Screened In Porch – Build
Throughout the day, I go out and take some random pictures, here is the first one…footer beams in place…
With a storm about to roll in, they cleaned up and got out of here…this was the last picture of the day
Author: kwiernicki
Gas Line
Did I mention that there was an exposed gas line between the meter and the ground? Last week while Kevin was here looking at things, getting ready to dig for the footers, he saw that the cement/pipe encasement around the gas tube was no longer. Just a tube…one good hit with the weed wacker, he says…BOOM! Yeah, he thinks he’s funny 🙂
I called PECO on Monday morning, they tell me that someone will call me in the next 3 to 7 days to schedule a time/day to come out and take a look.
Wednesday morning, 2 big PECO trucks out there…checking it out. He said they will schedule a dig crew and let me know when they would be replacing it.
Friday morning, dig crew, gas line installers…took them about 30 minutes.
Not 1 call! Guess I can’t complain, they came out fast, they replaced fast…works for me!
HVAC Circuit Board
I don’t like turning on the AC too early in the season, but I dislike being uncomfortable more. So a couple weeks ago it got pretty humid before a thunderstorm so I decided to turn on the air conditioner.
Later, after I turned the AC off, I noticed that the fan on the unit was still running. I could hear it from living room. Time to call Scott!
It was fun troubleshooting with him…I had to run up and down the stairs at least 25 times to change the thermostat settings to manual, auto, cool, warm…that’s one way to get some exercise, huh?
Scott narrowed it down to the circuit board. He will order one and give me a call when it comes in.
Bathroom Sink
The first thing I did when I bought this house was gut the bathroom (except the tub – love the old comfy back rest…oh and I re-built and re-installed the old reliable toilet). I may be able to search through the many pictures and find some before and durings, because I always take pictures (just not always able to find them)….but anyway
The faucet started dripping and I found out the HomeDepot does not sell the cartridges for this faucet any longer (even though they still sell the damn faucets), and the cost of shipping from the manufacturer and the snail mail weeks worth of water dripping made the decision to just buy a new faucet…and since the bottom of the cabinet was water damaged, it’s coming out too…
Since it’s a small space between the tub and the toilet, my options of cabinets are limited. I found a sink cabinet combo at HomeDepot (I really wish there was a Lowes in my area…or even better, an Ace Hardware)
Now I know that every house reno (even replacing an outlet) can become a huge project so I plan out to do this on a Saturday, early, just in case there are “complications”. I bought all new supply lines and a u trap because, well, huge problem preventative.
cabinet/sink/faucet (plumbing tools and supplies…ready to go)
I disconnected both of the supply lines, the U trap, carefully remove the cabinet so that I don’t rip out the drywall…so far, so good! The sewage line runs straight down through the floor instead of through the wall, so I need to cut a hole in the bottom of the cabinet…really not a big deal…hole saw, measure twice, cut once…I impressed myself…it fit and nice and snugly too. So I level it and caulk it in place…part 1 done, looks good!
Next, putting the new faucet in the new sink (that is part of the sink/cabinet combo), supply lines connected, ready to drop it in. Something doesn’t look right! The new faucet is hanging over the sink…by at least a 1/2″ * DAMN SINK IS FAULTY!! I guess no-one ever checked the specs before cutting the holes. And it’s part of a combo that 1/2 is installed (nicely) and I cut a freakin hole in the bottom…so I can’t return it or exchange it!
Good thing I didn’t use a hammer to get the old sink out (I was tempted), so I cleaned all the caulk off of it, made it look nice and installed the faucet and dropped it in. It looks nice, I am happy with my work!
- (called HomeDepot about the sink/cabinet combo, left a few messages, sent a few emails…never heard anything back, not even a courtesy call to let me know they got my messages)
Lauren’s Graduation!
It was a crazy busy weekend and we went to a Bach Society concert in Baltimore to see Jen’s dad perform, so we missed being able to sneak into the Bob Carpenter Center and see Lauren (my friend, Janice’s daughter) graduation ceremony…so here is a picture of her and her brother Tyler!
You worked hard for it Lauren! Watch out UofD!
Screened In Porch – Footers
After much harassment, Kevin decides to have his guys come over and do the footers. His intentions are to get the footers in place and then let them cure and sit for a few days and doing the framing in one day next weekend. (He will have his guy come during the week to pull any facing off the front so that they can connect the new roof deck to the house)
Joe and Chainsaw are dropped off to dig the holes and John will bring the molds and cement by later (the molds have another construction name for them, but damned if I can think of it right this second). They thought they were going to have to cut the step and/or the walkway, but they only had to pull up the pre-cast cement step.
They finished the digging alot faster than I though they would (about an hour and a half), so while waiting for John, I ordered a pizza. That’s always fun because the conversations are always interesting. I thought they gave the nickname to chainsaw because he was bad with a chainsaw or something, but it turns out his name is Tenesal (or something like that, he is from Guatemala)…all the guys think that he doesn’t understand English, he may not be fluent, but he understands just fine. Joe asked him loudly if he wanted American Pizza, and chainsaw just looked at him, but busted up laughing when I said “he speaks Spanish, he’s not deaf, dumbass!” He understands just fine! hee hee!
Chainsaw took a nap in the shade, Joe on the hammock, while I continue about my to do list…Joe will be here in 20 minutes (my ass!)…
It took about 3 hours for him to get here…and to top it off, the 12′ foot tube was either forgotten (possibly the supply warehouse) or flew out of the back of the truck…so off John goes to get replacements. Once he got back, it took about 20 minutes to cut the tubes to 36″, pour the cement mix in, wet it and mixed it.
