Jay Gaulard Blog

Tempering Valve to Stop Toilet From Sweating

Thursday, November 15th, 2007

If you starting seeing my hand in magazines, don’t be surprised. As you can see, my hand is model quality and I hope you appreciate it.

Back when I was taking up the tile in the bathroom, I noticed that the sub-floor to the side of the toilet was a little wet. I thought this could be caused by two things…the water that shoots out of the shower because of having a lousy shower curtain setup or from the toilet tank sweating. I have recently come to the conclusion that most of the moisture is coming from the shower, so when we put the tile in, I will make sure things are nice and caulked back there.

I did notice a small ring mark around the toilet tank feed pipe as well. This leads me to believe that during the summer, that pipe (and maybe the toilet tank) sweats due to the heat and humidity. There are a few ways one can deal with this type of issue. You can insulate the inside of the toilet tank, insulate the feed pipe, run hot water into the toilet or install a tempering valve. I think the best thing to do is to purchase a pre-insulated toilet tank and wrap some pipe insulation around the feed pipe. There are mixed views on the tempering valve.

Mr. Paul was kind enough to give me a tempering valve that he was not using. I think he said he changed the size of his piping, or something like that. That’s fine with me, because I wouldn’t mind giving the tempering valve route a try.

Some people have claimed that after installing a tempering valve, they didn’t notice any difference and their tank still sweat. I hear that more often than not and I think it is because of the length of pipe from the hot water heater and the toilet tank. By the time the warm water gets to the tank, it’s already full. What’s the way around that? I would guess it would be to hook the hot water up directly to the toilet tank. That way, when the toilet is flushed, the cold water in the pipe will partially fill the tank and then the rest will be filled by the hot water. I am not sure if I have ever heard of anyone recommending that, so don’t do it. Actually, you can do it and then leave a comment here letting us know how it worked out. Just don’t yell at me if it turns out bad.

When I get a chance, I am going to install the tempering valve. I think that having it is better than not and I also want to use my new torch again.

Putting Up the Deer Fencing

Saturday, November 10th, 2007

I have to say, my days have been pretty full and this blog has been helping. I really enjoy doing things in life and writing about them. Perhaps I should’ve been an author. Nah…the minute someone expects something from me, I don’t want to do it anymore. Half of the fun of writing here is the surprise for my readers.

Now, today’s project was fun. Actually, it was today’s half project. The first half of the day was spent writing the “Funniest” post. Did you know that I put that into Microsoft Word to spell check it and it was five pages? FIVE PAGES!!! Who does that? At least I had a good time writing it. At one point, I had to stop typing because I was laughing. I think it was the “Craig biting into the egg sandwich” part. C’mon, that was funny.

I thought it was a good day to put up that deer fencing I bought at Lowes yesterday. The weather was nice and brisk. I had the plastic fencing and posts all ready to go. I pulled out my not-so-great staple gun and proceeded to staple the fencing to the beams below the porch (behind the arborvitae). My staple gun has a little problem that it developed during my screening of the porch. It only likes to spit a staple out every fifteenth try. It gets rather frustrating. I got most of the back part done when I went into the basement and oiled the gun. I went back out to give it another shot. WOW, it didn’t work any better. Determined, I went back into the basement and took the staple gun apart on top of the dryer. After fiddling with it for about ten minutes, I realized that I could not put it back together. I am not sure if it was because there were too many parts or if it was me. You know when you take something complicated apart…everything is fine until that one little part pops out of where it is supposed to be? Then, while reaching for that part, something else pops out? That’s what happened. I slid the staple gun off the dryer and into the garbage. I wasn’t going to play that game. The damn thing didn’t work anyway. It’s a shame because it was fairly new…I mean it was a few years old, but hardly used. Whelp, there’s another trip to Lowes.

Yesterday, during my checkout, the nice cashier gave me a $10 off coupon, good for my next purchase. I decided to use it today on some very exciting things.

First, I picked up a new Stanley SharpShooter “AntiJam” staple gun. It was only $15 and change. I really looked for a better one, but they don’t exist. It works fine. I also got the recommended staples to go with it. Maybe that was my problem? I don’t know.

