baconbits

No gloss > rattles Rattles can be fixed.

It only applies *if* your dash is sticky. Just have them do it when they do the airbag recall because apparently, the entire dash comes out anyway. I just got the letter today as well.

Those aren't bare. Look at the knob-and-tube wires in my first pic. There are black jackets on them where they bend, usually before a box. You can see where the jackets end, there are white and black (depending on neutral or hot) jackets on the actual conductors.

http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=212907&d=1437188781 http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=212908&d=1437188781 http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=212919&d=1437189444 http://legacygt.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=212920&d=1437189444 Before and after with KnT for me. One of the white wires on the left is a phone line, the other is a 10ga ground running to a copper pipe in the basement (illegal now.) Second pic is all of the KnT grounded to the copper. Last 2 pics are what I did to remove it and where I terminated it all, in accessible boxes. One is terminated in the ceiling, the other is in a capped outlet box on the wall conveniently hidden by a picture now.

It's fine as long as you don't touch it... the jacket on it crumbles after a while.

That looks jank as hell. The black, cloth covered wire is likely knob-and-tube so be extremely careful touching that. What you see there, the black one, is likely ONLY a hot wire, running ALL of the outlets and light fixtures on that circuit in series. White jacket on the romex doesn't mean anything for size. Most 12ga romex I see is yellow, but I've also seen purple, grey, and white 14ga. The 8 or 10ga 220v running to my dryer is white, as is the 14ga for lighting and 15a service in my garage. One side should have the size printed on it. The copper twisted wire was likely added to create a ground path in order to use grounded outlets on a KnT circuit... my neighbor has done that once or twice in his house but I'm really not a fan of it. I either leave the KnT alone or rewire properly with romex. I also don't think it's proper code to link outlets in parallel using the outlet as a splice versus a pig tail. You can with a GFCI outlet to control everything else on the circuit with the GFCI (one or two in a bathroom for example), but I'm not aware of being able to do that with regular outlets.

Hell, I hate working with 12/3 running outlet circuits. Pig tails to daisy chain outlets even in deeper boxes suuuuuuuck.

This guy's site is a little hokey but his explanations and pictures are good... I used these tips a lot. http://www.drywallschool.com/protips.htm

The quick set stuff you're talking about is what's called setting compound for filling big gaps and poorly fit joints. This is always powdered. Joint compound is the softer and easier to sand stuff you use when taping. This comes premixed in the 50lb buckets (and smaller, like 12lb) and dry in bags for small projects.

Another tip... take a couple big scoops of premix mud out of the bucket and drop it on the bottom side of the lid or in another small bucket. Add a cup or so of water to the big bucket and mix the shizzy out of it with a paddle and drill... premix is a *tad* too thick to be workable right out of the bucket. Almost every video I watched on youtube said to thin it out and they're right.

Another tip - don't let the mud dry on any of your tools. "Eh, I'll just chip it off tomorrow" winds up being "Eh, I'll just buy new tools. This sucks." There were a couple times with the setting compound where I wasn't fast enough and ended up having to wash out the pan and my knives halfway through. Don't bother getting dry mix for joint compound... pay the extra 3 bucks for the premixed. Time and hassle saved is well worth it, plus you get a free bucket with water tight lid when it's gone.

Pay someone else to do it. After doing my bathroom and talking to some ex-drywallers at work: Is pretty damn close to what I do. I mud a joint with a 6" knife (more mud than you think you should) and then lay the paper in dry with my hands. Get it up there just enough that it sticks, and then in the middle of the joint, put your 6" knife and drag it along the joint. You're going to squeeze the mud out of both sides of the joint, which is fine. With 100% certainty, if you have ANY air between the tape and that first layer of mud, it will crack and bubble and you'll have to cut it out and you'll be pissed. Let that dry, and then I do the 6" knife on either side of the tape to have a 12" joint, then use a 10" knife for a 20" joint. By that point, sanding should be necessary, and then maybe some 12" knife work but hopefully not. Buy more mud than you think you need. Paper tape is pre-creased on the roll... just crease it "hot dog style" before putting it into the corners. I wouldn't use the mesh tape for new drywall. Drywall has 2 different ends - the 4 foot ends are 90° and the 8 foot sides are tapered. Try not to have a tapered end meet with a 90° end... makes mudding difficult. The tapered sides are there to make the joints less visible because the mud has somewhere to go. Stand the sheets up so the 90° ends are hidden by base moulding and the ceiling, hopefully. I left 1/4 - 1/2" gap at the bottom because my floor wasn't totally flat. Don't fret this too much because the base moulding will cover it up. Coarse thread drywall screws are for wood studs. Fine thread are for metal studs. 1-1/4" are fine. Don't drive the screws too deep. If the paper mushrooms or tears at all, you're going to have problems mudding (bump). A properly set drywall gun is invaluable. Use setting compound to fill any GIANT gaps. It's more like plaster and doesn't crack as easily when it's a giant glob/thick joint. Be careful because it dries FAST. They make 5, 20, 45, and 90 minute setting compounds. I would only use this around an electrical box hole that's cut a little off (fill in the gap) or along the ceiling in your case if you don't get the angle 100% perfect. Glop it in there, smooth it a bit, let it dry, then tape and mud like normal. Setting compound is a BITCH to sand so do what you can to not have to. Those are just some tips and tricks I learned through my travels mudding every wall and ceiling of my 50 square foot bathroom.

