What did you do to your house today?

[xxxrsxxx]

.

[SSM_DC5]

Any tips on removing 20 yr old vinyl flooring? It's coming up in flakes like if you tried to rip off an old insurance sticker off your licence plate.

[GIZZ]

Acetone or adhesive remover.

But how thick is it? Just cover over it? 20 years old should not have asbestos, but if it did I'd just cover it up.

[Hondaracer]

If you have to get it right down to the joists I’d just take a skill saw and cut it all out

I had FIVE layers of flooring in my kitchen which I’m sure one or 2 had asbestos lol.. I took a skill saw and set the depth and cut out 1x1 squares and used a crow bar to pop then all out, god what a nightmare

[SSM_DC5]

It's not very thick. Layers are just vinyl, glue and concrete slab. Maybe I'll try a heat gun.

[Hondaracer]

So to kind of display how much basic things can cost and what a headache they can be, I have a wall in my living room I had some wainscotting on and we grew tired of it so I ripped it off. By doing this you leave paint lines/caulking etc. which has to be patched and sanded etc. this took me 5 days of a an hour or more a night. There’s no proper way to do it other than floating out the entire wall, in thin layers. The best drywallers have to do as little sanding as possible. Somthing like this would probably be $1000+ to pay somone to do

[SSM_DC5]

So are you one of the best drywallers like you described because seeing how your curtains didn't turn to white in your process is impressive. How did the craftsmanship of this house get your approval? The wiring in the left corner coming out of the baseboards, the massive gap in that same corner between the flooring and the baseboard. The crown molding at the top of that same wall doesn't have the seam hidden for using 2 pieces. All things I see in my own DIY lol

[Hondaracer]

I’m nowhere near any drywaller but I do everything I can not to sand lol. The wire in the corner is a sub output I ran under the flooring for future use

My house is 112 years old, joints open lol

[underscore]

These days at least half of the hassle seems to be just finding someone willing to do small jobs in the first place. You'd probably have spent half the time just doing that and then you still have to worry about if they're actually any good and then pay them lol.

[sonick]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I’m nowhere near any drywaller but I do everything I can not to sand lol. The wire in the corner is a sub output I ran under the flooring for future use

My house is 112 years old, joints open lol

Sub output is one line level signal , overkill to run it under flooring in the front where you'd probably have some sort of media unit for your reciever and your sources that would've hid the wires.

Also hope you ran a remote trigger 12v line along with the sub out coz you'll need that to turn on the sub.

If anything, running speaker wire to surrounds through the floor would've made more sense.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by sonick

Sub output is one line level signal , overkill to run it under flooring in the front where you'd probably have some sort of media unit for your reciever and your sources that would've hid the wires.

Also hope you ran a remote trigger 12v line along with the sub out coz you'll need that to turn on the sub.

If anything, running speaker wire to surrounds through the floor would've made more sense.

The TV is already on the wall where my back is for the photo. Also have a pull string with the sub output line to pull any future wires. I just had a long sun output available when I had the floor open so I ran it. Already have in-ceiling speakers in the room and wired for the fronts. It’s really just future overkill anyways, I’m using a wireless sub with wireless rears right now and my sonos amp powers the in ceiling speakers along with 3 other plays throughout the house

[donk.]

Was going to post these last year, so we will call this "what did you do to your rental last year" post

Picked up a rental unit a few provinces over, flew down with a buddy for x days with 4 bags of tools, repainted 50% of the house, new lighting, bathroom partial update, basement and steps coating, structural bracing, fake kitchen backsplash and faucet, rotten side steps partial replacement, gardening, rebuilt the water main, backyard clean up















Unit has been rented since Oct, so far so good.
Was a good overall experience and massive learning curve, next time around things will go smoother, and im going to give more time for myself and whoever is helping to rest and enjoy the town.

[Bender Unit]

Anyone know/referral a Mold removal expert ?
Mold is growing into the wall from bathroom water leak

Asking for my friend.

PM if you know/referral

[Koflach]

We just finished a small reno on our place. We had 4 different kinds of flooring on our main (carpet, hardwood, tile & linoleum) and replaced it all with vinyl plank. We also replaced the carpeted common area upstairs with vinyl. For the stairs we went from carpet to square edge vinyl nosing with white risers and 1/2x12 skirts running up the sides to tie into the baseboards. Some other details we did was replace the tired old baseboard with 1/2x8 on the main and 1/2x6 in the common area upstairs. We also replaced all the handrails with a new profile, went from wood brackets to metal and where we had spindles, we went from square wood to round black metal ones.

