What did you do today?

[Chris]

I put my tractor tire back on the bead this morning.

 

[havasu]

What a great picture. What are you using to set the bead?

 

[Chris]

Gasoline and a match.

 

[Chris]

And about 20 mph winds helped a little

 

[havasu]

I heard starting fluid also works great.

 

[Chris]

I didn't have any. That is what we normally use.

 

[Chris]

Woke up at 3am and couldn't sleep so I went to work. I hate stress.

 

[havasu]

I'm headed to the knee surgeon to discuss "New Knee", part two. Should I find our buddy Roscoe, and deliver him your Christmas Present Chris?

 

[Chris]

Sure.


We had one of our lines blow out last night. That was fun.

 

[Chris]

My test pump covered in ice.

 

[Admin]

I'm headed to the knee surgeon to discuss "New Knee", part two. Should I find our buddy Roscoe, and deliver him your Christmas Present Chris?

I hope you get the news you want.

 

[havasu]

Well, I asked when I could get a new knee and he said...right now. Boy, did my butt pucker! He then said he would get authorization and his scheduling nurse would be calling me whenever the paperwork comes through.

 

[Zanne]

Well, I asked when I could get a new knee and he said...right now. Boy, did my butt pucker! He then said he would get authorization and his scheduling nurse would be calling me whenever the paperwork comes through.

Good luck on that! I hope it all goes smoothly for you.

Not to freak you out or anything, but my aunt had botched knee replacement surgery. They chipped the bone and cut a nerve and then her leg was actually about half an inch shorter than the other and they said it needs to be redone, but she was in so much pain she doesn't want another surgery. Mind you this was done at the VA though. They tend to have a lot of medical malpractice/mistakes.

I know this is a plumbing place and not flooring, but does anyone know of an underlayment I could put under vinyl floor (that will not be glued down) that helps to keep the floor a bit warmer. Not an actual heating thing, but something that might insulate against the heat. I saw a UK product called Therma-foil but couldn't find the US equivalent. I don't want something expensive though.

I also need to find similar noise and draft reducing insulation to go under laminate or engineered flooring when we/if have the hallway and kitchen redone.

I'm also trying to figure out what I did wrong on installing the flapper in my dual flush toilet. It only flushes properly when the lever is held down longer. I have tried different chain lengths on it to no avail. I miss the original flapper that came with the toilet but it had warped over time. I think they discontinued that particular flapper though.

Meanwhile, I'm trying to get motivated to do something productive and ignore my back pain.

 

[havasu]

The big box stores (Home Depot and Lowes) both sell insulated flooring barriers, and even saw Thermafoil at my local HD. The most common seen is the Styrofoam type.

Regarding the toilet, my toilets only work correctly when I find the sweet spot on which notch to set the chain on the flush rod, and having the correct length of chain.

My surgeon is only one of a few who uses computers to align the knee correctly. At least this is what he told me yesterday. For all I know, he himself is on a knee repair forum, searching on how to properly cut off a knee and asking other members on what types of screws to use in leg surgery?

 

[Zanne]

The big box stores (Home Depot and Lowes) both sell insulated flooring barriers, and even saw Thermafoil at my local HD. The most common seen is the Styrofoam type.

Regarding the toilet, my toilets only work correctly when I find the sweet spot on which notch to set the chain on the flush rod, and having the correct length of chain.

My surgeon is only one of a few who uses computers to align the knee correctly. At least this is what he told me yesterday. For all I know, he himself is on a knee repair forum, searching on how to properly cut off a knee and asking other members on what types of screws to use in leg surgery?

Thanks. I searched on the HD website and only got cabinets and doors in the search and Lowes had nothing on their website.

But I've found the stores often have things that don't show up on the internet.

I guess I'll have to tamper with the chain positioning more to see if I can find the sweet spot. I think I'll wait until its a bit warmer in the day bc the water is freaking cold.

I put in a load of laundry and the Electrolux machine prompted me to clean the tray. The fabric softener had clumped up and was all thick and would not leave the tray. I realized I would have to remove it to clean it properly so after examining it for a short time I saw a button that said "PUSH" so I pushed and the tray popped out. I took it and cleaned it with hot water and scrubbed it. Some of the fabric softener had dried up and hardened to be a wax-paper like consistency. That laundry area is a cold room and I think the liquid fabric softener got too cold. I poured some hot tap water into a bottle and then poured in the fabric softener (it came out in clumps at first) and then shook it up to mix it together to give a better consistency before doing the laundry.

I'm running the load again because my cats peed on some of the stuff-- I have a few cats that don't yet understand the concept of using the litterpan.

I was bummed that something caught on the pedestal drawer and I looked down and somehow our old Snoopy Icee maker had gotten in to the laundry room and it broke. I also tripped over my brother's laundry bc he's a lazy bum and just piles his laundry on the floor instead of putting it up or actually washing it.

I'm actually going to throw some of his stuff in the machine later to get it out of the way (and so the cats aren't enticed to pee on it some more).

I'm also thinking of maybe moving some boxes around in my room to make space to try
to get my linoleum ready for my bathroom, but I really need to do the self-leveling flooring first. I just hope the stuff sets up ok in cold weather. I suppose I could always turn on my dehumidifier to help.

