Sort of continued from yesterday...
Aside from the heat pump problems, I've had damaged/loose tiles around the bathtub for almost a year. At first, I couldn't get any highly-rated company on Angie's List to come out. The job was too small. Then it gradually got too big. Them I couldn't get a bathroom remodeler to come out because the job was too small.
I have a plastic trash bag duct-taped over the loose tiles. Well, it FINALLY got big enough of a problem for one remodeler to come look Wed. Quite frankly, I hadn't looked under the plastic covering lately, and it was worse than I thought.
I expected bad news and I got it! Now let me mention that this "starter house" (where I have lived for 30 years) was not the best-built of houses. The builder took shortcuts all over the place. Apparently, one of those shortcuts was around the bathtub. The seal around the tub faucet was leaky, the tile was poorly applied, the grout cracked, and the wall behind the tiles was truly waterproof.
The remodeler popped one seemingly sound tile right off and pushed an awl right through the wall behind it. Everything seem rotted... So he came by yesterday with a basic proposal, subject to change after they remove the tiles and see behind the wall.
They propose to remove all the tiles, replace the backer board wall, repair some damaged drywall, replace the tub faucet and showerhead (upper tile loosening suggests it is leaking inside the wall), and re-tile higher than it currently is (which is below the showerhead). And replace the bathtub itself.
I asked about why to replace the bathtub, and he said that, at 30 years old my cheap one won't last much longer and it would require pulling off the new tiles and some drywall to replace it then at twice the price.
I did some internet research and I know the routine for bathroom remodelers. They get the initial job, then find all sorts of further problems (replace studs, scrape and spray mold, replace the floor, discover insect damage, etc). I'm resigned to that. There are some repairs you just HAVE to have done even when you know you are being taken advantage of.
At least I have some advantages myself. I know wood, so they won't be able to lie about the condition of the studs. I know the floor is solid; I can see it from the basement and there is no waterstain. But also, I chose this company because their Angie's List rating is A+ for price and quality of work. So they not only have a good rating, they care about their rating. And if *I'm* not happy, they won't be happy!
At $5700 for the contracted work, they BETTER make me happy. But it will be 3 weeks before they get to me on their schedule. And they estimate 10 days of work (not every day, some parts have to sit a couple days to set).
And then there is my right knee. It has been a month since I first twisted it. At first, it was pinful just getting it and out of bed. And getting up and down stairs was an adventure in caution. At least now I can walk almost normally. Stairs are still annoying, but not actually painful. Putting on my right sock and shoe are still awkward (but just an "err" and not a "GRRRR". But it all means that I have not been able to do any gardening work in this extended mild temperature we have had all April and early May. It will heal...
But then there is the weather. After 3 weeks of drought late March and early April, we have had 10 days of daily off-and-on drizzle. 5" of drizzle and not any heavy rain but 1 hour. So, good knee or bad, I wasn't going to get to do much work in the flower or vegetable gardens. The vegetable garden is newly redone, so it doesn't need much work and the early crops were in and the warm weather crops will wait.
But the flowerbeds are all gone to heck. Weed grasses and regular weeds are nearly taking over. This was going to be a Spring of renovation. Too many of my perennial flowers have slowly died back (perennials don't live forever) and I was planning to dig up everything worth saving and rototill large areas to start over with some perennials that DO seem to live forever and add lots of annuals this year while I decide what to do in the future.
I went big into perennials 15 years ago, but they are disappointing. Most only flower a week or two. Some flower longer, but are shorter-lived (3-5 years). Some are very special in their short blooms (oriental lilies, tulips, daffodils, etc), and some have great foliage (Hostas, Brunella). But I like the ones that flower all season or at least all Fall (Coneflowers, Goldenrod, Astilbe, Clatis, Asters).
I'm going back to annuals ( Zinnias, Salvia, Marigolds, Coleus, Impatiens). More work each Spring to plant under lights inside and transplant, but I have time for that. And growing seeds from scratch gives my better varieties than the local Walmart sells.
But if my knee doesn't heal soon, I won't be able to get down and scrape the weeds off the soil (and dig out the deep-rooted ones) and plant all those seedlings.
Mom used to tell me that "getting old isn't for sissies". I understood that theoretically a decade ago; now I know personally. I'll turn 66 in 2 weeks. LOL!
I've stayed young long. You know how, in high school, there were those who matured fast? Well, they aged fast too. I always took some comfort in that. Well, age is starting to catch up with me... Small matters to be sure. But I bet I need a knee transplant in 10 years. My knees have always been a bit loose.
Most people fidget in some way. They doodle, they hum, they tap their fingers. I shake my ankles. Sound weird? Put your right ankle up on your left knee. Now shake your ankle up and down constantly. That's what I do at the computer. I'll bet I loosened that knee badly over the decades...
"tempis fugit, momento mori".
Showing posts with label Repairs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Repairs. Show all posts
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Friday, May 6, 2016
Heat Pump Problems
I don't like to be complaining often, and I recognize that my worst complaints are minor compared to many other people's. But they are what *I* am suffering, if you understand what I mean. Sort of the "I was sad I had no shoes, til I met a man who had no feet". Well, I still have no shoes, so I'm not happy.
My heat pump is non-functional. Brief history is that the heating function barely worked in early Feb and I had to pay $120 for a diagnostic visit, then $745 for a replacement of the outdoors unit "thermal exchange valve" and a coolant recharge. It worked, but not like it used to. And there was often a weird high-pressure whistling sound both inside and outside after that.
Then when the weather warmed into the low 80s in mid-April, I turned on the cooling function. It struggled. How could it struggle when it's only 80 outside? So I had to pay $120 for another diagnostic visit. Naturally, it was only 65 outside that day and the system worked perfectly...
Monday the system simply stopped completely. No heating, no cooling, not even the fan operated. Even the thermostat display was dark. I checked the main circuit breaker panel, the inside unit ciruit breaker, the outside circuit breaker, nothing.
Wed, another repairman came out. THIS guy knew what he was doing! First, he ACTUALLY listened to my description of the recent history of diagnoses and repair, and he listened to my observations of noises and heating/cooling failures.
The 1st thing he did was get into the inside unit where there was yer ANOTHER circuit breaker, and replaced it. It promptly blew out when he turned the system back on. So he shut everything off again and checked the coolant because "that high pressure whistle you described is bad news". Sure enough, he found the coolant recharge done in Feb was 4x too high. There was some by-passing valve that protects against that but it meant the system wasn't doing much. He said the previous week's diagnostician didn't measure for long enough to discover that. And terms like "those clowns" were used...
He suspects the INTERNAL "thermal exchange valve" was damaged by the coolant overpressure and said he needed to speak to the repairs manager because they had screwed up my system and owed me some free work (that he couldn't authorize on his own). The nice news was that he said I had observed the problems accurately, had been right that the noise was due to high pressure, and that if the previous guys had paid attention to what I was telling them, they might have fixed the problem right to begin with!
And, in fact, I had described the pattern of cooling failure to the last week's diagnostician in detail. Not 10 minutes later he told me that I should observe the pattern of failure. Exactly what I had just previously done. I think that, like doctors, repairmen shut off their hearing when clients speak. Seriously, how often have you explained symptoms in detail to a doctor only to have him/her ask you about symptoms you just mentioned? Often, right?
I spoke to the repairs manage this afternoon. My system is a year out of warranty, but he has gotten authorization to replace the inside thermal exchange valve at no charge and the labor charge will be at 50%. Plus any other problems found during full repair will be cost-adjusted.
I mentioned that seemed generally fair, since it was likely the Feb over pressuring caused some of the problems, but I didn't push it further. I'm not a skilled negotiator (I'm always afraid people will just say "NO" and THEN get mad and unhelpful).
They expect the part to arrive Monday and will be out to replace it ASAP. I've been very fortunate that the temperatures have been very stable between highs of 65 and lows of 50. I can deal with that. I'm a very warm-bodied person, I have a heated waterbed, and I'm a lot more comfortable at 65 than 75. And the house stays warmer than the outside. All that electronic stuff that stays permanently 1/2 on creates heat, as does the refrigerator, water heater, cooking, etc. And the house got a detailed attic-to-basement spray insulation and blown-in insulation job 18 months ago.
When it is 50 outside, the house stays at 65. But that also means that when the outside temperature is 80, the inside will reach 90 even with windows open and I can't sleep in THAT! And it will get into the 80s Tuesday! So the repair will be a close call...
It could be much worse. Heat pumps usually die on the coldest or hottest days. My previous 2 heat pumps died in mid August and the in-house temperature reached 100!
I have more complaints, but this post is long enough (and my appreciation to all who have read to this point)! So the rest tomorrow...
My heat pump is non-functional. Brief history is that the heating function barely worked in early Feb and I had to pay $120 for a diagnostic visit, then $745 for a replacement of the outdoors unit "thermal exchange valve" and a coolant recharge. It worked, but not like it used to. And there was often a weird high-pressure whistling sound both inside and outside after that.
Then when the weather warmed into the low 80s in mid-April, I turned on the cooling function. It struggled. How could it struggle when it's only 80 outside? So I had to pay $120 for another diagnostic visit. Naturally, it was only 65 outside that day and the system worked perfectly...
Monday the system simply stopped completely. No heating, no cooling, not even the fan operated. Even the thermostat display was dark. I checked the main circuit breaker panel, the inside unit ciruit breaker, the outside circuit breaker, nothing.
Wed, another repairman came out. THIS guy knew what he was doing! First, he ACTUALLY listened to my description of the recent history of diagnoses and repair, and he listened to my observations of noises and heating/cooling failures.
The 1st thing he did was get into the inside unit where there was yer ANOTHER circuit breaker, and replaced it. It promptly blew out when he turned the system back on. So he shut everything off again and checked the coolant because "that high pressure whistle you described is bad news". Sure enough, he found the coolant recharge done in Feb was 4x too high. There was some by-passing valve that protects against that but it meant the system wasn't doing much. He said the previous week's diagnostician didn't measure for long enough to discover that. And terms like "those clowns" were used...
He suspects the INTERNAL "thermal exchange valve" was damaged by the coolant overpressure and said he needed to speak to the repairs manager because they had screwed up my system and owed me some free work (that he couldn't authorize on his own). The nice news was that he said I had observed the problems accurately, had been right that the noise was due to high pressure, and that if the previous guys had paid attention to what I was telling them, they might have fixed the problem right to begin with!
And, in fact, I had described the pattern of cooling failure to the last week's diagnostician in detail. Not 10 minutes later he told me that I should observe the pattern of failure. Exactly what I had just previously done. I think that, like doctors, repairmen shut off their hearing when clients speak. Seriously, how often have you explained symptoms in detail to a doctor only to have him/her ask you about symptoms you just mentioned? Often, right?
I spoke to the repairs manage this afternoon. My system is a year out of warranty, but he has gotten authorization to replace the inside thermal exchange valve at no charge and the labor charge will be at 50%. Plus any other problems found during full repair will be cost-adjusted.
I mentioned that seemed generally fair, since it was likely the Feb over pressuring caused some of the problems, but I didn't push it further. I'm not a skilled negotiator (I'm always afraid people will just say "NO" and THEN get mad and unhelpful).
They expect the part to arrive Monday and will be out to replace it ASAP. I've been very fortunate that the temperatures have been very stable between highs of 65 and lows of 50. I can deal with that. I'm a very warm-bodied person, I have a heated waterbed, and I'm a lot more comfortable at 65 than 75. And the house stays warmer than the outside. All that electronic stuff that stays permanently 1/2 on creates heat, as does the refrigerator, water heater, cooking, etc. And the house got a detailed attic-to-basement spray insulation and blown-in insulation job 18 months ago.
When it is 50 outside, the house stays at 65. But that also means that when the outside temperature is 80, the inside will reach 90 even with windows open and I can't sleep in THAT! And it will get into the 80s Tuesday! So the repair will be a close call...
It could be much worse. Heat pumps usually die on the coldest or hottest days. My previous 2 heat pumps died in mid August and the in-house temperature reached 100!
I have more complaints, but this post is long enough (and my appreciation to all who have read to this point)! So the rest tomorrow...
Sunday, April 24, 2016
Successes and Failures
Failures first, to get them out of the way!
My car battery gives me trouble. The dealership swears it is perfectly OK; that I just dont't drive enough these days. But I've had times in other cars (and other batteries of course) when I didn't drive much and they stayed charged. In fact, one time I was away from home for 6 weeks and when I returned, my car started right up. (I had a roommate who took care of the cat while I was gone)
So when I don't drive for 5 days and the battery is dead, I get pretty PO! I bought a "battery minder" (a super slow trickle charger that activates only when the charge drops), but hadn't hooked it up (uncertainties about safety of use in an enclosed space).
But I noticed that the battery was 4 years old AND had a bad rating from Consumer Reports. So, I decided to replace it even if the dealership wouldn't. Amazingly, the 2nd rated battery (by a squeek) was from Walmart, of all places. So I bought one. Today I set about replacing it.
Now, replacing a battery is probably one of the easiest things to do in a car. It's right THERE in easy reach. You just loosen the terminal clamps, pull them off, lift old the old battery, set in the new, and replace the terminals tightly.
I have no luck sometimes. There was a hold-down bracket I had to remove. Removing that was easy. Retreiving the hooked rod that it was attached to it and dropped down when loosened was annoying. But I got it. The other end of the hold-down bracket was just a large metal screw (meaning a screw designed go into metal rather than wood), and I carefully set it aside.
So, of course, as soon as I removed the battery hold-down bracket, my sleeve brushed the screw and it fell into the bowels of the engine compartment. 15 minutes of searching around with a magnet on a flexible metal rod found nothing. GRRR!
I went ahead and removed the terminals and pulled the old battery out. Set in the new one. That was harder than I thought. The positive and negative cable insisted on getting under the new battery because they manufacturer doesn't leave 1/4" of extra length AND they have the cables joined with user-unfriendly clamps in several places. It would have been easy if I had 3 hands...
OK, I got the battery in and the cables unencumbered. But the cables won't reach the correct + and - terminals. They are on OPPOSITE sides from the original battery!!! And yes, it is the correct battery; I double and triple checked!
