My house hates me

12/22/09 Plumbing is hell.

2009-12-22T09:25:00.001-05:00

So I fixed the issues I was having yesterday, but last night, having already forgotton that I had turned off the cold water shutoff, tried to turn it off again, and knackered up the 20+ year old shut off valve.

So this morning, bright and early, I drove BACK to the hardware store, and bought a new shutoff valve, with a compression ring and nut, and installed it. Water is back on, and so far, only a minor leak, that I have to keep tightening until it stops. I think I'm done with this stupid sink, but I thought that 2 days ago.

12/21/09 Still with the bathroom sink.

2009-12-21T13:59:00.000-05:00

Everything was fine yesterday. No leaks. But today, I started to empty out the turtle aquarium, and everything went to shit. I'm leaking all over the place. From the new gaskets, to the new faucet.

I have no idea what to do next. :\

Back to the hardware store I suppose

12/20/09 Bathroom Sink

2009-12-20T22:20:00.001-05:00

Oh what fun this was.

Ah, the old sink. It had some chemical that I can't remember spilled on it, permanently scarring it. It drained EXTREMELY slow. It was near impossible to hook an aquarium cleaner to it. It all needed to go.

Check out those water stains! WOO! Note the pan in the bottom. Yeah, it leaked.

My kick ass toolbox.

New sink! It's metal, not porcelain.

The old pipes again. I've already shut the water off, and disconnected the hoses.

The old faucet. I am so glad to be rid of that thing.

Useless picture of porcelain sink. I've removed the faucet, obviously.

I remembered to block the pipe leading into the house! Always do that, if you ever decide to mess with the pipes, that way the gas from the sewer can't back up into the house. Trust me, it doesn't smell good.

Started removing pipes! Things are going pretty smoothly.

Were.....going pretty smoothly. I didn't have any caulk, and the drain needed to be replaced. So I had to run to the hardware store and pick up a few things.

New sink is in!

Like my caulk?

I have plumbers putty on the bottom of the new faucet. I *might* have overdid it a bit, but, oh well.

New faucet is installed!

Hey! Guess where I had to go twice! Always make sure you have everything you need BEFORE you start a project. That way you don't have to make over 9000 trips to the hardware store.

Hey! Guess where I went for a THIRD time? I installed a 1-1/4" drain, and got 1-1/4" pvc for the sink, but didn't realized that all the old stuff was 1-1/2," which made it a little difficult to put back together. I eventually found a reducer from 1-1/2" to 1-1/4." It was an extremely tight fit. Which is what SHE said.

Woo! Hoses installed! And it only leaked a little! I fixed that.

And it works! Praise Cthulhu!

Lesson learned: Be prepared. If I had had everything I needed to begin with, and perhaps had paid a little closer attention to the sizes of my pvc, this might not have taken all freaking afternoon.

It does still drain a little slow. I did clean out a clog, but I guess I didn't get it all. Time to look up Drano type stuff that I can make at home! WHEEEEEEEEE!

12/20/09 - duct work.

2009-12-20T11:40:00.001-05:00

Yes, my house hates me. I recently found out that I've been heating my crawlspace for who know how long. This is what I've found.

Yes. I've been heating a wall.

So I grabbed my (inadequate) tools, and some old backing for shelving, and got to work.

Here's my damage.

Oh look, my dremel. I cut the backing into 1 inch strips, and duct taped it to the opening to the ductwork.

Then I forced it over the opening of the vent.
And duct taped the crap out of it. If you look closely, you can see a bit of wood I have in the back forcing the back up onto the vent opening. I just left it there. It's not pretty, but it works!

And look at what I found while I was down there! A leaky pipe! This is from when I replaced a sill-cock. It didn't leak when I installed it, but like I said. My house hates me.

I'll eventually figure out a way to fix this without spending any money (I hope.)