Backyard Faucet Water Line Replacement

Shaun got here mid afternoon and we got to work on the water line for the faucet at the back of the house. Since we moved in, it has never been a very strong running faucet. I have a soaker hose hooked up to it to water the tomato plants and it seems to do okay with that job. But if I ever wanted to use it for washing the car, it would be useless.

Pictured above is the valve we are replacing. It is located in the ceiling near the clothes dryer. In this picture, we have removed the valve spicket and are preparing to cut the pipe. Shaun decided that the best thing to do is move the new valve into the closet where the water meter is. From there we will bypass the old pipe, using Pex to run the line back over to the location of the old valve.

This is a picture of the new ball valve and Shaun included a faucet there to be used as a blowout valve to clear the line of water. I'm going to purchase a cap to add to the nozzle, to ensure I don't have to worry about leakage.

Shaun cut out a short section of pipe in that area and I was surprised by the amount of sediment that had built up in it. It was only about three feet long and I could not see through it. No wonder that back faucet runs so slowly.

Shaun will be back on Wednesday to run the Pex line and finish this up.

In other water news, my shower turned cold this morning. The hot water appears to be running in the shower now so I'm thinking this is an anomaly. But I will be keeping a wary eye on this situation.

Water Valves and Electrical Work

We have an outdoor outlet in the side yard that has been inactive since we moved in. I finally got fed up with it and decided to get it rewired and working. I found a circuit box in the basement that it was wired to. I tried to follow the line all the way to the electrical box but that wasn't going to happen.

So, I wired a little jumper from the box to another box, the circuit of which is tied to the microwave oven. And voila, it works. I kind of half assed it from there, not having an outdoor cover that was solid and secure, and the outlet should have a GFI on it.

Today, I full assed it and put together a proper receptacle.

I bought a new box which would work with a cover I had. I pulled out the old outlet and wired in a new GFI outlet. 

It really took some doing to get the cover on and secure. I ended up wrapping a strip of duct tape around the outside seam to make it really watertight. 

So, I'm pretty pleased with my progress with that little job.

Over the weekend, I had Shaun here to fix a couple of water pipe issues we had. You may recall that Shaun is my handyman guy I call for little fixes around the house. He built the deck in front of the Carriage House this past summer. 

The first project was to eliminate this giant array of hoses and valves from when this house had a functioning sprinkler system. It was toast when we moved in 22 years ago and I'm not sure how long it was toasted prior to that. I have actually dug up roots that had grown next to a sprinkler line and squeezed it off like it was strangling it.

For that reason and because there are so many roots out in that yard, I have chosen to not invest in a sprinkler system and just water by hand. As nice as a sprinkler system would be, I see how my neighbor Lou struggles with his every year. Having the wave sprinkler and moving it around, it works for me.

So, we removed the sprinkler array and made just a little more room in that tight little closet where the main water shut off valve is.

There was an old valve in there associated with the sprinkler system that, when you turned it, it leaked profusely. It probably cracked during a cold winter. It wasn't an issue as long as the valve was closed off. Now, it is not an issue because it is gone.

The other major valve repair I had Shaun do was to replace the outside faucet shut off valve with a shiny new half turn ball cock valve. I have been unable to completely shut down the two outside faucets at the front of the house when freezing weather arrived. Now, that will not be a problem and any further concerns about my lines freezing are unwarranted.

I'm hoping Shaun will be back today to fix the shut off valve for the faucet at the back of the house. Then I will be completely able to control my faucet world during the cold winter months.

It is all about control!

Prep for Dump Run

We've been doing a lot of work around the house trying to get more organized. This has all been brought on by the extra space created by the new boiler, which is working great so far.

So, we've been down in the basement doing some reorganizing and out in the Carriage House doing the same. I've finally gotten serious about getting rid of stuff. I've thrown out a bunch a cartoons I did that where years old and lots of bags of Dad's old stuff. I've been a little careful about what we throw out. There was this box that was full of old crap from Dad that all ended up in the trash. However, there was a really cool little curio box that I thought we should hang on to.

Susan got out the polish and cleaned the thing up. Then she went on line and found one just like it for sale for $3,200.00. We're going to check it out and I'm not holding my breath for anything right now. But, that's a cool little find.

In the meantime, the back of the truck is loaded up and I'm ready to go to the dump tomorrow. I hope I weeded out all the little hidden treasures.

Boiler Shelves

Yesterday was kind of a sad day because it was the Mariner's last regular season game. And since they have had such a crappy season, it's their last game for 2026. No playoffs. 

