Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[MBAustin]

Replaced the wheels on my ~20-year-old TravelPro suitcase that my parents gave us for Christmas one year.

Towards the end of my recent Peru trip, I noticed that the outer layer of the wheels was starting to fall off in chunks. Made it home OK but I knew it wouldn't make another trip. Checked TravelPro website - it is a "Platinum 4SE" model and the oldest they have parts for is a Platinum 5. Called customer service and after determining that the wheels indeed were replaceable, they said I could order them for $23 (including shipping) and replace them myself. Took only a Philips screwdriver and less than 10 minutes. The suitcase is now better than new (wheels are much smoother rolling than the original). The rest of it is in amazingly good shape.

I remember fussing at my Dad for spending so much on a suitcase for us, but 20 years later I'm glad he did. Not only do I have a great piece of luggage, I have the nice memory as well.

 

[NgineER]

Frigidaire upright freezer not staying cold

Searched the web for remedy as wife wanted to buy a new freezer to not risk everything in the freezer going bad.
Did not find the exact problem and solution on the web, but many of the temperature problems stated were linked to either the control panel or the defrost thermostat. I decided to order the thermostat, $16 including two day shipping.
Installed it in less than five minutes, helpful videos online were helpful for sure.
The coils were frozen and the bottom defrost drain clogged.

Once installed the freezer started working properly.

Nice to save $400 on not having to buy a new freezer.

 

[sengsational]

Then I figured out how to trim away just the right parts of the tongue-groove interlock, so it would slide with just some moderate tapping, and still semi-lock in place (good enough since the boards next to it would be fully locked.

I probably would have ended-up trimming part of the interlock material if I hadn't been able to brute force knock them together. But this floor that I was working with had kind of a spongy plastic on the back...enough "give" to snap together flat if you banged on it.

But man, that's a LOT of stooping and hard on the knees. And I helped the other DD move the previous day, into a terrace apartment, so a flight of stairs (at least down when loaded) - my legs are shot (oddly, not very sore, just really 'tired' - like "don't ask me to climb another stair, or kneel again, please").

Don't I know it! Yesterday I did another little job that required a couple of squats and I almost had to holler out in pain. I'm sure I'll recover in a few days, but those are muscles I just don't use with that frequency and they let me know it in no uncertain terms.

 

[Senator]

I just remodeled a bathroom. It costs about $300 to do, as I decided to buy a new $149 toilet. Other wise it would be only ~$150.

I had to replace some sub-floor, and reinforce the area under the toilet with additional joist hangers and 2 x 4 supports. The building was built with wooden I-Beams, that are 24" on center. At the toilet, that is too far apart and the floor gets too spongy, especially if the OSB gets wet from tub water leaking through the vinyl floor tiles.

I put treated plywood where I had to tear out the OSB sub floor. The wooden molding was replaced with tile molding. Vinyl tile replaced with ceramic tile. All sealed and water proofed.

I even noticed that the tub drain trap was leaking just a bit when I had the floor open, so I fixed that.

Here are some pictures...

 

[aja8888]

I just remodeled a bathroom. It costs about $300 to do, as I decided to buy a new $149 toilet. Other wise it would be only ~$150.

I had to replace some sub-floor, and reinforce the area under the toilet with additional joist hangers and 2 x 4 supports. The building was built with wooden I-Beams, that are 24" on center. At the toilet, that is too far apart and the floor gets too spongy, especially if the OSB gets wet from tub water leaking through the vinyl floor tiles.

I put treated plywood where I had to tear out the OSB sub floor. The wooden molding was replaced with tile molding. Vinyl tile replaced with ceramic tile. All sealed and water proofed.

I even noticed that the tub drain trap was leaking just a bit when I had the floor open, so I fixed that.

Here are some pictures...

Nice job, looks great and the leaks are gone!

A friend is now in the process of re-plumbing his two story house (built 1980) since the galvanized plumbing is starting to leak. What a costly mess!

