Quote :

"i don't know why people put TV's over fireplaces. do you also like to sit in the first 5 rows at the movies?"

We have a low mantle and our tv is right above it (about a millimeter above) and it is at a very natural height.

1/16/2015 10:33:16 PM

^It also looks tacky as hell. Try not making the TV the focal point of your living room.

Quote :

"so uh, anyone got experience with crown molding?"

Whats your question?

1/18/2015 5:40:21 PM

No one gives two fucks what you think looks tacky or not. Kill yourself fucking asshole

1/19/2015 10:48:12 AM

So I have a guy doing a semi sealed crawl space and he had an electrician come out to install an outlet for a dehumidifier. The electrician simply added the new outlet as a load on the outlet for the sump pump. It turns out, the sump pump is connected to my living room circuit (ie 8 receptacles and a ceiling fan).

The sump and dehumidifier both draw a maximum of 10 amps each and the circuit is a 15 amp circuit with 14 awg romex. The electrician is try to tell me this is fine and suggested they switch out the breaker with a 20 amp breaker. This is crazy right? A 15 amp breaker is required to protect 14 awg wire, right? Shouldn't the dehumidifier and sump each be on separate 15A circuits?

Crawl space guy said don't worry b/c he did a load test (wtf is that?) and we should just try it and see if it works. I think the electrician must think I'm an idiot The crawl space guy seems to be taking his side. But I"m not wrong here am I? And no, I haven't paid any money.

[Edited on January 19, 2015 at 1:01 PM. Reason : ?]

1/19/2015 12:59:20 PM

3^ teach me the ways

I did some in my 1/2 bath; I understand the process and angles, etc., I just don't know how to adjust on the fly to get a better fit. I know a popular answer is, "if they don't line up then the angles are wrong", true, but when shit measures to within 1 degree and works in mockups but not on the wall, it tells me the wall/ceiling is the issue (corner angles, mudlines, stud crowns, etc.).

1/19/2015 1:50:19 PM

^^Code says 15 amps. 20 amps won't burn up 14 awg. I would be wary of any electrician who suggests violating code. Not that I care about the code, but the fact that he doesn't (especially, as in this case, when following code would get him more work and more money) says he's a tard.

[Edited on January 19, 2015 at 6:50 PM. Reason : hang your license on the line over that BS? nope nope nope.]

matter of fact, i'd probably tell him to pack sand and then report his ass to the county. he is gonna fuck somebody up eventually.

[Edited on January 19, 2015 at 6:51 PM. Reason : afds]

1/19/2015 6:49:34 PM

Anybody have any electrician recommendations?

1/19/2015 8:07:42 PM

what do you mean by a semi-sealed crawl space?

1/20/2015 2:51:07 PM

It only has a few seals in it.

1/20/2015 7:29:33 PM

Quote :

"what do you mean by a semi-sealed crawl space?"

I think it is actually called pseudo-sealed. It involves a vapor barrier that covers the ground, sealing the vents, and providing air flow (ie a dehumidifier). Unlike a fully sealed crawl space, the sub-floor remains insulated instead of the foundation wall. The advantages are, it is cheaper and doesn't interfere with a termite bond (insulating the foundation walls can allow termites to get very close to the wood structure without being detected).

[Edited on January 20, 2015 at 8:32 PM. Reason : ?]

1/20/2015 8:29:59 PM

ah ok, i think it's just different terminology than what i'm used to.

most literature i've read used 'encapsulated' rather than pseudo-sealed, (which i did to my house last year) vs a conditioned crawl space ('fully sealed' as you called it).

That was probably the most simultaneously depressing and well spent large sum of money i've ever spent.

depressing because you literally can't see the benefits. vs. say finishing the attic.

1/21/2015 2:56:33 PM

Yea, I've been questioning it ever since I agreed to the work...

1/21/2015 8:15:14 PM

it's worth it-- especially if you're doing it to solve another problem.

we had moisture issues in our crawlspace that resulted in our house smelling like death. summer of '13 was so humid that the moist air would come in through the vents, and when the temp in the crawl would drop below dewpoint, it'd condense everywhere, and suck in more humid air, and just turn the entire foundation into a mold factory.

the crawl is dry as a bone now, and with it sealed, our HVAC is more efficient-- the downstairs is cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, and about a 14% decrease in heating/cooling costs year over year. so there's that. the biggest downside is that most of my house is one floor, so we have almost 3000sqft of crawlspace.

