biggerboat's building boondoggle blog
I started this in H&F but this seems a better place for it. These are my H&F posts. A bit long-winded but hopefully entertaining. I'm sure more hilarity will ensue.
I've been debating about doing this, and I sort of thought it might qualify as health and/or fitness so I'm gonna do it.
A little background. I have a very old house that I started to remodel about 10 years ago, then ran out of money and WIM to finish it. I gutted it completely and moved walls and did a lot of interior work. But I never did anything with the exterior.
It is sort of falling apart now. The roof leaks and a lot of the wood siding is so rotten I can stick my finger through it. It needs to be completely replaced.
I just paid the house off so I can sort of afford to completely re-side and re-roof it..............if I do it myself. Another factor is I just got out of a serious relationship and now I have way too much time on my hands. I'm going a little stir crazy.
Now to the health tie-in. The last few years I just haven't been able to do things like this. I used to be able to work sunrise to sundown. But lately I'd be good for about 2 or 3 hours and my back would just tell me to stop. However, due to this forum, my back is really feeling strong again. I think I'm up for the challenge. The other health aspect is mental. I don't feel good unless I have some sort of challenge like this. It gives me something to look forward to. I'm really needing something like this about now.
So, I think I'll sort of log this activity as well as lifting. I'll have to cut back on lifting/running some. Mostly due to time considerations. I'll be working on the house on Saturday/Sunday so no lifting/running on those days.
I haven't committed to this quite yet, but I think I'm close.
On the house front. I went to the city website to see what permits I'll need. It was so confusing that I called, got an answering machine, and never got a call back. So, I went down to city hall to ask some very basic questions. Apparently the appropriate question answerers are only there MWF but a substitute question answerer was available. So, after waiting 1/2 hour the substitute question answerer informed me that he couldn't really answer my question so he told me to come back when the real question answerer was there.
I suspect this will not be healthy in any way.
I tweaked my back Wednesday doing deadlifts.
The back pain has nothing on the pain the city is inflicting on me, though.
Went back to talk to someone again. I at least got the right day. The girl was really friendly and helpful. However, she seemed to not really know what all I was supposed to do. Which, as you will see, nobody could.
The first thing she did was pull up my address.
Apparently, there were 3 expired permits associated with my house. About 10 (or more) years ago, I did a big remodel. I did it mostly myself. The first permit was for an interior remodel. I had to get electrical, plumbing, framing and probably more permits. I remember having each one signed off on. However, apparently there was a final inspection that I never got. This is just conjecture based on what she said and my hazy memory. The second was for a garage. I hired a contractor to pour the slab and I framed and finished it. Apparently the slab inspection failed but the framing inspection passed. I'm not sure how this happens. I really don't recall any of this. The third one was for a bedroom addition. I never did this. I do not recall even applying for this. But, it is there. More on this later.
So I asked a lot of questions and the girl was very polite when she had to repeatedly excuse herself to ask someone else that knew the answers. From what I gathered I can do most of the work on something they call an express permit. However, if I want add a small porch roof I will need site drawings, impervious cover documents, elevation drawings, detailed framing plans and flood plain people approval. At minimum.
Back to the old permits. The girl indicated that I could fill out a form to remove the permit for the addition since I never did it. She then sent me to someone named Tony on another floor to figure out what to do with the other ones. Tony, it seems, did not have his coffee this morning. Either that or he was just an *******. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt. He told me they couldn't do anything about any of them since he had no idea if I even did any work or not. Which is problematic since I can't get any new permits with these on their computer. After much discussion he agreed to go back downstairs and talk to the friendly girl. Tony then came up and informed me that I needed a Life Safety for Expired Permit permit. He informed me that I needed to go back where I started (the line that I waited over an hour in) to start this process.
So, I go back to the window and explain to them what Tony said. They seemed a bit confused on exactly what a Life Safety for Expired Permit permit was. So, they suggested that what I really need to do is re-submit all three permits and get inspections on the work I did over 10 years ago. Even if I didn't do the work. They then put my name in the computer to talk to someone. However, the number of people waiting had swelled considerably and I had already been there 2 1/2 hours so I think I'll tackle this another day.
Found the leak.
This copper drain pipe has a hole I can put my finger through. Now I just gotta figure out where to go from here.
That looks bad. In addition to patching the hole, looks like everything below the pipe needs to be replaced.
I guess that's progress though; problem identified.
OK, progress continues.
I found the cast iron drain/vent - on the right of the hole I cut out. It looks to be in pretty good shape.
Just to the left of the cast iron (you can't see it) is a tie in on the copper to a drain in the guest bath. That should be replaced with pvc along with the entire copper drain line you see there.
However............... There is another bathroom drain that connects to the right of the cast iron. I'm hesitant to replace that since it will require a ton more demolition and the copper looks ok from what I can tell. If it leaks some day then I'll do something about it. Not sure what I'm going to do, other than think about it some more.
pex to copper is the way to go.
Is the cast iron the original plumbing in the house, you think?
Ok, pulled the sheetrock from behind the oven so he can get to the other bathroom drain line. We were worried about water under the cabinets away from the sink so we exposed that. Found more water and mold.
Basically everything that was sitting on slab was under water. So much.
We'll clean it up as best we can and let it all air out for a couple weeks.
Im hiring the plumber to do this. It's waaay above my comfort level.
