Home Improvement/Remodel Thread

[BobbyPhil1781]

20 hours ago, skywindO2 said:

I'm definitely considering painting my cabinets too. I know that I want to do it, but not sure I want to do it enough that I'm interested in doing all the manual labor. Seems really tedious.

It's VERY tedious. We don't have a large kitchen and I'm saying this. Think 16 cabinet doors total. Bigger kitchens will absolutely suck! It took some time and my arms got jacked but it was so worth it in the long run. Just make sure you get that extra dust off (then get do the process again when you think you're done lol) the doors if you do it b/c you do not want that on there when applying your primer. It turned the primer into a beige color and it bled through badly. One door we had to do 4-5 coats w/ but that's me being super OCD. If something looked slightly discolored, another coat was going on! Gotta watch the corners and crevices and ensure no paint pools there as well. Sanding it down and getting it to match the rest was tough. It's definitely not difficult, just tedious like you said lol. 

[skywlker32]

On 5/9/2020 at 1:10 PM, JTagg7754 said:

Good info! Thanks for all this. I don't have any wooden matches at this time. Can I splinter some other wood I have and do the same? 

I don't know if anybody mentions it below, but toothpicks work great too.

[BobbyPhil1781]

36 minutes ago, skywlker32 said:

I don't know if anybody mentions it below, but toothpicks work great too.

Oh, they would! Good call. I haven't done anything try but this is actually something I have lying around the house. Thanks!

[theJ]

Anyone know where i should look to find build lines for a property?  

This is not a pressing thing, but in a few years i'm considering adding on to my garage to make a dedicated workshop.  The plan i have in my head would put me within about 20-25' of my property line, on a 2 acre country lot.  I don't know if that's too close, and am not really sure who the governing body is.

I don't really want to consult a contractor yet, because we're years away from doing this.  I have some other shorter term goals that will happen first, so i don't want to waste their time.  It's mainly just a curiosity that's consuming me.

[Shanedorf]

35 minutes ago, theJ said:

Anyone know where i should look to find build lines for a property?  

find the website for your city/town and look up zoning. Might be County, but it shouldn't take long to find out
Zoning is usually done on a per acre basis, so if your zoning is R-8, that means its residential ( R) and 8 homes per acre. So then you'd look up the R-8 zoning rules and find the setbacks

Typical front setbacks are from the crown of the street, while side yard and back yard setbacks are from the fence-line. There are often different rules governing accessory/detached building vs the main house, so if your garage is detached, it may have different rules. Good luck and DO IT !

[skywlker32]

Before I get into my current project. An update on my house. We had a very large tree removed recently. It hung over the roof and was dying and was way too close to the house in addition to dropping a lot of sap and leaves. Electrical and internet lines were running through the branches, so it was not cheap, but I am so glad it's done. Now we can work on painting the front and making the yard look nicer. Got all the outlets/switches swapped inside so they are white and not cream and beat up. Have to finish some painting where I patched holes in assorted areas. Got wiring run to the bedroom from the living room so that I can stream my entertainment center to the bedroom as well as a bluetooth transmitter for the TV so I can watch at night without disturbing the wife. Still need to run internet up to the office so that everything can be hardwired. Replaced the doorbell in the front with a video doorbell. That also involved new wiring because the old doorbell was wireless. Will add the chime soon, but it currently sends an alert to my phone and my wife's phone which is sufficient for now.

I don't know that this is the right place to post it, but I figure it's as good a place as any. I am going to try to build a radiator cover that would have a storage area with lid beside it (to fill the ~3 foot gap to the wall behind the couch, currently unusable space). Basically, the current cover is in bad shape and I need to either fix it, update it, or build a new one anyways. The idea is to have a place to store phone chargers, computer when not in use, etc. The storage space would obviously have insulation to keep heat from going that way (likely the same insulation on the back side so the heat all goes forward, up or to the side opposite the storage area).

Two things that I am unsure about are 1)What type of insulation would be best to use? I am guessing something with foil to reflect vs. absorb the heat. 2)Is there something that I can buy to make the cords retractable? The cords that are made to be retractable are typically large and remain at the middle of the cord, which would prevent it from going fully into the storage area. If there is something that I could add that would mount to the inside and allow for a similar action, that would be optimal.

[theJ]

2 hours ago, Shanedorf said:

find the website for your city/town and look up zoning. Might be County, but it shouldn't take long to find out
Zoning is usually done on a per acre basis, so if your zoning is R-8, that means its residential ( R) and 8 homes per acre. So then you'd look up the R-8 zoning rules and find the setbacks

Typical front setbacks are from the crown of the street, while side yard and back yard setbacks are from the fence-line. There are often different rules governing accessory/detached building vs the main house, so if your garage is detached, it may have different rules. Good luck and DO IT !

Thank you!  I found it pretty quickly with this advice.  Looks like minimum is 10' to the side, which is where i was worried about.  I should be plenty clear of that.

Now if the government keeps handing out free money, i might be able to get there sooner than 4-5 years!

[theJ]

16 minutes ago, skywlker32 said:

1)What type of insulation would be best to use? I am guessing something with foil to reflect vs. absorb the heat

The foil will only really help if it can directly see the radiator.  If it's sandwiched in between two wooden boards or something, it won't do much for you.  Foil is good at reflecting radiative heat, but not so much conductive or convective heat.

How hot does the radiator get?  I would imagine a few inches of foam or fiberglass insulation would do the trick.  I'm assuming the portion containing the radiator is vented somehow, so as long heat doesn't build up too much in there, your side storage shouldn't see a huge increase in temperature.  A long time ago i could have done the calc for you quickly.  Now it would take me hours haha.

