D.I.Y.
 

Last weekend, I brought home and installed a rainwater tank at my home. I cut into the downpipe and ran it over to the inlet of the tank then connected the overflow back into the stormwater drain.

We have now just had our first storm sinced I installed it and the plumbing held up and we have water in our tank now.

I'm really proud of the job I've done and it gives me great satisfaction to know that I can accomplish things like this without needing to rely on anyone else.

Tell us about a D.I.Y. you've done that you're proud of. :)

Cool , good job !!!
Question , do you have any kind of water filter ??
Pics ???

Nope, no filter. It's not for drinking at this stage. Just watering the garden. I'll see if I can take a pic tomorrow.

Speaking of DIY...I have to tell you what I did a few weeks ago. (So proud!)

I had a Dr appt (routine booby smash) in the early afternoon of a Wednesday. I had also agreed to check on the neighbor's dog at their home at lunchtime before I left for said appt. The dog ate part of a plastic water bottle the Friday before, and was having slight trouble getting everything to come out okay. Owners couldn't stay home more days with her, she was feeling better and getting more active, but they just wanted me to check on her in the middle of their work-day. A friend called early/mid-morning and had run out of gas a few miles from our home and asked me to run him some gas up from our gas can.

I started the 78 (what I call the 'vette) to warm up, changed clothes and found the gas can down at the shed with the mower. When I carried it to the passenger side of the 78...I smelled sweet syrup and saw water under the engine bay! Shut 78 down and popped the hood. It looked like a heater hose had let go, because that is where the water was pooled, under the passenger side of the engine bay.

Had to call the friend and tell him I couldn't make it with the gas can. Luckily as I was speaking with him, another motorist pulled over to assist him. I called Hubby at work, but he was in a meeting and would be told to call back when finished. Hubby works less than a mile from our home. I checked the 78 again, and from the driver side I saw water pooled on the manifold and when I grabbed the upper hose I saw more water come out. I called the auto store and they had an upper hose for my application and would hold it for me.

BUT, when I went out a little later to show my sis-in-law (before Hubby called back, I was waiting to go to the parts store until he called) I looked at it from the passenger side...and when I grabbed the upper hose to show her where I thought the hose had split...I saw the water was coming from the water neck at the top of the manifold and spraying a stream into the fan area! This is why it pooled under the heater hoses, the fan blew it there.

Hubby called back and said it needed an o-ring and he'd have to fix it after he got home from work and I'd have to reschedule The Smash. Well, it took me WEEKS to get that appt and I wasn't going to wait until I'd gained even MORE weight (steroids) and had even MORE to smash!

I searched for the tools (a wrench and a flat screwdriver) and removed the neck myself! I didn't realize how much water would come out of the upper hose and spilled everywhere...but I layed paper towels around the manifold area to sop up and hosed the spill on the concrete into the drain (so no critters could drink it) while I took the neck to Hubby at work with our truck.

...and before you ask... No, I could NOT take the truck to my appt. I have to drive the 78 everywhere. Isn't that what being a good Corvette owner is all about?

Hubby and I looked through the o-ring parts bin at his work and found the correct size and I returned home to replace it.

I got back home, placed the neck and new o-ring on the air cleaner and ran across the yards to check the neighbor's dog...who was fine...and called them at work to let them know she was okay. When I came back across the yards I saw a man leaning over my engine and I was just pulling in a breath to give this stranger what-for (we recently had a man walk into our garage and steal our weedeater while we were home) and recognized Hubby. I didn't see the Jeep parked behind the truck. He had come home to install it for me. He was concerned I might 'drop' the o-ring and not get it seated properly. I'll tell you, I was concerned too, but I still think I could have done it.

Hubby was impressed with my initiative in removing the part. I was most upset that he now knows I know how to do things with his tools. Dammit.

That sounds like girl power to me! Good work Hoof!

In my experience, it's almost always simpler to do these types of things that we might think. Just goes to show how much easier 'man stuff' is than 'girl stuff'. ;)

Just goes to show how much easier 'man stuff' is than 'girl stuff'.

My wife cusses and generly breaks a lite bulb trying to change it , I cuss and throw the bills when trying to figuer them out , we work well togather !!!

OK....here's my handywork. I couldn't get a great angle on the photography, but you get the picture anyway. Besides, it works! :)

Attachment 10511

Nice! It looks big and heavy. You wrestled that into place? Impressive.

It's only 5000L which is just over 1000 gallons, and it's made of polyethylene which is relatively light. ;) I admit it was a bit of a struggle, but not impossible.

I think it helped that I was majorly pissed off with my husband at the time, so the physical excercise was good.

I think it helped that I was majorly pissed off with my husband at the time, so the physical excercise was good.

There ya go , channel that pissedoffness into something constructive , I do that at work Chucking 50lb weights ( I am a Scale tech ) , I have to tell folks " Move , just PLEASE MOVE !!!"

lol...well you can tell that I'm normally fairly calm because I'm definitely not super fit.

