Recent content by The Old Maid

Thanks, @Reach4. @breplum, I got a smile from the bubble-gum sentiment. Window replacement, eventually. Just not before the stingers are extremely dead. Thanks all.

We have yellow-jackets. They have gnawed into the exterior basement-window frame to get to the void beneath the exterior siding. Unfortunately a few of them gnawed around the window to make a pinhole into the basement. Obviously the window is old and should be replaced. It was a homemade job...

Septic tank has been pumped. All drains appear to be functioning normally. Now we have to figure out why the septic tank seemed to be at capacity an entire two years ahead of schedule. But that's a subject for a different thread. Thanks to the forums for your help!

New developments. To ease the strain on the affected drain line, we decided to wash our hair in the kitchen sink, like hippies. The tub backed up (dirty backup). The bathroom line and kitchen line are at different angles and have different lengths. The kitchen line is easily twice as long...

Thank goodness, we do have outside cleanouts for both the kitchen line and the bathroom line. Haven't had a chance to check them yet. You mentioned altitude i.e. the lowest drain before the clog. That's what has had us stymied. The toilet misbehaved first. From highest to lowest on the drain...

Toilet/sink/shower have one drain into septic tank. Day 1: clean water overflowed from toilet. No other symptoms. Used plunger. Some "air" sounds. Days 2-4: toilet failed to flush if used more than 2 times in a 12-hour period. Eventually subsided. Liquid drain cleaner worked once, then not at...

Not to my knowledge. The box is an ancient Federal (in fact it's a little hard to read what amp), but the double-toggles look like those I've seen in any store. The two facts put together make me think that the part/s that require "special" order may be better off dumped. We're trying to figure...

Electrician said they'd have to special-order. True, the circuit breaker box is a model they don't seem to make anymore, but is that so important? I was under the impression that (for one) Home Depot sells Square D equivalents. In fact, it might be better not to get the exact replacement. It's...

Update: it was a combination of frayed wiring and possibly bad breaker. With the breaker switched and the wire replaced, we saved the cost of calling out the plumber for what turned out to be a job for the electrician. Thank you for your help!

The breaker is in a separate, dedicated water-heater-only breaker box with a separate, dedicated water-heater-only electric meter. And yes, we've been doing much flipping. There's just no catch, no snap, no stick. It wants to hang down and stay down. So we're calling an electrician rather than...

The dedicated circuit breaker for the water heater clicked off when we did a load of laundry. It was the fact that we can't turn it back on that is the problem. It won't stay snapped up in the ON position. There's actually no feel of "snap" to it at all. It's true that we haven't drained the...

We had a toilet "surprise" after moving into an estate-sale residence. It turned out to be tree roots in the lines. As long as you're looking at the lines, see if you have "clean-out taps" and a "back-check valve." Both are handy for keeping toilet-surprise residue on the outside of the house...

Thanks. *must remember to stop by bank*

The scene: Neighbor says their well isn't working. (Dry? leaking? broken? dunno.) A boring truck appears in yard to make a big hole. A new wide-cap (spread your hand) appears in Neighbor's aforementioned yard. So, am assuming they read the whole megillah, so to speak. Fast-forward one week...

Seems the decent thing to do, if it doesn't get someone in trouble. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate a free service call, but if the well guy drove some distance to get there, do we offer a $20, or what? Yea, nay, or wrong $$ amount?