Candlestick Seats III

I went to Home Depot this morning, and they had tons of ratchet bits all in stock.  Deep 1/4 inch 9/16's acquired!  I also got another bottle of Rustoleum and a box of LED lights (3 for $20 versus 1 for $9?)  I thought there was something else I needed, but I couldn't remember, so I left.

I put on a third coat to fully cover any remaining yellow areas.  It looks like it's finally painted.  Well, it's painted except for the bottom where it's bolted to the base.  At least I have a bit to remove them, though! 

Candlestick Seats

I hit up Lowes this morning.  I wanted to get the ratchet head to remove the seats from the base.  The Lowes out by Evolve in San Bruno didn't have a huge selection.  I asked the woman if 3/8 was standard, and she said yes (it's not.  1/4 inch is standard).  I got two bits - the 13 mm and the 9/16, a new hose, and a new hose rack.

Got home, installed the new hose rack, coiled up the new hose.  It looks nice.  I doubt this will pop this time.  Either way, I saved the warranty info this time.

I hosed off the seats, then sanded them a little more then hosed them off again.  I thought about putting some grease in the hinges, but decided to wait until after they were painted.  I left them standing to dry, then went to jiu jitsu. 

I returned the two ratchet bits since they were 3/8's, but the Lowes in SF didn't have any 1/4 in 9/16 in.  Doomed, I know.  Defeated by Lowes.  

They were pretty dry when I got back, so I wiped them down to make sure before painting.  I stood the brackets on a piece of cardboard, then sprayed each one individually.  After one coat (it's hard to see how well it coated with the lack of direct lights in the garage), I left them to dry while I showered and washed my gi and ate.

The paint was not tacky after about an hour, so I laid down another coat.  Some of the yellow primer that was originally on there was still showing.  Two coats pretty much killed the bottle of Rustoleam.  Looks like I'll be going to Home Depot tomorrow morning. 

Candlestick Seats

In lieu of insulation, I decided to do up the Candlestick seats!  I had already bought a wire brush and high gloss black Rustoleum spray paint, so I thought I was set.  I started with wiping down the seats with some diaper wipes (yep, we still have tons of those).  I took the seats apart to separate the plastic from the metal but left the vertical parts bolted on to the bases.  Go figure all the bolts came out relatively easily, but the battery on the drill kept dying.  UGH.  Then, the very last bolt was stripped.  Why is it that it's always the last one that's the most difficult?!  I used a hammer and chisel to break the bolt and set the seat free.  9 PM, loud hammering from the garage - I hope no one nearby is asleep.  I would've removed the bases, too, but the bolts were bigger than any of the ratchet heads I had.  My sets went up to 1/2 inch, so I was guessing they were 9/16 or 13mm.  I'll need to hit up Lowes or Home Depot. 

I'm also pretty thankful I changed the light bulb in the garage to an LED.  It really makes a difference.  I can't find my work light, and the last time I remember using it was when a contractor was working in the crawlspace without light. I ran an extension cord and put the light in there for him.  I hate when I notice shit's missing way too late. 

With the seats pretty much completely in pieces, I used the wire brush to scrap off any loose paint and rust.  I was going to rinse them off then sand them down a little more, but when I turned on the hose... PLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH! It looks like hanging a rubber hose on a bike rack hook (existing) was a horrible idea.  There were so many kinks that the hose just exploded all over. I guess the project is on hold for now.

Hot Water Heater

Saturday night, I noticed that the hot water was lukewarm.  I figured the pilot went out on the hot water heater, so I went downstairs and re-lit it.  Since we had no hot water, I figured Robert's bath will have to wait till Sunday morning. 

Sunday morning comes, and after breakfast I notice there water isn't even warm.  I went to the garage to relight to pilot then ran back upstairs.  I thought we'd have hot water in a couple hours.  I heard a noise that sounded like a door slamming and wondered - was that the water heater?  I went back downstairs and the pilot was out.  I re-lit it, then waited to see what happens.  In less than 3 minutes, pfffffllllloooOOOOM!  A flame about 12 inches long, 4 or 5 inches wide shoots out from the bottom of the water heater!  And of course, the pilot went out.  Not thinking clearly, I press the ignition button, and ppppffflllloom! Another flame shoots out.  "OK," I thought, "I'm done with this."  I shut the gas and water off to the tank and went back upstairs.  No hot water till this is fixed!

Monday morning comes, and I start calling around to either get this repaired or replaced.  Over the phone, most people ask for the make, model, and build date.  Of course, I had none of this.  Isn't a hot water heater just a hot water heater?!  Apparently, it's not.  Baron from Excalibur Water Heaters was one of the guys who told me he couldn't really advise me of any course of action without that information, so I did my research, and in the home inspection report, where the inspector is supposed to list the hot water heaters' brand, age, and condition, he included a picture.  A picture... that didn't show the age of the hot water heaters or the condition, but it did show the brand.  Great report.  It seems like every time I have an issue with something that this inspector was paid to inspect, the report falls short. 

