The Leak is Fixed

It took some time, but the leak is fixed and we can once again use the shower.  What an ordeal!  Last night after discovering the leak, I examined the connections, and there was indeed a crack in the plastic elbow.  It was right in the root of the thread.  Not having the time to take everything apart, and more importantly not wanting to, I was looking for a way to possibly patch the leak until I could get around to replumbing the line, especially because I don’t have a real good idea of how to fix it.  I ran to the store and looked thru the plumbing section for a solution, and bought some spray rubber, sort of like the flex seal commercials, and also some tape that was supposed to be for wrapping pipes to seal leaks.  My thought was to spray a few coats of the rubber over the crack, then wrap it.  Once wrapped, I would use a hole clamp to compress it all and keep it all tight against the surface of the elbow.

That plan sounds pretty good, but what actually happened was quitter different.  First, the spray said the rubber is dry to the touch in 15-30 minutes, and fully cured in 24 hours.  I put six coats on the elbow, one coat every 25 minutes.  Then I got it wrapped and clamped before bed so that Kris could take a shower in the morning before she went to work. 

At 5:15 AM I was up to turn the water back on.  It was only about 12 hours of curing time, but I thought with the extra coats, the tape, and the clamp I would be OK.  I was wrong.  After about 30 seconds or so of having the valves opened, I saw a drip coming down the pipe.  I was really hoping that it was leaking from someplace other than the elbow, but I was wrong.  So beginning at 5:30, I started developing a plan to get the pipe replaced.

After examining how the contractor plumbed it, I thought his method was really stupid.  First he put a couple of blocks behind the handle fixture (I still don’t know what that part of the faucet is called) to hold it in place.  Then, he had plastic elbows screwed into the brass fittings of the handle fixture, with a quick release on the opposite end.  This might have sounded good at the time, but since the elbow had about half an inch of clearance between it and the cement board used for the tile, there is no way to unscrew it from the fixture.  He did however solder a threaded end to the copper pipe to screw into the valve.  But, since I couldn’t remove the elbow, I was unable to unscrew the copper line as it would push up into the elbow as it was coming out of the valve, making the connection even tighter.

I ended up having to take a hand saw and cut the elbow in two pcs. to get it off.  Once I did that, the copper line came out really easily.  But the elbow, which was cracked about 50% of the way thru the thread, including the side facing the wall that the spray would not have covered, was now stuck in the brass fitting of the fixture.  And like the line for the spout, there was some sort of Loctite on the thread, so it wouldn’t just turn out of the fitting, and grabbing with a needle nose pliers just resulted in pulling off small chunks of PVC… another trip to the store to see what sort of a solution I could find to get the fitting out.  I was thinking that i need to get replacement copper pipe too so that whatever I decided to do with replumbing the line I would get a good fit. 

Luckily I found something like a screw tap (for removing screws that have had the head broken off) for broken pipe fittings.  There were actually several tools that did the same thing, so I bought them all figuring I would return whatever I didn’t need in order to prevent multiple trips back in case the first solution didn’t work.  Luckily the first thing I tried was able to work, though it took a little bit of doing since the ID of the plastic fitting was slightly undersize compared to the plug that was supposed to grab it.  I also decided to get some PVC line instead of using copper that is slightly flexible so that things didn’t need to line up 100%. 

Once I got the plastic fitting out, I was able to reassemble the line in about 30 minutes.  And the ease with which things went together was actually pretty amazing.  I have no idea why the contractor didn’t go that route in the first place given the confined space.  If anything goes wrong now (at least with the hot water line) I can get it fixed in 15 minutes.  So now I just need to figure out how to replace the cold water line, and redo the connection to the line going to the shower head without tearing a hole in the wall. 

