Sure, this isn't Denver or Buffalo, but we're getting our fair share of snow.
Friday morning starting at around 1 am we got about 8" of snow before 8 am. By the end of the day it was around 11".
The snowblower worked great, and it appears that the Loc-Tite did it's job. Damn, no new snowblower for me this year I guess....
What really confuses me are the idiots who go out driving before the roads are cleaned up. Now not everybody out there is an idiot. I was out there while there was still no way to see the actual street. 6+ inches of snow in the intersections, etc. The idiots are the ones who go out un-prepared or poorly equipped.
Like the people with their cars stuck in 6+ inches of snow in the turn lanes.
The main roads are bad enough for cars, but to think that your car is going to make it through a tight low-speed turn with snow up past the frame? FAIL.
A lot of the cars I saw on the roads were police, and some of those police cars were running tire chains, something I've never seen on police cars around here.
I'm a different kind of idiot I guess, as I love driving in the snow. But since I drive a Jeep I have a little easier time getting through the snow. The only area I was even remotely concerned with was when I was trying to enter the remote parking lot at Best Buy before the lot was plowed.
There was barely a path wider than the Jeep going in, and snow at least 8" high. There was also a big pile of snow to get through from the plow trucks clearing the street. A little extra gas and I got right through.
On the way out, a guy was stuck in the same spot with what I assume to be a 2 wheel drive pickup (back wheels were spinning like mad, front wheels weren't moving at all). He was evidently an idiot.
If your job is critical and you're needed, take your chances. Going shopping at Best Buy probably doesn't count as critical.
Unless they've got a killer sale on HD TVs, that is.
Tonight we're supposed to get another 5" or so.
Yay...
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
I Own the Snowblower from Hell
Yeah yeah, I'm still alive.
I know it's been months since my last post, but I've done pretty much jack-squat on the house since then, other than paint the bathroom.
I've finally determined that my snow blower is the illegitimate love-child of Satan and Oprah. (I should probably disable comment posting as soon as I publish this).
It's big, old, and heavy and I think I'm doomed to a lifetime of dealing with it.
But it DOES have cool tire chains!
For years now I've been waiting for it to die so I can justify spending $700 on a new snow blower. But like the Energizer bunny on meth, this thing just won't quit.
A week ago we had some snow so I fired it up. 2nd pull, as always, and it immediately settled down into a smooth idle. When I was about 80% done with clearing the drive it started to shake and make a loud banging sound, like somebody had thrown a frozen cat into the auger.
Don't ask me how I know what that sounds like, I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is on that quite yet....
I shut it down and found that the entire auger assembly (the spinning blades of death in the front) was lose and hanging at an odd angle.
YAY! Time to get a new snow blower!
Oh, wait, the bolt that holds the right side of the auger just fell out. And it's sitting 2' away from me on the driveway. Damn. 3 minutes and a 3/4" socket wrench later and it's back up and running.
At least I didn't have to spend the money reserved for the kid's Christmas presents on a replacement.
Today we're getting more snow so I broke it out again to take care of the first few inches of snow. Again, about 80% of the way through the work and it starts to run weird.
This time it was idling poorly - revving up and down and generally running like crap. I thought it was running low on gas, but when I checked I found that I still had half a tank. I noticed that the shield covering the carb was wobbly, which is different because normally it's nice and tight. I thought it might just be a lose screw, but as I was moving the shield it I found that the engine ran better depending on how the shield was held.
The entire carb was actually lose, and letting in additional air while letting out some of the gas intended for the engine. There are two screws which hold the carb in place, and both had worked themselves lose.
A few minutes later I had it tightened up and it was running great. For about 5 minutes. The screws backed out pretty quickly and I was back to having to tighten 'em up again.
This time I put some Loc-Tite on the screws to hold them in place. I'll know tomorrow if it'll hold. If not, maybe I'll finally get that new snow blower.....!
Being somewhat mechanically inclined has really paid off though. Two problems that could have resulted in expensive trips to the shop with the snow blower were taken care of with about $.02 in Loc-Tite.
Assuming that fixes the current problem. I'll know tomorrow when I fire it up and try it again.
I know it's been months since my last post, but I've done pretty much jack-squat on the house since then, other than paint the bathroom.
I've finally determined that my snow blower is the illegitimate love-child of Satan and Oprah. (I should probably disable comment posting as soon as I publish this).
It's big, old, and heavy and I think I'm doomed to a lifetime of dealing with it.
But it DOES have cool tire chains!
For years now I've been waiting for it to die so I can justify spending $700 on a new snow blower. But like the Energizer bunny on meth, this thing just won't quit.
A week ago we had some snow so I fired it up. 2nd pull, as always, and it immediately settled down into a smooth idle. When I was about 80% done with clearing the drive it started to shake and make a loud banging sound, like somebody had thrown a frozen cat into the auger.
Don't ask me how I know what that sounds like, I'm not sure what the statute of limitations is on that quite yet....
I shut it down and found that the entire auger assembly (the spinning blades of death in the front) was lose and hanging at an odd angle.
YAY! Time to get a new snow blower!
Oh, wait, the bolt that holds the right side of the auger just fell out. And it's sitting 2' away from me on the driveway. Damn. 3 minutes and a 3/4" socket wrench later and it's back up and running.
At least I didn't have to spend the money reserved for the kid's Christmas presents on a replacement.
Today we're getting more snow so I broke it out again to take care of the first few inches of snow. Again, about 80% of the way through the work and it starts to run weird.
This time it was idling poorly - revving up and down and generally running like crap. I thought it was running low on gas, but when I checked I found that I still had half a tank. I noticed that the shield covering the carb was wobbly, which is different because normally it's nice and tight. I thought it might just be a lose screw, but as I was moving the shield it I found that the engine ran better depending on how the shield was held.
The entire carb was actually lose, and letting in additional air while letting out some of the gas intended for the engine. There are two screws which hold the carb in place, and both had worked themselves lose.
A few minutes later I had it tightened up and it was running great. For about 5 minutes. The screws backed out pretty quickly and I was back to having to tighten 'em up again.
This time I put some Loc-Tite on the screws to hold them in place. I'll know tomorrow if it'll hold. If not, maybe I'll finally get that new snow blower.....!
Being somewhat mechanically inclined has really paid off though. Two problems that could have resulted in expensive trips to the shop with the snow blower were taken care of with about $.02 in Loc-Tite.
Assuming that fixes the current problem. I'll know tomorrow when I fire it up and try it again.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Take Care of Your Tool
Here's one that most people never think about. Shovel maintenance.
Yes, maintenance for your shovels.
As with other tools, if you take care of your tools they should last a lifetime. Unless you buy cheap crap, since you can't polish a turd. Well, you can, but a shiny turd isn't much better than a dull one.
Below is the blade on my garden spade/shovel. You can see the edge of the blade is bent backwards, which creates resistance when trying to plunge the blade into your own skull after watching your NFL team blow it in the last few minutes of the game.
After my headache was gone, I decided to do something about the blade. This bent-over edge was from the manufacturing process, and probably shouldn't have passed quality control. I noticed it after getting it home and using it, after it was too late to swap it out.
Yeah, it's dirty. I'm not big on cleaning tools at 10 PM after burying pet hamsters in the garden...
So as with sharpening the mower blades, out comes the Angle Grinder with a sanding flap disc installed. Some people might cringe at spending $15-20 for a power tool like this, figuring you get what you pay for. Well, normally you do, and I'm all for spending more for quality tools. When it counts, that is. These grinders from HF have proven themselves to me.
Realistically, how often will the average home-owner use an angle grinder, so why spend $75 for a good one? These cheap-o's from Harbor Freight are actually pretty decent quality. I currently own three of them, and have burned out at least 4 of them in the past 5 years doing some rather major metal fabrication.
But if I burned out 4 of them how can I say they're decent? Because the 4 I burned out combined cost as much as one decent grinder, and with the work I was doing I'd have worn out even a higher-end grinder. Plus, I use three different discs; a sanding flap disc, a cut-off disc, and a metal grinding disc, so having one grinder dedicated to each task saves time & effort.
About 1 minute later the rolled edge is gone and the edge is reasonably-sharp. You can get the same results with a hand file and a little effort. I've got plenty of metal-working tools, so I might as well use 'em.
The blade won't stay sharp for long, but when it comes to digging out plants a sharp blade will much more quickly cut through roots, making your work easier. The metal on this shovel is pretty thin so I just beveled from the back edge.
I gave the same treatment to another shovel, sharpening from the front and back since the metal on this blade is about 50% thicker than the other shovel.
After the edges were sharpened I took a wire brush and knocked the dirt off. A coat of oil then protects the bare metal from rust.
I used to keep a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand in the garage. I dumped about a quart of old motor oil into it to thoroughly coat the sand. When I was done with a shovel I'd just jam the blade into the oily sand a few times to clean off the dirt and give it a coat of oil in one step. I didn't have room in the moving truck when we moved so I gave it to my neighbor. Some day I'll replace it.
Yes, maintenance for your shovels.
