Home remodel

[GoodAsGould]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I'll make sure we have both checked thoroughly before buying. Just wasn't sure if it should be a deal breaker.

[StrangeSox]

Depending on where you're looking, the county may require a full well and septic inspection at the sellers' expense as part of the sale. Ours did, and we got a clean report back from the Illinois EPA on our water quality.

[Texsox]

For under $20 and an hour or two we painted access walls in our guest bath and bedroom. Those $5 samples at Lowe's will paint a small wall. What a difference. We also changed out all the hardware in the guest bath, faucet, tp holder, towel hook, etc. The problem is as we decorate one room, the pressure to fix the next kicks in. Currently if we finish the downstairs we'll be happy.

 

We also have exterior plans for a covered patio and repainting the house.

[cabiness42]

OK will post this here to see if anybody has any ideas.

 

Our home is 9 years old. It has five battery-powered smoke detectors, but they are all also connected to the home's electrical system. A few weeks ago, a beeping noise started coming from inside the ceiling, not directly from one of the smoke detectors, but from up in the ceiling near one of them. I noticed that the nearest smoke detector intermittently blinked.

 

My first assumption was that the battery needed to be replaced so I replaced it. Blinking/beeping continued. Second assumption was that the smoke detector itself was bad so I bought/installed a new one. Blinking/beeping continued, so I re-installed the original unit. Of course the blinking/beeping continued.

 

I began to wonder if this was some sort of electrical malfunction, so I swapped the blinking smoke detector with one from an entirely different part of the house where there had been no blinking or beeping. The blinking/beeping stayed in the same location and did not move with the detector that had been blinking, so my conclusion is that there is some sort of problem with that specific location independent of the detector itself.

 

Has anybody ever heard of anything like this happening? We're about ready to close on a new house and move so 1) we have to fix this problem before we put this house on the market and 2) we don't have a lot of free cash and don't want to pay an electrician to rip out the ceiling to fix the problem unless it's absolutely necessary

Edited April 18, 2016 by HickoryHuskers

[StrangeSox]

So it's not the detector itself that's making the beeping noise? I haven't installed or replaced connected CO2/smoke detectors myself, but I didn't think there would be anything in the ceiling other than wires that could even make a noise.

 

If it seems to be location-dependent, you could try measuring the voltage of the wires feeding that location if its 120V. Make sure wire nuts are still tight etc.

[cabiness42]

So it's not the detector itself that's making the beeping noise? I haven't installed or replaced connected CO2/smoke detectors myself, but I didn't think there would be anything in the ceiling other than wires that could even make a noise.

 

If it seems to be location-dependent, you could try measuring the voltage of the wires feeding that location if its 120V. Make sure wire nuts are still tight etc.

 

No, it's not the detector itself. In fact, when the detector itself is completely removed, the beeping still comes from the same spot. There is something in the ceiling that is generating the beeping noise. Something i can't get to. When the smoke detector is removed, above it is a metal cylinder that is nailed into a ceiling joyce and only has a hole big enough for the wires to hang down through it, so I can't see anything up there.

[Jenksismyhero]

No, it's not the detector itself. In fact, when the detector itself is completely removed, the beeping still comes from the same spot. There is something in the ceiling that is generating the beeping noise. Something i can't get to. When the smoke detector is removed, above it is a metal cylinder that is nailed into a ceiling joyce and only has a hole big enough for the wires to hang down through it, so I can't see anything up there.

 

Is this on the top floor? Is there anything in the attic?

Edited April 18, 2016 by JenksIsMyHero

[cabiness42]

Is this on the top floor? Is there anything in the attic?

 

This is on the top floor, and there is no access to the space above.

[StrangeSox]

make/model of the detector?

 

edit: and if there's a part number or something on the metal cylinder thing it plugs into

Edited April 18, 2016 by StrangeSox

[Jenksismyhero]

Does the detector plug into the cylinder? If so, maybe there's a sensor that is telling you there's a bad connection.

[Texsox]

Here are a couple steps to trouble shoot the problem.

 

Step 1. Shut down all the electric to the house. This will tell you if the problem is battery operated or wired in.

 

If it is battery driven:

Completely discharge the fire alarms by holding down the test button with the unit unplugged. It will be noisy.

Check for anything that may have a low battery alarm, security systems (may be a legacy system), various smoke and fume sensors, timers, thermostats, ovens, etc.