Once I was done, I opened the valves and bingo!  No leaks.  I ran the tub faucet and the shower for about 5-10 minutes to make sure everything was good before noticing I still had water leaking into the kitchen.  I was stumped for a couple of minutes until I realized that the leak was coming from the drain.  After looking into it, I discovered that in assembling the drain cup to the pipe, I had cross threaded it, so my seal wasn’t tight.  Luckily that was an easy fix.  So by 2:00 PM, the leaks were all stopped and the tub was working once again.  I do however, still need to figure out how to replace the faucet handle without cutting a hole in the wall.  And I will need to now go back into the kitchen and fix the crack that has opened up from the water leaking.  It makes me mad after spending so much time working on fixing it in the first place, but at least I can sleep knowing that there is not water seeping into the walls and the tub won’t come crashing thru the ceiling.

Sprung A Leak

SInce the majority of the kitchen work is complete (only some minor details left to complete) it was time to get some of the other moinor projects that have been sitting on hold since we started remaking our kitchen.  I had replaced a mirror in medicine cabinet in the upstairs bathroom which has been sitting in the basement for almost a year.  We also purchased new bathroom fixtures last spring to replace the ones from the bathroom remodel about five years ago since the Glacier Bay fixtures we had in the sink and the shower had the finish all rubbing off.

I started with the faucet spout, which I thought would be pretty easy to get off and replace.  As everything seems to go when I do a home improvement project, unexpected issues arose.  The first thing I noticed was that I couldn't simply replace the handle and face plate for it since the assembly was quite different.  So therefore, I will need to figure out a way to get that done and continue to use the old handle in the meantime.  The problem here is that I do not have a way to access the plumbing behind the wall.  The connection box has access where the handle goes into the wall and I can only get to the hot water line thru the access panel.  so now my head is spinning trying to figure out how I am going to do that.

In the meantime, I thought I could get the other parts of the faucet reaplced pretty easily.  The first part I tackled was the water spout.  When I pulled the old spout, the length of pipe coming out of the wall came with it.  For whatever reason, the guy who did the remodel used what looked like some sort of Loctite on the pipe threads so when I turned it, instead of the spout coming off hte pipe, the entire pipe screwed out of the elbow that was in the wall.  It actually turned out to be a blessing, because I discovered that the new faucet had an adapter that was supposed to screw onto the pipe coming from the wall, and the spout would then screw onto that.  The pipe coming out of the wall was only supposed to be about an inch.  The existing pipe was 5 inches.  So I had to run to the hardware store to get a replacement.  

This wasn't a big problem, however after replacing the pipe and then screwing onthe adapter, and the spout, I discovered that the pipe coming out of the wall was not square, but had a slight angle to it.  I discovered this because when I had it screwed to the wall, it was not flush.  I thought this wouldn't be too big of a problem, I would just turn it as tight to the wall as it would go and it would square up as good as it could possibly be.  Unfortunately, the ends of the spout were scrathing the tile.  Since I didn't want to dig into the face of the tile, I found that if I tugged a bit on it as I turned, the pipe would move slightly out from the wall, so I coould then give it an extra two or three turns and when I let go, it would go square and tight to the wall.  Which it did.

I was moving on to get the drain replaced and I was having some issues getting the thread started.  But after some time, I get it on and tightened down.  However, when I was tightening down the push plug, I had over tightened it, and it broke (of course!).  As I was getting ready to head back to Menards to get a replacement, Kris started screaming from downstairs that there was water dripping down into the kitchen.  I quickly pulled the access panel off and could see that yes, there was indeed water dripping from somewhere.  I was able to turn off the water lines, and then started getting the water out of the cavity below the tub.  As I was drying things out I began looking for the source of the leak, and it only took a couple of minutes for me to find it.  When we redid the bathroom, the contractor used a plastic elbow to connet the copper water line to go from the valves (hot and cold lines) to the handle fixtures.  When I pulled on the pipe to turn the spout into the wall without scratching the tile, I must have pulled hard enough to crack one of the plstic elbows.  It looked like the leak from coming from the hot water side.

So now the whole issue is on hold until I can figure out how to fix it.  But now in addition to fixing the pipes, I believe I am going to need to go back down into the kitchen to fix the cracks from the water damage we had previously had when the original leaks were going on before we redid the bathroom.  Un-Be-Lievable!!!!

