Showing posts with label sink. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sink. Show all posts

Friday, December 25, 2015

Nahima's Kitchen

It's got everything
A stove, fridge, sink and coffee maker

Nahima with Linda's doll present

There is nothing religious or sacred about Christmas for me. It's just vacation time and time to make some kids happy with a few presents, especially the younger ones. We went into town yesterday for a number of things including a trip to the Mirador and that is where Nahima is standing. Lorena had put the kitchen on "lay-away" and they snuck it into the back of my car so Nahima wouldn't see and then hid it in my bodega. I had a vague idea what it was so bought a large package of kitchen utensils. 

Linda brought the hippy doll down from Canada and a pair of long pants. Nahima wants to sleep in them. Yare got a colored pencil set and some clothes .... and Euriel got a Hotrod magazine.

Gonna have about 15 people over tomorrow for carne asada and shrimp and I think we have most everything, but I need to pick up friends tomorrow so will get what we forgot.

Wednesday, July 09, 2014

Mystified

I awoke this morning to find the outside sink had fallen off the wall. I first thought of a person in the middle of the night but you don't accomplish anything by standing on the sink. I also wondered why I didn't hear it as it's not far from my bedroom door that has a screen in it. All I can think of is my cat or it fell off of it's own weight. Simple white sinks are not expensive and only part of the drain pipe broke.

Bought a new sink for $240 pesos (basic white) but think I'll change everything including the handles/faucet., drain, wall fastener and larger screws to hold it on the wall.

Oops !!

The other is my tinaco is suddenly overflowing.  I climb up and find the float overextended in the up position and the tank full.  I lower the water level  and I can not over extend the float manually. We have moderate street pressure today so I'm eliminating possibilities.

The mystery float

My unnecessary "don't drop them in the tinaco trick"

Hugo came over while I made the school run and figured out the water was not coming from from above at the float valve shut off but from the bottom of the tank. I knew with this strange system that could happen but it never has in 3 years. My plumber thought with the good street pressure we have much of the time, why not have street pressure in the house rather than just gravity from tinaco.  So he installs these check valves that will change with pressure levels. Problem is the valves get stuck and this one usually gets stuck where tinaco pressure is not enough to open it so I bang on it to get water again.This time it got stuck in the opposite direction so that street water was enters the bottom of the tank.

Check valve - valvula check

Obviously something has to be done someday but I'm afraid it's gonna take pipe cutting, rearranging and even turning the tinaco to give more room for adjustments now and in the future.   In the meantime a couple whacks with a hammer or large wrench fixes the valve.

Monday, March 17, 2014

Gimme a new kitchen faucet

I don't remember the time table involved but the old faucet was something else Shoe left behind. I decided to use it but bought a new one at Home Depot somewhere along the line. The old one never gave me any trouble so the new one sat on a shelf in the bodega for over a year. The Mr. Clean in me took a closer look the other day and it was looking bad. Partly due to the old faucet is plated - not solid, partly due to the hard water and due to the base gasket not fitting well. I was concerned about the sink and not just the faucet or the look.

After cleaning the cob webs so I could see the cold water nut under the sink was a breeze.  The hot water nut took about an hour to get off and there wasn't much left when I was through.   My neighbor might have powered it off by hand but I'm not that strong any more. So with a sharp scraper and a plastic "steel wool" the sink cleaned up nicely.   New handles are nicer and the faucet is a little higher .... and it's clean.  Nothing the matter with the old one and neighbors may want it.  They say theirs leaks.   We'll see.

The original

Underneath and broken fasten nut

Almost like new

New faucet

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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