What did you do today?

zannej · Nov 13, 2024

yeah, polling data is very unreliable because you never know how large of a sampling, where the polling was done, who answers the polls, etc. They had a poll that only asked like 80 people in one small area and furthermore only asked people who were members of a certain group and then published results as if it was some national poll.

My friend did the brakes but I'd had them serviced before and they were making noises. The rotor was stuck before he worked on it. There was a particular worker at the tire shop who gave me attitude and didn't do things right. He had a beef with me for some reason so I think he either fudged the job or didn't bother to do it right. Well, he had a beef with my friend and ended up beefing with me over it-- was extremely rude to me. He didn't last long at that tire shop. I think the beef with my friend involved his ex.

On the tires it depends on what tires you're looking at. You can cross-reference the tires on Amazon or other sites and look at the reviews. The ones I got are American made and had good reviews on Amazon. But I get a discount on getting them installed for buying them at Walmart.

We don't have propane out here & with my luck I wouldn't trust it.

So, friend put in an offer on another house and seller accepted and agreed to pay the closing costs to take the burden off my friend. He just has to come up with the downpayment but she has said she will accept his labor and parts for fixing some things as part of the downpayment. Now they need to file the paperwork with the loan company and get the green light to move forward. Drywall need some painting. A ceiling tile or two need liquid nails, and friend wants to replace the outlets and switches because they have the push-in style wiring. He wants to replace them with Leviton Decora Edge ones for the non-GFCI and will do GFCI type that hook around screws OR get GFCI breakers-- whichever comes out cheaper. He'll need at least one for each bathroom (3) and the kitchen. Possibly for laundry room. Other than slapping some tin on the roof of the workshop, that should be it. House was built in 76 and has been painted a few times. Brick exterior. Hopefully wouldn't be too much. Friend plans to bring his appliances over and eventually wants to redo the kitchen. Once we have the all clear to go in I will take measurements and plug everything in to Sketchup, locate the load-bearing walls, and see where all the plumbing goes.

Still need to get stuff fixed at my house as well, but I think my friend's stress levels will go down if he no longer has to deal with his grandfather rolling by and laying on the horn, isn't living in the same area as some of the really bratty kids (one of which has to wear an ankle monitor & should be in juvie), and his Mom won't be able to have leverage over him. It will also be easier to find parking and easier for my mom to get into the house.

Ron Van · Nov 13, 2024

zannej said:
The rotor was stuck before he worked on it.

by stuck you ran you can’t get it off the spindle?

zannej · Nov 13, 2024

Ron Van said:
by stuck you ran you can’t get it off the spindle?

I don't know enough about brakes and rotors to know exactly how it was stuck, but they said it was jammed in such a way that it wasn't letting up tension to let the caliper move away enough to not rub. No wonder vehicle was always pulling to the right a bit. Somehow it wasn't pressing hard enough to fully stop the wheel from spinning, but probably because it got worn down so fast. If I'd known more about vehicles and their parts I might have suspected the rotor was bad. I do remember my friend had a hard time getting that brake in but it had to be taken to an actual shop to be able to diagnose a bad rotor. It wasn't visible until they did specific tests. Friend felt bad that he missed it though.

He's hoping to be able to use either the barn or car port to work on vehicles in the future. He makes a few bucks fixing people's vehicles for them.

zannej · Nov 14, 2024

Was washing dishes last night and when water was off I heard wat sounded like water pouring out and didn't sound like it was in pipes. Looked under and saw this

I'm not sure how it got so nasty under there. I'd cleaned it up last time and have had the doors pinned shut to keep cats out. Apparently its been leaking for awhile and I didn't notice because the bottom of the cabinet is caved in. One more thing to fix.

I couldn't loosen the nut on the vertical pipe coming up from the bottom. Brother couldn't either (not that he really tried hard). Pipe being wet didn't help. Friend grabbed an oil filter wrench from Walmart and came over after work and fixed it. Took him longer to put the knee pads on than to fix the pipe.

