Random Thoughts [Home Improvement/Decorating Edition]

NEEEEXT!
... I still need to put some little trussing kind of thing underneath that tarp on the sandpit, so there's not always a giant puddle on top. Also have to do something about that roof maybe, it's currently just drenched in some random wood preservation stuffs.

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How much rent are you charging for that house? :LOL:
 
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Since I’m feeding a monthly ETF plan for my daughter… I guess -50€/month or so? 🙈

Edit: which at exactly 50€/m2 is outrageous, even for Cologne 🤣

Ah if this were the Freiburg region, you get about 100+ emails and get to hand pick who the best renter will be. 🥲🥹
 
Finally got around to displaying one of the old Tdi rocker/valve covers I kept from Keely, I kept the one from the original engine replaced in 2012 and the replacement when it was scrapped in 2017. They clean up nicely.

I'm pretty sure that I mentioned somewhere my desire to have shelves sized for Blu-ray cases and box-sets. Well I made my own from Melamine coated boards and decided to screw the rocker cover to the side.



It really needs a filler cap to finish it off, I'm sure I have a spare yellow one somewhere. You can just see the edge of one of my Makita tracks in that gap, it's where I store them. This cover is mounted just high enough so it doesn't interfere.
 
Oh I really love that! It fits that awkward spot perfectly and really adds a lot to the space.
It also hides witness marks from my sub-standard joinery! Turns out I'm no carpenter. :LOL:
 
I went and rummaged around in the garage, I did have a new 300tdi filler cap after all.




Noice.
 
I just remembered that I hadn't posted this, I kind of need to so I can bitch about something related in the Random Thoughts Tech Edition thread.

When I got the glass Kallax inserts I also got a small Lack shelf for £7. The plan was to make a small bedside shelf, I knew it was too big but I could trim it down. The construction made this a little tricky, it has a chunk of particle board glued in the back of an otherwise hollow shell with cardboard ribs. I had to remove the chunk, trim the shelf, cut out the cardboard to make space and then glue the chunk of board back in. It actually went fine and I also added screws.

Once that was done I was on to phase 2. I wanted a light switch on it to control the lights from my bed. For years I've been turning the light off and then using my phone light or falling over stuff in the dark while I get into bed. This was a good excuse to experiment.

I got a new remote control with the 4-way extension so I could sacrifice the old one. There are two types of Energenie remotes.

What I would call the old style:
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And what I would call the new style:
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The old style has the advantage of using microswitches on the board that you can solder to, but it's held together with three screws and you have to peel off the grey sticker to access two of them. The new one is only held together with one screw but uses contact pads and squishy buttons. I haven't tried soldering to them but I've done it to an Xbox 360 controller board before, it wouldn't be fun.

Anyway I had an old style that had already been apart for me to see how it worked, so that became the controller for this project. Engage photodump:

Wires soldered on. Positive is taken up to the momentary on-off-on switch and then is sent out to either the on or off. I'm saying the positive is commoned but I never actually tested the polarity.


Wires fed through the shelf


Attached to the spade terminals on the switch. You'll be very surprised to learn that this switch is from a Land Rover, it's an old electric window switch from Keely.


Screwed to the underside of the shelf so I can access it. These are RF so the LED didn't have to be bent over, it's just so I can see it and figure out if the coin cell battery is dead.


Probably should've used stickers. I thought about buying an unlabelled switch but that was overkill, I can still do that if I want to.


This remote is linked to the main lights and the 4-way, which allows me to turn on the main lights and the LED strips I have inside the cubes at the same time. It also allows me to control the other three sockets on the 4-way by reaching underneath and pressing the buttons, as whenever you link a remote to a 4-way strip it takes over all four pairs of buttons. My moan in the RT thread will explain why I might need to do that.
 
How the hell can I block off the infernal racket from the POS new-build nextdoor?

Some backstory: A lot flipper bought the house nextdoor, tore down the charming little house on the lot, and built a brand new house on spec...that didn't sell. LOL. Now they've pulled the for-sale listing and listed it as an AirBNB, which means there's no one at home most of the time to tell, "hey, your pool equipment is loud as hell and making a loud grinding sound 24/7." I don't even know who owns it most of the time—all I know is that I can't sleep or concentrate with this constant grinding noise coming from their stupid pool machinery.

