So what is in your water anyway?

12-Dec-09
The rains have come to the Bay Area and none too soon. We need water in California badly but I must admit that I greet the rains in with mixed emotions. I am rather happy to see the water form in the sky but it will slow work considerably. The roofer is currently had delays of his own and the rains will most likely compound that. I inspected the tarp job that was done last week and it seems to be holding. It slows the leaking down a bit, not stopping it completely, but it should hold until the roofer arrives. At this rate I am guessing early January.

Today’s task was to remove the old hot water heater and the cabinet in the basement. This is in preparation to remove the pipes and reroute the pipes properly. The water heater was in very bad shape and not very safe.




I took a couple of fuzzy shots of the offending items.









A whole lot of pipe going on there. This was only the beginning of the snaked pipe work throughout the basement. (And yes, that is a 'mix' of metals connecting both to and from the water heater.)





After removing the water heater I made the mistake looking down the pipe that connected to the heater from the main line, and what an eyeful I got. I am not an expert but but this can not be good.



What the $#%!$#% it that!






My wife and I guess this that because the house had been left abandoned for almost 2 years the sediment in the pipes has probably collected here. I am removing that pipe and I will do further inspection. I'm hoping that the salvaged pipe that we were able to keep will be suitable for reuse. I will have to see , and likely flush the lines at minimum to make sure that they are suitable for reuse. I definitely do not want to drink that.

Approximate Labor time 3.5hr
MVP Tool of the day: 18" Pipe Wrench. (Tool on the bottom )

Tile in the old kitchen

24-Oct-09

We extracted the tile in the old kitchen. This operation proceeded much faster than expected. We were able to completely remove all of the tile and material beneath it in about 3 hours. The tile in the add-on section was removed as well. With the spare time where able to begin extracting the tile on the bathroom walls. That was particularly difficult to remove. The plywood that was placed below the tile was installed very well. So getting down to the studs was very labor intensive.

The tile in question.

Note:

Beneath the ceramic tile was a material called Hardiback it was fastened to the sub floor by screws (lots of them.) We used the spade to get the material Hardiback up but the screws remain. Damn.

I had the help of my wife Kira, Leo, cousin Sterling, and brother Jerrold

Estimated labor time 6 hours.

MVP Tool Spade

Screws a plenty

Sat 17-Oct-09
We spent the day removing nails and screws from the wall studs and ceiling joists in the blue room and in the Purple/pink room. These rooms are now completely free of nails and screws. This was aided by the efforts of my dear aunt Elouise. (who is incidentally 70+) We also removed the last of the plaster in front room. The ceiling has not been removed, that will be saved for a later date.
Estimated labor time 6.5 Hours

The thing about removing drywall is the screws or nails are left. The builder before me whom we affectionately refer to as "him" used both. There where plenty to remove.

What frustrated me and pretty much everyone else was the alteration between nail and screw. There was little consistency between the two. The spacing was also inconsistent along the joists and spacers, sometimes being 6" apart, sometimes nails and screws as close as 1" to each other.




My wonderful aunt helping out. She was incredibly diligent in making sure that the walls were clear of any and all nails

MVP Tool of the Day The Dewalt

Invaluable for removing screws in tight spaces, or overhead on the joists. Especially because it weighs approximately 1+ lb, and has an adjustable head and quick release for the bit. Compare this tool to the other hand-held battery powered screwdriver which weighs approximately 5+ lbs (without battery, with batter 8+ lbs) and does not have an adjustable head or quick release for fast changes of the bit.