Used 5" expansion anchors:


Used a hammer drill to drill two holes and dropped these in. Besides locating the exact spot to drill, the hardest thing was getting the depth correct. Too deep and you lose the thread and too shallow you aren't anchored enough. Found out the hard way once you drop them in they don't really want to come out.

That's what my kids lived with when they were growing up but they usually got a couple of years between projects.

This. Did the kitchen in my last house at the end of 2018. We had a good setup except the only way we had a sink was to relocate the old sink and cabinet into the basement so it was a PITA to do dishes, etc.

This kitchen will be much easier as there is a decent sink in our utility room which is right off the family room in the lower level. I'll get a cabinet or two from Resource Central and we'll be set.

From a design standpoint this has been the most challenging piece of the puzzle. It deserves several posts and I'm far enough I think I can start going through it, hopefully this weekend?

Bunch of noobs in here. Thought everyone knew when you remodel your kitchen, you put all your dirty dishes in the bathtub. When you're ready for your weekly bath, squirt a good amount of Palmolive in the water, get naked, and go to work.

Just let the dogs do the dishes.

That Resource Central store AquaSwing mentions is an awesome place. I think it's (or used to be) part of Habitat for Humanity, so all manner of used, but still usable house stuff. Check it out if you've got one in your area.

Our dishwasher is also strictly for cleaning dog drool off dishes that appear clean.

nice biscuits

This might be a stupid question where the obvious answer is the right one, but I'm going to ask nonetheless. We recently repainted a wall in our kitchen, and in it, there's an electric outlet. Beside that electric outlet was a blank plate (like this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Leviton-...-00W/100356907). So we took the blank plate off the wall to repaint it, and this is what's behind it:



What is this for?

Well, to have a place to mount the blank plate, obviously.

Seriously though, no idea. Are the dark pieces wires of some kind? Looks like too big a hole to be electrical conduit (?)

Most likely an old wall mounted phone jack. What kind of wires are coming out? Do you know where the pvc pipe ends up?

No chance the house ever had some kind of central vacuum system?

don't stick your weiner in there

My thoughts exactly.

So, the two brown wires look like old telephone cords (like this https://www.amazon.ca/Telephone-Cord.../dp/B07F224RRJ) but when I try to follow them down it looks like they go into the furnace (they go through some bulkheads along the way so it's not 100% clear that I'm looking at the right one). Central vacuum seems like the most likely to me but not sure how to confirm.

Edited: actually after looking at this video, it shows the exact thing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNDOFlZsuPw at 00:41.

if that box is mounted around 12" above your floor, then i think you've solved it.

Nice, and the vacuum really looks right, but it seems weird that the control wires would be inside the pipe.

if i remember correctly they ran the wires inside the hose to power the brush on the head and part of the attachment to the wall plugged into it.

milk hath shat out of thine nostrils...

In the linked pic the wires were outside the tube, which makes sense. The wires in the tube/pipe could cause the thing to get clogged up as you're vacuuming stuff up. I would guess it would anyway.

yeah, i typed inside but meant alongside

I figured I would try here for some wacky ideas I have. Not much luck on the interwebs.

I have a screened pool lanai (see pic below). The current structure is aluminum. I would like to replace the screened wall pictured with a wall that would knock down the sound from the house next door.

I originally thought either ICF or concrete block. However, I'm not sure the pool patio would handle the load. I've sort of talked myself out of that solution.

The wall is about 25' long by 8' tall.

So, I thought maybe just frame it (metal or wood studs) and soundproof as much as possible. I can attach the right end of the wall to the house. It is cinderblock. But the left end is an issue. I live in Florida and I've already been through multiple hurricanes and I don't think a wall not secured on both ends would take the wind. Any ideas on how to make this strong enough to deal with strong winds?

Seems like at least one post going from all the way to the ground to the top of the new wall at the end furthest away from your house and maybe another in the middle depending on how beefy everything is. Turning the corner and having some wall along the back would also make things stronger.

I'm picturing the thing as elevated. If it's not, doesn't much matter. The posts need to be embedded deeply enough into the ground.

If you don't want a big construction project, I imagine something could be done with something like vinyl or canvas sandwiching a sound deadening material like foam board. Vinyl can come in pretty large sheets I think and can look ok and resist water and weather. You might just take it down for hurricanes.