Let's See Your House Projects!

[shoei]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

The first time I noticed an outlet "upside down" was while waiting at the hospital a number of years ago. It caught my attention partly because it was upside down and partly because it was bright orange. Apparently the orange colour indicates a dedicated circuit of some sort.

Yep. The orange ones are usually reserved for the ultra sensitive equipment. Has to be isolated from the usual grounding.

Last time I was in the hospital I needed a plug for my charger. Guess who got a crash course on light socket colors in the hospital.

Red is for emergency back up'd attached to generator so life saving equipment would be my guess. Or iPhone charger but they didn't agree.

Blue is generic. Regular ground but with alarms if there is an incident.

[Buug959]

Originally Posted by shoei

Yep. The orange ones are usually reserved for the ultra sensitive equipment. Has to be isolated from the usual grounding.

Last time I was in the hospital I needed a plug for my charger. Guess who got a crash course on light socket colors in the hospital.

Red is for emergency back up'd attached to generator so life saving equipment would be my guess. Or iPhone charger but they didn't agree.

Blue is generic. Regular ground but with alarms if there is an incident.

Perhaps you appear too old to belong to the generation that is biologically attached to their phone, ie. if it dies, they die. LOL

[shoei]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

Perhaps you appear too old to belong to the generation that is biologically attached to their phone, ie. if it dies, they die. LOL

Well, my logic was sound. If I stick my white charger into a RED socket, surely I won't forget my charger on the way out, lol.

[TheWatchGuy]

ground up or down is more of a preference of the electrician, or the client, than anything. No NEC requirement for it (i havent looked through the latest version but i cant imagine its changed), but i have seen some local codes address it either way.

what i usually see is ground up for switched, ground down for unswitched to differentiate the two.

Ive always installed ground down fwiw. easier to not touch the live prongs of a plug if you can see them when you are unplugging.

I will say ive never seen foam in a box, and I cant imagine that is a good idea. If for nothing else, when you have to replace that outlet, its going to be a pita. I believe it is against the NEC as well.

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by LemansE90335xi

The first time I noticed an outlet "upside down" was while waiting at the hospital a number of years ago. It caught my attention partly because it was upside down and partly because it was bright orange. Apparently the orange colour indicates a dedicated circuit of some sort.

Yup. Isolated ground. Will continue to provide power if the breaker is tripped.

[nyalpine90]

i dont think its matters at all.

i have these outlet

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...340161#overlay

[Mosaud1998]

Decided to finish the basement.

We're going to add a second kitchen and bathroom with a shower and 2 sinks. We'll have to cut the concrete for pluming. Dad said he can do that

Drywall we'll probably put on ourselves but have someone sand and paint it.

Still a long way to go but they don't have to use the minivan to haul studs since I can bring an F-150 from work

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by Maestro

Hate to critique other people's work,

First I never seen foam sprayed in around electrical outlets, most foams are not rated in that kind of applications. This could be an issue since foam can absorb water over time from the environment and I would recommend removing it. If this was done for cold air reason the foam should have been put in around the outside the plug box to prevent air going through the outlet box.

Next and this would have made your life a little easier especially when you go to put covers on the outlets. The tile on the top and bottom of the outlets should be under the metal tabs of the outlet. You want the outlets mounted flush and tight against the tile. Otherwise your outlet will be floating when you place the outlet covers on the outlets and will move around when you try to plug and unplugs thing and eventually the outs may break. Trust me on this, the previous owners of our house did it your way and I had broken cover plates and outlets over the years. We just remodel our kitchen and redid the back splash and I made sure the plug tabs sat on top of the tiles and they mounted firm to the tile surface. It does require longer screws and Lowes and Home Depot carry them.

according to the Ohio UBC the spray foam is only applied on outlets that are on the exterior walls, not internal. this helps with insulation purposes. believe me when i opened them i was like wtf is this? but i used a plastic tool to remove the insulation cause i will be replace all the outlets with new outlets and new covers. for the spray foam insulation there's new outlet covers that have foams backings. 2nd no issues with removing the outlets when the tiles were applied. i took the picture before hand



progress pictures!

[lsturbointeg]

so here's one section that's done with grout now. everything is turning out great! will work on the other walls over the next few days. just need to replace the outlets with new and do touch up paint to clean things up

[King Rudi]

Originally Posted by lsturbointeg

so here's one section that's done with grout now. everything is turning out great! will work on the other walls over the next few days. just need to replace the outlets with new and do touch up paint to clean things up

Stellar work as usual brother. Looks great!

[Maestro]

I guess I should share with everyone, here is one of our Covid projects.

