Still stalled out, but progress, a little anyway. Found a contractor that's willing to help me get a decent price on the mud. One quoted me 4K for the job, then sent the written quote for 4.5K. Guess who didn't get the job. He pulled the same shenanigans when he did my siding and tried to make off with a bunch of extra materials his crew bought and charged me for. I wasn't real happy to see them trying to load up 10 sheets of 3/8 plywood that I'd paid for. Didn't really have any intention of using him again, but he's a friend of a good neighbor, so I gave him a crack at the price. He missed terribly when he jacked up his initial offer by $500. Another was a youngster, just too new in the business, no accounts with mud sellers, so couldn't get me a break on the mix. Good kid and all that, and would love to help him out in better times, but I can make a lot of phone calls if it means I can knock a third of the cost out of the mud. Last one came in with the same labor estimate as the other two, scoffed at the price that a supplier gave me, and told me he'd make plenty on it if he sold it to me for $50/yard less than everyone else was asking for it. Same aforementioned neighbor has a son that's the manager of the local Harley Davidson shop, and had just done an outstanding deal on a bike for this guy, so he agreed to come by and have a look. The first thing he asked was if I wanted a job building his forms. Gave me a warm fuzzy to impress an obviously long time professional in the concrete biz. He's saying under $4K, which is the best estimate I've had yet. Told him he had the job today. He's trying to so some dickering with the suppliers to get the best price and delivery for me. Reminds me a lot of a guy we used a lot when I was putting myself through school with a job at a swimming pool construction company. Super nice guy. And he didn't miss a beat when I talked to him about some other projects we have in mind.
Meanwhile, my hot water heater died (bottom element blown because it's covered in lime because the tank is nearly half full of sediment that flakes off the elements). Water was cold within 10 minutes of starting the shower, so time to fix that. Made up all the bits and bobs to keep the water outage to a minimum. Cut the 50 year old plumbing (and some 10 year old plumbing from the last time I had this problem), put in all new isolating valves on BOTH sides of the heater, nice SS braid flex lines, and a brand spankin' new Rheem water heater.
Cold water was back on in 20 minutes after I turned it off. 4 hours later, the new heater was filled, bled, and powered up while I was bleeding air out of all the lines. An hour later, the bottom element was off and the top one was on, and the water was already scalding hot. Oh, replaced the shower head in the Master BR shower too, and now, got plenty hot water and a gigantic Waterpik shower head that works wonders on arthritic joints.
Also finished the prior plumbing job that a leaking tap started. Replaced the hot water line to the washer and put a cutoff valve in it too. I like being able to localize leaks and repair jobs, and I seriously doubt there's any code that says I can't have too many valves. Finished up yesterday, and now, I'm trying to get the bottom element (siezed) out of the old tank so I can clean it out, put new elements on it, and put it in the tractor shed so I have some hot water to wash the tractor with. I'll turn it on when I need it, but otherwise just keep it drained. I pulled both elements out before, and was pretty successful with a shop vac and elevating it to swirl out most of the lime. I'll try to collect it this time to show how much lime accumulation there is in 10 years around here.
Still have a leaking blend valve in the main bath shower. I replaced that right after I moved in back in 2004, but the water here has eaten that up too. That'll be the next plumbing project, and the ONLY thing left of the original plumbing will be the copper pipes and the gate valve in the incoming line. I've replaced every other valve in the house now. The regulator howls pretty loudly too, so that may be on the agenda too. I shudder to think what I would have paid to a plumber this year alone. Thank goodness for FFA and Vocational Agriculture (aka Shop) classes in high school, as well a 5 year stint in pool construction.
Finally, I also decided to put a 3-way switch back on my garage lighting. It took a lot of imagination by the electrician that wired that to screw it up so badly and it still work. The wiring looked like a bear's butt sewn up with a grape vine. I had to completely re-wire the 4 way circuit as well as two other switched circuits and one outlet fed off the same breaker. All I have left on that is cover plates. I can now turn the garage lights on and off at three different locations. The switch I took off several years ago during a remodeling episode was in a wall that I deleted at the top of the stairs going into the basement. I mounted it next to the door between the garage and the basement and re-routed the existing wiring which happened to be just long enough. I tried for a while to figure out what the heck the original electrician had done, but finally just gave up and started over. Much cleaner now, and EVERYTHING works. I don't think I'll be doing any 3 way switches in the tractor shed. The wood burning stove will probably be one of the most complex pieces of technology in that shed.
But I'll bet my Honey-Do list got more added to it than I can possibly ever get done. All this was just the last two days.
