Home Repairs

[kvnwos 0]

(iii) Is porcelain tile better than ceramic?

if you want the floor to last longer use porcelain. it can stand light to heavy traffic and absorbs less water

[Jason Harris 31]

My previous projector broke, which led me to upgrade to a newer model, so now I'm considering changing the way I secure the projector. I'd love any opinions on my ideas.

I've been using a free-standing projector stand, which has worked well when it's against the wall, but this new projector needs to be closer to the screen -- at least until I install a larger screen. Moving the stand just behind the couch will make it more susceptible to being knocked, as well as requiring that I put the projector upside down. (That's not a big deal, but it's connected by five Velcro straps, so it's possible it will shift over time.) The only mounting brackets I've seen for this projector are ceiling mounted, which doesn't work in my application because the ceiling is 18' high, so this got me thinking of installing on the back wall, which I've never done because there is a swamp cooler about seven feet directly above the where the projector would go. Even though we almost never run the swamp cooler while TV viewing, I've always been concerned that the shaking from the swamp cooler throughout the day would cause the projector to shift or, worse, rattle internally.

So my latest idea is to connect a cross piece between the studs under the swamp cooler (looks really don't matter in this room), then affix a piece that juts into the room. I would then attach the ceiling mount to the piece that comes into the room. All of that is very easy, but doesn't address the potential problem of rattling.

Some of my thoughts are using a buffer of rubber material between all of the wooden pieces: the cross piece and the wall, the cross piece that juts in, and the piece that juts in and the projector mounting.

Any thoughts?

[ktang 34]

If you can determine the vibration frequency, you could get the right type of shock mount (spring or rubber grommet) for your projector. There are new gel type shock mounts, too.

Also, when the swamp cooler starts up you could have a lower vibration frequency and higher vibration amplitude, so you might need to use more than one type of shock mount.

Maybe one of the mechanical engineers on the board would have better ideas?

[Jason Harris 31]

That's an interesting concept about gel-shocked mounting brackets. As long as the bracket returns to "zero" once I've turned off the swamp cooler, in theory the picture will still be lined up. The only question is whether the internals of the projector will have been adequately protected.

[Rustpot 1]

Vibration isolation is going to be a tuffy, it would probably be easier to put the cooler on some dampers to kill the felt vibration.

The engineer in me would rather make the swamp cooler less of a problem by killing it out of the equation (and allowing it to run quiet) rather than allowing it to run the way it is and guard everything else from it.

[Jason Harris 31]

I'm not sure what you mean by allowing it to run quiet.

The truth is I'm not too worried about the shaking from Low Cool, since it's fairly smooth, but High Cool is rattly. Because of the L-shape of our house, in the true heat of summer we have to run at High Cool; otherwise the air doesn't reach the other side of the house. The good news is we don't always use HC. Because we live in the mountains, temperatures drop dramatically during the night, so we usually only need HC during the mid to late afternoon. So maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the time we use the cooler during July and August.

I guess I'm trying to minimize the impact of the swamp cooler on the projector during those months.

[Rustpot 1]

I'm not sure what you mean by allowing it to run quiet.

I guess I'm trying to minimize the impact of the swamp cooler on the projector during those months.

There's a reason the cooler rattles and vibrates when it's on high. Unbalanced fan, bad bearing somewhere, natural frequency causing reverb in the house, etc.

If you set the cooler on a rubber pad or isolate it in some way instead of the projector and whatever else, it will solve the source instead of the end problem. Or you can go through the cooler and see why it runs the way it does and make it run without shaking/vibrating/rattling/buzzing/whirring/etc.

If it has a fan or pump it's probably got a 90% chance of being out of balance where setting it on high gets closer to the machine's natural frequency and causes the problem.

[fieldofdreams 0]

I'm not sure what you mean by allowing it to run quiet.

The truth is I'm not too worried about the shaking from Low Cool, since it's fairly smooth, but High Cool is rattly. Because of the L-shape of our house, in the true heat of summer we have to run at High Cool; otherwise the air doesn't reach the other side of the house. The good news is we don't always use HC. Because we live in the mountains, temperatures drop dramatically during the night, so we usually only need HC during the mid to late afternoon. So maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of the time we use the cooler during July and August.

I guess I'm trying to minimize the impact of the swamp cooler on the projector during those months.

Have you tried using a fan to pull/push the air around the corner. Using a simple floor oscillating fan works wonders for something like that.

