Let's Talk About Anything Other Than COVID19

Elphaba09

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Elphaba09 Elphaba09 Elphaba09 Elphaba09 - those pillows are beautiful. You should make some for Etsy.
Thank you! I have to hand sew them all because I never learned how to use a sewing machine. I may have to learn! I saw how expensive similar pillows are on Etsy! Haha!

My son's fiancee is a seamstress and has offered to teach me. She normally helps with any sewing I need, but she is in the middle of a large order, and I could not wait to make them. I got an amazing deal on the blue fabric and may reupholster my old chair with it.

Hex, my son knows how to use a sewing machine. He works for an insulation company that services commercial businesses, and one of the things he occasionally does is sew insulation sleeves for special projects. Usually, though, he is climbing in high places insulating pipes and whatnot. He showed me a video once of an unfinished skyscraper he was in with wind so strong that they had to have wind blocks set up to work.

The cold water faucet is leaking big time and the valve underneath won't turn.
Uck. I hate working on any sort of plumbing. Is the valve stuck open? I agree that you should turn it off at the source just to be safe. What kind of faucet is it? Is it leaking at the handle? I hope you get it sorted soon!

When we moved into our house, we had a lot to do. There was a leak under the sink that had gone on so long that it rotted the floor. I had climbed under to take a look to see what needed to be done and put my hand through the --mushy🤮--floor and into the basement. The plumbing was a mess in general and after four years of dealing with a double sink that would constantly back up, more leaks than I can count, and a kind-of gross faucet that never seemed to get clean, I finally put in a nice single sink, some new plumbing, and new faucet.
 

susanm9006

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jefferd18 jefferd18 , Elphaba09 Elphaba09 , the plumbing when I moved In this house was a nightmare. My first night here I was exhausted and sore and decided a nice hot bath would make me feel better. No problem turning the bath taps on but then discovered I absolutely could not shut the hot water off and it wasn’t just a trickle. Down to the basement where I discover there are no shut off valves to the bathroom water lines and I all I could do was to shut off the hot water to the whole house. Second day there I called the plumber and second week there I had all the water lines replaced with shut off valves where they needed to be. That was all I was planning to do but the faucets in the bathroom and kitchen literally crumbled when the plumber tried to reconnect them so there were new faucets and connections needed in the two bathrooms and the kitchen, oh, and a new water softener as well. Don’t remember the exact cost but somewhere over $3,000 .
 

Elphaba09

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jefferd18 jefferd18 , Elphaba09 Elphaba09 , the plumbing when I moved In this house was a nightmare. My first night here I was exhausted and sore and decided a nice hot bath would make me feel better. No problem turning the bath taps on but then discovered I absolutely could not shut the hot water off and it wasn’t just a trickle. Down to the basement where I discover there are no shut off valves to the bathroom water lines and I all I could do was to shut off the hot water to the whole house. Second day there I called the plumber and second week there I had all the water lines replaced with shut off valves where they needed to be. That was all I was planning to do but the faucets in the bathroom and kitchen literally crumbled when the plumber tried to reconnect them so there were new faucets and connections needed in the two bathrooms and the kitchen, oh, and a new water softener as well. Don’t remember the exact cost but somewhere over $3,000 .
Oh, my goodness! That is awful! How old is your house?

Ours turns 100 in 2023. The builder, the (great?)grandfather of the previous owner built it. He did slightly more than dabbled in construction. I do not think he owned a level of any kind. We have been slowly renovating/restoring ours since we bought it 5 1/2 years ago. My husband and I built new columns for the porch, but we only measured one. I know: Stupid. All four were different sizes. Not only did the need to be different heights, but the bases were all different sizes. We had to remake three of them. The old ones were skinny, circular columns that did not go along with the Craftsman-like style of the house. The previous owner said they had been replaced from the original square ones when she was a young girl, so maybe 50-60 years ago. The most obvious fast and loose measurements can be found in the kitchen. The cabinet openings are wavy. None of them have the same size, and they are far from level. Making new doors was not fun.
 

susanm9006

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Oh, my goodness! That is awful! How old is your house?

Ours turns 100 in 2023. The builder, the (great?)grandfather of the previous owner built it. He did slightly more than dabbled in construction. I do not think he owned a level of any kind. We have been slowly renovating/restoring ours since we bought it 5 1/2 years ago. My husband and I built new columns for the porch, but we only measured one. I know: Stupid. All four were different sizes. Not only did the need to be different heights, but the bases were all different sizes. We had to remake three of them. The old ones were skinny, circular columns that did not go along with the Craftsman-like style of the house. The previous owner said they had been replaced from the original square ones when she was a young girl, so maybe 50-60 years ago. The most obvious fast and loose measurements can be found in the kitchen. The cabinet openings are wavy. None of them have the same size, and they are far from level. Making new doors was not fun.
It was custom built in 1959, one owner til I bought it in 2004, no reno or updating except roof til I bought it. It did have a few advanced things for its time like being designed for solar gain and the latest in electrical. I finished renovating the last room on the main floor this last winter. My old house was like yours, not a plumb or level thing in the whole house.
 

susanm9006

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Houses settle over time. My house is 40 years old and it had settled so much that it broke my sewer line two years ago. Your houses were probably level when they were built.
Yeah probably. Between settling and sanding that has been done to my hardwood floors over the years a golf ball rolled down the hall may turn around and roll right back to you. It’s great for Willow who spends hours rolling them.
 

