Off Topic DIY Thread

[SwampD]

Here ya go.

[Ogre]

Thanks. I reaaaaalllly want to figure this out. I'm going to try a few of my projects fr M my iPad. I'm much more familiar with that.

[MattPie]

 

 So after the house was up I was so tired of the contractor I kicked him off the site and did all the landscaping myself. Bought this little beauty along with a bush hog, landscape rake, back blade, boom pole and plow. That rigging was already mine. I did most of the projects with little Red. That rock was right at her limits. I had to drive backwards as those big wheels made an excellent pivot and the rock would sit on the ground if i tried forward.  I had to rent a machine with a hoe twice but with all I've done, I've saved thousands. IMG_0178.JPG

Why the hell is it upside down? Really makes me feel like a dolt that I can't figure this out. I don't have many DIY tech skills..

 

 

Is the picture from Australia? :)

[North Buffalo]

Been rehabbing a House up in Amherst, Mass for the last 2 years.  I have a guy that helps, but mostly doing it myself with my wife. Stripped the whole house of popcorn ceilings, what a pain.  Hated them.  Put in recessed lighting and fan lights repainted all the walls as well as the the trim.  Gutted the kitchen, still need to buy a few more cabinets, but it is coming a long.  Stripped the floors and used ebony stain on them and clear satin polyed them.  Redoing the brick on one of the two fireplaces and bringing out the hearth another level.  Installing two Vermont castings cast iron stoves... Found a vendor that sells the double layered pipe to go up the chimney adding another layer of protection against a chimney fire even though mine are lined. 

 

Saved a ton of the boards from the leaks in the basement.  Had to have a contractor put in a french drain and rip out the 1-12 planks.. Didn't like them down there anyway, gonna redo the full basement anyway.  

 

I am using the left over boards to put in a floor in the loft above the garage.  Built a wall from some of the boards to cordon off the third bay for a work area.  Put in a loft above that bay as it was vaulted to be used as storage as I clean out the loft.  

 

Going to redo the concrete around the pool next year.  Had a friend help put a coil in a stove that needed too much work to repair and am going to use it to heat the pool.  He tried it out on his own and raised the temp of his pool 15 degree...

 

Love DYI, if I had more time and money, I would do it full time.

[Ogre]

This is my walkout project that i needed to rent the hoe for. Every rock came from the property and a lot of the wood is reclaimed. Did every bit myself.  

I knew I could figure it out.

[MattPie]

I don't know if I posted this here, but: I was putting in wall anchors to tie tall furniture to the wall a few months ago (to prevent it from falling on RosePie). I drilled into the drywall in my living room and put the anchor in. Later that week I noticed a small water leak in the basement and after thinking one of the joints went, realized what I probably did. After pulling away the we drywall, I saw I hit the 4" PVC drain pipe from the upstairs bath dead center with the drill. Doh. Fixed it with some JB Weld Pipe stuff and it seems fine.

 

Learned a new technique though: one side of the hole was close enough to the stud that I just cut it over there so I'd have something to screw into. The other side was a good foot from the next stud so I cut a furring strip larger than the hole, and screwed it into place so I'd have something to screw the new piece of drywall to (roughly a foot square so I couldn't use a patch). Worked out well, other than I haven't gotten back to Spackle and paint it yet. :blush:

[North Buffalo]

 

This is my walkout project that i needed to rent the hoe for. Every rock came from the property and a lot of the wood is reclaimed. Did every bit myself.  

I knew I could figure it out.

 

Nice work.  Anything special to remember about the concrete.  How much gravel and dust did you use underneath ie depth.  Will post some pics when I get a chance... not so easy from an IPHONE??  Did you mix it yourself or have it poured?

Edited December 7, 2016 by North Buffalo

[Ogre]

Thank you. I have about 8" of topsoil(very poor at that) and the rest is all gravel for about 90'. Code guy didn't see any need to truck in more. Poured it all my self. Between this and a walkway out front I mixed 4 pallets of 80 lb bags from Lowes. I had a coupon so I bought a harbor freight electric tumble mixer. I did it in smaller sections because of time and to leave some expansion joints in there. I've been toying with the idea of coating it all with polymeric sand. Maybe I'll just tile it one day.

I did some similar, Mattpie. I was wiring a new circuit in the basement for some extra lights and an outlet to plug my brew heater into. Caught some existing wires with the drill going into the side wall and had to tear some drywall out to fix the damage. Oops.

