Over the summer we did a bunch of landscape work, including a new patio with an outdoor fireplace and a Fire Magic built-in gas grill. The renovation wasn’t cheap, but we haven’t regretted it a bit, especially with the evenings cooling down.

Now that we’ve had the grill for a few months, I thought I’d write up a quick review for anyone that might be considering one. Long story short, it’s far from cheap, but you definitely get what you pay for.

The model in question is the Fire Magic Aurora A540i. The “i” stands for island, though they also sell the A540s which is a standalone model that comes mounted on a stainless steel cabinet with casters.

As far as looks go, I’ve included a picture below. Keep in mind that I took it with my iPhone, so it doesn’t really really do the grill justice. It’s completely stainless steel and absolutely gorgeous.

The cooking surface is 540 square inches – 30″ wide and 18″ deep – and the burners (there are three of them) are cast stainless steel and independently controlled. There’s also a warming rack above the main cooking surface.

As far as usability and cooking performance go, our Fire Magic grill has been fantastic. It’s very straightforward to use, and we haven’t had a single cooking mishap. The temperature is incredibly even throughout, and the temperature range is amazing, making it very versatile.

The entire unit comes with a lifetime warranty, so we’re viewing this as a one-time investment that should (better!) serve us for years to come.

UPDATE: Just figured out how to grill bananas. Yum.

After moving into our first house, which had an all brick exterior, I was surprised to learn that wind-driven rain can cause problems with water intrusion through a brick wall. While proper flashing and weep holes should keep this from creating problems, those details are rarely done right.

In our case, the masonry contractor had failed to install the through-wall flashing and weep holes above our walkout bay window. The resulting problem is that water can soak through the brick and mortar and it’ll have no way to get out.

In our case, we ended up with water dripping down into the ceiling over the bay window following heavy, wind-driven rainstorms. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible to correct such shortcomings after the fact, as you have to tear out the brick veneer to get at the problem.

How to seal a brick wall

The good news is that, after a bit of research, we found a workable solution — sealing the brick. To seal the brick, we used a product called siloxane (a.k.a. silane), which is penetrating sealer that absorbs into the brick and mortar to produce a water-repellent barrier.

This sort of sealant is different from silicone-based masonry sealers that coat your masonry with a thin film. Instead, siloxane soaks in and partially plugs the gaps in the brick and mortar. The end result is an invisible, breathable, water-repellent barrier.

Siloxane can be applied with a brush, roller, or sprayer. In our case, we used a cheap tank sprayer from the lawn and garden section at Home Depot. If properly applied, the barrier should last 3-5 years. In our case, we moved away after three years and it was still going strong.

How to seal an outdoor fireplace

More recently, we had a new patio installed, complete with a brick outdoor fireplace. Following installation, the mason returned to seal the brick. Guess what he used? Yep, siloxane.

Once again, the siloxane is doing a great job, and not just on the brick… He also used it on the natural stone countertops on either side of the fireplace.

We’re having some landscaping done this spring, so we decided that now would be a good time to have our septic tank pumped out. We’ve been in the house for just under four years, and we’re not sure whether or not the previous residents ever had it done so we’re probably overdue.

Of course, when you’re having your septic tank cleaned out, the first step is to actually find it. In some cases, your septic tank access points will be equipped with risers that make it easy to find and access. In most cases, however, your tank will be completely buried.

It’s also important to know where your septic tank and drain field are located so don’t inadvertently drive over them or otherwise damage them. What follows are some tips for finding your septic tank.

Check with your county

When trying to locate your septic tank, your first stop should be to check with your county. Around here, the Department of Environmental Health keeps written records of all septic tank installations.

Not only can they provide a diagram of where the tank is installed, but they can also give you details on the tank size, depth, location and design of septic field, etc.

Go under your house

Assuming that you have access to the plumbing under your house, another option is to go down and look for where the main sewer line exits your house. This will give you a rough location to start looking.

Most locales have requirements as to the minimum distance between your foundation and the septic tank (typically around 10 feet)

Probe the ground

When our septic guys showed up, I showed them roughly where the tank was located based on county records as well as where our sewer line exits the crawl space. They then started probing the ground with a steel rod to find the exact location.

Simply insert the rod into the ground until you hit your tank. Keep poking around to find the edges, and you’ll have an outline of the tank. From there, it’s just a matter of digging it up to gain access.