 

If it is hard wired, begin flipping on breakers until the beeping resumes. Then try and trace the circuit as best as possible.

 

I'll try to think of some other things it could be.

[cabiness42]

make/model of the detector?

 

edit: and if there's a part number or something on the metal cylinder thing it plugs into

 

The make and model of the detector is FIREX 120-1182B with a stamped date of 2006 MAY 22. I don't see anything on the cylinder.

[cabiness42]

Here are a couple steps to trouble shoot the problem.

 

Step 1. Shut down all the electric to the house. This will tell you if the problem is battery operated or wired in.

 

If it is battery driven:

Completely discharge the fire alarms by holding down the test button with the unit unplugged. It will be noisy.

Check for anything that may have a low battery alarm, security systems (may be a legacy system), various smoke and fume sensors, timers, thermostats, ovens, etc.

 

If it is hard wired, begin flipping on breakers until the beeping resumes. Then try and trace the circuit as best as possible.

 

I'll try to think of some other things it could be.

 

Shutting down the electric to the room where the chirping originates stops the noise. It's how we sleep at night. We know that much. I just don't know where to go from there.

[Texsox]

OK. So we know it is something on ac current without a battery. Next step is to isolate all of the electrical outlets on that circuit. Also, is this between floors? Between rooms? Attic and top floor? Does that breaker also control outlets and switches in another room? Does it stop if a smoke alarm is not plugged in? BTW, those plug in alarms are about $15 at homestores everywhere if you want to put in a new one.

 

[Texsox]

This is on the top floor, and there is no access to the space above.

 

Are you absolutely certain there is no access anywhere? I can't believe it is code anywhere to allow that. The access may only be enough to stick your head up.

[cabiness42]

OK, I am going to get idiot of the year award for this. I did some very deep Google research, found a couple people who had the same problem, and it turns out that it isn't the smoke detectors at all. IT'S THE CO DETECTOR PLUGGED INTO THE WALL. I could have sworn my life on that sound coming from up in the ceiling and not from something plugged in near the floor, but that's what it was.

[Texsox]

OK, I am going to get idiot of the year award for this. I did some very deep Google research, found a couple people who had the same problem, and it turns out that it isn't the smoke detectors at all. IT'S THE CO DETECTOR PLUGGED INTO THE WALL. I could have sworn my life on that sound coming from up in the ceiling and not from something plugged in near the floor, but that's what it was.

 

Weren't we checking everything that was plugged into an outlet? I thought that was part of our step 1. LOL Everyone will do that at least once or twice.

[cabiness42]

Weren't we checking everything that was plugged into an outlet? I thought that was part of our step 1. LOL Everyone will do that at least once or twice.

 

This particular outlet is right behind the door and not visible when the door is open and we had all forgotten that there was an outlet back there.

[StrangeSox]

At least it was cheap and easy to fix!

[RockRaines]

The warning beeps from those things are really hard to find at times. I know i've wandered around my house trying to find the correct detector many times

[StrangeSox]

Given that manufacture date, that alarm should be replaced anyway. They usually only last 10 years.

[Texsox]

I remember trying to track one down that would stop when we flipped the breaker. It was in a vacation property that a friend owned. It wasn't until about a month later when someone who was renting the "in-law unit" complained about the smoke alarm that we realized that circuit actually covered a couple outlets on the "other side".

[cabiness42]

Given that manufacture date, that alarm should be replaced anyway. They usually only last 10 years.

 

We're selling this house and we'll let the next owners take care of that.

[bigruss]

When I bought my condo, the previous owners had astroturf out on the patio:

 

I ripped it up about 3 months after moving in, after raining there would be a giant puddle for days. Turns out there is a drain in the middle of the patio (20x30ft so large patio) but they didn't cut away the astroturf around it so it just would not drain. They had used some glue tape to keep it down, so we started taking that off and it just ripped paint right off the concrete, so now I was left with concrete that needed a stripping of the paint.

 

I found 2 options; sandblasting or grinding. Sandblasting wasn't really an option as it's an open deck connected to a neighbor's. Grinding was quoted at about $1400, plus I would have prime and paint it again.

 

Did some research and decided to buy decking tiles made of composite wood. Ran me about $2500 including shipping but it added some great character to the patio.

 

This is the first 3rd we did, my buddy helped finish it yesterday so I don't have a full pic yet (haven't been home with the sun out since), but here's a sneak peak:

 

[StrangeSox]

Looks awesome, great work!