Home Improvement and Maintenance

[Huntn]

JFC.

Our monster squirrels went through the pretty thick plastic covers, didn't quite get in, I re-taped them, chased them away in the evening, but left them a little surprise, and it's quiet today Re-taped the damage this morning, using some super HD 5" Gorilla tape, this stuff is nasty sticky. Tomorrow during the day, when it's quiet and nobody around, I may further reduce the population.

So 2-3 hours and $25 later, it's not solved, TBH, I was a little worried about the plastic, that's great for small rodents, and especially birds, but they weren't designed for large "tree rats" with determination.

Ordered these today:


View attachment 18588


304 stainless, powder coated.

What do these cover? Of interest it was illegal to kill squirrels in Minnesota so people who wanted to follow the law, trapped them and transported them to the woods/ someone else’s neighborhood. I had my pellet gun. . We had a chipmunk issue under our front steps, When there were more than 4 chipmunks at the bird feeder, I’d thin them out.

 

[DT]

What do these cover? Of interest it was illegal to kill squirrels in Minnesota so people who wanted to follow the law, trapped them and transported them to the woods/ someone else’s neighborhood. I had my pellet gun. . We had a chipmunk issue under our front steps, When there were more than 4 chipmunks at the bird feeder, I’d thin them out.

The outlet (exterior) vents from the downstairs bathroom fan and the dryer. They have flaps, but even the spring loaded versions are easily bypassed by squirrels. Interestingly, this hasn't been an issue in the past, did have a bird get stuck (and died) in the dryer vent.

 

[AG_PhamD]

JFC.

Our monster squirrels went through the pretty thick plastic covers, didn't quite get in, I re-taped them, chased them away in the evening, but left them a little surprise, and it's quiet today Re-taped the damage this morning, using some super HD 5" Gorilla tape, this stuff is nasty sticky. Tomorrow during the day, when it's quiet and nobody around, I may further reduce the population.

So 2-3 hours and $25 later, it's not solved, TBH, I was a little worried about the plastic, that's great for small rodents, and especially birds, but they weren't designed for large "tree rats" with determination.

Ordered these today:


View attachment 18588


304 stainless, powder coated.

I can’t say I have ever heard of squirrels getting into dryer vents. But it looks like that should do the trick.

Around here in the city we have had an unprecedented numbers of rats this year. I’ve compared going out at night to being a combination of that scene from Titanic where the rats are fleeing down the hallways flooding with water and the Nutcracker where you have rats wielding swords. I’ve lived here for over a decade and have never seen anything like this before. I live in an extremely clean neighborhood where people manage trash correctly. In fact they street sweep 5 nights a week (which can be done because there is no overnight street parking).

By law every building has to have monthly pest control. Outside every building are these boxes with rat poison in them. Rats are actually quite smart and quickly learn these are dangerous.

The rats are supposed to die inside these boxes eating the poison, however earlier this year I was walking into by building, saw this rat erratically zooming down the sidewalk only to have a seizure on the stairs to my building while hemorrhaging blood (presumably from the rat poison), only to die right there.

We need a better system because most rats know to avoid the traps. And some have become so large I doubt they would even fit in the traps. And everyone building is paying $150+ per month for something that doesn’t appear to be working.

At least squirrels can be reasonably managed. My parents currently have a family of bears living in the woods behind their house in CT. They’re cool until they go through your garbage cans the morning you put them out, tear apart your landscaping, or attack your gas grill.

 

[DT]

The squirrels have been quite a bit more quiet ... just sayin' ...

 

[DT]

Oh, the new covers were here yesterday, didn't realize the wife had snagged them. Yeah, beefy, stainless, nice powder coating (white/offwhite), critters are NOT going through these. If something does, we're done here

Ugh, the one vent they were obsessed with has been chewed up too, and that vent has a flaky door, so it looks like maybe I'll replace that before I secure it with the new covers.

 

[AG_PhamD]

I need to complain about how much a despise locksmiths and how expensive access control systems are.