1/22/2015 10:35:35 AM

So, I was approved to install solar panels on the front of my house by my HOA. Talk about drama...

I submitted my request, very thorough, back in middle of december. The Architectural Review Board would not communicate with me over my proposal even after numerous requests. I had wanted to discuss concerns and issues with them to aid in approval. They turned me down on January 7. I was pissed. It wasn't so much that they turned me down (I do live in an HOA neighborhood), but it was the lack of transparency and engagement in a project that meant a lot to me, that I put considerable effort into proposing, and their rather arrogant stance.

So, I appealed to the full board. The full board does not contain ARB members. But there is something really interesting about the board. One of my big opponents in the ARB (I would learn this later) has the proxy votes for about 350 people in the neighborhood. That means he can dictate who is on the board, and most of the people are on the board because he put them there. I prepared for 2 weeks for this thing. I had an environmental lawyer with me, a head state official on renewables, all my neighbors, and a 30 minute presentation complete with research data, tons of pictures (some that were mounted) and tons of technical data. At the end, the representative from the HOA Management company said he had never heard a better appeal in his wife. The entire board clapped...

Then this older gentleman, not on the board, wished to speak. He apparently had been summoned to the meeting, because the two ARB assholes wanted this guy who had been on the board for years, to tell the board not to approve my proposal. He stood up and said he had come to protest the proposal, but after hearing my presentation, that had entirely changed his mind. It was awesome. And I was told after that they had never seen that gentleman do that.

So, I am approved, and now I have to make sure I stay very close to the proposal, because I am told if I waiver, the critics of the plan are going to pounce.

But, it twas a proud day I was told that if I didn't get this proposal approved by April, then the ARB guy that holds the proxies was going to elect a board that would make sure I didn't get the approval.

1/22/2015 3:16:31 PM

BobbyDigital: That's good to hear. They should finish up next week so we'll see how it goes. We're hoping for better air quality, especially in mild weather when the HVAC doesn't run.

1/22/2015 8:40:34 PM

smoke detectors that won't stop beeping.

1/23/2015 10:41:37 AM

(assuming you've changed the battery to fresh ones at least twice...)

disconnect wire + remove battery + hold test button

if that doesn't work, try cleaning it out with compressed air

if that doesn't work, buy new ones.

I have yet to replace mine that wouldn't stop beeping. SO DANGEROUS. SMOKEY IZ DISAPPOINT.

[Edited on January 23, 2015 at 10:57 AM. Reason : ,]

1/23/2015 10:56:45 AM

That's what I'll be doing tonight, but I was hoping to determine which one was beeping to avoid replacing all of them. Of course it starts beeping again as soon as I leave for work. The house is approx. 8 years old now so I know sometimes they can go bad after 5-6 years. I was always under the impression the 9V batteries should last at least a year before needing to be replaced, but maybe this isn't the case?

1/23/2015 11:06:13 AM

those batteries can (should) last for years.
detectors just go bad. The detector of mine that wouldn't stop beeping was less than 2 years old.

And I wouldn't go replacing them all; it's not hard to track down which one.

1/23/2015 1:38:53 PM

Quote :

"we had moisture issues in our crawlspace that resulted in our house smelling like death. summer of '13 was so humid that the moist air would come in through the vents, and when the temp in the crawl would drop below dewpoint, it'd condense everywhere, and suck in more humid air, and just turn the entire foundation into a mold factory. "

I had a similar problem in my crawlspace. During the summer when the vents were open condensation would build up everywhere. Now I just keep those vents close and all is good. There is a vapor barrier in place. I think the only negative I remember is closing the vents increases the chance of a radon problem?

1/24/2015 4:42:59 PM

wouldn't a vapor barrier prevent radon from permeating into the crawlspace to begin with?

1/25/2015 5:18:27 AM

that's the hope...barrier isn't perfect though

1/25/2015 6:24:00 PM

So I hope to be back having Ownership Woes soon. My wife and I are hoping to be buying our second home after renting. We have found a place we loved that got a previous offer and the buyer backed out due to Radon. The seller has already agreed to resolve that issue. I had a home inspection done which revealed that the ledger board on the deck doesn't have flashing and the basement cinder block wall has a horizontal crack (seems to be hairline) at a seam of about 5 ft.

I am afraid since they are already fixing issues they won't be so agreeable to more. We love the home. How worried should I be of these two issues? The deck issue is more worrisome to me. I also don't think it would be a huge expense to correct.

