Why don't you just post a photo of your 9" taliwhacker too....

That thing probably has a sauna.


I'm sure the kids enjoy that monstrosity.

Haha. We got it at Sam's Club, but they're actually made by some company in Missouri, which is kind of cool.

Yeah - there's no way I'm posting a picture of mine now. My kid loves it and that's all that counts.

I was pretty torn on going with something that large, and I'm the first to admit that it's overkill. We started researching them, though, and while this one was a little bit more expensive than what we originally wanted, it was a helluva lot better value than similarly priced models. We have lots and lots of kids over at our house almost every weekend, and we have two young kids who should enjoy it for the next 10 years. Anyway, we spent too much, but the project turned out well, and it sort of transformed our back yard by giving us a little bit more level play area for the kids and ourselves (you might have noticed the washer boxes back there).

I'm a little perplexed what to do......

We recently re-sided our house, along with windows....the gutter guys haven't been here yet for some reason.

Today, we poured a patio and did some dirt retaining curbs and a step on the back side, between the house and garage....finished pouring around 4.

Anyway, by 6:30 it was a light rain....It started raining hard around 8.

I went out to check, and where the rain is falling off of the house, there is a 1" or so ravine in the hardening concrete the full length of the patio.....

Not knowing what to do, because its a little late to trowel it(let alone in the rain), I threw a tarp over as much of it as I can reach so the water at least wouldnt' hit it so hard.

Ideas on what to do?

My guess is to let it ride out and hope that it didn't do much damage to it. Otherwise, you may be looking at repaving it again, but that's just my opinion.

Short of tearing the patio up? It takes concrete a full 28 days to fully cure. I'd get some bonding compound and paint your ravine then use portland to fill. Better now than trying to bond to fully cured concrete. The sooner the better. Did we learn anything? ;)

Garage Door Openers
 

What is the lifespan of a typical double door garage door opener? More specifically a 1/2 horse Craftsman. Mine has shot craps and I was wondering how long they are typically in service. :shrug:

I'd bet anything the drive gear is stripped out in it, it's pretty common with Craftsmans and it's easily replaced. Their should be an 800 # on the opener you can call and order the part.

You are right about that. The plastic gear inside is shredded. The gear must be wedged or something because the motor will try twice to turn and quit. I have adjusted the pull and push strength will no luck.

I guess that was my biggest concern: did my motor burn up because of the stripped plastic gear or am I just a gear replacement away from running again.

My moms did the same thing a few years ago, apparently it's pretty common. 1-800-4-REPAIR is their #, call them with the model # and you should be able to get a replacement gear.

Thanks. I appreciate it.

Did you hear King Carl is gone? :D

The hell you say! PBJ

Let me know how it turns out for you.

We're getting a bit of cold weather tonight after that warm front. Of course, the heater goes out just as we're putting the kids to bed. Threw on the nasty clothes Crawled underneath the house and started taking apart the unit. Now, I know approximately jack and shit about heat and air.. but... every time I call a repair man for something, I always follow them and watch what they're doing... asking questions the whole time. I remembered what the guy did last time (blew out some line and some valve with a can of spray air), repeated it, and the thing kicked right back on.

Now I'm the hero of the household, and I'm expecting a "reward" tonight when the missus and I hit the sheets.

I guess the only real moral to the story is to follow an the repairman around and pay attention when you have one out. A lot of times the "repair" isn't all that tough.

Here's a painting tip.

When re-painting to freshen up your ceilings, (unless you have spray texture on them) use Benjamin Moore color CC-40 "Cloud White" (Doesn't matter what brand of paint you use).
Why?
As an interior finish contractor were more often than not forced to "touch up" ceilings on new homes after ALL the other sub trades come in and beat the homes up.
CC-40 (you can also lighten it a bit to CC-30) is one of the very few colors you can actually spot paint to repair WITHOUT having to re-roll your entire ceiling.
Just "dry roll it"** out 3 times with a "wiz roller"***
works like a charm, and you don't get that great big spot in your ceiling that looks a different color than the rest of it.



**Dry roll-
Just barley wet your roller and lightly go over the area 3 times after each coat has dried.

***Wiz roller
That miniture roller you see hanging next to all the other painting shit at the paint store