Same here, we tried to figure out how old our house was once and the furthest back we got was 1850. The house existed before that for sure but that’s the oldest bit of paperwork we could dig up for it.
Oh yeah that’s a good idea! I want to check with a nearby estate too because it used to be part of that, 1850 was just when it separated and became an independent property.
Stone? We had only unburned bricks, no right angles, several kinds of walls put together and bulging out to rooms. It is always funny to add or redo some furniture, electric work …
The outside walls are stone, but inside it’s a big mess: I never know what color the dust will be when I drill a hole. And I can’t even imagine right angles or straight walls. It must be so handy.
Funniest part of it is that for some parts even exists some drawings, some electric work was made by students (friend was teaching electricians), something done by friends…
My workplaces is like this: Some walls are red brick, others white/yellow brick. I have one random concrete wall. A couple plywood walls. I have yet to find a plasterboard wall.
That’s awesome, but I was very confused by the first picture. I thought you ran ducts all through your house like a giant hamster cage. Very cool though!
Yes great idea, I'll go to the engraving company to have a stone inscribed with our names and the year, it will feel nice to leave something tangible behind, and maybe burry a time capsule too.
the lumber yard will likely size them for you if you ask
The disadvantage is that the depth will be about 1/16th of the span when using 2-3 plies.
The advantage of steel is that an I beam (W shape is what you want, for “Wide Flange Beam”) will be about 2/3 the depth of an LVL. The disadvantages are
An engineer will likely charge you about $600-800 to size this beam, but will also tell you how to top connect it
It will be one piece (fwiw it will weigh about the same as the LVL)
You will have to buy a 40’ piece, or pay a premium to have it cut down from a 40’ piece. (stock lengths of steel are 20’/40’)
Note that nobody can properly answer your question from the data given (edit - just notice you mentioned 16’ rafters below). You would need to include the span of the rafters and (at least) your location to determine the snow loads and wind loads (edit: and seismic, though it’s unlikely to control for this design) for sizing the connections.
Disclaimer: I’m a structural engineer, but I’m not your structural engineer. For a long span like this I recommend contacting someone licensed in your jurisdiction to help you out.
One option would be to make the beam a flush condition. To get a 16’ span with rafters you’re going to be using at least 2x8s. That’s 7.25" deep. If you were set the top of the beam at the top of the rafters and hang them from the beam (simpson or USP hangers) that buys you some space. Now an 11.88" LVL would only stick down 5-5/8" below the bottom of the rafters. (okay, 5-3/4"-6" with the additional slope over the 5.25" of beam) I’m not saying that a 3 ply 11x88 LVL with a 2.1E, bearing in a BC6 cap on 6x6s would work for your application, but the height tolerance would seem to add up in your favor.
I know this is the DIY sub, but I would get a few estimates to have the floors redone wholesale. Trying to piecemeal it will almost certainly look worse than leaving it alone. You can rent a floor sander and DIY, but they’re tricky to run with no experience so you’re likely to leave the floor wavy. It’s also fairly expensive. Pros will be in and out in three days. If you do decide to DIY, the finish is applied with a lambswool applicator. blog.cityfloorsupply.com/how-to-use-a-lambswool-a…
If the stains are more than superficial, the options are going to be staining the floors darker yet or removal and replacement of the affected boards. Both of those will require refinishing and the latter is for sure a job for someone with experience. I agree with vodulas, that looks like water or pet damage that has already had an attempt at fixing it. Good luck, those are really pretty floors otherwise.
While there is a certain level of innate technical mindedness that people have… Being willing to try to fix it, and the lessons you’ll learn from either fixing it or not is huge. Regardless of outcome hopefully the experience will be somewhat fun and pay dividends in terms of being able to recognize where vacuums get bound up with clogs, hair, etc. Occasional deep cleaning will make all the vacuums in your future live longer and suck harder.
Projects that are ‘either it gets fixed or tossed’ are great, there’s so little pressure, and so much you can learn.
Feel free to ask more specific questions if you get deep inside it and come up with them!
I inherited my Nan’s Dyson DC25 when she went to live in a care home. Used it a few times and it was fine, but figured I’d strip it down and give it a damn good clean out.
The fucking thing damn near sucked up my carpet.
It’s still going strong now. Had to replace the little nubbin that drives the brush bar a few weeks ago, but other than that it’s still solid. Not bad for a 15 year old vacuum cleaner made to modern standards.
I can beat that: we’ve got a metal-bodied Viking vacuum from the late 1960s that I believe is still in functional condition (although not often used anymore, thanks to Roombas). It survived decades of pet hair.
I like this kind of video. I think he could've kept it even more basic though.
