AsktheBuilder.com Issue #1215 (I think)

January 8, 2023

Dear ,

Is this your first issue? If so, welcome. I hope to save you money and time each week. I also hope to make you laugh and sometimes think.

Let's get started.

Think BOLD Colors

Have you ever swabbed decks on a battleship? 

That photo of the gray rooms above is a before photo. Imagine mopping the kitchen floor. You'd think you were a sailor on the Battleship BB-62 New Jersey above for goodness sake.

GO HERE and see what the gray rooms above got painted. Be sure to read the story. Pretty funny quotes are to be found.

More Gray!

Patty reached out to me a few days ago. While I don't get lots of questions exactly like hers, I thought it was a very good teaching moment. Look at the photo she sent.

First, it appears she's painting her walls gray to match her new GRAY flooring. She might want to purchase a ship's clock to help decorate the room! Read her question:

"I'm looking for an alternative to drilling holes through new LVP into a concrete subfloor to install the bottom guide for bypass doors.  I know it isn't technically difficult to do but would like to avoid it.  I clearly didn't think that part through!

I thought about just adhering the guide with double sided tape or caulk but realize that will likely create a whole different problem over time.  Using the type of guide that attaches to one door with a slot in the bottom of the other door would be great but of course I still would need something for the second door.

Are there any other options out there of which I am not aware?"

Here was my response:

"I'm so confused. The metal guide will be in place on the floor no matter what method is used, right? In the preferred method, the screws that come with the guide go into holes within the outline of the guide, right? Once the doors are installed, 95% of the guide is covered by the doors and not visible to the naked eye, right? The guide will most likely stay under the doors long after you have been sent back to Heaven, right? If all the above is true, I'm flummoxed as to why it makes any difference as to what is holding the guide in place?"

I never heard back from her.

Yep, that's a typical day at Ask the Builder. This is why I often talk about honing critical-thinking skills. It's also why I try to teach people to recall the manners they were taught as a child.

If anything in this newsletter helps save you time or money, maybe you want to reciprocate and buy me a popover & a cup of coffee? That would be appreciated!

Washing Machine RANT

This is a fast rant. Just because some states in the USA have decided to allow growth in desert climates where water is scarce, the REST OF US shouldn't have to suffer.

Why should you or I be FORCED to purchase a toilet, dishwasher, washing machine, etc. that uses far less water than normal if you or I have abundant unlimited water?

What about me? I have my own well. I can use as much water as I want and each time a gallon of water flows out of a faucet at my home, a GALLON of water re-enters the ground recharging the aquifer.

You may get your water from a massive river like the Ohio River - see below - and the water is naturally recycled. For every gallon of water that flows through the water mains in Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Chicago, New York, etc. a gallon of water flows right back into the river or lake downstream out of the sewage treatment plant.

There is NO WATER SHORTAGE in these situations. And don't let the elites or politicians tell you there is a water shortage for cities that get water from big rivers/lakes.

You/I should be able to have a CHOICE on the washing machines for normal or limited water-use settings. I do have a Deep Fill choice on my washing machine but sometimes it gets locked out.

I'm SICK of government intervention in my life when it's crystal clear one size doesn't fit all.

It's TIME TO RESIST. It's TIME to push back. There are 10,000 of us to each one of them.

Ice In Contest

Here's an update on the Lake Winnisquam Ice In Contest. Last Sunday just before Kathy and I went to church, the wind came up and gobbled up all the ice. Remember what I said last week about the wind? It's got a voracious appetite for thin ice!

Based on what I can see without the aid of a high-powered telescope, it appears the ice is gone up at the north end of the lake by the Loon Preserve.

Here's a photo I shot yesterday, January 7, 2023, just before noon. 

Good luck if you've not entered the contest yet. GO HERE to enter. If you've already entered and picked a date that's happened, you DO NOT get to submit a second time. If I see dual entries, I delete your subsequent entry.

Be SURE to look at the mid-range forecast for Meredith, NH before you guess!!! HOLY COW I'm loving the forecast.

Saving Ken $400

Ken lives in West Hartford, CT and reached out last week. He had a great question:

"My house was built about 1959.  I've lived here for about 27 years.  (1995).  To the best of my knowledge the sewer pipes have never been well cleaned.  In the past 27 years I have had two experiences of clogged pipes.  Both times the problem was correct with snaking.  Do you think it is wise for me to have the pipes hydro jet cleaned? I like having a well maintained house and the expense is not a huge consideration."

