Repair Fail

Repaired Nail Hole

Sometimes in my best effort to save a time or money, I repair things and they don't work out--at least the first time.

Tire monitoring Center on my Ram
Definite Problem with Left Rear

Case in point was last night and the tire on my truck.

The tire had a nail in it and Chris was kind enough to drive to the garage to have it repaired during the week, however there was a two-and-a-half hour wait. TOO long!

So, I bought a kit and tried to do it myself. Last evening I worked on the tire for some time and repaired it, or so I thought. Later during the evening I took the truck for a test drive. Very soon it was apparent that the repair had not done its job. I was lucky to get back home with 29 pounds of the 39 pounds of air that I started with. I parked the truck for the night and determined to work on it again in the morning. 

Flat tire
July 27, 2019

This morning the tire was flat. I mean really flat. Too flat. When I had to roll the truck forward to get the hole on top, the truck gauge indicated that I had 3 pounds of air in the tire. That, friends, is the definition of flat. So I pulled out the repair kit and tried it again about two hour ago. I repaired the hole and put 39 pounds of air in the tire in the hopes that the repair would hold. 

After sitting for two hours, I just checked the pressure and it is holding at 39 pounds. I am almost afraid to take it for a test drive. But I will take it out in a bit. 

I hate having to do things twice, but given the cost and time required to get the tire repaired at a tire shop, hopefully, this experience pays for itself. Not to fear, however, Cat, my Jaguar, is ready to serve as my transportation for the day should I need it. 

Maybe I'll go play golf.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Heading Home

Pelicans
Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida
April 1, 2019

I am sitting on a stool at a terminal in the Palm Beach International Airport this morning at the conclusion of my week away.

It was hard to leave Chris and my new home behind to begin the trip to return back into my Maryland life. 

The new house is really coming together and leaving Chris behind is tough, but she gets to enjoy the pleasant weather for another week, lucky her. I have a coat in my hand and am looking forward to temperatures in the 30's when I arrive back in Baltimore. 

Sandpipers
Carlin Park, Jupiter, Florida
April 1, 2019

Yesterday, despite all of the work we have been doing to get the new house set up, we took a much needed beach break. I enjoyed the sun and the surf and the birds. We were accompanied to the beach by our friends and enjoyed a great lunch. Sadly, it ended when Chris and I had to depart to meet the air conditioning repair person. Yup, you guessed it, we had a problem with the air-conditioning unit. Seem the air filter had not been changed in over two years and it was causing the unit to freeze over. I changed the filter yesterday morning after a 6AM run to Home Depot. But, the repair person finished the job by defrosting the A-coil, and not it system is purring and he checked it out so it is fine!

I didn't really need that yesterday. Four days in the house and already a service call!

Seems the old owners did not believe in changing filters, the refrigerator water filter also needed changing.

The birds were a welcome respite.

-- Bob Doan, writing from Palm Beach International Airport, Florida

Winter Maintenance

Lowering the Pool Water Level
January 14, 2019

One of the aspects of pools that is often not considered by prospective owners is maintenance. 

Most people understand that maintenance is required during the summertime when the pool is open and in use. Maintenance can consume a significant amount of time and money for the chemicals to keep the pool clear and bright.

Pool maintenance continues during the summer whether the pool is being heavily used or not. As was the case last year, the rains limited the use of my pool, but they actually increased the maintenance requirements.

Well, pool maintenance does not stop during the winter. My pool has a mesh cover and that means that water continues to enter the pool with every rain and snow storm. We realized, after the most recent snowstorm that the rains since October when we closed the pool has caused the water level to rise too much. We try to keep the water level below the ceramic tile border during the winter to prevent freeze damage to the tiles.

On Monday, after the storm, I had to clear a corner off the pool to open it up to get my auxiliary pump  active and lower the pool about four inches. The whole process took over an hour, but I was successful in lowering the water level about three inches below the tiles. When we close the pool, I usually lower the water about a foot below the tiles, it is amazing to see how much rain we had during the Autumn and early Winter.

