What home improvement work did you do today?

We install miles of it in commercial buildings, but the only people I know who have it in their houses are old school plumbers that probably pilfered the materials from a job site.

 

You are correct! Copper and cast. This is a small commercial building. But, it's my building, on the property that I live on and I am doing as much as I can myself. So I might be cheating being in here, but I thought it was close enough. Things like stuffing insulation, cleaning up, holding things, moving things and a lot of trim painting. Basically the site gopher, but I find doing that and paying the bills within 10 days is going to save me a relatively substantial amount on this job.

 

I use these in my AC condensate pan. It just lies in the pan and releases cleaner as it collects and releases condensate. Replace yearly.

 

It’s that time of year again



Drain and flush the water heater

 

Havent used either of those products. Once every 3 months I pour a cup full of bleach and then a cup full of simple green every other 3 months. No issues. These things slime up fast and are the #1 reason AC guys get called out last I was told

 

Just had 2 Anderson windows put in to replace the cheap builder grade windows, was about $7,000. Pretty awesome windows though. Killer warranty as well. Seems like you get what you pay for with windows.

 

got the land mulched after HELLene... don't have many trees left in the yard

 

That's why we use pella, the sales guy will come fix anything, and even on the doors, the seals and any lock issues etc... He is right out and fixed asap.


@oddhours that looks great!

 

thanks its been a struggle - who knew a hurricane would bout wipe us out

 

Looks good! We are trying to do our mapping without taking out any more trees. We have two that make us nervous and love the rest. Then we drive by our neighbors who has their lot cleared and it looks so pretty.... crazy how much it makes a difference.

 

takes a little getting used to, but looks nice when done. the machinery used was awesome to watch!

 

What were they running! Any photos of the work?
I always day dream about getting a set up, but my lord is mulching equipment expensive, and everyone I know around the industry has a lot to say about maintenance and down time.

 

no photos! I didn't think about it. the guy had 4 cat skidsteers with mulching heads and two 220 size trackhoes with thumbs. it cost a pretty penny to get setup I'm sure but the work seemed like they were having fun!

 

Sooooo, I posted yesterday about annual water heater draining. I did mine and got a bunch of sediment out. Yay. Process looked like:
1. Turn power off to WH
2. Turn water supply to WH off
3. Hook hose up to lower WH drain and open the valve
4. Vent overflow/pressure valve at the top and let drain.

Thought I did great except I used to have two water heaters in the house. I removed one and have a single 50G in the garage now. I turned the breaker “off” to the wrong (now non-existent) WH. That meant my WH still had power and was still trying to heat an empty tank. Oops. After re-filling and turning the power back on and having no hot water for a shower a couple hours later, I realized my goof. Had to replace the elements as the upper had blown out. $40 for two new elements, thermostats and an element socket key later, we’re back in action. My bad

 

That's not too bad of an ooof. Glad you got it back up and running.

 

It really is.. We got lucky, ours was only down branches. in the surrounding area we saw some cool toys.

Those are incredible. When we took out our trees, allegedly, for our barn.. this was what they used.

 

Holy crap. The *entire* premium for our house isn't $1400.

 

This happens to me often. We left the Northern VA suburbs right before the real estate bubble in the early 2000's. We took the money we made and bought a nice sized house in a great neighborhood here in NC. Unfortunately every contractor sees the neighborhood and knows that so many of my neighbors are not good at getting multiple quotes, so I get some crazy pricing. Like you, any wealth we have is tied up in the home.

 

OK brain trust.....I need to store this stupid wet/dry vac in the garage. I'd prefer a way to hang it up off of the ground. Any ideas on a method that would be easy to access and re hang? I currently have a chain looped up over a hook with a carabiner that I loop through the handle. This method sucks FYI.

 

Do you just have a handle on the vac? Maybe something like this just slide it on and off.

$24 Garage Hooks, 4 Pack Wall Mount Storage Hanger with 2 Extension Cord Holder Organizer, Heavy-Duty 7.5" Long Hooks for Ladder, Ski, Sports, Utility, Garden Tool, Hose Storage Rack Organizer

https://www.amazon.com/Storage-Exte...ywords=shed+hooks&qid=1743456913&sr=8-12&th=1

 

What's the make/model of vacuum?

 

X2 on the shelf.

 

Shelf. In my experience, the floor models always give at the connection for the bucket to the vac. I wouldnt trust it hanging

 

Has anyone had to have carbon fiber straps added to their foundation? We have cracking in our block walls that appeared in the last year and are getting worse. I had it inspected a month ago and that company said that it was borderline at that time. He said if it got worse, he recommended straps. Lots of heavy rain the last two days only made the cracks worse.

Stock photo I found from the Internet-not my basement

 

Looks like black paint. Carbon fiber is crazy strong and hard to rip though.

 

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Shop-Vac-16-Gallon-Corded-Portable-Wet-Dry-Shop-Vacuum/5013296515

Its like this. Has to be the most awkward thing to store.

 

That looks like a space hog for sure. Shelf with a small ledge on the front to keep it from wandering off. Or under a work bench.

 

I would make something that hung down and had arms on either side of the vacuum to go under the handles.

 

It is! Hahaha my dumb butt decided to buy 3 of the largest vehicles and lawn equipment to try to stuff into a two-car garage. One vehicle has to sit outside, obviously, but floor space is extremely limited.