In the garden, and RAIN!!! (2) by SIGNYM

Out to do a couple of things before my afternoon pick up game of mah jong. Still in the rain.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 1:53 PM

Bah....

Looks like my shut off valve for the hot water is janky. That'll teach me not to cut corners and just replace everything.

Going to have to get myself cleaned up now so I can shut off the water and take the existing valves to the store to make sure I get the right replacement.

I doubt that the existing valve had anything to do with the water pressure problem though. I just can't close it all the way to turn the water all the way off. I'll make sure to flush out the line before I install new stuff though.

Wish I had a 2nd person here right now to handle the water main. That would make the job a lot easier for sure. I did a ton of work under that cabinet and the last thing I want to do is spray water everywhere.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 9:08 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Wish I was there to help! I know how much easier it is just yell out "OK, SHUT IT OFF! ... IS IT OFF???" and "TURN IT BACK ON! ... YEAH, ON!!"

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 9:30 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I got worried about no feedback from either my ENT or rheumatologist about my dx. I looked it up online and it's one of those things that can get really bad very quickly and cause rapid kidney or lung failure.

So I messaged my rheumatologist on Monday with my dx and she arranged for a telemed this AM. Turns out that she hadn't heard anything about it, which is strange bc the ENT office said they would contact her. Don't these doctors ever talk to each other??

Anyway, I now have a treatment plan, assuming that oncology goes along with it (bc it disables part of my immune system.) It's two infusions six months apart for two years.

Apparently the pathology report from my sinus/nasal surgery was enough to convince Dr Rheumatology even tho my ANCA blood tests have always been negative. So today they took 13 vials of blood ... I can't imagine WHAT they're testing for! and they'll go ahead n from there.

So I hope smooth sailing and remission in two years, which is curiously my five-year cancer survival time, assuming I get that far.

Once I start treatment I have to garden and go about with an N95.

Spread more builder's paper a few days ago. Yesterday I weed whacked the (very) tall grass in the back. Today I raked and binned it up along with a bunch of pine needles and fallen camellia flowers. Tomorrow and Friday I'll take a look around and see what else I can do... probably spread more builder's paper. Saturday and Sunday it's raining again (!) so back to indoor work.

I think/ hope that medical stuff will overall slow down.

I went online, this is the closest image I could find for camellias that look like mine. But mine are prettier.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 10:03 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Wish I was there to help! I know how much easier it is just yell out "OK, SHUT IT OFF! ... IS IT OFF???" and "TURN IT BACK ON! ... YEAH, ON!!"

Hehe. Thanks.... but boy would you have been bored.

Today was a nightmare, but fortunately it turned out okay.

The idiots who did the plumbing before over-engineered everything down there and basically had pipes put together like LEGOs. Surprisingly, the valves (or should I say the extra part that they were attached to) came off easy...

Too easy.

well that's because the small diameter "tube" they used to connect the weird end of the copper pipe to the copper piece they attached the valves to was made of steel and had rusted to the point where I just pulled those pieces apart!!!

I didn't even know what was happening at first. I thought that crap I was pulling out of the piece connected to the valve was a rubber gasket that had dried out and gone bad, but that was actual threads from the little coupler in there that I was pulling out. I was able to pull more threads off the top of it with my bare hand. The thing was practically crumbling into pieces before my very eyes.

No putting that back together with anything, I'm afraid. Not even a temporary cap so I could turn the rest of the water on in the house for showers and coffee. I'm all in now.

I honestly thought I was going to have to break down and call a plumber.

Got my mind right and watched some youtube videos. I got my pipe cutter and cut both of those supply lines down a little bit from the remaining BS so it was just bare 1/2" copper pipe and sanded them down with nice clean ends. Got myself a couple of compression valves and installed them nice and tight.

At that point, daylight was gone and I honestly didn't feel like working on this anymore. So I just hooked everything from the old faucet back up so I could turn the water on and call it a day.

Good news and bad news...

Bad news is that one of the compression valves I JUST BOUGHT doesn't work. It worked out of the box and didn't let any water out, but I opened up both valves and caught the water just to flush them out a bit and tried to close them up again and the cold water leaks like a MF. The valve on the hot water works just fine.

But the good news is pretty great. My old faucet was fine. I've got about 10,000% more pressure out of the hot water than I had 8 hours ago and about double the water pressure from the cold water now.

If I can manage to take pictures of the BS that I cut off and just how much rust there was, you'd understand why. I can't even believe I still had cold water coming out. If my supply lines were heart arteries, they'd be 90% clogged with a heart attack imminent.

