Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[jazz4cash]

Lost our lovely Forest Pansy Redbud tree in heavy rainstorm. It had grown awkwardly and we finally decided to remove a large limb to even it up but didn't get to it before the rains. The trunk broke down near the ground so it maybe had other problems. It laid on the ground for nearly a week and no leaves died in all that time so I called the arborist thinking maybe it could be saved. . They said no way and offered to remove it for $300. It was only 20 ft tall. I got out the chain saw and had the chain sharpened ($13). It took me 3 hrs to cut up and haul it to the county landfill ($10) and I figure $7 for gas. Total $30.

 

[John Galt III]

Finally got brave or bored enough to attempt the dreaded drum brakes in my Nissan Versa. I had watched lots of Youtube videos. Still, I had a few moments of worrying if I would break something, and didn't want to force it, so I had to go slow and gradual, but after several attempts, got all the springs on right, brake shoes in nice and snug, and sealed her up. What a relief! And saved about $200 in labor possibly.

 

[Sunset]

I've always noticed when on holiday in the US that most plumbing drain lines are white PVC (notwithstanding there is some regional variation).
Here in Canada, it is almost 100% black ABS.

.....

Probably so you Northern folks can see the drain lines in the snow....

 

[scrabbler1]

A few weeks ago, I finally replaced the ceiling light fixture in my walk-in closet. It had been working badly for a few years. About 10 or 15 years ago, the pull-chain wore out, but I was able to safely disconnect the whole fixture, remove the pull-chain, cut off the last few links which were inside the fixture and reconnect the pull-chain and reinstall the fixture (that last part was the toughest).


Then, about 2 years ago, the pull-chain wasn't working well. Sometimes, it worked fine, other times, it didn't. But strangely, after a few hours or a few days, the pull chain somehow reset itself and began working normally. I disconnected the fixture and examined it closely. It was working fine, but reinstalling it was a PITA because I was doing it without much light and the ceiling attachment area was getting worse. After that, I went out and bought a whole new fixture and kept it nearby.


But a few weeks ago, it stopped working again and never returned to life. This time, with my ladyfriend's help (she shone a light at the darkened area from a lamp I plugged in to an outlet on a different circuit breaker), after disconnecting the fixture again, undoing the needed wires, and reconnecting it to the next fixture, I was able to reconnect everything without it being a big PITA. Now I have a predictably working ceiling light! And I didn't fry myself.


It's not the first time I fixed something electrical in my co-op apartment. About 25 years ago, I was able to change two light switches which had worn out. That's when I had mapped out all the circuit breakers (previous owner never did that).

 

[jazz4cash]

Lost our lovely Forest Pansy Redbud tree in heavy rainstorm. It had grown awkwardly and we finally decided to remove a large limb to even it up but didn't get to it before the rains. The trunk broke down near the ground so it maybe had other problems. It laid on the ground for nearly a week and no leaves died in all that time so I called the arborist thinking maybe it could be saved. . They said no way and offered to remove it for $300. It was only 20 ft tall. I got out the chain saw and had the chain sharpened ($13). It took me 3 hrs to cut up and haul it to the county landfill ($10) and I figure $7 for gas. Total $30.

We found some pretty large Forest Pansy (purple leaf) Redbuds at nearby nurseries. These are too large for me to handle but haven't convinced DW to pay for planting. In the meantime we found a new weeping variety that is small enough for an adjacent planting area between two paver patios we just had installed.

 

[ls99]

Near a stairwell is fluorescent 2x2 light fixture. The tubes were original when bought the house 10 or so years ago. One tube died, the ballast was making a racket.

Found a LED 12" stirp light, with AC plug at Wallys. Removed ballast along with tubes and deposited them in the bin. Installed LED strip light, cut cord to hard wire. Cost about $14.- W/tax and about 20 minutes of my labor.

 

[Winemaker]

I've always noticed when on holiday in the US that most plumbing drain lines are white PVC (notwithstanding there is some regional variation).
Here in Canada, it is almost 100% black ABS.

I understand either are acceptable for drain lines but have always wondered at the variation. Up here white PVC seems to only be used by HVAC guys.

In Grapetown, usually PVC is used for the immediate drain lines under the sink and ABS is behind the walls. However, PVC is used for gutter drainage, floor drains, and AC drains provided that they are #400 crush.

 

[aja8888]

Replaced our dishwasher with a Maytag. It took 3 weeks to get ANY appliance around here due to Harvey. Every store was out of them and Lowes could not guarantee when one would be delivered. Home Depot pulled through.

