The Super Official Homeowners Thread

[JPolen01]

I have some nice LED bulbs in the recessed cans in my basement. Can't remember what brand off the top of my head, but I have the box so I'll look. Was mainly looking for temperature recommendations. Thanks all.

[ScottyB]

Sometimes you come home from a long weekend, and find the ceiling in one of your guest bedrooms has completely fallen in on itself. 

so i just now got around to catching up on this thread and WTF.  like i wasn't even sure what i was looking at.

i've never seen or heard of anything like it before but dude, so sorry it happened.  how old is your house again?

[WRXtranceformed]

2700K is what we have throughout the house and in the porch recessed lighting. It's the most similar to standard bulbs you used to buy.

[Apoc]

We have a similarly sized bathroom and we're using four 3500k. We use 2700k most everywhere else, except garage and basement storage, where we use 5000k.

[Sully]

We use warm white feit bulbs from Costco. 2700. Our house came with the cfl bulbs everywhere (built in November of last year so not sure why they're still using those) and I've been changing them out every time Costco has a sale. Think I got all of them now but our bathrooms were so warm with them on and the light was harsh. Wife decided she didn't like 2700 for master bath and makeup doing so she bought some ge ones. Think there like the "pure white" super color accurate mega light or something. Supposed to be super great max light color... All I know is we have 4 lights and bought 2 2-packs and the lights are different colors from pack to pack... Think they are the reveal hd which says 2850 but definitely seem more like 3000 than 2700.

I've never had a problem with the feit bulbs although I think I've had a couple fail which would be short of their lifespan. But never flicker or buzz. And now they have switched them and they are a full glass (iirc) bulb whereas the old ones were the plastic dome for light and white plastic body for the rest of the bulb.

Either way, I'd get led for heat output alone in small spaces. Your wife (if she wears make-up) will probably want more than 2700 in bathroom though.

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[Ryan T]

I feel like I need to replace the lighting in my house now. I have no idea what any of my bulbs are, pretty sure they are all just standard ole light bulbs.

Any recommendations on really durable deck coatings? The previous owner put on Cabot DeckCorrect Tintable Resurfacer right before they sold it and it held up pretty well for a year, which seems in line with the reviews. It started to peel up in the places where I move my grill and smoker around and I’d like to re-do it with something a little longer lasting. I like the thick coating look and protection, but I’d prefer to not have to re-do it every year. Our deck is pretty small (15x15) but I’m lazy.

[JPolen01]

I haven't seen any of those deck coatings that seem to last more than a year or two. The PO of my house painted the deck with god knows what. It looks like shit. I need to replace the deck boards, but the support beams will still be painted so I don't know what to do. I may hire a pressure washing company to come out and blast it all clean so I can start over with old fashion stain.

[.RJ]

At my last place I just pressure washed it every year. I tried a clear stain, but really didnt like it.

New house its painted with who knows what and I'm in the same boat as Polen, I'll deal with it when I replace deck boards and railings next summer.

[JustinG]

Just rip it up and put in Trex

[HAULN-SS]

I just put the deck correct on my rental house. That sucks to hear you only got a year out of it. I want to do trex eventually but with 400sf of deck boards I didn't want to spend that cash just yet

[ScottyB]

I haven't seen any of those deck coatings that seem to last more than a year or two. The PO of my house painted the deck with god knows what. It looks like shit.

i attempted (operative word, attempted) to paint my fence with a "10 year" deck paint.  its peeling in 1.  i did the prep with acid wash, scrubbed down, fully dried, etc.  applied with a spray gun.  total waste of time.

not only will i never again paint a fence or deck, i'm not even sure i'd bother clear coating it.  cheaper to just pull up boards and replace as they warp/rot/split.

my fence is 3/4 painted (i ran out of paint, then the store discontinued it when i went back to get more) and i just don't give a shit anymore.

trex/synthetic boards fo lyfe or just plan on replacing bad boards at regular intervals after a couple years.

I may hire a pressure washing company to come out and blast it all clean so I can start over with old fashion stain.

after 3 days trying to pressure wash every part of a fence with a borrowed pressure washer, i'm never doing that again either. and i don't shy from tough outdoor work.

[JPolen01]

I could do the pressure washing, but it's so cheap to hire someone. At least in my area. Guy wanted $125 to do the front/back of my townhouse. I can't do it cheaper than that. My parents paid $400 for their single-family.

[Ken]

Interesting. So the place we just got has a deck that was just put in but has no stain or paint on it. Given the feedback here - should i just let it be? I definitely will not be making a yearly ritual of staining/painting.

[JustinG]

Pressure wash, let dry out, then atleast seal/stain it

[.RJ]

No need to stain/seal IMO. Just pressure wash it every year for $100. Replace in 20 years.

Also, Trex/Composite is expensive, as in, you better be in this thing for the long haul expensive. My neighbors at the old house had a deck built with Trex and it was double the cost of mine with wood. Trex also feels much hotter in the summer time so if you like being out there with bare feet its not a good choice.

[JPolen01]

Interesting. So the place we just got has a deck that was just put in but has no stain or paint on it. Given the feedback here - should i just let it be? I definitely will not be making a yearly ritual of staining/painting.

Is the wood pressure treated? If so, you need to wait for it to dry fully. Usually about a month or so. You'll know if it is still too wet by putting some water on it and seeing if it beads up. If it does, it is still wet. Once it soaks in you should be good go.

Do you guys really not stain or seal your deck? Just raw lumber? That looks terrible IMO and I'm surprised your HOAs allow that.

[Steve85]

My dad and our neighbor built decks at the same time, neighbor painted and dad left ours natural. The next year, our deck was the natural gray that happens to treated wood and their deck needed painting. The year after that, our deck was gray and there's needed painting...again. This went on for 20 years. Yeah, not as pretty but I'd rather not have that BS every year.

And the heat thing is for real on these plastics an composites. This is an extreme case where I think it was more straight plastic than the Trex composite but if you're deck gets heavy sun, be careful.

[JPolen01]

My in-laws have Trex. It gets hot in the summer, but it's not unbearable. You just move fast across it when coming into the house from the pool to use the bathroom. Or you use the bathroom in the basement right off the pool.

I'm wondering how long that guy stood on an extremely hot surface?

And a good stain will last a few years. You shouldn't have to stain every year. Don't ever paint your deck.

[Ken]

My in-laws have Trex. It gets hot in the summer, but it's not unbearable. You just move fast across it when coming into the house from the pool to use the bathroom. Or you use the bathroom in the basement right off the pool.

I'm wondering how long that guy stood on an extremely hot surface?

And a good stain will last a few years. You shouldn't have to stain every year. Don't ever paint your deck.

In-laws have some kind of composite/Trex for their pool deck. it's unbearable - guess it all depends on how much sun it's getting?

[Kaan]

the darker you stain it, the longer it will last. but it will also get hotter.

we redid our deck last year, its been too wet of a fall, winter, spring for us to even stain it yet. but we will stain it. we are getting about 5 years out of a "cedar" stain.