I'm so done with plumbing right now, but I do want to take that bad valve back and maybe attempt to install the new faucet sometime soon. I'm really going to have to be in the mood for it though since I finally go everything back in there nice and tight and not leaking anywhere and I'll finally have no more excuses not to wash the dishes.

At least I know that future work down there will be much easier in the future. And I already LOVE the setup on the new faucet compared to the old one and it will be much easier to install than even just putting everything back on the old one was today.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 10:14 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I got worried about no feedback from either my ENT or rheumatologist about my dx. I looked it up online and it's one of those things that can get really bad very quickly and cause rapid kidney or lung failure.

So I messaged my rheumatologist on Monday with my dx and she arranged for a telemed this AM. Turns out that she hadn't heard anything about it, which is strange bc the ENT office said they would contact her. Don't these doctors ever talk to each other??

Anyway, I now have a treatment plan, assuming that oncology goes along with it (bc it disables part of my immune system.) It's two infusions six months apart for two years.

Apparently the pathology report from my sinus/nasal surgery was enough to convince Dr Rheumatology even tho my ANCA blood tests have always been negative. So today they took 13 vials of blood ... I can't imagine WHAT they're testing for! and they'll go ahead n from there.

So I hope smooth sailing and remission in two years, which is curiously my five-year cancer survival time, assuming I get that far.

Once I start treatment I have to garden and go about with an N95.

Spread more builder's paper a few days ago. Yesterday I weed whacked the (very) tall grass in the back. Today I raked and binned it up along with a bunch of pine needles and fallen camellia flowers. Tomorrow and Friday I'll take a look around and see what else I can do... probably spread more builder's paper. Saturday and Sunday it's raining again (!) so back to indoor work.

I think/ hope that medical stuff will overall slow down.

I went online, this is the closest image I could find for camellias that look like mine. But mine are prettier.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

I'm glad you take those medical things seriously and put it on yourself to get answers Sigs. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing so much work on my end with my stuff that they should be paying me. I think they're all so heavily burdened at this point that stuff will easily just fall through the cracks if you're not on them all the time.

I really hope things start going better for you with your health issues.

Those flowers look great. I hope when you get the time you can figure out how to get pictures uploaded so I can see your actual stuff.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 11:33 PM

Got back around 5pm today and one decent hand which had me a head for a bit then nothing. Oh well. Maybe tomorrow at my regular game.

Then I have errands after that.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024 2:07 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Yeah, once I finished cancer treatment I thought it would be over a done. But I kinda knew there was something else wrong, even before cancer dx. I'd even seen a rheumatologist bc my joints hurt so bad I thought I had stress fractures. I used to have to sometimes sleep in our guest bedroom because it has a very soft mattress, and my shoulders and hips wouldn't keep me awake.

Anyway, I'm mostly playing catch-up right now, but I have made progress and hope to make more.

*****

I have a ??? for you SIX. When the palm trees were taken down, the tree guys were cutting chunks of trunk and tossing them down on the lawn. The problem was the ground was very wet and soft, and they made such deep impact craters you could practically break an ankle on them. In addition, the back lawn has kind of gotten than the sidewalk higher with all the thatch and roots built up. Any idea how to cut the soil down, lower the level and even it out?

*****

This is the prettiest time of year. In addition weeds and unwelcome grasses, everything is blooming. The borage has been blooming all winter and the bees love it. But now the camellias are blooming, along with the pink azalea, the white Lady Banks rose, the nasturtiums and the Joseph's coat roses are just beginning.

I went online to find these..

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Thursday, March 28, 2024 11:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I have a ??? for you SIX. When the palm trees were taken down, the tree guys were cutting chunks of trunk and tossing them down on the lawn. The problem was the ground was very wet and soft, and they made such deep impact craters you could practically break an ankle on them. In addition, the back lawn has kind of gotten than the sidewalk higher with all the thatch and roots built up. Any idea how to cut the soil down, lower the level and even it out?

I think that was two questions there sigs? I'm struggling a bit to catch your meaning on the second part.

I had a lot of impact craters from when they cut my trees down. what I did there was make sure to remove as much of the grass as I could at the bottom of them if they were really deep before putting soil down and seeding it. I stomped most of it down and then left some loose on top for the seeds. The stuff that wasn't super deep I left the grass down there in case it actually did pop up back through and did the same. Then I watered it all down real good and had to make sure I was out there watering every day for a few weeks. It seemed to work well. My lawn looks so bad these days because of the moles you can't really tell though, to be honest.

