So... What are YOU doing? - Part 8

[tango]

Dirty water + power tools = opportunities to utter naughty words.

Cutting into one of my cast iron pipes delivered a surprise when it started spraying dirty water as I cut it, and of course the action of the saw blade meant the water splattered in both directions. Spraying away from me was fine - it just splashed against the basement wall. Spraying towards me was less good - this was water with decades worth of sludge accumulated into it, spraying into my reciprocating saw. It wasn't very long after that I found I couldn't get blades in and out of the saw without additional levels of persuasion over and above pulling the blade release lever.

Since it was too late to take it to the hardware store to see what they could do I decided to dismantle the saw myself. As expected it had a lot of sludge in all sorts of places that weren't designed to get sludge on them but after a bit of tinkering, a bit of creativity trying to get a spring out of place, a few near misses involving a small ball bearing and an opportunity to get on my hands and knees looking for it, and much pondering how to get a spring back into place, it's now almost as clean as when I first brought it home. Most importantly, the blade release lever works again.

Along the way I accumulated half a gallon or so of water that drained out of the pipework. As it drained it varied from almost clear to almost totally black. I managed to get sludge all over my T-shirt because I was cutting a nearby pipe and brushed against an end that was still dripping even if barely perceptibly. Good job it was a shirt designated for working and goofing off.

And all the time my pile of scrap pipework grows. Cutting the copper pipe that feeds the cast iron was much easier.

 

[Lamb]

Went for a nice 3 mile hike in the park. It's a great day!

 

[tango]

Got a bunch more pipework removed. I nearly had a nasty accident with a long piece - I'd swapped out the battery in my reciprocating saw and forgot just how much power a new battery has compared to a nearly dead battery. The freshly powered saw ripped through a length of pipe and I very nearly dropped a 12-foot length onto my oil tanks. That might not have ended well. Usually what I do is figure where the pipes are supported and therefore whether cutting from the top or the bottom makes most sense to avoid pinching the blade, and then flex the pipe once it's sufficiently weak that I can bend it by hand. That doesn't work out so well when the blade rips through everything in sight. The next step is going to be a bit trickier because I need to cut and remove a piece of pipe that is quite close to another piece that's very much functional. It may be that I'll just leave that piece in place until I can figure if it's practical to get at the other end and feed it through.

Now I really do need to give some thought to where I'm going to keep all this pipework pending taking it away to the recycling depot.

 

[Naiwen]

Happy Friday all! How are you? Today, as I have a huge headache, even after taking an Advil and my breakfast, I think I will just be sleeping the whole day with some lavender-camomile aroma therapy and meditative music and the AC on as it's hot and muggy again today before hitting the pillow tonight, really feeling none too good physically speaking today.

 

[tango]

Almost finished ripping out pipework. I managed a few unexpected things today. Firstly I managed to drop a bucket of sludgy water which made for an interesting splash when it hit the ground. Thankfully it hit the ground bottom-down, so it splashed upwards rather than emptying all over the floor. I trashed a reciprocating saw blade, although the fact it was still going after so long was remarkable. I also managed to pour some sludgy water over myself, when I twisted a pipe connector not noticing it was the lowest point on a pipe run so, although the pipes were drained, there were a few place where the sludge had pooled.

Now I've got a bigger pile of pipework ready to go out, a bunch of pipe taken out to the garage, and patches of sludgy mess on the floor in the basement. I'm not sure how I'll clean it up just yet. I might move some stuff and see if I can wash it away.

There's a small section of copper pipe I want to cut out and get rid of but aside from that the entirety of the heating pipework for half of my house is gone. Now I just need to run a bunch of PEX to replace it. Along the way I can strengthen a few joists - where the house was extended some genius decided that 2x4s were strong enough as floor joists for the extension part. Maybe they are - they've lasted a while - but I'd rather have something a bit more solid in place. Months ago I bought some wood and some joist hangers to do the job only to find I couldn't actually do the job because the pipes were in the way. But now the pipes are gone, so I can get on and make that happen. That will be good.

 

[Lamb]

It's already humid out but I need to try to get a quick walk in this morning.

