madison069
Well-known member
I will have to tell my father-in-law this, he likes tidbits like these.
Between 485 & 705 SQ/FT Bob Heine's Auto Emporium
- Thread starter Bob Heine
- Start date
Workspaces between 485 and 705 squarefeet.
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Bob was there.Ditto Bob ! You're only 7 years away from whatever that "4 score and seven years" quote was referring to ...
oh wait, just googled it, that was President Lincoln opening a cemetery in Gettysburg ...
So , forget I said anything. Happy Birthday !
Okay, Bob, I can't help but pull such threads. To the Wikipedia!
At the page for "List of Maritime Disasters", there is this sentence for WWII:
"There are at least eight maritime disasters during WWII, each of which has a greater death toll than any other maritime disaster."
So the place to see the even-worse disasters is at:
List of maritime disasters in World War II - Wikipedia
I didn't take the direct route, however, and wound up sending time reading about SS Cap Arcona and SS Thielbeck, during the very last days of the war in Europe, the Nazis are doing bad and awful things and may be about to do an even more awful thing (scuttling ships chock full of concentration camp inmates at sea) when the RAF arrived up and sank them, thinking they were ships full of Nazis headed to Norway.
SS Cap Arcona - Wikipedia
SS Thielbek (1940) - Wikipedia
Some were lucky enough to have been denied passage on those ships. Well, some of those some.
"On the evening of 2 May 1945 more prisoners, mainly women and children from the Stutthof and Mittelbau-Dora camps were loaded onto barges and brought out to the anchored vessels; although, as the Cap Arcona refused to accept any more prisoners, over eight hundred were returned to the beach at Neustadt in the morning of 3 May, where around five hundred were killed in their barges by machine-gunning, or beaten to death on the beach, their SS guards then seeking to make their escape unencumbered."
Happy birthday to Bob!
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scooterbum46
Well-known member
Bob - let me be one of the first to wish you Happy Birthday on your actual birthday, (If you lived in King's Edward Point, in the South Georgia/Sandwich islands). I'd wait until 00:01 in Fla, but I'm too damn tired to stay up two more hours.
Hope you take the 'Vette out and smoke the tires, cruise a boulevard, find a drive in to get a cheeseburger and coke at and just generally get wild! (take Liane for a moonlight ride to finish the day).
Hope you take the 'Vette out and smoke the tires, cruise a boulevard, find a drive in to get a cheeseburger and coke at and just generally get wild! (take Liane for a moonlight ride to finish the day).
bugnut
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Bob, So today's the day! Happy 80th Birthday, Cheers to many more!
madison069
Well-known member
Happy Birthday ol’ boy!!
Chrisb62
Well-known member
Happy Birthday on your birthday 
OutlawDrifter
Well-known member
Happy birthday, Bob, have a wonderful day!
drivesitfar
Well-known member
Happy Birthday Bob!! you're a medical miracle and a helluva of a guy so glad to hear you're still above dirt and kickin. seems like just the other day we were talking about your 70th.
enjoy your day!!
enjoy your day!!
LeonardY
Well-known member
Have a Happy Birthday on your birthday.
gilr
Well-known member
Happy Birthday Bob! A real milestone! I'm not far behind you...
Craptain
Well-known member
OK. Here we go again with Real Birthday wishes. 
Lou's Garage
Well-known member
Happy Birthday Bob!!!
PugetDude
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Bob, hope you and Liane enjoy the first day of your next rotation around the sun. It's been a hell of a ride so far.
Geoff289
Well-known member
Best wishes from down under Bob.
Grizz1963
Well-known member
Again ??
What’s happened in the last year??
Another birthday wish Bob.
Continue to prosper and light up lives around yourself.
What’s happened in the last year??
Another birthday wish Bob.
Continue to prosper and light up lives around yourself.
Thank you Lyndon! Your post arrived well ahead of time. We await news of the new homestead with bated breath.
Thank you Gregg! I haven't set my sights to seven years ahead. However, I visited Gettysburg in 1955 when that speech was 92 years fresh.Ditto Bob ! You're only 7 years away from whatever that "4 score and seven years" quote was referring to ...
oh wait, just googled it, that was President Lincoln opening a cemetery in Gettysburg ...
So , forget I said anything. Happy Birthday !
Thanks JB! As a child a year was an eternity. Now a decade passes in a blink.
Cody, I think it's OK as long as the dinner is low key.Sorry Mark, it has already been planned to have dinner at his house tomorrow with the only close family he has, which is me, my wife, two granddaughters, and his wife. So, maybe you can beat the number of people at her party?
Cody, I have had more than a few weird events in my life. I started working for the US Post Office starting on August 31, 1963. As a Postal employee, overtime and days off rules didn't apply. As the low person on the totem pole I worked seven days a week and received straight pay for however many hours per day or week that I worked. My very first day off was November 22, 1963. I swear I was nowhere near Dallas. We returned to Miami after a week in Cancun on May 18, 1980 and found the city on fire with gunfire near the airport. The guy who helped us with our luggage told us to drive straight out of the airport and get on I95 because riots had broken out overnight. A little further west, Mount Saint Helens erupted. The following year we returned from a week in Guadalupe and learned that Pope John Paul II had been shot.
Scott, although it's possible I was there, I have no memory of the event. I do remember an assignment in grade school that required me to memorize the Gettysburg Address. I can't remember if it was a punishment or reward.Bob was there.
@Squankum, at least I didn't have to fight in that war. They weren't drafting babies back then.Okay, Bob, I can't help but pull such threads. To the Wikipedia!
At the page for "List of Maritime Disasters", there is this sentence for WWII:
"There are at least eight maritime disasters during WWII, each of which has a greater death toll than any other maritime disaster."
