The Pit of Despair

Auction++

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 05:28:36 GMT

So a while ago, I attended a building supply auction. Often, I would be over-bid, especially on really large lots. If I was really interested, I would exchange contact info. Can't hurt.

For this particular lot, I dropped out right away, as I could tell they really wanted it - no matter the cost. And I wasn't about to be a bastard about it and run up the price. Oh well, last I'll see of that, or so I thought.

I got a call today out of the blue.

Seems plans had changed, and they were wondering if I was interested in some or all of the lot. A lot of glass sandwiches (glass, gasket, argon, glass), for a special price. Yup, I can use about 36 of them right away in my basement.

Of course, there's about 10 times the number I need, but the price is right. In an odd way, I'm still winning bids.

Hmmm. Need to figure out what to do with the rest...

Charity Boiler Rooms

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:37:48 GMT

Even now, after dozens of calls confirming what I know, I'm still scandalized.

If you are called to donate to a charity - the current favorites are police (think of the widows!) and cancer (think of the children!) - ask what percentage of what is raised actually makes it to the charity.

15% to 20%

Yes, that's right. Their overhead is 80% to 85%. You give $25, maybe $5 makes it to the charity. The rest goes to the boiler room operator. Oh, and to be clear, the folks making the calls are getting paid dirt. The owners are the ones making out.

Here's a standard call:
BR: Hi [insert standard spiel about widows or children, riddled with bullets, cancer, or both].
DS: Oh, that sounds very worthy. What percentage goes to the charity.
BR: Let me connect you to my supervisor (dead give-away)
BRS: Bla bla 15% bla bla bla faulty analogy bla bla bla.
DS: What! That's crazy! So if I give $100, only $15 makes it to the charity! No, I'm not interested!
BRS: bla bla logic that makes the banking industry look brilliant by comparison bla bla
DS: [click]

Oh, and shockingly, they've been know to lie about the percentage. Rest assured, if it's a boiler room, only a tiny amount will make it to the charity. If you must donate, contact the charity directly.

Also, there are various charity rating sites (www.charitynavigator.org), that also help you determine if its a real charity, or just a scam playing on the name of a legitimate one.

Sissiphissian Flooring

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:06:59 GMT

Most recently, a priority one home improvement interrupt was received.

The bare (as in plywood) dining room floor needs to be covered.

Oh, it's been sitting in it's current state of nakedness, since the carpetectomy, waiting the the primary project - the kitchen remodel. We can't put in a new floor, when everything will be moved - including walls. Uh, but the meantime, two years have passed. Time for something...temporary.

AE votes for carpet tile. Not that is it good, but good enough and quick. I'm a bit scandalized. We tore up the old carpet, and we are not going to buy new carpet that will ultimately be torn up again in the (hopefully) near future. But wait, I have some spare laminate!

I need 220 sqft and I have 230 sqft. I have 240 sqft of underlayment pad. This is meant to be, but I have an odd reluctant feeling...

About half way through:
AE: With all the work you've put in, I hate to ask this question.
DS: (Recognizing the ominous tone) Uh, then maybe you shouldn't?
AE: What about if bought some nice hardwood instead and did both the living room and kitchen.
DS: (Assumes fetal position)

Yes, together we do have a very perverse sense of humor around home improvement. No, it will be the laminate, and I will complete it as planned.

Ah, but that's not the end of the story. Remember that auction I went to? I found and successfully bid on 700 sqft of 3/4" solid American Cherry flooring.

Yep, that's right. No progress had occurred on the floor due to a pending kitchen remodel. I begin installing a laminate floor. 80% of the way to completion, I acquire a most awesome floor. This will kickstart the kitchen remodel into high gear, thus the floor I'm installing is going to be ripped up in the next couple of months.

Even so, today I finished the last little bit. No short cuts, no hacks.

Hmmmm. Why does this feel so...anticlimactic?

TOCH - Catching Up

Mon, 10 Aug 2009 15:37:54 GMT

Catching up - yeah, the usual reasons and excuses. All self-inflicted.

Thr, 16 Jul 09 - CarTruck

In the good old days, with gas around $1 a gallon, it didn't matter *too* much what vehicle you took on a trip. Full sized pickup truck? $53 round trip. Small car, $27. Triple the price of fuel, and suddenly it becomes a major planning point.

So for the attic room, I picked up two large windows. For the street side, a three window assembly with a pointy top window to match the peak of the roof. For the other gable, a large casement window that will (someday) allow access to a widow's walk.

