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Post by bunbun / Hank on Dec 27, 2017 21:13:28 GMT -5
So how's the tractor doing? Don't imagine you're out in the shed working on it in this kinda weather, too cold for that bullshit. But now is the time to acquire parts for when the weather finally does get better. How goes the deck, do you have a basement in your house where you can get it inside and patch those holes? We did have quite a spell of good weather since your last posting back in October so maybe you were able to get it fixed before Winter blew into town.
HANK.
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Post by Sir Trevor on Dec 28, 2017 18:33:00 GMT -5
Actually, with the new house purchase I kind of put all that on the back burner. New yard is too small for the tractor. So, once we get moved and put the current house on the market, I will probably be selling the mower.
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Post by bunbun / Hank on Dec 28, 2017 21:44:28 GMT -5
Whoa dud, whats this new house deal? you never mentioned anything about that. You still gonna be in Conneaut? Hope you're planning on moving when the weather gets better.
HANK.
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Post by Sir Trevor on Dec 29, 2017 19:13:25 GMT -5
Oh yeah. I forgot I didn't mention it here. The wife and I bought a new house. Bid on it at the end of October, closed on it a couple weeks ago. Yes, still here in Conneaut. Bigger house (2000 sq ft) smaller yard. (like 15-20 minutes with a push mower at most) We are in the process of working on it now. Pulling wallpaper, getting ready to paint, ripping up linoleum to put down new tile. The big project is tearing out the kitchen to redo. And putting in a new electrical panel to replace the 5 smaller fuse boxes. Here is a little walk-through I put together the other night so Lin could give here dad a look at things. www.tylisaari.com/me/house/house.htm
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Post by bunbun / Hank on Dec 31, 2017 0:02:58 GMT -5
Checked out the pictures, looks pretty nice, good luck with it. Gotta ask, what's with the "girls room?" Britny lives in Columbus, you got some other daughters I never met? With all this remodeling maybe you can get your own show on HGTV or DIY. How far from your old place? nearby or across town? You'll have to give us the address, maybe I'll check it out when I come up for D-Day.
You stated it was 2000 sq ft. how big was your old place? It seemed to be pretty nice size from what I remember from stopping in those couple of times. You had an upstairs and all I believe. Just wondered why you would go with a "bigger" place with the kids grown and out on their own.
NOW! On to the IMPORTANT stuff. Does it have a garage? You aint gettin any younger so not having to work on the car outside in this wonderful weather has got to be a plus.
HANK.
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Post by Sir Trevor on Dec 31, 2017 9:39:39 GMT -5
It's not really across town. More like the middle of town. It's right off of 20 by the viaduct. Linda is looking forward to being able to walk up town and shop this summer. Current house is 1500 sq ft. We weren't really looking for a bigger house, though I don't mind having more space. The wife was actually wanting a ranch style. We looked at lots of places online, but when we saw this one in person, we both just fell in love with it. It just has so much character and charm. Nice high ceilings, hardwood floors throughout, those beautiful arched doorways. And the layout is amazing. One of the things I love, is that the basement has plenty of head room. I can walk under the duct work, without ducking. I can't even stand upright in my current basement, unless I am standing between floor joists. As for the girls room. That will be Brits room to stay in when she comes home. Otherwise, that is where my son's girlfriends daughters will play and sleep when they come over. Not sure if you met them when they were at faire this summer of not. As for a garage, it does have one. Though it is in pretty bad shape, and really small. Not sure if I am going to try and save it or just knock it down and put a big shed in the yard. A garage would be nice, but I am also thinking we might want a kind of turn around back there, so we don't have to back down that driveway. Won't decide on any of that until summer after we've been in the house for a while and see how things go.