Ron Van · Nov 14, 2024

zannej said:
Was washing dishes last night and when water was off I heard wat sounded like water pouring out and didn't sound like it was in pipes. Looked under and saw this
View attachment 33696
I'm not sure how it got so nasty under there. I'd cleaned it up last time and have had the doors pinned shut to keep cats out. Apparently its been leaking for awhile and I didn't notice because the bottom of the cabinet is caved in. One more thing to fix.

I couldn't loosen the nut on the vertical pipe coming up from the bottom. Brother couldn't either (not that he really tried hard). Pipe being wet didn't help. Friend grabbed an oil filter wrench from Walmart and came over after work and fixed it. Took him longer to put the knee pads on than to fix the pipe.

One thing to check is that the pipe in the crawlspace might have slipped down. If that happened, the water won’t drain correctly any more because the slope in the drain pipe is gone.

zannej · Nov 14, 2024

Ron Van said:
One thing to check is that the pipe in the crawlspace might have slipped down. If that happened, the water won’t drain correctly any more because the slope in the drain pipe is gone.

Its not even connected to the plumbing under the house. It came apart years ago and when I tried to fix it my brother ran the water in the sink (after I'd told him NOT to use the sink bc I'd be repairing the drain underneath the house). He didn't listen to me and dumped a whole bunch of water down right when I was about to push the fittings together. Ruined the PVC glue and it wouldn't take. That was before I found rain or shine pvc cement. I forget why I never got back under there to fix it, but I was incredibly angry at him at the time. Too much foliage growing right now for me to get under there now. Will have to cut that all back to be able to squeeze back under. Need to do another waterline under there as well. This sink was the only thing connected to that pipe before it came apart.

I cut up some mushrooms and added them to the chicken soup my brother was making (he forgot to add them). He ignored Mom's request to use less soy sauce and she hated it. 2nd time he's done that and I'm going to have to talk to him about making stuff she hates when she pays for the groceries. He argued with me about the soy sauce levels and I think he added more this time. I'll have to hide the soy sauce next time.

Tomorrow morning I have to get up early to go get the new tires put on. Then I'll see if my friend can get together a list of what he needs from HomeDepot and take him up there. If he can't go tomorrow he might be able to go Saturday-- which is when phone company is supposed to fix my landline.

Ron Van · Nov 15, 2024

zannej said:
Its not even connected to the plumbing under the house. It came apart years ago and when I tried to fix it my brother ran the water in the sink (after I'd told him NOT to use the sink bc I'd be repairing the drain underneath the house). He didn't listen to me and dumped a whole bunch of water down right when I was about to push the fittings together. Ruined the PVC glue and it wouldn't take. That was before I found rain or shine pvc cement. I forget why I never got back under there to fix it, but I was incredibly angry at him at the time. Too much foliage growing right now for me to get under there now. Will have to cut that all back to be able to squeeze back under. Need to do another waterline under there as well. This sink was the only thing connected to that pipe before it came apart.

So, you have waste water draining into your crawlspace?

zannej · Nov 15, 2024

Ron Van said:
So, you have waste water draining into your crawlspace?

Yes. It dumps directly under the house. I know that is not good and that I need to fix it. I need to get more of the rain or shine pvc cement and clean off the pvc glue that didn't take. Most of the drain pipes under the house will need to be re-done at some point. Instead of running the drain east to west like it is now, I may have it go the shorter distance north to south to connect to the main sewer line under the current guest bathroom. I'm going to see if the local plumber has an apprentice who can fit under there to do stuff. I know the plumber won't do it himself but he has his brother-in-law as an assistant. Not sure if the brother-in-law is up to that anymore though. He was the one who was having to do stuff for the plumber's late father when the old man started going blind and couldn't do the work-- but could give guidance on what to do. I miss that old man. He was very sweet. Told me a little of the history of the house.

Went to Walmart for my tire appointment and they said the tires hadn't come in yet and the appointment was canceled. Their truck comes in around noon so they will call me if the tires are on it. At least I grabbed a couple of things. Got myself one of the oil filter wrenches that my friend used on the plumbing because it worked so well. I figure my friend may need the other one for the house he's trying to buy.

Ron Van · Nov 15, 2024

zannej said:
Yes. It dumps directly under the house. I know that is not good and that I need to fix it. I need to get more of the rain or shine pvc cement and clean off the pvc glue that didn't take.