I've never tried lowering the soil before, but I've seen videos recently on making french drains in your lawn and it seems that they like cutting out squares of sod about maybe 18" by 18" before digging the ditches and then putting the soil back on top when they've filled that with the 4" corrugated pipe and stone. I would assume you could do something similar yourself. You might even be able to get away with just cutting out 18"x18" sections on 3 sides and peeling the top away from the sidewalk while you remove the dirt you want and just pulling it back down, depending on what type of grass you have and how good the root systems are. You'd probably want to only do that in sections to make sure you could get it done on the same day though so you can get that sod back down and water the hell out of it. I wouldn't want to leave that overnight either way you do it, especially where you get a lot of hot sun and not a lot of rain.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024 11:50 AM

Sweet...

Woke up this morning and not a drop of water leaked under the sink all night. We're bone dry.

But now I've got to make the decision on installing the new faucet or not.

Even though it's working really well now, my old faucet is an eyesore.

But here's the thing.... I went REALLY cheap on this new faucet. I got it for $34 on Woot, where they claim the normal price for it was $179.99.

And it's not just some regular faucet either. It's one of those fancy high faucets that curve down like a swan with the nozzle in the end of it. And after installing the hot and cold supply lines, you hook up a third line to a box that is battery operated and controls a sensor function. This thing is designed to allow a setting where you can just put your hands in the sink without touching anything and it will turn on automatically.

Sounds awesome, and it looks really nice.

But... is it going to work, and if so... for how long?

I've got a fully functional yet very ugly kitchen faucet right now. And putting that back together yesterday sucked. The new one is engineered quite a bit differently and I can already tell that if it weren't for the sensor box it would be much easier to install than the old faucet. But the problem is that if anything is wrong with it and it doesn't work after an install, I'm going to have to go through all of that again.

Decisions, decisions....

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024 2:12 PM

I'm going to do it.

I just cleaned the basins and all the nooks and crannies everywhere around it so they're sparkling. Cleaning around the lip where the basin was sealed off isn't exactly something I ever really do beside wiping a sponge over it after I do dishes, so when I scrubbed it with a hard toothbrush it was pretty gross. I also took a utility knife and carefully sliced off any of the seal that protruded to where you could see it.

Work area is clean and the device is ready to be installed.

I'm somewhat hopeful right now that the cold water valve I installed yesterday actually does still work. Maybe some debris had gotten jammed up in it and after running quite a bit of water since then it appears that if I shut the cold water valve closed I don't even get a single drip out of the faucet now. I can't imagine that would be the case if it were still a problem like yesterday since I didn't bother shutting off the water when I installed the hose for the faucet to it and it was leaking a ton into the bucket while I was trying to do it.

Man... I hope this faucet works. Whether I end up having a great day or a really bad day hinges on whether I got a working unit or not. It would still be an annoyance if it turns out that cold water shut off valve actually is bad, but that's just a minor inconvenience and another trip to the store.

At least it can't possibly be as bad as yesterday could have been though.

Right?

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024 4:19 PM

Never jinx yourself like that. LOL

No kitchen sink for the rest of the night and probably most of tomorrow or even into Saturday too.

Everything was actually going well too. The cold water shut off works just fine, so it must have just had some residual crud stuck in it yesterday.

I'd have had the new one installed right now if it weren't for the fact they only gave me a 9.5" deck plate with the faucet. Dammit... If it were only .25" wider it would have covered the two holes that were cut on the sides of the center hole. The old faucet had a wide enough deck plate for that.

I was going to cut out some sheet metal and get me some waterseal JB Weld and fabricate something, but then I decided to look for the part. I didn't even know it was called a deck plate until 30 minutes ago. They do make them. But unfortunately NONE of the big-box stores actually carry any of them and you have to order them online with free delivery or ship to store. They're not quick about it either. I'm not waiting a week or 2 to get this done.

Had to turn to Amazon again. They've got a really nice one that I'm SURE will seal everything up completely watertight for around $20. I also got my matching cap I'll need for the spray nozzle hole along with it for another $5.

After ordering, I realized that with a bit of work I probably could have taken the deck plate off the old one. But everything was rusted out underneath and I was just stripping the 4 screws that held in the faucet to it. And I'm not even sure of the plastic (PLASTIC!!!???) pad on the bottom would sit right in it without that stuff under there, so it might not have even worked in the first place. It looked pretty beat up after all these years anyhow.

