Your recent repair? - 2021 to ?

[Music Lover]

Would it be worth it (and possible) to insulate the floor from underneath, either with foam sheets or fiberglass held up with chicken wire ?

We're in a severe winter climate. Insulating the floor helps but isn't an ideal solution. If I insulate the skirting and add some heat below (which I didn't mention in my previous post) then the floor above is much warmer.

 

[Sunset]

We're in a severe winter climate. Insulating the floor helps but isn't an ideal solution. If I insulate the skirting and add some heat below (which I didn't mention in my previous post) then the floor above is much warmer.

Is this cabin on posts or a concrete wall all around ?

I'm thinking if you seal off the underneath to heat it, that you introduce moisture issue for mold, especially in the summer when you won't be heating underneath.

 

[Music Lover]

Is this cabin on posts or a concrete wall all around ?

I'm thinking if you seal off the underneath to heat it, that you introduce moisture issue for mold, especially in the summer when you won't be heating underneath.

It's on posts with skirting but has several vents for airflow. The vents will remain open in summer and be closed for the heating season. Most people around here do it that way and don't experience any problems.

 

[Kroeran]

Just completed a nasty repair of a flat roof surfaced in circa 1965 poured tar with a floating deck on top of it.

It’s off the second floor but with a two story drop to the basement walkout driveway, so risky. Left the top rail of the old railing up for safety.

All this to save a $20k deck rebuild.

I retarred the weak spots and covered all that with pond membrane. Built a PVC frame to cover the edge, improve the street appeal, and provide a base for the PVC railing guys to install on. I was forbidden to build or install the railing myself.

Tar gets on everything and tracks through house on footwear. Nightmare. DW40 does remove it.

Let the next owner deal with rebuilding the thing properly. . More likely, the house will be razed and a McMansion will replace it.

It was satisfying to complete a job at the outer limits of my capacity.

DW is pleased I didn’t fall off the thing.

 

[stephenson]

Just replaced the pump on a Ryobi pressure washer.

Was second hand - I think someone overtightened the unloader valve. When I dissembled the old one the bore of the aluminum casting where the valve moved in and out was badly mauled - perhaps from overpressure and the valve body banging around? Photo disassembled just for fun.

$80 for the replacement pump - biggest issue, as usual, is getting the pump off the drive shaft due to corrosion/rust. A series of screw drivers then chisels between each of the three supports - hammer a bit on each and it finally eases off. Seems to work OK.

 

[DAYDREAMER]

My pristine 1996 Dodge cummins pickup (250k miles) had a fuel sending unit that started acting up. Dropped the fuel tank, removed the fuel level sending unit, and tuned up the fuel sender potentiometer by cleaning, sanding contacts, bending springs to insure proper contact. Re installed tuned up sending unit and did a road test at 5/10/15/35 gallons. Fuel gauge in truck was stable and good as new!

My buddy and I call this "Straightening Nails" because we are reusing a perfectly good item that just needs to be reworked, of which most people throw away and just buy new. I really enjoy reworking stuff to make good as new in retirement. Able to spend lots of time on details.

 

[Surewhitey]

Windshield check valve time again. DW's Toyota took the same part as my Sienna, so I just gave her mine and ordered a couple more.

$6 for 2...probably would have been an easy $100 at the dealer or shop for the unknowing...

 

[stephenson]

Sister's pool has two main drains - cover magically came off one several years ago - she did not get it replaced.

About five feet deep.

I found cover. Figured out ballpark buoyancy offset. Put on belt, stuck 12 pound sledge in and tried it - not enough. Added four pound mechanic hammer - just about right.

Attached with stainless steel screws. All done!

 

[Trailwalker]

Replaced the cabin air filters in our vehicles, which was long overdue. A bit surprised when I got to the Nissan Frontier, which I bought used. The youtube video said to be very careful when removing the plastic cover behind the glove box so as not to break off the plastic tabs. I didn't have to worry about that. No tabs to break off because the plastic cover was completely missing.

 

[Sunset]

Replaced the cabin air filters in our vehicles, which was long overdue. A bit surprised when I got to the Nissan Frontier, which I bought used. The youtube video said to be very careful when removing the plastic cover behind the glove box so as not to break off the plastic tabs. I didn't have to worry about that. No tabs to break off because the plastic cover was completely missing.

With no cover, you could put a strip of wide packing tape across, as otherwise I think air will escape/bypass the filter, at least that is what would happen with my Sienna filter which also has a cover and is behind the glove box.

 

[Trailwalker]

With no cover, you could put a strip of wide packing tape across, as otherwise I think air will escape/bypass the filter, at least that is what would happen with my Sienna filter which also has a cover and is behind the glove box.

