Fuck these Fucking Fucks

[froot loops]

I know people up in Cadillac and Lewiston who are reluctant to refer contractors to other people in fear of losing them.

This year we called to get the plumbing started for the summer and the earliest date we could get is memorial day weekend. A relative two cabins down called and they were given a date of 5-30 and he was freaking out. We're only up there 3-4 times a year and Memorial day is one of those times.

[CGVT]

I know people up in Cadillac and Lewiston who are reluctant to refer contractors to other people in fear of losing them.

This year we called to get the plumbing started for the summer and the earliest date we could get is memorial day weekend. A relative two cabins down called and they were given a date of 5-30 and he was freaking out. We're only up there 3-4 times a year and Memorial day is one of those times.

When we first moved here we had a clogged main drain line at our beach house. I called a bunch of different plumbers and nobody could get to it for a few days. I finally found a guy that could get to it that day. He gets all of my business now.

I had so much trouble with the plumbing on the beach house we owned that I joke that some people have a lawyer on retainer. I have a plumber.
Ronny and I have gotten to be pretty good friends. Ha! I have his number in my phone and when I'm working on something I call him up if I have questions. Of course, I paid a shit-ton of money to his boss over the last couple of years too.

I finally got the sewer line scoped. We found a couple of problems with the old clay main sewer line, other than it was an old clay sewer line.
There were a couple of places where the pipe was a bit misaligned and was catching shit (literally). There was a hole in the pipe and some roots too. It would plug up and shit would back up into the tub. It was a real mess. I bought a power auger and cleared it up a couple of times, but that was way too much like work. It plugged up three times in 10 days last month, so I finally got "my" plumber to scope it to see what was up. We decided that it was time to replace the main line. I had to pay somebody to tear up the sidewalk to the front door so we could get to where the clay connected to the cast iron and then Ronny and the boys dug up the old clay pipe and replaced it with PVC.
It has been a few weeks and so far so good.

The hole

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[CGVT]

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[Marko69]

The new turquoise coloured pvc drain, ...., is that 4 inch like the drains over here? Looks smaller.

Nothing worse than old clay being realigned by encroaching tree roots or something. Thankfully we have things called "fastbands" here......, allowing sections of clay to be cut out and replaced at the area of the problem. To replace entire clay installations back to the main sewer would cost way too much for most people ---->> Two fastbands, cutting of orange 4inch pvc drainage pipe and few hours labour ---->> 400quid. Sorted ----->> unless of course its a family member ---->> 2 grand.

By the way, as a side note......, every time I see an American plumbing van, I see Joe Pesci in Home Alone.

[Marko69]

Here are the clay fastbands......., never had one leak yet....., they are awesome.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-clay-adaptor-160-180mm/8524v

[CGVT]

Here are the clay fastbands......., never had one leak yet....., they are awesome.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/floplast-...60-180mm/8524v

They call those Ferncos over here. They come in handy for all kinds of stuff. I used one to connect my PVC to galvanized vent in the laundry room.

Not only did I have the root and hole problem, but where the clay attached to the county sewer line there was a lip that things were getting caught on and another spot where the cast iron met the clay by the house.

For piece of mind, it was a better option to replace the entire thing. Hopefully I won't have any more problems. That shit was getting old (and expensive) and yes it is a 4 inch pipe.

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[Marko69]

They really are brilliant things. And you don’t even have to tighten them THAT tight for them to hold.
Some fittings you’ve got veins popping out yer head tightening and tightening. Not those. 👌

[Marko69]

Nice one, Steve 👌

[froot loops]

A good long read on the train station restoration. The secret basement under the flooded basement is crazy.

[CGVT]

A good long read on the train station restoration. The secret basement under the flooded basement is crazy.

Wow! What a great read and more importantly a great restoration.

When I was a kid living in the thumb in the sixties, we were proud of Detroit. It was "our" city. It was the 5th largest city in the country. I remember how it upset us when we heard that Houston had passed it by.

I haven't lived in the Detroit area for more than 40 years, but it is still my city.

This is great news.
Detroit experiences population surge after decades of decline

Data regarding Detroit’s population growth is making international headlines

https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2024/05/16/detroit-experiences-population-surge-after-decades-of-decline/

[froot loops]

Back about twenty years ago, a lot of the business leaders put together a plan to revitalize the city called Detroit 2020. Their model was Pittsburgh's revitalization. Back then they projected that the population loss would reverse 5-6 years ago. But better late than never.

When people are occupying that train station it will supercharge Corktown even more. There was other news yesterday as well about the abandoned hospital a few blocks from the station. It would be cool if this materializes

[Marko69]

That was an absolute fucking peach by Detroit City there. Right in the postage stamp. B-E-A-Utiful.

[CGVT]

I had a long, detailed post written to explain how I got my hand caught in my power auger when I was snaking the drain at our beach house before I got the pipe replaced but somehow I lost it to the internet nether so, I'll shorten it up and tell you a bit about it.

I had about 5' of cable left in the drum and it got tangled inside the drum. I reached my hand into the drum to try to untangle it. I leaned forward and my dumb ass stepped on the foot pedal that makes the drum spin. The drum went around a couple of times with my hand lodged in the opening, just about dislocating my shoulder and breaking my wrist before I realized what the fuck happened and I stepped off the pedal. Because of the heavy duty rubber glove I was wearing I had trouble freeing up my hand and as I was trying to do so, I stepped on the fucking pedal again.
Luckily I got off the pedal quickly and then was able to free my hand.

Luckily, again, I did not break any bones, but may hand was pretty fucked up. It was so swollen that the palm of my hand looked like a '60s catchers mitt and the top looked like an alligator paw. Ha!

It has been about 6 weeks and my hand and wrist still hurt.

The moral of the story, boys and girls?

Unplug your power tools before you work on them

For those of you who are not familiar, this is a power auger. The cable comes out of the middle and you feed it down the sewer line. When You step on the switch, the drum (and cable) spin to help unclog the line.

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Alligator paw (about a week after I got it stuck)
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[edindetroit]

Back in my machinist days I ran a Mori Seiki MH-50 machining center with 10 pallets similar to this smaller one.

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We would install what was called a tombstone fixture on top of the pallet and load fixtures or vices on the sides of the tombstone.

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When you take one of those solid steel vices off you are supposed to install an eye bolt on the front of the front (top in this orientation) jaw and hook it to a crane before pulling the vice off. Not idiot boy younger me. I completely forgot that step, grabbed the vice and yanked it off. The vice crashed right down on my hand. I probably should have gone to the clinic but every thing seemed to work ok. Took many months for my knuckle to stop hurting and to this day when I make a fist you can see it bulging out.

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[Marko69]

Only "liking" the above 2 posts because you guys shared......, but Jeezo! Limbs could easily have been lost in both instances, fingers at least.

Wee funny story short here....., YEARS ago, 94/95....., I had long hair down my back. Was drilling a 15mm bore hole through a 27inch thick Edinburgh tenement wall for a boiler pressure relief pipe. The wall was whinstone ---->> Feckin solid. Was taking ages and I was getting irritated. Really gripped the drill tight put my head against it, and my hair wound into the chuck I didn't know what the fk had happened. Drill stopped, hair was being pulled --->> Brain didnt tell finger to release trigger.

A guy saw it happen and he nearly died laughing.
He was like, "Is there a reverse button on that thing hahahahahaha!"
I was like, "STFU and help me!"
That made him laugh harder..... "Hahahahahahahaha! AWWW Man!"

Thankfully it was before smartphone days....., that guy would've had me all over social media.