Home Improvement? – lee-lawmaster.com

Giving In

I purchased a new dishwasher, which led into me replacing my kitchen floor. I didn’t want to put this nice appliance in with such a hideous floor, one that had been there since quite possibly the mid 1980’s.

I take pride in my abilities to do manual labor, but my body has been saying no to such ventures more and more to the point where I just need to stop trying and start giving into what my body is telling me.

The existing floor is (or should I say was) was compromised of two layers of linoleum. Full of bumps and holes and all of the bad parts of the 80’s. I first wanted to go with a classic black and white checkerboard look. Unfortunately I couldn’t find a supplier that had what I was looking for that was as durable as I wanted. That’s when I made the choice to upgrade to tile, an area that I’ve never worked in before.

We found a tile we liked, and since my girlfriend’s place has a tile kitchen I knew I wanted it to have a heating system. So I pulled a very expensive trigger.

I wanted to do the prep work, so they could just come in and lay the tile. I “thought” I was proceeding properly, but learned yesterday I was wrong. Part of our contract was for me to remove the appliances, trim and ensure the subfloor was at least 5/8″ thick. I missed a little detail though. They wanted it to be in OSB.

The subfloor of my entire home is comprised of what is commonly called chipboard. It’s essentially dust from woodworking that’s glued together and compressed to form a dimensional, workable piece of wood. It has a couple of real negatives. Water will cause it to disintegrate, and it isn’t as solid as other forms of sub flooring, something needed and in most cases required for tile.

My first step in preparing the area was to remove the way the water line for the ice maker was configured and install a “box” in the wall for it. Oddly, while doing this I discovered that someone had already drilled a hole for this purpose but never completed the task. Someone had just drilled a hole in the floor and ran a line through it.

I will fix the additional space I had to cut below after the tile is installed

Last weekend, I began the real preparations as I thought they would be. My neighbor helped me pickup some 4’x8′ sheets of 1/4″ luan plywood. This is commonly used to make flooring smoother or increase the thickness of the floor. I was using it for the latter purpose.

I removed all of the appliances, sans the dishwasher and was going to begin on removing the existing flooring on Saturday morning. I woke to discover my wonderful girlfriend had removed the vast majority of it while I was sleeping.

We both felt that the lower layer of flooring was much better looking than the one above it. I wonder why they put new flooring down that was less durable and definitely not as visually pleasing?

I took all of the old stuff downstairs, and cleaned the floor. We noticed some spots seemed to have black mold on them, probably from water leaks over the years. So I bought some mold killing sprays and sprayed them down.

Then I brought that luan up and called it a night. I only had 1 day left, but those activities alone had taken all the strength I had out of me. My injured back was also screaming at me.

So I laid 2 sheets of the luan down, removed the dishwasher and thought they would just lay the rest of the luan down. Boy was I wrong.

Now I’ll be spending roughly $500 more on this project, not due to what I did – but because of what my body couldn’t do. Something my soul used to love doing. My soul needs that harmony back in in some way. I just need to learn the lines of what I can and cannot do.

One Disaster Just Isn’t Enough

Of course, life had to deal me and my domicile another blow. On Tuesday I received a odd text from my girlfriend. The water pressure in my home had essentially turned into a slow drip, across my entire home.

When I made it home, I confirmed her words but then investigated a “turbulence” that could be heard in the main water pipe going about halfway through my home. That word is the best way I can describe what I heard.

Everything on the internet pointed to an issue with the water service itself, but my water company was closed. A friend who works with these things said to turn the water service off and then on again. I was going to do this, but then I got a hold of my uncle Ted.

To this day I don’t know exactly what he “does” for a living. But I know he’s closely attached to one of the water companies in the county. He painted my old motorcycle and he painted the IROC.

I called him just looking for a suggestion on who to hire to fix it, he simply stated, I’ll fix it, told me to call 811 and hung up. So I did as a good nephew should and did what he said.