They won't fit in my Prius, so borrowing a truck would be a no brainer. But, I really didn't have anything else bulky to bring up, so it's a rather expensive way to move two windows.

Ah, but my Prius has been unnaturally modified with a 2" hitch receiver - and I have a 2' x 5' hitch platform. Upon seeing it, some folks had noted the windows completely cover the rear of the car.

"I'm surprised the cops didn't pull you over - it covers the brake lights"
"Yes, but they are windows and the lights shine through"

The windows did cause some aerodynamic drag, plus the gusty winds did not help. However, I'll take the 10MPG decrease to 40MPG vs 15MPG for the truck.
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Fri, 17 Jul 09 - Avoiding Black And Crispy

Bill is a guy that if you put a saw in his hand, he is a happy man - be it for demolition or for construction. My goal is to keep ahead of Bill, rerouting anything that is in the way.

For the attic, this covers all things electrical. For the street side gable, an interior distribution box needs to go away. Later, I'll have to figure how to re route it. For now, all wires need to be away from the sawsall.

AE calls for an update, and I go outside to watch the process of creating the rough opening.

Did I mention the electrical service entrance is at the peak of the gable? The framing on the inside extends well above the cove molding on the outside of the house, so visually the distances are very misleading.

Me: (Waving arms) Hold up, you are getting a bit close.
Bill: What if I hold it back to here?
Me: No good. If you keep going, it will get very exciting in a hurry.

I'm a big fan of boring, especially with regards to sawsalls and power lines. After he frames up the rough opening, I tack the three feed cables out of the way, so they will not obscure the window.

With the window in, it is a thing a beauty. It fits perfectly, and it's aesthetically balanced. Of course now I have to reroute the interior electrical.
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Sat, 18 Jul 09 - Walkout Window

Bill completed the exterior molding on the new window (well, except for the priming and painting). As a rule of thumb, about half the work remains after installing the window in the rough opening.

The canal side window is next. Again I need to reroute a distribution box - uglier since this feeds the 2nd floor bedrooms and upstairs porch. I pull it and reconnect the wires so I have a nice floppy box that can be pushed around as needed.

Good news and bad news. The good news is I've picked the absolute largest window that can fit in the space. The bad news is there is not enough cable slack, so in the end we kill the breaker and chop the wires off at the junction box. So much for easy.

Bill does his magic, and now we have an awesome view of the canal.

The plan is to have a widow's walk, although that will need to wait until another trip north. For now, that first step out is a doozy.
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Sun, 19 Jul 09 - Keeping Ahead of Carpenters

I've fallen behind, but it can't be helped. Besides, it's Sunday. A day of rest, right?

After returning in the afternoon, I rerouted the electrical that *had* been in the way of the windows. The south window wasn't too bad - I didn't have to move the electrical much, so there was enough cable.

The other side was a different story. With the size of the window, there was no place to put the box below it, so it needed to go to the side. Not enough cable. To solve this, I added another box to splice in the extra wire (no, I do not cheat and put in hidden splices). This box will become another wall outlet. There will be no complaints about too few outlet up here!
Mon, 20 Jul 09 - The Scramble Before Leaving

The plan had been a vacation day, but my day job beckoned. Fortunately, I have a full office setup with a fast connection. The downside is no other work until after the end of the business day. Yeah, it was one of those days.

Done. Now the scramble. Run electrical to the newly built roof over the side suite entrance. Bill cannot close it in until I'm done.

Two can lights near the door, plus a security light for the edge to light the stairs and yard.

I can drop boxes in and wire them up very quickly, but connecting back into a switch box on an interior wall that requires me to crawl into an attic with loose fill insulation and 18 inches of clearance is not going to happen this trip :-)

Since the goal is rough it in for Bill, I do just that and leave a loop of wire for each circuit in the attic space. I'll deal with that fun for my next trip.

Then it's pack, pack, and a quick run to snap pictures. Bill and Andy will stay up a few more days to finish soffit, window molding, and do cleanup. I head on out.
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Tue, 21 Jul 09 to Fri, Jul 24 09 - The Extended Play Version

So Bill and Andy hung out for a few more days to finish things up:
- The aluminum exterior soffit
- Remove scaffolding
- Add ledger board for widow's walk deck
- Tape and first coat of mud for small bedroom closet
- Trim out small bedroom closet
- Clean up

A lot to clean up, especially three weeks of nearly continuous progress. All hail the transfer station.