They ended with a losing record...76 wins and 86 loses. They were 5 games back from the Houston Astros who won the American West Division with a record of 81 and 81.

So Baseball is over for me for this year. It's time to move on to other stuff.

I spent part of the weekend putting together racks for the Boiler Room.

Here are some pictures of things down there.

Later today, Susan and I will try to get the shelves organized and loaded with all the stuff they are going to contain.

It's amazing how much room we have down there now. It's really going to be nice and organized down there.

Because of the added space, we are able to reorganize other rooms down in the basement. I took a rickety old metal shelf we were using and moved it to the back room were the outside back door is near the other fridge and freezer. I have it all organized with light bulbs now.

I managed to make it less rickety by screwing it to the wall. That baby is pretty solid now.

It feels like Fall has arrived out there in the world. It's a nice sunny day today but I think our high temp is going to be in the 50's. We have to start thinking about transitioning to colder weather. 

And Ghoul Alert, Halloween is just over a month away!   Eeeeeeeeeek!

Kitchen Faucet Pressure Improvement

Welcome to the first full day of Autumn.

I have returned from my morning travels. I ventured out and took the faucet back to the Depot and then looked at what else they had. Nothing I looked at worked. Partly because the valves on our supply lines are half inch and all the faucets I looked at were 3/8's.

I decided to come home and remove the faucet we have and search for whatever restrictors I could find.

I have tried and tried to remove the nozzle from the hose and all it does is spin. I messed with it a bit and found that by pushing on it and then turning it, it started to spin off. Somehow, pushing on the nozzle unit engaged the threads and I was able to remove it. 

Upon turning on the water with the nozzle removed, I got quite a much more powerful stream of water than we have been getting. That told me the restrictor was in the nozzle head. One of the first things I got to come out of the head was a big chunk of rusty sand. I banged it several times on the counter and got more sandy residue out of the head. I also removed some plastic pieces that were in there that I assumed were causing flow problems as well.

And I was right. The water pressure is much better, and I can live with that, for now. 

So, that all turned out to be a much easier fix than I anticipated and much less expensive than a new faucet, which is a good thing.

Now I can turn my attention to the Boiler Room and getting an idea of how we want to place the shelves.

Inspections and Shelvings

I got a call from the Spokane Building Inspector first thing this morning. He said he would come by around 10:30.

I was out on the front porch reading the newspaper when he walked up. His name was Eric. I took Eric down to the Boiler Room and showed him the new outlet and the Boiler. It took about three minutes for him to say it all looks good and he was outta here.

So, my concerns about him finding problems down there from other projects we have done were assuaged, and we still get to live in the house.

Next project was to get a new faucet for the kitchen sink and to look at some shelving racks for the Boiler Room,

We went to Home Depot and bought a faucet and also looked at some racks. The stuff they had there wasn't what I had in mind, so we went to Costco.

To make parking even more fun at Costco, they had a huge section closed off as they are planning to repave the whole thing...one section at a time.

We got in and found the racks, and I think we are going with the really solid one that is six feet tall and measures 48" x 24". At 95 bucks, I think we will get two.

Once we got home, I started to check out the new faucet and quickly came to the conclusion that it wasn't going to work.

So, that's going back and we will proceed into the future and figure something else out.

 

Faucet Inspection and Boiler Inspection

I got under the kitchen sink today to see if I could figure out how to improve the water pressure. The first thing I did after removing all the stuff under the sink, was to disconnect the hot water line of the faucet from the hot water supply line. I attached a short hose that I was able to direct into a bucket and turned on the valve.

The water pressure was quite strong, much better than what the faucet delivers. 

And it only took about thirty seconds for the water to turn hot.

Obviously, we are replacing the faucet. We will go to the Depot or some place and see what we can find. However, before I open up the new faucet and install it, I'm going to closely inspect the old faucet and see if there are limiters in the hoses that keep the water pressure at such a useless force.

So, stand by cuz this is not resolved.

In Boiler news, Element Air hired an electrician to come in and install an outlet in the wall next to where they hung the new boiler. Apparently, the electrician pulled a permit. 

Other than our re-roofing project a few years ago, there has not been a permit used on this property for anything we have done.

Because the electrician pulled a permit, the inspector told me that Element Air needed a permit to install the boiler. 

So, after some wrangling around, we now have a permit for the boiler, and I guess the inspector will be calling on Monday to arrange the inspection. 

Because I have done all the wiring down in the basement, I'm just a little worried about getting the inspection. My plan is to show the inspector as little of the basement as possible.