[DEATHTRON 19]

Off the current topic: Has anyone laid their own hardwood floors before? Im thinking about doing it, and saving myself half the cost I was quoted.

Zach

[Rustpot 1]

If you've got a suitable sub-floor installing hard wood is pretty easy, especially with the newer locking panels they've got. Rent a compressor and nail gun if you don't have either, fuck hammers. We redid the den/computer room in wood and the kitchen in tile in my old house. I would not want to floor a room much bigger than a couple hundred square feet.

The absolute hardest part comes when you're stripping what was there and prepping for the new floor. If they put carpet/padding straight to the subfloor and glued it have fun with that. If you're ripping up a current wood floor the job is probably going to be fine once you get the tearup started. If you're replacing a rolled floor like linoleum, or a tile floor you'll need a good floor stripper for the adhesive.

Lots of time will be spent to ensure the subfloor is level before you start with the new installation. That's the part I'm most hazy about, but small dips can lead to a cracked floor pretty quickly.

[IniNew 53]

If you've got a suitable sub-floor installing hard wood is pretty easy, especially with the newer locking panels they've got. Rent a compressor and nail gun if you don't have either, fuck hammers. We redid the den/computer room in wood and the kitchen in tile in my old house. I would not want to floor a room much bigger than a couple hundred square feet.

The absolute hardest part comes when you're stripping what was there and prepping for the new floor. If they put carpet/padding straight to the subfloor and glued it have fun with that. If you're ripping up a current wood floor the job is probably going to be fine once you get the tearup started. If you're replacing a rolled floor like linoleum, or a tile floor you'll need a good floor stripper for the adhesive.

Lots of time will be spent to ensure the subfloor is level before you start with the new installation. That's the part I'm most hazy about, but small dips can lead to a cracked floor pretty quickly.

Leveling a concrete subfloor is as easy as buying a few bags of self leveling concrete from your local hardware store. Find the dips, pour a suitable amount into the dips and watch it work its magic.

We laid wood flooring in my room (we being my mother and I) and the hardest part we ran into was when we figured out my room isn't exactly square... haha.... those angle cuts were a pain in the ass.

[Rustpot 1]

We were working with plywood subfloor on the ground level with a basement. Concrete would have been nice, but you can't really pour it onto wood. We used a bondo-like putty and a realllly big putty knife :P

I think my dad also bought the biggest level ever devised for home use. 56" IIRC

[IniNew 53]

Yeah, anything not concrete is a pain in the ass to level haha.

[Ahriman 1]

If you've got a suitable sub-floor installing hard wood is pretty easy, especially with the newer locking panels they've got. Rent a compressor and nail gun if you don't have either, fuck hammers. We redid the den/computer room in wood and the kitchen in tile in my old house. I would not want to floor a room much bigger than a couple hundred square feet.

The absolute hardest part comes when you're stripping what was there and prepping for the new floor. If they put carpet/padding straight to the subfloor and glued it have fun with that. If you're ripping up a current wood floor the job is probably going to be fine once you get the tearup started. If you're replacing a rolled floor like linoleum, or a tile floor you'll need a good floor stripper for the adhesive.

Lots of time will be spent to ensure the subfloor is level before you start with the new installation. That's the part I'm most hazy about, but small dips can lead to a cracked floor pretty quickly.

We did it ripping up the crappy linoleum tiles in our bathroom, it honestly wasn't haft as bad as we expected it to be. Rent a nailgun for 8-24 hours and it's easy.

[cptjeff 0]

With the projector, why not use a mount from the ceiling? It wouldn't be too hard to make or have made a mount that drops from the ceiling, if you wouldn't mind the aesthetics. Basically a metal pipe that drops from the ceiling and has a holder for the projector attached to the bottom.

[Jason Harris 31]

Unfortunately, it's too difficult to get to the ceiling.

It's 18 feet high, so I have to rent scaffolding at the Despot, which turns out to be a chore to get the pieces from my van to the room. I either have to walk about 70 feet over somewhat rough terrain, or 40 feet and down the stairs or hoisted over the railing in that room. And then back. I've rented the scaffolding twice and the last time I decided to drive up the back side of the house, since that was the original driveway years ago. Shouldn't be a big deal, right? Except I forgot that they had created a drainage ditch between the driveways when they paved the road three years ago. On the way out, because the van was weighed down with 500+ pounds of metal, it got stuck in the ditch and my neighbor had to winch me out!