So the place to see the even-worse disasters is at:
List of maritime disasters in World War II - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
I didn't take the direct route, however, and wound up sending time reading about SS Cap Arcona and SS Thielbeck, during the very last days of the war in Europe, the Nazis are doing bad and awful things and may be about to do an even more awful thing (scuttling ships chock full of concentration camp inmates at sea) when the RAF arrived up and sank them, thinking they were ships full of Nazis headed to Norway.
SS Cap Arcona - Wikipedia
SS Thielbek (1940) - Wikipedia
Some were lucky enough to have been denied passage on those ships. Well, some of those some.
"On the evening of 2 May 1945 more prisoners, mainly women and children from the Stutthof and Mittelbau-Dora camps were loaded onto barges and brought out to the anchored vessels; although, as the Cap Arcona refused to accept any more prisoners, over eight hundred were returned to the beach at Neustadt in the morning of 3 May, where around five hundred were killed in their barges by machine-gunning, or beaten to death on the beach, their SS guards then seeking to make their escape unencumbered."
Happy birthday to Bob!
Gerry, I worked on the broken pool pump plumbing for my birthday. Spent most of the day staying dry between thunderstorms.
Thank you Joel!
Thank you Cody!
Thank you Chris!Happy Birthday on your birthday
Thank you Marc!
Thank you @zanyad!
Thank you Drives!
Thank you Leonard!
Have a Happy Birthday on your birthday.
Thank you Gil! It's official, I'm really old.
Andrew, we have to stop meeting like this -- Liane is getting suspicious.OK. Here we go again with Real Birthday wishes.
Thank you Lou!
Thank you @Xti04!
Thank you Crane!
Thank you Roger! It's going to be a couple of heartbeats to the next one.
Thank you @Blackbyrd!
Scott, I took her to Costco and bought her a pair of earrings. It's all her fault I'm still here.Bob, hope you and Liane enjoy the first day of your next rotation around the sun. It's been a hell of a ride so far.
Thank you Geoff!
Rian, when we aren't paying close attention, time seems to slip away. I worked for IBM for 30 years and it felt like an eternity. I retired from IBM 30 years ago and it feels like yesterday.
madison069
Well-known member
Dinner was Linguine with clam sauce and mini shrimps on top for me and FIL. It seems to be a favorite of his. Everyone else had beef stroganoff since they don’t like seafood. Salad was served and a Pecan Pie Cake, which surprisingly was really good as I never had a pecan pie cake.
I never knew about the riot of Miami in 1980, interesting read for sure.
Anyone who attempts assassination on a Pope sure don’t have any religious belief.
sawduststeve
Well-known member
Am I too late 
Can I echo all of the above comments
Happy birthday my friend, holy cow these years are spinning round fast.
Steve
Can I echo all of the above comments
Happy birthday my friend, holy cow these years are spinning round fast.
Steve
driftpin
Well-known member
Bob, a happy birthday to you. May you enjoy good health.
May 18, 1980: I could see the fires in Miami (the Brownsville neighborhood) from my house by the beach in Hollywood (FL for you out of towners). They were 17 miles away. The biggest fire I could see was Farrey's Hardware, a great store with high end luminaires and plumbing fixtures, among other things. It was in the vicinity of US 441 and NW 79 St, Miami. Rioters broke in and torched it. Bud Farrey, the owner, didn't re-build there, he moved his business north and east, not far from the warehouse district on a canal known as Thunderboat Row, where Don Aronow was shot and killed. Don was the Cigarette, Donzi, and Scarab founder. That's another sordid story of life/death in Miami.
A tire company not far from Farrey's Hardware also was torched, and the fire load of the tires put a huge plume of black smoke into the Miami sky to rival that from Farrey's Hardware.
May 18, 1980 was when the McDuffie riots happened, after a Tampa jury ruled that the Miami cops who beat Arthur McDuffie to death were innocent. McDuffie was a former Marine, a young black guy who was on his Kawasaki sportbike, who ran from the Miami cops for awhile until he decided to pull over and surrender, he had run something like 28 traffic lights to that point. The Dade Co. Medical Examiner's Office ruled that he died from a brain hemorrhage, caused by impacts from a heavy object, which during the trial was determined to be a Kel-Light, the ones which had multiple D cell batteries in them, making them an effective cudgel as well as a flashlight.
The cops on trial for McDuffie's murder successfully petitioned to have the case heard in Tampa, where they were acquitted. The burning and looting went on for days, estimated at $100 million, and 18 deaths.
Office of Justice Programs | Office of Justice Programs
OJP is the federal government’s leading source of funding and research to strengthen the justice system, support law enforcement, and enhance victim services.
www.ojp.gov
I was working fire-rescue just north of Miami-Dade County and we were on stand-by for mutual aid in Miami-Dade County if things "went south" there. We were briefed that if we came under-fire during a response that we were to abandon our location, and evacuate on whatever rig we were assigned to. As it turned out, I wasn't required to make a mutual-aid response during that time. Some stores halted the sales of ammo and guns for a period of time.
Prospecter
Well-known member
Whoops. Posted in wrong place. Sorry, Bob.
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drivesitfar
Well-known member
Great stories as per usual. Funny you mention Mt St. Helen’s cause I watched it erupt from a hill above our apartment 80 miles north. Good thing wind direction was east cause the eastern part of Washington state ended up with 6-8 inches of ash everywhere. Of course those living close to the eruption didn’t do well and when I was there at the base of the mountain a few years ago it still looks pretty much like I’d think the surface of the moon is but stuff is growing again. There is a few good movies of the eruption if any if you want to see it on YouTube.
Enjoy your weekend everyone especially you Bob.
Enjoy your weekend everyone especially you Bob.
gman007
Well-known member
.Cody, my genetic test indicates I am 46% Scandinavian, which may explain why seafood is my first choice for a meal. There are currently 3 buckets of pickled herring in my snack fridge.