The next day I called my water company, and explained the situation. They went over to my place and tested my outdoor spigots and compared it to what the meter was reading. My meter was showing an active flow rate of 29 gallons a minute. I definitely had a leak, but where? They shut the water off.

My only thought was from the drainage work I had done a couple of years ago. When they were creating the trench, they hit my water line, which required it be repaired.

On the suggestion of a friend, I reached out to the company that performed the work, to ask if they would offer any assistance. I casually mentioned that I had already contacted my uncle Ted, as the community of people that do this work is quite small. Surprisingly one of the people used to work for him. They said that they would come out on Saturday (the day I’m writing this).

My uncle Ted, and his brother Tom (my other uncle) came on Thursday evening with a mini-excavator. I didn’t know Tom was coming, so that was a happy surprise to me. While they were en-route, I decided to take a walk in my yard, to see if I could notice anything out of the ordinary that could lead to the point of the break. I sure found something odd, an almost perfectly circular hole in my yard, that was about 3 feet deep. This turned out to be the exact spot where the line broke.

They made quick work of digging a hole to where my drainage tile and water line intersected. The amount of water flow coming from that drainage tile was quite amazing, showing how well that investment paid off.

Both of my uncles believed the way the water line was sitting played a part in the original fix breaking. If I recall correctly, it was as seen in the image, and they moved it to be underneath the drain. Ted then replaced about a 3 foot section of the water line and installed a couple of compression fittings that were at least twice the size of the existing ones. I’ve never seen fittings like this in my life.

Ted then went to my water meter, and gave me a lesson in their workings. My particular meter is an older version of the meters used with his water company. It has a digital display that switches between the reading and the flow rate. I appreciated the lesson.

I opened a few faucets in the house to get any air out of the system, and then turned my water heater back on. Ted and Tom then began filling that hole back up.

I’ve never been one to lean on others to rescue me from problems, and offered them the significant amount of cash I randomly had on me at the time. Ted wanted me to reimburse him for the fittings, but neither of them would take any other payment. I’ll forever be grateful and appreciative.

I updated the company I had hired that the water leak was fixed, but that due to it there were some spots in my yard that were now damaged. They came by today and laid down some dirt. Unfortunately due to some weather we had received, it was difficult at best. They agreed to come back when the weather is a little better to add some more.

I then found out that company is related to another fork of my family. All of this has reminded me of how much of a small world this really is.

The ‘ol Money Pit

My body isn’t the only thing falling apart, my house is as well. It’s time I rectify the problems before I’m drowning in them. Who am I kidding, I am drowning in them.

Almost four years ago, after returning from a vacation I came home to discover that the bath faucet for my main bathroom would not shut off completely. This began #reno2018. I had already tried to refurbish the faucet, and was informed no parts were made for it anymore. The only option was to replace. However, my financial attentions were distracted after spending roughly $3000 on the shower/bath areas alone.

I was however able to use child labor for a vast majority of the work.

How has she changed since this photo was taken.

Unfortunately, the piece called a drop elbow (this is what your shower head attaches to) was faulty and had to be replaced. The water it leaked has caused mold to start to form essentially in the top left corner of this photo. I will possibly have to replace all of the drywall in that area as well.

The rest of the plans for the bathroom include changing the light fixtures, including the exhaust fan, a new sink and lavatory, new mirror, new electrical receptacles and switches, door and the major feature being a nickel floor (a floor made from nickels).

The other major item is unfortunately my kitchen as well. Immediately after purchasing this home, all of the kitchen appliances decided to quit working. Fifteen years of use have provided their toil on them, and so the dishwasher said it was done. I purchased a new one, which has been delivered but not installed. Why? The kitchen floor is in horrible shape, and I’d rather replace it before installing this new quite fancy dishwasher.

The first step in that process is to move the water line that goes to the ice maker in my refrigerator. When originally installed, a hole was simply drilled into the floor. Over the years I have just used it as is.

