Home Improvement

It's hard to completely drain the line. You have to open every tap in your house and even then all it will do is bring the pressure down to air pressure rather than clearing the line.

About the third time I messed with my well pump situation I realized that there is a drain spigot for that last little bit! GENIOUS!

Unless you mean what dirk said, and even with the valve closed you were still getting a small stream of water out of the tap after a few minutes of having it open. In which case you do need to replace the shut off. You'll be happy you did if you ever have an interior leak. I'm not sure how you do that on municipal water. It's easy with a well. You turn the well off. You probably just have to call the city and ask them if they can cut your water for half an hour or something.

If you're draining the water heater completely, also swap in a good ball valve at the drain to replace the shitty gate valve the manufacturers install. A ball valve allows you to drain it fast in the future, and allows large chunks of sediment to flush out.

I have hard water and get bad build up. I have to flush it twice a year and run vinegar through it. The longer folded back elements really last longer too. With the short elements, it was getting scale buildup on the element then burning up the element. The longer elements don't get scale build up on the element themselves.

Big Phoenix said:

Phoenix.

I have zero use for green lawns. I really should get that taken care of.

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Whenever I see a green lawn that isn't fake in the Southwest I cringe. I wish it would be made illegal.

House is finally having an electrical inspection today. Assuming that passes insulation will be done and walls put up. Replacement windows also going in this week. So hyped to see this project finally starting to get somewhere.

Next up is the Kitchen renovation which my wife decided she wants done now. Taking down a load bearing wall... mmm Steel.

the stupid anode rod i ordered apparently was only 6in long...wtf... so I started return on that one and ordered another...so another few days until my happy trip down water heater maintenance lane

a_skeleton_03 said:

Never had to maintain a septic house before.

Been living in this house just shy of three years and curious if there is a regular timeframe to do any kind of work to it. I don’t know if it’s a thing but my showers have been draining slower over the last week and it made the septic pop into my head. Probably just the wife’s hair that I need to snake.

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Get one of these to remove the hair in your drain.

Your septic is probably OK. Really, just be aware of what you send down the drain. No feminine hygiene stuff, no anti-biotics, try not to use too much bleach. If the system is sized properly you should be fine. I personally think those products like Rid-X are just a way to get your money. You don't need to add bacteria to a septic tank. You do that every time you flush.

a_skeleton_03 said:

Never had to maintain a septic house before.

Been living in this house just shy of three years and curious if there is a regular timeframe to do any kind of work to it. I don’t know if it’s a thing but my showers have been draining slower over the last week and it made the septic pop into my head. Probably just the wife’s hair that I need to snake.

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They make stuff you can add to your septic system once a year or something by just going down the drain with it. I don't think it's very expensive. I use the homeaid recipe I got from A&M with just household stuff. You're supposed to have it pumped out every so many years. The newer type sysstems I don't know they might do something else with them.

It's probably just hair in the drains.

I think when a septic tank goes bad there's no wondering if it's the septic tank. I've never had one go bad though. I just sort of imagine your toilet backs up and you realize that this week is not going to be a good week.

Huh, well. reading this thread cost me a few hundred bucks. looks like I need to get my tank pumped.

I think when you have septic problems as well it's pretty easy to notice. My parents had a piece of foam break off they had used to seal a pipe on the side and it floated to the inlet coming in on the drain. Instantly could tell, no question about it. The stuff I mentioned is just for regular maintenance.

a_skeleton_03 said:

if there is a regular timeframe to do any kind of work to it

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You need to know what kind of system you have. Check the maintenance schedule for your model. I owned a septic house that had some kind of fancy filter between the tank and the leech field that required annual cleaning/hosing. The previous fucking owners installed that thing, didn't tell anyone about it, lost the manual and receipts, and then laid sod over the entire tank system instead of putting in an access hatch. Needless to say, when I discovered that feature (via tank backup and contamination/overflow of the leech field) three years later I was pretty pissed. And also put in a manhole for the next owners.

iannis said:

get my tank pumped.

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This is the big one. Stay on top of that shit, or you'll be in it.

I don't think there's anything I can do about this, but I just gotta vent a little as I'm pissed!! U mad bruh?!? YESSSS

So I live in the Pacific Northwest, and it's raining a shit ton lately. Pretty normal, but we noticed in our living room that water is coming into the house when it rains a lot. Not much, it's kinda like seeping in, not just pouring. It's right near a down pipe from our gutter, and so we figure water is just being water when it rains hard. But anyway, we call up this general contractor that had water proofed our neighbors basement and recommended them.

They come out today, and apparently there's a foot and a half lake under my fucking house that of course is gonna start rotting out everything if I just leave it. WTF! We just bought this house back in June of last year, and from Google images, and what we know, the previous owner was a DIY asshole that did things like fill in the garage to add 2 rooms. It's a 5 bed, 2 bath house. Anyway, this contractor today says that there is no way the previous home owner didn't know that they put the vapor barrier under the house just far enough to where the inspector would pass it, but it's not up to code.

The contractor is running back into town to get his pumps to get this water out. Says it'll be ok for another couple weeks while we figure out how to fix all this shit. Straight out of my pocket. Thank goodness a tax return is coming this year I guess?

FML!

Edit: First bid in to pump all the water and fix under the house. Reviewing the contract shortly. $4800. Double FML.

Having a contractor coming out to fix our roof tomorrow. Insurance believes it to be below the deductible so I'm out of pocket most likely. Since it's just a bunch of shingles I didn't go with a big name roofing company but a local contractor just getting started (but a LOT of good reviews). I kind of wanted a brand new roof but what can you do. No water leaking so that's fine I guess.