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The Home Improvement Thread. Successes and Failures

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DonaldD said:
Well I'm not sure if it can be considered a home improvement or not but I'm doing a conversion on my garage turning it into a wood shop. I've always enjoyed wood working and in my older years I've acquired all sorts of tools including a lathe and planer among other things. Also I'm looking to get a new front door. Also I’m toying with the idea of getting a Ring doorbell like this https://allsmartcam.com/ring-doorbell-local-recording/ as I quite like the tech. Has anyone got one and, if so, why? Interested in real world experience.
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I have a Ring doorbell. It's...okay. I feel it's somewhat intrusive, but my wife loves it. We bought it because we live only a few blocks from St. Paul, and while crime isn't rampant in my neighborhood, it's not unheard of either. Given that you do work with tools, t's pretty easy to install. People who are not accustomed to using tools have balked at the hookup process, from what I've seen. It's really not a cumbersome process at all. You'll want to setup your alerts, which can be a pain, otherwise every time a car drives down the street, or somebody's walking their dog, you'll receive an activity alert.

As to the woodworking tools bit...
I just had to adjust my table saw (DeWalt worksite saw from 2013) because it wasn't cutting right angles after I moved to the new house. I had to adjust the blade and motor housing as the back end was pinching against the fence. And the miter gauge wasn't accurate. I've been able to correct for a 90-degree cut, but the 45-degree is setting is off by a full 5 degrees. I haven't fixed that 45-degree cut yet.
 
St. Clown said:
I have a Ring doorbell. It's...okay. I feel it's somewhat intrusive, but my wife loves it. We bought it because we live only a few blocks from St. Paul, and while crime isn't rampant in my neighborhood, it's not unheard of either. Given that you do work with tools, t's pretty easy to install. People who are not accustomed to using tools have balked at the hookup process, from what I've seen. It's really not a cumbersome process at all. You'll want to setup your alerts, which can be a pain, otherwise every time a car drives down the street, or somebody's walking their dog, you'll receive an activity alert.

As to the woodworking tools bit...
I just had to adjust my table saw (DeWalt worksite saw from 2013) because it wasn't cutting right angles after I moved to the new house. I had to adjust the blade and motor housing as the back end was pinching against the fence. And the miter gauge wasn't accurate. I've been able to correct for a 90-degree cut, but the 45-degree is setting is off by a full 5 degrees. I haven't fixed that 45-degree cut yet.
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Yeah, we have a Ring as well, and I concur with your recommendation.

One funny story about ours. My wife turned 60 during the lockdown last April, so all of our friends did a surprise drive by that morning. She grabbed her phone so she could video it, but had it set on photo instead of video, so she just got a single picture instead of a video. A couple of hours later I started thinking about it and realized it might be on the Ring, which it was, so that was nice.
 
My eldest son, the master auto mechanic, has decided that he will renovate the bathroom. He has successfully demo'd the walls, tub, floor commode, floor, & vanity. He has decided to install the tub, commode, vanity, walls and tile AND install the proper plumbing pipes and connections all by himself.

My wife and I have offered to help with the cost of a plumber to do things correctly. My son, bless his heart, says if he can repair an engine and a transmission (and he can - quite effectively, too), he can do the plumbing.

I've told our family plumber to be on standby.

In our house, I can do simple stuff (see my posts), but hire out the difficult stuff. Should my beloved bride and I make another attempt to convince him to do the same?
 
Plumbing is one of those things that isn’t all that complicated so long as you research your stuff first. And have a good eye for detail because if you’re using copper and not soldering your joints correctly, then you have a mess.
 
St. Clown said:
Plumbing is one of those things that isn’t all that complicated so long as you research your stuff first. And have a good eye for detail because if you’re using copper and not soldering your joints correctly, then you have a mess.
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I tend to agree with that, but one caution about plumbing is that if a defect, such as improper venting, is discovered later, like in the process of a prospective sale, repairing a simple problem can be very expensive, not only because a licensed plumber will probably do it, but because of the tear out work often required. I use venting as an example because a non plumber might think everything they have done works perfectly well, despite the fact that it is either not or improperly vented.
 
I should add he has plastic piping (not the bad stuff that failed 30+ years ago) going to copper for the bathroom.

And he has well water.
 
burd said:
I tend to agree with that, but one caution about plumbing is that if a defect, such as improper venting, is discovered later, like in the process of a prospective sale, repairing a simple problem can be very expensive, not only because a licensed plumber will probably do it, but because of the tear out work often required. I use venting as an example because a non plumber might think everything they have done works perfectly well, despite the fact that it is either not or improperly vented.
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This happened to the people selling the house we just bought and are moving into. City inspection told them the basement bathroom sink wasn't vented correctly. They figured it wouldn't be a big deal, but it ballooned into a nightmare for them with how the structure of the house was around that bathroom. It got done, but it took a chunk of their proceeds to be sure. Our buyer's inspector said it was just another in a long case of "It's great buying a house in Saint Louis Park, it is hell selling one."
 
