Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[ls99]

Nice work ronin.

 

[travelover]

Finished re-installing seven year old faucets on new granite countertops and noticed that the Moen faucet spout was leaking where it swings.

Did everything humanly possible to get it apart to replace the O rings, but failed.

I called Moen and they are sending me a whole new faucet - for free.

Just as a follow up to this, I got the new upper and lower parts to the faucet spout, but they didn't include a small internal diverter valve used for the sprayer attachment. I called them this AM and they apologized profusely and will overnight the little part FedEx to me.

I'm blown away by this service on a 7 year sold faucet.

 

[Car-Guy]

Just finished up on another engine (327) rebuild. (No spare parts left over this time) Since I retired and as get older it seem to take me longer and longer to do a rebuild. Or maybe it's because I don't feel the need to rush.

 

[38Chevy454]

Just finished up on another engine (327) rebuild. (No spare parts left over this time) Since I retired and as get older it seem to take me longer and longer to do a rebuild. Or maybe it's because I don't feel the need to rush.

An engine is an item better to take time and be sure than be rushed and make potential mistake!

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We're trying to outsmart rodents getting into the crawlspace. So far the rodents are winning. They can bite right through the vent screens and they are too smart to get caught in the traps. The long term solution is we are going to have to find crawlspace vents made of titanium. Short term today we put motion lights outside the vents to scare them off, and plugged the holes with steel scrubbie pads drenched in mint oil. The mint oil stuff got good reviews on Amazon as a repellent.

 

[Car-Guy]

An engine is an item better to take time and be sure than be rushed and make potential mistake!

Been there, done that! I spent almost 3 weeks on the last rebuild. A little at a time when I felt like it. Most of the time (~90%) was spent looking for or waiting on parts. But that's half the fun, right

 

[target2019]

We're trying to outsmart rodents getting into the crawlspace. So far the rodents are winning. They can bite right through the vent screens and they are too smart to get caught in the traps. The long term solution is we are going to have to find crawlspace vents made of titanium. Short term today we put motion lights outside the vents to scare them off, and plugged the holes with steel scrubbie pads drenched in mint oil. The mint oil stuff got good reviews on Amazon as a repellent.

Old-fashioned Victor trap will get them. Put it under a large wooden box with hole cut out. Then larger critters can't get at the trap. Load it with stinky cheese for the last meal...

 

[bjorn2bwild]

We're trying to outsmart rodents getting into the crawlspace. So far the rodents are winning. They can bite right through the vent screens and they are too smart to get caught in the traps. The long term solution is we are going to have to find crawlspace vents made of titanium. Short term today we put motion lights outside the vents to scare them off, and plugged the holes with steel scrubbie pads drenched in mint oil. The mint oil stuff got good reviews on Amazon as a repellent.

I assure you the titanium vents will offer no advantage over steel - i.e., to trim them, you will be using a pair of snips made from steel.
Steel wire hardware cloth (heavy wire screen) in place of the originals will do the trick. Unless you are dealing with California ninja rats sporting tungsten carbide teeth.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Old-fashioned Victor trap will get them. Put it under a large wooden box with hole cut out. Then larger critters can't get at the trap. Load it with stinky cheese for the last meal...

We have Victor traps in the crawlspace. Day 1 the bait was gone, trap sprung, no rodent in sight. Since then the traps have been untouched - not sprung and bait in place.

I am hesitant to put the traps outside in the yard as I don't want to harm the other wildlife, like squirrels and baby opossums.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I assure you the titanium vents will offer no advantage over steel - i.e., to trim them, you will be using a pair of snips made from steel.
Steel wire hardware cloth (heavy wire screen) in place of the originals will do the trick. Unless you are dealing with California ninja rats sporting tungsten carbide teeth.

We are just shocked at what they can gnaw or push through. We keep plugging the holes and it does no good. We are going to have to reinforce every vent. I saw on Amazon that people who bought rat traps also bought copper hardware cloth. Would copper be good?

We have wire screen on there now in front of the regular vents but they just manage to push it out or gnaw through it, so I guess whatever it is it is not heavy enough or not in there secure enough. We'll have to head to the hardware store tomorrow for some more structural fixes.

