In And Around The House

Yesterday, some repairs were made in the house.

The drawers in the kitchen and bathrooms have a very strange  bracket system.  The metal rail goes to a plastic bracket that is screwed into the wood.  Unsurprisingly, the plastic bracket  over time splits and the drawer then tends to droop with the back of the drawer dropping and the front getting caught on the top of the cabinet.

I've looked for years for replacement brackets  but could not find them anywhere, nor could I find the manufacturer for the cabinets. I finally figured out the secret.

On the door under the sink in the kitchen only, there is a sticker.

 

Looking up the I code at the KCMA website got me the manufacturer information.

Contacting the manufacturer, Kitchen Kompact, they were super helpful and sent me a batch of the brackets to replace the broken ones quickly and at no charge.

I then replaced all the broken ones including the ones I had done ersatz repairs to with tape and pieces of plastic cards to strengthen them.

Good to fix them all before Mother's Day.

Then I cleared the shower of an accumulation of the children's hair that was clogging the drain trap.  Disgusting, necessary, and about 5 pounds of hair in a huge hairball was removed and the drain now flows freely.

Meanwhile, outside the house we had visitors.

 

Deer came through the backyard, getting some snacking in as they wandered by.

Kinda neat to see, and they came right up to the deck which was nice.

Weekend Home Repair - Dishwasher Edition

So the upper rack of the dishwasher decided to have a pronounced downward sag to it.  Rather bent out of shape it was, dipping downwards from the front and completely off the rails with the wheels on the sides that keep it on the rails having broken off the rack and sticking uselessly into the rails.  

Not a good situation as the cups and such placed there were threatening to fall out and break.

Turns out this is not uncommon and there is an upper rack adjuster repair kit from Whirlpool that completely replaces the plastic adjusters on both sides with nice metal ones and a completely new positioning system.

No instructions come with the kit however, so you need to search YouTube for decent instructions.  This takes awhile to find good instructions as quite a few miss a few steps so you view a couple and put it together to find out how to get this done.

Removing the old stuff took a bit of work.  Putting the new stuff on took a bit longer as its completely different from the old units and is mounted in a different spot - count four tines in and place it there.Also it uses Torx T15 screws, luckily I had a T15 screwdriver bit, but they do supply a T15 driver that fits in front of a Phillips head screwdriver with the kit, which is kinda nifty.

Then after completing the install and snapping it all in place you realize that in the video they meant count 4 tines in from the back, not from the front, as they flipped the rack in the video without telling you, and some parts do not unsnap.  Then figure out on how to release it without breaking it, and then redoing it all took a bit longer as well.  

Some expansion of vocabulary occurred in each of these steps.

On the plus side, I now have a fully functional dishwasher again, after 49 bucks for the parts and shipping.

A Sinking Feeling - Fun With Faucets

Tash had commented that the faucets in the bathroom were looking kinda past their prime.

Indeed they were, the plating had rubbed off and they didn't look particularly good, not to mention the handles were rather loose and the stoppers in the sink were less than shiny.

Her wish being my command it was time to venture into yet more home repair adventures and vocabulary enhancement.

I purchased two Moen Hamden Faucets as they looked nice and offered a neat push button stopper for the sink and got to work.

Of course space was at a premium under the sinks. Adventures began under Tash's sink.

Lying on my back I was soon cursing the prior people who had installed the sinks. Those plastic nuts securing the water lines were not just tight, it took a ridiculous amount of torque and a set of vise gripes and much verbal abuse to get them to move. The larger plastic nuts keeping the sink itself in place came off relatively easily, which would not be the case with Sink #2.

Then I was able to remove the faucet and on to the drain pipe and the fun really began.

Taking the trap apart led to a rather terrible stench and the trap was literally so full of hair you could have made a shoulder length braid with it. Yep, that's the sink the kids style their hair by. That explained the slow drain problem with that sink all right. Stench aside, the trap removal wasn't bad. But getting the drain pipe off, not so much. It did not want to leave. Sadly I couldn't find my large adjustable wrench and no wrench I had was large enough to fit that shinny large nut holding the pipe in place that you see in the picture to the right side.

Off to Lowe's, and now I own a pipe wrench and a nice large set of vise grips.

With those tools in hand and torque and magic words applied, the drain pipe came loose. Then the fun of getting the top of the drain separated from the drain pipe so it could be removed was also a battle of wits and torque.

Then I installed the new drain pipe, reattached the trap, connected the water lines and mirabile dictu, all worked on the first try. Only one trip to Lowe's was required and it was a success.

Then on to Sink #2. Since I had just installed a sink it should be easy right?

The install wasn't the problem, it was the uninstall that caused lots of issues.

Yes, the water supply nuts were on tighter than hell. But they came off with proper technique learned on Sink #1.