Steve, never too late. I know this ride ends someday but I'm going to squeeze the life out every day until that happens.Am I too late
Can I echo all of the above comments
Happy birthday my friend, holy cow these years are spinning round fast.
Steve
Philip, the tire fire was the most obvious but there were so many burning at the same time it was surreal.Bob, a happy birthday to you. May you enjoy good health.
May 18, 1980: I could see the fires in Miami (the Brownsville neighborhood) from my house by the beach in Hollywood (FL for you out of towners). They were 17 miles away. The biggest fire I could see was Farrey's Hardware, a great store with high end luminaires and plumbing fixtures, among other things. It was in the vicinity of US 441 and NW 79 St, Miami. Rioters broke in and torched it. Bud Farrey, the owner, didn't re-build there, he moved his business north and east, not far from the warehouse district on a canal known as Thunderboat Row, where Don Aronow was shot and killed. Don was the Cigarette, Donzi, and Scarab founder. That's another sordid story of life/death in Miami.
A tire company not far from Farrey's Hardware also was torched, and the fire load of the tires put a huge plume of black smoke into the Miami sky to rival that from Farrey's Hardware.
May 18, 1980 was when the McDuffie riots happened, after a Tampa jury ruled that the Miami cops who beat Arthur McDuffie to death were innocent. McDuffie was a former Marine, a young black guy who was on his Kawasaki sportbike, who ran from the Miami cops for awhile until he decided to pull over and surrender, he had run something like 28 traffic lights to that point. The Dade Co. Medical Examiner's Office ruled that he died from a brain hemorrhage, caused by impacts from a heavy object, which during the trial was determined to be a Kel-Light, the ones which had multiple D cell batteries in them, making them an effective cudgel as well as a flashlight.
The cops on trial for McDuffie's murder successfully petitioned to have the case heard in Tampa, where they were acquitted. The burning and looting went on for days, estimated at $100 million, and 18 deaths.
Office of Justice Programs | Office of Justice Programs
OJP is the federal government’s leading source of funding and research to strengthen the justice system, support law enforcement, and enhance victim services.
I was working fire-rescue just north of Miami-Dade County and we were on stand-by for mutual aid in Miami-Dade County if things "went south" there. We were briefed that if we came under-fire during a response that we were to abandon our location, and evacuate on whatever rig we were assigned to. As it turned out, I wasn't required to make a mutual-aid response during that time. Some stores halted the sales of ammo and guns for a period of time.
@Prospecter, you are not the first and surely not the last to post here by mistake. I sometimes post very wrong things here but I don't have the good sense to delete them.
Drives, what is this weekend thing you speak of?
@Squankum, that took me to a strange place but I think I've been there before.
@gman007, I hope I'm not in its path as well. Unfortunately it appears to be a huge storm system so I suspect we'll feel some of its fury.
Pool pump quit the weekend before last. Rained every day for the rest of the week but on Tuesday the pump started working again. It lasted just long enough to drain the excess water. When I went to close the 1/4-turn PVC valve on the drain line, something inside snapped. One of the wings on the handle had already snapped off so I took the handle off and tried to turn the stem. I thought I could turn the ball valve by its plastic stem but that snapped off as well. Fun times ensued with lots of PVC fittings, primer and glue. I learned that all 1.5-inch unions are not alike or even similar as far as the threaded ring is concerned. At least the Milwaukee M12 PVC Cutter made it easy and neat.
I brought the chain wrench to the fight but the rubber strap wrench was up to the task. If I had the correct universal it would have been a small repair but the new universal wasn't a match.
I decided to order four identical universals and make a whole new setup but with two stashed for the next battle. A gray schedule 80 threaded ****** cut in half gave me the two starting pieces.
A few dabs of purple primer and clear cement later I had a new setup with a gate valve instead of a ball valve. The gate valve is bolted together, allowing me to rebuild it if needed in the future.
It continued raining every day so I turned the pump on as soon as the glue set. The pool drained for a few minutes and the pump stopped. Yup, the pump is dead. I'm old so I thought maybe it has a centrifugal switch. I knew it had a capacitor start but didn't want to replace that without checking on the switch. Couple of bolts and wires and the motor is off.
It's Friday when I get the motor on the bench. Popped the capacitor cover and called Pinch-A-Penney, where I bought the pump, and asked if they had the capacitor in stock. Answer is no but they can get one by Tuesday. Being helpful, the store owner suggested I pick one up from a local electrical supply place and to give them a call. When I called the phone just rang so I figured I'd drive over there Monday. When I arrived a little after noon the door was locked and no one responded to my knocks. Then I saw the sign in the window -- "BY APPOINTMENT ONLY." Being a Luddite, I didn't have a magic attention machine with me so I couldn't call so I gave up and drove home.
Arrived home in a foul mood, Googled the part number and Amazon will deliver the capacitor to my door tomorrow -- the same Tuesday the pool store would have had it ready for me to drive over and pick it up. I don't understand why small local businesses are struggling....
I brought the chain wrench to the fight but the rubber strap wrench was up to the task. If I had the correct universal it would have been a small repair but the new universal wasn't a match.
I decided to order four identical universals and make a whole new setup but with two stashed for the next battle. A gray schedule 80 threaded ****** cut in half gave me the two starting pieces.
A few dabs of purple primer and clear cement later I had a new setup with a gate valve instead of a ball valve. The gate valve is bolted together, allowing me to rebuild it if needed in the future.
It continued raining every day so I turned the pump on as soon as the glue set. The pool drained for a few minutes and the pump stopped. Yup, the pump is dead. I'm old so I thought maybe it has a centrifugal switch. I knew it had a capacitor start but didn't want to replace that without checking on the switch. Couple of bolts and wires and the motor is off.
