Irrigation Problems

 Linda wanted to water some new plants in the front yard, so I went out to turn on those zones of the irrigation system.  The water supply for the irrigation system is controlled by a valve near the water meter -- a big yellow lever is used to turn it on or off.  We turned it off back in October.  We turned it on now.

 But nothing worked.  It seemed that there was a trickle getting thru, but not enough to see anything in the yard.

 We suspected it was the irrigation controller.  The controller is in the  garage, and controls all the valves that open the various irrigation zones.  It normally works on a timed schedule, but also allows manual operation.  The schedule is set to water on Wednesday morning.  But the controller is so old that it does not "know" which day is Wednesday, when it is told what year it is.  

 

I think the internal tables that keep track of leap years stopped working in 2000.  Leap years are multiple-of-four, but not for centuries, unless it is a multiple of 400.  So 2000 was a leap year, but the controller didn't think so.  Or something like that.  There are only 14 different "year" calendars -- defined by the day of the week that January 1 falls on, plus the leap year variants.  But telling the controller it was 2026 doesn't get the correct calendar.  I had to lie and say it was 2038 (or something like that) to get the correct calendar.

So we replaced the controller.  We bought a new Orbit 12-zone irrigation controller.

 First we removed the old controller, making sure that the wires to each zone were properly numbered.  

 Then we installed the new controller.  Originally it was too high up on the wall, and one of the zone wires would not reach where it needed to attach, so we lowered it on the wall, allowing everything to be wired.

 Then we could plug it in and start it up.

The entire process took about 3 hours, but still the system would not work.  We had exactly the same behavior as before.

At this point, we decided to call for professional help.  We called Sprinkler Medics.  We had used them before.  It took a week or so before they could come out.

When the guy showed up, it took him about 5 minutes to solve the problem.

It turns out that there is more than one cut-off valve for  the sprinkler mechanism.  The big yellow handle is attached to a back-flow preventer and it has maybe 3 different cut-off values.  One of the other valves had been turned off.  Probably by the plumber when he was fixing the leak in the neighbor's water line. 

 

Turning that second cut-off valve on solved our problem.

While the technician from Sprinkler Medics was here, he checked out all the system ($115).  Found one broken head, which I replaced.  So we should be good to go once we get to irrigation season.

 

More Hooks in Garage

 Somehow the hooks that we use to store Linda's tomato cages when not in use no longer provide enough space for all of her cages.  So we bought some more 

 

and installed them on the other side of the garage

 which provides additional space for storing the tomato cages.

 

 

Removing the Burr Oak

 We planted a Burr Oak in the back yard, over close to the Bamboo Grove, behind the Jungle.  There was a tree in the neighborhood, dropping huge acorn seeds onto the sidewalk, and we brought 5 home and planted them.  Three of those grew and we selected the best one and planted it in the back yard.  Over the years, it grew into an 8-foot sapling.

 But upon further consideration, it really is in the wrong place.  Too close to the fence, the Jungle, and the Bamboo Grove.  So we posted it on Craig's List and gave it away.

A guy came and helped dig it up, leaving us with just a hole in the ground.

 The hole goes down to bedrock, and is about 18 inches deep.  Not really enough room for the roots of a big tree. 

We filled it back in with dirt and leaves.  It will probably settle over time, as the leaves decay, and we will need to add more dirt when that happens.

 

New Refrigerator

 The old refrigerator had developed problems.  Water accumulated under the meat/cheese drawer.  There was a large rust spot on the back.  And the ice maker stopped working.  So it seemed time to get a new one.

Consulting Consumer Reports, suggested either a Whirlpool (which is what we have) or an LG, from either Home Depot or Lowe's.  A trip to Home Depot to view the suggested units, and we bought a new Whirlpool refrigerator. Around $2500 with delivery, pick-up of the old refrigerator, and a 5-year extended warranty. Our previous experience suggests that if you don't have an extended warranty, the unit breaks quickly.  But buying an extended warranty (which you won't use) will appease the Refrigerator Gods, and it will continue to work fine.

In the meantime, we moved the old fridge out of it's place in the kitchen, to allow for the new one.  This required disconnecting the water line to the non-working ice maker.  The cut-off valve for that line did not quite stop the flow of water.  But it looked like a slow leak, and so I just put the water line into a bucket for the one night until the new fridge was delivered.   That was a mistake.  It leaked more than that, and by the morning, the bucket was full, and had overflowed onto the floor.  

The water then flowed back towards the wall, under the wall and into the pantry, the utility room, and out into the garage.  I mopped all that up and set up a fan to dry things out.  

But it was also clear that we needed a new cut-off valve.  Carlos (the plumber) found that there was some strange plumbing in the line, and so the new simplified line did not reach down to the plastic box that held the cut-off valve.  I suggested that we just move the plastic box up to where the  new line was.  

We did that, but that left a hole in the sheetrock below the box, and above the box.