City slicker here... I knew people with well water had extras but never really wondered how the system worked. I guess I never realized you wouldn't want the pump to run all the time. I'm hearing rumblings that leach fields for septic in Ohio are going to be banned in the next couple years for new construction. My old boss is kind of worried because his system will need an overhaul sooner or later and it's 20gs to re-do everything. I forget the name of the new system.

...well tank?

I have gas plumbed in already, but there's something about a wood burner... Chimney needs swept and there's something up with the flue so I haven't used it yet. Windows first, but an insert is on the "eventually..." list.

I want to put a wood burning insert into my fireplace... little stove or something that's more efficient than using the actual fireplace.

Much better.

I meant to write ball valves but somehow gate was typed. Quarter turn everywhere I can too... just added some under my kitchen sink when I replaced my faucet a couple weeks ago. I went to remove the old one to find no shut offs in the cabinet. I love this old house. Sometimes.

Gate valves will be replaced sooner or later. I've replaced two thus far on the cold side manifold, one for the hot water tank supply and the other for the outdoor spigot on the back side of the house. MAPP FTW for stuff like that... much faster than propane, although propane gets the job done. These gate valves are likely original to the house so they're as jase describes - never fully open nor fully close. They also weep out of the stem, which can be temporarily remedied by tightening the nut that secures the stem 1/8 turn or so. Quarter turn ball valves will end up replacing all of them. The only way I can shut off water to places that aren't serviced by new valves is to shut the water off to the house at the main. The copper isn't brittle, thankfully. It's tougher than the new stuff I've put in. Of the M and L types of copper (ones for HVAC, other for supply I think?), the stuff in my house is thicker than the supply line stuff which is already thicker than the HVAC one, so I've got that going for me. /caddyshack You are right though, that it's a lot of replacement parts in both couplers, pipe, and more expensively, the valves. The ball valves I've been using are almost 10 bucks a pop and I'd need 10-12 to replace everything.

I'll spare everyone the pictures of the actual clog and what came out, but I unclogged a drain full of 75 years of who knows what. Pic below. Laundry sink on left, black pipe is ONLY for the kitchen sink and dishwasher, then off camera 5 feet to the right is a half bathroom (drains disappear into floor) and then 5 feet to the right of that, the main trunk for the house (upstairs full bath and vent stack). Everything functioned 100% fine at breakfast on Sunday. At lunch, kitchen sink would not drain a single drop. Pulled everything apart under the sink, no clogs. Pulled it apart in the basement, thought the clog was in the horizontal PVC pipe at the top. Nope. Borrowed a 15ft 1/4" snake from work and ran that bitch in all the way from the basement floor for about an hour, starting with a foot, then 3, then 5... until I could get the snake in all the way. If I had a 25 foot one, I would've run that in all the way for good measure. Disgusting. I figured I was good when I could dump a 5 gallon bucket of water into the pipe and it didn't back up coupled with the stench of raw sewage permeating my basement. Rebuilt the vertical pipe with a clean out just in case I need to do it again. Ran HOT water down the sink for probably 20 minutes hoping to break up any other solids in the pipe, dumped some dish soap to hopefully dissolve some crud with some more hot water... seems to drain well now. It's nice rejoining the early 20th century with functioning indoor plumbing!

Clay block circa early 1940s can't be "waterproofed" with typical paints like Drylok. Per the mold remediation company I had in 2 years ago, the pores in the block are too small to have the paint stick properly. My neighbor attempted to waterproof his walls but noticed it didn't help with the humidity because now it all came up through the floor. The only recourse I have is to trench around the house and have the block tarred and insulated I suppose, new french drains at the foundation, etc. Because the lots are so narrow in my neighborhood, I'd end up having to remove half my driveway for about 30 feet along the house and potentially some of my neighbor's driveway. All see are dollar signs. My side of the street is built into a hill somewhat. If you're standing on the front sidewalk looking straight ahead, you're looking at ground level at the house about 30 feet away, if that makes any sense. The back of the house is the worst as it's on the high side of the hill.

I wish I could do something like that in my basement but it's too damp. All I want is a man cave type thing.

I've had my Kona Explosif on the trainer for the last month or two... my basement is awfully boring. Steel hardtails ftw. I love the stiffness of the Dedacciai chromoly but DAMN there's a lot of frame flex in the BB/chainstay/downtube area while on the trainer. I just queue up some paintball videos on my phone and try not to watch the BB moving side to side.

'bout an hour and a half for me.

They're virtually out of business... parts are going to become scarce. http://www.pinkbike.com/news/marzocchi-tenneco-for-sale.html