You say please when your pissedoff??

Chrome, aftermarket, thermostat housing? :question:

How tall is that rainbarrel, Ali? At 1k liters, it must be as tall as you are at least!

Yuppers. I didn't pick it out, Hubby did. He is like a crow with shiny things. I just want things to work and last.

Thought so, of all the things we sold in the speed shop, they are public enemy #1. Every one of them is warped right out of the box, hence the O-ring instead of a good reliable gasket. I think the chrome plating process affects the metal in a way that causes it to move a lot, in service. Doesn't matter what brand you buy either...they all do it.:D

Well done! Specialization is for insects!

You say please when your pissedoff??

Well I would MUCH prefer to say "Get the FUCK out of the way ASSHOLE !!! "

But I don't need to talk to my boss , co-workers , or customers .

It's 1k gallon. 5k litres. It's 6 feet tall and about 8 feet in diametre.

water weighs about 8.25 lbs per gallon so that makes that puppy weigh when full 8250lbs plus the weight of the tank so lets round UP and say about 8350+lbs , I hope you placed this tank on a cement slab and I would hope that the slab was level or slopeing AWAY from your house , Or you could have your own personal Sunami !!! :EEK :

It's all good Zippy. I'm not worried about it breaking down the house or anything. lol

It's on a slab which is about 6 inches thick and it's level bar the slope for runoff.

It's on a slab which is about 6 inches thick and it's level bar the slope for runoff.
Perfectamundo ,
it's level bar the slope for runoff.
Thats what I was concerned about !!!

When i was a kid my Dad always encouraged me to be fairly self sufficient because he wouldn't always be around, and there might not always be another man to take care of things for me. Through the course of my life, I've been grateful for his lessons because there have been many long years where i've had to do stuff myself, and now I've married a man who is pretty much a disaster as far as anything to do with tools goes. He's a wonderful husband though, so I'm not complaining, and if I can do most of the stuff that needs doing, then it doesn't matter anyway. :)

Ali , that is a GOOOOD thing , my wife cusses when trying to change a lite bulb( simple shit that doesn't go right buggs the HELL out of her ) , BUT she can change a tire NO PROBLEM and has jumper cables ( extra long and extra heavy duty ) and knows how to use them ( she has weirded out more than a few guys while she was starting a coworkers car for them !!! ) .

Well it's all pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Always nice to be able to rely on yourself. I can relate to how mrs Zippy feels. lol

yeppers , she gets SOOOOOO flrustrated over simple shit , but then again I get flusrtated over ALL the paperwork she keeps in perfect orded ( "Babe do you have the manuel for the mircowave ??? " ZIP and it is in my hands , along with ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLL the paper work from when we bought it ) .

I guess every body has their talents , I fix shit and she keeps up with the paper work !!!

That's true. In our relationship, my husband earns the money and I use it. ;)

I think a lot of wives pretend they don't know how, or just can't manage, to do things they get their husbands to do. They do this because they're just too damn tired from doing all the other things they're expected to do.:lol:

I don't think that's true Bruce.

What are they expected to do??

Oh that is SOOOOO easy !!!!!

Wha? Pick up stray socks? OK, that's pretty easy, and doesn't make me tired. :lol:

Well I'll admit it, Bruce--I will loosely hint at girly incompetence if it means my husband will, say, clean the gutters. I do the vast majority of the chores in the house, and though he's in theory willing to do anything I ask him, it is not only more likely to actually get done, but he'll be happier about doing it, if he feels like he's "taking care" of us in a manly way.

Come on, bluec, do you mow the lawn at your house? :)

Everything...cook, clean, shop, laundry, child care, all the things they do while he's watching football/baseball/hockey/NASCAR/Orange County Choppers/etc.

Most of the wives I know, even the "non-working" ones, are busy far into the evening with "women's work". When they occasionally request help on the grounds they don't know how to do something, most often it's because they are just worn out or would like to get to bed before midnight for a change. ;)

Don't forget playing videogames! :)

Yeah, well, that's a generational thing....I'm old school. :D

Well, quite frankly, I''m having some time off work lately, and as you will probably have noticed, I've got plenty of time for dicking around on this site. My house is definitely clean and tidy. The washing is done. The kids are all sorted and when they come home from school we usually do stuff together (lately that's usually going for a swim).

I believe it's a matter of time management, something some people obviously need some help with. :)

What I mean by that is that I don't go along with the argument about it being because women are too tired. I think it's just because they know they can get someone else to do it for them when they could easily do it themselves.

Of course, we all do this from time to time, including me, but I don't do it because I don't have time etc. I do it because it's a job I just don't want to do, and I'm quite happy to admit that. My husband and sons all know it too.

We don't have a lawn, but if we did, I wouldn't *get to*--he dreams of one day having a "mowrider" (a tricked-out John Deere with flames painted on the sides) which I probably wouldn't be allowed to drive. I'd have to get my own, except that bumper mowriders sounds too scary.