Reddit mentions: The best thresholds

http://inspectapedia.com/sickhouse/asbestoslookC.htm

After seeing the posts from /u/mtexcursioner and /u/angrytaxman I felt like a visual aid might help you.

If there is a remote possibility that this is vermiculite with asbestos then I second/third the recommendation that you move ASAP and let the landlord know the reason. They are responsible for providing a place that is safe for occupation. Asbestos insulation is not safe. They have a responsibility to abate which will be costly to them but you will probably be able to break your lease with no penalty if this is asbestos since they have more than likely already violated by leasing a property that is not safe for habitation. Check your state laws to be sure.

Now for further information.

After looking at your pictures I would also like to add (I'm a landlord and a geophysicist) that the material doesn't look like vermiculite to me. Unfortunately I would need to see more detailed photos to be sure and that is why I have supplied the link. Don't go up and take any more photos. Ask your landlord what he used to insulate the house. There are plenty of photos and information in that link to allow you to use what you have already seen to help decide a course of action.

Also remember that it is possible that the photos show cellulose and that the cellulose covers original vermiculite. Only a good home inspection will reveal this. I don't recommend that anyone do this themselves. The landlord should know what the house is insulated with.

My analysis - I don't think it is vermiculite because the photos show fragments of insulating material suspended from spiderwebs (photos 1 and 2). These fragments appear more like chopped paper particles than platy vermiculite. This is more consistent with cellulose. Another clue is that there has been recent wiring added to the house, though possibly before the insulation was blown in, and it's unlikely that the contractor doing the wiring is going to be screwing around in an attic full of vermiculite. Most know and understand the risks. If the landlord did it himself he probably also did the insulation job. Since it looks like the insulation job was recent, based on the photos of it blown on top of the foil-faced air duct work, it can't be vermiculite. Vermiculite was poured or spread between ceiling joists I believe as opposed to being blown in. I could easily be wrong about that point though as I have never worked with vermiculite. My attic insulating experience has been with rolls of fiberglass, blown-in fiberglass, blown-in rock wool, blown-in sheep's wool, and blown-in cellulose.

Ask the landlord about the attic insulation. It is apparent that adding to it will improve the conditions in the air conditioned space below as there is not enough in there now to adequately insulate the house. It appears that he has about 2" average. 10" would be better.

If he is willing to add to it I recommend blown-in fiberglass on top of the cellulose (if that is what he currently has in the house). Cheap, easy enough to do yourself, and offers decent insulating ability relative to other options.

If you do the insulating yourself - wear a high-quality mask and change it frequently during the job, wear goggles to prevent getting any of that shit in your eyes since permanent damage can occur, wear a tyvek suit over your street clothes and trash it when you're done, wear leather gloves over your hands, coat all exposed areas of skin with petroleum jelly, lanolin, etc. to make it easy to remove any fibers after the job.

As to the doors and windows - I second/third the recommendation about storm windows. Cheap and effective way to improve the situation with the windows while still allowing you to catch the breezes during the short weeks when AC/heat isn't needed. For the doors I recommend door sweeps and replacing worn thresholds to improve the seals. Along the perimeter of the doors and windows you can also get a very effective seal using this stuff:

door jamb

brass door jamb seal - most effective jamb seal IMHO

There are door sweeps and thresholds too but since I don't know what your doors look like I will only recommend that you find one that fits the current threshold/door and use it.

I recommend doing the sealing on the outside of the house.

From the window picture another thing comes to mind here. It looks like the house may not have been painted recently and since it is an older home the paint may be lead-based. When you moved into the house you should have been given a USDeptHUD lead-based paint pamphlet. I have a link for you here:

HUD Lead-Based Paint Pamphlet - PDF Warning!

If you have young children this is very important. Also important for adults but critical for children. If the paint is chalky or flaky do not let your kids put their hands in it. Hands go to mouths, dust from hands goes to bloodstream and on to brain where it does really bad things. Read the pamphlet. Opening and closing the windows and doors can create dust from the friction so all mating surfaces need to be free of this paint if it is old.

It is possible to mitigate some of the risks by painting over the old paint. The best way is to remove the old paint.

A test kit is cheap at any big-box home and garden store - about $10 for 8 tests.

Home Depot kit

Don't pay someone $200 to do the test. Do it yourself. They will simply send their tech to HD or Lowe's to buy one of these kits and then swab a couple of places and pocket the other swabs for "sale" to the next customer - at $200. Big waste. Buy a kit, do the test, let the landlord know they will need to remediate the problem and keep a couple swabs handy in case they want to see the results themselves.

Good luck to you. Hope this helps.

