Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

[JC99]

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Sadly this is our worry here in Mississauga with each house up for sale.

I’d say 20-40% of the houses are being converted into rentals…

Let’s just say it changes the neighbourhood and not for the better.

2 quotes for the roof….$8500 and $12500 for the same shingles and scope.

It definitely changes the neighbourhood . A family home for an average family of 4, half of which are kids, all of sudden houses 6-8 adults with more cars than the driveway fits. This place has a pool which borders the street too so now it’s party central with landlords that are out of town and can’t or won’t respond quickly. Out of all the properties nearby that have been rented ones only a handful are reasonably successfully integrated into the community and that’s only because the landlords were beyond picky with who gets to rent them.

One is basically an unofficial weed dispensary with people coming all hours of the day and the house was lit up with an eerie purple pink glow in all the basement rooms. The RV in the driveway also seems to be occupied all the time. I have suspicions that it’s being rented out.

Another was trashed by tenants that turned out to be junkies.

 

[mimico_polak]

It definitely changes the neighbourhood . A family home for an average family of 4, half of which are kids, all of sudden houses 6-8 adults with more cars than the driveway fits. This place has a pool which borders the street too so now it’s party central with landlords that are out of town and can’t or won’t respond quickly. Out of all the properties nearby that have been rented ones only a handful are reasonably successfully integrated into the community and that’s only because the landlords were beyond picky with who gets to rent them.

One is basically an unofficial weed dispensary with people coming all hours of the day and the house was lit up with an eerie purple pink glow in all the basement rooms. The RV in the driveway also seems to be occupied all the time. I have suspicions that it’s being rented out.

Another was trashed by tenants that turned out to be junkies.

My buddy at work was renting A SINGLE BEDROOM!!!! For $1000/month….no private bathroom, no private kitchen….nothing.

8 bedrooms in that single house each renting for 1k/month. Owner has 8 more houses with similar layouts….

Owner bought the properties back in the 90s and early 00s….making bank now.

 

[mimico_polak]

As for around the house….few hours in the sun getting rid of the top layer of grass for the above ground pool.



Last time we laid the pool on grass it smelled like death for a month once we removed the pool.

Fence goes in tomorrow / Monday and then starting the setup.

 

[mimico_polak]

Mesh fence has the following posts and sleeves to install…





The sleeves are supported to be installed in concrete and the posts in the sleeves.

Not in the mood to make concrete footings for every post so thinking patio stones (thanks @GreyGhost ) or using 2x6 and do cross bracing so they don’t tip over easily.

Once I tie in the corners the fence won’t move much.

Thoughts? Recommendations? Advice?

Was planning on drilling into 4x4 (hence the post as WTB in classified) but looking at other options.

 

[Mad Mike]

Mesh fence has the following posts and sleeves to install…

View attachment 78988

View attachment 78989

The sleeves are supported to be installed in concrete and the posts in the sleeves.

Not in the mood to make concrete footings for every post so thinking patio stones (thanks @GreyGhost ) or using 2x6 and do cross bracing so they don’t tip over easily.

Once I tie in the corners the fence won’t move much.

Thoughts? Recommendations? Advice?

Was planning on drilling into 4x4 (hence the post as WTB in classified) but looking at other options.

Is this the fence around the pool? Do you need one?

 

[GreyGhost]

Is this the fence around the pool? Do you need one?

Most municipalities require fences and permits for anything capable of holding more than 2' of water. Barrie residents are freaking out as permits for their $300 inflatable pool are over $500.

 

[mimico_polak]

Is this the fence around the pool? Do you need one?

I don’t need one but I want it to prevent the kids from going in when we’re not looking.

 

[mimico_polak]

Most municipalities require fences and permits for anything capable of holding more than 2' of water. Barrie residents are freaking out as permits for their $300 inflatable pool are over $500.

I very rarely ever see an above ground, in ground, or anything in between that has a fence besides the yard fence.

