Handy-Man Corner

[Iowanian]

I'm tired of bad Chiefs news.....


I thought it would be a good idea for a thread on the Handy-Man.

Do you have any Home remedies, gadgets you've made, advice on car repair, home maint, sollutions to kill weeds in your yard, bugs in your garden?

Use Coke to clean your batteries? That type of stuff.
Home made floor dry?

[DonInDenver]

Going down in the spring to totally enclose and make a sitting room out of it.

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Electrical advice needed for simpleton. I have 2 outdoor outlets, one on my deck and one on my pergola. I have a GFCI outlet in my basement that they run off of (???). I'm installing some rope lights on the pergola. I plugged the rope lights into the GFCI outlet and they worked. When I took them outside to the pergola outlet and plugged them in, they didn't work. So I walked downstairs to the GFCI outlet and the red light was on. I pressed the reset button and it sparked a bit. Now nothing that I plug into the GFCI outlet or my 2 outdoor outlets work. Circuit breaker looks fine.

What did I do and how can I fix it? Did that GFCI outlet save my life?

Update: Welp, looks like ground squirrels under my pergola chewed through the wire running from the outlet. I have an electrician out running a new line encased in a heavy duty tubing.

I've been filling a bucket half full with water and sunflower seeds, drowning 2 or 3 of those things at a time. Not handy, but I'd take anyone's ground squirrel solutions.

[jspchief]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Update: Welp, looks like ground squirrels under my pergola chewed through the wire running from the outlet. I have an electrician out running a new line encased in a heavy duty tubing.

I've been filling a bucket half full with water and sunflower seeds, drowning 2 or 3 of those things at a time. Not handy, but I'd take anyone's ground squirrel solutions.

Antifreeze

[kepp]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Update: Welp, looks like ground squirrels under my pergola chewed through the wire running from the outlet. I have an electrician out running a new line encased in a heavy duty tubing.

I've been filling a bucket half full with water and sunflower seeds, drowning 2 or 3 of those things at a time. Not handy, but I'd take anyone's ground squirrel solutions.

Any charred remains?

[KCUnited]

Originally Posted by kepp

Any charred remains?

I was hoping, but I didn't see anything. There was something rank back there this summer, so I'm sincerely hoping it was one of those bastards.

[Radar Chief]

Originally Posted by KCUnited

Update: Welp, looks like ground squirrels under my pergola chewed through the wire running from the outlet. I have an electrician out running a new line encased in a heavy duty tubing.

I've been filling a bucket half full with water and sunflower seeds, drowning 2 or 3 of those things at a time. Not handy, but I'd take anyone's ground squirrel solutions.

Pellet rifle and a 12 of beer, sounds like entertainment to me.

[Rooster]

Has anyone put new windows on your house? I'm paying to have it done by the way. While I do consider myself 'handy' the idea of me being responsible for a sizeable hole in my house is not appealing.

I guess my real question is feedback on vinyl vs composite vs figerglass window framing. Any horror stories or stories of victory out there between the types?

[kepp]

So I have a leaking washer. It's an LG front-loading model...almost 10 years old. Two days ago my wife washed a load and informed me that there was water coming from it. I told her to go make me a sandwich while I looked at it. I checked it out and it appears to be coming from underneath (pipes/hoses/drainage in the back were all dry, as well as the wall beneath the hookups and drainage pipe). Is a 10 year old washer worth fixing?

EDIT: And does anyone have a good repairman around KCMO North?

[Rooster]

Sorry kepp, your question will be answered in the order it was received. I'm still waiting on my window question.

[kepp]

Originally Posted by Rooster

Sorry kepp, your question will be answered in the order it was received. I'm still waiting on my window question.

"The current wait time is approximately....9 hours."

[BourbonMan]

Originally Posted by kepp

So I have a leaking washer. It's an LG front-loading model...almost 10 years old. Two days ago my wife washed a load and informed me that there was water coming from it. I told her to go make me a sandwich while I looked at it. I checked it out and it appears to be coming from underneath (pipes/hoses/drainage in the back were all dry, as well as the wall beneath the hookups and drainage pipe). Is a 10 year old washer worth fixing?

EDIT: And does anyone have a good repairman around KCMO North?

In this day and age, if you got an appliance to last 10 yrs..especially a washer, you did damn good.
Go buy a new one..and in my opinion, dont get another front loader.

Originally Posted by BourbonMan

In this day and age, if you got an appliance to last 10 yrs..especially a washer, you did damn good.
Go buy a new one..and in my opinion, dont get another front loader.

Agree with this. They're not even designed to last that long. Though, LG makes pretty nice stuff.

Originally Posted by Rooster

Has anyone put new windows on your house? I'm paying to have it done by the way. While I do consider myself 'handy' the idea of me being responsible for a sizeable hole in my house is not appealing.

I guess my real question is feedback on vinyl vs composite vs figerglass window framing. Any horror stories or stories of victory out there between the types?

I think that as long as you're not installing wood and the glass is appropriate for the application, you're half-way to victory. The other half is a proper installation by experienced professionals. Anybody who gets a $189 window installed is getting crap thrown in a hole in your house. Between install and the window, you should be paying at least $500 at a bare minimum if you're looking to upgrade to anything energy efficient at all.

[Iowanian]

Are there any ez go golf cart repairmen in the house?

I have a mid 2000's gas golf cart. Lately, when I stop and even turn the key off it just keeps turning over. Ideas on what is wrong would be appreciated. I know nothing about them.

[Mr_Tomahawk]

Low on antifreeze.