Imo, the isopropyl alcohol is unnecessary. Just clean your surfaces and keep them dry afterward. Any potential pathogen needs water to multiply. Take that away and their numbers will be limited to a safe level.
Disinfection is superfluous if you adhere to clean+dry, and it is useless if you clean but leave surfaces wet
I used isopropyl for a bit and found it highly underwhelming. It wasn't great for cleaning and it evaporated way to quick. It has it's uses but not in the house cleaning department
A 1:1 mix of White vinegar and water is an ancient and cheap cleaner. The smell doesn't linger long at the correct dilution and it kills a whole bunch of things.
Add a little liquid soap for nonporous surfaces like counters and stove tops, great grease and stuck-on fighter especially if combined with a scrubber. Damp cloth to wipe up after and you're shiny.
It can be convenient when cleaning stainless or glass since it can dissolve grease and dries up streakless. Otherwise window cleaner spray also works amazingly.
Otherwise no idea why one would use it on other surfaces.
I don’t necessarily have a solution, but it might be useful to know why you need such a big connection to the room, if you’re willing to share. Might lead to some different solutions.
I think OPs issue is a combination of available space and regulations. Little space + no copper data connections next to power cables leave little choice but fibre.
I‘m kind of in the same boat, as I would like to connect the garage and an annex building. However, the garage needs power to, prepared for EV - so, large power cable as well. Same for the annex one, in which I just want to have bandwidth available :)
Little space + no copper data connections next to power cables leave little choice but fibre.
That’s the thing. If I add anything else the house won’t pass the periodic electrical inspections.
For an EV we’re probably talking 11 or 22kW, so a rather thick cable. But you’re probably going to have it installed by a certified electrician anyway, or can you do that yourself in Germany?
Hmm, Lemmy or Jerboa appears to have eaten my lengthy reply, so here we go again:
My aim is to have my router/firewall, mail server and VM host in the shelter, as it’s the most protected room in the house. That means I need at least two lines - one from the modem to the router/firewall, and one connecting everything to the internal LAN.
The internet connection is rated 400Mbit synchronous with the option of upgrading to up to 25Gbit, though at present I can’t imagine us ever needing that much and it’s probably more of a marketing gimmick anyway, so that line isn’t as critical, throughput-wise.
The rest of the house is currently a copper Gigabit affair, though the cabling is Cat7 and capable of more, so I wouldn’t want the fiber to be the bottleneck when we upgrade to 10Gbit a few years down the road. Hence multimode looks like a good idea. The question is whether (and how) there’s a way to cut, install and connect it myself. POF would be easier but comes with a number of question marks concerning 10GbE.
This might be a stupid suggestion, but Wifi 7 is to arrive on this Dec. It’s going to allow tens of Gbit/sec. Depending on your conditions, you might just buy a Wifi router.
If everything you have read is saying that it is fine, then why does it not feel right for you? Looking around I do get the same impression, it is non-combustible so there is not really a concern there. Basically from what I gather as long as you use the proper wire for use in walls/isolation, leave enough space and generally take good practices in account like using conduit where needed you should be good to go.
I am not an electrician though and certainly not aware of your local code and regulations.
Talking about electricians, if you are worried about doing it not right, why not hire one to do it for you?
I’ve been through 6 electricians and 3 general contractors. Probably more but I can’t keep those numbers straight. They all show up to give a quote then never actually do the work. I’m tired of it.
That being said, the insulation just feels flammable to me. It’s clearly marked otherwise but the paper backing and stuff just made me want to double check
#14 Romex on a 15A breaker is simply not going to get meaningfully hot, even under worst-case scenario loads and even fully insulated in something entirely flammable. If you're very nervous, size it up to #12 -- it will cost slightly more but be even more totally safe. Overbuilding is (should be) the DIYer's creed.
12/2 is what I bought for the basement lights I’m working on. Everything I read said that was the appropriate wire to use so I never even co sidered #14
Make sure you’re buying 14/2 or 12/2 that has a ground wire and running that back to the breaker box. I saw the job you did with the big cable in the floor and it didn’t look like you ran a new cable that had a ground wire. It’s best to replace the old shoddy stuff with circuits that are up to code, even if you’re doing it DIY and your area doesn’t require homeowners to get it inspected. The codes are designed to prevent fires and loss of life.
That was a 240v circuit. It didn’t have a ground because it was 10/3. I had the money to get the stuff with a ground, but they were sold out and I couldn’t get anything for a few weeks so I went with the no ground but it is still up to code and manufacturer approved.
This does have a ground and black is going to the breaker with white and ground going to the ground bar.
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