Things I learned today

[wendyzski]

I now generally know where most of the circuit breakers in my place go.

I have one "mystery breaker" that we never did find out what it did. (I do actually know TWO women in Germany and neither of them has said "cut it out" yet)

I also have one outlet that doesn't work and I don't know why. I do however know what circuits all the OTHER outlets around it are, so if I should decide to pop it open and see what isn't connected I am unlikely to fry myself.

My sewing room closet light will likely never blow out as it seems to be on the super-duper double-breaker circuit that powers the stove and the fridge.

Empirical evidence suggests that breaker #2 actually controls ashtalet's cell phone because every time I flipped it we got disconnected.

But most importantly, I know which circuit the overhead light in the bedroom is on so that I am that much closer to actually INSTALLING that ceiling fan my brother gave me for X-mas.

Last night I finally hung the last shelf in the workroom. I also learned that I am unskilled at best at the art of using wall anchors. Of the 4 screws I put in the wall while doing this, 3 of them ended up as larger-than-necessary holes patched with spackle with a wall anchor sort of glued into place in the center. No I haven't actually put anything on the shelf yet....

A couple of weeks ago I put in those nifty caulking strips along my tub edge. 3 days later they all fell off. So tonight I finally peeled them off, used 'Contractor's Solvent" to dissolve and scrape off all the olf glue and caulk and then washed off the solvent. Now there is a box fan (which I rewired this afternoon) sitting in the tub making sure everything is really dry before I recaulk it before bed.

I appear to have managed to repair the leak in one of my radiator pipes. I got some stuff called "metal putty" which is sort of a cross between modeling clay and epoxy. You break some off and knead it together for a minute till it's all mixed (it gets pretty warm) and then you have about 5 minutes to smush it into whatever you need plugged/patched/etc. I scrubbed the surface down with steel wool beforehand, and let it cure overnight with the radiator off overnight. The radiator has cycled on at least 4 times today and no signs of a leak. (I would have gotten 2-3 cups of water out by now before).

So all in all I got rather a lot of useful things accomplished this weekend. Go me!

Comments

[capi.livejournal.com]

Rock ON, Wendy! Independence is a GRAND thing!

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

Brice is an electrician, if you need some help with wiring. jcw_da_dmg was over at raven_ap_morgan's place after his Spot Birthday Party on Saturday, and probably saw and heard about how Brice rewired Raven's new studio. Or maybe they just listened to some music. Brice also helped with the phone, and he can do some basic carpentry and patchwork. He also has an insane number of power tools. You can probably figure out how to contact us.

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I took theatrical lighting in college, so I'm okay on basic electrical stuff. I've replaced outlets and switches before, and have replaced cords on a couple of things Pepper got at - this afternoon it was the box fan.

So I'm reasonably confident that I can do the ceiling fan myself - the only unknown is if I open things up and find I need a different kind of box to support the weight, and if so I have a really good hardware store 2 blocks down the street.

Is he any good at plumbing? Sometime this year I plan to replace my crappy pedestal sink that was never attached to the wall properly with a traditional vanity. I don't know a lot about faucets, though I have a couple of books.

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

He's done a few sinks & toilets, doesn't like bathtubs. I think what you're describing, we could do that.

[msimon777.livejournal.com]

Care to help out with home repairs in Madison? You seem pretty good at this stuff!

[sciffy-circo.livejournal.com]

How long can you wait? Brice's stepsister is getting married at UW-Madison on July 4th weekend. We've got a friend in the area we can probably stay with, but if not, maybe we could exchange contact info? Contact us here or sciffycirco at hotmail.

[petronivs.livejournal.com]

"Empirical evidence suggests that breaker #2 actually controls ashtalet's cell phone because every time I flipped it we got disconnected."

This just shows that it powers the secret EMP device a previous resident installed.

"I also have one outlet that doesn't work and I don't know why."

You might open it up and find out that the wires don't actually go anywhere...

[cozit.livejournal.com]

Sounds like your homeowner foo is strong! :-)