Happy New Year

This year, I didn’t get around to making a Christmas Card.  In November when it was time to start looking at doing it, I realized I didn’t have any nice photos to use, so I was planning on skipping it this year.  Then at Thanksgiving, I Kris wanted to have a family picture done, and she came to me at the end of the day after I was working in the basement all day wanting to know if I was ready to do it.  It would have probably been a better idea to do it at the start of the day rather than when I was dirty and sweaty.  So we ended up not doing one and I was fine with not doing a Christmas Card this year.

Then we started getting Christmas Cards, and we received one from one of Ali’s teachers who has retired.  We’ve sent her a card every year since Ali had her at Shady Lane, and when Kris read it to me, I felt bad not having one to send.  So I decided I had better do one.  But not wanting to be rushed, and still without a good family photo, I thought instead of a Christmas Card, it would be a Happy New Year card.  That way I can get them out “late” and still be in the window of the holiday.

So, Happy New Year from the Hahns!

I should also add…  This year, we only received about half as many as we had in the past from friends and family, so doing it later it made it much better since I knew exactly how many cards to get.  Maybe this will be the start of a trend.

Happy Blogiversary

Happy Blogiversary!  It has been 10 years, 1300+ entries, a couple of job changes, and several birthdays and anniveraries (and a couple of graduations) since I began writing things on the Hahnted House.  I don't know if I should be amazed or embarrased that I have kept it up this long.

In case you don't rememner, here is my very first entry from 11/25/2008.

Wrong Handle

As someone who works in Quality Assurance, it really annoys me when I am on the receiving end of some poor quality.  This is what happened a couple of days ago. 

The handle on our back storm door had been “loose” for quite some time.  And when I say loose, I mean on the verge of breaking.  It has broken before after a couple of years and I had to call Larson Doors to get a replacement handle as the door was still under warranty (I don’t know if the door is still under warranty now, but it has been more than 10 years, so I am guessing not).  But because of the crappy design of what I call the “hook handle”, the handles that look like levers that you push down (or up, although in this case it is only down) and pull.  I recall the whole door industry having to go to this type of handle years ago due to the Americans with Disabilities Act because if someone didn’t have “working hands” (or hands at all) they would still be able to work the mechanism to open the door.  The result though, is that you push the handle down, then pull, which will put a stress on the pivot point, the shaft of the handle that inserts into the door.  Over time, it is going to break, there is no avoiding it.

So now fast forward to last week when, as I was opening the door coming home from work, the handle snapped off in my hand.  I managed to rig it so you could still use it, but I had to get a replacement quickly.  I decided to go to the Larson Door website so I could be certain I got the exact replacement I needed.  On the website, I was instructed to look up the door code which was on a label stuck to the inside of the door jamb.  Which I did.  The description of the handle was brass finish for XXXX model door, blah, blah, blah, and it showed a photo.  Yep, that’s the one.  Click order.  Since it was coming from Rochester, MN, I didn’t pay for expedited shipping since it should have taken 2 days anyway, and I wasn’t about to pay $30 extra to have it here next day.

This is what I got:

Doesn’t look like brass does it?  And, it isn’t even the correct model for the door, so I couldn’t use it even if I did want a white handle.  I have no idea how you pull the wrong part number.  There is a number associated with the handle I need.  It should be stocked in an area for just that number.  It should be checked when being pulled, and then again as someone is packing it.  This is unacceptable.  Not wanting to order another and wait two more days for a replacement, I decided to run over to Menards (where we purchased the door about 13 years ago).  After searching the shelves for a couple of minutes I found the exact handle I needed.  I guess I should have checked the store first but who would have figured going directly to the manufacturer would have resulted in a screw up?  At least Larson credited me back the cost, and didn’t have me ship it back.  Maybe I’ll sell it on eBay and see if I can make a few bucks.

Powderpuff 2018

This week is Homecoming Week in Menomonee Falls and Wednesday night was the annual Powderpuff football game. For those who are unaware of what this is, it is the junior vs. senior girls flag football game. This year was Alison’s first foray into it, and she has been looking forward to playing since she was in 7th grade when Sarah was a junior. Also to note, every year, it is “tradition” that the seniors win... EXCEPT for Sarah’s class, who is the only junior class to EVER beat the seniors in the history of the game.

