Woodworking/DIY/Home Improvement Mega Thread

[Cincydawg]

Generally speaking, vinegar over time should clear most mineral deposits.  I'm not sure mixing it with baking soda makes sense, one is acidic, one basic, so you end up with mostly salt in water.  Most mineral deposits are cabornates, like calcium carbonate (from water hardness unless you have RO).  Vinegar dissolves that albeit slowly.

A stronger acid will work faster but may also attack the metal.

I had mixed results with CLR back in the day.

[FearlessF]

soaked a shower head in vinegar for a week or better

don't even know what CLR is - sounds expensive

[utee94]

Generally speaking, vinegar over time should clear most mineral deposits. I'm not sure mixing it with baking soda makes sense, one is acidic, one basic, so you end up with mostly salt in water.  Most mineral deposits are cabornates, like calcium carbonate (from water hardness unless you have RO).  Vinegar dissolves that albeit slowly.

A stronger acid will work faster but may also attack the metal.

I had mixed results with CLR back in the day.

Yeah I also thought about that.  When I was cleaning/restoring my outdoor built-in gas grill, there were several folks that suggested vinegar/baking soda as an effective cleaning solution for removing rust and other buildup.  My immediate thought was that the acid and base would offset each other.  I think perhaps one reason it worked for some folks, is simply due to the abrasive nature of the baking soda.  Scrubbing that in with a scouring pad might have more of a mechanical effect than a chemical one.

But I'm no chemist of course.

[Cincydawg]

CLR® & Tarn-X® | Cleaning Products for Your Home - Fight the Clean Fight®
CLR® & Tarn-X® | Cleaning Products for Your Home - Fight the Clean Fight®

CLR cleaner contains water, lactic acid, and gluconic acid as its main ingredients. Other ingredients include lauramine oxide, PPG-3 butyl ether, and sometimes dyes like Acid Blue 9 and Yellow #5. Lactic acid and gluconic acid are the active components that help dissolve calcium, lime, and rust. 

[847badgerfan]

He's got RO water. He shouldn't have and of that buildup.

[betarhoalphadelta]

He's got RO water. He shouldn't have and of that buildup.

The RO water system is only used for making brewing water. It's a tankless system, so it's not even useful for drinking water unless I specifically gather it into another vessel, due to the slow flow rate. It'd probably take 3 minutes to fill a drinking glass. 

Plus, RO systems are not used for general house water. It'd be ridiculous to use one to feed a giant tank--and also the water heater--supplying a shower.  

[847badgerfan]

The RO water system is only used for making brewing water. It's a tankless system, so it's not even useful for drinking water unless I specifically gather it into another vessel, due to the slow flow rate. It'd probably take 3 minutes to fill a drinking glass.

Plus, RO systems are not used for general house water. It'd be ridiculous to use one to feed a giant tank--and also the water heater--supplying a shower. 

Tons of people around here have whole-house RO systems. They waste a lot. The water here absolutely sucks. I really miss Lake Michigan water.

[Cincydawg]

I thought about adding RO to the kitchen faucet, but it requires maintenance of course, salts to be added back.  Water here is pretty soft and tastes fine to me.  Water in Cincy was pretty hard but tasted OK.

[betarhoalphadelta]

Tons of people around here have whole-house RO systems. They waste a lot. The water here absolutely sucks. I really miss Lake Michigan water.

Hmm... 

Learn sumpin' new erry day...

[betarhoalphadelta]

I got tired of fancy shower heads and rain showers and all that.  They all seemed to deteriorate or gunk up and fail too soon.

I finally just bought an old-school super simple shower head, with plenty of pressure.  Going strong for a couple of years now and very inexpensive.  This one:


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7QNQQ7N?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1&th=1

I did that, and it's spraying so effing hard I couldn't even have the faucet on full blast--had to slow it down. It was almost painful. 

Wife hasn't actually tried to shower under it yet, but already hates how it looks. And it's too low. She's almost a foot shorter than I am, and she'd even need to bend down to be able to rinse her hair. 

So I'm trying two things. 

One is a simple extender. That'll raise the shower head so it's not at my chest and her forehead level. 

The other is a rain-style head which also comes with an extender. I have a feeling she'll prefer this. 

Both arrive today. Most likely we'll end up with the rain head in the main bathroom and put the super-simple shower head (with extender) into the kids' bathroom, as their shower head sucks too. 

[847badgerfan]

I did that, and it's spraying so effing hard I couldn't even have the faucet on full blast--had to slow it down. It was almost painful.

Wife hasn't actually tried to shower under it yet, but already hates how it looks. And it's too low. She's almost a foot shorter than I am, and she'd even need to bend down to be able to rinse her hair.

So I'm trying two things.

One is a simple extender. That'll raise the shower head so it's not at my chest and her forehead level.

The other is a rain-style head which also comes with an extender. I have a feeling she'll prefer this.

Both arrive today. Most likely we'll end up with the rain head in the main bathroom and put the super-simple shower head (with extender) into the kids' bathroom, as their shower head sucks too.

I still think a high-mounted handheld would have suited you best.

[medinabuckeye1]

Spent most of the day yesterday fixing a leak at my house. 

The people who did the vinyl siding (before I bought) apparently didn't know how to do aluminum wrap of the windows. They didn't use enough aluminum and made up for it with about two tubes of caulk but once the caulk let go I had water literally pouring into my house over and around the window. 

I removed a bunch of siding to get to it and find the problem, cut, bent, and affixed aluminum, added some flashing tape, and replaced all the siding and J-Track.