Other options

There are, of course, other options available. For example, septic tank lids often have a metal handle, so you might be able to locate them with a metal detector. I’ve also heard of flushable, electronic sensors that you can send down the toilet and then use a handheld detector to find out where they end up.

The options listed above, however, are the simplest and most sure-fire methods for finding your septic tank.

As a quick followup to my previous article about making your hot water last longer, I wanted to share some interesting numbers related to water heater safety that I found in the owner’s manual that came with our new water heater…

As you may be aware, most hot water heaters (at least those in the United States) are shipped with the thermostat set to 120°F to minimize the risk of scalds and burns from contact with excessively hot water.

Preventing burns and scalds

With that in mind, here is a table of temperatures vs. the time required to produce a 2nd or 3rd degree burn on adult skin.

Preventing Legionnaire’s disease

Another concern that you might read about has to do with Legionnaire’s disease, which is an infectious disease caused by bacteria of the genus Legionella, most commonly the aquatic Legionella pneumophila. The following table lists the effect of temperature on Legionellae (source).

According to most recommendations that I’ve run across, burns and scalds are much more common than Legionella infections, so you might want to give more weight to the safety vs. health concerns.

Perhaps this should be filed under “Duh!” but… I finally got around to going under the house and adjusting the thermostat on our new water heater. We’ve been noticing that our hot water isn’t lasting nearly as long as it did with our old water heater even though it has the same sized tank.

Why isn’t our hot water lasting as long? Mostly because water heaters are installed with the thermostat’s set to a factory default of 120°F, which is lower than what many homeowners prefer. Manufacturers do this in the name of safety — i.e., to minimize the risk of burns — but it also means that you’ll empty your tank much more quickly.

If you bump your water heater thermostat up a few degrees (check the owner’s manual for instructions), you’ll be able to mix more cold water into the stream while still achieving the same temperature. This means that you’ll use less hot water, leaving more in the tank of your water heater for other uses.

No, this isn’t the most energy-efficient approach, but if you have a large family, you might be willing to make that sacrifice. Just be sure to warn everyone in the family about the change, and don’t turn the temperature so high that you burn yourself!

A couple of alternatives to making your hot water last through multiple showers, baths, dish washing, laundry, etc. would be to insulate your water heater and (especially) your hot water pipes, install a low-flow shower head so you use less hot water when showering, or install a tankless water heater to produce hot water in real-time, on an as-needed basis.

Do you have a utility panel that you’d like to hide? If so, then read on… When we renovated our house a couple of years ago, we converted our old laundry room into a powder room. In doing so, we needed to hide both an electrical panel and an alarm box. Here’s how we did it…

As they say, a picture is worth 1000 words. While I don’t have an actual “before” picture, the following shot shows what we were up against.

You’ll have to pardon the tight angle and poor lighting. It’s a small room, and I didn’t have much to work with. I actually took the picture while standing over the toilet, and the sink (the same one with the formerly leaky faucet) is directly opposite the electrical cabinet.

Hiding the electric panel

Anyway, one of our biggest concerns in converting the laundry room into a powder room was that we didn’t want it to look like a conversion. This meant having to hide the electrical panel and alarm box. As you can see from the picture above, we decided to hide them with a faux cabinet front.

We simply had the cabinet guys make a shallow box and cabinet front that that matched the new vanity, and we were good to go. It’s actually pretty big since we had to hide both an electrical panel and an alarm box. Regardless, once it was installed, it looked totally natural.

How often do you clean out your dryer vent? For most people, the answer is “not often enough.” Unfortunately, if you let lint build up in the duct, you increase the risk of fire. Fortunately, cleaning it out is easy.

While you could go out and buy a dryer vent brush and use that to clean lint out of the duct, there’s a much easier way… If you have a yard blower, simply detach the dryer from the vent and direct the blower into the duct.

Before doing this, of course, you’ll want to remove any sort of screen that you might have on the outside end of the duct. You’ll also want to dial the blower way back to the lowest setting so you don’t damage the duct.

When I’ve done this, I’ve actually “fanned” the blower back and forth across opening rather than leaving it in one place. Here again, my goal has been to prevent damage, and it’s worked admirably.

