This house has the worst paint ever. Not only did they spray every room in the house a not very attractive gold, but they used the crappiest paint known to mankind. If you bump it with your elbow it wipes off on your clothes, if you wipe it with a wet cloth the cloth comes away gold. It totally water-soluble. The only good thing about this “washable” paint is that the overspray that is all over the white woodwork washes off. It takes an obscene amount of scrubbing and buckets and buckets of water because of the amount of gold … Read more…
Category Archives: Home Projects
When the fan on my refrigerator started sounding like an airplane propeller and my home warranty company completely failed me I started looking for the part on my own and found a company that sells on both Amazon and Ebay. They are awesome. They suggest in their ad that you call and verify it’s the correct part before ordering. I emailed the model number of my refrigerator and they promptly responded that I had the right replacement fan. I asked for an ETA and after supplying my zip code they told me they had the part in a warehouse in … Read more…
The pull chain switch in my whole house attic fan broke and I ended up replacing it on a fairly hot day. While working on it I could not believe the heat coming down through the ceiling grate for the fan. I got online to look for an economical and easy solution. What’s a whole house attic fan? In case you’re not familiar, this fan is mounted on the ceiling joists in the attic after a hole has been cut out of the ceiling drywall. An aluminum grate is then installed on the ceiling side. The grate has louvers that … Read more…
One evening I pulled the chain on my whole house attic fan to turn it off and thought at the time it sounded a little funny. The next morning I went to turn the fan back on and found out why — the switch for the pull chain had broken. I am not a big fan of getting up in my attic since I live alone, so I got a ladder and checked to see if the switch was accessible from the house instead of the attic. It was. I had to reach through the grate and it required some … Read more…
Defining the problems I have two showers stalls with ceramic tile walls and floors and glass doors and both are in need of repair. The master bathroom gets the most use and is in the worst shape so I’ll start with that one. The master bathroom shower had been “repaired” by the previous owners of the house and they had chosen to use white caulk along the seam where the walls and floor meet and about 12″ up 3 corners. This caulk is deteriorating and cracking. I want to completely remove the caulk and replace with white grout like the … Read more…
I have Delta/Delex faucets with separate hot and cold water handles. The first time I had a leaky faucet I took out the old valve stem and went to a home improvement store and asked them to help me match it. I purchased a box of 5 valve stems, springs, and seats. I figured this wouldn’t be the only leak since I have 6 identical faucets in three bathrooms. Tool list Phillips head screwdriver channel locks needle-nose pliers small screw driver rags I turned the water off under the sink going to both faucets. The turn valves don’t seem to … Read more…
When I bought my house the 2 decks on the back were cantilevered (supported by floor joints extending outside the house), but they had never been cared for and were literally rotting off the back of the house. I decided to have those decks removed and replaced with decks supports by steel posts. The steel posts will probably be standing when everything else is gone, but they are a maintenance issue since every nick or crack in the paint is an opening for rust formation. After 10 years there were quite of few rusty places and the white paint on … Read more…