Next, I got a nice little drill bit set. I am so sick and tired of messing with the dead bits I have. I keep hoping that somehow they will heal themselves while sitting in the basement and become sharp again. It’s like that old Larry Miller milk joke…when he says, “Hmmm, maybe I’ll just put this back in the fridge and it will be fresh tomorrow.” Anyway, the set I picked up is a 16 piece DeWalt Pilot Point drill bit set. They are nice and shiny and I like DeWalt. DeWalt has yet to let me down and I know the company offers quality items. Thank you DeWalt. Also, they are shiny.

Lastly, I picked up some new accessories for my Dremel. That Dremel kicks ass. I have used it a few times already in some tight situations. I give it high marks. Since the cutting disks wear out kind of fast, I got some more of them. I also picked up some finishing abrasive buffs. I am going to use them for the tile in the bathroom. Some of the tiles need to be cleaned. These two attachments use a fancy Dremel EZ Lock piece for a faster accessory change. It’s pretty cool.

What about the deer fencing? Ok, here goes…

Well, what do you think? Now, I can rest a bit easier knowing that my prized arborvitae will be eaten, but not without a fight.

How To Fix a Loose Sliding Glass Door Handle

Friday, November 9th, 2007

This just goes to show that I will actually post anything on this blog when I have the time. Now, to the fun stuff.

Ok, since we have moved into this house, we have had this loose handle on the sliding glass door that goes out to the porch. I always said that I was going to replace it, but never got around to it. It’s been over two years now and I suppose enough is enough. I can be lazy sometimes, but c’mon. How can I expect my beauty queen to use a door with a loose handle on it? I just wasn’t raised like that.

Since I had today off, I thought it would be nice to take a leisurely stroll down to Lowes in Middletown. I had to get some deer screening, posts (which I got) and the door handle for the sliding glass door. I picked up the other stuff and wandered over to the sliding glass door handle aisle. I looked at the selection and noticed that they didn’t have what I wanted. From looking online, I knew these handles were kind of expensive at $47.50 and $29.50. I always thought they were cheaper than that for some reason. I wasn’t too upset. Also, all I needed was the outside part. I grabbed something else instead…some nice stainless steel nuts and bolts.

I compared the threads with the bolts in the other door handle packages.

Before I go any further, let’s get down to the reason the handle was loose in the first place. The two screws that hold the thing together were kind of rusted in place. There was no way to loosen or tighted these two bolts. Over the years, I guess the handle loosened up and couldn’t be tightened. (Yeah, I should’ve cleaned that)

How did I get the handle off then? I drilled the two bolt heads off. Above is a picture of the door with no handle.

When I say rusted, I mean rusted. I thought that since I had that long bolt to work with, I could just grab them with my channel locks and twist. Well, I did that and here is what happened.

Hmmmm…what the heck was I supposed to do now? I had broken both bolts. They were really weak, by the way. I thought about drilling then out, by I couldn’t do that without totally messing up the handle. Instead, I got out my handy new Dremel and started cutting.

I knew the bolts couldn’t be rusted all the way inside the handle. After I grinded the handle all the way down to the bolt, I twisted them right out.

What a wonderful achievement, if I don’t say so myself. Before I did this, I came very close to running down to the hardware store for a new handle.

Here is a photo of the handle back in place…this time, nice and tight. The new bolts were threaded perfectly. I had to use those washers because the bolts were a hint too long. Also, I cleaned and oiled the sliding glass door track, which allowed the door to slide much smoother and easier. Now, there won’t be so much stress on the handle when we open the door.

Mad peace to you.

Super Ring for Closet Flange - New Toilet Bolts

Monday, November 5th, 2007

I just got back from Home Depot. I bought a “Super Ring” to place over the exisiting closet flange (part of the toilet drain pipe). I am not sure I needed this part, but I wanted to have it on hand, just in case I notice a problem when I remove/replace the toilet after the tiling is done. As I mentioned before, when I was unscrewing one of the mounting nuts, the bolt kept on turning. I am thinking that perhaps the closet flange is cracked in that area. Someone most likely tried to over-tighten the toilet mounting bolts.