Alison got put at tight end on the #1 offense. They basically had (2) different teams of offense, and (2) teams of defense, and they rotate them out by quarter. Unfortunately, because they had no one who knew how to throw a football, or at least with any sort of accuracy or consistency. What that means is that tight end essentially becomes another lineman and all she did was block.

It was pretty uneventful except for a couple of injuries on the juniors team. One girl was thrown (slammed) to the ground, and another hurt her knee. No one was really sure how bad the knee injury was, but she had to be carted off the field/sidelines when the game was over. Hopefully she doesn’t have any serious damage to her knee. And the playbook was really pretty basic. Although, what would you expect with only a week to practice. But every play was a toss to one or two girls and everyone run right, or run left, and every now and then there would be a reverse thrown in.

I take it back, there was some excitement for the juniors. Both touchdowns were on long runs by one of the girls who is a sprinter on the track team. The first was a 94 yard run. She started going in one direction, then stopped, and cut right up the middle of the formation, broke loose to the outside and was off to the races. The second came as time was expiring. The seniors held a 15-7 lead after going for a two point conversion early. There was about 30 seconds left, and the same girl broke out on a sweep to the left and was off to the races for about a 70 yard run with 14 seconds left in the game. They had to go for two to tie, and got it. So the game ultimately ended with a 15-15 tie.

I wasn’t sure if they were just going to leave the game a tie, or if they would play an overtime from the 20 yard lines. It looked like the teachers who were running (coaching and refereeing) the game huddled up and decided they would have the game decided by kicking field goals. Each team kicked a field goal, and the first one to miss lost. I don’t know if the plan was to have the ball moved back 5 yards each time, or just keep kicking from the same pot. We didn’t need to worry about though because the seniors made their first kick, and the juniors missed theirs. Final score: Seniors 18, Juniors 15. A tough loss. 

So Sarah’s class is still the only junior class to win.

#TPWars

It is homecoming week and the shenanigans started first thing Sunday night. It may have actually started Saturday night. I went to bed a little after 11:00 and Alison was out with some friends late at Applebees. When I got up in the morning, I had a message from Alison saying the house got TP’d and she tried to clean it up before she went to bed, but because it was raining it was tough. She said that it was for homecoming week, Juniors vs. Seniors, and they got a particular number of “points” for toilet papering someone’s house and not getting caught, and posting a photo online proving the job.

So I guess all in all I get it. But it still doesn’t make me happy. I know we did it in high school, and I am pretty sure it occurred when Kris was in HS. What I do find funny is what they consider a good job of toilet papering a house. The couple of times over the last few months that Ali’s friends TP’d the house, it was pretty weak. When we did it, we tossed the rolls high in the trees. You basically HAD to wait for the rain to wash the stuff out of the trees. Even in the one tree in front of the house, they didn’t toss the rolls high enough. I guess I should be happy because it made things easier to clean up. Would it be bad form to teach Alison the good/right way to do it? There is a girl who is a senior and was on the cheer team last year who lives in the neighborhood who had her house done in August. They have tall, old growth trees in their yard, and it was GOOOOOOD. A week later, there was still TP blowing in the wind. That is how you TP a house.

Total on the Saturn

We were cleaning some things out of the file cabinet on Saturday and Kris asked if we could get rid of the Saturn file. I said sure, it’s gone, so no need to save it anymore. I grabbed it, and it was thick. Since we saved all the receipts for everything ever done on that car, I decided to do a little bit of math. I didn’t include standard maintenance, such as oil changes, or replacing wiper blades or filters, but everything else was added up (brake jobs and other sorts of parts replacement and damage). Without revealing any totals, I will say that the grand total of the repair and maintenance costs exceeded the price that we paid for the car in the first place. Unfortunately, at the time, there wasn’t much we could do, $400 here, $600 there. But wow! It sucked how that car got retired, but I won’t miss it for the money pit it had become.