 

[38Chevy454]

We have Victor traps in the crawlspace. Day 1 the bait was gone, trap sprung, no rodent in sight. Since then the traps have been untouched - not sprung and bait in place.

I am hesitant to put the traps outside in the yard as I don't want to harm the other wildlife, like squirrels and baby opossums.

Heavier wire cloth is needed. Also just go to local feed store type place and get real poison. Rodent problems solved. Forget the homeowner stuff sold at Wal Mart or Home Depot, get feed store quality.

I don't think opposums are worth being worried about, they are just another form of rodent. Squirrels could be argued, but they can do some damage also.

 

[bjorn2bwild]

Would copper be good?

I would use commonly available galvanized steel hardware cloth placed behind the louvered vent and nailed or stapled tight. You should be able to buy it by the yard at a neighborhood hardware store like Orchard or Ace, I have not tried Home Depot. I would not want to meet the critter that could push through that.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Heavier wire cloth is needed. Also just go to local feed store type place and get real poison. Rodent problems solved. Forget the homeowner stuff sold at Wal Mart or Home Depot, get feed store quality.

I don't think opposums are worth being worried about, they are just another form of rodent. Squirrels could be argued, but they can do some damage also.

I don't think I could do poison as we have a dog and neighborhood cats around plus a lot of other wild life.

But I will try a heavier wire cloth.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

I would use commonly available galvanized steel hardware cloth placed behind the louvered vent and nailed or stapled tight. You should be able to buy it by the yard at a neighborhood hardware store like Orchard or Ace, I have not tried Home Depot. I would not want to meet the critter that could push through that.

It is hard to place anything behind the vent because the crawlspace does not have much clearance and of course there might be rats (or whatever? we've not actually seen what is there) possibly living in it.

I saw stainless steel vents online that have a frame you can attach from the outside. But the vents that need holes for tubes and pipes are the issue with those. I don't think we have any tools that could cut through the stainless steel around the tubing. I guess we will do what we can on those with the cloth from the outside. We have an Ace and OSH close by. Will check them out tomorrow.

 

[Sunset]

How about putting a radio up there, nice and loud, if you could run the wire for it down to inside the house and turn it on by just plugging it in, you could control the noise easily.
I put a radio set to NPR on the back porch and in 1 day and 1 night the coyotes (4 pups) were gone. Put the poison in little dishes (margine container type) so you can throw them out later.

If you put poison in the crawlspace, perhaps the seed type of poison, can you shut it off so your dog does not go in there ?

 

[bjorn2bwild]

The typical vent I am picturing is fixed to the house from the outside. The vent would need to be removed, hardware cloth placed, then the vent. A pair of diagonal cutters aka 'dikes' will be available at the hardware store for easy trimming of the cloth.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

How about putting a radio up there, nice and loud, if you could run the wire for it down to inside the house and turn it on by just plugging it in, you could control the noise easily.
I put a radio set to NPR on the back porch and in 1 day and 1 night the coyotes (4 pups) were gone. Put the poison in little dishes (margine container type) so you can throw them out later.

If you put poison in the crawlspace, perhaps the seed type of poison, can you shut it off so your dog does not go in there ?

I'm not really a poison kind of person. The traps are okay as that seems to be a quick end but we had a friend with a dog who ate rat poison and I wouldn't wish that agony even on a rat.

Good idea on the radio. I will try that. I also read about putting a floodlight in the crawlspace as they like to sleep and hide in darkness. And I have a big stockpile of motion lights to put out. It is just taking me awhile to charge up all the batteries.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The typical vent I am picturing is fixed to the house from the outside. The vent would need to be removed, hardware cloth placed, then the vent. A pair of diagonal cutters aka 'dikes' will be available at the hardware store for easy trimming of the cloth.

I think these vents were put in from the inside but I will have a closer look tomorrow. I'll ask about the hardware cutter. Good idea. I didn't know that was something they might have on hand.

 

[Sunset]

Any chance you have a motion camera like hunters use, just so you could get a picture of the creature ?