Along with the “Super Ring,” I also bought some brass mounting bolts. It’s my understanding that the steel mounting bolts decay due to moisture and the brass ones don’t. In the package were traditional mounting bolts as well as bolts that have half machine threads and half wood threads. So basically, these are about 2 1/2 inch rods. I am still at a loss of why I can’t just drill holes through the floor and slide bolts right through the whole thing. I mean, everything is easily accessible down in the basement and there is just a piece of plywood between floors. This stuff isn’t rocket science.

I suppose I will just use the wood threads and tap into the plywood sub-floor. That is probably the easiest route.

It is becoming apparent to me that many things having to do with household repairs make no sense. People make products that are way too complicated for what needs to be done.

Oh, by the way, I also saw flexible sink drain hose. It just clamps on. Someone out there is thinking.

Under the Bathroom Sink

Sunday, November 4th, 2007

I thought I should take a few pictures to show you what I was talking about in the last post when I mentioned that I was having difficulties with moving the vanity, due to the water feed pipes.

From my previous post…

Well, then I hit a snag. I opened the doors to get under the sink. I removed all the stuff under there and noticed that there was a drain pipe (PVC) and two copper water feed pipes. Well, the two copper pipes were poking up through two holes drilled in the thick wood base of under the sink. I started to think how the heck I was going to get the sink pulled out, when there was no way to do that with those pipes the way they were. I had to drill, grind and cut a chunk of the wood base away. I must say, the first time this vanity was installed probably was a snap. Removing it wasn’t. That took a few hours, I’m sure.

Do you see what I am talking about? I had to cut away that big chunk. I have to admit that I sat there for a few moments scratching my head, wondering how I was going to do that. I began by using my new Dremel, but later moved on to my reciprocal saw. The really hard part was getting to that board in the back, going down the wall. After I cut that, things were a little loose. I had to ask Tim next door for some wood. He gave me a chunk, which I cut and screwed in underneath as a brace. It’s good now.

Also, the drain pipe was leaking a little. Let me ask you a question…but first, take a look at this picture -

Who is the genious who thought up the idea of having 15 different pieces of PVC for about 12 inches of pipe? I mean, cars, buses, trucks and airplanes use nice, flexible pieces of hose all throughout their engines. They are under all different types of stress…temperature, movement and wear and tear. Those hoses last for years. Now, we move over to under a sink. The distance is less and the stress is much less. Yet, we need all different pieces to go one foot with a bend. WHOAAAA. A whole bend. Couldn’t we just use a flexible piece of hose with a bend in it with two hose clamps? I guess not. I went down to the hardware store this morning with this idea in mind. Nope, I came back with two packages and six different pieces. Oh yeah, by the way…can you think of a sink drain pipe that has ever leaked? Yeah, that’s a hard one. They leak too.

Sooo, I put that back together and we can use the sink again. Now, just waiting for the flooring guy to get here.

The Bathroom Remodel Continues

Thursday, November 1st, 2007

I have gotten quite a bit done. Laura and I decided last night that we are not going to buy a new vanity. We will keep the white one we have. We don’t love it, but we keep thinking that the next people who move in this house won’t appreciate all the time and money we are putting into it. We have little faith in them. We keep having visions of them rolling carpeting over our nice floors and lighting up a cigarette for a nice smoke on the couch, while watching the game on their huge screen TV.

On the cheap it will be. Well, not exactly cheap.

Tonight we are going out to Lowes to pick up a mirror/shelf type thingy. I think they are called medicine chests. I found one online last night that I liked. We are also going to try to find some sort of shelf system for above the toilet. We are keeping the current lighting too. I am just going to clean it up a bit and reinstall it.

Ok, time for some pics.

Remember what this looked like before? Here is a reminder. I finished up the crown moulding last night and finished the painting today. It’s not perfect, but then neither am I. The color came out nicely. After we get the shelves and all that, I am going to set up a time for the tile people to come to install the new floor. We have some choices to make tonight.

I am going for the grayish one in the uppermost left. It’s hard to see in this picture. I went down to the tile store in town this afternoon and wanted to take some photos, but of course, the batteries in my camera went dead after two.

There were way too many to choose from. We want a darker floor than the walls. Right now, it seems like you are floating in a sea of “light” when you go in the bathroom. It’s better than the dark though.

The tile store was kind enough to let me take home the sample boards. We will make a choice tonight and I’ll bring them back in the morning.

