What home improvement work did you do today?

You've been great. Really do appreciate this, its been annoying us for years!

 

Got home and the new door gasket to the washing machine had arrived. It wasn't leaking but was moldy and gummed up with pet/kid fur. Had a lovely smell to it too.



Started tearing it down to replace then took a break for dinner and resumed. Man, this job is not a quick one if you aren't versed in front loading washing machine repair. The gasket was only about $50, but I bet the labor charge for this ain't cheap. Oddly enough, the most helpful tool was a simple trim tool.

 

how old was the machine before it got looking like that? I wash our machine once a month or so, and sometimes even with washing I couldn't get the smell 100% out. Started using the lysol laundry sanitizer with my loads and its made a huge difference. I still clean it once a month, but not because of any smell or mold. It seems to really help. Not sure if it effects anything like mold though, and it probably doesn't. I have a top load and am pretty crazy about making sure people keep it open after its used.

 

I wanna say we noticed it getting funky 2-3 years in. Even after using the Vent function after washing was done, it still got ugly after some time. Not so sure leaving the door open was doing much either. We use oxi-additive detergents because it does well with getting odors out of clothing (towels, etc).

 

This is why we bailed on our front-loader. After the 3rd time I changed that f'n thing out, we finally broke down and bought a Speed Queen top-load, I think its the TR7. Couple of years with it now, and I can't be happier.

We tried every-f'n-thing with the frontloader. Leaving the door open after loads so the water could evap out. Spraying it with various different treatments, and wiping it out after loads. Running empty loads with a cup of bleach once every other week. There was literally nothing we could do to avoid the inevitable mildew in the boot. Even things like Concobrium didn't help to keep it at bay. And given the mildew eventually transfers spores into your clothes/towels/etc., even when you replace the boot, it just transfers back from your clothes to re-seed.

Frontloaders are for the birds. That rubber boot is a design flaw in and of itself. And I gotta say, our Speed Queen has been kickass. I haven't had to service anything on it, once. It still runs as quiet and efficient as it did when we bought it a little over 2 years ago. And the TR7 comes with a 7yr parts/labor warranty, which is unheard of. I think the TR5 has 5yr, and TR3 has 3yr. Price is higher to get that kind of warranty and reliability, but ... it's nice to have.

 

I'm waiting until ours dies and heading down this lane. It's a top load, but we don't love it. My only hangup is they don't really have any larger capacity machines for big blankets and whatnot. How do you find it does washing bigger comforters?

 

In two years, we've never had an issue loading anything into it. We have some pretty heavy duvets in the house, some are big enough that the dryer struggles with them when damp.

And I'd only add to this, the auto-sense, however it works to set the exact amount of water, has never failed to do the right thing either. I was skeptical at first, but ... it just works.

I really liked our Maytag before this, which was also a topload, but died after 6yrs, beyond the point of me salvaging (parts would've cost almost $1k, IIRC, and the metal was bubbling from rust at every edge). We moved into that thing from a Frigidaire front-load, which is what I was re-booting over the first 10yr-12yr we were in our house, every 3-4 years before finally calling it quits.

Appliances really suck these days! Before moving into this house, I had a Sears Kenmore washer and dryer from the late 1980s/early 1990s I'd moved between 8-9 different houses and two states. It looked ancient as hell, but they just WORKED, and never needed parts thrown at them. If it did, the parts were inexpensive and super fast/easy to replace. I'm kinda over this designed-to-fail crap on the market today.

 

Yeah, we will probably do the same. We thought we were joining the cool kid club by nabbing one of these fancy shmancy front loaders, but we should've just stuck to what worked - top load machines. This machine has a 10 year warranty and I've not had one thing go wrong with it, but this gasket business is crap. As with my RV shock replacement job, I ain't doing this one again.

 

We have a front loader and it has a self clean cycle. Well, there is a detergent pill you put in it and let it do its thing. It has a flashing light to let you know when it time to clean. We always leave the washer door open to dry out also. I have noticed notice any odors in 3.5 years.

 

I will say on the topic: Peroxide, believe it or not, will really F-up mildew in a big way. Mix it with 25/75 with Dawn dish soap (25% dish soap), stir it, and rub it on, let it sit for 15-20 minutes. Wipe it out after, then clear the remainder with a damp cloth, and run a load

 

That same Peroxide solution is also a great remedy to clean blood stains out of clothing and furniture.

 

Yep! I also use it for getting tile grout ultra-clean, and have used in the past to kill pervasive, seemingly impossible to resolve mildew problems in houses.

Literally paint it onto grout. Deck brush or toothbrush or any similar brush to scrub for a few seconds per inch, then wipe up the funk that bubbles up. Works absurdly well.

 

Did some parging around a few spots today. Like everything else, it was a PITA.

 

Cleaned out the garage and filled the shop. Hoping to turn the 3rd garage spot into a simple workout area. Been here 9 years and shot out 5 kids in those years, so we've been accumulating some stuff. I've thrown a lot away too. Shop will get some shelving put up and added later on when I have time.
Before garage and shop:

After garage and shop:


Also painted the shop entry door quick and added a door handle with a keypad so I can give people codes to get in if needed while I'm gone. Did a couple days ago.
Before with primed white:

After with matte black and handle:

 

Looks awesome, nice work.

Living in snow country, that lean-to roof slope makes my eye twitch.

 

I saw true snow for the first time in my life (39 years old) last year. Had a winter blizzard that baffled everyone

 

You have as much fun as the kids did?

 

I actually did. It was crazy and fun. But our area can't handle that. Infrastructure isn't built for snow, so it can kick rocks with that nonsense

 

Correct. Not enough slope for us winter kids.

 

Same for us here in Houston. It was fun playing with our 5 year old and having a little snowball fight with the wife. But it's not so much fun when the power's out and you have to run the generator 24/7.

 

I haven't gotten started on the work yet, but picked up a 10' piece of acacia butcher block that will be replacing the longest stretch of countertop in our kitchen. I did the short counters and island with butcher block already (pics of that below), so this will finish the project.

That acacia normally goes for $419-$489 in my area but I found a place selling it for $199! For those of you near Houston, Door Clearance Center off Beltway 8 and 45 is a great place to go for kitchen stuff as well as interior and exterior doors, some of the prices are insanely good.

The part I've already done (plus 2 small counters on either side of the stove, didn't take any pictures of those):




Acacia won't actually match these, it will be a bit more premium as I just went with the cheapest thing at Home Depot when I did these. The mission is to make a few inexpensive improvements to sell the house, so I'm not going all-out like I would if we planned to stay here forever.

 

Vacuumed the pool

 

What's the mat?

 

I'm gonna guess the dog ramp

 

For the dog to get in and out of the pool

 

That was my guess. Had to ask though.
We have an inground, we teach ours to use the steps.

 

Cut a 29.5” x 22” piece of wood for the attic access cover in the garage. Our old lid was a piece of drywall which was broken by a contractor a while back and never replaced. I wanted to install one with a fold out ladder, but it’s way too hot to be messing with that right now. Maybe I’ll still pick one up and install in a few months when it cools down a bit. I would need to cut the opening larger.

 

Our marital project was a coffee bar. Turned out ok

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