seems like you have to dismantle half the car.

I think its all a cunning plan by the designers/engineers to make it intentionally difficult for the owner to do his/her own basic maintenance, and instead to send it back to the dealer to sort out while waiving you an excessive bill.

But thanks to YouTube, we have some leverage... but only just! 

[Bastet]

5 minutes ago, Zola said:

I think its all a cunning plan by the designers/engineers to make it intentionally difficult for the owner to do his/her own basic maintenance, and instead to send it back to the dealer to sort out while waiving you an excessive bill.

At worst, yes, and even at best, things are manufactured with no consideration to how an owner with a decent set of tools would keep it in repair. 

Even owner's manuals have changed so much.  Now you get a leaflet with some drawings on it, the troubleshooting section consisting of "Unplug it and plug it back in.  Still doesn't work?  Contact an authorized [brand name] repair shop."  You used to get a small booklet that included repair instructions and a parts list.

[ParadoxLost]

Thanks All for the suggestions.

Got the kitchen ordered and now just waiting on delivery.

I was a little surprised at how much attention to detail was necessary to get things right.  I am now extremely familiar with the specification catalogue.  Just a lot of functional details that they didn't think about that seemed obvious to me that I had to prod for solutions on.  But then, I live with my kitchen everyday and the footprint can't change much so I know what irritates me.

I could see how not being detail oriented could have a costly, less than satisfying result.  On the other hand, I may have been over prepared at the first meeting to the point that I didn't get the usual treatment. 

[ParadoxLost]

On ‎8‎/‎19‎/‎2017 at 3:04 PM, Zola said:

I think its all a cunning plan by the designers/engineers to make it intentionally difficult for the owner to do his/her own basic maintenance, and instead to send it back to the dealer to sort out while waiving you an excessive bill.

I take this as a given.  My brother used to be a mechanic.  He would only buy cars before a certain year because the electronics made them impossible to fix.  I can't remember if he said that non-dealer mechanics had to purchase the means to repair the cars, but I wouldn't be surprised.

I am also of the opinion that everything from lightbulbs to hair dryers (and especially my tires) has been engineered to last less time than they used to.  The only things that seem to escape that treatment are items where technology is still making improvements and people will upgrade before it dies.

[Bastet]

1 hour ago, ParadoxLost said:

But then, I live with my kitchen everyday

This is why I always wonder a bit at people who renovate their kitchen before even moving into their house.  Other rooms, I can see that, but a kitchen?  I'm sure it works out most of the time, but my personal philosophy is to use it for a while to get a good feel for what I like and don't before changing it.  Of course, I've been in my house over 10 years now and haven't yet done the kitchen (I've done almost everything else, and drew up plans for the kitchen several years ago, but am still a year or two away from tearing things out and going to town), and I don't advocate waiting that long -- just some time to really get a feel for things.

1 hour ago, ParadoxLost said:

I am also of the opinion that everything from lightbulbs to hair dryers (and especially my tires) has been engineered to last less time than they used to.

Boy howdy!  I've mentioned before that my stove is a prime example of this.  I have a late '50s GE stove/oven that is fantastic, and that I've had to work on only once (and a minor repair at that).  As I have renovated my house, I have opted for high-quality options.  But it's unlikely anything mechanical or electronic, among those best-available options, I have put in over the past ten years will still be working 60 years from now the way my mid-range stove from 60 years ago is working now.  Things simply aren't made as they used to be - even the high-end stuff.  And that's infuriating.  It used to be, you bought a Casablanca ceiling fan, and while you spent more up front, you had a high-quality fan for life.  And the motor still has a lifetime guarantee, so you can swap that out and keep it going, but the rest?  My fan from the '80s is going strong, but the new version of that same model that I put in around '05, I have replaced the electronics on twice now.  And I didn't just happen upon a lemon; this is how it works now.

Things are made to be disposable - it stops working, you just toss it away and get a new one because to repair it is almost as expensive (if you can even find replacement parts).  It's disgustingly wasteful.

