Your recent repair? 2013 - 2020

[RetiredAndFree]

I thought it was too? Most upgrades around these parts are back to colored panels due to the above and getting tired of smudges/fingerprints. But stainless still looks great.

I'm not seeing any letup in popularity here on the W. Coast. I'm thinking stainless steel appliances will eventually move into the same timeless categories as wood floors, wood shutters and white kitchen cabinets. All continue to look wonderful no matter how long ago they were installed.

Now, glass tile backsplashes? Definitely a trend that will define a decade moving forward.

 

[easysurfer]

Not really a repair but more of an upgrade.

I changed the chuck on a new hammer drill with a chuck that locks tightly onto the bits.

Months back, I attempted the same change on two similar drills but ended up scratching up the handles big time which made it an eyesore each time using the drills. So, I put the scratched ones up on ebay and their sales will pay for the price of the new drill.

Of course, it helps that this time around I got a big ass impact wrench that gives plenty of torque to take the old chuck right off.

 

[samclem]

Months back, I attempted the same change on two similar drills but ended up scratching up the handles big time which made it an eyesore each time using the drills. So, I put the scratched ones up on ebay and their sales will pay for the price of the new drill.

Dang, I like the sight of a scratched-up, well-used tool. A purty hammer drill is an inexperienced hammer drill, I trust the ugly one that's been through a lot of [-]cinder blocks[/-] CMU.
The first thing to do with a brand new angle grinder, etc is to tie the power cord to the truck bumper and drag it around the block one time. Otherwise, the "senior" tools on the rack will just point and make fun of the shiny new rookie.

 

[gauss]

Both Bake and Broil element in 1980s Kenmore oven stopped working. The included wiring diagram (both in owners manual and inside back panel of oven) showed that it must either be the mode switch, the thermostat or the relay. A more careful review of the schematic along with the fact that the oven 'on indicator' was working properly showed that the relay was indeed the culprit.

After locating a suitable replacement on the Internet (~$50), the oven was back up and running within the week. Luckily DW was away on a business trip for most of this week.

-gauss

 

[easysurfer]

Dang, I like the sight of a scratched-up, well-used tool. A purty hammer drill is an inexperienced hammer drill, I trust the ugly one that's been through a lot of [-]cinder blocks[/-] CMU.
The first thing to do with a brand new angle grinder, etc is to tie the power cord to the truck bumper and drag it around the block one time. Otherwise, the "senior" tools on the rack will just point and make fun of the shiny new rookie.

I hear you. But the scratches were self-inflicted on perfectly good handles and not via regular wear and tear. So, I decided to do a reset and start over.


Both teams scratched in similar fashion.

 

[easysurfer]

I hear you. But the scratches were self-inflicted on perfectly good handles and not via regular wear and tear. So, I decided to do a reset and start over.


Both teams scratched in similar fashion.

"Both teams"? I meant to say "both drills." That's what happens when listening to a ball game while typing

 

[Tom52]

My utility room had two layers of 12" vinyl tile on it and they needed to be replaced. The second layer did not adhere well to the first layer so up it all came. It was quite a job scraping off the old tile and cleaning the glue off the concrete. The job was especially difficult as the tile was/is under the hot water heater and cut in under the furnace for a nice finished look. I also had to deal with moving around the washer/dryer. Did I mention the tile was laid at 45 degrees for a bit of a classy look?

It was nice that I waited till after retirement to tackle this project as it was probably 3 weeks start to finish. I am glad I got it done because I spend a lot of time here, the utility room also seconds as my office, where I am as I type this.

 

[zedd]

Removed/replaced the in-tank fuel pump on my Chevy pickup. Used my tractor to lift the truck bed off the frame to gain access (roll Tim the tool man grunt-grunt-grunt here)

 

[Telly]

...... It was quite a job scraping off the old tile and cleaning the glue off the concrete.....

UGH!
The worst floor removal I ever had to do was our kitchen cushioned-vinyl Congoleum floor. It first could be cut into 6" wide strips and peeled up with a thin pry bar. That separated the top wear layer, the design, and most of the cushion layer off. But the glued-on base layer was one with the concrete.

Tried all sorts of methods to try to get it off, no go. Ended up using a 1" wide wood chisel bevel-down at an exact angle to shear it and the glue together off of the concrete. Held chisel with two gloved hands and pushed very hard while wiggling the handle a bit sideways. Came up slowly in curly-Q strips like wood shavings. Had to do the whole floor that way. It wasn't so bad after the first 3 ten-hour days... you just get numb and keep going and lose sense of time and pain.
Had to re-sharpen chisels every couple of hours with oil and oil stone.

