Home ownership

Looks good! I was expecting there to be glass on the kneewalls or whatever those are called. I'm guessing that is too much unenclosed area, but I'm eager to be proved wrong.

Looks great but that floor is getting soaked. Unless you have no water pressure.

Do heated floors evaporate water quickly? We'll see!

We'll see!

Looks sharp, mark!

Good thing mark hardly ever washes up.

Bingo!

Put some lemon trees there and show that you are cultivating the land

Finally got motivated to replace one of the original toilets in the house yesterday. (No, I can't explain it either). As readers of this thread know, I'm not really that handy. AS we were getting rain precluding snow, I figured this would be a good, "well, I'm inside anyway) project for today.

Anyway, up to HD and pick it up. Small struggles getting it into the truck and then house, but I managed. More inexplicable motivation: I'll take the old one out, and put it in the garage. That went inexplicably well.

Well, maybe I should put the bolts in, and ensure the bowl part aligns right, then take a little break. Check.

Went and sat for a few minutes, then decided I could mount the bowl. Check. (Those of you that have met me know that I only have one working eye, so things where depth perception help don't generally go that well. Plus, I'm not a particularly large person, so wrestling that in is kinda taxing.

Anyway, threw the tank on, and noticed the thing wasn't sitting tightly. Hmm, maybe I didn't tighten the floor bolts well enough.

I must've knocked one setting the bowl, and it wasn't set in the floor flange any more. Goddamn it! Take the thing apart, put the bolt back down and try to ensure the inner nut is tighter, then put everything back together. Frustrating, but now it's pretty well set.

Go to hook up the water, and the supply line is too short. Had no idea they came in multiple lengths. (I think the old toilet was pre-ADA-compliant and sat lower.)

Back to HD. Fortunately, it's essentially across the street from my neighborhood. Would've walked if it weren't for the snow.

Get up there, find the supply lines and learn, not only are there different lengths, but there are 3/8" and 1/2" widths. Well, crap. Guessed at 3/8" and trundled on home. Surprisingly, I guessed right.

Gave it a quick test, saw no leaks. Seems like it's working. I'm going to give it a little bit before caulking, just in case.

Then went out and beat the trees to remove some of the snow which had already accumulated. Of course, you get a lot on you doing that. Gloves and outer shell of my winter coat were soaked afterward.

Then watched the end of the Avs win, and had a few beers to celebrate.

-----------------

Up early (even by my standards) this AM. Figured I'd need to shovel and do more tree-beating. Not much to shovel, mostly the driveway had melted. Knocked more snow off the trees. had one decent-sized branch down, so dragged that out. Today is garbage day, and was able to get that cut up and in the trash before guy came by.

Took a couple walks around the neighborhood later, I was on the lower end of damage. Many places had no obvious problems, but several had very large branches down, or what looked like trunk splits. Indeed, one house already had the tree guys there, and they had the large ash tree in the front down to about a 12' stump and were grinding up what they'd taken off.

Xcel was saying earlier ~55K w/o power, and they were working on it. Fortunately for me, my area (built mid-to-late 90s) has all utilities buried, so no problem out here (AFAIK).

Rejoice any time a plumbing job finishes with only one return trip to Home Depot.

This.

It would probably be different if I had a HD across the street, but anytime I'm in a quandary about which size, I usually just buy all the possibilities and return the wrong ones. If they're real cheap and not worth the effort, I'll usually just keep them somewhere. I've probably got enough nuts and bolts to open a small hardware store. Oddly enough none ever seem to be the right size anytime I need one later on.

I haven't changed a toilet in centuries. Do they still have those stupid ass wax rings? When I had to replace a toilet way back when, I must have smushed a half-dozen of those damn things before I got the new one set. I remember the aggravation like it was yesterday.

I was waiting for you to go into the bathroom after those beers and discover a leak after all.

When did multi-quoting quit working?

@amplify: Agree.

@Tom: yes they still have the wax rings. It looked as if it were in good shape when I pulled the bowl back up, but that's most of the reason I'm waiting for the caulking.

Also, I was on the 'buy both' train while there, but it was early evening, and it's a 3 minute drive to get the other if I need. Plus, with the dealing gig, I hardly ever gamble any more, so that's my degen for the week.

@Garick: Different bathroom, different leak.

must clearly define a warranty period before your trip back to fix it does not count

I built a basement shelf out of 2x4s and plywood.

I have the Milwaukee M18 nail guns, BAM BAM BAM love it. Very satisfying.

You guys have convinced me that I can replace my 10yo LG washer's water pump. You Tube watched. Part ordered. I expect cursing will ensue.

Or maybe just knocking the water pump around a little will make it right (it already doesn't work, right?). Sales dude at the local appliance shop suggested it. I'm willing to try (flashback to the 90's when I had to crawl under my VW bus to knock the starter motor around a bit if it stopped in the wrong spot)

I'll try to document the carnage ITT.

Is it the pump or the impeller? Pump is bucks. Impeller is cheap.

I think it's the pump. Water doesn't drain. LG front-load washer. 0E error code.

~$50 for the pump, and it definitely appears to be a field-replaceable unit. We'll see.

$50 isn't bad!

GL AzOther1. Looking forward to the TR (so to speak)!

I have succeeded in replacing the water pump, and the washer is currently functional. I am as surprised as you may be regarding this development.

I watched a couple of different YT videos, very similar, both produced by sellers of replacement water pumps and other parts. They covered most of the process, but my machine was just different enough that I could find a couple of short-cut/work-arounds and roadblocks they didn't mention.

No extra trip to HD/Lowe's, but I did order a gasket plier, as that ****er is impossible to replace w/out. First option I saw was $136 (genuine LG part!). Hard pass on that one. Found something similar that claims to work on e-bay for $18 (still more than I'd like to pay for this uni-tasker).

I also failed completely at documenting the process as the short you-tube vids made it seem pretty easy. Beware sharp edges inside the washer. Machine was blessed by blood of both wife and I attempting to unplug the door sensor. Hard to see and impossible to unplug from above. Had to skip forward to removing the front-panel (it leans forward) to reach the plug from the now open side of the washer. Much easier for the novice to attempt that way.

Only one spare screw after everything was buttoned-up. Kinda concerning?

It sounds like you made a repair, and got to buy a new tool. Win and win!

Re: extra screw. Some years back, a light was out behind the instrument panel on my poor old truck. Getting to that involved unscrewing several different screws to drop the plastic cowling under the steering wheel, and above, and some other stuff.

Anyway, what I did was got a few different plastic cups, and put the removed parts from piece A into the same cup. Then, added a note to that cup to remind me where I went.

Still had one that wouldn't catch when I tried to reinsert it (right under the steering wheel), but at least I know where it goes if I ever get back to it.

re extra screw: That sumbitch was an extra in your jeans pocket when you repaired some other item months ago and has been going round-and-round ever since. Get a good night's sleep. It seems you earned it!

Paid in blood!

Nice job

It's not a project until you bleed on it.

i have a utility drawer thats dedicated only to spare screws and solo socks.
meanwhile