As with other tools, if you take care of your tools they should last a lifetime. Unless you buy cheap crap, since you can't polish a turd. Well, you can, but a shiny turd isn't much better than a dull one.
Below is the blade on my garden spade/shovel. You can see the edge of the blade is bent backwards, which creates resistance when trying to plunge the blade into your own skull after watching your NFL team blow it in the last few minutes of the game.
After my headache was gone, I decided to do something about the blade. This bent-over edge was from the manufacturing process, and probably shouldn't have passed quality control. I noticed it after getting it home and using it, after it was too late to swap it out.
Yeah, it's dirty. I'm not big on cleaning tools at 10 PM after burying pet hamsters in the garden...
So as with sharpening the mower blades, out comes the Angle Grinder with a sanding flap disc installed. Some people might cringe at spending $15-20 for a power tool like this, figuring you get what you pay for. Well, normally you do, and I'm all for spending more for quality tools. When it counts, that is. These grinders from HF have proven themselves to me.
Realistically, how often will the average home-owner use an angle grinder, so why spend $75 for a good one? These cheap-o's from Harbor Freight are actually pretty decent quality. I currently own three of them, and have burned out at least 4 of them in the past 5 years doing some rather major metal fabrication.
But if I burned out 4 of them how can I say they're decent? Because the 4 I burned out combined cost as much as one decent grinder, and with the work I was doing I'd have worn out even a higher-end grinder. Plus, I use three different discs; a sanding flap disc, a cut-off disc, and a metal grinding disc, so having one grinder dedicated to each task saves time & effort.
About 1 minute later the rolled edge is gone and the edge is reasonably-sharp. You can get the same results with a hand file and a little effort. I've got plenty of metal-working tools, so I might as well use 'em.
The blade won't stay sharp for long, but when it comes to digging out plants a sharp blade will much more quickly cut through roots, making your work easier. The metal on this shovel is pretty thin so I just beveled from the back edge.
I gave the same treatment to another shovel, sharpening from the front and back since the metal on this blade is about 50% thicker than the other shovel.
After the edges were sharpened I took a wire brush and knocked the dirt off. A coat of oil then protects the bare metal from rust.
I used to keep a 5 gallon bucket filled with sand in the garage. I dumped about a quart of old motor oil into it to thoroughly coat the sand. When I was done with a shovel I'd just jam the blade into the oily sand a few times to clean off the dirt and give it a coat of oil in one step. I didn't have room in the moving truck when we moved so I gave it to my neighbor. Some day I'll replace it.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Mower Maintenance
If you want your mower to last and provide a good clean cut for years, you need to take care of it. That includes changing the oil and air filter. You also need to keep the mowing deck clean and the blade(s) sharp.
I'll get around to changing the oil and air filter later this fall, but wanted to take advantage of a nice day to do the maintenance on the deck.
First step was to get the mower up high enough to be able to get at the blades. I could have just jacked the back end up with my floor-jack, but figured that I might as well raise the front as well. Jack stands were placed under the front end to keep it level, the transmission was left in gear, and the brake was locked.
It's been a year since I cleaned the deck - much longer than it should go without a proper cleaning. Cut grass builds up underneath, creating a block to the cut grass being discharged. It also traps moisture against the metal of the deck which can cause the deck to rust out.
I took a small scraper and got out all kinds of build-up, which should help the mower work a little more efficiently.
Next up was sharpening of the mower blades. I installed these right after buying the mower about 1-1/2 years ago. They're still in good shape, but the leading edge is getting a little dull. There were a few small dings from hitting either branches or pinecones.
Each blade is held in place with one bolt. Be careful when removing a mower blade, as I've heard that some mowers use reverse-thread bolts. When you think you're loosening the bolt you could actually tightening it. These were standard threads.
In many cases you can stick a piece of 2x4 between the blade and mower deck to keep the blade from moving when you are trying to break the bolt loose.
The angle-grinder ($12.00 at Harbor Freight for a 4-1/2" grinder) was used with a sanding flap-disc to remove the grass build-up and to sharpen the blade. There was quite a bit of build-up on the blades, but the sanding disc took care of that quickly.
You'd think that the blade should be sharp like a knife, but realistically, how long would that sharp blade last? I ground the blade sharp and then ran the sanding disc straight across the sharp edge to blunt it. The flat edge is about 1/32" wide.
To make sure the blades were balanced I set them on a small nail driven into the garage wall. As long as the blade stays horizontal it's good enough. Yeah, it's low tech and not as precise as a professional shop could do, but it's good enough for now.
After re-installing the blades and checking for vibration (none), it was time to clean the engine.
I changed the oil last year, but skipped cleaning the engine. I cleaned around the drain plug, but that's it. It's now dirty as the surrounding area. I sprayed on some engine cleaner and brushed it in with a cleaning brush.
A few minutes later the gunk sprayed right off and everything was nice and clean. It'll be possible to see if there are any oil leaks now, and the engine should be able to run a little cooler without a layer of gunk & grass coating it. If nothing else, it'll just make changing the oil a little easier.
This work took maybe 30 minutes and is something that the average do-it-yourselfer can do without a problem. The only tools I used were a scraper, a grinder, and a wrench.
If you don't have a jack or ramps like I used, you could just tilt the tractor and put blocks under the raised wheels to give a little more access.
Later this season I'll put some info online about getting the engines winterized.
I'll get around to changing the oil and air filter later this fall, but wanted to take advantage of a nice day to do the maintenance on the deck.
First step was to get the mower up high enough to be able to get at the blades. I could have just jacked the back end up with my floor-jack, but figured that I might as well raise the front as well. Jack stands were placed under the front end to keep it level, the transmission was left in gear, and the brake was locked.
It's been a year since I cleaned the deck - much longer than it should go without a proper cleaning. Cut grass builds up underneath, creating a block to the cut grass being discharged. It also traps moisture against the metal of the deck which can cause the deck to rust out.
I took a small scraper and got out all kinds of build-up, which should help the mower work a little more efficiently.
Next up was sharpening of the mower blades. I installed these right after buying the mower about 1-1/2 years ago. They're still in good shape, but the leading edge is getting a little dull. There were a few small dings from hitting either branches or pinecones.
Each blade is held in place with one bolt. Be careful when removing a mower blade, as I've heard that some mowers use reverse-thread bolts. When you think you're loosening the bolt you could actually tightening it. These were standard threads.
In many cases you can stick a piece of 2x4 between the blade and mower deck to keep the blade from moving when you are trying to break the bolt loose.
The angle-grinder ($12.00 at Harbor Freight for a 4-1/2" grinder) was used with a sanding flap-disc to remove the grass build-up and to sharpen the blade. There was quite a bit of build-up on the blades, but the sanding disc took care of that quickly.
You'd think that the blade should be sharp like a knife, but realistically, how long would that sharp blade last? I ground the blade sharp and then ran the sanding disc straight across the sharp edge to blunt it. The flat edge is about 1/32" wide.
To make sure the blades were balanced I set them on a small nail driven into the garage wall. As long as the blade stays horizontal it's good enough. Yeah, it's low tech and not as precise as a professional shop could do, but it's good enough for now.
After re-installing the blades and checking for vibration (none), it was time to clean the engine.
I changed the oil last year, but skipped cleaning the engine. I cleaned around the drain plug, but that's it. It's now dirty as the surrounding area. I sprayed on some engine cleaner and brushed it in with a cleaning brush.
A few minutes later the gunk sprayed right off and everything was nice and clean. It'll be possible to see if there are any oil leaks now, and the engine should be able to run a little cooler without a layer of gunk & grass coating it. If nothing else, it'll just make changing the oil a little easier.
This work took maybe 30 minutes and is something that the average do-it-yourselfer can do without a problem. The only tools I used were a scraper, a grinder, and a wrench.
If you don't have a jack or ramps like I used, you could just tilt the tractor and put blocks under the raised wheels to give a little more access.
Later this season I'll put some info online about getting the engines winterized.
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Crud in the Pipes
No, this isn't a medical condition.
Since the dishwasher was installed the other day I noticed that the water flowing out of the kitchen faucet was slower than normal.
At first I figured it was the new shut-off valve installed on the hot water line, which may not be allowing full water flow.
But that shouldn't make the cold water line also flow more slowly, which was also happening.
Other faucets in the house were fine, so it was just something wrong with the kitchen faucet.
The fastest and easiest thing to check was the aerator (where the water exists the faucet) which just screws on & off. There is a screen inside there which traps debris.
The screen in mine was covered with a ton of debris and rust from the water line, which was slowing the water flow for hot & cold. Basically, there was a crud build-up that was blocking water flow.
The debris was probably dislodged in the pipes from the water being turned on & off during the dishwasher installation. The water was shut off to the house and faucets were opened upstairs and downstairs, draining the lines of water. When the water was turned back on, it knocked loose some junk that had built up in the lines, which got trapped in the aerator.
Lucky for me I turned the faucet on first, which sent the crap to the faucet instead of to the dishwasher!
Cheap, easy, and fast. The way I like my solutions.
