Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Flounder]

On line there are cheap ones, advertised for aluminum and copper, and expensive ones, advertised for steel. They look the same. But steel that will cut steel isn't cheap.

The cheap ones have a lot of play where the halves join and they don’t cut cleanly. Got a pair for cutting 00 for an auto project. If you’re not super careful you’ll get an angle cut or a partial cut. Fair amount of swearing and smashed knuckles but I only needed a few cuts.

I’ll loan you mine cable cutters but the cost of shipping each way might be close to the cost of a decent pair.

[old goat]

Are you implying no swearing or smashed knuckles if you had better cutters? I'm skeptical.

[jackattack]

building science
green building

seem like good starting points

in addition to wendigo's links

Pretty Good House - https://www.prettygoodhouse.org/
The hardcopy book is worthwhile IMHO


Passive House US - https://www.phius.org/

Fine Homebuilding is big into high performance building [& partner site to GBA] https://www.finehomebuilding.com/
but you'll find both are paywall for the deeper reads

On top of everything already posted you can pick up a ton of information from builders and architects on instagram and youtube.

- Building Science Fight Club
- Matt Risinger (some love him, some hate him)
- https://buildshownetwork.com/ - Matts group of fellow high performance builders
- ASIRI Designs


I'll add some more in once I remember

Thanks for the reccos. PGH book has been good bedtime reading.

[singlesline]

I've joined the first time homeowner club and I already hate whatever electrician wired the place up.

It is from that era of time where I guess they thought decora light switches were a status symbol...the more switches and lights you can independently control the better (you never know when you might want to turn that one ceiling can off and leave the rest on...).
So there are a million fricking switches everywhere. Tons of triple-gang boxes (some with double-stacked switches!), everything's on a 3-way.
There are still a bunch of switches that I can't figure out what they even do...my current guess is that they controlled switched outlets for floor/table lamps, but someone re-wired the outlets back to always-on and left the switches in place.

And whoever roughed it out has apparently never lived in a house. Seems like every switch is exactly NOT where you naturally want to reach for it.
-Pantry light switch is outside the pantry on the side that gets blocked when you open the door.
-Kitchen lights are in a triple gang on the wrong side of a partition wall...they could have just put a box on the other side of the wall, would have taken 30 extra seconds.
-There's a tiny "hallway" (barely a hallway, more of an alcove) that doesn't really need dedicated lighting...but has 3 separate switches for its single ceiling can. You can literally spread your arms out and flip 2 of the switches at once. WHY?!?!

Anyways...I think my short term solution is to start investing in smart home switches. Start swapping in Lutron Caseta or Z-Wave switches and then stick some of the battery operated pico switches in the places where it feels like the light switches should actually be located. But yes, I realize that this ultimately means I will have even MORE switches.

[jackattack]

Congratulations, welcome to homeownership!

I bought smart bulbs and automate everything using google home. Adjust switches as needed.

[toast2266]

Anyways...I think my short term solution is to start investing in smart home switches. Start swapping in Lutron Caseta or Z-Wave switches and then stick some of the battery operated pico switches in the places where it feels like the light switches should actually be located. But yes, I realize that this ultimately means I will have even MORE switches.

We have a handful of those switches in our house for similar reasons as yours - cobbling things together in various remodels. I kinda hate those switches though. The dimmers don't work very well, and there's a slight delay in the light coming on that I find really annoying.

Of course, the alternative isn't great. But I'd say it's worth the effort to run wire and install real switches if it can be done without major drywall headaches.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

[singlesline]

We have a handful of those switches in our house for similar reasons as yours - cobbling things together in various remodels. I kinda hate those switches though. The dimmers don't work very well, and there's a slight delay in the light coming on that I find really annoying.

Of course, the alternative isn't great. But I'd say it's worth the effort to run wire and install real switches if it can be done without major drywall headaches.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

I ordered a couple of the new caseta "Diva" dimmers to try which are supposed to be real nice.

We'll see how they go. The walls and paint are in kind of rough shape all around, so drywall headaches are something that might have an opportunity to be solved in bulk at some point...but probably not until the newborn is through the toddler phase.

[singlesline]

Also, fuck drywall. I made the call to patch up and paint my garage now because I know it won't happen in the future once I've actually unpacked and organized stuff and started mounting stuff to the walls.

Drywall was fire taped (poorly) so even though it is just a garage...needs a coat of mud on top of the tape.

Drywallers are wizards. I'm not very good at it...it took me a ridiculous amount of work to do a barely passable job...any of those drywallers I see on Youtube could have done the whole thing in a couple hours and had a much nicer result.

But hey...it is done. Hopefully primer goes up tonight; big garage but I'm a better painter than I am a drywaller.
And then the lady at the building center gave me a 5-gallon bucket of semi-decent paint for $30 that was the last one remaining from a line they don't carry anymore...even tinted it to my choice.

[XXX-er]

don't beat yourself up ^^ if you practised you could be just as good as "drywall shorty" the question is ... do you want to
me neither

[liv2ski]

And then the lady at the building center gave me a 5-gallon bucket of semi-decent paint for $30 that was the last one remaining from a line they don't carry anymore...even tinted it to my choice.

Get a cheap sprayer ($200) and go to town and be done in no time. I use a Graco but a Wagner works pretty good too.