This new one is going to have a nice sturdy rubber seal underneath and is highly rated. It was about twice the cost as a lot of other ones I saw, but reviews for the cheaper ones were sketchy and I don't want to mess around with inferior products and potential leakage on this.

Hopefully it comes reasonably early tomorrow and I can get that installed before the weekend.

And hopefully it still works, because I'm really not going to be happy if I have to put the old one back in after buying this additional part for it.

Oh well... At least the main is still on and nothing is leaking under the sink. I can go without the kitchen sink for a few days if I need to.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Thursday, March 28, 2024 5:24 PM

Got back around 2pm after running some errands but no luck at mah jong this morning. Couple of decent hands but nothing to help me win.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 2:54 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I hope your sink fix works out SIX.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Friday, March 29, 2024 11:33 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I hope your sink fix works out SIX.

It should. As long as nothing is leaking in the new fixture itself on arrival it probably lasts me years and years after an install. I'm just a little worried now since I pretty much ruined the old one getting it out and can't re-install it now if there's something wrong with this one.

Unfortunately, they're telling me that my delivery will be here by 10PM. That's not a great sign. Sometimes they come a lot earlier than they say they will, but I think 10PM is the latest they ever have put for a delivery here. So I probably won't know anything until tomorrow.

Oh well... Maybe I'll get lucky.

In the meantime, I'm absolutely thrilled that I have piping under my sink that's up to code and I'm perfectly safe to have the water main on to the rest of the house while there's no faucet in the kitchen. I'll also have zero problems now whenever I get around to the bathroom remodel on the second floor since I learned some new skills.

And actually, on my list of things to do this year is to take out that broken spigot in the front of the house, and now that I know compression fittings are a thing that exists I'm going to go into that job with a lot more confidence as well, because before 2 days ago I thought I was going to have to learn how to sweat in pipes while I was kneeling in a crawlspace and working on them overhead in a place not exactly easy to get to with a blowtorch. Currently, there is no valve inside the house to shut that spigot off, but there will be after I fix that.

I'll probably just run some errands today and do a little house cleaning. We'll see how late that deck plate arrives and if I'm still motivated to install the new faucet when it does.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 1:25 PM

Out for a walk in a bit. Need my umbrella I think.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 4:26 PM

Back and done for today. Didn't need my umbrella. Looks like the dry is coming.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 6:16 PM

No delivery yet. So I was just out doing yard work all day. Filled an entire large city bin with bramble and branches. Jeez... all that wind we've been having playing havoc on my neighbor's evil elm tree.

I thought I was going to go out and paint all that trim I sanded down last week at first, but then remembered I had no place to clean up the brushes when I was done, so yard work it was.

It was actually really pleasant until the clouds covered up the sun and the wind started blowing again. Got cold real quick.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 8:23 PM

Got it.

Boy, it still cuts it close. But fortunately it has bolts that allow for you to tighten them up from the bottom through both of the existing Hot/Cold water holes, so even though there's only an overlap of maybe 3/16hts of an inch past the holes on each end, it should be super tight and not allow any water in.

The deck plate that came with the faucet was about as flimsy as you can get, with a foam "seal", and didn't clamp down to the basin at all outside of the clamping action you get from the center with the faucet.

It's early enough. I think I might try it. At least I can get it started. I really would love to see that auto-sprayer in action.

Finger's crossed.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Friday, March 29, 2024 8:44 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Fingers crossed for you too, SIX!

****

Altho it would have been a good day for working outside, I mostly did indoor work. The only thing I did outside was to put the diverter back on the downspout and set out my rain gage, anticipating the 2.5" of rain they still say is coming. (FLOOD WATCH!)

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Friday, March 29, 2024 10:18 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Fingers crossed for you too, SIX!

It's all done.

It's the nicest faucet I've ever had in my house or any of the apartments I've ever rented. If it holds up for the long haul, just might be better than the fancy one my parents had when I was growing up too.

I didn't even mess around with the auto function. Now that I know you can hook everything up directly and bypass that box, I'm not sure if I'm actually going to install it, to be honest. My old man brought up a good point... It's not as if the water is going to come out at a good temperature right on command. I don't have an electric water heater sitting under the sink or anything. I get the hot water about 10 minutes quicker than I did before, sure, but it's always going to come out cold.

Plus... there's not exactly any real instructions to the thing. It makes it sound like if there's 3 minutes of inactivity it will shut off on its own, but WTF??? If I'm just washing my hands real quick I don't need the water to be running for 3 straight minutes.

