Home Improvement Today?

If she does drywall/finish work, count yourself lucky. She's a Keeper.

 

Agreed. I'll do a lot of home repairs, but drywall/finish work is not one of them. Most of the "projects" that we do are based on my wife's ideas. Thus, she gets to do the tedious stuff. I made sure she understood that before we bought our first place years ago. Carried on the tradition over the last 20 years somehow.

 

Looking to add a little more home security by swapping out the floodlight over the garage for one with integrated security camera. Anyone here rocking one of these? Lots of options out there, mixed reviews.

 

Changed all the locks out on the house today. Was able to grab all four Schlage sets that the keys matched somehow. I've keyed locks before so it wouldn't have been too big of a deal, but this made it a whole lot easier. Also pulled back some more carpet to check condition. Score!





Can't believe they would have covered up the nice wood, but it preserved it pretty well!

Also started checking out what this thing in the basement is. Looks like I really scored again, whole basement dehumidifier/filter thing. Looks to have cost over $800



Tomorrow gonna start working on more of the carpet and try and clean out the water softener. It might come back around, it might not. $30 worth of salt ain't bad if it doesn't come back around. More labor than anything pumping out the old brown gunky water...

 

Nothin’ kills water softeners like Iron. They will remove iron but eventually the Zeolite beads get fouled & pretty much done then. Some Iron is usually present but above a certain value an Iron filter is required & I understand there none too cheap either.

 

Beautiful floors. Look identical to the floors in my house.

 

We'll have to see in time how it does. It seems to have worked well over the years as none of the plumbing fixtures are stained at all. Tub and sinks look immaculate.

There is one oddity that I found today. Seems they have the cistern supplying the hot water in the house at the moment, but there's valves to change that pretty easily. Kinda odd they did that, but we might find out the reason when I switch it over tomorrow

 

If you do a regen., stop it as soon as it sucks in all the brine solution from the tank then stop it & let the salt sit in the bead beds overnight. Next day complete the regen. Heard it from a ‘couple guys who had similar situations. Don’t know if it worked or not.

 

Good to know! Not sure how to force a regen on this old softener, the timer is all mechanical. Sure I'll figure it out; the mechanical ones will probably last longer than the new digital ones. If it don't come around I'll unfortunately have to upgrade to one of those units.

My parents had a similar softener setup in the house I grew up in. When the water turned all mucky like that they just added more salt. Yea, no, not me. I have a transfer pump to pump all that mess out and I can clean it out by hand. Add a little water afterwards and some salt pellets. See what it does!

 

They all pack it in but very gradually. If you’re gettin’ in there check what looks like a washer with screen deal. Without adequate water flow through the cycles the regeneration quality decreases & eventually this is where you get. Hope it works out. I’ve used a lot of softeners but all industrial stuff.

 

Thanks Mark! Not exactly my favorite stain color, but I'll have to live with it. I'll have to eventually buy a shittone of 1/4 round as it was removed to add the carpet. Haven't done stain grade "trim" in a long ass time, so I gotta get my measuring down pat Glad I got my 16GA air nailer, shit would be brutal nailing it all by hand. Although I've been pondering just painting all the trim in the house. It needs a more modern look, but I'm undecided. For time time being that's all on the backburner; I've got other more pressing things to complete...

 

You're welcome. If you have access to an 18G brad nailer, that would be more appropriate for quarter round. I think the floor color will grow on you. You'll barely notice it in a while. I think the trim painted white would look nice.

Oh, and when possible, instead of measuring trim, just put it in place (cut a little long of course) and mark it for your cut. Way more accurate.

 

Actually I have one of those too. Might need to take the back part off and oil it real good; last person to use it was my grandfather and he probably hadn't used it three years before he passed in '13.

I got all kind of goodies. Hitachi 10" table saw, Delta 10" Mitre saw, various nail guns, etc. Haven't used the stuff in a while; guess it's time

 

You're all set!

 

Okay, so we bought a new house in Charlotte and with the recent minor snow fall we have had there is what seems to be some ice damning along the ridge vents and was told today by the roofer this is normal and will continue....

Was informed there is not anything that can be done be the roofer. I asked him if his roof at home was doing this he said NO, I said and why is mine doing it then he said this is normal and I asked why is your roof NOT doing it NOTHING.

I understand Ice Damning but if the airflow is not correct won't this contribute to more ice damning? I want to get this taken care of before this becomes an issue.

I cant even think a reputable builder would let this fly.....And to think they didn't even install the Tech-Shield roof decking correctly and missing one whole entire section of the roof....

 

Uh, ice dams are not good and not normal. Ice dams will DEFINITELY allow water intrusion and rot your decking and rafters if not addressed quickly.

https://www.thisoldhouse.com/roofing/21017660/how-to-get-rid-of-ice-dams

 

house still under warranty? Maybe contact the builder and if youre out of warranty get the roofer info cause you should have a warranty on the roof separately

 

Indeed it will, but to be told this is normal from a roofer is disturbing to say the least.

 

House is 3 months old...

 

yea call the home builder and put in a claim. Snow can get into the attic if the wind hits right due to it being a vent. maybe they didnt lay the plywood correctly and left a bigger gap? theyre going to lie to you cause its not an easy fix. A lot of work to fix something like that.