Fuck Bob Vila... the Home Repair Thread

I like thinking of all the things I’d do to fix up this house, but it usually ends with me thinking “well, shit. We’ll just buy a new house.”

We’re really glad we closed on ours when we did (3.125% on the mortgage, and two weeks after it the rate was 7%). But it does need some work.

Luckily, I grew up in a house literally built by my parents from the ground up, which was an unending project and definitely not up to code. So I am patient about it all. I consider having actual shitty carpet floors, and not painted subfloor, to be a win.

 

I get what you're saying. That's exactly what I demolished and replaced, a tub with no option to shower in it. They're so dumb, who still soaks in dirty bath water?

I thought about doing a glass block window where the old window was. I decided not to because of my budget and added complexity. It would have added about $800, and added a weak point for water intrusion. I will almost always choose robust and simple construction over adding things that may cause me problems later on.

It will depend on what you find when you take down the walls around the tub. Best case scenario, you don't find any soft wood or mold behind what is currently the walls. Then, yeah, a little plumbing, cement board, roll-on water proofing and tile.

I had some springy/flexible subfloor under the old tub. Just a very little bit of mold on the sheetrock, which I was expecting from a washing machine leak on the other side of the wall. I was actually expecting more mold than I found. That leak is what ultimately got this project moved to the top of my list. I removed everything with any sign of mold, and treated all the framing, even though it didn't show signs of it.

That also might be an issue with the tub only setups, there was absolutely no waterproofing done in that alcove in our bathroom. I guess the expected people to not splash any water outside the tub. There wasn't even water resistant walls from the tub to the ceiling. It was just sheetrock. Hopefully, you find good news when you start to demo.

 

We're in the same boat. I love our home and I can't even imagine any circumstances that would get us to sell and move, but we're also stuck here because any home we could afford in today's market would be levels below what we have.

Unless you buy a new home with a warranty, you're going to be fixing and upgrading things. Might as well do it without paying high interest rates at the same time.

 

I scraped about 2000 sqft of popcorn ceilings last year and have that shit down to a science. Four passes of spraying water with a Graco airless was just about perfect. If it's fighting you, not wet enough. Trowel digging into the sheetrock means it's too wet. Wetting it also means no dust, so no asbestos to worry about.

 

It's project that I am dreading as much or more any other.

 

I was finally able to flood test my shower, when I got back from Georgia. The Redgard instructions say to let the membrane fully cure before flood testing. It passed, and I will start tiling it today or tomorrow.

 

Might be the wrong spot, but does anyone have any recommendations for a generator? Not whole house and not for tailgating. Somewhere in between. If I'm going to deal with these dang ice storms I want my creature comforts.

 

I have had a predator 7000 for about 8 years, and it has been flawless. It's all in the way you store it and what fuel you use in it. If you can help it, do not store it with fuel for long periods of time. But you need to run it every now and then just because engines that get used are more reliable than engines that sit for long periods.

Non ethanol fuel. I don't treat it with anything. I use it in everything that isn't an on road vehicle, so it doesn't sit around either.

You really don't want one that is too big for your needs, just the same as you don't want one too small. You need to figure out what you actually need to run in a power outage and buy one just bigger than that load will be. I would not have bought the 7500, if I picked it out. My wife thought bigger was better, but we could easily do with one half it's size. I plug in all kinds of stuff when I run it, because it would be nowhere near it's capacity if I just ran the fridge, TV, phone charger and lamps. In the summer I will put a 5000 btu window ac in if it is terribly hot, and the fridge and freezer. Space heaters in the winter.

Anything with a 30 amp plug should be plenty, maybe more than you need. Anything with a 50 amp plug will be overkill, by a lot.

The hondas are so nice and quiet. I imagine the yamaha versions are great, too. They're probably plenty capable for most people. Ours would run a 5000 btu ac, but not much in addition to that.

 

As Fiveslide said, too big is just as much a headache as too small, but don't forget to include start up draw when computing your power needs. Things like AC units will draw a lot more amps when they first kick on than while they're running. Coffee pots are often overlooked, but they pull a lot of amps while on.

 

A Honda EU2200 is often mentioned as a go to by small pull trailer campers. I guess they will handle a small AC unit or microwave if that is what you want it to do. I have a Yamaha 2200 generator that I bought used and strictly for keeping the refridgerator going if we have a blackout during the summer. Anything much over 220 watts is going to be in a weight and size class that I no longer wish to deal with.

 

Yamaha has up to something like a 6000w inverter series. I like the yamaha just as much as the honda.

 

Also the 2200 watt honda can chain together so you can pack around a few smaller ones and still get power. Not sur if the Yamaha can chain together.

 

@gamecocks , if you get a big one, get one with wheels. Or never move it.

Mine doesn't have wheels, but I will be buying the wheel kit before I get too much older.