Home Improvement/Repair Questions

[Road Guy]

I like the look, especially the new mantle

What was the open area where the arch used to be before just a place to put plants or something?  Seems like houses built in the 90's added in a lot of those "wasted space / dust catching areas?) - just a guess at the age?

 

[Supe]

I like the look, especially the new mantle

What was the open area where the arch used to be before just a place to put plants or something?  Seems like houses built in the 90's added in a lot of those "wasted space / dust catching areas?) - just a guess at the age?

Most of those were designed for tube TV's or early smaller flat screens, when 36-38" TV's were "big".

 

[Road Guy]

I guess I dont recall seeing the TV"s over the fireplaces until the flat screens were more the norm?  My last house in Atlanta had all these weird places like that to collect dust  that were hard to reach -

99% of the houses in my current subdivision had these built in fireplace bookshelves except ours the owners chose not to and I am so glad because everyone is having to tear them out so they can fit the 65" TV's!

 

[Road Guy]

So Ive got 3 weeks until the eldest (hopefully) goes back to school and I wanted to take advantage of free labor and get the frame for my arbor on the back deck done  before he goes back to college -

Ive decided to not attach it to the house, but to run a header on its own support / foundation just offset from the house (12 IN)

Code allows me either choice - I am leaning toward the old fashioned way of the one on the left here:  

Its too tall to use the one on the right for what I need but what do you all think of the main advantages of using the middle example here (with some sort of simpson strong tie anchor bolted into the concrete footing?

Im looking at the structure being 10FT from the ground (Deck is around 3 FT off the ground) 

 

[Supe]

Less rot potential due to the post being elevated above ground level.  Also provides a bit less latitude if you make a mistake during installation/setting of the post.  Downside is that the middle option has less lateral support.  I prefer option 1 for the tall stuff, and option 2 for the short stuff.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Less rot potential due to the post being elevated above ground level.  Also provides a bit less latitude if you make a mistake during installation/setting of the post.  Downside is that the middle option has less lateral support.  I prefer option 1 for the tall stuff, and option 2 for the short stuff.

I believe you mean that is provides more latitude.  Either way, the amount of lateral support you get is dependent on the type of post to concrete attachment anchor that you use. I just had an addition put on that is post/pier construction and it uses wind load rated anchors.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

I guess I dont recall seeing the TV"s over the fireplaces until the flat screens were more the norm?  My last house in Atlanta had all these weird places like that to collect dust  that were hard to reach -

99% of the houses in my current subdivision had these built in fireplace bookshelves except ours the owners chose not to and I am so glad because everyone is having to tear them out so they can fit the 65" TV's!

That is what this space was for: tv with large rear projection tube over the fireplace. The thing is, this place was built in 2005, so that was already on its way out.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

 

[JayKay PE]

@Audi driver, P.E. that looks super, super neat and I love the whole color scheme!  Is it a normal wood-burning fireplace or a gas one?  Either way, awesome.  Throw a fake plant or lava lamp in the alcove and you're good to go!

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

@Audi driver, P.E. that looks super, super neat and I love the whole color scheme!  Is it a normal wood-burning fireplace or a gas one?  Either way, awesome.  Throw a fake plant or lava lamp in the alcove and you're good to go!

It is a gas fireplace. And the alcove will be covered with doors and I'm going to re-mount my flat screen TV on them.

 

[JayKay PE]

It is a gas fireplace. And the alcove will be covered with doors and I'm going to re-mount my flat screen TV on them.

I'm assuming the doors will be sealed in some manner if you're mounting on them.  Are you going to attempt to hide wires or anything behind the doors?

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

I'm assuming the doors will be sealed in some manner if you're mounting on them.  Are you going to attempt to hide wires or anything behind the doors?

I'm not sure what you mean by sealed (they will be painted). The wires will feed through with  service loop.

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

As an aside. I've done hundreds of home improvement projects and this is the first and only one I have ever remembered to document before and after photos, let alone in process photos.

 

[Dleg]

So Ive got 3 weeks until the eldest (hopefully) goes back to school and I wanted to take advantage of free labor and get the frame for my arbor on the back deck done  before he goes back to college -

Ive decided to not attach it to the house, but to run a header on its own support / foundation just offset from the house (12 IN)

Code allows me either choice - I am leaning toward the old fashioned way of the one on the left here:  

Its too tall to use the one on the right for what I need but what do you all think of the main advantages of using the middle example here (with some sort of simpson strong tie anchor bolted into the concrete footing?

Im looking at the structure being 10FT from the ground (Deck is around 3 FT off the ground) 

Not a structural guy at all, but speaking from Alaska deck experience, you want the middle version especially if you make the connection threaded/adjustable so you can keep the deck level and true as things settle or jack due to frost. I had to pay some dude $3k to come and fix my deck as I was moving out. Which also goes to prove that home inspectors are dirtbags. The same engineer inspected when I bought, and didn't say **** about this (and a number of other things) until I was selling. 

 

[Road Guy]

In practice for residential applications I don’t thinK that type of connection is really meant to be adjustable though - it’s just anchored in the concrete that way and there isn’t usually much room to move it up and down - I did my old deck with those and like them But I’m looking at being around 10FT from the ground and will probably anchor them into the ground / concrete - if I even get around to doing it - the more I look into this the more of a PIA it’s looking to be (have to remove more of the existing deck than I first thought)

Defin a cooler weather job

 

[Supe]

I've got just over half of the new decking boards trimmed and fastened.  This has been one of the most miserable jobs in history, courtesy of the heat and humidity.  At least the HOA biotch hasn't replied back, so I'm just waiting for a written letter to show up in my mailbox  

 

[snickerd3]

we had the Morton Building Guy out to the house yesterday to get a quote to pour a new concrete patio (current one is 30+ years old and slanted towards the house) and build a residential sized pavilion over part of it.  We tend to only use the front yard because it has two huge oak trees that provide shade all day.  The back yard has a smaller trees so the shade is not as great.

 

[Road Guy]

 

[Road Guy]

So I had been trying to find why one of my back yard sprinkler zones wouldn't work all summer, which included putting in a new valve, re doing all the wiring, checking the wiring in the control panel, etc to no avail and having to put out some temp sprinklers and a hose to keep that side of the yard from dying any more...... I was about to call a sprinkler guy when I thought well the wire from the control panel must be cut somewhere. The zone would run if you turn it on manually. But not in test mode or not in program mode, It was super annoying.

So I ran a wire above ground from control panel to the valve, still nadaa.. check the ohms, yeah its got ohmms.. *****!

so on a 98 degree day I was about to give in a and call for help   but then I reverted back to my parts changer mechanic abilities and thought to myself, self, what if the valve you bought earlier in the summer was a dud? I mean all this **** is made in China anyways. right? So I go back to the home depot, grab a different brand valve, put the god damn thing in and viola! The mother ****** worked!! unbelievable... 

I was like a week away from just digging up the grass and putting in some landscape rock..

 

[Road Guy]

^- probably at least 24 billable hours in this little fix, but at least I didnt have to pay someone to fix it