Alex's Major Home Improvement Thread

[rvieceli]

Looks really good Alex. Great job.

Are you about done with the plaster? Usually by the time I get to a spot where I'm comfortable with the process and the results, I'm usually done and don't have to use those newly acquired skills for long enough to have to relearn them again.  [tongue]

Ron

 

[AlexThePalex]

So are you putting something else in place of this for ventilation, some powered/damped unit someplace?

I'm putting in a new dead sea scroll.

And then the original roster back. I worked for me how it was, no need to change it.

 

[DeformedTree]

Nice Radiator.

So are the gaps intended to put towels there? or is that to make it easier for children to climb?

Saw you guys are having your coldest weather in a long time there. Probably good to have heating system working. Is your system all one big loop, or can you turn each room off separate at some central manifold?

 

[AlexThePalex]

Looks really good Alex. Great job.

Are you about done with the plaster? Usually by the time I get to a spot where I'm comfortable with the process and the results, I'm usually done and don't have to use those newly acquired skills for long enough to have to relearn them again. [tongue]

Ron

Thanks Ron. I am momentarily done with the plaster for now, but I still have to do 3 bedrooms later on. But first I will completely finish all the rooms I have plastered now, do all the painting and installations.

Oddest thing, the very last time I mixed up a bag of plaster for the ceiling of the bathroom, I was bit careless because I was exited and full of energy.

I had made this little shelf to rest my mixer on:





Thought it would be great to rest it on there when not in use. And it is great, I only should have made it a little bit different. I made a little notch in it on the side where the trigger of the mixer is. Big mistake.

Because the very last time I was mixing, I put the mixer away for a second to add some more plaster, and it lands with the trigger full on the shelf and start spinning, catching the mixer's cord, and completely tears it in two.



So while the plaster was already hardening I had to do a quick field repair so I could continue.



So yeah, I'll have to adapt that so it won't happen again.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Nice Radiator.

So are the gaps intended to put towels there? or is that to make it easier for children to climb?

Saw you guys are having your coldest weather in a long time there. Probably good to have heating system working. Is your system all one big loop, or can you turn each room off separate at some central manifold?

Yes, those are for towels, though these are not unheard of being ripped off the wall by children climbing in them.

It is pretty cold here indeed now. While cold winters with lots of snow and freeze were normal in my youth, the last 15 years temperature stayed mostly above 0 C. And now suddenly in 2 days there's half a meter snow and night temps reaching -15 C. Odd.

You can turn off each radiator separately, they all have their own valve.

By closing them partially, you can control how much heat goes to each room. "Pinching it", we call it.

 

[pixelated]

Well... I guess the mixer shut off quickly (though not quickly enough it seems). [wink]

Those radiator/towel racks are a fortune here, I suppose they are commonplace for you. Getting one is on my list for my next bathroom upgrade.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Well... I guess the mixer shut off quickly (though not quickly enough it seems). [wink]

Those radiator/towel racks are a fortune here, I suppose they are commonplace for you. Getting one is on my list for my next bathroom upgrade.

It was a matter of a split second with the cord. The mixer's paddle is 140 mm wide, so if that spins at 500 RPM you make a lot of distance in a short time.

The radiators are not that expensive unless you get a "design" radiator which can cost €700. But normal ones this size go for 100 - 150 euros. I bought mine used for 10.

 

[AlexThePalex]

The last wall in the living was also done now. All painted so I could place the radiator here back also. Made sure the supports were level.



And connected. Notice how ugly and yellowed it is, and quite a bit of rust. No money to replace it, I will sand all the rust away and spray paint it. It will look as new again.

Funny thing, one day before the real cold hits, heating in my home is fully functional again. As if the big guy waited for me to finish up first.

 

[danny l]

May I ask what your daytime profession is, Reading this topic , I noticed a few mistakes on drywall and electric. Drywall is not the same as plasterboard. The first one is not suitable for plastering. The second one does, due to the fibres and special paper. The wires for the wall light are grey, black and blue. They should be black for power, blue for neutral and green/yellow for ground.

 

[AlexThePalex]

May I ask what your daytime profession is, Reading this topic , I noticed a few mistakes on drywall and electric. Drywall is not the same as plasterboard. The first one is not suitable for plastering. The second one does, due to the fibres and special paper. The wires for the wall light are grey, black and blue. They should be black for power, blue for neutral and green/yellow for ground.

Currently, I do this more or less full time. I am also a rock star.

There are no mistakes here Danny.

I know of the difference between drywall and plasterboard. In the end, plasterboard is just a special type of drywall. So, for the sake of keeping things easy on this forum, I use the word drywall. And drywall is very well suited for plastering, you just need to use a PRIMER to prepare the surface. With plasterboard, this primer is already applied in the factory.

All the surfaces I describe in this thread that I have plastered were drywall, and I applied the primer. Only the little part in the bathroom to hide the pipes was plasterboard.

