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Taking Care of... Buildings!
Sep. 3rd, 2009 02:03 pmThe past 24 hours have been devoted to taking care of buildings. Last night, I fixed my busted toilet fill valve. I replaced it with a valve that the box proclaimed as "America's Best Selling Valve." It was also the cheapest valve to be had at Home Depot, so I don't think we'll need Sherlock Holmes to figure out why that claim is valid. Actually, they had a "green," "eco-friendly" valve there for twice the money, but since I couldn't figure out why it was "green" I bought the el-cheapo.
Replacement proved to be easy enough, although the old genuine imitation rubber seals in the tank were holding together by sheer inertia. A previous occupant really liked that blue gunk you put in your toilet bowl tank. No, it doesn't hurt your pipes, but it does turn the rubber seals to black chalk. Well, now I have replaced the guts of all three toilets in my house - let's hope they hold for a while.
Today, I was all over the exterior and interior of one of the bank's buildings, including a jaunt up to the roof. The building in question is one of our older buildings, built in a Colonial style, and I've been having a laundry list of exterior maintenance done. Our contractor wanted to show me the work to date, and get authorized for various "oh by the ways" and "while we've got the scaffolding here we should" additional work. Yeah, it's more money for him, but it's cheaper to do it now then pay for somebody to come back later.
On a completely unrelated note, today is the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Manhattan Island and New York harbor. (Via Making Light)
Replacement proved to be easy enough, although the old genuine imitation rubber seals in the tank were holding together by sheer inertia. A previous occupant really liked that blue gunk you put in your toilet bowl tank. No, it doesn't hurt your pipes, but it does turn the rubber seals to black chalk. Well, now I have replaced the guts of all three toilets in my house - let's hope they hold for a while.
Today, I was all over the exterior and interior of one of the bank's buildings, including a jaunt up to the roof. The building in question is one of our older buildings, built in a Colonial style, and I've been having a laundry list of exterior maintenance done. Our contractor wanted to show me the work to date, and get authorized for various "oh by the ways" and "while we've got the scaffolding here we should" additional work. Yeah, it's more money for him, but it's cheaper to do it now then pay for somebody to come back later.
On a completely unrelated note, today is the 400th anniversary of the discovery of Manhattan Island and New York harbor. (Via Making Light)