Since the dishwasher was installed the other day I noticed that the water flowing out of the kitchen faucet was slower than normal.
At first I figured it was the new shut-off valve installed on the hot water line, which may not be allowing full water flow.
But that shouldn't make the cold water line also flow more slowly, which was also happening.
Other faucets in the house were fine, so it was just something wrong with the kitchen faucet.
The fastest and easiest thing to check was the aerator (where the water exists the faucet) which just screws on & off. There is a screen inside there which traps debris.
The screen in mine was covered with a ton of debris and rust from the water line, which was slowing the water flow for hot & cold. Basically, there was a crud build-up that was blocking water flow.
The debris was probably dislodged in the pipes from the water being turned on & off during the dishwasher installation. The water was shut off to the house and faucets were opened upstairs and downstairs, draining the lines of water. When the water was turned back on, it knocked loose some junk that had built up in the lines, which got trapped in the aerator.
Lucky for me I turned the faucet on first, which sent the crap to the faucet instead of to the dishwasher!
Cheap, easy, and fast. The way I like my solutions.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
I Will Wash Dishes by Hand No More Forever
Slightly modified quote by a famous leader. 10 points to the first person who knows what the hell I'm talking about.
I didn't want to wait for the weekend to get the dishwasher installed, and I had a couple of free hours to kill this afternoon, so I gave it a shot.
I cut out the guts of the lower cabinet and made sure there was plenty of room. Judging by the picture I've got more than enough!
As mentioned previously, this is just a temporary installation, done on the cheap. I had the water supply line and most of the parts I needed, but did find that there were two special pieces that I had to go out and buy.
First was a 90 degree elbow which fits into the bottom of the dish washer. Second was the splitter valve that connects to the water supply line. I could have gotten away without using the splitter valve, but then I'd have no hot water supply to the sink. Not the best solution.
The electrical hookup is ultra-temporary. I don't know where the final electrical line will be run, so I took an old grounded extension cord and cut the end off. I spliced it into the wiring on the dishwasher and secured the wiring so it won't move around and chafe. I'll just plug it into the wall when I need to wash dishes for now. Half-ass yes, but it works.
The blue protective layer is still on the outside in this picture, but the dishwasher has a stainless front.
Under the sink you can see the new lines. Hooking into the drain, the big line that looks like it's coming from the middle of the sink is the dishwasher drain line which actually loops around a bit. The extra slack makes it look like it's coming from the center of the sink - it actually comes through the cabinet wall on the left up high to create an air gap.
The black line down low is the water supply to the dishwasher. It connects to the gold splitter valve in the back of the cabinet.
I had a small drip from the valve when I turned the water on, but a quick 1/4 turn and it looks good to go. No other leaks were found.
I put in a little dishwashing detergent and fired it up to clean it out and make sure it's working properly. So far, so good! I look forward to running a load through it tonight.
Total cost, about $8.00 in parts that I needed to buy anyway.
I didn't want to wait for the weekend to get the dishwasher installed, and I had a couple of free hours to kill this afternoon, so I gave it a shot.
I cut out the guts of the lower cabinet and made sure there was plenty of room. Judging by the picture I've got more than enough!
As mentioned previously, this is just a temporary installation, done on the cheap. I had the water supply line and most of the parts I needed, but did find that there were two special pieces that I had to go out and buy.
First was a 90 degree elbow which fits into the bottom of the dish washer. Second was the splitter valve that connects to the water supply line. I could have gotten away without using the splitter valve, but then I'd have no hot water supply to the sink. Not the best solution.
The electrical hookup is ultra-temporary. I don't know where the final electrical line will be run, so I took an old grounded extension cord and cut the end off. I spliced it into the wiring on the dishwasher and secured the wiring so it won't move around and chafe. I'll just plug it into the wall when I need to wash dishes for now. Half-ass yes, but it works.
The blue protective layer is still on the outside in this picture, but the dishwasher has a stainless front.
Under the sink you can see the new lines. Hooking into the drain, the big line that looks like it's coming from the middle of the sink is the dishwasher drain line which actually loops around a bit. The extra slack makes it look like it's coming from the center of the sink - it actually comes through the cabinet wall on the left up high to create an air gap.
The black line down low is the water supply to the dishwasher. It connects to the gold splitter valve in the back of the cabinet.
I had a small drip from the valve when I turned the water on, but a quick 1/4 turn and it looks good to go. No other leaks were found.
I put in a little dishwashing detergent and fired it up to clean it out and make sure it's working properly. So far, so good! I look forward to running a load through it tonight.
Total cost, about $8.00 in parts that I needed to buy anyway.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Dishwasher Installation, On the Cheap
When we bought this house, it had never had a dishwasher installed.
We figured that we could live without one for a year while the renovation work was taking place. In fact, we purchased the dishwasher when we bought the new appliances for the place right after moving in.
It's sat in the box waiting to be installed ever since.
The remodel work is progressing very slowly, as there is plenty to do outside, and I'm enjoying time with the family while it's nice out.
But we're finally sick of doing dishes by hand and using paper plates half the time to avoid having to wash dishes every day.
Plus, I'm sure we waste a lot more water washing them by hand compared to what a new dishwasher would use.
The problem is that the dishwasher will be installed on the side of the kitchen which I haven't started work on yet, so there are cabinet doors and drawers and a wide base cabinet where the dishwasher is going to go.
To make things difficult, I'm cheap. Some call it "frugal", but I will admit to being cheap. I hate to spend money on renovation stuff if I know I'll just be tearing out the work and re-doing it later.
The project: install a dishwasher while spending NO money for parts. None. I can only use parts I already have on-hand, even if it means an ugly install. It's meant as a temporary install, so I'm not aiming for "pretty". Lucky for me I have a good selection of parts on hand from previous work. Hopefully enough to pull this off.
At this point, I know I'll be re-using the dishwasher, but don't know exactly where water or electrical lines will be run. I also don't have a garbage disposal installed yet (dishwasher discharge lines typically connect to the disposal) so I'll need to tie in to the sink drain directly.
Since the lower cabinet is wider than the dishwasher needs, I plan to use a trusty saws-all to cut out the wood I don't need, and leave about 1/3 of a door on the hinges to hide the gap that used to be cabinet. It'll make more sense when I start the work and take pictures. Promise.
The drain line is easy, although I'll be installing it without an air-gap for now. When I do the work for keeps I'll put that in place. Electrical will be temporary hook-up as well - enough to make it function safely for now.
Over the next few days I'll need to go through my supplies and get everything together. I want to install the dishwasher this weekend. The only items I'm not sure how I'm going to handle yet are the splitter for the water supply and the drain line. The drain isn't high-pressure, so I'll use garden hose if needed. The supply IS high-pressure so I'm hoping I have a long enough stainless braided line.
Game on!
We figured that we could live without one for a year while the renovation work was taking place. In fact, we purchased the dishwasher when we bought the new appliances for the place right after moving in.
It's sat in the box waiting to be installed ever since.
The remodel work is progressing very slowly, as there is plenty to do outside, and I'm enjoying time with the family while it's nice out.
But we're finally sick of doing dishes by hand and using paper plates half the time to avoid having to wash dishes every day.
Plus, I'm sure we waste a lot more water washing them by hand compared to what a new dishwasher would use.
The problem is that the dishwasher will be installed on the side of the kitchen which I haven't started work on yet, so there are cabinet doors and drawers and a wide base cabinet where the dishwasher is going to go.
To make things difficult, I'm cheap. Some call it "frugal", but I will admit to being cheap. I hate to spend money on renovation stuff if I know I'll just be tearing out the work and re-doing it later.
The project: install a dishwasher while spending NO money for parts. None. I can only use parts I already have on-hand, even if it means an ugly install. It's meant as a temporary install, so I'm not aiming for "pretty". Lucky for me I have a good selection of parts on hand from previous work. Hopefully enough to pull this off.
At this point, I know I'll be re-using the dishwasher, but don't know exactly where water or electrical lines will be run. I also don't have a garbage disposal installed yet (dishwasher discharge lines typically connect to the disposal) so I'll need to tie in to the sink drain directly.
Since the lower cabinet is wider than the dishwasher needs, I plan to use a trusty saws-all to cut out the wood I don't need, and leave about 1/3 of a door on the hinges to hide the gap that used to be cabinet. It'll make more sense when I start the work and take pictures. Promise.
The drain line is easy, although I'll be installing it without an air-gap for now. When I do the work for keeps I'll put that in place. Electrical will be temporary hook-up as well - enough to make it function safely for now.
Over the next few days I'll need to go through my supplies and get everything together. I want to install the dishwasher this weekend. The only items I'm not sure how I'm going to handle yet are the splitter for the water supply and the drain line. The drain isn't high-pressure, so I'll use garden hose if needed. The supply IS high-pressure so I'm hoping I have a long enough stainless braided line.
Game on!
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Happiness Is...
