Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[MRG]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nodak Last month I had what I am assuming is one of the most costly possible home repairs. Had to replace the roof for about $3700. It's going to take a few months of rent to pay for that one. I'm just glad it's a small house.

Oh no, while I can appreciate:

We had to repair basement walls that had to be moved 8-12 inches to get them vertical. First guy said '40K,50K, 60K, no never mind I've never been here, have you considered a fire'.

We did find a reputable guy that did it for 15K. I don't think he made much on the job as we had 3 men with jackhammers in the basement for 3 weeks. Additionally there was much work on the outside to compensate for poor drainage.

There is a lesson we learned, never buy an older home without a structural engineer reviewing.

MRG

[NW-Bound]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts. ... Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

All right! Another poster who's not afraid to tear his car apart.

My wife recently had to take her car to a mechanic to have the A/C compressor replaced, with the condenser and dryer along with it of course. I already looked up the price of the parts, thinking that I would do it myself when I got better. My wife spared me that trouble, and spent the $350 for the labor. I had to admit that it was the right thing to do, while I am nursing myself back to health.

You might be interested in a thread I started when I first joined this forum: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...key-37146.html.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts: ... Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

I'm impressed! Dashboards scare me! So many parts, so many snap in things, and stuff that can get broken or never go back together correctly.

-ERD50

[bjorn2bwild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by aja8888 Replaced the heater core and fixed the blender doors on the A/C in my old 2000 Jetta diesel. Took one Sunday afternoon and a few Bud Lights. Had to pull the dash and steering column plus a ton of plastic parts. Now I have heat for the winter! (not bad for a 70 year old dude)

Way to go.
I did that same job on my 91 Ford Escort wagon. If not for the safety issue, I seriously considered cutting a hole in the firewall.
Now I am doing a valve job and replacing the timming belt driven water pump on the same car.
We recently bought a 2003 Honda CRV. DW hates it - prefers the size/lack of prestige of the Escort + simplicity of manual transmisson/hand crank windows. Its still playing out.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound All right! Another poster who's not afraid to tear his car apart. My wife recently had to take her car to a mechanic to have the A/C compressor replaced, with the condenser and dryer along with it of course. I already looked up the price of the parts, thinking that I would do it myself when I got better. My wife spared me that trouble, and spent the $350 for the labor. I had to admit that it was the right thing to do, while I am nursing myself back to health. You might be interested in a thread I started when I first joined this forum: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...key-37146.html.

Neat thread, and congrats on having the skill set!

I have been working on our cars as long as I can remember. My father bought me a 1952 Chevy when I was 16 that didn't run and said here is your first car. He paid $35 for it, I got it running and paid him his $35 back. I have built a few race cars and engines over the years.

BTW, the way, a shop quoted $900 + parts to change the heater core in the VW. Actually, the job was not bad and I only broke a few plastic clips. Core cost was $130 and coolant was $15. Beer was $12.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ERD50 I'm impressed! Dashboards scare me! So many parts, so many snap in things, and stuff that can get broken or never go back together correctly. -ERD50

A few clips got broken, but it all went back together pretty straightforward. A few sheet metal screws here and there took care of it. I still ask myself why manufacturers build cars around the heater core!

[NW-Bound]

$900 is a lot of dough!

And if I were doing this job, I would tell myself that I was doing something physical that burned calories, hence would allow myself a more substantial beer.

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjorn2bwild Way to go. I did that same job on my 91 Ford Escort wagon. If not for the safety issue, I seriously considered cutting a hole in the firewall. Now I am doing a valve job and replacing the timming belt driven water pump on the same car. We recently bought a 2003 Honda CRV. DW hates it - prefers the size/lack of prestige of the Escort + simplicity of manual transmisson/hand crank windows. Its still playing out.

That thought crossed my mind, but the core is inside the heater box and that nixed it. We had one of those older CRV's and I drove it for work. The early ones like that were pretty basic plain vanilla cars. My wife hated it too!

[aja8888]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound $900 is a lot of dough! And if I were doing this job, I would tell myself that I was doing something physical that burned calories, hence would allow myself a more substantial beer.

Especially on a car that is worth about $5K. Saved about $200/hr on the job. My son-in-law was helpful and he gained a lot of confidence with hand tools!

[sengsational]

My repair is nothing like pulling the heater core! Lots of people would have thrown out this spreader, but I fixed it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OH8In1Y0zE

[aja8888]

Nice job! And nice video!

At the end of the season when you put the spreader "up", spray the axle surfaces with WD40 to keep rust from forming. WD40 is a water dispersant (hence, WD) and should keep it good for the winter.

