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Our new (to us 2 years ago) house came with a large (maybe 36 square feet of floor) tiled shower in the master bath. The inspector warned me that it leaked but I hoped it was simply a problem with the plumbing. I tested the shower pan by sealing the drain and filling the pan with water drawn from elsewhere in the house. It leaked! Water ran under the house. The right thing to do would be to tear it out and replace it but that will be a major undertaking. I wondered if there was something I could do that would delay this major bill? How about coating the floor and bottom rows of tile up to the bench with Epoxy Waterproofer? We decided to try it.

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Oddly, there is nothing about a ½” pipe that is ½”, be it copper, iron, or PVC. Nice tables with the internal and external dimensions of pipe of various materials.

• Hannah’s blog of her adventures
• Map on MSN Encarta
• Weather
• Hirabayashi JHS and pictures
• Kanno JHS and some pictures of the school
• Elementary schools

Kelly’s engineer estimates beam thickness as 1/2 inch per foot of span.

It appears to have a defective washer. Not an ordinary O-ring unfortunately but rather a gasket with a “frill” on it. Their customer service number is 800-782-2385. I think it is a 104-557HC. I called on 7 January and they are sending and entire “stem” rather than just the O-ring. On 12 January I received a new complete “stem” for my faucet. Great customer service. I would have been happy with just the gasket but this will get it working again. B&K Mueller is a quality company. I’ll buy and recommend their stuff for sure.

On further examination I found that the tubular shaft was cracked allowing water to enter it and spray out the knob. I soldered the cracks and it seems to work now.

Replaced 1 April, 9 December

Says “lasts up to 90 days”. What does that mean? The upstairs unit runs an average of 3 hours per day. So replace at 270 hours? The downstairs unit runs 2.3 hours per day, so replace it sooner? That makes no sense.

I’ll check them once per month.

Dakota Alert WPT-3000

We’re very pleased with it. No false alarms, no misses either. We no longer need a doorbell.

Installed 31 July 2006. Batteries appear to last about 9 months.

Replaced east side battery on 26 January 2007 because of battery defect.
Replaced both batteries on 7 May 2007. Alarm was still working but sounds twice for a single car when the battery is weak.
Replaced east side battery on 2 Feb 2008, was sounding twice.

Replaced with GE GXWH20F to get the mounting bracket on 10 January 2006
New cartridge on:

• 12 March 2006
• 08 June 2006 (too long, filter was failing)
• 13 August 2006 (no sign of failure)
• 22 October 2006
• 20 December 2006
• 3 March 2007
• 5 May 2007
• 15 July 2007 (much less silt than usual)
• 30 September 2007
• 22 December 2007
• 16 March 2008
• 6 June 2008
• 29 July 2008 (pressure switch failed, pump running continuously, probably stirred up extra silt)

Generac Guardian 15kW/H

Installed 31 October 2005.

Changed oil, oil filter, air filter 11 November 2006. 19 hours on meter.
Changed oil, oil filter, air filter, checked plugs, on 17 November 2007. 34 hours on meter after running 4 hours during an outage.

Oil filter is Fram PH4967
Air filter is Fram CA101 (not available in stores)
Plugs are RC12YC (2) gap 0.020 inch
Oil is 1.7 quarts of 5W-30 synthetic

Pumped 21 October 2006 by J.C. Johnson Septic Service. He says it looks good. Suggested adding copper sulfate to discourage the tree roots. This web page at the University of Georgia supports adding copper sulfate and suggests 2 pounds per 300 gallons no more than 2 times per year. He says maple trees are the worst.

Plan to pump again in 2009.