A couple nights ago I came home to find the alien and lights in my second story shop window. Was out. I figured it had gotten unplugged, but no, the plug was dead! This floor is basically a storage warehouse, so all the other outlets were behind shelves. I found ONE across the room, crawled under a shelf and -- dead. The ceiling lights are on the same breaker, so that wasn't it. But I was envisioning a broken plug or connection upstream, and
I went through all my old construction photos, pre-drywall, to figure out where the other plugs on the floor and the wires connecting them were located. It appeared the first plug in the run was near the stairs, right above the breaker panel on the first floor.
And that's when I remembered that the first plug on the circuit downstars had a GFI plug that had caused me trouble once before (Ironically, it had been hidden behind a bookcase in my wife's writing office). Was there one on the second floor? If so, it would be that first plug, deep behind a shelf. Also behind a lot of flat things that I'd put BEHIND that shelf.
I pulled out multiple sheets of plywood and perfboard blocking the way, and way behind the shelf, I could just see the plug. Unable to see clearly, I stuck my phone back and took a closeup of the plug with my phone. Yeah, that spoiler picture. Red LED. Poorly marked reset button.
With difficulty I reached back, found the reset by feel, and pushed it. The lights came on! Yay! My fears of an expensive electrician visit were relieved!
The lesson here is, if you're building or remodeling something, TAKE LOTS OF PICTURES during every stage of construction, especially before the drywall and insulation go up. Get clear shots of every interior and exterior wall, and don't forget the ceiling.
Knowing where your studs, rafters, beams, and hidden systems, pipes, wires, ducts, are, can save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars later.
Even if you don't understand what you're looking at, you can show them to a professional when they are coming in to aid in troubleshooting or modifications. Sure, there are ways to "look" through walls, but pictures are much quicker and more certain.
Now my alien returns to his mission to bring cheer to a dark modern world!
#homerepair #DIY #homeowner #homeownership #repairs #electrical #homerepair #troubleshooting #lifehacks

Update on solar hot water: it's cooking! Solar collector at 167°F, top of tank 155, bottom of tank 147. The tank has a "mixing" valve at top, to mix in cold water with outgoing hot water to make it a human friendly temperature.
#SolarHotWater #HomeRepair #plumbing

For those following the solar hot water project it got assembled this morning, flushed with water, checked for leaks, emptied, and then pumped full of a glycol/water mix. The motor purrs like a kitten as it circulates the liquid through rooftop collector and heat exchanger at bottom of 120gal storage tank.
The solar controller is checking bottom of the tank and comparing it to collector. When I plugged it in:
top of tank: 120° (heated by electric earlier)
solar collector: 102°
bottom of tank: 57°
In last twenty minutes the bottom of tank has risen to 70° and collector is up to 115°.
#SolarHotWater #electronics #homerepair

The Pipeline - Background Noise Comics - Medium

https://backgroundnoisecomic.medium.com/the-pipeline-e899056dd5be

Hey all,

Our one functional bathtub in this 110 year old house has developed several bad problems this week: leaky drain, constantly dripping tap (more water bills), and the floor is damaged so the whole thing wobbles.

We got the drain fixed, but it came to $1300. The tap will be another $1200. We'll have to fix the floor ourselves. Our all-trans household is out of savings because we also had to have our furnace replaced to survive another Minnesota winter.

Anything helps, and thank you!

$700/$2500

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Guess I should move on to some chores for today. Some drywall patches today, having completed various networking and alarm cable stringing recently.

It was a good opportunity to fix a badly mounted utility box (3-gang switches) and insulate an non-insulated strip of wall.

I'm pretty sure this is a bad look for a hot water tank.

Replacing a number of light fixtures in our new home, and another day, means another #electrical crime.

In the last one they'd rammed wood screws through the bolt holes rendering it useless and I had to replace the whole box. This time they used proper bolts but decided after the first two mounting screws to go ahead with nine more, including two two-and-a-half inch drywall screws through the threaded ground holes.

Having someone work on your house's foundation is weirdly stressful. With all the banging going on under there, I half expect fall through the floor any minute.

Perhaps one.of the most challenging tasks in the garage: figuring out where in the heck the joists are. #homerepair #projects #diy

One of the previous owners of our barn apparently didn't have any proper window glazing when he/she repaired one of the windows.

But there was some bathroom caulk available.

I can report all these years later that it did sort of work. But it makes a really ugly job of it.

This is the most helpful article I’ve read on drawer slides. I’ve been battling ours for years, and have needed to replace some of them more than once. I didn’t realize how many factors determine if you’re using the right ones. Turns out our contractors installed ones that weren’t right for us.

Sigh.

If I had known all of this, it would have alleviated a lot of frustration for me.

https://www.woodmagazine.com/woodworking-how-to/doors-drawers/drawer-slides-demystified

I just hung a large framed print on a plaster wall with picture crown molding (with a slot at the top to take hooks for hanging things). Improvised, using a short length of light chain (the sort used for hanging plants) and a small carabiner to connect the existing wire on the frame to the chain. Seems to have worked pretty well. May inspire me to hang more art in my old house.

Spent the weekend "refreshing" our rusty, rickety mailbox. I doubt anyone will notice, aside from - maybe - the mail carrier. But instead of getting a negative hit of "This is nasty, I really need to fix this" every time I check the mail, I'll get a positive hit of "Ooh nice, not falling apart! I actually did it!"
#LittleThings #HomeRepair #DIY (plus, this weekend especially, it was good to do something practical and away from internet-connected devices)

Habitat for Humanity Santa Barbara providing free repair and maintenance of homes/mobile homes for low income homeowners in Southern Santa Barbara County. #SantaBarbaraCounty #homerepair https://www.sbhabitat.org/programs/home-repair/

Well, I am 0 for 2 on the choring today. Ordered the wrong hinges for the busted cabinet door, and was thwarted by a screen repair.

At this stage of my life, I think I'm just going to admit that fixing screens is just not in my skill set. I have ripped so many screeens trying to get that little gasket thing in the groove...

If you enjoy minor #HomeRepair sagas, read on... #DIY
Today I set out to fix the loose handle on one of our breakfront doors.
The handle is held on by a single bolt. The hole the bolt goes through has enlarged, so the head of the bolt is going too far in. As a result, when the bolt is screwed all the way into the handle, it's still loose.
I tried putting a washer on the bolt to stop the head from slipping into the hole. Alas, this made the bolt too short to reach the threads in the handle.
1/3

#DIY #plumbing project is done, and by done, I mean the plumber will be here in the morning.

Help me diagnose what’s going on with my very old heat pump. I’m not sure if it’s getting power, because it doesn’t seem to turn on at all. I don’t recognize the kind of switch that’s in the box on the back of my house. Anyone have any pointers? #heatpump #hvac #electrician #homerepair