Today, I installed what is called an “icemaker box.” These are made to be installed before the walls are installed, which made the installation problematic.

As you can see in the above photo, that water line coming up through the floor. The floor is a 2nd layer on top of the original kitchen floor. Both being made of what is commonly called linoleum.

Then came the not so fun part. I assumed I would have to drill a hole through the bottom plate to give passage to the water line, but I was in luck – there was already a hole existing. The 1/2″ PEX tubing fit. But fitting this box into this hole became an issue, so I cut some additional drywall out to give room for the water line coming out of the bottom of the box.

When trying to position the “ears” on the side of the box between the drywall and the stud, they just instantly snapped off. It was frustrating to say the least. That said, the width of the whole I cut was snug enough to hold the box, and the face place gives more friction which causes the box to not really move at all.

The only thing left is to actually connect the line, which I will wait to do until the floor is replaced. I will do this by cutting the PEX to fit, and attaching with a 1/2″ female thread adapter to where the line is connected currently.

I am hiring the job of replacing the floor out, to who I’m not entirely sure yet. The last job I ever did as a contractor was just this, replacing a kitchen floor. It’s actually part of why I’m hiring it out. While moving their refrigerator back, I ruined the floor. I was completely embarrassed.

My primary want on the floor is for it to be a black & white checkerboard vinyl tile. I am not a fan of regular tile due to the temperature fluctuations. These vinyl tiles fascinate me to the point where I legitimately want them in my own home. This is not “peel & stick” but legitimate tile.

However, it seems hard to find. So I am looking at alternatives. I plan on changing my cabinets to white, with black stone countertops. I might go with something that gives a natural stone look as I prefer the French Country Kitchen look.

Unfortunately this is only the beginning of a lot of updates/fixes that have been a long time coming. I just wished my back felt better so I could do more.

Time Keeps on Slippin’

As Steve Miller sang, “Into the future.”

This weekend has flown by, but I did get some things done that I wanted to get done. As of late, it’s as if the weekends have been used to recuperate from the week I’ve had, with my body feeling as if I’ve been through a marathon.

Saturday, I finally installed my missing outdoor water spigot. The way my houses plumbing was installed just puzzles my mind. All CPVC. This is just the start of my eventual replacement of all of the plumbing in my house, as I’m converting it to PEX.

Today, I mowed my yard. My grass grows rather quickly, it had grown about 4″ since it’s first mowing of the year exactly a week ago.

I then setup a new WAP (wireless access point). It’s a Ubitiqui Flex-HD. When I started to set it up, it didn’t want to work with my existing systems at all. So I went down a wormhole of setting up their controller software, called Unifi in a Docker container on my Plex server. That last part took a large portion of the day itself.

With it, I was able to segment my network and create a IOT network for all of those “smart” devices we have these days – that aren’t really so smart. I take my network security and personal security pretty seriously, and this will show them who the boss is.

Silence, but reasons

I haven’t wrote here for a while, and it’s been highly frustrating. But there have been many reasons as to why. Something happened with my word press installation, making posting all but impossible.

Spring has brought upon me the urge to do the projects I have put off for too long. The first of which, my kitchen faucet. My girlfriend and my daughter were the loudest voices in their disdain for it. I won’t lie, it should have been replaced years ago. It leaked each time the water was turned on and the sprayer hose leaked as well.

I’m not a fan of how kitchen faucets are designed now, so I found one with the qualities I liked, bought it and installed it within a day. Boom, done. Or I thought. I got some comments from my girlfriends father, and her on how I should add a filtration system under the sink so I could get rid of my on sink Pur filter. I’ve never found an issue with the water quality, but the girlfriend and youngest daughter do. So I then ordered a 3 stage system, and am waiting on it to be delivered.

Then, I decided to use my 2021 Stimulus payment in a smart way. I purchased a hybrid water heater. It’s Energy Star certified, uses 1/3 of the energy my former one does, will net me a $500 rebate from my electric company, and net me a $300 tax credit next year! The rebate and tax credit pay for half of it alone.

