New LG washing machine

Well, the new LG washing machine arrived at the beginning of December, but it didn’t come with LG water inlet hoses. The delivery people connected it to the water inlet hoses we had and started it up (empty) as a test before they left.  Pepper was freaking out!  We hadn’t had a working washing machine for almost a month and the last noises from the laundry room were when the last washing machine was dying (loud, horrible noises).  Pepper was trying to climb up on my lap while I was typing on the laptop!.  (Note: A 60+ pound Golden Retriever doesn’t fit especially when I am trying to balance a laptop computer on it also.)

So, we did a few loads of laundry, but the LG turns the water on and off so fast that we have had water hammering (it makes all of the house water pipes shake in the house) even after I turned down the amount of water coming in.

I did some searching and found out the LG water inlet hoses have to be used (per the manual).  So, I called LG and the water hoses are on order (and probably won’t be here until January).  I also went searching on the Home Depot site and found out there are water hammering arresters that are for going on the back of the washing machine so I bought two of those.

So, for now I am back to doing laundry at the laundry mat and waiting for the LG water inlet hoses to arrive.

I am hoping the problems go away once the new hoses and arresters are installed. I will update when it is back working.

I never realized how much I miss having a working washing machine.

Later – H

 

 

 

Dead front load washing machine

Well, this was going to be a post about how handy husband and I fixed our 12 year old Kenmore Front load washing machine.  One night a couple of weeks ago when it was near the end of the final spin cycle it abruptly made HORRIBLE sounds (turns out the tub was swinging around and hitting the side of the walls and front of the washer).  When handy husband and I took off the back we found that one of the shocks was broken.

So, I did a Google search on the model number and found out that RepairClinic.com had the shocks and a video that showed it was pretty easy to replace.  So, I ordered the parts and we waited.  While I was gone for a few days handy husband got the old shocks out (he said it was pretty easy) so all we would have to do was put the new ones in and start using it again.

The new shocks went in pretty easy and I tested out the machine by rinsing and spinning out a few towels.  It was semi-louder than I remembered, but we thought it was okay.  So, then I decided to wash the towels and a couple of pairs of jeans.  It sounded fine until it got to the end of the spin cycle.  I heard this HORRIBLE noise from the other end of the house.  I went running for the laundry room to turn it off.  I came upon Pepper (the Golden Retriever) in the dining room with her ears pulled back and running for the hall (which she has never been allowed to go down).

We first thought the washer was somehow unbalanced (which was weird since it was never unbalanced before).  So, we added foam between the tub and the sides, but it still was making horrible noises.  (The way Pepper was acting [ears back and wanting to leave the house] should have told us that it was making horrible noises before we could hear it.)

I did a YouTube search and found a video on how to take apart our washing machine.  They discusses that the ‘spider’ which is inside the tub breaks.  Uh, oh.  Between that video and a comment from a friend we decided that was what was wrong.  Since the spider is part of the drum it is very expensive to fix.

So, I went searching (Consumer Reports, Google, etc) and found out that Home Depot had the LG 4.0 Cu. ft. washer (WM3050CW) on Black Friday sale for $579 ($220 off).  To be safe I ordered the 3 year protection plan for $80 (it says they will replace the unit if it is a Lemon).

So, the washing machine is on back order so we are without a washing machine until December 3rd.  I am hoping we only have a few more trips to the laundry mat before it arrives and right now I am so happy that I don’t live too far from the laundry mat.

What appliance have you had to replace recently?

Later – H

 

Cost of the Master (shower) bathroom upgrade

I was talking to an extended family member the other day about the Master (shower) bathroom upgrade blog post.

Master (shower) bathroom upgrade

and I realized that I didn’t say how much we spent on it.

a) American Standard toilet – about $270 with tax  (we had it delivered to the local Home Depot so we could inspect it before it came home)

b) Toilet Seat – We had already bought the seat for our old toilet in that bathroom.  So, I guess it cost $0.00 for this upgrade.

c) Wax ring – I ordered the one off the Home Depot website at the same time as the toilet.  It was about $6.00

d) Flooring – A box of the flooring costs about $53.00

I will use that amount even though the ‘cost’ of the front bathroom flooring was really twice that since we needed one piece from this box to finish that floor (which really makes this bathroom flooring free).

e) Paint – We had a 1/2 gallon of the paint sitting in the garage so it was good to put some of it to use anyways.  So, the cost of the paint in this remodel was $0.00

So, the total cost for this bathroom upgrade (not counting our time and labor) was about $330.00

I think that was definitely worth it to get a bathroom that saves water, has a new floor and is what we wanted.

Later – H

Master (shower) bathroom upgrade

Since our house is over 20 years old and we are on a well we decided it was time to upgrade the toilet in the Master (shower) bathroom to a low water usage model.  While we were at it we decided to remove the carpeting (it still looked good, but I was so happy to see it go).

A while ago we decided to paint the lower half of our Master (shower) bathroom walls.  At that time I did a Faux finish – one color of solid blue painted and then a darker color sponged over the top.

 

 

Knowing that the new toilet had a smaller tank it became obvious that I would have to repaint the wall before the new toilet was installed.

 

So, instead of going to the work of trying to match colors and sponge marks I decided to just paint the walls and bottom molding a solid blue.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what we changed and what supplies we used.  All items were bought at Home Depot.

Note:  We paid for all the items and supplies we used for this project.

a) Paint (part of a gallon) –  Behr, Fragrant Breeze (semi-gloss, pastel base) – This paint was bought a while ago and it was also used above the Kitchen cabinets.

b) Toilet – American Standard H2Option Dual Flush (1.0 / 1.6 GPF), round front, Bone color.  **The wax ring and toilet seat have to be bought separately.

The builder of our house didn’t believe in large bathrooms so we had to buy a round front toilet for each bathroom (and our shower and bathtub are Bone colored so white wouldn’t work either).  This is the second one of these toilets that we special ordered through Home Depot – the first one was in February 2014 (for the other bathroom) and it works great.

This toilet was definitely not the cheapest one we could have found, but we were looking for one that would meet our needs: Round front, Bone colored and low water usage

c) Flooring – TrafficMaster Allure 12 in x 36 in Sedona Vinyl Tile Flooring (24 sq ft / case)

Since we have ‘smallish’ bathrooms we were able to do both bathroom floors with two cases of this flooring.  Which is good since the first bathroom took one extra piece than one case.  (Really!?!)

d)  I also repainted the bottom molding with the same blue color so they matched the walls.

I am happy how it turned out.  What home remodel project have you worked on lately?

And as a side note, I went  through Southwest Rapid Rewards so I will get points for the dollars we spent at Home Depot.  As an extra bonus I bought Home Depot gift cards at a local Grocery Store so the cost got me extra reward points there also.  Besides that I used our credit card (which gives us a percentage back) to buy the gift cards.  I think that was a triple play!

Later – H