Queequeg grows stuff, and fixes junk.

plants:
if they look crumy, its because they are.
need water and ive been lazy, ill go back out there and water them at some point today.
also got SMASHED last night by some nasty wind...
 




victim of mine, not the wind. pvc hose sliped off the table and snapped it.
serrano dosent seem to care though. we shall see what happens...





lettuce plants.



cactus plants.



tobacco plants from last winter... i chopped these down to a stump but they grew back. ive not watered these what so ever since last... december ?
no clue why they are alive still.



fertigation machine. in pieces.

my intention here is to shrink the system down substantiall.... such that it fits into the trunk of my car. im going to fold my old design into 2 pieces... and push the frame out into the third dimension.
im also going to add a filtration system. the filtration will require a far more substantial pump, so im going to just mount this onto the frame as well as the filter.





my fancy pump. grundfos up15-58 with a custom plastic head from some other hydronic heating company.



can anyone identify this plug? if so i will kiss your mouth.
spent like an hour on the molex website... im 60% sure its not a molex branded connector.

 

[Devv]

Copper is not that hard to work with. Use some emery to knock off the patina, paint with flux, and heat. When it's hot enough the solder will get pulled into the joint. As for the outside supply, brass to PVC using teflon tape, like 6 wraps. And then transition to copper use the 3/4" pipe

 

[queequeg152]

yea i know soldering is easier... and yea i know copper plumbing pipe is not tight enough to capillary silver properly... and all about flux and that good jazz.

it was a stupid idea from the get. ill just buy some ACR fittings and shit from the local hvac place and work on those.

i do have an acetylene air torch, but i doubted that i could make the joints look good enough so i went with the threaded brass.

i also bought all the arrested dish washer boxes... washing machine box and ice machine box. that shit costs a grip btw, the boxes not the brass.

 

[Devv]

Man, I saw those pics of the kitchen a ton of work there! Our house is close to 40 years old, plumbing was mostly copper, BUT, had some short galvanized pieces which failed many years ago. Our water is very base. I replaced them with brass and added 750-800sf in 94', I used copper. This old house was Masonite siding, paneling, and linoleum floors, with of course the cheapo hollow core doors. All that was scrapped ( I was younger then LOL) I went back with sheetrock, ceramic tiles, hardiplank siding, dual pane windows, a metal roof, and all solid doors. I also turned my "was to be an auto shop" into a wood shop, as per the boss (the wife) who wanted new kitchen cabinets. The cool thing was I had an excuse to put AC in the shop so I didn't stain the cast iron equipment with sweat (worked for me ) . I wound up making a Mesquite bedroom set (harvested the wood and made boards from logs) and all new cabinets, dovetail joints and all that. Still working on her "change orders" LOL. So Brother I feel your pain! It's kind of a never ending project...
 
But it seems you're like me and like pain..LOL Half the fun is doing it and taking ownership
 
I wish you luck in your endeavors!
 
BTW: I hate the sheetrock mud work! Might be why I cough...

 

[queequeg152]

Man, I saw those pics of the kitchen a ton of work there! Our house is close to 40 years old, plumbing was mostly copper, BUT, had some short galvanized pieces which failed many years ago. Our water is very base. I replaced them with brass and added 750-800sf in 94', I used copper. This old house was Masonite siding, paneling, and linoleum floors, with of course the cheapo hollow core doors. All that was scrapped ( I was younger then LOL) I went back with sheetrock, ceramic tiles, hardiplank siding, dual pane windows, a metal roof, and all solid doors. I also turned my "was to be an auto shop" into a wood shop, as per the boss (the wife) who wanted new kitchen cabinets. The cool thing was I had an excuse to put AC in the shop so I didn't stain the cast iron equipment with sweat (worked for me ) . I wound up making a Mesquite bedroom set (harvested the wood and made boards from logs) and all new cabinets, dovetail joints and all that. Still working on her "change orders" LOL. So Brother I feel your pain! It's kind of a never ending project...
 
But it seems you're like me and like pain..LOL Half the fun is doing it and taking ownership
 
I wish you luck in your endeavors!
 
BTW: I hate the sheetrock mud work! Might be why I cough...

lol idk if i like the pain... its just that... wtf else could i do? lol hire some shit head contractor? look over his shoulder the whole time, and hope shows up when he says he will?

it would be one thing if i was like a f**king dentist or someone with super super rigid working hours, but my hours are pretty much infinatly flexible.

idk i just prefer to do it myself... at least i can just hate myself rather than get stuck ruminating on some other asshole, daydreaming of molotov cocktails and slashed tires.


btw, were you living in the place when you were renovating?

im finding this the most frustrating part... i cant just gut everything in one go, i have to move shit from room to room... i have all the heavy shit on furniture movers, and non essential all boxed up and stored away, but still.

