Home Improvement

Fixed a water supply valve leak. Decided clean the slightly clogged drain as well. Really appreciate the manufacturers that do that much more.

Hola!

I am in Spain, and just today found out the model of my AC (it's very difficult to access). It's a Fujitsu General ARH 45 LUAN split system.

I was thinking of getting a smart controller for it, but so far I have been unsuccessful figuring out if there is a smart solution for this AC - native or third party - so I would be grateful for any tips and ideas.

EDIT: The AC is a duct type system with just a wall-mounted control (no IR receiver).

We recently moved into this place and the shower has this crack in the tiles.

I imagine this is quite bad in terms of humidity creeping into the wall?

Is there a way to fix this without having to redo the entire wall?

Thanks for thinking along!

example - https://www.wakefit.co/mattress/latex-mattress/WMFWLM72608

Hey all, I was looking to see if anyone had any storage suggestion ideas for this Dead space. I have behind my refrigerator. I'm only able to reach in. Probably about 3 ft or so, but the space is about 4 ft wide by 7 ft long. The floor of this space is also the ceiling of my basement, so I can't see it supporting very much weight without being reinforced. Looking for ideas if you have any, thanks!

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/40000592

And there it stands. Still a lot of work to do, but there will be grilling this weekend!

Okay so I decided to hire a contractor for the first time in a long time. We had a structural beam put in since the original beam was rotting and we already had extra support on the other side of the wall supporting the joists over there. But nothing supporting the joists on the other side.

The guy put sandwiched 2 2x8s instead of using an LVL, I specifically asked for LVL because I though using regular lumber was a ridiculous idea, we wanted it fixed right. Those boards are being held up by temporary jack posts, I found the manfucator, checked their website and theres a big note about them being for temporary use only. They bolted the jack right into the 3" concrete slab, no footings put in. And theres pretty significant gaps between the beam and some of the joists, one of them I can fully fit my pinky through to the other side, most of them I could slide a little piece of cardboard through.

I did get a structural engineer to right up a report. In the report he says to use a "3inch adjustable steel post" and "use commonly accepted construction practices". So I assumed this meant 3 inch adjustable lallys, rated for permanent use and commonly accepted practices meant putting a footing beneath the structural column.

I called the contractor and he had a few things to say

The jacks are fine for long term use, theres no need for footings because the engineer didn't specifically state it, the jack is technically a 3inch adjustable steel post.

The 2 2x8 is even better than LVL because there's 2 of them and it provides better support for less money.

(Here's my favorite) The gaps between the beam and joists are fine and eventually the house will settle and the joists will bear on the beam. Putting in shims would be pointless because they'd get crushed and compressed when the house settles. (He really told me to wait until your floor sags and it'll line up)

Now I've done this type of work before, I did general construction for years, but I feel like I'm going crazy here.

Is anything I said out of place? Am I over reacting here?

We paid for a permanent structural beam to be installed and got 2x8s held up by jack posts with no footings. Has anyone seen this before? This is an integral beam that's supporting about 10 joists, not extra support.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39806045

Help scheduled for wednesday to lift in the kamado. I left the front beam and breads out for now so we don't have to lift it that high.

The far right has no table top, there i'm gonna place a concrete slab with a castiron grid. Under it will be space for brikettes and my dutch oven(s)/skillets can be placed on the cast iron grid

Q1: I’ve looked for “faucet supply lines” to the specifications on the tag but none of them fit this bottom connector look, has it been modified or do I need a speciality line?

Underview

Topview

Q2: I’ve seen recommendations for 2 hole faucets for this situation, but with copper tubing I wanted an at least somewhat experienced opinion before I started ordering. What do you recommend for this type sink?

Found a leak in the main drain pipe while in my crawl space. It's 1-1/2" copper tubing, leaking from a crack in the middle of a section with no joins nearby. I got one of those epoxy/resin pipe bandage kits to try to just patch it, but as I was working the epoxy over the crack, my fingers went through the bottom of the pipe in a spot a couple inches upstream of the crack. After further inspection for other weak spots, I'm figuring on replacing about a foot of pipe.

