Nonsense Thread

[Northern]

About the Home Depot Epoxy Kit...

It's funny because I have found something like 10 people who have used the HD kit (Rustoleum Epoxyshield) and the split between "it's great" and "it's awful" is basically 50/50 with nobody even close to the fence.

One extreme is a guy who runs a mechanic side business out of his garage and he loves it. every once in a while he'll have a spot that peels but he cleans/repaints that spot and it isn't any less durable than the rest.

Other extreme hates it, paid $5psf for his new place to have it professionally done, but that's pretty steep for 560sqft when I have a bunch of other stuff to buy.
For 1/10 the price I think the HD stuff has to be at least 1/10 as good, but I'll keep looking at alternatives.

For the heat pump, I'm looking at the Danby 18000 BTU unit they have at Costco here for $1400 CAD. I have a buddy who installs heat pumps so I'll bug him to make sure I don't fuck anything up.
It's rated for 1000sqft which should mean it will do the 540+not-a-loft area.

I've also been hanging onto a 240V space heater forever - I may stick that in the corner/ceiling at the back as a backup, but it's extremely rare for it to get cold enough for the heat pump to not function.

[DEV0 E30]

Garage - I always intended to build one after buying this house. After almost 10 years, I came to terms with the timeline of building it myself and decided that it probably won't happen unless I pay someone.

Specs:
20Wx28L
Slab on grade
10' ceiling
12x8 door (ie. 1' taller than standard - Roysneon recommended this after encountering issues fitting his Disco in his garage)
8/12 storage trusses - should be 6~6'5" on the interior of the centerline, enough for me to walk down the middle but not exceed my zoning height limit of 18.x'
200A dedicated service

I'm just paying for weathertight shell and basic wiring, I'll have to add more electrical/insulate/vapour barrier/drywall after the fact.
Home Depot epoxy kit without colour flake on the floor
Costco pre-charged heat pump for cooling in the summer/heat in the winter.
A few more plans for workbenches/toolboxes/TV/fridge/internet.

Awesome!

Note: About the Home Depot Epoxy Kit... I'd recommend not going that route. I used it at my first house, and it yellows and is not UV stable I did the same thing, no flake.

I even got the HD "Professional" stuff that is ploymer based, not water based. It still was meh, and I did a lot of prep work. If you are set on DIY: For the same price, or barely more get a far better kit from one of the wholesalers/places that you can buy professional grade products. It will actually last, the key is in the prepwork as always, but better quality materials are a must to get a good and long lasting coating. Personally, I've decided the next house is getting a professional coating applied by pros, I've gotten quotes, and with their "50 year" warranty and better product, it will be worth it IMO.

All the other stuff is exciting, I'll vicariously live through you.

I've been eyeing the precharged "Mr Cool" kits and the like too, another thing on the wishlist for the next house.

[Northern]

I can only assume they plan to compact that, and how far above grade is the pad going to be?

Edit: You answered one of those as I was posting. Be sure to have a good drainage solution, consider a perimeter drain system from day one.

Honestly no idea how far above grade, there's ~1/2' height difference back(higher) to front, but I'm 1.5' higher than the lot next to me.
Awkward because the existing slab is at the low end of the property so it likely won't line up, but I can make something after the fact.
Not sure if I can legally drain onto neighbour's lot, but I'll keep an eye out for what they do.

And yeah it's not compacted yet, I assume they will before they do the forms and tie rebar/mesh, but again I'll keep an eye out.

EDIT:
Drawing shows 4" above grade, obviously they're levelling the area to some extent, not sure what height relative to surroundings.
There is a site grading plan, but I don't have a copy (I know it's a prereq for the building permit, which I see in my building portal with the City)


Drawing also shows slab configuration as:
6" crushed stone, Compacted
4" Slab
Footing 1'4" x 8"
6x6 wire mesh
10mm rebar, 2 rows centered about footing.

It also implies the ground around it is built up by 4" as well, but it doesn't specifically call that out anywhere.

[roguetoaster]

I can only assume they plan to compact that, and how far above grade is the pad going to be?

Edit: You answered one of those as I was posting. Be sure to have a good drainage solution, consider a perimeter drain system from day one.

[Northern]

Oooooh, new garage?! Or just parking pad/spot?

Garage - I always intended to build one after buying this house. After almost 10 years, I came to terms with the timeline of building it myself and decided that it probably won't happen unless I pay someone.