[Zola]

5 hours ago, Bastet said:

This is why I always wonder a bit at people who renovate their kitchen before even moving into their house.  Other rooms, I can see that, but a kitchen?  I'm sure it works out most of the time, but my personal philosophy is to use it for a while to get a good feel for what I like and don't before changing it.  Of course, I've been in my house over 10 years now and haven't yet done the kitchen (I've done almost everything else, and drew up plans for the kitchen several years ago, but am still a year or two away from tearing things out and going to town), and I don't advocate waiting that long -- just some time to really get a feel for things.

Boy howdy!  I've mentioned before that my stove is a prime example of this.  I have a late '50s GE stove/oven that is fantastic, and that I've had to work on only once (and a minor repair at that).  As I have renovated my house, I have opted for high-quality options.  But it's unlikely anything mechanical or electronic, among those best-available options, I have put in over the past ten years will still be working 60 years from now the way my mid-range stove from 60 years ago is working now.  Things simply aren't made as they used to be - even the high-end stuff.  And that's infuriating.  It used to be, you bought a Casablanca ceiling fan, and while you spent more up front, you had a high-quality fan for life.  And the motor still has a lifetime guarantee, so you can swap that out and keep it going, but the rest?  My fan from the '80s is going strong, but the new version of that same model that I put in around '05, I have replaced the electronics on twice now.  And I didn't just happen upon a lemon; this is how it works now.

Things are made to be disposable - it stops working, you just toss it away and get a new one because to repair it is almost as expensive (if you can even find replacement parts).  It's disgustingly wasteful.

Printers, are one of the worst offenders!

You can generally buy a decent quality inkjet printer from one of the big manufacturers quite cheaply; but typically the printer cartridges don't last all that long, but are relatively expensive compared to the cost of the printer - more so cartridges made by the same manufacturer of the printer.

Moreover, some printers are locked-in to certain types of printer (usually that of the manufacturer), due to a chip sensor built into the printer that can prevent cheaper brands from being used. So again, you're forced to use the more expensive cartridge (you can try refills, but its a fiddly, messy and not always a successful option)

[Zola]

My power shower finally died on me a few days ago, whilst in mid shower!

Checked the user manual and ultimately Google, for troubleshooting tips, which I went through one by one, but with no joy at all. So decided rather than get a plumber out, I thought I'd do the job of replacing the unit myself.

Fortunately, the model was still available, but I chose a slightly more expensive unit. But first had to make sure all the wiring and inlet/outlet valves matched exactly as my existing unit otherwise it would have been almost impossible to simply replace one unit with another and expect the pipework & wiring built into the shower wall to marry up.

Quite a daunting task, but with the help of Google/YouTube and the installation manual, it was pretty straightforward. Although I did have to do this on a bright sunny day because I had to switch off the electric at the consumer unit box just to be absolutely sure; as well as the water supply too. I also wore one of those headlight things just to give me a bit more light for the intricate work of rewiring. 

Took about an hour to do the job: could have been done a lot sooner but I was checking, double-checking, triple-checking the wiring and plumbing just to make sure everything was in the right place. And then the big event of turning on the electric and water supply!

I was expecting a problem, but fortunately the new shower came bursting into life with no drips/leaks and no power outages. That said, I did remove the cover again and check there were no leaks within the unit itself, but it was dry as a bone. So all good there.

 

Doesn't seem to matter how many times you repair things in one's home, there will always be something else that fails.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Zola

[Loi123456]

On 5/24/2014 at 0:56 AM, stillshimpy said:

It's a holiday weekend here in the U.S.  This means that it is time to invade the home improvement stores of the world, in an attempt to gussy up various beat up things around the house.  Now seriously, I just used the phrase "gussy up"  ...that was stuck in my brain somewhere and now it is free at long, long last, because I don't think I've ever used it before.   Frightening.  

 

Anyway, so here's one of the projects I'm starting today.  It's very much based on this:  The project I am outright copying.   

 

Reason being?  I own this poor, unfortunate soul:  

 

 

It was always sort of a cheesy looking thing anyway, but it managed to sustain scuffs aplenty during a thousand mile move (thanks a lot relocation company, argh) and I figure it can't possibly get any worse.  Of course, I've never put silver (actually aluminum ) leaf on anything before, so it might go spectacularly wrong, but since the tiny dresser has been banished to that workshop area for  a year and a half, it's not like I'm risking much.  