The wife and I did the entire kitchen and laundry room ourselves (except the counter tops, had them professionally installed) and completed all the work in 4 months. This included tearing everything out and having to completely rewire the kitchen due the crazy way it was done. The kitchen had four circuits with the Refrig and garbage disposal tired to the dinning room plugs. They had stuffed all the wires in the bulk head and they were not long enough to put above the cabinets. The previous owner mortar the floor tile on top of original linoleum, could not believe they did that but it was blessing we were able to lift the tile by getting under the linoleum and breaking. If some want to remove the new floor they better bring jack hammers. We were able to use the kitchen the entire time, we were without the sink and counter tops for only a few days.

The last few pictures had 99% of it done there were a few minor things left to complete when I took those photos. We lived in the house 17 year and the kitchen was the last room to be remodel. We had to knock the 90's out of the room. We have done every room in the house and I installed movie theater in the basement. Our plan is to sell it in the next year since we are in the process of building a new home on 7.5 acres. The kitchen was test a run for the new house to see what we did and did not like about the cabinets and some other things. Definitely going with all Drawers verse Cabinets, way more useful and easy to get access to your stuff.

[lsturbointeg]

alright guys kitchen upgrade is done, now it's time to figure out how to do this LED lighting!

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by hybrid_eg

LED strip: Buy as much as you need
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LW Wire: Run from transformer to your LED strips
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Misc Connectors: If you dont want to solder you can use these to attach to LED strip then just use butt connectors to connect to LV wire.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED mounting channels with covers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

MISC connectors: If you're back-lighting a mirror these are useful so you're not bending the strip instead you will cut 4 pieces of strip and use thee to connect to your LV feed. No soldering
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Solder butt connectors: The best, you just need a cig lighter.. use this to connect misc connectors to your LV feed wire for best connection
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Wire cable organizer: For inside cabinets, etc for your LV wire feed
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

LED Transformer - Check LED strip length and calculate wattage you need
https://www.readyelectricsupply.com/...iversal-driver

gonna start looking into this as well as the diagrams you sent earlier and see what i need. thanks for this new project

[vreihen16]

I am a fan of the EShine LED system from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072JJ4748/

The above is just one piece, which contains a hand-wave sensor that turns the lights on/off without touching them. We had xenon puck lights over our kitchen sink for over 10 years, with a capacitive tap pad to turn them on/off. It is so much cleaner to wave and not touch anything, especially with wet hands. You can mix-and-match to get exactly what you need for your unique cabinet situation, and they are bright enough to serve as work lights for the countertops below.....

[lsturbointeg]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

I am a fan of the EShine LED system from Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072JJ4748/

The above is just one piece, which contains a hand-wave sensor that turns the lights on/off without touching them. We had xenon puck lights over our kitchen sink for over 10 years, with a capacitive tap pad to turn them on/off. It is so much cleaner to wave and not touch anything, especially with wet hands. You can mix-and-match to get exactly what you need for your unique cabinet situation, and they are bright enough to serve as work lights for the countertops below.....

wow this is actually a nice design. wonder if they have anything in a multi color system?

[vreihen16]

They have an Amazon storefront, but I have never looked to see if they have color-changing LED stuff.

My project was to replace our under-counter xenon puck work lights, and the EShine LED setup did that and more.

Interesting footnote is that I bought a high-end addressable LED light strip kit last year as a new product pre-order. It does 64K different colors, animations, etc. Other than testing the LED strips out on the floor when the package arrived, I have done nothing with them. I was hoping to use them as room lighting around the perimeter of the ceiling, but they were only bright enough to function as accent lighting.....

[DETRoadster]

Originally Posted by Mosaud1998

Decided to finish the basement.

We're going to add a second kitchen and bathroom with a shower and 2 sinks. We'll have to cut the concrete for pluming. Dad said he can do that

Drywall we'll probably put on ourselves but have someone sand and paint it.

Still a long way to go but they don't have to use the minivan to haul studs since I can bring an F-150 from work

Please post up some pics of how you frame and sheetrock around that HVAC ducting. I'll be doing the same this winter and would love to see how your approach it.