We need to put in access control for a new facility my company acquired. The door has a 4” wood frame surrounding a giant piece of glass. There’s very little space to put in an electronic knob/lock. I got a rough estimate for an electric strike + standalone keypad… $1200-1500. And that’s the most basic keypad- no computer programming, network connection, RIFD, etc.

I don’t mind paying top dollar for the electric strike in the interest of reliability. But the locksmiths add like 30-50% to what the components cost online. And when you consider how old the technology is for a basic keypad… it’s just nuts.

Many of the software programmable systems are absurdly dated too. You look at the manuals and they talk about Windows 95 or using your palm pilot to transfer the data. And yet you’re paying absurds amounts of money.

At our other building we had a system put in with RFID fobs/cards. Cost for 2 doors - $5000.

Recently the video intercom unit inside my condo died. It was only 2-3 years old and made my Aiphone which is supposedly very high quality. Replacement cost not including labor- $820. How?

 

[Herdfan]

I need to complain about how much a despise locksmiths and how expensive access control systems are.

Given my daughter learned to pick locks her freshman year in the dorm and is pretty good at it, pay what they ask for real security.

I have the Lishi tools and can pretty much pick any Schlage or Kwikset lock in under a minute. Unless they have spool pins, then 2 minutes.

 

[fischersd]

Oh, the new covers were here yesterday, didn't realize the wife had snagged them. Yeah, beefy, stainless, nice powder coating (white/offwhite), critters are NOT going through these. If something does, we're done here

Ugh, the one vent they were obsessed with has been chewed up too, and that vent has a flaky door, so it looks like maybe I'll replace that before I secure it with the new covers.

Our neighbour at my folks home at Lake Huron was adept at squirrel population control. . Take a rat trap, put an eye screw in the non-bait end (where the trap rests when not set), seed with peanut butter and hang a few feet up from the ground on an exterior wall. High enough up that the dogs and raccoons won't get it.

 

[Citysnaps]

Given my daughter learned to pick locks her freshman year in the dorm and is pretty good at it, pay what they ask for real security.

I have the Lishi tools and can pretty much pick any Schlage or Kwikset lock in under a minute. Unless they have spool pins, then 2 minutes.

Incredibly clever!

 

[AG_PhamD]

Given my daughter learned to pick locks her freshman year in the dorm and is pretty good at it, pay what they ask for real security.

I have the Lishi tools and can pretty much pick any Schlage or Kwikset lock in under a minute. Unless they have spool pins, then 2 minutes.

Maybe I should get those for our clients since they constantly lose their their keys.

I got a hilarious quote today from a locksmith. You know it’s not going to be a good experience when the person you talk to initially is different than the guy that does the on-site visit who is different than the guy who presents the proposal. Zero communication across the 3, despite #1 and #3 using the same email.

Anyways., $2600 for a $700 lock (stand-alone doorknob/keypad system). No RFID. No wireless programming from a computer. You can transfer the programming from a PC using software from 1990. I paid less for that per door (x2) for a far more sophisticated system in our other building.

They also included in that a $125 “service fee” for a site inspection + fuel surcharge. I won’t be buying from them but I hope they’re not expecting to get paid for that. I was never informed of that. None of their competitors pulled that nonsense. They can take it up with my lawyer if needed.

I’m now looking into the UniFi Access program. I’m a big fan of their network equipment and use it everywhere. It’s ridiculously inexpensive compared to legacy players. $500 + an electric door strike gives you a full PoE system, programming from a PC without having to directly connect to the lock, an NFC/RFID card reader w/ keypad with video intercom, a second NFC/RFID reader, 20 keycards. And the video intercom connects to their VOIP phone system which is $79/$129 per phone. I can’t even imagine what this would cost from another company- $4000-5000? Our phone system isn’t the greatest at the moment either so I might upgrade all the phones while I’m at it.