Unless I cut off all the cable attachments (and there is some metal involved) I can't use the new battery. So I undid all my work and put the old battery back in. At least I can jump the old one when required (not usually needed in warm weather).
However, I DID attach the "battery minder" to the terminals before I reattached them. That thing is a little weird. There are cables that you stick out through the front grill so that you don't have to open the hood to attach it.
Here is the surprise: Before I closed the hood, having spent over an hour to no useful gain, I popped open the tops of the old battery (the one back in the car) where you can see the electrolyt level inside the battery cells. They were WAY low!
That might be the whole problem! Sure, I should have checked that first. But the dealership said the battery was fine just 2 months ago and I assumed they checked that. But I had just gone through checking my boat batteries and refilling them, and JUST thought I should look in the car battery.
I won't know for a couple days. I have the battery minder attached and will see what is says about the charge then.
Now, I had intended to write about other things also, but this has gotten long, so I think I will leave the other matters til tomorrow.
In fact, if you read THIS far, I am impressed! Thank you. I can get boring sometimes...
My car battery gives me trouble. The dealership swears it is perfectly OK; that I just dont't drive enough these days. But I've had times in other cars (and other batteries of course) when I didn't drive much and they stayed charged. In fact, one time I was away from home for 6 weeks and when I returned, my car started right up. (I had a roommate who took care of the cat while I was gone)
So when I don't drive for 5 days and the battery is dead, I get pretty PO! I bought a "battery minder" (a super slow trickle charger that activates only when the charge drops), but hadn't hooked it up (uncertainties about safety of use in an enclosed space).
But I noticed that the battery was 4 years old AND had a bad rating from Consumer Reports. So, I decided to replace it even if the dealership wouldn't. Amazingly, the 2nd rated battery (by a squeek) was from Walmart, of all places. So I bought one. Today I set about replacing it.
Now, replacing a battery is probably one of the easiest things to do in a car. It's right THERE in easy reach. You just loosen the terminal clamps, pull them off, lift old the old battery, set in the new, and replace the terminals tightly.
I have no luck sometimes. There was a hold-down bracket I had to remove. Removing that was easy. Retreiving the hooked rod that it was attached to it and dropped down when loosened was annoying. But I got it. The other end of the hold-down bracket was just a large metal screw (meaning a screw designed go into metal rather than wood), and I carefully set it aside.
So, of course, as soon as I removed the battery hold-down bracket, my sleeve brushed the screw and it fell into the bowels of the engine compartment. 15 minutes of searching around with a magnet on a flexible metal rod found nothing. GRRR!
I went ahead and removed the terminals and pulled the old battery out. Set in the new one. That was harder than I thought. The positive and negative cable insisted on getting under the new battery because they manufacturer doesn't leave 1/4" of extra length AND they have the cables joined with user-unfriendly clamps in several places. It would have been easy if I had 3 hands...
OK, I got the battery in and the cables unencumbered. But the cables won't reach the correct + and - terminals. They are on OPPOSITE sides from the original battery!!! And yes, it is the correct battery; I double and triple checked!
Unless I cut off all the cable attachments (and there is some metal involved) I can't use the new battery. So I undid all my work and put the old battery back in. At least I can jump the old one when required (not usually needed in warm weather).
However, I DID attach the "battery minder" to the terminals before I reattached them. That thing is a little weird. There are cables that you stick out through the front grill so that you don't have to open the hood to attach it.
Here is the surprise: Before I closed the hood, having spent over an hour to no useful gain, I popped open the tops of the old battery (the one back in the car) where you can see the electrolyt level inside the battery cells. They were WAY low!
That might be the whole problem! Sure, I should have checked that first. But the dealership said the battery was fine just 2 months ago and I assumed they checked that. But I had just gone through checking my boat batteries and refilling them, and JUST thought I should look in the car battery.
I won't know for a couple days. I have the battery minder attached and will see what is says about the charge then.
Now, I had intended to write about other things also, but this has gotten long, so I think I will leave the other matters til tomorrow.
In fact, if you read THIS far, I am impressed! Thank you. I can get boring sometimes...
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Random Thoughts
My right knee is still bothering me. As always, my complete understanding that many people have worse problems temporary or permanent, but this one is mine right now and it has been 3 weeks now. It's getting better. Walking straight forward on level ground is almost back to normal. Any sideways pressure is annoying. Stairs are hardest. Hopefully, another week, and I will notice that I am NOT noticing my knee.
Or not. Stuff starts to get permanent after 65. I expect one day soon it will just be normal again. But that is apparently a weak part of me and someday it won't ever be "normal" again. In fact, I suppose that if I could channel my 30 year old self, "none" of me would seem "normal".
Speaking of which, a lawn service salesman knocked on my door and (surprisingly) after I made it clear I was a D-I-Yer and we talked about the details of lawn maintenance. He actually thought my lawn was the best in the neighborhood, and when I detailed my particular weed problems and what I was doing about them, he agreed I really didn't need his services. But he seemed to want to talk and I wasn't busy so we talked (rare for me, I usually just politely tell door-to-door salesmen to leave). He was about my age.
His son was a Top Gun pilot, he showed me a newspaper article. He guessed my age 10 years younger (which wasn't just a sales trick; it's routine - "mature slow, age slow"). But when we compared ailments (it's an age thing), he recommended I drink diluted gelatin. That seemed odd and I had to think about that for a moment.
Aha, gelatin is made from mammal sinews and tendons, and I had a "tendon" problem. He is into homeopathy (using small amounts of a substance that causes the symptoms to be treated or using small amounts of supplementals with a similar nature to the problem)! He suggested a book to read. I ignored his idea out-of-hand, but I let him go on for a few minutes. I was vaguely fascinated talking to a homeopathy adherent. I finally begged off, as my lunch was waiting on the table, but I looked up the book.
So, drinking gelatin made from tendons to strengthen tendons... Pure nonsense. Every respectable study I found in 15 minutes showed no results from it. People believe the STRANGEST things.
I used my new Fiscar "Stand Up Weeder" today.
It's really cool. You put the blades over the weed (really good for dandelions), step on the base, and when you lever the handle the blades close together and pull up 3" of roots, the plant comes up, and you slide the orange lever to open the blades and push the plant off the blades. I bet I got out 100 dandelions in 15 minutes today. Without bending over. Not an ad, when *I* recommend a product, the manufacturer doesn't even know. Think of me as a personal Consumer Reporter...
I watered the tulip/daffodil bed today. We haven't had rain in 10 days, are forecast for MAYBE 1/4" tomorrow, and then none for another week. But I mention that to mention that my sprinkler wasn't working right. It would stick in one position. So I took it apart a few days ago.
Granted, that's not like taking apart a clock or a mixer. But if you take some parts off something that isn't working right and clean and lubricate the parts and put them back together, it is amazing how often the thing starts working again.
And the sprinkler worked just fine. Yeah, I could have just bought a new sprinkler, but I really like this one. It's called a "rain-dancer". The spray not only moves back and forth, but it hesitates and reverses briefly, but ALSO fluctuates the force of the spray as it goes. And even having taken it apart and put it back together, I have NO idea how it does it. But it is working again and that is what really matters.
Not to say that everything went well. There is a dial that aligns the spray to go full back and forth, only left, only right, and only 30 degrees in the center. So... I was a bit careless when I turned it on and got a facefull of spray! LOL! I wiped off my face OK, but it took a while to get the water out of my ears...
The tulip/daffodil bed got a good hour of watering while I went around using the Fiscar thing to pull up dandelions.
Speaking of the flower bed, I planted 100 hyacinths in cages and not a single one as so much as broken the surface. Either hyacinths are way fussier about when they are planted than tulips, or something was seriously wrong with the bulbs. I'll bet that it was MY fault planting them late and that they needed more cold-time. The bulbs seemed healthy and firm when planted. Maybe their underground shoots are thicker than the 1/2" wire cages and they were choked. I'm going to ask the bulb providers. Or maybe they will just show up next week. Or next year.
The garden is started outdoors. Last week, I planted 4 broccoli seedlings, 2 purple cauliflower seedlings, and 2 dwarf cabbage seedlings. And I planted seeds of radish, shallot, scallions, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, and spinach. The snow peas are starting to reach the trellis and they will take off when they grab that. The planted seeds are just starting to emerge. I water those gently with a mister at first. Some of those seeds are planted very shallowly (small seed - shallow planting). When they have some roots developed, I can use the shower setting (which is about like a gentle rain) and that is a LOT faster watering!
It's good to see something planted and growing.
The flats of flowers are outdoors half a day now (to get them used to sunlight after the gentler artificial lights indoors). Day temperatures are getting above 70F and the nighttime temperatures are at or above 50F, so they are getting used to changes in temperatures. A week of careful introduction to outdoor reality can really make a difference!
Or not. Stuff starts to get permanent after 65. I expect one day soon it will just be normal again. But that is apparently a weak part of me and someday it won't ever be "normal" again. In fact, I suppose that if I could channel my 30 year old self, "none" of me would seem "normal".
Speaking of which, a lawn service salesman knocked on my door and (surprisingly) after I made it clear I was a D-I-Yer and we talked about the details of lawn maintenance. He actually thought my lawn was the best in the neighborhood, and when I detailed my particular weed problems and what I was doing about them, he agreed I really didn't need his services. But he seemed to want to talk and I wasn't busy so we talked (rare for me, I usually just politely tell door-to-door salesmen to leave). He was about my age.
His son was a Top Gun pilot, he showed me a newspaper article. He guessed my age 10 years younger (which wasn't just a sales trick; it's routine - "mature slow, age slow"). But when we compared ailments (it's an age thing), he recommended I drink diluted gelatin. That seemed odd and I had to think about that for a moment.
Aha, gelatin is made from mammal sinews and tendons, and I had a "tendon" problem. He is into homeopathy (using small amounts of a substance that causes the symptoms to be treated or using small amounts of supplementals with a similar nature to the problem)! He suggested a book to read. I ignored his idea out-of-hand, but I let him go on for a few minutes. I was vaguely fascinated talking to a homeopathy adherent. I finally begged off, as my lunch was waiting on the table, but I looked up the book.
So, drinking gelatin made from tendons to strengthen tendons... Pure nonsense. Every respectable study I found in 15 minutes showed no results from it. People believe the STRANGEST things.
I used my new Fiscar "Stand Up Weeder" today.
It's really cool. You put the blades over the weed (really good for dandelions), step on the base, and when you lever the handle the blades close together and pull up 3" of roots, the plant comes up, and you slide the orange lever to open the blades and push the plant off the blades. I bet I got out 100 dandelions in 15 minutes today. Without bending over. Not an ad, when *I* recommend a product, the manufacturer doesn't even know. Think of me as a personal Consumer Reporter...
I watered the tulip/daffodil bed today. We haven't had rain in 10 days, are forecast for MAYBE 1/4" tomorrow, and then none for another week. But I mention that to mention that my sprinkler wasn't working right. It would stick in one position. So I took it apart a few days ago.
Granted, that's not like taking apart a clock or a mixer. But if you take some parts off something that isn't working right and clean and lubricate the parts and put them back together, it is amazing how often the thing starts working again.
And the sprinkler worked just fine. Yeah, I could have just bought a new sprinkler, but I really like this one. It's called a "rain-dancer". The spray not only moves back and forth, but it hesitates and reverses briefly, but ALSO fluctuates the force of the spray as it goes. And even having taken it apart and put it back together, I have NO idea how it does it. But it is working again and that is what really matters.
Not to say that everything went well. There is a dial that aligns the spray to go full back and forth, only left, only right, and only 30 degrees in the center. So... I was a bit careless when I turned it on and got a facefull of spray! LOL! I wiped off my face OK, but it took a while to get the water out of my ears...
The tulip/daffodil bed got a good hour of watering while I went around using the Fiscar thing to pull up dandelions.
Speaking of the flower bed, I planted 100 hyacinths in cages and not a single one as so much as broken the surface. Either hyacinths are way fussier about when they are planted than tulips, or something was seriously wrong with the bulbs. I'll bet that it was MY fault planting them late and that they needed more cold-time. The bulbs seemed healthy and firm when planted. Maybe their underground shoots are thicker than the 1/2" wire cages and they were choked. I'm going to ask the bulb providers. Or maybe they will just show up next week. Or next year.
The garden is started outdoors. Last week, I planted 4 broccoli seedlings, 2 purple cauliflower seedlings, and 2 dwarf cabbage seedlings. And I planted seeds of radish, shallot, scallions, carrots, beets, kohlrabi, and spinach. The snow peas are starting to reach the trellis and they will take off when they grab that. The planted seeds are just starting to emerge. I water those gently with a mister at first. Some of those seeds are planted very shallowly (small seed - shallow planting). When they have some roots developed, I can use the shower setting (which is about like a gentle rain) and that is a LOT faster watering!
It's good to see something planted and growing.
The flats of flowers are outdoors half a day now (to get them used to sunlight after the gentler artificial lights indoors). Day temperatures are getting above 70F and the nighttime temperatures are at or above 50F, so they are getting used to changes in temperatures. A week of careful introduction to outdoor reality can really make a difference!
Thursday, March 24, 2016
Garden Enclosure
Well, with the decent weather, I am turning my attention to finishing the Garden Enclosure. And I have to thank Marley for kick-starting me into that. I had noticed some scratching around going on inside the enclosure, and finally noticed Marley INSIDE the enclosure.
Well, I knew I hadn't finished connecting all the strips of screening everywhere, but I thought it was pretty much complete. So I went out last week and used a few nylon tie strips to finish it.
Usually for bundling wires, they are good for pulling chicken wire tightly together too. I will be using 100s of yards of thin wire like thread to REALLY attach all the chicken wire strips, but I thought it was all pretty good already.
Til Marley appeared inside. So I called him to see where he came back out. And tightened THAT spot. And he got in again, so I tightened THAT spot! After several days of that, I went out to get the job done right.
I was SHOCKED at how many openings I found Marley could get through. I understand why he was attracted to it. 6 large boxes of deep soft soil... He must have thought he had found his Forever litter box!
