Home Repairs

[Shirley]

My oven control board went out and, same thing, it's too expensive to replace rather than buy a new one. Buuuut, my wife is picky about getting just right one (we have black which she doesn't like, but you can't change the oven without changing the microwave, dishwasher, etc...), but also never wants to go look at them. All in all ... we haven't had a working oven in the house for well over 5 years now. lol.

We do have one at our condo.

And it's crazy to me how much ovens cost. I mean, they're really fucking simple devices and the technology hasn't really changed much in many decades. (That said, I just looked at Lowe's and it looks like pretty big sales right now).

[HaulCitgo]

Dude wtf? No oven for 5 years. You ought to reevaluate some things

[Steve of phpBB]

you can't change the oven without changing the microwave, dishwasher, etc...

Yup. So we changed the oven, microwave, dishwasher, etc...

[mister d]

All in all ... we haven't had a working oven in the house for well over 5 years now. lol.

...

And it's crazy to me how much ovens cost. I mean, they're really fucking simple devices and the technology hasn't really changed much in many decades. (That said, I just looked at Lowe's and it looks like pretty big sales right now).

This is one of the wilder things I can remember reading here. I don't think ovens all that expensive, relatively speaking, unless you're going near top of the line and if you're committing to top of the line, how did you just go five years without one???

[Nonlinear FC]

I took the day off today ... to finally attempt to address the <gulp> mushrooms I have just started to see growing in the corner of my basement. Fk me.

Went to Lowes and got bleach, iron brush, goggles, N95 masks, gloves, 10'x10' plastic dropsheets, and some whisky (sold separately) and my wife and i went at it. I *think* (definitely wishful thinking) that the cause wasn't necessarily that our basement is fucked - although it may still be - but an old shelving unit we moved in here from the unfinished part of the basement a year ago. The shrooms had sprouted only in that corner near the shelf so we geared up and hauled it to the curb - definitely tons of spores on the blackened underside and the shag carpet was a fking mess underneath.

Cut about 6 square feet of the shag carpet from the corner of the room, wife killed some hideous unnamed bug, threw everything into a few garbage bags i sealed the fk out of, bleached the corner of the floor, laid down some old drywall (yup) underneath and cut a new patch of carpet for over it, caulked a bunch of loose floorboards, have run the humidifier nonstop and opened a small window, and am now sufficiently drunk.

I honestly think it looks half-ok. I never do house repairs - never. I pat myself on the back for replacing a light bulb or vacuum bag. So I'm calling it a win for today.

related: we'll definitely need to start thinking about selling

Update? I'm worried you've tried putting dry wall on top of a portal to The Upside Down.

[Nonlinear FC]

All in all ... we haven't had a working oven in the house for well over 5 years now. lol.

...

And it's crazy to me how much ovens cost. I mean, they're really fucking simple devices and the technology hasn't really changed much in many decades. (That said, I just looked at Lowe's and it looks like pretty big sales right now).

This is one of the wilder things I can remember reading here. I don't think ovens all that expensive, relatively speaking, unless you're going near top of the line and if you're committing to top of the line, how did you just go five years without one???

Yeah, Max, hold the update, we need to focus up here.

[mister d]

Just to be clear, that's incredulous, not judgmental. You could take 3 minutes walking through my house and find several glaring issues that need to be addressed, but if our oven died we'd have a new one within like two weeks. I can't imagine living w/out, even if the stovetop is functioning.

[Nonlinear FC]

My wife would absolutely not be OK with no oven for longer than... yeah, max is 2 weeks.

Cooking is one of her hobbies, to be clear.

(I am still operating at a bachelor level mentality if left to my own devices and would likely go an incredibly long time without an oven. We also have a toaster oven which would cover the bulk of what Bachelor NLFC would prepare on his own. My wife is out of town this week and I likely will only use the microwave, unless I fire up the frozen pizza tomorrow.)

But, back to this situation... Dave, how do you guys deal with, say... Thanksgiving?

[MaxWebster]

Update? I'm worried you've tried putting dry wall on top of a portal to The Upside Down.

[Shirley]

We get by without the oven because we don't really cook a ton. We have a stove, a microwave, and a toaster oven. Also, and this is important, we have our beach condo, and we're there 10-20% of the time. And we always do Christmas and Thanksgiving there. so it's not a problem for turkey making.

Don't get me wrong, I wish we had the oven. If it were up to me, I'd have pulled the trigger on one right after the other one died. When our induction stove died, I bought a new one right away despite the wife complaining that it wasn't as pretty as she wanted (they're all just black glass!).

But the thing is, you get used to it. Our cooking habits have evolved to not include oven stuff at home.

[sancarlos]

I remember back in my single days visiting a co-worker’s condo. He was a single guy and had lived there for a year, and he said he had never turned on his oven.

[MaxWebster]

yeah i'm pretty sure we can get (and have gotten) by without use of the oven for at least an entire summer, easily.

