Home Repair Snowball
Jul. 7th, 2010 05:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
csberryI finally managed to get the panel off the wall. The panel looked like it was nailed in the wall by a monkey. There were a few groupings of nails in clusters at the corners; only a couple of nails on the left side, but five nails along the right side. The dry wall is tore up where the panel was covering it. There are only a few marks and dents outside of that coverage area.
Shortly after uncovering the wall cavity, I dove in to implement the suggested solutions. There was a section of loose pipe which I braced with a scrap of wood. That had no affect on the sound. I tried tightening connections but everything there seemed fine. So, while I've finally gained access to the pipes behind the faucet, I am still no closer to having the thumping problem solved.
The next two solutions will require me to shut off the water supply to the house. That's where things snowball. One of those household things that every homeowner should know about and be able to do is locate and shut off the water supply. It wasn't until this past fall that I actually found the shut off. I had a strong feeling (and others assumed it was there) that the shut off was located at the bottom of this vertical piece of pvc pipe in the garden bed in front of our house. The whole thing had become buried and I had to dig several inches of dirt and debris out before reaching the top of the handle.
Well, I should say "handle" because what you can see sticking out of the ground is a hex nut with a 2 or 3 inch stem poking out the top. The stem is so long that it took me trying a sparkplug socket to finally find a socket that would fit over the nut. However, after further inspection of what other shut off valves look like...
I realized that what I was actually seeing in my front yard was the stem of the wheel handle that you typically associate with an outdoor faucet. Somehow, it seems, the handle was broken or otherwise removed from the stem of the shut off!
Now, I have to fix this handle...so I can shut off the water...so I can try two solutions (draining all the water out of the air gaps, replacing the bath faucet valve)...and then create a new panel to cover the hole in the wall and attach it in a way that it can be easily removed in the future.
Oh, and I have yet to mention that I have an electrical problem with the oven from when a circuit blew out over the weekend. I'm fairly certain the bottom heating element needs to be replaced, but I'm paranoid that some other electrical part may need to be replaced (either in addition or instead of the element). JD didn't want me working on it earlier when she got back home with the kids this afternoon. I have Scouts tonight, so further investigation of the oven will wait until tomorrow morning.
Shortly after uncovering the wall cavity, I dove in to implement the suggested solutions. There was a section of loose pipe which I braced with a scrap of wood. That had no affect on the sound. I tried tightening connections but everything there seemed fine. So, while I've finally gained access to the pipes behind the faucet, I am still no closer to having the thumping problem solved.
The next two solutions will require me to shut off the water supply to the house. That's where things snowball. One of those household things that every homeowner should know about and be able to do is locate and shut off the water supply. It wasn't until this past fall that I actually found the shut off. I had a strong feeling (and others assumed it was there) that the shut off was located at the bottom of this vertical piece of pvc pipe in the garden bed in front of our house. The whole thing had become buried and I had to dig several inches of dirt and debris out before reaching the top of the handle.
Well, I should say "handle" because what you can see sticking out of the ground is a hex nut with a 2 or 3 inch stem poking out the top. The stem is so long that it took me trying a sparkplug socket to finally find a socket that would fit over the nut. However, after further inspection of what other shut off valves look like...
I realized that what I was actually seeing in my front yard was the stem of the wheel handle that you typically associate with an outdoor faucet. Somehow, it seems, the handle was broken or otherwise removed from the stem of the shut off!
Now, I have to fix this handle...so I can shut off the water...so I can try two solutions (draining all the water out of the air gaps, replacing the bath faucet valve)...and then create a new panel to cover the hole in the wall and attach it in a way that it can be easily removed in the future.
Oh, and I have yet to mention that I have an electrical problem with the oven from when a circuit blew out over the weekend. I'm fairly certain the bottom heating element needs to be replaced, but I'm paranoid that some other electrical part may need to be replaced (either in addition or instead of the element). JD didn't want me working on it earlier when she got back home with the kids this afternoon. I have Scouts tonight, so further investigation of the oven will wait until tomorrow morning.