 I patched those holes.

 and painted it to match the existing Hemp paint color.

The new refrigerator was delivered the next day.  The problem we had, generally, is getting the refrigerator thru the doors to the kitchen.  Removing the handles from the fridge helps.  Then it can be brought in thru the front door (if you take the door off).

 Then, removing the lower freezer door, the fridge can be lifted up to clear the kitchen island.  (This also required removing the handle from the dishwasher).

 and then positioned in it's proper place.   The same path was used to remove the old refrigerator.

The water line for the ice maker went on easily to the new cut-off valve, in the relocated plastic box, and we have a new functioning refrigerator.

 

 

Leaking Water at the Water Meters

 In preparation for a new water meter, we had to disconnect the water line to the ice maker.  The cut-off valve by the refrigerator itself was 40 years old and would no longer completely stop the flow of water, so we went out to turn off the water at the meters.  Imagine my surprise when the box containing the cut-off valve for our house water was completely filled with water!  And so was the water meter box next to it.  

A call to Austin Water got a guy out to examine the problem.  He determined that the problem was a leak in one of the two water lines, and by cutting off first our water and then the neighbors, narrowed it down to the neighbors water line.  So completely unrelated to my own project.

Gerry, the neighbor, had used a plumber (Carlos) before and so called him.  We dug down and found the leak at a bend in the PVC line going to his house.  We excavated out a much larger area, and dug down until the leak and the connecting pipes were exposed.  One difficulty was that Gerry's cut-off valve would not completely cut off his water, so we had to turn it off at the meter.  The next difficulty was that just below the leakin joint, was another joint -- a T joint that sent the water to his house and to his irrigation system.  There was not enough room between the two joints to remove the leaking one and replace it, so both of them had to be removed and replaced.  Plus we may as well replace the homeowner's cut-off valve at the same time.

That was accomplished.  Of note is that the plumber replaced part of the PVC line with a new type of water line -- PEX.  So their line goes from brass at the meter to a short piece of cast iron pipe, to a brass cut-off valve, to PEX to PVC to connect to the two outgoing lines.

 

 We then had to reconstruct the dirt around the cut-off valves.  Before we did that, we used a reciprocating saw to cut out the root that was growing under the meters and down along the water lines.  We dug out a bucket of dirt from under the water meters.

 We repositioned the irrigation box over the two cut-off valves.

 and then poured about 150 pounds of sand over the actual plumbing lines.

 Then we put the dirt back over the sand, and around the meter boxes, removing rocks and roots, and putting a layer of mulch over that to finish off the exterior.

 

Shoe Rack in Back Bedroom Closet

 As part of a general clean-up, we found we did not replace the shoe rack in the computer room closet, so we decided to put it in the Back Bedroom closet.  It was slightly too wide, so we had to trim some off the ends, but otherwise it seems to fit just fine.

 

Replacing Three Smoke and CO Detectors

 Our Nest Smoke and CO detectors have started complaining that two of them -- the oldest two in the hallway and by the Master Bedroom -- need to be replaced.  They only run for 10 years, and then have to be replaced.  Even tho they are hard-wired into the electrical power.  

And in looking at the whole house, we remembered there is an odd-one-out in the loft. Checking it, it appears it has been dead for some indeterminate about of time.  So best to replace it too. It was installed in July 2002.

Our first impulse would be to get new Nest units, but, alas, Google decided to get out of the business and no longer makes Nest smoke detectors.  They seem to want to push us to a First Alert unit advertised as "Nest compatible", but the reviews of that on Amazon suggest it is not very well made.  Lots of "dead on arrival" and "won't work with our existing Nest units" reviews.  The Nest detectors seemed to be really well made.

So checking Consumer Reports, their best rated smoke and CO detectors are made by Kidde.  The specific model listed in Consumer Reports is no longer being made, but the successor unit seems to be the 30CUA10.  Amazon has these, for hardwired units, in two variants.  One that beeps and chirps, and another that beeps, chirps, and speaks.  Our experience with the Nest says that it is much better if the unit speaks.  It is better for it to say "Smoke" or "CO" than to make some beep or chirp that we have to decode.  If I can even hear them.  So we got three of the voice activated hardwired Kidde 30CUA10 models from Amazon.  $209.97 for the 3.

Again these will have to be replaced in 10 years, but we have two more Nest units (one in the utility room, one in the Living Room by the sliding door to the back porch; those will need to be replaced by 2031 at the latest.)

Let's start in the hallway.  In the corner, next to the computer room, we have a Nest.

 We can twist the Nest off and unplug the power supply to expose the mounting ring and socket.

 Loosening the mounting screws to remove the mounting ring, turning off circuit 35, and removing the electrical nuts gets us the bare wall and power lines.

