Recent content by oldberkeley

Much obliged for the prompt and informative responses. A few additional questions: 1. If I do go with the peel & stick, I might as well get the best stuff I can. Is there a particular brand that someone can recommend? 2. The existing vinyl is old, stained and dated looking, but it is stuck...

I've done a lot of remodeling, especially tiling. Not a pro, but decent. Problem is I'm old, tired and poor! :) My son and his wife have a small, very modest house they want to sell. Kitchen floor is currently a worn-out sheet of vinyl. Normally I'd pull it up, then backerboard and tile...

Richard- Exactly. I do not want the linkage to break and the lift bucket to fall into the tail piece! Cobbler- Your answer really made me think about the situation and a thought actually entered my befuddled old mind: maybe it's just 30 years worth of sludge and hair! I described the trip lever...

Thanks to both of you for your answers. I'm going to take the trip lever face plate off very gently, and then very gently see if the linkage and lift bucket (barrel) will come out. The whole assembly is old. I'm worried that the linkage will break and the lift bucket fall into the tailpiece!

My daughter and son-in-law just bought a 1954 ranch, full basement with most of the ceiling drywalled. Older tub and fixtures. No pop-up stopper so I imagine it's a lift bucket set-up. The drain trip lever moves up and down very grudgingly. I managed to get the tub to hold water, then had a...

Bert- I'm a former Realtor. You are 100% correct in that they cannot "require" you to do jack! They have no legal regulatory or enforcement powers. Some, if not most, home inspectors are knowledgeable and well-trained. Others know very little. What power they do have, in spades, is the power to...

My house just went into contract, contingent on a home inspection. New addition, new kitchen and bathrooms, new breaker box, new 3-slot outlets in most of the house. In the older part of the house there is a total of 14 older 2-slot outlets. We’ve always just used 3-prong grounding adapters...

Good idea, thanks.

I'd like to install the siding horizontally. As I said, the height is only 26", there's a 2" x 4" running horizontally at the top and the bottom of the space, I'd put one in every 12" vertically. Seems to me to be enough support????

I’ve got an old 3-season porch, about 12’ x 12’, on a slab. Windows across the top part, 26” of the exterior bottom is half-rotten wood siding. I tore this siding off, decent 2” x 4” framing underneath. If I added some cripple studs to the existing framing, say every 12”, then stapled on some...

Been there done that with steel wool, Bondo, metal, etc. Woodpeckers simply move over an inch or two and begin again. Long-term solution is to kill the larvae, that takes time, need to sell the house next spring/summer. Re-siding with Hardie or vinyl my final solution, but just don't have the $$$$.

egdede- Perhaps it's my browser, but I'm still not seeing your suggestion. Very much appreciate all the replies and suggestions to my original post about woodpeckers eating the corners of my cedar shingle house. Yes I have bugs. Carpenter bee larvae. the peckers are not just drumming, they...

p: I'm familiar with the idea of physically separating the bird from the house. Mylar tape, netting, etc. The fishing line is an excellent idea. The only thing that bothers me about all the physical separation ideas is that they are all quite visible. Remember, I want to sell the house next...

egdede: I don't see any image for your trim suggestion. Please repost, TIA.

You're right about the hardness of the bondo (or similar compound) foiling the woodpeckers for that particular hole. The problem is that they'll move over an inch, and do their thing. Plugging the holes gets me nowhere: tried it! I need to replace the corner cedar shingles with a look-alike...