Home improvement advice

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

A friend of mine just moved into a new place. There's a (poorly built) single story addition on the back that he's thinking of fixing up and using as a breakfast room...drink coffee in the morning...read the paper...use the computer...

Right now it has bare walls, just the 2x4's...I guess he needs to insulate for heat retention. The room has one air duct that blows warm air quite well. Dimensions of the room are 12' by 9' with a double door going out to the back deck.

So here's my question.
What's the difference between "green insulation" and "pink insulation"?
Also, there seems to be two types of drywall, one is blueish green, the other is basically white. Is there a difference in quality? Does one protect against cracking more than the other?
Thanks.

[smackaholic]

a good communist would hire a contractor with all unionized labor. a cheap fake one like you should use the non green pink fiberglass (or other color depending on brand) insulation. make sure you use the type with the paper vapor barrier.the barrier goes toward the interior.

the green sheetrock, aka greenboard is for high moisture such as bathrooms or maybe dinsdale's bedroom .those hogs can put out some serious humidity laden btus when you are harpooning them.

plain old white sheetrock will work fine.

[ucantdoitdoggieSTyle2]

For gods and GOD'S sake do not use mere nails, even sheet rock nails.

Only a complete fucking moron would even consider nailing drywall. Nevermind, actually doing it.

[Dinsdale]

Sheetrock screws work for me...


with plain old phillips heads.

[Dinsdale]

And if the joists on the ceiling are more than 16" (often 24"), you need to use 5/8" drywall... or whatever measuring system you Upper Mexicans use. And use lots of screws.

[Atomic Punk]

For insulation, look at the "R" rating and see what is recommended for your area. Sheetrock comes in several forms and is used depending on whatever the building codes are. Coarse sheetrock screws are in the orange boxes and it would help to add the sheetrock dimpler to your drill.

[Cuda]

Nice work here, Comrade Marty

[Derron]

^^^^^^^^^

Nice look with the wood paneling there...l

That usually helps out real well with a room and contents fire resulting in this...

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

I highly suggest you contact an expert

My friend is a leftist. That means budget for labour = $0.

One more thing...

The previous owner half-finished this sky-light in the second floor hallway, but never got around to finishing it by putting in the glass part. The real estate lady said it had been sitting like that for at least 5 months, so there's no way it could be a leak problem. We get enough snow, it would have leaked by now if there was a problem, I suppose.



Question: How hard is it to put one in? If you just cut the roof to the size needed, would you just have to make sure there's caulking outside, like silicon? This is one thing he should hire a pro to do I think, although it's easy to get on the roof with a ladder.

[Atomic Punk]

Caulking? Ummm, you really need to do some research. Go to the Henry site as they sell all kinds of roofing materials in the blue cans.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

My $0.02 home improvement advice is to paint a coat of Gripper and then paint whatever you want on that. Incredible stuff.

$92?


HOLY FUCK! I mean, I know that's in American Pesos, but is this shit spun from gold?

[Atomic Punk]

Assuming your 9x12 room with a ceiling height of 8 ft, then you are looking at covering about 1000 sq/ft. A gallon of paint or primer covers about 400 sq/ft with one coat... if you roll it. Glidden is okay but Behr in the purple primer cans are about $18/gallon. $92 for a 5 gallon of Glidden's Gripper??? Is that in pesos?

[OCmike]

If he lives in an area that gets a lot of rain/snow and regular freezes and thaws(he does and he does), a skylight is a terrible idea. Well, unless your buddy is a fan of ripping out mildew-addled drywall every few years (which homeowner's insurance won't cover).

The best thing he can do is pack that hole with insulation and close it up.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

Assuming your 9x12 room with a ceiling height of 8 ft, then you are looking at covering about 1000 sq/ft. A gallon of paint or primer covers about 400 sq/ft with one coat... if you roll it. Glidden is okay but Behr in the purple primer cans are about $18/gallon. $92 for a 5 gallon of Glidden's Gripper??? Is that in pesos?

We checked out Behr paint on Consumer Reports website and it gets a very good rating. That's Home Depot's brand and he'll probably get Home Depot products. Only thing is, is that his old lady can't handle chemical fumes very well, (ripping migraines...turns into a complete bitch) so if there's a low fumes paint, that would be a plus.

[Atomic Punk]

Try it in a small area if you don't believe me. It is an incredible primer. It fills up small cracks and holes better than anything I've ever seen, which admittedly is not very much.

Next time you're at Home Depot (only place they sell it?), ask the paint dude about it.