I just wish I lived somewhere that we could actually use the pool during the winter. I wonder if I could put a big cover over it like the local YMCA does to their outdoor pool?

A pool owner's job is never done!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

A Most Appreciated Person

Last evening, I discovered the identity of one of the most appreciated people with whom I have met during the past few weeks.

It was the Verizon repair technician!

Being back from vacation for 48 hours in a house without TV, internet, or phone is frustrating. Boring. 

I felt cut-off even though I could still both talk to people and access the internet via my cell phone. The lack of TV for news and entertainment was distressing. Maybe it would not have been so difficult had the pool been in swimmable shape, but even that is still recovering from the vacation. 

It was eerie to ask Alexa for something and hearing the response that there was no internet connection. Come on, all I wanted were the lights turned on! I wasn't asking for the news or the weather.

Having the time display return to the cable box was the first indication of success. From there, it was all good as the wireless devices around the house began to "wake-up." A few needed to be manually rebooted, but for the most part the restoration of internet and TV service happened automatically. 

We even received a phone call on the landline last evening in a final confirmation of the success of the repair.

I was vindicated in my assessment that the problem lay outside of the home in the external equipment. In fact, the technician reported that the jumpers providing service to my house had been disconnected up the street in the main service box. I wondered about how that happened and the technician postulated that they may have accidentally disconnected during another repair. 

At last service is restored! Life, post-vacation, can begin to resume some sense of normalcy. I can begin to process some of the images from the vacation. At last count the family had shared 637 images from our week together!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Broken Glass--The Saga Continues

The project of last evening was to determine the best approach to fix the broken glass in the sliding patio door.

Me Taking and image of the Broken Glass Pane

Through an unfortunate accident that occurred two weeks ago and detailed in my blog entry titled Broken Glass, one pane of the double pane sliding glass door leading to the pool was broken. We have been living with the glass pane taped to allow use of the door and to prevent the tempered glass from falling out. 

It is a trashy, unkept look and it needs to be corrected--especially before the hot weather returns or winter arrives.

It is hard to find companies that can replace broken glass. We received one estimate and it was over $600 and would not restore the insulating gas between the glass panels of the door.

We remembered that we bought the sliding door unit at either Lowes or Home Depot and last evening we visited both stores to see if we could find a matching door. We struck out at Lowes, but hit what we believe is the jackpot at Home Depot. We were able to purchase just the moving panel with blinds for the unit that we believe is the same, or nearly the same, as ours. We knew we purchased the new sliding patio door unit during 2014 or 2015 and so it was not all that old. 

Installation will be attempted on Saturday! Hopefully. If it all works, we will have replaced the door for about $330 and it will be just like new. Or better.

Here's hoping!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Saturday Sports and Events

It was hot here yesterday. The stress index was over 100 degrees and the actual temperature climbed to 96 degrees.

Jax #8 Ready for the Play

Football happened, the deconstruction of the unused swing-set in the back yard happened, and time in the pool happened.

Life continued despite the heat. We just took it easy and drank lots of liquids. 

Washer Motor

Jax's football team finally scored, in their third game of the season, but sadly still fell to defeat 12-6. The other team had one play that the boys just couldn't seem to stop reliably. 

In other action, Chris and I decided to dismantle the swing-set which had been unused. As we were deconstructing it, we realized that it was definitely at end of life.  Now the pile remains in the yard waiting for a trip to the landfill.

Did I mention that I wasted  another four hours on the washing machine? I believe the problem is in the wiring and I have ordered a new wiring harness. After that the washer is declared dead and we will replace it!

A busy Saturday. Right now, I am heading to the golf course to relieve some of yesterday's stress!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Completed Repairs

The truck is fixed!

Yay!

My Truck -- Hauling

It is back on the road and has already been loaned out to do some hauling. 

I think all of the broken things that occurred over our vacation have been repaired!

The pool is back and supported a swimming extravaganza today. The washer continues to run and now my truck is repaired.

