Fence Gate Problem

The new fence was put in just last year, and it has worked fine.  But somehow, over that time, the space between the left gate (by the garage) and the stationary part has grown.

 To the point that the latch no longer reaches from the fence to the post.

 This isn't a problem for the gate on the other side of the house.

The simplest solution seemed to be to move the stationary latching mechanism closer to the gate.  So we removed it, found a piece of 1x3 oak (leftover oak flooring), and attach it to the post, moving the latching mechanism about an inch closer to the gate.

 That still leaves the wider gap, but means that the latch properly works with the stationary locking mechanism.

 

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.

 

Update:  We went back and dug out the dirt around the irrigation backflow valve so that it should be easy to see all the various parts. 

 If we put a piece of cardboard underneath it, it is easier to see the two smaller cut-off valves on the side of the backflow valve.

 

 

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.