This is the place for questions that don't really need a whole item.

41 responses total.

I need to get up and clean out the eaves-thingies on the house this week. My
silly question is: where do I prop the ladder? I'm not just going up to sit
on the roof and do this, I want to just move the ladder to different spots
as I go. I know I don't want to prop the ladder against the troughs because
I might break them, but is it OK to rest it on the vinyl siding? I don't want
to dent that, either. I am *so* inexperienced in house care.

I prop the ladder against the eaves at a point where it is fastened.  It has
a tubular ferrule there and it will support more weight.  (My eaves troughs
are aluminum).  It is real difficult to clean the eaves just from a ladder,
though.  Probably dangerous, too because you end up leaning out as far as you
can so you can cover as big a stretch at one "ladder setting" as you can. 

Best bet, if your roof slope is low enough to be safe, is to wear good tennis
shoes (or barefoot), and walk on the edge of the roof.  I use a leaf-blower
and just walk down the edge of the roof blowing out the stuff as I go.  

If someone invented a "J" shaped blower attachment, you could do this from
the ground.  

Also, be sure the ladder is safely planted in the ground.  This last fall,
a guy I worked with had a ladder skoot out and he fell and broke his back.

If you decide to go on the roof, avoid skuffing your feet or "twist-turning"
which will remove the stones on the shingles and shorten their life.

Good luck and DONT do it it there is a chance of ice.

Isn't there a ladder attachment that you can use to prop that ladder against
the wall under the eaves?  Basically this would be an extension out from the
ladder, adjustable as far as where it attaches on the ladder.

I prop the ladder where mcpoz does. However I can reach 3 feet to the left
and to the right, so it doesn't take long to do my longest trough (ca.
30 feet). If the ladder is set at the proper angle, the force does not
dent either troughs or siding. How many stories is your house? *Moving*
the ladder is the most difficult part with two stories.

#3 and #4 - It also depends on how much overhang you have.  In my case, the
roof overhangs the wall by 36".  With some real short overhangs, it might
work, but still, I would prefer to have the ladder extending above the eaves
for safety.

I'm too lazy to do ASCII art on this, but picture a device that attaches at
any point on the ladder, so that the top can still extend above the eaves
while the thingy acts as spacer between the wall and the ladder beneath the
eaves.  For extra credit, picture the device having long arms so that you have
more stability side-to-side.

Kenn wouldn't let me go up today, citing my precarious knee. He did the
troughs from a seated position on the roof. Thanks for all the tips.
Next short question: short of a bomb, any ideas on spider control?

We have lots of spiders too.  Guess the house leaks enough so they don't
starve to death.  I don't try to control their population and simply clean
out the webs a couple times a year.

We like spiders. Also just clean up their used homes.

I once had a theory about how the spiders would eat the smaller bugs, and the
cat would eat the spiders.  But the cat didn't keep up.

And then she swallowed a dog to eat the cat that ate the spider that
tickeled and tickeled inside her ;)

<chuckles and shakes her head>

OK. I have a beautiful old refrigerator circa 1948. The freezer is a little
box (about a cubic foot) that hangs from the middle of the top. It has a
"defrost" setting on it, but that's all I know about defrosting procedure.
I vaguely remember my mom putting all the food from the fridge into her
kitchen sink and doing something with pans of hot water, but that's my only
clue. Help!

That's what I used - pans or trays of hot water. "Defrost" turns off the
freezer, so you can melt the ice. Actually, it is rather fun to remove the
ice. After it thaws a bit it can be broken off (though don't use an ice pick
to facilitate this). Removing the ice has some of the deep pleasure of pealing
off sunburned skin.... ;->

Heh.  My current fridge is the same way but much more modern.

I suspect that the "defrost" setting is turn off the cooling without killing
the pilot light on a gas fridge, and might exist on an electric fridge to
reassure the homemaker.

So, I get to turn all of the ice into water. And it goes where? Would it be
considered cheating to clean the kitchen floor at the same time? hmmm...8^)

It goes into the drip pan under the freezer unit. You must have lost your's.

(Or it overflowed or is rusted through.)

In the days when I defrosted refrigerators, I usually carpeted the floor
nearby with newspapers.  But I usually wanted to get the process over
quickly, and removed the ice as soon as it could be detached , not 
waiting for the whole to melt.  (You're not supposed to poke with *sharp*
objects, but that does not preclude judicious prying with fingers and/or
wooden spoons, plastic utensils, &c)
Clean the refrigerator some, while it's empty, but not the floor (other
things being equal).

OK. I am tired of trying to find a real, licensed electrician to do this, so
here goes:
I need to have a new electric circuit put in my basement, and several
electricians have come right out and told me it's too small a job to be
bothered with. I've tried all of my friends, and their friends, to no avail.
So I'm asking here. If this is something you can do, please e-mail me here.
I will be happy to pay you for your time and travel, as well as feeding you
and sending you off with a bottle of excellent home-brew in hand.
If you also posess the ability to hook up a gas dryer, I may be compelled to
kiss you. >8^@

That isn't a hard job at all.  I might be persuaded to do it, although
scheduling is a problem.

Just out of curiosity, how far is your electrical box from the location
where you want the power?  Is there room in the main box for another
fuse / circuit breaker (Or two for 240 volt applications)  How much
current do you need?  Do any walls need to be penetrated?