There's a little bypass nut that you can screw on the thing if you ran out of batteries where it would still work manually without the sensor, but if you ran out of batteries and left that thing closed you don't get any water until you open it.

Seems kinda gimmicky and/or in the beta stages to me. I'm perfectly happy with how it works right now.

It is almost too much faucet for my sink though. Fortunately, 1 of the 6 settings for the sprayer is a good fit and won't spray all over the place. 1 of the settings is a full on mist that would get all over the kitchen if I used that. This thing would be fine for a deep double basin dishwashing sink in a restaurant.

Quote:
Altho it would have been a good day for working outside, I mostly did indoor work. The only thing I did outside was to put the diverter back on the downspout and set out my rain gage, anticipating the 2.5" of rain they still say is coming. (FLOOD WATCH!)

FLOOD WATCH!!! By you?????

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 10:31 AM

No leaks. It looks good.

I did notice that at the back of the sink where the protective "lip" sits on top of the basin I could see some of the light from my torch peeing through, so I think I unsettled some of the old plumbers putty back there that was making it watertight. I'm going to have to research the best way to fix that. I'd rather not have to take the whole thing off and put it all back down if I don't need to. I could probably just get some clear caulk up in there.

I also still haven't gotten the plug for the old sprayer delivered. I think that's coming today, but no water up on the back part of the sink until I get those issues resolved.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 12:13 PM

Sweet!

I thought that plug for the sprayer was coming today and it is. But I'm also getting my generator inlet box, extension cord and the interlock kit for the breaker box along with it today too. Not going to get my adapter plug until mid-week next week though.

That's alright. I'm not starting it right away. Next week is cold and rainy all week, but the following week is 5 straight days in the mid to high 60s and it doesn't look like a ton of rain, so I should be able to get it put together then.

Hopefully the power behaves and stays on for one more week of rain.

In the meantime, I'll probably take a bit of the drywall down off the side of the box and see what I'm working with here. Since I can buy the cables I need to the box by the foot at the local hardware stores I need to figure out how much I'll need.

For sure I'm going to have to take the breaker box panel off so I can give it a good TSP bath and spray it with primer and paint so it has a little chance to dry before I install the interlock kit too. At least I already sanded off all the Great Stuff and other crud while I was working on the basement. There may be some residual olive oil on it that I was using to remove some of the trouble parts though and I need a totally clean surface.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 1:16 PM

Laundry day for me then a walk in the sunshine.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 2:30 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Sorry, but I've been too busy to track the whole sink fix.

I know you had to turn off water to the house to do something with the shutoff valves under the sink. Did you have to replace the valves? Or did they just need a good flushing?

Once the under sink valves were working well, you replaced the whole faucet, correct? Escutcheon, valve body, spout, handle ... the works. But you had to get a bigger plate bc the one that the faucet came with was just a tad too small. Now you're waiting for a sprayer?

Btw if you're going to use caulk, make sure it has an anti-mold compound in it. Nothing worse than moldy sealant.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 5:33 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Sorry, but I've been too busy to track the whole sink fix.

I know you had to turn off water to the house to do something with the shutoff valves under the sink. Did you have to replace the valves? Or did they just need a good flushing?

That was the nightmare part. I almost broke down and called a plumber.

Quote:
Once the under sink valves were working well, you replaced the whole faucet, correct? Escutcheon, valve body, spout, handle ... the works. But you had to get a bigger plate bc the one that the faucet came with was just a tad too small. Now you're waiting for a sprayer?

Nah. This thing has a sprayer built in. I was waiting for the cap for the hole for the old nozzle. The one I bought just came and it's flimsy as shit and looks nothing like the one I ordered. This is a problem because that hole is bent up and I can't seem to bend it back straight. There's no way this small and flimsy plastic POS is going to tighten that up. I'm going to return that and buy a real one from a store.

Quote:
Btw if you're going to use caulk, make sure it has an anti-mold compound in it. Nothing worse than moldy sealant.

Good tip.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 5:34 PM

Back and done for today. And just got a call from my boss inviting me over for Easter Monday supper.

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Saturday, March 30, 2024 6:28 PM

Been working on bending that hole back and made a little progress. The seal might actually work for the spray nozzle hole. There is a huge leak behind it though for sure, just where I knew it would be. Like severe enough that there's no letting it go. I'll have to figure that out for sure before this sink gets any real use.