Well, I'm glad he found the opening before I planted the seeds and the squirrels found the openings! They would have nibbled off my seedlings as if there was no enclosure of all.
So I decided I better get the enclosure sealed against even the squirrels. First, since there were vines around the edges of the enclosure, I sharpened my sickle of the grinding wheel. Nothing fancy, just a shot around the curve. But it cut a piece of paper in half cleanly.
So I used it to slice through the vines at the bottom edges of the enclosure, then got to work with the 8" nylon ties. They are being used to hold the chicken wire tight around the top and bottom PVC pipes, around the upright PVC pipes, and to hold the 4' chicken wire strips together tightly.
And I spent time cutting the ground level excess chicken wire to extend 2' out from the bottom so that groundhogs can't go up to the enclosure and dig under it. They are not clever enough to back up 2' and dig from there. I hope! If they are, there are other things I can to to stop them.
But the nylon ties are temporary. They will deteriorate in sunlight after a few years and start popping loose. Which is why my next step is to start threading long lengths of galvanized wire through the seams of the chicken wire like stitching a hem.
The nylon ties are 2' apart. The wire will thread through every couple of inches. If I can get the wire through all the seams (hoping I don't miss some), no varmint is going to eat my seedlings again!!!
If I seem obsessive about this, it is due to sad experience. Varmints in suburban areas are generally desperate for food. In their natural environs like open fields or oak-filled forests, they have plenty of food. In my yard, the only good food they can see is MY GARDEN! The ones in my yard are the losers who have been driven out of their natural habitat by other varmints.
I really do feel vaguely sorry for them, but not sorry enough to let them eat all my veggies...
So back to Marley. When he can't get back into the enclosure, I know I will have stopped the groundhogs and hopefully the squirrels.
Marley got extra treats tonight for his efforts to get inside the garden enclosure... LOL!
Well, I knew I hadn't finished connecting all the strips of screening everywhere, but I thought it was pretty much complete. So I went out last week and used a few nylon tie strips to finish it.
Usually for bundling wires, they are good for pulling chicken wire tightly together too. I will be using 100s of yards of thin wire like thread to REALLY attach all the chicken wire strips, but I thought it was all pretty good already.
Til Marley appeared inside. So I called him to see where he came back out. And tightened THAT spot. And he got in again, so I tightened THAT spot! After several days of that, I went out to get the job done right.
I was SHOCKED at how many openings I found Marley could get through. I understand why he was attracted to it. 6 large boxes of deep soft soil... He must have thought he had found his Forever litter box!
Well, I'm glad he found the opening before I planted the seeds and the squirrels found the openings! They would have nibbled off my seedlings as if there was no enclosure of all.
So I decided I better get the enclosure sealed against even the squirrels. First, since there were vines around the edges of the enclosure, I sharpened my sickle of the grinding wheel. Nothing fancy, just a shot around the curve. But it cut a piece of paper in half cleanly.
So I used it to slice through the vines at the bottom edges of the enclosure, then got to work with the 8" nylon ties. They are being used to hold the chicken wire tight around the top and bottom PVC pipes, around the upright PVC pipes, and to hold the 4' chicken wire strips together tightly.
And I spent time cutting the ground level excess chicken wire to extend 2' out from the bottom so that groundhogs can't go up to the enclosure and dig under it. They are not clever enough to back up 2' and dig from there. I hope! If they are, there are other things I can to to stop them.
But the nylon ties are temporary. They will deteriorate in sunlight after a few years and start popping loose. Which is why my next step is to start threading long lengths of galvanized wire through the seams of the chicken wire like stitching a hem.
The nylon ties are 2' apart. The wire will thread through every couple of inches. If I can get the wire through all the seams (hoping I don't miss some), no varmint is going to eat my seedlings again!!!
If I seem obsessive about this, it is due to sad experience. Varmints in suburban areas are generally desperate for food. In their natural environs like open fields or oak-filled forests, they have plenty of food. In my yard, the only good food they can see is MY GARDEN! The ones in my yard are the losers who have been driven out of their natural habitat by other varmints.
I really do feel vaguely sorry for them, but not sorry enough to let them eat all my veggies...
So back to Marley. When he can't get back into the enclosure, I know I will have stopped the groundhogs and hopefully the squirrels.
Marley got extra treats tonight for his efforts to get inside the garden enclosure... LOL!
Tuesday, February 9, 2016
Repairman Blues
ARGGGHHHH! Repairmen drive me crazy sometimes. It always seems there is some part of the repair that they just can't do properly. And I don't mean some part of the job that is just hard to do. I mean some part that they don't UNDERSTAND how to do.
I shouldn't be too surprised. I seem to have the misfortune of having "the troublesome repairs". No one ever comes here and finds just "a loose wire" to re-attach...
Yesterday it was the heat pump outside unit. It failed a week ago. But there is a backup heating unit inside mine that provides heat (an electrical induction coil like in a space heater). That works well enough, standard electric furnaces work that way routinely though not quite as efficiently. So I waited until the snow melted.
This time, the initial diagnostic test suggested 2 possible problem, and of course it wasn't the simple one. Surprise, surprise! The "thermal expansion valve" had gone bad and they had to order one, being a part that "rarely fails". Surprise, surprise!
So they came back Monday morning at 8:30 am to replace it. I had a vet appointment at 2:15 pm, but I wasn't worried about it. An hour to replace a part, I assumed.
Little did I suspect that he had to disassemble most of the outside unit to get AT the part. I was annoyed by late morning and worried by Noon. He had the outside unit running by Noon, but was still having a problem.
I have a "normal" setting were the actual heat pump provides the heat. There is a "stage 2 heat" where the inside induction coil comes on to provide additional heat if required. That's for extreme demand (like when the power has been off and the house has gotten very cold, or when the outside unit fails). There is "emergency heat" (which I assume means both are on when it gets too cold outside for the heat pump alone to keep up).
The repairman couldn't get the thermostat off the stage 2 heating mode. I didn't know that. He just kept fiddling with the thermostat and then going back outside to wait for the outside unit to come on again (there is a time delay when changing settings.
I generally keep the house at 70F. When I started getting worried about the time to the vet appointment, I started watching what he was doing. He would set the target temperature up to 80F wait until the outside unit came on (after the 5 minute delay) then go back inside and see the stage 2 icon on.
I finally asked him what he was trying to do. He said he was trying to get the system operating on normal heat, not stage 2. Well, OK, I certainly want that. After the 3rd cycle of that I started asking questions. I'm analytical; I figure out logical problems. So I asked why he thought the thermostat setting would change.
I immediately got that "God save me from curious customers" look. Undaunted, I said it wouldn't change until the house temperature reached the target setting. I got a child's explanation of how the thermostat worked.
Bad move on his part. I've been operating thermostats for 30 years, I know how they work. And I said so. THAT got me the "God save me from customers who think they know better than the repairman" look.
Worse move on his part! So I asked him what he expected to happen. He explained carefully that the "normal" icon should show up when the outside unit is operating. I told him, it doesn't work that way; the stage 2 heat will stay on until the house temperature reaches the target setting. He looked pained and launched into a much longer and very detailed explanation of how heat pump thermostats work. I guess that was on the idea that if he couldn't dismiss my concerns he would drown me in details.
Worst move on his part! Now that I knew what he was thinking, I knew where he was WRONG! He thought the thermostat operated in 5 degree intervals. As in, you set the target temperature to 70, the heat stays on until 75, then kicks on again when the house gets down to 65.
WHAT?!? No, it works in 1 degree increments I said. If set to 70, its heats to 71 and shuts off. Then kicks back on at 69. He didn't believe me. I told him it had always operated that way.
Then it got loonier! He asked what base temperature the installers had programmed the thermostat to initially. (Huh?) He said if I kept the house at 70, they would have set the system to 70 at installation. Well, that made no sense. He even examined the insides of the thermostat looking for "something". He demanded to see the manual. I provided it. He could barely read it (English was not his native [Italian] language, which added to our difficulties on explanations).
Now, the fan itself has 3 settings; "auto" meaning the fan is on when the system is on, "on" which means the fan is constantly operating, and "circulate" meaning the fan cycles on and off constantly every 10 minutes (for no purpose I can think of).
The repairman kept pointing to the "auto" icon, thinking it referred to the "normal" heat setting (also described as "auto" on the thermostat. I had to lead him step-by-step through the manual before he realized the difference.
Which got us back to his idea that the system had been "programmed" to a specific temperature setting. I never could convince him that there was no such thing (admittedly "that I knew of"). He insisted on getting the house cooled back down to 70, and opened the deck and front doors to let in cold air. I went along since he was utterly convinced the system wasn't working properly and apparently I wasn't getting rid of him until he was happy.
I tried another leap of logic... The house was at 80 (he had bumped the target temperature up several times is his testing). So I asked what was the difference between seeing what happened going from 80 to 81 instead of cooling the house to 70 and seeing what happened bumping the setting to 71? I should work just as well for testing purposes.
I got "that look" again...
But he "allowed" it, so we did. After waiting the 5 minute delay (which is actually only 30 seconds normally - his equipment outside probably had a time delay built in - but I wasn't going to quibble over minor matters).
Hot Damn! The thermostat icon went to "normal" heating immediately. Surprise, surprise! He was shocked (and I think a bit disappointed). His misunderstanding of thermostats (Ok, OK, maybe they work differently in Italy) wasted almost 2 hours of my time and forced me to reschedule the vet appointment.
Epilog: You'll get a kick out of this... I had accepted a 2 delay repair delay because the office manager said he wanted to send one of his experts instead of one of the "regular" guys. Makes me worry about the "regular" guys! Imagine how bad THAT might have been...
Fortunately, the repair was a fixed price, not by-the-hour. So I didn't actually have to pay for the wasted time. But at bill-paying time, the repair ticket had a rating section for the repairman's work. I had to fill it out right there in front of him. That's a cheap trick companies use. I could tell that if I had given less than a perfect 10, he would have whined and pleaded. So I gave him 10s to get him out of the house. I'll write a detailed letter to the company advising them of his thermostat-confusion later today. He DID know the mechanics of the part-replacement!
And as he left, he suggested that there was still a problem with the thermostat. I could see he was thinking that I would be calling them back soon). The whole system seems to be working perfectly and as intended...
And the cats' annual vet exam was rescheduled for an hour later and they are all fine!
I shouldn't be too surprised. I seem to have the misfortune of having "the troublesome repairs". No one ever comes here and finds just "a loose wire" to re-attach...
Yesterday it was the heat pump outside unit. It failed a week ago. But there is a backup heating unit inside mine that provides heat (an electrical induction coil like in a space heater). That works well enough, standard electric furnaces work that way routinely though not quite as efficiently. So I waited until the snow melted.
This time, the initial diagnostic test suggested 2 possible problem, and of course it wasn't the simple one. Surprise, surprise! The "thermal expansion valve" had gone bad and they had to order one, being a part that "rarely fails". Surprise, surprise!
So they came back Monday morning at 8:30 am to replace it. I had a vet appointment at 2:15 pm, but I wasn't worried about it. An hour to replace a part, I assumed.
Little did I suspect that he had to disassemble most of the outside unit to get AT the part. I was annoyed by late morning and worried by Noon. He had the outside unit running by Noon, but was still having a problem.
I have a "normal" setting were the actual heat pump provides the heat. There is a "stage 2 heat" where the inside induction coil comes on to provide additional heat if required. That's for extreme demand (like when the power has been off and the house has gotten very cold, or when the outside unit fails). There is "emergency heat" (which I assume means both are on when it gets too cold outside for the heat pump alone to keep up).
The repairman couldn't get the thermostat off the stage 2 heating mode. I didn't know that. He just kept fiddling with the thermostat and then going back outside to wait for the outside unit to come on again (there is a time delay when changing settings.
I generally keep the house at 70F. When I started getting worried about the time to the vet appointment, I started watching what he was doing. He would set the target temperature up to 80F wait until the outside unit came on (after the 5 minute delay) then go back inside and see the stage 2 icon on.
I finally asked him what he was trying to do. He said he was trying to get the system operating on normal heat, not stage 2. Well, OK, I certainly want that. After the 3rd cycle of that I started asking questions. I'm analytical; I figure out logical problems. So I asked why he thought the thermostat setting would change.
I immediately got that "God save me from curious customers" look. Undaunted, I said it wouldn't change until the house temperature reached the target setting. I got a child's explanation of how the thermostat worked.
Bad move on his part. I've been operating thermostats for 30 years, I know how they work. And I said so. THAT got me the "God save me from customers who think they know better than the repairman" look.
Worse move on his part! So I asked him what he expected to happen. He explained carefully that the "normal" icon should show up when the outside unit is operating. I told him, it doesn't work that way; the stage 2 heat will stay on until the house temperature reaches the target setting. He looked pained and launched into a much longer and very detailed explanation of how heat pump thermostats work. I guess that was on the idea that if he couldn't dismiss my concerns he would drown me in details.
Worst move on his part! Now that I knew what he was thinking, I knew where he was WRONG! He thought the thermostat operated in 5 degree intervals. As in, you set the target temperature to 70, the heat stays on until 75, then kicks on again when the house gets down to 65.
WHAT?!? No, it works in 1 degree increments I said. If set to 70, its heats to 71 and shuts off. Then kicks back on at 69. He didn't believe me. I told him it had always operated that way.
Then it got loonier! He asked what base temperature the installers had programmed the thermostat to initially. (Huh?) He said if I kept the house at 70, they would have set the system to 70 at installation. Well, that made no sense. He even examined the insides of the thermostat looking for "something". He demanded to see the manual. I provided it. He could barely read it (English was not his native [Italian] language, which added to our difficulties on explanations).
Now, the fan itself has 3 settings; "auto" meaning the fan is on when the system is on, "on" which means the fan is constantly operating, and "circulate" meaning the fan cycles on and off constantly every 10 minutes (for no purpose I can think of).
The repairman kept pointing to the "auto" icon, thinking it referred to the "normal" heat setting (also described as "auto" on the thermostat. I had to lead him step-by-step through the manual before he realized the difference.
