This week, Adam, Norm, and Will discuss home repairs, and why it’s so darn difficult to get them done. Well, we eventually get around to that. We discuss Nick Nolte, the connection between Rocky and Bladerunner, while Will makes a series of startling revelations.
One Day Builds
Adam embarks on one of his most ambitious builds yet: fulfil…
Show And Tell
Adam recently completed a build of the royal St. Edwards cro…
Making
Viewers often ask to see Adam working in real-time, so this …
One Day Builds
Adam and Norm assemble a beautifully machined replica prop k…
One Day Builds
One of the ways Adam has been getting through lockdown has b…
Making
Adam unboxes and performs a quick test of this novel new hel…
Making
When Adam visited Weta Workshop early last year, he stopped …
One Day Builds
Adam tackles a shop shelf build that he's been putting off f…
Show And Tell
Time for a model kit build! This steampunk-inspired mechanic…
One Day Builds
Adam reveals his surprise Christmas present for his wife--a …
I just paused the video to say: Gary Whitta… get to writing “Fulfillment” asap.
Amazon seems ripe for romantic comedies. After “Fulfillment” they can have a sequel called “Mayday” to finish their whole Amy storyline.
For home repair I think having different kinds of tape around the house can be handy.
Hate to be “that guy”, but Sneaky Pete was the pedal steel player in The Flying Burrito Brothers…
Lifehacker has some good home repair tips sometimes; my favorite from there is http://lifehacker.com/5620573/use-a-post+it-note-for-easy-post+drilling-cleanup
That is an excellent list for a home tool kit. Multimeter is so useful!
I’ve been in my place for almost one year now, and my finished basement filled up with 3.5′ of raw sewage in the flooding in Colorado a few months ago. This podcast is relevant to my interests.
Thanks for this episode guys – it answered a question that has been long simmering in my mind. There is no question that Adam has all the necessary skills to tackle any home repair or remodel project. And he has mentioned in several interviews/podcasts that Mythbusters is pretty much a true “9 to 5” type environment and that he is usually home for dinner every night. So, I was always curious as to whether or not he actually had the time to tackle such efforts – you know, get home from work, grab dinner with the family and then trundle off to begin a few hours of remodeling work before its time to hit the hay. My first house (a 1928 Seattle brick tudor that needed tons of TLC) was that way – I’d teach until early afternoon, pick up my daughter from her daycare, get her fed and hand her off to mom when my wife got home from work and then spend the next 3 or 4 hours wiring or plumbing or drywalling or painting or building cabinets before heading out to pick up supplies for the next evening’s work (our local Home Depot was a 24 hour store and I got to know the midnight crew very well back then).
Anyhow, I have total respect for Adam and I truly hope he does get to hand-build his own home someday – that is a dream of mine as well.
I once had a toilet that clogged periodically for apparently no good reason. Once day I got fed up and pulled it off the floor to discover that someone long ago had accidentally(?) flushed a tin can lid. It wedged itself to become a perfect butterfly valve!
Zip Ties!!
Tape; duct tape, multiple colors of electrical tape, metal tape, cellophane tape, blue painter’s tape, the list goes on and on.
As somebody who has worked in a hardware store for ten years off and on, I have one thing to say, “I HATE PLUMBING.” I can usually match any screw by eye, I’ve dealt with the metric screw on knobs that are not long enough for the cabinet doors even though an M3 is almost a 10-32. Electrical is making sure that you have enough amps for the load and you don’t melt the wire. No sweat. Plumbing though, is almost always a nightmare. Somewhere there was a gremlin that says that no two plumbing systems will be alike, and none will actually work the way the way they are supposed to. The number of different things that go under the sink is mind boggling considering that we are only talking about a drain or faucet hookup. The number of drains, traps, and connections in three different pipe sizes(1″ 1 1/4″, 1 1/2″, if I’m lucky, with the twisty paths that a drain can take can drive you nuts. Then there are the faucet valve hookups, which are not only in several different sizes, but usually the crappiest things in the house. Which means that every time you have to shut off the water, more than likely the valve or the handle breaks. Considering where the shutoff usually are and what you need to do to change them, that’s just another nightmare. Piece of advice, when you are changing a shutoff valve, get an industrial grade ball valve. Sure it won’t be chromed and pretty, and it might cost you a couple of bucks more, But who cares what it looks like under the sink and it’s going to save you a lot of grief the next time you have to shut off the water. Combine the under the sink issues with having to change that stuff to make it fit a fancy European Marble sink and vanity that’s been crammed into a space originally intended for an old style clawfoot from the Thirties, with faucet connections changed five different times, a home owner who is totally mystified as to why I have no clue what their system looks like and don’t have the exact parts to fix their problem, even though I Have not seen what it looks like, and you understand why “I HATE PLUMBING.”
