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Our overhead light outside our front door blew during a recent storm, so I replaced it yesterday. Not a difficult process, done stuff like this before.
Dumb question, though: the ground wire in the ceiling - it’s a bare copper wire, so I assume it’s ground - is not attached to anything, just dangling there. I didn’t see any green screw or anything that seemed like an obvious place to attach it. House is old - almost 50 years. I installed the light anyway, white to white, black to black, etc. Is it ok that I didn’t attach the green ground wire from the light?
I did some googling and it seems like it’s ok, as lots of older houses don’t even have ground wires. This fixture is easy to remove, so I don’t mind going in there and connecting the ground if there is a proper way to do it.
nextdoor is a great for warnings about suspicious cars and people that drove/walked through the neighborhood.
in my experience, plumbers rarely are also doing remodels. they rarely even want to fix the damage they make getting to the leak.
Some old houses have no ground at all and some use metal conduit as the ground. Some fixtures will attach a ground wire (yes, the bare copper is a ground wire) to a metal piece of the junction box. If the fixture is fed by wires traveling through a (probably flexible) metal conduit, then attaching that wire to the (probably metal) junction box will ground the fixture. If it’s like those really old cloth insulated knob and tube wires, then it’s impossible without running a new ground wire to that location (which is hard).
How to attach the ground wire to a metal junction box? It could have a set screw for that purpose. If not, a self-tapping screw, or nut and washers and bolt.
Would many electricians go to that kind of trouble? Probably not.
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Look on Jameshardie website. Artisan collection might have something similar. You could get something that looks somewhat like those pictures.
So we’re having our kitchen remodeled. We went with a smaller outfit, the price was lower than the other two bids we received. They did the kitchen of the house across the street, and that guy said he was happy.
It’s a total remodel. New floor, new cabinets, tile up half the wall, some shelving, new appliances, new sink, new lighting. However it’s a very small galley kitchen. No wall demo or anything (except what’s needed for plumbing etc.)
So the guy didn’t promise a timeline of course, but he estimated 3-4 weeks, 5 tops. Lots of things like “once we get started, it’ll go quickly” “I realize how hard it is to be without a kitchen” etc.
We’re on 8 weeks now, and it will end up at least 10. (Ten weeks from first day of people in the house. Planning went on for months before that.) We’re waiting on the plumber (subcontractor) to do his final stuff, then appliances will come There have been multiple days where they say they’re coming, and then end up not coming at all (to go work on another project).
So far the work quality of what has been finished is good. We like the head carpenter and his helper (with the head contractor, it’s a three-man team). Plumbing and electrical subbed out.
Trying to figure out how mad I should be out of 10. My wife is at least at an 8 (due to the constant pushing back of due date, days where nothing is happening, and the empty bullshit about how they understand how hard it is to be without a kitchen). I was pretty pissed as well, but maybe it’s just LOL me for ever believing the timeline in the first place. If it was (say) a back deck, I wouldn’t care as much. But washing dishes in the bathroom sink, and not having a stove, it’s getting pretty old.
Custom cabinets and fairly fancy quartz countertop, if that matters. But those were being made by others, not our team.
How pissed should I be?
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I do not know the exact term for the sound I made with my lips when I read this, but I think it could be a “raspberry”. The meaning of the sound is “lol, yeah right”.
You can be as pissed as you want, but this is how it goes.
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“ppsshht”
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I understand delays and have had plenty in my own business, but I did do a full kitchen remodel one time (I didn’t personally do work other than keeping things going) and I took it very seriously that their kitchen would be out of commission and we were less than 3 weeks. I’m broke though and bending over backwards and having lower prices than other people is largely responsible for that.
(Customer was very happy and we later did a bathroom for them. I barely made any money, if any, on either job.)
As they say: Fast - Cheap - Good, Pick two.
I will also say that I sympathize with the frustration. We HATE construction in our home, and being without a kitchen SUCKS. We did a full kitchen remodel 10+ years ago along with a ton of other work on our main level including adding a bathroom. It took six months! Before we started people said “you should move out” and I was very opposed to paying a mortgage plus rent at the same time. Afterward, I really wished we have moved out for at least a portion of the time.
Yeah I guess the answer is “LOL me for believing him”. I suppose if it does get done in ten weeks and it’s good work, we should just be happy it wasn’t longer. I’ll believe the ten weeks when it’s done though. I’m not gonna fall for the ol’ banana in the tailpipe again
It wasn’t cheap but it was cheaper than our other detailed estimate.
Yeah it sucks having people in the house. The dog and the cat don’t help. I couldn’t imagine six months. I work from home too, which makes it awkward.
At least we have a bathroom under the basement stairs we can send them to (like common trolls) and they don’t have to use our bathroom.
They’re happy about about having a bathroom to use that’s not in the way and hopefully not even totally finished and decorated. It sucks worse to not have a bathroom, but, as a worker, it’s not great to be all dirty and walking in people’s houses and using their fancy bathrooms.
When I had my contractor friend and his crew do some work at my house they were using our guest bathroom. Then, one of them got COVID and I asked them to get a porta-potty. Later, one of the crew said they all preferred the porta-potty for the reason you describe.
Yeah the basement bathroom fits that bill nicely. I think both sides are happier.
Anyone have any suggestions or thoughts on adding a patio to the new house during construction?
My original plan was to have the driveway guys pour the patio at the same time to save some money. I’m clueless on design though. My original thought is to add like a 12x18 patio between parallel to the 2 basement windows and separate it from the driveway with plans and trees. The front yard is the same size as the side here and will be completely grass. We’ll have a low metal fence surrounding the whole area.
The front door is facing the church and then maybe add walking stones to the patio.
Can’t help with your problem, but here’s something I’ve wondered.
If you built a house with the same footprint, but one story higher, what percentage are you adding to the cost?
Do you want a patio right next to the sidewalk and street?
Are you going to access it from the front door or the garage?
It’s really the only place for it. It’s not ideal being so close to the street but it’s not that big of a negative for us. Can’t get everything!
The idea was the both… stepping stones from the front door and then leave a little walkway through the mulchbed by the garage.