Yes, you should take care of this as soon as you can. The water in the crawlspace is damaging to your house and just plain nasty.

zannej said:
. I miss that old man. He was very sweet. Told me a little of the history of the house.

That would be helpful!

zannej said:
Went to Walmart for my tire appointment and they said the tires hadn't come in yet and the appointment was canceled.

You have the worst luck with the WalMart! I just bought some tires online from WalMart. They are having the Black Friday sales. I researched the tires they had and found some reasonably priced tires that are Chinese but made in South Carolina. They are the GT Radial Champiro Touring A/S. I’m putting them on our Prius C which only weighs 2,500 pounds.

I noticed that WalMart sells a Prinx brand Chinese tire that Tire Discounter in Huntsville sells for Almost twice the price. Tire Discounter should change their name to Tire Mark-upper!

Walmart offers lifetime balance and rotations. I just hope they use a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts rather than a pneumatic impact wrench. I’ll be sure to request hand tightening.

Tires are an important safety item on the car. A tire failure can be catastrophic. I’ve been a fan of the Toyo tires for my Expedition. They seem to last a long time. Toyo is Japanese with plants in USA.

Ron Van · Nov 15, 2024

zannej said:
Yeah, specs say they can be minimum 4" above the drain but ideally they would be 6" above the flood level- if possible. If there was any backup water could fill the AAV if it is lower than that.
The fact that they are allowed to be 4" is why they are banned in many places. Mostly in houses. But they are generally allowed in trailers.

AAV's are allowed by IPC code and by approval in UPC code areas. There is quite a controversy about AAV's. Here's what Plumbing and Mechanical Engineers magazine says about it.

Proponents of air admittance valves want them added to the UPC code, but they face resistance from those who remain unconvinced.

A recent survey among readers of PM Engineer magazine revealed that 74 percent would consider the use of AAVs for venting systems, while 52 percent said they would use AAVs anywhere the code would allow. Currently, AAVs that comply to American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) 1050, 1051 and NSF Standard 14 are approved in the International Plumbing codes (IPC/IRC). But the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC) only allows them under Section 301.2, Alternate Materials and Methods

Since an ANSI standard for AAV usage already exists, the UPC stands in conflict with other ANSI standards as long as AAVs are prohibited. This is one argument AAV proponents are using in their call for AAVs to be admitted fully into the UPC.

zannej said:
I still remember seeing a really horrible plumbing job at my friend's grandfather's house where they punched some bricks out, ran the vent pipe out and up a few inches and then slapped an AAV on top. They didn't even seal up around the hole-- and this was an exterior wall so they put an AAV outside.

That's stupid.

An atmospheric (Traditional Vent) is ideal but there are some really good reasons to use an AAV.
A friend of mine who built a house in Alaska said he wanted as few roof penetrations as possible (because of harsh weather) so he has the one atmospheric vent that is required to handle positive pressures and all the rest are AAV. They can be in the attic (if possible) to exclude the possibility of flooding like you mentioned. But in a kitchen island (for example) putting the AAV above the flood plane may not be possible...but it's Okay. They are approved for installation below the flood plane. If the AAV becomes contaminated due to flooding (which could cause it to leak), you just replace it. But first you need to figure out why it flooded because that's a different problem that's not caused by the AAV. They (AAV's) are supposed to be installed in a place accessible. Approved AAV's (not ones used in RV's) work on gravity (RV ones have a spring in them) so they are fairly reliable but if an AAV does leak, you should be able to detect it before it gets to this point...

BTW . . .you have a perfect situation to use an AAV! Currently, your kitchen drain (for all practical purposes) is not vented. I guess it doesn't matter since it's not hooked to the septic line but when it does get re-connected, it should be vented as well. It may be vented somewhere in the system but what you have is a classic "S" trap which we've talked about many times.

Remember, the trap has to see the vent.

neither of the following is allowable.

Nope!

Both our kitchen as well as my MIL's kitchen had a similar "S" trap situation. The easiest, and in my opinion, a very acceptable solution was to add an AAV to vent the kitchen sink.

