What Do You Fix?

[downer]

Just embarking on repainting an apartment, or most of it. Some walls, some ceilings, some floors. And there's a broken window too. I'm going to keep on going until I get sick of it. Then I will probably hire someone to fix the mistakes I made.

So far, I just filled the holes in the walls with spackle. That may turn out to be a 2 stage process.

[apl68]

Assisted my brother and father in taking down several small trees on the edge of Mom and Dad's yard yesterday.  We felled them, cut them up, and removed the remains to what amounts to a giant compost pile on the wooded part of the property.  Then in late afternoon I had to drive home to get ready to head back to work today.

[FishProf]

A significant branch (14in dia) fell on my popup shed.  I rented a 20 in chain saw to cut it up.  It worked great, but it was HEAVY.  Then I got the chain pinched.  Cue a 2 hour repair job.

But I got it cut up, took out 2 trees that were about to come down (and given the storm blowing now, not a minute too soon) and trimmed some aggressive growers near the fence and power lines.

It was, in fact, too hot and humid for doing that, and I think I have heat stroke by the time I came in for a cold shower and a long nap.

But it sure feels good.  Both to be able to do this, and to have done it.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Good work, FP!

I've been thinking about buying a chainsaw, but I'm not sure I should be trusted with it.

[FishProf]

Take a course.  For safety and for knowing what you are getting into.

[mamselle]

Wanna come over and take down the tree that fell onto the road (no damage, no injuries, thankfully) in front of my place yesterday?

;--》

Actually, the city will do it, it's on the berm.

It just makes me mad at the utility companies that lop off balancing branches until the whole thing is leaning out.

That's what I'd like to fix, the whole process by which that happens.

Le grand sigh, as merce used to say....

M.

[mamselle]

Wanna come over and take down the tree that fell onto the road (no damage, no injuries, thankfully) in front of my place yesterday?

;--》

Actually, the city will do it, it's on the berm.

It just makes me mad at the utility companies that lop off balancing branches until the whole thing is leaning out.

That's what I'd like to fix, the whole process by which that happens.

Le grand sigh, as merce used to say....

M.

Too late, the town has finished taking it down and is moving on!

M.

[downer]

I'm going to have to fix some windows. 2 Andersen ones, and another pre-made insulated one. I guess I may need to just get a window service to do it all, but I hope to be able to minimize costs.

[fishbrains]

Replaced a bathroom vanity top and the faucet. Took three days and two marriage counselors. The Moen faucet we bought had directions that simply ignored some basic laws of physics, so we returned it and bought a different brand. A side comment to anyone even remotely affiliated with Moen: F*ck you. Installed faucet #2 without too much incident until the gasket below the sink hole under the vanity kept leaking. Finally, we put about a tube full of silicone on it, and now it doesn't leak. I pity the fool who has to take it off next time.

But! We emerged victorious . . . so far.

[namazu]

I disabled the @$#%$%#@#^@$ beeper on our tower stand fan, which beeped very loudly every time you changed a setting and (most frustratingly) when you turned it off.  Not great with two sleep-deprived adults and a baby in the room.  The process this time involved breaking the beeper off of the motherboard, which was most satisfying.

[mamselle]

Extreme need sometimes requires extreme action...sleep well!

;--}

M.

[fishbrains]

Just fixed a slow-drip on the cut-off valve handle under the kids' bathroom sink. In 20 seconds. It took me longer to find my wrench than it did to fix it.

Here is the video: https://youtu.be/O0AxJNlZ4Z4.

Hope it helps.

[evil_physics_witchcraft]

Just fixed a slow-drip on the cut-off valve handle under the kids' bathroom sink. In 20 seconds. It took me longer to find my wrench than it did to fix it.

Here is the video: https://youtu.be/O0AxJNlZ4Z4.

Hope it helps.

Quick fixes are the best! Good info to know.

[secundem_artem]

I replaced a broken shower head.  Unscrewed the old one, put on some plumber's tape, screwed the new one into place and done.  And much to my surprise, it does not leak!

At La Maison d'Artem, Mrs. Artem does the vast majority of home repair work, so this is an accomplishment for me.  Like most faculty, my only real skills are talking, writing, simple mathematics, and more talking.

[apl68]

While eating Sunday lunch with my parents and brother, we heard a crash on the stair landing.  A part of the sagging ceiling there had finally collapsed!  Now we could see sunlight outside.

Dad originally designed the family's two-story house as a split-level back in the 1970s.  It was built into a hillside with a back door on the stair landing that opened onto what was to have been the split-level addition.  Instead, the little lean-to addition on back that housed the stair landing turned into a permanent feature.  It has not aged well over the past 45 years (The main body of the house is pretty sound--not bad for a totally do-it-yourself home building project).

My brother and I have looked it over.  The whole little structure really needs to be replaced.  In lieu of that, Brother plans to do some basic re-roofing over the next few days.  I'm back on the job, two hours away, and won't be available to help.  He has only a few days before having to return to his home out-of-state.  Hopefully before the year is out we'll be able to make a better repair job.  We're not even going to try to re-roof the house--we're getting estimates to have that done by pros.