Advice The Home Improvement/Automation Thread

Speaking of the hardwood floors, theyre done. No pics yet, but got the third coat of finish on them late last night.

Pallman finishes are fantastic, blows the Bona stuff out of the water. Super self leveling and really forgiving, dries faster, and the sheen is just amazing. Bona looks a little bit plasticky, but the Pallman Power i put down is that old school warm oil finish sheen without the color tint of oil. Its just so silky looking.
You sand after installing the planks, or just lay the finish down?
 
finish did come out a little darker than the bona finished room next door, but im almost certain that was the batch of wood not the finish.
 
I need to sand my shitty pre-finished hardwood, but I'm not convinced that I shouldn't just go get some Maple and redo it myself with miters that match instead of miters that don't.

miters where? Some kinda border/parquet thing?
 
miters where? Some kinda border/parquet thing?
Yeah, there's a border around the perimeter of the floor.

The whole thing is a weird island in the middle of the house (2 steps up from the living room and family room, one step down from the landing for the stairs, level with the entry door).
 
if its not too big, just redo it right to your standards.
Being the speciesist I am, I would pick something besides what's there (some kind of dark rosewood for the border, and a moderately pink tinted cedar for the center), and that would lead to me having to redo the stairs, the upstairs hall, and the master bedroom.

Louise wouldn't be pleased.
 
Tomorrow ive gotta get all the baseboards up, which are prerouted and prefinished cherry. Gotta cut receptacle holes in em though, and wire up all the outlets. All 12ga wire in that room, thats gonna suck. Properly pigtailed outlets where you have 3 sets of 12ga in a box suck. Even in the bigger boxes.
 
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Tomorrow ive gotta get all the baseboards up, which are prerouted and prefinished cherry. Gotta cut receptacle holes in em though, and wire up all the outlets. All 12ga wire in that room, thats gonna suck. Properly pigtailed outlets where you have 3 sets of 12ga in a box suck. Even in the bigger boxes.

Check these out.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL-100-Pack-Plastic-Push-In-Wire-Connectors/50101796

I know an electrician that swears by them.

Used them for the new shop stuff. Pushing the wire in is no joke. Wicked tight fit. Saves a little space,

They make 2,3, and 4 port models.
 
Check these out.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/IDEAL-100-Pack-Plastic-Push-In-Wire-Connectors/50101796

I know an electrician that swears by them.

Used them for the new shop stuff. Pushing the wire in is no joke. Wicked tight fit. Saves a little space,

They make 2,3, and 4 port models.

Its actually not the wire nuts that are the problem i dont think. Theyre 12ga three wires still fit ok in a yellow wire nut which are pretty small.

Im just still learning proper wire folding to be honest. Getting the length precisely right to be able to do a nice fold, and stripping the jacket back the just the right length is a bit of an art.
 
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luddite alert! :p

code is super strict in my county too. I tend to play it safe since you know... im doing all this "illegally". If i ever do get an inspector looking at stuff I dont wanna give him any excuse for the no lube assrape he is raring to hand out.