It's Friday when I get the motor on the bench. Popped the capacitor cover and called Pinch-A-Penney, where I bought the pump, and asked if they had the capacitor in stock. Answer is no but they can get one by Tuesday. Being helpful, the store owner suggested I pick one up from a local electrical supply place and to give them a call. When I called the phone just rang so I figured I'd drive over there Monday. When I arrived a little after noon the door was locked and no one responded to my knocks. Then I saw the sign in the window -- "BY APPOINTMENT ONLY." Being a Luddite, I didn't have a magic attention machine with me so I couldn't call so I gave up and drove home.
Arrived home in a foul mood, Googled the part number and Amazon will deliver the capacitor to my door tomorrow -- the same Tuesday the pool store would have had it ready for me to drive over and pick it up. I don't understand why small local businesses are struggling....
Miss the Pontiacs
Well-known member
It is a good thing you are handy and at the moment a little frustrated. Many people have to call the trade required for the task involved. Twenty years from now the home handyman will likely be one of the best paying blue collar jobs. We have a number of friends who almost have on retainer what ever trade they require at any given time. So count yourself lucky for your prowess as a Mr Fixit.
As far as retail businesses struggling that brick and mortar in many cases will be a derivative of Amazon. That we can blame on ourselves. When I was a kid our town had 3 grocery stores by the time I graduated there was one and I’m not sure it was doing that well. Better vehicles, roadways and pricing led to their demise. Now you can order your groceries from your easy chair and they materialize on your front step. No tip even required.
Once those retailers are gone, they are gone. Sorry for the rant. Hope you have a better end to your week.
As far as retail businesses struggling that brick and mortar in many cases will be a derivative of Amazon. That we can blame on ourselves. When I was a kid our town had 3 grocery stores by the time I graduated there was one and I’m not sure it was doing that well. Better vehicles, roadways and pricing led to their demise. Now you can order your groceries from your easy chair and they materialize on your front step. No tip even required.
Once those retailers are gone, they are gone. Sorry for the rant. Hope you have a better end to your week.
kaymccampbell
Well-known member
Hayward makes a nice, easily replaceable, rebuildable, adjustable ball valve. I've got like 8 of them on my pool filter. In 25 years I've replaced 1 whole valve that cracked, and a handful of parts that failed.
They have glue in and screw in options, and you can mix and match ends to get what you want. All mine are screw in for maintainability.
The link has two of the many choices.
They have glue in and screw in options, and you can mix and match ends to get what you want. All mine are screw in for maintainability.
The link has two of the many choices.
madison069
Well-known member
Similar situation recently on another project. I've been using local businesses for the majority of my needs but when it came time to get the steel decking it seems nobody had it in stock. I asked when they can have some ordered and they told me in no uncertainty that they have no idea, and it might be months before they will get any. Online research led me to a company that has their head quarter in Georgia US, and they appear to have 31 different warehouses in the US that holds their inventories. One of those warehouses is in Pittsburgh. I placed the order and was able to pick up the steel decking the next day if I was able to do so. I took my truck and car trailer to the warehouse on a Friday and had my steel decking on the trailer and at home for $500 less than what the local building supply companies wanted to charge me for the same order.
You would think living in Pittsburgh, home of the steel manufacturing companies, there would be no shortage of steel type B decking.
driftpin
Well-known member
We just had our rear deck re-done, including a new pool, we kept the hole and replaced everything else. The pool was re-configured to assume a more-modern layout. All new piping, new shot-crete or whatever it's called, new diamond-brite, new electrical, new tile, and new Turkish marble sand-blasted deck. There used to be a screen room, but Andrew damaged that and it was scrapped, and no replacement. We added a spa at the deep end, w/a spillway into the pool.
We added a pool heater, which allows us to enjoy the pool around the calendar. Previously, probably sometime in early November, we would be out of pool-use until perhaps late April. I did perform a ritual ablution early in January, when I'd put on a 'shorty' wetsuit and use the pool for a few minutes, in the new year, but w/no heater, we would need to wait until April's temperate weather warmed the pool sufficiently-enough for use. My blood has thinned significantly since I lived close to the shore of Lake Ontario. Back then, if the lake got to 70 degrees in the shallows, that was 'warm-enough' to go in until your teeth started to chatter and then the lake-shivers drove you to abandon your time in the water.
Without the pool heater, once the pool temperature dropped to below 80 degrees, that was the end of pool time here in So. FL. I'm looking forward to the winter temperatures, so we can enjoy the pool even on those days when you're forced to wear a sweater outside. I did see it snow here in So. FL, when I was working on fire-rescue. I have a claim to fame that I am one of a handful of surviving firefighters in So. FL who fought a structure fire in the snow. It was a Dade County pine structure, and that stuff is so-dense that attempting to drive a 16d brite nail is difficult unless you drill a starting hole. That gives you a better chance of sinking the nail w/o having it buckle before the nail head is set. The amount of resin in Dade County pine is impressive, and it causes the fire to burn hotter, and you could see the resin oozing out of the wood, spitting and popping, and almost as if the wood was some infernal substance from beyond the gates of hell.
The spa is plumbed so it can be heated independent of the pool, and there's an aerator pump that causes the water in the spa to look like a scene from some Ray Harryhausen movie, maybe Jason and the Argonauts. Our golden retriever puppy loves to bite at the roiling water, and she's getting used to being in the pool. I've been teaching her to swim to the shallow end where she can exit the pool unaided, via the three full-pool width steps we now have. She also likes to walk-across the spillway from the spa into the pool, getting her paws wet, and tasting the water.
I insisted that the pool installation be done with unions, for ease of replacement of the equipment.
The pool and deck work is done and we had the slim backyard turf area re-sodded, with sprinklers. Now it's a dog run for the puppy, an L-shaped area she loves to tear-around, back and forth, so-quickly!