 

Anyway, I figured I can't be the only person who's ever seen a DIY project and thought, "Hey, I could do that...maybe, I think.  Crap, I wonder how good you have to be at this stuff to pull that off?"  I thought I'd share the progress and see if anyone has any helpful advice like "Oh my God, run for your life, you'll never get the wisps of metal leaf out of your home."  

 

Anybody else starting anything?  

We also used to own a cabinet (a very old one) what my dad did was he reconstruct and made it to a case and put ou television inside. So if we are going to watch a program we first open or slide the cabinet and on the TV. This is just one of my Dad's DIY self reconstruct thing. Its also one of my dad's ways to protect our things which cost electricity from our flooded floors.

[Bastet]

9 hours ago, Zola said:

I also wore one of those headlight things just to give me a bit more light for the intricate work of rewiring. 

I love those - it definitely beats holding a flashlight with your mouth.

I had to do some sprinkler repair the other day, and once done I decided to check the directional flow of the whole system (since the heads sometimes get a little off course thanks to the lawnmower, and then too much water is missing the lawn and hitting the driveway instead) -- in this hideous heat and humidity we're having this week, it was great fun to play in the sprinklers.

[Spunkygal]

2 hours ago, Bastet said:

I love those - it definitely beats holding a flashlight with your mouth.

I had to do some sprinkler repair the other day, and once done I decided to check the directional flow of the whole system (since the heads sometimes get a little off course thanks to the lawnmower, and then too much water is missing the lawn and hitting the driveway instead) -- in this hideous heat and humidity we're having this week, it was great fun to play in the sprinklers.

I bought a PVC pipe cutter the other day to do some sprinkler changes and extend a pipe so it waters more of the flower bed. I am now a pipe cutter addict. It was so fun!

[ParadoxLost]

Kitchen remodel question.

The recommendation was not to get recessed lighting because the texture on the ceiling would probably make them look sloppy.

They suggested just updating the flushmount that is there.  Which is fine,  I never look up at it any way and that's cheaper option.  And literally the only cheaper option I've selected. 

So I'm reading about the lights I'm looking at and a lot of them are integrated LED so when they go out you have to replace the fixture rather than the light bulbs (which is insane by the way),

Do LEDs rated at 50,000 hours really last 50,000 hours or are they like my tires which are rated at 50,000 miles and last 15,000 or 20,000 miles?

I'm pretty sure I'm not going that way because I learned to live without a microwave for 8 years because it was too close to the range and couldn't be bothered to move up the cabinet or redo the kitchen so the replacement wouldn't burn out and didn't want the clutter on the countertop.  I am completely capable of learning to live without overhead lighting to procrastinate on changing a fixture.  I will change a light bulb.

[JTMacc99]

I think they really last that long. 

[Bastet]

To me, there are two considerations with LED if you’re committing yourself to something where you have to change the fixture, not just the bulb, when it’s done (an idea I'm just not fond of on general principle).

One, the circuitry of an LED bulb is more complex, so there are more things to go wrong and thus cut short the natural lifespan (which does seem to actually be pretty damn long).

Two, LED bulbs don’t just go, go, go and then burn out – they degrade (fade).  So for part of that lifespan, you’re not getting the full lumen output.  (The 50,000 hour rating means that at 50,000 hours it will be down to about 70% of its output, and that’s when it’s time to retire it; but how long have you spent dwindling down from 100 to 70?  And at what percent could you tell it wasn’t as bright?)

So, if everything works as it's supposed to, it will last that long.  If something goes wrong with the bulb, it won't, and there are more opportunities for something to go wrong.  If it does last that long, it won't be at full brightness the entire time, but you may never notice it -- the somewhat arbitrary 70% thing came about from the idea that's when most people will start to notice the decrease.

[ParadoxLost]

The thing that worries me is that when the old style light bulbs were being replaced (eventually) by LEDs those were rated to last a really long time too.  And so far, not really.

And no, I didn't do much of the interim bulbs because the minute I saw how long they took to warm up I stock piled to old style which lasted until  LED was commonplace.

