Home Depot – hello27.net

Drain Snake

아침에 일어났더니 부엌 싱크대가 메롱하고 계셨다… 에휴..하고 냅다 약품을 부었건만 하루를 마감하는 시점까지 여전히 메롱하고 계심… 결국 집주인 부를까 하다가 (부른다고 바로오는 것도 아니고…) 내가 고쳐야지 하고 바닥을 보았더니 파이프가 분리식이 아니고 절대 움직이지 않게끔 아예 붙인방식이었다…

아쒸 이걸 톱으로 자리고 다시 연결해야하는 수준인건가 하고 좌절했다가 예전에 어디선가 봐놨던 뱀이 생각나서 홈디포에서 뱀 한마리 업어서 집으로 귀환…그리고 막힌 싱크대에 몇번 투입해서 돌려주었더니 뻥하고 뚤렸다…

Finally, this new snake from Home Depot saved our kitchen sink which was refusing to drink our drainage for a whole day:)

2022.2

Portable Air Conditioner Vent Installation on Siding Door

누군가 그랬다… 엔지니어링 또한 문제 해결을 위한거라고… 비전공자로서 그럴수도 있겠네 했는데…제대로 체험삶의 현장(?); 나같은 어정쩡한 문송인에게 세상은 점점 어려워진다..

작년에 복잡다단한 이유로 시원하던 집 놔두고 동네의 타운하우스에 이사를 왔건만… 첫 여름을 지나면서 아무래도 타운하우스는 좀 덥지 않을까 싶었는데.. 하필 옆집이 에어콘을 설치한 집인데 실외기를 이쪽 집 문가에 설치해주는 만행을 저질러 주셔서… 정말 더울때 문을 열어도 옆집 열기까지 더해져서 더 더워지는 참사가 계속 되었다… 결국, 이 집에 1년더 살기로 하고 여름에 킬 포터블 에어콘을 주문했다..

근데, 에어콘을 보니 이나라에서 파는 포터블 에어콘은 다 위-아래 창문에 한켠을 막아서 공기를 내뿜는 구조의 공기배출 시스템이건만, 하필 이집에는 거실에 위아래 창문이 하나도 없고 미닫이 문만 있는구조..ㅎㅎㅎ Youtube로 여러 연구 결과 (벽에 구멍을 내고 밖으로 빼내는 옵션도 있으나 여긴 우리집이 아니기에 pass, 즉, 철이 지나면 쉽게 철거가 되고 티를 내지 않는 해결안이 필요) 결국 수직상황에 적용할수 있다고 하는 제품 kit를 아마존에서 주문했다.. 허나 kit을 배송받고 보니 문제는 1) LG가 배출구가 표준이 아니고.. 2) 수직에할수 있다지만 미닫이 창에 최적화되어 있어 이걸 문에 적용하자니 주욱주욱 늘어트려야해서 너덜너덜하고 안정성 제로..

아쒸… 결국 1)은 PVC를 깍아 해결하고 (도데체 kit는 뭔 역할인가 싶고.. 내가 “생쌀을 재촉한다고 밥이되냐”고 외치던 방망이 깍던 노인인가 싶음..) 2)는 비슷한 문제로 어떤 Youtuber도 참다 못해 frame을 완전히 나무로 짜버리고 kit을 나무에 끼운걸 만드는 걸 보고 아이디어 참조하여 미닫이 문 홈에 딱맞는 2×2목재를 사와 일종의 외벽 고정하면 되겠다 생각해주심.. 결국 2×2사와 높이에 맞게 잘라 홈도 파고 문을 닫을때 접촉하는 한쪽면을 덧댔는데 여전히 이넘의 kit는 춤을 춘다. 자세히 보니 결국 문 끝 안 쪽홈에 lock장치로 튀어나온 부분이 있어 kit가 안정적으로 수직 고정이 되지 않아 춤을 추는듯…

결국 2×2 목재를 하나더 사오고 kit다른 쪽에도 목재를 받힘해주고 결국은 kit옆면에 구멍내고 screw로 고정해주니… 드디어 고정체로서 안정성을 확보했다.. 허나 목재가 살짝 비틀어져있어 문을 닫으니 문과 목재사이에 gap이 있고 여전히 kit와 목재 사이도 어쩔수 없이 gap이 있었다..