Which got us back to his idea that the system had been "programmed" to a specific temperature setting. I never could convince him that there was no such thing (admittedly "that I knew of"). He insisted on getting the house cooled back down to 70, and opened the deck and front doors to let in cold air. I went along since he was utterly convinced the system wasn't working properly and apparently I wasn't getting rid of him until he was happy.
I tried another leap of logic... The house was at 80 (he had bumped the target temperature up several times is his testing). So I asked what was the difference between seeing what happened going from 80 to 81 instead of cooling the house to 70 and seeing what happened bumping the setting to 71? I should work just as well for testing purposes.
I got "that look" again...
But he "allowed" it, so we did. After waiting the 5 minute delay (which is actually only 30 seconds normally - his equipment outside probably had a time delay built in - but I wasn't going to quibble over minor matters).
Hot Damn! The thermostat icon went to "normal" heating immediately. Surprise, surprise! He was shocked (and I think a bit disappointed). His misunderstanding of thermostats (Ok, OK, maybe they work differently in Italy) wasted almost 2 hours of my time and forced me to reschedule the vet appointment.
Epilog: You'll get a kick out of this... I had accepted a 2 delay repair delay because the office manager said he wanted to send one of his experts instead of one of the "regular" guys. Makes me worry about the "regular" guys! Imagine how bad THAT might have been...
Fortunately, the repair was a fixed price, not by-the-hour. So I didn't actually have to pay for the wasted time. But at bill-paying time, the repair ticket had a rating section for the repairman's work. I had to fill it out right there in front of him. That's a cheap trick companies use. I could tell that if I had given less than a perfect 10, he would have whined and pleaded. So I gave him 10s to get him out of the house. I'll write a detailed letter to the company advising them of his thermostat-confusion later today. He DID know the mechanics of the part-replacement!
And as he left, he suggested that there was still a problem with the thermostat. I could see he was thinking that I would be calling them back soon). The whole system seems to be working perfectly and as intended...
And the cats' annual vet exam was rescheduled for an hour later and they are all fine!
Friday, January 29, 2016
A Week In The Life...
Some weeks, problems accumulate...
1. Naturally, I had to order more cat food just as the snowstorm struck. 2 boxes of 8 trays total, scheduled to arrive Wed and Thurs. Well, I had the driveway and sidewalk cleared of snow Sunday, but I didn't shovel the front steps. Figured I would most of it melt and shovel the remainder Tuesday afternoon. The first box arrived Tuesday morning. UPS left it at the garage door. So I pushed the box inside the garage.
I forgot about the box when I decided to drive out for some errands Wed. Well, you would be surprised at how many cans of cat food an SUV can crush beyond use... ARGHHH!
2. The outside unit of the heat pump stopped working. I'm getting normal heat via electrical induction from the inside unit (like an oven), and I suspect it isn't costing MUCH more than the usual heating (some normal furnaces routinely operate that way). I have been trying a few things hoping the outside unit will just "start" again. I shovelled the snow from around the unit where air comes in, scooped out accumulated snow inside the unit, poured hot water over the insides hoping some ice was preventing operation, pulled and re-inserted circuit breakers, etc. No luck.
But when the block of ice inside the outside unit finally melts and it doesn't start working normally again in a couple of days, I will have to call for repairs. I didn't call immediately, because I AM getting heat, and I know they take complete failures as emergencies first. Besides, they always want to just replace the whole unit.
3. My automatic garage door openers stopped working. The overhead door light just blied rapidly. That probably means something, but I couldn't find the manual. But it isn't THAT hard to just raise and lower the door manually.
So I checked the power supply, circuit breakers, spring attachments, possible blockages, etc. No luck. Finally, I followed the wiring down to the bottom of the garage door track. Well lookee there! There is a set of safety lights at each side. If the light beam between them is blocked, the system shuts off. One of them had gotten pushed off. Well, I guess when I ran over the box of cat food, I also pushed it into the light beam device. Took just a minute to get it clipped back on and aimed properly.
At least SOMETHING got working again.
4. I mentioned previously that I had set up a regular birdfeeder on a pole on the deck to feed the non-finch birds sunflower seeds during the snowstorm. They emptied it today. The stepladder is still buried under the deck snowdrift, so I figured I would just untie it and set it down flat to refill it, and them put it upright again and retie it. Brilliant but dumb idea!
The instant I untied the last know holding the pole tight, a strong gust of wind hit. So there I was holding the bottom of the pole while the heavy top started to fall over. I couldn't hold it up. The feeder can crashing down on the deck. The wooden feeder broke into 4 pieces! I said a few BAD WORDS. But what is done is done, and you go on from there.
I took the pieces down to the work bench and set about regluing the pieces (with exterior waterproof wood glue). It took 12 bar clamps (you can never have too many bar clamps). The feeder is back together, but it has to set until tomorrow morning. I started to put out a tray of seeds, but even with a brick in the tray, the wind was slowly pushing it around. And even if I clamped the tray to the deck rails, the wind would probably just blow the seeds out. Sadly, the birds will have to wait til I get up in the morning...
5. The trash company didn't show up for regular pickup today. I'm leaving it out by the street. I recycle and compost so much that about the only thing that goes in the trash is used cat litter, styrofoam, and chicken skin. And I out the chicken skin IN the litter bags. So I feel pretty confident that NO scavenger is going to bother MY garbage can! LOL!
BTW, I drove out today and saw a neighbor's TRASH can knocked over and the contents spilled out. It was ALL cans and bottles. All recyclable. Aw c'mon... We get free street-side recycle pickup and you don't even have to sort it. Are they ACTIVELY against recyclying?
6. This one is a bit long... My waterbed sprung a leak. That happens. I have a repair kit. I've probably patched it a dozen times (the waterbed mattress is at least 35 years old). I only noticed when I pulled the sheets up for washing and the edges in one corner were wet. I pulled up that corner of the waterbed. I thought it was wet cat food at first (because there was some there), and thereby hangs a short tale.
Ayla eats only in the bedroom, and sometimes she decides on some odd places. That morning she had decided she would eat on the bookcase headboard of the waterbed. I sure don't argue about it. It's not like she gets to make a WHOLE lot of decisions in her life, so I give her the ones I can.
That afternoon, when I pulled the wet sheets up I found her bowl tucked into that corner. WOW! I sure didn't think there was THAT much water in canned cat food (and it didn't smell like anycat had peed there). But the cause and effect seemed clear. So I cleaned up the spilled cat food, wiped it clean, and stuffed an old towel down to absorb the water.
Well, THAT wasn't the problem. There was TOO much water the next morning and the towel was soaked. So I pulled the corner of the waterbed up (which is not easy - water is heavy). And I found a strange little piece of sharp metal. I can't identify it, but I assume it took a while for it to slowly wear through the waterbed mattress.
I can't get a patch to hold in the corner unless I drain the mattress and remove in entirely. And even that might not work. So, after all these years, I think I will replace it. It's OK, they aren't expensive. $50 to $200 depending on whether you want baffles and lumbar supports etc. But I'm used to the cheap kind with nothing fancy so I will stick with that.
There COULD have been a better time for this. All my hoses are outside and too cold to uncoil without maybe causing a break. But at least the forecast calls for 50F temperatures Sunday, so I can probably get one into the basement undamaged and let it warm up inside. One of the problems with a waterbed is draining them. That can take a couple hours. And then you have to fill the new one. Filling a waterbed takes about 30 minutes from the outside spigot, and it takes all day for the heater to warm the water.
Fortunately, my basement laundry tub faucet has a garden hose screw fitting. But my water heater doesn't hold enough hot water to fill the king size waterbed mattress. So it will be a balancing act to get the heated and cold tub water mixed right so I can sleep on the new mattress the same night as I empty it.
I'm probably not saying this clearly. I have to get up in the morning, drain the old mattress, remove it, pull up the old liner (old and worn out) dry the wood frame, set the new liner in place, set in the new mattress, fill it, get the water warm enough, and put the mattress pads and sheets back on. My recollection from the last time (30 years ago) was that took all day. So I will be in for a very boring (watching a waterbed mattress fill up is like watching paint dry), but dedicated day...
7. I had a mouse invasion. Marley caught 5 mice! I initially blamed the snow for making mice seek shelter, but it might have actually been my fault. Last Friday, when the snow began to fall, I brought a few tubs of planting soil into the basement to thaw out so I could plant leftover Spring bulbs in them for forcing by Spring. There MAY have been mice nesting in them in the leaf litter covering the soil.
I HOPE he caught them all regardless of how they got inside. Probably. There were 4 caught one day, I found a 5th in a bucket the 2nd, and none for 4 days.
Quite a week!
1. Naturally, I had to order more cat food just as the snowstorm struck. 2 boxes of 8 trays total, scheduled to arrive Wed and Thurs. Well, I had the driveway and sidewalk cleared of snow Sunday, but I didn't shovel the front steps. Figured I would most of it melt and shovel the remainder Tuesday afternoon. The first box arrived Tuesday morning. UPS left it at the garage door. So I pushed the box inside the garage.
I forgot about the box when I decided to drive out for some errands Wed. Well, you would be surprised at how many cans of cat food an SUV can crush beyond use... ARGHHH!
2. The outside unit of the heat pump stopped working. I'm getting normal heat via electrical induction from the inside unit (like an oven), and I suspect it isn't costing MUCH more than the usual heating (some normal furnaces routinely operate that way). I have been trying a few things hoping the outside unit will just "start" again. I shovelled the snow from around the unit where air comes in, scooped out accumulated snow inside the unit, poured hot water over the insides hoping some ice was preventing operation, pulled and re-inserted circuit breakers, etc. No luck.
But when the block of ice inside the outside unit finally melts and it doesn't start working normally again in a couple of days, I will have to call for repairs. I didn't call immediately, because I AM getting heat, and I know they take complete failures as emergencies first. Besides, they always want to just replace the whole unit.
3. My automatic garage door openers stopped working. The overhead door light just blied rapidly. That probably means something, but I couldn't find the manual. But it isn't THAT hard to just raise and lower the door manually.
So I checked the power supply, circuit breakers, spring attachments, possible blockages, etc. No luck. Finally, I followed the wiring down to the bottom of the garage door track. Well lookee there! There is a set of safety lights at each side. If the light beam between them is blocked, the system shuts off. One of them had gotten pushed off. Well, I guess when I ran over the box of cat food, I also pushed it into the light beam device. Took just a minute to get it clipped back on and aimed properly.
At least SOMETHING got working again.
4. I mentioned previously that I had set up a regular birdfeeder on a pole on the deck to feed the non-finch birds sunflower seeds during the snowstorm. They emptied it today. The stepladder is still buried under the deck snowdrift, so I figured I would just untie it and set it down flat to refill it, and them put it upright again and retie it. Brilliant but dumb idea!
The instant I untied the last know holding the pole tight, a strong gust of wind hit. So there I was holding the bottom of the pole while the heavy top started to fall over. I couldn't hold it up. The feeder can crashing down on the deck. The wooden feeder broke into 4 pieces! I said a few BAD WORDS. But what is done is done, and you go on from there.
I took the pieces down to the work bench and set about regluing the pieces (with exterior waterproof wood glue). It took 12 bar clamps (you can never have too many bar clamps). The feeder is back together, but it has to set until tomorrow morning. I started to put out a tray of seeds, but even with a brick in the tray, the wind was slowly pushing it around. And even if I clamped the tray to the deck rails, the wind would probably just blow the seeds out. Sadly, the birds will have to wait til I get up in the morning...
5. The trash company didn't show up for regular pickup today. I'm leaving it out by the street. I recycle and compost so much that about the only thing that goes in the trash is used cat litter, styrofoam, and chicken skin. And I out the chicken skin IN the litter bags. So I feel pretty confident that NO scavenger is going to bother MY garbage can! LOL!
BTW, I drove out today and saw a neighbor's TRASH can knocked over and the contents spilled out. It was ALL cans and bottles. All recyclable. Aw c'mon... We get free street-side recycle pickup and you don't even have to sort it. Are they ACTIVELY against recyclying?
6. This one is a bit long... My waterbed sprung a leak. That happens. I have a repair kit. I've probably patched it a dozen times (the waterbed mattress is at least 35 years old). I only noticed when I pulled the sheets up for washing and the edges in one corner were wet. I pulled up that corner of the waterbed. I thought it was wet cat food at first (because there was some there), and thereby hangs a short tale.
Ayla eats only in the bedroom, and sometimes she decides on some odd places. That morning she had decided she would eat on the bookcase headboard of the waterbed. I sure don't argue about it. It's not like she gets to make a WHOLE lot of decisions in her life, so I give her the ones I can.
That afternoon, when I pulled the wet sheets up I found her bowl tucked into that corner. WOW! I sure didn't think there was THAT much water in canned cat food (and it didn't smell like anycat had peed there). But the cause and effect seemed clear. So I cleaned up the spilled cat food, wiped it clean, and stuffed an old towel down to absorb the water.
Well, THAT wasn't the problem. There was TOO much water the next morning and the towel was soaked. So I pulled the corner of the waterbed up (which is not easy - water is heavy). And I found a strange little piece of sharp metal. I can't identify it, but I assume it took a while for it to slowly wear through the waterbed mattress.
I can't get a patch to hold in the corner unless I drain the mattress and remove in entirely. And even that might not work. So, after all these years, I think I will replace it. It's OK, they aren't expensive. $50 to $200 depending on whether you want baffles and lumbar supports etc. But I'm used to the cheap kind with nothing fancy so I will stick with that.
There COULD have been a better time for this. All my hoses are outside and too cold to uncoil without maybe causing a break. But at least the forecast calls for 50F temperatures Sunday, so I can probably get one into the basement undamaged and let it warm up inside. One of the problems with a waterbed is draining them. That can take a couple hours. And then you have to fill the new one. Filling a waterbed takes about 30 minutes from the outside spigot, and it takes all day for the heater to warm the water.
Fortunately, my basement laundry tub faucet has a garden hose screw fitting. But my water heater doesn't hold enough hot water to fill the king size waterbed mattress. So it will be a balancing act to get the heated and cold tub water mixed right so I can sleep on the new mattress the same night as I empty it.