The UniFi system is relatively new and clearly doesn’t have all the software worked out. But UniFi is very good about continuously updating their software, adding new features, fixing bugs, etc. Idk how they afford it frankly. Every time I log into my UniFi network portal I’m lost because so much has changed.

I’ve learned access control is a strange market. The cheapest yet still high quality equipment is based on decades old tech- ie the manual talks about lock programming with a Palm Pilot or references Windows 95. Or serial ports. On the other hand, most of the more modern systems are quite expensive and require either a $400-700-$1000+ software package or a monthly subscription. No thanks.

 

[DT]

The squirrels have been quite a bit more quiet ... just sayin' ...

 

[Herdfan]

Incredibly clever!

And anyone with a CC can buy them online.

I at least have a legitimate use for them.

 

[lizkat]

In case you need a helper while working on your solo construction projects

 

[Citysnaps]

In case you need a helper while working on your solo construction projects

I've seen a few of their videos over the years. I would have loved to work for Boston Dynamics.

 

[Huntn]

Plumbing- Recently visited a friend who had this situation, she lives in Oklahoma where is gets cold and freezes in the Winter. She had some people come to the house to work on her yard and planting beds. They used her hose and ran the water and after about 30 minutes she noticed water seeping out from under the baseboard onto her kitchen floor In the vicinity of the outside faucet. She turned the water off in the house and the leak stopped. Whike I was there she turned the water on in the house and no leak, but after turning the hose back on just turning the knob to pressurize the outside hose, about 30 minutes later, water started leaking into the kitchen again the same way.

This was totally baffling to me. Why would turning on the hose cause a leak in the house? My house (built in the late 1980s) has a copper pipe that goes to a faucet. The pipe behind the faucet is always pressurized when the water is turned on in the house.

The plumber called provided the answer. In some/all? new houses they use in some cases more modular plumbing, and this house was equipped with what the plumber called the outside faucet, something like a “faucet or watering bib“, a length of copper pipe, that screwed (with threads) into the water line (also copper) and included a valve about 8-10” from the faucet that when the water is turned off at the hose, this valve automatic closes, and the faucet is designed to allow that 8” of pipe to drain the water out, so it would not freeze In the winter and burst the pipe.

Her pipe burst, because she had a separate on off turn valve connected between the faucet and the hose that somehow prevented this section of the hose to drain. And she had used an insulated faucet cover during the Winter, but that was not enough. Of note the lime burst lose to the interior valve I mentioned, the way it is confirmed this pipe runs along the outside wall of the house of by the front entrance, and when the plumber cut into the wall in the kitchen to see what was what, there was plenty of blown in insulation where the pipe burst, so I’m guessing that it is vital for this drain bib to be working, even though the Winters in Oklahoma are not terribly cold, they are below freezing.

I like the idea of this auto drain valve and because this is threaded in, it’s not too hard to replace.When we lived in Minnesota, outside faucets had inside cutoff valves and prior to winter I would close these valves and open the outside valve so the water would drain. This is making me think about my water faucets in Houston, but as a rule here it rarely freezes, but installing something like this would be nice to have, or just go with the inside turn off valve. The problem is one of my faucets comes out by the laundry room which would be a pain to access, the other is in the garage, not so hard to work on.

 

[Herdfan]

This was totally baffling to me. Why would turning on the hose cause a leak in the house? My house (built in the late 1980s) has a copper pipe that goes to a faucet. The pipe behind the faucet is always pressurized when the water is turned on in the house.

The plumber called provided the answer. In some/all? new houses they use in some cases more modular plumbing, and this house was equipped with what the plumber called the outside faucet, something like a “faucet or watering bib“, a length of copper pipe, that screwed (with threads) into the water line (also copper) and included a valve about 8-10” from the faucet that when the water is turned off at the hose, this valve automatic closes, and the faucet is designed to allow that 8” of pipe to drain the water out, so it would not freeze In the winter and burst the pipe.

He gave the same answer I was thinking when I read the first part.

Do not leave hoses attached to the bib over the winter unless you live where it doesn't freeze.