Anywho, I did get the brand of the heater, so I continued in my quest.  One guy told me he couldn't really do anything for me until I figured this out.  I realized that was a good thing after many, many more calls.  Things I was told ranged from, "It'll cost you [me] a base fee of $200 to get me [the plumber] out there, then $200 an hour if I can fix it.  But, if I need to go get parts, the return visit is another $200 base fee."  Uh, no.  I'm not paying you anything just to come look at something that you don't know you can fix!  Another said something similar: $125 to come out and look at the problem, then give an estimate as to how much it will cost to do the job, if it can be done.  Again, pass. 

In all, I called about 9 different plumbers.  Of those 9, 6 came out to look at it free of charge.  Of those 6, 4 said I should get a new water heater.  Of the other two, one said he could probably fix this, with the parts being covered under warranty since it was installed in 2010, but he doesn't know for sure that he can fix it.  I asked if he'd ever seen something like this before, and evasively, he basically said no.  He responded that he'd been doing repairs on hot water heaters for over 20 years, and over 20 years, he's seen a lot of things.  He never specifically said yes, he's seen a hot water heater shoot flames like a dragon before, so I asked again, "In 20 years, have you seen a hot water heater shoot flames?"  Again, he dodged the question and replied, "It could be caused by any number of things.  I'd suggest replacing different parts one by one, until it stops."  Yeah, if you can't give me a yes or no answer about your experience, I'm not paying you a cent. 

Next, I called A.O. Smith, since I found out the parts were covered under warranty.  The operator gave me 3 companies who service their warranty repairs.  I called all three.  One said he was really busy, and not in San Francisco, so he couldn't make it out till the end of the week.  Pass.  The next one said they couldn't make it until tomorrow, so I scheduled an appointment.  The third one said it sounded like the hot water heater was improperly installed, and it may not be covered by the warranty - F'ING GREAT.  He said he could come by to take a look at it later in the day. 

I left work early, and was surprised to find my 1 pm appointment already there.  The guy looked at the water heater, then said he recommended replacing it.  Literally, he looked at the water heater wrapped in insulation, bent down and looked at the bottom where I said flames shot from, then said I should replace it.  He didn't even touch it!  He said he could replace it right away.  Yeah, sure, of course he'd want me to replace it!  He'd get paid for the sale of the new heater, and the labor to replace it, but I felt like he didn't even look at the old heater! 

Another plumber came, he turned on the gas, lit the pilot, then waited.  I advised him to step away, he obliged.  PPPFFFLLLLOOOOM!  "Holy shit! I've never seen that!"  Hhhhmmm, there goes your credibility.  "Honestly, I wouldn't know where to start.  Good luck!"  Well at least he didn't charge me, but I realized I should've charged him for the show. 

Another plumber came, this time it was one who serviced AO Smiths.  He lit the pilot, stepped back, PPFFLLLOOOM!  No grand exclamation, no cursing, just a real somber look.  I asked him, "What's the verdict?"  He tells me, "I've seen this before.  What probably happened when they installed it was they dropped the tank.  My guess is there's a dent in the bottom, and gas is building up.  When there's enough gas in there, it ignites.  To fix it, I'd have to completely drain the heater and push out the dent, then put it back together.  You're better off getting a new water heater.  It'll be cheaper, and you'll know it won't have any issues."  I asked if he sells them, and he said he just services them.  He did recommend a brand other than Rheem, but said Rheems are good, too. 

I scheduled an appointment with Baron from Excalibur Water Heaters for 11:30 - Noon the next day.  Around 11 AM, I got a call from his son saying they finished a job in my area and were heading to my house.  I told him to call me when they got there, if they got there before me.  About 5 minutes later, he called and said he was standing by the garage door.  I gave him the code and told him it was the 40 gallon heater on the left hand side.  He said there was plenty of working room, and they'd probably be done in about 20 minutes.  When I arrived 10 minutes later, the old water heater was draining in the middle of the garage, and the new water heater was connected.  It took them about 20 more minutes to clean up and double check everything.  Overall, it was a very fast, clean install.  I'm very happy with the timeliness and cleanliness of their work.  And, we finally had hot water again!

Let There be HEAT!

We're about to begin the process of replacing the heater.  As usual, nothing's ever easy.  Luckily, a friend's husband does HVAC (Airflow Pros in SF), so we have some assistance with making the right decisions.

We're going with a Trane machine, based on his recommendation over Bryant's.  He said he has more service calls for Bryant's and finds the Tranes to be more reliable.

To get things up to code (gotta love SF), we need to put the furnaces on their own breakers (so we need an electrician), we have to T off the gas line to the water heater and furnace (it currently daisy chains from the main to the water heater to the furnace), we have to vent out into an open area (roof top), and we need to find somewhere for the condensation to possibly drip.  The biggest thing is that we also have to abate the asbestos lined ducts that are currently in place.

Another decision that we had to make was whether or not we wanted acoustic lined air base.  Make it quieter?  For sure!  Hopefully it doesn't get too overcomplicated. 

By the end of next week, we could have a functioning heater! 

Contractor FAIL

To add to the contractor failings:

Sandra's sister's back up here, and she needed some stuff - like her bed and blankets, etc.  We went into the garage to check them out, and noticed that a ladder was missing.  I looked in the backyard - not there.  I checked upstairs - not there.  Did they take it!?  Anywho, I was left with no way to get up to the top storage area today.  The white wooden ladder was strewn over the couch.  These jackasses didn't even put anything away.