I'm probably not saying this clearly. I have to get up in the morning, drain the old mattress, remove it, pull up the old liner (old and worn out) dry the wood frame, set the new liner in place, set in the new mattress, fill it, get the water warm enough, and put the mattress pads and sheets back on. My recollection from the last time (30 years ago) was that took all day. So I will be in for a very boring (watching a waterbed mattress fill up is like watching paint dry), but dedicated day...
7. I had a mouse invasion. Marley caught 5 mice! I initially blamed the snow for making mice seek shelter, but it might have actually been my fault. Last Friday, when the snow began to fall, I brought a few tubs of planting soil into the basement to thaw out so I could plant leftover Spring bulbs in them for forcing by Spring. There MAY have been mice nesting in them in the leaf litter covering the soil.
I HOPE he caught them all regardless of how they got inside. Probably. There were 4 caught one day, I found a 5th in a bucket the 2nd, and none for 4 days.
Quite a week!
Saturday, September 5, 2015
New Soil Harder Than I Thought!
I got outside to prepare the bare front yard for new grass seeds, and the condition of the new topsoil wasn't as good as I thought! It seemed loose enough when the contractor left on Tuesday, and I thought the track-tread of the spreader was light enough to not compact the soil, but I was wrong.
Yesterday, I realized the new soil had hardened like cement and there were deep tread-tracks embedded on it. YIKES! I sure can't plant grass on THAT.
Well, I had expected to have to haul out my old Troy-Bilt Roto-Tiller anyway.
I did that today. I hadn't used it in many years, and equipment that sits around unused for 5-10 years doesn't like to start up right away. But I filled up the gas tank, checked the oil, set the lever to "choke" (that's a good thing, if you don't know), set another lever to "start", and pulled the starter cord.
Nothing! 20-30 tiring pulls later, nothing! No big surprise, but I had hoped to get lucky. I'm no expert with gas engines, but I know some basics. So... I checked the levers to make sure they seemed to be working. They were. I checked the spark plug wire. It was firmly attached and clean. So I removed the spark plug itself. Naturally, my socket set didn't have the right size cushioned spark plug socket, but fortunately it is slightly raised (sensible design) and I could loosen it with a regular wrench.
I fully expected it to be fouled with old oil or needing to be cleaned and gapped, but it looked perfect! Damn... One always hopes for easy problems to fix.
Well, whenever I have repairmen around, I watch them carefully. The last time I had a guy here to get a different piece of equipment (lawn mower) running, he said the fuel line/carburator was probably gummed up. Now, you can either take the parts off and clean them, or get them running sneakily and they will clean themselves. He did a "sneaky".
He took the air filter off (exposing the carburator) and sprayed a (flammable) cleaning solvent into it. It loosened a stuck part and the lawn mower started right up on the next try.
Well, I don't have any fancy cleaning solvents, but gasoline is a basic solvent for old gasoline. I took the air filter off to add a little gasoline into the carburator. But I sure couldn't just pour gasoline from a big 5 gallon can into that small hole when I only wanted about a tablespoon of gasoline.
I could have gone back into the house and gotten an actual tablespoon. But I like to be resourceful. So I decided that the socket that didn't fit the spark plug would work as a small container if I kept my finger tightly on the bottom. It took a little work to splash just a small bit of gas out of the can, but I managed. Then dribbled it into the carburator. Puttng the air filter back on I pulled the starter cord. Nothing. Damn...
A second pull, and I'LL BE DAMNED, IT COUGHED A COUPLE TIMES, TRYING TO START. ANOTHER PULL AND IT STARTED... I had to play with the choke lever for a minute, but it settled down running smoothly. I could barely believe it!
Since it was running, I decided to use it on the hardened soil in the front lawn. More about that tomorrow...
Yesterday, I realized the new soil had hardened like cement and there were deep tread-tracks embedded on it. YIKES! I sure can't plant grass on THAT.
Well, I had expected to have to haul out my old Troy-Bilt Roto-Tiller anyway.
I did that today. I hadn't used it in many years, and equipment that sits around unused for 5-10 years doesn't like to start up right away. But I filled up the gas tank, checked the oil, set the lever to "choke" (that's a good thing, if you don't know), set another lever to "start", and pulled the starter cord.
Nothing! 20-30 tiring pulls later, nothing! No big surprise, but I had hoped to get lucky. I'm no expert with gas engines, but I know some basics. So... I checked the levers to make sure they seemed to be working. They were. I checked the spark plug wire. It was firmly attached and clean. So I removed the spark plug itself. Naturally, my socket set didn't have the right size cushioned spark plug socket, but fortunately it is slightly raised (sensible design) and I could loosen it with a regular wrench.
I fully expected it to be fouled with old oil or needing to be cleaned and gapped, but it looked perfect! Damn... One always hopes for easy problems to fix.
Well, whenever I have repairmen around, I watch them carefully. The last time I had a guy here to get a different piece of equipment (lawn mower) running, he said the fuel line/carburator was probably gummed up. Now, you can either take the parts off and clean them, or get them running sneakily and they will clean themselves. He did a "sneaky".
He took the air filter off (exposing the carburator) and sprayed a (flammable) cleaning solvent into it. It loosened a stuck part and the lawn mower started right up on the next try.
Well, I don't have any fancy cleaning solvents, but gasoline is a basic solvent for old gasoline. I took the air filter off to add a little gasoline into the carburator. But I sure couldn't just pour gasoline from a big 5 gallon can into that small hole when I only wanted about a tablespoon of gasoline.
I could have gone back into the house and gotten an actual tablespoon. But I like to be resourceful. So I decided that the socket that didn't fit the spark plug would work as a small container if I kept my finger tightly on the bottom. It took a little work to splash just a small bit of gas out of the can, but I managed. Then dribbled it into the carburator. Puttng the air filter back on I pulled the starter cord. Nothing. Damn...
A second pull, and I'LL BE DAMNED, IT COUGHED A COUPLE TIMES, TRYING TO START. ANOTHER PULL AND IT STARTED... I had to play with the choke lever for a minute, but it settled down running smoothly. I could barely believe it!
Since it was running, I decided to use it on the hardened soil in the front lawn. More about that tomorrow...
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Shed Door
My shed door has a small garage style door. It came off the track yesterday!
Its not one of the things I've ever worked on before, so it took some examination. The track is attached firmly to the front of the shed. So that hadn't moved. The back of the door support has a triangle of flat metal pieces hanging from the ceiling of the shed. But THEY weren't loose. Bafflement...
OK, the door hangs from wheels in the track with axles going into the door to hold it into the track. While the one that came loose seemed to have the axle come out, I couldn't see why. The door has worked for 9 years and I found nothing loose.
Dang, I hate it when the problem isn't obvious. Well, I reconstructed (in my mind) the way it SHOULD have looked if it was working properly. And saw that the axle holding the track wheel was nearly out of the door. So, to get it working, the axle has to be firmly in the door. OK, that's a start.
So the track is too far away from the door. Why? Nothing loose. Can't see why it came out. But I can see how it is SUPPOSED to be. Can't make the door wider, so the door TRACK has to be closer. Nothing's loose, so an adjustment is needed.
It only took 2 hours... Well, seriously, I had to figure out how the whole thing was put together and how adjustments could be made. It was the back braces. One was set wrong. The back braces have to match the front ones AND the door, and the back ones were over 2" wider.
I found the one bolt that had to be removed and set into another set of brace holes. Was that easy? Of course not! All the other bolts in the track were short aluminum ones that easily fit in and out of the holes in the braces. Not THAT one of course. It was steel and it was long, and it was rusted. The original installers must have run out of the proper short aluminum ones and found this one on the floor of the truck. It was even slightly oversized so they had to screw it into the holes (making threads as they went like with sheet metal screws).
And of course it wasn't easy to get at. I had to break the rust loose (how did it rust inside a dry shed?) with a wrench and a hammer. Then turn the nut off the bolt tiny turns at a time. THEN unscrew the bolt out in tiny turns of a wrench for all 2".
So at least then I could change the hole connections on the 3 flat metal strips acting as the braces. IE, make the triangle smaller and the track moves closer to the door. I did that. Then the track wasn't square to the door, so I had to do the same on the other back side. That went easily. Then it took another adjustment to the original side.
The door slides beautifully now. Well, it MOSTLY did before, but I think it was only pulling the track close until it finally popped loose and I was just assuming it was the weight of the door that took some effort in raising it.
NOW it works as intended... Nearly weightless.
* SIGH * Like I didn't have anything better to do on a nice 70ish day with a list of other PLANNED projects...
Its not one of the things I've ever worked on before, so it took some examination. The track is attached firmly to the front of the shed. So that hadn't moved. The back of the door support has a triangle of flat metal pieces hanging from the ceiling of the shed. But THEY weren't loose. Bafflement...
OK, the door hangs from wheels in the track with axles going into the door to hold it into the track. While the one that came loose seemed to have the axle come out, I couldn't see why. The door has worked for 9 years and I found nothing loose.
Dang, I hate it when the problem isn't obvious. Well, I reconstructed (in my mind) the way it SHOULD have looked if it was working properly. And saw that the axle holding the track wheel was nearly out of the door. So, to get it working, the axle has to be firmly in the door. OK, that's a start.
So the track is too far away from the door. Why? Nothing loose. Can't see why it came out. But I can see how it is SUPPOSED to be. Can't make the door wider, so the door TRACK has to be closer. Nothing's loose, so an adjustment is needed.
It only took 2 hours... Well, seriously, I had to figure out how the whole thing was put together and how adjustments could be made. It was the back braces. One was set wrong. The back braces have to match the front ones AND the door, and the back ones were over 2" wider.
I found the one bolt that had to be removed and set into another set of brace holes. Was that easy? Of course not! All the other bolts in the track were short aluminum ones that easily fit in and out of the holes in the braces. Not THAT one of course. It was steel and it was long, and it was rusted. The original installers must have run out of the proper short aluminum ones and found this one on the floor of the truck. It was even slightly oversized so they had to screw it into the holes (making threads as they went like with sheet metal screws).
And of course it wasn't easy to get at. I had to break the rust loose (how did it rust inside a dry shed?) with a wrench and a hammer. Then turn the nut off the bolt tiny turns at a time. THEN unscrew the bolt out in tiny turns of a wrench for all 2".
So at least then I could change the hole connections on the 3 flat metal strips acting as the braces. IE, make the triangle smaller and the track moves closer to the door. I did that. Then the track wasn't square to the door, so I had to do the same on the other back side. That went easily. Then it took another adjustment to the original side.
The door slides beautifully now. Well, it MOSTLY did before, but I think it was only pulling the track close until it finally popped loose and I was just assuming it was the weight of the door that took some effort in raising it.
NOW it works as intended... Nearly weightless.
* SIGH * Like I didn't have anything better to do on a nice 70ish day with a list of other PLANNED projects...
Sunday, August 17, 2014
Attic Work
I'm been negotiating with an insulation company for several weeks. It's not that I'm trying to drag things out or trying to get them down a dollar at a time, but each quote they send has either some errors or descriptions of work that need some further explanation.
Well, for example, I have part of the center of the attic covered with plywood flooring. The complany is focussed on the insulation gains, so they proposed to remove the flooring. They just want to fill the entire attic 2' deep in blown-in insulation. And they wanted $100s of dollars just to remove the plywood. So I replied that I would remove the plywood myself and that if I decided to replace it after they were gone, that was none of their concern.
There were also some questions about access to the basement framed paneling. The cavities between the cinderblock wall foundation and the paneling covering the 2"x4" framing need blown-in insulation. They wanted to do that for about $1,900 "along the entire perimeter of the basement". The paneling is only along 1/3 of the basement. That sort of thing...
And part of their cost was moving the many many boxes I've saved. The boxes are just in the way of their work (and I understand that). There was about $500 involved in that work.
Well, I've saved boxes all my life. It's practical. As I used to move from apartment to apartment when I was younger, it was really useful to save the packing boxes for all the various stereo and minor appliances. What better packing for stereo equipment is there than the original boxes and styrofoam shapes? And good sturdy boxes are always useful for packing "stuff"! I mean, I always expected to move "someday".
But I've decided that I'm not going to move anytime soon, and when that day does come, I can afford to just buy matching moving boxes. So I didn't need the ones I had (except for a few recent product boxes I'll keep). So I started tossing attic boxes down the stairway.
It was enlightening! I had a box for the Commodore 128 I brought with me here 28 years ago. I cracked up seeing it. That computer is SO long-gone! Seriously, for those of you who have never heard of it, it was 128K memory. But you COULD actually do things on it. I wrote letters, learned spreadsheets, and played some rather interesting games on it. The best part was that the programs for the Commodore games were so simple, you could buy codebreaker programs to copy them for friends (and if you learned Fortran and Basic, you could even improve them. But I digress...
So I had all these boxes down the stairs (and more remaining in the attic. I spent an hour pulling the styrofoam and bubble wrap out of the boxes. The cardboard boxes are recyclable, the styrofoam (generically, polystyrene) is not. So my game for the day was to fit the small boxes into the middle-sized boxes, and those into the larger boxes. Then fitting them into the Highlander SUV. Packing is a fun game.
I needed 2 trips to the recycling center Friday to get rid of most of the boxes, and one trip bringing all the styrofoam to the associated landfill. And I really tried to find a place to recycle the styrofoam. The nearest place was 100 miles away. Apparently, styrofoam is dirt-cheap to make, buly to transport, and to energy-expensive to bother to melt down for reuse locally unless you live next to a styrofoam-producer. Sad but true.
Unfortunately, I had to make the styrofoam disposal trip twice. The landfill closes at 5PM. I left on a 15 minute drive there at 4 PM Friday. But there was an accident right at the intersection leading to the landfill. I sat in traffic for 45 minutes and only got to the landfill 5 minutes too late.
I made a second trip Saturday and got rid of all of it. (and some odd old items, and a few boxes full of styrofoam "peanuts").
But it was worth it. Only 6 boxes left in the attic (all old Christmas decorations I insist on saving). I'll just bring them downstairs temporarily for the insulation work.
At least it was some productive work!