[North Buffalo]

Thank you. I have about 8" of topsoil(very poor at that) and the rest is all gravel for about 90'. Code guy didn't see any need to truck in more. Poured it all my self. Between this and a walkway out front I mixed 4 pallets of 80 lb bags from Lowes. I had a coupon so I bought a harbor freight electric tumble mixer. I did it in smaller sections because of time and to leave some expansion joints in there. I've been toying with the idea of coating it all with polymeric sand. Maybe I'll just tile it one day.

I did some similar, Mattpie. I was wiring a new circuit in the basement for some extra lights and an outlet to plug my brew heater into. Caught some existing wires with the drill going into the side wall and had to tear some drywall out to fix the damage. Oops.

TY, I am going to use blue stone... same crap they use on pool tables... heavy duty high end slate... first need to put down 4 inches of concrete and after its set but still moist lay the stone down on top and fill in between the stone.  Yeh gonna do smaller sections too for same reason and expansion joints are necessary up on snow country.

[ubkev]

TY, I am going to use blue stone... same crap they use on pool tables... heavy duty high end slate... first need to put down 4 inches of concrete and after its set but still moist lay the stone down on top and fill in between the stone. Yeh gonna do smaller sections too for same reason and expansion joints are necessary up on snow country.

One of my guys quit his job a few years back because he designs and manufacturers a pretty badass machine that cuts blue stone. I think he sells em for like 225k. Not bad work if you can get it...

[darksabre]

Dude, iT, I love your house. 

[North Buffalo]

One of my guys quit his job a few years back because he designs and manufacturers a pretty badass machine that cuts blue stone. I think he sells em for like 225k. Not bad work if you can get it...

Yeh that must be nice.  The guy that is walking me thru this stuff designs, welds and builds high end log splitters for 8-15000 a pop....   Latest we were test and able to split 2 cords inside of 40 minutes last week.  It is impressive.  Wish I had that kinda???  Though he is teaching me tig welding.  Hopefully will be able to add some stuff on to my trailer...  

Edited December 7, 2016 by North Buffalo

[Ogre]

Dude, iT, I love your house.

TY. I like it a lot better now that I have water.

[MattPie]

I did some similar, Mattpie. I was wiring a new circuit in the basement for some extra lights and an outlet to plug my brew heater into. Caught some existing wires with the drill going into the side wall and had to tear some drywall out to fix the damage. Oops.

 

I have an outlet in my half bath that I'm not sure has ever worked. I have it disconnected from the circuit upstream because any time I plug something in it trips the upstream GFI outlet. I can't figure out why though; if it were a nail or screw it'd trip before anything was plugged in. I replaced the GFI outlet thinking that was the issue, but nope. One of these days I need to dig into it again.

[darksabre]

TY. I like it a lot better now that I have water.

:lol:

I have an outlet in my half bath that I'm not sure has ever worked. I have it disconnected from the circuit upstream because any time I plug something in it trips the upstream GFI outlet. I can't figure out why though; if it were a nail or screw it'd trip before anything was plugged in. I replaced the GFI outlet thinking that was the issue, but nope. One of these days I need to dig into it again.

So when you plug something into the downstream outlet, and upstream GFI trips? Could there be a short on the load-side of the upstream GFI outlet? That would cause it to trip when something is plugged in downstream I would think. 

[MattPie]

:lol:

So when you plug something into the downstream outlet, and upstream GFI trips? Could there be a short on the load-side of the upstream GFI outlet? That would cause it to trip when something is plugged in downstream I would think. 

 

Right. As far as I know, the half-bath outlet is the last thing on the circuit, which runs through all 2.5 baths in the house plus a couple other random outlets along the way. I keep thinking it's a short like you say, but if it was truly shorted it would trip before anything was plugged in, right? I have to do it methodically again (switch out the duplex outlet, check, eliminate the GFI out and see if the other outlet or breaker goes, etc.

Edited December 7, 2016 by MattPie

[Ogre]

 This is Mrs. iT enjoying her hammock chair. one of the last things I did out here before fall. I was nervous and made sure I did this one right for obvious reasons.

 

   This is the walkway we did the summer of 2015. I mixed and filled the mold and Mrs. iT troweled it smooth. She didn't realize what curing really meant so she let some set up before she got to it so I had to rip some up and do it over. She did a pretty good job though. That curve was super hard to do. Whole project took 4 times as long as I'd estimated.