I replied suggesting he read this column and told him that if he's got extra bathrooms in the house to enlist helpers that will simultaneously dump water into the toilets at the same time he's doing it. Go here and see how I can save you two plumbing charges - the first one to unclog your building drain and the second one to hydro-jet it after the fact.

Ken's Cold Water

A different Ken lives in Palatine, IL. He reached out to me just after Christmas. You may have the same problem he does. Once again, it's a marvelous teaching moment about dusting off your critical-thinking skills.

Why do I keep hammering this? Here's why:

#1. Based on the email I get each week, there appears to be a declining use of this skill set in both homeowners and the contractors you might be thinking about using. I'm stunned each week by statements like, "My contractor told me that blah blah blah..." Well, it's obvious to me the contractor never took a physics or chemistry class.

#2. Inflation is out of control. It's not going to get much better in the short term in my opinion. You CAN'T AFFORD TO WASTE ONE DOLLAR. You must make the correct decision the first time and NOT do a job over.  I could go on and on but you get the point, right?

Here's what Ken asked me:

"I have noticed lately that the hot water in the shower of my upstairs bathroom does not seem to be as hot as it once was. I have to turn the faucet further to hot than before. All the other faucets in the house seem to be as normal as before. Could it be the faucet/valve needs to be replaced?"

Let's unpack Ken's dilemma using critical-thinking skills. I want you to go through this with me so you can solve problems at your home without much help.

Where is Palatine, IL? What was the weather like a few days before Ken emailed me? What is the source of Ken's water? It's safe to assume he doesn't have a well in his yard.

What's the temperature of the Palatine water source in August? What is the temperature of the water in December?

What controls the temperature of the water in your water heater? Can this thermostat go out of calibration? How reliable are thermostats, not to be confused with a thermocouple, based on your entire life experience with water heaters? In other words, in your lifetime, when did you ever have to replace a THERMOSTAT on any water heater in your home?

What about dip tubes? Do you know what they are and what happens if one starts to fail? I'll cut you lots of slack if you didn't know about these. Go here and rejoice about the new knowledge you obtained.

What's the temperature of the air surrounding the hot water pipe that travels to Ken's shower? Is it possible the pipe is in a wall cavity that has a bitter cold down draft in it? Is it possible the pipe is traveling across the ceiling in an unheated basement as it extends from the tank to the shower?

I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. As a child the primary source of water for me was the Ohio River. The intake for the Water Works was just west of the Coney Island amusement park. Cathy Conrad, a playmate on my street, would invite me to swim off her houseboat that was docked on the Ohio River just below the Verdin Bell foundry on Riverside Drive. The water in the river was delightfully WARM in July and August. I can assure you we'd NEVER swim in the river on Christmas Day.

In my teens the Cincinnati Water Works built a huge secondary water plant above the thick gravel outwash deposited by the last two Continental Glaciers. The last glacier covered the land just north of Cincinnati with thousands of feet of ice just 15,000 years before. If you live in the northern part of Cincinnati now, your water likely is being sucked out of the Great Miami River aquifer. 

SIDEBAR: 600,000 years ago the site of the new water plant was the riverbed of the Ohio River! Yes, the second-last continental glacier CHANGED the COURSE of the great Ohio River! 

Yes, you're being played about man-made climate change, but I digress. Have you ever wondered why you don't see stories, debates on TV news, etc. where continental glaciation experts share with you the TRUTH about all the glaciers, how much ice was created, how much ice melted, all without any factories, buses, power plants, etc. belching CO2?

Did you know there were FOUR major continental glaciers in the USA in the past 2,000,000 years? How did all that ice get CREATED? How did all of it MELT FOUR TIMES with just 100,000 +/- people cooking over campfires?

See what I mean about critical thinking?????

Ken's exercise, BTW, is quite important if you're thinking of getting a tankless water heater. Go here and READ the comments left by homeowners like you.

Have you hade enough for today? Isn't it amazing all of the things you and I don't know? I don't know about you, but each day I feel more and more like my brain is the size of a chromosome. There is SO MUCH I don't know about things!!!! The list would be as long as the runways the Space Shuttle used to land on.

I'll be back next week. Do you NEED HELP with an issue at your home? If so, GO HERE.

Alright, you know how I feel.

That's all.

Tim Carter

Founder - www.AsktheBuilder.com

Winter Field Day Man - www.W3ATB.com

Do It Right, Not Over!

P.S. Mother Nature hands out very nice prizes to those who get up early. This was the moonset yesterday driving up I-91 just below the Vermont state line. I had left Holyoke, MA, the home of volleyball, about 45 minutes earlier.