Home Improvement Today?

It looks like a piece of railroad track.

 

You are absolutely correct.

 

cool

 

doesn't matter. they don't have $1 tacos anymore.

or considering it's on a taco piñata, they're encouraging people to smash the sign for unlimited $1 tacos?

tacos are more important than structural railroad track!

 

No, the railroad track is what's inside the wall. Instead of using a standard I-beam they used this.im not sure why they chose to have it sticking out, maybe because it was too hard to cut, or maybe because they thought it looked cool.

 

So, modified the cabinets a little bit today.

Cut out a section and moved it in 3/4".







Don't know why, but I added a piece of 3/4 round to kind of hide the cut. Used some spray primer (Zinnser oil base) and then filled the holes.



I will eventually touch up the paint when I do the bathroom vanity.

Fridge barely fits where it should!



Kitchen will be repainted soon, so that's why you see some of the off white going past the fridge. The blue color just didn't work for me.

 

It would be a cool story if the rail came from one of the narrow gauge railroads in the area. Combres and Toltec, Silverton and Durango, Colorado and Southern, Rio Grande Southern,...

 

My mother recently moved out of her home of 40 years and into a prefab unit that’s a bit less maintenance for her in her 70s. It’s only been 3 months, and my first visit was this month so I’m still getting a handle on what all needs addressing.

Yesterday I discovered that her HVAC didn’t move any air. The condenser fired up & was clearly brand new but zero air out of a single register inside. Popped the panel off the furnace and the fan wasn’t fanning. Looked at the control board and there was no wire hooked up to “G”… which is what tells the fan to do fan things! An HVAC friend told me to swap C to G at both the furnace & thermostat and we’d be good. Well now it blows but barely enough to even move a sheet of paper held up to the registers. I think the A-Coil may be clogged due to problem #2…..

While in the utility closet I noticed that the dryer exhaust is routed through and terminated at the door….where it’s supposed to mate up to the vent. Not a snowballs chance in hell that thing ever lined up. How did this pass the buyers inspection she had done!? Also note the cocked earthquake strap… that’s against code! With 1/4” of lint covering everything in that closet I’m truly amazed it didn’t go up in flames with TWO pilot lights in there.



So I bought some elbows, straight sections, a new vent & some foil tape. Ran the exhaust up to a new vent over the doors. It’s not ideal but without opening walls is the best I could manage. I Vacuumed up the closet & thanked the stars that nothing ever caught a spark.

 

Looks like there could have been a way to run the dryer vent out the right door, while having access/working from the left door. Granted it would require anytime someone opens the right door to make sure it lines back up when closing. Only reason that might be better is a 6ft vertical on a dryer vent isn't exactly ideal either.

 

I had a water spot show up in my yard, just a small one, but it was right where I had a tree taken down and stump ground a couple months ago. I thought maybe he knicked some sort of plumbing line and it was trickling out since it took so long to see it and it’s so small an amount. so I decided to dig a hole and see if I could find out.

well I can’t find anything. It smells musty sorta like stagnant mud but not like full on sewage, but I can’t find any extra water or any pipe. There’s no way he was deeper than I have dug with the stump grinder.

All of this being said to ask, can root rot smell bad and cause water/seepage in the ground? I found some stuff on google that says this but I’ve never heard of it. There’s a large root maybe 4” in diameter right where this water spot was at and it’s pretty soft. I just don’t know. Anybody have experience with this? Pecan tree btw.




tldr; my hole stinks.

 

Do you have a septic system? If so and it's near the leach field that may be what you're getting. I know when the fields start to go bad you start seeing more signs of wet areas (don't ask me how I know this...). The effluent coming out of the tank doesn't actually smell that bad.

If you don't, I'm not sure. Rotting wood doesn't really have a smell as far as I am aware.

 

No septic tank here.

I googled does root rot smell and this is the result.




the only thing I don’t have an explanation for is the little water puddle. I was leaving the hole overnight to visit today and see if there was a puddle again but dang if it didn’t rain.

 

One thing you could check, if you haven't already, is to turn off all your faucets,etc. in the house. Then, go check the water meter, to see if any water is flowing through the meter.

You could at least isolate the "leak" to supply side or drain side.

 

I haven’t done that yet, but it could only be drain side if it even is that because of where it’s located in the backyard.

it does point towards a manhole in between our houses which is why I thought possible sewer line but I’ve still found nothing! I’m so confused.

 

I figured it was on the drain side, but didn't want you to overlook the idea. A supply side leak, even small one, can get very expensive very fast.

 

Yeah I appreciate that. My bill was actually cheaper this last month than previous, mainly because of electricity not water, but nothing out of the ordinary on it…

I’m just at a loss unless it is the root rot stuff. The tree was in rough shape, dead and sort of soggy inside the base of it so I’m really thinking it’s this..

 

How far below the surface is the water table? Perhaps, the big root found water, and now is siphoning water up.

I have no idea if things work that way, but it's a thought........

 

How do I find that out?

 

I do not know.

You can start here: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-can-i-find-depth-water-table-specific-location