Home Improvement Today?

You may have a loose connection. Those are usually wired in series and if one connection came loose it can affect power to the rest of them down the line.

 

i thought typically 10yr life on them. I dunno though. I cant stand chirping i replace asap if the battery replacement doesnt work...

 

2018 build house. All CO, smoke and fire detectors are hardwired, I have had to replace all the 10 year batteries already. They also communicate to each other on the new builds to alert other zones. Don’t know if that helps them die faster or what. Just my $0.02.

 

do you have a diagram for that?

i've never heard of any hardwired device that gets wired in series.

 

Shop is ready for concrete:


I’ve got the excavation crew sticking around an extra day to dig me a trench to finish my conduit run and set me up with a footing and proper drainage for an 85’ long retaining wall around the building. They’ll also grade-out for my shed and fix some of the drainage around my gravel road with the backfill so nothing dumps into the shop or future shed. Gotta head to the supply house for drainage pipe and geotextile first thing. It’s a pretty solid dump of ground water right into the shop:


Excited to get that remedied. Not excited to stack 585 wall blocks or backfill that wall with clean stone.

 

This is a little off topic, but I'm wondering if anyone else has a significant soliciting problem in their neighborhood and if so what mitigation efforts do you use to deter them?

I live in a relatively nice area, homes aren't exactly cheap, but the neighborhood does have a high theft problem with home break-ins, stolen cars, excessive fliers left on doors (to see who's home I assume) as well as groups of armed individuals driving through the neighborhood checking for unlocked car doors, ect.

Seems I can't be out in my garage or front yard for 20 minutes without someone walking by trying to sell something or likely just casing my house or the neighborhood.

I get 5-6 different solar companies, a few pest control companies (some of which are casing the neighborhood according to next-door), unmarked plain white trucks with freezer boxes in the beds claiming to sell meat and handing out random Chinese restaurant menus before driving off. Also, a handful of tire kickers who randomly drive by, claim to have cash and ask my if I'm interested in selling my old Camaro in the garage and if they can come in my garage to see it.

I've got 3 no soliciting signs, several security cameras, and very unfriendly and persistent NO and NOT INTERESTED demeanor/response, but several have be told more than 4 times to leave the property before I physically remove them. Yes I physically remove them.

Short of moving somewhere else I'm not sure what can be done. My HOA doesn't allow fences around the front of the property and the local police department is severely understaffed and unresponsive.

I've fully remodeled my house and I'm not quite ready to part with it, but it seems like that's what it's coming to.

 

How are your CC&Rs regarding privacy shrubs and other vegetation? I’d plant the hell out of it. Mini orchard, big shrubs, etc. to give a partial view of the house but no direct or convenient access. One paver walkway to the front door and make it narrow with low shrubs or bushes flanking it.

 

Well

 

Yeah I feel you it ain’t just in your neck of the Woods I’m sorry to say it’s around my place like that as well unfortunately

 

We removed the portion of the original basement slab we needed to pull out for the plumbers and they have almost completed their groundwork .

Meanwhile we've moved outside to complete the entry formwork , retaining wall / covered deck foundation extension and the ocean side deck post footings and columns .

We have a geotech on this job due to our proximity to the ocean and for the deck columns , the geotech has spec'ed that we set the footings on the shale bedrock and behind a 1 to 1 aspect ratio to the toe of the slope down at the high tide mark .

The columns ended up at different depths due to the various elevations we found the shale at . From the far end , 6' , 4' , 7' and then the final 2 closest to the camera are 9' deep.




Our structural engineer has spec'd a cage of 15m (5/8") rebar with 10m (3/8") rebar closed ties , these reinforce the deck 14" concrete columns




The 9' deep holes in particular posed an issue logistically as we had no shoring and the soil on top of the shale layer was pretty sandy and prone to caving in . I decided it wasn't safe putting anybody into those holes so we formed the footings and 14" sonotube columns as a monolithic form and tied in the footing rebar cage at ground level and lowered them into the holes

We finished and braced all our sonotubes Friday and left for the weekend

Sunday it rained and both deep holes filled with the water coming off the roof and the sonotubes sat overnight in about a foot of standing water and the cardboard tubes started to delaminate

I was concerned the sonotubes would fail at the column to footing connection if we poured them monolithically with the boom pump so today we hand mixed and placed 22 bags of concrete into the 2 deep columns , pouring up to about 12" above the questionable cardboard form

That sucked , no more sonotubes for this cowboy

 

Yeah, it's already fully landscaped with mature tall landscaping. Lots of cacti, agave and desert trees made to look like a natural desert preserve. I let it take off and fill in every spring, but have to trim it back before monsoon season starts. I don't have any room left to plant anything. A fence with a gate in front the driveway would be ideal at this point.

 

Put up a new flagpole

 

What would be a suitable alternative?

 

I'm curious to know where you live if you're willing to share.

There is a fix, but it's not quick. My city passed an ordinance that made it a misdemeanor to solicit a house that has an approved "no soliciting" sign on display at the door. It's a city produced sign that cites the specific ordinance and fine, and if you get solicited, you can call the police and they will come issue a citation (one for each solicited house) to the tune of $200 per instance.

If you are unhappy, it's likely that you neighbors are too. Get a petition going and start calling your city council members. Get an attorney to draft an ordinance and find a sponsor on your city council to pass it. Effective, but like I said, not quick. We don't have many solicitors here any more.

 

Belled piers might be easier, but not much. Cased piers are complete hell.

 

Around here, the red wire in a 14-3 is used to tie the smoke detectors together.

All smoke detectors should be replaced every 10 years. The "detector" element looses sensitivity and is not as effective.

 

I usually build a plywood column form

 

Almost done with shop door trim (finally delayed a year or so ...haahhahahaha)

New project time: Some growing blockage in gutter/back flush drain line/field. Anyone done this?

Attempt #1: Pressure washer and specialized blast hose

 

What a complete shit show. Then my pressure washer pump went south.

 

In two weeks, I'm getting all new windows and siding installed. The siding will be LP Smartsiding. I pulled some sheetrock around my back door to put in a 36" door before the job begins and it looks like the sheathing on the outside of the house is 3/4" rough cut pine boards. I'm assuming the contractor is just going to wrap the house in Tyvek and put up the siding. With all the knot holes and open gaps, should I push for something better than just Tyvek? Maybe even some additional sheathing? The exterior currently has some old vinyl siding over a very thin layer of Alcoa brand fan-fold foam and tar paper under that. (And yes I will be installing a proper header when I frame the new door)