Richmond Encore Series Hybrid Electric Water Heater

Plumbing isn’t one of my strong suits, but I can get the job done. The manual actually stated not to use plastic or copper hard line to connect and instead recommended PEX. A combination of me being stubborn and unwilling to buy the special tool required for PEX left me doing it this way.

I had the lines blow apart on me three times, flooding my basement. That however isn’t my first rodeo.

To show a comparison of energy consumption between the models, here’s a image of my old unit’s yellow tag:

Here is the yellow tag of the new one:

Large difference isn’t it? With my girlfriend and her kids now staying with my full time, keeping us comfortable while also keeping my bills as low as I can have been paramount. This has a bit of IOT built into it, with an app that lets you schedule and control which mode it uses. There are five modes that can be used, Energy Saver, Heat Pump, High Demand, Electric and Vacation.

Investments in the Future

I’ve made some changes to my bedroom. My girlfriend had been complaining about my queen size bed, it hurt her back. It was old and it did need to be replaced. I got a deal on a nice king bed and foam mattress from Amazon and went with it.

Extreme Wide Angle: I had to put my phone on panoramic mode with it against the wall to get the entire bed

This caused a problem however, as I had less space in my bedroom. I needed new night stands. Fortunately, I know a guy and I enjoy what he does. He’s my girlfriend’s brother.

He had shown us the ones he made for himself, and I really enjoyed how they came out. Knowing him as I do, I also felt comfortable letting him have his way with any creative endeavors he wanted to have on this project. My only dictation to him, the dimensions.

He kept sending me pictures through the whole process, and got to work on them rather quickly. I was surprised really. In all reality, these tables cost me just a little more than something I would have bought; yet these are handmade and will last generations versus something I might keep for a decade and throw away.

The tables are compromised of Walnut and Cherry with traditional joinery. The only screws on it are for the table and top. Finished with wax.

A week after I got them, he sent me some messages asking how I liked them. If I wanted anything different or if I had any tweaks about them. The only real issue I can see is the size of the drawers, as they are a touch small – but okay for my use. I sent him the following image of one of them in my room. I’m a happy man.

Craftsmanship isn’t appreciated as much as it should be in our consumer centric society. When and where I can, I try to buy nice things instead of just things.

I will forever be appreciative of Tim’s talents and efforts in making these tables for me. Just as I asked him to make them, he told me that he is planning on moving clear across the country. It made me sad, as he’s a really awesome guy. Someone I strive to be like.

One of these days I’ll get around to actually working on this place, like I’ve wanted to. I have so many things I want to get done, but so little will to actually do them. It’s hard.

Life Has Become Expensive

There’s a commonality between many American’s these days. We are all just one emergency away from disaster. Many are living paycheck to paycheck, or the newly minted direct deposit to direct deposit.

This year, the drainage work I had to have done was enough to break my budget. When this pandemic struck, my salary was also cut by $1750 a year, with overtime eliminated.

Most recently, my daily driver has required much. The brake replacement costing $700, I still need to perform the 100k mile tuneup. While I have already acquired the parts needed, being spark plugs and intake plenum gaskets, I have extreme trepidation about performing the task. The fear of the unknown has always been one of my largest fears.

As if life wasn’t giving me enough to deal with, something happened with my washing machine. I’m not an expert in electronics or in major home appliances but all of the things shown tell me it wasn’t good.

I first discovered a trail of water in my basement in an L shape from my basement garage door to my washing machine. From there the possibilities were endless, that was until I opened the washing machine up. It was completely full of water. It was overflowing, causing this leak into my basement.

I borrowed a pump off of a friend who had lent me a pump when my basement was flooding. Thankfully it fit into the old washing machine, which was just a $75 Craigslist special. When I bought it, I promised myself that I would not be doing this song and dance again. I wanted to purchase something new and something that was Energy Star certified.

But first, I had to correct the issues. The water valves were leaking and would not shut off fully.