이 비싼 찬공기를 희석시킬수 없다는 생각에 결국 바람막이 고무 붙이기도 동원하고 문 바깥쪽에는 나무를 하나 덧대서 목재와 문사이의 gap도 해결하고 kit중간중간에 보이는 공간도 다 막았다.. 그리고 한동안 lock을 할 수 없으니 방범용으로 문사이에 낄 나무도 잘라서 손잡이 달아주고..ㅎㅎ

근데, 다했다를 외치려한 순간 다시 보니 문이 완전히 닫히지 않는 관계로 고정된 문과 vent때문에 완전히 닫히지 않는 문의 frame과 frame 사이로 공기가 술술 잘통하고 있는걸 발견하고 여기도 바람막이 고무를 동원하여 드디어 성공…T_T

이번 여름은 시원하게 날란다.. (아니 내 골방/cave는 어차피 시원하니.. 가족들이 덥다고 하는 성화가 없어지기를..ㅎㅎ) 역시 홈디포와 아마존이 승리..

이제는 저 나무를 이제 하얗게 칠해야 하나 아님 그냥 눠둘까 고민중이시다..ㅎㅎㅎ

One thing encountered after moving in current place in last summer was this place is hot in Summer 🙂 – Part of it driven by Townhouse structure and also next door neighbor’s air conditioner vent was installed right next to the siding door of our place; hence opening the window/siding door never helped or even made worse in hot summer days.

After long thoughts and landing a plan to stay at this place for one more year, purchased expensive LG portable Air Conditioner. Now, the problem is how and where to install the vent, and making it worse, this home doesn’t have a horizontal or up-and-down windows, leaving the only option as installing the vent at siding door. (plus as a rental house had the solution shouldn’t impact the main structure of the house and should be easy to remove when season is over)

As all the portable air conditioner assumes up and down windows, had to find the solution to have vent at tall siding door, but luckily found there is something at Amazon for this.

However, this was not sturdy enough (PVC) or very loosely standing – likely because this is optimized for siding window – not turning out to be a long lasting option (had to do adjustments almost every time we turn the conditioner on) and also the default vent didn’t fit with LG’s outlet.

So had to take several actions

– Hand cut the vent to fit the LG outlet with knife and hand saw

– Buy and cut the 2×2 lumber and cut + make a rabbit cut at the bottom to fit into the door’s rail

Then forced to snug the vent kit between the door and inserted wood – but kit was still unstable as the door’s lock installed at the end of door wasn’t providing angled & straight support to the kit.

So bought one more 2×2 had it as a place holder at the door’s end and inserted the vent kit between 2x2s; worked well but vent kit was still dancing around and had tons of gaps to let air flow in various locations, and – as expected- 2×2 not being straight/square also generated sizable gaps between door and 2×2 when closed.

To solve these next set of troubles, drilled between the kit and 2×2 and screwed it to make it sturdy; adding one more layer of wood at outside to close the gap between door and 2×2, + applying weather stripping to seal the gap around the vent kit and 2×2 and also applied the weather stripes on inner frame gap (between the moving door and fixed door), and also cutting the 2×2 for security lumber as the lock will not work during the times we have this vent. 🙂

Although not having ever been an engineer, reminded me engineering is all about problem solving 🙂

Now the question is – shall I paint the woods to white to match or not 🙂

2021.5

I fix therefore I am…

하루 종일 고치다 일 다 봤다… 거의 10년전 애들과 보던 만화 주제가가 머리속에 맴돈다.. 밥 더 빌더 – 캔유 픽스 잇? 밥 더 빌더 – 예스 아이캔…

아침에 우리집 사장님 PC가 부팅이 안된다고 불만 접수-몇번 reset을 했으나 reset후 매번 restart만 하면 또 먹통… 결국 Lenovo 고객센터 chat을 했는데 결국엔 reset하지 말고 완전 재설치 하라고 해서 하려고 했더니 Cloud시대 이후로 집에서 사라진 USB drive가 필요함. 결국 Amazon당일 배송으로 4:30경에 주문해서 7시에 배송 (와! 물론 2불 더 줌…T_T)- 배송된 USB로 Windows 10 recovery/installation media 만들어서 USB로 재설치 했더니 고쳐졌음..