Lately I’ve noticed a smell whenever the furnace kicks on. It’s hard to describe, but it basically smells like water vapor near the ducts for the first 10 seconds or so after it kicks on. It’s not musty or any of the obvious things and it’s not an unpleasant smell. It’s just... a smell. And maybe it’s always done this but haven’t noticed. I get the same smell if I turn on my gas oven and open the door.

Now we all remember from chemistry burning hydrocarbons creates water. Which is one of the reasons I’m curious, because the air being circulated should never come in direct contact with that water vapor unless I’ve got a cracked exchanger. But usually with a cracked exchanger you’d have CO issues. The highest my CO detector next to the furnace has ever read is ~15 ppm. The one upstairs next to the bedroom has never registered any. Both are relatively new and aren’t expired.

I’m assuming this is just condensing water that’s boiling off as it heats up. But why would it do it every time it kicks on? I’d have thought that would happen during massive shifts in humidity and temperature in the atmosphere. But not for weeks.

My only thought is something jammed the vent closed, but again, I’d have expected some CO issues and there would be other smells...

I’m not too keen to have someone in my house, but I also want to balance that with safety of the appliance.



Edit: Interesting. According to the EPA, if you take a reading near a "properly adjusted gas stove" you can get readings of 5-15 ppm. So that 19 ppm doesn't seem totally out of whack for a lifetime max. I just reset it to see what happens over the next 24 hours.
 
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On Saturday night my microwave started throwing sparks and so we decided to replace it rather than repair, and I made the purchase Sunday. Whoever remodeled our kitchen did not bother with keeping the cabinets square. Ugh. What should’ve taken maybe 2 hours turned into much, much longer. I had to cut back the side of one of the cabinets, sand it, and then try to account for all of the other angles to place the bolts through the bottom of the cabinets, and add a strip of filler wood.

It didn’t help that my work times were interrupted by my little girl going for naps and sleep at night, but I finally completed the process during my lunch just now. I should’ve planned out the process better, could’ve been done Sunday. Also, when my toddler wasn’t sleeping she was trying to climb my ladder, so that was distracting. I kept losing my place.

If anybody need a hints on how to figure out how far off you’ve drilled your bolt holes, I’ve learned the best way figure out how to figure out how badly.
 
St. Clown said:
On Saturday night my microwave started throwing sparks and so we decided to replace it rather than repair, and I made the purchase Sunday. Whoever remodeled our kitchen did not bother with keeping the cabinets square. Ugh. What should’ve taken maybe 2 hours turned into much, much longer. I had to cut back the side of one of the cabinets, sand it, and then try to account for all of the other angles to place the bolts through the bottom of the cabinets, and add a strip of filler wood.

It didn’t help that my work times were interrupted by my little girl going for naps and sleep at night, but I finally completed the process during my lunch just now. I should’ve planned out the process better, could’ve been done Sunday. Also, when my toddler wasn’t sleeping she was trying to climb my ladder, so that was distracting. I kept losing my place.

If anybody need a hints on how to figure out how far off you’ve drilled your bolt holes, I’ve learned the best way figure out how to figure out how badly.
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Regarding the microwave, we had a similar problem. One trick that we learned, tried, and appears to have worked, is this.

On one of the side walls on the inside of your microwave is a metal plate. It's probably held in place by some plastic pins that snap out if you use a screwdriver or a knife to pop them loose.

Remove, then thoroughly scrub both sides of that metal plate and replace it. If necessary, you can even purchase a replacement metal plate for cheap.

That worked for us (thus far).
 
SJHovey said:
Regarding the microwave, we had a similar problem. One trick that we learned, tried, and appears to have worked, is this.

On one of the side walls on the inside of your microwave is a metal plate. It's probably held in place by some plastic pins that snap out if you use a screwdriver or a knife to pop them loose.

Remove, then thoroughly scrub both sides of that metal plate and replace it. If necessary, you can even purchase a replacement metal plate for cheap.

That worked for us (thus far).
Click to expand...
Ours started sparking up through the bottom, where the turntable motor’s connected to the pin/whatever the glass table rests upon. I didn’t know if the motor was going or the if some impurity created the sparks. Regardless, we didn’t like the old microwave, so it became a bit of a well-made excuse to replace it.
 
dxmnkd316 said:
So about that deck I was thinking of having built
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I am so thankful that my wife and I were able to redo our deck last Memorial Day before the lumber prices went bonkers. I think for giggles we did an online estimate again for materials (16x12 deck, composite top boards) and it's triple what we paid.



I am not looking forward to needing to replace some trim around the eaves and windows this summer though...
 
We'll probably go composite. It's what buyers seem to want. And if lumber is that insane, I'm hoping composite will be going for a relative discount.

I have to imagine the wood is because of the housing boom that's going on. There has to be a massive shortage for any house to get 55 offers regardless of price.
 
Solar install scheduled for June. Should be able to offset 100% of my usage (but I may have to cut down a couple huge trees to reduce shading to hit that). Getting 26% back as a tax credit is pretty great.
 
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