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Old 04-29-2014, 01:55 PM   #261
Recycles dryer sheets
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Replaced spring rope on dishwasher door. Door just crashes down otherwise.Nice mid complexity google enabled repair.
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Old 04-29-2014, 02:21 PM   #262
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The worst floor removal I ever had to do was our kitchen cushioned-vinyl Congoleum floor. It first could be cut into 6" wide strips and peeled up with a thin pry bar. That separated the top wear layer, the design, and most of the cushion layer off. But the glued-on base layer was one with the concrete.
I feel your pain. Int he basement I've removed 500 sq feet of (brittle) asbestos tile held down with tar mastic. The tile popped right up, but the black tar . . . rented a rotary scraper after trying lots of chemicals and other mechanical methods. The thinset for the new porcelain is adhering well though the tar had thoroughly penetrated the concrete. The scraper/scarifier left enough gouges and grooves to key the modified thinset. I hope.
In two places where I had (level, small) cracks I used RedGard over a generous margin to spread the stresses over a wide area--the slab was in good shape and is over 50 years old, so I don't think I'll be seeing much more movement.

I still have 1000 sq feet to go.

PS: I did all the the prudent things regarding the asbestos tile and mastic.
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Old 04-29-2014, 03:13 PM   #263
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A tip for any of you that work on your vehicles. If you get drips or an oil spill on your concrete - get some Super Clean foaming cleaner (purple spray bottle). O'Riellys had a buy 1 get 1 free last week. This stuff really works! I spilled a few ounces of gear oil on the driveway - used news paper to get most of it up and then sprayed this stuff on. Let it work for 5 minutes and spray it off with water - not a trace/stain at all. First stuff I found that works.
I have been using spray cans of generic engine degreaser to wash any oil spill when I change car engine oil. Before spraying, I mop up with paper towel as needed of course.

I always have a can of engine degreaser handy. I don't like dirty and oily engines.
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Old 04-29-2014, 05:56 PM   #264
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I feel your pain. Int he basement I've removed 500 sq feet of (brittle) asbestos tile held down with tar mastic. The tile popped right up, but the black tar . . . rented a rotary scraper after trying lots of chemicals and other mechanical methods. The thinset for the new porcelain is adhering well though the tar had thoroughly penetrated the concrete. The scraper/scarifier left enough gouges and grooves to key the modified thinset. I hope.
In two places where I had (level, small) cracks I used RedGard over a generous margin to spread the stresses over a wide area--the slab was in good shape and is over 50 years old, so I don't think I'll be seeing much more movement.

I still have 1000 sq feet to go.

PS: I did all the the prudent things regarding the asbestos tile and mastic.
Why didn't you hire someone to do this?
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Old 04-29-2014, 07:29 PM   #265
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Why didn't you hire someone to do this?
Because I wouldn't have gotten a story that way? I dunno, really. It was just one part of the basement rehab (others: walls and ceiling) and after hearing enough foolishness about the best way to do the walls from "experts" who apparently knew nothing about the basics of water vapor movement I decided that it would be easier to do it myself than to find someone who would do it right. This happens frequently and I'm starting to suspect that I'm the problem.
It sort if snuck up on me and became a quest.
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Old 04-29-2014, 08:32 PM   #266
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I'm not sure about this, but it seems like some of you folks really w%rk hard in retirement. I still go to the office, yet I feel I w%rk less hard than a lot of you retirees. But, I don't get a story out of it. I guess that makes it a wash. Yours was a good story.
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Old 04-30-2014, 06:09 AM   #267
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I'm not sure about this, but it seems like some of you folks really w%rk hard in retirement. I still go to the office, yet I feel I w%rk less hard than a lot of you retirees. But, I don't get a story out of it. I guess that makes it a wash. Yours was a good story.
A bad day scraping off tile for yourself is better than a good day toiling in a cube for someone else.
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Old 04-30-2014, 08:56 AM   #268
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I'm not sure about this, but it seems like some of you folks really w%rk hard in retirement. I still go to the office, yet I feel I w%rk less hard than a lot of you retirees. But, I don't get a story out of it. I guess that makes it a wash. Yours was a good story.
If it is at my whim, option and schedule it is no-work work. Even if it is brutally difficult.
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Old 04-30-2014, 09:15 AM   #269
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I guess many posters here are self-motivators who hate to be motivated by somebody else.
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Old 04-30-2014, 09:23 AM   #270
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I guess many posters here are self-motivators who hate to be motivated by somebody else.
That's what it's beginning to sound like (based on a very small sample).
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Old 04-30-2014, 01:32 PM   #271
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The satisfaction I still get from walking on a nice tile job I did years ago, or seeing other projects I completed, far outweighs the few blisters and back ache it took to complete it.
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Old 05-02-2014, 09:08 PM   #272
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Originally Posted by samclem View Post
I feel your pain. Int he basement I've removed 500 sq feet of (brittle) asbestos tile held down with tar mastic. The tile popped right up, but the black tar . . . rented a rotary scraper after trying lots of chemicals and other mechanical methods. The thinset for the new porcelain is adhering well though the tar had thoroughly penetrated the concrete. The scraper/scarifier left enough gouges and grooves to key the modified thinset. I hope.
In two places where I had (level, small) cracks I used RedGard over a generous margin to spread the stresses over a wide area--the slab was in good shape and is over 50 years old, so I don't think I'll be seeing much more movement.

