#Random stuff I learned this week: Low voltage devices should be routed independently and away from any kind of power, to separately colored/marked low voltage boxes (NEVER next to AC). And you need to use Plenum grade Ethernet cabling to meet code compliance (for fire safety). And there are nifty things called "Nail plates" to prevent people from accidentally nailing or drilling through your important stuff (i.e. electrical, plumbing) #Ethernet#remodeling
PNNL guide to building homes to be more resistant to wildfires.
"The guides in this section of the Disaster Resistance tool will focus less on structural fires caused from within, by cooking, heating or electrical malfunctions, and more on the threat that comes from outside, the threat of wildfire to homes located in the WUI. These guides focus on measures builders and home owners can take to increase the home’s chances of surviving even without suppression activities by firefighters..."
LVP Luxury Vinyl Plank (not mine, this is a commercial location). Not a bad flooring option, definitely can handle abuse and pets, from what I am hearing. I guess the main issue is outgassing after install for a few days. #remodeling
Coat#3 on the bathtub refinishing did the trick! A ton of work, most certainly very labor intensive, and the epoxy fumes are 10/10 bad, but it was acceptable in an empty house. #diy#remodeling
Men in hazmat suits have left... and they should have followed all the proper procedures... but going to run the Corsi Rosenthal box anyway, LOL. #hazmat#remodeling
Today's lesson for running Ethernet cabling: do not affix box to the wall until AFTER running cabling. It's way easier to fish cable from the hole than through the teeny opening. #Ethernet#diy#remodeling
Home renovation lesson of the day. Fireblock foam expands. A lot. Sealed up all the between floor intrusions, which was not required in the 1970's, but is now. #remodeling#diy
Interesting, there is paint with additives to prevent growth of mold and mildew. Going with that for my bathroom repainting (plus adding a fan, hopefully). The original design of the 1979 bathrooms in my tract were abysmal, and even after we changed things out, not great. Originally they had a window, and then a glass bath/shower door (to the window), and then another bath/shower door to the rest of the bathroom, thus trapping moisture up against a window with NO ESCAPE. (note: all the recently sold homes in my neighborhood appear to have full remodels of their bathrooms... probably ran into those issues). #random#remodeling
Exercised the "never say no to contractors moving up an install" rule. (window contractors had a cancellation, so they're showing up at 8am tomorrow!!). #remodeling
Replaced a single pane, 1978-79 window with a very, very expensive modern equivalent. Why? Heatwaves. Lots of them in the future. Don't know how much it will help... but better than what was there before. #remodeling#windows
DOE Energy Star suggestion for windows in our part of Southern California (South-Central) is a U-Factor of less than or equal to 0.28, and a SHGC of less than or equal to 0.23. These windows were spec'd SIGNIFICANTLY above that level, because they likely will never be replaced again (at least, not by me). #energyefficiency#windows#remodelinghttps://efficientwindows.org/energystar/
Okay, what bozo caulked this sink wrong 20 years ago?!? Oh wait, that would be me. They should have taped it before caulking for a cleaner line, like this... #diy#remodeling
"We can wrap you in a full-body suit of neoprene, heat-resistant rubber. Or we can raise the temperature in Cosmo's office to 98.6 degrees - which is probably what we'll have to do, because the neoprene would suffocate you. "
That went quick. Full vapor canister respirator absolutely required, and I did end up opening up a window to the cold world outside for some additional ventilation, with a fan pointed into this room (close it up for drying for the next few hours). Eyes started watering so I figured out more air needed.! Another coat between 4 and 6 hours required. #bathtub#remodeling
Coat#2. Still have some material left but going to leave it at this, unless some massive issue shows up. Entire house is most certainly full of nasty fumes: would not do this in an occupied building without some serious ventilation. Despite the weather, decided it is better to vent to the outdoors, so opened up a window elsewhere in the house and have a fan directed into this room. #diy#bathroom#remodeling
Woohoo! Extra excitement Saturday night, sealed the grout and tile in the bathrooms/kitchen with some free grout/tile sealant from our city's material reuse store (diverts things returned to hazmat). #grout#tile#diy#remodeling
Prep instructions: clean tub. Sand/steel wool. Clean tub. Steel wool. Clean the tub again, why don't you. Do it again for good measure. Hey, why aren't you scrubbing your tub. Do it again. #remodeling#tub#tubrefinishing#diy#bathroom
Hmm, found the performance stats on my old windows... 2006. Dismal compard with current recommendations, even though double paned. #windows#energyefficiency
Spouse and I are finally looking at replacing our oven & fridge this year.
But the new oven and fridge won't quite fit into the spaces where the old appliances are. We need to take out 3 cabinets and also build a fridge box and rip out the layers of vinyl the fridge is NOT supposed to sit on and thus replace the flooring oh and also the countertop on the OTHER side sticks out too far and so why not replace the countertops and that also means replacing the backsplash...it snowballs. 😩
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What's frustrating is we've wanted to remodel the kitchen from the beginning, but NOT LIKE THIS. We want to (eventually) move the staircase and reconfigure the kitchen layout b/c right now it isn't very efficient (countertops all broken up for very little usable space). I didn't want to spend much money on interim updates, but we can't afford to do a full remodel right now, and our appliances might completely break at any moment. :welp:
Re-caulked the tub (exciting, I know!) - next, to remove the old corroded drain plug (wanted to wait until I had completed resurfacing...). Need to remember to do that sooner, rather than later. #diy#remodeling