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CapnJack

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I've seen a few accounts of asbestos Mastic and flooring removed before testing, which turned out to be hot for asbestos. Every time, the reach of the asbestos fibers throughout the building was insane (due to ripping it out).
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I've probably removed asbestos from this house without knowing... Definitely didn't test for it either. I know even one exposure can cause health problems but I keep telling myself that long exposure over many years or decades (old ships or factories, etc) is what usually leads to cancer/asbestosis... Not removing 60 square feet of flooring once.
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Absolutely. Bet most of us have!

 

Drywall. Joint compound. Glue. Tile. Anything pre 78/79 is suspect. However, some materials after that still were made with asbestos as there are a lot of loop holes. In addition, even if your house was built in 83, the building materials could be older. It's interesting to talk about if you ever have the chance to talk to an abatement guy.

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I've probably removed asbestos from this house without knowing... Definitely didn't test for it either. I know even one exposure can cause health problems but I keep telling myself that long exposure over many years or decades (old ships or factories, etc) is what usually leads to cancer/asbestosis... Not removing 60 square feet of flooring once.

 

If you don't smoke then the risk is a lot lower. The fibers combined with the toxic chemicals from tobacco is a real killer.

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If you don't smoke then the risk is a lot lower. The fibers combined with the toxic chemicals from tobacco is a real killer.

 

Nonsmoker here.

 

I'm not really worried about it... I'm still in my 20s (barely) so I'm riding that "I'm invincible" mindset for a little while longer. :lol::rolleyes:

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Looks good! you should do an entire wall of them. My buddy did custom wood shelves in his basement, and it looks pretty bad ass, and of course, they're super useful!

 

I did some of those for my parents in their utility room. The utility room is next to the garage and is really about as close as they have to a basement, because they have a split level with bedrooms on the upper level and (fully above-grade) lower level, and a two car garage below the middle level that takes up 2/3 of the space there. Since they had basically no storage, the shelving helps a lot.

 

Photos don't show how bad the walls were. 3/8" sheetrock with about 4 layers of wallpaper and even more layers of paint. It was easier to replace the rock than fix the walls.

 

And it allowed me to re-wire the rooms. The whole house has a mix of aluminum and copper.

 

Actually, that's not a bad idea for my parents' house. They have rock with wallpaper over it in half the rooms, and it probably wouldn't hurt to re-insulate too, given that the house was built in 1956.

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Nonsmoker here.

 

I'm not really worried about it... I'm still in my 20s (barely) so I'm riding that "I'm invincible" mindset for a little while longer. :lol::rolleyes:

 

Lol. I remember when I used to say that. Hangovers were my first indicator.

"Striving to better, oft we mar what's well." - Bill Shakespeare - car modder
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Actually, that's not a bad idea for my parents' house. They have rock with wallpaper over it in half the rooms, and it probably wouldn't hurt to re-insulate too, given that the house was built in 1956.

 

Yep. Re-insulated as well. I went with Roxul - but to be honest, I should have done sprayfoam. I'm kicking myself for that.

 

I also saved a piece of sheetrock. I want to create some type of "art" from it displaying each of the layers of paint/wallpaper/skimcoat and hang it up to remind us what POS my house was/is before we bought it.

If you don't vote Trump, out, you're a bigot who hates america.
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Well, I think I've figured out what I'm going to do for shelving and my work bench. I've also likely figured out my lighting plan and it's cheaper than buying a bunch of fluorescent T8 fixtures.

 

LED Lighting DIY

eBay LED Light Strips

 

Combining eBay and Amazon, I can get eight 5m strips of those LEDs, some 12-14ga wire, double sided foam tape, and a couple 15A 12vdc power supplies and light almost my entire basement for about $100. It seems the only code I have to adhere to for low voltage DC is I'm limited to 25A per circuit, regardless of (low) voltage. Running 8 of those strips will require ~20-22A so I think I'm going to grab two 15A power supplies and run them off a single switched outlet to guarantee I'm limited to less than 25A if it ever comes up.

 

I would need a minimum of five more 2-bulb T8 direct-wire fixtures at ~$22 each, romex, and bulbs which would run $150+ and be far more inefficient. I have four T12 fixtures now, 2-bulb each, and they're the plug-in type so I just wired up a string of switched outlets to power them but I want something a little more permanent than outlets in the joists.

 

Shelves

 

I pretty much used those plans - more or less a shopping list - to make the shelves I already have. I'm going to mount the legs on the outside to make plywood installation easier and have *just* that much more space on the shelves. You can build two sets of those shelves for about $150. That should be enough space for all of our junk in the basement and then some.