Btw, for the toilet install, does it matter if the flange is level if I have a sufficient wax ring?

My mother said some TV show claimed you should never caulk around a toilet because if it leaks under the toilet you won't know. But my flooring guy caulked and I've seen things where people caulked around the toilet before. To caulk or not to caulk, that is the question.

I'm still debating whether I should cut a toilet sized template out of the linoleum and lay it down and put the toilet down, or if I should just cut the flange shape out and put the toilet down on top, or if I should put the toilet down and then cut the linoleum to go around it. I'm sort of leaning toward option 2 because it seems the easiest and wouldn't leave as many seams.

I'm feeling more alert today than I was yesterday.

 

[havasu]

Most toilet flanges are not exact, so a good wax seal is your best bet to make things right. Caulking is fine, but only caulk the three sides (the sides you can see) so if there is a wax ring failure, you will see the water going out the back side. When setting new linoleum, do yourself a favor and remove the toilet. You will thank me for this. It makes for a clean installation. Here is a pic of my new vinyl installation from last month.

 

[Zanne]

Thank you, havasu!

I can't believe I didn't think about cutting a square hole instead of a round around the flange. The 3 sides thing is a great idea.

My new toilet (a Toto Drake ADA with SanaGloss) is in a box waiting to be installed.

That is very nice looking flooring! Is it glued down?

If not, did you use any underlayment?

On a side note: The good of my day is that its nice to have fresh clean blankets on the bed. I washed the fuzzy ones so the cats are happy.

The bad is that my brother had set some full bottles of his soda in the middle of the floor on their sides and he tripped over them and started having a tantram in the kitchen. He got so mad he started shoving things and he knocked over the can of paint right on to the floor. It hit so hard the lid came off and almost all of the contents spilled out. It splashed the curtains, the dishes, the sink, the counter, and the cabinets.

Its the one day a week where I regularly watch a tv program and I was sitting down to watch it when I heard him shouting. He had gotten out some chicken raw meat and when I realized he wasn't coming back, I went to put it in the refrigerator and then I smelled the paint. He didn't even bother to tell me he'd spilled it and instead of trying to clean it up or asking for help, he just had a tizzy and stormed off to his room.

So I had to start working fast to try to clean the paint off of the cabinets and such. Unfortunately the longer I worked the more it started to get tacky and it started to spread instead of wipe off. I did manage to get it off quite a few things, but the curtains and the floor are ruined.

There is a huge puddle of latex paint that I tried to scoop up and ended up just making a bigger mess. I have no idea how to get it cleaned up. I covered it in paper towels for now. It was almost the entire can that spilled.

I did ask my brother for some help cleaning-- just asking him to hand me things, but he whined about the smell and wouldn't help.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to see how it looks and if I can remove it. We are going to have to replace the floor anyway, but it also ruined the kitchen mat. The paint got on the faucet (which should probably be replaced) and inside the stainless steel sink.

I think there are only small spots of the paint on the cabinets (which are oak with a coat of poly).

Any suggestions on how to clean it all up? (I know I should probably be cleaning now but I just couldn't figure out how to sop it up bc it wouldn't soak in to the paper towels).

Oh, and my brother was whining when my mother told him to clean the paint up since he spilled it and he whined about how it wasn't fair for him to have to be responsible for "everything". /facepalm

Sorry, venting....

 

[havasu]

To remove spilled paint, the trick is removing it as soon as possible. My G/F dropped a quart of very dark brown latex paint on my off-white carpeting (and everything else in a 10' perimeter) and with several hot water wiping, it is totally gone.

The flooring I installed is a vinyl plank flooring. It floats freely on a plywood base, with no underlayment needed, and it clicks together. Pretty slick stuff, and quick to install. It was about $3.50 a square foot at Buddy's Flooring Outlet.

 

[Zanne]

To remove spilled paint, the trick is removing it as soon as possible. My G/F dropped a quart of very dark brown latex paint on my off-white carpeting (and everything else in a 10' perimeter) and with several hot water wiping, it is totally gone.

The flooring I installed is a vinyl plank flooring. It floats freely on a plywood base, with no underlayment needed, and it clicks together. Pretty slick stuff, and quick to install. It was about $3.50 a square foot at Buddy's Flooring Outlet.

I wish my brother had told me as soon as the accident happened but I think it was about 10 minutes before I went in and discovered the mess. I would say it would have been better if he'd started cleaning it up right away but he's sort of an idiot with stuff like that so he probably would have made it worse.

We were already planning to replace the kitchen floor eventually but it looks like it might happen sooner rather than later. I'm going to try to convince my mother to let me take her to Home Depot and Lowes to look at flooring. She's very picky though. She already rejected everything from Surplus Lumber and Sutherlands.

She's a bit of a penny pincher at times so its tough to get her to agree to something expensive unless its something she really likes or something that we absolutely need (like the septic tank).

Btw, are wax rings pretty much all the same or are there some brands that are better than others?

 

[havasu]

There are many types and brands of wax rings. I usually pick up the Fluidmaster wax ring with the built in flange. I feel as if there is a better chance of setting the toilet in one shot, with no leaks. I would think your mom would appreciate anything you do to help her with looks and comfort. Tell her to give you some money and go out yourself and pick something up.