Home Improvement/DIY Projects

[Sheik]

That's not where the blower is? Like when you run the fireplace does it blow hot air through those bricks?

That’s what I thought too, but no blower.

 

[Sheik]

I've never seen that before. Seems like I've seen something similar just as a design feature but not where it would let air in.

Is the idea what c-rock said, to let more hot air out? (I haven't seen a blower in a real fireplace though.)

I guess the damper is closed or not damaged? Don't see why there's be so much air coming out.

Interested to see how you fix it. Can you carefully knock the bricks out and replace with mortar?

I’m going to do more in depth investigating this weekend to see exactly what’s going on with it. Not sure if it’s ok to alter the design yet..

 

[Sheik]

Talked to a friend that was in the construction field and his thought was that it lets the heat escape because if the fire gets too hot it can Crack the bricks.

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense actually.

 

[Cowboysrock55]

Thanks. That makes a lot of sense actually.

Yeah makes sense to me too. Hadn't really thought of it because most fireplaces up here have a blower to disperse the heat. Or at least new fireplaces.

 

[Sheik]

I don’t know what I’m going to do with this chimney. It’s definitely what Rev said it was. The whole wall is brick floor to ceiling and like 15 feet wide. I wanted to do nickel gapped shiplap on that wall and put a nice sleek gas insert, but I guess I have to call someone out that deals with chimneys to ask what if anything I can do to cover up the brick.

 

[NoDak]

View attachment 692672

The vertical bricks in the middle of the photo have no mortar and cold air blows in even when there isn’t a breeze. It’s on both sides of the fireplace and across the top of it.

I have one on my chimney, too. It's a heat sink. Allows heat to escape from the chimney into your house, while allowing the chimney to not get overheated which could damage the chimney brick and mortar. There should be a damper above that which you can close when the fireplace is not in use, which will not let cold air come down and out those openings. If not, you could always install one. But there should be one.

Just remember to open it before using the fireplace. You will fill the room up with smoke in a hurry if you don't. A hard lesson learned by my wife when we first moved into this house.

 

[Cotton]

Just remember to open it before using the fireplace. You will fill the room up with smoke in a hurry if you don't. A hard lesson learned by my wife when we first moved into this house.

This is a lesson I have learned myself.

 

[Rev]

It’s definitely what Rev said it was.

What do I win?

Wait. I'm not sure I want to know.

 

[Sheik]

What do I win?

Wait. I'm not sure I want to know.

I just blew you a kiss.

 

[Sheik]

I’m not sure if I mentioned it or not, but when we decided to move to Oklahoma I wanted to go back to working in the trades. I had taken a 4 year break to do the restaurant thing with my wife, it was nice for a while, but I was really burnt out by the time we decided to not renew our lease.

I started putting my name out there a few weeks ago. Dropping off business cards, running ads in the local papers, stuff like that. I can’t believe the level of workmanship out here in this area. I’ve literally come across some of the worst workmanship I’ve ever laid eyes on the past few weeks. Lots of “the contractor took off with my money and never came back stories”, jobs left unfinished, done completely half-assed. Just some really bad shit.

I went to an estimate the other day, the owner had two different guys out from OKC to work on his kitchen sink. It was still leaking and the guy didn’t know why.

I knelt down to look and 3 of the shark it’s connections were leaking. They had busted a huge hole in the sheetrock to expose the drain line. There was a nail just chilling in the drain pipe that someone had hammered into it. Just a complete and utter clusterfuck. Two different people charged this guy for “fixing” the issue and never answered the phone or came back.

I spent 4 hours there on Thursday of last week redoing everything under the sink and repairing his dishwasher that he was told was broken. The dishwasher just needed to be hooked back up and have a code reset.

He was tickled to death to pay me $400 for the repairs and was shocked that I didn’t ask for money upfront or money to buy materials.

These people out here are so used to getting fucked over by drug addicted handymen that they just kind of expect it to happen.

Anyway, here are some pictures of work that was “completed” by the other two, and pictures of what I did to fix the issues they left this poor guy with. He was blown away that I took the time to install new Sheetrock and actually put the water lines back where they needed to be instead of looking like a god damned disaster.

 

[Sheik]

Updated pics after repair.




Edit: The other files are too large and won’t upload, but you get the point. The hot and cold water were recessed back into wall, beauty rings installed, added a clean out inside the cabinet because there wasn’t one anywhere near the kitchen sink previously.

He was very pleased and already gave me a list of other things he wants me to do next week.

I love doing things like this because nothing is better than being dependable/honest and getting that repeat business.

