Ok, one last update. Now, I'm seeing this sewage overflow as a blessing in disguise. The last wall to be torn up had a corroded gas pipe with a leak. We were pretty close to major catastrophe!

bigc wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 2:39 pm I'm trying to replace the faucet in my main bathroom. It's all SUPER easy, except I can't reach the water supply connection just under the sink where the connection hits the faucet. I can feel it, but I can't get a wrench in there.

I'm gonna have pay a plumber a couple hundred dollars to loosen a simple hex fitting that I can't reach, aren't I?

EDIT: Just grabbed one of these https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Basin ... /304217758

Is it an Ikea sink? A plumber showed me a really simple trick for those types of sinks with the inset connection: if you take a screwdriver that has swappable heads, the hex in the post is the same size as the nut.

cakes wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 9:56 am

bigc wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 2:39 pm I'm trying to replace the faucet in my main bathroom. It's all SUPER easy, except I can't reach the water supply connection just under the sink where the connection hits the faucet. I can feel it, but I can't get a wrench in there.

I'm gonna have pay a plumber a couple hundred dollars to loosen a simple hex fitting that I can't reach, aren't I?

EDIT: Just grabbed one of these https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Basin ... /304217758

Is it an Ikea sink? A plumber showed me a really simple trick for those types of sinks with the inset connection: if you take a screwdriver that has swappable heads, the hex in the post is the same size as the nut.

It's not. Kohler fixture in an American Standard sink.

I have a hood over the kitchen stove/oven with 4 of these little halogen bulbs in it.
The bulbs blow out constantly, like within weeks.
Is this because I'm not being careful enough about keeping my grubby finger oils off them?

Or maybe heat from the stove? (That seems pretty dumb if so.)

This is a rental and I'm not looking to overhaul the whole thing, I'm just curious and sick of replacing these little bastards.
Maybe I need to buy them in bulk.

Teacher's Pet wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:41 am 7068_b22251f220f7024fce2d8d19a85c6ad009c0d203_original.jpg

I have a hood over the kitchen stove/oven with 4 of these little halogen bulbs in it.
The bulbs blow out constantly, like within weeks.
Is this because I'm not being careful enough about keeping my grubby finger oils off them?

Or maybe heat from the stove? (That seems pretty dumb if so.)

This is a rental and I'm not looking to overhaul the whole thing, I'm just curious and sick of replacing these little bastards.
Maybe I need to buy them in bulk.

From my past experience, these things are horribly unreliable and don't last long. I suggest getting LED replacement bulbs similar to the one linked below:

https://www.grainger.com/product/475G34 ... lsrc=aw.ds

(I'm sure they can be found cheaper elsewhere)

jfv wrote:

Teacher's Pet wrote: Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:41 am 7068_b22251f220f7024fce2d8d19a85c6ad009c0d203_original.jpg

I have a hood over the kitchen stove/oven with 4 of these little halogen bulbs in it.
The bulbs blow out constantly, like within weeks.
Is this because I'm not being careful enough about keeping my grubby finger oils off them?

Or maybe heat from the stove? (That seems pretty dumb if so.)

This is a rental and I'm not looking to overhaul the whole thing, I'm just curious and sick of replacing these little bastards.
Maybe I need to buy them in bulk.

From my past experience, these things are horribly unreliable and don't last long. I suggest getting LED replacement bulbs similar to the one linked below:

https://www.grainger.com/product/475G34 ... lsrc=aw.ds

(I'm sure they can be found cheaper elsewhere)

Ditto, I fucking despise those tiny halogen bulbs.

bigc wrote:

cakes wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 9:56 am

bigc wrote: Thu Sep 22, 2022 2:39 pm I'm trying to replace the faucet in my main bathroom. It's all SUPER easy, except I can't reach the water supply connection just under the sink where the connection hits the faucet. I can feel it, but I can't get a wrench in there.

I'm gonna have pay a plumber a couple hundred dollars to loosen a simple hex fitting that I can't reach, aren't I?

EDIT: Just grabbed one of these https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Basin ... /304217758

Is it an Ikea sink? A plumber showed me a really simple trick for those types of sinks with the inset connection: if you take a screwdriver that has swappable heads, the hex in the post is the same size as the nut.

It's not. Kohler fixture in an American Standard sink.

Did the basin wrench help?