TOCH - He's On The Roof, And We Can't Get Him Down

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:01:42 GMT

During his extended stay, post Brian, Bill did some much needed roofing, plus a bonus job.

When the rear suite addition was built, it would have made sense to do a full rectangular roof, but for some reason, they left a small cutout above the side entrance.
1.) It makes roof access via the bedroom window quite bit more exciting.
2.) Snow quickly piles up in the winter, as it swirls into this three sided space.

I've also had ice break the storm window - all in all, a sub-optimal design. So Bill framed in the section, and this and the old roof received a new layer of shingles.

Next trick will be to add lights and then add in the soffit.

TOCH - A CFoN

Wed, 29 Jul 2009 04:39:55 GMT

Catching up...

Saturday, with the chimney out of the way, Bill and I could:
- expand the stairs to full width
- back out (add nailing/screwing surfaces) in preparation hanging drywall in the attic
- hang drywall in stairs
- finish electrical prep (add ground strap, front plates, fold wires inside of boxes)
- add closet switch, light, and outlet in small bedroom.

Ah, but it was also the 4th of July, so Bill and I went and pestered abpeed and mbcrui. Bill left to collect Brian, as Brian really really wanted to see the fireworks. Bill and I would meet up later.

I never did catch up with Bill, but it was for the better since Brian was in rare form. He was wound up fairly well, and was being quite colorful.

Brian has tendency to take minor events and describe them with over-the-top characterizations. When Bill was unable to find me, Brian came up with an unquotable quotation of frustration:

"Bill, this is a Cluster**** of Nightmares!"

I don't know. Maybe it's because Brian said it, and Bill was so good at telling the extended version of the story, but afterwords, we found ourselves referring to every minor construction difficulty as a CFoN, with our very best Brian voice.

I salute him for his contribution to superlatives!

What’s Black and Crispy And Hangs From a Ceiling Fan?

Tue, 28 Jul 2009 04:14:15 GMT

Oh, you know the answer to that one…

My sister has a wonderful house, built to modern codes, but there are no lights in any of the bedrooms, just one switched outlet for a light. I just don’t understand builders - well, yeah, yes I do…

She dearly wants a ceiling fan and light in the master bedroom. I have some minor abilities running power, so as a good brother, I offer my skills. Originally, this was slated for the early spring, but our schedules kept conflicting, so here we are in late July.

Let the fun begin. So, where is the attic entrance? In the bedroom, in the small closet. And it gets better. A small entrance, further obscured by built in shelves.

Uh, you do have a ladder? A four foot step stool.

How do I get into the attic? Standing at the top of the step stool, I raise my hands over my head, grab the trusses and pull myself six feet straight up, sliding around the built in shelves, and into the attic. My sister fed the tools through the opening.

The good news is I’ve done enough of these ceiling box retrofits to make it go very fast. Having all the various tools and fiddly bit helps as well.

Hey, what about power? There is only a switched hot in the wall. Now what? Well, the switched hot goes to a switched outlet. We don’t need a switched outlet any more, so I turn the switched hot into a neutral. Voila! I now have a plain old hot and a plain old neutral in the wall switch.

From there is hooking power to the remote control receiver, then to the fan, and light kits. Then test *before* closing everything up.

All good. Fan works great, and no drywall repair needed. And I only made one trip to the home improvement store! I’m going to mark this down, as this is the first and last time this will ever happen.

What did I learn?
- Attic work is far better in the early spring, as opposed to high summer.
- Attic access is often optimistically portrayed.
- It takes about 5 minutes to go from a completely dry shirt, to a completely soaked one.
- It takes 5 more minutes to go from soaked to human waterfall.
- Recently built house attics are just trusses, insulation, and drywall. They never actually expect anyone to go into the attic after the house is built.
- You never go wrong by bringing all the tools and electrical doodads.
- I have a memory deficit. I keep forgetting how much I enjoy attic work.

TOCH - Chimneyectomy

Thu, 09 Jul 2009 05:58:56 GMT

Hmmm. What did I do during the 4th of July Weekend?

The old chimney is, well, old. The cement is crumbing and about 10% of the bricks have turned to powder. It's not in imminent danger of collapse, but we'd have to deal with it in the next few years anyway.

During the March episode, I completed the process of abandoning the chimney. It is now completely unused.

