Home Improvement
These are my notes and links on home improvment tasks.
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- Suspended Ceiling
- Drywall
- Flooring
- Windows
The Sahara dehumidifier mentioned below is probably the
cats meow of dehumidifiers. It is high capacity, can be ducted,
energy star rated, all sorts of good things. It filters air
as well. Best of all, it extracts water at 100 pints per day!
Whirlpool make some nice dehumdifiers which
will dry air even at low temperatures -- down to 38 degrees F.
This keeps your basement dry even in winter-time.
That is the AD Auto-Dry electronic control series.
It self-defrosts and does other maintenance all by itself.
My older (now dead) Dehumdifier was a GE. It lasted for 6 years,
kept on cranking away.
It died with a leak in the Freon plumbing, not a compressor failure.
Looking at it, the failure was most likely vibration induced.
Sump pumps keep your basement from flooding.
Battery-backed up sump pumps keep the basement dry even when power
goes off-line.
I've noted some providers of battery backed up pumps, but most
of the following vendors have some.
Perhaps the marked ones have a wider selection or bettery quality.
SumPro has an inverter, backup detectors for a normal
pump, and other gizmos.
Zoeller has a nice battery backup system designed to be integrated
with a conventional pump.
It also allows for higher output flows by running both pumps.
Some systems provide for automated regular testing of the backup system
so you know it is healthy and operational.
Lots of cool things since I last dealt with sump pump issues.
- PVC 40 Drain Pipe works well for downspout water collectors.
It is thick-walled and doesn't crush.
It uses glue to put it together.
- SDR 35 is lighter weight sewage pipe. It has leakproof fittings
on each end which mate with rubber gaskets.
Lubricate the gaskets with dish soap to push them together.
- Use solid pipe, not slotted. This keeps tree roots from growing into
your drainage system!
- Don't bury 90 degree joints underground.
The excepting is for where the downspout enters the system.
Use dual 45s, even better to put a spacer between the two.
This also allows for cleaning snakes.
- Include cleanout traps (under rocks, etc) so that you can get
some drain cleaning people to fix clogs. The ring line needs
the cleanouts, the individual stubs from the gutters are probably
not a problem... except for all the roof debris, and that can
get into the mains as well.
- It is better to put the pipe a couple of feet away from the house,
in soil that won't compact.
With older houses with settled soil this may be less of an issue.
- 4" pipe is the recommended size.
A 6" for a "backbone" pipe is large enough for most installations.
One Slope == 1/4" per foot.
Normal slope is 1/8" per foot.
- Articles on downspout drainage -- Ask the Builder
- A Ditching Machine can make buring the pipe easy.
- Sizing Gutter Systems -- Fine Homebuilding
- For aluminum bent gutters you want the .032 inch size for strength.
Primary aluminum is a higher quality more stable
material than Secondary Aluminum.
- A 2x3" downspout drains 600 ft^2 of roof, a 3x4" 1200 ft^2.
- Exterior Window Painting Tips
- Wooster Paint Roller Selection
- Painting made easier
- Sherwin-Williams
- Mautz Paint (made in Madison, WI)
- Benjamin Moore
- Behr
- Dutch Boy
- Glidden
- Fuller O'Brien
- Pratt & Lambert
- Olympic Paint & Stain
- Zinsser
- Rust-Oleum
- Purdy
- Wooster
- Shur Line
- Sherwin-Williams Quick-Release Roller and
and Frame-Lock extensions are really nice to use,
made in the US, and work great!
- Shur-line teflon coated paint roller tray cleans up easily.
- To clean rollers...
- Scrape paint off with special curved paint scraper tool.
- Rinse and Rinse and Rinse
- Dry
- Don't even think about trying to be neat painting.
Do be neat, but be realistic and plan for the
unanticipated.
Drop-cloths (plastic or fabric) all over the place are
your friend.
Don't try newspapers, paper bags, etc they
slide around, have gaps, and are too small to give
effective coverage when that accident occurs.
- Remove masking tape when the paint is still wet / tacky.
That way it will cut a nice edge.
If you remove it to soon, the paint is liquid and creeps over
the line.
If you remove it when the paint is too dry, you pull off bunches
of paint which adhered to both the tape and the surface. OOPS.
Above-Ground Work stuck here for the moment
- Asphalt Paving ... $1.50 - $3.00 per square foot.
- Solid Surface Counter s... $60 - $80 per square foot.
- Owens Corning BFS -- 28 /sqft, but you might get linear if not
doing ceiling, etc, just the wall.
- Sump Pump installation cost $400 - $1000
- Basement drainage tile $2500 - $5000
- Sump Pumps...
- Typical Cost $75 - $125
- Battery Backup Cost $250 - $500
- Typical 1-1/2 Drain Port
- Riser to Above Pit, Check Valve, Riser to Exit.
- Secure Wiring with Wire Ties to Riser
- XXX Weep Hole below Check allows pump to self-prime, otherwise
and air-lock can develop. Hole must be in sump pit, of
course, and below the cover!
- 1/3 HP ... about 3400 GPH (5 foot lift)
- 1/2 HP ... about 3900 GPH (5 foot lift)
- 3/4 HP ... about 4300 GPH (5 foot lift)
- Battery Backup ... about 500..3500 GPH (0 foot lift)
or ..2200 10 FT Lift.
Smarter systems will run the Pump off the AC lines when
capacity of the main pump is overwhelmed and AC power
still exists.
The smart systems will also cycle the pump on a regular
basis to verify it is working, display charge info, etc.
- Hi-Water Alarm System
- Battery Backed-Up Sump Pumps w/ everything $600 and up
- Zoeller M-510 ... $673 .. extra battery box $60
- Quality Group 27 Marine battery for M-510 ... $200 - $312 /ea
Deep-Cycle 12v. 130 Amp-Hour 7.5 hours run-time each.
Aquanot $312 battery is rated by zoeller.
- Quality Sump Pump 1/3 HP ... $150 Zoeller M-53 (Others up to 250)
- Quality Sump Pump 1/2 HP ... $375 Zoeller M-98
- Minimum 18x22" basin (zoeller minimum) $75
- 1-1/2" Pump Output Piping Recommended.
- 1-1/2" Check Valve ... $60 (cast-iron beast, $30 or so otw)
- Alarm System -- $50 - $200. Pick cost ALM-2 for reference, $120
- 1-1/2" PVC Fittings -- Screw/Pipe Adapters, Ts, 45 elbows $2-$4/ea
10' == $4.00
- Ea 60' Run of pipe ~ to out side house, 6 fittings ~ $20 + $24 == $44 x2=88
- Sump Pump assembly ... $1825
- + Plumbing == $1913
- + Digging Sump + Gravel + Concrete + JackHammer, etc.
- SCH 40 4" PVC Fittings $6 per fitting, except specials $20-$30-$60 or so.
10' == $12
- 4" PVC 20' Segment -- ???
- 50-60' Outside run -- $82 + $24 == $106 + DIGGINg
- Trencher Rental ~$300 / day.
- + Exterior Run $2319 ( + digging, etc)
Bolo's Home Page
Last Modified:
Fri Dec 12 20:36:37 CST 2008
Bolo (Josef Burger)
<bolo@cs.wisc.edu>