Home Remodel: Do, Don'ts, Advice

[Core Shot]

On the hot water issue

I’m debating a recirc line vs a 110v five gallon heater right under the master.

Thought being you get quick heat to the sink.
But then not sure how much oscillation as room temp refills the heater when showering

[Supermoon]

Our new gas water heater recharges so fast the second shower is hotter than the first. Don’t know if that’s the same for electrics.

[Ski220]

Asphalt crack and divot repair. I'm talking minor stuff. A couple 1/2 inch cracks that are 4-6 feet long. Half dozen small divots that are maybe a couple inches wide by half inch deep.
Ignore? Quick idiot proof DIY in an afternoon? Pay someone because I'll fuck it up?
Flame away, maggot pros.

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I’ve tried many products through the years. The only one that works is cold patch pounded in as much as possible. Usually used for larger areas then cracks. I’ll find out because that’s what I’m going to do soon. Clean the area to be repaired of all loose debris thoroughly.
Not sure what you mean by divots. Low spots or actual spots where the asphalt is deteriorating. If just low spot, just ignore.

[jm2e]

My question is why

Great question, which is why my first option was "Ignore". But wife wants to have the driveway sealed, and I figured it would look a lot nicer if I could fill the cracks and divots first. No big potholes or other bad damage.
So yea, I'm trying to make it look nice, and also last longer.

.
Not sure what you mean by divots. Low spots or actual spots where the asphalt is deteriorating. If just low spot, just ignore.

Cracks

Divots

[old goat]

Sealing the cracks isn't just looks. It keeps your driveway from falling apart. Especially if you live where it freezes.

[Mustonen]

What’s that green stuff next to your driveway?

[Ski220]

So yea, I'm trying to make it look nice, and also last longer.

Divots

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Take some kind of tool (chisel) , square off the edges down to the under layer and clean real good. Use cold patch and pound as dense as you can. Let it bake in the sun. Don’t seal immediately.
The cracks are from soft bed near the edge. Sluffing off. Edgeing with 4” steel or block would help stabilize. Hope you have a short driveway.

[Falcon3]

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Take some kind of tool (chisel) , square off the edges down to the under layer and clean real good. Use cold patch and pound as dense as you can. Let it bake in the sun. Don’t seal immediately.
The cracks are from soft bed near the edge. Sluffing off. Edgeing with 4” steel or block would help stabilize. Hope you have a short driveway.

I would add that if you have one of those torches that attaches to a propane tank, I’ve had a lot better luck patching by warming up the asphalt in the hole before adding the cold patch, and also heating up the cold patch as I pound it in there. It bonds way better. And yeah let it set a while before sealing it up. Torches are only $25 at Harbor Freight and you can use it to kill sidewalk/driveway weeds too.

[fastfred]

What’s that green stuff next to your driveway?

Exactly what I was thinking
I guess a driveway w snowbanks and mud in mid April isn't normal

[XXX-er]

I would add that if you have one of those torches that attaches to a propane tank, I’ve had a lot better luck patching by warming up the asphalt in the hole before adding the cold patch, and also heating up the cold patch as I pound it in there. It bonds way better. And yeah let it set a while before sealing it up. Torches are only $25 at Harbor Freight and you can use it to kill sidewalk/driveway weeds too.

AKA the tiger torch locally, great for starting any campfire and vaporizing beer cans

[Rideski]

It's looking like cedar is now double the cost of redwood. Isn't that opposite from a couple years ago?

Do they both resist rot the same?

[RootSkier]

In theory, but most of the redwood you can get these days is mostly sapwood. So it's nowhere near as good as the redwood grandpa could buy at the lumberyard.

[Rideski]

Is that the same for cedar, or did the quality not decline the same?

[old goat]

You can get construction heart RW 1x6 for about twice the cost of the usual fencing.

[::: :::]

redwood is barely available regionally

cedar has a much larger source base & quality is high...not as high as historical, but still available in high grades (& you pay for it)

[Rideski]

Yeah when I was building a few fences a cpl years ago, cedar was half of what it is now.

Currently in Denver redwood 2x6x8's are the same as cedar was then, but now cedar is double. Building planter boxes raised garden beds. Redwood will look fine, just don't want something that will fall apart super fast. Slacker at the service desk at the lumber yard told me redwood doesn't have the properties that cedar does. But stuff I read online disputes that. So of course I turned to trg for the final say.

[Core Shot]

For raised planters use PT pine.

It used to have arsenic in it but not anymore.
If your worried you can line it with plastic

Redwood is a sacred spirit.
Cedar not as much. But still not as long lasting as pt when in direct wood contact.
Lots of cedar fence here and the posts always rot long before the thin pickets

[Rideski]

PT around veggies? Fuck that noise.

[old goat]

PT around veggies? Fuck that noise.

Eating vegetables with preservative in them helps you live longer.

[schuss]

PT around veggies? Fuck that noise.

I mean, it explains a lot about Core Shot

[dunfree]

In theory, but most of the redwood you can get these days is mostly sapwood. So it's nowhere near as good as the redwood grandpa could buy at the lumberyard.

redwood sapwood is white/cream, is that really what you find? I don’t very often - second or third planting knotty wide ring shit, not somuch sapwood. Most anything that makes wood last isn’t good to eat. That includes wood.

[Core Shot]

I mean, it explains a lot about Core Shot

Yes. Lots. I eat asbestos crunch every morning.
And gargle with arsenic.





Yes, the “modern” pressure treated wood is safe. You can use it to construct raised garden frames. Before 2003, a dangerous chemical, chromated copper arsenate (CCA), was used to treat wood. However, the U.S. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) abolished its usage for being “a human carcinogen.” Safer chemicals Alkaline Copper Quaternary (ACQ) or Copper Azole (CA-B) have since been approved for the pressure treatment of wood.

A lot of people have reservations about whether it is safe to use pressure treated wood in the garden. It’s because of the fear that the chemicals present in the treated wood could leach into the soil and possibly be absorbed by the plants.

The “old pressure treated wood” posed risks of arsenic getting into the soil. Well, arsenic is indeed dangerous, and nobody can argue against that. However, arsenic has not been put to use when treating residential lumber in more than a decade. From the year 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency(EPA) ended the use of arsenic in a residential application. Today, wood treatment involves the use of copper to prevent decay.

The human body needs copper mineral and is by far much less dangerous compared to arsenic.

[RootSkier]

redwood sapwood is white/cream, is that really what you find? I don’t very often - second or third planting knotty wide ring shit, not somuch sapwood. Most anything that makes wood last isn’t good to eat. That includes wood.

I don't use it that much but this picture from lowes.com of what their 2x4x12s look like seems accurate, except that it has tighter grain than most modern redwood:

[Vt-Freeheel]

Opened up a wall for the electrician in a bath remodel I am doing. Never let hippies wire their own houses. FFS or even build one

[jackstraw]

Yeah, I wouldn't let a tele skier build or wire a damn thing either!