One of the two large plastic nuts securing the faucet came off easily. The other one not so much. It stuck, hard. Nothing would move it, Vise grips just ripped the plastic tabs off, grabbing it full on and it still wouldn't turn. It had been cross-threaded on the install and did not want to move. At all. Curses followed.

I thought of sawing it off as both it and the threads it was attached to were plastic, but there was no room to get a saw under the sink and the threads on top of the sink that were visible were metal so no go there.

Unwilling to declare defeat, and with much vocabulary, I gave it yet another mighty twist with the vise grips and while the large nut stayed firmly attached to the plastic, the plastic threaded pipe came loose from the metal threaded pipe it was attached to above, and the faucet was free at last. That took some effort to say the least.

After that the rest of it worked pretty well and the drain pipe was removed easily and the install was completed without any problems. The Moen installation instructions were actually quite decent and the simple tool they included for tightening the mounting screw for the faucet is worth its weight in gold.

They look a lot nicer now, both sinks drain easily, and the push button drains work like a charm.

About three hours spent in total including the trip to Lowe's and all was done.

Well, If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.

Another Home Repair Achievement Unlocked

My late afternoon quiet today was shattered by a report from the kitchen that the insinkerator was leaking.

Verily it had crapped out, developed a crack in its casing, stopped working, given up the ghost, was busy making a mess, and had gone to meet its maker. It was a dead insinkerator indeed.

So now I had the joys of working with both plumbing and electricity at the same time.
I ran out to Lowes and bought a replacement unit - this time 1/2 HP rather than the 1/3 HP of the dead unit, as more power is better and for $15 more why not?

First, I turned off the circuit breaker marked disposer and then tested to make sure it was the right one. It was and it was on to the next steps.

Then it was removal time.

I disconnected the pipes and the dishwasher water tube.

Then I was able to get the unit off its sink mount with some allen keys for leverage and it was electricity time.  I opened the access panel and undid the electrical connectors.

Then I cleaned the piping, put on the new gasket and flange, wired in the new unit making sure the new connections were tight and mounted it under the sink.  Be sure to pop out the dishwasher drain plug if you plan to hook it up to the dishwasher as it is hard to see that it was in there blocking that outlet and is quite easily overlooked, which can lead to some bad results.

Once everything was lined up and the drain hose and tube were tightened, I re-tightened down the mount to the new unit with an Allen key for leverage and voila, a new insinkerator was in place.  Testing revealed no leaks, putting the circuit breaker back on led to no popping, and it ran fine and quieter than the original.

The whole thing only took 38 minutes from the time I turned off the circuit breaker and only expanded my vocabulary by a moderate amount.

It's a relatively easy replacement process.

Home Repair Fun - A Flushing Feeling

Today was, among other things, the day for some needed minor home repairs.

The toilet in the basement had a constant flow issue as the ball-cock wouldn't quite close, causing water to be wasted and a constant drip.

Meanwhile, the toilet in our bathroom had suddenly decided to both become really, really, really loud when being filled, and also taking forever to fill, making you always wonder if something had gotten stuck and the toilet was just continuing to fill and not stop. Looking up the cause on the internets led me to the conclusion that the fill valve was the source of the problem.

In both cases, it was time to replace the fill valves. Should be easy, right?

Well, not so fast. Apparently the plumbing industry doesn't quite believe in standardization of toilet fill valves.

Visit 1 to Home Depot resulted in a replacement ball-cock unit for the downstairs toilet. After having to remove the fittings holding the old one in place with a wrench and some vocabulary while working in a confined space (hand tightened my foot, the last bozo in here sure as heck wrenched on those nuts), I installed it. It went in pretty easy, I even was able to, after a few tries, get the water supply line lined up and tightened with no leaks to the new valve. Testing was perfect, I then went to put the top on...and its too fargin' tall by about two inches! Who knew ball-cock valve towers came in different sizes?

So Visit 2 resulted in that one was returned, and we went with one of the newer style Fluidmaster Tank Fill Valves for it.

Luckily, it, unlike the previous model, was adjustable in height and fit with some minor adjustment. It was a bit narrower in width than the previous one, but the gasket sealed the hole well. A bit of hand-tightening and lining up the water supply pipe, which was a battle and a half to make the new tube and nut work with the existing fill line, and all was well. It works now with no leaks, is quieter, and fills quicker than the really worn-out old valve that used to be in there.

For the bedroom, I went with a Korky Quiet Fill Toilet Fill Valve, hoping it would be quieter.

Again some wrenching was needed to remove the old Kohler fill valve. Then adjusting the new one was a bit of a pain. You had to line up the water level line with the water level line in the toilet tank. The way you did this was pull on the tube and when it was at the right height lock the tube into place by turning it clockwise so it locked into place. Unfortunately, when you go to screw the nut under the toilet tank to put the tube in place, you end up twisting the fill tube causing it to fall out of locked position and fall down. So after a bit more choice language I had that fixed, only to realize I had put the nut on upside down, and yes that actually matters for this model - top side up, no leaks, top side down - you get leaks.