I did not want to replace these valves with the same thing. I wanted ball style valves without a flange for wall mounting. Thankfully when whoever set this up originally, they attached these with a threaded fitting, making replacement somewhat easy. Finding the valves I wanted ended up being a task however. The major big box stores did not have any. Menard’s said it was special order, Lowe’s stated they had 6 in stock online, so I place an order before I went to bed. By the time I woke up, that order had been cancelled. This is the second time this has happened to me when ordering something online from them.

I had a meeting the next day and as luck would have it that meeting took me into the direction of a small True Value hardware store in a town where I used to live. They had the valves I needed, but they were double the price.

So with the old washing machine cleared of water and moved out of the way, I got to work removing the valves. I had to put a fair amount of thread tape on to seal the valves, redoing one of them twice. But they function much better than the ones that were existing.

The correct term for these are “Hose Bibs”

I then needed to do the thing I was dreading the most. I had to get rid of the old washing machine, and the old dryer I had replaced but never taken off. I also had 6 brake rotors sitting around from all of the brake work I’ve done in the past year.

I have my dad’s truck, but it’s currently not operational or road worthy. Most in the area charge to haul things off, no matter what the size. This has always stricken me as odd, as they receive money for scrap on these items. So I reached out, and a friend very openly let me borrow his truck. In kind, I left my Jeep with him. I’m not a fan of taking things from others and leaving them without.

My body is in horrible physical condition, and as I’ve learned it’s becoming weak. It made me happy to be able to accomplish this task.

When finished, I filled up the gas tank of my friends truck in appreciation. He uses it a lot for his work and drives a lot. I would much rather help someone I know than rent a piece of equipment and give money to a corporation.

Then it arrived, the new washer I bought. At first I was a little overwhelmed. I’m not used to having such nice things to handle such tasks.

I had the delivery men take it out of the box and leave it in my garage.

It was a bit hard to get it into my utility room. The feet on this unit don’t allow it to slide like most washing machines that I’m used to. So I had to carry it. With new everything, the entire installation went very smooth.

The contrast is now obvious and clear however. This new machine has more than double the capacity of my old one. It automatically senses the load size and can be started with an app.

Thankfully I was able to get this on an 18 month no interest offer. I hope to pay this off quickly, then purchase the matching dryer. That will require some more upgrades, as my dryer outlet is a 3 prong, and new dryers require a 4 prong.

As it’s been for a while, I’m just living for the future, when some of my debts are paid, and the difference between living and surviving becomes clearer.

Cutting the Grass

Heat has always played a peculiar role in my life. As a child, I spent summers outside in nothing but a pair of shorts. That has since progressed to a point where I can barely stand it.

Last year, I was unable to mow my yard. I hired a guy to do it for me, and I appreciated the service he provided to me. I didn’t enjoy spending $50 a week on something I had done for years however.

Last year, I could barely stand being anywhere above 70 degrees. Indoors or out. I felt that I was a hostage to my body, trapped within the confines of air conditioned spaces.

Today, I mowed my yard for the first time in over a year. It’s a little victory, I just hope I can continue to do so. We haven’t reached the peak of heat in the year yet. I didn’t use the bagger this time, but I hope to eventually. My yard is still healing from the basement repair work and from where the gas company removed my gas service.

It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so I felt it was prudent that the grass be mowed.

Basement Fixed, Wallet Destroyed

Two winters ago, I had a flood event happen in my home that had never happened before. Copious amounts of water in my basement. Clean it up, and it would be right back. Until the water table fell, it would return.

I had a room mate living in that space at the time, and I felt horrible about it. As I had told her the basement never flooded. I had warned her that there might be a small puddle in a couple places – but never flooding.

We had a couple of heavy rain events this winter, and the same flooding returned. However, I was able to find exactly where the water was coming from. It was coming directly through my fireplace, and into my basement. I covered the cap with plastic, but that didn’t stop the flow. It was coming through the ground.