I think it is strange that it seems that there are more repairs to do than what the vehicle went in for--but my truck does have almost 180,000 miles on it. I probably really needed a new serpentine belt and tensioned, a muffler and tailpipe along with the broken transmission line.

But it should be good for another year!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Crazy Busy Day

No good deed goes unpunished.

I have heard that phrase repeatedly during my adult work life. It seems that it also applies to home life as well.

Newly Painted Family Room

Yesterday was a Saturday with nothing specific planned. That meant painting the family room! We had purchased two gallons of our new favorite color a few weeks ago, but had not yet had time to change the wall color. 

Yesterday was the day! And the painting went well. So well that we were also planning of refreshing the trim as well--right up until water began pouring out from under the kitchen sink after the brushes were washed.

Newly Installed Faucet

What seemed like a simple leak quickly turned into a trip to Lowe's and a $10 repair to the sprayer hose became a $350 new faucet assembly! I have to admit the existing faucet did have a drip, too and needed some work. I did have a lot of fun working under the sink installing the new faucet. To begin with, it took over an hour to get the old faucet deconstructed. 

But the new one is installed and fully functional. A new sink may be coming soon, but fortunately, Lowe's did not have the desired replacement in stock! 

By the end of the day a simple job devoted to painting the family room quickly became a new faucet! What a day!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

The Toilet Bowl of Life

Sometimes life takes a turn and I wind up deep in the toilet. And I do not mean figuratively, either. 

I came home last evening to a slow toilet. You know there is something drastically wrong when the water doesn't rush out of the bowl. Yet, The water was moving, slowly!

Stand by for potential catastrophe. Fortunately, there were no solids in the bowl to deal with, yet.

The Offending Toilet Bowl Freshner

After significant plunging and buckets of water to increase the pressure no appreciable change was noted. It then became clear to me what I was dealing with. This was not the usual blockage caused by too much paper--no, it was something different and as I scanned the rim of the bowl I realized what it was--the bowl freshener!

Well, this would be easy then, all I needed was my snake--except my snake had been liberated for a good cause! Ugh! No good deed goes unpunished.

And of course, I had a racquetball match looming! I declared to the family that the toilet was closed for repairs and raced to Lowe's for a new snake, or as they call it an auger.  Before returning home I had a racquetball match to play which turned into a quick losing effort.

Once I returned back home, the process seemed fairly straightforward--in my mind. Sometimes things do not execute on paper the way I draw them up in my mind. But, I was successful after a few minutes in dislodging the object and restoring full flush functionality!

Sometimes those toilet bowl freshness are more work than they are worth!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Driveway Woes

Good Looking Driveway

The process of rehabilitating my driveway has taken a detour.

You may remember that we had the potholes fixed a few weeks ago, and that process came out great. It is really nice not to have our drive look like a beat-up back road in some rural county.

Rough Area
Still Wet

But then we went one step further--we decided to have the driveway sealed to help stem the deterioration and restore it.

Cue the rains!

Another Rough Area

The sealing was supposed to happen last week, but a week of rains intervened and delayed the process. The rains, it seemed, soaked into the ground and have delayed the sealant from properly drying in some places. This means--no driving on the driveway, going on to four days now.

For the three homes that share the drive, this means that 7 vehicles are displaced! Aside from having to walk the length of the drive, the cul de sac is jam packed with vehicles.

Hopefully the drive will be functioning soon--before the rains tomorrow night. 

I hope we didn't break something that didn't need to be fixed.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Good news--Bad News: Gas and Trucks

Royal Farms on Telegraph Road
Odenton, MD

I was in awe yesterday as we drove past a local Royal Farms gas station and I saw that the price of regular gas had fallen to $2.099, which is really $2.10, per gallon. 

Queue the party!

I remember when gas hit $4.00 per gallon that we never dreamed of seeing prices this low again and yet, this is now the second time that prices have fallen back to reasonable levels. I expect to see gas below $2/gallon soon!