The first trick to to get on the roof. This is not for anyone who has a hint of acrophobia or a fear of sudden deceleration. Initially we were going up from the ground to roof edge, using roof jacks to build support until we got to the peak.

We decided an alternate path, out the 2nd floor window, via another roof to the gable end, and then direct to the peak. My ladder, unfortunately, stopped a foot beneath the peak. Off to get a taller ladder. Ah, but my soon to be former tenant, BC, offered to climb up the ladder, scramble up over the eaves, onto the roof.

Uh, thanks, but we'll go get that ladder.

In theory, since he's leaving, I have no more rent coming from him, but I'd just the same not end up with a broken tenant. The paperwork is a pain.

The top of the chimney is fully rotten. The only thing keeping it up is the clay liner. Oops - over it goes, down the roof, and shatters on the ground below. Heh - that worked better than planned. We get our first good look at the hole and realize the roof deck is seven inches thick. Uhhhhh. We think about this for about 15 minutes...

Here's what they did:
- Roof #1 was a traditional cedar roof.
- Roof #2 was a new roof deck with rafters laid over it (air channel so air could circulate). Two more layers of asphalt shingles over the next 50 years.
- Roof #3 was commissioned by me, in the same style of Roof #2 - great minds think alike. Except I didn't realize there was a Roof #2

The main concern was the weight of the roof, but since it was fastened together as one unit, its strength is additive. That's our story and we are sticking to it! Plus it has survived two snowy winters without ill effect - proof of strength by continued existence...

The chimney hole is patched and new shingles weaved into the existing roof. Crap - 20 roofing nails short. We are underwhelmed at the prospect of getting off the roof, only to head back up for the lack of 20 nails. *Sigh*

Meanwhile, the drywall comes. In an impressive feat of maneuvering, the driver gets into his cat seat, and directs the boom around wires and trees. We get our drywall placed on the upper deck - BC and AA unload it. Much hauling and grunting from the ground floor has been saved.

Back in the attic, BA and I beat the the chimney into submission. But again, the mortar is so weak, the brick can be removed by hand with just a pry bar. It's still hard work, so lots of liquid and frequent short breaks to keep heat exhaustion away.

The next trick is brick disposal. As we destroy the chimney, BC coordinates the brick disposal. His plan is to hurl the brick from the attic window, down to the ground below. Then, stack the bricks. The plan works ok - at least for the bricks. Less so for the cinder block which didn't clear the deck railing....

Time For New Tires

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:02:07 GMT

Just submit to a walletectomy and they install your tires. Simple, eh?

Nope, they didn't have them in stock, but I foresaw this and planned ahead.

How long for them to arrive? Added an extra day and made the appointment for today.

I picked their least busy time - 7am. In, out, and off to work.

Usually I take the train, but today I'll drive in to our secondary site for my monthly site review. With combining tasks, this is huge win.

All in all, an excellent plan. What could go wrong?

1.) The shop couldn't find the recently arrived tires. But I was smart and called first to confirm. Plan B was work from home.
- Found them behind other tires. Instead of 7am, now 10am.

2.) Their map (on a nice coupon) seemed odd. Very odd. Seemed to be suffering spatial displacement. Google maps whimpered. Google streetview couldn't find them. As I suspected, the map was mirror-imaged. North was south, and east was west. Google couldn't find them because they were in a six-month-old building. Bad advertising luck.

3.) They destroyed one of my tire pressure sensors. They replaced it, but their fancy machine cannot tell my Prius to accept the replacement sensor. I suspect this is a Toyota profit enhancement feature and will require a trip to the dealership.
They provided me with the destroyed one - the sensor itself is not destroyed, but the valve stem is.

4.) Another tire pressure sensor is reading -14.9psi. They don't know why.

What went right?
1.) They were honest with destroying the sensor.
2.) I redeemed a 35% off "Please Don't Let Our Business Starve" coupon
3.) The tires hold air, and have plenty of gription :-)

Time to call the dealership about the sensors...

An Update From Monday

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 20:20:13 GMT

Yes, summer is here. Heat and humidity in the foreseeable future, but before it gets too bad, I'm trying to finish the outside work:

One self-powered Dalek is operational. Mosquito extermination has begun. Three more waiting to join the fun.

Klingon battle lawn furniture has been moved and installed near the firepit.

Burnt up a bunch of deadfall from last Friday's storm.