[A_B]

I remember back in my single days visiting a co-worker’s condo. He was a single guy and had lived there for a year, and he said he had never turned on his oven.

[HaulCitgo]

Anybody been able to modify the gas flow on a burner to allow for simmer. Heat just too high on even the smallest burner. Everything boils. Trying to make soup and I'm about at the point to rip it open and give it a shot

[rass]

…rip…

:(

[HaulCitgo]

Rigged it up with a pot on top of a cast iron pan. Does reduce to less than a rolling boil but not ideal. Tool belt time

[DaveInSeattle]

I've been working on the weekends for about a month now on rebuilding the railing on our back deck. The old one was falling apart, and was unsafe. So far, its coming together pretty well (if you don't look toooo closely).

But here's my question...when I'm doing the wood screws to hold things together, if I use my drill motor, it pushes the pieces apart, rather than pulling them together. But If I do it using my socket/ratchet, everything works ok, expect my hands hurt at the end of the day.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? (besides no hiring someone to do this for me?)

(tried to attach a picture, but getting the "board attachment quota" error)

[P.D.X.]

Make sure the toggle on the drill/driver is set to clockwise?

[Brontoburglar]

yeah I'm confused as to what you're trying to describe

(you can upload to imgur if you need to and then link here)

[govmentchedda]

I've been working on the weekends for about a month now on rebuilding the railing on our back deck. The old one was falling apart, and was unsafe. So far, its coming together pretty well (if you don't look toooo closely).

But here's my question...when I'm doing the wood screws to hold things together, if I use my drill motor, it pushes the pieces apart, rather than pulling them together. But If I do it using my socket/ratchet, everything works ok, expect my hands hurt at the end of the day.

Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? (besides no hiring someone to do this for me?)

(tried to attach a picture, but getting the "board attachment quota" error)

GPJ is the #dipshitdiy king, so he's probably got the best answer for you, but I feel like I've run into this issue before and applying more pressure with the drill helped out.

[Gunpowder]

I assume you are using an impact driver, which has an impact force in addition to a rotational one. That's probably pushing the other piece of wood away without an additional force or clamp from below. If you have a hammer drill I would use that, if not change the strength setting on the impact driver and try to see if one of them works. Every time I have this problem I switch from the impact to the hammer drill.

IMO hammer drills are far superior in almost every way EXCEPT for weight, which is why most people use the impact more but whenever that's not working you usually just use the hammer and it works fine.

GPJ is the #dipshitdiy king

Lolz damn straight, we do it wrong but we do it free over here

[govmentchedda]

I assume you are using an impact driver, which has an impact force in addition to a rotational one. That's probably pushing the other piece of wood away without an additional force or clamp from below. If you have a hammer drill I would use that, if not change the strength setting on the impact driver and try to see if one of them works. Every time I have this problem I switch from the impact to the hammer drill.

IMO hammer drills are far superior in almost every way EXCEPT for weight, which is why most people use the impact more but whenever that's not working you usually just use the hammer and it works fine.

GPJ is the #dipshitdiy king

Lolz damn straight, we do it wrong but we do it free over here

When Bibz wants a Holiday Inn, you provide. Impressive.

[The Sybian]

I always pegged GPJ as a hammer driller.

[Gunpowder]

I assume you are using an impact driver, which has an impact force in addition to a rotational one. That's probably pushing the other piece of wood away without an additional force or clamp from below. If you have a hammer drill I would use that, if not change the strength setting on the impact driver and try to see if one of them works. Every time I have this problem I switch from the impact to the hammer drill.

IMO hammer drills are far superior in almost every way EXCEPT for weight, which is why most people use the impact more but whenever that's not working you usually just use the hammer and it works fine.

GPJ is the #dipshitdiy king

Lolz damn straight, we do it wrong but we do it free over here

When Bibz wants a Holiday Inn, you provide. Impressive.

If you want 3-star living, I'm your guy.

I spent this morning re-caulking a toilet since after I installed it and did the caulking initially, I realized I had used GLUE. Brilliance

[Brontoburglar]

LA has a new job and is based at home when she's not traveling, so she wants a fancy office for zoom meetings and the like. that means I'm building built-in shelving, custom cutting and staining butcher block countertops for a desk of sorts, mounting cabinets and painting the entire room

I'd have this done in a week if it wasn't football season. alas, this is gonna take a while

[Brontoburglar]

but first! had to scramble to replace the sump pump that drains the basement bar sink

when we remodeled the basement, our options were utilizing a drain pit that I think was for the washer drain when the laundry hookup was downstairs or trenching all the way across the house to the grinder pit. (house used to be on septic before it was connected to sewer, but main sewer connection is about six feet up the basement wall in the gym, so all basement water has to go up to go out)

way cheaper and easier to use the pit, so we just built the bar where the pit was and had a sump pump put in. anyway, i looked in there yesterday and the water was way above the pump - thankfully nowhere close to overflowing the pit - and when I triggered the float, nothing happened

after some deliberation, I realized that it was worth spending the $150 for a new pump and attempting to piece it back together myself after I saw I could simply disconnect the sump after manually draining the pit by loosening the rubber coupler instead of having to cut glued PVC pipe

long story short, I can add sump pump installation to the list of things I'm able to do. figure I saved about $500-700 vs. calling a plumber and not gambling I could do it

[BSF21]

I always pegged GPJ...