The pipe's in a weird spot where I really don't want to try to use a torch to sweat in the new section. Push-connects in this size are hard to find and expensive as hell, but I saw these shielded neoprene couplings and they seem like they'd be perfect, plus they're inexpensive. Does anyone have any experience with these?

https://www.menards.com/main/plumbing/pipe-fittings/flexible-fittings/fernco-copper-x-copper-or-plastic-proflex-flexible-coupling/3003-150/p-1444430440945-c-1478181399646.htm

This might not be the place for this but I feel like someone here should know.

I moved into a new house recently and there's a whole security system, infrared scanners, alarms on all the doors and windows, glass break detectors everywhere. When we open a door or window there's a little chirp so something is working, but I'm curious if anyone knows if I can rewire this somehow or get a new panel so that I can actually set an alarm and stuff.

My kitchen is from the 50s and has been updated somewhat over the years by previous owners. The wiring has all be updated to Romex but it's still all running from two circuits, and one of them is inconveniently placed and practically useless. The end result is I can only use one countertop appliance at a time without tripping a breaker. Only the dishwasher and oven have dedicated circuits.

I've lived with this limitation long enough. My 2026 project is to put each outlet on its own circuit and move a couple other outlets from circuits that are shared with adjacent rooms. In all, it's looking like it's going to be 5 or 6 total circuits.

Would I be ahead to do a single big circuit (220V split phase) from the breaker box and break it out in a sub-panel in the kitchen or just run new individual circuits up from the main breaker box?

Secondary question:

Assuming I do the sub panel and break out five 15 amp circuits in the kitchen, that's 75 amps. I only have 100A service from the meter. I do not ever anticipate drawing 75 amps from the kitchen outlets at once, but AFAIK codes require that I account for the possibility.

Would it meet code (NEC) to put a 30 amp "main" breaker on the sub-panel that feeds 75 amps worth of 15 amp circuits (or, alternatively, feed the sub-panel from a 30 amp breaker in the main panel)?

Anyway to clean/salvage this kitchen sink? I'm not sure if it's chipped paint or something but I've scrubbed it pretty good and it hasn't budged

Finally done with the jackhammering and wrapped up the day by hauling out all the rubble.

Surprisingly little water damage on the floor and walls, considering how bad it looked on the surface. I’m a bit intimidated by the scale of this job, even though I’ve done one before. Just need to break it down into tasks and focus on one step at a time instead of the whole thing at once.

Hello home improvement folks!

I hope it's ok to ask for help about my condo since it's not a house. It's my first property so I'm learning a lot.

This weekend I opened the showe drain to remove the accumulated after the shower became slow to drain. While cleaning the drain I noticed it was cracked. I thinking about putting some jb weld, flex seal or caulking as a temporary fix to stop the leak. I'm worried about leaking into my downstairs neighbors. I would like to replace this part of the drain, however I'm having a hard time finding information on the different types of shower drains. It seems like most drains are screwed-in, but the green stuff is making be think that mine might be glued. If anyone has some advice or resources I could look at I would be super grateful.

I have a friend who has a Rohn self-supporting antenna tower (like the one pictured) with a directional cellular antenna at the top. The tower is probably 40 feet high and was erected by a previous homeowner. They would like to make it useable again but the antenna needs to be turned to point at a specific cell tower.

The manufacturers documentation indicates that the tower is climbable but I've never dealt with these towers and thats outside my expertise. Who would I even call for that type of job?

I believe this is the vent to my plumbing but I’ve never seen a cap like this. Any ideas?

I picked up a couple steel-coated fireboard heat shields for my wood stove(s) and need to install them against the wall, with a minimum air gap behind of 21mm / 7/8".

