petitefrancaise

No, the roof is in great shape. It's about 4 years since it was completely re-done thanks to a massive hail storm in the area. Can't think why the previous owners didn't get the vent put in then since most of the neighbouring houses did it.

Pulaski

I can't imagine what sort of roofing contractor wouldn't up-sell a ridge vent for a house that didn't have one.

Nutek

You cannot get a new roof put on here without a ridge vent. It's code.

Marc_ely

We've just bought a house over here and I've got some questions on supplies.

Where do you guys get your screws? Lowes and Home Depot, or is there somewhere cheaper?

My first project is building a laundry room inside the garage, and the price of drywall screws is about 4x that of the UK (screwfix), which really surprised me.

Pulaski

I usually buy screws from Lowes as the cost is small compared to the cost of other supplies, but then the last time I needed drywall screws I bought a 25lb bucket of them as I use them fairly regularly, and they are much cheaper that way, about half the cost IIRC, but not much use if you only have a small project.

I recently started buying bolts and screws from boltdepot.com, which is much cheaper, but the shipping and handling costs work against small orders. ETA I have just been to have a look at Boltdepot and they don't seem to sell drywall screws.

scrubbedexpat091

I created a mini yard on the patio for the dog. Consists of 1 4ft long x 2 feet wide piece of sod, and a small tree. She goes out nearly every sunny day to sleep on the grass. Also saves me having to take her outside and down the street to the nearest grass for her to do her bussiness. She refuses to use the gravel pet potty area they have.

The grass wont last but seems to last about a month, so will keep the mini yard until sod season is over which is around mid July when stores start to close the garden sections.

lansbury

Installed an antenna for my ham radio and run cabling to the radio which entailed crawling around the attic above the garage. Decided I might as well move the cable modem from the garage to where the computer and radio are, which entailed more crawling in the attic.

Nutmegger

Can't take any credit, as they are one of nature's miracles -- but the marsh marigolds are in bloom! I look forward to them every year, their leaves always seem so incredibly green and the flowers so very yellow -- one of my absolute favorite flowers, but they are with us for far too short a period. They always transport me back to Yorkshire and the streams I used to play in and around as a child.

petitefrancaise

I could do with something to clean off back patio, porch and sidings...nothing too heavy duty. This is on special offer and I have a harbor freight not far from me
1650 PSI 1.25 GPM Electric Pressure Washer
what do you guys think?
I don't really want to spend hundreds of dollars, and renting one is a faff.

Pulaski

I used an electric one once. I think I could have done as well with a drinking straw and a mouthful of water.

I would caution against pressure washing siding - siding is designed to stop water penetration from above under force of gravity, not from below under 2,000psi. To clean siding, I would recommend use of an "RV brush", which is a soft nylon brush with an extendable handle and which you connect a hose to, so water sprays out of the head between the bristles, and only at mains pressure.

As a general point, Harbor Freight is not known for high quality tools; neither is Northern Tools and Equipment. Both have a few good things, and a lot of poor quality crap.

scrubbedexpat099

I would not bother with an electric, are you cleaning or paint removing?

petitefrancaise

just cleaning.

I need something with a bit more oomph than the hose. I have a textured concrete patio which would look nicer if I could dislodge the dirt stuck in it. I got fed up with scrubbing with a brush last year.

And then the patio furniture....

I have oak pollen to get off the eaves too.

BTW. I already have ridge vents... I didn't know what it looked like on a real roof!

scrubbedexpat099

Get a Petrol one in the 3500 range, they come with a variety of nozzles that effectively reduces the pressure in use.

Practice on something like the concrete.

petitefrancaise

my last pressure washer in France, came from Aldi. it was fine for most things. However, I'll keep an eye on craigslist for a better one under $200.
After a bit of a hunt, there are loads of the electric 1600-1700psi for sale at about $100mark so this one isn't really a bargain at all and I think I'd rather buy one like that from HD or Lowes in case I need to take it back.

Pulaski

So I did the "Swedish candle thing" (check YouTube if you don't know) with the stump, and burned it down to slightly below ground level. The past couple of weekends I have used my weed burner to reignite it, then put a log on top to keep it burning.

Anyhow I figured that to keep on burning I would need to clear the ash, and so was expecting to wait for rain to wash the ash away. It rained yesterday (Friday) so I was good-to-go yesterday (Friday) evening - another log plus the weed burner, and off it went overnight. Then I added another log this morning, so by late this afternoon it was burning nicely, but there was quite a lot of ash.

Then .... how to clear the ash! .... My leafblower! So I checked the fire - a burning cauldron of ash and embers, and big chunk of log. I started the leafblower - it's a commercial-grade backpack blower, and cautiously directed it into the burning stump.

First there was a cloud of smoke and ash/dust, then sparks and embers, ...... but holy cow! The stump-bowl glowed a fierce yellow colour, it was like I had opened up a portal to hell! .... If I stopped blowing it still glowed a bright, and intensely hot orange, but direct the blower at it again and the heat was intense! I am wondering how I could harness this to make a blast furnace.

It is currently a bowl with the center almost a foot below ground level. I will keep on burning for another couple of weekends, so long as it rains enough to keep it safe for fires.