cross-posted from: https://r1b.it/post/25892

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/69077976

It’s $545 for 36 cans on Amazon.

I need to insulate and seal my basement ceiling and rim joist bays.

Previous owner said they always had huge icicles off the back of the house. This would be why.

.75 inches of fiberglass, where there should be at LEAST 8 inches, and code for our area more like 15 inches.

Combine that with the uninsulated, unblocked floor cavities in the upstairs floor joists, that lead directly to the uninsulated attic space...

And combine THAT with the 4(!!!) access points to the attic that were not only completely uninsulated, but also had no weather sealing, and ⅛-¼ inch gaps around all edges.

This house was literally leaking warm air like a sieve, all winter long.

I'm only putting in 8 inches of fiberglass batting. And sealing every crack and joint I can find, as well as the gaping holes 🤦‍♂️

It'll still be under code, but, insulating it properly with spray foam would cost literally SIXTEEN TIMES MORE than just using the batting. And considering that our long term goal is to condition the attic space by insulating the roof deck, obsoleting the insulation I'm putting in now, I'm not eager to overspend.

I'll settle for only blocking 95% of heat flow, instead of 99.

Edit, update: I took a few days off, the temp outside went up, and it was sunny, so the attic got real hot real fast. No thanks, I'm not in that kind of rush.

But I got all of one side done yesterday, still need to put the boards back down, and insulate the gappy door, but it's sealed.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.zip/post/71027483

Sump pumps are one of the most boring parts of home ownership. Until that one storm comes and suddenly they're interesting.

After losing power one time this summer, I got paranoid and decided to build a battery backup. Home Depot had the basement watchdog systems, but they seemed high maintenance and I wanted something that would let me be lazier. I went with a LifePo4 battery system, that will (hopefully) get me 10 to 15 years. The battery charger has a float/storage mode so it can stay on 24/7. Doing some test runs, I think I can get about 400 cycles out of the battery before it hits 0%. I added some additional safety features (DC circuit breaker, GFCI with auto-on, Lithium fire extinguiser, etc), and added some battery powered lights and a basket of hand tools, so in the event the power goes out in the dead of night, something goes wrong, and I have to get my feet wet, everything is there ready to go.

Unfinished basement.

At first the humidity was... Fine, ish, down there. Around 55, not great, but it came down to 50 when the AC ran. Upstairs was similar.

But the last few weeks have been much cooler outside, and more humid. Even though we keep the windows closed when the humidity is high, the AC still hasn't been running much. Especially since we keep it set pretty warm to save energy. The basement got to 73 degrees at 71% humidity! Yikes!

I knew I needed a dehumidifier, I had looked a few times before, but the options all suck, and everyone complains that they don't last long anymore.

They say if it lasts 6 months or a year, that's not uncommon. If it lasts 2 years, you lucked into a good one. If it lasts 3 or more years, go buy a lotto.

People are out there buying ones and returning them on warranty if they die early enough. And doing it over and over again, every couple years.

Very disheartening.

You get slightly more success if you pay a premium. But then comes the next problem: most these units are all computerized now, with buttons to turn them on. And not all of them will turn back on after a power outage. And I definitely don't want to sign up for another online account to access features that should be free.

So, I started looking for industrial models. They're VERY very expensive. Again, disheartening.

But then I found the alorair HD35P, which was only slightly more expensive than the fancy consumer ones with the fancy control panels etc etc. But with no tank to take up space, and auto power recovery. Plus a built in condensate pump to pump the water away to a drain. And a 6 year warranty. I almost bought this, but then I found its little brother.

I bought the HS35 instead.

It's the same unit, but just with a knob instead of a control panel. And no condensate pump (but people were having trouble with the screen clogging on that pump anyway).

I do lose granular control of the exact humidity I want. And I lose GPP mode, but I probably didn't want that anyway?

Who knows. We'll see. I'll try to report back if it dies on me.

In the meantime, my basement is now down to 49% humidity. I thought about going to 30, but we have wood floors upstairs, so I'm worried getting it too dry down there will do bad stuff.

On the other hand, I should probably get it extra dry for awhile and check my stuff for mold 😖

Raised garden:

Kayak rack:

Work benches/storage:

(Don't judge my cluttered garage, that's why I built the benches, it's a work in progress)

And I've still got two pallets left! Plus some random bits and bobs.

Edit: removed some doxing info

So I dug out a full cup of gravel and silt, along with a small foam ball, a penny, and a nail.

After flushing it with water to make sure it was good and clean, it flows great.

It had a threaded plug to block the cleanout, but it wasn't the right size, and besides the threads in the cast iron are all rusted away. So I filled it with a compression plug. Seems to be working well.

