The DIY thread - DIYourself
- Thread starter rlb
- Start date
rlb
Well-Known Member
rlb
Well-Known Member
I wound up replacing every switch and outlet in my house. Most were originals from the 60s and looked like they’d had enough. Might not be a bad idea after a few failures!
rlb
Well-Known Member
I’m sure! I’ve opened up every box in the house, and there have certainly been some surprises. Thankfully I think I’ve fixed most of the nonsense at this point.
Always goes faster the second time around…
Been replacing all the outlets in my 1965 house overtime.
I'm actually amazed how the 1965 wiring and outlets are high quality. Unlike the wiring and outlets from upgrades the previous owners paid for in 2010. The 1965 outlets weren't even back stabbed even though they could have been.
Mostly upgrading as the prior owners painted over the outlets multiple times.
iman29
Well-Known Member
Yesterday afternoon while I was in the basement WFH on a conference call, everyone in the house heard a loud BANG which I even heard with headphones on (basement is adjacent partially to the garage). We all looked inside/outside around the house to see what it might have been, checked the garage and all the closets to see if anything fell. Mystery.
About 2 hours later oldest son went to leave via the wifes side of the garage and he found the issue. Broken garage spring. I was trying to recall how long ago I changed the springs on her side (2 car garage) and it cant be more than 10 years max. I know this because I referenced this here back in 2022 when the garage spring on my side failed and I had to change them.
Anyway, lucky for me I followed all the directions since the safety cable certainly saved the spring from rocketing through a wall and injuring someone, or even damaging the car. still glad no one was in there since I dont know where the end of the broken spring went.
After checking the spring type, and confirming by weighing the garage door with the other spring detached, I did the run to Lowes last night for the springs and 3 new pulleys. The side that broke damaged the one pulley, and after further inspections I saw one of the stationary pulleys had no bearings left inside. Did the obligatory Youtube DIY refresh last night before bed just to make sure I had the sequence correct in my head to replace everything.
instead of Zwift this was my lunchtime activity today. The only really tricky part was it was so cold my fingers kept going numb so I had to duck inside a few times to warm up. Otherwise everything went pretty smooth. I had some trouble routing the safety cable back through the spring since parts of it were a little kinked, but after some quick thinking I used a skinny tape measure and a piece of duct tape to snake it through since I couldnt find any string in the garage (found it afterwards of course).
The new springs have a double coil on the ends so hopefully these last a bit longer than the ones I installed last time. If anyone every plans to try this DIY the main thing to stay safe is to be sure to brace the garage door in the up position. I used a 6' long 2x4 wedged under the door and then I tied it to the garage track with bungee cords, plus a vice grip pliers on each side of the track. this came in handy since at one point i clipped the 2x4 with my foot and it came loose, but the vice grips held the door in place.
easy to see the other spring was shot too. Took me about 1.5 to 2 hours start to finish including tool cleanup and only cost me $40.
About 2 hours later oldest son went to leave via the wifes side of the garage and he found the issue. Broken garage spring. I was trying to recall how long ago I changed the springs on her side (2 car garage) and it cant be more than 10 years max. I know this because I referenced this here back in 2022 when the garage spring on my side failed and I had to change them.
Anyway, lucky for me I followed all the directions since the safety cable certainly saved the spring from rocketing through a wall and injuring someone, or even damaging the car. still glad no one was in there since I dont know where the end of the broken spring went.
After checking the spring type, and confirming by weighing the garage door with the other spring detached, I did the run to Lowes last night for the springs and 3 new pulleys. The side that broke damaged the one pulley, and after further inspections I saw one of the stationary pulleys had no bearings left inside. Did the obligatory Youtube DIY refresh last night before bed just to make sure I had the sequence correct in my head to replace everything.
instead of Zwift this was my lunchtime activity today. The only really tricky part was it was so cold my fingers kept going numb so I had to duck inside a few times to warm up. Otherwise everything went pretty smooth. I had some trouble routing the safety cable back through the spring since parts of it were a little kinked, but after some quick thinking I used a skinny tape measure and a piece of duct tape to snake it through since I couldnt find any string in the garage (found it afterwards of course).
The new springs have a double coil on the ends so hopefully these last a bit longer than the ones I installed last time. If anyone every plans to try this DIY the main thing to stay safe is to be sure to brace the garage door in the up position. I used a 6' long 2x4 wedged under the door and then I tied it to the garage track with bungee cords, plus a vice grip pliers on each side of the track. this came in handy since at one point i clipped the 2x4 with my foot and it came loose, but the vice grips held the door in place.
easy to see the other spring was shot too. Took me about 1.5 to 2 hours start to finish including tool cleanup and only cost me $40.
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
Just changed two of the three doors and the last one is also due soon. I changed them once shortly after moving in 15 years ago. Seems like around 10 years is the life span but depends how much you open the doors. We actually park cars in ours so for us lots of traffic. We also us the 140# springs as our doors are solid engineered wood, and I could hear the openers struggle as the springs got weaker. I couldn't lift them without the help of the springs when installing new openers.
iman29
Well-Known Member
Yeah wife’s side is definitely used the most especially for coming in and out by the boys too since it’s closest to the inside entry door. Lucky for me also the garage doors are “lightweight” insulated type But still weigh like 90-100 lbs based on the weighing method I found online (bathroom scale!). I did have to use a little muscle to pull the door up manually but I did it in stages by sliding a milk crate under it to get it partially open then squat and lift it the rest of the way. If I had yours I dunno how I would have done it without some help lifting.
So I used the 90# springs like on the other door and it’s all good.
qclabrat
Well-Known Member
rlb
Well-Known Member
It’s fine when opened by hand, opener broke last fall so I had to do it the old fashioned way for a while. Still want to check into them but I’ll promptly forget to do anything .
Any dishwasher pros here?
My Kitchenaid isn't cleaning the bottom rack. I've checked the filter, cleaned all the holes in the spinning arms. I'm not sure if enough water is staying on the bottom of the floor of the washer. I've read it should cover wall to wall. If I start and stop a cycle and check, the bottom only seems to fill the round hole shown below. It doesn't seem to fill beyond that. The float moves up and down freely as does anything that spins. Despite being able to spin I don't think the bottom one is spinning as I marked on arm and every time I open the door it's in the exact same place.
Machine is almost 9 years old so the goolgles say it's not worth paying someone to fix it. Any suggestions before the President's Day sales end?
My Kitchenaid isn't cleaning the bottom rack. I've checked the filter, cleaned all the holes in the spinning arms. I'm not sure if enough water is staying on the bottom of the floor of the washer. I've read it should cover wall to wall. If I start and stop a cycle and check, the bottom only seems to fill the round hole shown below. It doesn't seem to fill beyond that. The float moves up and down freely as does anything that spins. Despite being able to spin I don't think the bottom one is spinning as I marked on arm and every time I open the door it's in the exact same place.
Machine is almost 9 years old so the goolgles say it's not worth paying someone to fix it. Any suggestions before the President's Day sales end?
Cole
Well-Known Member
Pretty sure people love Bosch... I'm happy with my LG ... Buy a new one...
I have to waste a day or two before I come to that conclusion. Today was day one.
Cole
Well-Known Member
I get it. But I think you wasted more than a day or two on the laptop, didn't you? Lol
Yup. And just paid that bill yesterday. Went long with a MacBook Pro. Let's see how it lasts. The differences are still driving me crazy.