Much needed rain,
Cleaned gutters and downspouts before said rain,
The wife and kids out of the house for at least one of the games (Dad, who's #12? Dad, who's #88? Dad, who's #72? Dad, who are the guys in the blue shirts? Dad, can we watch cartoons? Dad, when is the game over? Dad, will you unlock the basement door so we can get out?),
A plasma TV,
Having the two games I want to watch playing back to back.
Quality jerseys to watch the game in, although the GB #4 jersey is retired and will be replaced for GB games with #50 AJ Hawk.
I love the feel of quality jerseys - sewn on letters and numbers, heavy-weight fabric, etc. Well worth the extra cost, in my opinion.
Cleaned gutters and downspouts before said rain,
The wife and kids out of the house for at least one of the games (Dad, who's #12? Dad, who's #88? Dad, who's #72? Dad, who are the guys in the blue shirts? Dad, can we watch cartoons? Dad, when is the game over? Dad, will you unlock the basement door so we can get out?),
A plasma TV,
Having the two games I want to watch playing back to back.
Quality jerseys to watch the game in, although the GB #4 jersey is retired and will be replaced for GB games with #50 AJ Hawk.
I love the feel of quality jerseys - sewn on letters and numbers, heavy-weight fabric, etc. Well worth the extra cost, in my opinion.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Aggrivation!
This isn't related to the house work, so deal with it. If it makes you feel better, remove the name Microsoft and replace it with Home Depot. Where I say Xbox insert the words cordless drill. There, now it's about house work.
Microsoft sucks. There, I said it and feel better already. They suck suck suck suck suck suck suck.
About a year after it first came out I purchased the Microsoft Xbox. It died shortly after the warranty ran out (isn't that always the case?).
I figured it was just a fluke, and since I had a bunch of games for it already I purchased another one to replace it.
That one worked fine, and eventually ended up in storage because games weren't being made for it any more, due to the new Xbox 360 coming out.
So about a year after the 360 comes out, I get one because it has the games I want to play and because it will also play my old Xbox games.
Until today.
It's dead now, too. Xbox owners are all too familiar with the term "red ring of death".
This time it died with 2 months of warranty left, so Uncle Bill at Microsoft gets to pay shipping both ways and pay to fix/replace the counsel.
Surprisingly enough, that's not what really bugs me. The thing I'm irritated about is the tech support system at Microsoft.
The first thing callers are subjected to is a computerized "person". "Hey, my name is Max, thanks for calling!" Gee, thanks crappy computer program, thanks should go to Microsoft for selling me a crappy product, leading me to get to deal with you...
The sound quality of the "dude" I eventually got to talk to (after "Max" failed to help me) was pretty horrible. I'm assuming he's either somewhere So Cal or he's doing a great job at disguising his Indian accent. The sound was so bad I had to turn the volume on my phone way down to keep it from distorting, but then I had a hard time hearing the guy.
Plus, the music on hold was some techno-crap, which was also heavily distorted. The distortion may have made it more tolerable, I'm still not sure... He kept apologizing for putting me on hold - he must know what I was forced to listen to.
The call dragged on an extra 10 minutes because he had a hell of a time trying to get my address to work in his system. Waukesha County uses a grid system for the streets, such as N85 W20345 Oakdale Drive (not my actual address, you stalkers), which tells you exactly where you are, even if you don't know the street name. The addresses are weird, but very useful if you spend 3 minutes trying to figure 'em out.
I can't blame him for the address issue. Finding an address like this in Mapquest or other online map programs is often a lesson in futility.
With all that said, I understand technology can be problematic. But 5 years down the line a company like Microsoft still putting out crap quality products? Amazing.
I think it's safe to say this is the last game system I buy from Microsoft. 2 out of 3 going bad indicates a bit of a problem.
Damn technology. When I'm Emperor, companies will be forced to provide QUALITY phone support, and any CEO who uses a "Max" for support line will be sodomized with a roadcone and 2x4.
Microsoft sucks. There, I said it and feel better already. They suck suck suck suck suck suck suck.
About a year after it first came out I purchased the Microsoft Xbox. It died shortly after the warranty ran out (isn't that always the case?).
I figured it was just a fluke, and since I had a bunch of games for it already I purchased another one to replace it.
That one worked fine, and eventually ended up in storage because games weren't being made for it any more, due to the new Xbox 360 coming out.
So about a year after the 360 comes out, I get one because it has the games I want to play and because it will also play my old Xbox games.
Until today.
It's dead now, too. Xbox owners are all too familiar with the term "red ring of death".
This time it died with 2 months of warranty left, so Uncle Bill at Microsoft gets to pay shipping both ways and pay to fix/replace the counsel.
Surprisingly enough, that's not what really bugs me. The thing I'm irritated about is the tech support system at Microsoft.
The first thing callers are subjected to is a computerized "person". "Hey, my name is Max, thanks for calling!" Gee, thanks crappy computer program, thanks should go to Microsoft for selling me a crappy product, leading me to get to deal with you...
The sound quality of the "dude" I eventually got to talk to (after "Max" failed to help me) was pretty horrible. I'm assuming he's either somewhere So Cal or he's doing a great job at disguising his Indian accent. The sound was so bad I had to turn the volume on my phone way down to keep it from distorting, but then I had a hard time hearing the guy.
Plus, the music on hold was some techno-crap, which was also heavily distorted. The distortion may have made it more tolerable, I'm still not sure... He kept apologizing for putting me on hold - he must know what I was forced to listen to.
The call dragged on an extra 10 minutes because he had a hell of a time trying to get my address to work in his system. Waukesha County uses a grid system for the streets, such as N85 W20345 Oakdale Drive (not my actual address, you stalkers), which tells you exactly where you are, even if you don't know the street name. The addresses are weird, but very useful if you spend 3 minutes trying to figure 'em out.
I can't blame him for the address issue. Finding an address like this in Mapquest or other online map programs is often a lesson in futility.
With all that said, I understand technology can be problematic. But 5 years down the line a company like Microsoft still putting out crap quality products? Amazing.
I think it's safe to say this is the last game system I buy from Microsoft. 2 out of 3 going bad indicates a bit of a problem.
Damn technology. When I'm Emperor, companies will be forced to provide QUALITY phone support, and any CEO who uses a "Max" for support line will be sodomized with a roadcone and 2x4.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
This "Work" Thing is Starting to Get Old
Some more tree trimming was on today's schedule. Now both trees on the side of my house are much cleaner looking, and I'm able to get much more light to the ground. There is a lot of moss back there which I don't think will survive much longer.
From the road, the side of the house looks a lot lighter physically now, without all the visual weight from the trees.
Each of the two trees resulted in a full trailer full of branches which were taken to the recycling yard to be ground up for mulch. It's still kind of scrubby looking at ground level, as I need to get all the old pine cones raked up and cut all the little weeds and crap that had been trying to grow.
Over the next few weeks I plan to do a lot more cutting & pruning. Might as well make full use of the trailer while I have it! I want to get all the trees near the house trimmed back so there is nothing overhanging the gutters. Clogged gutters suck.
From the road, the side of the house looks a lot lighter physically now, without all the visual weight from the trees.
Each of the two trees resulted in a full trailer full of branches which were taken to the recycling yard to be ground up for mulch. It's still kind of scrubby looking at ground level, as I need to get all the old pine cones raked up and cut all the little weeds and crap that had been trying to grow.
Over the next few weeks I plan to do a lot more cutting & pruning. Might as well make full use of the trailer while I have it! I want to get all the trees near the house trimmed back so there is nothing overhanging the gutters. Clogged gutters suck.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
Check Your Gutters, Folks!
Not just on a sunny day, and don't forget to check the downspouts, too!
We're finally getting some rain, after about a month of beautiful dry weather.
Being the anal-retentive home owner that I am, I took a quick walk in the rain to make sure water was only coming out of all the downspouts. In heavier rains, it doesn't take much to clog a gutter. I know this first-hand, and have had the water in the basement to prove it.
Upon checking the downspout by the tree I recently did a bunch of trimming on, I noticed that the downspout (which drains directly under the tree) wasn't draining any water. None. Zero.
The other downspouts had a little trickle coming from them, so I knew something was up.
Evidently, when I was pulling the cut branches out from under the tree I disconnected the downspout from the vertical run that goes up to the gutter. When it was re-connected, it was put on upside down which left a 1/2" gap in the bottom (hard to explain, but trust me) that all the water was pouring out. Right up against the foundation.
Not good, if the rain were to continue for too long.
5 seconds later and it was fixed.
No damage, but if I didn't notice it and it was left this way too long during a storm I could have ended up with a lot of water in the basement.
Moral of the story: check the gutters AND the downspouts. Not only when it's nice out, but when it rains, 'cause that's when you'll notice if it's working or not.
We're finally getting some rain, after about a month of beautiful dry weather.
Being the anal-retentive home owner that I am, I took a quick walk in the rain to make sure water was only coming out of all the downspouts. In heavier rains, it doesn't take much to clog a gutter. I know this first-hand, and have had the water in the basement to prove it.
Upon checking the downspout by the tree I recently did a bunch of trimming on, I noticed that the downspout (which drains directly under the tree) wasn't draining any water. None. Zero.
