Official Pit Home Improvement/DIY thread

My kitchen roof had some significant roof damage due to fallen limbs from a recent storm. Insurance covered it, and roof was fixed by a reconstruction team a couple of weeks ago. While putting up Christmas lights yesterday, I noticed on the edges of the roof (shingles/eaves protection do not appeared to be sealed or glued to the plywood on the edges. I'm assuming this is not correctly installed or does the weight of the shingles basically compensate for the connection, if that makes sense?
 
Fayettenam said:
My kitchen roof had some significant roof damage due to fallen limbs from a recent storm. Insurance covered it, and roof was fixed by a reconstruction team a couple of weeks ago. While putting up Christmas lights yesterday, I noticed on the edges of the roof (shingles/eaves protection do not appeared to be sealed or glued to the plywood on the edges. I'm assuming this is not correctly installed or does the weight of the shingles basically compensate for the connection, if that makes sense?
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The roof edge should have a sealer layer that is on the plywood, under the edge of the tar paper underlayment. You may not be able to see this.

The weight of the shingles should keep them.in place. There usually is sealer on the bottom of each shingle that sticks the bottom edges of the shingles down once the sun cooks it a little.



There should also be aluminum drip edge along the roof edge under the shingles. It should be visible as a right angle piece of metal at the edge of your roof. In profile, this actually is a mis-shaped "T" with a short vertical and one side of the top bar much longer than the other. The long top bar part should be under the shingles. The vertical should cover the edge of the roof decking. The short top part should match up with the edge of the shingles. You should see these two short sides.
A pic of the edge of the roof would show drip edge if present.
 
CantStandYa said:
Whoever this allen person was that invented that piece of shit wrench should have their ancestors burned alive. Not an overreaction.
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The Allen wrench and corresponding Allen screw were originally designed for set screw applications. That is, headless screws that are used to secure pulleys to shafts etc. The six sided allen wrench made it much easier to tighten those screws in tight spaces. The screw needs to be turned only 1/6 of a turn, instead of a half turn (slotted screw) or quarter turn (phillips head.

The problem has been that too many manufacturers have used the allen head screw in applications where it is just a pain. Allen wrenches are not easy to use in turning long screws when conventional screws or bolts would be more appropriate. You can get Allen wrench tips for ratchets, and if you do a lot of them, they are worth it.
 
JuiceCrewAllStar said:
leaning toward quartz for the kitchen counter

thoughts?
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We just switched from granite to quartz and like it a lot. Lots more options and it looks more modern. I think there is an issue with hot pans though, unlike granite. So need to be careful. It also never needs to be sealed and is easier to keep clean.
 
CHDeac said:
We just switched from granite to quartz and like it a lot. Lots more options and it looks more modern. I think there is an issue with hot pans though, unlike granite. So need to be careful. It also never needs to be sealed and is easier to keep clean.
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I will second this.

Some people prefer the natural variation in granite over the more uniform appearance of quartz. But that is very much individual taste.

If you go with natural stone granite, make sure you get the stone you want. There is a lot of stone that is sold as "granite," but isn't. Some of those don't hold up as well as real granite.
 
Quartz and granite have their pros and cons. One's a natural stone, one isn't, etc. Quartzite is also an option.

We just redid our kitchen ended up going with quartz, but our materials guy was really helpful and helped us choose based on our preferences. If you're going through an actual specialist rather than a big box retailer, they'll help answer your questions and make the comparison.
 
WFFaithful said:
We have an older house. The light in the closet went out. After trying four different bulbs, I discovered that there is no electricity in the socket or at the switch. I flipped the breaker, and there is still no electricity. Thoughts?
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It turns out that the hot wire runs from fixture to fixture in the ceiling with switch running down from the fixture. The hot wire to the closet light runs from the bedroom light. The connection was loose in the box for the bedroom light. There are three lights tied in to the hot wire at the bedroom light: the bedroom light, the closet light, and an outside light. What a mess.
 