Building In Between The Raindrops

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 15:43:43 GMT

Friday was spent watching a goodly amount of storminess and rain. It's not that 4 inches of rain is unusually notable, but coupled with our current record rainfall rates, I'm wondering exactly how much more we will we get...

Saturday was spent running around the greater Chicagoland area. All good, but tiring.

Sunday was home improvement day!

Mow lawn.

Usually, the lawn growth rate has slowed down, but with all the rain, *everything* is growing at a phenomenal rate. Lots of deadwood was knocked down from the winds. Hmmm - looks like my neighbor is missing half his willow tree. I guess the storm was stronger than I thought.

Over the fence, a stand of pampas grass has become over-exuberant. Think 8 foot tall crab grass. It sends inch thick subterranean rhizomes to invade our lawn. I don't really care about weeds - if it's green, not spiky, and I can mow it, I'm happy. But, it's like mowing corn. You can't walk on the stubble. I'm going to have to come up with a non-toxic way to keep it at bay.

Deck reuse.

When we demolished the old deck, I chopped it into four foot wide and 6 - 12 foot sections, and stacked them away from the house. A good temporary plan, but they need to go somewhere else. I won't burn them (treated lumber) and throwing them away isn't a much better plan.

So, our shed gets a ~~deck and a boardwalk~~ uh, long, off-ground firewood stand, out to the bonfire circle. It's an area that gets soggy (it's a natural drainage swale), plus a large linden tree grows behind the shed, keeping the area perpetually shaded.

I'd like make additional improvements, but I need to maintain some plausible deniability. If it's too fancy, it's a deck, and that way leads to building permit madness.

Grindy Grind Grind GRIND!

Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:56:59 GMT

Yes, I still do my own auto maintenance, where possible. Oil, filters, tires, brakes, and plugs at a minimum.

Uh, except for the time we were running short on time before a trip. We took the car into the the dealership for new brakes.

Not too long ago, I started hearing a grindy sound. It had been humid and raining, and the car had been sitting for a while. After driving it, the noise went away. I chalked it up to light rust on the brake rotors.

It came back again. Ok, time to check things out. Removed the rear wheels and checked the drum brakes. About 60% worn, very evenly, so good for another 30K miles (this is a Prius, after all). I shook a bunch of particles out. The front disk brakes looked ok - I could see the outer pad. About 80% left, both wheels has the same amount of brake wear. The grindy noise was gone.

The grindy noise comes back again.

*Sigh*

Ok, this time I pull the front wheels off and feel for the pad on the other side. Bad news. It's heavily worn. When I pull the calipers off, I see 1/32" of the pad left. The other wheel is worse. No pad left, and I was starting into the metal of the pad. The idiots changed the brakes, but never adjusted them. All the wear was occurring on the inner pads. Oh, and wear indicator was broken off.

So, I put the old, mostly unworn pad on the inside and the new pad on the outside, and set the other two new pads aside. In about a 1000 miles, I'll check again and make sure the wear is even. Then, I'll replace the inner pads and all should be good.

This is why I do my own maint...a little longer and I would have had a $600 surprise repair.

TOCH - Keeping It Simple

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 21:03:19 GMT

Only minor fiddly bits on Sunday. I want to get back downstate before dark.

The double laundry sink clog. 100gal of liquid fun. Suffice it to say this was a disassemble and clean out. A pen cap plus sediment had rendered this one blocked but good. Oof. Thank goodness Drano wasn't tried, otherwise my fun would have been complete.

I added horizontal flue and intake caps for the boiler and water heater. This becomes real important as summer approaches. In the winter, I don't need to worry about critters moving into these nice dens/nesting sites. But spring and summer is a different story.

Time to pack up and head out.

As a minor annoyance, my nail magnet, aka rear passenger tire, was leaking again. I've already plugged two holes, and I'm guessing there is now a third. But I want to get on the road, and the leak is slow (a couple pounds per hour). No problem - I need to take my compressor downstate for other duties, so I'll use it as the ultimate portable air supply. I also toss a couple of empty propane tanks in (for my downstate mosquito daleks).

Sssssss. If the tire fill valve on the compressor gets rotated a certain way, it can leak. I ignore it. Ssssssss. I hope the bumpy road will jostle it and make it stop. Sssssss.

Okokok. I'm stopping. There's something really bothersome about escaping gas. Ssssssss.

It not the air tank or valve. It's my dead Porter Cable drill, or more precisely, the one with broken drive shaft (a casualty of drilling holes for the wire). It had settled such that trigger was slightly engaged.