It looked like this...

Notice the little white thing under the garbage disposal. It's a moisture detector. It sounds like a smoke detector if it detects water or moisture.

Something that I believe is a bigger problem under the kitchen sink is the excessive use of slip joints. My sinks had them but I removed most of them and installed solid joints with the exception of the trap and the trap adaptor. My MIL used to have a slip joint near the floor where the vertical piece went through the floor. The whole vertical piece going through the floor slipped downward not only creating a leak but also affected the slope of the horizontal drain line under the floor making it no longer drain correctly.

Everything above and below the floor depends on that vertical piece being solid and secure. The horizontal drain below the floor needs to have a proper slope and all the plumbing above the floor basically hangs on the vertical piece. Besides using metal hangers on the horizontal drain pipe, I also put a metal hose clamp on the PVC vertical piece where it comes through the floor ensuring it will never slip downward again. That makes everything very solid.

Here is my neighbor's kitchen sink...

Her vertical pipe that goes through the floor is pretty solid and secure but there's still a lot of slip joints.

And yes, I'm a weirdo that goes around taking pictures of people's plumbing. I've been looking for a 12 step program for that!

Snoonyb · Nov 15, 2024

Ron Van said:
Yes, you should take care of this as soon as you can. The water in the crawlspace is damaging to your house and just plain nasty.

That would be helpful!

You have the worst luck with the WalMart! I just bought some tires online from WalMart. They are having the Black Friday sales. I researched the tires they had and found some reasonably priced tires that are Chinese but made in South Carolina. They are the GT Radial Champiro Touring A/S. I’m putting them on our Prius C which only weighs 2,500 pounds.

I noticed that WalMart sells a Prinx brand Chinese tire that Tire Discounter in Huntsville sells for Almost twice the price. Tire Discounter should change their name to Tire Mark-upper!

Walmart offers lifetime balance and rotations. I just hope they use a torque wrench to tighten the lug nuts rather than a pneumatic impact wrench. I’ll be sure to request hand tightening.

Tires are an important safety item on the car. A tire failure can be catastrophic. I’ve been a fan of the Toyo tires for my Expedition. They seem to last a long time. Toyo is Japanese with plants in USA.

My 2003 CUMMINS had Michelin 8ply because I was pulling a tandem axel trailer. 75k average miles. A competitor, with an F250 was using Toyo's, relative similar use was averaging 35/40K.

Ron Van · Nov 16, 2024

Snoonyb said:
My 2003 CUMMINS had Michelin 8ply because I was pulling a tandem axel trailer. 75k average miles. A competitor, with an F250 was using Toyo's, relative similar use was averaging 35/40K.

Yep, Michelins are the best! Unfortunately, you can buy two sets of Toyos for the same price as the Mics.

Snoonyb · Nov 16, 2024

That's likely true. Never priced TOYOS. The last set was in 2019, SAMS CLUB, $905-4, 6ply, installed, lifetime 5K rotation, transferable.

68bucks · Nov 16, 2024

I need a set of tires for my truck. I'll drive past every tire chain store you can name on the way to the local tire shop owned by the same guy for decades now. He's a good friend of my dad he knows all the local families, calls everyone by name. It's a decent size shop not a little 2 bay garage and they do other work but mainly tires. I stared doing business with them when they were a 2 bay garage using floor jacks to lift cars. They were faster than the big shops with lifts. I'll ask what they have American made, my #1 criteria. I'll pay what they tell me it is. I think I get a good deal but I've never shopped around, I want this business to be here, they do a ton in the community. If I run into Bob, the owner, I'll say hi and he'll make them give me a discount.

Spicoli43 · Nov 16, 2024

I need Tires and an Alignment, looking at Cooper, Falken and Goodyear, but they have to be USA made with the DOT Code. Meineke has a Military discount, but they might not beat Walmart for Tires... They have the best Alignment price though.

PJB12 · Nov 16, 2024

zannej said:
and friend wants to replace the outlets and switches because they have the push-in style wiring. He wants to replace them with Leviton Decora Edge ones for the non-GFCI and will do GFCI type that hook around screws OR get GFCI breakers-- whichever comes out cheaper. He'll need at least one for each bathroom (3) and the kitchen. Possibly for laundry room.

