Home Improvement Discussion & Advice

[Purple]

Bare feet? Why would you ever have bare feet, especially in your home? You should always have slippers when at home. Solves all the issues of traction and heat and everything. Bare feet are the sign of a caveman.

[Zaune]

I've always felt that if you don't feel comfortable walking around without shoes on in your own home, you need to clean your carpet more frequently and make your kids be more careful about putting away their Lego.

[Borgholio]

My wife's family traditionally walks around in bare feet at home (Japanese family). My wife brought it into our home and I've gotten used to it. Take the shoes off at the front door and only wear them outside.

[Purple]

I just think that having bare feet anywhere is nasty. It's like basically the same as going around stark naked. Just icky.

[LaCroix]

I just think that having bare feet anywhere is nasty. It's like basically the same as going around stark naked. Just icky.

So you do actually wear clothes in your own home? How weird...

[TheFeniX]

I bet you're a real fire-cracker at pool parties.

Anyways, thanks for finding this thread for me:
I've got an old Oak desk that is sort of bowed on the top. Not much, but enough in the middle because my sister set a rock grinderer thingy that weighed 80+ lbs on it, then put more shit on top of that. I was thinking about flipping it upside down on flat and level concrete and setting a hundred pounds or so on it over the course of a month or two.

My other idea is to cut a solid wood dowel (like those you find in builder-spec homes used for hanging clothes, they are a couple inches in diameter) to the specific length I want the desktop to get back to so it's flat, put it under the desk, then put loads of weight on either side. I don't know if I need to try and "warp" the wood past where it would be flat and let it flex back to flat, or if I should try some kind of support slat. But this Oak is tough, so it would likely bow anything I tried to support it with.

Little man won't need a desk for more than a few years, so I've got time.

[LaCroix]

I don't think it would work that way - usually, such deformations have a lot of compression damage done to the wood - you'd just ding the bottom, too, and have both sides warped ...

Have you tried ironing it out?

As in - get a damp cloth, put a hot iron(for ironing clothes, not a glowing iron bar ) on the cloth and let the cloth water turn into steam and saturate the wood. It will make the wood swell locally, which will make the dent expand up. Repeat over the whole area you want to rise up. Don't put pressure on it, and moisten the rag, often - Careful to not overdo it and cook the wood, or it will discolor.

Once it is swollen back to about the same or a bit more than the original size, let it dry a few days to see how much of it stays permanent if it is a bigger area. Either repeat to rise it more if it had sunk back too much, or sand it down to make the top flat again if it is fine.

There should be a lot of videos on youtube for that, I'd presume, for more info.

edit: spelling - link added

[Elheru Aran]

Give it a few months first and see if it bends back to true after a while.

If that fails, I suggest you find yourself a fabric steamer and combine that with the second method you thought of. Put the steamer so that it spouts underneath the bowed portion, keep it filled with water and going for a pretty good while. At least a day or so. The moisture will help soften the wood and spring it back to true with the pressure of the dowel. Frankly though I'd get a piece of steel pipe cut to length at the local hardware store and put a bit of plywood in between the pipe and the desk, if it's as robust as you describe you need something equally robust to spring it back.

[TheFeniX]

I might try the steam. I've originally planned on just letting it sit for a while and see what happened. Probably still go with that and try a combination of what you two are talking about. Thanks for the info. If anything, I have to flip it upside-down to sand the bottom and put new foot pads on it. I might see if while that goes, I try the steam with possibly some weight afterward. I'll see about posting a picture when I get home for more information.

Edit, and while a bookshelf I finally got back itself it still square, a bunch of the shelves are warped to high hell. That's another something something I've got to fix.

[Elheru Aran]

Some elaboration may be needed-- is it a small (or perhaps large) ding in the wood itself, or is the whole top slightly bent? Cause what Lacroix is talking about is for the former, but mine was for the latter...

[TheFeniX]

There's no dents. It's bowed horizontally just enough that a pen will roll slowly towards the middle if placed far enough away from the edge width-wise. There is however no depth-wise bowing I can see. Desk isn't that deep anyway.

The shelves suffer from the same problem, but it's much worse. I guess I could re-cut oak boards for replacements, but stain matching would be tough. Might have to sand and refinish the whole bookshelf either way.

[LaCroix]

Ok, I was assuming a dent...

But in that case, you might also want to use steam to soften up the wood before bending it. If you have access to a steamy sauna or an old bathtub to boil it in, it would make straightening a LOT easier. or build yourself a steam box out of some wood, duct tape, and plastic sheet, and direct the steam of a big pot of boiling water into it for a while. Or just lay it over a big pot and put a towel over it to trap the steam a bit.