But, s is the way with life lately, with every snippet of good news comes some bad news. 

My truck broke severely yesterday. Ugh! The upper drivers side ball joint separated from the control arm and so the truck is both not drivable and also not moveable! Thankfully, it happened as I was backing into the driveway after I had completed a run to the local landfill. I was able to get the truck out of the way and I soon determined that the repair was beyond the few short hours I had available. Additionally, I was going to need to get parts shipped in.

The seriousness of the situation became clear as I was jacking the truck up, but the wheel remained firmly on the ground. No, I didn't take a picture of it.

It is not pretty, although, it seems very repairable. It is going to need a tow to the local repair shop, which I will be calling in the morning. 

All the money I was going to save on gas prices not goes into repairs!

And that, is the good and bad news for this Sunday morning.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Construction and More Construction

Potholes in the Driveway

The sewer line repair continue, well actually the environmental clean-up continues in the woods behind the house.

On tap yesterday was major repairs for the three families us who share the driveway. 24 years of hard use had taken its toll and it was time for some repairs before sealing the drive in advance of the winter season.

Men at Work Removing the Old Asphalt

There were big trucks and stone, and rollers, and hot asphalt.  The old parts of the drive were removed and new supporting gravel was emplaced and packed down. It was a process.

It was fun to watch, although it would have been more exciting if the repairs were not being paid for out of my piggy bank.

New Gravel for Stabilization Arrives

It was a well orchestrated plan that successfully saw the completion  in near record time. In a move that almost never happens, the crews arrived almost an hour earlier than they indicated they would. Perhaps it was to beat the heat of the day. 

Spreading the Asphalt

They worked along in three separate areas of the driveway. Fully synchronized. Not working fast, but working steady.

Progress was seen with every passing minute. 

At the end of the process, the rough areas of the driveway were fully restored. In a couple of weeks, the entire driveway, including the new areas will be sealed for added protection!

At the End--It looks Great!

What a day. And all I had to do was watch.

Oh yea, and pay!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Bio Hazard Discovered and Reported

A foul odor has been wafting across the yard around my house for the past few days. I had thought it might be decaying plant matter from the recent rains because I could not determine an exact location. The odor seemed to move around from place to place. As I tried to locate it, it would disappear.

Sewage Making the Creek White

Last evening, the persistent stench smelled like raw sewage and I took the situation more seriously. I suspected that the light industry up the hill behind my house may have been illegally dumping down the hill causing the odor, and so I went to find the source.

It, sadly, did not take long to discover the true problem and I could not imagine the severity of the situation. As soon as I reached the normally pristine creek behind the house from which the frogs which love to swim in my pool probably come, it was immediately evident that there was a major raw sewage leak. 

Sewage in the creek

The stream was white with the raw sewage and the smell was strong, but not overpowering. I went back to the house, although I did not yet know the source of the sewage in the stream. I called the emergency number for Howard County utilities. I alerted my neighbors to the situation and searched for the source of the contamination.

Broken Sewage Pipe

The cause, it turned out, was a  broken pipe in the stream spewing sewage unabated. The pipe had probable broken during the last storms as the ground under it appeared washed away. I called the county and updated them with the location of the sewage and waited for their imminent arrival.

Why a sewer line was run through the middle of a creek, I will never understand, it just seems like bad planning. The county took immediate action to abate the discharge and I expect that over the next few days that they will be making more permanent repairs. Interestingly, I was told that the sewage line that broke was scheduled to be moved from the creek. 

I guess they didn't get to it soon enough.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Mid-Summer Pool Woes

It happened almost overnight, it seemed.

I have a nasty algae growth in my pool. It is worse because I misidentified it early on and theater it wrong. 

Now, it is everywhere and the pool is closed undergoing algae eradication.

Ugh. I've never had a problem this bad, but I have read this particular algae, mustard algae, loves rough surfaces and since my pool surface is old it can be especially favorable for the growth of this somewhat chlorine resistant type. 

