This Blog is dedicated to the notion that fixing things on our homes as well as understanding how they work is a fun, life-long learning process.

Fixing things and remodeling are my passions, If you are interested in remodeling your home, or just happen to stumble upon my site, please spend some time in my world. You’ll be pleased that you did.

The original content contained here is proof that when you are passionate about something it is easy to find stuff to talk about.

Behind the scenes at Levco Care

We are working on setting up our systems for our clients. We have a great idea and a great place to start, I just need to free up the staff to make it happen.

Inspirational Quotes

Surround yourself with people you love and have fun. The rest is gravy. Paul Tillotson (1965 -2016)

I love the smell of sawdust in the morning. Me, renaissance man (8-28-58 Still going strong!)

“Quality construction does not cost- it pays” (as seen on a bumper sticker)

Jul 23
0

Can you flip a p trap?

By | Plumbing, Problem Solving | No Comments

I recently came across a problem that is fairly common in remodeling kitchens. A client remodeled their home after 35 years and ended up with a nicer, under mount sink. The sink bottom ended up about 4″ lower than the previous one too, so the connections to the wall needed to adjusted to make it all work. This usually comes as a surprise to everyone and if your kitchen cabinets have backs it can be a real problem to fix. If you are gutting the kitchen, always lower the sink drain. Shit goes down hill The first rule of plumbing…

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Mar 04
0
Fuses

Fuse failure almost causes fire

By | Electrical, Energy | No Comments

Fusees are an important link in the safety chain of electrical components of a home. They are designed to fail prior to the wires getting so hot that they melt and or catch other things on fire. Sadly many folks are willing to put too large of a fuse or the wrong rating of a fuse in the line to keep a circuit working. There are many different looking fuses some look the same but operate differently. The key is to use the appropriate fuse for the job. Just because it fits in the space does not mean that it…

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Jan 21
0

More winter blues, the ceiling is falling!

By | Moisture Protection, Water Awareness, Weatherization | No Comments

I got called by a property management company to urgently evaluate a second story apartment that had a leaking ceiling, and likely falling in. The first time pregnant woman was worried about her health and rightfully so. Upon arrival I found a snow covered roof at a low slope. It was 6:00 PM,  36 degrees and raining slightly. I went upstairs and walked into a wall of humidity, I saw that the windows were sweating and they were baking and making spaghetti. The walls were dripping a bit especially up near the ceiling. There was some discoloration on the semigloss…

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Jan 21
0
window winter

How cold is it?

By | Basements, Safe Practices | No Comments

Its so cold I saw a dog stuck to a tree. Just kidding, but it did freeze a vinyl window shut. Egress windows are giving a false sense of security if they don’t open when they need to. To say the least it has been a hell of a winter. I am exhausted and frustrated with it. One of my residents just informed me that it took an hour with a hair dryer to thaw the darn thing. He used WD-40 to lube it up and we will see if it works. Heed this warning Check your egress windows for…

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Dec 11
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Failed Pipe

Hissing sound turns out to be serious

By | Plumbing, Problem Solving, Understanding your home | No Comments

A past client called to report a strange hissing sound emanating from beneath her kitchen area. She said “It sounded like a machine running or air moving”. It seemed like no big deal until she noticed a crack in her drywall in the same general area. That is when I got involved. After lifting the lid on the crawl space it became obvious that she had a leak beneath her floor. Whats that sound? I instantly noticed a high humidity condition on my face and got a sinking feeling about what I was going to discover. I Jumped down into…

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Nov 19
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Happy holidays

Holiday appliance advice

By | Appliances, News | No Comments

Hello LevcoCare Nation! The Holiday Season is rapidly approaching, at least on the calendar. I know in Boise it seems like we just can’t shake fall, but winter is lurking just around the corner, Trust me, I about froze my buns off at the football game last night. I just received a cool post that I decided to share from a trusted source. It has to do with what to and not to do around this time with our appliances. Odds are you are going to give your appliances a workout and no one wants a failure to muck up…

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Oct 09
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What are you getting for your money?

By | Plumbing, Understanding your home | No Comments

I was talking with my plumber the other day and several cool things jelled when it comes to value. I have known for years that although things look alike they are not. Let’s take anything, cars are a good example.  Why is there such a disparity, they all do the same darn thing. Why not buy the least expensive one? Turns out that folks realized that although they have an engine (in most cases, I drove a Tesla the other day, it had two electric motors) and 4 tires and meet certain requirements, there are so many differences that it…

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Sep 24
0
outhouse

What makes a toilet work?

By | Memoirs, Plumbing | No Comments

Since the evolution of the outhouse and the gravitational hole in the ground toilet, first world countries have staved off disease in the last century by creating domestic plumbing and municipal sewage systems. One of my early fond memories of toilets is the Loo nicked named “Baby Loo” at my boy scout camp. A two seater box set over a hole that we used to sprinkle ashes on to keep the flies down. Later in life I built a collapsible hunting toilet for visiting Wisconsinites hence the cheese head. Although much progress has been made in composting toilets and incinerating…

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Sep 03
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Hard water chemistry

How Hard is Your Water?

By | Understanding your home, Water Awareness | No Comments

I was recently asked to look into add water softeners for several clients. Having added them before I thought I would explore a bit about what hard water is and why anyone would want to condition it in the first place. Here is what I found Water naturally has elements and minerals in it . Calcium and Magnesium are two of the biggies, there are other but this Calcium is the one that causes hardness. Hard water is what leaves spots on your glass, it makes scratchy clothes, it makes itchy dry skin, it makes you use lots of soap.Soft…

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Aug 28
0
ultrasonic parts cleaner

To rebuild or not to rebuild a carburetor

By | Fixing things | No Comments

This article is about something that constantly plagues me. As a self proclaimed fix-it guy I thought that once I owned a chain saw and had a sharpening file that I had made it. Next thing you know the gas powered tools for lawn care just started adding up. Next it became a hassle to bring the power tools around to my rental properties, so I kept collecting and before I new it I had a over ten of them. Some cared for better than others. One such neglected tool was a straight Stihl weed eater. I invested in a…

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