We already have had our first pool equipment repair. The air release valve on top of the cartridge pool filter snapped-off when I was rinsing out the new filter cartridge, which looks to be the same manufacturer as yours, but taller. I debated about replacing it with a new filter, but even Amazon Prime had way-high pricing on them, discouraging me from taking that route. I came-up with a replacement strategy for just the air bleed valve, and it's working well. I think it cost me less-than $20, and what was once a plastic thumbscrew is now a stout brass and stainless steel 1/4-turn ball valve. kay mcconnell said she did a similar repair, so I'm in good company on coming up with a cheap, effective solution which vents air quicker, and should last longer than me.
www.garagejournal.com
We also kept our Pent Air variable-speed, programmable pump, the second of those we've had. The first I bought at Pinch-A-Penny, and it was the price of a decent used car when I was a young adult. When that took a **** after ~10 years, I bought one off Amazon Prime, and it was about 56% of the cost of the first one. Same model, updated over the years.
A favorite feature of the pool refurbishment was to remove the Hayward chrome 'eyeball' underwater pool light bucket, and to replace it with LED lights, which are programmable for a variety of colors and effects. We have 3 sets of the LED lights, and it's great fun to watch the colors at night.
We also switched to a Pent Air salt system for chlorine and I am glad to not have to carry those 2-1/2 gallon plastic containers back and forth, now it's 40 lb bags of salt. It's doing a good job of keeping the pool in-balance, and you can 'read' what's needed, when it's needed by the LED lights on the chlorine generator.
One of the disappointing things was that it took the city 14 months to approve our plans, which were sealed by a professional engineer (P.E.) as they require. It was a re-model of an existing pool, and apart from the pool heater, the new LED lighting and the aerator for the spa, the equipment was the same. All new plumbing but we kept the use of two skimmers, where code allows just one. The skimmers and their plumbing were new. We also have a dedicated port for the Hayward Navigator pool cleaner we use.
The pool contractor was great, a small businessman who kept us informed at every step. I did a bit of work on the pool during the construction, under the supervision of the pool contractor. One positive thing was that since we signed a contract, we paid a set price, despite price increases for material during our extended project. The contractor told us that if he would be pricing our job today, the cost would be about 50% more than we were paying, under contract. A task I did which saved us a bit of $ was to pressure-clean the Turkish marble deck we had installed. Then it got sealed with a gritty non-skid clear sealant.
An interesting part of the project was the installation of the Turkish marble, which was sandblasted for less-chance of slipping on a wet deck. I had specific instructions for the pitch of the deck, and we wanted the rain run-off to drain away from the house, where we have an 18 ft nanawall https://www.nanawall.com/glass-wall...MIw5fJ-57eiAMVKTfUAR1wviF1EAAYASABEgLQYfD_BwE folding impact glass door system. I also didn't want rain water to drain into the pool. Because of the multiple eaves overhangs, it's nearly-impossible to have gutters along the entire roof at the pool deck. So far, the way the crew did the marble tile pitch, rainwater drains away from the edge of the pool for about a foot & a half, and then it runs to the backyard grass or the side yard grass. If you look at it, you can't tell it's pitched like that, but what we have is a very shallow gutter system which is very effective in not allowing drainage into the pool, or backwards towards the house. The Turkish marble tile is set onto a bed of sand, which is on a slab of concrete beneath the sand.
The grandkids love the pool, and I'm the primary beneficiary of the completed project, along with our golden retriever puppy.
We added a pool heater, which allows us to enjoy the pool around the calendar. Previously, probably sometime in early November, we would be out of pool-use until perhaps late April. I did perform a ritual ablution early in January, when I'd put on a 'shorty' wetsuit and use the pool for a few minutes, in the new year, but w/no heater, we would need to wait until April's temperate weather warmed the pool sufficiently-enough for use. My blood has thinned significantly since I lived close to the shore of Lake Ontario. Back then, if the lake got to 70 degrees in the shallows, that was 'warm-enough' to go in until your teeth started to chatter and then the lake-shivers drove you to abandon your time in the water.
Without the pool heater, once the pool temperature dropped to below 80 degrees, that was the end of pool time here in So. FL. I'm looking forward to the winter temperatures, so we can enjoy the pool even on those days when you're forced to wear a sweater outside. I did see it snow here in So. FL, when I was working on fire-rescue. I have a claim to fame that I am one of a handful of surviving firefighters in So. FL who fought a structure fire in the snow. It was a Dade County pine structure, and that stuff is so-dense that attempting to drive a 16d brite nail is difficult unless you drill a starting hole. That gives you a better chance of sinking the nail w/o having it buckle before the nail head is set. The amount of resin in Dade County pine is impressive, and it causes the fire to burn hotter, and you could see the resin oozing out of the wood, spitting and popping, and almost as if the wood was some infernal substance from beyond the gates of hell.
The spa is plumbed so it can be heated independent of the pool, and there's an aerator pump that causes the water in the spa to look like a scene from some Ray Harryhausen movie, maybe Jason and the Argonauts. Our golden retriever puppy loves to bite at the roiling water, and she's getting used to being in the pool. I've been teaching her to swim to the shallow end where she can exit the pool unaided, via the three full-pool width steps we now have. She also likes to walk-across the spillway from the spa into the pool, getting her paws wet, and tasting the water.
I insisted that the pool installation be done with unions, for ease of replacement of the equipment.
The pool and deck work is done and we had the slim backyard turf area re-sodded, with sprinklers. Now it's a dog run for the puppy, an L-shaped area she loves to tear-around, back and forth, so-quickly!