[JTMacc99]

12 hours ago, ParadoxLost said:

The thing that worries me is that when the old style light bulbs were being replaced (eventually) by LEDs those were rated to last a really long time too.  And so far, not really.

And no, I didn't do much of the interim bulbs because the minute I saw how long they took to warm up I stock piled to old style which lasted until  LED was commonplace.

Here's a basic run down of the LED bulb facts as Bastet explained above. 

Regardless of life expectancy and other things, I'm a big fan just for the tiny amount of energy usage and the general green nature of them. An LED bulb converts something like 95% of energy into light and 5% into heat whereas incandescent and fluorescent are like 95% heat and 5% light.

I'm making my way through the house a bulb or two at a time as they burn out and replacing them with LED bulbs. Two of the three upstairs hallway are now LED (and one I'm just waiting for that last 100w energy hog to burn out). Main kitchen fixture replaced with LED, all floods in the bathrooms replaced as they burned out. Two of the six candelabra bulbs replaced in the foyer. That fixture isn't on long enough to justify swapping out all 6. Both family room lights were early adapters, as those lights are on for 5-6 hours a day in the winter.

There is a noticeable difference in my electric usage in return for all of that investment.

[rcc]

I changed to the new lights when they first came out. My town gave them out along with water saving faucets and shower heads. I have saved $6.00 a month on the electric bill ever since. They are also still going strong too.

Edited September 1, 2017 by rcc

[MargeGunderson]

I'm finally painting a pine dresser that I bought when I bought my house 10 years ago. I'm putting my hand sander to good use! This one is easy, just linen white paint and new knobs. If it goes well I'm going to strip another pine dresser (that I stained years ago), paint it, and then decoupage the front of the drawers with fancy paper. 

[Spunkygal]

Ah, plumbing issues, how I hate thee. Late Friday afternoon I discovered that the hot water supply line to my master bath sink had burst and had flooded my bathroom and a good portion of the bedroom carpet. I surmise it had been spewing for between 2 and 3 hours. After cleaning all that up (well, I doubt the carpet is "keep able"), I decided to just replace the faucet and start over. Well, guess who did it all by herself? This girl! Getting the old faucet out was the worst part but two things got me through it: 1) this is not even a pin dot of trouble compared to the Gulf Coast problems and 2) lots of F bombs. 

I am so glad this did not happen while I was on vacay recently. Does anyone shut off their water when they are going to be gone for a week? I've heard horror stories of folks' washing machine supply line busting and spewing for a week. It's something to consider.

[Moose135]

9 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

I am so glad this did not happen while I was on vacay recently. Does anyone shut off their water when they are going to be gone for a week? I've heard horror stories of folks' washing machine supply line busting and spewing for a week. It's something to consider.

I usually don't, but about 20 years ago, we had a huge flood at my mother-in-law's place in Pennsylvania.  She would spend most of the winter with us on Long Island, and we'd drive out a few times for holiday stuff and to check the place.  Got there one Friday night in late December to find a valve on the dishwasher had failed, pouring hot water out - it had been several weeks since we had been there, so there was no telling how long it had been going on.  Fortunately, the sump pump in the basement kept running, so there was only an inch or two down there and the furnace and electric kept running.  It was like a rain forest in the house - water would come out, form a mist and condense on the ceiling, so we were getting "rained" on in the house.  I got the water turned off, and she ended up getting ServPro (I think) to clean it up, all covered under insurance.  She ended up with new furniture, bedding several appliances, and some of the wallboard replaced and painted.  What a mess!  After that, we would always shut the water off if we left the house for any length of time.

[DeLurker]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

Does anyone shut off their water when they are going to be gone for a week?

Not for a week - if for that short, I do usually turn off the water supply to the sinks and toilets, but not to the kitchen sink and downstairs bathroom if my friend or nephews are coming by to check mail, plants, etc...  If it is longer that a couple weeks, I usually turn off the supply line to the house.

[Spunkygal]

Okay, @Moose135, your story convinced me to turn off the water when I'm going to be gone for several days. Yikes. That is awful. 

I will also add that a basin wrench, water meter shut off key and a head lamp are going in my Tool HOF! Anyone who lives in a house, owner or renter, who doesn't know how to shut off the water should learn where and how!