[JP10]

Came home from golf two weekends ago to the wife's purchases rolling in. Asked her what we were getting ourselves into. She said "we are redoing the master bathroom today!", with the intention of completing everything in one day. I finally got her to put on the brakes and consider doing the aesthetic work properly rather than half assing everything based on pinterest DIYs. Luckily that went well and after two weekends our minor work is complete!
-New mirrors, light fixture, vanity fixtures, and all towel/TP racks.
-Repainted the entire room from blue to an off-white color (Chantilly Lace).
-Painting the vanity was a little more of a pain, and if I had a bigger budget I would've went a different route. They're coated in that MRF, and I know they say not to paint it or whatever but we did anyways. Sanded them down to get a decent finish followed by a prime coat and 2 top layers - finish turned out solid, but there are minor areas that will eventually need to be re-finished due to the MRF pealing. Wife just wanted to put a 1 coat on and I told her that was a terrible idea haha.
-Put wall paper up behind the vanity which was cake, also lined the back wall behind the toilet in the wall paper.
-The counter-top was really dull and everything would dry and stick to it. So I grabbed my orbital polisher, hit it with a cutting compound twice. Followed by a sealant - now it finally has a shear to it and everything drains much better. Was questioning my idea, but happy how it turned out.
-Then replaced the faucets and drains - no leaks yet knock on wood haha - first minor plumbing I've done.

All credit for design goes to the wife obviously - she wants to get into interior design and has had that idea for awhile now. Unfortunately we have always rented and never had the opportunity to do more "renovations". I told her that once we buy we can start tackling rooms and she can build a little portfolio - she is good with social media and editing so it was a big hit. Funny part is the contract to buy isn't even settled yet and we are already knocking out rooms haha. Total cost for all the work was right around $500, so aesthetically I think it was more than worth it. The floors/shower/bath will remain to be tackled another day once we have more to throw at it.

Anyways here are the before and after photos!

[Mosaud1998]

Originally Posted by DETRoadster

Please post up some pics of how you frame and sheetrock around that HVAC ducting. I'll be doing the same this winter and would love to see how your approach it.

Sorry, I got busy.

Also, excuse the mess.

[Patrick303]

Originally Posted by JP10

Came home from golf two weekends ago to the wife's purchases rolling in. Asked her what we were getting ourselves into. She said "we are redoing the master bathroom today!", with the intention of completing everything in one day. I finally got her to put on the brakes and consider doing the aesthetic work properly rather than half assing everything based on pinterest DIYs. Luckily that went well and after two weekends our minor work is complete!
-New mirrors, light fixture, vanity fixtures, and all towel/TP racks.
-Repainted the entire room from blue to an off-white color (Chantilly Lace).
-Painting the vanity was a little more of a pain, and if I had a bigger budget I would've went a different route. They're coated in that MRF, and I know they say not to paint it or whatever but we did anyways. Sanded them down to get a decent finish followed by a prime coat and 2 top layers - finish turned out solid, but there are minor areas that will eventually need to be re-finished due to the MRF pealing. Wife just wanted to put a 1 coat on and I told her that was a terrible idea haha.
-Put wall paper up behind the vanity which was cake, also lined the back wall behind the toilet in the wall paper.
-The counter-top was really dull and everything would dry and stick to it. So I grabbed my orbital polisher, hit it with a cutting compound twice. Followed by a sealant - now it finally has a shear to it and everything drains much better. Was questioning my idea, but happy how it turned out.
-Then replaced the faucets and drains - no leaks yet knock on wood haha - first minor plumbing I've done.

All credit for design goes to the wife obviously - she wants to get into interior design and has had that idea for awhile now. Unfortunately we have always rented and never had the opportunity to do more "renovations". I told her that once we buy we can start tackling rooms and she can build a little portfolio - she is good with social media and editing so it was a big hit. Funny part is the contract to buy isn't even settled yet and we are already knocking out rooms haha. Total cost for all the work was right around $500, so aesthetically I think it was more than worth it. The floors/shower/bath will remain to be tackled another day once we have more to throw at it.

Anyways here are the before and after photos!

Looks great! I especially like the wallpaper. Is that the adhesive backed stuff you can buy at Target, Home Depot, etc? Or is that the traditional stuff? I want to do a few accent walls with wallpaper, but nervous of how it'll turn out doing it myself!

[Patrick303]

My landscapers just finished up yesterday afternoon!

1200 sqft of sod, Mexican Beach Pebble lined walkway


Planted a few trees and bushes, and lined the outside edge of the driveway with Junipers. Considering adding a couple on the opposite side to frame the driveway.


4 tons of crushed granite filling in the space between the concrete pavers, and a few trees/bushes planted in the back. Ordering some new chaise loungers for next season.

[JP10]

Originally Posted by Patrick303

Looks great! I especially like the wallpaper. Is that the adhesive backed stuff you can buy at Target, Home Depot, etc? Or is that the traditional stuff? I want to do a few accent walls with wallpaper, but nervous of how it'll turn out doing it myself!

Much appreciated! Yes, it is the adhesive backed wallpaper from Target. It was cake to put on. Just need to watch for bubbling and smooth it out as you go. Worked well by applying to the top, then I held tension while the wife worked the paper down the wall keeping in mind to have the edges straight. Overall it was the easiest part of the project.