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You may be letting your imagination run a bit on this. The localized area where the pipe is cut and lowered to the floor could be messy. Your plumber is simply warning you. He should mitigate the mess by draining the pipe before cutting and covering the area with plastic should prevent most of the problem. Once the pipe is cut, the ends can be sealed. If you want, the whole pipe could be wrapped before moving it through the house.
Discuss the work with your plumber, making your concerns clear. If you don’t feel comfortable with his approach being safe and as clean as possible, then pursue a second opinion and bid. You are hiring a pro. Make sure you get professional level work. Be clear that you expect the work area to be cleaned before the work will be considered complete. If your current plumber doesn’t want to accept that condition, find someone else.
If you’re lucky you will have a closet with enough carpet to patch in the damaged area. Acetone on carpet is probably not ideal since it is a solvent for many of the synthetic fibers.
Losing a carpet to a paint leak is a passage of life. Happens to everyone eventually. Some people just go bigger than others, and it sounds like your husband totaled some pretty big areas. I’ll bet he upgrades his drop cloth coverage next time. Don’t ask how I know.
I have had good luck with Kilz primer as well as the Zinsser Zinsser “Cover Stain” in sealing in live oils like linseed on siding. It could work in this case. Brand is not so important as an oil base primer that seals in stains.
The solution to a malfunctioned softener you don’t want, is to remove it and install a bypass. What was your question?
This link shows the Malco shears being used on ribbed roofing. It does not eject a 1/4 inch ribbon and should produce a finer cut.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vwQuTPKLLd0
I think the Kett shears cut in the way you describe for the DeWalt
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ai-JQ2OnYxI
These profile nibblers are awesome. I’m taking some to my next bank break-in. Talk about cutting ridges and shapes.
I was thinking of this one for $169 (see link) that is rated at 14 gauge steel and made in USA. I don’t have personal experience making the cut you are describing, but suspect that most of the power shears are going to work similarly.
If you are having problems at the seams, I would be tempted to use an angle-grinder with a metal cut-off wheel to go through the ribs, then doing touch up on the cuts. Keep wheel directed to deflect the sparks under, rather than onto the roof.
http://www.tools-plus.com/kett-kd440.html?utm_medium=shopeng&utm_source=nextag&utm_term=KETKD440
Abrasive blades and saws leave raw edges that rust and can heat the edge of the roof and cause it to rust as well. An inexpensive way to speed up the cutting job is power cutting shears. You can buy or perhaps rent power shears for cutting metal, or get a $70 adapter for your 3/8 drill. Look up Malco TSHD metal shear on a search engine. Note the drill adapter is only good for 18-20 gauge steel. If you need to cut up to 14 gauge steel, you need a dedicated shear like this:
http://www.toolfetch.com/Category/Metal_Fabrication/Metal_Shears/KD-440.htmIf you can’t rent it, you can probably resell it.
You can find many different latches, handles and hasp locks at the hardware store. Time to shop. Glue is not your answer for this 🙂
I’ll keep it clean. The picture of paneling you included would have been sealed with either shellac, lacquer or varnish. Each of those finishes is best removed with a different solvent. So, you may need a little experimenting to see just what you have and what will work best.
We all know how effective alcohol can be at stripping 🙂 Shellac is most easily dissolved using alcohol. Get a quart or so from your home improvement store and see if denatureed alcohol strips the finish.
Lacquer is stripped with lacquer thinner or acetone. If this is what you use, be sure to have plenty of ventilation. Remove it using steel wool dipped in solvent.
Varnish and stain removing strippers are usually blends of xylene and methylene chloride. These are applied to dissolve the finish and removed with a scraper and/or steel wool.
Some citrus strippers may also work
This is an option I was going to suggest, but you do need the material to be in fairly good condition. Polyurethane or deck sealant is not the answer, you need a sealing primer, designed to seal in odors, tanins and oil-stains like Clear B-I-N Sealer http://www.zinsser.com/product_detail.asp?ProductID=196
I would buy some and test it for adhesion before applying to the whole area. Then apply a finish floor.
Well, the material is most likely the residue from an accidental spill of preservative, intentional treatment or some former process. The material ends up on the floor because it is normally in a liquid form and has a very slow rate of evaporation. It is activated in summer months because it is a volatile compound and more fume is released with higher temperature.
Going out on a limb here, is there any green tint to the wood flooring? If so, the material causing the smell is Copper Naphthenate wood preservative. Very commonly used to stop dry rot, fungus and pest attack on wood. Totally inappropriate for use indoors as well. But since you mentioned the poor condition of the floors, it may have been intentionally used to try and stop some dry rot, and this would have been more likely to be used than creosote.
http://www.pesticideinfo.org/Detail_Chemical.jsp?Rec_Id=PC35068
to identify the contaminated surface(s), you can sample materials such as the floor, place it in a sealed container then gently heat it with a hair dryer. If you get a pungent odor, you have the source of your problem. This way you can at least be sure to sample the right material for analysis.
To determine what the product is, you can take a sample (preferably ground up) of any contaminated surface to an analytical laboratory and request an estimate for analysis of bulk sample for PAH and metals. That will be be around $300 assuming you can do your own sample collection and delivery. For a lab, look in the Yellow Pages under Laboratory, Analytical.
If you are cutting into demolishing 80 cm thickness of stone or masonry, this is not a DIY project. Special cutting tools and support is needed. Call a qualified mason to create the rough opening.
Aside from the mechanical aspect of this project, have you checked into permits? You may need permission to alter a structure in an historic district or which is itself, historic. There may be engineering or other regulatory requirements for altering this structure and maintaining safety. What is the location?
Tom
The odors you are describing are usually associated with coal tar, asphalt (petroleum tar), and similar derivatives. Creosote was a pretty good answer. This can include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons like naphthalene or antracene that are especially pungent and persistent. These materials were used for treating wood against pests and rot, sealing roofs and as preservatives. Another possibility is that there was some kind of spill by a previous tenant that has soaked into the wood floors.
These materials have very low odor thresholds and are noxious to many people. While it would be possible to identify the contaminates with some analyses, you are looking at a few hundred dollars in testing. Identifying it isn’t going to solve the problem anyway. The solution lies in identifying the contaminated materials (flooring?) and removing and replacing it, or seal it. That is most likely something the property owner should participate in financially.
According to the California Integrated Waste Board, the incidence of asbestos-containing shingles in roof tear-offs today is extremely low. The total asbestos content of asphalt shingles manufactured in 1963 was only 0.02 percent; in 1977, it dropped to 0.00016 percent.
Levels of asbestos this low, where they occur, are below regulatory action levels and approach background contaminate levels. I think its safe to conclude that asbestos in asphalt composite material is not a significant concern.
ref: http://www.ciwmb.ca.gov/condemo/Shingles/To the best of my knowledge asbestos was not used in residential composition roof shingles. It was found in mastics, felts and slate-like tile roofing (transite). Composition roofing is often constructed on a substrate of glass fiber. No guarantee that asbestos was NEVER used, but I haven’t seen it.