Edited September 5, 2017 by Spunkygal

[Bastet]

4 hours ago, Spunkygal said:

Anyone who lives in a house, owner or renter, who doesn't know how to shut off the water should learn where and how!

It's frightening to me how many people don't know.  I was showing a friend how to do some plumbing repairs at her house, and told her to go shut off the water.  She had no idea where it was.  When that story came up at a party, half the people involved in the conversation didn't know, either.  Water, gas, electric - know how to cut the supply!

Quote

Ah, plumbing issues, how I hate thee.

Same here.  It's my least favorite repair category; lots of F bombs, indeed. 

Edited September 5, 2017 by Bastet

[auntlada]

I don't know how to turn off the water or the gas. I know where the breaker box is for the electricity. I am going to find out about the water, though, before Christmas. I never thought about turning it off but you guys have scared me.

[Bastet]

In order to get back to some home improvement projects, I first need to clear out and reorganize my workbench and garage in general so I have room to work.  Since it's hot anyway, when I was done with work this afternoon I figured I may as well sweat and be productive, so that's what I've been doing for an hour or so.  And I just unearthed two files that I looked "everywhere" for two years ago and couldn't find.  (I have my work files and most of my personal files in my home office, but paperwork on things that are in the garage, yard, or bonus room attached to the garage are in a filing cabinet in the garage.)

For some reason, the garage is the place where I am incredibly lax about putting things back where they belong when I'm done with them (maybe because I often think I'm going to use them again later in the project, or am in a hurry to fix something).  Instead, I set them down, and then if I'm not diligent about it, months have gone by and I've set more and more things down, and then I just give up until much longer has gone by and I truly can't work in there anymore without taking the time to put everything back right.  So things can get pretty buried, and these files did. Obviously I figured out the info I needed back then without the manuals, but I remember the time I spent looking for them.  Obviously in all the wrong places.

But now they're back where they belong, and I've unearthed the flat surface I use for painting things (it's a piece of plywood about seven feet long by three feet wide, sitting on saw horses and covered with an old bedskirt).  Progress!

There is still the case of the vanishing pipe wrench, though.  One disappeared seven or eight years ago, and I've cleaned/organized multiple times since then, as well searched under the house, up in the attic crawl space, behind the water heater, etc. and that thing is nowhere to be found.  There's a screwdriver I know is under the house and an ice pick I know is in the attic space and I just have to get them next time I have cause to crawl to the sections they're in (no way I'm going in either space just to retrieve those items), but the pipe wrench is a total mystery to me.  I have one smaller and one larger, but always seemed to wind up wanting one the size of the missing one, so I finally bought a replacement several years back, figuring the first one would promptly turn up, but no dice.

Okay, water break over; back to work.  Damn.

Edited September 6, 2017 by Bastet

[Zola]

Spent the morning in my loftspace: removing old loft insulation and replacing it with good quality 200mm thick rolls; and put some new lagging round exposed pipework (from a health & safety perspective I wore goggles, face mask, gloves and hair net)

Tomorrow I intend to finish the loft be putting down some rigid polystyrene boards over the freshly insulated flooring and joists. This flooring will make it easier to add storage given than I have a low peak roof, which means I have to crawl around on all 4s up there. I want to get all this done before the cold winter months arrive, which will hopefully keep my house warmer and my fuel bills lower.

Edited September 9, 2017 by Zola

[Loi123456]

On 8/10/2017 at 3:18 AM, Bastet said:

See, I would put electricity at the top of your list, because it shouldn't be scary.  If you learned the fundamentals of electricity and plumbing, you'd be able to handle a lot of repairs yourself (and you'd have the necessary knowledge base to properly evaluate anyone you might hire to take on the more advanced jobs).

I agree with this. I also have some issues before with how do I do fire and water damage restoration. Learning the basics is really quite hard takes time and effort but it will be all worth it after learning.

[MargeGunderson]

I refinished and decoupaged a dresser with fancy wrapping paper! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It was an old pine dresser so I decided if I screwed it up it wouldn't be a big loss.

Edited October 29, 2017 by MargeGunderson

[Spunkygal]

@MargeGunderson, very pretty and also clever of you! Now take it to one of those flea markets on Flea Market Flip and sell it for $375!