Before:

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/61326066

Before:

There are actually a couple runs of relatively modern grounded, albeit still old and crappy, grounded wire in my basement, including one powering my shed that ran right next to this outlet, and its shitty old ungrounded black cloth cable. I hijacked that and repurposed it for this outlet.

So, no shed power currently, but this first job gave me the confidence and motivation to tackle the rest of the house now.

I think I'm looking at original floorboards, rotting underlayment on top of those, a delightful assortment of other boards on top of that, then Pergo flooring.

I'm unsure of the best way to proceed. My gut says to pull up the top layer of boards to remove that underlayment, but then I worry that that turns into ripping up the whole floor.

(Left Side cabinet)

(Right side wall)

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/38161589

Hello there,

Family member had a plant in a jar on the windowsill over a longer period of time and over time (i guess while watering) water spillage has made its way under the jar and made quite the damage to the sill. Is there a good way to fix such a damage? Will obviously from now on have something underneath the jars to prevent this in the future.

Appreciate any tips!

We bought our house three years ago and everything seemed fine with the septic system. The inspection report said it was "functional but aging" which we thought was no big deal. Fast forward to last spring and we started noticing a few things that we completely ignored at first.

The grass over the drain field was greener and growing faster than the rest of the yard. We actually thought that was a good thing. Then we started getting a faint smell near the back of the house after heavy rain, nothing terrible just a slight sewage odor that would go away after a day or two. We figured it was normal for an older system. Then one morning after a week of rain the whole back section of the yard was soggy and spongy to walk on, and there was grey water pooling near where the drain field ends.

Turns out the drain field had been slowly failing for probably over a year and all those "minor" signs were the system screaming for help. The septic tank itself was fine but the soil around the drain field had become completely saturated and could no longer absorb anything. We had to get the whole drain field replaced which was not cheap. Looking back the signs were all there and if we had caught it earlier we could have probably saved a lot of money by just doing maintenance and partial repairs instead of a full replacement. The guy who did the work told us that most homeowners ignore the early warnings because they don't know what to look for.

So for anyone with a septic system what warning signs did you miss or catch early? And for those who had to replace or repair theirs what was the process like and how much did it end up costing? Would love to hear other people's experiences so nobody else makes the same mistakes we did.

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/45678650

We bought our house about 2.5 years ago. Originally built in 1974, it was the first house in this subdivision by at least a decade. There were a few issues we knew about, and a few that we didn't.

Most projects involve a lot of cursing the people who built this place because despite the structure being very solid -- they went way overboard on materials -- they were also idiots who didn't seem to know how gravity works or how to use a level.

A big issue we learned about after the sale was the storm water drainage issues, including a complete lack of storm water drains, no drainage around the foundation, and a bad leak at the lowest corner that would routinely flood the basement after a moderate rain.

Oddly enough, the foundation is in pretty good shape and has no major cracks or settling. Probably because the ground underneath it is a very compact mixture of clay and rock.

Stormwater Mitigation Steps Taken Prior to Now:

• Installed a central drain line to divert downspout runoff on one side of the house. (Took a day with a mini-excavator).
• Dug up an existing and fully blocked drain line on the other side. Replaced most of it (took two weeks of evenings by hand).
• Replaced all the gutter and valley guards (as part of roof replacement).
• Sealed cracks in front sidewalk.

This upgrades resolved most of the flooding. I learned last spring that if the gutter guards aren't kept reasonably clean, the gutters will overflow and dump water next to the foundation, resulting in basement flooding. I figured it would be best to install a sump pump with the best place being at the lowest point. Unfortunately, the lowest point is in a weird little crawlspace that's big enough to stand up in but only has a 2'x2' access door.

The other day, I started to dig the hole for the sump pit and immediately found a concrete slab extending 2 feet out from the interior wall I didn't know was there because it was covered with dirt.

I cursed the people who built this house -- for the hundredth time -- for not just digging a basement for the entire length of the house which probably would have been one hell of a lot cheaper than the excessive number of blocks walls they built to accommodate a small basement and four (4) separate crawlspaces.

...anyway...

I jackhammered through the slab and started digging out the sump pit. It's slow going due to the ground being very hard and rocky but I'll get it done eventually.

It’s 12’ square and I think 12’ high at the peak.

So many crooked paths we take in order to climb that hill.

Not actually my house, it was an AirBnB outside Seattle, but it's mysterious and I'm hoping someone here might know the function.

Inside the main closet in the master bedroom is a weird giant staircase leading to a square hole that looks into the area outside the bedroom. Here's the other side:

The inside of that cupboard beneath is just a small empty space, much smaller than the staircase, tiled at the bottom and possibly sized for an electric fireplace or something.

My friends and I could not figure out what it was supposed to be, and it's driving us a bit crazy.

This may not qualify for this community according to my own definition. I hope I don’t get in trouble.