The Papa Sheep
This, that an'tother
Sunday, July 3, 2022
Sprucing up the ducting
Monday, June 27, 2022
Hose Bibs
A few weeks ago, I destroyed the hose bib that passed through the area that is now occupied by our front porch. Amy Sheep has been struggling to water some parts of the yard ever since.....
So....time to do something about that! I started off by attaching a new lead-free brass bib to a copper compression fitting (don't forget the thread sealer!) and then soldering that to an overlong section of copper pipe. I need four of these in total, but I just made one to begin with and then went into production later. I've actually never "sweated pipe" before, so it was fun to learn something new.
The next step was to drill a one inch diameter hole in the wall. The pipe passes through brickwork at the exterior and the rim joist at the basement side, so I had to use a mixture of drill bits. i.e., 3/16 long series masonry all the way through from the outside, then expand the hole in the brick to one-inch from the exterior, and then come back the other way with a one-inch spade bit. The pipe is 3/4 inch internal diameter, so I have a bit of wiggle room. This is the view from the outside with the hose bib in place:
At the basement side, the copper pipe has been trimmed and connected to a new PEX supply line with a push-on brass 90-degree Sharkbite fitting. I used these fittings for all of the copper/PEX and PEX/PEX junctions. The brass clamp in the background is screwed into the rim joist and is designed to stop the hose bib from rotating.
I also installed a pipe which will serve the irrigation system in the front section of the yard. PEX pipe is light sensitive, so this section had to be made from copper. I sweated these joints since I don't want them to rotate like the push-on fittings do.
I installed two hose bibs at the front of the house, either side of the irrigation line. Later I will install a third next to the garage and a fourth at the interior of the basement close to the sump pump. The plywood paneling that I installed in the basement a few weeks ago was primed and painted before the plumbing lines were installed.
Monday, May 30, 2022
Memorial Day DIY Extravaganza
Memorial Day weekend means different things to different people. Years ago, it meant a trip to the INDY 500. These days it mostly means an extra day off work/school. This particular year I blagged Friday off work too and spent far too much of Wednesday at my local Big Box store, where I exchanged some serious moolaw for a couple of bags of plumbing fittings and a roll of masking tape. Unlike most entries in this blog, which are written days, weeks or more commonly months after the events, this post is a daily blow-by-blow indulge-a-thon of a very memorable Memorial Day long weekend.
Thursday
As it happens, I had a light-ish week at work and I was totally done by lunchtime on Thursday, which is exactly when the latest 10-yard rock box was dropped off in our driveway:
While all this was going on, Amy Sheep was working on what will be out Prize Pumpkin Artichoke Patch. At the start of play it was looking a bit neglected:
Friday
Saturday
I was out on the pitch bright and early after just a quick piece of toast and got the ball rolling by building a ramp to the downhill area.
Sunday
After two and a half days of very hard labor, the plan for Sunday was take it easy. We kicked off by spending two hours on the couch watching the Monaco Grand Prix. After that is was time to pad up and head back to the crease. We had some topsoil left over which we dumped in the area which until a few days ago was covered with broken up brick and concrete.
We also spread out some coarse gravel in the valley where the entrance path used to be. And that was it. The rest of Sunday was reserved for socializing and relaxing.
Monday
If you were paying attention at the beginning, then you may be wondering why I mentioned buying plumbing fittings. The answer is that when we built the porch a few weeks ago, I had to remove to hose bib that was in the way....and the time has come to replace it.
This is view of the hose bib supply line from inside the basement. I fitted a removable brass cap after I cut the pipe back.
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