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Suggestions For Home Repair Forum?
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l008com
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Oct 27, 2014, 05:05 AM
 
Nothings beats a forum for getting details information about a topic. I still think this is true, despite the slow death of MacNN.

So I recently bought a house, and I've been trying to find a good forum for home ownership, something that cover the full gamut, from regular wear & tear repair issues, to moderate construction, landscaping, the works. I always have a million small questions. Painting questions, electrical questions, grass-planting questions. I think you get the idea.

When I started restoring my old boat, I found a great boat/boating forum (iboats.com) that I used for everything. Every possible boat related topic. And one by one, the projects got done and came out really well. I'm hoping I can have a similar result with my home.
     
andi*pandi
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Oct 27, 2014, 08:33 AM
 
I never found such a thing, but it sounds like a good idea.

You might have some luck even in the lounge, as homeowning is a more general topic than boats. At least we can share funny stories. For instance, I posted about toilet repair and got some good feedback.
     
BadKosh
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Oct 27, 2014, 11:12 AM
 
I came home back in July 29 2011 to a flooded house where a cold water hose from the washing machine had burst. My insurance Co. (Allstate, they're the best IMO) had my belongings put in storage, clothes cleaned, pressed and stored, and ServiceMaster removed the water damaged stuff. I moved my audio gear, TV and collectibles up to a loft area.

My best friend was out of work and he became the Project manager to coordinate the various teams who rebuilt/flipped my house (along with me and my dad). I used to do Drywall, and am pretty good at plumbing, so I did the removal of all drywall to 2 feet off the floor, so the carpenters could just cut a 4X8 sheet down the middle are replace it. My dad had a big box of electrical sockets so he swapped out the 35 year old ones. The electrical work in the house was weird to say the least. Both bathrooms were ruined, and all we could salvage was the tub in the hall bathroom. My mom had passed in Nov of 2010 so my dad gave me some insurance money to help out, and with the insurance $, I ended up with new bamboo floating floors, and some carpet, new dishwasher, kitchen counters, sink, faucets, HVAC, New shower stall and 2 sink vanity, new pedestal sink in hallway BR, new carpet in my office, new ceiling lighting, Track lighting in the Kitchen, New washing machine, patio, roof, and sidewalk and driveway. I was out of my house for almost 4 months, and luckily, my friend also took me in for 1/2 the cost of staying at an extended stay place.

The only little issue we should have looked at was the kitchen drain situation. 13 months later, I had been smelling a bad smell from under the kitchen counters, and one morning noticed the wood flooring had buckled in the dining room enough to lift a 600 lb china cabinet off the floor on one side. I called the plumbers and the insurance company (This is why Allstate is so great). It seems the kitchen sewer line/drain was installed with a bow in it and it never drained right, but rotted out on the bottom and filled a pocket under my cement slab house with yeeeccchh! The sewage was forced by the garbage disposal underneath the house where it followed the hot water pipe insulation back up and onto the floor under the cabinets. They had to remove the flooring, kitchen counters, sink, etc and cut away the cement slab area and dig out the old sewer line, THEN hack a path to reconnect a new line to the main sewer line... in the middle of the master bedroom and down about 4 feet. I then got another whole new wood floor, new carpet in the bedroom. All I paid for was the materials for the new sewer line. I was out of my house that time for almost 2 months. Things have been calm for the last few years now (Knock on wood), but at least ALL the sewer lines were inspected, and verified to be OK.

through all this I have learned a whole lot more about the prospect of flipping houses.
     
ShortcutToMoncton
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Oct 27, 2014, 12:05 PM
 
Just ask Sek
Mankind's only chance is to harness the power of stupid.
     
andi*pandi
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Oct 27, 2014, 12:48 PM
 
I am now really scared of the bad smell coming from under my kitchen sink!

(I was ignorning it, thought it was just leaky faucet/countertops.)
     
reader50
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Oct 27, 2014, 01:12 PM
 
andi, BadKosh's smell source is an exotic one. Try looking for a dead mouse or a slow drip from a drain joint first.
     
BadKosh
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Oct 27, 2014, 01:35 PM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
I am now really scared of the bad smell coming from under my kitchen sink!

(I was ignorning it, thought it was just leaky faucet/countertops.)
How old is the house? Ever had slow draining of the sink?
     