WFFaithful said:
It turns out that the hot wire runs from fixture to fixture in the ceiling with switch running down from the fixture. The hot wire to the closet light runs from the bedroom light. The connection was loose in the box for the bedroom light. There are three lights tied in to the hot wire at the bedroom light: the bedroom light, the closet light, and an outside light. What a mess.
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Woof. Older construction can be brutal like that.
 
WFFaithful said:
It turns out that the hot wire runs from fixture to fixture in the ceiling with switch running down from the fixture. The hot wire to the closet light runs from the bedroom light. The connection was loose in the box for the bedroom light. There are three lights tied in to the hot wire at the bedroom light: the bedroom light, the closet light, and an outside light. What a mess.
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Loose connection has the same result as a broken wire. But a lot easier to fix. Glad it wasn't a critter chew through.

Older wiring has its own challenges.
 
So we had a new range hood installed a couple of weeks ago (replaced a microwave) and last night the fuse tripped. When i checked the box the fuse wont flip back to "on" without immediately tripping again. Is this a blown circuit or something like that? I don't know anything about electrical work so I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea how big of a problem this is, or if it'll just cost a little $$ for an electrician to fix.
 
wfudkn said:
So we had a new range hood installed a couple of weeks ago (replaced a microwave) and last night the fuse tripped. When i checked the box the fuse wont flip back to "on" without immediately tripping again. Is this a blown circuit or something like that? I don't know anything about electrical work so I'm just wondering if anyone has any idea how big of a problem this is, or if it'll just cost a little $$ for an electrician to fix.
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Sounds like something is bad in the new hood. If you properly reset the breaker (push to hard "off" before going back to "on") an it trips immediately, that indicates a short somewhere.

Possible cause is "infant mortality" in electronic controls for the hood fan/light.
 
Me again with the old house. When we turn on the cold water for the tub in the guest bath, brown water comes out for about a second before turning clear. This only happens if the water has not been turned on for 8+ hours. The longer it has not been used, the dirtier the water. Always clears up after a second or two. All other faucets in the house run clear all the time. I've let the cold water run in the tub for a long time. I installed a whole house filter on the main line. Nothing seems to help. Any ideas?
 
We have something similar in our home. When the dishwasher is on, there is one spigot in another part of the house where the water runs brown for a short time before clearing up. This only happens when the dishwasher is actively running. No clue what the cause or fix could be.
 
WFFaithful said:
Me again with the old house. When we turn on the cold water for the tub in the guest bath, brown water comes out for about a second before turning clear. This only happens if the water has not been turned on for 8+ hours. The longer it has not been used, the dirtier the water. Always clears up after a second or two. All other faucets in the house run clear all the time. I've let the cold water run in the tub for a long time. I installed a whole house filter on the main line. Nothing seems to help. Any ideas?
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Sounds possible you have some iron pipe (black iron, galvanized steel or something similar) in the cold water supply to that spigot. And it is rusting. From your description, it is very close to the faucet. If you are lucky, you can reach it from the access panel. Usually this is on the wall behind the faucets. Because this is only happening on the cold side, it is possible the equivalent pipe on the hot side was already replaced.
 
WilmingtonDeac said:
We have something similar in our home. When the dishwasher is on, there is one spigot in another part of the house where the water runs brown for a short time before clearing up. This only happens when the dishwasher is actively running. No clue what the cause or fix could be.
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Sounds like water hammer from the dishwasher fill valve opening and closing. The dishwasher most likely has a magnetic solenoid operated valve. The close very, very quickly. The sudden halt to water flow can loosen sediment or corrosion in the pipes, even distant ones.

There are water hammer arrestors that can be installed to prevent the water hammer. There are some that can be installed right at the dishwasher if your connection allows. Otherwise the device would need to be installed on the pipe carrying hot water to the dishwasher.

Is the brown stuff only in the hot water or both or only cold?

Does this happen when you run the washing machine? Especially when you use hot or warm water for washing.

The brown stuff could be coming from the water heater. Have you drained the sediment from the bottom lately?

How old is the water heater? Older ones accumulate sediment. How old is the dip tube/anti-corrossion tube?
 
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