[Zola]

Another weekend spent cleaning out the guttering around my garage and conservatory.  Now that it is autumn the nearby trees have dumped all their leaves on the roofs of both, and with a following wind and rain have pushed the sodden mess into the guttering blocking the down-pipes and drains. 

Fortunately, dismantling the guttering and linkages was pretty easy, as was clearing the thick gooey mess of leave, weeds, moss and other detritus clogging up the pipes. But can't say I was particularly overjoyed sticking my rubber-gloved arm down the drain to remove even more of said gunk! I then poured some strong drain cleaner just to clear out any further blockages further along the underground pipework. 

Not a particularly sexy weekend, but at least it's another one of those horrible jobs I can tick off my "to do" list.

[riley702]

On 10/28/2017 at 8:38 PM, MargeGunderson said:

I refinished and decoupaged a dresser with fancy wrapping paper! I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. It was an old pine dresser so I decided if I screwed it up it wouldn't be a big loss.

Showed this to my SIL, who is the craftiest person ever, and she gushed. "That's what I want to do to an old dresser! I even have the wrapping paper picked out - now I just need to find a ratty old dresser."

[MargeGunderson]

4 hours ago, riley702 said:

Showed this to my SIL, who is the craftiest person ever, and she gushed. "That's what I want to do to an old dresser! I even have the wrapping paper picked out - now I just need to find a ratty old dresser."

Should be a snap for her, since she's crafty. It was pretty easy for me, and I have giant fingers that don't lend themselves to craft work. I did it with wrapping paper and Mod Podge. 

[Spunkygal]

This is more of a product question than DIY one. Does anyone have those Levolor fabric-y window shades (not the honeycombed type but the Roman shade type)? I have plantation shutters through 99% of the house but there are a couple of windows that due to window shape or other reasons weren't feasible to get the shutters. I was just in Lowes, who has a sale on custom shades, and thought the Levolor and similar brands had some good looking options. So, if you have these type of shades, I'd love to hear your product review and if they are easy to clean. 

Edited December 18, 2017 by Spunkygal

[riley702]

Ha! We saw the same sale and are getting them for Mom for Christmas! 

[JTMacc99]

Today’s project was replacing the bathroom light/fan in the kids bathroom. The shitty little one in there since the house was built did a poor job of venting, and was the standard for my house “cheapest builder grade available” so I should have removed it a long time ago. 

But it was really hard to access that part of my attic. It’s way over in the corner and there is a huge A/C unit that I had to work around. I hemmed and hawed this week about just hiring an electrician to save me the hassle. 

But once the new coat of paint went up in the bathroom, and the water stains on the ceiling cleaned, primed, and painted, I realized I wanted  a good fan in there today. 

Typical job for me. Needed to re-do one step because I forgot to do something first. Almost got hosed because a wire appeared to be short in the attic (it wasn’t). The most interesting part was that the previous fan wasn’t actually venting out of the house. Hell, it wasn’t even venting into the attic, which is a good thing in the long run. It was freaking capped. No wonder it didn’t work. Jeez.  

So that was a pain in the ass to fix. But now that it’s done, it looks great and worked well for shower number one. 

[Zola]

Extractor fan in the bathroom failed during a mid-shower earlier today.

Checked the fuse, switch and wiring - nothing. 

So decided to swap out the fan and motor with an identical one from the local DIY down the road. 

Didn't have to replace the aluminium ducting in the loft, and re-wiring the new fan was relatively easy. 

Tugged on the pull-cord and bingo, it worked!