No issues putting it in but I had to use the power cord from the old one as new dishwashers don't come wired with a power cord?

I had some trying moments with the shut off valve as it had not been moved in 15 years, but PB Blaster got the stem thread shank loosened up.

DW is happy, I am out $583.00.

 

[Sunset]

We found some pretty large Forest Pansy (purple leaf) Redbuds at nearby nurseries. These are too large for me to handle but haven't convinced DW to pay for planting. In the meantime we found a new weeping variety that is small enough for an adjacent planting area between two paver patios we just had installed.

We have bought a number of trees from direct gardening, they mail them to you and they are bare root

The advantages are they are small, easy to plant, cheap, and really only take a few years to catch up to ones you would buy in the nurseries.

https://www.directgardening.com/8-trees#/categories-flowering_ornamental

 

[jazz4cash]

We have bought a number of trees from direct gardening, they mail them to you and they are bare root

The advantages are they are small, easy to plant, cheap, and really only take a few years to catch up to ones you would buy in the nurseries.

https://www.directgardening.com/8-trees#/categories-flowering_ornamental

I'll take a look but we're actually looking for the biggest tree we can find locally. I had great luck ordering online from Www.soonertreefarm.com. They had a juniper variety I couldn't find many places and I was impressed with the condition of trees when they arrived.

 

[RobbieB]

We found some pretty large Forest Pansy (purple leaf) Redbuds at nearby nurseries.

I've been smoking that purple leaf redbud for years now, it's really good stuff!

 

[harley]

We have a Versalift Attic elevator (https://www.amazon.com/Versa-Lift-Storage-8-11ft-Model/dp/B001OSHT1A) that we had installed when we built the house 10 years ago. It's been invaluable, since the attic ladder is too steep to carry anything heavy up, and the attic is a significant portion of our available storage. Anyway, the motor has been grinding and finally stopped in the down position. A replacement motor/winch system would cost about $1100, and a whole new one would cost $2K. I called the company and they sent me a new rocker switch for the controller (obviously this is a known problem). So after some significant installation issues that could have been avoided had I read the instruction, I got it installed and it fixed the problem. Free beats $1100 every time.

 

[sengsational]

Nice fix, harley! I'd never heard of those lifts before. Kinda spendy, but a nice way to utilize that space up there.

 

[John Galt III]

I was poking around the 1986 GE hotpoint washing machine, since it started making more noise than usual. I haven't isolated the cause of the noise, but I happened to discover that all the drain holes for the lint removing strainer and also all the drip holes for same, were totally clogged. I ignored those blobs of lint stuck in the drain holes, at first, thinking they were just some pieces of clothing that got stuck. But I pulled it out and it looked like lint. I spent about an hour with some vinegar and a toothbrush and cleaned all the little straining holes, and used a toothpick to clean out the 6 or 8 drain holes. It's a good feeling to know the lint is now getting taken care of the way it was supposed to. I still have the mysterious noises, but the washer still works great. For any washer geeks, this one is 'rim flo' as opposed to a 'filter flo'.

 

[aja8888]

Power to our A/c unit and gas fired furnace dropped out two nights ago. All breakers and fuse links were good? Traced it to a fan power connection inside the heater control area. Apparently, the installer (17 years ago) used the wrong size wire twist cap when connecting the black 110V power lead to the fan motor control black lead. Since that twist cap was too small, one lead disconnected, probably through vibration over 17 years of on and off switching.

So I re-stripped the wire ends, twisted them together and put on the right size twist cap. All is good now. I'm surprised the original connection stayed together 17 year!

 

[sengsational]

^ It's great when you can not only isolate a problem, but fix it for the price of a wire nut! The HVAC man might have said "it's toast" and sold you an $8,000 system.

 

[aja8888]

^ It's great when you can not only isolate a problem, but fix it for the price of a wire nut! The HVAC man might have said "it's toast" and sold you an $8,000 system.

I don't know if an A/C guy would have gotten that far, but it would have been an expensive house call for sure.

I do know power as an engineer and would have been asking a lot of pointed questions. Nothing in the system works if A/C power to the fan motor and switching relay is not there so I would suspect, at a minimum, an input issue (which it was).

 

[Souschef]

Replaced our dishwasher with a Maytag..

No issues putting it in but I had to use the power cord from the old one as new dishwashers don't come wired with a power cord?