We already have had our first pool equipment repair. The air release valve on top of the cartridge pool filter snapped-off when I was rinsing out the new filter cartridge, which looks to be the same manufacturer as yours, but taller. I debated about replacing it with a new filter, but even Amazon Prime had way-high pricing on them, discouraging me from taking that route. I came-up with a replacement strategy for just the air bleed valve, and it's working well. I think it cost me less-than $20, and what was once a plastic thumbscrew is now a stout brass and stainless steel 1/4-turn ball valve. kay mcconnell said she did a similar repair, so I'm in good company on coming up with a cheap, effective solution which vents air quicker, and should last longer than me.
What did you do "IN" your garage today?
Removed the rest of the rubber steps, washed the (left side) previously hidden parts. Washed the rubber steps. Still need to remove tape & adhesive residue from running boards & rubber steps. Now too hot to do anything else today (at 9.18am)
www.garagejournal.com
We also kept our Pent Air variable-speed, programmable pump, the second of those we've had. The first I bought at Pinch-A-Penny, and it was the price of a decent used car when I was a young adult. When that took a **** after ~10 years, I bought one off Amazon Prime, and it was about 56% of the cost of the first one. Same model, updated over the years.
A favorite feature of the pool refurbishment was to remove the Hayward chrome 'eyeball' underwater pool light bucket, and to replace it with LED lights, which are programmable for a variety of colors and effects. We have 3 sets of the LED lights, and it's great fun to watch the colors at night.
We also switched to a Pent Air salt system for chlorine and I am glad to not have to carry those 2-1/2 gallon plastic containers back and forth, now it's 40 lb bags of salt. It's doing a good job of keeping the pool in-balance, and you can 'read' what's needed, when it's needed by the LED lights on the chlorine generator.
One of the disappointing things was that it took the city 14 months to approve our plans, which were sealed by a professional engineer (P.E.) as they require. It was a re-model of an existing pool, and apart from the pool heater, the new LED lighting and the aerator for the spa, the equipment was the same. All new plumbing but we kept the use of two skimmers, where code allows just one. The skimmers and their plumbing were new. We also have a dedicated port for the Hayward Navigator pool cleaner we use.
The pool contractor was great, a small businessman who kept us informed at every step. I did a bit of work on the pool during the construction, under the supervision of the pool contractor. One positive thing was that since we signed a contract, we paid a set price, despite price increases for material during our extended project. The contractor told us that if he would be pricing our job today, the cost would be about 50% more than we were paying, under contract. A task I did which saved us a bit of $ was to pressure-clean the Turkish marble deck we had installed. Then it got sealed with a gritty non-skid clear sealant.
An interesting part of the project was the installation of the Turkish marble, which was sandblasted for less-chance of slipping on a wet deck. I had specific instructions for the pitch of the deck, and we wanted the rain run-off to drain away from the house, where we have an 18 ft nanawall https://www.nanawall.com/glass-wall...MIw5fJ-57eiAMVKTfUAR1wviF1EAAYASABEgLQYfD_BwE folding impact glass door system. I also didn't want rain water to drain into the pool. Because of the multiple eaves overhangs, it's nearly-impossible to have gutters along the entire roof at the pool deck. So far, the way the crew did the marble tile pitch, rainwater drains away from the edge of the pool for about a foot & a half, and then it runs to the backyard grass or the side yard grass. If you look at it, you can't tell it's pitched like that, but what we have is a very shallow gutter system which is very effective in not allowing drainage into the pool, or backwards towards the house. The Turkish marble tile is set onto a bed of sand, which is on a slab of concrete beneath the sand.
The grandkids love the pool, and I'm the primary beneficiary of the completed project, along with our golden retriever puppy.
Emil, for all but a couple of brief periods we have survived as a one-income family. In some ways it was a good thing -- we didn't have to pay for childcare except during those brief periods when Liane was working outside the home. With a few exceptions, we went without if I couldn't do/fix it. Liane contributed by keeping down costs. We could count the number of times a year we ate out on one hand.
I try hard to support local businesses but far too often I've been burned. I coulda, shoulda serviced my mother's cars but when my time was dedicated to IBM's and AOL's crises, I took her car to a shop that appeared to be careful, thorough and charged reasonable prices. When my mother asked me if the $800 or so bill for servicing her Saturn was normal, I did a careful review of the bill. I gave them the benefit of the doubt for charging her $50 for oiling the door, hood and trunk hinges but went nuts when I saw $200 to 'sanitize' the A/C ducts.
I've had local companies service my home A/C system and paid one for bi-annual services. I thought $150 a year was reasonable but they kept tacking on extra charges to replace start relays and capacitors that were working fine. When I said goodby to them and got another one, they came out to fix the air handler in the attic. The fan motor was going to cost $1,100 so I splurged on a new evaporator and air handler for $5,000 instead. They installed the unit but I should have known better when they asked me for some 2x4s to shim the unit. Wood instead of steel struts? I checked their work after they left but I failed to check for level. They hung the new drain pan from the roof rafters and set the air handler on the 2x4s spanning the drain pan. The new drain pan had it's drain at the opposite end from the original one so the pan was tilted away from the drain. Everything worked fine for more than a year but a rainy spell meant serious humidity and the drain pan overflowed, damaging the master bath ceiling. The owner of the company closed that did the work had closed his business and went to work for a big A/C company. I repaired the ceiling myself, after re-leveling the pan and replacing the wood with struts.
Kay, I bought one of those rebuildable ball valves when the ear broke on the sealed one. With a pair of large channel lock pliers I've been operating that sealed one for about five years. More recently, when I had forgotten I had that valve, I bought the rebuildable gate valve. The gate valve was on the top of my plumbing supply box so I grabbed it without digging further. As I was putting the leftover PVC fittings in the box, I saw the ball valve. Fortunately, I left enough of a stub in the new setup so I can fit the humongus ball valve in its place if the gate valve fails.