The other downspouts had a little trickle coming from them, so I knew something was up.
Evidently, when I was pulling the cut branches out from under the tree I disconnected the downspout from the vertical run that goes up to the gutter. When it was re-connected, it was put on upside down which left a 1/2" gap in the bottom (hard to explain, but trust me) that all the water was pouring out. Right up against the foundation.
Not good, if the rain were to continue for too long.
5 seconds later and it was fixed.
No damage, but if I didn't notice it and it was left this way too long during a storm I could have ended up with a lot of water in the basement.
Moral of the story: check the gutters AND the downspouts. Not only when it's nice out, but when it rains, 'cause that's when you'll notice if it's working or not.
Monday, September 1, 2008
Taking My Own Advice
So not too long ago I was blathering on about chainsaw maintenance and not leaving gas/oil mix in the gas tank because it goes bad quickly enough to damage the little 2-stroke engines.
This afternoon I realized that my weed wacker and leaf blower have been sitting with the same gas/oil mix I put in at least 3 months ago. The leaf blower doesn't see a lot of use, and that gas may be even older. Not a good idea.
To be safe, I drained the gas from both tanks and put in enough fresh mix to fire 'em up. I let them run long enough to warm up completely and flush out any old gas, and then drained the tanks. They were then started again to run through any remaining gas in the lines. My plan is to drain the tanks and run them dry every time I use them from now on. In theory, this should help avoid getting a varnish build-up in the carburetors. The weed-wacker has been good to me so far. It's at least 10 years old and has never needed service. The leaf blower is only about 3 years old and still runs great (as it should).
Since I was showing some lovin' to the 2-strokes, I decided to also check out the 4-strokes on the push mower and the riding mower, by checking oil, air filter condition, etc. The push mower gets very limited use and mainly sees duty mowing the ditch - it's too steep of an angle to be safe on the rider. I might run one full tank of gas through it during the entire mowing season.
All of the motors are in good shape for the remainder of this season, but I'm making a list of spark plugs, air filters, crankcase oil, bar chain oil, and gas pre-mix oil for my next trip to Menards. I want to have everything on-hand to do all of the tune-ups this Fall. If I wait until Spring I might just keep putting it off.
It's early to talk about winterizing engines, but I do have a list to follow.
1. The engines will be started and warmed up to make sure they run properly.
2. All gas will then be drained and the engine started to burn off gas remaining in the lines.
3. After the engine cools down I'll pull the spark plug and put in a little squirt of oil.
4. With the plug out and the kill-swith in the "OFF" position, slowly pull through about two cycles to fully coat the cylinder.
5. In goes the new plug and the engine is ready to hibernate for the winter.
6. The three chainsaws get their blades removed and taken in for a professional sharpening.
7. The sharpened blades get stored in a can of oil.
8. The chain bars get cleaned, coated with oil, and warpped in newspaper.
9. The 4-cycle mower engines get gas drained and oil changed.
10. Air filters get replaced on the mowers and chainsaws.
11. Mower blades get removed and sharpened.
All that stuff will probably cost me $30.00 in parts and will hopefully keep my motors happy for another season of abuse. It'll probably take about 2 hours to do all the work. I can take a small TV out into the garage to watch a Packer game and be done before the game ends.
Some people fill the gas tanks on the mowers with gas mixed with a fuel stabilizer for winter. Since all of the gas tanks on mine are plastic, I think I'm better off leaving the tanks empty. My snowblower has a metal tank which is kept full at all times, even during the summer. The reason is that the metal rusts if it gets a chance, and an empty metal tank can get moisture in it from the air, leading to a rusty tank. I've seen it on motorcycles stored with empty tanks, so I have to assume it could happen on a snowblower.
Changing subjects, a while back I mentioned the weird design of my windows - the windows original to the house. Besides never having had the trim work painted (THANK YOU, previous owners!), the top panes are hinged. To open 'em, I remove the screen from the lower pane and then flip a little lock on each side.
The whole top pane then is pushed open as shown below. The only reason I can think of for this design is that it might allow warmer air closer to the ceiling an easier way to get out in the summer. It doesn't make the windows easier to clean by any means, so that's not it.
With the top hinged out I can then open the lower pane if desired. Maybe this helps air circulate? If the top window is open the screen is useless as it has to be removed to open the top window. If the bugs are out in force (welcome to Wisconsin) opening the top window is kind of useless because the house will be swarmed with bugs.
The more I look at these windows, the more I think I want to keep them. They're a weird design, but they're all solid. They also have two panes of glass so they're reasonably efficient for their age. I figure I can remove them one at a time to completely clean 'em, scrape and loose paint, sand 'em, and re-glaze 'em. A few of them need new glass which I can cut to fit myself. Doing one window per weekend as time permits in Spring and Fall might take a couple of years, but at least they're in good enough shape now that they can wait.
Last for the day, I put the boy character to work helping me clean up under the tree I was cutting on a few days ago. We ended up with 6 boxes of pine cones, small branches, and needles. I'll take it to the yard waste recycling station next weekend. This trailer was filled twice, just with junk from the ground.
I'm much happier with the cleaned up tree now. The big thing next spring will be to find ground cover plans that like living under pine trees. A lot of plants won't grow there because of the soil acidity. I'm planning on covering the area beneath this tree and the one behind it, and extending that planting all the way up to the house (just to the left in this picture). It's all scrubby looking and crappy right now due to the lack of light. Only weeds and really thin spots of grass have been growing there for the past decade, and a lot of the area is just dirt, which does nothing to help shed water away from the house.
This afternoon I realized that my weed wacker and leaf blower have been sitting with the same gas/oil mix I put in at least 3 months ago. The leaf blower doesn't see a lot of use, and that gas may be even older. Not a good idea.
To be safe, I drained the gas from both tanks and put in enough fresh mix to fire 'em up. I let them run long enough to warm up completely and flush out any old gas, and then drained the tanks. They were then started again to run through any remaining gas in the lines. My plan is to drain the tanks and run them dry every time I use them from now on. In theory, this should help avoid getting a varnish build-up in the carburetors. The weed-wacker has been good to me so far. It's at least 10 years old and has never needed service. The leaf blower is only about 3 years old and still runs great (as it should).
Since I was showing some lovin' to the 2-strokes, I decided to also check out the 4-strokes on the push mower and the riding mower, by checking oil, air filter condition, etc. The push mower gets very limited use and mainly sees duty mowing the ditch - it's too steep of an angle to be safe on the rider. I might run one full tank of gas through it during the entire mowing season.
All of the motors are in good shape for the remainder of this season, but I'm making a list of spark plugs, air filters, crankcase oil, bar chain oil, and gas pre-mix oil for my next trip to Menards. I want to have everything on-hand to do all of the tune-ups this Fall. If I wait until Spring I might just keep putting it off.
It's early to talk about winterizing engines, but I do have a list to follow.
1. The engines will be started and warmed up to make sure they run properly.
2. All gas will then be drained and the engine started to burn off gas remaining in the lines.
3. After the engine cools down I'll pull the spark plug and put in a little squirt of oil.
4. With the plug out and the kill-swith in the "OFF" position, slowly pull through about two cycles to fully coat the cylinder.
5. In goes the new plug and the engine is ready to hibernate for the winter.
6. The three chainsaws get their blades removed and taken in for a professional sharpening.
7. The sharpened blades get stored in a can of oil.
8. The chain bars get cleaned, coated with oil, and warpped in newspaper.
9. The 4-cycle mower engines get gas drained and oil changed.
10. Air filters get replaced on the mowers and chainsaws.
11. Mower blades get removed and sharpened.
All that stuff will probably cost me $30.00 in parts and will hopefully keep my motors happy for another season of abuse. It'll probably take about 2 hours to do all the work. I can take a small TV out into the garage to watch a Packer game and be done before the game ends.
Some people fill the gas tanks on the mowers with gas mixed with a fuel stabilizer for winter. Since all of the gas tanks on mine are plastic, I think I'm better off leaving the tanks empty. My snowblower has a metal tank which is kept full at all times, even during the summer. The reason is that the metal rusts if it gets a chance, and an empty metal tank can get moisture in it from the air, leading to a rusty tank. I've seen it on motorcycles stored with empty tanks, so I have to assume it could happen on a snowblower.
Changing subjects, a while back I mentioned the weird design of my windows - the windows original to the house. Besides never having had the trim work painted (THANK YOU, previous owners!), the top panes are hinged. To open 'em, I remove the screen from the lower pane and then flip a little lock on each side.
The whole top pane then is pushed open as shown below. The only reason I can think of for this design is that it might allow warmer air closer to the ceiling an easier way to get out in the summer. It doesn't make the windows easier to clean by any means, so that's not it.
With the top hinged out I can then open the lower pane if desired. Maybe this helps air circulate? If the top window is open the screen is useless as it has to be removed to open the top window. If the bugs are out in force (welcome to Wisconsin) opening the top window is kind of useless because the house will be swarmed with bugs.