3 of these!
Preparing for the first BBQ of 2014
This is definitely an ongoing list that I have been working on over the last few weeks. Besides having to replace all of my lawn care equipment, I have been ripping out tree trunks, their roots and cutting back the bamboo that separates the creek from the yard. (the bamboo would take over the whole yard if I let it) Cleaned out the shed! And even did a work road trip in the middle of everything.
Kevin’s guys are here today to dig the footers for the screened in porch, so my to do list has changed 5 times (so far). I wanted to use the new pressure washer to finish up the back deck, but I don’t think there will be enough time between now and next Sunday to get everything done. I think I will put that at the bottom of the list.
-put the new (bought on sale at the end of last season) deck umbrella up
-level the AC unit (mental note, call Scott about the HVAC blower – it doesnt turn off on it’s own)
-weed the horseshoe pits, add more sand
-rake the pine needles from around the shed and back yard
-gather some stuff for making a fire in the chiminea, just in case we want a fire
-clean and oil the grill (not that it’s really dirty, I use it all year round)
-clean off the back deck, including the coolers that we’ll need for the BBQ
-yard guard – hate bugs and mosquitos
-get gas for the lawn mower
I borrowed one of Kevin’s tools that looked like a super sized chisel on a 6 foot steel rod (I really need to find out what this is called, they use it to break up roots and any rocks that are in the footer holes) to get rid of that last stump in the side yard that just will not go away
before and after
the things I haven’t completed but would still like to do (besides any shopping necessary)
-clean the back windows…why have all those windows if they are dirty
-clean the new glider that’s on the front porch
-mosquito mist the hammock so that it can be used without bug bites
-and I’ll have to cut the grass again before then
Yard Work Tools – LawnMower
This has been a terrible spring for my lawn equipment! I got the lawn mower out of the shed, after a few pulls, it started right up. I did the back yard with no problem. I move to the front yard…1 length of the yard and it dies…wtf!! I can start it, but it immediately stalls…there is no way to get the yard cut like this!! With all this frustration, I reach out to my friend who says, bring it over, I’ll have the hubby take a look at it.
I throw it in the car and head out…Chuck takes a look at it, ties back the safety, wiggles some magic cable and poof…it’s all good! Back into the car (after a couple lifesaving beers) I head back home, pull it out of the car, starts up just fine, one square around the yard…stalls again…I hate lawn equipment! At this point, I am thinking about hiring a lawn service and not fixing or replacing anything.
Chuck diagnoses, bad carburetor…if I can get a replacement part, it may cost me almost as much as a new mower!! Did I mention, I hate lawn equipment??
Home Depot – Weed Wacker Repair/Replace
Home Depot called about the WeedWacker, this asshole actually said to me, “I dont want to call you an idiot or anything, but you have to charge the battery”, I told him I charged the battery twice and it still died after 5 minutes of runtime. He said he would zip tie it and call me back. Maybe 3-4 minutes later, he calls back and says, it’s smoking from both ends. He asked if I had the receipt (who keeps everything?? of course I have the receipt)…back to home depot I go…
I walk in, wait, wait, wait…then 100 year old man comes in and says he’ll take care of me…he had trouble finding if it were under warranty because he didn’t know if it was motor or battery related (both of these would still be under warranty and once I told him that, he hung up the phone with Ryobi)..he rung me up for $18.95 for diagnostic…I was so fed up and wanting to get out of there, I was willing to pay. Well, the dumbass had problems the computer and had to call in Laura, the manager…I could tell that she has dealt with 100 year old man before so she fixed me up, then said, what was the $18.95 for? So I told her and she said that she will get me my money back, as well as a new weedwacker or my money back. 10 minutes later, I have a store credit for the weedwacker and the $18.95 returned to my card. If it were not for Laura stepping in, I may have never returned to another Home Depot again…and I would have voiced that everywhere! between the weedwacker and the bathroom sink…
Yard Work Tools – Weedwacker
At the end of last summer, I got fed up with my gas weed wacker not starting and getting blisters trying to start it. So I decided to go with a cordless weedwacker. I had heard good things about the WORX brand, but found out that Home Depot didnt carry the brand anymore, so I went with the Ryobi, and considering that I have additional batteries, it made sense to buy it.
That was end of Sept 2013, I used it 1, maybe 2 times, and liked it. I was sold and happy with my purchase….until 10 minutes into the first use of this Spring…it died, just stopped working, so I brought the battery in, put it on the charger, and hour later, fully charged, I went back out to finish the back yard…20 feet later, it died again.
I called Ryobi, they told me to take it down to the “tool rental” dept at Home Depot…at this point, I think they’ll figure out what’s wrong with it and fix/replace whatever the issue is…what happens with this is why I started this blog…un-fucking believable!
The 100 year old man that is working the shop didnt really like his job, that’s all I can figure…hates the technology, hates that everything is new-fangled and battery operated, hates that a woman walked into his man-shop…
Wanted me to sign a “pre-authorization” for $100 of work…what?? no fucking way did I sign that…1) warranty 2) I only paid $100ish for it 3) I’ve only used this thing maybe 3 times
they wont even look at it until Tuesday
needless to say, I left there feeling a little postal!
time to go home and during my next work break…get the lawnmower out….