 

[queequeg152]

oy.

the shut off valve blew last night, and the city cannot shut off the meter... apparently the valve in there is an old brass on brass type stop cock valve, and its all seized up.

so no real water till monday... im going to try some of that epoxy pipe wrap shit so i can atleast turn the water on for long enough to get a decent shower.

 

[queequeg152]

oh and yes i understand how hilarious it is that i was JUST talking about how these pipes lasted 30 years.

i brought this on my self.

 

[queequeg152]

pics from today.

you can see the frozen grass. pretty cool... the frozen grass lasted up till like 6pm. but then it dissapeared like frosty.

peeled off the old insulation to find the crack.

i filled the crack with plumbing epoxy putty shit, then wrapped over the epoxy with the epoxy soaked mesh cloth stuff.
the shiny black shit is the tape they provide you to wrap over the epoxy mesh cloth stuff while it cures.

it was cold out so i put my heat down in the grass and aimed it at the joint and let it go for around an hour... when i turned it off, it was rock fucking hard.

ramdom crack monitoring gauge i installed a few months back... they mount onto the brick straddeling the crack. you are supposed to fill out this paper they give you to follow the movement of the crack, but the soils not moving much yet. im guessing it will in the summer.

3 pack is 60 bucks. i highly reccomend them, interior or exterior cracks need monitoring.

damn i thought i had a pic of the shitty cheap insulation i put over the pipe... but its not on my camera. oh well.

 

[queequeg152]

some more stuff on my camera.

some of this shit might be out of order... frigen imgur does not upload in the right order for some reason.

as per instructions, i took these pics after taking delivery of the new air handler in order to note any damage.

the blower wheel was rubbing on the friggen housing... im pretty sure this was from the FACTORY not the damn shipping, but who knows. bolts were still very tight so i doubt it slipped during shipping.

i yanked out the blower motor to make sure it was not a bent shaft or something crazy... luckily it was just a bad alignment on the motor squeezer.

this is how they mount up. just three rubber bushings bolted into the heavy gauge housing.

this is called a belly band mount... pretty much identical mounting across almost all air handlers.

i just loosened the bolts and realigned it.

much better... but ill have to check some papers to see what the gap sizing is supposed to be on each side. i might have to push the impeller wheel down the shaft a bit farther... hopefully not, but if i have to its not a big deal, just an annoying deal.

electric heat strip for the air handler.

check out that fatty #2 gauge wire lol60amps.

some random brackets.

washer and dryer plumbing.

this is also where the plumbing comes into the house, and where the break occured.

 

[Devv]

lol idk if i like the pain... its just that... wtf else could i do? lol hire some shit head contractor? look over his shoulder the whole time, and hope shows up when he says he will?

it would be one thing if i was like a f**king dentist or someone with super super rigid working hours, but my hours are pretty much infinatly flexible.

idk i just prefer to do it myself... at least i can just hate myself rather than get stuck ruminating on some other asshole, daydreaming of molotov cocktails and slashed tires.


btw, were you living in the place when you were renovating?

im finding this the most frustrating part... i cant just gut everything in one go, i have to move shit from room to room... i have all the heavy shit on furniture movers, and non essential all boxed up and stored away, but still.

 

Yes, we lived here while I did all the work. I did one room at a time, first the sheetrock work, took it down to the studs and hung the sheetrock. did the mud, bought some cool tools for inside and outside corners. Put the mud on in thin layers with a wide blade to keep the sanding down. Then came back and did the floors, one room at at time, the same with the doors. This kept the wife a bit happier, but she was always cool with the  projects, as she had a part in the planning. The original windows were so low that a toddler could trip and crash through one, so as I worked through each room I raised the bottom up 12"s to a 24" height (roughly) installed the new double pane glass and then did the siding. Lucky for me I had a dry summer for the exterior part of the project.
 
And like you, I couldn't have someone do the work for two reasons. One the $$$$$ they want, and two, I'm too anal...LOL. It's like impossible to get someone out here to do quality work. I tried for 2 months to get someone to do the slab for the shop. It's 32x32' I leveled it, framed it, and put extra depth and extra heavy rebar where the car lift was to go. No one would come and do the concrete. Finally my brother inlaw, in Houston got a buddy of his to drive out here with a crew (4 hour drive) and help pour the concrete. I ordered 2 steps better than regular (no real $$$ more). The guy concrete guy said "this IS the best! concrete I ever worked with ever".
 