Thanks. That should work.

 

[Kings over Queens]

woke up this morning to a leaking dishwasher...just a little mist, but over hours had leaked into the basement. We don't spend a lot of money on high end dishwashers, no bells or whistles, just more crap to stop working, so I ripped it out and ran to lowes for a replacement. Pain in the neck but now we have a new dishwasher.

 

[skyking1]

Daydreamer, my first cummins was a 96. Well done.
I figured out why my exhaust brake was not working on the 2007 Ram. It needed a little oil on the actuator and I operated it with a wrench a few times while somebody cycled the switch for me.
It was very handy as we came down Chinook Pass today, westbound with the ~9600 pound 5th wheel trailer. I rarely used the brakes.

 

[Surewhitey]

Door tray in the fridge broke. $100 for most so I epoxied & duct taped it & put it in the lightweight location... Done!

 

[njhowie]

8 year old microwave oven. Fan vent grills on the top inside were almost completely rusted with coating all but gone. The entire inside top was also discoloring and wouldn't come clean. Lastly, there was a chip in the enamel on the bottom around the edge of the turntable track.

I could have just replaced the oven, but there is absolutely nothing wrong with it mechanically/functionally - still works perfect...just don't want little rust flakes dropping in to our food.

I bought some microwave spray paint on Amazon. Wire brushed and then used steel wool. Covered and taped off all the other inside areas and did many light coats on all the problem areas. Had a box fan blowing on it between each coat, let it blow for a few hours after the final coat, brought it back in to the kitchen and then sit overnight with the door open.

That was about a week ago. Everything looks great and so now we can hopefully get a few more years out of it before replacing.

 

[Music Lover]

I moved 90% of the plumbing at our 3-season cabin that was underneath in the non-conditioned space to the inside. I also put a new pressure tank and the related controls and gauges into the conditioned space. The existing pressure tank is still under the cabin, it will be removed once I connect the new pressure tank to the submersible well and make the electrical connections....

We've been busy in the city and I wasn't able to come back out until last night. Today I finished connecting the well pump to the new pressure tank, and also finished all the electrical and remaining plumbing connections. 6 hours, 2 hours of it underneath the cabin.

As of today 100% of the plumbing is either brand new or a year or so old (I installed a dishwasher last year and also replaced all of the taps and braided lines throughout the place), and there is no longer any plumbing in the unheated crawl space.

 

[jollystomper]

Years ago the back door of our mailbox got pushed out, fell out, and broke. It is a plastic door with 2 nubs at the bottom that slip into holes in the mailbox, and a magnet at the top. I was able to tape it back together. The good news is that the taped crack made it flexible enough to put back into position. The bad news was that being flexible made it easier over the years to get pushed out by the mail. This was now happening a couple of times a week. The door is not available as a separate part (the mailbox is one of those big one piece plastic ones that fit over a post).

Last month it finally struck me that instead of using more tape, I should add a brace across the door to keep it from flexing. Fortunately the inside of the door has raised ridges on both sides of the crack, so I cut a piece of wood, forced it in between the ridges, and taped it over. That did the trick, the door has not been pushed out onto the ground since then.

 

[ls99]

A few years ago picked up a dehumidifier, Haier for $39.99 @goodwill. It stopped dehumidifying. Bought a service port off fleabay $12.-.

Connected gauges. Seems the manufacturer ensured some kind of slow leak, there was zero pressure in the system. I had a can of R134A sitting on the garage shelf. Connected valve to can and to gauge set and nothing happened. Turns out somewhere along the years powers that be ordered a design change to the cans. They have a valve in them. The old system was, just pierce the can and go.
The valve I had was the piercing type. Too short to reach the valve of the can.
Off to the local NAPA, was lucky they had only one of the newfangled valve for the self sealing cans, also picked up a couple of more cans of R134.
Back home, attached vacuum pump, pulled the system down to clean out the air. Held vacuum for a half hour. Then connected refrigerant can. One and about an eight can got the eveporator to fully uniform cold. Put covers back on.
So 9.95 for a valve, 10.- for a can of R134 +tax and my now $~76.- dehumidifier is working again. + a few hours fo fiddling. And given that it took about 4 years to leak out, should be good for another at least 3. And now easily rechargable.
BTW originally the refrigerant was r410. r134 is better for cooling according to some wise men.

 

[jollystomper]

DW commented that the passenger side of our car was wet. She felt like water was getting on her feet as we drove. At first I wondered if it was a water bottle, since she usually keeps her in the passenger door slot for it. But then when the radio was turned off I noticed a "swishing" sound emanating from the front panel near the glove compartment every time a left turn was made. I looked under the car and in the engine compartment, everything seemed normal. But the front passenger floor was very soggy. I pulled up the rug on that side and under it was very wet. It was clear water for sure.

