What's under your lip/in your nose right now? - Part 2

[hittman]

The fun just keeps coming. I had a small leak in my garage ceiling last week and wasn't sure if it was a roof issue or plumbing. I checked the roof and soffit and it all looked fine. We got a lot of rain last week so checked the attic and it was dry. I noticed a brown spot beside the stool in the master bathroom so figured it must have leaked but it's far away from where the garage leak was. I pulled the stool and the flange was rusted all the way around and am pretty sure that is where it was coming from. I bought a jumbo wax seal and replaced it and it seems to have taken care of the problem. We have been looking at getting the bathroom floor replaced anyway. I'm guessing they are going to have to replace a piece of sub floor where the stool and shower are. The wife and I are talking about getting a bid to get that done as well as new carpet in the living room and stairs as well as some kind of wood plank in the study. I don't want to go back with carpet in there because we have this huge desk and wall cabinet unit that covers an entire wall and goes almost to the ceiling so if we have to move it then I don't want to ever do it again.

 

[rothenbj]

Yeah, that sounds like fun. My problems are outside, other than the kitchen sink dripping. My lawn is becoming surrounded by sticker bushes. I finally decided to upgrade my weed Whacker into a brush cutter. Started out buying a $21 chainsaw blade for it only to find I needed to buy a new arbor. Then it was only available in a kit that had a solid blade included for another $50. It worked fine on the sticker bushes but a far as taking down saplings which is why I bought the chainsaw type blade in the first place.

So I decided to use my 20 something year old Ryobi and use the blade I got with the Echo kit on it and the chainsaw blade on the Echo. Of course I needed a bold and a blade washer to attach it to that and when I went to make sure it started, I found the primer bulb rotted out so I'm now waiting for them to arrive.

 

[hittman]

Yeah, that sounds like fun. My problems are outside, other than the kitchen sink dripping. My lawn is becoming surrounded by sticker bushes. I finally decided to upgrade my weed Whacker into a brush cutter. Started out buying a $21 chainsaw blade for it only to find I needed to buy a new arbor. Then it was only available in a kit that had a solid blade included for another $50. It worked fine on the sticker bushes but a far as taking down saplings which is why I bought the chainsaw type blade in the first place.

So I decided to use my 20 something year old Ryobi and use the blade I got with the Echo kit on it and the chainsaw blade on the Echo. Of course I needed a bold and a blade washer to attach it to that and when I went to make sure it started, I found the primer bulb rotted out so I'm now waiting for them to arrive.

I had a gas powered edger that you could move the front wheels and turn the blade horizontal on for cutting brush. It sat in my shed for years after we moved into our current house. My brother in law liked it so I gave it to him.

 

[hittman]

Turns out the flooring place won’t replace sub floor if we need it so I’m going to have to rip up the vinyl and check it before we have the floor done. I was really hoping to avoid doing that but no such luck.

 

[rothenbj]

Hitt, hopefully you'll only need to cut out a square of subfloor and patch it in to the rest of the floor. I've never dealt with needing to repair subfloors, particularly in a bathroom where there are so many build in/on that floor. Even patching in sounds like not a lot of fun as you'd need to cut the old out across the middle of a joist I'm guessing. Then there's the matter of cutting the hole for the toilet plumbing. ugh

I just got awaken my by gf frantic because the guy I've been helping had a letter stating he owed $309 on his PECO bill. It's less than 15 minutes before the end of their day, I knew he was due a credit but she decided to call and handle it herself as she actually is the one with the PoA.

After being hung up on twice, probably because they wanted to go home instead of handling a mess, she and her friend took off to pick up Arby's. It took me until right before they returned with Arby's sandwiches but no sauce, ugh. I think my gf's sister bill paid the wrong account. Now I have to try to get it straightened out.

I'm half tempted to tell him to do nothing. The account was never changed from his father's name after he died over 30 years ago so good luck hurting his credit rating and having the collection agent be successful. The account was in his mother's name and she passed away over 20 years ago. I went thru a lot of trouble getting a copy of her death certificate and sending it to them so they could credit the bank account the credit the account that paid the bill but the credit never came thru.

 

[rothenbj]

Oh, and that type edger would not handle my situation. I'm not just trimming a little brush back. Trees are constantly creating saplings. You blink and you have two to three inch saplings growing among the sticker bushes and, without keeping at them, the sticker bushes themselves are thick at the base.

 

[hittman]

Oh, and that type edger would not handle my situation. I'm not just trimming a little brush back. Trees are constantly creating saplings. You blink and you have two to three inch saplings growing among the sticker bushes and, without keeping at them, the sticker bushes themselves are thick at the base.

