Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

I'm doing a kitchen remodel and found one of the outlets in the dining room was run from knob and tube in the attic, to aluminum to speaker wire for the outlet. The speaker wire insulation was just crumbling off when touched. 100 year old house with signs of multiple homeowner done electrical stuff over the years. Turn off the breaker for a bedroom and half of that bedroom, a light in the basement and something random in the kitchen quits working type of thing.

I've spent 10k on electrical so far and they still have to come back and take out all of the knob and tube in the attic :(

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Originally Posted by zion zig zag

I'm doing a kitchen remodel and found one of the outlets in the dining room was run from knob and tube in the attic, to aluminum to speaker wire for the outlet. The speaker wire insulation was just crumbling off when touched. 100 year old house with signs of multiple homeowner done electrical stuff over the years. Turn off the breaker for a bedroom and half of that bedroom, a light in the basement and something random in the kitchen quits working type of thing.

I've spent 10k on electrical so far and they still have to come back and take out all of the knob and tube in the attic :(

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"Buy a house," they said... :rolleyes: :mad:

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Originally Posted by skaredshtles

"Buy a house," they said... :rolleyes: :mad:

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"I'm going to redo this vanity in the bathroom", my wife said. Next thing I know, half the upstairs is down to studs and all of my stuff is in a pod in the driveway.

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Originally Posted by singlesline

Possibly in the previous owners defense...that looks like the horrible shit that cable company installers love to do. Zero thought for aesthetics or anything else...just drill the most direct path and GTFO.

When I lived somewhere that had two competing cable companies, you'd see it get real bad in older multifamily buildings with rentals and limited oversight...new tenant would move in, call company B for service. Company B installer sees a line from Company A and doesn't want to trace it outside and patch into it so he just drills a new one. Next tenant moves in and calls Company A...but they also want a line in the bedroom (and the last line was company B anyways), so the A installer runs a new line on the other side of the room and then passes a split leg through the closet walls to get to the bedroom.

And the outsides of the building end up turning into rats nest of cables run in straight lines in every direction rather than being nicely packed together and routed to each unit. I lived in a 100 year old walkup in a college neighborhood and twice in 2 years we had a tech cut our line when trying to disconnect someone else's service...

Field tech that fixed it says he sees it a lot...the independent contractors that do installs/disconnects are paid by the visit and don't want to spend time figuring out how to trace the right line to the box and unplug it...so they just start guessing cutting cables until the cutoff customer is disconnected (and it works out ok 80% of the time since most of the cables hanging off the building are inactive).

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I had 5 overhead cables coming off the power pole in the alley behind the house; then routed chaotically; three dead (coax, coax, phone) and two live (power and fiber)… I ripped out all the dead coax and phone and I may or may not have gotten a ladder out and chopped it off the power pole…. Now I only have the power supply and fiber coming in overhead through my backyard and cleanly to the house… Makes me happy.


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Originally Posted by nickwm21

I had 5 overhead cables coming off the power pole in the alley behind the house; then routed chaotically; three dead (coax, coax, phone) and two live (power and fiber)… I ripped out all the dead coax and phone and I may or may not have gotten a ladder out and chopped it off the power pole…. Now I only have the power supply and fiber coming in overhead through my backyard and cleanly to the house… Makes me happy.


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This. Makes me happy.
I just can’t look at that shit. It kind of makes me a little bit crazy.
Today’s first project is to crawl in the crawlspace, (always a fun time), and figure out where the wires from the volume control for the ceiling speakers go. I think it’ll be cool to have sound throughout the house if I could actually figure out how to connect it.
The one good thing is, I was at a party last night, and I was standing kind of in a circle with a bunch of couples just laughing, and I was telling these stories and it was a riot, because all the men kind of were looking at their shoes, just shaking their heads.

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Originally Posted by skaredshtles

"Buy a house," they said... :rolleyes: :mad:

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I don't know why people think monster trucks and Euro sleds are the way to flex your wealth, my house is 20x the money pit of any vehicle I've ever owned. Granted, those vehicles have been Subarus, but still

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Originally Posted by zion zig zag

"I'm going to redo this vanity in the bathroom", my wife said. Next thing I know, half the upstairs is down to studs and all of my stuff is in a pod in the driveway.

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"Find a woman and get married to her," they said...

:D

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Originally Posted by dan_pdx

I don't know why people think monster trucks and Euro sleds are the way to flex your wealth, my house is 20x the money pit of any vehicle I've ever owned. Granted, those vehicles have been Subarus, but still

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https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/...L._SL1500_.jpg

Update.
I have found where the speaker wires come out of the wall.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ec0c95d5d2.jpg
I also have this distribution device to connect the speakers to, then connect the device to something.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6c981f5d1a.jpg
All I want to do is play music from my phone. What should I connect this to? I’ve looked at cheap receivers with Bluetooth like a Sony STR-DH190, Sonos thing for $699, and Bluesound expensive node. There are also expensive receivers that will take the 3 pairs of speakers directly. Why shouldn’t I just buy the cheap Sony, or…?