I still have 1000 sq feet to go.

PS: I did all the the prudent things regarding the asbestos tile and mastic.
OK, OK, I know this is the second time I've quoted samclem's post, but it has become an inspiration to me. I, for the first time in my life, have a need to fix things.

If you (anyone?) recall the other day, I put new batteries in the computer mouse. Wow, I never saw a mouse so upset--maybe I shouldn't have tried inserting D cells (just a little joke).

But this morning, I lucked out: I actually fixed something today--and, I think the project had just about the same degree of difficulty as samclem's project had.

The project:

It seems that the duchess of redduck couldn’t get the pump of the Nexus Extra Large Salon Hair Care container to pop up. This is after twisting the pump head around in both directions until her arm became tired. So, she handed it over to me.

Anyhow, I started to twist the pump head around but it still wouldn’t pop up. (Anybody still reading)? Then, I had an inspiration coupled with an eerie feeling of déjà vu. (I seem to get these feelings more often as I age. For instance, just last week I experienced déjà vu as I was eating a piece of toast. It seemed vaguely familiar to me that I had done this before, but couldn’t quite recall the circumstances involved). OK, where was? Oh, yeah, back to the 12 inch container. For some reason, I kind of remembered that if someone presses down gently or not-so-gently (depending on how much you’ve had to drink) on a pump-thingy, while twisting it at the same time, it often pops up, which enables it to go up and down and release what’s in the container. It worked.

So, now I have a much better understanding of the feelings of satisfaction (and of relief) about being handy around the house.
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Old 05-02-2014, 11:02 PM   #273
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Anyhow, I started to twist the pump head around but it still wouldn’t pop up. (Anybody still reading)? . . . For some reason, I kind of remembered that if someone presses down gently or not-so-gently (depending on how much you’ve had to drink) on a pump-thingy, while twisting it at the same time, it often pops up, which enables it to go up and down and release what’s in the container. It worked.

So, now I have a much better understanding of the feelings of satisfaction (and of relief) about being handy around the house.
redduck,
See?! Feels great, doesn't it? Sure, you could have hired that job out (along with any other tasks the Duchess requires . . .) but you'd have missed out on this sense of satisfaction.
Now, the next steps. You jumped right in and solved the problem, and you got the job done, but I'm not sure you optimized the "get a story" aspect. For instance, you could have attempted to raise the pumper by applying a bit of differential pressure. Put the sealed up hair product bottle in a pot of very hot water and let the air molecules inside get really hot, spread out, and push the little pumper up on their own (overpowering the lock-down feature).* What could go wrong? Anyway, that's what I would have tried.






* Do not attempt this project in this manner, Serious injury or death may result due to overpressurization of a sealed container and resulting explosion, with concomitant rapid dispersal of magma-hot hair product. Never heat a sealed container.
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Old 05-02-2014, 11:27 PM   #274
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samclem...

Keep in mind I'm still a novice here. But, I certainly want to thank you for the additional tips. I never would have thought of the hot water angle. Just how does one get water to be that hot, anyway? Maybe that's my next project.
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Old 05-03-2014, 08:03 AM   #275
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...For instance, you could have attempted to raise the pumper by applying a bit of differential pressure. Put the sealed up hair product bottle in a pot of very hot water and let the air molecules inside get really hot, spread out, and push the little pumper up on their own (overpowering the lock-down feature).* What could go wrong? Anyway, that's what I would have tried.


