Oops, Goo Gone, Goof Off - End of Weekend 1

Robyn joined me today at the house to start cleaning the over-paint off the molding.  Whoever, did the painting the last time... and the time before that... and the time before that weren't that neat.

Part of the problems getting rid of the overpaint is you don't know what type of paint is on the molding, latex or oil based.  So we started off with three products.

1. Aerosol Goo Gone 
2. Goof Off in a 16 oz can 
3. Klean-X Strip-X Stripper in a gallon can

I figured we start with the mildest and work our way up.  We quickly found out that the aerosol Goo Gone wasn't effective against much more than scotch tape.  And you really had to scrub even to get that off.

Fortunately, Robyn found out, with a lot of scrubbing, letting it soak, and sometimes a brass brush that the Goof Off was effective on most over-paint.  Good thing too because the Strip-X is going to take the varnish off.

Unfortunately, we ran out of the Goof Off.  It wasn't available in a store that was close by so we settle on a gallon of Oops.  Not only wasn't it as effective.  And it cost $6 more a gallon.

While Robyn was scrubbing away, I was finishing up the pipe repair.  There were two splits in the main water line where it had frozen in the basement and there was another joint that had come apart when the a couple of legs of "octopus" gravity heating system had come loose from the floor joists and knocked the joint apart.    Here are the repaired sections:

Before

After

I haven't sweated joints in almost 20 years so I'm a bit out of practice and they're a bit sloppy.

Before

After

I took the opportunity to add a "T" into this line with a temporary PVC plug.  I plan to later add in a valve with 2 1/4" connections for the ice maker and whole house humidifier.  Note that the copper is connected to galvanized.  I'll have to replace the galvanized later.  I'm surprised the joints aren't already corroded.

I also have most of the feeder and return pipes for the old gravity heating system cut up.

 

I still have 4 more places to get pipe out of the wall but they are either behind some walls or currently inaccessible.  I have everything out, except for the expansion tank, that I needed to get out so the HVAC contractor can get started running the ductwork

I forgot to drain the water out of the expansion tank before I left yesterday so I didn't want to use the saws all on the remaining pipes standing in water in the basement... plus it was cold as heck down there.  It was 16 degrees when we left the apartment and all we have is 3 space heaters running on the first floor.  Here's the pipes in the basement we have left to get out.  I'll have to get some help unstrapping the expansion tank.  It's too heavy to hold up with one hand while cutting through the strap with the other.

Note the old dimension, rough cut lumber joists.

I was hoping to get valves and caps put on the gas lines for the hot water heater and dryer but I've been having problems finding a valve to fit the joint.  Finally, it desperation, I took the joint off and took it to Home Depot with me where I found the problem.  Someone had cut the old valve or connection off.

I'm going to replacing this piece of galvanized with black iron gas pipe.  (That's my draft layout for updating the kitchen.)

When you start pulling things out, you start getting a hint about the original touches that were in the home.  (Plus some lost items.)

Pink Rose Floral Pattern in the living room

Floral Pattern in Master Bedroom with shades of pink, peach and blue

Grapevine Pattern in the entranceway

So after a Robyn's hard day's work on the wall shelf, here's an example of how much better it looks now.

There's some spots of apparent oil-based over-paint on which we're going to have to use the Strip-X remover.  I haven't quite finished cleaning the old, original stain that was on the molding behind the radiators.  I'll include some photos when I finish one up; it's taking multiple applications of the Strip-X.

Back to the job that's helping pay for this....