What home improvement work did you do today?

Rebuilt my 3rd and final toilet this morning... Flush valve started leaking and you could hear the toilet running every 5 to 10 minutes. My 1st one let go while at work, wife had to turn off the water to the house. I bought all 3 kits at that time and have rebuilt all 3 in 6 months....

Anyway the shut off valve is seized?? or am I dumb ass since I can't shut it off, so I bought a sharkbite valve shut off and it doesn't seem to turn. The other 2 valves were easy so I'm at a loss...

 

Depending on how old the shut off valves are and how much corrosion/sediment are in them (hard water?), they can be very hard to turn. I try to remember to shut mine and reopen a couple of times a year to keep things freed up.

 

Don't seem that old, but I tried hitting it with a hammer on both sides and did not give.. I have everything to replace the valve, but I can't turn this thing in my hand, which is why I'm asking. Not as smooth as the other 2.

 

I think they sometimes are stiff like that in the beginning. Can you hold it with a clamp and then really rank on it? Open it and close it a few times to see if it starts loosening up a bit.

 

See if you can get a wrench on the handle and apply some pressure to close and open.

 

Got the new one to turn, thanks for the advice. Old one still not budging. May need to do this later today as my big kid is up.
Here is some occular pleasure.
old valve still attached




New one pending me figuring it out.

 

Took this advice and has been successful. Blunt force is not always the answer I guess.
Thank you guys for the help. Will be working this handle all week, so it doesn't seize again

 

I saw you got it but you can also easily replace that valve without the Sharkbite.

Grab a new compression valve, unscrew the old one, and screw the new one on.

 

Even with it seized, it's hard water coming through so assuming at a certain point and time the valve will need to go. Been youtubing on how to go about it. Lowe's options were very limited with options.

 

Do we have any garage door experts on here? We have two garage doors and 3 out of 4 2x4" holding them in place are bowing out at the top. One is worse than the others.

I tried driving new screws into them with no luck. It started cracking rather than actually close the gap.

I've had my wife close/open the door while I watch and the gap doesn't change under load.

Is this something I should worry about?

 

I'm not a fan of sharkbite type valves. You also have to be careful with heat when sweating valves. This is a good option and then use a threaded valve.

 

Are your bolts longer than the thickness of the wood? If so then the screws/bolts may be pushing the board away from the cinder block / concrete wall. If you are trying to keep the wood flush against the wall I’d think about not using long fasteners.
The garage door metal has to be fastened to the wood and the wood has to be separately fastened to the wall imo. Use a metal brace to secure the wood to the concrete, Use concrete inserts that expand for the bracket fasteners. You have to drill holes in the concrete for the concrete inserts.
That is assuming the wood is still ok. Was it pressure treated as moisture seems to permeate concrete.
There are probably other ideas to solve this….
Good luck.

 

It looks like the block stops and behind it is wood framing. So the 2x4 is screwed into wood behind it. At least up top. I'll take another look at it and see what my options are. Thanks for your response.

 

I would agree didn't really feel comfortable with it, but since I was able to move it turning it off/on, I'm no longer replacing it. unless a real serious problem comes from it, then I will change it to something more appropriate.

 

Got my New Age cabinets mounted. Very happy with them.

 

It appears to me that the 2x4's have dried out and bowed and should be replaced. They won't get any better and could get worse. Just my opinion and $.02 cents...

 

Looks great! Any plans to add some power outlets over the workbench?

 

Thanks! I plan on adding a US General power strip, they have one that's a nice metal black housing that's magnetic so it can sit on the side of the larger cabinet in the workbench. Also want to plumb in an air chuck from my compressor.

 

Much easier idea then adding outlets. I've got the blue magnetic powerstrip attached to the side of my US General 72" box.

 

I considered adding outlets while I was installing but honestly I really didn't feel like doing anymore drywall or electrical as i've been doing a bunch in the house and i'm sick of it lol. Powerstrip should handle my needs on the bench for lights and charging batteries. How do you like your 72" USG box? I have their 5 drawer tech cart and was considering one of their new Series 3 56" or 72" boxes.

 

The 72" box is great. I have the older Gen 2 series which I picked up in January of this year. Really the only complaint I have is that I wish it had a large grommet in the upper box so I could pass plugs through to my chargers or whatever else I have up top that needs to be plugged in. I just hang the cords over the side and plug them into the magnetic power strip, but having a cutout with a grommet in the back of the box would be a cleaner look. The boxes are seriously heavy and more than I will ever need, but I wanted a much larger box instead of buying a 3rd smaller box as my tool set expands. I still have my old Craftsman 3 tier box and a Craftsman roller, but for the money you can't go wrong with the US General. Make sure to use the 20% off coupons if you get one. I think the Gen 2's are discounted now due to the release of the Gen 3, but supply and color choice may be limited.

 

I like the required wall accessories

 

Spare bedroom 90% completed..

Furniture is being redone but this makes both momma & I ...

Major headaches with the wall after window replacement BUT totally worth it..

#1) floating shelves we saved from FT.Myers installed and Con's New Art work on display
#2)New overstuff chair for the readers in the family PLUS paintings Con refinished from Ian's wrath ( Her Mom's original art work )
#3) New flooring had its moments but once down I was pleasantly surprised
#4) Even the closet flooring was made easier by one small investment.... a REAL Dremel tool....

 

Now that the room is completed , onto painting the furniture ( because we are NOT purchasing New )

Drawers are completed , less the New hardware and onto 1st & 2nd coat of Kilz on the rest of the pieces..

Don't mind the family member catching ZZ's under my Tundra

 

Did a laundry list of autumn/winter prep; aerated the lawn, moved some Cardinal Flower plants to the backyard to get more sun, blew out the irrigation system, got the neighbors snowblower running, and prep'd the push mower for winter.

 

Neighbor had a dead trash tree near her house and close to my driveway. I noticed a week or two ago that it was splitting so I'd been parking the Tundra out back. She couldn't afford to cut it and I didn't really want to but I ended up taking care of it today with the help of one of my wife's coworkers. I didn't even come close to dying when I did it so that was win.

 

With stuff like this man St. Peter is gonna open them gates for you.
Nice act of kindness for sure.

 

Good Man!

 

It was more because the tree would’ve fallen on my truck