A hose bib is born

One of the comments that my house inspector made was that he was unable to verify the front hose bib (external spigot) since the compression knob had rusted away.  I wasn't concerned about that line item since I figured I'd look into it when I bought the house.

Well, I got to looking at it:

And decided that it would make a good project to take care of.  When I started manipulating the compression fitting, and its associated internal shut-off valve I was unable to fully stop the water flow after breaking the seal. (e.g. the fittings both external and internal were old.)  I could have replaced the compression fittings, but for a few reasons below, I decided to replace the whole 'kit and kaboodle'.

I hate compression fittings as shut-off valves.  To me, (and this is the Navy talking) a valve should identify at a glance, if its open/closed and for shut-off valves, be something you can use quickly.  Compression fittings are neither of these things; however, they are cheaper and they work for most things.  As you can see from the below picture of the internal setup (after removing the dry-wall box that had been around it):

Trying to turn that knob was difficult in the box it had been in, and using a wrench in the 'box' had been even more so and all I could see was shearing the valve stem so I wasn't too keen on pushing things to the limit.

So, I removed the old piping in the above picture keeping the elbow joint near the main 1' line for the house (after shutting water off at the pressure tank, and shutting off the valve to the water treatment plant. [yes, two valve protection...the Navy rears its head...again.])

There was a clay-like piping tape around the old pipe.  Friends had been concerned for asbestos, I have ordered a test kit, since all the cold pipe in the house seems to have this tape around it, I used gloves, full body protection and an asbestos certified respirator while doing this work. After I removed the tape, I double-bagged it and will ship that along when the kit arrives.

I had a false start after soldering a threaded end to a measured piece of copper pipe and pushing that through to the inside, the length was good, but the 90 degree copper fitting was tight, and then trying to solder it would have blown hot sparks into the spaces between the walls...not something I wanted to do. (In the below pictures you can see some scorch marks which provided ample warning.)

So I built the entire copper tubing setup, this time with a ball valve as the shut-off and left a long copper pipe outside to cut last.

This did involve me going the the local hardware store twice to get tools I'll be using a lot: a drywall saw, a hacksaw for confined spaces, and a heat protective cloth.  As you can see, the ball valve shows, without a doubt, that the piping is closed.  (Also, I continued the previous installs slightly downward angle to provide a natural drain for when the pipe is winterized.)

At this point, I re-pressurized the house system, (I made a soapy mixture and sprayed it on the pipe fittings to see if any bubbles formed while the system was pressurizing.)  Everything to the shut-off valve was good/no leaks, so I opened the valve and saw out the basement window the pipe shooting water out, so I felt pretty good that things were secure.  I had opened a few faucets inside the house while draining the system, so closed them after verifying waterflow (and pushing out any air in the system.)

Next, I cut the above pipe to size, and put a threaded connector on it (so I can replace the hose bib at a later date as needed.)

Applied a few loops of teflon tape, threaded the hose bib on and...

And the final result!

I also used some hole compound to secure the inside/outside cracks to keep out the bugs.  The piping will get another box around it once I've figured out my paint scheme for the room and have moved into drywall mode.  All in all, a good education, and no leaks.

I need to start taking pictures...

If this blog is going to be of any use to me or anyone else, I am going to need to start taking pictures while I'm in the yard, in a room so that things are easier to explain and people can go "Oh, that's much better!"

So far, I found a switch in the hall closet that goes into the attic, use..unknown.  My first guess is an attic fan.  There is also an old antenna cable that goes downstairs.  When the roof gets re-done I'll be having that removed.  I'm thinking of driving around the Cape today to see if any houses are getting new roofs.  I'll do other searches, but figure seeing people in action is the best advertising.  A co-worker strongly recommended I go with 'Rip-Off' (searching for rip-off and roofing comes up with a lot of complaints, so I tried 'Tear Off' and that seemed to have what I wanted.) and 'Architectural Shingles'.

It is amazing to me how much You-Tube allows you to look and explore and learn concerns such as proper nail placement, shingle placement and such.  I don't plan on doing the roof myself, but I want to at least go up and look at it and feel like the roof has been done properly.

Also, my refridgerators 'lock/unlock' for the dispenser in the door doesn't want to unlock, I've unplugged the fridge, and pressed it down for 3 seconds per the manual/online guidance, to no avail.  Well, that's something else to explore.

Busy week, ending in nirvana

Over the past week, with a busy work schedule, software upgrades that had issues and boxes getting packed I missed out on posting some of the events.

With the work of true professionals I am now in my home. Closing was, in all actuality a breeze. Mary Kay noticed an issue two days prior with the closing costs, and instead of owing about $500, I ended up receiving $180 at closing. It was a tiring day, not much sleep, but once I got into the house I moved a few things in and took a nap in a sleeping bag downstairs.

With the help of many friends and the support of others who couldn't make it, we moved this lone soul in about 4 hours, including travel time. And, believe me, I have plenty of stuff. It was pretty touching to see so many surrounding me in love to help in this endeavor.