Well, for example, I have part of the center of the attic covered with plywood flooring. The complany is focussed on the insulation gains, so they proposed to remove the flooring. They just want to fill the entire attic 2' deep in blown-in insulation. And they wanted $100s of dollars just to remove the plywood. So I replied that I would remove the plywood myself and that if I decided to replace it after they were gone, that was none of their concern.
There were also some questions about access to the basement framed paneling. The cavities between the cinderblock wall foundation and the paneling covering the 2"x4" framing need blown-in insulation. They wanted to do that for about $1,900 "along the entire perimeter of the basement". The paneling is only along 1/3 of the basement. That sort of thing...
And part of their cost was moving the many many boxes I've saved. The boxes are just in the way of their work (and I understand that). There was about $500 involved in that work.
Well, I've saved boxes all my life. It's practical. As I used to move from apartment to apartment when I was younger, it was really useful to save the packing boxes for all the various stereo and minor appliances. What better packing for stereo equipment is there than the original boxes and styrofoam shapes? And good sturdy boxes are always useful for packing "stuff"! I mean, I always expected to move "someday".
But I've decided that I'm not going to move anytime soon, and when that day does come, I can afford to just buy matching moving boxes. So I didn't need the ones I had (except for a few recent product boxes I'll keep). So I started tossing attic boxes down the stairway.
So I had all these boxes down the stairs (and more remaining in the attic. I spent an hour pulling the styrofoam and bubble wrap out of the boxes. The cardboard boxes are recyclable, the styrofoam (generically, polystyrene) is not. So my game for the day was to fit the small boxes into the middle-sized boxes, and those into the larger boxes. Then fitting them into the Highlander SUV. Packing is a fun game.
I needed 2 trips to the recycling center Friday to get rid of most of the boxes, and one trip bringing all the styrofoam to the associated landfill. And I really tried to find a place to recycle the styrofoam. The nearest place was 100 miles away. Apparently, styrofoam is dirt-cheap to make, buly to transport, and to energy-expensive to bother to melt down for reuse locally unless you live next to a styrofoam-producer. Sad but true.
Unfortunately, I had to make the styrofoam disposal trip twice. The landfill closes at 5PM. I left on a 15 minute drive there at 4 PM Friday. But there was an accident right at the intersection leading to the landfill. I sat in traffic for 45 minutes and only got to the landfill 5 minutes too late.
I made a second trip Saturday and got rid of all of it. (and some odd old items, and a few boxes full of styrofoam "peanuts").
But it was worth it. Only 6 boxes left in the attic (all old Christmas decorations I insist on saving). I'll just bring them downstairs temporarily for the insulation work.
At least it was some productive work!
Wednesday, July 23, 2014
My House Is Leaky
I mentioned Friday that I had an energy inspector visit to see if I had sufficient problems to justify my electrical supplier subsidizing a further more detailed test surprise, surprise, I did). So a guy came by today to do a "negative air blower test" and examine all the rooms with an infrared camera to identify hotspots.
The air blower test was neat. He opened the front door, sealed the opening, and turned on a large fan to pull air in from outside the house. The pressure difference inside shows how much leakage there is.
While that was going on, he went from room to room taking pictures (I assume) to show where the hotspots were as outside air was being pulled into the house through gaps. He showed me the camera display, and I have to admit there were many places that quickly got hotter in the places that one should expect.
I will be getting a fixed quote from the company in about a week. From what the initial inspector suggested, the usual fixes are baffles in the attic that direct outside air from the roof soffits up to the roof ridge vent, additional blown-in insulation, expanding foam sealant around attic and basement beams and vent pipes. The quote should also have a secondary section of things I can do or arrange myself (and that they will do if I choose) like an attic exhaust fan, new water heater.
I think this is all legitimate, though it isn't the kinds of things I can verify myself. The company is part of an energy savings program sponsored (and subsidized) by my electrical supplier, they have a top rating on Angieslist, and the electrical supplier has previously advised me that I use more electricity than neighbors in similar houses.
I asked about window leakage (through the glass and around the frames). He mentioned that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency for my non-US readers) has a list of most common energy losses. They are in order; gaps, insufficient insulation, inefficient heating/airconditioning units, old water heaters, incandescent lights, windows, and large TVs. I plan to replace the windows and old water heater anyway. And he replaced (for free - subsidized by my electrical supplier) all my incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones. I had already switched many fixtures to CFLs or LEDs where they stayed on for long times, but free ones for the rest was great. There are even 3-way CFLs now.
He mentioned something else that really surprised me. It is recommended by the EPA that 30% of the house air be replaced each hour, so even if they could seal the place up completely, it isn't healthy. But 30% per hour? WOW! I would have guessed "per day". Well, I guess that's why the house doesn't smell of cooked food and cat litter boxes all the time...
I plan to take the work proposal (to be received next week) to another highly rated company and ask for a similar quote.
One nice note... Before the guy sealed the front door for the air pressure test, he pointed out that he could see light around the door (meaning leakage). Well, I did know that myself and had put some weatherstrip along the outside of the door. It was an odd kind that went on the frame outside the door, and I don't think it works very well. I need the kind that goes between the door and the frame.
But the neat thing was that, when he assembled his door sealer for the air pressure test, he said that it should measure all the house leakage. And I said "Well except for around that door". He turned and looked at me, smiled, and said that I was the first homeowner he had met that had "caught" that.
Well, I can't wait to see the work quote...
The air blower test was neat. He opened the front door, sealed the opening, and turned on a large fan to pull air in from outside the house. The pressure difference inside shows how much leakage there is.
I will be getting a fixed quote from the company in about a week. From what the initial inspector suggested, the usual fixes are baffles in the attic that direct outside air from the roof soffits up to the roof ridge vent, additional blown-in insulation, expanding foam sealant around attic and basement beams and vent pipes. The quote should also have a secondary section of things I can do or arrange myself (and that they will do if I choose) like an attic exhaust fan, new water heater.
I think this is all legitimate, though it isn't the kinds of things I can verify myself. The company is part of an energy savings program sponsored (and subsidized) by my electrical supplier, they have a top rating on Angieslist, and the electrical supplier has previously advised me that I use more electricity than neighbors in similar houses.
I asked about window leakage (through the glass and around the frames). He mentioned that the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency for my non-US readers) has a list of most common energy losses. They are in order; gaps, insufficient insulation, inefficient heating/airconditioning units, old water heaters, incandescent lights, windows, and large TVs. I plan to replace the windows and old water heater anyway. And he replaced (for free - subsidized by my electrical supplier) all my incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent ones. I had already switched many fixtures to CFLs or LEDs where they stayed on for long times, but free ones for the rest was great. There are even 3-way CFLs now.
He mentioned something else that really surprised me. It is recommended by the EPA that 30% of the house air be replaced each hour, so even if they could seal the place up completely, it isn't healthy. But 30% per hour? WOW! I would have guessed "per day". Well, I guess that's why the house doesn't smell of cooked food and cat litter boxes all the time...
I plan to take the work proposal (to be received next week) to another highly rated company and ask for a similar quote.
One nice note... Before the guy sealed the front door for the air pressure test, he pointed out that he could see light around the door (meaning leakage). Well, I did know that myself and had put some weatherstrip along the outside of the door. It was an odd kind that went on the frame outside the door, and I don't think it works very well. I need the kind that goes between the door and the frame.
But the neat thing was that, when he assembled his door sealer for the air pressure test, he said that it should measure all the house leakage. And I said "Well except for around that door". He turned and looked at me, smiled, and said that I was the first homeowner he had met that had "caught" that.
Well, I can't wait to see the work quote...
Saturday, April 5, 2014
Ah First Things First...
Well, to get the supplies I need for the enclosed garden, I need the hauling trailer renovated. The old 20 yer-old wood sides rotted out. I got new T1-11 sides cut to height and length.
I worked on the front and back yesterday. The sides of the trailer aren't exactly square, so I measured the top and bottom of the front side and put a square against the sides to estimate the unsquareness. Then realized it doesn't matter because there is an inch of metal frame in each corner.
Still, I want to make good joints for personal reasons, and I did. Even with slight angles, no edge came out more than 1/16' of matching the corners. So they matched that tolerance. The back hs a strange brace that matched a 2"x4" board IF you sand it down at the corners, and I have the pieces cut to length for that but not yet crafted carefully to size.
But it DOES mean that the trailer will be ready to haul 23 10' pipes in a couple days and 12 rolls of chicken wire shortly after that.
I looked at rental equipment for making the holes the upright pipes will sit in. An auger costs $100 for 4 hours; a trencher something like $281 for 4 hours. Looks like crowbar and post-hole-digging work for my. Well, I only need 9 holes! I can manage that. It would take that long just to drive to the store, rent the machine, drive back, unload it, set it up, use it, etc, and do the reverse.
I'll still hate pounding through rocky gravel...
I worked on the front and back yesterday. The sides of the trailer aren't exactly square, so I measured the top and bottom of the front side and put a square against the sides to estimate the unsquareness. Then realized it doesn't matter because there is an inch of metal frame in each corner.
Still, I want to make good joints for personal reasons, and I did. Even with slight angles, no edge came out more than 1/16' of matching the corners. So they matched that tolerance. The back hs a strange brace that matched a 2"x4" board IF you sand it down at the corners, and I have the pieces cut to length for that but not yet crafted carefully to size.
But it DOES mean that the trailer will be ready to haul 23 10' pipes in a couple days and 12 rolls of chicken wire shortly after that.
I looked at rental equipment for making the holes the upright pipes will sit in. An auger costs $100 for 4 hours; a trencher something like $281 for 4 hours. Looks like crowbar and post-hole-digging work for my. Well, I only need 9 holes! I can manage that. It would take that long just to drive to the store, rent the machine, drive back, unload it, set it up, use it, etc, and do the reverse.
I'll still hate pounding through rocky gravel...
Friday, August 16, 2013
I Am So Lucky Sometimes
Unlucky at love and cards, I am pretty much lucky at most other things. It balances out.
Two weeks ago, I lost the nut that holds the sawblade on the tablesaw. Its a special nut with reverse screw threads. You can't buy it at the local hardware store. I lost it somehow when taking off the stacked dado blades I used to cut slots in some boards. I assumed the nut fell into the pile of sawdust, and I felt through it VERY carefully. I brushed all the sawdust out of the bottom om the cabinet saw. No nut. So I sprinkled the sawdust out in the back yard.
Obviously, I had set that special nut aside somewhere in the house. I searched the basement for a week. No luck. I checked the pockets of all my clothes for the past week. No luck.
I pulled the tablesaw forward and back and searched underneath. No luck.
That's "lucky"? Yes it is. Because I accumulate ""possibly useful things". One of which is a Very Powerful Magnet. I could possibly attach myself to the steel basement door with it.
So, as I had the tablesaw manufacturer site onscreen, I thought to make one more effort at finding the lost nut among the sprinkled sawdust.
I dragged the magnet along in the sawdust scatterred in the back yard. And WHAT do you suppose found on the SERIOUS magnet? A nut! It didn't seem to fit. But it was a bit rusty, so I gave a good workover with a wirebrush. My fingertips WILL heal.
But a little oil after that and IT FIT!!!
My lost tablesaw reverse thread arbor nut! Oh sweet baby of the tablesaw... And oh sweet magnet of the "just TRY to pull it off the steel garage door where I keep you". Thank you, thank you, thank you...
Two weeks ago, I lost the nut that holds the sawblade on the tablesaw. Its a special nut with reverse screw threads. You can't buy it at the local hardware store. I lost it somehow when taking off the stacked dado blades I used to cut slots in some boards. I assumed the nut fell into the pile of sawdust, and I felt through it VERY carefully. I brushed all the sawdust out of the bottom om the cabinet saw. No nut. So I sprinkled the sawdust out in the back yard.
Obviously, I had set that special nut aside somewhere in the house. I searched the basement for a week. No luck. I checked the pockets of all my clothes for the past week. No luck.
I pulled the tablesaw forward and back and searched underneath. No luck.
That's "lucky"? Yes it is. Because I accumulate ""possibly useful things". One of which is a Very Powerful Magnet. I could possibly attach myself to the steel basement door with it.
So, as I had the tablesaw manufacturer site onscreen, I thought to make one more effort at finding the lost nut among the sprinkled sawdust.
I dragged the magnet along in the sawdust scatterred in the back yard. And WHAT do you suppose found on the SERIOUS magnet? A nut! It didn't seem to fit. But it was a bit rusty, so I gave a good workover with a wirebrush. My fingertips WILL heal.
But a little oil after that and IT FIT!!!
My lost tablesaw reverse thread arbor nut! Oh sweet baby of the tablesaw... And oh sweet magnet of the "just TRY to pull it off the steel garage door where I keep you". Thank you, thank you, thank you...
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Can the Electrical Stuff Get Worse?
The old family fake Tiffany lamp needs support/hanging hardware only a specialist can provide. The new "brightest" kitchen fluorescent bulbs seem dim. The newly installed "bottom of the stair" light is newly-detached so that the upper one works properly again and there is no light at the bottom.
Now the hall circular fluorescent light has suddenly failed. The online guidelines said to "replace the bulb". Did that, no improvement. Then it said "replace the starter". Did that, and after a quarter hour struggling with getting it set into the connections, didn't help.
And seriously, after a quarter hour holding your hands up not even doing anything, see how you feel. There is an old trick about betting someone they can't hold a feather at arm's length for 10 minutes. The sucker thinks "feather", but the problem is the weight of the ARM, LOL! My arms were exhausted just holding them straight up from the stepladder.
I DID finally get the damn starter installed eventually, and it had no effect. The light lit at about 10% and flickered.
To temporarily replace the misfunctioning hallway light, I took a floorlamp and put a screw-in fluorescent bulb and set the floor lamp on a narrow table. It's just me here, so I can live with that a week. But I had to replace a regular bulb in the basement light from where I took the screw-in fluorescent one out.
The base of the bulb broke off. So I had to turn off the circuit breaker to that circuit so I could use pliers to unscrew the broken base. I couldn't read the circuit breaker labels without my glasses. So upstairs I went to find them. Back downstairs I went.