I'm going to make a list of everything I've done to the hippie house. Might take a few days..

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Update.
I have found where the speaker wires come out of the wall.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ec0c95d5d2.jpg
I also have this distribution device to connect the speakers to, then connect the device to something.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6c981f5d1a.jpg
All I want to do is play music from my phone. What should I connect this to? I’ve looked at cheap receivers with Bluetooth like a Sony STR-DH190, Sonos thing for $699, and Bluesound expensive node. There are also expensive receivers that will take the 3 pairs of speakers directly. Why shouldn’t I just buy the cheap Sony, or…?

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Fuck wires. Get a few Apple Home Pods. Big one for living room. Small ones for bedrooms and office. You never want the music playing everywhere. You never want to trudge all the way back to the “stereo” to select speakers.


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Originally Posted by plugboots

Update.
I have found where the speaker wires come out of the wall.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ec0c95d5d2.jpg
I also have this distribution device to connect the speakers to, then connect the device to something.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6c981f5d1a.jpg
All I want to do is play music from my phone. What should I connect this to? I’ve looked at cheap receivers with Bluetooth like a Sony STR-DH190, Sonos thing for $699, and Bluesound expensive node. There are also expensive receivers that will take the 3 pairs of speakers directly. Why shouldn’t I just buy the cheap Sony, or…?

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We chose Sonos. I’ve been happy with everything but their roam line I terms of hardware. They had some missteps with a software/app update that bricked some of their devices which wasn’t great but I think it’s still a decent product.

I would like to get one of their amps or nodes for an external wired system in due time but I’m happy with the standalone speakers for now.

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Update.
I have found where the speaker wires come out of the wall.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ec0c95d5d2.jpg
I also have this distribution device to connect the speakers to, then connect the device to something.
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...6c981f5d1a.jpg
All I want to do is play music from my phone. What should I connect this to? I’ve looked at cheap receivers with Bluetooth like a Sony STR-DH190, Sonos thing for $699, and Bluesound expensive node. There are also expensive receivers that will take the 3 pairs of speakers directly. Why shouldn’t I just buy the cheap Sony, or…?

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You don’t necessarily want a Bluetooth device; you want something you can “cast” music to. You want the device itself streaming the content…

Google used to make a little legendary $30 streaming puck called a “chromecast audio”. You can buy a used one on eBay for like $80…
I use one plus a mini amp for my setup.

WiiM is a Sonos / Chromecast Audio alternative worth looking into.

Sonos is extremely overpriced IMO (that $700 device is essentially a $30 streaming device + an $100 amp….) However, everyone that has a setup seems to love it….


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With Sonos you’re paying for the software in advance with the hardware purchase. It’s the opposite of the subscription tech model and it isn’t cheap but I don’t think there’s a better iot audio solution.

I love wires for audio/video. My home system is a big Denon receiver running 3x huge speakers that I built (+in wall rears & ceiling Atmos). The subwoofers are 2x infinite baffle modules, each with 2x 18" drivers running off of a 3000W amp that lives in the crawl space bc its fans are so loud. There's a projector hanging from the ceiling for video, which of course has like a 40' HDMI cable going to it.

For streaming we use a Chromecast for audio, controlled by various tablets and phones. Many apps can stream directly to it now. Spotify connects directly to the receiver and skips the Chromecast altogether. For video we use an Nvidia Shield, which allows side-loading of apps that do cool things like allow YouTube streaming with zero ads.

People love Sonos for the same reason they love Apple products: reliable mediocrity with minimal knowledge required. ;) But for good sound & video, there is still no replacement for displacement.

Bluetooth sucks for streaming music in houses for most people like me. I walk away with the phone in my pocket and the music stops. Get something that streams through your internet with Airplay instead or a similar internet option. I use a bluesound node. I have had to restart it a couple times over the past year, otherwise it works well. I don't know much about the tech involved but I selected it because I read about the high quality conversions from digital to analogue (my speakers are not wireless so I need the songs converted) and I didn't want to get sucked into the Sonos universe that only works with all Sonos equipment. There are cheaper options like what Nick recs, I'm not sure if it's a big hit in sound quality to go cheaper, and I don't know if you have nice analogue speakers where you could tell the difference between digital/anologue converters/streamers.