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Sunday, March 31, 2024 4:40 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I hope you post pix at some point, I don't understand from description what you're facing/ doing.

*****

Rain rain, rain .... five hour break, then more rain, rain, rain. After the first overnight rainfall I measured 2", emptied my rain gage and set it out again not really expecting much, but we've been getting solid rain for the past four hours or so. I wonder if my rain gage will overflow by tomorrow AM.

AFA flooding, it's not a problem in our area. If we were in the foothills in a canyon or at the bottom of a hill I'd be concerned, but they issue flood watches for general areas like portions of a county.

One of coworkers with a sardonic sense of humor said "They're so unused to rain around here if they get a mist it's suddenly 'STORMWATCH 2024!'"
So true!
I had to laugh.

*****

For all who celebrate, HAPPY EASTER!

Relatives back east are sick and tired of winter by now, and they're hoping for warm breezes and sunshine. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates and they can get out with the family for Easter breakfast or brunch without winter coats.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Sunday, March 31, 2024 1:40 PM

Just a lazy Sunday around me. Music later.

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Sunday, March 31, 2024 10:23 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I hope you post pix at some point, I don't understand from description what you're facing/ doing.

I got pics I can show eventually.

Unfortunately, it would seem that I can't find you any pictures of a sink like mine with an image search. It's an old sink. Nothing ancient, but probably from the 90's. There's been a lot of improvements on the engineering front since then for sure. One day I'd love to put in a new countertop or resurface mine and get a real nice sink in there. The one I've got had to be pretty cold and utilitarian even when it was brand new.

It's got a "lip" all around the perimeter that would allow water in from either the top of the sink or outside of the sink if it's not properly sealed. I think from looking at it the idea was to sit the basin where you wanted to, then you used this with putty or caulk to waterproof it. That got disturbed during the work being done, especially behind the faucet. I'll finish sealing that off then I'm going to do tests everywhere else to make sure I'm not missing any spots I need to fill.

Quote:
Rain rain, rain .... five hour break, then more rain, rain, rain. After the first overnight rainfall I measured 2", emptied my rain gage and set it out again not really expecting much, but we've been getting solid rain for the past four hours or so. I wonder if my rain gage will overflow by tomorrow AM.

AFA flooding, it's not a problem in our area. If we were in the foothills in a canyon or at the bottom of a hill I'd be concerned, but they issue flood watches for general areas like portions of a county.

One of coworkers with a sardonic sense of humor said "They're so unused to rain around here if they get a mist it's suddenly 'STORMWATCH 2024!'"
So true!
I had to laugh.

Tell me about it. Every year in Chicago everybody has to learn how to drive again when the snow starts falling.

Quote:
For all who celebrate, HAPPY EASTER!

Relatives back east are sick and tired of winter by now, and they're hoping for warm breezes and sunshine. Fingers crossed the weather cooperates and they can get out with the family for Easter breakfast or brunch without winter coats.

It was cold here this year for sure. And rainy. Everything had to be indoors. Last Easter it was almost 70 degrees and sunny all day.

Oh well. At least it wasn't snowing.

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Sunday, March 31, 2024 11:17 PM

I made a little mockup in paint for my sink to try to explain it sigs.

The two trouble spots are in red. The circle is the hole where the old sprayer used to come through. The red line is a gap that was created during the work that needs to be filled. That outer border of 2 lines is actually a separate metal piece from the sink basin. It's high in the middle and rounded at both the edge that sits on the countertop and the edge that sits on the metal sink basin and is probably just 1/8" of an inch thick in the center of the strip.

The inner part of the metal strip that sits on top of the metal basin where I marked in red is now slightly gapped. It use to be watertight up until a few days ago. Now, if I intentionally take a sponge with a lot of water in it and squeeze it up behind the faucet, water leaks into the cabinet.

The sprayer always had a minor leak, and I didn't remember why until I took it off. The hole that it was sitting in was really beat up and bent out of shape. There's a dent in the edge of the right basin about an inch away from that hole, so I think somebody dropped something really heavy into it and because the hole was right there it was a weak spot. It's not any huge amount of damage or anything, but when you're trying to get a rubber washer watertight has to be as flat as you can possibly get it.

There was also evidence that somebody had gouged the metal around the hole up in an earlier attempt to put it back into place before I did yesterday. Who knows??? That could have been me 12 years. ago.

