Home Improvement Today?

you cant hardly get anyone to come out to work anymore...

 

of course. the high school i graduated from, stopped tech classes 10 years ago as part of the massive STEM education push. my younger brother was in one of the last class years for it, and at that point even for the mechanically-minded, it was really just a filler course with very little direction or instruction.

turns out sending every high school graduate to college to become a paper-pushing middle manager leaves the world with no one to manage! who knew!?

 

Deck rebuild in progress. Nothing fancy, just went from 7×16 to 10×22

Simple cedar with metal railing.

 

Fixed an under-slab copper water leak and last step is pouring some concrete on fresh-laid sand. The pipe still visible is a gas pipe that happens to pass through the slab about 5" higher than the buried water pipe that was fixed.

The slab doesn't have rebar, just the embedded wire mesh. Am thinking to put thin rebar at same spacng as the mesh. Would you guys put some cement screws in the cut face of the old slab to wire the rebar to? Am thinking this might help keep it level and solid. Not sure what the right way to do this is though. Thanks if any guidance/ideas as I rarely work with cement where it matters, aka just setting fence posts.

 

That's true. I retiled my in laws bathroom (a DIY skill I've picked up) and the neighbors were practically throwing money at me to come work on their homes. I felt bad for them, but DIY home repair is my hobby. As soon as you do a hobby for money it becomes work, and work is no fun.

 

could probably lay a new piece of mesh on top of the mesh stubs you've got sticking out. nice of you to have left some of the original mesh exposed like that.

if you wanted, you could use some split bolts to connect the new mesh to the old mesh.

but otherwise, rebar is in 1/2" diameter, generally requiring a 5/8" hole. any hole into the edge of the thickness will make the area weaker, not stronger.

being the rest of the pad is mesh, i would stick with only a mesh repair-- you definitely don't want your patch to be any part stronger or better installed than the rest of the concrete-- that is what can lead to rising/settling issues later.

i would also clean up the edges with some water and a brush to encourage bonding of the new and old concrete. there's a lot of dust in the pictures that don't encourage a good bond between them.

 

Thanks. The concept of not making the patch stronger with rebar is a really good concept to follow and I hadn't thought of that. I was going to use rebar, but will stick to mesh and try to wire it to the old mesh sticking out. Appreciate the outside thinking.

 

interesting to note, i did some googling into trying to locate rebar smaller than 1/2" diameters, and ended up on a reddit thread about the differences between wire mesh and rebar...

https://www.reddit.com/r/Concrete/comments/srhls6/using_wire_mesh_instead_of_rebar_for_house_slab/

it changed my perspective a little on the matter before i replied. i'm also someone that "if in doubt, it doesn't hurt to overbuild more"-- my trailer build is a great example of this...

but when patching or repairing anything i'v learned it's important to always understand how the patch will interact with the main material, and generally making the patch better, despite the capabilities to do so, can easily result in more issues later than taking the lesser route that achieves a more similar strength result.

 

My LG failed at just after the warranty expired at the 7 year mark. We replaced it with a GE that had the compressor fail before even the 2 year mark. Thankfully GE fixed it and it only cost the price of the service call (they didn't have to since the warranty was only a year) but they were originally going to have me foot the whole bill with a 25% discount on labor and 50% on parts, coming to around $500. It's louder now and honestly I think we will buy something else if it fails again. Both experiences taught us that you can't have just one fridge. We got one of those top/bottom jobs that will go forever as a backup/basement fridge and this last fiasco we bought an additional fridge/freezer for freezer overflow. Now we have an upstairs fridge, a. basement fridge, a basement freezer and I have two mini fridges in the garage for beer.

 

My fridge story...

I bought a GE from Costco that wouldn't cool below 40. Returned and bought a GE Profile. Also wouldn't cool below 40. Bought an LG LMXS28626 from Costco that worked fantastic for 4 1/2 years just outside of Costco's extended warranty. Costco's extended warranty company will make you pay out of pocket for the repairs then send a reimbursement check btw.

Thankfully, LG linear compressors have a 10 year parts and labor warranty. Costco helped coordinate the call and the repairs were free.

Downside, the food in the LG spoiled and I was without my kitchen fridge for about a week. Thankfully I had a really really old Maytag in the garage.

I left the LG when I sold the house, so it will be the new buyers problem if it fails again.


From what I've heard all new fridges with linear compressors have short lifespans. Something to do with the refrigerant being corrosive and eating the seals?

I've heard the cheap whirlpool side by sides are reliable. The less features the better.

 

Everyone underestimates the beer fridge in the basement or garage. Literally saved me when my old Amana in the kitchen shit the bed. I hated that fridge anyways. None of my food spoiled, although I did throw away a bunch of shit I wasn't ever gonna consume. Bought a mid level Whirlpool side by side that took quite some time to come in due to the odd size.

Ironically the beer fridge is a Whirlpool that has been through Hell and back. It wound up at a camp in West Virginia down on the river. Flood came through one year and it was literally floating around camp. Still cools great despite the door is tweaked and leaks a little.

 

Had the tankless water heater serviced today and the guy found .
So I got some of this from the shop and then fit it here to keep the little trouble makers out .

 

Under cabinet lighting question...

Remodeling kitchen (cabinets, counter back splash)

Want under cabinet lighting.
Cabinet above range has a box that powers above range microwave. That box shares a circuit with refrigerator. Can I use that box to power lighting or is that a code violation?

 

Im not up on codes but i wouldnt think so. With new LED lights you surely wont overload the circuit

 

I read something that code prohibits connection to "dedicated" circuit making connection to wall outlet circuit (where you'd plug in appliances) a no-no. Thus my question on the microwave box.

Edit: This Old House says you can use wall outlet box, so either way I think I'm good.

 

Anyone ever see a fence post (gate post) that’s 5”x5.25” actual? Weird dimension, wondering if it’s was custom milled or is that something a fence company might use and have?

 

Picture?
I had them make 2- 6' gates from our back dog run

 

Wouldn't that just be a 6x6 post?

 

This will be amusing lol. Guess I’ll have to give a little back story. I don’t have many pictures, gonna stop at the fence place down the road and see if they have anything. If not just hit up Lowe’s or HD and get a 6x6 probably.

Back story: ended up buying a new shed and finally got it delivered Monday. Had to take down the gate and a section so they could haul it into the backyard. Fence isn’t that old, we bought the house 2 years ago. Previous owners had it put in a few years before that. Anywho, bought a farmers jack and tried pulling it out with that. Started lifting it but was digging into the post pretty good and not really budging after that. Decided to hook it up to the truck. Was by myself so trying to be cautious. Truck was just slipping on the grass, one tire was on concrete so had some traction. Was budging. Tried a slight rolling start with maybe 2-4” of chain slack. Still wasn’t budging. Tried with no slack a few more times, no go. Decided to do one last bump. Gave the chain some slack (maybe 5-6”) and gave it a nice pull. Post ended up being rotted and snapped. Looking at the screen I seen the tire and chain coming flying. Hear a loud bang. Get out expecting my tailgate and bumper to be completely smashed in. Luckily no real damage. Like a 2mm dent on the tailgate and extremely light scratch from the chain and a very small dent in the roof and a scratch. Tonneau took the biggest hit but didn’t tear. Just a little stretch mark that looked better once the sun hit it. All in all I’m lucky that not only was I or anyone not hurt, but that my new truck was barely damaged. This could of been really ugly.

 

Yeah just go get a 6x6 from HD or Lowes now that I see what you got.