 

[Naiwen]

Happy weekend all! How are you? Today, feeling recovered from my headache, I've just had leftover pizza with lemon iced tea for lunch. Tonight, just playing some games on my phone before hitting the bed.

 

[tango]

I managed to take out the last couple of sections of copper pipe I wanted gone. I also found that a honking great cast iron pipe that went through a wall isn't secured into place, so it slid out with only a little bit of persuasion. Now all the pieces of cast iron that will stack neatly are out of the way. I've still got a pile of random offcuts of cast iron with elbows in them - they don't stack nicely so they can stay where they are until it's time to take them all away. I've also got a half-decent pile of copper pipe of varying diameters, mostly destined for the scrapyard. I'm just debating whether I can use any of the 1/2" pipe for something else - its seems a shame to sell it for scrap if I then find I need some copper pipe. That said it's hard to see what I'd want copper for when I can get 100 feet of PEX for $30.

 

[Naiwen]

Yo sup there all man? How are you today? Today, I've just had leftover pizza with lemon iced tea again for lunch. Tonight, just playing some games on my Switch before hitting the sack.

 

[Stravinsk]

It's winter here in Australia...but today was like a Spring day, beautiful outside, mild, calm.

I spent a few hours removing grass/weeds, tilling and planting...onions, lettuce, spring onions. More tomorrow if weather permits.

 

[Lamb]

I got up early to walk but it's too muggy outside to even breathe.

 

[Naiwen]

Howdy sup there guys man! How are you today? Today, I've just had my usual weekly 3 hours therapy session both online and by phone. Tonight, just resting in bed before heading to sleep.

 

[tango]

Had another sift through the basement. I got some stuff rearranged and freed up some space. Interestingly I found that what I thought was a spare roll of 14/2 is actually 14/3. Not bad, because it means it's a $200 roll of cable when I thought it was a $100 roll of cable. I just hope I have enough 14/2 so I don't have to go and buy more. I'm not sure how much 14/3 I'm going to need to rewire everything - most of downstairs is going to need multiple runs of 14/3 so I could go through it quite fast when I really get going. Upstairs is where I need the 14/2, and a good chunk of that is already done.

 

[Lamb]

Waking up so I can get a short walk in before it rains again.

 

[Naiwen]

Hello morning all! How's it going so far with your day? This morning, I've just had a shower and a hair wash. The afternoon, just enjoying my usual TV show before heading to bed tonight.

 

[tango]

I got a couple more things sorted in the basement. Now I don't have to keep ducking my head down to avoid the pipes I needed to find somewhere else for my hedge trimmer, which was previously hung from the ceiling joists. That was easy enough with a small makeshift shelf in one corner. Then I used an angled wooden baton to provide a place for a surplus power extension cord - it's a 50' 12-gauge cord so pretty heavy duty. I used it to power my big woodworking equipment before I ran more power sockets into the workshop. Now it's probably going to find itself forever surplus to requirements but for now at least it makes more sense to hang it on the wall than get rid of it.

It could easily come in very useful when I start ripping apart more of the house - at present I've got another one plugged in to a downstairs room that then feeds through the wall studs into the room above and adjacent, since I pulled all the electrics out of that room.

I had thought to replace and reroute some of the slightly nasty plumbing down there but before I do that I want to find out what sort of work/cost will be involved in upgrading the primary water feed. Being an older house we have a 1/2" primary water pipe and it would be good to make it 3/4". Hence I don't want to run 1/2" pipe all over the place only to have to rip it out and put 3/4" in, but neither do I want to run 3/4" pipe everywhere only to find the cost of an upgrade is prohibitive.

 

[Lamb]

Going to get groceries and then I'm off to the park to hike.

 

[tango]

Got a good walk in yesterday. It's been a while since I did my 8-mile loop but got it in. Just before the halfway mark it felt like my system was struggling with the pace so I eased off just a little and then shortly afterwards noticed I wasn't far below my normal pace. I ended up not setting any records but still clocking a respectable time.

 

[Naiwen]

Howdy sup there? How are ya doing with your day so far? Today, just relaxing online before heading the sack tonight.

 

[Lamb]

It's laundry day!