What did you do today?

Plumbing Forums

Help Support Plumbing Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Mom's hard drive lasted long enough for the taxes but now is borked (or the cables to it are borked- not sure which).

Last night was interesting. Went to Pizza Hut with friends. Had an employee start threatening us & saying he was all gangsta, but he literally ran away from me. He said he was going to throw down with someone outside (was threatening my brother) so I was like "Let's go!" & went outside but he ran away & hid behind cars while pretending to be "gangsta". Went back inside & he came back w/ a knife & threatened us while I laughed at him. He wouldn't actually come near us & didn't know how to hold the knife. LOL.
Cops were called & he calmed down, apologized, and went back to mopping the floors.

I'm considering writing a Yelp review but not sure how to title it. LOL.
 
Yeah. You should have seen this dude's face when I stood up. He was trying to fight my brother & he didn't know what to do when I stood up. He stepped backward & as soon as we were outside he ran. It was hilarious. He went back in the back door to go back inside & I went back to finish eating when he came out with the knife. He was so upset that we were just laughing at him & not taking him seriously.

Meanwhile, my AC was broken for several days & I couldn't find the # of the installer to call him to get it fixed. Friend of mine came over to help me put in Mom's new Moen faucet & it was so hot he called a buddy of his who works on ACs & the guy came out and had it fixed in less than 5 min. The capacitor had blown & it needed more freon. The capacitor on the old one used to blow a lot but it was old as hell. Company that made it went out of business in 1973. I think the power surges & outages probably did some damage too.

My friend also helped me with the leveling mix on my floor. This time it came out much smoother. Filled in the pits. It's not completely flat/smooth just yet bc it was just one thin coat & there are still some bumps sticking up from the old job, but it went on much easier- there are no new big bumps. I'm going to see about doing another batch & putting it in a spot where the level/smoothness won't matter to test my trowel skills. Once I have the floor smooth/flat enough, I'll get my friend to help me adjust the sheet vinyl.
 
I finally got around to replacing the outside hose spigots next to the front porch. Used metal spigots instead of PVC. Threaded the spigots in to the adapters (crossthreaded one and had to redo it), cut a scrap PVC pipe in half, glued them to the adapters then glued those to a tee, cut the rising pipe to length, cut off the old pipe just below the old shutoff, cleaned it the pipe off, put on the shutoff (making sure it was in off position), attached the tee to the vertical pipe, plunked it in to the shutoff, then waited two hours for the cement to set while the water was off. Turned main line back on but haven't tested to see if it's working just yet. I didn't like how wobbly it was-- the previous one had been tethered to a fence post but since the tree took out the whole fence & brought the post down with it, I needed something else. I googled for ideas & saw a hose stand w/ a spigot that could be used as an extender & then found a related item-- a hose stand with a cross-piece to stabilize it (but no spigot). Ones with spigots had bad reviews for leaking & such. The blackberry bushes did a number on my hands & arms while I was working so I made a trip to HD to pick up a new machete (I think a neighbor snuck over and stole my old one bc it's missing), pipe insulation, & the hose stand. I brought my brother along (he helped me look for stuff bc my vision is getting worse & he helped carry things since I didn't grab a cart). We stopped to eat at the Chinese place & then Walmart for some groceries before heading home. Once everything was unloaded & put away I went out & wrapped the pipe in insulation. Turns out I think they had the 1/2" insulation in the 3/4" bin because it didn't fit all the way around. At least the tee insulation fit (they had some specifically for 3/4" tees & it was the right size). Taped it up with all weather tape-- which I ended up bleeding on bc a thorn got stuck in my thumb. The guy at HD who helped us find stuff gave me some free zip ties from an opened bag-- I think he's used to dealing with stupid customers bc he asked if I was going to insulate the pipe before tethering it. I was thinking "Why would I try to tether it first? That wouldn't make sense". He then commented that it would be hard to insulate if I tethered first. I was thinking "No s**** Sherlock" but chalked it up to him dealing with a lot of dumbos in the past. Anyway, after getting the pipe insulated (not exactly happy with the fit-- might need to add more insulation around it later but for now it's summer so it's not a big deal) I crammed the hose stand into the ground with it's spike & found the zip ties wouldn't quite reach bc of parts on the stand that stuck out-- so I just used the tape. After I went inside & the rain started I thought of a way to get it to fit better-- when it stops raining I'll go out and adjust the hose stand position so I can use the zip ties. I will probably add extra reinforcement at a later date. But for now, I have it installed. I will have to test it later.

I did notice that the pipes in the well-house are leaking but not badly enough for air to be getting in to the lines. I'll have to figure out how to seal them up. The check valve the guy installed is useless since it's on the wrong side & I still want a foot valve instead. I wonder if the check valve could be re-used on someone else's well. I wish I could just return it. Once my phoneline is fixed (which is on the agenda for today if it will stop raining) I'll try to set up a time for him to come out and fix it properly.
 
Hi Chris. Sorry to hear that Idaho is "killing you slowly". Hope things get better for you.
 
Don't let Chris fool you. He loves it there. He is just a glutton for punishment and doesn't know how to say no to helping friends.
 
Hi, Chris! How's it going with opening a new business? I hope you & your family are doing well.