You're smart to ditch the push-in receptacles and switches. I only do occasional residential work (for friends and family only), yet I can't count how many times the problem was caused by a push-in that burned.

The GFI receptacle outlets will be much less expensive than the GFCI circuit breakers. You can put the GFI for the first device from the load center and those downstream can be regular receptacle outlets. They will be protected. You probably knew this.

For loop-around type, remember to loop clockwise, but you probably already knew this.

If you're not keen on the loop around type, you can get receptacle outlets (GFI included) with clamp back terminals.
You'll strip the wire and leave it straight. Loosen the terminal screw and you'll see a serrated plate flopping around under it. Put the wire under the plate and snug the screw to spec. Some have a convenient hole for the wire. The hole leads under the plate.

For all wiring terminals, I wait a few minutes and re-check snugness.

Personally, I'd avoid Leviton brand GFI receptacle outlets. Sometimes the bid specifies Leviton devices, so we have to use them. We've had well over 30% bad out of the box or go bad quickly.

Cooper Pass and Seymour is quite good & reasonably priced. Hubbell is excellent & very sturdy. Arrow Hart is good.

To my eyes, Leviton Decora Edge looks like a push-in, but with a lever. I'm not sure I'd want to trust those, but I have no experience with them to comment with even the slightest degree of certainty.

Personally, Cooper Pass and Seymour brand is what I use at home due to quality and price. (Last week: Nylon Specification Grade Duplex, Clamp Back BR20R $1.08 each)

At work (industrial & hospital primarily) I specify Hubbell because those devices get beat up, but they are expensive.

These are just my thoughts. Others will have different opinions.

Paul

PJB12 · Nov 16, 2024

Ron Van said:
How do they know this? Isn’t your vote supposed to be secret?

View attachment 33690

Polls seem to be quite different based on source.
If I check 4 networks, there will be 4 charts. Fox, NBC, ABC and PBS all are widely apart pre-election and closer post-election.
I can only think (as paranoid as it may sound) that the pre-election are skewed toward what they want to be the result. Were I Mr. Fox, I'd poll Fox viewers. Were I Mr. PBS, I'd poll PBS viewers. Let's show that our favorite candidate is ahead. Maybe more undecided will come on our team.

My Opinion Poll: Yard Signs and Bumper Stickers

My neighborhood is mixed African American, White, Jewish, Hispanic and a few Asian. Residents are blue and white collar. The yard signs are well mixed.

The nearest grocery, pharmacy & hardware stores are in solidly African American areas. Customers & workers are nearly all African American with maybe 10% Orthodox & Hasidic Jewish customers. The bumper stickers are not republican at all. Not at all.

The Church where I worship is White, African American, African immigrant and Asian Immigrant with some Hispanic. The bumper stickers in the parking lot are by no means republican. (Mixed income and education levels)

In neighboring predominantly White cities, the stickers are far more republican than democratic or other.

Not exactly a Gallup quality poll, but it's what I notice every election.

PJB12 · Nov 16, 2024

zannej said:
Its not even connected to the plumbing under the house. It came apart years ago and when I tried to fix it my brother ran the water in the sink (after I'd told him NOT to use the sink bc I'd be repairing the drain underneath the house). He didn't listen to me and dumped a whole bunch of water down right when I was about to push the fittings together. Ruined the PVC glue and it wouldn't take. That was before I found rain or shine pvc cement. I forget why I never got back under there to fix it, but I was incredibly angry at him at the time. Too much foliage growing right now for me to get under there now. Will have to cut that all back to be able to squeeze back under. Need to do another waterline under there as well. This sink was the only thing connected to that pipe before it came apart.

It's pretty important to fix the pipe dumping under the house, as you plan to do. Various molds will enjoy growing on the grey water from the sink. It will also attract critters. The molds will travel to the underside of the floor and eventually spores will enter the rest of the house. Your family's health is paramount!