앉아 있는 자세가 아주 American x100인 우리집의 덩치큰 한 분 – 한 동안은 이분 덕에 식탁용 나무 의자 모든 접합 부위를 고치면서 목공의 기초 도구들을 마련하고 기술을 배웠는데.. 오랜 remote수업으로 인한 여파가 이제는 다른 의자에도 미치기 시작했다. 특히 본인의 덩치가 커지시면서 이젠 다양한 의자들의 목을 죄는 ‘의자왕’으로 등극중 이시다.. – 혹은 나의 repair의 영역을 ‘beyond 목공’으로 확장해주셨다. 어떻게 앉으면 folding 철제 의자가 뿌러지며, 프라스틱 의자의 등받이도 나가고, 롤러 달린 office의자의 다리가 부러지는지.. 이제 이 의자왕 스킬은 연구 대상감이다.

등받이 부러진 프라스틱 의자… 1차로 순간 접착제로 붙여 봤으나 붙이고 실전 투입후 부하가 주어지니 2주일만에 다시 아작… 결국 연구 끝에 epoxy 접착제를 구해와 다시 붙이고 (근데 부러지면서 프라스틱이 휘어 정확하게 맞지 않음.. 고로 이를 위해 붙이고 몇번식 사포질을 입방 바꿔서 몇번하며 -완벽히는 아니지만 약간 어긋나게 붙은 부분까지 부드럽게 되도록 갈갈이 해주셨다… 그리고 페인트 스프레이 몇번 부려주고 다시 집에 있던 폴리로 광택질 휴…

철제의자는 휘어지고 부러져서 사실 피고 용접해주는 수밖에 없는데.. 일단 휜거는 망치질로 제대로 펴주시고 부러진 부위는 철제용 epoxy로 붙였다..

롤러가 달린 오피스 의자 역시 어떤 까딱 신공을 보였길래 다리 한 쪽이 아작 나는지 추정은 불가능… 이 역시 1차로 순간 접착제로 해결하려 했으나 바로 몇 일만에 실패…. epoxy본드로 일단 붙였다… 뭐 그리고 이건 눈에 띄는 부위도 아니고 해서 덕지덕지 붙은 본드 부위는 그냥 냅둠…

오늘 하루 – 이것 저것 고치다 다 보냈고, 홈디포와 아마존이 역시 승리 했으며, 특히 의자와 관련해서는 ‘자식에게 의자에 똑바로 앉는 습관을 들여주는것보다 내가 의자를 고치는 방법을 배우는게 차라리 쉽구나’란 탄식으로 하루를 마무리 중… 이 와중에 내가 기분이 좋은건 아무래도 다양한 chemical을 흡입해서 인듯 하다…

You break it, we fix it – lived the life of ‘Bob the Builder’ today

– PC reinstall with USB media : found no USB thumb drive at the world of Cloud, so had to order Amazon’s same day delivery and made the USB repair/installation media and recovered a PC which turned to black screen upon every boot

As our gentleman in the house -who never sits straight while putting more weights on chairs- have more time at home with various chairs because of Pandemic, this meant my chair repairing skill goes beyond the wood chair repair

– Plastic chair with broken back: after failed attempt with Super glue, went to epoxy glue. As the broken part was highly visible part of chair, had to go with multiple sanding after the glue and spraying paint and coating with Polyurethane.

– Bent Steel folding chair with disjointed horizon bar: so after using hammer and bring back the bent part, the question was whether I am willing to go into welding (which I don’t have any tools…) so settled with steel epoxy…

– Office chair: This is the still one of the mystery need to solve – how can you rock the rolling office chair?! But our gentleman must have showed that skill before he broke the chair. Similarly my first attempt with Super glue didn’t last long, so attempted with epoxy glue, but as this doesn’t have much visibility I am not willing to go into sanding/coloring part..

All in all, total four items in my household got the treatment, Home Depot and Amazon was the winner and I enjoyed smells from various chemicals (and now I understand why they check the birth date when I purchased the spray can..)

2021.1

Toilet Connector

Anyone who understand what Toilet Connector is and understand this picture knows what happened at my home. – one more thing – this toilet was on 2nd floor.

정말이지 아닌 밤중에 헬게이트가 열렸었다. 한편 사람있을 때 발생한 일이라 천.만.다.행…휴… 또 홈디포매출 향상에 기여해주셨다.

