It’s like reading a different language when you guys get into the details of this stuff.
2 Likes
MC has wires already in it, flex (or FMC) is just the outer housing that you have to pull wires through yourself.
I’m going to drop EMT and NM-B in here too just to confuse Jbro.
1 Like
that was the first thing my buddy said as i was getting through the tile, probably going to replace them monday.
also, house was built in 1949, so yeah i’ve found lots of weirdo stuff over the 10 years i’ve been here.
lastly, new everything. i wanted a deeper tub for bubble baths lol. and a taller toilet. at that point i figured i may as well rip out the vanity and tile too bc why not?
1 Like
Yeah. Looks like flex though. MC is generally smaller. Also what I see looks a little different. MC is also called AC and also called BX.
Update: The A/C was fine for a while, then it froze up again. I had someone come out, and they were a bit baffled. The refrigerant pressure was fine, coils were clean, no obvious cause. His best guess was that there was some sort of contaminant in the refrigerant lines and we would need to either undertake some wildly complicated and expensive rebuild process or use this product called AC Renew to bust the clots (although his company apparently won’t sanction the use of this product, which was weird…).
None of that seemed appealing, so I just set the fan to run more often in the hopes that would help stave off any problems. Which worked for a while, but then on a recent humid day it froze up again. This time, I did some investigation of my own. I have a 3-zoned, single-speed A/C system, with a bypass. I discovered that one of the zone dampers coming off of the plenum was stuck in a half-open position! This morning, I checked it and it was actually at two-thirds closed. (It’s designed to have several different bleed settings, but it’s set to close fully when it’s closed. However, there’s a dial thingy that shows it at the bleediest bleed level last night, and one down from that this morning.) So, my theory is that either the damper actuator is not working properly or there’s some kind of blockage or corrosion or something that’s making the damper open only some of the time. Sometimes it opens fully though, so may not a blockage. This would mean that the bypass if feeding some of the cool air back into the return rather than into the ducts, and on hot and humid days it will have to run indefinitely, since the blocked zone is never going to get to the right temperature. That seems like it could explain the freezing even if the system is otherwise healthy.
Two questions if anyone has thoughts:
- Does this theory make sense? I don’t want to have a tech come out, give me coronavirus, charge me $100, then tell me that my theory is half-baked and I need to have the system rebuilt.
- Is this a plausible DIY project for someone who isn’t especially handy? It seems that replacing the actuator would be doable, but I’d like to at least check the interior of the duct to see if there’s anything obviously wrong with the damper itself. That seems much harder to do.
By freeze do you mean something is blocked with ice?
I don’t really know anything about AC or what this bleeding or dampers are about, but is there some kind of defroster like in a refrigerator/freezer? A heating element that runs periodically to melt any ice?
Yeah, the coils get encapsulated in ice. Basically, if you don’t live in the desert, the A/C is always condensing humidity from the air, and if the coils get too cold due to insufficient airflow or other causes, the water freezes before it can drop off.
Anyone here want to do a small bathroom remodel as the start of a worker cooperative? This is not for my house. There’s about $14,000 in it and the customer is buying the fixtures except for the tub and they are also buying the tile. @Rivaldo? @zikzak? @Sabo Any tile people around here?
1 Like
tub & tile and the whole of bathroom or kitchen remodel is beyond me. love to learn one day, but I’m just plumbing really
1 Like
It takes a village. It’s beyond me too. I am almost certainly “doing” the job. It’s sold. I don’t know what combination of subcontracting or hiring I’m doing. I have people to do the job and am going to attempt to organize them as a cooperative, but don’t expect success. It’s possible that the job will be a hybrid of cooperative/subbing out/hiring. Obviously I don’t expect anyone here to travel thousands of miles for a relatively small jerb (and spotty potential for more), but just throwing it out there.
1 Like
$14k labor only sounds like a pretty significant bathroom remodel.
That would translate to about $28k with everything included, correct? (I’ve heard you can do rough estimates by doubling the cost of materials.) Anyway, that’s about what it cost us to do a smallish bathroom a couple of years ago.
These things sell for more here in Cali. It’s a pretty small bathroom. Customer to supply items include plumbing/rough, vanity/top, accessories, tile materials/border. Job description moving a small wall (like in my bathroom to accomodate a full sized tub (theirs is 4’6" and that wall was added - not structural, move a light, tile surround with niche, paint. Contract price is $13960. Something comes off the top for the guy who sold it. At least 10%, but probably $2k, well probably full partnership. I’m almost committed to someone else doing some of the work, but could get out of that (I didn’t make the committment).
If you want to split it, the job starts Monday. You can come in late as well - customer is expecting up to 3 weeks. I can probably get you put up for the duration. Nanodaughter is on board to be an assistant. I already asked if she would help the guy doing the tile because I think it would be good for her to learn since she’s into art and it can be pretty artistic.
But, again, obviously I’m not expecting anyone to travel thousands of miles for this - especially during a pandemic.
I just finished one in that range which included knocking down a wall, moving the heat, most of the plumbing and the electrical. The benefits of doing everything myself: No subs, no middlemen, all the money goes in my pocket.
After our remodel was finished, I was thinking that I should have tried doing something like this. I’m pretty sure I got gouged enough that I could have paid the Unstuck/22 home improvement masters enough to fly out to me and make it worth their while. Almost certainly would have been comparable in quality to the work I had done (which was admittedly good, but pricey), if not better.
1 Like
I cringed while watching that. I have had countless wheels explode on me. Worked with a guy that took one to the neck and almost died. I will admit I’m guilty of no guard and doing same shit when I was younger. Flipped grinder on one handed and my knuckle was on the grinder disc. Still have a scar. Grinders scare me more then almost any other tool.
I know contractors that use this system. The thing about contractors is I don’t think 90% of them have any idea what to actually charge.
2 Likes
I wish I was getting 14k in labor per bathroom. I would be making a killing. I need to up my price
My worst grinder mishap was the wheel catching my t-shirt and getting pulled up my chest as the fabric wrapped around the arbor. Thankfully it stalled out the motor before I got too abraded. Both nipples still intact.
3 Likes
I am paying for the tub, paint and some misc and there’s a salesperson to pay too.
What’s your trade? GC? What state?