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Post by bunbun / Hank on Jan 1, 2018 10:32:14 GMT -5
If you are going to any painting, have a paint party. If we can we come and help. If you can put a car port up next to the house. Bunnie
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Post by Sir Trevor on Jan 12, 2018 18:54:57 GMT -5
Well, things have been basically on hold while we get some utilities. Was too damn cold to do anything. I mean, there was actually frost on the inside of the walls! The hold up has been electric. Since it has been off for over 3 years, the Illuminating Company said we had to have it inspected before they would send anyone out. Of course, almost all the electricians in the phone book either don't answer their phones, or the numbers are not in service. We finally got a hold of one, but it took him over a week to get around to doing the inspection. Then it took the electric company another week finally turn the power on (today) And before you ask, yes, Dale is an electrician. But sadly, he let his license expire, so he couldn't do the job. Now that we have power, we can get the gas turned on. With, lights and heat, we can actually start doing something again. As for the tractor - my son is in the process of trying to buy a place. If he gets it, he is going to need the rider, as the yard is good sized. So I probably have a home for it, after our current house is empty and sold. (not letting it go until the house sells, as I'm still gonna have to mow this yard while we still own it)
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Post by Sir Trevor on Jan 16, 2018 18:03:31 GMT -5
You want to hear something that is almost as stupid as automotive engineers? We finally got the electric on Friday. So the wife called about getting gas turned on. Of course they were closed yesterday for the 'holiday'. How is this for stupid? They won't turn the gas on, until the water is on. Yeah. It's currently 12 F outside. Probably even a bit colder than that inside the house. We need heat to keep the pipes from freezing, but we can't have heat until there is water in the pipes. They say they cannot turn the gas on, until there is water in the hot water tank, and the appliances are hooked up. So they can light the pilots and check for leaks. Well, the appliances in the house are electric. So that is covered. I capped the line in the laundry room for the dryer. She is gonna tell them we have an electric dryer. She went to the water company today, and they came right out and turned the water on. Right now, it is just on from the street to the house. The gas company is supposed to show up sometime tomorrow between 12 and 4 So she gets to sit there in her Jeep that whole time. When they get there, she will turn the water on, in the house to fill the water tank. Then we just need to cross our fingers and hope there are no leaks. If there are any gas leaks, we are screwed. Because they will shut the gas off until they are fixed, and we will have lines full of water, with no heat. If there are water leaks, it will be a pain, but not super horrible. We can just shut the water back off until I can fix them. If we have heat, I could get that done this weekend.
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Post by bunbun / Hank on Jan 16, 2018 22:24:18 GMT -5
LOL. There is just no end to stupid is there?
HANK
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Post by Sir Trevor on Jan 17, 2018 19:54:23 GMT -5
Well, no good news today. Guy from the gas company said there are leaks, but he isn't sure where That's really helpful. And there is a water leak somewhere, but no clear sighting of it. So, now, there is water in some of the line, there is no heat, and I've got a lot of work to do. The water is shut back off again, and I opened up several lines and let them drain. (and left them open) So, hopefully I won't suffer any burst lines. I'm gonna go pick up some space heaters tomorrow and warm the basement up. This will hopefully keep my problems from multiplying, and also make it comfortable enough to work down there. The water leak is hard to pin down, as apparently it was running out of the duct work for the furnace But I think I have it figured out. The same time that happened, the laundry room also got flooded (never realized until now, there are no valves for the washing machine hook-up) I think the water came from the heater vent in the floor in there. Will find out this weekend when I re-do the hook-ups in the laundry room. As for the gas leak. I'm thinking I will just start where the gas line comes in the wall, and re-do it all. Not replace it all, but take it apart, clean the fittings, add Teflon tape and re-assemble with some needed changes. Like add a few unions to make changes easier. (there is a distinct lack of unions in the current configuration) Also, add some shut offs. Eliminate some totally un-needed height and direction changes. As well as a couple dead-end runs in the system.
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Post by bunbun / Hank on Jan 17, 2018 21:40:54 GMT -5
Sounds like an episode of "This Old House" you've got your work cut out for you. Good luck with it. I get the impression this house has sat vacant for some time before you bought it, like years maybe? So when the previous owners moved out they had the gas and water shut off, but would you not still have water in the lines inside the house? The only way they could drain it would be to open the faucets and let those drain but I would think you would still have a good deal of water in any horizontal pipes, no. So isf that is the case maybe a pipe froze and broke last Winter or the one before, just saying.
With my water lines in the garage come November I shut off the supply line at the house, break the pipes apart (unions) open the faucets and blow the water out of the lines with compressed air so the pipe is 90% empty. Had a broken pipe in the ceiling years ago before I started this procedure, Not fun to fix, wasn't going to do it a second time. But most folks DON'T have a big ass air compressor with which to do this so they just don't.
IDEA: Since you're a smoker, attach a vacuum cleaner hose, duct tape whatever to the pipe some how then go around to all the fittings and where the smoke is sucked in there is your leak.
HANK.