Really happy with the overall look.

https://freeimage.host/i/HUfP3B4
https://freeimage.host/i/HUfPAEQ

[carsncars]

...wrong thread. Oops.

[supafamous]

The paving stones in my driveway have settled a lot in the past year with water draining nearly into the garage and a couple stones chipping due to unevenness. Finally got around to levelling the left side before I ran out of sand and gravel (my doughy desk job body also cried mercy after the work). I was surprised how much sand and gravel went int - about 65lbs.

[SSM_DC5]

I wonder why the water doesn't go into the ground through the cracks between the pavers. How much you pay for each bag of that?

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

I wonder why the water doesn't go into the ground through the cracks between the pavers. How much you pay for each bag of that?

I don't think the water is supposed to go between the pavers as that causes the finer bits of sand to get washed away - there was just enough drainage that little bits of sand would get washed away causing the pavers to sink (on top of the car's weight driving on top). I think the landscapers used too fine a sand (they actually had to come back once before to fix the settling in the first month after I moved in).

The gravel I used was Quikrete base rock - a reasonably fine gravel that should stay in place (https://www.homedepot.ca/product/qui...5kg/1000142976) with a bit of sand to even it out.

I think when I'm done I'm supposed to put "grouting" sand in between the pavers so that it's a solid surface (https://www.homedepot.ca/product/sto...and/1000144920) so that no water goes down to the base.

[SSM_DC5]

Look into roadbase. From your pic, it looks similar to me. If it works, go to Groundworks Construction Supply-Vancouver
(604) 322-6790
https://maps.app.goo.gl/h7rjTyfxTqcBEeYa7

It's like $5 for 5 gallon bucket worth of roadbase, but bring your own bucket. I got buckets you can borrow if needed.

[snowball]

Originally Posted by supafamous

I don't think the water is supposed to go between the pavers as that causes the finer bits of sand to get washed away - there was just enough drainage that little bits of sand would get washed away causing the pavers to sink (on top of the car's weight driving on top). I think the landscapers used too fine a sand (they actually had to come back once before to fix the settling in the first month after I moved in).

The gravel I used was Quikrete base rock - a reasonably fine gravel that should stay in place (https://www.homedepot.ca/product/qui...5kg/1000142976) with a bit of sand to even it out.

I think when I'm done I'm supposed to put "grouting" sand in between the pavers so that it's a solid surface (https://www.homedepot.ca/product/sto...and/1000144920) so that no water goes down to the base.

Your builder not using permeable pavers in the lower mainland is a mistake with all the rain we get. A client really wouldn't care too much about dips and stuff as long as the water drains, damn these builders, all they think about is $$ without using any common sense.

[GLOW]

if it's impermeable, does it make sense to add a trench drain along the garage door to redirect water so it won't enter your garage again?

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by GLOW

if it's impermeable, does it make sense to add a trench drain along the garage door to redirect water so it won't enter your garage again?

Maybe? When it's level it drains pretty well as the driveway slopes gently to the right side (north) of the garage (the lot is east-west, garage faces west) so as long as it's level it works out pretty well. When the landscapers came in to fix it the first time they added a second drain to the right of the garage as well which helped (but only when the driveway is level).

If it keeps settling adding a small trench at the foot of the garage to the drain would probably be the solution.

Here's a video of the water flowing towards the garage: https://imgur.com/71fVPwt

[Euro7r]

Where do you people buy those big square cement blocks like 18x18 / 24x24.? I'm trying to put these in the back yard over the grass as stepping blocks leading to the garage. Right now it's grass. I looked at home depot costs like $15+ a pop. Looked on fb marketplace I see people selling like $10 in Surrey. Not sure if anywhere cheaper? Probably need a good dozen of them.

Was planning to dig a square hole to fit these in to flush it on the same level as grass. Do I need to put like sand under first? Thinking might be too wet or soggy when it rains if I lay it over dirt only?

Home reno noob, first time house owner. DIY projects lol

[underscore]

I got the ones for our patio from a landscape/rock supply place called Burnco, idk if you have them down there? But you must have the equivalent.

[Fafine]

You can call bc brick for a quote

There's also Northwest Landscape & Stone Supply (Burnaby)