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In past builds I used 3M Super 90 spray adhesive ( green can ) They are expensive at $14 a can and you'll need at least 4 cans....Spraying that stuff is a huge inhalation - lung hazard and not to be taken lightly.  Buy a 2 quarts of contact cement but still use a decent mask and do so in a well ventilated area. You do not have to cover every square inch of the carpet backing

Last edited by Alan Merklin
Michael McKelvey posted:

I didn't use spray because I was concerned about overspray.  The liquid adhesive I used worked well to get the carpet to conform to the car shape.

I think of 3M Super 90 as contact cement in a spray.  What liquid adhesive did you use?  From what I see on tv it looks like upholsters use liquid contact cement and they spray it.

 

Last edited by Todd M
Stan Galat posted:
Todd M posted:

 Did you have to get it inspected?  Code here is: "Concrete slabs placed on grade or expansive soil shall be reinforced with not less than 1/2" reinforcing steel at 24" on center or 3/8" reinforcing steel at 18" on center, each way."  

That's quite the code.

I did everything this way (including the sidewalks, which the city absolutely did not want), but my house ended up costing 2x what any comparable home in the area could ever sell for, and I did most of it myself. Complying with the 2014 national building code (which most small municipalities have adopted wholesale) increases the cost of construction by probably 50%. Being anal-retentive accounts for the other 50%.

Codes have gone over the top. I realize that I sound like a curmudgeonly old man, but this hits a nerve. The codes regarding arc-fault/ground-fault electrical alone more than double the cost of an electrical job here. Homes stopped burning down due to electrical problems 50 years ago, when contractors started using circuit breakers (instead of fuses) and running Romex with a ground wire instead of cloth-covered 2-wire. Every successive code has been a solution in search of a problem. Don't believe me? Try running your refrigerator on a GFCI circuit.

... but the codes I contend with downstate are nothing like what @Tom Boney deals with on a daily basis.

Chicago still requires electrical in conduit, cast-freaking-iron drain pipes, and copper water lines. Some of that I can see the point on, but cast-iron DWV is worse than Sch 40 PVC by any objective metric. That particular code exists only to keep the plumbers local union busy and highly paid on into perpetuity. Running cast iron easily takes 4x as long as PVC DWV.

If I tried to build homes in the city (as Tom does), I'd end up doing bodily harm to one of the inspectors, which is why I'm (mostly) happy to live in flyover country.

Oops,  Stan.  Can you expand on...."Try running your refrigerator on a GFCI  circuit"

I just this week did that . A  20 amp,  12  gauge wire, home run.   20 amp GFI.

Thanks, Art

I can't run the freezer in my basement on a GFCI breaker.  Whenever the compressor comes on, the momentary surge trips the breaker.  Same thing in my shop if I use my Sawzall on the GFCI circuit - Just touch the trigger and the breaker trips.  Other, non-GFCI circuits are fine.  Been meaning to swap that breaker for a while - just haven't yet gotten around to it.

Interesting. 20 years ago I installed a new frige in my house and ran a GFCI to the new spot for it and plugged it in and it worked fine for the 4 years or so I lived there.

I believe "electrical fires" are not the problem GFCIs are aiming at, but rather "throw this tape deck in the tub when White Rabbit peaks."

With properly-wired GFCIs this whole dramatic betrayal could have been avoided.

Art posted:
Can you expand on...."Try running your refrigerator on a GFCI  circuit"

I just this week did that . A  20 amp,  12  gauge wire, home run.   20 amp GFI.

Thanks, Art

 Sure.

An inductive load will work on a GFCI when everything is new. As the windings in the motor start to wear, that GFCI will trip, usually at a really inconvenient time. It might not be now, or in two weeks, or in two years-- but it will trip someday. Your refrigerator will be fine, and the only way you'd ever be able to pick up what was going on would be with a meg-ohm meter. The solution would be to replace the compressor and motors, or to buy a new fridge.

Or just take the GFCI out.

Same deal with any inductive load-- tools with motors, etc. Once the GFCI trips a few times, it's weaker, and will trip more easily the next time. 