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Post by Sir Trevor on Jan 18, 2018 19:01:02 GMT -5
The house was winterized. All the plumbing fixtures had stickers on them stating such, as well as the hot water tank, and the main line (which was disconnected up until the water company turned the water on) So, yeah. All the lines were blown out, and all the drains had antifreeze in the traps, including the toilets. And the house has been vacant for like 3.5 to 4 years. There are ways I could check the gas line for leaks. Attach my compressor then go over each fitting with soapy water. I might still do that with the inch-and-a-half main pipe, instead of fighting with it. But the rest of it really needs to be re-routed and streamlined anyway. And I was going to have to run a new gas line for the kitchen since it has an electric oven and range, and we want a gas stove. So, when I redo the lines, I will make accommodations for that, and the gas fireplace insert we want to install down the road. I won't actually run stubs for them as then the gas company would want them hooked up for testing. But I will make sure I will be able to easily tap in when the time comes. (and I still haven't decided if I want to try and use the incinerator that is sitting down there. The guy from the gas company told the wife that it will have to be functional if I leave it hooked up like it is now) And of course, now the wife wants to re-do another room that we weren't really going to touch. The laundry room. I mentioned I was going to have to open up the paneling to sort out those water lines for the washing machine. (those 2 dark things in the corner are hard lines with caps on them, which are facing down) So the wife was like, well, since you have to open it up, might as well take all the paneling off the wall and we can redo it. Then a little later, she was like "Well, since we are going to do that wall, why not do the other ones too? It's small, it shouldn't be that much more work." The 7 most dangerous words when working on a house (or car) "While I'm at it, might as well . . . "
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Post by bunbun / Hank on Jan 18, 2018 22:30:38 GMT -5
Instead of soapy water for checking leaks go to the dollar store and get a bottle of soap bubbles like kids use with a small hoop for blowing bubbles. I got a bottle of that for checking tire leaks. And believe me you will know when you have a leak.
"WHILE WE'RE AT IT WE MIGHT AS WELL"... Words said by people who do little or none of the work.
So you have an incinerator? WOW! I've not seen one of those since we lived in our house in the 50's. Didn't know they even still made those things. I remember burning the trash in it.
Don't the gas lines have to be done by a certified plumber or somebody? Just saying, don't want to see you do all that work yourself only to find out the city won't OK it because it was a DIY job. Best check on that.
HANK.
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Post by Sir Trevor on Jan 19, 2018 19:22:38 GMT -5
The city doesn't know anything about it. As long as there are no leaks, the gas company shouldn't be an issue either. It's not like I'm actually pulling permits for any of this stuff. Same with the electrical. Theoretically, I should get a permit and have a licensed tradesman do both jobs. But the only time the city inspects a residential is if it's going to be rented. And that just started a few years ago. Before that, the building inspector basically, checked things that someone got permits for, or if he was driving by, and saw something being worked on that needed a permit. Like a few years ago when the neighbors across the street were building a garage. Inspector spotted it, and shut them down until they got a permit and paid the fine. If it's inside, or not visible from the street, you're pretty much in the clear though. Or, like he told me years ago, if you can get it done in a weekend, he doesn't work weekends. He was next door inspecting for something the neighbors were doing. I asked him about my little covered area behind the house. Wanted to put a deck on that was only about 10" off the ground, and like 12' x 6'. I knew that technically I would need a building permit for it, but asked anyway, since it was so small and short. That's when he looked at it. Said "Not a very big job is it. You could probably get that all done in a weekend." Which I replied "Oh yeah". And he said, "Well, I don't work weekends" and gave me a wink. It might have helped that I had pulled permits for a couple other project I had done before that. When I built my shed, and when the wife put up her pool. As to the incinerator. Yeah, it looks pretty old. Doubt they actually still make them. Probably against some EPA regulations or something now-a-days. But down the road, after we are settled in, I plan on checking it out and seeing if it may still be usable. But for now, I'm just going to disconnect it, and install a shut-off and cap on that stub. I'm almost as guilty as she is when it comes to "While I'm at it". But a lot of mine are currently on hold until the whole gas / heat / water situation is resolved. That is the priority, and if it eats up the funds that were going to the other projects, then they will have to wait. I've already resigned myself to the fact that I am not going to be able to switch out all my receptacles and switches now. They all don't NEED to be replaced. But I wanted to have everything with grounded plugs, etc. But we are so far behind at the moment, I can't justify the time and money it would have taken. I will replace what needs to be replaced, and work on the rest as I have time. I just need to quit taking her with me, when I need to do something. Like tonight. We went over so I could get all the measurements and such that I need to put together the materials list I need to buy tomorrow. While I'm trying to measure pipe sizes and lengths, she asking me about the sewer stack, the ancient water filter system that I'm going to remove, where this pipe goes, what is this for, why is that there, etc. Took 3 times longer than I had planned.
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