zzrmark

Precut stringers are ok if you can live with the bottom or top (or both) risers being different height from the rest, unless it turns out that you are really lucky and the risers just happen to be the perfect height for your drop.

Pulaski

Which is one reason why steps up to a deck often have the sort of "landing pad" that Ddsrph describes - it is done to artificially adjust the ground level to the point where all the steps are the same height.

Hotscot

Thanks...I'll buy the valves and get a plumber to fit them.
Then do the vinegar flush.
What sort of pump? About $60?

tom169

This is the exact pump I bought and used - https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000X05G1A/ref=ya_aw_od_pi?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Bought a 5 gallon bucket and washer hoses at Lowe's or Home Depot. Bought vinegar at the grocery store. This was in accordance of manufacturers instructions. May want to check your manual to make sure vinegar is what is recommended.

Hotscot

Do the hoses fit the pump and the service valve directly?
No need for adapters?
Sounds like a fun little project.
Thanks!

tom169

No adapters needed. Something like this will do the trick -
https://www.homedepot.com/p/GE-4-ft-Universal-Rubber-Washer-Hoses-PM14X10007DS/205473635

Hotscot

Nice, I'll go there tomorrow.

zzrmark

Aah, new one on me. I always pour the slab/footings and extension for steps first, then build deck and lastly cut stringers to fit between the two or cut new stringers to replace old knackered steps where slapping a landing pad on an existing slab to avoid an hour's work cutting and fixing three stringers isn't really practical.

ddsrph

Pulaski

Let's just put it this way, both my garage doors usually have a large padlock through one of the rails, making it impossible to open the garage door using a remote without first removing the padlock .... or tearing the whole door out using a JCB or similar heavy equipment, I suppose.

I did buy a new opener recently and deliberately chose one that is not "internet enabled". .... Mostly because I can't fathom any reason why my wife or I would want to open or close the door when we aren't either standing in the garage or within range of the remote control .... which is at least 250ft, so anywhere inside and a very large slice if our yard.

petitefrancaise

Just wait til Miss P hits the teen years and her brain is so full of well, whatever, hormones etc that the ability to find/lose keys, lock doors somehow takes a steep dive.
My nest thermostat has saved me hundreds just based on the fact that I can stop the kids messing with it - like the time I was 1000 miles away in Colorado when the kids decided to cool the house to 62F when it was 100F+ outside.
This nest/yale lock is impressive. No keyhole to pick. Each person has their own code which can be cancelled/changed by me at any time. DD thought a bluetooth one which would open when her phone was near would be cool. However, she has misplaced her phone enough times that I thought that was a really bad idea....
And remember, you don't have to have the perfect security set up - just slightly more difficult than your neighbour.....

Pulaski

Well unless something changes there isn't going to be a problem as little Miss P has declared that she doesn't want to learn to drive a stick!

tom169

62 sounds great

The best thing I find with the internet garage door is it will ping my phone if left open for 10 minutes. It has happened before whilst distracted bringing stuff in.

Oakvillian

From the Department of Bizarre and Pointless Building Code Rules, I bring you this little gem that I've just been working through.

We're having a whole bucket load of work done to our house (would have been cheaper and easier to pull it down and start again, but for various complex reasons that wasn't an option) to make it wheelchair accessible. While we're at it, we've had a pool put in (for hydrotherapy sessions, of course, and nothing to do with the fact that it's a swimming pool...)

The pool does not need to be separately fenced, so long as the back yard is secure. That's mostly easy, need self-closing springs and a proper latch on the gate, and a fully fenced yard which we had anyway because of the dog. However, code also insists that access doors from the house to the back yard are "secured." This means that they must have a latch or lock on the inside of the door, at least six feet off the ground, that will be out of reach of small children.

There are two such doors, both of which count as emergency egress doors and have push-button automatic door openers and striker plates (a domestic version of commercial wheelchair-friendly accessible doors). This is also a code requirement for at least one of the doors.

Clearly, a latch six feet up is not exactly wheelchair accessible, and would break the accessible emergency exit requirements. And a door that springs open from locked at the touch of a button is not pool-compatible. Thankfully our inspector is a sensible person, who understands the ridiculousness of competing code provisions, so he came up with a fabulous solution:

Buy a cheap shoot bolt and a pack of little removable sticky pads. Mount the bolt at the appropriate place on door #1 using the sticky pads. Take a picture of it. Dismount, and repeat on door #2. Email a copy of the pictures to the inspector, who will note on file that compliance has been achieved. Then carry on and forget this conversation ever took place

Hotscot

We had to do the same with a C02 detector. Bought one. Stuck it on the wall with sticky pads. Sent pic to appraiser.
Sorted.