It looks like you're doing your best, I wouldn't beat yourself up about it. Some rats are naturally more bold and inquisitive than others, and curiosity can't be stamped out easily. My rats get to free-roam around an hour a day, so I've had to develop a pretty impregnable security system around them, through trial and error. If you're worried about her getting lost or running where she's not supposed to, here's a few ideas that helped me:

• Using zipties, you can make a DIY playpen for pretty cheap, out of cardboard, plastic sheeting, particle board, or any other panel like material around the house. It folds up nicely for storage and is easily replaceable. Try and make the walls at least 4 ft tall, since rats can jump ungodly high distances for their height.
  *One of the biggest problems with escaping rats is that they can crawl under any unsealed door door threshold can be found at most hardware stores for dirt cheap. This will keep rats from escaping under doors. There are plastic and foam ones available, and you can probably make your own out of anything that can reliably fill that door gap space and resist chewing.
  
• If all else fails, hand them a small treat as soon as you've opened the cage.

I have some large gaps under the door to some of my bedrooms. And I was thinking about using a door sweep such as this

M-D Building Products 67967 35-3/4-Inch Kerf Style Replacement Door Bottom with Vinyl Fins, Brown https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000I1CCOS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_al2LDbYC8E30X


To cut down on noise infiltration, I did those in my theater room and made a big difference, but then a friend mentioned the gaps are necessary for return air...? Am I gonna a burn out my furnace or air conditioner prematurely if I use those?



What about something like this that I just use temporarily when I have guests over that like to wake up early?

MAXTID Bottom Door Draft Stopper 32 to 38 inches Grey Adjustable Insulation Sound Proof Door Draft Blocker for Noise Light Smell Stopper https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07KK866KK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_9o2LDb2X3347N



Thanks!

Contact the police.

I believe those are sign of attempted or successful forced entry with a pry bar. There is a small paint nick on what I assume is part of the door handle plate, where someone may have attempted to insert a pry bar, but the space between the door frame and lock plate was too narrow to insert the pry bar directly next to the door handle. The paint scratches bellow look like a person tried to knock a pry bar between the door and door frame, with the intent on sliding the pry bar up to the latch/lock point, but the space between the door and door frame was too narrow to slide the pry bar up to the door latch/lock. Multiple pry bars may have been attempted to be used at once. pry the door open a little, and put the next pry bar closer to the lock, and repeat the process until the pry bar is next to the door latch.

Then, with some less secure doors, the door's small 2 inch by 3 inch strike plate is secured with two 1" wood screws secured by 1 inch of 2x4, which is very easy to split and break with little effort. You seem to have an exterior metal security door that is pre-mounted to a full metal door frame that deters attempted burglary.

This is the mandatory part for other people reading this, whom have a wood framed entry door.

Reinforce your door frame with a larger strike plate!

Even if your door is solid wood, and there are no windows within 5 ft of the door, also replace the standard door hinges with security stud hinges which will prevent the door from being pushed off after removing the hing pin while the door is closed.

Use a raised lip threshold plate with a metal lip, not rubber or wood or plastic. This is to prevent a burglar from inserting a long wire hangar under the door gap, and catching the door latch.

Use this lock in a specific way. If you have a door handle on the inside like a handle lever attach the part with the ball on the end above the door handle touching near the end of the handle. This way the door handle cant be activated by catching a looped string dropped from above the door, and pulling the handle up. If the interior door handle is a round knob, attach the ball ended part of this touching the bottom of the door knob, and the swinging part of this above the knob so it drops onto the knob. This will make using a rubber tube to turn the knob from the outside much more difficult and time consuming.

Nothing is 100% secure. But time, effort, luck, and noise required to bypass a security lock system can deter a criminal. Also motion lighting. Lots of motion lighting.

That's rough. It's hard to make a good assessment without seeing what the torn "seams" condition is, but pretty much, it'll never look right again. The best fix that can be done is this:

Pull up all the screwed up padding, cut a clean line into padding that hasn't been destroyed and remove all the bits and pieces. Acquire new padding that as well as possible matches the thickness and sponginess of the old stuff (there are different grades). Perhaps a local flooring company might sell you some leftover from a big job, or just enough off of a roll.

Then will be trying to lay the carpet back down. You will need some seam tape preferably with the roller listed as "frequently purchased together" to seam the torn carpet.

The picture is too blurry for me to be able to tell what's going on at the transition where the carpet meets the kitchen. Looks kinda like a carpet gripper, and whatever it is, it will either have to be reused or replaced with some other sort of transition.

In the end, it's probably still gonna look like shit. If the carpet was literally torn, it messes up the back, and the seam tape really won't make it look like one piece again. The only way to really do it right would be to replace to whole carpet.

I like how you went one step at a time. You probably get what I am going through and that my brain is everywhere at once. Thank you so much.

First thing is first, clean off the gunk as much as I can. I like your idea of covering the gap, then setting in the trim. I am going to run with that idea, along with the others.

Edit: The aluminum feature for the bottom of the step, I assume you're talking about an extension, like this one

You can look at a door shoe.

They come in brown too. Any hardware store with any normal amount of stock will have one like it. If you drill the holes correctly, you can adjust it slightly downward if/when the door shifts in the frame.