As for the wires, those are also correct. I don't need a yellow/green ground wire in there, there is no socket, only a lamp. That one requires the blue and the black wire. I put in a second, grey lead wire, because I am toying with the idea of putting a led strip behind the mirror that is on the other side of that wall, in the hallway. I don't know for sure if I want to do that, but if I want to, the wire is already there.

 

[DeformedTree]

Like the mixer wore a necktie to work, not safe.

Your setup makes me wonder if people ever use stand mixers (like in your kitchen) for mixing up stuff.

 

[DeformedTree]

As for the wires, those are also correct. I don't need a yellow/green ground wire in there, there is no socket, only a lamp. That one requires the blue and the black wire. I put in a second, grey lead wire, because I am toying with the idea of putting a led strip behind the mirror that is on the other side of that wall, in the hallway. I don't know for sure if I want to do that, but if I want to, the wire is already there.

You don't have ground/earth wire thru everything? Fixture bases included?

 

[AlexThePalex]

You don't have ground/earth wire thru everything? Fixture bases included?

You can put a ground wire on a lamp if you want to, but it is not mandatory. The ground wire can have its use if the lamp has a metal base, but a lamp's base can be made out of any material including non-conductive materials like plastic or wood.

 

[DeformedTree]

Those radiator/towel racks are a fortune here, I suppose they are commonplace for you. Getting one is on my list for my next bathroom upgrade.

The radiators are not that expensive unless you get a "design" radiator which can cost €700. But normal ones this size go for 100 - 150 euros. I bought mine used for 10.

Tried to find something similar to what you have, looks to be about 600 wide, 1800 tall.  Some things similar might be around 500 USD here, but the stuff getting closer to what you showed can get closer to 1800 USD.  Like many things, these are uncommon here, so price goes thru the roof.

Electric towel warmers of a similar concept are a much more common thing to see.  Not many folks going to create a hot water heating system just for a bathroom.  Electric radiant floor heating has become very common here (better than ugly electric wall heater, and way better than a forced air duct) in a bathroom.

 

[DeformedTree]

You don't have ground/earth wire thru everything? Fixture bases included?

You can put a ground wire on a lamp if you want to, but it is not mandatory. The ground wire can have its use if the lamp has a metal base, but a lamp's base can be made out of any material including non-conductive materials like plastic or wood.

Even ignoring the base, it's just hard to see there not being a mandate for a ground wire thru everything. Here all circuits must have ground wire. Thus all multi-wire cable you buy has a ground wire in it. Any place it meets metal along the way, it gets bonded, such as anytime a metal junction box (pattress box) is used.

 

[AlexThePalex]

One of the odd things in my life is, that sometimes when I need something, I just get "provided" out of the blue, at precisely the right time.

So this happened once again. This time with the plinths. I had calculated what I needed a few months ago and asked my lumber yard for a quote. 150 euros for the entire first floor, which needed 42 meters. I didn't like that quote for just a bit of MDF/HDF.

And whadda ya think? I just finished all the walls and was in need of them now. So I find them on the street. I am not above a bit of scavenging when it saves me a few bucks.

Apparently somebody just installed a new laminate floor and threw all the old stuff out. Including all their plinths. Which were all oversized for my use, but that's no problem if you have a CS70.



So out goes the CS70, extension table installed, but still not long enough for these plinths.



That standard angle fence does look awfully small now. It didn't really work, time to get out the longer CS70 LA for this.



Oh, I made a mess out of it again. I do get tired sometimes of hauling the Midi+cyclone around all the time.



But all oversized pieces are down now to the 9 x 140 mm I want. Unfortunately one long one had a crack and broke in two. Another one was a bit wet so I had to let that one dry first.



All done now, sanded to 400 and very smooth, and a small 2 mm roundover to break the edge.



OK, I found some more in the same spot. Kewl.



So out with the 70 again. These were not as long as the others though.



And all done again, sanded and rounded over. Ready for priming. Saved me 150 bucks, and cost me 3 hours works for sawing and sanding. And now I surely have enough for the entire floor.

 

[DeformedTree]

cops knock on your door after people report you "finding things".  [tongue]

 

[Bob D.]

Alex you have been one busy man. Nice job on the plaster ceiling and all the other work too.

Did you install a thermostatic radiator valve on that new radiator?

 

[AlexThePalex]

Did you install a thermostatic radiator valve on that new radiator?

No, just a normal one, open - close. I don't need anything else.

 

[AlexThePalex]

Even ignoring the base, it's just hard to see there not being a mandate for a ground wire thru everything. Here all circuits must have ground wire. Thus all multi-wire cable you buy has a ground wire in it. Any place it meets metal along the way, it gets bonded, such as anytime a metal junction box (pattress box) is used.

There are different regulations for old installations and new ones. Of course new installations are a lot more strict, but for older ones there is a lot of leeway because they know you can't update an old house without ripping all the conduit out of walls and ceilings. And the installation here in this house is old. What is the point of putting in a ground wire to this lamp if there's no ground wire to connect it to in the nearest junction box?

a metal junction box

Now that's something I can't wrap my head around, metal junction boxes, those are not allowed here in homes. Why make it conductive metal if it just as easily can be made out of insulating plastic?