And yes, as Ed suggested-- the arc-fault/ground-fault codes are not meant to keep houses from burning down. They're meant as a safety-- you know, for all the people who take baths with their toasters on the ledge. It's a solution in search of a problem.

aircooled posted:

Stan...You got me on that "windings start to wear". How do windings wear ? I thought they were purposely glued-varnished-wedged with wood-paper wrapped and what ever to not move at all..........Bruce

It's been 40 years (or more) since windings had wood or paper. The more efficient the motor, the thinner the varnish, and the hotter the windings get. Appliances cost about what they did 40 years ago, so something has to give. Almost all little bitty motors are of east Asian, or Indian, or Brazilian manufacture, and are sold to manufacturers at nearly zero profit. Appliances are made to be completely disposable now.

Windings get hotter than they used to, the varnish is thinner than it used to be, and they do "wear", as in the varnish breaks down and creates a ever so slight path to ground-- not enough to shock anybody or to trip a breaker, but enough to see with a very good (crank-type) meg-ohm meter.

Sometimes, the winding insulation is cheesy enough, or the refrigerant (which spills over the windings in a compressor) has enough continuity to occasionally trip a GFCI breaker, even when new. I took care of a place that replaced 3 new compressors on a 2-dr. reach in before I just changed the breaker. We never had a problem again.

You can do as you wish, if you're afraid of dying by touching your refrigerator, but I'm never coming home from vacation to a freezer full of spoiled food.

Last edited by Stan Galat

Got it Stan !  I just didn't understand your use of the word "wear".  Yes, motor manufacturers try to make electric motors more job specific to save mfg. cost. There used to be more of a "one size fits all" era.   Recently I bought a used   Baldor 2hp,  220v motor on Ebay. It had slightly noisy bearings so I decided to replace them plus inspect and clean the inside in the process.   Bought a pair of good US made bearings.  The inside of that Baldor was a work of art. Totally brushless, the armature was solidly made and insulated such that I could hardly see the laminations. The field windings were heavily varnished along with the paper and bakelite separators. Since it is a sealed motor housing, there was very little dirt and debris inside so cleaning was easy. I replaced the bearings and reassembled it and plugged it in.  It was flawless and quiet !  I could have bought a new motor for $100 + at Harbor Freight or Rockler  etc. or buy a new Baldor for $500 or so. I went differently and bought the used Baldor on Ebay for $94.00 plus $17.00 for a couple bearings. Why ? The inside of a  Baldor is extremely well built and should last forever (bearings excepted).  I guess thats why they cost around $500 new. Finally, I'd guess that the used motor I bought is more than 30 years old.........Bruce

Now here is a guy I like he buys parts as old as he is. ... Just kidding but real craftsmanship is sometimes going backwards...

Speaking of backwards, my kenmore plastic gear sewing machine went south so I just bought 3 old singer sewing machines, all metal, from the 60-70's and gave them to my daughters ... Hey I even sewed a small leather project with it in 5 minutes.

Built to last !  

Ray..... Some of those old Singers were so heavy they could be used for boat anchors ! I tried sewing some upholstery on my Wife"s new machine and bent it. The old Singers and Kenmore's will do the job.  I burned up the armature in my old Craftsman wood router using it to do edge round overs on 1/2" T-6061 aluminum plate. A replacement armature from Sears cost $17.00 and was made for Sears by Singer. Ha !  Wouldn't ya know !........Bruce

For installation of a MaxJax, my garage floor is out 5/8" from one column to the other column.  I am thinking the best fix is to epoxy down a 1/2" thick or 5/8" thick plate of aluminum or steel to the floor.  What say you?  I prefer aluminum to steel, because I know that I can drill the holes in the aluminum, but not so sure about the steel.

It seems like the other way, grinding 5/8" off the high side is not preferred because it's a garage floor and I will probably need every 1/16" of thickness I can get for the bolts.

Or, I could pour a small, 5/8" thick slab of concrete and steel with short rebar posts to the existing slab?

What do you think?Garage-Floor-Level

five-eighths

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Will you be pulling a permit for this installation or flying under the Radar of the local Building inspector?

If pulling a permit, then you’ll have to ask him/her what to do and adhere to that advice.

If doing a stealth mission, I would just slap down a 1/2” -  5/8” plate on the low end under the upright and be done with it.   