I finally got that bent into shape where the rubber seal on the cap should keep the water out and isn't noticeable with the new cap on yesterday. I just can't test that for sure until I get all the other known problems behind it taken care of first. Everything will get a real good water test all along both edges of the strip before I'm done.

So right now I'm actually shoving plumbers putty into the gap on that entire red line. It's a super tedious process requiring me to really warm up the putty and form it into really thin "worms" to put along that edge and then I'm using the back end of a utility knife blade to carefully push as much as I can in there. Most of it ends up on the blade, but every pass I get more into the gap and use it up. Everything I did so far appears to be water tight. I would have finished it last night but I was already late to go over to my friend's place. When I finish, the gap is so thin the putty shouldn't be any more noticeable than the seal around the rest of the sink. Good news since it should look alright when it's done, but it is why it's taking so long to do it.

I may or may not finish it tomorrow. It's not anything urgent at this point. The sink is perfectly usable again and better than it ever was before. And I just cleaned it to sparkling while doing the work, so it's not as if it even needs to be cleaned back there again any time soon.

I've made up my mind that this sink WILL be replaced at some point after I update the countertop. Damn the cost. It doesn't look awful right now because the countertop its sitting on is so outdated and beat up, but to quote my friend's dad about my current countertop/sink situation "It looks like I've got a missing hubcap on a Caddilac".

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Sunday, March 31, 2024 11:24 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Well, the weather here wasn't glorious, but it wasn't too bad.
In any case I spent all day yesterday and today cooking. Not for the day but for the future.

I made another batch of cilantro pesto, still playing with the recipe, but it's basically a green leafy vegetable turned into a paste. So when I make chicken and cheese enchilada (with locarb tortillas for hubby) I don't need to make a separate green vegetable, I just dab some pesto on top.

Found a recipe that dear daughter can tolerate. FINALLY!!! Chicken soup, no onions with celery, carrot, parsnip, zucchini, milk, thickened with a little flour, salt and pepper, and pasta. At last! Something I can serve without cringing.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Sunday, March 31, 2024 11:28 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Ooooh!
One of THOSE sprayers!
I forgot about those

That IS old!

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Loving America is like loving an addicted spouse - SIGNYM

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Monday, April 1, 2024 1:15 PM

Out for my walk in a bit before I got over to boss' for supper. Have to be there by 6pm but heaven knows when we will eat. So I have to make sure that I eat supper before I go to eat supper.

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Monday, April 1, 2024 3:26 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Ooooh!
One of THOSE sprayers!
I forgot about those

That IS old!

Is it?

I honestly don't even know. I assume that they still make and sell them like that, but maybe I'm wrong. I just always thought it was a cheap vs. expensive option, but maybe the nozzle as part of the faucet is ubiquitous these days. It certainly makes for a much easier installation.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Monday, April 1, 2024 4:15 PM

Back from my walk and having a sit down now.

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Monday, April 1, 2024 4:28 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and having a sit down now.

I hope it was nice!

*****

SIX, I don't know what your weather looks like but according to what I see here, the storm that dumped 4" of rain is supposed to be heading your way.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Monday, April 1, 2024 4:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and having a sit down now.

I hope it was nice!

*****

SIX, I don't know what your weather looks like but according to what I see here, the storm that dumped 4" of rain is supposed to be heading your way.

Geez, I hope not.

We've already got 2.15 inches of rain in the last 24 hours and I've got water in my basement again.

It's not more than a cupful and I wasn't going to bother even mopping it up in that dirty old back room, but I'd better get stuff on the ready if more is coming.

... I just looked now. It looks like maybe another .7 inches through midnight and another half inch or so tomorrow.

I knew it. As soon as you were talking about all that rain you were getting I knew it wasn't going to be a nice spring around here. Hopefully we don't get slammed with another 12" storm anytime soon or I'm reliving my nightmare from 4 years ago if we do.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024 11:59 AM

The rain was inconsequential last night. Dodged a bullet so far.

The whole forecast has changed, literally overnight. Where there was a flood warning in my area until midnight tonight, there's now another wind advisory all afternoon and the news we're going to see another inch or two of snow tomorrow.

If you don't like the weather in Chicago, wait 5 minutes.

--------------------------------------------------

Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024 12:48 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Back from my walk and having a sit down now.

I hope it was nice!

*****

SIX, I don't know what your weather looks like but according to what I see here, the storm that dumped 4" of rain is supposed to be heading your way.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

My walk Easter Monday was nice and dry.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024 12:52 PM

Well, we didn't sit down to supper at my boss' until 6:45pm and I was asked to stay and watch a film. They have had a family staying with them from Calgary for the last few days. It was an actual film. Tom Hanks, "A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood". The one he did about Mr. Rogers. It was a good film too. So, I didn't get back to after 10pm.

