Project Update Thursday - 3rd Nov 2011 – Conversation in Home Improvement

Aarthi Devanathan

Nov 3, 2011 19:00

Welcome to Project Update Thursday!

Greetings and salutations to @PaulLemke! :D

What's shaking, everyone?

:D

Doresoom

apparently not much

Aarthi Devanathan

LOL Apparently.

Yikes.

Soooo, how was everyone's weekend? :D

Steve Jackson

My son went trick or treating for the first time. He liked the part where everyone opened their front door and he tried to walk in to several houses. The candy - not so interesting.

My projects continue to mock me. I have three very small things to do and can't seem to find the time to do them.

Aarthi Devanathan

Ach, I hate it when that happens.

But! Son! ADORABLE SON. Pictures? Pictures!

/turns this into Parenting chat

Steve Jackson

@AarthiDevanathan Sorry, none on me.

@Tester101 how's the porch light wiring project?

Aarthi Devanathan

Nov 3, 2011 19:12

Aww.

Hi there, @chris :D

chris

Hello

Doresoom

I spent Monday night as a fish - not in a costume though, and my house wasn't flooded.

Aarthi Devanathan

So.....wait, what?

Tester101

@SteveJackson On hold.

Doresoom

Some friends of ours had a block party for their neighborhood, and they needed someone to man the "fish for candy booth"

Aarthi Devanathan

Nov 3, 2011 19:13

lol

chris

A Guy down the street from me spent all weekend building a gallows.

Could have fit a 3-piece band on it.

Doresoom

which consisted of me hiding under a too small frame covered in blankets while kids lowered a line with a clothespin on the end

and i attached candy and tugged so they knew they caught something

Steve Jackson

That's pretty fun

Doresoom

i couldn't help but think about making a better frame for the thing the whole time I was under it

Steve Jackson

not so much for you - hope you were compensated :)

Doresoom

Nov 3, 2011 19:14

I thought it was going to collapse and smother me

Aarthi Devanathan

eek

Tester101

@SteveJackson seems to be the season for weddings and colds. Went to a bunch of weddings, and got a bad cold.

Hoping to finish wiring this weekend.

Steve Jackson

I still need to put insulation back in my attic and redo my dryer vent. Then I have a new oven seal to install and a toybox to finish. I don't think any of it will happen this weekend though.

chris

Lets see - Updates. Surprise Water heater breakdown, which required a surprise chimney liner installation. Basement waterproofing progressing slowly, as weather only allows them to dig 2-3 days a week. Can't start the basement until the waterproofing is done.

Aarthi Devanathan

eek

Steve Jackson

Nov 3, 2011 19:22

I, for one, would like a graceful water heater breakdown. Never hear about those.

How did the water heater lead to the chimney?

chris

Came home on Friday, and the house smelled like dirty combustion. Slept that night with the furnace off, windows open and CO detector on my bedside table. 2 kids and 2 adults in one bed is not comfortable. $200 emergency furnace call, to hear "It's the water heater."

Next day, the water heater guy came at dusk, and said: Can't install the new one without a chimney liner, which has to be done during daylight (for obvious reasons.)

Building codes changed. When furnaces and water heaters vented to the same chimney, it was fine. But HE furnaces vent through the wall, and there's not enough heat to keep the flow going. You reduce the size of the chimney by putting in a 4" stovepipe.

Steve Jackson

My 1979 Magic Chef furnace is probably not HE :)

chris

So your 6 inch clay lined chimney is probably ok.

It also has to do with the winter temp. Cold, -25 deg. C days make for awesome backdrafts.

Steve Jackson

@chris I bet. Well that's a lousy weekend. Sorry to hear it.

chris

It's the waiting around for contractors to show up that gets to you. If it wasn't gas, I'd figure out how to DIY.

BMitch

Nov 3, 2011 19:45

and I'm back

@SteveJackson mine kinda broke down gracefully, or, actually I just prematurely replaced it thinking that would fix my problems

though my problem was a pressure regulator valve, but it was good to get a new hot water heater, old one was junk

chris

I'm on a rental. It's 13.50 a month, and they will replace it after 15 years, if needed.

BMitch

renting a hot water heater?

Tester101

Don't miss a payment, that could be an ugly repo!

Steve Jackson

@BMitch Yeah, I'm getting to the paranoid stage on mine. There's nothing wrong with it per se, but there's a lot of crap in my garage and it's getting up there in years. I'm really looking for a: "Oh my hot water isn't quite as good today, I better replace the water heater sometime in the next three months"

chris

Nah, it's pretty standard here. They bill through the gas company. I'm aware that over 10 years I could do better financially, but this way I'm never on the hook for a $1000 replacement and installation. (Had to cover the chimney liner though...)

BMitch

Nov 3, 2011 19:50

@SteveJackson have you checked the anode rod, or whatever that sacrificial bar is?

chris

But If I were to miss a payment, they'd probably cut the gas off first, so repo-ing the heater would be moot.

Steve Jackson

@BMitch I kept asking around for a replacement before I took it apart and none of the big box stores were any help so I forgot about it until you mentioned it.

There was a LOT of sediment when I moved in, so I figure I'm already on borrowed time.