 

[Hermit]

I just remodeled a bathroom. It costs about $300 to do, as I decided to buy a new $149 toilet. Other wise it would be only ~$150.

I had to replace some sub-floor, and reinforce the area under the toilet with additional joist hangers and 2 x 4 supports. The building was built with wooden I-Beams, that are 24" on center. At the toilet, that is too far apart and the floor gets too spongy, especially if the OSB gets wet from tub water leaking through the vinyl floor tiles.

I put treated plywood where I had to tear out the OSB sub floor. The wooden molding was replaced with tile molding. Vinyl tile replaced with ceramic tile. All sealed and water proofed.

I even noticed that the tub drain trap was leaking just a bit when I had the floor open, so I fixed that.

Here are some pictures...

When we bought our house in Virginia it was right at one year old. Later found out the plumbers had cut through the floor joist to install the toilet. The floor was the only thing holding up the joist. That made the floor sag eventually and the toilet leak. I put a joist support across to the next two joists to tie it all together and had to jack the floor and joist back up to get it all to fit. Its amazing what you can find in house construction.

 

[Ronstar]

I just remodeled a bathroom. It costs about $300 to do, as I decided to buy a new $149 toilet. Other wise it would be only ~$150.

I had to replace some sub-floor, and reinforce the area under the toilet with additional joist hangers and 2 x 4 supports. The building was built with wooden I-Beams, that are 24" on center. At the toilet, that is too far apart and the floor gets too spongy, especially if the OSB gets wet from tub water leaking through the vinyl floor tiles.

I put treated plywood where I had to tear out the OSB sub floor. The wooden molding was replaced with tile molding. Vinyl tile replaced with ceramic tile. All sealed and water proofed.

I even noticed that the tub drain trap was leaking just a bit when I had the floor open, so I fixed that.



Here are some pictures...

Wow - I just started a similar bathroom remodel yesterday. Putting in new toilet, floor tile, wall tile, tub, and and vanity top. Should be down to the studs in some places tomorrow.

As for another repair. The toggle switch on my wood lathe went crazy - the switch won't shut the lathe off. Bought a new toggle switch at Menards, installed it, and it worked fine for 5 minutes. Then the new switch refused to shut off the machine. I need to pull the plug to shut it off. Next step is to plug it into a switched power strip. I'm stumped

 

[Texas Proud]

Well, was going into the kitchen and it was HOT... went into the laundry room and it was like a steam bath!!!

Yep, the exhaust house had come off and all the heat and water was going inside...

Moved the dryer to get at the line... but the metal hose coming into the house was short by almost half an inch... had to take it off the plastic vent that is supposed to keep out critters.... used metal duct tape to connect the flex hose to the tube through the wall... BUT, the tube would not go all the way to the outside so I could reconnect the vent flapper... just stuck that in the outside hole and said 'good enough'....


OH, also taped the hose to the inside wall with the metal tape so it should not come loose anymore...

AC had to work overtime to get it cooled down and the humidity lowered....

 

[travelover]

Well, was going into the kitchen and it was HOT... went into the laundry room and it was like a steam bath!!!

Yep, the exhaust house had come off and all the heat and water was going inside...

Moved the dryer to get at the line... but the metal hose coming into the house was short by almost half an inch... had to take it off the plastic vent that is supposed to keep out critters.... used metal duct tape to connect the flex hose to the tube through the wall... BUT, the tube would not go all the way to the outside so I could reconnect the vent flapper... just stuck that in the outside hole and said 'good enough'....


OH, also taped the hose to the inside wall with the metal tape so it should not come loose anymore...

AC had to work overtime to get it cooled down and the humidity lowered....

I try not to run the dryer with the AC on because the dryer is blowing inside air out the hose and warm, outside air has to leak back inside to equalize the pressure.