I understand it but can’t remember the last time I’ve seen one.

My fence is more to keep the kids out, and the dog away from scratching the pool liner.

 

[GreyGhost]

Bose EOL'd the crappy amp I had running speakers beside the pool. Grabbed a crestron out of the pile and upgraded. Must resist the urge to move a sub and amp outside.

 

[backmarkerducati]

Bose EOL'd the crappy amp I had running speakers beside the pool. Grabbed a crestron out of the pile and upgraded. Must resist the urge to move a sub and amp outside.

I have considered using an old car stereo head unit for such a job, just need a power source (old laptop, higher power, PS will do the job). Not designed to get wet but they can handle the temps. The rub will be speaker impedance and efficiency. Regardless of what they claim, power supply wise, RMS into 4Ω is limited to around 18w clean, if the speakers are 8Ω that drops to 9w, if they are also inefficient speakers it may just not play as loud as you want.

Anything in the last decade or so will have Bluetooth and possibly an aux in... and a remote control, and of course four outputs.

 

[GreyGhost]

I have considered using an old car stereo head unit for such a job, just need a power source (old laptop, higher power, PS will do the job). Not designed to get wet but they can handle the temps. The rub will be speaker impedance and efficiency. Regardless of what they claim, power supply wise, RMS into 4Ω is limited to around 18w clean, if the speakers are 8Ω that drops to 9w, if they are also inefficient speakers it may just not play as loud as you want.

Anything in the last decade or so will have Bluetooth and possibly an aux in... and a remote control, and of course four outputs.

Using the graveyard amps means I had none of the above. No bluetooth, no remote, no volume, no physical power switch, no plugs to connect speaker wires to connectors, only two channels etc. An aliexpress bluetooth adaptor and some connectors and we are in business. I thought about buying a small class D but this way was cheaper and gives the amp a purpose again. I have a pile of crown and crestron amps that don't have a current purpose in life. The existing speakers for outside are 4 small yamahas wired in parallel so ~3 ohm load. The crestron is happy at >200 watts/channel which is more than enough to blow the speakers and annoy the neighbours. If I want to reconfigure and install 70V/100V speakers around the perimeter, this amp could deal with that but I probably won't as most sound like poo.

I beg to differ about power handling capability. In a past life I spent many hours putting many thousands of watts into speakers with decent results. Some sound better than others but most hold together through hell. For testing purposes, I use some old yorkville's to make loud pink/white noise. They don't sound great anymore (they never really did tbh) but they are shockingly still alive after at least 100 hours at >115 dBA. That needs >400 watts/channel. IIRC, I can get just over 120 dBA out of two speakers but I try not to push them that hard.

 

[JC99]

I bought some open box Yamaha outdoor speakers from Best Buy more than a decade ago (maybe 15 years?) and wired them into my Yamaha AV receiver in the second zone and mounted them outside above the deck and they sound fantastic. They’ve been through cobwebs, insects, accidental power washing once, storms, dust and they just keep going. I don’t think they’ll ever break at this rate but if they do I'll replace them with the same thing again.

 

[Baggsy]

We’ve been visited by a Woodpecker, so I got out some newspaper and duct tape and sealed a few holes that it made

 

[crankcall]

Was it Fruedian that you used a tool flyer to fix a hole , that should be using those tools to fix the wood paneling?

 

[85K100]

If there's something in there that it enjoyed eating you may have bigger problems.

 

[JC99]

If there's something in there that it enjoyed eating you may have bigger problems.

I was thinking the same. Woodpeckers don’t randomly attack any old piece of wood.

 

[mimico_polak]

I was thinking the same. Woodpeckers don’t randomly attack any old piece of wood.

I've seen them go into stucco. Plenty of houses in our neighbourhood have woodpecker holes within their stucco.

Maybe they like the insulation / styrofoam? Can't figure out what else could be in there that would entice them. One house has about 20 holes above their garage.

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