To make things worse, Chuy and I crushed and folded a lot of the card board boxes in my place (we actually did all of them).  I had slowly been fitting what could go into the recycling bin each week, just taking out of the uncrushed box what fit in the blue bin.  For some reason, the contractors decided to take the uncrushed box and pour out everything onto the floor!  Nice little mess now for me to clean.  Once a car's in here, there's no way they'll be able to get their truck in here, and no more shit from them I need to deal with.  They also keep stacking my sister's garbage on top of my trash cans.  WHY!?

Contractor FAIL

It's pretty awesome that my sister's contractor parks his GINORMOUS truck in the garage by backing it in.  His awesome powers of deduction have taught him to park it well while in reverse.  His thought process probably goes something like this:  Backing up the truck, Beep, Beep, Beep, boom!  HHhhmmm.  I must have hit the couch.  Let me push it all the way back to make sure my ginormous truck fits, since I'm too incompetent to park my truck in the driveway.  Beep, beep, BOOM!  Cool.  Couch = smashed, truck = in the garage.  Time to go to work!

Wut an a$$.

State of the House Update

Soooooooooooooooooo close to being done! I finished painting the closet door today. It looks something kinda awesome!

I started on the other door, but I knew I wouldn't be able to finish in time for dinner.  The things that needed to be completed in the front bedroom are just the door and the windows!  We're THIS close to being done with it!

I finished what needed to be done on the mantle.

It looks really clean, sitting on top of the mantle like that!

The living room is almost done, too.  The ceiling is about 1/4 painted and the walls are about 90% done.  Once the bookshelf has had a coat of semi gloss, it'll be good to go!  I'll be drilling in some PVC pipe ends that I cut with the miter saw to hold a rod that we'll be using as a curtain rod for the lower half of the shelf.  We're hoping that separating it from the wall by painting it a different color will make it stand out a little more, and cause less of an eye sore.

Chris Samayoa came through to help paint.  He finished the primer on the ceiling and started primering the stairway walls.

Sandra and Yvette cleaned out the apartment and moved all their stuff in to the house and garage.  They were laughing quite a bit, so I wonder if I should be worried.

The bathroom looks REALLY nice with everything painted.  Well, almost everything.  I didn't have a steady enough hand to paint the inside of the window frame without taping it, and it was getting late the night that I had painted, so I didn't want to tape it and just leave it.  The bathroom needs to have the 3/4 inch part of 3/4 pieces of the inside of the window frame painted, and possibly inside the built in cabinet.  Grout, the vanity, and the mirror should be going in this weekend.  The new light looks great in there.  It's REALLY bright.  I still have to get some wood for the door frame.  I should get it sooner than later, so I can paint it before mounting it.  Everything's just so much easier to paint when you can move it around (and nothing's next to or behind it!).  About four more rows of tiles need to get laid down, then it's a wrap!  We're getting pretty close to finishing.  I'm pretty excited about it all.

I still need to figure out what I'm going to do about the kitchen sink.  I got an outlet installed for the garbage disposal, but I forgot to get a switch put on it!  I might have one just installed under the sink, so it's easier to deal with for now - no new holes in the walls or tiles.  I also have to either get a new faucet fixture (something that has a pull down spout), or cut a hole in the sink to vent the dishwasher and garbage disposal.  Like this one to the left.

Putting a Latch inside the Garage

The garage is below my floor, but it's also somewhat detached. The door can be accessed through the backyard, and I wanted a way to lock it from the inside. Sandra and her sister have started putting their stuff in there, so it's just a little more peace of mind to be able to lock the door.

I went to Discount Builders to look at the different latches they had. I already had a mental picture of what I wanted - something that could twist to lock with or without a padlock on it.

This is the one I got.



It was perfect! It was exactly what I was looking for! It costed about $7. What sucked about it was that I found out when I got home, that the bag was opened, and it was missing a few screws. That's the explanation for the three black, wood screws. Whatever. The ones I used were longer than the ones provided, so if anything, it's a little more secure.

The door's really shut solidly now. Because the frame doesn't line up well to begin with, now that it's closed and locked, you really can't open it, or even budge the door from the other side!

More Contractor WTF...

I got home today to find that the contractor had been parking his ginormous truck in the garage. The problem with that is that I had placed a couch in there. What did he do with the couch? REST IT ON THE WATER HEATER!



What the hell is wrong with this guy?

Big, Giant, Gaping Hole in the Garage

There was a big, giant, gaping hole in the garage wall. The contractors (Kevin), cut out seven wall panels to get to the wiring for the doorbells and releases for the gate.

Harry connected the electrical for the gate release to both of the buttons inside the units. It took him about 20 minutes. Once he finished, I started figuring out which pieces went where, lined them up, and drilled them in. To make sure we could get to the electrical box whenever we needed to, I cut a corner out of the panel where the box was placed, and put a blank electrical cover over it.



I have to remember to take pictures of things before I work on them, so I can get before and after photos...