There is a special place in hell for greedy lot-flipping chuds. I can only hope that it's a money-losing enterprise after having to put up with the constant racket and jackhammering that made my house a living nightmare (and continues to make my house a nightmare to be in, thanks to this busted-ass pool machine).

Anyway, I have to figure out some kind of way to block this noise on my side of the fence, I guess. It's in a narrow space between their house and the fence, and then there's only a narrow path between my side of the fence and my office. This frickin' turd sounds like a damn freight train at all hours, even in my bedroom that sits next to the office. This is hell. Absolute hell.

I let a code compliance guy come by this afternoon to have a look, and there's really nothing they can do without getting in touch with the owner, either, which is frustrating. I guess I could reach out through the AirBNB listing, but that just seems to be posted by a management company. Maybe they can handle it? I'm out of ideas on what to do, but the grinding sound just seems to be getting louder and louder. I honestly mistook it for a train horn when I first heard it. "Why is there a train horn at this hour? Oh, wait. That's not going off like a horn would. WELP."

Worst case, is there some kind of outdoor soundproofing material around I could stick on the damn fence? I thought about putting a vine on the fence, but that would take a while to grow in and there's not a lot that really grows in that weird, dark little pathway.
 
How the hell can I block off the infernal racket from the POS new-build nextdoor?

Some backstory: A lot flipper bought the house nextdoor, tore down the charming little house on the lot, and built a brand new house on spec...that didn't sell. LOL. Now they've pulled the for-sale listing and listed it as an AirBNB, which means there's no one at home most of the time to tell, "hey, your pool equipment is loud as hell and making a loud grinding sound 24/7." I don't even know who owns it most of the time—all I know is that I can't sleep or concentrate with this constant grinding noise coming from their stupid pool machinery.

There is a special place in hell for greedy lot-flipping chuds. I can only hope that it's a money-losing enterprise after having to put up with the constant racket and jackhammering that made my house a living nightmare (and continues to make my house a nightmare to be in, thanks to this busted-ass pool machine).

Anyway, I have to figure out some kind of way to block this noise on my side of the fence, I guess. It's in a narrow space between their house and the fence, and then there's only a narrow path between my side of the fence and my office. This frickin' turd sounds like a damn freight train at all hours, even in my bedroom that sits next to the office. This is hell. Absolute hell.

I let a code compliance guy come by this afternoon to have a look, and there's really nothing they can do without getting in touch with the owner, either, which is frustrating. I guess I could reach out through the AirBNB listing, but that just seems to be posted by a management company. Maybe they can handle it? I'm out of ideas on what to do, but the grinding sound just seems to be getting louder and louder. I honestly mistook it for a train horn when I first heard it. "Why is there a train horn at this hour? Oh, wait. That's not going off like a horn would. WELP."

Worst case, is there some kind of outdoor soundproofing material around I could stick on the damn fence? I thought about putting a vine on the fence, but that would take a while to grow in and there's not a lot that really grows in that weird, dark little pathway.


Since you have time on your hands, go to your local city/township hall and find out who owns the house. Send them a nice letter via certified mail, explaining the situation and demanding a resolution.


Then, if that doesn't work, give that information to a lawyer when you sue them for making your living next to their buzz box such a wonderful experience. Make sure to get videos inside and out that demonstrates exactly how loud it is, day and night. Use a decibel meter if you can.


It is not right that the pool filter runs 24/7 and they don't have to hear it, but you do.
 
Since you have time on your hands, go to your local city/township hall and find out who owns the house. Send them a nice letter via certified mail, explaining the situation and demanding a resolution.


Then, if that doesn't work, give that information to a lawyer when you sue them for making your living next to their buzz box such a wonderful experience. Make sure to get videos inside and out that demonstrates exactly how loud it is, day and night. Use a decibel meter if you can.


It is not right that the pool filter runs 24/7 and they don't have to hear it, but you do.
Time, but no money. Still, I'll probably try to figure out who owns the damn place.
 