How about half a stick of dynamite?

As far as the subfloor goes. I’m hoping it’s in good enough shape that I don’t have to do a lot. Also the floor has to be even for them to install the waterproof vinyl plank.

 

[rothenbj]

A quick thunder storm hit last night a bit after 7 that lasted less than 15 minutes. The electricity lasted less than a minute. There was a quick blip than completely out. It didn't hit me well and I decided, while I still had light to go to generator, glad I did.

I called the electric company and found nobody had reported it. Eventually I got a notification that estimated it coming back after 4. I woke around three and re-filled the generator, just in case. Glad I did as I woke around 6 and there was notification that electric was back up and running but not at my house. I texted back that it was still down. Went outside and the next door neighbor obviously had electric as his outside flood was on. Walked the other way and the neighbor on the other side was still down also, but the house next to him had lights so it was only two of us;

That was the second time I had a weird outage with the first time being when half the feed was down. This time it was a transformer right in front of the house of the other guy with no electric. We finally got up and running a bit before noon.

I'm getting to the point that a Generac gets more and more inviting.

 

[hittman]

A quick thunder storm hit last night a bit after 7 that lasted less than 15 minutes. The electricity lasted less than a minute. There was a quick blip than completely out. It didn't hit me well and I decided, while I still had light to go to generator, glad I did.

I called the electric company and found nobody had reported it. Eventually I got a notification that estimated it coming back after 4. I woke around three and re-filled the generator, just in case. Glad I did as I woke around 6 and there was notification that electric was back up and running but not at my house. I texted back that it was still down. Went outside and the next door neighbor obviously had electric as his outside flood was on. Walked the other way and the neighbor on the other side was still down also, but the house next to him had lights so it was only two of us;

That was the second time I had a weird outage with the first time being when half the feed was down. This time it was a transformer right in front of the house of the other guy with no electric. We finally got up and running a bit before noon.

I'm getting to the point that a Generac gets more and more inviting.

That is a weird outage. I don't blame you for considering a Generac system.

 

[hittman]

What’s going on? I’ve been mixing in some general onyx silver here and there that’s been in the freezer a long time.

We’re in appliance hell right now. Just bought a new fridge and now the dishwasher has gotten really loud and the dryer is making a funny noise. I told the wife to call a repair guy to get estimates and then we can decide if we want to repair or replace them.

 

[rothenbj]

Yeah, it's been quiet in here recently. If your situation and mine are any indication, everyone is busy dealing with problems.

I had my kitchen sink backing up two nights ago. Tried plunging and thru some junk down but it definitely needed a snake. When I pulled all the crap out from under the sink, I decided I'd put in the new cartridge in the faucet a it had been dripping for awhile.

I shutoff the water valves under the sink off, pulled the trap out and got up to get the HF Baer drain cleaner I bought but never used (did a great job). However, I was still getting dripping in the sink so the cutoff valve needs work.

I wasn't going to try to fight putting a new one in myself so I called the plumber and left a message. I cleaned out the drain, reinstalled the trap and turned the water back on to test the drain. It was cleaned out well and the dripping stopped too. I waited until the plumber got back to me and cancelled and they were happy too as one of the two plumbers was away at the time so they were backed up. I figure the valve will eventually need to get replaced, but for now, it's good enough.

I'll save my grass trimmer adventures for another time.

 

[hittman]

Yeah, it's been quiet in here recently. If your situation and mine are any indication, everyone is busy dealing with problems.

I had my kitchen sink backing up two nights ago. Tried plunging and thru some junk down but it definitely needed a snake. When I pulled all the crap out from under the sink, I decided I'd put in the new cartridge in the faucet a it had been dripping for awhile.

I shutoff the water valves under the sink off, pulled the trap out and got up to get the HF Baer drain cleaner I bought but never used (did a great job). However, I was still getting dripping in the sink so the cutoff valve needs work.

I wasn't going to try to fight putting a new one in myself so I called the plumber and left a message. I cleaned out the drain, reinstalled the trap and turned the water back on to test the drain. It was cleaned out well and the dripping stopped too. I waited until the plumber got back to me and cancelled and they were happy too as one of the two plumbers was away at the time so they were backed up. I figure the valve will eventually need to get replaced, but for now, it's good enough.

I'll save my grass trimmer adventures for another time.