[3s]

I dont know if this guy is a plumber
But just by where hes mounting the spigot and his tools, I'm being overcharged.
(maybe I've been living in a cave and most faucets are in window sills)

[Core Shot]

Well he does have a hard hat. So safety first!!!

You can never have enough hammers when you are a plumber.
Plus the plumbers leather tool belt. They all have those.

[Flounder]

Pretty reflective of how shitty USAA has become. Slowly transitioning everything away from them. They don’t even pretend to do things right anymore.

[old goat]

Well he does have a hard hat. So safety first!!!

You can never have enough hammers when you are a plumber.
Plus the plumbers leather tool belt. They all have those.

The brand new leather tool belt. Thing is-=when you look that good you can make a lot more money a lot easier than you can clearing the shit out of clogged drains, carrying cast iron tubs up 3 flights of stairs, crawling around in a dusty, mouse shit covered crawl space on your beer belly . . . .

[anotherVTskibum]

We have a handful of those switches in our house for similar reasons as yours - cobbling things together in various remodels. I kinda hate those switches though. The dimmers don't work very well, and there's a slight delay in the light coming on that I find really annoying.

Of course, the alternative isn't great. But I'd say it's worth the effort to run wire and install real switches if it can be done without major drywall headaches.

Sent from my SM-S901U using Tapatalk

Our kitchen light has three-way switches, but one is in a mostly useless spot (I think it was probably an entry door before the addition on that side, 30+ years ago), and the other is really only useful coming from the master bedroom, not the rest of the house.

I put smart bulbs in the fixture and let Alexa turn them on and off. The lag can be annoying, but it's also kinda nice when you've got your hands full leaving the room to use a voice command.

If you do go with smart bulbs, I'd strongly recommend making sure they're set to come on at full brightness following a power cut. That way, they will work like a normal bulb if the network connection is down and you flip the switch.

Also, be aware that toddlers may find it amusing to request lighting changes contrary to what you want.

[singlesline]

Get a cheap sprayer ($200) and go to town and be done in no time. I use a Graco but a Wagner works pretty good too.

This was probably the right answer. Turns out that's a LOT of surface area to paint with a 9" roller and a lot of junk on the high ceilings to have to cut in around from a ladder...

Also, I am reminded how much it sucks to paint with Kilz 2 primer. As soon as I switched over to real paint it was a god send.
I'm pretty stoked on my $6/gallon paint--brushed and rolled pretty nicely.

I might throw a second coat on the walls (or at least the walls I think will get the most abuse), but it did good enough on the first pass for a garage.

[XXX-er]

The brand new leather tool belt. Thing is-=when you look that good you can make a lot more money a lot easier than you can clearing the shit out of clogged drains, carrying cast iron tubs up 3 flights of stairs, crawling around in a dusty, mouse shit covered crawl space on your beer belly . . . .

Too clean and no plumber's crack, how can he be a good plumber ?

[nickwm21]

I’ve never seen a plumber wear bags.

I have seen a plumber install a fixture in the wrong spot more times than I care to count. That’s probably the most accurate part of that ad.


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[XXX-er]

I’ve never seen a plumber wear bags.

I have seen a plumber install a fixture in the wrong spot more times than I care to count. That’s probably the most accurate part of that ad.


Sent from my iPhone using TGR Forums

well thats probably where he was told to mount the spigot, somebody didnt set the tub back enough from the wall to allow a shelf for the spigot so there was no where else to put it so he is just hanging stuff on the roughed in pipes

I think the bags are covering a plumber's crack

[tuco]

This was probably the right answer. Turns out that's a LOT of surface area to paint with a 9" roller and a lot of junk on the high ceilings to have to cut in around from a ladder...

Also, I am reminded how much it sucks to paint with Kilz 2 primer. As soon as I switched over to real paint it was a god send.
I'm pretty stoked on my $6/gallon paint--brushed and rolled pretty nicely.

I might throw a second coat on the walls (or at least the walls I think will get the most abuse), but it did good enough on the first pass for a garage.

Spraying has it's pitfalls too! May as well chalk up the cost of a handmasker to go w/ the sprayer as well. They kinda go together.
Bare mud/drywall is way more absorbant than a sealed surface. The KilzII definitely contributed to the easier paint application compared to most pva's(dwallorimer)

[The AD]

I figure about 1% of the total time spent in a painting job with a sprayer is actually spraying the paint onto the surface.

[singlesline]

To be fair...a garage is probably a pretty optimal thing to spray with minimal masking.

Oh no! The garage door opener hanger brackets are now white instead of bare metal colored!

(and a good place to learn since I'm just looking to get a film of paint sealing the walls, not for perfect appearance)

[Rideski]

When I sprayed the interior of my house I bought a P100 respirator and was happy I did.

[The AD]

To be fair...a garage is probably a pretty optimal thing to spray with minimal masking.

Oh no! The garage door opener hanger brackets are now white instead of bare metal colored!

(and a good place to learn since I'm just looking to get a film of paint sealing the walls, not for perfect appearance)

Yeah, I'd say it's perfect. It will go incredibly quickly.

[Name Redacted]

Painted my house 8 years ago. It is log with white chinking. I am now paying someone to paint it for me. Fuck that shit.