Just take your time, I see you have the skills. And this is a long term project for one person. A tip for ceiling sheetrock. I made 2 jigs, about 2"s short of the ceiling. A 2x4 with a 3' piece screwed at 90° at the top, 2"s short of ceiling height. I made 2. As I lifted the 4x8 sheet of sheetrock up, the wife propped them under it so I could screw the sheetrock screws in. Of course she stuck with me until it was stable.
 
Make it fun , cuz it's better than being at work!

 

[queequeg152]

i think the jig you are talking about is what they call a deadman? just a T shaped piece of wood? you can also staple some carpet to the top to keep the wood from denting the drywall.

yea i used those a few times, but what i found to work a little better were those zip wall poles... only i use the cheap shitty ones from harbor friehgt. they have a little pump handle that raises them up to the ceiling.

i was thinking of getting a shitty drywall lift this time though. i wanna hang 5/8" drywall again, and that stuff weighs a shit load.

 

[Devv]

Yeah, that drywall get heavier every year!
 
Give a ya loads of credit for doing your own HVAC, I just didn't feel I had the knowledge, and no license to buy. That's the only thing I've ever paid for here. Until the old well casing started to fail, no city water here, unless you trade your retirement account for them to run to your ranch. So I had a new well dug. BTW, when they cut your water off so you can make repairs, add a good quality brass cutoff valve. Not a ball valve, they get shit in them and won't work. How do I know? LOL. Please don't use a PVC ball valve, flat out junk.
 
Stay warm !

 

[queequeg152]

shit whats wrong with a ball valve now? i just bought a real nice commercial grade one.
lol i always read the opposite? gate valves can fail to close all the way?

i think this is why mine froze btw... it let water back into the drained lines, then froze and burst.

 

[Devv]

shit whats wrong with a ball valve now? i just bought a real nice commercial grade one.
lol i always read the opposite? gate valves can fail to close all the way?

i think this is why mine froze btw... it let water back into the drained lines, then froze and burst.

 
That was aimed at the pvc ones. And for me it is probably due to my well water, which pumps sand and rust chunks. All that good stuff. So Friday, me knowing the temps were going to be around 20°, closed the ball valve that supplies the outside water. It would NOT turn the water off. On a clock it was 5 minutes slow...LOL
 
They seem to collect trash somehow and bind up. Your commercial grade one if not pvc should do you well   My "new" well has 1.5" outbound and I used 1.5" brass gate valves on it. Time will tell.
 
I'm ready for more pics   I'm sure you busted your ass this weekend, hope you stayed warm.
 

 

[queequeg152]

That was aimed at the pvc ones. And for me it is probably due to my well water, which pumps sand and rust chunks. All that good stuff. So Friday, me knowing the temps were going to be around 20°, closed the ball valve that supplies the outside water. It would NOT turn the water off. On a clock it was 5 minutes slow...LOL
 
They seem to collect trash somehow and bind up. Your commercial grade one if not pvc should do you well   My "new" well has 1.5" outbound and I used 1.5" brass gate valves on it. Time will tell.
 
I'm ready for more pics   I'm sure you busted your ass this weekend, hope you stayed warm.

yea the one i picked up is a nibco 3/4" 600 psi CWP valve. real chunky, real nice feeling. stainless handle and nut w/ a brass valve stem( learned my lesson with shitty home depot hose bibs).

IDK if you are familiar with metal ball valves, but most metal ball valves have a spherical sleeve of teflon that is supposed to sweep across the valve core as it opens and closes. for that matter... i think most pvc ball valves have a sleeve too, thought i dont buy the home depot ones, maby the cheap ones do not.
i get most of my pvc union valves from ebay.

its probably possible that shit could eventually get in there, but id gladly trade having to replace the valve every 10 years or so, for the extra slippery smooth low loss nature of a full port ball valve.

the existing one is an old shitty gate valve... hoping to gain a gpm or two on my hose bibs with the nice new pex and low loss valves etc. =).


regarding busting my ass... unfortunatly that frozen valve shit and helping my neighbor with something ate like my whole saturday... sunday i demo'd and cleaned the hall way and put up some more pex, but nothing is up and running yet. not a great weekend imo.

 

[PaulG]

Man, you be busy!