[darksabre]

Right. As far as I know, the half-bath outlet is the last thing on the circuit, which runs through all 2.5 baths in the house plus a couple other random outlets along the way. I keep thinking it's a short like you say, but if it was truly shorted it would trip before anything was plugged in, right? I have to do it methodically again (switch out the duplex outlet, check, eliminate the GFI out and see if the other outlet or breaker goes, etc.

I don't know. What is upstream from the GFI that keeps tripping? I think shorts are tripped by current drops across the GFI. So with nothing plugged in down stream the GFI won't see a current change. But when you plug something in downstream, it might be trying to draw more current than is flowing into the GFI? 

 

I'm not good at electrical theory. Just spitballing. 

[MattPie]

I don't know. What is upstream from the GFI that keeps tripping? I think shorts are tripped by current drops across the GFI. So with nothing plugged in down stream the GFI won't see a current change. But when you plug something in downstream, it might be trying to draw more current than is flowing into the GFI? 

 

I'm not good at electrical theory. Just spitballing. 

 

My dad is convinced I should remove the outlet GFIs and rely on the GFI breaker in the basement. He was an electrician so I should at least try it. That being said, I can't believe the builder did anything above and beyond code so I'm a little worried that I'm setting myself up for hassle when I sell the place.

[darksabre]

My dad is convinced I should remove the outlet GFIs and rely on the GFI breaker in the basement. He was an electrician so I should at least try it. That being said, I can't believe the builder did anything above and beyond code so I'm a little worried that I'm setting myself up for hassle when I sell the place.

Was it a new build or could it have been something that was added to cover a problem up?

[SwampD]

My dad is convinced I should remove the outlet GFIs and rely on the GFI breaker in the basement. He was an electrician so I should at least try it. That being said, I can't believe the builder did anything above and beyond code so I'm a little worried that I'm setting myself up for hassle when I sell the place.

Buy a ground checker. It sounds like that outlet is wired through the GFI outlet and is also GFI protected. Make sure that that outlet is wired correctly because if the ground isn't connected, it will and is supposed to trip the GFI outlet.

If it's wired correctly then maybe try replacing that one.

[josie]

Dude, iT, I love your house. 

haha d4rk beat me to it- but yeah, pretty much my dream existence right there. Windows and land. 

[Ogre]

Buy a ground checker. It sounds like that outlet is wired through the GFI outlet and is also GFI protected. Make sure that that outlet is wired correctly because if the ground isn't connected, it will and is supposed to trip the GFI outlet.

 

If it's wired correctly then maybe try replacing that one.

Pretty much has to be a ground issue. Right? We use these things in the field and I know for a fact that they're monitoring the current loss between hot and neutral wire and anything more than 5 mA and it disconnects the circuit. That only happens with a fault in the ground. Right? I'd suspect a ground wire has come loose. I'd think it'd have to be close to the one that trips even though using one down the line causes the problem. But maybe I'm looking at it backwards?

haha d4rk beat me to it- but yeah, pretty much my dream existence right there. Windows and land.

TY. Between my FIL and us there are 32 acres here. We were gifted our 9 from her grandpa(Papa). He and I were good buds. It's very lovely and a beautiful view but It comes with vermin and wind. If you don't tie it down around here, it's gone. Maybe you've heard how the water is in these parts? The $20G we've spent on water cancels out the $15G we saved on land. We love it though.

[biodork]

iTlnSn and North Buffalo are giving me homeowner envy, lol.

[MattPie]

I put and outlet checker thingy in my cart at amazon today, I'll mess with it and report back.

 

I did the rear brakes on Van-dor tonight in maybe 90 minutes. A chunk of that was wasted using the scissor jack because my little hydraulic jack isn't quite tall enough to get the van up on the jack stands (first time I've tried). Looks like I need a new jack. Everything else went pretty smoothly, although I shouldn't say that before I actually drive it. Also, those 18" wheels and run-flat tires are pretty f'n heavy. And the thing uses some strange lug nut size that I don't have a socket for so I had to use the tire iron from the trunk. It's either 20 or 21 mm, as the 19 and 22 mm don't fit. It's between 13/16 and 7/8" too. Strange.

Edited December 8, 2016 by MattPie