Thank you....

I would like to think, that everyday we are learning something new about ourselves and are gaining a better understanding of who we are. That as humans, we can achieve a closer appreciate of what we can and can not do…Well over the last couple of weeks, I feel that I have made that discovery. Technically it’s not a monumental innovation that will cure the current budget crisis and/or any diseases per say. But it is more of an internal observation. It’s a discovery that would make you say “Wow! Now that was different.”

I have mentally unearthed that I am getting old!!! Yes I said it… I am getting old!!!! I am not that 25 year old person that had the strength of an ox… Ok that was a little exaggerated, but I think you may know what I mean. My discovery was that I am not as strong as I once was. I can’t go out and lift a 300 pound radiator as if it is a 5 pound bag of potatoes, wait…that is exactly what I did….

Ok, let me explain, over the holidays I was working on the floor upstairs…As stated in my last journal entry. Well this guy, me, was thinking about the old Iron Man Competitions. You know the competitions where these strong guys push a bus and/or lift car with one finger… Well, I thought that it would be fun to move a radiator…But, I decided to deviate from the proper lifting techniques as shown below…

For more information on performing a Proper lifting Techniques please see…

http://myhealth.centrahealth.com/library/healthguide/en-us/support/topic.asp?hwid=hw206944

Anyway, this donkey decided that it would be wise to move the radiator while on my knees and with my body twisted to the right side…Ok, to be honest, I was working on the floor and realized that the radiator was in the way. So instead of lifting things correctly, I decided to cut a few corners in the process… I got lazy… Well, while moving the radiator, I got a hernia. My belly button swelled up to resemble a large hard green grape…or was it like a large hard purple grape… I guess the color doesn’t really matter… Anyway, I saw the doctor and he diagnosed me with an umbilical hernia.

On January 8, 2009, I had surgery to repair my umbilical hernia. Because of my stupidity, I have been under house arrest for two weeks. Well it feels like house arrest…Especially when there is nothing on TV except the mid-day soups opera’s… I have been unable to lift heavy objects and perform any tasks for upstairs. I have been informed that I will be able to return to work on January 22, 2009. But yet another delay in getting the upstairs completed. But I would like to personally thank Wilson, Joe, Nestor (my dad), Eric (Plumber), and Sarah for helping me out during my healing process.

Ok, enough about me, let’s talk about the house… A couple of days ago, I was talking with Eric about how I needed to refill the furnace everyday. He walked around the apartment and noticed the air vents. It turns out that the air vents that I installed into the baseboard radiator were incorrect. Their main purpose is to depressurize tanks. I guess my friends at the Super Box Hardware Store don’t know it all… Anyway, Eric explained what needed to happen and purchased the correct air vents. We installed them and thus far, I have not needed to refill the tank for at least 24 hours…Plus, it has been a little warmer in the house... Ok now I need to locate the other water leaks…

Here are two pictures showing the correct vents. As you can see in the photos, the walls look pretty beating up...

One morning at around 4 in the morning, I heard a fire alarm go off. It was coming from upstairs... When I entered the apartment, it was like walking into a sauna. The steam was escaping from several open valves. I have not been upstairs for sometime and the valves must have vibrated open from the pressure of the steam. After removing the batteries from the fire alarm and returning to sleep. I later contacted Wilson to help reinstall the radiator upstairs. With my situation of not being able to lift heavy objects, he brought along his friend, Joe. They both moved the radiators to their appropriate places and threaded them in. It turns out that two of the radiators are leaking at the nut portion of the radiator. So I may need to replace the locking assembly. I’ll have to consult Eric about that…But after install the radiators, the batteries were reinstalled to the fire alarms. Luckily, it also turns out that Wilson’s friend, Joe is a welder. So he is going to attempt to weld the cracked radiator. Hopefully some positive news there…

Anyway, I know this is not the standard journal entry that you may normally read here. But I just wanted to let everyone to know that I’m healthy and doing well. I am slowly recovering and do not plan on doing anything too excessive over the next couple of weeks. So the entries will be slow. But I am optimistic that I will be returning to my old clumsy self. I would like to thank everyone for their well wishes and prayers. Thank you… Until, next time…

Focus....

I can sit here and say, “Yes! Since my time off from work, I have been a diligent worker and have been working on the apartment upstairs” and/or also say “everything is going to according to plan”…. But that wouldn’t be the truth…With the snow and extreme cold over the last couple of days, my patients with this house has been running thin. But more on that later…I have been living here for over 5 months and I feel drained from all of the work. I have to admit, with all of the set backs, I wonder will I ever get the upstairs completed. As you can probably notice, I’m starting to lose focus…I wonder in the New Year if this place will eventually bring me happiness… I have to admit, every time I take a step forward, I feel like I’m taking two steps back…My plans have been adjusted several times due to the set backs. But that’s life... Nothing goes according to plan… Murphy’s Law 101….

Anyway, as a yearly tradition, many of us make New Year’s resolution, a decree and/or a mission statement. I wish all of your resolutions come true...I however, normally don’t make a New Year’s resolutions per say… But this year, I do have two, plus the standard ones…. You know get in shape, stop eating chocolate and so on… Well, I will reveal only one of my wishes… Sorry, the other one is kind of personnel, plus this journal is about the house…. “My wish is to get the upstairs ready for an occupant before 2010” Yes that was way too easy…. But let’s move on…

I had initially planned on working upstairs over the holidays. But I had a personal reason that caused the delay… I honestly have to admit though, it was worth the postponement…But, I also can not forget the set backs that didn’t help... The set back was the furnace. Part of the problem is that the water storage within the furnace. The water within the furnace is used to create steam to heat the house. The water is evaporating way too quickly, in-turn causing me to refill the furnace twice a day. When the furnace kicks on, the apartment would sound like a steam locomotive racing across the tracks trying to get Marty McFly back to 1985…

Additionally, because of the one inlet and outlet pipe to heat the house, a banging noise can be heard. The banging noise is caused when the hot steam air is blocked by trapped water. The banging noise can be heard as if someone is hitting the pipes with a sledge hammer. The noise is deafening at 4 in the morning… I believe I may have found the source of the disrupting noise, but I need to investigate further to resolve this issue...

But to stop the time travel of McFly, I was able to finally fix the pressure valve issue. The problem was with a pressure valve in my appartment. I had previously mentioned this valve. It turns out that it was a subassembly that was threaded into an adapter. Here are the photos showing the assembly.

Note the damage walls and floor caused by the dispersed water vapors. I had to cut back the carpet to remove the metal cover.

Here is a photo showing the old valve. The adapter portion was originally flush against the radiator and was difficult to differentiate, thus causing me to remove the wrong portion of the valve.
Here is a photo of the disassembled valve.

Here is the replacement valve...

Within the bathroom, the light fixture was finally installed. The wall was repaired and painted.
The big project that was accomplished over the holidays was the dining room floor. You may remember the results from the cracked radiator. I removed all of the water damaged wood and investigated the joist further. Luckily the joists were not damaged. Here are the photo sequences of the repaired process.

Photo showing the removed damaged wood and flooring.

Photo showing all of the water damaged wood removed and gaining visual access to the floor joist

Here I installed a new piece of 2X4 to help with installing a new floor section.

Plywood was cut to fit the access hole.

Because the existing subfloor is so thick, about 3 inches, I installed two pieces of 2X4 to help make the floor level.

After securing the two 2X4's, a larger piece of plywood was secured on top of the 2X4…

To complete this task, a piece of Luan Plywood will be used over the new piece of plywood. Then I will install replacement peal and stick tiles to finish the job… The only thing left is to get a replacement radiator… Ok until next time..