Back on the road again. Ssssssss. Arrrgh! I should have disconnected the battery. Ssssssss. No, I'm not stopping.

Odd. Brake lights ahead. I don't believe it. A train crossing the freeway. I've never seen anything using these tracks (and no, there is no gate). While I'm stopped, I check and discover it is not the drill, but tire fill valve on the compressor. I disconnect both it, as well as the battery from the drill. I also consider dumping my two propane tanks out the back of the car...

Fortunately, the rest of the trip was uneventful.

TOCH - Need More Power

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:55:40 GMT

So I have an attic room that is 14ft wide by 28ft long. Currently one outlet and one 1925 Edison bulb.

I have added a couple of outlets as a side effect from fixing other problems (adding a ground to all 2nd floor outlets, for one), but still woefully inadequate. Given that I'll be adding insulation and drywall, now is the time to make it right.

At 10am Saturday I start. This is the part where I mark out and tack all the boxes into place. Now I can compare my drawings to how it will actually look, and make adjustments - both functional (do I really want that switch there), and artistic (do the outlets and lights look balanced). Hmmm. Electrical Feng Shui :-)

I carefully lock the boxes into place. A little extra time now makes aligning the outlet or
light fixture with the finished wall surface a breeze.

Now the first trick. Running a new circuit from the basement all the way to the attic. This comes complete with all the usual challenges. Done.

Off to abpeed and mbcrui's for dinner. You will note I've spent 7 hours placing boxes and planning how I will run the wire. I've not actually run any wire, save for the line from the basement.

Back to work. This part is really boring. I put on some suitably peppy music and run the wires from box to box.

The house has three (power) service entrances. The original - a single pair of 12 gauge wires in, with both the hot and neutral fused, circa 1920. The first upgrade, a pair of 4 gauge, terminating at a 60A service disconnect box, and then a thick cable routed down the wall and across the far edge of the attic, hidden under the insulation.

Abandoned equipment bothers me. Yes, I've tested it and it's dead, but since I can't find the other end, I don't know for sure that it will remain dead. I undo the clamps at the head, and yank. Yep, they snipped it off at the exterior wall and sided over it. The other end is clamped every two joists. Another big yank, and I now have both ends. Yep, most assuredly dead. Hmmm. I may actually have a use for this equipment downstate...

It's now 1am. Done with the electrical rough-in. 18 boxes, 250ft 12-3, and 100ft 12-2. I'm one box short, but that's trivial. Next step will be the chimney tear out, and some simple boxing and nailing surfaces for the drywall.

But that's for another trip! For now, off to bed.

Warm Weather Work

Wed, 20 May 2009 14:58:33 GMT

Back to working on the deck. Installing the cedar fascia and other finishing touches. I won't have the railing up, but hopefully everything else will be done by this weekend.

I still need to deal with the old deck sections - currently cut down to roughly 5x8 foot sections and stacked by the water. As they are treated lumber, my disposal options are limited.

With the impending hot weather, I've installed the monster AC unit in the addition. Next is to get the mosquito Daleks up and running. With the super soggy Spring, I'm expecting a bumper crop.

A Distracting Weekend

Mon, 18 May 2009 17:53:50 GMT

I always smirk when I hear the phrase "sunken living room" referring to a house. Visions of fish swimming between the couch and TV set...

Hey - not so funny a thought on Saturday. My basement belonged to Davy Jones.

Crap.

The good news is I assume the basement will flood. Everything is either up on blocks, if water resistant, or in clear plastic vats if not. Nothing damaged, but I do need to evict the water.

Splashing on over the UPS, it looks fine. The power cord is connected. I kick the sump pump - maybe the float got stuck. Nothing. Dead sump pump. Oh how I love to replace those things underwater.

All better now.

I think it's time for a secondary pump, plus a screamer alarm if water gets detected.

TOCH - Changing of the Guard

Mon, 04 May 2009 18:37:17 GMT

I put on my evil slumlord hat today and told my current tenant he will need to move out at the end of the current agreement.

Well, I'm not that evil. He was not willing to sign a year lease (same terms as the current lease), because he's not sure what his plans will be. Plus he wasn't able to find anyone else to rent the house with. He sounded so disappointed, but I was well past my usual cutoff point of Feb/Mar. Ultimately, I need to have house fully filled with tenants who are planning to stay the entire school year.