The more I look at these windows, the more I think I want to keep them. They're a weird design, but they're all solid. They also have two panes of glass so they're reasonably efficient for their age. I figure I can remove them one at a time to completely clean 'em, scrape and loose paint, sand 'em, and re-glaze 'em. A few of them need new glass which I can cut to fit myself. Doing one window per weekend as time permits in Spring and Fall might take a couple of years, but at least they're in good enough shape now that they can wait.
Last for the day, I put the boy character to work helping me clean up under the tree I was cutting on a few days ago. We ended up with 6 boxes of pine cones, small branches, and needles. I'll take it to the yard waste recycling station next weekend. This trailer was filled twice, just with junk from the ground.
I'm much happier with the cleaned up tree now. The big thing next spring will be to find ground cover plans that like living under pine trees. A lot of plants won't grow there because of the soil acidity. I'm planning on covering the area beneath this tree and the one behind it, and extending that planting all the way up to the house (just to the left in this picture). It's all scrubby looking and crappy right now due to the lack of light. Only weeds and really thin spots of grass have been growing there for the past decade, and a lot of the area is just dirt, which does nothing to help shed water away from the house.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Revisiting My Favorite Past Post
A year ago I posted my opinion about the ethics and business practices of one of the Flip This House companies. Checking out which of my pages get the most viewings, this one is always at the top of the list along with people searching for Ikea cabinet information.
This morning I re-read the post for the fun of it, and then looked at the comments. To start, here is the unedited post:
I don't know if linking directly to one of the comments will work, so I'll just quote it here:
My response? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! You delusional moron. People that let their own house get destroyed are not the issue. It's their house to destroy, and when it goes up for sale, buyers know what they're getting. Armando did every thing he could to hide the problem - a problem that will very likely NEVER go away and will remain a health hazard for future owners. That house should have been razed.
Regarding this being a country founded and built on capitalism, does that mean people should not have ethics with regards to how they do business? Is the only goal money? For some people, it evidently is. And I'm sure that A&E went out of their way to only show the bad side of Armando - yeah, blame it on editing. A turd is a turd, no matter which side of it you look at.
As for me renovating my "cat house" for free, of course I didn't do it for free. I actually renovated it for my dad (who owned it as a rental for about a decade) for a share in the profit. Why? Because I knew if the work wasn't done he was only going to get people low-balling him on price, because the place was left a dump by the tenants. That meant I earned a whopping $6,000 for 6 months of part time work. That covered clean up, demo, building, and working with the Realtor to finally sell it. It was done knowing full-well that nobody was going to get rich on the sale, as that was not the goal.
If you consider that being on a high horse, you must be related to Armando and as fvcked in the head as he is.
* The opinions and comments above are those of "Muskego Jeff", and probably irritate scum bags with low moral standards and no business and personal ethics.
I really should go back and read old comments like this more often. This idiot just gave me 15 minutes of joy, laughing at somebody actually defending that waste of a zygote Armando.
This morning I re-read the post for the fun of it, and then looked at the comments. To start, here is the unedited post:
A&E's Flip This House, San Antonio Scumbags
First, let me say that I have less than zero respect for that raging piece of crap Armando and how he conducts business. With that said:
This week's episode (and I don't know if it was a rerun or not) had the previously mentioned shit-bag flipping a house which should have been condemned and bulldozed. It was filled with cat crap, rats, roaches, debris, etc. Just plain freakin' horrible. Bad enough that the neighbors called the police due to the smell.
Well, Armando figures he can just clean out the garbage and paint using some odor-neutralizing paint and he's good to go. Typical cheap-ass-don't-worry-about-who-may-actually-end-up-living-here-in-the-future attitude from him. His brother had the balls to quit on him so he wouldn't have his name on that project. Good for him.
As they get deeper and deeper into the flip, they end up having to replace drywall, plumbing, etc., all of which cost this cheap SOB plenty more than he expected. Since all he seems to care about is money, this made the episode fun to watch. I mean seriously, how could anybody with even a small slice of intelligence walk into a house that is literally caked in cat crap, urine, and worse, and figure that it's NOT going to cost a ton to clean it up correctly? Better yet, how could anybody figure the house could even be saved?
I am amazed at how he can disregard the potential health-issues like this. To my knowledge, they didn't remove any subfloors on the place (they could have been concrete, but they didn't really show). The odor-blocking paint probably helps, but that only covers the surface - the problem is that the urine is soaked into the wood. Anybody who dislikes cats (like me) knows how bad cat piss smells and how difficult it is to fully remove from a house - especially when it's hot & humid. Last I checked, Texas gets that way occasionally.
The condo I renovated a few years ago (here, here, here, and here) had a cat-piss problem, but it luckily localized in one area which we could daily wash with bleach. After a dozen washings it got a heavy coat of primer and paint. All molding was removed and replaced. New carpet tack-strips, padding, and carpet was installed over the concrete floor too, and we could still very faintly smell the piss if we got right down on the floor.
At the end of the show, they accepted an offer on the place from a lady with two young kids. I was happy to see that the sale fell through. She had two freakin' kids and they were going to sell her this polished-turd of a house. Nice ethics you got there, Armando - it looks like they've never been used. Shit-bags like you who are only interested in making money have a special layer of hell reserved just for you.
I don't know if linking directly to one of the comments will work, so I'll just quote it here:
My response? Hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha! You delusional moron. People that let their own house get destroyed are not the issue. It's their house to destroy, and when it goes up for sale, buyers know what they're getting. Armando did every thing he could to hide the problem - a problem that will very likely NEVER go away and will remain a health hazard for future owners. That house should have been razed.
Regarding this being a country founded and built on capitalism, does that mean people should not have ethics with regards to how they do business? Is the only goal money? For some people, it evidently is. And I'm sure that A&E went out of their way to only show the bad side of Armando - yeah, blame it on editing. A turd is a turd, no matter which side of it you look at.
As for me renovating my "cat house" for free, of course I didn't do it for free. I actually renovated it for my dad (who owned it as a rental for about a decade) for a share in the profit. Why? Because I knew if the work wasn't done he was only going to get people low-balling him on price, because the place was left a dump by the tenants. That meant I earned a whopping $6,000 for 6 months of part time work. That covered clean up, demo, building, and working with the Realtor to finally sell it. It was done knowing full-well that nobody was going to get rich on the sale, as that was not the goal.
If you consider that being on a high horse, you must be related to Armando and as fvcked in the head as he is.
* The opinions and comments above are those of "Muskego Jeff", and probably irritate scum bags with low moral standards and no business and personal ethics.
I really should go back and read old comments like this more often. This idiot just gave me 15 minutes of joy, laughing at somebody actually defending that waste of a zygote Armando.
Saturday, August 30, 2008
I Saw, Therefore I Am
One one corner of the house I've had an extremely large evergreen that I've wanted to cut down since we moved here. It's huge, drops a ton of pine cones, and makes a perfect home for varmints under it's lower branches because they lay directly on the ground. It's also a pain in the ass to mow around.
Unfortunately, I'm the only one who wants it gone - my wife likes it as it provides shade for one of our bedroom windows. Therefore, I'm outvoted and the tree stays. But that doesn't mean I can't at least make it look better.
Since my smaller saw got to come out and play at my dad's house a few weeks ago, I figured it was time to break out the larger one this time around. It's best to not just let chainsaws sit forever without use. This saw is only about a year old, and since it's not an expensive brand I don't expect it to run nearly as long as my old Homelite has. Either way, it really runs well and made short work on the pine.
Here's the tree with the lower branches removed. I still need to go in with a hand pruner and take care of some of the remaining low-hanging branches. I also need to get in there with a rake and remove about three decades of pinecones and needles. I may put woodchips under it to clean it up a bit, but the pine needles may look good enough on their own.
My dad is storing his truck & trailer at my house while he's away on a trip, so I'm making the best of it and putting 'em both to use. I got everything cut off the tree loaded into the trailer, and it's a very full load.
I did a little cleanup under the tree and think I'll like how it looks once the excess material is removed. Kind of reminds me of a campground.
I also took a little time to work on two windows on the front of the house. Here's one of 'em with the new glazing in place. I only did the bottoms of the windows again, as the sides and tops were in decent shape. I'm still considering either completely rebuilding the windows or replacing them with higher-efficiency windows in the near future.
Unfortunately, I'm the only one who wants it gone - my wife likes it as it provides shade for one of our bedroom windows. Therefore, I'm outvoted and the tree stays. But that doesn't mean I can't at least make it look better.
Since my smaller saw got to come out and play at my dad's house a few weeks ago, I figured it was time to break out the larger one this time around. It's best to not just let chainsaws sit forever without use. This saw is only about a year old, and since it's not an expensive brand I don't expect it to run nearly as long as my old Homelite has. Either way, it really runs well and made short work on the pine.
Here's the tree with the lower branches removed. I still need to go in with a hand pruner and take care of some of the remaining low-hanging branches. I also need to get in there with a rake and remove about three decades of pinecones and needles. I may put woodchips under it to clean it up a bit, but the pine needles may look good enough on their own.