Chip, I've worked at Home Depot in the Paint dept for 5.5 yrs, although I've worked in many other departments at the same time. Gripper if good, Behr is better, and Zinser shellac based primer is best for covering smoke or mild water damage.

The smell will only last for a few days if you air it out. Glidden used to have a "green" product with low VOC's where we would dump the powder in the cans and throw them in the shakers. Problem is those were $34/gallon.

Behr has a newer product that has the primer in the base but it is in the low $30/gallon. Unless you are going with deep colors then you'll wipe out a few days of work. If you get that contractor shit, then it's nothing but watered down shit that doesn't cover well. It's for the Mexicans laborers that spray apartments before turnover to a new crack head tenant.

[Y2K]

I love Home Improvement threads.

My friend is a leftist. That means budget for labour = $0.

If he doesn't buy the beer why even bother? Let him pay out the ass to get it done right and the best advice you can give him is to pay cash, we fixer uppers hate checks and your buddy might learn a fucking thing or two. Real craftsmen aren't part of some Utopian "free network" but a cold beer is always a nice start. :D

[smackaholic]

If he lives in an area that gets a lot of rain/snow and regular freezes and thaws(he does and he does), a skylight is a terrible idea. Well, unless your buddy is a fan of ripping out mildew-addled drywall every few years (which homeowner's insurance won't cover).

The best thing he can do is pack that hole with insulation and close it up.

WRONG

no, he's right.

a skylight is a bad idea on a nearly flat roof in an area that can have 3 ft of snow on the ground. not saying that a high quality skylight, properly installed will leak, it probably won't. but, dude is poor and doesn't know what he is doing. just cover the fukking thing.

[smackaholic]

not saying that a high quality skylight, properly installed will leak, it probably won't

There is no probably about it, as the video shows.

You'll also notice he didn't qualify this statement with flat roof, poor etc.

Just the typical off the cuff ignorance.

If he lives in an area that gets a lot of rain/snow and regular freezes and thaws(he does and he does), a skylight is a terrible idea.

But, I do see how you can relate

I might be wrong about roof pitch. after looking at the pic again, it is not possible to determine pitch.

otherwise, i just read his fukking post. dude has no money for labor. he and marty are clueless, based on the questions.

any non dumbfukk would use this info to conclude that simply covering over that hole would be a good idea.

[Trampis]

Before putting the sheetrock up in the coffee room, stuff old newspapers in the wall. Be sure to highlite any articles disscussing unsolved murders. Fun stuff for future homeowners to ponder.

[Bucmonkey]

The idiocy here is epic...hire a pro...

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

I might be wrong about roof pitch. after looking at the pic again, it is not possible to determine pitch.

You mean the angle? We've been up there... the roof is just flat and covered with small stones.

he and marty are clueless

Please, try not reducing me to your level. I'm not dumb enough to sign on to anything that could potentially end my life.

any non dumbfukk would use this info to conclude that simply covering over that hole would be a good idea.

This might be the smartest thing you've ever said. Strangely, I would repeat your advice to him.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

the roof is just flat and covered with small stones.

Holy fuck, Marty. Your buddy cannot put a skylight in a bridge.

A bridge? Huh?

Sorry, I don't speak Lower Canadian (American)...
...once again, in the Queen's English, please.

[Goober McTuber]

The smell will only last for a few days if you air it out.

Old school painter dude told me that one good trick for killing paint smell is to fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, cut a great big onion in half and toss it in the water and leave the bucket sit there for a while. I'm sure it will work better if you can use a U&L onion.

[smackaholic]

I might be wrong about roof pitch. after looking at the pic again, it is not possible to determine pitch.

You mean the angle? We've been up there... the roof is just flat and covered with small stones.

he and marty are clueless

Please, try not reducing me to your level. I'm not dumb enough to sign on to anything that could potentially end my life.

any non dumbfukk would use this info to conclude that simply covering over that hole would be a good idea.

This might be the smartest thing you've ever said. Strangely, I would repeat your advice to him.

marty, from your questions and statements it is apparent that you are indeed clueless in this area. nuthin wrong with that as you are willing to come here and ask questions. yes pitch means angle. it is generally measured as a fraction rise/run. for example a 5/12 pitch means 5 ft of rise over 12 feet of run. i'm sure you upper messicans will insist it is in meters and that's fine. it all callculates the same.

and yes, take my advice, not scotts.

[Dinsdale]

My $0.02 home improvement advice is to paint a coat of Gripper and then paint whatever you want on that. Incredible stuff.

:facepalm:


First, if he's just priming drywall, that would be spending wayyyy too much money.

