Creating work….

Jan pointed out the aircon vent in the master bedroom was producing far less cold air than the other vents in the house.  “Nonsense!” says me who then goes to check it.  Looking up through the vent I could see daylight….. #$%^^&*!!!  That’s when I realised the flexible ducting had partially dislodged from the vent.  The aircon was cooling the ceiling cavity and then the wider community of Perth.  OK, another maintenance job!  I used the new step ladder to climb up and removed the ceiling access panel in the passageway and then climbed into the roof cavity armed with a torch and a roll of duct tape.  It was at this point I discovered the head clearance in the roof cavity was exceptionally low.  Moreover the large flexible aircon ducts provided a great barrier for fat elderly men.  I managed to scramble over one but the second defeated me.  I was simply unable to cock my leg high enough.  Old dogs will know what I mean.  Having realised I wasn’t going to be able to reach the affected area I attempted to extract myself and go back down the access hatch.  Unfortunately (for me) my arthritic heel caught the plaster architrave.

Rather than fix a problem I’ve created a second.  <ggrrrrrrr>

I’ve made a mould from a couple of scraps of pine and covered the inside with masking tape.  The tape was then given a liberal coating of beeswax in the hope the new plaster wont stick to the paper.

The mould was then clamped in place and I started the multi-stage process of applying layers of plaster to fill in the damaged area.

I can’t do it in one go as the plaster will fall out of the hole.

On a more positive note I’ve replaced the valve stems in the 16 inch steel rims I purchased yesterday.  They had conventional valve stems and the tip of the stem protrudes outside the profile of the rim.

I’m going to fit TPMS sensors to the ends of the stems and I’m concerned they will get damaged when going off road.  The idea is to fit a shorter valve stem which will result in the sensors being inside the steel rim where (hopefully) they will have better protection. 

The first step was to remove the existing valve stems.  I achieved this by using a pair of molegrip pliers.

That proved to be considerably easier than I’d expected.  Moreover the valve stems don’t appear to have been damaged in the process so I now have spares.

The new valve stems are definitely shorter.

Some liquid soap was used to lubricate the new valve stem

And then I used a 4 Way Valve tool to pull the valve until it seated correctly

I’m rather pleased with the final result.  If I’d taken the rims to the tyre shop they would have probably charged me $30-40.

As you know it’s getting close to Christmas and Jan has been making decorations from anything she can find.