I could have let him stay on month to month, but as luck would have it (at least for me), a new batch of students expressed an interest and have signed a lease. As a bonus, I know one of them.

Thus I have a full house for the coming year, which means, "Crap, I have to finish my projects!". I foresee more trips, and soon.

Yet Another Project - Gutters

Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:47:47 GMT

Time to get the gutter up. It's been three years since the addition roof was built and shingled, and now that we have a deck, a bit more water control would be nice.

I'm starting in the side yard. A few reasons - one, if I make a minor error, it won't be as noticeable. Two, during downpours, various valleys create a waterfall directly onto our air conditioner. This is, at best, sub-optimal. Three, all the water then immediately pools next to the foundation.

As always, this will be extra fun. It's not the straight runs of gutter, it's the angles. First a 5 degree angle, and then 135 degree angles all the way around. Yep, custom bending and metalwork.

I really wanted to use copper for the gutters, but upon pricing, discovered it is an order of magnitude more expensive. Really. It's not the gutters themselves, but the brackets, end caps, joints, and other formed pieces that jack up the project price.

So, aluminum it is.

Maritime Maintenance

Tue, 07 Apr 2009 17:26:13 GMT

Saturday, I did my marine inspection and salvage tour.

This past winter was brutal. With the extra thick ice, also came enormous hydrostatic pressure on the break-wall. It pushed it in 8-12 inches along its entire length, and crushed many of the middle blocks. The foundation blocks are fine, as are the top blocks. Once the water warms up, or at least recedes a bit, I have to restack the wall. The good news is I have a pallet of spare blocks. The bad news - I foresee a lot of exercise...

During my tour of the bird sanctuary, I noticed a capsized paddle boat in the inlet. Given that our paddle boat had disappeared during the earlier blizzard, I set out to tow it home. Towing a sunken paddle boat with a canoe is a fairly strenuous task - essentially it is a one ton lump of water.

After beaching and draining it, I was able to flip it over and reveal it was *not* ours. The good news is the owner told us someone else found ours. At least I don't have to do another watery grave recovery effort...

Next on the agenda is the installation of gutters. Yes, after three years, I think it's time :-)

Sunday and Monday were wiped out by some virus-based crud that was going around. Probably my water-based activities did not help in that respect.

TOCH - Knowing When To Leave Things Be

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:23:51 GMT

Everything is still looks good after sitting overnight. No leakers. I am most pleased.

Mainly just cleanup at this point. The gas line for the old water heater is removed and replaced with a stub. I doubt I'll ever need to tap gas here, but it never hurts to retain the option.

So what's next? If you are keeping track, the chimney is now completely unused. And we have plans :-) Bwahahaha!

The old water heater will travel downstate with me. It is really difficult to throw anything away up here, especially in the Winter (er, Spring?), plus, I know someone who can use an aged water heater. It is not unusual in certain parts of Chicago for tenants to install and later take their water heater with them. It would have never crossed my mind, either...

And on a final note, you would think I'd learn - Noooooo! Don't mess with *anything* just before you leave.

I decided to adjust the heat flow in one of the radiators. Immediately, water started leaking out of the valve stem. My quick fix was to grab a wrench and tighten the valve stem nut. The seal has dried out, so I'll have to replace it at some point - but not now.

Time to head on out. I need to get far enough south before it gets dark and the deer start aiming for my car.

As I approach home: where did all this snow come from? There's a fairly amazing amount on the ground!

TOCH - Sweating Time!

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 20:47:15 GMT

I really like sweating copper pipe. It is the ultimate in functional sculpture. And even if something goes wrong, the worst that happens is you get wet.

It goes very quickly. I do have to be careful - it's an old house and the wood is very dry. But I have found the best heat shield. 1/8" aluminum alloy plate.

Before I test the water supply, I wipe each connection with a cotton rag and some alcohol. This cleans off the leftover flux. It doesn't really hurt to leave the flux, but over time, the flux will cause a green surface corrosion that looks like crap. This may be plumbing, but it's also art. From a practical standpoint, it also ensures every connection is inspected

As I admire the pipe, I notice something missing. Doh! I forgot the isolation valves. Not critical, but if I ever need to work on the water heater, I'll be sorry. Fortunately, they are easy to cut in.

It's showtime.
- With all valves closed, I turn on the water. I don't hear any rushing water elsewhere is the house. A good sign.
- Open the next valve and let the water run into the water heater. So far, so good.
- Open the last valve and let it out into the hot water pipes. No leakers.

