Shower wall disaster-advice from Pros please.
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5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
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Home Reborn
5 years agoRelated Discussions
New homeowner, disaster lawn, organic advice
Comments (3)Well is sounds like your lawn was seeded in spring. Not a terrible time to start a lawn, but fall is best. The crabgrass could have been surpressed with an application of Tupersan when the seeding was done, but that is a moot point now. It's good that you are doing a soil test, because if you want to seed this year Sept. 1st is a good time for Long Island (maybe a few weeks earlier if it's cool enough and you use KBG). Tossing seed down occassionally, and at all times of the year is akin to throwing money away. Seed needs to be wet continually until it germinates, and then it still needs plenty of water. Seeding in summer is a bad idea. Mowing high is good, too high is not. How high is your mower set? If you are going to seed in late summer, then you might want to kill off all existing grass about a month before you do so. Crabgrass will die in the fall, but it is a gradual process, and it will get in the way of you seeding efforts. Also corn gluten meal has some preemergent activity, but it's no where near as good as Dimension, Halts, Barricade etc. I realize you have children and dogs, but after watering in it shouldn't be an issue. Mulch mowing is good, but if there are a lot of seedheads from poa annua, crabgrass, or other weeds it would be better to bag until seedheads aren't present. Again, seeding should be around Sept 1. Cool season grasses are best to start when daytime temps are in the seventies, nighttime in the 50's. Also if you plant KBG you might want to start a little earlier as KBG takes longer to germinate than TTTF or PR. You can grow mostly everything in full sun. For sun and shade you could try TTTF which does well, or a blend of KBG and FF. Seed selection is a long topic, so I won't get into it here, but most people will tell you to look elsewhere than the big box stores for your seeds. Ringers Lawn Restore is fine to use on an established lawn, but it would be better to use synthetics when establishing a new lawn. Coffee grounds are fine to put down as fertilizer, or you can put them in the compost pile. Preemergent timing is variable, a rule of thumb is apply when the forsythia is in bloom. Many people use a variety of organic fertilizers, Milorganite, Soybean meal, alfalfa pellets, etc. They all work, it's just important to supply you lawn and soil with the appropriate levels of nutrients, so let's see what the soil test says....See MoreCurbless shower disaster
Comments (10)First and foremost, I'm not a lawyer and there may be some on this forum with better or more correct advice. What follows is simply my opinion. In general, the better way to start remediation would have been to give the GC a chance to correct the deficiency. Not that you have to actually let him. But just start a discussion. You stop work. You show him the analysis you got from QD. You have a discussion. On your end, your argument is along the lines that the person the GC hired to do the work did not do it IAW industry/manufacturer/product guidelines. The letter from tech support confirms that. Your argument is that the GC himself failed to supervise the work and ensure that it was done IAW with the above. Your want the job done, done right, and done yesterday. You desire is to bring in another crew that is familiar with the product and who can do the installation correctly. THEN you quibble over nickles and dimes. Money spent versus money to be spent. Now, your GC may simply fold and give you what you want. It depends on the size of the job he is working, and the relationship he has with the tile sub. His tile sub may do the same, depending on his relationship with the GC. Or they may fight back. The tiler's argument could be that he didn't get a chance to fix his work. The GC can have the same argument. And of course your argument is that they should have done it right the first time. Right now, "as is", I'd say if you didn't even have a discussion with the GC about making it right and the possibility of bringing a new crew in, then all additional costs are on you. I know that sounds harsh, but that's generally the way small courts see these cases if it was to go to court. Are you familiar with a Mechanic's Lien? If one of the people who did work on your house doesn't get paid, even through no fault of your own, that worker can sometimes place a lien on your property. I don't want to get overly dramatic with the idea of a lien, but it's something to be aware of. In an ideal world, the tiler would take no money for his labor. The GC would take no money for his labor and oversight of that portion of the work. The GC already offered to pay for new tile, that's to your favor. The idea of you absorbing the difference for the higher labor seems fair. Once things are worked out, I recommend you get things in writing if you think there could be repercussions down the road. ie, you and the GC work things out, you think things are settled. But if the tiler still thinks he should get paid for his work and the GC refuses to pay him, the tiler could get ticked off and file a lien on your home. It'd be a good idea to get a Mechanics Lien Waiver and have any and all subs who do work on your house, to include your GC, sign it before funds are disbursed. Again, the above words are just my opinion. Good luck and do report back....See MoreRemedy for Kerdi disaster...advice needed
Comments (5)Thanks catbuilder. This is exactly what we decided to do. Little concern after removing the last row if all the top tiles will slowysink down but I tried to put some wood support underneath. Another issue is he left 2" below but didn't count the thinkness of floor tile that we will put in. So I am thinking either 1) put the last row of vertical wall tiles back and have 4"x4" floor tile butt against, or 2) lower the height of mortar bed by 7/16" (floor tile thinkness). If I do 2) the highest point of mortar bed will be 1 9/16", short of 2" that people normally do. The shower is 5x3.5' so pitch wise it seems okay to lower the mortar bed thinkness, but will that weaken the mortar bed structure? If it were you, which option is better. Thanks,...See MorePros and cons of pot fillers - need opinions/advice, please
Comments (8)Thanks for the EPA link, ccoombs1. By the way, that backsplash is gorgeous. I wouldn't have wanted to put anything on it anyway- your solution is great. Now I'm nervous that my much-anticipated hot water dispenser might not be a good idea, either... the link doesn't specifically address that, but it does say to only use cold water for drinking/cooking. The water would be cold when it goes into the heating appliance, which would be brand new, so I would not think that there would be any risk of lead. (?) Now I'm nervous... We have two little boys and I wouldn't want to do anything to jeopardize their health. We tested everything about the water when we moved in and again 2 years ago. Lead levels at the time were fine, but we did install a UV system for bacteria. Because of the old house, I get the kids' lead levels checked every year. I certainly don't want to add another risk factor......See MoreUser
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