Elphaba09

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Houses settle over time. My house is 40 years old and it had settled so much that it broke my sewer line two years ago. Your houses were probably level when they were built.
I get that to a certain extent and assume that has a lot to do with some of the leveling issues, but there are wavy cuts and board lengths are different at different spots in the cabinets making the cabinets unlevel before the house settled. The largest difference in board sizes is 2 1/4", meaning the height of one cabinet is 2 1/4" more on one side than the other.

We have done a lot of the work ourselves, but we do have a local contractor for things we cannot do. He has laughed more times than I can remember and has taken pictures of some of the things he has seen. The bathroom baseboards were particularly funny to him. I think he was a little sad when I refinished the bathroom.
 

pearl99

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I had a plumbing flood throught my house 2 years ago, and part of what it destroyed was my basement ceiling. Today I got the last of the wood cross slats taken down and am going to leave it an unfinished ceiling, with the beams and joists showing like in a lodge. Nice rustic look! Before this I got the old tile out, going to have vinyl wood look plank on the cement floor. I feel a sense of accomplishment.

Snacks I binge on- oh man oreos, snickers, pepperidge farm cookies, spicy crunchy cheetos, onion dip.

I'm going to plant milkweed to attract monarch butterflies to lay eggs. And lots of nectar plants!
 
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susanm9006

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I get that to a certain extent and assume that has a lot to do with some of the leveling issues, but there are wavy cuts and board lengths are different at different spots in the cabinets making the cabinets unlevel before the house settled. The largest difference in board sizes is 2 1/4", meaning the height of one cabinet is 2 1/4" more on one side than the other.

We have done a lot of the work ourselves, but we do have a local contractor for things we cannot do. He has laughed more times than I can remember and has taken pictures of some of the things he has seen. The bathroom baseboards were particularly funny to him. I think he was a little sad when I refinished the bathroom.
I think they used to build the cabinets board by board right on the wall rather than as a whole piece that was then attached to the wall. So they didn’t pay much attention that things were level from end to end. And another issue is that plaster walls that are finished by hand and are just never even.
 

Elphaba09

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I think they used to build the cabinets board by board right on the wall rather than as a whole piece that was then attached to the wall. So they didn’t pay much attention that things were level from end to end. And another issue is that plaster walls that are finished by hand and are just never even.
That is certainly true! We are getting ready to repair two spots in our ceiling where the plaster has come loose. I have fixed it on a couple of walls--including large sections in the kitchen--but the ceiling just seems overwhelming. I know we can do it ourselves. I just think. "My ceiling is falling down!" We had to order more paster washers, or whatever they are called, because they are not at our hardware store or the Lowes in the next town over.

Today I got the last of the wood cross slats taken down and am going to leave it an unfinished ceiling, with the beams and joists showing like in a lodge
Ohhhh! That sounds pretty!
 

verna davies

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The weather was lovely yesterday, a little chilly in the shade but plenty of warm sun. I noticed quite a few people out in their gardens cutting back dead branches and general tidying up. We have had a couple of bad storms and so much rain and flooding the last two months that being able to be outside doing something felt really good.
 
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Mia6

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susanm9006 susanm9006 Since you had just bought your house, did the seller have to give you the money to fix the plumbing? How do you know so much about it? You're so handy.
I'm going to plant milkweed to attract monarch butterflies to lay eggs.
That sounds like a good idea, do you start it in a pot?

I borrowed Fast Times at Ridgemont High from the library. Can't wait to watch it as it is one of my favorite comedies. Sean Penn, sooo hilarious! I also own Wedding Crashers, another one that cracks me up! I just watched Pretty in Pink a few weeks ago but I could watch it again.
 
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susanm9006

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susanm9006 susanm9006 Since you had just bought your house, did the seller have to give you the money to fix the plumbing? How do you know so much about it? You're so handy.


That sounds like a good idea, do you start it in a pot?
.
No, no money to fix plumbing. Long story but I bought the house from my son’s very senior paternal great uncle “as is” at what seemed to be a price that would allow for some repairs. He continuously said through the entire selling process “you don’t have to do a thing to it” but I figured there would be a few things, just not as many as there turned out to be. The furnace was red tagged when I had it checked before I moved so between that and the water I had spent a big portion of my reno budget in the first couple months.

This was my second home purchase, my first, built in 1948, was even in worse shape and I spent twenty five years working my way through various pieces of renovating it. I had to do and learn a lot because I had no money. Unfortunately it was in a declining neighborhood and after I literally missed the thief who had just burglarized my home by minutes - he was carrying my belongings down the street as I pulled into my drive- I knew it time to get the heck out of there. As I was looking for my next home I had a long list of,things I wanted, from living on a quiet street to large rooms, a fireplace, a private back yard etc and my current home met every one. So it was sort of love at first sight with a bit of a blind eye to what I was buying. I do love it but it has just been a lot of work.
 
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