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Home Improvement/Remodel Thread


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2 hours ago, Tugboat said:

Location location location.  

 

Do you like where you live now?  Or would you be happier in the alternative location???

Where we live now is great. Close enough to our city to get pizza delivered, but far enough out where its quiet. We have good, quiet neighbors that dont bother anyone either. Everyone keeps to themselves.

 

I should note that one option we were looking at is buying some land and getting a house built on it. We just havent found a decent price and size piece of property. I know this option would probably be the most expensive as well.

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2 hours ago, one_of_a_kind24 said:

Where we live now is great. Close enough to our city to get pizza delivered, but far enough out where its quiet. We have good, quiet neighbors that dont bother anyone either. Everyone keeps to themselves.

 

I should note that one option we were looking at is buying some land and getting a house built on it. We just havent found a decent price and size piece of property. I know this option would probably be the most expensive as well.

The other thing to consider is the value you're adding to your home, and your home's new value as compared to the neighborhood around you.  If you're already at the top of the market for your area, an addition won't bring much value.  If you're at the bottom or middle of the market, you'll get more value of your addition than you otherwise would if you were at the top.

An important consideration, since it seems you might want to sell later.

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I finished demo on my basement (except for the bathroom) and I start working on it on the 19th.  Putting in a new ceiling, new floor, paint and a wall to separate the bathroom/furnace/water heater and where my washer and dryer used to be.  
 

It’s going to be a pretty awesome movie theater basement.  I’ll put up all the movie memorabilia I’ve collected over these past ten years, and I’m going to buy a 2,700 dollar 85 inch TV and 1,300 dollar sound bar/sub.  
 

I hope to be finished by December.

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15 hours ago, Outpost31 said:

Putting in a new ceiling, new floor, paint and a wall to separate the bathroom/furnace/water heater and where my washer and dryer used to be.  

make sure you consider the acoustics of the room - otherwise your significant investment in electronics is diminished

http://acousticsfreq.com/complete-home-theater-acoustics-tutorial/

https://www.audioadvice.com/content/home-theater-acoustics-101/

 

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20 minutes ago, Shanedorf said:

make sure you consider the acoustics of the room - otherwise your significant investment in electronics is diminished

http://acousticsfreq.com/complete-home-theater-acoustics-tutorial/

https://www.audioadvice.com/content/home-theater-acoustics-101/

 

I’ll send you pictures and you can tell me what to do.

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On 10/9/2019 at 2:08 PM, Malfatron said:

Okay, so my ice maker for my GE Profile fridge is no longer getting power (green light not on)

its a top/bottom Fridge, where the bottom is a freezer. ice maker is in the freezer

any DYI advice?

Are you good with troubleshooting low voltage systems?

If you have a multi-meter you can look up the wiring diagram and check voltage on the correct pins.  See if the problem stems from the ice maker, or the fridge.  If it's the ice maker, you may be able to buy a replacement.  If it's the fridge itself, then you'll have to trace it back from there.

I've found those things to be finicky.  My old one kept breaking too.

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On 09/10/2019 at 12:08 PM, Malfatron said:

Okay, so my ice maker for my GE Profile fridge is no longer getting power (green light not on)

its a top/bottom Fridge, where the bottom is a freezer. ice maker is in the freezer

any DYI advice?

I got a glitchy stupid icemaker in a Fridge too.  Mine wasn't that it didn't get "power" and it doesn't have a light...but it has this idiotic little plastic tray that is supposed to supply water to the ice trays, but sometimes it just freezes solid full of ice.  Which is cool, because someone designed it to slide out...except...there's ZERO clearance to slide it out.  So you have to unscrew the entire unit - or run hot water through the stupid little tray until it's clear.  Which is great...because it's all made of flimsy *** plastic.

Edited by Tugboat
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22 hours ago, theJ said:

Are you good with troubleshooting low voltage systems?

If you have a multi-meter you can look up the wiring diagram and check voltage on the correct pins.  See if the problem stems from the ice maker, or the fridge.  If it's the ice maker, you may be able to buy a replacement.  If it's the fridge itself, then you'll have to trace it back from there.

I've found those things to be finicky.  My old one kept breaking too.

When i pulled the original icemaker unit from my fridge, it was warped and probably easier to just replace.  I never did a voltage check because it still easily performed the "override dump" feature.  The wiring harness is surprisingly complicated.  The wiring was still fine.  The unit was just busted.  From being removed a dozen times to get at the piece that was really causing the problem.

 

But it's essentially just bad design.  Last couple times, i've just used a screwdriver and very small plastic piping with a syringe full of hottttt water to melt the heck out of the frozen inlet.  

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Icemakers always break.  Hopefully when we get a new one here in a few months, I can find a good one without an icemaker built in.  One less thing to break.

My house that we just bought this Friday from a 93 year old has linoleum under the carpets in the kitchen, but beneath that there is...wait for it...wood flooring.  Because of course there is.  It's pine, but all that black adhesive crap under the linoleum has to come up too, and I'm hoping to not have to just scrape the whole thing.  Anyone got any experience getting rid of that stuff on a wood surface?  I've taken it off concrete before, but I don't know if I'd trust the same chemicals to not **** up the pine.

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Anyone know anything about water heaters?

Right now I have an old 75 gal water heater, but due to space constraints in my utility/laundry room I want to replace it with a wall mounted tankless water heater. It looks like tankless water heaters range from 4 GPM to 11 GPM, so what would be a good size? My house has 2 bathrooms.

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19 hours ago, Heimdallr said:

Anyone know anything about water heaters?

Right now I have an old 75 gal water heater, but due to space constraints in my utility/laundry room I want to replace it with a wall mounted tankless water heater. It looks like tankless water heaters range from 4 GPM to 11 GPM, so what would be a good size? My house has 2 bathrooms.

Does your dishwasher use hot water, or does it make its own?  Also if you use hot water for laundry that plays a factor.

Showers are probably the biggest user regardless.  And depending on your shower nozzle, the volume can be variable.  I'd consider what could be simultaneous, and add up the flows.  Give yourself a little safety factor and go with that unit.  You may need to either measure your shower flow rate (bucket and a stop watch) or look up the information on your shower head.  The first method is probably easier.

Or, if you just want the easy way out - 

  • Sinks/dishwasher are probably ~1-1.5 gpm
  • Showers are probably ~2-4 gpm
  • Tubs closer to ~4 gpm
  • Washing machine probably ~2-4 gpm

Add up everything you use simultaneously and there you have it.

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On 10/9/2019 at 11:08 AM, Malfatron said:

Okay, so my ice maker for my GE Profile fridge is no longer getting power (green light not on)

its a top/bottom Fridge, where the bottom is a freezer. ice maker is in the freezer

any DYI advice?

This is probably my favorite ice recipe, it can be modified to fit your needs.

https://www.food.com/recipe/ice-cubes-420398

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We have some leaded and stained glass windows in our house and while they look nice, do not insulate well obviously. As winter approaches, I have been looking into how to insulate these windows without majorly affecting the appearance. Someone suggested just using plexiglass and screwing into the wood surrounding. While that isn't a bad option (and will likely have to do for one of the windows), I have seen these window inserts that are compression fitted into the window space (interior or exterior).

https://indowwindows.com/

https://stormsnaps.com/installation-videos/

Does anyone have experience with a product like this? What brands have you worked with if so?

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