My Pool Being Treated

Fortunately, I caught before it really took over and I should be able to get the pool reopened before the weekend. At least the pool color is not born or green. The image is of the pool after I brushed it down and applied the treatments. As for more pool activities, with morning temperatures in the 50's and afternoons in the low 80's, I'm not sure how much more swimming season actually remains.

I miss laying on a floatie in the pool--which, frankly, I have not done much of this year at all.

I expect a few more sunny afternoons are all that are left of the season.

I'm hoping for at least one more pool party.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Replacing a Window

Completed and Installed Window

It is amazing how the plans for some days get changed.

Yesterday, I was going to fix the frames around some windows that had deteriorated with age, only to find that one was in such a bad state of rot, that I wound up replacing the entire window because too much of the window was constructed using untreated lumber which had come into contact with the ground and dampness.

Ugh.

I had never replaced a window before. It was a bit daunting, the idea of tearing out a window and making a hole in the house that either would need to be filled by the window that I was installing, or an emergency call to a professional installer.

One of the Old Window Trim Pieces

Did I mention that it was a basement window behind a bush? A lot of fun to deal with. 

But, after only two trips to Lowe's and Home Depot, the project was complete.

Yay!

My first window!

Sadly, the reward for good work is more work and I have been informed that the other two basement windows must now be replaced in order to match the one that I installed.

Nice work Bob!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Weekend Repairs

Looking into the Garage Door Opener
Broken parts--the gears should be covered

When Chris and I returned from our vacation, one of the major mechanical devices which had suffered a catastrophic failure during our time away was the garage door opener.

Over the course of the week, we came to realize just how much we depend upon the garage door opener, partly because when I had the new garage door installed two years ago, I did not provide a mechanism for manually opening it from outside!

Broken gear cover part

That may have been a mistake. It is easy enough to open and lock from the inside, but from outside it is not possible. That meant that once the car was driven from the garage we had secure the garage door from inside and walk back through the house to return to the car and drive away.

It wasn't fun. 

I was able to repair, not replace, but repair, the garage door opener yesterday. I had ordered the parts and they arrived. Parts were a concern because the Stanley model 6500 garage door opener is not made any more and I was on the secondary market for them. Many of the potentially required repair parts are "no longer stocked." Fortunately, the one that I thought I needed was available!

Completed and repaired

It was not a simple repair. The biggest problem was that no instructions were provided and there was one part that caused me to perform one aspect of the repair three times before I was satisfied that I had it correctly. 

I knew it was going to be a multi-hour project. And it was.

But it works!

Once I applied the power and adjusted the travel of the garage door, it actually worked!

I was pleased. Chris later told me that she gave the project only about a 50 percent chance of success. I was a bit higher thinking I had a 70 percent chance of success. It really depended upon whether any critical collateral damage had occurred as the gear cover was chattering and flinging itself around the enclosed space.

Weekends are great times to get repairs accomplished. It is just too hard to attempt a multi-hour project after working all day.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Tales of the Toilet

It seems that my house is revolting against me for being gone almost two weeks.

Every evening this week I have been in the "fix and repair" mode to  get everything back into working order.

Yesterday it was a toilet. Not your usual problem of a clogged toilet, or one that won fill or flush properly. No, my toilet decided it needed to leak around the bolts that secure the tank to the bowl!

I had never considered that toilets could leak in that place. It was ugly. I am glad that at least the toilet waited to revolt until I had returned--it could have been catastrophic had it sprung a leak while we were away. I can imagine water soaking through everything! Ugh. Maybe I should start closing the water supply valves to the toilets when we go away.

Toilet repairs are not particularly difficult, but they are also not a lot of fun. And, as it turned out my toilet required the use of the "alternate" instructions for the kit. Of course it did! And I didn't recognize it until it was all back together and leaking worse than before.


I did not enjoy taking the toilet all apart, again, to reconfigure the parts. I also did not enjoy driving to Lowe's during rush hour traffic to obtain the parts which cost a whopping $4.95. I probably spent more on gas than the parts cost.