An Example-
My wife's parents lived in upper Michigan where good contractors are hard to get. (Sounds like your area.) They had a new shower installed. After some months, they both had seemingly incurable respiratory illnesses with weakness, lethargy and wonky blood tests. One physician suspected mold, but the house was always spotless.

One day my father in law noticed ice on the shower floor around the drain grate & cold wind blowing up from the drain when the exhaust came on. He looked with a flashlight and saw that the contractor never connected the shower to the plumbing. It dumped in the crawl space.

Even though drainage under there was excellent (sand) and temperatures outside had been below zero-F for weeks, when I went in to fix it active mold was all over everything. I could see quite a build up of older mold, too. (I'd been down there many times before the shower job. Never was there mold.)

After total mold removal and prevention, their illnesses quickly disappeared. (And I re-worked the plumbing to code.)

So, for your family's health this project probably should move up the "Gotta Do It" list.
Please pardon me for preaching. I worry about others.

PJB12 · Nov 16, 2024

Spicoli43 said:
I need Tires and an Alignment, looking at Cooper, Falken and Goodyear, but they have to be USA made with the DOT Code. Meineke has a Military discount, but they might not beat Walmart for Tires... They have the best Alignment price though.

Costco might be worth checking. It seems they have good tire prices, but I don't know where the tires are made. For the record, my Coopers on the work truck were made in China. So much for American brand name.

For my wife's car, believe it or not, a Mom & Pop tire shop beat all others by a couple of hundred dollars. I'd a thunk the chain stores or Walmart or Costco would be cheapest. I was wrong. (Pirelli from the Brazil factory.)

American made may not always be a good indicator of quality. In the 70's I worked at US Rubber, later called Uniroyal as an electrician. I never bought Uniroyal, despite the discount. No one else did either. (Things may be different now since they got sold.)

zannej · Nov 16, 2024

I've had Toyo tires before. Pirelli Scorpions too. Current ones I got are Venom Terra Power Hunter A/T (all terrain) tires. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Venom-Po...-245-60R18-109H-XL-Light-Truck-Tire/721581258

Ron, I go nerdy over plumbing as well. LOL. All of the fixtures in my house have S-traps and I need to fix that. I actually have a tumblr page I haven't updated in a long time about plumbing codes. At the time I did the pipes under the sink (replaced double P-traps) AAVs were banned by Louisiana Plumbing Code. But the state ditched its own code and reverted to IPC 2012. I know about the trap arm needing to be at least 2 pipe diameters long to avoid crown vent, not have a drop of more than 1 pipe diameter that would create a vacuum, no S-traps etc.

PJ, Spicoli has had some bad experiences with Costco so I don't know if he wants to shop there.

Spicoli, are you close enough to a base exchange (BX) to be able to shop for tires?

Took my friend to HomeDepot and went hog wild. LOL. Used my ProX account but he paid-- he got the discount and I got the points. He even bought some sweet potato fries from Walmart for Mom afterward. Associate asked my friend if he was having a good day and he said "Yes, but after checkout I'll be crying" because he knew it was going to be expensive. Came out over $600-- but he got like four 10-packs of outlets, two 10packs of one way switches, several packs of 1 gang wall plates, some 2 gang wall plates, some GFCI outlets, a shopvac, and some Milwaukie tools. Got a good paint roller and some cleanup towels as well. I tested the roller to make sure it rolled easily. I had a 10-pack of the 3-way switches already and he only needed three so I brought them with me.

Looks like not too much needs to be painted over at the house-- but there are some ugly wall colors and some doors were painted with murals. We went over there after leaving HomeDepot and I like the place. I found a few problems that need to be fixed but they were minor. He's going to give me the cabinet hardware (knobs and pulls) when they renovate the kitchen. I took some measurements and he may need to trim something under an overhead cabinet to get his current fridge to fit. Nice little area he's in-- cows, goats, ducks, chickens, sheep, etc in the area. It's rural so he qualified for a loan for rural property.

My friend figures getting GFCI outlets that an inspector can look at and identify as GFCI is safer than doing the loop. He told me he got either a switch or an outlet with a night light on it. LOL.

Right now we're discussing what brand struts to get for my truck because it is bouncy.

What did you do today?

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