You only need to heat the section you want to get soft. When the wood feels hot enough, act swiftly (so make sure everything you need is right next to you)

about one hour steam per 1 inch of wood...



I use that steam box technique quite often to create recurved bows. You can warp all hardwood any way you want using this technique.

Anyway, either if boiled or not - don't put it between some straight plates. It will never get straight that way.
You need to put enough weight on that section that it slightly over-bends in the opposite direction (like 5-10% - because it will spring back a little), and let it set/dry for some time.
Alternatively, put a dowel rod under the middle before weighing the ends down.

[Raw Shark]

Bare feet? Why would you ever have bare feet, especially in your home? You should always have slippers when at home. Solves all the issues of traction and heat and everything. Bare feet are the sign of a caveman.

Guess one of my best friends and I are cave people, then. First thing we do when we get to her place is take our clothes off, before we smoke a bowl and watch Firefly or Star Wars or something. She keeps it about 80F in her apartment.

[madd0ct0r]

Bare feet? Why would you ever have bare feet, especially in your home? You should always have slippers when at home. Solves all the issues of traction and heat and everything. Bare feet are the sign of a caveman.

Guess one of my best friends and I are cave people, then. First thing we do when we get to her place is take our clothes off, before we smoke a bowl and watch Firefly or Star Wars or something. She keeps it about 80F in her apartment.

Underfloor heating in a concrete slab and slate tiles peeps. Not just barefoot, you'll want to sprawl on it. Amazing stuff.

[LaCroix]

Bare feet? Why would you ever have bare feet, especially in your home? You should always have slippers when at home. Solves all the issues of traction and heat and everything. Bare feet are the sign of a caveman.

Guess one of my best friends and I are cave people, then. First thing we do when we get to her place is take our clothes off, before we smoke a bowl and watch Firefly or Star Wars or something. She keeps it about 80F in her apartment.

Underfloor heating in a concrete slab and slate tiles peeps. Not just barefoot, you'll want to sprawl on it. Amazing stuff.

This - the new house will be underfloor heat with slate and no carpets for the whole area. I need to stick with underfloor and laminate/wood for the upper floor, though,fro weigth reasons, sadly.

[The_Saint]

Not sure what this having to have slippers or heated floors thing is. Floor is typically under 65F here and I only put socks on when the ambient temperature drops under 50F. Usually go barefoot outside as well.


Regarding house improvement, currently debating whether to renovate a built in shower or bend the rules of extraction fan installation. House was built in the 60's and they just assumed that a shower doesn't produce steam (I swear this is the case).

[Raw Shark]

Not sure what this having to have slippers or heated floors thing is. Floor is typically under 65F here and I only put socks on when the ambient temperature drops under 50F. Usually go barefoot outside as well.

Yeah, that's a personal foot thing, I guess. I attended school in a state that would routinely get down to -30F at night for a couple of months out of the year, and shoes were considered a novelty. Literally. I had bear paw slippers that I had to duct tape the bottom of, and if I was tripping I liked the feel of snow between my bare toes. A friend of mine had slippers that looked like penguins, which she wore all the time, even when it wasn't cold. She also went to college to major in violin, so I won't even try to explain her. Naked Guy was just... well, Naked Guy sums it up.

[TheFeniX]

Not sure what this having to have slippers or heated floors thing is. Floor is typically under 65F here and I only put socks on when the ambient temperature drops under 50F. Usually go barefoot outside as well.

My feet "crack" on tile. It's like someone is de-boning a chicken. I wear slippers much of the time now. Not specifically because of that, but due to a child who loves to leave shit laying on the floor.

Regarding house improvement, currently debating whether to renovate a built in shower or bend the rules of extraction fan installation. House was built in the 60's and they just assumed that a shower doesn't produce steam (I swear this is the case).

So, mildew is the issue? If so, a new install is just going to get mildewed. If you install a vent, which you should, it can help to get a timer switch instead of a normal one. This way you can let it run for 15 minutes or so after you leave the bathroom to pump the rest of the moisture out and it will shut itself off.

Some of the fancier ones use wireless remotes as well, so all you need is a 110 hookup anywhere that's accessible from your attic.

[The_Saint]

So, mildew is the issue? If so, a new install is just going to get mildewed. If you install a vent, which you should, it can help to get a timer switch instead of a normal one. This way you can let it run for 15 minutes or so after you leave the bathroom to pump the rest of the moisture out and it will shut itself off.