So I found a tiny little crack in our living room ceiling the other day. First I was worried the house was coming down, but then the position and a particular 90° bend the crack made told me it was probably just a badly done patch of one of the holes in the ceiling left by one of the walls (non-bearing, yeah yeah) we pulled out. So I told our contractors about it and they wanted to make things right... yeah, I probably should've just slapped some paint over the crack and kept quiet. Ugh. They actuall cut out around the crack about 30 cm wide... I'm not sure that'll end up less visible in the end than the crack that gave offense did. shit. but our moss-picture on the wall turned out nice lol :p (yes it's completely dead and mummified, supposed to last at least 5y, I hope a bit longer since it doesn't get hit by direct sunlight). Also also: we need a bigger TV.
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ANOTHER!
The only rain pipe we could use for a tank to water the plants and stuff was one in front of the house. Oh well… decided to go for 2x 250 liters, because anything else was super ugly and/or expensive (these were 65€ each). Also 250l is just a joke, so double! Bonus points for the top cover providing room for some plants as well. Also we hope they’ll sort of disappear behind all the plants and no rebellious teenagers decide to flood the front of the house 🤷‍♂️ They actually sit on nice and sturdy 60x60 cm stones, so even without any water they sit quite solidly because of the 20kg or so of earth up top.
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I’m starting to feel bad because I’m now double triple posting in here, buttfuckit 🙈

Since you can never have enough solar (no 13.8 kWp ain’t enough), I went to the hardware store and spent a whopping EIGHT EUROS on 100kg of concrete blocks to fix a pv module onto. Getting those two up on the garage roof was real fun, I tell you, but I’m very happy with the result so far. Aluminum rails will go either side to clamp the module onto, the micro inverter will hide on the inside face of that upright block that will be covered by the module and cables will run inside the aluminum rails as well. Nice and proper despite DIY.
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Regarding the large PV, as posted somewhere else, I’m technically not allowed to run it because my old meter would be running backwards which is VERBOTEN ofc.
 
A couple if weeks ago, I got out of the shower and was still feeling warm, so I thought I'd crank up the ceiling fan in the bedroom and lay under it for a minute. So I cranked it up to its highest speed for a minute, then went on with my day. The next time I turned it on, though, to its lowest speed, it was making a sort of "rubbing" noise, so we stopped using it.

It's a Big Ass Fans Haiku L, first gen.

Annoyingly, when I tried calling them, I tried 4-5 times where I'd be in hold for an hour before the system just said to leave a message. I also filled out the online support ticket with links to videos of the fan in operation, to no response for over a week. I was really annoyed.

Yesterday I finally got ahold of someone who admitted they are just slammed, especially with the recent heat waves, and are just now getting to requests from the 3rd of August (mine was sent on the 8th). All it took was one troubleshooting test (which my fan failed), and they are sending a new one, free of charge, and I just need to ship the old one back in the new box once I get it, with a prepaid label.

Looking through the install guide...man, this thing is complicated compared to a shitty, contractor-special, Hampton Bay. Ha!
 
Removed the old balcony railing cladding whatever… 40 yo wood, half crumbly, being held on by weird ass plastic inserts in the steel structure??? Never seen such bullshit. Half of them were loose or falling to bits, honestly doesn’t really feel safe… oh well, it’s down now to be replaced by even more solar. Lower mounting rail is already up, will put a second one on the steel railing thing (with solid screws and nuts and what have you).
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Edit: second mounting rail for pv panels done.
also actually secured those two little extra arms that curve out to the front to give the whole thing a bit more stability. Those were just completely loose and doing exactly nothing.
Also also: everything is stainless M8 with 24mm washers and a bunch of thread locker now.
 
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I put a kitchen cabinet set together.

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It's not 100% complete, but it's enough to be usable and reduces my reliance on either the grill outside or pre-made meals that need a microwave.

The used oven and cooktop were cheap for a reason I found out. Convection fan is dead and only 3 of the 4 "burners" work. I probed the connection and you get power up to the point for that burner at the plug, so I assume internal cabling or the heat coil is dead. Whatever, it's the back left which for me is the one that's almost never used, so I'm not concerned too much. I would like to have the convection fan working, but maybe at a later date will I find another used set off Kleinanzeigen or go brand new. Dishwasher I think is a smidge too big as I can't push the sink countertop and cabinet flush against the others, lest the dishwasher door contacts the drawer handle. In any case, I have a kitchen again.

Bananas for scale.
 
Is that tall cabinet on the right a refrigerator, or storage? Man, I'd love a big "pantry" cabinet like that.
 
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