My dad is storing his truck & trailer at my house while he's away on a trip, so I'm making the best of it and putting 'em both to use. I got everything cut off the tree loaded into the trailer, and it's a very full load.
I did a little cleanup under the tree and think I'll like how it looks once the excess material is removed. Kind of reminds me of a campground.
I also took a little time to work on two windows on the front of the house. Here's one of 'em with the new glazing in place. I only did the bottoms of the windows again, as the sides and tops were in decent shape. I'm still considering either completely rebuilding the windows or replacing them with higher-efficiency windows in the near future.
Friday, August 29, 2008
Mmmmmmm..... Glazed Windows
I've been planning for a while now to take care of the windows on the house. Other than a few small cracks in two of the windows, they're all in pretty good shape. None are painted shut and they all work as they should. Eventually I'll get around to replacing the cracked glass, but for now I'm focusing on the glazing.
For the most part, the glazing is still decent enough for another season or two. The worst parts of any of the windows are mainly the glazing at the bottom.
The window below is the worst one, which needs to be re-glazed on three of the four sides. The paint is also peeling on the wood. My big concern at this point is if there is any rot in the wood.
I got this far just by pulling loose paint by hand, which really had me worried.
After removing the old glazing and as much loose paint as possible, I was happily surprised to find that there was absolutely no rot. I put in a few new points to hold the glass steady and proceeded to the next windows.
Across the back of the house I did work on about half of the windows, again mainly across the bottom of the glass. After getting 'em all cleaned up I primed the bare wood. After a few hours of drying I re-glazed the windows and now get to wait a week for them to dry so I can prime and paint 'em. The picture below is just before the re-glazing.
Another job I took care of today dealt with plumbing for the bathtub. Since we moved in we've had to deal over and over with a slow drain which often clogs. The culprit has been the old drum-trap. Because of the design it's really hard to snake the drain to get rid of hair clogs. I don't mind using Drain-O once in a while, but this drain needs it almost every other week!
I started the work by cutting the whole drum out and picking up an adapter for the copper pipe so I could connect the PVC. I had to get a little creative with some 45* elbows to move the P trap over.
Oh, and the burn mark on the floor joist was NOT from me (you can see it was there in the first picture before I started any work). I hope this was from the previous owner and not a licensed plumber...
With the new trap in place everything drains perfectly now, and if I need to run a snake down from above it'll work. With the drum, the snake keeps getting hung up inside the drum.
For the most part, the glazing is still decent enough for another season or two. The worst parts of any of the windows are mainly the glazing at the bottom.
The window below is the worst one, which needs to be re-glazed on three of the four sides. The paint is also peeling on the wood. My big concern at this point is if there is any rot in the wood.
I got this far just by pulling loose paint by hand, which really had me worried.
After removing the old glazing and as much loose paint as possible, I was happily surprised to find that there was absolutely no rot. I put in a few new points to hold the glass steady and proceeded to the next windows.
Across the back of the house I did work on about half of the windows, again mainly across the bottom of the glass. After getting 'em all cleaned up I primed the bare wood. After a few hours of drying I re-glazed the windows and now get to wait a week for them to dry so I can prime and paint 'em. The picture below is just before the re-glazing.
Another job I took care of today dealt with plumbing for the bathtub. Since we moved in we've had to deal over and over with a slow drain which often clogs. The culprit has been the old drum-trap. Because of the design it's really hard to snake the drain to get rid of hair clogs. I don't mind using Drain-O once in a while, but this drain needs it almost every other week!
I started the work by cutting the whole drum out and picking up an adapter for the copper pipe so I could connect the PVC. I had to get a little creative with some 45* elbows to move the P trap over.
Oh, and the burn mark on the floor joist was NOT from me (you can see it was there in the first picture before I started any work). I hope this was from the previous owner and not a licensed plumber...
With the new trap in place everything drains perfectly now, and if I need to run a snake down from above it'll work. With the drum, the snake keeps getting hung up inside the drum.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Happiness is a Warm Saw
I finally got plenty of work done over the weekend.
Too bad it wasn't on MY house.
My dad asked me to come up to his place and help him remove some trees. This is the second time this summer we've removed trees from his backyard and you STILL can't tell it was ever done!
There are so many trees in his small back yard that even with a dozen of 'em removed it still is fully under canopy. We've got one more cutting planned for fall, and then a couple of sessions for next spring/summer.
The biggest trees we took down over the weekend were about 7" thick at the base, so I took my small saw:
This little Homelite was my grandpa's saw a few decades ago, and it made it's way into my possession. A year ago I tried starting it for the first time in probably 10-15 years and it was a no-go. The seals were shot and it needed the attention of a professional.
Lucky for me, old saws were made to last and are usually repairable. A guy I work with does tree removal on the side, and also repairs old saws. He said he had this one running in about 20 minutes, and that with proper care it should last a lifetime. After adding gas/oil mix and bar oil I can have it started from cold in 15 seconds.
He strongly advised using more oil in the gas:oil mix on both of my gas chainsaws as well as the gas weed-eater. The way he looks at it, the worst thing I'll do is foul the plugs, but I won't have to worry about trashing the engine due to lack of lubricant. The saws and weed eater all call for 40:1, but I'm running closer to 30 or 35:1.
I do have a small problem with the small saw wanting to die instead of idle, but as long as it's being revved to cut all is well. Plus, it starts with one easy pull so it's not like I'm creating a lot of extra work for myself.
This brings me to my tip-o'-the-day: don't store your chainsaws with gas or oil in 'em. Drain the fluids and run the engine to get rid of any remaining in the lines. Old gas makes small engines run like crap, and if you let it sit long enough it won't work at all. Also, the bar oil tanks leak a ton of oil all over the place if you don't empty the tanks. At least all 3 of my saw's leak oil from the oiling system (that includes the one electric chainsaw).
(I was going to put a picture of my other gas saw, a McCullough Eager Beaver on this post, but I didn't have a picture of it and when I tried doing a Google image search for Eager Beaver I got really distracted....)
Too bad it wasn't on MY house.
My dad asked me to come up to his place and help him remove some trees. This is the second time this summer we've removed trees from his backyard and you STILL can't tell it was ever done!
There are so many trees in his small back yard that even with a dozen of 'em removed it still is fully under canopy. We've got one more cutting planned for fall, and then a couple of sessions for next spring/summer.
The biggest trees we took down over the weekend were about 7" thick at the base, so I took my small saw:
This little Homelite was my grandpa's saw a few decades ago, and it made it's way into my possession. A year ago I tried starting it for the first time in probably 10-15 years and it was a no-go. The seals were shot and it needed the attention of a professional.
Lucky for me, old saws were made to last and are usually repairable. A guy I work with does tree removal on the side, and also repairs old saws. He said he had this one running in about 20 minutes, and that with proper care it should last a lifetime. After adding gas/oil mix and bar oil I can have it started from cold in 15 seconds.
He strongly advised using more oil in the gas:oil mix on both of my gas chainsaws as well as the gas weed-eater. The way he looks at it, the worst thing I'll do is foul the plugs, but I won't have to worry about trashing the engine due to lack of lubricant. The saws and weed eater all call for 40:1, but I'm running closer to 30 or 35:1.
I do have a small problem with the small saw wanting to die instead of idle, but as long as it's being revved to cut all is well. Plus, it starts with one easy pull so it's not like I'm creating a lot of extra work for myself.
This brings me to my tip-o'-the-day: don't store your chainsaws with gas or oil in 'em. Drain the fluids and run the engine to get rid of any remaining in the lines. Old gas makes small engines run like crap, and if you let it sit long enough it won't work at all. Also, the bar oil tanks leak a ton of oil all over the place if you don't empty the tanks. At least all 3 of my saw's leak oil from the oiling system (that includes the one electric chainsaw).
(I was going to put a picture of my other gas saw, a McCullough Eager Beaver on this post, but I didn't have a picture of it and when I tried doing a Google image search for Eager Beaver I got really distracted....)
Friday, August 8, 2008
A Rant
It's off the topic of homes and renovations, but I don't care. It's my blog and I'll write what I want.
My rant is with the Green Bay Packer organization, specifically anybody within the management team that let (forced?) Favre to leave the team.
16 years, two Super Bowl trips, record after record after record and you donkeys think that Aaron Rodgers is the "future" of the team?
Please....
I've got nothing against Rodgers, and hope he does well. But I'm not betting on it. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the Jets (who had a dismal record last year) end up this season with a better record than the Packers (who lost in the NFC Championship Game).
All due to one player.
I've got nothing against the Jets, and now find myself rooting for a team for which, until today, I couldn't name a single current player.
I've ordered my new Jets jersey and will wear it happily, possibly to a game or two at Lambeau this year.
I won't abandon my home team, and I certainly won't stop being a fan of the one guy who did more to make Green Bay a powerhouse than just about anybody in team history.