Second, for heavier-duty priming applications, waterborne primers are worth about the same as the water they're based on.

Third, there's a few better ones out there.

And how many repaints have the guys at Consumer Reports done?

I've forgotton more about coatings than those guys have, and know plenty of others in the same boat... and they all seem to agree the guys at Consumer Reports got paid to pimp that absolute garbage known as Behr.


As far as paint smell in interior applications... try getting out of the Dark Ages, and welcome to the world of Zero VOC... it's all the rage these days. Coatings technology has changed quite a bit over the last few years.


As far as the skylight -- hire someone who knows what they're doing... or throw a chunk of drywall back in the hole. The latter being a better idea, since if the initial framing was done by a DYer, they probably knew about as much as you and your buddy, and if a skylight isn't dead-on-nuts-square, you've got problems.

[Derron]

My friend is a leftist. That means budget for labour = $0.

So why is he considering doing the work himself ? Would he not be better off to bitch that the government needs to send
some one over to work on his crib for him since he pays taxes ?

No good leftist would want to do or pay for something that they expect the government to provide free to them...I call bullshit.

[smackaholic]

What exactly was my advice?

your advice, or maybe implication is a better word, was that putting a skylight in a poorly thrown up addition, by a coupla greenhorns on a tight budget was a fine idea. what pretty much every one here is saying is that covering over that opening in sheetrock and forgetting it was ever there was a better idea.

btw, i got nothing against skylights in general. i even put one in my son's bedroom. given the budget, installer's abilityy and suitability in that particular application, they can be pretty nice.

[Terry in Crapchester]

Assuming your 9x12 room with a ceiling height of 8 ft, then you are looking at covering about 1000 sq/ft.

Granted, I've never worked at the paint department of Home Depot, but my understanding of geometry tells me, given those dimensions, that the formula for the square footage of the walls in the room would be:

(2 x 8 x 9) + (2 x 8 x 12) =
144 sq. ft. + 192 sq. ft. =
336 sq. ft.

If you're looking to paint the ceiling as well, add in
(9 x 12) =
108 sq. ft. + 336 sq. ft. = 444 sq. ft.

Either way, nowhere near close to 1,000 sq. ft.

[Goober McTuber]

Assuming your 9x12 room with a ceiling height of 8 ft, then you are looking at covering about 1000 sq/ft.

Granted, I've never worked at the paint department of Home Depot, but my understanding of geometry tells me, given those dimensions, that the formula for the square footage of the walls in the room would be:

(2 x 8 x 9) + (2 x 8 x 12) =
144 sq. ft. + 192 sq. ft. =
336 sq. ft.

If you're looking to paint the ceiling as well, add in
(9 x 12) =
108 sq. ft. + 336 sq. ft. = 444 sq. ft.

Either way, nowhere near close to 1,000 sq. ft.

He's putting on two coats.

[smackaholic]

Assuming your 9x12 room with a ceiling height of 8 ft, then you are looking at covering about 1000 sq/ft.

Granted, I've never worked at the paint department of Home Depot, but my understanding of geometry tells me, given those dimensions, that the formula for the square footage of the walls in the room would be:

(2 x 8 x 9) + (2 x 8 x 12) =
144 sq. ft. + 192 sq. ft. =
336 sq. ft.

If you're looking to paint the ceiling as well, add in
(9 x 12) =
108 sq. ft. + 336 sq. ft. = 444 sq. ft.

Either way, nowhere near close to 1,000 sq. ft.

and that translates to roughly 1000 sq ft.......canadian.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

I'm going over on Sunday. We'll see how it shakes out.

[Goober McTuber]

And countless Americans come in your mom’s mouth.

[smackaholic]

Scott, your reading comp just ain't all that, is it?

I don't give a fukk if a skilled craftsman with $$$$$$ can install a skylight and have it not leak.

As has been pointed out a few times already, these guys aren't rich, aren't bob villa and they haven't the money to pay someone to do it. Any non dumbfukk would infer therefore they haven't the $$$$ for a quality skylight even if they could install it properly.

Yet you pooh-pooh someones advice to fageddaboutit. vvvvvv

If he lives in an area that gets a lot of rain/snow and regular freezes and thaws(he does and he does), a skylight is a terrible idea. Well, unless your buddy is a fan of ripping out mildew-addled drywall every few years (which homeowner's insurance won't cover).

The best thing he can do is pack that hole with insulation and close it up.

WRONG

and then you go on about how you didn't say it.

just quit while you're behind.