BadKosh
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Oct 27, 2014, 01:36 PM
 
Originally Posted by reader50 View Post
andi, BadKosh's smell source is an exotic one. Try looking for a dead mouse or a slow drip from a drain joint first.
I had a bad smell and warped wood flooring. Both together suggested water leak/sewage leak.
     
reader50
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Oct 27, 2014, 02:03 PM
 
Originally Posted by l008com View Post
Nothings beats a forum for getting details information about a topic. I still think this is true, despite the slow death of MacNN.
A helpful forum involves people who participate and answer questions. Who try to help others. It's possible I've developed a wrong impression, but it seems to me l008com visits when (s)he wants to ask a question. Participates in the discussion, then vanishes until his/her next question. I'm not recalling you hanging around to help others with their questions.
     
reader50
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Oct 27, 2014, 02:06 PM
 
Originally Posted by BadKosh View Post
I had a bad smell and warped wood flooring. Both together suggested water leak/sewage leak.
Agreed. I meant a drain problem under the slab, with water coming back up from beneath. That's an exotic one, the leak source is usually under the sink and in view.
     
el chupacabra
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Oct 28, 2014, 06:15 PM
 
It's hard to get a forum going these days. Too much competition. There are already a number of established forums for your subject such as gardenweb and doityourself. Back in forum hay day you had to go to forums for answers to questions regarding obscure interests. Now days you just pose the question to google who directs you to the 1st blog, yahoo answer, or youtube video answering the question. Youtube can especially show you how to fix any home improvement issue.

Forums like macnn are dieing because mac isn't an obscure interest anymore and macnn failed to evolve/expand target interests; nobody needs to come here to get mac questions answered. People generally don't care about speculating to what the next fastest processor is going to be or how much disk space the latest mac will have. It's just not as important or exciting as when all this stuff was problematic to us. For interests that require lots of help forums are still going strong, such as reefcentral, or stackoverflow. Dpreview is successful because unlike computing, photography is still nowhere where we want it to be so we're always researching/speculating latest gadgets in that interest. Also most successful forums piggy back on sites that provide some sort of articles.
     
andi*pandi
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Oct 28, 2014, 09:20 PM
 
Originally Posted by BadKosh View Post
How old is the house? Ever had slow draining of the sink?
House is '64; the upstairs kitchen sink is fine but the basement utility is slow.

It is probably just a drip from the pipe/faucet connection. I will notice wet stuff under the sink after using it, for example. The smell varies from "old chinese food" to mustiness.
( Last edited by andi*pandi; Oct 29, 2014 at 08:32 AM. )
     
reader50
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Oct 28, 2014, 09:35 PM
 
Usually there is a flange/basket assembly which clamps to the sink via a large-ish nut (~4"), then a standard 1.5" connection to the drain pipes.

If your drip is at the flange-to-drain-nut connection, it is easy to fix. If the sink-to-flange point is leaking, you need to pull the flange, clean the fittings, and reassemble. Possibly changing a gasket or two along the way. Or get a new flange/gasket assembly. Not really hard, but it requires different tools, particularly a couple larger slip wrenches. Plus plumbers putty.
     
Laminar
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Oct 29, 2014, 03:47 AM
 
Originally Posted by andi*pandi View Post
House is 64';
Like...64 feet tall?
     
BadKosh
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Oct 29, 2014, 05:18 AM
 
My suggestion is to use some organic drain cleaners that 'eat' everything organic. this is similar to the stuff used in septic style systems. DON'T use acids!
But I'm sure you knew that. I have been using ZEP brand drain cleaners on all my drains twice a year. I dump it into the washing machine drain, all tubs, and especially the bathroom sinks. For the kitchen, use the professional style that won't damage the disposal. After you let it sit for a few hours, run lots of water through the kitchen sink. I use several large pots of water and let the pump pressure of the disposal force it through. This should clean up everything very well. Also swap batteries in the smoke detectors and set those clocks up or back. I do all that crap on the daylight Savings weekends. Veterans day is when I purchase my Pellets for the Pellet stove so I can be warm all winter.
     
sek929
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Oct 29, 2014, 06:02 PM
 
Originally Posted by ShortcutToMoncton View Post
Just ask Sek
While I'm flattered there's a wealth of stuff I don't know about plumbing/heating/electrical/painting/other specialized trades. Anything related to carpentry I'm happy to lend some advice.
     
   
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