The Plumbing Saga Continued for the mastered

We finished installing all new plumbing throughout the main house in 2011. However there was portion where an addition was built that I left the copper in place.

Which was a terrible mistake.

Evidently something has built up inside the copper lines that is clogging the line. This happened each time I connected the line. So the moral of any story when it comes to remodeling is to cut it out and replace.

Aside from the water no longer working to the master bathroom sink. The master bathroom sink drain is clogged. I attempted to use a liquid drain cleaner but to no avail. the sink simply filled up and it sater there all night. It didn't drain one bit. I attempted to use a plunger hoping! But my hope was in vain. My next plan is to disconnect the drain line to where the sink and the toilet tie in together. Because the toilet has no problems but the sink does. So I assume the problem is in between the two. If the piping is old cast Iron I will cut it out and replace with ABS.

My only goal right now is to establish a firm foundation where upon my beautiful wife can decorate without having to worry about me needing to open up a wall to replace something that is broken.

Siding Saga

Spring is in the air and spring/summer is a great time for outdoor projects. While walking around the house I realized i still need to paint. Which was when I had an ah ha eureka moment!

I thought it would be grand to replace the portions of our house that had wood siding with vinyl or fiber cement siding.

I turned to Service Magic to quickly get in contact with companies that do siding. As I was filling out the forms on service magic's website I put that the project would not take place for at least 6 months and that this was really more of a request to get an idea for a budget. Within 24 hours I was scheduling appointments. And this is where the problems started. Below is a typical phone conversation

Company Rep: Hi, may I speak with Phillip?

Me: This is phillip

Company Rep: We received a request through service magic and would like to schedule your free estimate.

Me. Great!

Company Rep: What day and time works best for you

Me: Wednesday evening

Company Rep: Okay that will work. Are you Married?

Me ... pause for a second ... : Yes

Company Rep: Would your wife be able to there while our representative goes over the options with you?

Me: No she works during that time.

Company Rep: Is there a different day that would work best for both of you?

Me: No, she works evenings and I work days so the little time during the week we have together we do not schedule any thing.

Company Rep: Ok, well we can understand that but we really need both of you their would you like us to contact you later when there is a time that will work?

Me: No, that is okay there are other businesses that are coming have a nice day.

Company Rep: oh okay goodbye.

To be fair not every company was stuck on forcing my wife to be there with me. All of them did ask for her to be there and I understand why they would ask. The companies that did show up were prompt and very knowledgable about their various products. However what I was not ready for was the pushy salesperson. I forgot about how high pressure sales tactics work. I think at one point a sales rep faked a phone called at 8:30pm on a friday night to his supervisor to see if he could offer me 0% interest for 24 months if i signed up for siding that night.  

I eventually managed to weed out the companies that were set on having both me and my wife there, made it over the hurdle of the high pressure sales tactics to finally arrive at the price. The work ranged from $6,000 to $15,000. 

Moral of the story: Three 5 gallon bucket of paint every year is cheaper than 20 years of siding.

spring is here!!!

Sorry for the delayed posting.

It's been a busy first quarter for us.

So it's April now... that means periodic rain showers and sunny warm days. I don't know what better time to do outdoor work.

1st thing on the list: BUSHES MUST BE MOVED!!!

We had bushes on the front and side of the house that were ugly and overgrown. It was obvious whoever owned the property before us did not care for the house or the land very well.

This fall when we had nice weather Phillip and used a hand chopper and cut large chunks from these bushes but the chopper broke mid way in the process so we stopped.

With our tax refund in hand we purchased a gas chain saw and a trimmer along with a few other household maintenance accessaries.

Below is a picture of Phillip removing the stumps after finishing them off withthe chain saw:

Removing stumps using your 4x4 vehicle is always fun!