[The Sybian]

I always pegged GPJ...

Sure as hell not going to let him peg me!

[Giff]

our options were...the grind.r pit.

Did you see AB?

[mister d]

I assume you are using an impact driver, which has an impact force in addition to a rotational one. That's probably pushing the other piece of wood away without an additional force or clamp from below. If you have a hammer drill I would use that, if not change the strength setting on the impact driver and try to see if one of them works. Every time I have this problem I switch from the impact to the hammer drill.

IMO hammer drills are far superior in almost every way EXCEPT for weight, which is why most people use the impact more but whenever that's not working you usually just use the hammer and it works fine.

Lets say you had an 8 year old who ripped the metal handle clean off the shower, leaving a totally smooth break with the remaining handle inside and no way to disassemble without getting it out. Lets also say you got one of those Ryobi deals that had impact + hammer drills together. Which would you use when attempting to drill it out?

[A_B]

I assume you are using an impact driver, which has an impact force in addition to a rotational one. That's probably pushing the other piece of wood away without an additional force or clamp from below. If you have a hammer drill I would use that, if not change the strength setting on the impact driver and try to see if one of them works. Every time I have this problem I switch from the impact to the hammer drill.

IMO hammer drills are far superior in almost every way EXCEPT for weight, which is why most people use the impact more but whenever that's not working you usually just use the hammer and it works fine.

Lets say you had an 8 year old who ripped the metal handle clean off the shower, leaving a totally smooth break with the remaining handle inside and no way to disassemble without getting it out. Lets also say you got one of those Ryobi deals that had impact + hammer drills together. Which would you use when attempting to drill it out?

Would a hammer and a thin screwdriver work to kind of knock it loose enough? Sticking the thin screwdriver where the break is if the handles were connected through the glass is what I'm trying to say. Using the screwdriver (or, should you have it, a small enough punch) seems like it could just tap the other side out if there's nothing holding it on the one side.

[mister d]

Its this one here. Definitely no room to maneuver anywhere and it stops in the middle (the screw that unlocks everything else is behind where the handle goes in), so I need to drill this out somehow.

I still have no fucking clue how she broke it off so cleanly unless its really two pieces of metal and our hard water broke it down or something.

[rass]

We have a similar setup, and on ours, there is a tiny little hole on the thingy(?) the handle was attached to where a tiny little allen wrench can be inserted to tighten (or presumably loosen and remove) that thing(y)?.

[A_B]

I was thinking shower door handle for some reason. There is usually a set screw like rass says that will let you move that faceplate.

[mister d]

We have a similar setup, and on ours, there is a tiny little hole on the thingy(?) the handle was attached to where a tiny little allen wrench can be inserted to tighten (or presumably loosen and remove) that thing(y)?.

That's what I assumed, but that screw is behind the handle, which twists in as the last step to assembly. Perhaps that's why it was so cheap.

[rass]

Give the 8 year old an espresso and have her tear the entire fixture out of the wall?

[Gunpowder]

I assume you are using an impact driver, which has an impact force in addition to a rotational one. That's probably pushing the other piece of wood away without an additional force or clamp from below. If you have a hammer drill I would use that, if not change the strength setting on the impact driver and try to see if one of them works. Every time I have this problem I switch from the impact to the hammer drill.

IMO hammer drills are far superior in almost every way EXCEPT for weight, which is why most people use the impact more but whenever that's not working you usually just use the hammer and it works fine.

Lets say you had an 8 year old who ripped the metal handle clean off the shower, leaving a totally smooth break with the remaining handle inside and no way to disassemble without getting it out. Lets also say you got one of those Ryobi deals that had impact + hammer drills together. Which would you use when attempting to drill it out?

Before you do this can you share a picture so you don't drill through the shower cartridge, etc?

EDIT: Nm, starting to understand this. Without thinking too hard if you're drilling use the hammer drill but only on the regular drilling function (should be right before the hammer setting). Hammer is for things like concrete, bones of critical journalists, etc.

[Gunpowder]

I still don't quite understand what is going on here, though.

Can you pry it off around the base of the metal plate (where it meets the shower wall and just pull that part off?

[A_B]

I still don't quite understand what is going on here, though.

Can you pry it off around the base of the metal plate (where it meets the shower wall and just pull that part off?

I am lost on the details as well. I totally misunderstood at first, thought I did after, but now still don't know.

[Gunpowder]

Ok I think I got it now. If what I'm thinking is what happened, you definitely don't want to drill through that part carelessly. The cheap metal thing covers a pipe stem such as these:



If anything I would suggest drilling carefully through the plate around the handle just to see what's back there and hoping to can get to the screws or clip that holds it on.