I'm not sure traps are all that humane, as I used to go down as a child to the traps in the kitchen and find the still alive mice to play with, naturally some were dead.

I am guessing your intruder is a raccoon, rather than a rat, but of course without pictures of the damaged area its just a guess.

Trick is you want to scare them out of the crawlspace before you seal the entrance, otherwise you are simply trapping them inside.

If you have a Harbor freight tools near you , you could buy an animal trap if you had an idea of its size (from the hole made?) and possibly live trap it.
IF you do live trap an animal, throw a towel over the trap before picking it up and wear thick leather gloves. They can reach out to scratch you, so the towel helps to stop it.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

The hole is pretty tiny so I think it would have to be a mouse or rat squeezing through there. I'm guessing rat because of the degree of wire damage. Right now I have the mint oil on the vents and the motion light set up but I don't have them sealed up tight so it could get out. We usually see the rats come out at dusk. We live near parkland so they are not hard to find. One day I was driving our kids to school and a rat fell out of a big palm tree at least 20 feet up in the air onto cement and walked away.

I actually have a live trap and a security camera we don't use but could set up. I was just kind of hoping plugging the holes and the Victor traps would be enough. If I trap it I wasn't sure what to do with it, but I guess if I put the trap in the crawlspace I could at least let it go outside. The rodents here can carry Bubonic plague so live trapping was not my plan A.

 

[Sunset]

Now that you mention the Bubonic plague ( I think its actually on the fleas on the rat).
I would not live trap it, I would put down the seed type rat poison, and cover over the holes.
I know you don't like the idea of the poison, but the idea you could catch the plague from the rats living under you is more scary to me.

I saw a documentary of a guy from AZ that caught it from some rodent and it showed up while he was in NY. It was pretty awful, I think he lost some parts of his body.

If you do poison the rat, I would think you can just leave it there and it will rot away and the fleas and plague will die.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

Now that you mention the Bubonic plague ( I think its actually on the fleas on the rat).
I would not live trap it, I would put down the seed type rat poison, and cover over the holes.
I know you don't like the idea of the poison, but the idea you could catch the plague from the rats living under you is more scary to me.

I saw a documentary of a guy from AZ that caught it from some rodent and it showed up while he was in NY. It was pretty awful, I think he lost some parts of his body.

If you do poison the rat, I would think you can just leave it there and it will rot away and the fleas and plague will die.

It is pretty rare. I live near large areas of open space and parks so rodents are everywhere. There are only a handful of cases in the entire U.S each year, so I'm likely to be in more mortal danger from slicing a bagel:

Freakonomics » Bagel Danger

I'll see if the lights and music and mint will drive him/her/them off. I don't want the neighbor's cat or the vultures or snakes or whatever else is around at night to eat a poisoned rat and get sick.

 

[target2019]

We have Victor traps in the crawlspace. Day 1 the bait was gone, trap sprung, no rodent in sight. Since then the traps have been untouched - not sprung and bait in place.

I am hesitant to put the traps outside in the yard as I don't want to harm the other wildlife, like squirrels and baby opossums.

If you do as I said, using a Wood box and peanut butter, you will catch a mouse.

Squirrels and opossums can be more destructive than mouse. You need to remove them from the area. Trap or bait. Take your pick.

Could be a snake.

 

[ArkTinkerer]

An engine is an item better to take time and be sure than be rushed and make potential mistake!

Never figured out why the manufacturers store spare parts in every engine...

 

[ArkTinkerer]

We're trying to outsmart rodents getting into the crawlspace. So far the rodents are winning. They can bite right through the vent screens and they are too smart to get caught in the traps. The long term solution is we are going to have to find crawlspace vents made of titanium. Short term today we put motion lights outside the vents to scare them off, and plugged the holes with steel scrubbie pads drenched in mint oil. The mint oil stuff got good reviews on Amazon as a repellent.

Agree that better wire grating is needed. For areas where that doesn't make sense we have had great success with steel wool (scrubbies work too) doused with chilli powder. They have to gnaw to get thru and they can't tolerate the spice. You can definitely hear the ruckus when they first run into the powder.