I energize the water heater. This thing is such a cool toy. It's got a little tachometer which shows its current power level. Very geeky. I open the boiler pressure valve and fill a bucket. The boiler turns on and the water gets hot.

We have a winner as of 3:15pm!

I turn on a faucet upstairs and flush the lines for several minutes. In the mean time, I can start draining the old water heater. All the hot water is drained into the washing machine. No sense wasting the water.

Bummer. 5:30pm, I discover a leak. The backside of an elbow has a small soldering defect. Remember those isolation valves? With them in place, it takes me all of five minutes to fix.

Time to strap everything down and clean up. Off to dinner with DK.

TOCH - Sssssss

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 18:56:29 GMT

The plan is to finish installing the tankless water heater. During the last episode, I mounted it, routed the fresh air intake and the flue outside, and placed the conduit sleeve for the gas line through 2 feet of field stone.

Time to run the gas line!

Here's the fun part. I'm running new gas line starting at the meter. This means I'm tearing out the gas line that supplies the house, so no heat until I finish the work. Hey, what could go wrong? Plus, I have plenty of time - only two feet of snow on the ground. I have *hours* before the house gets cold :-)

First, I turn off the old water heater. That's the last we'll see of him!

I do have to be careful. Just in case the tankless water heater doesn't work, I want to minimize the grief level of re-hooking up the old water heater. Gas line and water connections will be left alone until the last minute, and even then I will careful in how I disconnect them. No sawsall or sledge :-)

So Saturday I get a late start, around 11am. I turn off the gas at the meter, and turn on the stove to depressurize the system. As the flames go low and wink out, I guess this is what it looks like if you don't pay your bill...

Demolition is straightforward. After I undo the union at the meter, I unwind all the pipe until I get to the boiler supply branch. From here I start rebuilding.

Using black iron pipe for the gas line requires a bit of planning, as you can dry fit it, but everything shrinks when you tighten it down. I have some wiggle room, but not much more than one inch. Mostly the work is precision boredom. Dry fit as best as one can, then carefully goop up the pipe *and* the fitting threads, and tighten it up. By 4:30pm, it's test time. Success! Heat is back on. A little bit of cleanup, and then off to dinner at mbcrui and abpeed's.

Returning, I set to work on the water supply. Although copper is more forgiving, there is much more of it. Plus, as a bonus, I need to move the pressure reducer. Although the water heater can take 110+ PSI, everything else in the house would suffer accelerated wear.

As I dry fit the connections, I do a sanity check. It's 11pm and at best, I still have four hours of work left.

With great reluctance, I turn the old water heater back on, and pack it in for the night...

Return of the Deck

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 16:20:27 GMT

I've probably guaranteed lousy weather for the next couple of weeks. All of the uncut cedar for covering the exposed deck superstructure has been stained, front and back.

I've learned that it is far easier and less messy to stain first, and then cut and place. It is much less satisfying, since nothing gets built, but much more efficient time-wise.

Now I wait for a chunk of available time and good weather...

Spring Has Come

Tue, 17 Mar 2009 15:53:02 GMT

...or at least the building season.

How do we know? The building inspector showed up yesterday - and taunted us for not having completed the deck :-) Apparently we are somewhat unusual, in that when we take out a building permit, we actually finish it (well, as least enough to sign off on the building permits).

He likely stopped by to see if we started any more unauthorized projects. We *had* two red tags to our name, and the past is a good predictor of the future. Nope - all legit :-)

Apparently, this is the first week the ground is unfrozen. People have been digging holes for fences and decks, and he's been handing out red tags.

TOCH - Daylight Savings Time Drag

Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:30:23 GMT

An hour shouldn't matter much, but it does. For the water heater work, I settle on Plan D.

Although I finally acquire the pipe and fittings, I make the decision not to play with the gas line. I could *probably* complete the work quickly, but I really need to head home today. No matter what, when I leave, the gas (and water heater, boiler, stove, dryer) must work, and I have no extra buffer time.

Experience has shown it takes three hours to clean everything up, and pack. The clock is not our friend today.

So instead of hurried gas line work, we clean, organize, and do minor repairs. Even so, we leave late. I am glad the sun now sets (apparently) later, as we spot hundreds of deer on the way back home.

So next time, I'll finish the gas and water line. Then, my attention shifts to the chimney...