But, the toilet is fixed!

So the repair was a stunning success!

I wonder why there are so many different types of toilets?

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

What I Did on Veterans Day

I was very busy on Veterans Day. I think I would have been better off to go to work, because I worked hard around the house. 

I played some too.

Here is how the day went down.

I wrote my Veterans Day blog.

Driving Range

Then, because the morning was cold (36 degrees) and the lawn was still wet, I decided to go to a driving range and hit some balls, since I wasn't going be able to play golf. I also had one club re-gripped because it was a disaster. I hit 168 golf balls in about an hour and a half while the sun crawled higher up into the sky and the day began to get going.

Back at the house it was time to finish cutting down the grasses that form the privacy fence around the pool. I love the grasses, but every year they must be cut down and removed. It is not a hard job, but it isn't a lot of fun because they make my arms swell a bit because I am a bit allergic to them. Even though I wear a long sleeve shirt, they manage to get under the fabric around my wrists.

My Truck loaded with the Grasses

Then it was off to the landfill to recycle the grasses with my trusty dog Makayla. She loves to go for road trips and I like having her along for the ride. Speaking of the ride--wow, two delays. First, I got a mile down the read before I realized that I had a soft tire so it was back to the house for air. Then I realized I needed gas--ugh! Why didn't I fill the tank on Friday when I knew it was low?

Back at the house it was time for lunch. 

Then Christmas decorations. I do exterior decorations on Veterans Day, especially if it is a nice day, because then I don't have to worry about them later. For this event, I called in reinforcements: Patrick and Tina. The small army working together completed the task in record time and by 4:00 we were done! Yay.

But the day wasn't over yet.

I have been working to make the fire table have real flames for over two weeks. I have ordered a number of things to make this happen--and have been thwarted. Today, though, the FEDEX man delivered the final part--an adjustable regulator. With Patrick's assistance the fire table was transformed from a warming table to one with true flames and became a true place to enjoy.

But wait, there's more, it was racquetball evening. By 5:30PM I was on the racquetball court playing a match. 

I was there for a bit and then it was home, arriving about 7:30 PM. 

Dinner and a glass of wine around the refurbished fire table was the perfect exclamation point on the day. 

A great day. Very busy and full.

--Bob Doan, Elkridge, Md

Stump Today, Gone Tomorrow

Invariably, it seems, we lose trees in the yard due to storms or disease. Last year we lost my plum trees due to disease. I was very sad about the loss--but dutifully removed the trees from the yard--except for the stumps.

The stumps were significant. Not something easily removed with hand tools.

We had tried the epsom salt idea by drilling holes and hopefully speeding the natural decay of the stump--but it wasn't fast enough.

Enter, the stump grinder.

An awesome 25hp machine designed to do one thing--replace the stun with a hole.

I have used the grinder before. I love using "heavy" equipment in my yard to make difficult projects disappear.

This experience was no different. In a very short time two significant stumps were removed and in their places were holes to be filled in with the wood and dirt removed. 








And what nice holes they are!

No more stumps!

Refill and plant grass for a nice obstruction free yard. I won't have to worry about the boys tripping over the stumps are they race through the yard anymore.

On to the next project. I think a chipper may be involved!

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD

Another Upgrade--Garage Door

I found out that garage doors wear out. They get old and they begin to separate and not only that, they look bad. New garage doors aside from looking good are insulated and should serve to help mitigate the cold winds of winter as well as the hot summer sun.

For all of these reasons, and mostly because the old door was beginning to come apart as the seams, literally, we had a new garage door installed. Another repair/upgrade/maintenance activity on a 20 something year old house.

The new door looks great. 

I wanted windows because I like the light in the garage. Doors without windows make it so dark in the garage. 

I was amazed that the entire demolition and installation took only about two hours.

And now--we have a garage door that will last for a long while and also looks good!

It is amazing the amount of work and upkeep a home takes to remain current.

-- Bob Doan, Elkridge, MD