I guess that would include any access to this Blog.

Tankless Success

I have just completed my first tankless hot water shower. It was lovely. The water was hot for the whole shower, and it took about the same amount of time for the water to get hot in the shower.

Our kitchen sink is another matter. I just timed it and it took over three minutes before the water was hot.

We have had an issue with the kitchen sink since the remodel. There is not a lot of pressure in the water flow which adds to the time it takes for the hot water to get to the sink.

I'm considering buying another faucet to see if that solves the water pressure problem. Another fix for the hot water delay is to buy and install an under sink hot water tank. It's a small one-gallon tank that will serve the kitchen sink only. 

We have resisted doing this because we did not want to lose the space the small water heater will take up. I'm investigating the possibility of installing the small tank in the basement.

Boiler Installation - Finally

The days are getting shorter and the night are getting cooler. So, it is perfect timing that the guys from Element Air have started installing our new boiler yesterday. They got the new boiler unit hung and vented.

Remember this?!

This is how it looks at the moment. 

Quite a difference.

We have so much more room down in that space. We are thinking of purchasing some nice, sturdy shelving racks that we can place down there. In the meantime, they have a lot of work to do.

Zane has just told me they won’t get it done today because their suppler is out of a crucial part.

One of my projects for today was to put away all our air conditioners for the season. We have one in the kitchen and one in each of the big bedrooms upstairs.

It turned out to be a fairly easy job. The most difficult part was getting the kitchen a.c. upstairs to be stored. I’m not supposed to lift anything that heavy even though it is well within my capabilities. But Susan won’t let me.

So, we carried it up together. It went very well and everything is packed away for 2026.

Now all we need is a furnace.

Wedding Report

The wedding is in the books and the best thing we can say about it is, “IT IS OVER!”

Everything went very well. The weather was just right. Not too hot and not too cool and no rain.

We had right around 50 people and it was all very manageable. Susan and Mark did the bulk of the work concerning getting all the food prepared, out, and cleaned up. Well, lots of people helped with the cleanup.

As I said earlier, it is over and we have decided we will never do it again.  The people that have wedding venues and operate them definitely earn their money.

Here are some pictures.

First Mow

It's been about two months since the new lawn was installed. It received its first mowing yesterday. It looks pretty good. Here is a before and after picture but it's thrown off by the amount of sun in the first picture.

We are approaching the big wedding weekend, which is only a few days away. The stress factor is arising.

Good-Bye Dead Patch

 Today was another step forward in some major yard work. I have been fighting with my Wall Street Parking Strip for over 20 years. Despite my intense efforts to water this strip, the grass refuses to stay green.

Here is how it looked as of this morning.

And here it is how it looks now.

We chose this low maintenance alternative after talking to various neighbors and seeing the results from our previous landscaping where we laid smaller gravel around the garage and Carriage House.

With the help of our neighbors, Fred and Cole Anderson, we have transformed that patch of dead grass to this low maintenance strip of rock.

Here are some pictures of the process.

I'm quite pleased with the aftermath of this project. I'm waiting to see if there is any backlash. Generally, those of us who live around the park prefer green space but technically, this little strip is not "on the park".

Water Bill

I have been dreading this day.

The bill from the city utilities department finally showed up and as expected, it was quite high. It was, in fact, about double our usual bill of $125.00.

I have been watering the new lawn twice a day since they laid the sod. Plus, I've been trying to keep up with my regular watering schedule for the front and east yards. The east yard, hidden in the back by arbor vitae, looks great. The front yard, the one anyone driving by can see, looks pretty sad. It has tints of green to it, but many other shades of brownish-green and bare spots where no grass grows.

Year of the Yard

It's been a busy month here at the house and I have yet to post any of the improvements.

Let's start with the new deck. We hired Shawn to build us a deck in front of the Carriage house. Here is the photo progression from start to finish.

Isn't that awesome?! It's our new favorite place.

Let's move on to the west side yard. It started out looking like this.

And now,

We are loving this new yard. I've been watering the hell out of it since it was laid in on the 13th. I am not looking forward to seeing our next water bill. After dropping $10K on this project, I'll be okay with a high water bill.

We also laid some sod in the other back yard by the new deck. We also completed the little area where I've been burning the hell out of that damn tree trunk root. We repainted the arbor that blocks the junk space between the garage and Carriage House.

So, here's how that looks.

The last thing we had to do was build a gate for that little opening there. Also, Susan has been prepping the garage for some touch up paint.

And there we have it. We're pretty happy with the whole thing. Stand by there's even more to come.