Specs:
20Wx28L
Slab on grade
10' ceiling
12x8 door (ie. 1' taller than standard - Roysneon recommended this after encountering issues fitting his Disco in his garage)
8/12 storage trusses - should be 6~6'5" on the interior of the centerline, enough for me to walk down the middle but not exceed my zoning height limit of 18.x'
200A dedicated service

I'm just paying for weathertight shell and basic wiring, I'll have to add more electrical/insulate/vapour barrier/drywall after the fact.
Home Depot epoxy kit without colour flake on the floor
Costco pre-charged heat pump for cooling in the summer/heat in the winter.
A few more plans for workbenches/toolboxes/TV/fridge/internet.

[DEV0 E30]

Oooooh, new garage?! Or just parking pad/spot?

[Northern]

For R3v's critique:


Shitbox fleet deployed... something something Everything the light touches.



Young guy on the excavator. Made short work of the tree stump and random concrete strip around the yard.



Two loads of gravel, I think 6 or 7 trucks of earth/concrete removed.



Wrapped up just shy of 6PM:

[roguetoaster]

The whole house is one big problem. Errrr, project.

Yes, the more I further my understanding of remodeling the more I think boats are a value orientated practical purchase.

[McGyver]

Yes, but it's much harder to differentiate in photos between an actual problem and practical on site solution/workaround in a demo/remodel versus a new construction project.

The whole house is one big problem. Errrr, project.

[roguetoaster]

Shit, I'm about to have my whole house gutted and rebuilt. Should I start a build thread for that?

My wife is an architect, so she's doing the design. I'm capable of some stuff, but definitely don't have time to do much of the heavy lifting.

Yes, but it's much harder to differentiate in photos between an actual problem and practical on site solution/workaround in a demo/remodel versus a new construction project.

[McGyver]

Well, I hope it goes well, and be sure to share pics so those of us with building knowledge can tell you how your builders are cutting corners.

Shit, I'm about to have my whole house gutted and rebuilt. Should I start a build thread for that?

My wife is an architect, so she's doing the design. I'm capable of some stuff, but definitely don't have time to do much of the heavy lifting.

[roguetoaster]

Just got word that the garage is finally supposed to break ground on Monday.
I'd be more excited if it wasn't a complete dog to get to this point.

Well, I hope it goes well, and be sure to share pics so those of us with building knowledge can tell you how your builders are cutting corners.

[Northern]

Just got word that the garage is finally supposed to break ground on Monday.
I'd be more excited if it wasn't a complete dog to get to this point.

[rturbo 930]

Personally I think EVs are a fad, and will go away within maybe 20 years. They're only gaining traction because governments are pushing them, but people within governments change, and there's no guarantee that the new crop of people will want EVs to become popular like the current crop does. EVs aren't being adopted because they're better, they're being adopted because they're being pushed, and because people are told we have to adopt them to save the planet (which is debatable). On top of the reasons Varg mentioned, I've also heard, but have not confirmed, that we simply do not have the resources to make enough batteries to power all the cars that would be needed to replace ICE cars. And then there's the question of whether or not EVs are actually all that "green" which I am not at all convinced of. Seems to me that a real "green" movement would seek to reduce the number of cars on the road, particularly in cities where cars are more of a nuisance than a necessity.

[varg]

Yeah, that's kinda what european solution was pretty much, a lot of their cities are mostly public transport and stuff like bikes. Not sure if it's the right way, but it kinda worked for them I guess

Well yeah, many european cities are older than the US itself, tiny roads, tightly packed, super dense, zero way to make cars anything but a source of frustration and pollution. Public transport makes sense there, cars don't. Public transportation does not work for people who aren't urbanites. Punishing people who live suburban or rural lives by making personal transportation more expensive for them merely out of some misguided push to make everyone live the city life for whatever reason is wrong. Not everyone wants to live in a city. Personally I can't stand it, I hate being stacked up and surrounded; no privacy, noise all the time... It's to the point that I don't really even like to visit cities, I've been to big cities Tokyo, NYC, Paris, London, Atlanta, Miami, while (some) were neat to see for a short time I saw what I needed to see and was ready to go.

Short of a complete "paradigm shift" in how our energy infrastructure is laid out, like going full bore at Nuclear starting oh maybe 10 years ago, mass forced EV adoption is not going to work. It just can't. Especially on this crazy timeline of 2035. Your average two commuter household will double their electric consumption by switching to EVs. Our grid is nowhere near being able to handle that, especially in places like CA LOL, they have blackouts in the summer now as it is, crush a few million gassers and replace them with EVs and they'll be having blackouts even when nobody has their AC on