 

[NgineER]

I try not to run the dryer with the AC on because the dryer is blowing inside air out the hose and warm, outside air has to leak back inside to equalize the pressure.

Does turning off the AC while running the dryer matter? The warm outside air that has leaked in needs to be dehumidified and cooled off once the dryer is done running, so I doubt there is much savings by turning the AC off.

 

[travelover]

Does turning off the AC while running the dryer matter? The warm outside air that has leaked in needs to be dehumidified and cooled off once the dryer is done running, so I doubt there is much savings by turning the AC off.

What I meant was I try to run the dryer when it is cool outside. Obviously, this may not be possible in a very hot area.

 

[NgineER]

What I meant was I try to run the dryer when it is cool outside. Obviously, this may not be possible in a very hot area.

That makes sense

 

[sengsational]

I just remodeled a bathroom.
Here are some pictures...

Nice job!

 

[Souschef]

When the power was installed in our storage shed, they put in a 4 inch box with a light switch and 2 outlets. Well, one of the two is for our little icemaker, and the other keeps my drill charged.
It got to be a pain to unplug the drill, so I could plug something else in. I could not replace the light switch with a switch/plug combo because I needed a GFI plug.
My solution was to mount a power strip below the 4 inch box and plug into one of the GFI outlets. Now I have 4 outlets protected by a circuit breaker on the strip.

 

[travelover]

....... I could not replace the light switch with a switch/plug combo because I needed a GFI plug.................

Actually, you could have powered the new outlet next to the switch by powering it as a "load" on the existing GFCI outlet. Wiring Multiple GFCI outlets

 

[jazz4cash]

Nice job, looks great and the leaks are gone!



A friend is now in the process of re-plumbing his two story house (built 1980) since the galvanized plumbing is starting to leak. What a costly mess!

Hmm. I didn't think galvanized pipe was being used in the 80's.

 

[aja8888]

Hmm. I didn't think galvanized pipe was being used in the 80's.

It was around here. Late 1970's through early 1980's in The Woodlands, TX. I know others who have dealt with galvanized plumbing leaks in town.

 

[Senator]

Nice job, looks great and the leaks are gone!

A friend is now in the process of re-plumbing his two story house (built 1980) since the galvanized plumbing is starting to leak. What a costly mess!

A few years ago I re-plumbed one of my duplexes. I had galvanized and went to pex. I added a bunch more shutoffs, some shutoffs to help with the install and isolate areas, and it is much better.

Galvanized pipe is a nightmare ready to happen.

 

[txtig]

My pool pump went out last week just before I was getting ready to leave town for a long weekend. I do most of my own pool maintenance, but have a pool guy that I use when we travel. He told me he couldn't do the job because he was getting ready to leave on vacation. I ended up just waiting until we returned from the long weekend. Ordered a replacement motor from Amazon and used YouTube to figure out how to do the job. Pretty straightforward repair and saved about $300 in labor. It felt pretty good doing the job myself.

 

[aja8888]

Galvanized pipe is a nightmare ready to happen.

We have neighborhoods around here that were all built in the early 1980's and the galvanized plumbing is starting to fail in many houses. Lots of work for plumbers and sheet rock guys coming up!

 

[Koogie]

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.

 

[braumeister]

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.

Ford vs Chevy.
They're both fine for the purpose.

 

[Dash man]

Dishwasher died last weekend and new Bosch was delivered yesterday. Installed it myself to save $150 installation fee.

 

[Ronstar]

Dishwasher died last weekend and new Bosch was delivered yesterday. Installed it myself to save $150 installation fee.

Nice. I did the same thing. We ordered new appliances - fridge, oven, microwave and dishwasher. Included free delivery, And Installation - of the fridge and oven. Like those 2 are a lot of work. So I installed the microwave and dishwasher to save the "extra" installation fees.

 

[97guns]

Had the main fresh water line pop on one of my rentals, had to dig up the front yard to repair it but got a deal on it, $180