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This is a little bit of a whine, but I remember when Kingcracker asked for help with his bathroom. It seems that wargamers tend to do things themselves and since Summer seems to be when Honey Do lists come out. I'd love to know I'm not the only one getting hit with home improvement tasks. And I thought I'd share mine.

Our rear hose bib was leaking and in the near future we want a drip system for the backyard plants. So the decision came to replace the hose bib. I slapped the pipe spanner on the bib and a wrench on the pipe it self. What was not readily apparent was the hose bib was sweated on rather than threaded, and none of the actual pipe was extended from the wall. Long story short it twisted off.

Leaving the twisted remains of the pipe flush with the wall.
I cut out part of the stucco to see what I had to work with. Which was basically nothing, the Yellow tape borders a 2x4 that frames the house and just behind that is a T connection so no flexibility to get it away or slip a fire blanket under the pipe.

I ended up using a solderless fitting with a threaded fitting. I mated it to a PVC T with a new brass hose bib on one side and a ball valve on the other ( for the drip system). Given my druthers I'd have gone ball valve for both but my wife demanded the more traditional fitting.

So at this point I have a monster hole in the wall, had to open it up further to be able to spin my pipe cutter. I sealed the interior wall and sprayed polyurethane foam between the framing and the stucco. Then I waterproofed the foam and placed in my wire netting.

I did a scratch and brown in the patch and used a ziplock bag to texture the wall. Using a variation of a skip trowel texture that mimiced the hopper applied texture the builder used, well not at this stage.

Smoothed and painted I think it worked out pretty well.

I'd love to know what other Dakkanaughts are up to around the house. Share the misery.

Before I continue reading, it wasnt me asking for help on my bathroom...it was someone else, but I did comment that I too was going to remodel my bathroom. Which looks fantastic BTW


Automatically Appended Next Post:
OK, fully read. Vurry nyce, vurry nyce indeed

KingCracker wrote:Before I continue reading, it wasnt me asking for help on my bathroom...it was someone else, but I did comment that I too was going to remodel my bathroom. Which looks fantastic BTW

Hmm...incorrect attribution. My bad. I honestly don't know who it was then.

I have a feeling I'm going to be replacing my hot water tank before the coming weekend is out....

Nice work AustinT! Looks great.

Well after cleaning out all the flower beds and laying mulch, the next project is to install a French drain around the foundation to prevent water seepage. Should be starting in a few weeks. I am SO! looking forward to it.

We're laying new laminate floor, the floating wood grain style, over the next couple of weeks... and there are several other projects, too, but this one is first!

The rooms have so many weird angles and stuff that this one project is going to be challenging enough for us, though I know in the gambit of home improvement, it is really simple.

Had a leak in my front yard last week. I think no big deal, probably just that sprinkler head in the middle of the puddle. I start digging and no. The water just keeps coming but from where?

How bout the main water line. Turns out I had a pinhole right where the pipe went into the foundation. Had to chip into the cement till I had enough pipe between the leak and the cement to put a coupling and to turn my pipe cutter.

Once all that's done I go to solder my couplings and the valve at the meter just won't close all the way. The pipe fills with water too fast and I cant get a good solder, though I hadn't soldered anything in years. Ended up useing a sharkbite style coupling. Hadn't ever used one before and I was really impressed with how easy it was and how well its been working. Which is good because what I thought would be 20min to replace a sprinkler head turned to 8hrs, 6 trips to home depot and me destoying the flower bed the previous owners had clearly spent a lot of time on.

Also my dog jumped out my living room window. Wait, I mean THROUGH my window. I came home from work and there was glass alover the front and a note from animal control informing me that my dog was at the pound and a could go bail him out the next day at 9. So after a 10 hour shift I spent the rest of the night and my fun time money replacing my old single pane window with a brand new energy efficent double pane rectangle of sexyness. Which has left all the other old windows looking extra crappy.

Ugh...that are the suck dude. I used a sharkbite too (actually I used two of them because I broke the first one) I found out they are approved for code use everywhere but CA and VT buried and behind the wall. I'm still a little pissy that the coupling let my faucet spin around until I secured it.

Not too bad, really. The windows were on "the list" anyway and it was only 30 bucks to bail the dog out. He was covered with ticks though.

Cheers! Well done there Auston!