what the **** is a custom sports team chimney cap? are you serious with this ****?
like flying the flag off your front porch isn't enough?
guessing you put fathead stickers on the outside of your house but that doesn't reach peak visibility?

I guess cuckoo caps and other animatronics are out of the question as well.

Chimney guy just got 5 squirrels (mama and 4 little ones) out of my chimney and then I finally had it capped like I should have done 15 years ago. Wish I would have thought of something classy like a GRONKSPIKE cap, we just got a plain-ish wrought iron looking thing.

Also found out I need about $4000 more worth of work if I want to start using my fireplace again.

Be a man and just burn all that creosote out of there. What could go wrong?

Go old school and send a 7 year old down there to clean it.

It's not that it needs to be cleaned.

When we bought the house our inspector reported the liner/flue was cracked in multiple places, so we made our offer contingent on a new liner. They ended up putting a steel liner in rather than replacing the tile liner. We didn't really question anything because their insurance company paid for it and we figured it must have been done properly.

But it's never drafted correctly (smoke occasionally puffs back into house) and the walls near the hearth get hot when we have a fire. We stopped using it because I was nervous something wasn't right.

The guys we've had look at it (and evict the squirrels) report the following:

* Wrong size steel liner was used and the empty space between the outside of liner and the chimney was supposed to be filled in with a mortar type insulation which wasn't done.

* Smoke and heat is not directed properly from firebox into chimney which is why smoke puffs into house and walls heat up.

* Also some issue around size of hearth opening versus size of damper opening.

I'm pretty sure they're not full of **** but obviously going to get a second opinion.

They want to pull out the steel liner and then cut out the old tile liner and replace with a new tile liner, rip out the damper and move it to the top of the chimney, and reconfigure the inside of the firebox so the openings are proportionally correct and the smoke and heat is directed properly to the chimney.

$4k seems reasonable imo for the work they are proposing assuming we actually need it, which seems likely. However I'm useless at this stuff so need to research everything some more just to make sure I'm not getting a screw job.

$4k seems low, too low.

Maybe. I can dig up the quote but off the top of my head they're estimating about $2500 in materials (including disposal of all the waste) and $1500 in labor with 1.5-2 days for the entire job.

By possible "screw job" I meant quoting work that maybe doesn't need to be done, but my instincts are that they are giving me good info.

Any idea what may have caused the burn mark on this electrical outlet? It’s an outlet in my daughters room that is behind a dresser and is very rarely used.

Arcing caused by a loose or corroded connection. Problem could be with either the receptacle or what was plugged into it. Electrical codes in most places now require circuit breakers that trip when that happens.

zik, are you a gc?

First sealcoating on an asphalt driveway that's 1.5 years old but is already showing signs of crumbling around one edge. 1 coat or 2?

Yes

Dealing with this shortly as well, but mine is 26 years old and really falling apart. Resurfacing quotes of 4.2k, 4k, and 3k. Bids look exactly the same, not sure why the big difference. Wanted concrete but that was 12k.

The asphalt vs concrete debate for your driveway reminds me of asphalt vs metal debate for a roof. Concrete/pavers in the driveway (and metal on the roof) if that fits your lifestyle. I would also check out doing radiant heating underneath whatever you install if you live in an area that gets snow. Worth the extra $ after one bad winter.

Thinking about building a wood fired oven in the backyard. Anyone do this yet? Suggestions or tips?

I'm putting in an above ground pool on Sunday and I'm wondering about the electricity. Eventually in a couple of weeks I'll have an electrician put in proper underground wires running to the pump, but for a couple of weeks I'll need to plug into the house.

I have receptacles on the exterior of my house. The receptacles around the front of my house (too far to use for pool) are definitely GFCI as they have the little reset buttons on the receptacle. The receptacles on the house near where the pool is going don't have a reset, they only have the "waterproof when in closed position only" covers, so I know they're designed for outdoor use and thus surprised they wouldn't be GFCI, but without a button is that possible?

I'm thinking of using a GFCI adapter just to be sure, but could that present any issues if in fact the receptacle is GFCI, i.e. is it safe having two GFCI in series?

Micro I'm counting on you for a good answer!

Ok I'm an idiot and discovered the GFCI button on those receptacles is in the circuit breaker box. Looks like I'm all set.

Overhead and the lowest guy probably just bids stuff like a job and not like a business.

I had roofing quotes that ended up being almost double what I ended up paying IIRC, and the one I went with wasn't even the lowest quote. I think some guys are too busy to take more work, so they toss out an insane number and if you take it they end up delaying other jobs to do the work with the high margin.

Do you know how many square feet you're doing for the driveway? I'm considering concrete next year.

Here's a second floor remodel DIY project, that actually went pretty well! Took two squarish bedrooms and blew out the wall and closets between them to make a larger rectangularish space. I had the new carpet put in through Home Depot.

My drywall work for sure is pretty amateurish, which you can't really see in the photos, but I am proud of putting in the required beam, as the wall/closets I removed were load bearing. They supported the ends of joists above, which run the longways length of the room. So a lot of pictures I know, but why not. I selected these, out of the 500,000 I took during the project, ha. The sound absorbing panels make a big difference in the acoustics of the room, and it's obviously a music/media space. The recessed LED lighting came out well, dimmable LED's are like the greatest thing. And then finished it off with some stage-type colored lighting, which is sound activated so when music is going it changes to the beat, which is fun! Last photo is just a screen capture of a video of the lights going, so orientation is kinda goofy. Cheers!

Very nice!

~1325.
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Sparks that is awesome.

Sparks, you paid for a solid 8x6 timber and then you covered it in drywall?

Yeah. Was thinking about staining it, making it a feature, but ended up going drywall and paint. Without any other exposed wood, probably would have been a little tricky to get an integrated look. Plus, the color scheme doesn't really include any earth tones, pretty much black and orange and grey.