If not, they probably installed it before they put in the sink or removed the sink to install it. Can you remove the sink?

cakes wrote: Sat Sep 24, 2022 9:56 am

Is it an Ikea sink? A plumber showed me a really simple trick for those types of sinks with the inset connection: if you take a screwdriver that has swappable heads, the hex in the post is the same size as the nut.

It's not. Kohler fixture in an American Standard sink.
[/quote]

Did the basin wrench help?

If not, they probably installed it before they put in the sink or removed the sink to install it. Can you remove the sink?
[/quote]Haven't had a go at it yet. It looks pretty simple, so I'm hoping the wrench will do the trick. I grabbed new supply lines just in case, too. Will let you know.

bigc wrote: Fri Oct 07, 2022 10:20 am Haven't had a go at it yet. It looks pretty simple, so I'm hoping the wrench will do the trick. I grabbed new supply lines just in case, too. Will let you know.

I'm going to have to do this soon too so I thank you gentlemen!

Whooo boy, did I get revenged!

As you may have read, I had sewage leak in my basement, which revealed some things that indicated our "vintage" (let's just say old) home was in dire need of some tender love and care. The rainstorm that caused the sewage backup (in the entire neighborhood, which ended up getting national emergency status) happened on September 11th. As of yesterday, Jan 5th, we were officially done with renovations.

We ended up having to entirely gut and excavate the basement. The "original" tile floor was actually just a half inch of grout layer to lay the tile on top of dirt. In gutting, we discovered that corroded gas pipe that was leaking into the wall. Even the staircase was rotting out, due to sitting on top of moist grout. And since the whole basement was open, we decided to take care of things that were outdated, done incorrectly, or needed to be fixed (such as redoing the duct work and replanting all the supplies and returns for the hvac). With all of this, we also discovered our Radon levels were in the action zone, so we also took care of this.

We moved in with my sister for 6 weeks and in that time our baby started to crawl, in a house that was not at all baby-proofed or suited for baby-proofing, so that was fun.

This cost us a fortune, probably put more into this house than it's worth today, but it's been totally worth it, considering we could either have exploded from the gas leak, or given our child lung cancer from the radon in her 40s, or even ourselves in our later age. So, what's the price on life for you? (I'd argue it's priceless).

We now have what I call "our apartment". It's a beautiful little garden apartment, if you want to look at it that way. We now have a play area for our kid, a real second TV room (I guess you could call it a den, if you are from the 80s), a second bathroom that is nice and not creepy, a way better space for a music studio, and a tons and tons of storage more well thought out. There's also a game table for late night with friends, a cozy little office off to the side in a nook and a killer laundry room.

We bought this house with the plan of staying here for the rest of our lives, or at least until old age and we couldn't manage it anymore. So, it's well worth the investment. We love this house so much, and there's more we'd like to do to improve it.

As for the cost... let's just say, some people could buy a whole house (albeit a small house in the middle of nowhere) for the cost of renovations. On the bright side, we bought this place ridiculously under value and the loan has the lowest interest rate we'll ever find. I also sold my old building for a lot more than I bought it for, and put all that extra money from the sale into this house, so we actually don't owe that much considering what we now have, plus this renovation and the renovations we did when we moved in definitely increased the value of the home, which of course is great even if you aren't going to sell anytime soon.

Long story short, home ownership is worth it, even in the bad times. It's only not worth it when you don't make smart plays when buying a house. Those who overpaid a few years ago just to get a house with a good interest rate are screwed. You're better off buying at low cost with high interest rate, because you can always refinance... but you can never change the amount you purchased at. My wife likes to say we're house poor now, or that we're under water... but that is not the case. We owe a relatively modicum amount to the bank for the original loan. We simply took our own cash and invested it back into the house.

cakes wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 9:59 am Long story short, home ownership is worth it, even in the bad times. It's only not worth it when you don't make smart plays when buying a house. Those who overpaid a few years ago just to get a house with a good interest rate are screwed. You're better off buying at low cost with high interest rate, because you can always refinance... but you can never change the amount you purchased at. My wife likes to say we're house poor now, or that we're under water... but that is not the case. We owe a relatively modicum amount to the bank for the original loan. We simply took our own cash and invested it back into the house.

Yep, and there's little else worth investing in right now so you might as well make a safe home that you love. Glad you made it through all the (literal) shit!