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Old 05-26-2015, 10:51 AM
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Hank70SS Hank70SS is offline
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Tony, you wanted to hear about the Chevelle. Well it's a long story.

So back when we were in Fl I mentioned our furnace stopped working. Talked our son through changing the ignitor and got it going. Thought all was good, but we were wrong. A few weeks later he came over to use our printer and noticed water stains in the vanity in the main bathroom. One of the shutoff valves froze and blew off the end of the pipe. He repaired that and turned on the water. Water was still leaking but he couldn't tell where. Then he noticed a water stain in the garage ceiling under that bathroom. So I called AAA and they sent people out to start the repairs.

Our whole house, even the garage walls and ceiling, are sheetrock with a skim coat of wet plaster. A previous owner added a drop ceiling in the garage and put insulation inbetween the drop and real ceiling. Well the guys had to rip into the ceiling to locate the leak and dry things out. Our son moved the one car out of the garage but couldn't get the Chevelle started. Talked to our neighbor Darrel and asked if I could put my Chevelle in his garage next to his Chevelle. Henry towed the Chevelle over to Darrel's and our neighbor Tom helped him push it in the garage.

I told the company doing the work to get the plumbing fixed so the house was liveable when we got back, Thursday before Easter, we would arrange for restoring the ceiling, etc. when we returned. Well after driving the motorhome all day in the rain we get home and open the garage door. It's covered from one corner to the other with broken pieces of plaster and plaster dust. It was all over the shelves and all my stuff, they didn't cover anything up. Opened the door into the house and find pieces of plaster and dust all the way to the 2nd floor and down the hallway. They tore out part of the wall that backs up to bathroom, ripped up some carpeting and cut out the padding.

Our house is almost 40 years old and we have a well. If you remove water pressure once it's restored it blows out 40 years of accumulated gunk and spits and sputters until all the air is out of the lines. Well that gunk was sprayed in both showers, the sinks, all over the vanities and even on the walls. They didn't even rinse it down once the water ran clear. So after driving all day we get to vacuum most of the house and clean the showers and sinks. Now I don't get upset too easily but after seeing this mess I got on the phone and blew a gasket. Well that was 4:30 and they were closed Good Friday so we wait until Monday for them to come out.

I could write a book about our dealings with them, you're getting the short version. Needless to say I finally told them to get out and don't ever come back, I would finish the repairs myself. After walking through the house with one of the owners of the company and explaining everything we went through he did write off our $1000 deductible.

This is part of the reason I haven't been on here much. While they were still working here I painted the other spare bedroom, now an office. After kicking them out I had to finish putting the suspended ceiling back together in the garage. I noticed big gaps in the insulation so I decided to replace all the ceiling tiles and fix the insulation. The new tiles were bright white and the old ones a dirty gray. That was a fun job, replacing the tiles when there's 9" insulation stuffed into a 7" gap isn't easy.

... to be continued.
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Old 05-26-2015, 11:13 AM
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Wow Hank ,I would have blown a gasket or two myself over all that .
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Old 05-26-2015, 11:15 AM
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Part II. So I mentioned getting a whole house generator. Well I had to rip out the grass and border the area. After the install I filled it with white marble rocks, 26 bags worth, it looks good. So that too has been keeping me busy. Then I go over to Darrel's to see if I can start the Chevelle, no luck, doesn't seem to be pumping gas to the carb. Well Darrel and I can't push the Chevelle up the approach into my garage, no other bodies around so guess it will have to wait.

Okay, it's a nice sunny day I'll pull the old motorhome out and take some pictures so I can get it on craigslist. No power to dash? It has switches to disconnect the engine and house batteries. Toggle the switch for the engine battery a few times and get it started. 5 seconds later it shuts off, no power. Toggle the switch a few more times and it starts up. Let it run for a while and start to pull forward and it dies. Now I can't get it started. Spend several hours messing inside the battery control center which is full of relays and switches and a printed circuit board. Still no luck, this is great, the motorhome is now blocking the garage doors, both cars inside and there aint no pushing that motorhome.

I get out the old Bolens snowplowing tractor and tow the motorhome back out of the way. Get online and finally find out how that battery control center works. Sunday I swap some parts between the engine battery side and house battery side and get it running, go online and order the part I need to fix it. Um? Maybe I can tow the Chevelle home with the tractor, should have enough room to get all 4 tires up into the garage. That worked good so things are looking up. Then Lynda runs outside yesterday and says we have a water leak in the basement.

The shutoff valve for the washer is spraying water out like crazy. It's spraying out of the bottom of the nut that goes around the stem. Take it apart, can't see anything wrong. Put it back together and still leaks. So first thing this morning it's off to Ace hardware to get a new valve and solder it in.

Like I said, if aint one thing it's another and I told you it was a long story. Now I get to drop the tank on the Chevelle and replace the hoses. I think it's cracked and the fuel pump can't create a vacuum to suck the gas up. I don't think I've sat down since we got back from Fl and I'm exhausted. I'll keep you updated when the next adventure presents itself.
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Old 05-26-2015, 11:33 AM
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That damned Florida will do it every time......hope you get everything squared away Hank.
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Old 05-26-2015, 02:32 PM
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Only thing left Ken is to drop the tank on the Chevelle so I can get it running. Was going to do that today but it got sunny so I pulled out the old motorhome to get some pics then put an ad on craigslist. That was another thing keeping me busy, taking all our stuff out of it and all the junk left in the newer one. Old guy acted like he was doing us a favor by leaving the stuff. Most will go in the trash, the rest to the Salvation Army. Once we clean the carpet and upholstery we can start loading our stuff in the new one.
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Old 05-26-2015, 06:06 PM
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Damn Hank. That's about all I can say. Man, I feel sorry for you.
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Old 05-26-2015, 07:58 PM
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I thought I was having a bad day until I read this. Had a friend have that happen to him, but no one caught it until a month later. Hope things get back to normal soon. Could have looked like this.
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Last edited by shadowgray396; 02-22-2016 at 02:43 PM.
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Old 05-27-2015, 06:57 AM
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Actually we were pretty lucky. The pump was shut off so only water flowing was what was left in the pressure tank, could have been much worse. Next year I will shutoff the pump and open the faucet in the laundry tub so the whole system is empty. Live and learn.

Things are looking up, posted an ad for the motorhome on craigslist yesterday afternoon. Already have 3 emails asking about it. Of course one guy wants to trade a 1976 Corvette for it. A 76 Corvette, no thanks, not my favorite year.
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Old 05-27-2015, 08:03 AM
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Is this it on Craigs list?

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Old 05-27-2015, 09:06 AM
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Thats a fine looking one. New set of tires and it's a good as new. Lol
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