When I replaced our faucet I had to really torque the water shutoff valves because I was getting a little dripping also. Sometimes you can tighten the packing nut behind the handle and turn it a little more to get it to reseat and close completely. I think they just build up calcium deposits over time. These new faucets with the water lines that are built into the faucet are nice and easy to install but our old one I think had build up in the hot water line. I had to replace the spray head a few times and replaced the cartridge once. I was just sick of working on it so took the wife to pick a new one. It's funny because she's tighter with money than I am and wanted to get one that was lower quality and $30 less than the one we got. I told her it was worth paying the extra to get a better one. Hopefully it lasts for a long time.

 

[Burnie]

Nothing new happen here Snus wise, just using the same stuff. Still waiting on new roofs from the hail damage, but looking at September before they get to me, no leaks, so it is not a problem. Working on some computer upgrades on my work computer, but that would take pages of type with all the problems. Just taking one day at the time.

 

[hittman]

Nothing new happen here Snus wise, just using the same stuff. Still waiting on new roofs from the hail damage, but looking at September before they get to me, no leaks, so it is not a problem. Working on some computer upgrades on my work computer, but that would take pages of type with all the problems. Just taking one day at the time.

It’s good to hear from you. I’m usually rotating general mint and jakobsson strong mint with the occasional general onyx. I do like the 77 nic pouches I got for taste.

 

[Burnie]

Doing smoked brisket today, was 12.5 lbs, little big for smoker, so I cut it in half and froze the other piece for later. Also having some baked sweet potatoes to go with it.

I went to Lowe's today and picked up one of those portable Air Conditioners for our front screen porch (3 solid walls with screen on the front). The heat is getting bad here already and I sweat like a pig when we sit out there in the evenings. I know it won't get it cold due to the front being screened, but I hope it gets it bearable so I don't sweat so much, then it will be worth the $300 cost.

 

[hittman]

Doing smoked brisket today, was 12.5 lbs, little big for smoker, so I cut it in half and froze the other piece for later. Also having some baked sweet potatoes to go with it.

I went to Lowe's today and picked up one of those portable Air Conditioners for our front screen porch (3 solid walls with screen on the front). The heat is getting bad here already and I sweat like a pig when we sit out there in the evenings. I know it won't get it cold due to the front being screened, but I hope it gets it bearable so I don't sweat so much, then it will be worth the $300 cost.

The brisket sounds good. I haven’t done one in a long time. I did a Boston .... and some ribs a couple weeks ago.

My wife smokes in the garage and I vape there. I’ve been thinking about a portable air conditioner but am nervous about cutting a hole in the wall for the exhaust hose.

 

[rothenbj]

My biggest probem with under the sink stuff is age. Working behind all the crap down there on my knees is just a literal pain. Pulling out the trap and running the snake down the pipe is one thing. Fixing the shut off valves definitely worth the cost of a plumber at this point. Fortunately, everything was working good enough after I snaked the pipes and opened up the valves that I have time to worry about the other issues.

 

[rothenbj]

Don't have to worry about heat here, at least this evening. It's already under 60 outside and, with the windows open, the 67 indoors will certainly drop into the 50s by morning. I still haven't had to turn on the air this summer. I'm just hoping we get a break on the oil before the end of summer as it currently is sitting at $5.25, about twice as much as I paid last year. I better get my .... moving on filling up by wood supply.

 

[hittman]

We decided to have some waterproof laminate plank flooring installed in our master bathroom. Today I tore out the steps in front of the jet tub. We didn’t think it was going to look right so I have to replace a piece of mdf on the face of the tub and after the floor is installed then I’m going tile the face.

 

[rothenbj]

Would be interested in seeing the finished product Hitt. I've looked at the master bath here and thought to myself that I'd like to do an upgrade, even though the kitchen needs it much more. I have a hot tub in the back deck that I had installed soon after I moved it. Even though it's been dead for years now and I put new boards on that deck last year, I didn't feel like spending the time to cut up the old tub and install more decking. I wouldn't mind one of those spa tubs in the master to get that hot tub experience again.

I spend the day cutting brush and saplings around the house with a Forester brush cutter blade on my gas trimmer. The whole story is a bit long so I'll spare the details, but I originally wanted to keep the string head on the Echo and use my antique Ryobi 31cc for the brush cutting duties. I thought I wasted a lot of money on the Ryobi but most of the money was for things that work on the Echo and I still haven't given up on the old trimmer.

Anyway, that Forester blade which looks like a circular chain saw should have been found years ago. I had sticker bushes and trees growing all over where I didn't want them but it was a situation that I kept trying to keep the stick bushes under control with less aggressive heads on the weed eater, The saplings just kept getting bigger because of the effort of getting at them with the chainsaw.

I cleared two areas around the house in a matter of hours with that blade, with ease. Most of you guys don't have an environment where the forest doesn't really want you interfering with it constant expansion, but this gives me half a chance.