If you have a gas blower, you’ll want to open a window and work quickly. With an electric blower, you can take your time if you wish. Either way, it shouldn’t take more than a few seconds to clear the duct.

Try it out sometime, it works amazingly well.

With four boys in the house, we experience our fair share of clogged toilets. I’ve thus become something of an expert when it comes to unclogging a toilet. Having just tackled another “job” the other night, I thought I’d write up a few tips while things are still fresh in my mind.

Before unclogging your toilet

First things first… If the water is rising fast, be sure to shut it off before it overflows. The easiest way to do this is to simply shut off the water valve behind the toilet. Alternatively, you can open up the toilet tank and the rubber “flapper” that covers the hole at the bottom. Once that’s done, you’re ready to grab your tools and proceed.

Tools of the toilet trade

For starters, you’re going to want a toilet plunger. While there are tons of fancy plungers out there, you don’t need anything overly fancy. Rather than buying a super-duper, air-powered turbo plunger, you’ll do just fine with an old school plunger — essentially a big rubber suction cup on the end of a stick.

Oh, and here’s a tip for your plunger… Stand it in an ice cream bucket, and then bring the whole thing (bucket and all) into the bathroom whenever you need to plunge. That way you can put it right back into the bucket instead of getting toilet water (and whatever else) all over your floor.

Finally, you might also want to have a toilet auger (toilet snake) on hand just in case the plunger doesn’t work. You can get a hand-operated version that will cover most of your needs at just about any home improvement store. That being said, I typically consider the snake to be the tool of last resort, as it’s messy and runs the risk of scratching your toilet bowl.

Plunging your toilet

There’s no real secret to plunging your toilet. Start by making sure that the plunger forms a good seal over the opening at the bottom of the toilet bowl. From there, all it takes is a firm, even down-and-up stroke, and perhaps a bit of persistence. Note that I said down and up. Many people don’t appreciate the importance of the up-stroke, which can draw the blockage back just enough to loosen it and let it flush freely. Just be careful not to slop the contents over the edge of the bowl.

My secret toilet plunging trick

Okay, it’s not exactly a secret, but… If your toilet is clogged and the plunger can’t seem to break through, don’t go straight to the auger. Instead, add a bit of dishwashing detergent to the bowl. If you’re not at risk of overflowing the bowl, you might consider giving the toilet a quick flush just to stir up the detergent. If that’s not possible, try to stir it up a bit with the plunger. After this, just walk away for awhile.

Over time, the detergent will actually loosen up the blockage. If you’re lucky, the blockage might break down enough that it will flush freely on it’s own. If not, it should at least loosen things up enough for the plunger to be effective.

While I’ve seen some recommend that you heat up some water and pour that into the bowl to help loosen the clog, I’ve never had to resort to that. If you choose to do this, be very, very careful as transporting and pouring hot water can be dangerous, and you don’t want to scald yourself.

If all else fails…

If all else fails, it’s time to break out the auger and snake the toilet. If you’re not comfortable doing this, you can always call a plumber. Of course, that’s both costly and inconvenient, so you’re probably better off snaking it yourself. Don’t worry, it’s not very hard. Just be sure you have a big bucket handy for hauling the snake back to the garage when you’re done.

I wrote previously about repairing a leaky Delta shower head, so I thought I’d follow that up with one of this weekend’s projects… Fixing the leaky faucet in our powder room sink. Once again, I’ve created a pictorial walkthrough.

As before, this is a pretty easy fix. The primary symptom was a consistent drip, drip, drip that not only annoyed us, but also was starting to stain the sink.

Diagnosing the problem

First things first… The faucet in question has two handles — one for hot water and one for cold water. Before attempting a fix, I decided to first narrow down the problem. I first turned off the cold water supply line and watched for drips.

Since the problem persisted, I knew that the hot water handle was leaking. When I turned the cold water supply line back on and shut off the hot water line, the problem stopped.