1/25/2015 9:38:02 PM

Neither of those issues sounds like a concern to me.

1/26/2015 10:18:23 AM

Both of those problems are very common in our area. I would not let them scare me away from a house, especially one with a basement, which are hard to find!

The crack may not even be an issue, for about $350 you can have an engineer look at it and if its a non-issue hang on to the letter for when you sell the home.

The flashing around the deck comes up as an issue all the time, your home inspector is going to put it down to cover his ass. Unless he is finding evidence of rot its possibly something to defer and monitor as you own the home. The seller is probably not going to fix that unless there is evidence of a current problem with it. Very rarely does a home seller want to fix something that may become a problem in the future, especially if it was up to spec at the time it was originally done.

1/26/2015 10:24:46 AM

The realtor I am dealing with brought along one of his coworkers who also had construction experience and said pretty much the same thing. I wont let it worry me to much then. Thanks guys!

1/26/2015 12:31:14 PM

You didn't say how old the house is, but if it has any age to it and the only foundation problem is a horizontal hairline crack, I'd say you found a good on. As Str8BacardiL said, you can have an engineer check it out if it will give you peace of mind, but I wouldn't worry about it personally.

Here's some info about deck flashing:

http://www.oldhouseweb.com/how-to-advice/flashing-what-is-it-and-why-is-it-important.shtml

You might consider how long has it been there and has it actually caused any decay? If its been there a while and there is not much decay then I wouldn't worry about it. Also, the roof overhang may be sufficient to keep the area where the deck meets the house dry.

The thing to remember is, the inspection is mostly a tool to negotiate down the price. I remember being pretty bummed at my inspection b/c it made it sound like I had picked a shitty house. But all houses have issues. The idea is, your offer was assuming the house had no issues (all houses have issues). Now, you can use the inspection report to knock the price down. Usually what people do is send a laundry list to the seller and the seller will respond with what they're willing to do. It's all part of the dance. A lot of times they will just offer to pay you at closing and you fix it. When I bought my house, the seller paid me for a cracked tub, cracked window, and nasty carpet. Ended up being about $5k.

[Edited on January 26, 2015 at 7:02 PM. Reason : ?]

1/26/2015 6:56:00 PM

The house was build in 2005.

As far as the flashing, there are no signs of any damage, but you also can't see much due to the interior basement being finished.

1/27/2015 8:36:26 AM

Getting my shower retiled and praying there's no water damage to the subflooring.

1/27/2015 10:03:23 AM

re-tiled as in it is currently tiled and there was an issue? Or just changing the look?

1/27/2015 10:53:38 AM

^^^Where is the ledger board attached to the house (e.g. to masonry or to wood)? That may make the difference to me. If it's on masonry and there's no signs of issues, then I think I could let that slide. If it's attached to the wood framing of the house, I'd be very concerned.

[Edited on January 27, 2015 at 4:28 PM. Reason : ^^^]

1/27/2015 4:27:57 PM

i have become an expert on HVAC systems. Literally trying to troubleshoot this system once a month.

1/30/2015 2:04:54 PM

Anyone want to take an educated stab at what it would cost me to add breakers to my existing box where I have space to do so, and then have the wires run approximately 30 ft across a ceiling with no access from an attic or any other crawlspace?

2/2/2015 2:02:22 PM

I had a new branch circuit done in a very accessible location for $150. I don't know that the inaccessibility will add much to the cost, but somebody is going to have to fix your ceiling. You might save some money doing the demo/repair yourself.

2/2/2015 7:37:52 PM

Good to know.

On a separate issue, maybe someone has a more creative solution to my other issue than what I've thought of so far. I have a space in my living room that is basically like an alcove. It's 48" wide. For about four years now I've had a 46" tv in there. Recently I looked, and basically, they've eliminated the bezels surrounding most flat panel tvs, so for me that means a bigger screen tv can fit in the same space. So, I now have a 55" tv that is 48.4" wide. 0.4" too big. So you'd think I'd have to take it back. Here's the thing: the walls in this alcove actually aren't uniformly 48". Toward the middle of the sides of the alcove space (about 30" deep) they give another 0.1-0.2". So it's like, either I concede that this particular TV model, which is exactly the one I want, and almost 10" of screen size larger (why bother upgrading to anything less?) just needs barely a quarter inch of space to fully hang perpendicular to the side walls.

I was considering just taking a belt sander to the sides of the alcove drywall where the TV would hang, creating just enough space for it to exist without being visually apparent.