Some of the fancier ones use wireless remotes as well, so all you need is a 110 hookup anywhere that's accessible from your attic.

It's kind of a mildew problem (It's actually a long list of problems)... There's no extraction fan in the bathroom, simply a vent above the shower to pour steam into the roof space. This would normally be a problem but when the house was built they skimped on sealing up the eaves of the house such that the breeze, that's fairly constant where my house is, pours in one side of the roof and out the other. Pro: zero mould, mildew or rot in the ceiling. Con: in winter it gets a touch on the cool side (like sub zero for a sea level house, I don't normally mind as I grew up in the mountains with the ethos of "if it's cold put a jumper on" but it's not so great on my girlfriend).

Now in recent years they changed the building code such that extraction fans directly above a shower that aren't fully sealed (IPX4 rated) are a no-no. Because of the way my shower is built into the bathroom an extraction fan in the room but not above the shower will not be effective. So my current situation is: start ripping out bricks and do a minor renovation (not really what I want to do as it will be a lot (relative) of work and I'm not planning on being in this house long term so not really financially worth it... OR, find a sealed extraction unit that can also vent to outside (instead of just the ceiling space, haven't found one locally), install it and lie about how/when it was installed.

Running a shut-off timer will be a given I'm just trying to decide between two equally objectionable choices.

[His Divine Shadow]

Here's one way I'm trying to save money and reduce energy consumption, in my shop:





Behind the plexiglass there is sheet metal, behind that there are channels that force the air to take the long way around. Also tried to seal it up as well as I could.The odd placements of the inlet and outlets is because of my earlier and smaller collector, this one is more than twice as large and so far it has been a lot more effective, when the sun shines the air coming out never gets cold, in the old model the air would only be warm a short while.

The sheet metal is old roof panels from my dads when they replaced the roof on a building so I tried to recycle as much as possible.

I'd like to get my hold on some vantablack like paint some day to see if that boosts efficiency.

I'm running the fan manually currently, not a workable solution. I am building a system using a thermostat so that the blower will start when the temperature inside the collector is higer than inside the shop.

[Irelo]

My wife's family traditionally walks around in bare feet at home (Japanese family). My wife brought it into our home and I've gotten used to it. Take the shoes off at the front door and only wear them outside.

I am surprised that in Japan they have such tradition because it's not the warmest country to live in so they would have such a tradition. Personally I like to wear soft house shoes at my Munich home and can't imagine walking barefoot even if I have heated floors.

[Irelo]

My wife's family traditionally walks around in bare feet at home (Japanese family). My wife brought it into our home and I've gotten used to it. Take the shoes off at the front door and only wear them outside.

I am surprised that in Japan they have such tradition because it's not the warmest country to live in so they would have such a tradition. Personally I like to wear soft house shoes at my Munich home here and can't imagine walking barefoot even if I have heated floors.

By the way do you know if in Japan new houses are equipped with heated floors system? And are they still sleeping on the special floor mats or they started to get beds more and more?

[The Infidel]

My wife's family traditionally walks around in bare feet at home (Japanese family). My wife brought it into our home and I've gotten used to it. Take the shoes off at the front door and only wear them outside.

I am surprised that in Japan they have such tradition because it's not the warmest country to live in so they would have such a tradition. Personally I like to wear soft house shoes at my Munich home and can't imagine walking barefoot even if I have heated floors.

In Scandinavia, you take your shoes off when you enter a house, mostly to keep the outside dirt outside, also, winter shoes can be big and very warm. If you have cold feet, wear good socks or slippers in the house. It is generally considered rude to just walk in with outdoor shoes on without asking the host if it is OK.

I have heated stone tiles in my entrance, where you take off your shoes and outer clothing and hardwood laminate in my living room. Bare feet without socks is a bit weird during winter, but OK in the summer, but socks is the norm.

[LaCroix]

It's a general European thing that you do take off shoes in a house to keep the dirt out. You have your "at-home" shoes or slippers or just walk around in socks (that counts as cleaning, doesn't it?). For guests, you have the standard felt slippers stored in the entrance hall, or they go sock/barefoot, as they prefer.

You are expected to remove your shoes before you proceed past the entrance hall. It is a respectful/friendly gesture if they tell you not to.

[His Divine Shadow]

Bottom of an old water tank turned into a fire pit:


Tomorrow night is easter bonfire time. Traditionally we'd have a huge public bonfire in every village, but due to corona we'll be doing our own instead. I want to use it for cooking in the future too, for cooking over open fires and using rotary spits.