The more I thought about this, I realized I might be overthinking the matter, because the swamp cooler is closed up for 8 months a year due to how cold it gets at night. At the very least, I can attach the projector to a wall mount for 8 months and use the existing stand for 4 months (hopefully right side up, since I've noticed the velcro is already drooping on one side). If I'm lucky, with some type of dampening material, I might be able to get away with just using the wall mount for the full year. I just ordered one tonight on Amazon; by the time it arrives, we would seldom use High Cool, and would likely close up the cooler within two weeks.

Regarding the hardwood floors, we had them installed at a previous house. As I watched them, all I could think was it looked E-A-S-Y. This was on level concrete, so they laid something that looked like styrofoam padding, then applied glue to the male joint and tapped it in with a horizontal 2x4 and a mallet. They only concerns they had were staggering the joints for ascetics, cutting the length (or ripping the board) to be close enough to the wall to be covered by floor moulding, and wiping up the excess glue while it was still wet.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Question....

New homeowner here. I've got varying answers from people when I ask this...so I thought the masses at MSH might have the answer:

I have limited outlets in my kitchen...and want to put the microwave and Fridge on the same outlet (at least for now). 15 Amp fuses. Someone told me there is an equatiuon to calcualte the Amps drawn by an appliance...and as long as that is under 15...I will be able to do it without blowing any fuses.

Thoughts/advise?

[EDIT]: n/m...someone at work knew. It's watts/volts.

[ronnychencharik 0]

Question....

New homeowner here. I've got varying answers from people when I ask this...so I thought the masses at MSH might have the answer:

I have limited outlets in my kitchen...and want to put the microwave and Fridge on the same outlet (at least for now). 15 Amp fuses. Someone told me there is an equatiuon to calcualte the Amps drawn by an appliance...and as long as that is under 15...I will be able to do it without blowing any fuses.

Thoughts/advise?

[EDIT]: n/m...someone at work knew. It's watts/volts.

Sidenote, make sure that your refrigerator receptacle is not GFCI protected.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Another electrical question. My bathroom has 2 switches. One turns on the large light in the ceiling...the other turns on a smaller light above the sink. The only plug in the BR is a 2-prong outlet in the second light fixture (It's an old house).

What I want to do...is replace the light fixture above the sink...and switch that controls that light to a GFI plug. As long as I can find a fixture with a switch on it that won't rely on a wall switch, It should be an easy swap...right?

[ktang 34]

Another electrical question. My bathroom has 2 switches. One turns on the large light in the ceiling...the other turns on a smaller light above the sink. The only plug in the BR is a 2-prong outlet in the second light fixture (It's an old house).

What I want to do...is replace the light fixture above the sink...and switch that controls that light to a GFI plug. As long as I can find a fixture with a switch on it that won't rely on a wall switch, It should be an easy swap...right?

I think that, for both code and safety, you should consider replacing the switch that controls the light fixture above the sink with a larger box that would contain a switch for the light plus a GFCI plug.

If you mount a light fixture with a switch above your sink, by code the switch might be too close to the sink. In terms of safety, if the sink is running water or full of water, and somebody accidentally tries to turn on the light fixture while in contact with the water, there could be a nasty shock.

With the dual switch / GFCI plug, you could wire it to use the GFCI to protect both the light fixture and the plug. And the light switch would, hopefully, be far enough away from the sink to meet code and to reduce the chances of somebody testing out the GFCI reaction time.

[RadioGaGa 162]

Actually as it turns out...I can't do it. My dad got back to me. He figures the source power goes to the light box first, then back to the switch...meaning there is no power at the switch...so I can't put the GFI in line before the light.

I'd need to break walls and re-run wire to do it how I want to. Might be more than I want to get into.

And, the existing switch is safely away from the sink. It's on the wall to the left, not directly above...

[ktang 34]

Actually as it turns out...I can't do it. My dad got back to me. He figures the source power goes to the light box first, then back to the switch...meaning there is no power at the switch...so I can't put the GFI in line before the light.

I'd need to break walls and re-run wire to do it how I want to. Might be more than I want to get into.

And, the existing switch is safely away from the sink. It's on the wall to the left, not directly above...

If the wires can be fished through the attic and attached to junction boxes, it might still be doable...

[RadioGaGa 162]

FML...Drywall and plaster are easy to do...but hard to do well LOL!

[Jason Harris 31]

And that's why they developed "popcorn" texture.....

[wrangler 157]

And that's why they developed "popcorn" texture.....

I thought that was to sell vacuum cleaners.