* Do not attempt this project in this manner, Serious injury or death may result due to overpressurization of a sealed container and resulting explosion, with concomitant rapid dispersal of magma-hot hair product. Never heat a sealed container.
OK, it sounds like "very hot" will work for a little pumper, but for a large-size pumper, do we need to get to "even hotter" beyond "very hot"? If so, how do you accomplish this?

And, thanks for pointing out the downsides of your suggestion. But, I think the reward may be worth the potential risks. I mean, it's not like I'm going to be forced into selling a basketball team.
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Old 05-23-2014, 07:33 PM   #276
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Replaced the thermostat in my 2000 Volvo S40 (the compact model they don't make any more).

Was getting a P0128 code and the Engine Check Light on. Googling says not coming up to temperature fast enough, but the temp gauge seemed to act normal, suggested to replace thermostat and temp sensor.

I could get the thermostat local cheaper than shipping ( $16 with seals), so I decided to try that first, and only replace the sensor if needed. But I don't have a lot of time now, I need to pass the IL air test (plug into ODBII port), and then order my plate sticker which expires end of June, and it takes some driving cycles before you can pass the test after a code reset.

After watching some youtube videos to make sure I wanted to tackle this, it looked pretty simple, so I got the parts this AM and went at it after lunch.

Well, the thermostat replacement was pretty straightforward. I sprayed the bolts with WD40 a couple times yesterday, and a couple today. Got out my manual impact driver to loosen the bolts with some twisting impact (I had a bad experience ~ 15 years ago, twisted the head of the bolt off changing a thermostat - ). All looked good.

But the guy in the video didn't drain any coolant, he said he just let it leak out. I see the alternator nearby, and decide that might not be a good idea. Unfortunately, to get to the drain valve, you need to remove the air deflector/shield thingie, with ~ 10 bolts and then there are 6 of those little plastic bullet connectors holding various parts of this together, that pop out and then I can't tell where they all go. On the bright side, the drain valve opened (and shut!) easily, no horror stories there.

And then taking the cover off on top to get to the thermostat (easy), but I see some wire sheathing that is all decayed from time/heat and crumbling. So I vacuum that out, and replace it with some I had on hand (that might not stand the heat, we will see!). Thermostat replacement goes well, button it up, return the coolant and start it, no leaks, all normal.

But then it must have taken over an hour to try to get those shields and plastic connectors in place. I almost gave up and started looking for my drill and a bunch of tie-wraps, but suddenly it all went into place.

Now, to see if the code stays clear - that will take a few days of driving and some cold starts. If not, time to replace the sensor.

-ERD50
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Old 05-23-2014, 08:34 PM   #277
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I took apart the battery isolator relay in my motorhome, cleaned all contacts, put it back, and it worked as new.

The relay operation was intermittent for a while, and I almost bought a new relay. It would cost only $25, but not being able to get an identical one would mean a lot of work to install the replacement into the same tight spot as the original one.
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Old 05-23-2014, 08:47 PM   #278
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Work on Jetta coming up:

Next 10K miles the DSG filter (direct shift gearbox) and 4+ L of fluid is due (every 40K miles). So in three more months I have to order the change kit and a new oil filter for the motor oil which will be due again.

Next soon project is the driver's door lock assembly (not activating). This will be followed by front lower control arm bushings (two rear ones) and a new CV boot to replace a split one on the passenger side.

I love this car, but it's like a trophy bride at times (all around fun, but high maintenance).
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Old 05-23-2014, 10:10 PM   #279
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Boat motor was running rough and stalled at half throttle. Changed plugs, checked fuel line and cleaned filter. Still bad. Researched online and found recommendations for seafoam. Mixed some with the gas and all is running well now. Then I added seafoam to leaf blower and weed eater and they're running better now also. Beats taking carbs apart to clean them.
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Old 05-24-2014, 04:44 AM   #280
Recycles dryer sheets
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I had a 2000 Jetta 1.8T. Trophy bride indeed. A sweat heart when running well however. High maintenance though
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