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THE REATTA LOUNGE


Ronnie

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Conveyor belt ? Lawn tractor and cart ? Both ?

Edited by Padgett
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Hadn't thought about the lawn tractor and cart. My neighbor has a cart that I could borrow.

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Handling river rock is a bear. I've done it around a portion of my driveway and hauled the rock via my utility trailer. Even with 2,000 lb capacity, I hauled several loads. This was years ago, so I don't recall all the details. However, the rock became matted with leaf debris, tiny sticks, and run-off sediment over the years. Leaf blower didn't remove the debris. I ended up removing the rock and now its in a heap in an area on my property where it is out-of-the way, but still visible. It doesn't degrade or turn into organic matter! When I removed the rock, because it was matted with debris, each shovel load was washed in a bucket by my wife (yes, she is still my wife) and this took many man hours (and woman hours) to remove, wash, haul and pile up. Crazy, i know. 

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41 minutes ago, Ron Walker said:

BTY, washing the river rock was my wife's idea. 

If she's like my wife she probably thought it could be done in 30 minutes or less because she saw someone do it on HGTV. Also, if she's like my wife she is all for it until the work starts and then she disappears. 🙂

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If CC is Comcast, which owns MSNBC, then it maybe a political content issue as the mid terms are almost here.

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Well, I really did it this time.  First off, plumbing and I do not get along whatsoever.  A few days ago, I attempted to snake out the bathroom sink and ending up piercing the return pipe.  Had to pull the vanity and the toilet because the return pipe is in the wall behind each!  Spent the last two days cutting a 2'X5' hole in the wall through tile and wall board.  I'm now waiting for the plumber to assess the pipe replacement (when and how much!).  When he's done, I then have to re-wall board, replace tile, re-install a new vanity and toilet (it was about time for both to be replaced).  Home ownership at its best!!

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It sounds like you're paying a plumber to do what I would consider to be the easy part. Why a plumber? Are you working with cast iron or do local regulations require a plumber to do it?  I've never had a house that had the drain pipe for the toilet in the wall, other than the vent stack.

 

Wife says it shouldn't be a bad job. She's saw them do it on HGTV in less than 30 minutes, including commercials. 🤣

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The pipe issue is not related to the toilet but the gray water return pipe from the bathroom sink/vanity.

 

The current damaged return pipe is cast iron leading to the stack pipe (also cast iron) at a 90* angled coupling.  Current local regs don't allow me to cut into cast iron, only a plumber.  He will most likely cut about 3" to 4" shy of the coupling and replace the rest of the return pipe with PVC pipe and a neoprene clamp.  You have to remember that the house is 75 years old.... built in 1947. 

 

I don't do plumbing, but I'm a wiz at both electrical and tile work.   

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50 minutes ago, Padgett said:

...The rules are different here, a homeowner can do anything.

Same here. This part of TN is pretty easy going on that kind of stuff. I didn't do everything when I built my house, but I could have with the exception of connecting to the wires to the electrical breaker panel. That required a licensed electrician to sign a form saying that he had made the connections before the power company would inspect the house and install a meter. I installed all the electrical switches and fixtures as well as the plumbing fixtures. I paid a plumber to do the rough-in plumbing because I don't trust myself enough to solder copper pipes or install plastic drain pipes that run through the walls, but no regulations prevented me from doing that. 

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On 10/27/2022 at 4:49 PM, Padgett said:

Oh Taxachucetts. The rules are different here, a homeowner can do anything.

We homeowners can do anything here in Massachusetts except touch cast iron pipe.  The iron is very brittle.  Houses with it are at least 60-70 years old.  When I bought my place in 1993, I actually rewired the whole house myself.  I had an electrical inspector certify for house insurance purposes.

 

You might call the state "Taxachusetts", but we're in a hell of a lot better condition than say California (and others).  TG we still have a Republican governor, and he's pushing for a $3 Billion excess revenue citizen refund!

 

Update: citizen refunds are to be distributed starting Nov 1!  Thank you, Gov Baker!

Edited by ship
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My first house back in 1980 had cast iron waste pipes. I developed a leak in an exposed pipe in the basement. My next door neighbor was a steamfitter and was real handy. I asked him if he could take a look at it and he said "This is an easy repair". He went and got his sledgehammer and gave it a couple of whacks to break the pipe down to the next pipes knuckle, got some rope caulk, and some plumbers bonding compound and a replacement piece of PVC pipe. The conversion was made and then PVC the rest of the way to the kitchen sink.

First exposure to how easy cast iron breaks...

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My wife is a worker. She actually did wash every river rock. When we built the foundation of our house, I laid the cement blocks, and she mixed all the concrete mortar by hand in a wheelbarrow. We did all of our plumbing, copper water lines and PVC waste and vent. Did so much more but the major electrical was by contractor. 

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I chiseled an 8" vertical and 48" horizontal hole through the bathroom tile, concrete, and lath a few days ago.  Plumber came today and cut away the return pipe and 90* knuckles.  He replaced the return pipe and knuckles with PVC along with pitching it just a little better than the old pipe.  I then cut cement board to fit and secured it place this afternoon.  Tomorrow I will buy tile mastic and adhere the tile to the cement board.....I actually found enough extra color-correct tile stored in my cellar.  Saturday will be grout day.

Edited by ship
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5 minutes ago, ship said:

I chiseled an 8" vertical and 48" horizontal hole through the bathroom tile, concrete, and lathe a few days ago. 

Sounds like  you are making good progress. Sorry that you had to go through all that just from trying to unclog a drain pipe.

 

I cringe when I hear someone mention lath on the walls. I was a sheetrock hanger in Atlanta for a while in my younger days. We put sheetrock over lath in some old houses and it wasn't an easy job. You couldn't really find the studs by tapping with a hammer. Never heard of a stud finder back then.  When you tried to drive a nail in the lath with a hammer it just wanted to bounce without the nail sinking all the way in if you were between studs. If the nail went in the crack between the lath they didn't hold anything and you had to try again. We weren't smart enough back in those days to use screws like they do today. I found out years later that some of the plaster over the lath had asbestos in it.

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