Body aches, but is refreshed in the quiet of a house turning into a home. There are things that will need to get organized first before I start the longer term projects. I have the new washer and dryer coming this week, I will want to have a new water heater purchased and get it connected to the plumbing as well as a utility sink bought and installed.

hehe...Home Stretch

Well, checked with my bank to see if the rates had changed any, they hadn't so I'm sticking with the 3.5% interest rate with .5 discount point.  They also notified me that all the associated paperwork is now with the closing agency, so things are definitely progressing well.

Need to send out another email to those friends who've indicated they'll be available to help and start to nail down the particulars of who/what/when/where.  Shouldn't be that difficult.

The apartment is definitely getting into 'move mode'.  I still have some things in the kitchen to pack and some minor furniture shelving to take apart, and clothing but a lot of stuff is ready.

Did have some concerns when I looked at the power panel and the tandem breakers that were installed as part of the home inspection, but I reached out to a number of people, including the home inspector himself and they allayed my fears.

Also, scheduled to stop service at my apartment at the end of the month and start my service on the day of closing.

A brief visit...and focusing!

This past Saturday I went and took a look at the house with Mary Kay.  I got the times wrong for our meeting, so instead of being 10 minutes early, I was 20 minutes late!  I did a quick walk-around and took the pictures (that I probably should have taken in February.) of the utility room, electric panel, and wood stove.

As you remember from my last post, I scheduled a new washer and dryer to be delivered after I move in, looking in the utility room, it appears that there may not be room for both of them side-by-side.  (27" width each, 54" total.) You make the call:

A few things that make me NOT worry about this:

1. The water heater is old, its positioned oddly in the room.
2. There is no utility sink in the room at all, something I want for washing pets/cleaning paint brushes, etc.
3. If I need, I can stack them, it will fit. (not a preferred solution)

So, I'm am debating doing some plumbing on the Sunday I move in, move (or buy a new one) the water heater, and measure out a space for that utility sink.  The sink of course would require hot/cold and drain connection.

By the way, plans, ideas, as I said in the beginning, the blog will be covering all of my ideas, even those that don't come to fruition.  To me its important to have a list of ideas for the home I'm moving into, so that as I walk around stores I can let things 'speak to me' about how they may apply to those plans.

One of the reasons I went to the house was also to get an idea of what models the kitchen appliances were, as well as the wood stove.

You can't see the side, but it says 'Resolute'.  The internet says Vermont Castings Resolute, came out in the 80's, a few entries on Ebay for ~$1200.  It definitely requires upkeep, but back at the house inspection my dad took a look and said the seals looked good.  I'm going to have to scrub-brush this stove, and repaint it.  Luckily, step-dad has some unused high-temp black spraypaint he never used for their wood stove.  When I have this stove out, I'll definitely have to clean the back fireplace stone.  Looks bad, and I'd want to have it clean if I ever used the fireplace as a fireplace again.  I do want to use the woodstove once this season.  Use up some of the old wood outside and get a feel for it. 

As I said with the plans, I've started a notebook with all the things I see needing to be done, wanting to be done in a nice list.  I'm also realizing that I'm going to geek out with things like the electric panel, piping and the 'systems' of the house.  I want to have everything labeled and a notebook w/schematics of each system.  (Yes, my Navy training makes this a 'have to have' comfort item.  Plus, in my opinion, its a smart thing to have.)

Oh, and Mary Kay let me know that the pest control treatment that was needed was accomplished and we saw that a new threshold had been installed downstairs.  So, pretty much everything has been done on the sellers part, and now I need to see if anyone is waiting on ME!

Moving along...and Home Depot

Well things are still chugging away.  The owner of the house has reported back an electrical receipt showing work on the houses main electrical panel.  There is also a charge for a fluorescent tube fixture and two T8s, which I seriously hope doesn't mean that they replaced the inset light fixture over the kitchen sink that had a light bulb out with a new fixture...  I'm heading over tomorrow to take some pictures and get some measurements of a few things.  (Also get the model numbers of the equipment in the kitchen.)

FiOS scheduled to be shifted on moving day, calling this early allowed me to lock-in a person to be there.  BG&E I still haven't told, but as the place has electrical now, I will hopefully just have to shift my account number to a different address.  Insurance Agent took a look this past week at the house and I got the estimate for that bill.  (Funny how I want to pay it off, but that it will be part of 'closing costs' and most (if not all) will be taken care of by the seller & Navy Federal.)  I've notified the Postal Service and some of my magazine subscriptions (okay, just National Geographic, but that is my only subscription.)

Packing is going well.  This coming week I'll move into the computer/den room and get more books packed and tables dismantled.  Looking at 21 days until I close and yes, I will be ready early, but each thing off the list means a little less stress for me and gets me to sleep easier.

Priced out and purchased a washer & dryer.  Going with an LG model from Home Depot, was able to find a discount plus they have free home delivery.  I used to go to Home Depot to pick up one or two minor things because 99% of the stuff there was 'Not Applicable' to my living conditions.  Now, when I go there, I see options...Best Buy for home-owners.