Getting all of the stuff off was important, as I wanted the RedGard decoupling application to bond to the concrete well, as thin-set mortar and porcelain tiles were going on top of it. Had heard of a few horror stories of people who did inadequate prep work before RedGard, and ended up effectively with tile laid on top of a tarp!

Sent from my Yamaguchi 3000 via the Early Retirement Forum intergalactic bit-leaker app.

 

[zinger1457]

UGH!
The worst floor removal I ever had to do was our kitchen cushioned-vinyl Congoleum floor. It first could be cut into 6" wide strips and peeled up with a thin pry bar. That separated the top wear layer, the design, and most of the cushion layer off. But the glued-on base layer was one with the concrete.

Yep, replaced the vinyl floors in my kitchen and bathrooms with tile and getting the glue off of the cement slab was a royal PITA. Used Krud Kutter that I picked up at Home Depot, along with a big floor scraper. It helped some but still a lot of manual effort required.

 

[superdave]

Replaced spring rope on dishwasher door. Door just crashes down otherwise.Nice mid complexity google enabled repair.

 

[samclem]

The worst floor removal I ever had to do was our kitchen cushioned-vinyl Congoleum floor. It first could be cut into 6" wide strips and peeled up with a thin pry bar. That separated the top wear layer, the design, and most of the cushion layer off. But the glued-on base layer was one with the concrete.

I feel your pain. Int he basement I've removed 500 sq feet of (brittle) asbestos tile held down with tar mastic. The tile popped right up, but the black tar . . . rented a rotary scraper after trying lots of chemicals and other mechanical methods. The thinset for the new porcelain is adhering well though the tar had thoroughly penetrated the concrete. The scraper/scarifier left enough gouges and grooves to key the modified thinset. I hope.
In two places where I had (level, small) cracks I used RedGard over a generous margin to spread the stresses over a wide area--the slab was in good shape and is over 50 years old, so I don't think I'll be seeing much more movement.

I still have 1000 sq feet to go.

PS: I did all the the prudent things regarding the asbestos tile and mastic.

 

[NW-Bound]

A tip for any of you that work on your vehicles. If you get drips or an oil spill on your concrete - get some Super Clean foaming cleaner (purple spray bottle). O'Riellys had a buy 1 get 1 free last week. This stuff really works! I spilled a few ounces of gear oil on the driveway - used news paper to get most of it up and then sprayed this stuff on. Let it work for 5 minutes and spray it off with water - not a trace/stain at all. First stuff I found that works.

I have been using spray cans of generic engine degreaser to wash any oil spill when I change car engine oil. Before spraying, I mop up with paper towel as needed of course.

I always have a can of engine degreaser handy. I don't like dirty and oily engines.

 

[redduck]

I feel your pain. Int he basement I've removed 500 sq feet of (brittle) asbestos tile held down with tar mastic. The tile popped right up, but the black tar . . . rented a rotary scraper after trying lots of chemicals and other mechanical methods. The thinset for the new porcelain is adhering well though the tar had thoroughly penetrated the concrete. The scraper/scarifier left enough gouges and grooves to key the modified thinset. I hope.
In two places where I had (level, small) cracks I used RedGard over a generous margin to spread the stresses over a wide area--the slab was in good shape and is over 50 years old, so I don't think I'll be seeing much more movement.

I still have 1000 sq feet to go.

PS: I did all the the prudent things regarding the asbestos tile and mastic.

Why didn't you hire someone to do this?

 

[samclem]

Why didn't you hire someone to do this?

Because I wouldn't have gotten a story that way? I dunno, really. It was just one part of the basement rehab (others: walls and ceiling) and after hearing enough foolishness about the best way to do the walls from "experts" who apparently knew nothing about the basics of water vapor movement I decided that it would be easier to do it myself than to find someone who would do it right. This happens frequently and I'm starting to suspect that I'm the problem.
It sort if snuck up on me and became a quest.

 

[redduck]

I'm not sure about this, but it seems like some of you folks really w%rk hard in retirement. I still go to the office, yet I feel I w%rk less hard than a lot of you retirees. But, I don't get a story out of it. I guess that makes it a wash. Yours was a good story.

 

[travelover]

I'm not sure about this, but it seems like some of you folks really w%rk hard in retirement. I still go to the office, yet I feel I w%rk less hard than a lot of you retirees. But, I don't get a story out of it. I guess that makes it a wash. Yours was a good story.

A bad day scraping off tile for yourself is better than a good day toiling in a cube for someone else.

 

[ls99]

I'm not sure about this, but it seems like some of you folks really w%rk hard in retirement. I still go to the office, yet I feel I w%rk less hard than a lot of you retirees. But, I don't get a story out of it. I guess that makes it a wash. Yours was a good story.

If it is at my whim, option and schedule it is no-work work. Even if it is brutally difficult.

 

[NW-Bound]

I guess many posters here are self-motivators who hate to be motivated by somebody else.