Another option I considered was finding some sort of jack/wall spacer and using some wood to evenly distribute the load to force the walls to compress or bend ever so slightly to create the space.

I am determined to solve this puzzle.

If anyone has any other creative solutions that allow the wall to appear to retain its current characteristics but give me the quarter inch extra I need, let me know.

2/3/2015 9:52:19 AM

I would just sand that bitch.

2/3/2015 10:31:54 AM

Yeah, that seems to be the most unobtrusive approach.

2/3/2015 11:29:09 AM

That is a lot of sanding. An inverted bar clamp could push the walls out, or take a happier to the top to push the wall out a little, then do some drywall repair.

2/3/2015 12:12:54 PM

remove drywall; replace with plywood; paint; profit.

2/3/2015 1:57:35 PM

Assuming it was built with 1/2" drywall, you could redo the drywall with 1/4" drywall.

2/3/2015 3:25:18 PM

Sounds like I'm going to just take an incremental approach, starting with the simplest (inverted bar clamp, then sanding) and see where it gets me. Fully replacing drywall seems like a lot of work a lot of work to gain less than a quarter inch, though it would end up being the best solution if I had unlimited resources and time.

2/3/2015 8:14:36 PM

1/4 inch of sanding will take you through the paper and unto the plaster of the drywall. I would think this would look like ass and be worse than poorly finished new drywall.

2/3/2015 8:39:25 PM

I highly doubt sanding the drywall will work. For one, ^this.

2/4/2015 2:29:46 PM

Quote :

"On a separate issue, maybe someone has a more creative solution to my other issue than what I've thought of so far. I have a space in my living room that is basically like an alcove. It's 48" wide. For about four years now I've had a 46" tv in there. Recently I looked, and basically, they've eliminated the bezels surrounding most flat panel tvs, so for me that means a bigger screen tv can fit in the same space. So, I now have a 55" tv that is 48.4" wide. 0.4" too big. So you'd think I'd have to take it back. Here's the thing: the walls in this alcove actually aren't uniformly 48". Toward the middle of the sides of the alcove space (about 30" deep) they give another 0.1-0.2". So it's like, either I concede that this particular TV model, which is exactly the one I want, and almost 10" of screen size larger (why bother upgrading to anything less?) just needs barely a quarter inch of space to fully hang perpendicular to the side walls. I was considering just taking a belt sander to the sides of the alcove drywall where the TV would hang, creating just enough space for it to exist without being visually apparent. Another option I considered was finding some sort of jack/wall spacer and using some wood to evenly distribute the load to force the walls to compress or bend ever so slightly to create the space. I am determined to solve this puzzle. If anyone has any other creative solutions that allow the wall to appear to retain its current characteristics but give me the quarter inch extra I need, let me know. "

Frame in the alcove, drywall over it, hang your much larger TV on the front, profit.



http://homesweetmemphis.blogspot.com/2010/09/home-improvement-project-filling-in-tv.html

If you want you can leave an opening at bottom for cable boxes and shit. My brother in law did that with his, he put a full range mount up and they are hidden in back, its a pretty clean look.

No way you keep your man card trying to fit a new TV in a nook made for an old timey square TV.

2/4/2015 3:07:13 PM

^ I should do that at my house.

2/4/2015 4:15:10 PM

My one year anniv is coming up on my new house. Im getting hammered by inspection people. Should i get an inspection again before my year is up?

2/4/2015 6:28:04 PM

Looks good, Str8... I do wonder if you should have used some drywall tape on all of those joints.

2/5/2015 10:42:37 AM

That's a good idea, and I think BobbyDigital did something similar, but this is actually almost fully floor to ceiling space, and I'd rather not give up that little bit of square footage. I have an ottoman that I tuck away under the mounted TV in that space on the floor, and it just gives my living room that much more space to be reasonably comfortable. Eventually, i'd like to add two shelves toward the top, above the TV.

Haven't gotten to trying anything yet because work has been busy, but I'll eventually get to it. TV is just slightly at an angle for now.

[Edited on February 5, 2015 at 1:27 PM. Reason : .]

2/5/2015 1:08:03 PM

so, do you mount the TV directly onto the drywall or do you put the mount on the framing?
<---n00b

[Edited on February 6, 2015 at 6:13 PM. Reason : ]

2/6/2015 6:13:14 PM

Mount on drywall, but make sure the framing is behind where its mounted and the mount is secured to framing.

2/6/2015 8:57:32 PM