Month: August 2016

Home – Timing of Home Repairs – Wednesday August 17, 2016

Yesterday I finished up a home painting project.

When I painted the house the molding around the front porch pillars where pretty rotted at the corners and would not go back around the pillar housings.
I decided they needed to be replaced and did not reinstall the original ones.
As you can see in this picture these pieces have two angles on them. Their is a 10 degree angle from the outside edge up to the inside edge and also the inside of the molding has a 10 degree angle coming down from the main pillar.  Last winter I cut all the pieces of molding out of lengths 2X4’s and over the last couple of days I got them painted and install on the porch.
I think they look pretty nice.

I titled this post “Timing of Home Repairs” because I removed these pieces of molding when I painted the house in 1980.  Some project just shouldn’t be rushed.

 

Home – Motorhome “Cold-Water Showers” – Sunday August 14, 2016

From April 2016 Motor Home magazine.

“In regard to the October 2015 letter “Cold Showers Build Character,” there is a solution.  The problem is caused because the cold-water pressure is slightly higher than the hot-water pressure at the showerhead.  When the water is stopped at the showerhead, because the cold-water pressure is higher, it backflows cold water into the hot-water side. A simple solution is to install a check valve in the hot-water line ahead of the shower-mixing valve.”

Last week I installed this back flow valve in our motor home.
Shower valve access panel is in the bedroom wall behind the sliding bedroom door.

I used this Harbor Freight Multi-Tool I purchased on a discount coupon over a year ago.  I think it was like $12.00.  This saw edge is thin which will create a very small cut in the wall.
Here is the wall opened up.

My motorhome is plumbed with PEX and the Quick Connects comes with a plug to stiffen for the cut end of the tubing and a lock clip.

Check valve plumbed in, if I do another one of these I would move the valve closer to the end of the tubing.

Here is the final project with the access panels put back in.

Parts List from Amazon:
Homewerks VCK-P40-B3B In-Line Check Valve, Female Thread x Female Thread, PVC Schedule 40, 1/2-Inch

2 of Watts P-610 Quick Connect Male Adapter, 1/2-Inch CTS x 1/2-Inch MPT

Home – Shower Bubble – August 6, 2016

Another small house project while we are at the big house.

Last fall I was on the roof of the motorhome looking for possible water leaks when I noticed several places around the shower bubble which needed to be resealed.

Also discovered the bubble was beginning to crack around some of the screw points.   I sealed everything up and started looking for a replacement.  Of course it is not a standard size.  I found a place in Maine which will make custom sizes out of a thicker material which will also hold up better to UV sunlight.  I ordered the part just before Christmas and got it during the third week of January.  My plan was to have the cover here so I could change it out during July or August when we have the least amount of rainy days.
All to screw holes were broken away from the body of the bubble.  It looks like the original installation used self tapping screws drilled with an eighth inch drill.  The problems is the threads of the screw then stretched the plastic bubble when they went through the plastic and into the motorhome roof.  Over time the stretched plastic weakened and broke as the sun made it brittle.

Every screw was broken.

Here you can see the lining which keeps the water down in the shower area.
I took the shower liner out so I could hang my legs down into the shower area while cleaning all the old sealant off the roof.  Here is the hole all ready to install the new bubble.

And the finished installation, started at 8:00 am. finished at 2:00.  One more project on our small house and we will be ready to head out onto the road. 

Home – Dual Pane Windows – August 3, 2016

We have had this motorhome since November of 2004 and with close to 90,000 miles on it the dual pane windows are leaking.   I rebuilt the passenger side front window in August of 2014 and the driver’s window in 2015.  This year I am doing the two windows over the couch and dinette.
These two windows are kind of heavy and very expensive to replace if they are dropped.

To ensure they didn’t get dropped and broken I built a support to assist in getting them out and back in.

The windows have a set of 25 screws which hold them in place along with a lot of sealant/glue around the outside of the frame.   This sealant usually comes loose all of sudden so it is really helpful to have a place for the window to drop onto.

Here is the film which has built up on the INSIDE of the windows.
I ran my finger through the film so it can be seen.

First you take off this end bracket, remember it is also GLUED in place.

Then the two screws which hold the center bar in place.

Spread the window frame and take the dual panes of glass out of the frame.

Next the panes of glass are cut apart and cleaned.  The window which slides open has a metal bracket which must come off the window.  This is quite the job.
I soaked the window for several hours before starting the hard part.
It took me five hours of cutting between the metal and glass, then beating on the frame with a piece of oak and a hammer to get this one off.
After the two panes of glass are resealed together the metal lock frame is glued back onto the glass.
I used this spacer to ensure I had the frame is centered from top to bottom.
After another 2.5 hours I had the dual panes of glass back into the frame without ruining the rubber seal around the glass and another 15 minutes to get it installed back into the motorhome.

Now is time to start the window over the dinette.  The same process all over again.  However after 2.5 hours of working on the metal bracket

one of the two panes broke.
I get to purchase a new piece of glass.  Oh, well

Ordered the glass last Wednesday, when it came in this morning (Tuesday) the corners were not rounded so hopefully the correct glass will come in tomorrow, Thursday.