I also think we need to replace the incoming copper. It looks pretty bad.
Ugh.
the leak is in copper or isnt it. now you are going from copper to cast iron. for just a repair you can get pex in larger diameter and pex is easiest for a homeowner repair.
or dig it out and have someone solder a new piece in of copper. or patch it there isnt pressure on a drain pipe.
you can buy a rubber sleeve to fit over the leak area or cut it out. your choice.
good luck.
Move to France.
Ok, pulled the sheetrock from behind the oven so he can get to the other bathroom drain line. We were worried about water under the cabinets away from the sink so we exposed that. Found more water and mold.
Basically everything that was sitting on slab was under water. So much.
We'll clean it up as best we can and let it all air out for a couple weeks.
Im hiring the plumber to do this. It's waaay above my comfort level.
I also think we need to replace the incoming copper. It looks pretty bad.
Ugh.
There's quite a bit in total to do, but each element of it will be reasonably easy to fix or repair.
Make a plan, take your time, do it all yourself and save a good deal of money. Most of the work will never be seen again, so neatness doesn't even come into it.
You've got a great support group here, and, even if you have a problem carrying out some part of the fix, Ray will have the solution.
Yeah, I'm thinking about it.
I am absolutely not going to close the walls up without removing the copper waste lines. I realize it only rotted out in one spot but they are 50 years old and I'm just not going to leave them.
So, I need to deal with this.
I'm still googling but I think I'll need to replace that cast iron tee (or whatever it is). I don't think I can simply take the copper out and slip pvc into the connections.
This is the part I don't feel confident about. First of all the pipe that goes up through the roof is more than likely all kinds of heavy.
Then, I'm really not sure exactly what I need to do to replace it.
I told my wife that I'm thinking about tackling it myself. Her initial reaction was "NOOOOO!". But then she thought about all the stuff I've fixed since we've been married and she's ok with it if I want to. Plus, if I get stuck, I'll just call the plumber.
Or, you know, patch up the kitchen and get back in the real estate market. I hear there's a nice house on the water not too far from you. Might have a bit of neighbor issues, though.
Best of luck. You're orders of magnitude more handy and brave than me.
Or, you know, patch up the kitchen and get back in the real estate market. I hear there's a nice house on the water not too far from you. Might have a bit of neighbor issues, though.
Best of luck. You're orders of magnitude more handy and brave than me.
LOL, there are SO many houses in my neighborhood for sale now. Signs everywhere. Not that we would want to leave anyway - we love it here.
I've decided to hire a professional for this one. I just don't feel good about tackling it myself.
Turn the water off. Hacksaw the cross out. Replace with new pushfit cross. Join this -| to that, this |- to that, this _|_ to that, and this T to that. Bob's your uncle. What could go wrong?
Yeah, I probably could have done this after watching the plumber. He's not done yet but most of didn't look difficult.
Here's something you never see. His original bid was $2300. After looking at it when he came back he lowered it to $1850. When does that ever happen?
Cuz you did all the work to expose the problem that he doesn't have to now.
You should never use $500 and screw in the same sentence.
Wahoo!
Delish!
they really are aptly named fish
Yeah, I probably could have done this after watching the plumber. He's not done yet but most of didn't look difficult.
Here's something you never see. His original bid was $2300. After looking at it when he came back he lowered it to $1850. When does that ever happen?
I never did any follow-up on this.
We let the area air out for a week to make sure there weren't any more leaks and the mold was dead.
The first thing I had to do was get the corner cabinet in better shape. I had to cut about half of it out but I kept the wall of it and just shortened (widthwisse) the whole thing and put the wall back in. Turned out just fine. I doubt anyone would ever know. That space way back in the corner was wasted anyway so all good.
Then, I put the sheetrock back. Easy peasy. It was a day's work so I left it like that.
Then the outer paneling. Easy as well except I couldn't get things to butt up exactly so we had to get some wider corner trim to cover the gaps up. No problemo.
I doubt anyone would ever know it had been dismantled.
Got a couple amberjacks last time out.
Pretty lucky because they are only open for a month, and they have to be 34". Not the easiest thing to do.
We grilled a couple of AJ steaks and smoked the rest for fish spread. YUM!
I've been torn between ranting about the family drama going on with my wife's kids, and not saying anything. Maybe a mini-rant.
This wedding of her daughter's is ridiculously over the top. It just hurts my brain. She's wound herself up in knots trying to make this the perfect storybook wedding. There's a mini-crisis every day. Not to mention she could have bought a house for what she's spending on it. Thank goodness it's this Saturday and it will be over soon.
Meanwhile, her son has a condition where smoking pot makes him violently ill. He's had to go to the emergency room several times because of this but he won't quit. He's sick again and lying about his pot use. He wants my wife to stay with him when he gets sick, but resists going to the doctor and obviously doesn't care to stop smoking. It's not coincidental that it flares up on her birthday (twice), her father's birthday, thanksgiving, and christmas. He's an addict, but that's the least of his issues. He operates on a five-year-old level most of the time. He hasn't checked his emails in months because it's too much trouble. House is a pig sty. Didn't file his taxes. Stuff like that. He has some serious daddy issues that need to be worked on.
He's supposed to be in the wedding but I'll set odds at 50-50 whether get gets there. My wife had to buy him the plane tickets because he's too irresponsible to be counted on to do it himself.
My wife is a mess right now.
/rant
