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spf3million posted:We're getting our front and side "yards" replaced with 2" compacted decomposed granite. The guys doing it said we needed to kill off all of the grass/weeds first before they come in and remove the dead plant material and bring in the stone. They recommended spraying with roundup until everything is completely dead. Looks like there are a bunch of glyphosate options at domyown.com, is the right answer to get the cheapest concentrate, dilute it per the instructions and go to town? This seems to be popular, am I on the right track?
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May 4, 2024 00:23
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My boys bathtub seems to be draining slower than it used to when we moved in 2 years ago, mainly in the past few weeks I’ve noticed. They don’t have a lot of hair, so i doubt it’s hair causing a clog (and no one else uses the bath), but they do use bubble bath which sometimes doesn’t completely dissolve before a bath time is over. We do bath bombs for an activity but it’s maybe once a month. We’re on septic. Any suggestions? None of the other drains have an issue from what I can tell and we had the septic pumped when we moved in (planning to pump at the 3 year mark per the septic guys advice).
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May 4, 2024 20:43
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nwin posted:My boys bathtub seems to be draining slower than it used to when we moved in 2 years ago, mainly in the past few weeks I’ve noticed. Fill it to the tippy top with hot water and then let it all down at once. Good first step for getting grease or soap clogs loosened up and moved down the way.
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May 4, 2024 20:53
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oh good, i get to buy a drain extractor AND a drin wrench.
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May 4, 2024 21:11
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Another thing I learned for toilets with show drainage (NOT for an active brown-in-the-bowl clog!!!), you can try pouring a large volume of water from a slightly elevated 5 gallon bucket which forces lots of water through at a higher pressure. You might get a little splashback but it works pretty well.
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May 4, 2024 21:44
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Why is it called "decomposed granite"?
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May 4, 2024 21:47
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nwin posted:My boys bathtub seems to be draining slower than it used to when we moved in 2 years ago, mainly in the past few weeks I’ve noticed. I swear by Thrift drain cleaner, but it is quite noxious. It says it's safe for all pipes and septic. Don't breathe in the fumes or your lungs will feel funny for a day. Bathroom drains have to deal with a lot of oils and soap scum and whatever, so I find they clog up more regularly.
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May 4, 2024 22:03
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Arsenic Lupin posted:Why is it called "decomposed granite"?
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May 4, 2024 22:24
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Motronic posted:Fill it to the tippy top with hot water and then let it all down at once. Good first step for getting grease or soap clogs loosened up and moved down the way. This is what has most reliably cleared my clogs, a few big pots of boiling water.
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May 4, 2024 22:44
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SamsCola posted:I swear by Thrift drain cleaner, but it is quite noxious. It says it's safe for all pipes and septic. Don't breathe in the fumes or your lungs will feel funny for a day. For the record, using caustic chemicals to clear your drains is pretty rough on the pipes. It's not a "never use them" kind of thing, but if you find yourself using them at all regularly, you may find yourself on the hook for an expensive sewer repair sooner rather than later. A $5 disposable drain snake will usually do the job better, and while it smells terrible, the smell is merely offensive instead of actively harmful.
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May 4, 2024 22:45
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TooMuchAbstraction posted:For the record, using caustic chemicals to clear your drains is pretty rough on the pipes. It's not a "never use them" kind of thing, but if you find yourself using them at all regularly, you may find yourself on the hook for an expensive sewer repair sooner rather than later. A $5 disposable drain snake will usually do the job better, and while it smells terrible, the smell is merely offensive instead of actively harmful. Yo, just showered after reading
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May 5, 2024 01:28
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So we just switched from septic to city sewer and the project finished two weeks ago. As part of that a grinder pump was put in and the alarm just started going off. We've barely been using any water today. I've silenced the alarm but the light is still on so it isn't clearing up. What's the next step here? Should I hit that pump run button or switch to "hand" on the switch? We've had heavy rain the last few days so could it be an issue related to that? It's a Sunday and my plumber isn't answering and I don't know what my next steps should be besides not use water until it is fixed but I need to bathe my children tonight etc.