 

[redduck]

I guess many posters here are self-motivators who hate to be motivated by somebody else.

That's what it's beginning to sound like (based on a very small sample).

 

[zinger1457]

The satisfaction I still get from walking on a nice tile job I did years ago, or seeing other projects I completed, far outweighs the few blisters and back ache it took to complete it.

 

[redduck]

I feel your pain. Int he basement I've removed 500 sq feet of (brittle) asbestos tile held down with tar mastic. The tile popped right up, but the black tar . . . rented a rotary scraper after trying lots of chemicals and other mechanical methods. The thinset for the new porcelain is adhering well though the tar had thoroughly penetrated the concrete. The scraper/scarifier left enough gouges and grooves to key the modified thinset. I hope.
In two places where I had (level, small) cracks I used RedGard over a generous margin to spread the stresses over a wide area--the slab was in good shape and is over 50 years old, so I don't think I'll be seeing much more movement.

I still have 1000 sq feet to go.

PS: I did all the the prudent things regarding the asbestos tile and mastic.

OK, OK, I know this is the second time I've quoted samclem's post, but it has become an inspiration to me. I, for the first time in my life, have a need to fix things.

If you (anyone?) recall the other day, I put new batteries in the computer mouse. Wow, I never saw a mouse so upset--maybe I shouldn't have tried inserting D cells (just a little joke).

But this morning, I lucked out: I actually fixed something today--and, I think the project had just about the same degree of difficulty as samclem's project had.

The project:

It seems that the duchess of redduck couldn’t get the pump of the Nexus Extra Large Salon Hair Care container to pop up. This is after twisting the pump head around in both directions until her arm became tired. So, she handed it over to me.

Anyhow, I started to twist the pump head around but it still wouldn’t pop up. (Anybody still reading)? Then, I had an inspiration coupled with an eerie feeling of déjà vu. (I seem to get these feelings more often as I age. For instance, just last week I experienced déjà vu as I was eating a piece of toast. It seemed vaguely familiar to me that I had done this before, but couldn’t quite recall the circumstances involved). OK, where was? Oh, yeah, back to the 12 inch container. For some reason, I kind of remembered that if someone presses down gently or not-so-gently (depending on how much you’ve had to drink) on a pump-thingy, while twisting it at the same time, it often pops up, which enables it to go up and down and release what’s in the container. It worked.

So, now I have a much better understanding of the feelings of satisfaction (and of relief) about being handy around the house.

 

[samclem]

Anyhow, I started to twist the pump head around but it still wouldn’t pop up. (Anybody still reading)? . . . For some reason, I kind of remembered that if someone presses down gently or not-so-gently (depending on how much you’ve had to drink) on a pump-thingy, while twisting it at the same time, it often pops up, which enables it to go up and down and release what’s in the container. It worked.

So, now I have a much better understanding of the feelings of satisfaction (and of relief) about being handy around the house.

redduck,
See?! Feels great, doesn't it? Sure, you could have hired that job out (along with any other tasks the Duchess requires . . .) but you'd have missed out on this sense of satisfaction.
Now, the next steps. You jumped right in and solved the problem, and you got the job done, but I'm not sure you optimized the "get a story" aspect. For instance, you could have attempted to raise the pumper by applying a bit of differential pressure. Put the sealed up hair product bottle in a pot of very hot water and let the air molecules inside get really hot, spread out, and push the little pumper up on their own (overpowering the lock-down feature).* What could go wrong? Anyway, that's what I would have tried.






* Do not attempt this project in this manner, Serious injury or death may result due to overpressurization of a sealed container and resulting explosion, with concomitant rapid dispersal of magma-hot hair product. Never heat a sealed container.

 

[redduck]

samclem...

Keep in mind I'm still a novice here. But, I certainly want to thank you for the additional tips. I never would have thought of the hot water angle. Just how does one get water to be that hot, anyway? Maybe that's my next project.

 

[redduck]

...For instance, you could have attempted to raise the pumper by applying a bit of differential pressure. Put the sealed up hair product bottle in a pot of very hot water and let the air molecules inside get really hot, spread out, and push the little pumper up on their own (overpowering the lock-down feature).* What could go wrong? Anyway, that's what I would have tried.


* Do not attempt this project in this manner, Serious injury or death may result due to overpressurization of a sealed container and resulting explosion, with concomitant rapid dispersal of magma-hot hair product. Never heat a sealed container.

OK, it sounds like "very hot" will work for a little pumper, but for a large-size pumper, do we need to get to "even hotter" beyond "very hot"? If so, how do you accomplish this?

And, thanks for pointing out the downsides of your suggestion. But, I think the reward may be worth the potential risks. I mean, it's not like I'm going to be forced into selling a basketball team.