Voíla! I only needed to take apart the hot water handle. While I could’ve put fresh parts into the cold water handle, I learned long ago to leave well enough alone. Now for the fix…

What you’ll need

1. Allen wrench. In order to get the handle(s) off the faucet, you’ll need an allen wrench to loosen the set screw. As with the shower faucet, our sink faucet required a 3/32 inch allen wrench.
2. Crescent wrench. Once you have the handle off the faucet, you’ll need a wrench to get remove the nut holding the faucet cartridge in place. I used an adjustable crescent wrench.
3. Faucet repair kit. Depending on exactly what’s wrong, you’ll need a faucet repair kit. I picked up the Danco 88101 faucet repair kit, though you may be able to get away with just the seats and springs (Danco 80704). Note that both of these kits give you enough parts to fix both handles if necessary.

Disassembling the faucet

First things first. Before you start taking things apart, be sure to turn off the water supply lines. In most cases, you can access the shutoff valves from underneath the sink.

Once the water is off, you’re ready to fix that leak. Pictured below is our faucet prior to disassembly.

And here’s a closeup of the hot water handle. The red arrow points to the set screw in the base of the handle. Use your allen wrench to loosen the set screw and remove the handle.

Next, you’ll need to remove the large nut that holds the faucet cartridge in place. In the picture below, I’ve already taken it off (it goes on over the brass threads).

Once the nut is off, look carefully at how the cartridge is situated. You might even want to snap a picture so you can put everything back together properly.

Okay, now it’s time to pull that cartridge out. Be patient and just wiggle it back and forth while pulling up on the stem. If you can’t get it out, you might need to (gently) work on it with a flathead screwdriver. Just be careful not to damage anything.

Once the cartridge is out, look down inside the handle. You might have to sop some water out, but at the bottom you will see two holes. Sitting in the larger hold (on the left in the picture below) will be a spring and a rubber seat. Pull out both the spring and the seat, as this is likely where your leak is coming from.

If you want to just replace the spring and seat, do so now and then re-assemble. If you want to do a more thorough job (and you have the faucet repair kit), then read on…

Opening the faucet cartridge

The picture below shows what the faucet cartridge looks like after it has been removed and dis-assembled. To get it open, simply separate the two halves.

Now that you have it apart, you can easily replace the two “O” rings. There are several sizes in the repair kit. Simply choose the right one, replace the old with new, and re-assemble.

And now… Just reverse the steps to get things back together.

Faucet repair notes

A few notes to go along with the above instructions.

First, as noted above, the cartridge might not come out easily. If you can’t get it out by rocking it back and forth while pulling, you might have to gently pry it loose.

Second, I had a bit of trouble getting the new rubber seat into the hole in the base of the handle. If this happens, just be patient. You might also be able to improve the situation by poking the edges in with a small flathead screwdriver.

Finally, note that the spring/seat will push up on the cartridge, such that you’ll have to hold it down while you screw the nut back on. This is a good thing, as you want that rubber seat pressed tightly against the cartridge.

A few weeks ago, I jumped in the shower and was greeted with cold water. I was late, so I showered as quickly as possible, dried off, and got dressed. We have an electric water heater, so I stopped to check our electric panel before rushing out the door. Sure enough, the water heater had tripped the circuit breaker.

Hoping that this was some sort of random anomaly, we decided to reset the breaker and keep an eye on it. Well… All was well until this past Friday night when the water heater once again tripped the breaker. We reset it one more time, and it once again tripped the breaker. Uh-oh. There must be an actual problem…

Why did our water heater trip the breaker?

There are several things that could cause a water heater to trip the circuit breaker. For example, there could be a wiring problem, or you could have an improperly sized breaker. Assuming that your water heater has been installed and operating properly, however, it’s much more likely that the heater itself is having problems.

After a bit of digging, it seems that the most likely problems are a faulty thermostat or a bad heating element. While both of these are problems are fixable, you have to weigh the related expenditure against simply putting your money toward a new unit. This is especially true if your water heater is starting to get old.

Replacing our hot water heater

In fact, our water heater is actually a cheap-o builder unit that’s original to our eight year old house. We thus decided to go ahead and replace it with a better (and more efficient) unit rather than risking a costly repair to what may well be a dying appliance. We ended up going with a 50 gallon Sears Kenmore water heater. With four kids in the house, we would’ve preferred a bigger one, but our water heater is located in our crawl space, and we thus had to go with a “lowboy” model.

For the past year or so we’ve had a leaky shower head. It hasn’t been a huge problem, as I could usually get the dripping to stop if I turned it off just right. Unfortunately, my wife didn’t have the magic touch, so it was pretty aggravating for her. The good news is that I fixed it.