Cody, I used to buy my lumber and home supplies from a local place but their yard was conveniently located in a business zone. The owner received an offer he couldn't refuse and they built a McMansion neighborhood in its place. I'm left with HD and Lowe's. There's a steel supplier in town but my steel projects end up so small it makes no sense to open an account. I just go to HD and buy what most would call scraps.
Philip, I thought we were big spenders having our pool patio covered with Travertine and the pool re-lined with blue diamond-brite but you have gone over the top. On the plus side, I've used the pool about five times this year and Liane got in for the first time in five years. Jasmine is not a very good water dog but based on the three birds and mouse she's brought to Liane this week she's a pretty good hunter. The iguanas have migrated to safer places but the score is still Iguanas-0, Jasmine-36.We just had our rear deck re-done, including a new pool, we kept the hole and replaced everything else. The pool was re-configured to assume a more-modern layout. All new piping, new shot-crete or whatever it's called, new diamond-brite, new electrical, new tile, and new Turkish marble sand-blasted deck. There used to be a screen room, but Andrew damaged that and it was scrapped, and no replacement. We added a spa at the deep end, w/a spillway into the pool.
We added a pool heater, which allows us to enjoy the pool around the calendar. Previously, probably sometime in early November, we would be out of pool-use until perhaps late April. I did perform a ritual ablution early in January, when I'd put on a 'shorty' wetsuit and use the pool for a few minutes, in the new year, but w/no heater, we would need to wait until April's temperate weather warmed the pool sufficiently-enough for use. My blood has thinned significantly since I lived close to the shore of Lake Ontario. Back then, if the lake got to 70 degrees in the shallows, that was 'warm-enough' to go in until your teeth started to chatter and then the lake-shivers drove you to abandon your time in the water.
Without the pool heater, once the pool temperature dropped to below 80 degrees, that was the end of pool time here in So. FL. I'm looking forward to the winter temperatures, so we can enjoy the pool even on those days when you're forced to wear a sweater outside. I did see it snow here in So. FL, when I was working on fire-rescue. I have a claim to fame that I am one of a handful of surviving firefighters in So. FL who fought a structure fire in the snow. It was a Dade County pine structure, and that stuff is so-dense that attempting to drive a 16d brite nail is difficult unless you drill a starting hole. That gives you a better chance of sinking the nail w/o having it buckle before the nail head is set. The amount of resin in Dade County pine is impressive, and it causes the fire to burn hotter, and you could see the resin oozing out of the wood, spitting and popping, and almost as if the wood was some infernal substance from beyond the gates of hell.
The spa is plumbed so it can be heated independent of the pool, and there's an aerator pump that causes the water in the spa to look like a scene from some Ray Harryhausen movie, maybe Jason and the Argonauts. Our golden retriever puppy loves to bite at the roiling water, and she's getting used to being in the pool. I've been teaching her to swim to the shallow end where she can exit the pool unaided, via the three full-pool width steps we now have. She also likes to walk-across the spillway from the spa into the pool, getting her paws wet, and tasting the water.
I insisted that the pool installation be done with unions, for ease of replacement of the equipment.
The pool and deck work is done and we had the slim backyard turf area re-sodded, with sprinklers. Now it's a dog run for the puppy, an L-shaped area she loves to tear-around, back and forth, so-quickly!
We already have had our first pool equipment repair. The air release valve on top of the cartridge pool filter snapped-off when I was rinsing out the new filter cartridge, which looks to be the same manufacturer as yours, but taller. I debated about replacing it with a new filter, but even Amazon Prime had way-high pricing on them, discouraging me from taking that route. I came-up with a replacement strategy for just the air bleed valve, and it's working well. I think it cost me less-than $20, and what was once a plastic thumbscrew is now a stout brass and stainless steel 1/4-turn ball valve. kay mcconnell said she did a similar repair, so I'm in good company on coming up with a cheap, effective solution which vents air quicker, and should last longer than me.
What did you do "IN" your garage today?
Removed the rest of the rubber steps, washed the (left side) previously hidden parts. Washed the rubber steps. Still need to remove tape & adhesive residue from running boards & rubber steps. Now too hot to do anything else today (at 9.18am)
We also kept our Pent Air variable-speed, programmable pump, the second of those we've had. The first I bought at Pinch-A-Penny, and it was the price of a decent used car when I was a young adult. When that took a **** after ~10 years, I bought one off Amazon Prime, and it was about 56% of the cost of the first one. Same model, updated over the years.
A favorite feature of the pool refurbishment was to remove the Hayward chrome 'eyeball' underwater pool light bucket, and to replace it with LED lights, which are programmable for a variety of colors and effects. We have 3 sets of the LED lights, and it's great fun to watch the colors at night.
We also switched to a Pent Air salt system for chlorine and I am glad to not have to carry those 2-1/2 gallon plastic containers back and forth, now it's 40 lb bags of salt. It's doing a good job of keeping the pool in-balance, and you can 'read' what's needed, when it's needed by the LED lights on the chlorine generator.
One of the disappointing things was that it took the city 14 months to approve our plans, which were sealed by a professional engineer (P.E.) as they require. It was a re-model of an existing pool, and apart from the pool heater, the new LED lighting and the aerator for the spa, the equipment was the same. All new plumbing but we kept the use of two skimmers, where code allows just one. The skimmers and their plumbing were new. We also have a dedicated port for the Hayward Navigator pool cleaner we use.
The pool contractor was great, a small businessman who kept us informed at every step. I did a bit of work on the pool during the construction, under the supervision of the pool contractor. One positive thing was that since we signed a contract, we paid a set price, despite price increases for material during our extended project. The contractor told us that if he would be pricing our job today, the cost would be about 50% more than we were paying, under contract. A task I did which saved us a bit of $ was to pressure-clean the Turkish marble deck we had installed. Then it got sealed with a gritty non-skid clear sealant.
