LOL! I *knew* there were good reasons why its been quiet around here.
However the leg-thru-the-ceiling story takes the cake!

K

"Wendy7" wrote in message
...
Been there done that! Had the same type of cooler & even coated the bottom
part with special rubberized
paint. You did a good job Kathy.

Well today is 7/7/07 & hoping our luck will change.
The bad luck started Memorial day like a "Domino Effect" when the hot
water copper pipe in the roof//attic sprung a leak.
It was a tiny hole & it was spraying the water towards the wall & down the
2x4's. The water slowly seeped down
under the hallway floor which started lifting!
My hubby is a good handyman & decided to fix the copper piping
himself. He set up a light in the attic, a
board to work on. I was getting the torch from my potting area & came
back to see this leg hang down from the
ceiling in the hallway!!! Anyway he was ok & as it turned out, he just
cut away more of the ceiling & could reach
the dread pipe with the hole in it. (Dust everywhere though)
Now he has never done drywall, so we decided to get it done. The
guy put in a new piece of ceiling about
4' x 8', did the mud thing etc. His charge was just the repair.
All the ceilings have this popcorn stuff!!!! We got a quote for the
whole house, this was too much.
My hubby was adament that he would remove the popcorn ceiling himself,
spray with water & it scrapes off.
So I suggested that maybe we just do the hallway & extension hallway
first.
We put up plastic & used drop cloths but still somehow (More dust!)
Ok we clean up & have this ugly ceiling. "Don't worry dear there
is this special ceiling texture" That turned out
well & had to be painted.
We then decided that before doing the floor we may as well paint.
(More dust)
Anyway my son came home with a bad summer cold, gave it to my hubby on
Fathers Day then I got it, one who
never gets colds or flu! My house is nothing but dust!!!!
Long story short, Cee has just finished the floor & is busy putting up
new baseboards. Then comes
the big clean up. Oh & a little more touch up painting.
Cheers Wendy

"K Barrett" wrote in message
...
Apropos of nothing, but its been so quiet here I thought I'd say what Ive
been up to.

Fixing that dang ugly swamp cooler is what. I showed pix here last year,
I think.

I must have bought it 8-9 yrs ago and never - I mean never- did any sort
of maintainance to it. The cooling pads were completely encrusted in
CaCo3 crust even to the point it was creeping under the paint in a layer
3 mm thick. Over the years various home renovations created airborne
dirt and dust, which was sucked through the pads, making them a dirty,
crusty brick.

So, it came to pass that on the hottest day of the year (so far) with the
GH receiving little or no benefit from said swamp cooler, I chose to
replace the cool pads. The motor still works great, but the air through
the pads was only a few degrees cooler than ambient temperature. Indeed,
the GH in full sun was at the same temp as it was on my patio in the
shade (on July 4th that was 95F, might have been higher, I tend to block
out bad news). July 5th I found a hardware store that carried cooling
pads, and working in the horrid heat, for it never occurred to me not
to - am I stupid or what? - I set about tearing the cooling pads out of
their panels.

Luckily the metal holding the pads in place were totally corroded and
rusted so bending it open was easy work, many times bending it by hand.
The old disgusting pads fell away from teh panels and now the real work
began.

After several trips to the hardware store I finally got a wire brush that
mounted to my cordless drill to scrape the paint and CaCO3 away. An old
bottle of Naval Jelly helped a bit, replacing my 1st attempt to dissolve
the CaCO3 with vinegar. If I was smarter a layer of paint remover would
have moved the project forward faster. It was on one of these hardware
store trips that the man at the store said, 'you aren't working on this
*now* are you?' meaning wait till the sun goes down you idiot. But my
heat stroked countenance must had marked me as a liar when I answered
'Of Course Not!'. He kindly allowed me to save face. (I have always
depended on the kindess of strangers.)

July 5th saw the 1st panel of 3 cleaned of CaCO3, the preponderance of
cruddy paint removed, a new layer of paint sprayed on, and the new pads
cut to size and installed. Placing that one panel back in the swamp
cooler at 8 PM dropped the GH temp 5 degrees in 2 minutes. Yes, the
swamp cooler was still running at 8PM. Interior temps (operating w/o one
panel - so it was sucking ambient air into the GH), had gotten to 100F
inside the gh. By 8PM the interior temp had dropped to 85. Installing
the one panel dropped it to 82, the thermostat's set point. July 6th saw
the second panel repaired in the same way, and today July 7th I'll
complete the project, which I've gotten pretty quick at, though the
cordless drill isn't happy. I think its suing for new rechargable
batteries.

What are you doing this weekend?

K Barrett