Handy man
This weekend was very productive for me, unfortunately I was working on my coworker's house. Friday night I went over to hook up his new gas dryer and hang out. I had heard him calling around to plumbers trying to get one to hook up his new dryer (Best Buy will deliver them, but not hook them up). I told him that it was super easy to do and I could do it for him if he bought the parts. He also got a microwave with exhaust vent, a new garage door opener, and some mini-blinds that he wanted help with. Uh-oh, what did I get myself into?
Friday night I went over to his new place and hooked up the dryer. We had to run to Home Depot to buy a wrench set because with only the one I brought from work, I couldn't unscrew the cap on the gas valve due to the fact that neither the valve nor the gas line was bolted in place. I tried holding it with my hand, but only succeeded in putting a slight kink in the copper gas line as the leverage with the wrench was more than my bare hand could handle. It was at that point that I decided that we needed a second wrench. After that, everything went together without a hitch.
Once we were done with that, another coworker and his wife showed up and we all sat down together for a nice home cooked Indian (vegetarian) meal. After that I decided that we should read the install directions for the microwave vent and check out the existing vent to see what sort of tools might be needed for the install. One thing led to another, and before you know it we were installing the microwave. This was made reasonably easy due to the fact that the vent work was already in place from the existing hood and the fact that basically all you have do is bolt a plate to the wall and hang the microwave on it. Turns out that he didn't have a drill bit big enough for the toggle bolts needed for the drywall section, as well as some other random parts, so another trip to Home Depot was needed. Luckily, Home Depot is only about a mile from his place.
The instructions for the microwave seemed to be more trouble than they worth, and we just went with the template and the back bracket. We knew it had to bolt to the wall, and the template told us where to drill for the top mounting bolts. We lined up the vent hole on the bracket and the vent in the wall, bolted things in place and we were done. Once we tossed the directions it was smooth sailing.
I came back on Sunday to help him install his new garage door opener. It was less like helping, and more like doing, but that's OK. I'd never installed a garage door opener, but thankfully these instructions were much better than the microwave's. It took me only three hours and two trips to Home Depot to get it all installed. I can't believe that they didn't give you the bolts required to mount the garage door opener to the ceiling bracket! We substituted the bolts that attach the door to the vertical bar attached to the trolley (the bit that the garage door opener actually moves) to hold the opener to the ceiling, which meant that in the end, we were two bolts short for the final hookup! Argh, how lame! The last trip to Home Depot was just for those two nuts and bolts and some light bulbs. Lame. But, when all is said and done, the door worked great and I was quite pleased with myself.
By that point I was tired, and not up for installing his blinds. I showed him how they mount to the window frame and I went home to rest up because I'm getting yet another cold. Lame!
Friday night I went over to his new place and hooked up the dryer. We had to run to Home Depot to buy a wrench set because with only the one I brought from work, I couldn't unscrew the cap on the gas valve due to the fact that neither the valve nor the gas line was bolted in place. I tried holding it with my hand, but only succeeded in putting a slight kink in the copper gas line as the leverage with the wrench was more than my bare hand could handle. It was at that point that I decided that we needed a second wrench. After that, everything went together without a hitch.
Once we were done with that, another coworker and his wife showed up and we all sat down together for a nice home cooked Indian (vegetarian) meal. After that I decided that we should read the install directions for the microwave vent and check out the existing vent to see what sort of tools might be needed for the install. One thing led to another, and before you know it we were installing the microwave. This was made reasonably easy due to the fact that the vent work was already in place from the existing hood and the fact that basically all you have do is bolt a plate to the wall and hang the microwave on it. Turns out that he didn't have a drill bit big enough for the toggle bolts needed for the drywall section, as well as some other random parts, so another trip to Home Depot was needed. Luckily, Home Depot is only about a mile from his place.
The instructions for the microwave seemed to be more trouble than they worth, and we just went with the template and the back bracket. We knew it had to bolt to the wall, and the template told us where to drill for the top mounting bolts. We lined up the vent hole on the bracket and the vent in the wall, bolted things in place and we were done. Once we tossed the directions it was smooth sailing.
I came back on Sunday to help him install his new garage door opener. It was less like helping, and more like doing, but that's OK. I'd never installed a garage door opener, but thankfully these instructions were much better than the microwave's. It took me only three hours and two trips to Home Depot to get it all installed. I can't believe that they didn't give you the bolts required to mount the garage door opener to the ceiling bracket! We substituted the bolts that attach the door to the vertical bar attached to the trolley (the bit that the garage door opener actually moves) to hold the opener to the ceiling, which meant that in the end, we were two bolts short for the final hookup! Argh, how lame! The last trip to Home Depot was just for those two nuts and bolts and some light bulbs. Lame. But, when all is said and done, the door worked great and I was quite pleased with myself.
By that point I was tired, and not up for installing his blinds. I showed him how they mount to the window frame and I went home to rest up because I'm getting yet another cold. Lame!
posted by Mark at 5:55 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home