An interesting part of the project was the installation of the Turkish marble, which was sandblasted for less-chance of slipping on a wet deck. I had specific instructions for the pitch of the deck, and we wanted the rain run-off to drain away from the house, where we have an 18 ft nanawall https://www.nanawall.com/glass-walls/folding?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=branded&utm_term=nana wall&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIw5fJ-57eiAMVKTfUAR1wviF1EAAYASABEgLQYfD_BwE folding impact glass door system. I also didn't want rain water to drain into the pool. Because of the multiple eaves overhangs, it's nearly-impossible to have gutters along the entire roof at the pool deck. So far, the way the crew did the marble tile pitch, rainwater drains away from the edge of the pool for about a foot & a half, and then it runs to the backyard grass or the side yard grass. If you look at it, you can't tell it's pitched like that, but what we have is a very shallow gutter system which is very effective in not allowing drainage into the pool, or backwards towards the house. The Turkish marble tile is set onto a bed of sand, which is on a slab of concrete beneath the sand.
The grandkids love the pool, and I'm the primary beneficiary of the completed project, along with our golden retriever puppy.
Like you, my blood is a lot thinner after 49 years in the Florida weather. When we visited Yosemite National Park in 1955 there were no showers close to our campsite so dad thought it was a good idea to take a dip in the Merced River. I don't know the actual temperature of the water but a small chunk of snow passed by (it was 5 AM so the sun hadn't hit it yet). Years later (circa 1968) we vacationed in Hampton Beach, New Hampshire. It was 4th of July and the posted water temperature was 48° F. Getting into the ocean was a long drawn-out process, waiting for feet, calves and thighs to become numb. From there it was a tipping over process. It was a hot day so the contrast was unbelievable. My water skiing tradition helped a lot. The rule was to ski for the first time each year on Easter weekend. When that happened in March, it was shortly after the ice cleared. I never tested the water, just throw the skis in the water while standing on the transom and jump off. I only screamed the first time -- a mouthful of Hudson River water was not healthy in 1972.
I spent some time installing the muffin fans in the garage cabinet. The fan located at the bottom front of the cabinet had to be mounted on the outside because of the European hinge that was in the way. I cut the outer ring of the metal grill so it would fit flush. The mounting screws (M4 0.7 pitch) were too short so I ordered longer ones. I needed eight so I bought 50 (pack of 10 was more expensive). The stainless steel hex socket button-head screws came with a 2.5mm allen wrench but I decided to use a long ball head hex drive bit and my M12 hex drive impact. Holding the 7mm nuts while driving the screws involved my left foot.
I am not flexible enough to get my foot close to the upper fan so I just tightened the nuts by hand until they were snug. Then it was just a light hit with the 1/4" hex Milwaukee impact. The light touch worked seven times but the eighth screw tightened too fast and I now have a ball-less 2.5mm hex bit. I should say the local landfill has a ball-less hex bit.
I cut the excess threads off the lower muffin fan with my Knipex bolt cutter and then discovered I mounted the fan backwards (sucking air out rather than blowing air in to the cabinet. Left foot got involved again to get the nuts past the buggered end of the screws. Flipped the fan over and used four new screws. Fans are in and will be connected to the computer and their speed set to high. A little vacuuming and a furring strip spacer finished the project. It works like a charm getting the heat out of the cabinet.
I am not flexible enough to get my foot close to the upper fan so I just tightened the nuts by hand until they were snug. Then it was just a light hit with the 1/4" hex Milwaukee impact. The light touch worked seven times but the eighth screw tightened too fast and I now have a ball-less 2.5mm hex bit. I should say the local landfill has a ball-less hex bit.
I cut the excess threads off the lower muffin fan with my Knipex bolt cutter and then discovered I mounted the fan backwards (sucking air out rather than blowing air in to the cabinet. Left foot got involved again to get the nuts past the buggered end of the screws. Flipped the fan over and used four new screws. Fans are in and will be connected to the computer and their speed set to high. A little vacuuming and a furring strip spacer finished the project. It works like a charm getting the heat out of the cabinet.
GeddyT
Well-known member
I think the deadline for birthday well-wishes is 10 days, right? I'm coming in just under the line!
That's a great idea powering the cabinet fans from the computer itself. Even better idea installing the cabinet fans at all. I'm losing a decades long battle of trying to educate my family members about the little holes in the cases of electronics and why you shouldn't cover every single one of them with something you've stacked on top. Or why you shouldn't shove a computer right against a cabinet wall. Or why you can't just pile nine tons of electronics into a closed cabinet to hide them.
That's a great idea powering the cabinet fans from the computer itself. Even better idea installing the cabinet fans at all. I'm losing a decades long battle of trying to educate my family members about the little holes in the cases of electronics and why you shouldn't cover every single one of them with something you've stacked on top. Or why you shouldn't shove a computer right against a cabinet wall. Or why you can't just pile nine tons of electronics into a closed cabinet to hide them.
Tom, birthday wishes don't have 'best by' dates. I just wish they weren't so close together now. I clearly remember birthdays being lifetimes apart.
The fans are like my battery chargers. Depending on me to turn them off is a bad idea so the chargers are all on push button timers. I figure the cooling fans turning on and off with the computer is the least I can do to avoid another fire hazard or destroyed PC.
The old HP machine is too tall for the workbench (blocks the upper cabinet doors) so rather than re-cycle it I put it under the workbench. I have gotten so lazy I felt the need to have a computer in the garage to look things up rather than walk the 30 feet to the office.
Ford52PU
Well-known member
Bob amazed at the way you were able to use your foot to assist.
Might be time for a pedicure though!!
Might be time for a pedicure though!!