Stupid DIY jobs the previous owners did

[maddash]

Ok, so I'm kinda an idiot myself. We've been in our house for 3-4 years now, and the dishwasher never did a great job of washing the dishes. It one of those lower profile ones that can fit in a smaller kitchen, which is fine because we don't have many dishes to wash.... anyway, there'd always be a soapy residue left on the plates. Doing dishes isn't "my chore", I do laundry, so for a while I didn't even think about it. I just thoughy maybe it wasn't a great dishwasher because of it's low profile size. But we still tried things like different detergent with no luck. Finally, last night I got fed up with wiping soap of a "clean" plate and thought this thing over. Could it be the water pressure? I look under the sink and the line is connected fine, no crimp or anything... but then I notice the inlet hose to the washer isn't connected to the hot water line, it's connected to the cold water line. All this time we've been washing dishes with cold water. It was actually an easy thing to miss (although I should have check the line years ago), because the dishes were always hot after taking them out. Of course, that was from the heating element that was used in the dry cycle - the actual washing was all done with cold water. Ok, easy enough fix, I'll just swap the lines.... I don't know a whole lot about plumbing, but the fixtures they put on the lines are on there good. I tried all last night to get them to budge, but with no luck at all. And the way things are setup, I can't swap the inlet hose without getting those valves off...

Anyone have advice for getting those valves off? Basically, I have a cold and hot water line coming up from the basement, through the wall, and under the sink. Those lines are caped with a female "nut" I guess you'd call it, that the male capped valves screw in to. You have to hold the nut in place - as it rotates on the pipe - and turn the body of the valve. The valve for the hot water just has a line going up to the sink and a nob to turn the water one and off. The cold water line has a valve with the line for the sink, the nob, and also a male fitting for the dishwasher inlet. I can't get either of those to budge... although I haven't used a hammer/mallet yet. Any tricks for those guys?

That's just one of the stories of stupid DIY work the previous owners did that I have to fix. How about you folks? Any good stories of DIY jobs that you have to repair?

[Popeye_Card]

Interesting. My dishwasher has the same problem with not rinsing soap off. I just figured it was old and needed to be replaced, so I've just been doing dishes by hand (I don't generate many dirty dishes). I need to check if mine is hooked up the same way.

Anyway, from what I'm gathering from you, I would put a wrench (or channel locks) on the nut, then use a pipe wrench to grab and turn the valve. Or hold the valve in place and turn the nut. It's always better to use a "breaker bar" than a hammer--i.e. put a piece of pipe over the wrench, and increase your torque by increasing the moment arm.

I don't really have any good stories to share about my house. Except that they used way too much paste on the wallpaper they put up.

[planet planet]

Painting woodwork's a good one. If I never have to strip paint again, I would be a very happy camper.

[maddash]

Painting woodwork's a good one. If I never have to strip paint again, I would be a very happy camper.

I am always amazed to see the beautiful wood framing in old houses painted over.

[maddash]

Interesting. My dishwasher has the same problem with not rinsing soap off. I just figured it was old and needed to be replaced, so I've just been doing dishes by hand (I don't generate many dirty dishes). I need to check if mine is hooked up the same way.

Anyway, from what I'm gathering from you, I would put a wrench (or channel locks) on the nut, then use a pipe wrench to grab and turn the valve. Or hold the valve in place and turn the nut. It's always better to use a "breaker bar" than a hammer--i.e. put a piece of pipe over the wrench, and increase your torque by increasing the moment arm.

I don't really have any good stories to share about my house. Except that they used way too much paste on the wallpaper they put up.

Good call on the breaker bar. I used to keep one in my old car to help with a super short wrench for the lug nuts. Might not have a lot of room to maneuver under the sink though....

[Popeye_Card]

Good call on the breaker bar. I used to keep one in my old car to help with a super short wrench for the lug nuts. Might not have a lot of room to maneuver under the sink though....

Not sure about the orientation. I was thinking it could stick outside of the cabinet door, but I don't know if that's the same direction as your wrench would be going.

[wart57]

Good call on the breaker bar. I used to keep one in my old car to help with a super short wrench for the lug nuts. Might not have a lot of room to maneuver under the sink though....

Not sure about the orientation. I was thinking it could stick outside of the cabinet door, but I don't know if that's the same direction as your wrench would be going.

Just be careful not to break the pipe inside the wall!!!!!!

[New Pagodi]

Painting woodwork's a good one. If I never have to strip paint again, I would be a very happy camper.

I am always amazed to see the beautiful wood framing in old houses painted over.

For stripping paint, these can't be beat.

[Hungary Jack]

Soak the thing in WD 40 overnight, and then see if you can loosen the attachments.

Re stoopid things done be previous owners, I cannot change the halogen lights in the master bath because the fixture is flush with the ceiling (10 ft up), and I cannot get my hands or any tools into the space to pop the bulbs out. I'd have to rip the thing out of the wall--which I'll do soon enough when we remodel the bathroom. These aren't the main source of lighting, so it's not a big deal.

The sun room addition that we will soon be the replacing to the tune of about $30K was constructed without any eave to properly shed water from the sloping glass roof. The edge of the roof has a "drip lip" that sheds water beautifully--right onto the threshold of the sliding doors and the outer sill of the two windows. So over time, the water has permeated the outer ends of the floor joists and the wooden deck that supports the room. Two years ago I discovered the extent of the problem when carpenter ants set up shop in the rotten ends of the joists. Jeez.

[planet planet]

Painting woodwork's a good one. If I never have to strip paint again, I would be a very happy camper.

I am always amazed to see the beautiful wood framing in old houses painted over.

For stripping paint, these can't be beat.

This looks awesome, but 400 bones is pretty steep.