Oh, its the #13 circuit which I now see is printed SIDEWAYS which is why I couldn't make any sense of it without my glasses. So I go to get my pliers out of my stupid fancy tray tool cabinet. Which is LOCKED because I had contractors in the house and my friend had to take legal action because HIS contractors stole some of the same fancy tools I have.
So where did I put the keys? Because I don't have a regular place to put them because I almost never have to lock the stupid tool cabinet. I stand around upstairs trying to find them and THERE they are on the hook where the pizza paddle lives. Of course, where else would they be. Well at least I found them.
So I look in the tool chest for the best thing to spread inside the broken bulb socket (remember that?) and discover that the best tool for the job was sitting on my workbench the whole time. I slowly spread the tin snips out in the broken socket (after double-checking the power was off) and slowly remove the broken bulb base.
I replace the bulb with a new one. Hurray, I'm back to where I was an hour earlier! This is actually progress. I've already made the several required mistakes, and fixed them!!!
The new bulb is "oh so gently" screwed in. The circuit breaker is set back "ON", it works! Hurray...
And I had the damn kitchen fixture to deal with. The electrician was going to replace the ballast but asked if I had any new 4' fluorescent T-12 bulbs . I did actually, plant-grow bulbs for my garden-seedling light stand. They worked. The kitchen looked HORRIBLE, but they did work. So after the electricians left, I went to buy better tube bulbs. I selected "daylight" because I wanted bright light in the kitchen. I do a lot of food-prep, so I figured "daylight" was good.
They were not good. "Daylight" bulbs are rather blaringly bluish. The light is bright but funny inside. SO, I went out and bought what the store chart said was right for "kitchens". The lumens output is less, but the color is better.
My addition of a hinge to one end of the 4' light fixture is the smartest thing I've done all year. I've had to get at the tube bulbs a half dozen times just in this month and trying to be on both sides of a 4' fixture at the same time as one person is a real struggle. Even the electricians admired the idea. I tried the new "warm white" bulbs and it was like I remembered the lighting had been! I could even put the diffuser panel back in and the lighting was still as good when I tilted the fixture cover back up by the hinge and attached it at the other end.
So there are 2 working fixtures of 4 again. As lame as that is, I feel like I had a major success today. That's actually pretty pathetic. but sometimes 50% is good.
I'll get the other 50% done next week or the week after, after bringing the fake tiffany lmp to a repair shop 40 miles away, buying a new hallway lamp for the electricians to install, having them install the fake tiffany lamp in the top of the stairs and fishing wires through the walls and across the attic.
I dont EVEN want to imagine the problems they will discover. But at least the last electrician specified the details of the wire fishing and attic support and wrote that the work WAS ALREADY PAID FOR BY THE QUOTE IN THE FIRST PAID BOTCHED JOB!
I may get out of this yet without the house burning down by bad electrical circuits.
25 years ago, when I moved in, I would have done this myself. But I'm not crazy-confident-brave 36 years old anymore. I've zapped myself too many times doing amateur electrical work. I nearly killed myself twice, surviving only because I wasn't grounded. I'm not touching electricity anymore.
Now I just hope I don't kill myself gardening somehow.
Now the hall circular fluorescent light has suddenly failed. The online guidelines said to "replace the bulb". Did that, no improvement. Then it said "replace the starter". Did that, and after a quarter hour struggling with getting it set into the connections, didn't help.
And seriously, after a quarter hour holding your hands up not even doing anything, see how you feel. There is an old trick about betting someone they can't hold a feather at arm's length for 10 minutes. The sucker thinks "feather", but the problem is the weight of the ARM, LOL! My arms were exhausted just holding them straight up from the stepladder.
I DID finally get the damn starter installed eventually, and it had no effect. The light lit at about 10% and flickered.
To temporarily replace the misfunctioning hallway light, I took a floorlamp and put a screw-in fluorescent bulb and set the floor lamp on a narrow table. It's just me here, so I can live with that a week. But I had to replace a regular bulb in the basement light from where I took the screw-in fluorescent one out.
The base of the bulb broke off. So I had to turn off the circuit breaker to that circuit so I could use pliers to unscrew the broken base. I couldn't read the circuit breaker labels without my glasses. So upstairs I went to find them. Back downstairs I went.
Oh, its the #13 circuit which I now see is printed SIDEWAYS which is why I couldn't make any sense of it without my glasses. So I go to get my pliers out of my stupid fancy tray tool cabinet. Which is LOCKED because I had contractors in the house and my friend had to take legal action because HIS contractors stole some of the same fancy tools I have.
So where did I put the keys? Because I don't have a regular place to put them because I almost never have to lock the stupid tool cabinet. I stand around upstairs trying to find them and THERE they are on the hook where the pizza paddle lives. Of course, where else would they be. Well at least I found them.
So I look in the tool chest for the best thing to spread inside the broken bulb socket (remember that?) and discover that the best tool for the job was sitting on my workbench the whole time. I slowly spread the tin snips out in the broken socket (after double-checking the power was off) and slowly remove the broken bulb base.
I replace the bulb with a new one. Hurray, I'm back to where I was an hour earlier! This is actually progress. I've already made the several required mistakes, and fixed them!!!
The new bulb is "oh so gently" screwed in. The circuit breaker is set back "ON", it works! Hurray...
And I had the damn kitchen fixture to deal with. The electrician was going to replace the ballast but asked if I had any new 4' fluorescent T-12 bulbs . I did actually, plant-grow bulbs for my garden-seedling light stand. They worked. The kitchen looked HORRIBLE, but they did work. So after the electricians left, I went to buy better tube bulbs. I selected "daylight" because I wanted bright light in the kitchen. I do a lot of food-prep, so I figured "daylight" was good.
They were not good. "Daylight" bulbs are rather blaringly bluish. The light is bright but funny inside. SO, I went out and bought what the store chart said was right for "kitchens". The lumens output is less, but the color is better.
My addition of a hinge to one end of the 4' light fixture is the smartest thing I've done all year. I've had to get at the tube bulbs a half dozen times just in this month and trying to be on both sides of a 4' fixture at the same time as one person is a real struggle. Even the electricians admired the idea. I tried the new "warm white" bulbs and it was like I remembered the lighting had been! I could even put the diffuser panel back in and the lighting was still as good when I tilted the fixture cover back up by the hinge and attached it at the other end.
So there are 2 working fixtures of 4 again. As lame as that is, I feel like I had a major success today. That's actually pretty pathetic. but sometimes 50% is good.
I'll get the other 50% done next week or the week after, after bringing the fake tiffany lmp to a repair shop 40 miles away, buying a new hallway lamp for the electricians to install, having them install the fake tiffany lamp in the top of the stairs and fishing wires through the walls and across the attic.
I dont EVEN want to imagine the problems they will discover. But at least the last electrician specified the details of the wire fishing and attic support and wrote that the work WAS ALREADY PAID FOR BY THE QUOTE IN THE FIRST PAID BOTCHED JOB!
I may get out of this yet without the house burning down by bad electrical circuits.
25 years ago, when I moved in, I would have done this myself. But I'm not crazy-confident-brave 36 years old anymore. I've zapped myself too many times doing amateur electrical work. I nearly killed myself twice, surviving only because I wasn't grounded. I'm not touching electricity anymore.
Now I just hope I don't kill myself gardening somehow.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
The Return Of The Mowers
I love Angie's List! I have had nothing but superb service and value from every contractor and medical service I have selected since I joined. Consumers Union for the local community...
Angie's List gives letter grades for quality, price, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism. I focus on price and quality. Price and quality together = value. You can search for service providers many ways, but I only look at the ones with straight A ratings. If the only ones were too far away, I would accept a couple of B ratings but price and quality HAVE to be A rating. So far, that has not been a problem.
And also so far, I found dad a geriatric doctor when he first arrived, a dentist specializing in elderly patients, a vinyl siding replacement company, a roof replacement company, a tree removal company, and most recently a mower repair company. Every single experience has been outstanding!
Today I got my riding mower and regular walk-behind mower back. The regular mower wouldn't start this year, and when it did last year (with great pulling of cords and bad words) the deadman lever didn't work and I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug against the engine block. They took apart and cleaned the carburetor, emptied and cleaned the gas tank, replaced a broken deadman lever cable, added about the same amount of new gas back, and sharpened the blades.
The riding mower was running well enough, but developed a sudden banging/rattling sound under the deck just as I finished mowing last week. Fearing a loose drive shaft or blade, I stopped immediately. And even more suspiciously, there was no bad sounds with the blades disengaged while just driving the riding mower to the trailer to bring it to them. They removed and replaced the drive belts, and found what they initially thought was a bent part of the blade undercarriage. It was dried grass clippings, but so hard after sitting all Winter that the blade was actually bouncing off it. They said they had to use a regular chisel to remove it and then they cleaned off the dried grass from the rest of the undercarriage.
That was embarrassing. I ought to know enough to scrape the packed grass clippings from the undercarriage by now. But I haven't done that for 3 years; its awkward to get a riding mower up off the ground for access to the underside, so I always think "well, maybe next time". But at least it's done now and I should think about a way to get easy access to the bottom in the future.
When I was a teenager, the house had a sunken basement with cinder block walls and concrete steps steps leading up the the lawn level. It just so happened to be exactly the width of my car tires, so I had a wonderful spot to change the oil and do the very simple car stuff I knew about. I need something like that for the riding mower.
But the point of all this is that this place (Tool Solutions, Inc) did great work, nothing more than needed, and the cost for both mowers was... $98! My guess was $200 at best.
And so I will go over to Angie's List and give them a straight A rating. I used both mowers today and they both worked better than ever, the price was great, they did the work quickly, discussed the needed work without exaggerating anything, and were very (but quietly) professional about the whole repair. And they are 3 youngish guys, only in business for 4 years. I will be glad to go back to them for anything.
They don't know I am writing this...
Angie's List gives letter grades for quality, price, responsiveness, punctuality, and professionalism. I focus on price and quality. Price and quality together = value. You can search for service providers many ways, but I only look at the ones with straight A ratings. If the only ones were too far away, I would accept a couple of B ratings but price and quality HAVE to be A rating. So far, that has not been a problem.
And also so far, I found dad a geriatric doctor when he first arrived, a dentist specializing in elderly patients, a vinyl siding replacement company, a roof replacement company, a tree removal company, and most recently a mower repair company. Every single experience has been outstanding!
Today I got my riding mower and regular walk-behind mower back. The regular mower wouldn't start this year, and when it did last year (with great pulling of cords and bad words) the deadman lever didn't work and I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug against the engine block. They took apart and cleaned the carburetor, emptied and cleaned the gas tank, replaced a broken deadman lever cable, added about the same amount of new gas back, and sharpened the blades.
The riding mower was running well enough, but developed a sudden banging/rattling sound under the deck just as I finished mowing last week. Fearing a loose drive shaft or blade, I stopped immediately. And even more suspiciously, there was no bad sounds with the blades disengaged while just driving the riding mower to the trailer to bring it to them. They removed and replaced the drive belts, and found what they initially thought was a bent part of the blade undercarriage. It was dried grass clippings, but so hard after sitting all Winter that the blade was actually bouncing off it. They said they had to use a regular chisel to remove it and then they cleaned off the dried grass from the rest of the undercarriage.
That was embarrassing. I ought to know enough to scrape the packed grass clippings from the undercarriage by now. But I haven't done that for 3 years; its awkward to get a riding mower up off the ground for access to the underside, so I always think "well, maybe next time". But at least it's done now and I should think about a way to get easy access to the bottom in the future.
When I was a teenager, the house had a sunken basement with cinder block walls and concrete steps steps leading up the the lawn level. It just so happened to be exactly the width of my car tires, so I had a wonderful spot to change the oil and do the very simple car stuff I knew about. I need something like that for the riding mower.
But the point of all this is that this place (Tool Solutions, Inc) did great work, nothing more than needed, and the cost for both mowers was... $98! My guess was $200 at best.
And so I will go over to Angie's List and give them a straight A rating. I used both mowers today and they both worked better than ever, the price was great, they did the work quickly, discussed the needed work without exaggerating anything, and were very (but quietly) professional about the whole repair. And they are 3 youngish guys, only in business for 4 years. I will be glad to go back to them for anything.
They don't know I am writing this...
Thursday, May 23, 2013
Lawn Mowers
OK, the regular rotary mower I use for tight spots hasn't started this year, so I tried to fix what little I know about. I took out the spark plug. It was clean. I gapped it (checked the gap between the little folded-over part where the electricity comes in and where the arcing occurs to the gas, for those of you unfamilair with that) and sanded the surfaces. No go. I checked the oil. OK. I removed the old gasoline with cloth to absorb it and put in just enough new gas to let it start. No go. I tried a trick a mechanic taught me about spraying carburetor cleaner in the primer hole. That didn't work! I left the air filter off to see if that was the problem. No go.
I should mention that the deadman lever stopped having any affect a few years ago, AND last year I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug wire against the engine block. So there are obvious problems and I haven't been able to do any trim work this year. There is an area in the corner of the yard where I can't mow without it. I was embarassed (but thankful) that my neighbor did that part last week.
So I went to Angie's List to find a good repair shop. I found a 100% A rated place only 2 miles from here.
But yesterday, I was mowing the rest of the yard with the riding mower. Just as I was about done, a rattling sound started from under the mower deck. And I had just noticed that the mowing strips were looking uneven. My guess is that something is loose in the drive shaft to the blades, and I'm SURE not going to use it if that's the problem. Of course I checked all the simple stuff (loose deck, low oil), but it runs fine WHEN the blades are not engaged. I bet THAT repair is expensive. I'm almost hoping the repair is expensive enough to justify buying a new one. My current one was highly rated by Consumer Reports but I've never really liked it. It would almost be nice to be FORCED to buy one of those zero turning radius ones, LOL! The current one IS 15 years old and they DO wear out.
So I suddenly need to bring BOTH mowers in for repair. I will call that local repair shop in the morning (naturally, I found them 5 minutes after they closed yesterday) about repairs and estimates. All the reviews say they are great on speed, cost, and quality.