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Originally Posted by climberevan

I love wires for audio/video. My home system is a big Denon receiver running 3x huge speakers that I built (+in wall rears & ceiling Atmos). The subwoofers are 2x infinite baffle modules, each with 2x 18" drivers running off of a 3000W amp that lives in the crawl space bc its fans are so loud. There's a projector hanging from the ceiling for video, which of course has like a 40' HDMI cable going to it.

For streaming we use a Chromecast for audio, controlled by various tablets and phones. Many apps can stream directly to it now. Spotify connects directly to the receiver and skips the Chromecast altogether. For video we use an Nvidia Shield, which allows side-loading of apps that do cool things like allow YouTube streaming with zero ads.

People love Sonos for the same reason they love Apple products: reliable mediocrity with minimal knowledge required. ;) But for good sound & video, there is still no replacement for displacement.

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Sounds like sitting in the upper level at a Golden Knights game, at least as far as volume goes.

Man this sent me down a ginormous rabbit hole.
The WiiM amp pro seems like a great choice, but for our needs maybe I just forget about using the built in speakers altogether and go Apple homepods. Also, maybe I don’t need to use the individual room volume jobs and just get some WiiM minis in each room.
Argh.

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Originally Posted by climberevan

People love Sonos for the same reason they love Apple products: reliable mediocrity with minimal knowledge required. ;) But for good sound & video, there is still no replacement for displacement.

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I like that I don’t have to explain how to use it to my wife. It just works.

I have some friends who have the WiiM and I’ve had to “fix” it a few times for them because they accidentally selected the wrong output. Sometimes less is more.

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Originally Posted by jackattack;[emoji[emoji6[emoji640

[emoji638]][emoji640][emoji639]][emoji637][emoji640][emoji638][emoji6[emoji640][emoji637]][emoji637][emoji[emoji6[emoji640][emoji638]][emoji640][emoji640]]]With Sonos you’re paying for the software in advance with the hardware purchase. It’s the opposite of the subscription tech model and it isn’t cheap but I don’t think there’s a better iot audio solution.

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Granted I haven’t played around with Sonos much… but GoogleHome and Apple AirPlay are free, allow you to create groups of speakers / rooms, and allow you to send music to said speakers / groups / rooms from essentially any other app… certainly wife proof.


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Huh, I guess I could get an Arylic for each room too. https://www.arylic.com/products/up2s...mplifier-board

I wrapped up my porch refinishing project just before the rain started. Stripped the old finish with an RO sander using 40 grit, then went to 60 and finished at 100. It's a small porch, so I thought the RO sander would be fine, but that first pass with the 40 grit took forever.

Once it was ready for a new finish I did 2 coats of Sherwin Williams Superdeck. I had some in the basement and couldn't find anything else that was clearly better. I'm hoping it holds up well enough that next summer I can skip the sanding and just add two more coats, then repeat every summer until I say fuck it and paint it like all my neighbors. Thanks folks here for the good advice re: "don't worry about a finish that will last forever, just assume you're going to recoat ever year".

Attachment 503065

Attachment 503066

Those are excellent results Dan. Do you have a pic of before sanding? (maybe upthread)

A perfect example of why the prep is most important. Also, no nail/screwheads showing? That's classy.

I might've used a big walk behind orbital sander for first 2 grits but that would have only saved time and your back. The results tho, I daresay, could not have been better.

2 laps with superdeck is a good start. Don't wait until it's a pita again to restain. Take a lap before it needs it.

Yeah, that looks nice.

Thanks for the positive feedback!

Sadly, I didn't think to take a photo before sanding, but it was bad - down to grayed out wood around the edges where the rain hits it, some doggie claw marks, and the front edge at the steps was splintered and torn up from movers' dollies. My cousin has been living here for the last 2 years while we explored our Spokane fantasies, and it hadn't been getting the attention that fir floors demand.

The carpenter who did the install did a really good job, but he used a nailgun to tack down that big 8" strip along the front edge, and those nails weren't stainless and were rusting. I set them a little deeper and puttied before applying the Superdeck. You can see there's some rust stains, I'm hoping that stops the stain from spreading further.

I did think about renting a floor sander, but I've never used one and have seen even professionals end up with some ripples in the floor, so I thought the RO sander was safer. About 20 hours on my hands and knees...good practice for working in corporate America. Fortunately I did most of it after work on weekdays, so only about an hour at a time. After the first pass, I said "shit, there's no way I'm going to finish before it starts raining" and bought a bigger RO sander for the 60 and 100 grit passes, but of course the first pass with 40 grit took 80% of the time.

Dang. That does look nice.
I have a ginormous deck, which is basically just faded out gray 2X4’s and basically I’m just wondering if it’s worth it to do this, because we’re gonna sell the place in under a year, would there be a return on the investment.