We actually had a plumber take a look at it one time when he was out to repair something else, but he was totally useless. He opened it up, cleaned a few things off, re-assembled things, and went merrily on his way. Unfortunately, it was still leaking. Today, I decided it was high time to fix it myself. What follows is a rundown of the process, complete with pictures.

As an aside, this was such an easy fix that I can’t believe the plumber didn’t nail it — I’m guessing he either didn’t have the right parts, or couldn’t be bothered to walk out to his truck to get them. Either way, this was a quick and painless repair. I only wish I’d done it sooner.

What you’ll need

Before you get started, you’ll need to have a few things on hand.

1. Allen wrench. In order to get the handle off the faucet, you’ll need an allen wrench to loosen the set screw. In our case, this required a 3/32 inch allen wrench.
2. Strap wrench. Depending on how tightly things are assembled, you may need a strap wrench. It’s possible that you’ll be able to get away with your bare hands, but there’s a good chance that you won’t.
3. Faucet repair kit. The most likely cause of your leaky shower head is that the rubber “seats” (small, cup-like rubber washers that rest on top of a spring inside the faucet assembly) have worn out. These will need to be replaced. You’re looking for the Delta faucet repair kit RP4993, or the generic equivalent. Lowes didn’t have the authentic Delta parts, but they did have some made by Danco that were intended for Delta/Peerless faucet repairs. They actually had multiple versions but, as near as I could tell, the rubber seats were all the same size. The springs do differ, however, so I got a pack that had two different types of springs.
4. Towel or blanket. The last thing you want to so is chip or crack your shower, so grab a towel or blanket and put it on the floor of the shower. This also protects you from losing any small parts down the drain.

Disassembling the faucet

First things first. Before you start taking things apart, be sure to turn the water off. Unfortunately, we have no way to shut off the water for just the shower. Thus, I had to turn it off for the entire house.

Once the water is turned off, you’re ready to get started. Pictured below is the faucet handle prior to disassembly. Pardon the water stains, they’re a byproduct of the dripping.

The read arrow points to the set screw in the side of the handle. Use your allen wrench to loosen this screw and remove the handle.

Next, you’ll want to remove the grey plastic disc (if your faucet has one) as well as the silver (metal) sleeve. These two pieces, labeled with red arrows below, should just slide off.

You should now see something similar to what’s pictured below.

Next, you’ll need to remove the brass ring (indicated with the red arrow, above) that is holding the “guts” of the faucet assembly in place. Before you do anything, double-check to be sure the water is off. Once it’s safe to proceed, loosen the brass ring either by hand or using the strap wrench. After you’ve removed the brass ring, you should see something like what’s pictured below.

You can now remove the faucet assembly. It may be kind of stuck in place, so apply even, consistent pressure and ease it out. Even though the water supply has been turned off, you’ll likely have some water draining out of the pipes.

Opening up the faucet assembly

Once you’ve removed the faucet assembly, you should be holding something like what’s picture below in your hands.

The parts that you’re after are located on the inside (sandwiched between the blue and white halves). To open the assembly, press in on the blue half and twist. Once it comes apart, you should see something like what’s picture below.

The parts that you’re after (the rubber seats) are indicated by the red arrows. You can simply pull them out (along with the springs, if you wish) and replace them. In the picture above, you can also see the faucet repair kit that I purchased — Danco DL-17 for Delta/Peerless faucets. Note the two different spring sizes. The original springs were most similar to the shorter, fatter springs in the repair kit. They were, however, ever so slightly shorter. I decided to use the new springs to give a slightly more snug fit.

Reassembling the faucet

To put everything back together, simply reverse the steps listed above. Put the springs and rubber seats in place, compress the blue and white halves together and twist to re-join them. Next, re-insert the faucet assembly into the brass sleeve and secure in place with the brass ring (I re-tightened with the strap wrench, but I was careful no to overdo it). Now all that’s left is to slip the silver sleeve back over the assembly, put the grey plastic disc back in place, and re-attach the handle.

That’s it. I’m pleased to report that the dripping has stopped.

Assuming that you have everything that you need, the entire repair should take 15 minutes tops, and the parts cost about three dollars. Like I said above, quick and painless — and way cheaper than paying someone to fix it. Totally worth the trouble in my book.