Category Archives: Home Repair

Miscellaneous home repairs and improvements.

Latest leaf vac repairs and bag plans!

Posted on November 3, 2018 by Jim

Here are the latest repairs of my dear old Craftsman leaf vacuum.  (Original notes here.)  But more importantly, here are also the details of what I learned reverse engineering the no-longer-available bag!  I tried to include enough info for someone … Continue reading →

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Water softener leak – and removal

Posted on July 18, 2018 by Jim

Wet socks told me about the water on the floor around the drain pipe from the kitchen and the laundry tubs, near the water softener.  It took moving a kitty litter bucket full of long scrap, mopping up the water, … Continue reading →

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Fridge water leaks and stuff

Posted on October 26, 2017 by Jim

We’ve had a lot of instances of water leaking into the basement from the fridge.  This details the latest instance, with what I can recall of others.  All the problems could be stopped dead by disconnecting the water line that … Continue reading →

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Basement Watchdog Big Dog transformer failure

Posted on October 24, 2017 by Jim

We got home from Heartland 10/15/17 to BWD beeping.  When I went down to look at it, I saw the red LED for Power Failure on, but my first goal was to stop the damn beeping.  Unfortunately, the alarm wouldn’t … Continue reading →

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Kidde P3010CU false alarm

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Jim

Our Kidde P3010CU combo smoke/CO detector started to beep and speak “Fire” this morning.  A pretty thorough search of the whole house revealed no smoke, no fire.  Still a little spooked, I considered apologetically calling the fire department, but noting … Continue reading →

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Repair attempt of Grohe Quick Coupling

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Jim

While in the middle of repairing the kitchen sink drain plumbing, I noticed a fairly significant leak under the sink.  OK, I’d failed to tighten one of the new plastic drain couplings in between repair sessions.  Fine. But that didn’t … Continue reading →

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Xfinity (was AT&T Uverse) failures

Posted on December 5, 2015 by Jim

Background The damn NVG589 modem on my ATT Uverse internet/phone service failed again today 12/5/15.  This post will be a place to keep details of this and subsequent failures.  There have been many in the past; I’m sure there will … Continue reading →

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Over engineered tennis ball on a stick

Posted on July 9, 2015 by Jim

The lady said we needed tennis balls on sticks to clean the floor after the dance weekend, so that’s what we have. The exit holes for the zip ties were surprisingly easier to drill than the entrance holes.  The cutout … Continue reading →

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Damn Tribune “driveway delivery”

Posted on February 26, 2015 by Jim

My snowblower has eaten a couple of newspapers, but this was the worst case ever.  And it’s all the fault of the Tribune’s stupid “driveway delivery” policy.  (OK, maybe not – see very end.) Despite best efforts, I couldn’t pull … Continue reading →

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“Sidewalk fertilizer” bag spout

Posted on February 5, 2015 by Jim

I’ve been using 10-10-10 fertilizer as salt/traction improver for icy sidewalks for several years now and am very happy with the approach.  The milk jug spreader and the inverted half-jug filler funnel work great. Less great is managing the bag … Continue reading →

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