Then I did an internet search of the symptoms for the car model (Kia Sorento). The results reveal the likely culprit to be a clogged A/C drain hose. I noticed no water under the car after driving it around, so that was a further confirmation.

The biggest challenge was finding it - all the videos and pictures I saw did not match what I was seeing under the the. But I finally went up far enough to stick my hand into the openings in the car underbody where it should be located - and found the drain hose end had somehow gotten pushed up onto a ledge instead of hanging down. Then I shot a blast of air from a portable hand held air compressor - water began immediately gushing out from the hose. Yay! Drove it around, no more swishing sound and water still draining correctly. I put the rug out into the sun and used a wet/dry vac on the passenger side and after several hours it is almost completely dry, so I think I fixed it before mildew could set in.

 

[Route246]

Cabin air filters are one of those items where you watch YouTube, order a replacement, follow the steps from YouTube and then wonder why you let yourself get ripped off by paying someone else exorbitant amounts of money to do this for you.

Replaced the cabin air filters in our vehicles, which was long overdue. A bit surprised when I got to the Nissan Frontier, which I bought used. The youtube video said to be very careful when removing the plastic cover behind the glove box so as not to break off the plastic tabs. I didn't have to worry about that. No tabs to break off because the plastic cover was completely missing.

 

[MC Rider]

Never let them sell you a $70 cabin air filter. Complete ripoff. It IS that easy.


And for a problem like jollystompers, the vehicle specific forums can be very useful. Like this one. But many vehicles have a dedicated forum.



https://www.kia-forums.com/


I have a Soul so like this one, which has a Kia tech member who is very helpful.


https://www.kiasoulforums.com/

 

[gutterman]

The control panel lights went out on our 6 year old GE dishwasher and by all appearances was dead. After a bit of work determined the upper control board was defective. Ordered a new one from GE for about $90. Removed the door, split the door open, installed the new board, and reassembled. Works just fine now. Wasn't all that hard and most of my time was spent researching on the internet how to diagnose which part was bad.

 

[Qs Laptop]

The control panel lights went out on our 6 year old GE dishwasher and by all appearances was dead. After a bit of work determined the upper control board was defective. Ordered a new one from GE for about $90. Removed the door, split the door open, installed the new board, and reassembled. Works just fine now. Wasn't all that hard and most of my time was spent researching on the internet how to diagnose which part was bad.

Good job. There is a high level of satisfaction in making this type of a repair. Not only did you save a lot of money but you learned something new and gained confidence that you could probably handle the next home repair that comes your way.

I had a similar situation when I replaced the control board on my Whirlpool refrigerator. Lots of research preceded a fairly easy replacement of the defective part.

 

[Philliefan33]

I saw that one of my neighbors was asking for recommendations for a bike shop to change her flat bicycle tire. I offered to fix it for her.

It turns out that she lives right across the street, we hadn’t met yet. Her bike is the same make/model as one of mine so I had a spare tube on hand. While I had the bike in the stand I gave it a quick tune up (she hadn’t had it serviced in over ten years).

It was a win all around. She has a functioning bike, I had some fun practicing my burgeoning mechanic skills, and hopefully we’ve begun a nice neighborly relationship.

 

[Happyras]

The control panel lights went out on our 6 year old GE dishwasher and by all appearances was dead. After a bit of work determined the upper control board was defective. Ordered a new one from GE for about $90. Removed the door, split the door open, installed the new board, and reassembled. Works just fine now. Wasn't all that hard and most of my time was spent researching on the internet how to diagnose which part was bad.

Great thread. I too, am not willing to go through the pain of dealing with an appliance repair person. Schedule, inspect, reschedule, wait for parts, install. It just a hassle I rather avoid by either fixing or buying new.

This month I had back to back failures. Our GE Monogram DW was not cleaning and draining, ordered a new inverter driven drain pump. The impeller lost all but two vanes, had to buy the whole pump. Just over 4 years old and this is my 4th repair on the DW. Last time the cheap diverter plastic housing broke and would not hold the wash ducts. A stainless screw seems to hold just fine.

Then my built in 4 Yr old Thermador Microwave (which I hate) died. Without a schematic I had to do some learning, but I found the very common "safety" interlock NC switch on the left latch had frozen welded contacts. Typical issue that is "designed" to short out the power and blow the fuse. I replaced with a old spare switch until I got the exact fit. Took a few tries with blowing fuses, as the timing of the door opening/switch sequence is super tight. Worn latch parts can make the sequence off. I finally found out I could have bought the Bosch OEM switch assemblies with new latch plates for cheap. Must be a real common problem for Bosch and Thermador.