The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

[Spartanforlife4]

I replaced one of the light switches in the living room with a Lutron dimmer. Supposed to be the Cadillac of dimmers. And it appears to be. Works great, no buzz, no flicker. Problem is, the three way switch next to it no longer lines up with it. The Lutron sits slightly higher. They're off by a small enough amount that I can jam the cover on, but then it's not even. I figure my best bet to get a switch that lines up is to get another Lutron toggle that is non-dimmable, but for the life of me I cannot find one. After some searching I'm not even sure they make one.

At this point I feel like my only options are to live with the uneven wall plate or start a trial-and-error of different brands of switches.

[dxmnkd316]

You just have to standardize on the brand. When we do replacements, every switch in the room gets replaced and completely rewired.

[walrus]

You just have to standardize on the brand. When we do replacements, every switch in the room gets replaced and completely rewired.

You do a complete rewire in the room for a switch change?

[walrus]

I replaced one of the light switches in the living room with a Lutron dimmer. Supposed to be the Cadillac of dimmers. And it appears to be. Works great, no buzz, no flicker. Problem is, the three way switch next to it no longer lines up with it. The Lutron sits slightly higher. They're off by a small enough amount that I can jam the cover on, but then it's not even. I figure my best bet to get a switch that lines up is to get another Lutron toggle that is non-dimmable, but for the life of me I cannot find one. After some searching I'm not even sure they make one.

At this point I feel like my only options are to live with the uneven wall plate or start a trial-and-error of different brands of switches.

I assume its a small amount in difference? Shim the switch that sits in from the Lutron. Small washers between J box and switch to move switch out. You might get with just loosening screws to allow switch to move out when you tighten cover plate screws.

[Spartanforlife4]

I assume its a small amount in difference? Shim the switch that sits in from the Lutron. Small washers between J box and switch to move switch out. You might get with just loosening screws to allow switch to move out when you tighten cover plate screws.

It’s not much, I’ll have to measure when I get home for an exact difference. The Lutron sits slightly higher. Small enough to make it look like there’s wiggle room to make it work, but large enough that none of my adjustments have worked so far. Maybe I just have to tinker a little more.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

JFC, did I ever get fleeced by the former owner of my house and his sh*tty DIY work. We've got a walk-in shower in our main bathroom and, to be fair, we'd been neglecting to clean out our shower drain for a few months. It flooded about 90 minutes ago while my wife was attempting to shower and some of it spilled over the edge of the shower pan. I ran into the basement for a plunger and saw there was water dripping all over one area and soaking through a bunch of boxes we had stored down there, because the ****er apparently didn't seal things properly when he redid that bathroom in 2018. Grrrrrrrrrrrreat. An hour of screaming later, we've dried up most of the water but now we have to unpack all the wet boxes. We're supposed to be hosting Thanksgiving in two days, the house is a mess, I don't have time for this sh*t.

[dxmnkd316]

Oh ****, that blows man... I'm sorry.

I'll use this as a reminder I should run my drains again soon. BTW, it's amazing what a good amount of baking soda and a cup of vinegar will do for a drain.

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

A couple weeks back, my wife finally got ahold of the Code Enforcement Officer while I was working. She got rather Karenish about the officer's cryptic letter citing some bull**** bylaw about replacing damaged property that we couldn't even find in the online code book.

Postscript - we know someone on the City Council, and after he recently heard our story he asked us for a copy of the officer's letter. Apparently they're planning to sit down with her and review her performance. I guess she's been sending other unclear/cryptic letters on official city letterhead and there have been several complaints. We have a lot of older residents who have been here a long time, including the officer, and I suspect that she may be friends with many of them and possibly making up threatening letters as a favor to her buddies. In which case, I'd expect her to be terminated at a minimum.

[dxmnkd316]

Postscript - we know someone on the City Council, and after he recently heard our story he asked us for a copy of the officer's letter. Apparently they're planning to sit down with her and review her performance. I guess she's been sending other unclear/cryptic letters on official city letterhead and there have been several complaints. We have a lot of older residents who have been here a long time, including the officer, and I suspect that she may be friends with many of them and possibly making up threatening letters as a favor to her buddies. In which case, I'd expect her to be terminated at a minimum.

That's not a postscript, that's Chapter 2. Now I'm curious where this goes :-D

[anygreen]

Is there a company or type of professional who will come to your house and take a top to bottom look at everything and give you a 'honey do' list of recommended essential and/or cosmetic improvements? We live in a 1960s house and stuff is really starting to come up for repair, but I don't know the order of importance and need someone who can look at stuff and say 'Hey, that's a problem now' or 'That's going to be a problem soon' etc. So far i only found the template of hvac contract https://lawrina.com/templates/hvac-contract/ and we are going to sing it in the next couple of days.

[burd]

Is there a company or type of professional who will come to your house and take a top to bottom look at everything and give you a 'honey do' list of recommended essential and/or cosmetic improvements? We live in a 1960s house and stuff is really starting to come up for repair, but I don't know the order of importance and need someone who can look at stuff and say 'Hey, that's a problem now' or 'That's going to be a problem soon' etc.

If you live in a smaller city, any reputable remodel contractor can do that. Their reputation keeps them busy, so they take care of it. Get recommendations from people you know who have had significant remodel work done. Consult with more than one.

If you decide to go ahead with fixes on various areas of your home, don't be afraid to use separate contractors (roofer, siding work, cabinet and interior finish, flooring, electrical, painting, etc.) With a 60s structure, windows will probably be a big question you should ask these people about. Some of it will be actual "honey do" stuff, but some of it you should probably not touch.

[French Rage]

If you live in a smaller city, any reputable remodel contractor can do that. Their reputation keeps them busy, so they take care of it. Get recommendations from people you know who have had significant remodel work done. Consult with more than one.

He would do all of those if he wasn't, you know, a bot.

[burd]

He would do all of those if he wasn't, you know, a bot.

Can't be; I replied. Could I be that stupid?

[psych]

How long have you lived in Wisconsin? That should give you a good starting point…

[FadeToBlack&Gold]

How long have you lived in Wisconsin? That should give you a good starting point…

Years of Jaeger shots chased with sconsintinis (paint thinner shaken over ice served with a skewer of cheddar and a bacon twist) doesn't do much for one's brain health.