It's dry right now before I head out but I got things to do. I am taking my umbrella as it is suppose to rain at some point during the day.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024 4:38 PM

Back and finished for today. It is still working up to a rain.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024 6:54 PM

I'll be back at the sink again tomorrow after letting it all dry out overnight.

The sprayer nozzle cap still has a leak in it. It's extremely minor, but it's there. It may be too small for the hole and I may have to get a larger one. Even if there wasn't any previous damage to that hole it would have really been cutting it close, so they should make those things at least 1/8th to 1/4" wider in diameter and not waste your time and money.

I'm about 99% confident I sealed everything up on the interior of the basin lip It's survived 2 drenchings and no leaks came into effect until I tested the outside. I think the one other place I still get water is right between the outer perimeter of that lip and the concave curvature of the countertop that meets it. I'll figure out the best way to get some plumber's putty shoved down in it from that side tomorrow after it all dries out and I should be good on that.

Just taking it easy now. The weather sucks this week, but it may be the last chance I have to not get a lot done and not feel super guilty about it.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Tuesday, April 2, 2024 7:38 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I feel like I've been busy but it's hard for me to list what I've accomplished!

Today was typical: monitor dear daughter for a couple of hours as she sleeps (long story), while that do online shopping for plumbing fixtures (looking for a specific type of shower fixture and learning a lot along the way), do dishes, tidy the kitchen, make hubby's b'fast, let the dog take me for a walk

do some yardwork, take a shower and change so I can rush off to the dentist... right now taking some time to relax before I start making dinner.

But tonight is mostly "leftover night". Dear daughter and I will be having leftover chicken soup - she's having leftover chicken with her soup and I'm having leftover meatballs. I have a leftover chicken breast so hubby's having chicken and cheese enchilada with green sauce and cilantro, with cucumber salad.

On with the show!

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024 1:14 PM

Out to do a couple of things before my pick up game of mah jong this afternoon. There will be two tables, so I wonder who else is joining the usual 3 or 4.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024 3:51 PM

I just can't figure out the source of the last leaks on the sink basin.

It really is very minor though, and I'm putting it thorough "testing" that doesn't actually emulate anything that would happen in the real world. At no point in time have I ever poured two tall drinking glasses worth of water around the edge and up behind any sink I've ever used.

And with all that water poured down and left to sit there for 30 minutes, I got about 10 to 12 drops of water underneath. Maybe only 2 or 3 drops from a spot roughly behind where the hole for the hot water would have been, and the rest just directly behind the faucet itself. These leaks aren't from the faucet holes though, they're from the lip around the basin either on the inside or the outside.

New tactic...

I'm just going to "install" an old paint roller sleeve back there as a catch for any drops of water. It will be wide enough to cover both drip areas back there, and it will have no problems drying out before the next time it gets used. Water doesn't even get up back there unless I intentionally bring some up there for wiping everything down. I can probably zip it up there with a few twist ties or something.

If this were my final sink in the kitchen on a shiny new countertop I wouldn't leave it like this, but I'm not going to waste any more time on the sink as is. This solution is fine for now.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024 5:51 PM

Yeah. That works just fine.

Gotta clean up the area and the cabinet under the sink and I'll get my cleaning products all back under there.

I had bought 2 kitty litter trays from the Dollar Tree that were perfect for the job. They're big enough to cover about 90% of the bed of the cabinet, so as long as I situate them well in there these things should catch any water that leaks down the road. It was apparently leaking before I even swapped out the faucet because there was evidence of water in the trays but the bed looked fine.

The important part is the supply line side is water tight and so is the drain pipe system. I don't think that the basin is even going to leak at all with regular use anyhow. If I leave my kitchen sink after washing my hands or doing the dishes and there's a big puddle of water outside the basins I deserve to have a rotten cabinet anyway.

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Political correctness is just tyranny, with a smiley face.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024 9:02 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

We have a similar problem with our sink, which was installed incorrectly, with a similar fix. One of these days we'll get it fixed for real.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

Why SECOND'S posts are brainless: "I clocked how much time: no more than 10 minutes per day. With cut-and-paste (Ctrl C and Ctrl V) and AI, none of this takes much time."
Or, any verification or thought.

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Wednesday, April 3, 2024 11:20 PM