BMitch

I've never replaced one myself, but when the heater gets older, replacing that is one way to avoid a premature failure

Steve Jackson

@BMitch Yeah, I've got the money saved up to buy a new heater, I'd mostly like the leak warning :)

amazon.com/Leak-Frog-LF001-Water-Alarm/dp/B000WMSTUO

By the time one of these puppies was set off it'd be too late :) My relatives have been dumping their furniture in my garage for about 18 months now, it's packed!

Aarthi Devanathan

LOL I thought that was this:

amazon.com/Crane-Adorable-Gallon-Humidifier-Shape/dp/B000GWE2U6/…

Steve Jackson

Nov 3, 2011 19:55

I have the cow version

BMitch

@SteveJackson you may have a good excuse to dump the furniture on the curb one day

Steve Jackson

@BMitch I won't lie, it's come close to that :)

chris

@SteveJackson Maybe it's time to start parking your car in the garage.

Steve Jackson

@Aarthi amazon.com/Crane-Adorable-Gallon-Humidifier-Shape/dp/B000GWE2UG

BMitch

so my weekend project was mudding the wall, still have another weekend of mudding left to do, but with family around, that may not be this week

Aarthi Devanathan

Nov 3, 2011 19:58

so cute. I want the penguin one

chris

I hate wet work. I'll do everything else, then hire someone for the mudding.

Steve Jackson

@chris Do I have to remove the crap first? ;)

BMitch

and my 3pm meeting was with the developer next door, it looks like I'm getting them to raise the fence up by 3 feet, woot woot

Steve Jackson

Sweet. So a 11 foot fence in a 4 foot hole?

BMitch

pretty much, 10 foot wood, 11 foot brick columns

chris

Nov 3, 2011 20:00

Nope. You just say "I need to start putting the car in the garage, for insurance reasons. Come get your stuff by [@now() + 6 weeks]

BMitch

"hey, I had some kids messing with my car, so I started parking my car in the garage, but now the kids are messing with your stuff, so you might want to get it, soon"

Steve Jackson

As with all things involving family, it's complicated. Garage and curb are pretty much the options.

chris

Or there's the old classic: "I was welding in the garage and I accidentally your whole furniture."

BMitch

"funny story, remember all that stuff you used to have in my garage..."

Aarthi Devanathan

heh heh heh

BMitch

Nov 3, 2011 20:05

and speaking of funny stories, has @AarthiDevanathan left a can of wd40 outside of her neighbors door yet?

chris

I let my Brother in Law store his winter/summer tires in the garage. But that's it!

Aarthi Devanathan

@BMitch nope, though I oughta.

BMitch

you could try giving them a round of applause when they're done

Aarthi Devanathan

laughs they haven't been, uhhh, squeaky since we last had a PUT

Steve Jackson

and squeaky picks up yet another meaning during PUT :)

BMitch

Nov 3, 2011 20:07

:)

Aarthi Devanathan

hee

Steve Jackson

@AarthiDevanathan Maybe your neighbor reads the chat and took care of it...

Aarthi Devanathan

that means my neighbor is one of y'all! :D

or my upstairs neighbors haven't gotten frisky in a while

Tester101

@AarthiDevanathan Or they are not getting frisky in bed.

Aarthi Devanathan

Hey, if they're playing grabby hands in the shower, I couldn't care less.

BMitch

Nov 3, 2011 20:14

lol

Tester101

@AarthiDevanathan have you solved your heating problem yet?

Aarthi Devanathan

Yes. The answer is: don't wear socks, wear sweatpants, turn on heat upon home arrival.

it works better the colder it is.

so....i need the world to be colder.

i also found that while it won't kick in until after midnight, it's fairly regularly active between like three am and eight am.

Tester101

@AarthiDevanathan Wait... are you talking about your neighbors again, or the heater?

Aarthi Devanathan

Heater! :D

The neighbors have been quietsauce of late.

BMitch

I'm a fan of my down filled REI slippers for really cold mornings

Aarthi Devanathan

Nov 3, 2011 20:33

I have a pair of slippers I've worn that I loveeee

they're perfect!

they have toe prints and everything <3

i've had 'em for years but never used 'em enough

PSSSST

Stack Overflow Blog: The Best of Blog Overflow: October 2011

Posted by Alex Miller on November 3rd, 2011

We here at Stack Exchange love our blogs. Blogs! The way our users can have all that fun that we don’t allow here. Not to mention that Jeff and Joel, and CHAOS all blog regularly.

We’ve noticed that our site-specific blogs have some amazing content that just isn’t getting the attention it deserves. Maybe some of you don’t know that we have a Theoretical Computer Science blog, or a Gaming blog. Which is why we’re going to give them a bit of a bump and showcase some of our favorite entries from Blog Overflow. …

scroll down a bit and see who got featured!

Steve Jackson

Nov 3, 2011 20:55

Cool :)

chris

Nice article

Aarthi Devanathan

:D

Thanks guys. I thought the feature spot for DIY would win y'all over a bit ;)

chris

I'm active on other stacks. It's not just you guys that I love.

Aarthi Devanathan

I'm calling it---

BMitch

@AarthiDevanathan I bet you feel super smart now ;oP

Aarthi Devanathan

Nov 3, 2011 20:59

Thanks for joining us for Project Update Thursday! See you all next week!

Project Update Thursday - 3rd Nov 2011

Home Improvement

Participants