Remember that most garage floors are pitched downward towards the door to allow water to run out the door.  Grinding the high end down should not be an option.

In the construction industry when we need to raise a steel column we raise the column with nuts under the column threaded on your anchor stud and then we use structural dry pack which is actually "wet"underneath the plate.  works on huge loads for multiple story buildings. You probably can Google the process. We of course put nuts on top as you would usually do. Best of luck.

Last edited by michel
michel posted:

In the construction industry when we need to raise a steel column we raise the column with nuts under the column threaded on your anchor stud and then we use structural dry pack which is actually "wet"underneath the plate.  works on huge loads for multiple story buildings. You probably can Google the process. We of course put nuts on top as you would usually do. Best of luck.

How  funny.  I am a land surveyor and we set one of the those nuts on each column at  the bottom base plate elevation for cantilever and bridge signs.  I should have explained that this installation uses concrete anchor sleeves and bolts.  No anchor studs here.

Todd...I don't think you need to worry about that difference. In your instructions, I think,  just tell you to be sure that each stand/pillar needs to be square to each other and plumb  on the  N. E. S. & West  sides. That 5/8" difference will be compensated for hydraulically as the lift arms touch your car to lift it.  On mine I had to use the shims supplied to get them both plumb.  I painted the number of shims required for Plumb at or near each hole in the base so I could repeat it later when I haul them out to mount and use again................Bruce.

Todd M posted:
michel posted:

In the construction industry when we need to raise a steel column we raise the column with nuts under the column threaded on your anchor stud and then we use structural dry pack which is actually "wet"underneath the plate.  works on huge loads for multiple story buildings. You probably can Google the process. We of course put nuts on top as you would usually do. Best of luck.

How  funny.  I am a land surveyor and we set one of the those nuts on each column at  the bottom base plate elevation for cantilever and bridge signs.  I should have explained that this installation uses concrete anchor sleeves and bolts.  No anchor studs here.

It's the same principle. Just get longer bolts,  Put a correct sleeve/ bushing under plate and pack it.

Drilling holes in concrete!  Fun!  Not being sarcastic.  What guy does not like drilling holes in concrete.

Drilling-hole-in-concrete

I bought a brand new Milwaukee 7/8" concrete coring bit so that I would know that the holes were as close to 7/8" as I could get, but the bit was 0.923" in diameter.  How bizarre.  I can't imagine that Milwaukee's quality standards are that low.  Must have been some type of mistake on the labeling or something.

So, I already had a 7/8" masonry bit and am using that.  So far, so good, at least the drilling part.  I don't want to take off my template and see if the anchor slides in correctly, because I am very unsure of how close I can get the template to where it is now when replacing it.

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One column installed, and it is only 1/8" from plumb on one axis; easily shimmed.  The other five holes are drilled also, and I still haven't decided the best way to compensate for the 5/8" elevation difference.  Guess I'll sleep on it.

First-column-installed

And some great news, I found that I do not own a 15/16" socket, which means I get to buy one, or a set.  I love buying tools, more than making holes in concrete.

Oh yeah, the concrete was 4 1/2" to 5 inches deep.  Perfect.

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Last edited by Todd M
barncobob posted:

instead of trying to get the 5/8 from the floor elevation how about adding 5/8 to the lift  arms itself, the attaching arms that swing out, shim, weld, spacers whatever on the low end,,,trying to think outside the box here

Good question.  It is a surveyor thing.  I build freeways, highways to those of you who live outside California, and it is part of my job description to find and fix discrepancies where they lie, rather than make up the diff someplace else.  It probably isn't necessary in this case, but it is habit, and if I didn't fix it in the floor, it would bother me every time I looked at it.  Don't ask me how I know that?

Construction Surveyors do not think outside the box.  They lay out the box per the engineering plans.

aircooled posted:

Todd...I'm a little leary of those cracks in your slab and how close they are to your lift.  Are you not concerned about them ? If not, why ?..........Bruce

There is steel in the concrete.  We have had  a couple of 4,000 lb. cars parked on top of that slab.  That is 1000 lb distributed on each tire patch.  My car will be about 1,800 lbs. when finished.  1,000 lb distributed on each of those base plates doesn't concern me.

Last edited by Todd M
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