[NutMeg]

Anyone has advice on what to look for? I'm looking to buy fake grass for a big balcony that is super sunny but also exposed to rain/snow. Any help would be hugely appreciated :)

[BookWoman56]

This may be an odd question, but here goes: What advice does anyone have on whether to do a temporary fix or replace the molding around a window? The basic problem is that my daughter has two puppies, one 9 months old and one 6 months old; one is a German shepherd/boxer mix and the other is a Lab. When they were going through their teething stage, they would gnaw on the corners of the bottom molding for a few windows. (Not to mention the couch, love seat, and coffee table, all of which are now damaged, but that's a different decision). The gnawed corners are now pretty rough but at the same time, it's a relatively small area out of the molding as a whole. I am seriously considering just getting some wood putty to smooth out the corners and painting it, at least as a temporary solution, versus replacing the molding completely. My reasoning is that until the dogs are a bit older, it probably doesn't make much sense to replace the molding entirely, only to have to replace it again if they damage it again. I can tell the 9-month old puppy is settling down on chewing on inappropriate things, but the 6-month-old still chews on many things.  So I'm guessing that a temporary fix is okay until both animals are past the stage of chewing on anything they can reach. Why they seem to love chewing on wood so  much is beyond me, but I'm not a dog whisperer.

Any advice? Once I do get around to replacing the molding, is that something that I could do myself (I'm okay with basic repairs) or would it make more sense to hire someone to come in and do it, if there are special tools/skills/etc. needed for that type of repair?

Edited February 3, 2018 by BookWoman56

[Bastet]

All you need to know is how to use a miter saw.  Unless you're someone whose brain just doesn't compute the angles, or don't have/can't rent a miter saw, it's an easy job - measure, cut, nail, fill, sand, prime, paint, done.

For now, I'd do the wood putty fix.  Replace later when you're confident the dogs won't eat your not-so-hard work.

[Spunkygal]

@BookWoman56, I personally wouldn't do a darn thing to it until the puppies are older and out of the chewing stage. Last week's episode of This Old House had a segment on replacing molding around a window. I definitely think you could do it. I am sure there are many videos out there on how to do it, but basically, you score around the molding with your utility knife, then using a hammer and the flat end of a mini crowbar or other similar implement, slowly inch by inch tap down to pry the molding off, being careful to not damage the drywall. Then attach your new molding, caulk the wall side and paint. Again, I'd recommend that you watch a video to decide for yourself. I've tried to fix molding with putty and I do not have a touch for that sort of thing. 

[Spunkygal]

15 minutes ago, Bastet said:

All you need to know is how to use a miter saw.  Unless you're someone whose brain just doesn't compute the angles, or don't have/can't rent a miter saw, it's an easy job - measure, cut, nail, fill, sand, prime, paint, done.

For now, I'd do the wood putty fix.  Replace later when you're confident the dogs won't eat your not-so-hard work.

And to add to @Bastet's remarks, for a small job, a miter box (not a power saw) is a very affordable idea. I bought one that came with a saw and it has the degrees marked on it (45 degrees, etc.) I used that thing when I installed my baseboards which was a rather large job. But I loved using it! 

ETA: you might practice by using a few pieces of scrap trim. 

Edited February 3, 2018 by Spunkygal

[Bastet]

1 minute ago, Spunkygal said:

And to add to @Bastet's remarks, for a small job, a miter box (not a power saw) is a very affordable idea. I bought one that came with a saw and it has the degrees marked on it (45 degrees, etc.) I used that thing when I installed my baseboards which was a rather large job. But I loved using it! 

Yes, I really meant either/or - whether it's a power miter saw or miter box with hand saw, if you can lay your hands on one, you can do the job.  And, hey, with the miter box you get a little workout for your arm at the same time. 

10 minutes ago, Spunkygal said:

I've tried to fix molding with putty and I do not have a touch for that sort of thing. 

I liked playing with clay as a child; maybe that's why I like it?  But, depending on the extent of the damage, especially at a corner, it may not be worth messing with.  I'd get twitchy looking at chewed up wood, so when I hit this "They seem to be done, but I'm not sure" stage of chewing, I'd go for the temporary fix just so I wouldn't react every time I walked in the room.  But if that wasn't an issue and/or the damage was such it would take me more time to repair it (because that, too, is several steps) than replace it, I'd just wait until I was confident it would be left alone, and replace then.

[BookWoman56]

48 minutes ago, Bastet said:

All you need to know is how to use a miter saw.  Unless you're someone whose brain just doesn't compute the angles, or don't have/can't rent a miter saw, it's an easy job - measure, cut, nail, fill, sand, prime, paint, done.

For now, I'd do the wood putty fix.  Replace later when you're confident the dogs won't eat your not-so-hard work.