I don't doubt that Favre and his agent could have handled things a lot better with regards to his retiring, not retiring, retiring again, etc., but let's face it: even after 16 years he's a far better quarterback than ANY other player on the Packer roster. Keep him on the team until you have someone better - don't push him aside and then blow smoke up my ass about it being "best for the team".
When that jackass Thompson has done 1/100th of what Favre has done for the team and city of Green Bay I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. At this pace I've got a few hundred years to wait.
My rant is with the Green Bay Packer organization, specifically anybody within the management team that let (forced?) Favre to leave the team.
16 years, two Super Bowl trips, record after record after record and you donkeys think that Aaron Rodgers is the "future" of the team?
Please....
I've got nothing against Rodgers, and hope he does well. But I'm not betting on it. In fact, I'd be willing to bet that the Jets (who had a dismal record last year) end up this season with a better record than the Packers (who lost in the NFC Championship Game).
All due to one player.
I've got nothing against the Jets, and now find myself rooting for a team for which, until today, I couldn't name a single current player.
I've ordered my new Jets jersey and will wear it happily, possibly to a game or two at Lambeau this year.
I won't abandon my home team, and I certainly won't stop being a fan of the one guy who did more to make Green Bay a powerhouse than just about anybody in team history.
I don't doubt that Favre and his agent could have handled things a lot better with regards to his retiring, not retiring, retiring again, etc., but let's face it: even after 16 years he's a far better quarterback than ANY other player on the Packer roster. Keep him on the team until you have someone better - don't push him aside and then blow smoke up my ass about it being "best for the team".
When that jackass Thompson has done 1/100th of what Favre has done for the team and city of Green Bay I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. At this pace I've got a few hundred years to wait.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Back to Work!
I've been slacking on the work around the house for a while now. The weather has been nice and I didn't feel like busting tail when I could be enjoying the weather.
For a while now I've been wanting to get some of the landscaping taken care of in the back yard. There were two large overgrown bushes that needed to be removed.
Removing the visible part of the bush is easy, and gave me a good excuse to break out one of the chainsaws. Removing the roots, on the other hand, sucks.
In this case, as I dug down I found that the roots weren't too large so I wrapped a chain around the roots about 8" below ground level and attached it to the lawn mower. I had my wife drive forward and I chopped at the root system until it broke free.
The root system on the other bush is a LOT heavier, so I'm planning to just dig out as much of it as I can and will then take the chainsaw to it to cut it off. As long as it's well underground I won't have to worry about ever seeing it again.
I also took care of the drain line from the sump pump. When we bought the place it was just a plastic/pvc line laid on the ground. The problem I ended up with was that the water would freeze in winter leading to the whole line getting blocked with ice. Since the sump pump runs all year long, this isn't a good option.
I re-used the line as it comes through the wall, but then immediately turned the line up so that it could gradually slope down towards the end. It's not pretty, but the line will be hidden by the planting we are going to do next spring.
Here you can see the slope along the back of the house. I'm hoping that when it's running that it acts like a siphon and pulls extra water out of the crock. In the past, anything left in the line would run back down into the crock - a couple of gallons total. Either way, the water is finally going to have a good way to get away from the house. On the ground are the remains of the old pipes used to try and get water out.
It's been so dry recently that the crock was only about 1/3 full, but it was enough to test the system to verify that it works. Tomorrow we're expecting rain, so maybe I'll know for sure.
And now for something completely different. Bacon Salt! So many things cooked these days get some salt added, from steaks on the grill to potatoes in the oven. Since bacon makes EVERYTHING better, I got these and have tried them a few times. I think I'll probably only use them on steaks and burgers. The bacon flavor comes through faintly and isn't overpowering.
For a while now I've been wanting to get some of the landscaping taken care of in the back yard. There were two large overgrown bushes that needed to be removed.
Removing the visible part of the bush is easy, and gave me a good excuse to break out one of the chainsaws. Removing the roots, on the other hand, sucks.
In this case, as I dug down I found that the roots weren't too large so I wrapped a chain around the roots about 8" below ground level and attached it to the lawn mower. I had my wife drive forward and I chopped at the root system until it broke free.
The root system on the other bush is a LOT heavier, so I'm planning to just dig out as much of it as I can and will then take the chainsaw to it to cut it off. As long as it's well underground I won't have to worry about ever seeing it again.
I also took care of the drain line from the sump pump. When we bought the place it was just a plastic/pvc line laid on the ground. The problem I ended up with was that the water would freeze in winter leading to the whole line getting blocked with ice. Since the sump pump runs all year long, this isn't a good option.
I re-used the line as it comes through the wall, but then immediately turned the line up so that it could gradually slope down towards the end. It's not pretty, but the line will be hidden by the planting we are going to do next spring.
Here you can see the slope along the back of the house. I'm hoping that when it's running that it acts like a siphon and pulls extra water out of the crock. In the past, anything left in the line would run back down into the crock - a couple of gallons total. Either way, the water is finally going to have a good way to get away from the house. On the ground are the remains of the old pipes used to try and get water out.
It's been so dry recently that the crock was only about 1/3 full, but it was enough to test the system to verify that it works. Tomorrow we're expecting rain, so maybe I'll know for sure.
And now for something completely different. Bacon Salt! So many things cooked these days get some salt added, from steaks on the grill to potatoes in the oven. Since bacon makes EVERYTHING better, I got these and have tried them a few times. I think I'll probably only use them on steaks and burgers. The bacon flavor comes through faintly and isn't overpowering.
Friday, July 18, 2008
Trip Pictures
If I don't do this now I'll probably forget to do it, so here are some of the highpoints of the road-trip.
The first major site we hit was Mount Rushmore, the weekend after July 4. The rid on top of Roosevelt's head was for the removal of the fireworks hardware which was used for the celebration. It'd have been cool if they could have made showers of sparks shoot out of Jefferson's eyes, but that probably would be dignified.
Next up was a drive through Custer National Park, a very scenic and cool drive. The animals roam free, and these two buffalo came in for a nice close-up. This one was inches from my door as I passed him - I could have easily touched him as we went past.
We went through Deadwood, which was a disappointment for me since I'm not a gambler. I was hoping for more of a historic city. We went up to the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickock is buried and saw the grave sites of a number of notable Deadwood's past citizens.
The main focus of the trip was going to Yellowstone for 3 nights. I knew it was a big place before we went, but if you've never been there it's hard to fathom just how massive the park is. I drove around 300 miles within the park and seldom drove on the same road twice.
How do you sum up Yellowstone in a couple of pictures? You can't.
This is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There was a late thaw so there was still snow on the ground in places. The water was flowing much more heavily than normal for this time of year, so the falls were more spectacular than normal (from what I was told).
Instead of putting up a picture of Old Faithful (I have about 50) I'm going with a thermal pool. The colors are actually different types of algae which live in the different water temperatures. This pool used to be blue in the middle, but crap throw in by vandals over the decades changed the temp of the water causing it to reflect green instead of blue.
We took two days to drive from Yellowstone to Milwaukee, but didn't skip a small side-trip to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Anybody who's seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind has seen it. I'm not a rock climber so I didn't get to go to the top.
The weather was about perfect - 70's and 80's for the entire trip, with cooler temps in the mountains. There was no rain for about 2,500 miles of driving meaning the Jeep got to bring back a few thousand souvenirs for me.
The first major site we hit was Mount Rushmore, the weekend after July 4. The rid on top of Roosevelt's head was for the removal of the fireworks hardware which was used for the celebration. It'd have been cool if they could have made showers of sparks shoot out of Jefferson's eyes, but that probably would be dignified.
Next up was a drive through Custer National Park, a very scenic and cool drive. The animals roam free, and these two buffalo came in for a nice close-up. This one was inches from my door as I passed him - I could have easily touched him as we went past.
We went through Deadwood, which was a disappointment for me since I'm not a gambler. I was hoping for more of a historic city. We went up to the cemetery where Wild Bill Hickock is buried and saw the grave sites of a number of notable Deadwood's past citizens.
The main focus of the trip was going to Yellowstone for 3 nights. I knew it was a big place before we went, but if you've never been there it's hard to fathom just how massive the park is. I drove around 300 miles within the park and seldom drove on the same road twice.
How do you sum up Yellowstone in a couple of pictures? You can't.
This is the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone. There was a late thaw so there was still snow on the ground in places. The water was flowing much more heavily than normal for this time of year, so the falls were more spectacular than normal (from what I was told).
Instead of putting up a picture of Old Faithful (I have about 50) I'm going with a thermal pool. The colors are actually different types of algae which live in the different water temperatures. This pool used to be blue in the middle, but crap throw in by vandals over the decades changed the temp of the water causing it to reflect green instead of blue.
We took two days to drive from Yellowstone to Milwaukee, but didn't skip a small side-trip to Devil's Tower in Wyoming. Anybody who's seen Close Encounters of the Third Kind has seen it. I'm not a rock climber so I didn't get to go to the top.
The weather was about perfect - 70's and 80's for the entire trip, with cooler temps in the mountains. There was no rain for about 2,500 miles of driving meaning the Jeep got to bring back a few thousand souvenirs for me.
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