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Originally Posted by plugboots

Dang. That does look nice.
I have a ginormous deck, which is basically just faded out gray 2X4’s and basically I’m just wondering if it’s worth it to do this, because we’re gonna sell the place in under a year, would there be a return on the investment.

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For a deck with no existing finish, I would just pressure wash and stain. That should get you most of the way there without having to screw around with sanding. I'm only babying the porch because it's undercover and it's fir flooring, not 2x4s.

This is getting into OCD territory, but I don't like the idea of sanding over fasteners on a deck. My in-laws have had their deck sanded so many times that the screw heads are gone. That wouldn't be an issue if you're just doing it one time but it bothers me in principle.

Holy crap it happened!

Woke up to a leak under my kitchen sink. Did a plumbing repair with just a single trip to the hardware store.

A definite first for me.

When's the last time you checked it again.

Five minutes ago when I read your reply!

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Originally Posted by Thaleia

Five minutes ago when I read your reply!

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Still dry I assume?

yeppir

Stained our deck a few months ago. Just got a big snowstorm, snow is now melting. Debating in my head, is it better to just let it sit and melt off over a few days? Or shovel it, which runs the risk of chipping or wearing down the new coat of stain? Not that it really matters that much because we have to redo the damn thing every other year. Someday We will redo with Trex.

Leave it. Life is too short. Our deck only gets shoveled when the snow is over the rail, and then just down to the rail.

I would like to have a heater installed in my garage. It's an oversized 2 car and is 575 sq ft.
We've used space heaters in the past, but we have other electrical work scheduled, so we want them to add a hardwired garage heater while they're here.

I'm looking at heaters and wondering if I should "size up" a model based on the manufacturer's sq footage recommendation since I live in such a cold climate. (Wyoming)
For instance, this model says it heats 750 sq ft. https://www.homedepot.com/p/Dyna-Glo...00DH/307827996
I'm thinking that would be appropriate for my size garage without maxing it out all the time.
Any insights or recommendations from others in cold places?

The garage is currently poorly insulated but we'll do better insulation in the spring and take the electricity hit for one season.
Our electricity is cheap here.

We’ve got a 1 1/2 car garage with a heater like you’ve linked to. Ours is pretty well insulated. The biggest issue I have with the setup is that it’s warm around the heater but not the other side of the garage. This causes the heater to shut off because it’s at temp. I counteract this by using fans to move the air. Perhaps instead of upsizing, you may want a couple of heaters given the size of your garage. Planning on a heat pump one of these days for an upgrade.

If the heater is just for people, consider an infrared located at the work bench or wherever. And a standing mat to isolate your feet

If it’s to keep stored stuff from freezing, get that space insulated asap. Including the door if it’s not already. That will go a long way to getting the space to a better temp

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Originally Posted by Flounder

We’ve got a 1 1/2 car garage with a heater like you’ve linked to. Ours is pretty well insulated. The biggest issue I have with the setup is that it’s warm around the heater but not the other side of the garage. This causes the heater to shut off because it’s at temp. I counteract this by using fans to move the air. Perhaps instead of upsizing, you may want a couple of heaters given the size of your garage. Planning on a heat pump one of these days for an upgrade.

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thanks- that is an interesting thought.

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Originally Posted by ::: :::

If the heater is just for people, consider an infrared located at the work bench or wherever. And a standing mat to isolate your feet

If it’s to keep stored stuff from freezing, get that space insulated asap. Including the door if it’s not already. That will go a long way to getting the space to a better temp

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We've done the radiant and space heaters for years and I'm ready for a dedicated hardwired setup that keeps it a more consistent temp. We spend a lot of time in the garage.

Unfortunately, we didn't think about this project until just now and there's no way that I'm taking everything out of my garage to beef up the insulation now lol so that's why I mentioned that we'd fix it in the Spring while recognizing that it is a less than ideal situation in the meantime.
We have some insulation and have sealed large cracks so it's not like we will be heating the outdoors
We replaced the garage door a couple of years ago and it has some insulation value, but that is probably a place where I could do better insulation now since I can access it without having to take down any shelves, hooks etc.
A few mags have been to my garage.....we have a lot of stuff in there :D

Semi-related: we just got a heat pump in the spring and right now is the first time we've used it for heating. The HP is on the driveway, and is somewhat wind protected: house on one side, garage at the end of the driveway, full height privacy fence on the third side.

It's noticeably cooler around the HP. Would it be a net efficiency gain to use a fan to circulate the chilled air away from the HP? Kind of a thought experiment right now since it's too wet to put a fan out there, but could see doing it in the summer when the HP is cooling.

I'm sure this has been covered in here, but what's the current preference on window / door brands? I need one, maybe 2 sliding glass doors. Not looking for the absolute Gucci option - just good bang for the buck. Probably some sort of wood clad vinyl.

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