eliya wrote:I'm building a radiator cover and I want to direct the heat away from the top of the cover. I read that sheet metal above the radiator can help with that. Is this true? What are some other heat "repellent" materials I could use from prevent the top of the cover (and what's on top of it) from heating up?The front of the radiator will have openings to let the heat out towards the room.My dad built a great enclosure for the radiator in my bedroom when I was in jr./sr. high school. He built a box around it, then used a bit of sheet metal to make a smooth curve from the top front down to the bottom back. Ya dig? If a guy was to fill this with some rigid or loose fiberglass it would help with loss to the back. If a guy was to do this with some polished aluminum or stainless steel pointing out from behind the radiator it might help with reflective transmission.Build your box a buncha inches taller than the radiator and fill the top with rigid fiberglass insulation. 4" should be plenty. The horizontal part of the curving metal is the bottom support for the rigid glass. You probably want a a cleat on each side near the front for the metal.

I'm building a radiator cover and I want to direct the heat away from the top of the cover. I read that sheet metal above the radiator can help with that. Is this true? What are some other heat repellent materials I could use from prevent the top of the cover (and what's on top of it) from heating up?The front of the radiator will have openings to let the heat out towards the room.

They make laminate flooring designed for high humidity areas like basements. It's called HPL. Seems to work well.

eliya wrote:tbone wrote:eliya wrote:What's a good mildew and mold repellent/whatever to use before re-caulking a tub?Not sure about a repellant other than just being diligent about cleaning it. But this works great to clean moldy bathtubs: Mix a paste together of baking soda and bleach. If shit is really nasty, put it on super thick and then cover with plastic wrap to keep it on there for a longer time without drying out. After a while rinse it off and then let it dry completely before re-caulking.You posted a link to that thing of Facebook a while back. I used it and it did remove the mold, but unfortunately it also pulled some of the caulk. Anyway, I tried Tilex mold and mildew repellent product and it works really well for removing mold. So I'm going to use it next time before I recaulk. Save the bottle and fill it with 50/50 bleach and water in the future. It's what's in the bottle minus the scent and the nozzles on those seem to hold up to the bleach better than a regular spray bottle.

W.L.Weller wrote:What's the thread size and pitch for a steam radiator air vent? The bolt pictured is an M10 1.0, which seems to be as close to correct as something can be that's still not correct. Also it doesn't make any sense that a 40-50 year old radiator in New York would have metric anything. The snapped-off nub didn't fit into the 3/8-24 test sample at Home Despot, and the nub definitely has tighter thread spacing when held up to a 24 tpi bolt.But the actual thread on the actual replacement air vent (seen here as the snapped-off nub) doesn't really thread in any easier. I did my best to clean up the female threads on the radiator (short of chasing them with the correct size tap) and the replacement air vent threaded in far enough where I don't think it's going to leak. The issue is that the air vent is still sticking far enough out of the radiator where I'm worried it's going to get snapped off like the last 2 have.I know I'm late to the thread but I'm also in Queens. I started composing a detailed walk-through but realized it would be easier to hit me up when the next heating season starts and I'll pop by and walk you through it. Mad simple. It's likely 1/8 NPT, btw.

total\_douche wrote:I've had about as much of smelly carpets as I can take, so in the near-future I'm going to be nuking the carpets in my living room and hallway, and replacing them with something better (which is, presumably, anything but). Do any of you have experience with laminate flooring in humid climates? It's looking like the best compromise for me, but I'm worried about how well it'll handle Minnesota, since running the air conditioning all summer is out of the question (it costs way too much). Maybe I should just use linoleum...We put down vinyl plank flooring in our basement kitchen area. Easy to install, doesn't need anything under it if the floor is even remotely level, decently cheap, and has a 50-year warranty. We've rolled a fridge over it abusively a number of times when we were doing work and it doesn't show any scrapes or anything. Recommended.

I've had about as much of smelly carpets as I can take, so in the near-future I'm going to be nuking the carpets in my living room and hallway, and replacing them with something better (which is, presumably, anything but). Do any of you have experience with laminate flooring in humid climates? It's looking like the best compromise for me, but I'm worried about how well it'll handle Minnesota, since running the air conditioning all summer is out of the question (it costs way too much). Maybe I should just use linoleum...

total\_douche wrote:smelly carpets - laminate flooringforget laminate flooring. all the same reasons. gaps start showing up, put it by an exit door? within a year it'll bubble and delaminate. oh, and it's super fing loud. all it's good for is blocking rf if you're into that kind of thing. back to you, if you're lucky, there's wood underneath. no matter how it looks, it's pretty easy to make it look great. if not, you should check out (lumbr lquid8ters). you can get super high quality big sticks of prefinished oak for like $2-3/foot. when you go in, they'll try upselling you, but keep on the cheap and they'll show you their (imho) very excellent lower priced material. linoleum only if it's period to the kitchen style; else new wood. you know tile's also cheap if you install it yourself. tile saw at harbr frate's cheap.

total\_douche wrote:smelly carpets - laminate flooringWould not buy this LP. Fuck no.

total\_douche wrote:I've had about as much of smelly carpets as I can take, so in the near-future I'm going to be nuking the carpets in my living room and hallway, and replacing them with something better (which is, presumably, anything but). Do any of you have experience with laminate flooring in humid climates? It's looking like the best compromise for me, but I'm worried about how well it'll handle Minnesota, since running the air conditioning all summer is out of the question (it costs way too much). Maybe I should just use linoleum...Laminate flooring sucks. So much suck. Just a few years in and we've got a couple of gaps in every room from humidity shifts. This is on first and second floors. Spill water on it? Forget about it. The edges swell. Unless there is some super durable high-end shit, I wouldn't recommend it.Maybe there's hardwood flooring under your carpet?