Does anyone know where I could go to learn tree climbing techniques?
I'm pretty good with my hands and feet, but want to learn to do it
the way I've seen tree surgeons do it: With ropes, harnesses, etc.
I have about three medium sized walnuts that the WCRC says MUST come
down and 2 chinese elms that need some trimming.  Yea, I could hire the
work out but would much prefer to learn how to do it myself.  I even
came across a *very* interesting web page put up by a tree climbing
club down in Alabama.  They even have a trip where they go out and
spend the night in the canopy of some big trees, sleeping in hammocks.
I, however, am local to Ann Arbor and don't have the operunity to
go all the way out to Alabama :-(

Bill Lawrence, the A2 City Forester would be able to give you information
about this.  He works at the City Forestry Office, 415 W. Washington, and his
phone number is 994 2768.  If he isn't available, ask for Paul Bairley.

Thank you!  I will give them a call.

ref #22: about eight feet. 6 open spaces. enough to run the computer and a
couple of lights. the basement is unfinished and everything can be strung
along the floor joists.
ref #21: any time of any day or night is just dandy with us. 8^}

(I called Bill Lawrence.  Nothing local that he knew about.  Highly
recommended a couple places in, or around, Kent Ohio.  The A^2 climbing
gym said they could also teach me @ $20 / hr.  [Take a friend, who's
not afraid of heights, there some time and take their beginners climbing
and belay instruction.  My wife and I really enjoyed it])

Is that applicable to tree climbing? I'm a rock climber from way back,
but not much of that technique applies to trees, except maybe belaying,
but for that to be used from below requires anchors above. When we had
a tree taken down, the climber did not use a belay (as I undertstand it), but
made sure he wasn't secured to the limb he was cutting off.

Correct, Rane.  Rock climbing and tree climbing are only remotely related.
It takes different technique and equipment.  Not even the ropes used are
the same.  (The arrasiveness of tree bark chews up rock climbing rope
pretty quickly.  Harnesses are designed for more comfort in tree climbing
since you spend a lot of time just hanging from them, etc.)  I have sent
away for several catalogs on arborist equipment, but none has shown up in
my mail box yet :-(
 
However, the people at the wall climbing gym did say they could set me
with someone who could teach me tree climbing.

ref #20: I finally found someone to put in the new circuit. I watched what
he did and *sheesh!* was it simple. The new (used) freezer is now happily
humming along. First thing in the freezer? A case of Otter Pops, of course!

Ok, the humidfier, which is a dire necessity in my basement, has quit
condensing water.  It whirrs and hums, but no water collects.  Before I go
spend another $200 on a new one, is there something I should try to wiggle
or jiggle, or check or replace?

Well, humidifiers put water into the air, they don't collect it.  If your
trying to remove water from the air, you need a dehumidifier.  A dehumidifier
consists of a little refrigeration system with the condenser coil and
evaporator coil all in the same box.  Moisture laden air is first cooled
below its dew point as it passes through the evaporator coil.  This is
where the water is removed.  The cool air then passes through the condenser
where the air is reheated, plus some extra heat due to system losses.
 
If a dehumidifier isn't working, it is either because no air is passing
through it or because the refrigeration system isn't working correctly.
A small fan pulls the air through the system.  The fan motor may not be
working or the condenser / evaporator fins might be plugged with dust,
cat hair or dirt.  If the refrigeration system isn't working, either the
system has lost its freon or the compressor isn't running.  Some
compressors have a circuit breaker built into them so you may want to
check that is set.  (Look where the wires enter the compressor:  Big,
black, metal can with pipes going to and fro.)

stupid, stupid.  Yes I meant dehumidifier.  Ok, I'll look at fan first (it
was making funny noises several weeks ago). Maybe circuit breaker too.  These
sound easy to find and see.

The fan on my small basement dehumidifer failed - bearings froze up - so I
replaced it. Finding small fractional power motors at an economic price is
hard. There is an electric motor supplier on Baker Rd (into Chelsea) near
I-94, from whom I have gotten replacement motors for bathroom exhaust fans.
A friend in industry got me my humidifier motor, but that source won't help
you. However *any* fan would serve - it doesn't have to even be mounted inside
the dehumidifer - it just blows air over the coil. If it is the fan, you can
get a cheap small fan from a garage sale...but you will have to wire it into
the dehumidifier, so it won't run all the time.

Thanks rcurl.  "wire it into the dehumidfier" may be way beyond my skill
level.

If you can learn (some) unix, you can learn to twist wire together with
wire nuts. Two wires will come out of the fan motor. They will probably
each connect to another wire with a little conical thingy, which is a
wire nut...but before I go further...is the problem the fan motor?

re. defrosting a fridge.  In minimalist living, my small kitchen, I chose a
fridge that does need defrosting.  When frost gets thick I empty the fridge,
throw two or three bath towels I am going to wash anyway in the bottom, put
a fan in front of the open fridge, go away for half an hour, come back,
clean the rest of the fridge (needs periodic cleaning anyway), throw the
towels in the washing machine, put the stuff back in the fridge, turn it on
and I am done for another week.  Takes no more than five minutes max.

re. dehumidifyer;  I had one that seemed to not be working, and discovered
it was loaded with all kinds of gunk.  I used a power hose even, cleaned it
all up, let everything dry, and it works fine.

I just finished defrosting my fridge.  I found a new interpretation for the
"defrost" setting.  I was thinking it would be cool if you could somehow run
the compressor backwards, *heating* the inside of the fridge.  I wonder if
the defrost setting does that?  It does *something*, but I'm not sure if it
is doing what I want or something else.  I do know that the coils on the back
of the fridge got warm, not cold, and the inside didn't feel especially
not-cold.

It seems to me that there used to be (and still might be?) heating coils that
would do the defrost function.

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