Remodeling the Bathroom - A New Project

Saturday, October 27th, 2007

The only two things we have to do with this house is to remodel the bathroom and kitchen. Hmmm…that’s not too bad. Yeah right.

Those two rooms are the two most expensive ones. There isn’t all that much to do in the bathroom. I went out yesterday and picked up the ceiling and wall paint. The problem is that the people who did the work the first time were on crack. I wish they just left the sheetrock bare, so I could finish the room correctly. It looks like they smeared the wall spackle with their kid’s hands. Now, I have to do it over. Yee Haaw.

Here is a list of what I have to do in the bathroom -

- Fix ceiling and paint
- Fix walls and paint
- Buy new bathroom vanity, cabinet, mirror and lighting
- Install new tile floor
- Install new moulding

This isn’t too bad, considering we were going to gut the entire room and redo it. Now, we just want to make it look nice. It’s a small area, so we can’t go too crazy. Also, we have to keep in mind the maximum value of the house. As I always say, we could line the thing in gold, but we can only get so much for the place when we sell.

Here are some photos of the fine craftsmanship the previous homeowners left for us…

As you can see, they neglected to sand the spackle. Hmmm…that’s an idea, but it could’ve saved me some time and paint if they had spend a few more hours on this project.

This is the one half of the existing bathroom. You will notice that the paint is green. Do you know what the reflection from the green walls make your face look like when you are looking in the mirror? I’m sure you get the idea.

Mulch All Done

Sunday, September 23rd, 2007

I just finished up with the latest mulching. I think it looks pretty damn good. I had some extra mulch, so I used it in the front yard where the dirt is like concrete. I covered that area right up. I put a bunch around the trees, so they are good. Now all I need is some water. I already watered a new bush and the new crabapple trees in the back, but the rest of the property needs some of the wet stuff.

This is the side of the front yard that I covered. This is along the property line.

This is a picture of all the white pines and blue spruces that I planted last year. I mulched all around them. The picture is on the side of the house facing down in the back yard.

Here I am, walking a little further towards the back yard.

This is looking up from the back yard. This area is the whole reason why I got the mulch in the first place.

Man, I am a little sore. I always forget how much ten yards actually is.

Last Mulch of the Season

Saturday, September 22nd, 2007

Hopefully. No, I mean it.

You knew I was going to get some more mulch by the way I was writing, right? I mean, I mentioned it here and here. I just had one last part of the backyard to smooth over. I also wanted to mulch around all the trees I planted. The dirt (I say dirt, because it is no where near soil) was getting rather crispy. I checked under the mulch that I previously put down this year and the dirt is nice and moist. I knew what I had to do.

I am not sure how many of these pictures you can take.

When the mulch dude called me back this morning, I asked him for a “big” ten yards, instead of the “not so big” ten yards he delivered last time. I know the pile doesn’t look any bigger, but it is. After he dumped it, the whole pile was steaming like a big cow pie.

Here is the area in the back yard that I am fixing up. I forgot to take a picture before I started, so you can see some of the fresh stuff towards the top of the hill. The whole area is really crappy and dry. It also has a bunch of stone mixed in with the dusty dirt. I say, cover the whole damn thing up. I have a few trees planted in there, so they should appreciate that.

I will take an “after” photo tomorrow when I finish up. I hope it looks beautiful.

T-Fal Elegance 10 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set

Tuesday, September 18th, 2007

Hey, guess what I got in the mail yesterday? If you guessed a T-Fal Elegance 10 Piece Stainless Steel Cookware Set, you’de be right.

The set only cost me $12,100…or 12,100 points on my credit card. It’s pretty cool…I got the points, went on the website and placed the order. I think I did it last week and the pots came yesterday. They are nice stainless steel. I gave up on those teflon things because, if you look at our old pot set, you will notice that there is no teflon on them anymore. Plastic or no plastic, the stuff wears off.

Here is a pic…

Here is the description…

Two-tone brushed/polished stainless finish with engraved measuring marks on saucepan interiors. Offers aluminum core, cool-touch handles, and glass lids. Oven safe to 500° and dishwasher safe.

I must say, for a free pot set, they are pretty damn nice.