Whoa... nice counter, mALX!

As for myself, the commode leaks. It seems to be coming from the base. Meaning I need a new commode floor seal, or whatever it's officially called. I've no experience installing them, but it doesn't look all that hard. (Famous last words?) Plus, the part is super cheap. My stumbling block; I don't know that I have it in me anymore to manhandle the commode's weight and bulk, as is necessary for replacement. Then again, I hate to spend a lot of money for what is theoretically an easy repair. We shall see.

In other news, I've taken advantage of our unseasonably warm weather and resumed exercise-walks a bit earlier than usual. I swear it gets harder to start back each year. This year, it's mainly noticeable in more labored breathing, which I hope to work off over time. <crosses fingers>

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Mar 7 2023, 12:13 AM

My brother and I tried that once. We removed the toilet only to find that the concrete floor was cracked around the seat. Unable to tighten the toilet back in place, we ended up calling a plumber. He spent an afternoon reforming the seat in the floor. Thankfully in workout in the end.

Whew! With your medical issues; it is a huge relief to have your car running well again. Then = Holy Cow! That was expensive!!! What I liked about this post is that you have a mechanic that didn't try to hoodoo you into thinking you needed a new engine = he realized it was the motor mounts and didn't try to jack up the bill over and above what it needed (an honest and trustworthy mechanic). Next; the mechanic was straight up with you on what he could or couldn't do on getting the car back to you (either working or not) and then pushed to get it to you as soon as possible to accommodate your medical appointment needs. Really good to have someone like that you can rely on. The circumstances of the late shipping were out of his control; of course. This post kind of reminded me of how auto mechanics used to be around here = really hard to find that anymore these days.









I choose this one! But not in my kitchen; maybe on the back deck, lol.


https://i.etsystatic.com/35276639/r/il/f07b...421080_rsw4.jpg









Thank you for the kind words on my countertop work!!!

On the commode = they are VERY heavy and bulky; and it is VERY easy to slip while trying to lift it. Can you get your brother to help you with this? You need to (of course) shut off the water and flush it till it is totally empty.

Lay towels around the floor to catch any more remaining in the tank or commode. The towels will also keep you from slipping on the wet bathroom floor. (if they get too wet; through them in the bathtub and put new dry towels down).

You can put the back tank in the bathtub on a thick layer of towels; and maybe carefully lay the toilet on a thick layer of towels on the floor on its side so you can scrape the old wax ring completely off both the commode and the floor around the pipe sticking up.

When done cleaning off the old wax: lay the new wax ring down; and this is where it is crucial you have help = lower the toilet down precisely level over the pipe hole. If you tilt it or slide it around it will break the new wax ring and it will leak as bad as before you changed it.







The price of cabinet built in features was ridiculous; so we made our own rolling shelves for the cabinets:


(ignore drawer above it being wrong color; I will be putting polyurethane on that drawer later today)


https://imgur.com/55XOcci






This post has been edited by mALX: Mar 7 2023, 07:26 PM

Wow, mALX, those sliding drawers look beautifully professional.

Thank you! Greg did the hard work while I was at the Guild Meet last night, lol. I just drew up an image of what I wanted and he ran with it. I love them!

So what’s on his to-do list for the NA meeting?

I sanded all day, he is putting more drawers and shelves in while I'm at the meeting, lol.

Thanks to comments here, online research, and not being sure I am physically up to the task of replacing a commode ring (or whatever it's called), I decided to call in a plumber to perform repairs. I'm scheduled for Tuesday. They were available Monday, but I have a medical appointment then, plus my weekly grocery/errand run.

I still haven't tracked down what is causing my primary PC's monitor to be eye-fryingly jittery. My latest experiments have proven, to my surprise, that the issue isn't with the motherboard. Swapping GPUs between computers seems to confirm that it isn't that either. The CPU passes all software tests I've thrown at it with flying colors. I'm now wondering if it's the monitor itself, which I'd ruled out early on. I really need to get off my duff and spend the time and energy necessary to solve the matter once and for all. My stumbling block is that it's too easy to simply spend my time goofing around on the web via my secondary PC (which is what I'm doing now).

They really are VERY heavy and awkward to pick up; it is most def a two man job under the best situations unless you are a 23 year old body builder or something. I hope your plumber does a good job and doesn't gouge you price wise; it should be a simple job for a pro (and hopefully he will have an assistant).

On that monitor = a jittery screen like that can cause migraine headaches and even seizures; be careful on that one. Really hope you find the cause and eliminate it.

Project: Commode leak repair
Status: Done!

Turns out the leak's source was not what I thought it was. It was, instead, in the water input tubing, which was my original diagnosis. Only, I thought a leak there would have to be either where the hose attaches to the tank or where it attaches to the top of the water control valve. Instead, it was the pipe that comes out of the floor and attaches to the bottom of the water control assembly. The repairman needed to remove a bit of pipe to alleviate the damage. He also installed a new water control assembly and replaced my ancient metal water valve to-tank-bottom tubing with a flexible hose. In the end, due to modifying the floor-to-water control assembly pipe, I couldn't have done it on my own, lacking the skill for it.

One other "good" thing came out of the situation. Yesterday evening, after clearing stuff away from the commode to give the repairman adequate workspace, I noticed that much of the shower and commode were absolutely filthy, covered in orange and occasionally black mildew/mold. As I'm sure I've mentioned, though I'm a stay-at-home recluse by nature, I'm not at all domesticated. I hardly notice my house at all, other than those areas which are of value to me; basically my computer area and those parts of the kitchen at which I prepare meals. Everything else can go to the dogs without me noticing unless it misbehaves in unavoidable ways. Anyway, once I noticed the filth, I realized that seeing it might scare away the repairman. That being the case, I begrudgingly decided to remove the worst of it. A long project as it turned out, not helped by having only a small amount of cleaning solution on hand. On a positive note, with the leak fixed, I can safely ignore the bathroom again until its next catastrophe.

