Home Improvement Today?

My point wasn’t entirely to complain, rather that Florida might have building codes and permits and inspections but if people don’t follow them, then you’re SOL. I was just trying to state that I wish there were more conscientious builders out there.

As to the fact about the inspection; mostly leverage to get money back or things fixed prior to moving in. I looked at the house once (along with 17 other houses) on vacation with my wife, 3 months prior to finishing and closing out a large capitol project. At the time we were living 1800 miles away, close to my project site. To say the least I thought I was too busy to take another trip out to inspect with the inspector and peal back the layers of the house, that has come back to bite me.

 

Not sure if this counts as “home” improvement, but the airlines messed up my wife’s favorite piece of luggage, ripped off one of the zipper pulls, which Samsonite also uses to lock into the side of the luggage. I bought some generic zipper pulls from Amazon, used some pliers to pull off the other one, replaced both pulls and used pliers to squeeze the metal piece back to hold the pulls in place. They don’t have the same lock, but now we can use a generic TSA lock and she has her favorite luggage back.

 

That counts! haha as long as your wife is happy that will improve your home environment lol

 

redid my deck

 

Well, they have a flat tire or almost flat, and it looks like their driveway is sagging in the middle. Time to tear up the driveway and run that down spout underneath.

 

Looking for some of these 3 inch long plastic clips that go in the bottom of the window to hold the screen in place, they just snap in, bought the house a couple of months ago. Don’t know who’s windows they are, found some numbers , googled but nothing yet. Went to Lowe’s, Home Depot, Builders Source, local lumber yard, contacted a company called Swisco who sells parts, that was no luck, house was built in 09. Contacted Andersen Windows, not theirs, waiting on Marvin and Pella to get back to me.

 

You could cut them in half so you have more. You shouldn’t need them that long.


Edit: maybe these match up? https://www.windowpartscenter.com/products/ss20002-4-screen-clip

 

looks great! good work

 

Thanks, long overdue and glad I did . Gonna expand it next summer. Step it down a level for a grilling area and such. Steps off to the side to a patio with a hot tub. That’s the plan anyway. Trees removed out back for a good sized shed also. Also just finished fencing in the yard . I’ll try and get a good angle for pics

 

I was looking through that link again, do they by chance make that in smaller rolls? My basement is 20X32, seems like i'll have lots of excess leftover.

Edit: Wait, i think i found it already.

 

if you go into the "how to buy" / "shop online" link , they offer the 15mil vapour barrier in a 12x50 (600sqft) roll branded as Stegohome , sized for residential projects

 

Question about exhaust ducts... I'm in the process of replacing my over the range microwave/vent with a high cfm vent hood (approx 800cfm). There is no current venting to outside. The new vent hood has a 3 1/2 x 10 exhaust port out the back, which will need a transition to rigid aluminum round duct. My research indicates 6" is the absolute bare minimum and increasing the size is advised (8 or 10 inch). I'm trying to figure out what that 3 1/2 x 10 exhaust port is equivalent to in round duct. If it's 6 or 7 inches then installing a larger round duct wouldn't make a difference, would it?

 

3.5x10 = 35 sq in
6” round = 28.25 sq in
7” round = 38.5 sq in

looks like you fall right in between. Better go with a 7” round, larger diameter you get less velocity loss due to friction.

 

Appreciate it. I really didn't want to go with a 10" duct! Also, I see a lot of semi-rigid duct for range hoods when I look for rigid. For some reason the rigid doesn't come up. My understanding is the rigid is much better, not only for smooth air flow but it won't trap crap in the folds like semi rigid. Correct?

 

@916carl

I may have missed your point thinking it was 6 or 7” round. I believe you were saying 6-7” run of 8 or 10” round.

Over a distance <1’ you will not notice any difference in performance of the fan. Both 8 and 10” duct will work in this application and far exceed the space required for this air flow.

Find a chimney company and see if they have any cut offs of rigid 8” single wall.

 

I did mean the diameter of the rigid pipe, and also the run distance! I know there is a relationship between fan cfm, duct diameter, length of run and number of turns.

The run will be from the rear of the hood - transition adapter piece from 3 1/2 x 10 rectangle to round (7", 8" or...), through the wall into the garage, 90 degree up through the ceiling, which is about 6 feet, through the ceiling and pass through the attic to the roof, which is approx 4 feet. Then the cap on the roof, which has to be x feet/inches high based on pitch etc, so about a 12 foot run of x" pipe with one 90 degree bend. So maybe need 8" duct?

 

Go with 8” you can use it as a small whole house fan!

 

Lol! Already have one of those. The wife makes me turn on the whole house fan when I use the wok or other smoky cooking thing. Hard to have open windows when it's 110f or 35f outside, so I haven't stir fried in a while. Hence the vent hood install. Thanks for the quick replies, they are very helpful.

 

I rented a floor buffer with a diamond disk last weekend and made one pass in our bedroom. I realized it was the right tool for the job, returned it early and bought one. $355 for a two day rental, $1350 to buy it and the disk new. For 4000 sqft and the ability to do it when I want to and not feel rushed it was a no brainer. Might even hang onto the buffer if it’s good for cleaning afterwords.You can see it’ll take two passes to get everything, but that was my first time using one. Not to mention you’re flying blind the whole time because it’s so messy. So I had no idea what was actually happening haha.

 

I saw a friend of a friends place in Texas, he did a floor sand/polish, then cut some 1/4" grooves to look like huge 4' tiles and a big 5 point star in front of fireplace and stained the concrete a reddish color. Looked really good