[skywlker32]

8 minutes ago, theJ said:

The foil will only really help if it can directly see the radiator.  If it's sandwiched in between two wooden boards or something, it won't do much for you.  Foil is good at reflecting radiative heat, but not so much conductive or convective heat.

How hot does the radiator get?  I would imagine a few inches of foam or fiberglass insulation would do the trick.  I'm assuming the portion containing the radiator is vented somehow, so as long heat doesn't build up too much in there, your side storage shouldn't see a huge increase in temperature.  A long time ago i could have done the calc for you quickly.  Now it would take me hours haha.

Having the foil directly next to the radiator is an option and what I planned to do. I have never really measured the temperature of the actual radiator. I know it won't take much insulation due to the venting that I will change out (current stuff is very flimsy and plan to put something that could hold the weight of our dogs when they decide to jump up there), but the reflective insulation I figured would allow for less heat loss and allow for better heating of the room.

[Dome]

I’m going to tear up my entire back lawn and start over this week. Got the rototiller, have access to a roller if needed.

Not sure if I’m putting a lawn in, or doing bark and shrubs, or maybe a just laying down a ton of wildflower seed and letting them take over. I have a front lawn and it’s maintained by the HOA, I could sell my mower and clear up space in the garage if I didn’t have a lawn in the back. 

But I’m going to till the yard up then spend the next several weeks pulling weeds each evening until they stop coming up.

Anybody have any advice or input?

[theJ]

25 minutes ago, skywlker32 said:

Having the foil directly next to the radiator is an option and what I planned to do. I have never really measured the temperature of the actual radiator. I know it won't take much insulation due to the venting that I will change out (current stuff is very flimsy and plan to put something that could hold the weight of our dogs when they decide to jump up there), but the reflective insulation I figured would allow for less heat loss and allow for better heating of the room.

Yeah that'll help then.  

My experience with insulation is more industrial, and on piping.  But in that experience, unless you're dealing with a really high temperature pipe, 2-3" is usually the answer.  So i would imagine the foil, plus 2-3" of insulation, should do the job.

[MWil23]

18 hours ago, Dome said:

I’m going to tear up my entire back lawn and start over this week. Got the rototiller, have access to a roller if needed.

Not sure if I’m putting a lawn in, or doing bark and shrubs, or maybe a just laying down a ton of wildflower seed and letting them take over. I have a front lawn and it’s maintained by the HOA, I could sell my mower and clear up space in the garage if I didn’t have a lawn in the back. 

But I’m going to till the yard up then spend the next several weeks pulling weeds each evening until they stop coming up.

Anybody have any advice or input?

Ironically enough, I just planted 2 acres worth of lawn yesterday. I'd recommend a sun/shade mixture of grass, and potentially even sow some oats (LOL btw) in with the grass. The oats will come up, you mow them down when they're about shin high, and the grass grows in behind it, creating a natural "straw like" barrier. Eventually, in the fall/winter, the oats will die off for good, and your lawn will look great come next spring.

I'd go about 4 feet around the house, and I'd lay down landscaping fabric to prevent the weeds from growing (landscaping fabric is typically 4 feet wide, so making a new bed is easy) to plant some perennial flowers (super low maintenance), bushes/shrubs if you want (I personally hate maintaining them). You just cut an X for the flowers/shrubs, and I am putting in some smooth 2-4 inch river rock in the flower beds. River rock goes for $12-$40 a ton, and about 2-4 tons should do it, depending on the size of your beds. You only have to lay it/smooth it once, as opposed to mulching every 2-3 years at the same cost.

How big is your back yard/how much do you need the space? I was able to also put in my own foundation (4x4s, gravel, landscaping tarp paper) for a shed to store my outdoor tools and patio furniture.

[vike daddy]

23 hours ago, theJ said:

Anyone know where i should look to find build lines for a property?  

This is not a pressing thing, but in a few years i'm considering adding on to my garage to make a dedicated workshop.  The plan i have in my head would put me within about 20-25' of my property line, on a 2 acre country lot.  I don't know if that's too close, and am not really sure who the governing body is.

I don't really want to consult a contractor yet, because we're years away from doing this.  I have some other shorter term goals that will happen first, so i don't want to waste their time.  It's mainly just a curiosity that's consuming me.

your local building department, be it county or city, is tasked with answering those questions for you.

[Dome]

2 hours ago, MWil23 said:

Ironically enough, I just planted 2 acres worth of lawn yesterday. I'd recommend a sun/shade mixture of grass, and potentially even sow some oats (LOL btw) in with the grass. The oats will come up, you mow them down when they're about shin high, and the grass grows in behind it, creating a natural "straw like" barrier. Eventually, in the fall/winter, the oats will die off for good, and your lawn will look great come next spring.

I'd go about 4 feet around the house, and I'd lay down landscaping fabric to prevent the weeds from growing (landscaping fabric is typically 4 feet wide, so making a new bed is easy) to plant some perennial flowers (super low maintenance), bushes/shrubs if you want (I personally hate maintaining them). You just cut an X for the flowers/shrubs, and I am putting in some smooth 2-4 inch river rock in the flower beds. River rock goes for $12-$40 a ton, and about 2-4 tons should do it, depending on the size of your beds. You only have to lay it/smooth it once, as opposed to mulching every 2-3 years at the same cost.

How big is your back yard/how much do you need the space? I was able to also put in my own foundation (4x4s, gravel, landscaping tarp paper) for a shed to store my outdoor tools and patio furniture.

Back yard is only about 40x30 ft

i just don’t know if I even want a lawn in the back, I’m almost never out there 

[MWil23]

16 minutes ago, Dome said:

Back yard is only about 40x30 ft

i just don’t know if I even want a lawn in the back, I’m almost never out there 

How good are you with pavers? A huge paver patio with a firepit would be sweet. Then keep flower beds around the outskirts/house