Just measure the gap, and buy one that claims to cover gaps of that size.

I put a white one of the above product on my back door with your same problem, and it's holding up nicely after 2 months. It's all plastic. They had metal shoes that were more expensive that may or may not be more durable. You're looking at $10-20 max. Either one will resolve your bottom draft immediately.

Edit: Bonus is that it also protects the bottom edge of the door from splintering/chips/wear.

I used one of these on my steel door. Works great. I was skeptical of the adhesive product but it's help up for months of use (our main door daily). Even if it starts to come off, I'd use liquid nails to reattach. Makes a HUGE difference.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B008XGR6AA/ref=cm_sw_r_other_apa_Wy9nxbTZ91DRH

If your door is wood they make one you can screw rather than the adhesive which I used on the wood door I have.

• Step one is always weatherstripping the doors. Sound travels most easily in air, so get rid of the air path. For the top and hinge-sides of the two doors, the products and technique in this video are good

At the floor a bumper seal threshold can be secured to the floor with 3m double-sided foam mounting strip, to make it easily removable if you don't own the place. Check how much undercut you have on the existing doors and order the threshold accordingly!

To deal with the gap up the center, you could add a wood astregal; if there is clearance enough between the edges of the two doors you can tack on a T-Astregal and then if removal is needed the pin-holes can be made invisible with furniture-wax (if stained wood) or matching paint.

I plan to use this on my ceiling. Gonna use a layer of reflectix as a vapor barrier and loosely tack one of these tapestries up. You could probably use thin bits of molding or trim to hold it up with some class.

I know your pain. It feels so shitty and helpless when you make 10 cuts and can't figure out what's going wrong. Like others have suggested; planks make a good alternative too. Much easier to fit around windows. Also very classy and potentially aromatic .

Good luck dude!

Thank you for all of your advice. I am considering this instead: http://www.amazon.com/Thermwell-Univdr-Bottom-Udb36br-Sweep/dp/B000BD5DVC/ref=wl_it_dp_o_npd?ie=UTF8&coliid=I1PWYGKPL505PG&colid=2NKR8K7LARXUU

Do you think it'll work just as well or better? From what I can tell, there just isn't a threshold, which is making the sweep useless. Photo of door ajar: http://i.imgur.com/6vJut.jpg

To be honest with you, that piece of wood and awful caulk job is just laughable. When the door is shut, it's that piece of wood and the door the gaps exist between. I'm wondering if the wood weren't there if the gray portion of the patio would have served as a threshold itself?

Wood or metal door? If metal they make magnetic weatherstripping that will latch onto the door. Makes a great air seal.

http://www.amazon.com/M-D-Building-Products-01636-Weather-strip/dp/B0007UTL4Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1416605978&sr=8-1&keywords=magnetic+weather+stripping

something like this might not be pretty, but does the trick the most effectively.

What about installing an automatic door bottom?
https://youtu.be/NMVnHtlZ5pI


Pemko Aluminum Automatic Door Bottom, Mill Finish, Sponge EPDM, 9/16”W x 36"L x 1-3/8”H https://www.amazon.com/dp/B009UWKAFO

It closes the gap when the door is closed, great if your door/floor is uneven.

Not sure this particular one would work aesthetically for you, but there are definitely door sweeps made for doors that have been undercut too much.

Door extender

You have all big roaches, or babies too? Baby roaches indicate an infestation; only big roaches mean they are coming in from somewhere.

Roach bombs did wonders for me. Open all cabinets, doors, closets, etc. If you have a high ceiling, put a couple on a ladder/table so they have nowhere to escape. You and your cat go somewhere for a couple hours and you'll be back to a bunch of corpses. Clean up and get rid of as many as possible. Seal all drains and check for potential holes our cracks they can creep through. Spray roach killer in the perimeter of doors and Windows outside (use pet friendly products for inside).

Also, there is a door sealer I bought on Amazon that helped keep bugs out and A/C in for me.

Also, keep food and water covered or away.

Alright, so far, I've got:

• Shrink wrap on the windows
  
• Door sweep on my entrance to the apt hallway (I could actually feel a breeze here before, crazy.)
  
• Foam tape on the same door frame
  
• Keeping the door between my heated and unheated room shut religiously. The flux in air between the rooms was actually making both feel colder, and I was turning up the heat more in response to this perception.
  
  I am still extremely suspicious of my baseboards (not the heater, the actual trim itself) because I can feel a draft under my desk, but I don't see any physical gaps to stop up. Maybe a piece of fire retardant duct wrap would work to both stop the draft and prevent issues with the heater? (The heater is kept off in this room since it doesn't have an auto-off, but I'm not about to put anything under/around it that's flammable.)
  
  Thank you all for your help!

Another idea is something like this. Check your local hardware store if there’s a bigger transition in metal but this is wood. M-D Building Products 85613 3-Inch by 36-Inch Seam Binder, Unfinished https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000CSNEE4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_9lp2DbTGC42CP