I'm looking for suggestions on what to use for standoffs/mounts. I considered some galvanized steel u-channel sign posts, but not sure if they are ok at high temps, and the shop selling them couldn't verify it either. It would be convenient since I could use the existing holes to bolt them to the wall. Would these be ok? Do you have any better suggestions? I'm not sure if my 18V Ryobi drill can make it through steel pipes or whatever else so please consider that in your suggestion, or tell me how I could pull it off.

Hello smart people!

I have bought a kiln. And a kiln vent kit:

https://skutt.com/ceramic-kilns/kiln-accessories/envirovent-2/

We are two hobbyists and the kiln will live in the basement. We are in a block foundation bungalow with vinyl siding, and the basement extends above grade such that it has a variety of 24" (I think??) windows. The basement is unfinished and we are not looking to finish it. That works well for the kiln which likes a nice concrete floor lol.

I would like to install the duct on the kiln to vent out of one of the windows. I could make a new hole in the wall and install it as per the illustrations on the website, but every time I am reminded of how thin my walls are, I want to throw up. It would also be under my nice bay window in the living room and I'm not super into having it vent there.

My thoughts are to hang the duct along the ceiling to the window and to create an insert that I can place into the window frame with clips or something that would connect to the hose.

I guess these types of windows are commercially available: https://www.bestlouver.com/product_info.php?products_id=176&srsltid=AfmBOopOt16bNT3fGDBNVBRfXd4rXaRLBy_OH-xcBIZ6HRgnpYQ3xRyG but I'm not looking to replace the window and it would be ideal to be able to remove the insert if needed. Or even just disconnect the hose, if removing the insert isn't ideal.

The hose would have to snake around the well pump room, and I'm not totally sure I want to put the hose in the rafters (or whatever they are called) because the electrical wiring is there and the hose will be hot. I was going to have hangers to suspend the hose but ideally we would disassemble the assembly when the kiln was not in use. I can't imagine we would be firing more than twice a month, at least until my husband convinces me to offer kiln space to others.

Pests are an issue so we would need to seal it well. The vent outlet would end up being maybe a foot or two off the ground max, which is another reason I want to disassemble and possibly remove the insert. I would potentially make something that sticks out on the outside a bit more so we could still use the sliding glass pane to close it off when not in use.

I guess what I wanted to ask is if the community has any sage advice? Anything we should look out for or keep in mind?

Hi all. I've mounted a couple of things to studs before without an issue.

But I have a little bit more of an elaborate setup. I have a bunch of shelves for my cat that I want to put on the wall. I have a stud/wire detector, but one of the walls I wish to use has voltage detected across a very large area for some reason. And when I put my hand on the wall, it stops ever detecting any wires at all!!

Could there really be that much electrical wiring within this one wall??? There is a singular outlet in this area, but the detector goes off all over the wall, not just above the outlet.

My studs are very far apart at around 24 inches. So only small portions of the shelves will be drilled into the wall and the rest will be seated in the drywall with drywall anchors unfortunately.

How can I work on this project...drilling into both studs and drywall while avoiding the 10,000 wires that are evidently inside of my wall??? And also why do the "wires" all disappear when I touch the wall??

Thanks all lol.

I’ve recently become the owner of a home that was constructed in the mid 1950s (in the US). As such, not all the outlets are grounded, three-prong receptacles, since that wasn’t code-required at the time. It looks like a few have been added or upgraded over the years, but there are still many that are ungrounded. What is the best way to go about converting those receptacles to be grounded? Will that require a professional? It seems like probably the kind of electrical work that I am capable of doing myself, but I am also very much not an electrician.

Is there any indication that this old peeling paint contains asbestos? (Sorry for the picture link but my lemmy server is not currently working with attachments). Thanks.

Finally got the sump pump installed. Hardest part was digging the hole which was 22" of mostly rock with a little clay mixed in. No more leaky basement!

Original post:

https://sh.itjust.works/post/45678650