Next after getting the valve properly affixed with the nut in the correct orientation, I ran into another hindrance. Of course, the siphon tube was larger than the existing siphon tube and wouldn't fit the tower on the Kohler Canister Valve in the toilet no matter how much it was crimped into position. This caused more vocabulary choices and exclamations.

Seriously, the plumbing industry can't even standardize on a overflow rubber hose size! Finally, I was able to stretch the old hose over the port on the new valve and force it into place, and all was well.

Now, it runs a lot quicker and more importantly quieter - it was ridiculously super-loud before, now it's quiet and actually fills and stops flowing in a reasonable time.

So, expanded vocabulary and a few skinned knuckles aside, there's now two properly fixed toilets. They were pretty simple repairs that anyone can do, and it does feel nice to know I can fix those problems on my own.

The Joys of Home Repair

So this weekend, I got some needed repairs done around the house, thanks to a great deal of help from my friend Barry. He did the real serious work that required actual home improvement aptitude.

The reason for the repairs is simple: Apparently this house, prior to our purchase of it, was redone by drunken monkeys who sought to make the visible look good and then take every possible shortcut on that which is important but not readily discovered.

For example, a few of the things repaired this weekend:

-The fans from the bathrooms, instead of venting to the outside, had their hoses lying on the floor of the attic, which is a not good considering the water vapor those hoses carry.

-a return air vent wasn't capped, leaving a gaping hole right up into the attic.

-the skylight had no insulation around it at all.

-the basement rim joists are uninsulated (a job I'm still working on, but about a quarter of the way through). Thankfully, this is a very simple task so I can handle it.

-closet doors were messed up and threatening to fall off their tracks and land on the kids.

In addition, I also changed the lock mechanisms on the garage entry door myself which went quite well, and the family is happy with the improvement as they don't get locked out of their own home any longer.

In short, it has been a busy weekend with lots of trips, and return trips, and trips to return things, to Home Depot.

Of Jeeps and the Wisdom of the Internet

Friday night, heading home from work I'm driving along, minding my own business and then I come to a stoplight and my 01 Jeep Cherokee idles and then stalls out and dies when I come to a complete stop.

It starts right back up and I continue to drive until the next red light where, guess what, it stalls and dies again as soon as I get to a complete stop.

This was not happy making.

I get very good at shifting the automatic transmission into neutral and constantly feeding the engine gas at stops in traffic to stop it from stalling out and then shifting into drive while simultaneously manipulating the gas and brake pedals. Shades of when I was driving a stick, many years ago.

So I get home and of course the local Jeep dealer can't see it until Monday and has no clue over the phone, my friend the home garage mechanic that does my regular service is mystified. One of my buddies thinks it is the alternator.

So off to the Internets I go.

I search many a forum and find a few people with the exact same problem.

One of the suggestions is it is the Idle Air Control. So I go to the local O'Reiley's Auto Parts get the part for $80 and take it and the Jeep to my friendly home garage mechanic.

On accessing the air intake, its plainly visible that the intake and throttle plate is filthy with carbon which we comprehensively clean with carb cleaner. My mechanic friend unscrews the IAC, which is also filthy and on running the suggested test of setting the car to on ( but not starting the engine) it actually breaks into its component parts, which is a pretty good indication that it was the cause of my woes.

We replace it with the new part, do an oil change and it runs beautifully, with no more stalling at idle.

So if your Jeep suddenly develops a habit of stalling at idle when you come to a stop, check your IAC and thank the wisdom of the Internets.

Garmin Freeze and Fix thanks to the Internet

My wife took my GPS, a Garmin C330, on her drive with her colleagues to Washington DC, where it apparently came quite in handy while they were traveling, especially through Pennsylvania. Her friends liked it so much a few of them are planning to buy them for themselves. I managed well enough without it for the 4 days she was gone.

Today i finally plugged it in and it immediately froze, locked solid, and i could just feel myself getting lost.

Thankfully I was well aware of my location and didn't need it, but it was worrisome that i couldn't turn it off, or make it work at all. Given I often have to go to totally new locations, the lack of the trusty Garmin C330 worried me.

Thanks to the internet however all was well once i thought to Google "Garmin C330 freeze fix." One of the search results was www.fixya.com and lo and behold there was a simple solution : Under the plastic cover frame for the screen there's a tab under the Garmin logo. Pulling on the tab takes off the screen and under it, carefully hidden away is a little button marked "reset". One push of the reset button and all was well (Unlike the helpful commenter, I did not need to wait for the batteries to die for this t work). Impressively, the Garmin has been so reliable mounted in my car I never noticed the tiny tab until it was described in that most.

Thanks to the Internet and the wisdom of techy-crowds, I'm much less likely to get lost.