 

[queequeg152]

busy hm.... not so much unfortunatly.

i havent been able to touch the place since sunday.

ive gotten tied down on this chloramine injection sytem at work... first time designing one of these and had to railroad through all the specs and AWWA design documents =(.

hope i can finish this one and the other one tomorrow and get back to work around the house on thursday... but idk if thats going to happen tbh.

oh and the city still has not been out to replace the meter valve... they answer calls and take messages all day long, but nobody will call back with a firm answer when they will actually be out.

got all this nice shiny brass sitting in a box under my desk just waiting...

 

[queequeg152]

oy vey... the city folks just stopped by with a MASSIVE 24" handle meter valve tool. apparently because they can still turn it... albeit with a great deal of effort, they are not "allowed" to replace the valve.

was very tempted to try and duke the guy like 100 bucks, but there were two guys this time =(.

 

[queequeg152]

my dick received a mighty electrical shock this morning.

to my surprise, one of my battery charger cables developed a short and was laying across the sink whilst i was busy urinating into said sink.

comedically speaking its a completely hackneyed premise. but i guess it does actually happen from time to time.

pics to follow.

 

[queequeg152]

new stuff.

lead free drinking water safe brass pipes come dirty full of lubricant and bits of shit inside... a test tube brush is needed to clean them out.

shitty finger

routing pex around a corner.

bend support.

other side of the wall. the tubing will run through these supports, and the notch will be covered with a fatty nail plate.

more hole cut'n

new pipes...

putting in a new hose bib in the atrium. this one seemed to look the best.

through the wall.

bottle of jack daniels i found. its from 1984 apparently.

the ductopus.

lol, uninsulated vaulted ceiling wall... this will have to be spray foamed to like 2 inches.

more ductopus.

some dirty old galvanized plumbing. the red shit is from the saw blade paint.

threads seem ok though... this pipe is from the cold water service line comeing in from outside... idk why this pipe was in such good shape and the pipes over the kitchen was in such shit condition?

crappy old vent for the washing machine. lol they actually blow torched the ABS pipe to make it bend around the galvanized plumbing. lolololnottocode.

buuuuuuuuump. plz.

 

[queequeg152]

yes!

ok here is the washing machine plumbing again.

new sawzall i bought. lovely tool. only 100 bucks... highly reccomend it. i was worried it would be underpowered... but its actually more powerfull than my harbor freight one... it just doesnt have the same torque so it gets stuck alot more.

lol here is the bent abs again. note the fucking abs to pvc to bent abs. talk about shitty hack work...

crummy pex fitting on a drop tee... these things were like 12 buck each btw. dont leak though... so no complaints i guess.

gutted old galvanized.

temporary connection to old galvanized... i ran out of fittings so i had to keep that last piece of galvaniized for an evening.
and i stank like a rotten asshole, so i needed a shower.

a brand new roof leak of my own making i believe. i was reinforcing the bad hip connections here... the screws i used pulled the members to gether nice and tight, good as new. but... i guess this caused some movement of the shingles and this leak developed =(. ill have to buy a package of ridge shiingles i guess.

going back to that pex that rounded that corner... these are the valves for isolating the guest bathroom and hose faucets. i need these valves because the guest bath is to be gutted and renovated at some point. i wanted to be able to isolate it entirely without having to shut off the whole house like an animal...

pex rounding that corner.

other side. that manifold is for the cold water lines... its a flow through manifold, the other 3/4" fitting goes on to replace the old hose bib on the side of the house.

mystery u trap... idk what its for, it just runs into the attic and terminates like 12 inches above the sill plate? idk wtf its for... any ideas? the sink is vented to the vertical portion which actually goes up to a boot on the roof.

after finishing the plumbing i needed to chlorinate the new plumbing. this is a chemical injection fitting... aka a "quiill" or chemical injection check valve, only i do not have a check valve on it.

cleaning out the pump. it was previously used to pump some sort of light weight oil.

here it is pumping chlorine solution of approx. 3,000 mg/l. you just open the faucets one at a time and let them run for like 10 minutes. then you take a chlorine reading to confirm some chlorine is reaching the taps.

this is america. im not ok with getting some horrible colon parasite.

new vent. note the fucking pair of 22 degree street elbows.... note that i did not have to blow torch shit to make the fit like an uncivilized ape.

new outside connection, blah blah.

blown out tee... i over tightened a pvc bushing lol... no harm done.

gutting the guest bath shower.

and thats all i have for now... id upload some more, but imgurl bugged out and wont take any more uploads?