Glad it's fixed, Decrepit. And a clean bathroom to boot!

Let's not get carried away. Parts of it are cleaner than they were, but plenty of filth remains.


Project: Preparing for brother's weekend visit to prepare tax returns
Status: More complex than in years past, but think I'm ready

The issue is that I don't want my brother to stare at my primary PC's eye-frying monitor for hours on end. Thankfully, a little research found that the program can be installed on up to five devices. I'd need to boot the primary PC, but would have to contend with it only long enough to transfer my TurboTax install file and my bro's 2021 tax file to a USB thumb drive. Those files would then be transferred to my secondary PC.

I found where TurboTax stored return files on the secondary PC (from when it was my primary PC) beforehand, thinking to make usage of my primary PC even briefer. This didn't pan out. My primary PC stores TurboTax return files in a different location, which took a while to find. But find them I did. TurboTax 2022 is now installed, updated, and validated on my secondary PC. I also started my bro's return, transferring data from the copied 2021 return file. I didn't get very far, just verifying that his personal info hasn't changed since last year. Still, that'll save him a minute's work.

This post has been edited by Decrepit: Mar 15 2023, 12:59 AM

Project: Fix CPAP machine humidifier
Status: Is this even possible on my own?

Turning on the Unit at bedtime last night, I was greeted with the following message: "Heating System Fault, therapy will run without heating." It did. What it didn't do was make for a pleasant night. A little research first thing this morning turned up one possibly "fixable" issue that can cause this: water below the heating plate, where the humidifier fuse and its motherboard reside. Getting to it is fairly straightforward. I did so. Sure enough, there was an indecent amount of water there. The fuse itself "looks" okay, but I've no way to test it. I'm letting the now semi-exposed fuse/motherboard air dry, and keeping my fingers crossed.

It's likely going to be evening, or into tomorrow before everything dries out. It could go much quicker if I was able to follow the article's advice and remove the connecting wires from their motherboard socket. This would let me separate the motherboard from its clear plastic protective cover. Alas, those wires are stuck solid. Fragile as the motherboard is (little more than a membrane) I don't dare use the force needed to yank it from the socket.

ResMed's warranty is two years. I've had the unit since around the end of 2020. Insurance wouldn't buy me a new unit for some years yet. CPAP units bought without insurance ain't cheap by a longshot.

Darn. I hope your efforts are able to generate a simple/ez fix then.

After lunch, I found a YouTube video attempting to fix a problem similar to mine, except the poster had a dead/blown fuse. The video was low quality with no narration, so not as helpful as it might have been. But provided an Amazon link for ordering those fuses. Should drying the unit not work, I might try that. Alas, Amazon is "temporarily out of stock". There are other fuses with like specs in stock, but I'm not savvy enough to trust any of them. There is also a chance that my problem is elsewhere. I'll cross that possibly uncrossable bridge should I need to, but continue to hope the issue rests within the humidifier fuse compartment.

Project: Fix CPAP machine humidifier
Status: Fixed

Drying out the humidifier fuse compartment was all it took. Knowing it can happen again, I'll buy a pack of Fuses from Amazon when they're back in stock, just in case. (They are cheap.)

Great news for both you and your coin purse! I love it when a simple fix works.

Project: Prepare and post state-required internet-purchase taxes due
Status: It's in the mailbox

This payment covers Jan-Mar 2023. While I bought a goodly amount online during that time, most purchases added tax automatically. Those that did not were monetarily insignificant. My grand total owed was less than $7.5USD. I could have held off another few months, but fear forgetting something that might come back to haunt me. (I continue to believe that only a small percentage of the state's private residents (as opposed to businesses) bother to do this at all.)

I've got the process down pat now. Figuring out what I owe is easy... so long I remember the correct time period. The main bother is in filling out the submission form, writing the check, and addressing an envelope. And double-checking online to ensure state/county/city tax rates are up to date.


Project: Balance Mar 2023 checking and savings accounts
Status: Done

Did so this morning. All went well. No screwiness whatsoever. My first attempt at balancing my checking account was off by $2.57. An easy fix. I knew what the issue almost had to be, and was right. (I forgot to enter interest-earned (such as it is), which I never know until my statement arrives. (To be fair, I can look it up a few days beforehand online. But why bother?)


Project: Spring Yard Work
Status: A small start

Did this yesterday. Removed a multitude of stems growing around the base of a small "tree" at one corner of my house. (When bought, it was advertised as a "bush" that grew to 8' high, 4' wide. In reality, it's a relatively large bush-tree, some 15' high, 12' wide, and growing. I have to keep its lower section trimmed bare to retain its tree shape. A pain in the rump is what it is. But it nicely shades part of the house during afternoons.)

I also removed new growth from what I believe would grow into a weed tree (?) should I leave it alone. It sprouted along my back wall, where the gas meter is, ages ago. Due to gas meter apparatus, I'm not able to chop it down to ground level. But I can keep if from getting larger than it already is.

I thought to treat the stubs of some weed bushes/trees with a salt/vinegar/dishwashing-liquid mix, but decided to wait until after today's predicted storms.

Kitchen remodel Phase II is done, I just need to sand the raw wood and put on two coats of polyurethane = WOO HOO!!!!!


https://imgur.com/a/c4EOiPs

Great work, mALX! It's awesome doing this yourself innit?