The grass grows SO fast this time of year. The yard needs mowing every 5 days. I hope they can repair either one fast. If not, I may have to beg a neighbor to lend me a mower in exchange for filling up the tank when I return it.
I sure hope there are SIMPLE CHEAP repairs for both, LOL!
One problem is delivering the 2 mowers to the repair shop. I have a hauling trailer, but it was filled with Leaf-Gro compost (a wonderful local product). So I spent 2 hours today using my mulch-fork to unload it into a wheelbarrow and from there onto the framed bed gardens. Temps in the upper 80s and humidity at about 100% . It was brutal. I sweated buckets. I soaked 3 kitchen towels with sweat but I got it all done. I hosed down the trailer to remove all the last bits of compost.
When I was done, I stood on the deck for an hour drinking 2 beers. And then I drank a quart of Gatorade. At least I sure get good exercise!!!
The trailer has a pin that, when removed, allows the trailer back to tilt backwards to sit on the ground. I can drive the riding mower up on it (causing the front to tilt level again). And I can lift the regular rotary mower onto the trailer. Well, at least I know I can get the mowers to the repair shop and save the cost of them coming here to get them.
I should mention that the deadman lever stopped having any affect a few years ago, AND last year I had to stop the engine by shorting the spark plug wire against the engine block. So there are obvious problems and I haven't been able to do any trim work this year. There is an area in the corner of the yard where I can't mow without it. I was embarassed (but thankful) that my neighbor did that part last week.
So I went to Angie's List to find a good repair shop. I found a 100% A rated place only 2 miles from here.
But yesterday, I was mowing the rest of the yard with the riding mower. Just as I was about done, a rattling sound started from under the mower deck. And I had just noticed that the mowing strips were looking uneven. My guess is that something is loose in the drive shaft to the blades, and I'm SURE not going to use it if that's the problem. Of course I checked all the simple stuff (loose deck, low oil), but it runs fine WHEN the blades are not engaged. I bet THAT repair is expensive. I'm almost hoping the repair is expensive enough to justify buying a new one. My current one was highly rated by Consumer Reports but I've never really liked it. It would almost be nice to be FORCED to buy one of those zero turning radius ones, LOL! The current one IS 15 years old and they DO wear out.
So I suddenly need to bring BOTH mowers in for repair. I will call that local repair shop in the morning (naturally, I found them 5 minutes after they closed yesterday) about repairs and estimates. All the reviews say they are great on speed, cost, and quality.
The grass grows SO fast this time of year. The yard needs mowing every 5 days. I hope they can repair either one fast. If not, I may have to beg a neighbor to lend me a mower in exchange for filling up the tank when I return it.
I sure hope there are SIMPLE CHEAP repairs for both, LOL!
One problem is delivering the 2 mowers to the repair shop. I have a hauling trailer, but it was filled with Leaf-Gro compost (a wonderful local product). So I spent 2 hours today using my mulch-fork to unload it into a wheelbarrow and from there onto the framed bed gardens. Temps in the upper 80s and humidity at about 100% . It was brutal. I sweated buckets. I soaked 3 kitchen towels with sweat but I got it all done. I hosed down the trailer to remove all the last bits of compost.
When I was done, I stood on the deck for an hour drinking 2 beers. And then I drank a quart of Gatorade. At least I sure get good exercise!!!
The trailer has a pin that, when removed, allows the trailer back to tilt backwards to sit on the ground. I can drive the riding mower up on it (causing the front to tilt level again). And I can lift the regular rotary mower onto the trailer. Well, at least I know I can get the mowers to the repair shop and save the cost of them coming here to get them.
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Roof Replacement
Well, it sure got noisy around here today. Last week, a branch fell and poked a small hole in the roof, so I had a person come out to take a look at it. He did a quick patch job, but we discussed a fuller replacement job because the "20 year" shingles were 26 years old. I found him on Angie's List and he had top ratings in every category, so I decided to get a quote for replacing the shingles. roofing paper, and any plywood sheathing that needed it in his opinion.
And since the vinyl siding was the same age, and abraded by weather to the point were even pressure cleaning it every few months left it dirty and ugly, I got a quote for new siding and gutters with covers.
The roof work was done today. The crew did a thorough efficient job and the crew manager explained what they were doing every step of the way. The siding has to wait about a week, because the trim color I selected had to be special ordered.
There really isn't too much to show about a roof job. It's too flat (and high) to get any really good pictures.
It was amazing watched them go up and down the ladder, walk along the edge of the roof, toss stuff up to the roof from the ground, etc, though.
Here is a guy shoving plywood sheathing up a ladder. I would have difficulty just carrying the plywood on the ground!
And if I was the guy on the top, there is NO possibility I could get it the rest of the way up.
So "let it rain"!
I can't wait for the new siding and covered gutters...
And since the vinyl siding was the same age, and abraded by weather to the point were even pressure cleaning it every few months left it dirty and ugly, I got a quote for new siding and gutters with covers.
The roof work was done today. The crew did a thorough efficient job and the crew manager explained what they were doing every step of the way. The siding has to wait about a week, because the trim color I selected had to be special ordered.
There really isn't too much to show about a roof job. It's too flat (and high) to get any really good pictures.
It was amazing watched them go up and down the ladder, walk along the edge of the roof, toss stuff up to the roof from the ground, etc, though.
I can't wait for the new siding and covered gutters...
Friday, April 27, 2012
That Collapsed Storm Drain
Well darn, I thought I had posted this 2 weeks ago, but I saw it was just sitting in "draft" mode...
It lasted 25 years with flood waters pounding it from almost ALL of the rainwater that ran down from the upslope neighborhood of about 1 square mile.
It finally fell apart.
Well, there it was all fallen down. "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up". So I called it into the County Maintenance office as a safety hazard that children might fall into. They came RIGHT out and surrounded by this "child-proof safety fence", LOL! Yeah, THAT will keep the kids away for SURE.
Well, better than nothing, I suppose. More impressive, they returned in only 3 weeks to do the actual full repair. I was expecting more like 4-6 months. My County is not rich, and I'm sure scattered odd repairs are not their favorite ways to spend tax money. But they did a really good job.
The first person examined the entire structure. He decided it needed complete rebuilding. I asked him about that and he pulled out 1 brick and broke it in half with his bare hands. Yup, it needed new (and better) brickwork. And he said he didn't get any extra money for recommending full rebuilds.
Here is the finished product. I asked the guys rebuilding it if I could take a picture of them, and they said they would rather I didn't. So OK. Its not like taking pictures of my cats, who don't have a choice.
But they did good work!
They said the bricks were stronger and the morter more waterproof, so the storm drain might outlast me.
It lasted 25 years with flood waters pounding it from almost ALL of the rainwater that ran down from the upslope neighborhood of about 1 square mile.
It finally fell apart.
Well, there it was all fallen down. "Help, I've fallen and I can't get up". So I called it into the County Maintenance office as a safety hazard that children might fall into. They came RIGHT out and surrounded by this "child-proof safety fence", LOL! Yeah, THAT will keep the kids away for SURE.
The first person examined the entire structure. He decided it needed complete rebuilding. I asked him about that and he pulled out 1 brick and broke it in half with his bare hands. Yup, it needed new (and better) brickwork. And he said he didn't get any extra money for recommending full rebuilds.
Here is the finished product. I asked the guys rebuilding it if I could take a picture of them, and they said they would rather I didn't. So OK. Its not like taking pictures of my cats, who don't have a choice.
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
Small Victory
I lost a frame screw from my eyeglasses 2 weeks ago. I looked all over the area where the lens fell out. No luck.
Fortunately, I always have 2 pairs of glasses. So I replaced the lens and wrapped rubber bands around it to hold it in place until I passed the eyeglass shop. But I kept not stopping (mostly because I always had food that would spoil quickly and the eyeglass place is S-L-O-W).
So today, I was typing at the computer and suddenly my attention was drawn to a tiny object... The missing frame screw!!! Hurray!
So I took out my set of jewelers screwdrivers and went about replacing the screw. Damn, I just couldn't get it started. Not by hand and not by screwdriver. I even put a magnet on the screwdriver to hold the screw to the tip. No luck for 15 damn minutes! I kept thinking the starter hole OUGHT to be unthreaded and the lower one threaded to tighten the screw.
I FINALLY got it started and screwed it in place. Took off the rubber band... And the frame popped right open again. Damn, damn, damn!
Then I noticed the screw on the OTHER side went in from bottom to top. The BOTTOM is unthreaded. Ohhh...
15 seconds later, I had the screw tightened. I checked the other screw; it was still tight.
But then I checked the other set of glasses (which, of course, I had been wearing). BOTH screws were loose.
I have a reason to mix up a small amount of epoxy for another reason soon. I guess I will loosen each frame screw just a bit and use a toothpick to add a tiny dab before I retighten then. I've had to do that before and it works great.
Granted I have reading glasses, so I put them on and take them off frequently, but do other people have this same problem with eyeglass frame screws falling out? Have you thought of some good solution other than epoxy?
Fortunately, I always have 2 pairs of glasses. So I replaced the lens and wrapped rubber bands around it to hold it in place until I passed the eyeglass shop. But I kept not stopping (mostly because I always had food that would spoil quickly and the eyeglass place is S-L-O-W).
So today, I was typing at the computer and suddenly my attention was drawn to a tiny object... The missing frame screw!!! Hurray!
So I took out my set of jewelers screwdrivers and went about replacing the screw. Damn, I just couldn't get it started. Not by hand and not by screwdriver. I even put a magnet on the screwdriver to hold the screw to the tip. No luck for 15 damn minutes! I kept thinking the starter hole OUGHT to be unthreaded and the lower one threaded to tighten the screw.
I FINALLY got it started and screwed it in place. Took off the rubber band... And the frame popped right open again. Damn, damn, damn!
Then I noticed the screw on the OTHER side went in from bottom to top. The BOTTOM is unthreaded. Ohhh...
15 seconds later, I had the screw tightened. I checked the other screw; it was still tight.
But then I checked the other set of glasses (which, of course, I had been wearing). BOTH screws were loose.
I have a reason to mix up a small amount of epoxy for another reason soon. I guess I will loosen each frame screw just a bit and use a toothpick to add a tiny dab before I retighten then. I've had to do that before and it works great.
Granted I have reading glasses, so I put them on and take them off frequently, but do other people have this same problem with eyeglass frame screws falling out? Have you thought of some good solution other than epoxy?
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Good Things Happening
I have to say that I am pleased this past week.
FIRST, the storm drain on the property line collapsed last month and I called it in for a repair. Well, I don't mean that I was pleased it collapsed, but that the Count responded in 2 days with some surrounding warning tape. So at least they reacted fast.
Then only a couple days later, a crew of bricklayers came out. They tore down the existing brick structure, loaded it into a pickup very cleanly, then started rebuilding the whole thing. I was amazed and pleased!
I only went out and bothered them with questions twice. I've learned a few things over the years. Guys who cut down trees are daredevils and love to show of. Guys who lay bricks carefully don't.
They made a small dam on rocks and soil and put a sump pump in the pool. The sump pump led across my lawn to another storm drain, so the worksite stayed dry.
I looked at the work after they left. The brickwork wasn't very level. But it was lower in the center where the water would drain in, so I assume that was deliberate. But is was level on the other side where water drains in, so I'm not sure. It is interesting trying to figure out which side was done wrong, if either was. The level side is against a solid brick wall downward whereas the lowered center side falls into the open pipe. There MAY be a reason for that.
Quite frankly, I don't want to attend "storm drain school" to figure it out. LOL!
But there was wet cement on the bottom of the storm drain and they left a gas electrical engine running to keep the water away for a while. That makes sense. But the gas engine ran out at 7:20 PM and I went out to look. The water was slowly topping the soil dam and reaching the storm drain. I was wondering whether to call the County when some guys came by in a County pickup truck.
I mentioned it had just stopped and they said they had estimated it wrong. The water was taking away some of the concrete. But they said they could pull it all up and do the base concrete again. They were CLOSE, but the job won't be "the best".
On the other hand, the previous build lasted 25 years and I won't be around to worry about it in another 25.
SECOND, The Crazy Neighbors. More about them next time...
FIRST, the storm drain on the property line collapsed last month and I called it in for a repair. Well, I don't mean that I was pleased it collapsed, but that the Count responded in 2 days with some surrounding warning tape. So at least they reacted fast.
Then only a couple days later, a crew of bricklayers came out. They tore down the existing brick structure, loaded it into a pickup very cleanly, then started rebuilding the whole thing. I was amazed and pleased!
I only went out and bothered them with questions twice. I've learned a few things over the years. Guys who cut down trees are daredevils and love to show of. Guys who lay bricks carefully don't.
They made a small dam on rocks and soil and put a sump pump in the pool. The sump pump led across my lawn to another storm drain, so the worksite stayed dry.
I looked at the work after they left. The brickwork wasn't very level. But it was lower in the center where the water would drain in, so I assume that was deliberate. But is was level on the other side where water drains in, so I'm not sure. It is interesting trying to figure out which side was done wrong, if either was. The level side is against a solid brick wall downward whereas the lowered center side falls into the open pipe. There MAY be a reason for that.
Quite frankly, I don't want to attend "storm drain school" to figure it out. LOL!
But there was wet cement on the bottom of the storm drain and they left a gas electrical engine running to keep the water away for a while. That makes sense. But the gas engine ran out at 7:20 PM and I went out to look. The water was slowly topping the soil dam and reaching the storm drain. I was wondering whether to call the County when some guys came by in a County pickup truck.
I mentioned it had just stopped and they said they had estimated it wrong. The water was taking away some of the concrete. But they said they could pull it all up and do the base concrete again. They were CLOSE, but the job won't be "the best".
On the other hand, the previous build lasted 25 years and I won't be around to worry about it in another 25.
SECOND, The Crazy Neighbors. More about them next time...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
-
I think I have it figured out now. I needed basic frame strength (cubes) plus top support (arches with a ridgepole) for shedding rain and s... -
I like to plant Pansies in the Fall. I replace the dead Tomatos and deck pot flowers with them most years. Best deal I found was 12-packs ...