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Combining eBay and Amazon, I can get eight 5m strips of those LEDs, some 12-14ga wire, double sided foam tape, and a couple 15A 12vdc power supplies and light almost my entire basement for about $100. It seems the only code I have to adhere to for low voltage DC is I'm limited to 25A per circuit, regardless of (low) voltage. Running 8 of those strips will require ~20-22A so I think I'm going to grab two 15A power supplies and run them off a single switched outlet to guarantee I'm limited to less than 25A if it ever comes up.

 

If you're doing two 15A power supplies, you can get by with 14ga. If you were to try to run all the strips off a 25A power supply, you would need 10ga. Wire gauge is based on amperage, not wattage, hence why high-amp circuits on 12V automotive systems need thick gauge wire.

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If you're doing two 15A power supplies, you can get by with 14ga. If you were to try to run all the strips off a 25A power supply, you would need 10ga. Wire gauge is based on amperage, not wattage, hence why high-amp circuits on 12V automotive systems need thick gauge wire.

 

I think I'm going to break them up into 3-strip "circuits" and run them off a 30A supply... possibly fuse them to get around the 25A limit. Each 3-strip circuit should only draw about 8 amps (2.5A per strip supposedly) which would allow me to get away with 14GA as long as I keep the runs under 20 feet or so. I keep going back and forth on this... a single 30A supply is $18 where as 20A supplies are $17 or more. :rolleyes:

 

I see a lot of conflicting info regarding acceptable voltage drop (anywhere from 3% to 10%) so it factors into the wire size. The power supply is adjustable up to 14.8V so I can get around whatever drop, I just don't want it to heat up too much and cause issues. I should fuse these after the power supply...

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Jase, 12vdc here :lol:

 

Everything I've rewired in my house is 12/2, outlets, lights, everything. All 20A receptacles, some 15A and some 20A breakers. Electricity is something I don't mess with because it can cause a fire quickly.

 

...but this is an LED lighting circuit that runs on 12vdc. Soldering 12ga solid core is going to suck so I'm between 14ga and 12ga stranded... there's a 2x price differential between them.

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gotcha. missed that. LOL

 

Still... you never know. I would go 12 gauge. You can always upgrade the circuit breaker to larger if it's 12/2. Gives you more flexibility down the road. Instead of looking at the unit cost difference, look at the job cost difference, in a small project like this. 14 is HELLA easier to run, but an electrician buddy of mine said 12g is nearly always the way to go.

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I think I'm going to break them up into 3-strip "circuits" and run them off a 30A supply... possibly fuse them to get around the 25A limit. Each 3-strip circuit should only draw about 8 amps (2.5A per strip supposedly) which would allow me to get away with 14GA as long as I keep the runs under 20 feet or so. I keep going back and forth on this... a single 30A supply is $18 where as 20A supplies are $17 or more. :rolleyes:

 

Don't be a cheapass. Each one of my cans in my basement was $20+ by itself, and I have 16. :lol:

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I have like 48 :lol:

 

I decided I don't need can lights in my closets down there. :lol: Also, my wife is fine with fluorescent lay-ins in her craft room, so that's 6 more I don't have to buy. I'm just taking the lay-ins out of the other locations and I'm going to have four 2x4' lay-ins in a 12x14' room. :lol:

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all mine are regular incandescent style cans... I have CFL's in all of them, which is fine. I have three circtuits of lights in my family room for optimal mood lighting LOL.

 

I will be swapping out the lights in my office to LED retro fit bulbs, as well as the closet lights. Just because those are the only lights I would need to come on at 100% brightness ASAP

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Don't be a cheapass. Each one of my cans in my basement was $20+ by itself, and I have 16. :lol:

 

Have to... I own a turbo Subaru. :lol:

 

I want to do this to save money, sure, but it's also the DIY tinker thing too...

 

In the grand scheme of things, it would be faster to just wire up a bunch of T8 or T12 fluorescent fixtures but it wouldn't be nearly as cool.

 

Trying to light up large spaces with low ceilings (only ~80 inches), can lights are definitely not the ideal solution. My ceilings are totally open as well so can lights would look goofy. Either LED strips to the underside of the joists or fluorescents mounted to them are the best unfinished basement solutions.

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all mine are regular incandescent style cans... I have CFL's in all of them, which is fine. I have three circtuits of lights in my family room for optimal mood lighting LOL.

 

I will be swapping out the lights in my office to LED retro fit bulbs, as well as the closet lights. Just because those are the only lights I would need to come on at 100% brightness ASAP

 

The other advantage of LEDs is that you can install a dimmer switch and not need the three circuits. ;) That's what I did.

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