Thanks, I've used a miter saw and box (thanks, @Spunkygal) before; for this repair and a few other small projects, I need to go get one fairly soon. I have one room where we ripped off all the floor molding to install new flooring and I want to replace that molding with something I like better. For the window molding, I may hold off a little longer on doing even a temporary fix, as it occurred to me the younger puppy might try to eat the wood putty as well.

I've been in the house now for 6 months, and I had told myself not to make any big decisions on paint colors and so forth until now, so my weekend project is painting the game room and replacing the  carpet in there with a laminate flooring. My daughter is about halfway through putting in new flooring in her bedroom. Essentially, we both hate carpet and so while much of the house has ceramic tile, the bedrooms, game room, and upstairs hall are all carpeted. So, I'm doing the game room now with an idea of moving my office from the downstairs designated office to the game room, which is upstairs close to my bedroom, and which is larger although without a door. However, 75% of the time during working hours I'm at home alone, so no real need for the door.  If I do that, we will convert my former downstairs office, which does have a door, into a massage room where my daughter can have an occasional client come in. Long story short, my daughter got her massage license while trying to figure out what she wanted to do in terms of college, and now that she's in college, she is working less than 10 hours a week as a tutor in the math lab, but the pay is only around $10/hour. She figures since she is licensed as a massage therapist, it wouldn't hurt to do one or two clients at week at a much higher hourly rate, to give her some extra income. But overall, I'm just at that point where I'm now ready to prioritize various small DIY projects and tackle them one at a time. Because the house is new, it's not really repairs (except for the damage done by the dogs) but just a few changes in flooring, painting a few rooms, etc. 

Edited February 3, 2018 by BookWoman56

[DeLurker]

I'm with @Spunkygal - leave it until you are absolutely certain dog teething is well past.  I wouldn't even put wood putty over it as that would probably be an irresistible temptation to them and they would probably eat it (at least a lab would).  A co-worker I used to have got two lab puppies but they were home alone all day and so crated or left in a small room.  Eventually they ate a significant chunk of drywall.  In my experience, labs have puppy brain for about 5 years, so teething might not be the only culprit here.

I've got to find a way to fix the dog teething damage to my stairwell post.  He likes to lay on the stair landing because it is a nice central location where he can keep an eye on the front door, back door, anyone on the first floor and listen to who is moving around upstairs.  Eventually his itchy puppy teeth decided it would be good to gnaw on the post.

[riley702]

7 hours ago, BookWoman56 said:

 I may hold off a little longer on doing even a temporary fix, as it occurred to me the younger puppy might try to eat the wood putty as well.

This was my first thought. What would wood putty do to a dog's gut? Could it stop things up?

[Zola]

The PSU on one my HP micro servers died over the weekend. Which basically brought my VM environment down with it. So had to order a replacement with a guaranteed overnight delivery.

It arrived this morning, but before I started replacing old with new, I labelled up and took photos of the cabling connections between the server's motherboard and the PSU.  The installation instructions that came with the PSU wasn't particularly clear, and unplugging all the motherboard connections from the PSU was a bit of a trial. However, after about 40 minutes the new PSU was in place, and all requisite cables plugged back in. However, I removed my existing hard drives and replaced it with an old drive with an OS already installed. Also swapped out the 64Gb of RAM chips with some old 8Gb ones. (Doing this swap-out is quite important when it comes to some replacement power supplies. If they're not of the exact voltage etc. they could blow the motherboard and/or components, including drives and DIMMS)

Anyway, powered up the server and it booted fine. Soak tested it for about 6 hours with a few reboots thrown in. All good! So powered off and refitted original drives and DIMMS and powered up again. Everything good thus far :) 

Edited February 5, 2018 by Zola

[theredhead77]

I need a way to keep my windows open while preventing my kitties from climbing on the screens and potentially popping them out. I'm on the third floor so that would be extra extra bad.

I have single hung windows (they slide up from the bottom) and I rent so I can't install anything permanent. 

Ideas?

[ParadoxLost]

@theredhead77  Can you use those window guards that child proof windows so kids don't fall out?  They make mesh ones that don't have the space to crawl through that a cat could but a baby couldn't.