Home Improvement Today?

How's that TR7 Speed Queen working out for you?

 

Looking sharp!

It is great when folks take some time to recondition the old equipment, with a few drops of oil each year you are probably good for the next 60 years of service now.

 

I'll never buy, anything but, a Speed Queen again. I love it, no vibration, ultra low noise, and very good results on clothes.

 

I know a very well off guy that was in the same spot.

After the 5th time someone took out his mailbox, he sunk a 10x30" structural steel beam 20' down and mounted his mailbox on top...

 

I had a neighbor across the street at my old house who had someone stay with him for a while. The guy back his truck into my mailbox the one day. Was kind enough to leave a note and said he’ll pay for it. Said he was going to nursing school and what not. So I figure whatever I’ll just replace it and not charge him. So I think later that day I seen him pull in and I told him I would cover it and not to worry about it.

I went to Home Depot and got a new box. Put it up. About a week or two later he hit it again. He felt pretty bad and left me a $50 gift card in the mailbox with another note. The post was ok, just crushed the box and broke the post free of the concrete. So I would have been able to lift it completely out if I wanted. So I just got another bag of concrete and reset it. This time I ordered a heavy duty mailbox. It was really solid. He didn’t hit it again afterwards. Almost wanted him to just to see how it would fair lol.

Wish when I moved I grabbed it and brought it to my new house. If someone takes out the one I have at this house, I’ll probably buy the same thing again. Or maybe have my step son fab and weld something up as he’s going to school for welding.

 

Mailbox chronicles:

First year, (middle of nowhere) the snow banks got so high the town used a loader to push them back and hit my mailbox with the backhoe, knocking it off.
Solution: Beat it back into shape and attach the mailbox really well to the pole.

Second year, backhoe flattened mailbox, it stayed on the pole just fine... ^^brilliant idea^^



At this point I discovered rural mailboxes are surprisingly expensive.


Third year, summer: hear a BOOM, investigate, call town cop and tell him
"Someone blew up my mailbox!" --



his reply -- "Damn, that's the third one today."
He did come up to look, said it was probably a 1/4 stick

Did I mention that rural mailboxes are surprisingly expensive?


Forth year, allowed to move the mailbox from end of dead end road to in front of the house

27 years later the same loosely attached mailbox is still out there on the pole

 

Today I replaced one shingle on my roof - the corner was torn and I think the damage was my fault from the roof rake. I bought Owens Corning 3-tab shingles for a shed I built and they're a very close match, so I used one of those.

When I pulled the old shingle off, I noticed the printing on the tape strip - it's a CertainTeed shingle and had a bunch of codes. I ended up calling them and asking if those codes correspond with a date so I can date the roof. They said absolutely they do and I read him the code. Turns out the shingles were manufactured in 1999 in Norwood, MA.

I was already planning on a roof replacement in the next couple years. It's 3 tab so I knew it was older and I'm just starting to notice loose granules on the ground - not a huge quantity, but they're there. The 1999 date is actually worse than I thought (was thinking early 2000s), though, and I'm most definitely on borrowed time!

 

You might want to call up a local roofing company who only do insurance claims. They may be able to prove wind/storm damage. If they can you’ll probably get an entire new roof for the cost of your deductible. Your existing shingles are most likely 3’ which are no longer available. All asphalt shingles sold today are 1 meter. You will not be able to patch the roof with matching shingles.
This scenario happened on our house 2 years back. We got a new 34 square roof installed for the cost of our deductible…$1000

 

This has to be the biggest home repair scam out there

 

It’s not the homeowners fault or scam the size of the shingles changed

 

I meant the storm bs. Yes it happens but the roofing companies definitely fudge it too

 

No doubt. We had one of these roofing companies work through our neighborhood. They came to us, I told them the roof is 26 years old and is at its life span. They said ‘let us see what we can do’. I said go for it.

 

The Owens Corning shingles I had from my shed project fit perfectly. I don't think the casual observer would notice it's different unless I told them to look for one that was and narrowed it down to a specific section. The color match is extremely close.

I did measure today and came up with 26 squares with some minor rounding up.

Yeah, I'm not poking the bear. We're a rate class 9 (no public water, therefore no fire hydrants, volunteer fire department). Lots of companies wouldn't insure me as soon as they found out there weren't fire hydrants. I have had the same one for years that gives me reasonable rates and has a good reputation. Don't want to risk having them drop my policy afterward and be stuck with a sky high policy from whoever is left to insure someone who filed a 5-figure claim and is class 9. If a catastrophe happens and I have to claim something major some day, so be it, but I don't intend to file for something that is routine maintenance.

Storm damage would be a massive stretch, too. If you look at the roof it's all just wear and tear due to age, and I think it's worn surprisingly well for 26 years. I didn't find a single other broken or damaged shingle up there.

 

Rebuilt the laundry sump. After 13 years, it finally plugged up. We live outside of the city, and do whatever we want. Build shops, barns, and got my own offroad course in the back 40.

 

Removed carb on the Generac pressure washer for inspection, it was running a little rich last weekend. I get it apart and realize, the picture of the choke/open throttle, well, I had it backwards, but it was running pretty good on full choke last weekend but it was a little smoky in the exhaust area. Anyway, got it cleaned up, lubed up, lubed the actual throttle plate & pin whatever it is called, and now the governor is actually working as it should-it was gummed shut thats why it ran on full choke. Put it all back together, used Loctite 515 gasket maker, and will test it out tomorrow after that 515 cures for 24 hour--it's only on the carb so its not going to blow out but I'll wait for tomorrow to run, in daylight. Goodness gracious I promise to run the carb dry after each use like the manual says, and I'll lube the pump with the Stabil pump protector after each use.

Here some breadcrumb pics I took to help remind me how to reassemble, but assembly was too easy.

 

Thank you! It was satisfying to work on, because it's easy to see and feel the quality of the fan and it's parts. Comparatively today's fans are disposable junk.

 

Fyi, that "crooked" bolt in the bottom of the fuel bowl is a drain.

If you're at a point you'd just rather empty the carb than spend the time to run it dry, pull the plug instead.

 

After checking for spark I just spent 5 minutes looking for the second spark plug on my old Murray lawn tractor. It was still in the lead but not threaded into the head. Doh!

 

Anyone bought an LG or Frigidaire microwave lately? I'm looking at these two and leaning towards the LG.

https://www.frigidaire.com/en/p/kit...kA9feOtXpHgUClb0mYDkt-Q-KuTEqius-TH6hg43FFTs8

https://www.lg.com/us/cooking-appliances/lg-mvel2137f-over-the-range-microwave

 

Our master bath is looking like something now, almost done…