Home Improvements

[Sgt PSN]

Just take one of your igy's kelly green Eagles jerseys to Lowes/Home Depot/where ever you get your paint. 

[Sgt PSN]

BTW...

Hopefully its just the voc's (volitale organic compounds) off gassing from the carpet. If you can open the windows for a day or two. After that, if the smell doesn't go away or get better, check the padding for any kind of mold growth. If you were there while they removed and installed, did you see any kind of mold growth in the underlayment?

yes, new carpet smells like a chemical factory

the smell will dissipate over time

but as long as you live there, you'll be huffing nasty fumes, whether you can smell them or not

Thanks. 

[Diomedes]

Anyone here ever have trouble with an overly-sensitive smoke detector?  We have hard wired smoke/carbon monoxide detectors in the house, and the one on the first floor trips at the slightest smoke in the kitchen.  A drop of pot pie that spilled onto the cookie sheet and gets burnt will send the whole house screaming five or six times.  It goes off, we rush to hit the button.  Open all the windows, turn on all the ceiling fans, then it goes off again.  Rush to hit the button.  This is invariably the time of the evening when American Red Cross calls to beg for blood.  Wailing terrified child, trembling dogs, hot shtein on the stove...bad bad times.  Then it goes off again.  Etc.

I can't just unplug the detector when we cook, because it's hard wired.  Plus, the damn backup battery will just beep at us.  I've considered removing it from the system entirely, so that we have smoke detectors only in the basement (where the furnace is) and upstairs with the bedrooms.  This would probably do the trick, but I have visions of the newspaper saying family of three killed in fire, no smoke detector on the same floor as the kitchen.

Anyone have any tricks for getting these things to be less sensitive?

[Rome]

Have you tried smashing it with a hammer or smoking less ganja near it?

[Seabiscuit36]

Replace it.  I'm in the same boat, i was told to just swap it out for ones that work with the security system you have.  You're supposed to replace them every 10 years.  If they're just wired in to a normal electrical setting you should be able to figure out the setup easily. 

[Diomedes]

Hmm...my Rottweiler and my Boxer are the security system.   Could be difficult.

[hbionic]

Smoke Detectors, on a certain level are smare to have in every room, including the kitchen...but statistics note that most fires start in the garage.

Appraisers, and inspectors will usually require either, depending on the city/county code, to have a smoke detector in the the living room, bedrooms, and hallway, or just living room and hallway.

In 10 years of selling real estate...I can't remember one house, out of the thousands I've shown, that had a smoke detector in the kitchen.

My friend, take your favorite blunt instrument and destroy that thing! (Please consult your attorney, safety official, or fire house for further info).

*On the real, it's smarter to have a smoke detector somewhere in the room adjacent to the kitchen, but not in the kitchen. But PLEASE, remember to have a fire extinguisher in every level of the house, garage, and basement. People tend to have smoke detectors, but no fire extinguishers.

*Also, since we're talking about fires, make sure that your fire wall (the wall between your garage and kitchen/rest of house) has no holes or openings in it. Make sure they are patched up. The fire wall is supposed to buy you about 45 minutes of time before the fire makes its way into the rest of the house. The thinking here is that, with the help of smoke detectors, you'd wake up and get the F out. Also, make sure your firedoor (usually the door leading from the garage into the adjacent room in the house) self-closes. If it doesn't, you can go to your local hardware store and buy a hinge to put on the door which you can adjust rather easily so it shuts hard or slow.

Again, take this advice and consult your family on what is the best plan and decision for the safety of your family, but most people that I have seen go through life without a detector in the kitchen.

Tune in next week, when we talk about Carbon Monoxide Detectors!

[hbionic]

I just realized that you don't have a smoke detector in the kitchen per say, maybe you should just get a battery operated one and check the battery every 3 months.

[Diomedes]

I don't have a garage, either.  I live in a Baltimore row house, not a middle american tract house.

[shorebird]

You can still change it to a different one without it being hooked to the security system can't you?

[Seabiscuit36]

So i was putting fuel into my tractor yesterday, and had a stink bug fall into the tank.  Immediately after this, i stopped, checked for more, and figured i could probably fill the tank up to the point the bug would rise to the weakest point, the top of the tank.  This idea failed me when the plastic nozzle fell into the tank. 

At this point, I need some direction as to the easiest way to get the nozzle out.  The stink bug, i'm guessing will get captured by the filter at the worst. 

[Diomedes]

don't worry about the stink bug

fish the plastic nozzle out

[Seabiscuit36]

Stink bugs enveloped our house, apparently they love the smell of diesel.  So i should just use something like long pliers and a little luck. 

[Diomedes]

It will take a lot of patience.

Did the plastic sink?  If it did not, you might have luck with pliers and a coat hanger or something like that to get the thing towards the opening.

If it sank, you've got problems.

How difficult would it be to pull the tank off the tractor entirely?

[Seabiscuit36]

Its a John Deer, tank is top mounted, so i'd have to remove the housing, then see what i'm looking at.  Bitch is the hood opens front to back, and the tank is right in front of the steering.  I'll fish around in a little bit, and hope that i get lucky.  Otherwise its gonna be a pain.