 Reversing this, we can use the same electrical nuts to attach the new power supply plug and the same mounting screws to attach the new mounting plate.  Note the two blackened "A" on the mounting plate.  I used a magic marker to make them visible.  By putting them horizontal, the new detector should be straight up and down.

 which lets us plug the power supply adapter into the new Kidde detector, and then screwing it onto the new mounting plate, and we have a new smoke and carbon monoxide detector.

 

It turns out that the smoke detector in the Loft is also on circuit 35, so we do the same thing up there to install the second new unit.

 And our third new unit, on circuit 25, by the Master Bedroom, gets the same treatment.

 And, of course, we have to turn circuits 35 and 25 back on.

These new Kidde detectors are not as polished as the old Nest detectors.  They do have a voice but it is very limited ("Fire", "Warning: Carbon Monoxide").  Nothing like "this is a test, only a test.  It will be loud." They do not communicate.  They don't report status to an app.  Or send me monthly e-mails saying everything is working fine.  And yet, they aren't that much cheaper than the Nests were.

 

Washing the Windows

We have washed the windows before: 2014, 2020, 2023, and it looks like they need it again.  We used pretty much the same approach.  Reviewing the 2023 posting, we saw that (a) we need two bottles of Windex Outdoor, and (b) we should have some left over from 2023.  We bought one new bottle from Home Depot 

 and then used the left-overs from 2023 to refill it when we ran out.

So the process was:

 a. spray the window with water to get anything wet and soft

b. use the Windex outdoor as a soap solution, to clean the window

c. then rinse it off with water again.

Doing all the windows, plus the windows in the doors, and the garage doors, takes about 2 hours.  We did it thru the screens, so the screens get washed too.

Then we went back over all the windows, took off the screens, and cleaned them with a bottle of  Rain-X 2-in-1 Glass Cleaner + Rain Repellent Spray which we got at HEB for $6.88. on the outside.  

 

That allowed us to clear off the water spots left from washing them with Windex Outdoors.  The hope is that the "rain repellent" part of the Rain-X spray might keep them a bit cleaner longer.

 That took another two or three days, part time.  

Finally, we went around to all the windows on the inside and cleaned them with just plain Windex (or whatever generic equivalent we are using).  That took another couple of days, part time.

 

A Path in the Front Yard (Part 1)

 Linda likes her front yard of native grasses and wild flowers, but it's difficult to get from the front of the house -- the porch or the sidewalk -- to the other side of the front yard -- the water hose -- because of all the grass and flowers.

 So the thought is to put a path that runs from the stairs in the retaining wall by the sidewalk to the water faucet at the corner of the house.  While we discussed a rock path, we are uncertain about it, so our first approach is to just put down mulch to make a path.  If that works out, we can come back and put down stone.

The other problem is that the ground in the front yard continues to subside.  My explanation for that is that the dirt that we put in had a high compost ratio, and as the compos decomposes, the level of the lawn sinks.  To counter that, we first want to bring in more dirt, to get the path level back to where we want the front yard to be.

 We are buying the dirt from Home Depot -- Texas Native Enriched Topsoil at $2.87 for a 40 pound bag.  The path is about 40 feet long, so I estimate I will need 46 bags, and it will take 3 trips to get it all.

 One advantage of this approach is that it allows us to lay out the path in 40 pound chunks which can be moved to get the shape we want.

 Linda decided the path should bend out a bit more.

 And once the path was located in place, we could see that it would have a negative impact on the irrigation system -- cutting one of the central sprinkler heads off from the front of the yard.  So we decided to split the line and add another head on the other side of the new path.

First we dig out from the existing irrigation line to where we want the new head to be.

 Then we cut into the existing line and add a Tee to run water to the new head.

 We run the new line out to where the head will be.

 Screw in the new head -- the same sort of head as all the other front yard heads; we had a couple of spares -- and then put all the excavated dirt back over the new line.

 With that taken care of, and the new path in it's approved location, we can start removing the plastic bags from the dirt and leaving only the dirt path behind.

 Once we have the dirt path started, we can get the Mulch.  We use the standard native hardwood mulch in the 2 cubic feet bags, but find they are cheaper at HEB ($2.99 a bag) instead of Home Depot ($3.67). Ten bags, plus sales tax, comes to $32.37.

 With the mulch spread over the new dirt, we have, effectively, a raised path going from the stairway at the sidewalk,

 across the yard to the retaining wall near the corner of the house.

 The only down side is that it produced a large number of dirty, empty, plastic bags.

 But we have a simple dirt/mulch path from the sidewalk across the yard to the water faucet.

 

 

Painting the last walls of the Garage

 With the ceiling painted and the left and right walls painted, and the front, we are left with just the back walls to be painted.  

 First we have to clear off all the stuff hanging from the walls.

Then we use the Heavy Cream that was left over from the ceiling and paint everything.  Two coats.

 

 This looks very bland.  Everything is just white.  But once we load all the stuff back on the walls, you hardly notice.