I replaced our old GE with a new one. Both were hard wired in. The installer refused to hook it up, telling me I need an electrician. I told him I was an electrician and hooked up the three wires so he could complete the installation.

 

[travelover]

I replaced our old GE with a new one. Both were hard wired in. The installer refused to hook it up, telling me I need an electrician. I told him I was an electrician and hooked up the three wires so he could complete the installation.

I had a similar problem with a gas dryer installation. In that case I was the plumber that hooked up the flexible gas line.

 

[Hermit]

My motor home furnace quit working a couple of days ago. I had just replaced the original furnace (30+ years old and the fan motor gave out) last year. I called the manufacturer and they said it was under warranty. I had to call a furnace guy from their list of authorized repair men. The part will be replaced, but I have to pay for the service. I called one of the service people and he said it would be pretty expensive to have someone come out to my place in the mountains. He had me move the fan to make sure it turned freely which it did. I faxed him a copy of the receipt and he said he would get a control board on order. I might have him ship it to me and I will install it when he gets it. Hopefully that will take care of it.

 

[braumeister]

You do have some kind of heat don't you? We'd hate to see you freeze to death overnight -- who would post progress pictures of your house?

 

[Hermit]

You do have some kind of heat don't you? We'd hate to see you freeze to death overnight -- who would post progress pictures of your house?

It was down to about 12 degrees night before last. I broke out the second electric heater. They keep it as toasty as the furnace. The house has a furnace in the basement which has blown in foam in the walls now, so if the motor home ever got too cold, I could go up there.

BTW, I'm framing the interior walls. Not much to see for a while.

 

[Cobra9777]

Our 1st generation Keurig has been taking way too long to brew a cup of coffee. Then it often only gives half a normal cup or less. This has been getting progressively worse. I tried the usual stuff that's worked in the past when it starts acting up, like running white vinegar through the system to descale and unclogging the nozzle with a paperclip. None of that worked this time.

So after some Google searching and watching a few Youtube videos, lots of people had clogs or other issues with the tube leading from the water heater to the nozzle. So I took off the handle and the cover to reveal the tubing. There were no obvious clogs but I still tried a few things I saw in the videos like squeezing the tube at various places and tapping on the check valve to see if it's stuck. None of this had any effect.

Then I noticed that when it was drawing water from the reservoir into the heater tank, there was quite a bit of air coming in as well. And the pump appeared to be under stress and was taking way too long before the brew process would actually start. The filter is clean, but I removed it to see if that made a difference. It didn't. I looked for debris in the screen and didn't see any. Then I took the reservoir over to the sink and cleaned out the little spring-loaded valve that opens up when you set the reservoir in place. Evidently that valve was clogged or not opening all the way. I ran water through it in both directions while repeatedly opening and closing the spring-loaded valve with a screwdriver.

That did the trick. It's now brewing fast, no air in the lines, and back to getting a full mug of joe.

 

[aja8888]

2008 Mitsubishi Outlander - friend's granddaughter's college car.

Had a driver's side rear door window out of its track and stuck half way open (literally two inches protruding outwards). He had quotes of $850 - $1800 to fix it.

We took the door inner panel off and disconnected the window from the regulator then pulled the window away from the door and out of the vehicle. We removed the motor and regulator and checked it over and besides some bending of the regulator arms, which we straightened, it was OK. The door track in the window frame was badly deformed and I heated it with a heat gun and bent it back to reasonable condition.

I reassembled the window, regulator and motor and it works fine now. I have no idea how that young lady managed to get a door window in a position so that the top of the glass was protruding outside of the track and door about 2".

 

[Koogie]

Spent the last two days fixing laminate flooring and hanging 5 doors in my 85 year old mothers new house. Two bedroom slabs and three bifold closet doors.

The usual mix of aggravations trying to get new stuff to fit into a settled house (35 years old). Made worse when I bought the wrong size bifolds for one closet - I transcribed a 47" opening into being a 74" opening in my mind when I was at Home Despot last night. The door guy told me not to feel to bad. Says it happens to someone at least twice a week. In my defense, I was pretty tired.

Finally got the bifolds finished today after having to rip them all for width on the tablesaw. They are hung almost perfectly. However the existing door frames are cockeyed. Out almost an inch over the 4 foot span. So the doors (to my perfectionist eyes) look like hell. I'm going to ameliorate it a bit with some trim but it annoys me no end. That's why I hate having to fit new to old. Floors that are out of level, walls that aren't plumb, rooms out of square...