다른 변기들도 하나씩 미리 교체를 해주던가 해야겠다… 😦

2015.2

Lowe’s – Lowest Satisfaction: Good Bye from now

When I took various marketing classes in my life during my undergrad and MBA, the theory always said “Bad experience/VOC is usually spread 8 times more than good experience/VOC” – stressing the importance of keeping customers happy. Here is my version of 8 times VOC blast for home improvement store experience – Lowe’s.

When it comes to home improvement/home appliance, I have always went to Lowe’s if possible – usually have more selections, more staffs in stores than Home Depot – every time I learn from store when I need to explore/fix something, and for appliances I do remember they had next day delivery, and I also thought Lowe’s has better deal vs. “incumbent” Home Depot.

Last week, our beloved 2nd refrigerator finally died quietly in our garage- making me rushing to store to purchase replacing refrigerator in ASAP since 2nd one was always used more like “longer term storage” of food.

Here are the series of journey I had to go through..

* Next Day delivery: Impossible – because I was late – I was at the store at 6:30 PM -not happy to get rejected but acceptable any how..this became next-next day delivery

* At the day after, I got a call that the product they had in store was defective- offered me to take floor sample with discount. The only thing I asked back is “Can it be still be delivered tomorrow?”, “It is working unit – correct?” and the answer was all yes.

* It got delivered but it took a while to start after plugging in electricity – something was weird, but the manual said it requires 24 hours of operation to fully function. So I put all the food we previously triaged in the newly arrived refrigerator.

* Next day, after 24 hour has passed – I found out all the food were melting with horrible smell in refrigerator. IT NEVER COOLED ANYTHING FROM BEGINNING. Then I called to the store. They said to me to call to service. Called to Service they said call to Care. And finally called to Care. All in all, series of waste of time – explaining what happened 3 times & everyone was saying calling to store for replacement is the best option. All food I put were tossed away to garbage – my precious foods!!

* Next day, they called me up and said I need to wait 3 more days for new unit. – asked whether they can dispatch any from their neighbor stores – refused again – fine.

* At the day of delivery, no confirmation at all – so I called them up – and they said the driver talked with me on delivery time (Who?) and driver is 2 min away from me – waited for 20 min – called them back – said my refrigerator is at their store so delivery have to be delayed. What?! and heard series of reasons why it was missed in delivery truck. (it arrived at the store in that morning just before the truck was loading the delivery items – well I don’t care!) Nicely, I got my work schedule screwed up. – I was feeling just glad that I have a generous boss.

* So I left my unhappy “series of bumps” in their website and asked them to reach out to me via email if they want to. Yesterday, the customer service emailed me that store will reach out to me in next 24 hours. Today, Saturday night, I got a cold call from the store, saying how it is working – it is working fine. No word of apologies on product failure and delivery failure. Felt like he is calling me because I left the feedback on their store on website -but was totally waste of time for me to be on a phone with store manager who was never apologetic to me.

Conclusion & Direction from now: Whenever I am buying something, I am going to Home Depot directly or Costco. BTW, I found the pricing for the same one was exactly same in Home Depot.

Also a good reminder for me – on importance of alwaying thinking “in the shoe of customer” – solving the problem form customer’s perspective – I never cared how their internal process is. Also, sometimes, all it matter is just apologizing – I had no intention of asking anything back on my losses and issues I had to go though. All I just want to hear is any sincere apologies..

This was the follow up email I kindly wrote back to customer service again. Good Bye!

—————————————————————————-

Thank you for you notice.

I did get a call from store today night – which was the most disturbing call – keep saying and asking me it is delivered and working – and no word of apologies for the things happened and no single mention of delay in delivery and the loss of food I had, plus the trouble I had to go through.

Also, by the way, when I left this comment, I believe I left the preferred way of communication as email, while the store called me up and just blasted what they wanted to say vs. what I wanted to hear. – Total waste of time for me.

I never wanted my experience to be lip-serviced with soul-less & non apologizing explanation, and my time wasted with no single word of apologies with cold calling. My bad I should have ignored the call rather than picking up the phone.

Anyhow, although I am not a contractor nor “heavy fixer” to be a frequent home improvement shopper, but going forward this refrigerator should be my last purchase on anything from Lowe’s, and I will never forget this experience and always drive directly to Home Depot without any hesitation since it is already close from my place.

Thanks,

2014.3