 

[Sheik]

Also, in that pic of the finished work, you’ll notice some dampness at the bottom of the sheetrock. This was the next morning, his kitchen faucet isn’t the correct faucet for the sink he has. The sink is from the 50s, it was installed in the home in the late 70s and is a very rare sink called a “Fiesta sink”, he tried to weekend warrior a faucet to fit and it doesn’t sit right on the sink, so water trickles down and settles in the grout lines and saturates the drywall. Something else I suggested he gave me correct.

 

[jsmith6919]

I’m not sure if I mentioned it or not, but when we decided to move to Oklahoma I wanted to go back to working in the trades. I had taken a 4 year break to do the restaurant thing with my wife, it was nice for a while, but I was really burnt out by the time we decided to not renew our lease.

I started putting my name out there a few weeks ago. Dropping off business cards, running ads in the local papers, stuff like that. I can’t believe the level of workmanship out here in this area. I’ve literally come across some of the worst workmanship I’ve ever laid eyes on the past few weeks. Lots of “the contractor took off with my money and never came back stories”, jobs left unfinished, done completely half-assed. Just some really bad shit.

I went to an estimate the other day, the owner had two different guys out from OKC to work on his kitchen sink. It was still leaking and the guy didn’t know why.

I knelt down to look and 3 of the shark it’s connections were leaking. They had busted a huge hole in the sheetrock to expose the drain line. There was a nail just chilling in the drain pipe that someone had hammered into it. Just a complete and utter clusterfuck. Two different people charged this guy for “fixing” the issue and never answered the phone or came back.

I spent 4 hours there on Thursday of last week redoing everything under the sink and repairing his dishwasher that he was told was broken. The dishwasher just needed to be hooked back up and have a code reset.

He was tickled to death to pay me $400 for the repairs and was shocked that I didn’t ask for money upfront or money to buy materials.

These people out here are so used to getting fucked over by drug addicted handymen that they just kind of expect it to happen.

Anyway, here are some pictures of work that was “completed” by the other two, and pictures of what I did to fix the issues they left this poor guy with. He was blown away that I took the time to install new Sheetrock and actually put the water lines back where they needed to be instead of looking like a god damned disaster.

View attachment 692726View attachment 692727View attachment 692728View attachment 692729

JFC that's some ugly shit. Also how bad do you have to be to have a sharkbite leak? I've used them numerous times and never had even one leak

 

[Sheik]

JFC that's some ugly shit. Also how bad do you have to be to have a sharkbite leak? I've used them numerous times and never had even one leak

It was a hack job. When they cut the copper they must have used a sawzall or something, definitely not the right tool to cut copper. The cut was bad and the shark bite fitting was on maybe 3/8ths of an inch. Those connectors have to go on at least 0.9” in order to seat correctly.

 

[jsmith6919]

It was a hack job. When they cut the copper they must have used a sawzall or something, definitely not the right tool to cut copper. The cut was bad and the shark bite fitting was on maybe 3/8ths of an inch. Those connectors have to go on at least 0.9” in order to seat correctly.

Yeah you def need to use copper cutters so you have a clean end to get it on. That's one bad thing about them sharkbites is letting people who couldn't solder copper to save their life think they are a plumber

 

[Chocolate Lab]

It was a hack job. When they cut the copper they must have used a sawzall or something, definitely not the right tool to cut copper.

Good lord.

 

[Sheik]

Yeah you def need to use copper cutters so you have a clean end to get it on. That's one bad thing about them sharkbites is letting people who couldn't solder copper to save their life think they are a plumber

In a way it’s good, it keeps people like me busy,

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called to fix a shark bite repair because it wasn’t put on correctly or the copper was cut all screwed up.

 

[Sheik]

Good lord.

It almost looked like it was flared, I have no idea how they got the fitting on in the first place.

 

[Sheik]

I don’t know how realistic it is, but my 2023 goal is $100k with this business solely focusing on repair work, I’m going to try and stay away from remodels and projects that take longer than a week. I think it’s doable, but I also don’t know if the market will support $300-$400 per day in service calls.

 

[jsmith6919]

I don’t know how realistic it is, but my 2023 goal is $100k with this business solely focusing on repair work, I’m going to try and stay away from remodels and projects that take longer than a week. I think it’s doable, but I also don’t know if the market will support $300-$400 per day in service calls.

Staying with the smaller jobs you usually wont have to worry about permits either. You have any kind of license from Ca? OK does have a reciprocity for other states it's just a form and filing fee.