[Tom52]

We had been on vacation for a couple of weeks and when we left the weather had been fairly mild for this time of year. We shut down the two heating/AC systems in the house b/4 we left. We had not used the furnaces since last spring. We got home last Saturday and the weather was mild so there was no need to turn on either the heat or cooling. Well fast forward to last couple of days and the over night temp dropped to 40 degrees. DW flipped the thermostat to "heat" on one of the furnaces and nothing.....When I got home from work last night she broke the bad news to me.

I fiddled around with the furnace last night trying to figure out the problem, but since I had some other things going I told her to call the HVAC company that installed the furnace 9 years ago. Then last night the temp dropped to 26 degrees so I was hopeful they could get it fixed today. DW called me at w*rk and told me they couldn't schedule us in till Friday afternoon. She was not happy. They generously offered to come out sooner on an emergency call if we would be willing to pay an extra $157.00 charge above and beyond whatever the service call would cost. Now DW was really ticked.

So I figured enough so I did some on-line research and decided to try to replace the igniter. I left a half hour early from work so I could get home and remove the igniter and have it tested at the appliance parts store. Long story short, $59.40 plus about a total of 45 minutes later including the trip to the appliance parts store the house is now warming up nicely.

I figure I saved the budget a couple hundred $ today, have a little pride in DIYing it myself, and now DW is busy baking some home made cookies as reward for her knight in shining armor. Life doesn't get much better.

[NW-Bound]

Yep! Nothing like a little bit of work that pays so handsome dividend, plus the time saved not waiting for the repairman, plus the pride factor.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tom52 ...and now DW is busy baking some home made cookies as reward for her knight in shining armor. Life doesn't get much better.

Wow, she makes you work for it. All I have to do is kill spiders.

[Tom52]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 Wow, she makes you work for it. All I have to do is kill spiders.

Well maybe if I am lucky I can get her to polish my armor too...

[travelover]

I was drilling some holes in concrete when the brushes on the hammer drill started arcing like crazy. I took the drill apart and found that one brush was worn to its limit. I didn't want to fool around with finding a new set of brushes, so I clipped a short length of 6 gauge copper wire and used it as a shim under the brush. Worked perfectly. I think I'll trash the drill rather than find brushes for it, as the bushings are shot.

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by REWahoo Htown Harry lives in Houston (Htown) where it is common to run plumbing through the attic rather than within the slab (no basements in that part of the world). Freezing temps are very uncommon. But when temps do dip into the 20's as they did on a rare occasion in the early 80's, broken pipes and major water damage can - and did - ensue. Water heaters located in the attic are commonplace as a means of saving space - but they are a PITA to replace.

Not just saving space, but energy and $$. The attic is already hot...so the water gets heated by the ambient attic temps and very little electricity is needed. I live in Indiana and am a home inspector...we don't see them in attics around here LOL.

[Finance Dave]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjorn2bwild Way to go. I did that same job on my 91 Ford Escort wagon. If not for the safety issue, I seriously considered cutting a hole in the firewall. Now I am doing a valve job and replacing the timming belt driven water pump on the same car. We recently bought a 2003 Honda CRV. DW hates it - prefers the size/lack of prestige of the Escort + simplicity of manual transmisson/hand crank windows. Its still playing out.

I drive a 2002 CRV and now have 90k miles on it...it's the second best car I've ever owned. The best car was a 1992 Honda Civic DX hatchback. That car got 40 MPG city, and 41 highway. It did not have a passenger side mirror to cut down on wind drag and improve fuel mileage LOL...seriously! Here is a pic.
Civic 3 (1).jpg

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Finance Dave I drive a 2002 CRV and now have 90k miles on it...it's the second best car I've ever owned. The best car was a 1992 Honda Civic DX hatchback. That car got 40 MPG city, and 41 highway. It did not have a passenger side mirror to cut down on wind drag and improve fuel mileage LOL...seriously! Here is a pic.

I owned a 1992 Civic DX hatchback too! Bought it new and drove it until December 2008. I loved that car and still miss it. Replaced it with a 2009 Honda Fit, which is a great car, but not as much fun as the hatchback.

[LitGal]

Bought it in 1977, when you had to place an order and wait for it to be shipped from Japan. There were only about 4 colors: I bought the dark green. That car got incredible mileage, needed few repairs, and was very dependable. We sold it at 117,000 miles, in the mid-80's, but only because DH took a job that came with a company car.

It sold quickly for a good price.

(The only reason that we haven't bought another is that we have been able to buy DH's company cars, used, at salvage price: an offer we couldn't refuse.)