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May 5, 2024 22:31
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That appears to be a pump run light, not a button. One can only assume that you had a pit put in because there is a lift to the street. If that's the case there are two possibilities: the pit is full and the float switch is correctly sounding that alarm, meaning you need to figure out why the pit isn't draining or the pit is not full and the float switch is faulty. Step 1 is likely to be opening the pit to confirm which diagnostic tree you will be following. And depending on where it is (like if it's inside) you better really know what you're doing before you open it, as it may be actually full and ready to overflow. How to check that is beyond the scope of this post as I'm operaintg on generalities and assumptions with no real specific information. At best, I can sugget you switch the H-O-A switch to "hand" and see if the pump light lights. If it does, let it run for a bit (like a minute or so at most) and see if the alarm goes away. I'm making an assumption this switch will bypass the float on the pump and force it to run. Motronic fucked around with this message at 22:45 on May 5, 2024 |
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May 5, 2024 22:43
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Meow Meow Meow posted:I would put in french doors with lots of glass to let light through, then use the pins to keep the right door almost always closed, the left door would be the main operating door and not interfere with the desk. On occasions where you want both open, then open both. This imo
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May 6, 2024 12:42
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Motronic posted:At best, I can sugget you switch the H-O-A switch to "hand" and see if the pump light lights. If it does, let it run for a bit (like a minute or so at most) and see if the alarm goes away. I'm making an assumption this switch will bypass the float on the pump and force it to run. Yeah, do this. A likely scenario is that the float on the pump is bad (either faulty or stuck down) and if the pump run light comes on and the alarm clears after a bit of running, then that a) confirms that that is the issue and b) is what you’ll be doing every so often until your plumber comes out. Another cause might be that the pump won’t run when requested and you’ll know that’s the case if the pump run light doesn’t come on when switched to “hand.” Also keep in mind that it sounds like you’re getting rain infiltration and just not using water won’t be enough to avoid an overflow. Fingers crossed that the pump runs when switched to “hand.”
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May 6, 2024 14:13
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GlyphGryph posted:What is it about hanging doors that makes it so difficult? I'll probably be hanging one here eventually, hopefully only ever the one, but people make it sound like its going to be a nightmare. (Thankfully in my case it will not be a door that needs to fit particularly well and gaps will be fine) Because you need to keep it squared up / level in 2 dimentions (Front back / Left fight). YOu have an older house and the opening is JUST too small / Too big for the door your ordered adn you end up having to trim poo poo and trim poo poo and work on it and do this and do that. Eventually you get it in but it's a whole rear end day of swearing and fuckin arouind. Oh and then even though your door is square and level and plumb the wall next to it has like 1-2" of depth variance because why not.. fuckin gary tater_salad fucked around with this message at 15:08 on May 6, 2024 |
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May 6, 2024 15:03
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i don't gently caress with doors and i dont gently caress with plumbing they're both huge pains in the rear end and at least in the case of plumbing the penalty for failure is fairly high
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May 6, 2024 15:35
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I just personally redid the plumbing for half my house, hah. It wasn't so bad, but it was mostly the drain half rather than the supply half, which I can imagine would be more troublesome. Edit: Actually I just went back to reference some of the things I wrote while doing it and apparently it was so bad, but my memory of it isn't so bad at least. GlyphGryph fucked around with this message at 17:06 on May 6, 2024 |
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May 6, 2024 16:51
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Roofing/"scope creep" question. My house is 25 years old and on the original asphalt shingle roof, so I'm starting the process of getting it replaced. I've gotten quotes to replace it with a standing seam metal roof along with new gutters, but given the cost and (hopefully) longevity, I'm wondering if I should consider to do any other updates/work. Specifically, should I consider replacing the fascia (or anything else near the roof) at the same time? The house doesn't have a sub fascia or a soffit - the current fascia is painted 2x6 attached directly into the exposed rafter tails. It doesn't seem to be in terrible shape either, although there are some corner spots that do look a little suspect. My main concern is that once a metal roof goes on with all the associated flashing, it would become much more difficult to do any repairs. I'd hate to skip out now only to have an even bigger headache in 5-10 years. Is that a reasonable concern? Follow up question would be what type of fascia should I be looking at to pair with a metal roof, in terms of longevity? Aluminum over wood seems like it would be closest to the current design, but I've also seen stuff like Boral or a fiber cement (Hardie) on a sub-fascia. retrofitting sub-fascia probably means trimming back the rafters though, so I imagine it's a bit more costly.
