Home Improvements

[phattymatty]

and probably no electronics or bicycles.  go check.

[SunMo]

and in 9 months, a new family member

[Father Demon]

Put in a whole-house humidifier yesterday.  The box said it was a DIY project that should take about 2 hours.  It took me 5 1/2 hours, including two trips to Home Depot to get a longer flexible vent and a longer electric lead, since my hot air and return vents weren't set up like they were in the instructions.

Pluses:  I got to use a Sawzall on the vents, and cut through the metal like a hot knife on butter, and at the same time wake my daughter up because of the insane noise through the vents, and I successfully tin-snipped wholes in the venting without slicing open any appendage.

Cons: Took too long to finish, and the instructions must have been translated by a Mexican from Chinese to English.  Too soon to tell if it is making any difference in the house.

All-in-all, it was a pretty cool project.

[Diomedes]

Insofar as your view that parenting is 9/10ths torturing your children in some way, I have to say that parenting sounds like a blast.

[Father Demon]

Well, today I had about the biggest "oh-shtein" moment of my home improvement / home repair career.

I needed to replace the wax ring in my downstairs bathroom, because we noticed a small leak.  I've done this exact repair three other times, so I knew I could handle it.  Got the water turned off at the local shut-off valve, emptied the tank and bowl of water, and got the screws off with no effort.  Then I started loosening the bolt on the connector pipe from the tank to the shut-off valve. 

Here comes the oh-shtein moment.

The pipe - which is made of PVC - snapped about a half inch behind the shut-off valve.  Water was shooting out at me like a fire hose, hitting the opposite wall.  It took me three "OH-fargS" to get my wits about me (yelled in rapid fire succession), and I high tailed it down to the basement to shut off the main water.  The water had gotten into the vents, so it was pouring down on me from the ceiling like I was in the engine room of the Titanic.  I imagine it was about 8 to 10 seconds of full on water pressure shooting out into the bathroom and hallway.

Because the break was in the wall, I quickly decided repairing it was beyond my skill level.  Call to the emergency plumber, and they got there in about 2 hours.  $200 later, and my pipe is repaired, the toilet is on a new wax ring, and only minor damage behind the bowl to the new laminate flooring.  One thing I noticed - in my adrenaline-rush effort to shut off the main water, I twisted that thing so tight I needed a pipe-wrench to turn it back on.  Easily the strength of ten men during that brief slice of time.

So, how was your day?

[Geowhizzer]

 

I only laugh, Demon, because that is exactly what would happen to me.  Except it would happen the FIRST time I tried to do it.

[mussa]

always shut off the water regardless. ha, that sucks dude

[rjs246]

I rent.

[Zanshin]

And you wasted all that time in a humidifier.  Putting toilet water in your vents every once in awhile would have done the trick nicely.

[phattymatty]

i take great care of my wax ring.

[Diomedes]

that's about the most boring home improvement farg up story I've ever read, superhuman freakout strength notwithstanding

[shorebird]

Here comes the oh-shtein moment.
The pipe - which is made of PVC - snapped about a half inch behind the shut-off valve. 

Man, farg PVC. All supply lines should be copper. It's more expensive, but makes for a 10 times better job. Only cheap ass plumbers looking to make an extra buck use PVC for supply lines. Only drains and vents should be PVC.

Supply lines are under a lot of pressure, and if you have any running under your house and forget to close the vents in the winter, guess what can happen?  It can happen with copper also, but not as easy.

[Father Demon]

that's about the most boring home improvement farg up story I've ever read, superhuman freakout strength notwithstanding

You should have been here.  It wasn't even close to boring.

[shorebird]

Demons new avatar.

Moe: (says to the Butler): "Pretty nice joint you got boy; where's the leak?"
Butler: "In the basement."
Larry: "Where's the basement?"
Curly: "Upstairs!"
Moe: "Up to the basement!"

[Father Demon]

We should rename this thread to "Demon fargs up again while trying to fix things".

Today wasn't really a farg up, but scared the shtein out of me.  I think I may have to put my house on the market within a few weeks, so we're doing some basic repairs on stuff we let slide over the years.  I have two porcelain light sockets in the basement ceiling that don't work.  I figured I'd buy the replacement sockets, and switch them out.  Easy-peasy.   As I'm putting the hot wire in the new socket (yes, I killed the power at the breaker box), someone calls me on my cell phone.  Which is in my pocket.  On vibrate (left over from yesterday when I needed it silent).  I'm touching the hot wire, and my balls start to vibrate.  About fell off the ladder, thinking I was getting electrocuted.  Heartbeat easily passed 180 beats per minute, and my T-shirt is soaked.

It was my wife, of course, who is out this morning.  I always knew she'd be the death of me.