So I immediately reached out for quotes to get this fixed. Not a band aid, an actual fix. Most of what I was faced with was what I call a “bubba” situation. People telling me that they’d put a drain in for me, that’ll fix it. No it won’t Bubba. That will just mask the issue. One person, a guy I moderate a group with lent me a water pump to help get rid of the water until I got the situation resolved. That’s an amazing gesture, one I appreciate immensely.

I decided to go with a small family run crawlspace business. They gave me a plan, which they executed just as was explained. Their charge was more than the others, but I think it will pay dividends in how dry my basement will stay.

They called 811 almost a week ahead of time, to make sure my utilities were marked, but the company that does that only marked my fiber line for telecom. Thankfully I have had this done several times and roughly know where all my utilities run.

From this image, you can see what they are doing. They dug this hole around my chimney, and then ran a trench for the drain. While digging the trench, they broke my water line. It didn’t run directly to my meter, and instead did a zig-zag.

They then cleaned the area and covered it in asphalt tar, a thin layer of plastic and a thicker bubbled layer of plastic to create an air gap. Many times, water is pressed through concrete block walls by pressure alone. This will will mitigate that.

The aforementioned bubbled plastic I mentioned. The drain is constructed of a section to gather water made up of drain tile with a fabric covered section to keep it from becoming clogged, with a run section that only moves the water to an exit.

After they finished this section, it started raining. They were unable to complete the job for a few days. They then back-filled, trimmed the plastic back and covered the raw dirt with straw.

Since the dirt had become saturated from the rains, they were unable to grade the ground as proper as they had liked. They told me to call them in a few months and they will come back to smooth the yard up more.

This is where the drain ends. I haven’t decided what I will do with this spot, as it changes how I have mowed my grass. I will probably put in some rocks or landscaping feature to help with this.

In the end, I had to use all of the few hundred dollars I had been able to save and go in debt by $2000 more to get this work done. I’m really feeling the financial pinch but am thankful to be in a situation where it is not the end of the world.

My goals right now are focused on lowering that debt amount and enjoying a dry basement.

What’s a Cubit?

My dearly departed father grew up listening to Bill Cosby albums. It was the basis of his lifelong passion for comedy. When I grew up, I discovered his comedy. I only knew him for Jello commercials and The Cosby Show.

In the thirteen years I’ve lived in this home, I have dealt with all sorts of water issues. The first one being from the water line coming into my house. The second being my almost yearly sewage backups. I would occasionally get small amounts of water in my basement. It was enough to clean up, but not enough to cause serious concern.

I’m concerned now.

We received a lot of rain this weekend. Over 1.5 inches in the last 24 hours alone. Many roads were flooded. I’ve seen flooding like this in the area, but never as wide spread before.

Water was literally coming through my fireplace, exiting and draining into my basement. Thankfully the slab is leveled to force water to flow out of my garage. But I’ve never seen it act like this before. Something must have changed with the concrete blocks that form my basement walls, or something has broken on my chimney allowing the water to flow.

The key difference is the amount of dirt and silt that flowed in with the water. I repeat, I have never seen this happen before. I’ve also never seen water flow out of my garage when the door is opened. Never.

So, I did what I always do. Swept the water out as best as I could. Got my dehumidifier going, but it was of no help. I put towels up to help mitigate the flow. I also covered my chimney with 6mil plastic, but that did not change the flow. The issue has to be below grade.

A guy I moderate a group with offered some assistance. It was nice to finally meet him in real life. He purchased a pump for me to borrow, which pumped a majority of the water out. The water quit coming out of my fireplace soon afterwards. He looked at my property and gave me some ideas of what can be done to mitigate this happening in the future.

Tomorrow my day will consist of contacting every professional in the area that I can to get estimates on fixing this. I will also be contacting the Chimney/Fireplace company a classmate operates with her husband. They said they could get me an appointment for Tuesday. This is going to be costly.

And the lord said, “How long can you tread water?“