What did you do to your house today?

[underscore]

I've been redoing the floor in my basement and I just pulled out the second to last piece of the old carpet to find this (click to open the fullsize picture)











The carpet looked dirtier than the rest under the baseboard but otherwise looked normal in that corner. Does this look old enough to not worry about or should I be tearing the wall open to look for foundation issues?

[Hondaracer]

What you could do is cut out some of the drywall a few inches off the corner to have a look. Keep the hole below the baseboard line. That way you won’t need to have any major drywall repair and baseboard will just cover the hole you cut

Imo it doesn’t really look like it’s been consistently wet but it’s kind of hard to tell. The tack strip does look like it has been wet before though

[underscore]

That's what I was thinking too, so I cut it open.

This is the underside and backside of the left wall. It looks dirty but not really damaged.



I pulled back the vapour barrier and the wood looks fine. It feels normal when I stab it with a screwdriver too, it's not mushy or anything.



The nail holding that bit of drywall on was rusty though.



I'm leaning towards it being something that only happened once. The discolouration around the crack in the floor and how well it aligns with where the staining on the tack strip starts makes me think it came in through there. Which has me wondering if I should seal that crack with something or just leave it. This corner will be the finishing end of the flooring so it'd be easy to remove later if needed, just pop the trim off and unclick a few planks.

[Hondaracer]

Maybe have a look outside and dig a little if possible around that point

It could even be sonthing like a few times in super heavy rain the drain tile isn’t keeping up and it comes in a little bit to cause a wet spot which I probably wouldn’t worry about

[underscore]

That corner is about 5' below ground level so it'd be a lot of digging lol. There is a downspout on that corner that gets the end knocked off pretty easily since it's also the walkway to the backyard. So a heavy rain after it got kicked off would probably do it.

[TOS'd]

Anyone build a platform bed with storage before? Looking at making one that'll fit a queen size and then some, along with some storage options (ie. drawers + removable platform top). Something that looks more built-in rather than a standalone bed frame with drawers under it.

Just started going down the rabbit hole of fully custom or a mix of IKEA-hacking and custom.

[Hondaracer]

The ikea hacks might be your best bet. It makes things wayyyy easier to use their hinges and drawer sliders etc. then figuring it out on your own.

I built my own floating platform bed, it’s a bit of work but it’s generally much cheaper than comparables of inferior quality. I’d post a pic but I’m not at home

[tiger_handheld]

looking for ideas (if wrong thread pls move)

Our bathroom has no heating vent and its cold af. What options are there to get heat?
floor is tile.

[snowball]

Electric radiant floor under new tile.

[Traum]

When our kid was much younger, we used to bring a portable resistive heater into the bathroom during his showers. It warms the washroom right up.

I know it isn't the suggestion you were looking for, but hey, this could be done for as little as $50.

[SSM_DC5]

Anyone know if low voltage wiring (ie cat 5e) will have interference if run right beside high voltage wiring? I want to run both inside the same Cor-Line.

[Traum]

This is a quick guide that I've found:



Depending on how "high voltage" your electrical line is, it may or may not be OK.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

Anyone know if low voltage wiring (ie cat 5e) will have interference if run right beside high voltage wiring? I want to run both inside the same Cor-Line.

It’s definitely not best practice.

You can get Ethernet cables with a heavier jacket which can help, but when pulling new cables I would never run them through joist holes or studs that are the same hole power cables run through imo

[jing]

Running comm and electrical in the same pathway would fail any inspection

[bcrdukes]

Ditto to the above. Not a great idea in general and if requiring an inspection, will fail. There will be some level of interference (not favourable in most situations) but that depends on what your level of tolerance is.

[sonick]

What's the proper way to run power + video for cable management on wall mounted TVs? Two separate bays?

I've used kits like this before at my old place, i guess they are technically not to code?

Arlington TVBR2505K-1 Flat Screen TV Recessed Kit with Outlet and Wall Plates, 2-Gang, White, 1-Pack https://a.co/d/aP2ShI9

Good to know if / when I decide to do it at my new place.

[Hondaracer]

Those kits do claim to be to code i believe

I’ve wired outlets behind all my TV’s now but honestly while it’s not to code I don’t really think it’s that big of a deal to run a cord in a wall. Maybe get a heavy duty extension cord to feed down instead of the TV’s cable

[sonick]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Those kits do claim to be to code i believe

I’ve wired outlets behind all my TV’s now but honestly while it’s not to code I don’t really think it’s that big of a deal to run a cord in a wall. Maybe get a heavy duty extension cord to feed down instead of the TV’s cable

These kits actually use in-wall rated Romex for power, so that's fine.

Meant moreso how compliant it is running low voltage along the Romex in the same bay.

[Hondaracer]

If it’s just in the cavity of the wall I’m pretty sure that’s fine, maybe some Division if you can use seperate pass through wall plates to at least hold them separately. But even in brand new construction I see it’s basically a blank plate on the top and bottom and just passing cables within the same stud space as the power for the TV

[jing]

Comm and electrical on opposite sides of the stud. Super easy to fish as well. Easy to line up the mud rings as well, even in a retrofit Within the same stud space is also OK as there should be enough separation between the two.

[Hondaracer]

That’s a good idea in theory but it’s hard to do with a TV mount

[Great68]

Originally Posted by jing

Running comm and electrical in the same pathway would fail any inspection

No, not necessarily. As long as insulation rating and wiring class are the same then perfectly OK by code. However, yeah it would be tough to make Network Cat 5 meet class 1, to be able to do so.

Note, electrical code does not care about the "EMF" levels of running Cat5 beside line voltage power.

When I wired my garage I buried #8 3c teck for power and placed a direct burial Cat5 beside it in the same trench in the ground. About 100' run, no issues in terms of noise.

[jing]

Out goes the POS builder special dishwasher that was louder than my dryer


In goes new Bosch... courtesy of sweet corporate discount


We couldn't even watch TV in the living room ('open concept') while the dishwasher was running before so this is a huge upgrade. Don't mind the dirty ass grout.

[SSM_DC5]

^looks just like the one I got. It's really quiet! Loudest part of the cycle is when the water drains and I hear it through the sink drain.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by SSM_DC5

^looks just like the one I got. It's really quiet! Loudest part of the cycle is when the water drains and I hear it through the sink drain.

Same, when I hear the drain going is when I realize the machine is running. Bosch dishwashers are fantastic in every way.