I also finally got around to replacing my old phoneline. My initial plan was to tie the new line to the old one & pull it through under the house-- but the old line was stuck on something & broke off close to where it came out of the floor so I ended up having to crawl under the house. I had to come out & go back under a few times to communicate with my friend. Spent a good 30 minutes under there. Had to military style crawl to squeeze under some stuff but I found that there were some spaces I could no longer squeeze through bc I've put on more than 50lbs since I last crawled there 15+ years ago. My friend fed the new line to me & I tethered it to the broken end of the old line & had to crawl & drag it through some places that would catch it until it was clear & then had my friend pull from the front. We didn't have enough line to wrap it around the house on the outside so it had to go under. Unfortunately, I forgot to tell my friend to tie a knot in the end above the hole (forgot to mention we had to drill a new hole for it in a more accessible spot) so it came all the way out & I had to crawl back & feed it back through the hole, but it was catching on the carpet. My friend had to dig in the carpet until he got the end & pulled it back. Instead of crawling back to the spot where I got in (that has the largest opening) I decided to crawl out at the nearest spot. Had to roll on my back (so the "girls" would fall into my armpits out of the way instead of being in the way on the ground), grab the edge of the house, and crawl. My friend had opened the window to hear me & looked out to see my upper half coming out and yelled "PUSH! PUSH!" so I fell over laughing. Then came the testing-- turns out the new jack I'd just bought was defective. My friend managed to fix it though & got it working. The surge protector for the phoneline got killed so we got a new one but it has to be grounded & I'm trying to figure out how to ground it bc I don't think my house's wiring is actually grounded. May need to get an electrician out to find out for sure.

While I was under the house I take a look at some stuff. What I thought was a partial notch in the floor joist under my tub was a full very large notch. I don't know how the floor hasn't bowed there. Looks like I have an above-the-floor drain on my tub so I'll have to cut a hole to access the drain & make adjustments. I think I want to switch to a direct drain so the trap will be below the drain instead of the overflow-- so it won't intersect the joist. I'll then put a block in the cavity in the joist & make a joist box on either side for extra reinforcement. There's not really enough space to maneuver for a fully sistered joist, but I might add some reinforcing pieces on the sides. I also looked at the floor where Mom's toilet sits & it looks like there's plywood there but on top there's OSB or particle board. So there might be two layers. From below the floor doesn't look as bad as it does on the top, so I might not need to replace the whole floor & might be able to just put a 1/4" or 3/8" plywood layer down to make it smoother.

On a sad note, my best friend's great uncle just died. We were going to install hardwood flooring in his house last Tuesday but my friend was very sick. I don't know if he ever got to do it, but his uncle died on Thursday. The old codger had been living like he was still in his 20s-- had girlfriends, kept active, etc & then had a stroke so the last few months he'd been using a riding cart & needed help with stuff. I saw him trying to lift a case of sodas at Walmart & helped him put it in the cart then waited for him on the way out so I could load it into his truck for him. He was good friends with my late friend Cordell. My friend was so upset he didn't even tell me (or maybe he assumed my brother would tell me, but my brother & I didn't see each other for a few days bc of his work schedule). Missed the funeral yesterday. On a happier note: Cordell's widow just turned 95 last week.
 
Everyone doing ok?
I know Havasu is heading out to do some Red Cross work to help hurricane victims so he'll be away for awhile. I hope he'll be safe.

Technically yesterday since it's after midnight, but I helped my friend with some house repairs. The floor under the sliding glass door for his back room fell out. The glass didn't break & those doors are sturdy (and damn heavy-- they look double-paned). Apparently a tree fell on them & they didn't break. He'd covered the huge hole (almost the entire size of the room) with a sheet of plastic. So we measured & went to the hardware store & got some concrete pads & lumber. I helped him move the doors & figure out how to get them propped up in their channels (bottom channel is missing though) just to get the hole covered. Ended up having to temporarily put a floor jack under it to keep it from sagging. We're going to pick up another concrete pad & some 4x4s. Hopefully those will help. Then we can use some caulk & expanding foam to fill in gaps. He's eventually going to replace it with a new door, but that will require better reinforcement. For now it should hold & keep the heat (and the damn wasps) out.

We also worked on his kitchen. Got some new base cabinets so I helped him move them in place & level them. Then helped him with the countertops. He had to trim one of them bc it hung into the doorway. I helped with that. I had wanted him to take it to my workshop to get a clean cut but he insisted on using a jigsaw-- so it cut crooked. Smoothed it out a bit with a circular saw but the cut isn't perfect. But, we can always use some pens to color in the little chips & I ironed the end pieces on. Still going to need to use some gorilla glue for some spots that wouldn't stick bc it wasn't flat enough. We still need to get some clamps & get the cabinets secured- corner cabinet sinks at the back bc the floor is so warped. Oh, we also pulled the baseboards & wall trim bc they blocked the cabinets from sitting flush against the walls-- which are warped all to hell. They are not anywhere near plumb-- they lean backward. So there's a gap behind the cabinets when they are level. We'll either re-use the trim or put some cove molding over the gaps. I had already stained the cabinets shortly after we put them in but I still need to do some touch-ups & to stain the sides. We're going to get some toekick trim to cover the gaps & then I'll stain them. Once the flooring is put in, we'll add some shoe molding (which I might pre-stain to avoid getting stain on the floor).

The kitchen is coming together nicely. When the weather cools off my friend will help me fix more stuff at my house.
 
Finished my Red Cross Florida assignment, now flying up to South Carolina to start my new job, then if I have time, will head to North Carolina.
 
Finished my Red Cross Florida assignment, now flying up to South Carolina to start my new job, then if I have time, will head to North Carolina.
How bad were things in Florida? I haven't been keeping up with the news as much. I hope things aren't terrible in SC & NC.
 
On hurricane watch here.

We aren’t a hurricane zone. The last bad one to come around was in 2003. But we’re getting the tail end of hurricane Dorian and it’s going to make land fall right where I live.

So Saturday is gonna be fun!
 
I think it's down to a category 2 now but that can still do some damage. I hope you'll be safe, Matt.
 
Back
Top