[OCmike]

My video was made to disprove the comment that skylights can't be put into cold weather / heavy snow areas

No, it was made to show off your hottub room in another episode of:



Unless you really expect anyone to believe that you're stupid enough to equate the winter weather in Canada to that of Kansas City,Missouri.

[Atomic Punk]

Assuming your 9x12 room with a ceiling height of 8 ft, then you are looking at covering about 1000 sq/ft.

Granted, I've never worked at the paint department of Home Depot, but my understanding of geometry tells me, given those dimensions, that the formula for the square footage of the walls in the room would be:

(2 x 8 x 9) + (2 x 8 x 12) =
144 sq. ft. + 192 sq. ft. =
336 sq. ft.

If you're looking to paint the ceiling as well, add in
(9 x 12) =
108 sq. ft. + 336 sq. ft. = 444 sq. ft.

Either way, nowhere near close to 1,000 sq. ft.

He's putting on two coats.

Actually Terry's math is correct. I've always been told to use 2 coats of primer. I remember this "high roller" coming in to buy the best paint possible for his garage and that he just rented one of our sprayers. I asked him if he was going to primer it 1st as the temperatures during the Summer in the garage will be well over 100 degrees and that the gypsum in the drywall will suck all of that paint in. He said he didn't want to pay extra for primer. I mixed 10 gallons for him... Terry, two 5 gallon buckets he wanted was: $134 x 2 = $268? Check my math.

A few hours later he came back saying he didn't get 1/3 through before he ran out of paint. The dumbass looked like George Costanza and reluctantly bought primer and 10 more gallons of paint. So he buys a 5 gallon bucket of primer @ $83 and then another two 5 gallon buckets of paint for an additional $268. Now Terry, the paint sprayer rental was $83 for 24 hours. With a 515 sprayer tip, how much money did the George Costanza look-alike spend?

Dins is right about Consumer Reports getting bought off by companies for ratings.

The again, I've had customers tell me Thompson's Water Seal is the best thing there is for decks.

[Imus]

What's the best anal lubricant you have found?

[Dinsdale]

For new drywall...

As far as "filling in little holes and cracks"... I'm not even sure how to address that... besides saying they came up with this new invention called "joint compound."

For priming new drywall, simple PVA (poly vinyl acetate) primer works just fine, and I think AP will sell you a cheapass 5er for less than $40 (US). One heavy coat is just fine. But you won't have a full 5 gallons when you prime, because we'll get all fancy and use some of the PVA to thin down your texture mud... but we're getting ahead of ourselves here.

[Atomic Punk]

I'll go with Dins again for $1000 Alex...

If you look at the long edges of drywall you'll see a slight slope on the edges so you can tape & mud. Also, across from the drywall are 5 gallon buckets of PVA primer that sells for $38?

The worst customers are the fat 50+ y/o women that bring "samples" to color match. They bring a dozen off-white colors from different manufacturers and want to color match every single one with the $3 sample containers. Any mixed paint is considered non-refundable, but the pussy managers let them return the ones they don't like anyway. I've seen 5 gallon buckets returned that are half-filled with water, etc. I always loved getting bitched out by some fattie that swore she just bought this paint from me a few weeks ago. The Valspar label (Lowe's) kind of gave it away, but no... she bought it from me.

When I have contractors that bring the paint tags to me to get in and out in 10 minutes, the fatties get offended while telling their stories about their miserable lives as if I give a shit.

Don't get me started on idiots wanting to buy 100 amp circuit breakers because they look like the 15 amp they bring in. Also, every Sunday night near closing time, you get the SE Asians and Mexicans with their entire family trying to buy a replacement P-trap. They will rip the bags open and try to figure out what the Mexican "maintenance" guy did. Shit is all over the floor, and when told how the shit works... they don't believe you and rip more bags open.

One particularly annoying gook was so obnoxious that I gave him an epoxy for his new drain for his sink instead of plumbers putty that I've recommended 20 minutes earlier. Later I told the actual plumbers about that and they were crying tears from laughter.

[Shlomart Ben Yisrael]

For priming new drywall, simple PVA (poly vinyl acetate) primer works just fine,

Isn't acrylic primer the only primer needed for drywall? That primer and then just regular paint.
(this is way ahead of the game...I'm just curious)

[MgoBlue-LightSpecial]

One particularly annoying gook was so obnoxious that I gave him an epoxy for his new drain for his sink instead of plumbers putty that I've recommended 20 minutes earlier. Later I told the actual plumbers about that and they were crying tears from laughter.

MWAHAHAHAHAAA! Oh, boy, you sure showed him!


l to r: AP
not pictured: getting over