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May 6, 2024 20:35
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Plumbing concepts are fairly straightforward so making sure your work doesn't flood your house isn't that difficult in common tasks. I've installed toilets, put it in plumbing at a new spot, new sinks, etc without ever feeling overwhelmed by it. I probably wouldn't tackle any sewer related work myself. The only time I've ever been hip deep in a project and regretted not hiring someone was when we got the okay to replace the toilet at my parent's rental with a handicap toilet (not great throwing away money as it is on rental improvements but when they need something and will never again own their own house so it goes) once we got everything apart I found the toilet had a godawful mess of lead situation that took hours to deal with.
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May 6, 2024 20:36
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SnoPuppy posted:Roofing/"scope creep" question.... Unless you / SO have a strong aversion to the aesthetic, I would wrap the existing soffit in aluminum. Mine was wrapped probably around 1985, and possibly earlier than that. Not a day's trouble.
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May 7, 2024 00:42
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My area is usually dry as hell but we're in the middle of a rain event. Our sump is going off every 2-3 minutes. I realized that if the power went out for more than 10-15 minutes we'd probably be turbo-hosed. Can anyone recommend a back up (I presume just a battery power back up?) for a sump pump in case of power failure? Anything to avoid?
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May 8, 2024 14:43
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slidebite posted:My area is usually dry as hell but we're in the middle of a rain event. Our sump is going off every 2-3 minutes. I realized that if the power went out for more than 10-15 minutes we'd probably be turbo-hosed. Batteries don't last long enough to make much of a difference in a situation like that. Are you on public water? There are water powered options available, which are going to be the least expensive choice. Otherwise you're looking at a generator and automatic transfer switch.
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May 8, 2024 14:51
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I have seen water powered one (I think a Zoeller was the one I saw) but I don't have any water service near the sump pit without doing a lot of work... but its not impossible. I suppose I could run a 20' garden hose from the utility room in the house to it in a pinch. Obviously way better than a flood. We rarely lose power and when we do, I think the longest was 2 hours in the 15 years I've lived in the area. Would a battery back up last a few hours you think? I think our existing pump is a .5hp and when it runs probably goes for 5-10 seconds. I've thought about a back up generator and a switch but with how home solar is going, I wouldn't be surprised if we do something with that in the next few years if its appealing enough.
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May 8, 2024 15:01
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slidebite posted:We rarely lose power and when we do, I think the longest was 2 hours in the 15 years I've lived in the area. Would a battery back up last a few hours you think? I think our existing pump is a .5hp and when it runs probably goes for 5-10 seconds. Typical 1/2 HP sump pump lifting 10 feet is about 35 GPM. So let's say your pumping 5 gallons of water in the 5-10 seconds. How frequently does it turn on worst case that you've seen? From there you can back into battery capacity and see what you may need to run a battery backup pump for a couple of hours.
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May 8, 2024 15:28
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FuzzySlippers posted:Plumbing concepts are fairly straightforward so making sure your work doesn't flood your house isn't that difficult in common tasks. yes but i have a bad back, copper pipes, and i cannot be loving bothered to do that kind of work in those kind of spaces. i keep my plumber's card on the fridge at all times.
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May 8, 2024 15:30
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Motronic posted:Batteries don't last long enough to make much of a difference in a situation like that. Big time disagree on this front. I've got a half hp pump with an additional slightly smaller pump running off a large battery backup. The battery is probably 8 years old, and under conditions where the main pump is cycling every 2-3 minutes and we lose power, I get about 24 hours worth of run time. I'd still get a water powered one if I was on city water though. I have a portable generator that I'll run if the outage is going to be longer than a few hours (or I really want to watch tv  )
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May 9, 2024 01:42
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RV pumps run off 12v batteries for a long time. You’d probably be fine with something like that hooked up to a solar panel.
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May 9, 2024 01:51
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TrueChaos posted:Big time disagree on this front. I've got a half hp pump with an additional slightly smaller pump running off a large battery backup. The battery is probably 8 years old, and under conditions where the main pump is cycling every 2-3 minutes and we lose power, I get about 24 hours worth of run time. It's really easy to do actual numbers rather than good vibes and confirmation bias. I laid a path to exactly that in my posts.
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May 9, 2024 02:07
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Invalid Validation posted:RV pumps run off 12v batteries for a long time. You’d probably be fine with something like that hooked up to a solar panel. Lifting groundwater a minimum of six feet, a minimum of five gallons at a time, fast and frequently enough to stay ahead of the groundwater, requires an order of magnitude more power than an RV clean-or gray water pump servicing the small lines and volumes of an RV. A healthy battery backup gives you a day to come up with another solution until the power is restored.
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May 9, 2024 03:04
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Motronic posted:It's really easy to do actual numbers rather than good vibes and confirmation bias. I laid a path to exactly that in my posts. Except your words were: Motronic posted:Batteries don't last long enough to make much of a difference in a situation like that. A day at inflows like that is a godsend and absolutely doable with a battery backup. I did run the numbers, and my numbers were verified by storm events, coupled with temporarily throwing in a pressure gauge to see what the pump was actually running at. The calculations based on the motor size actually undershot the resulting run time by a decent amount. My application is similar to theirs, with a 1/2hp pump cycling every 2-3 minutes. While there is variation in the power draw of a 1/2hp residential sump pump when comparing brands, the power draw varies more with the operating point of the pump, and my operating point is worse in terms of power compared to typical. My comment was directly applicable - a hell of a lot more than good vibes and confirmation bias. The poster in question is looking for a few hours of redundancy, for which a battery backup is suitable. The other part here is that simply back calculating based on the motor size like you've suggested does not give you an accurate representation of the power consumption. The pumps are designed such that they can run at a 0' lift condition - this is where the pump will have the highest flowrate, and highest power draw. It's also not a condition that will ever be seen in a residential sump application. There's probably also a safety factor on the power draw, but given we're talking residential grade stuff here I wouldn't bet on it. As lift increases and flowrate correspondingly decreases, the power draw also decreases. Other factors come into play as well, like the efficiency of the impeller which will change based on the operating point. To accurately calculate this, you need to measure the power draw (or look at the power draw curve - but you'll never get one of these for a residential sump pump). In my case, I only have about a 3' lift (TDH is a bit higher due to friction losses), so I'd be closer to the max power draw than most typical applications with higher lifts. Variations in power draw between runout and halfway to max TDH (deadhead on a typical residential is about 20' - so halfway is your 10' mark) can be significant, I've seen more than a 30% decrease in power draw with that kind of change. Battery backups are perfectly acceptable, and calculating based on the rated motor capacity is going to underestimate how long the battery will last.
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May 9, 2024 05:47
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Yes, you're totally correct if you ignore the rest of what I posted. I guess there truely is no way to tell other than to be sure a battery will fix this.
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May 9, 2024 13:18
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Motronic posted:Yes, you're totally correct if you ignore the rest of what I posted. I guess there truely is no way to tell other than to be sure a battery will fix this. I have explained why what you've recommended doing will not give an accurate estimation of the run time associated with a battery system, as well as demonstrating that a battery backup is suitable in this application. I have not ignored what you've said in any way.
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May 9, 2024 15:06
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TrueChaos posted:I have explained why what you've recommended doing will not give an accurate estimation of the run time associated with a battery system, as well as demonstrating that a battery backup is suitable in this application. I have not ignored what you've said in any way. I'm not going to pick your post apart for where you've gone wrong, because I stopped reading when you went off on zero lift indicating you didn't make it even 6 words into my relevant post. Thanks for your opinion. (USER WAS PUT ON PROBATION FOR THIS POST)
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May 9, 2024 15:18
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Rebuild the house without a basement
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May 9, 2024 15:32
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Motronic posted:I'm not going to pick your post apart for where you've gone wrong, because I stopped reading when you went off on zero lift indicating you didn't make it even 6 words into my relevant post. This shows you don't have an understanding of how power draw for pumps work. My opinion is that of someone who designs systems with various different types of pumps across various applications for a living. This is the stuff I live and breathe every day, and I'm the sealing engineer of record on numerous municipal water and wastewater facilities. Thanks for your "opinion", shame its worthless in this instance.
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May 9, 2024 15:47
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peanut posted:Rebuild the house without a basement Rebuild the house with a basement under the basement. Then just drain the water into the basement basement until the power comes back on.
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May 9, 2024 19:48
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Skunkduster posted:Rebuild the house with a basement under the basement. Then just drain the water into the basement basement until the power comes back on. Then farm eels in the underbasement.
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May 9, 2024 20:05
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turn your basement into an indoor swimming pool
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May 9, 2024 20:52
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every house should have an eel pit/indoor swimming pool
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May 9, 2024 20:57
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