Here is a great trick for having lots of batteries at a low cost.
A 12 volt lantern battery, usually less than 10$ is made up of 32 AA batteries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV6kxQYGVs0
I have the solution to your movie night dilemma- Jane Austen’s Fight Club!
This podcast was so funny I had to listen to it twice. The home repair stories I could tell… My children proved to me it is possible to break a toilet by trying to flush a candle. One day the furnace had shut off because they decided to pack the fresh air vent tube with mud, rocks and branches.
I recently also had the pleasure of rebuilding our basement due to the massive flooding here in Colorado. When I was done I asked my wife which was worse- the flood damage or the time when a skunk sprayed our house. We both agreed the skunk was worse- it was unbelievably nasty.
I loved that little 30 rock reference “you don’t want kabletown coming after you..”
doubleposted
I am still hoping for the day when gets really involved in the conversation..
Nodding your head numerous times doesn’t count.
On a previous episode, and maybe it was an “inside adam’s man cave” episode, Adam suggests buying a Japanese Hand saw. I have to say it is by far the best hand saw I have ever bought, EVER!!!! I am a maker so I end up using my tools more then normal people but I use my Japanese hand saw for everything. It cuts, hard and soft wood like a hot knife through butter, but it also cuts PVC and foam sheets very well.
I picked mine up at an ACE Hardware for like $25 but I have also scene them at Harbor Freight before. I would never have bought one if it was not for TESTED.
This was scary how relevant this video was. I just started building a home kit as I kept taking tools from home for my shop.
YES! Always need them and never around.
Thanks for being that guy so I didn’t have to be! (Program note: Chris Etheridge was the base player.)
Not to be a pedant, but someone with that sweet of a shop, and that serious a tool collection shouldn’t be getting a monkey wrench and a pipe wrench mixed up. Two different wrenches.
I just want to say that “wet-wipe apocalypse” is a movie that I would pay to see. Or a great name for a heavy metal band.
Hey Guys!! Great Video as ever, its always funny but this was particularly amusing, Big Fan of Adam, Will and Norm! But I have a request.. It would be really great if you could do an “Inside Adam’s Cave” Video detailing the story behind the T-800 endoskeleton… Its my favourite movie prop and I am building a skull at the moment an Adams cave story about it would be amazing as those videos are always fun and informative! Keep up the great work guys!! Best place on the Internet!!! 🙂
I second switching to Sanyo envelop AA Ni-MH batteries for high drain electronics. I have been using them for years in my camera flashes and they recycle faster and last longer then alkaline batteries and are more recyclable. Many places no longer accept alkaline batteries as there is very little in the battery that gets recycled. Make sure to get a good quality charger as the 15 minute fast chargers tend to cook the batteries and shorten their life span. I use a Maha charger. LaCrosse also makes an excellent charger. I have not used the Sanyo charger, so I can not speak as to its quality.
As to your problem with #2 at M5, we had a similar problem with the low flow unit at our house (1995 vintage). Our plumber recently replaced it with an American Standard dual flush unit and we have not had a problem since.
PS: Any update on the air date for the Plane Boarding myth? You had mentioned in a podcast a few months ago that it was finally scheduled for Thanksgiving, but as far as we can tell it has not aired. (I don’t know if you remember but my wife and I gave you the New Yorker cover during taping.)
See you on 12/12 in Bethlehem.
Thanks
Happy Holidays
Be sure to place the wires exactly as you found them when replacing/changing an electrical receptacle. A friend of mines assumed the green wire was for ground (for which he was correct to think this) but apparently it was used as the hot wire. The breaker did trip but unfortunately a copper water pipe crossed on top of the aluminum pipping which housed the wires. As you can guess there was water coming out of the receptacle sockets moments later.
Awesome. I’d love to build a house, but I don’t think it would go very well
Speaking of “Inside Adam’s Cave” videos, I’d love to see one (or a small series) detailing all the tools Adam has acquired over the years.
Popping in months after the fact to share one of my favorite random facts: that metal fitting that surrounds plumbing fixtures where they come out of the wall is called an “escutcheon plate”.
I’m rewatching all these at the moment, and I’m really surprised that no one has made this comment in the last year.
On both listening a of this podcast, I was gobsmacked that three film aficionados were unaware of the significance of You’ve Got Mail.
You’ve Got Mail is a scripted remake of a musical adaptation.
The musical it is remaking is In the Good Old Summertime with Van Johnson and Judy Garland (Liza Minnelli’s first screen appearance).
And In the Good Old Summertime is a musical adaptation of The Shop Around The Corner with Jimmy Stewart, Margaret Sullivan, and Frank Morgan (The Wizard of Oz).
“They’re like “great!” and I’m like “I can’t believe you’re not pissed off; I took six months to get to the thing that took me five minutes to fix.”
Damn, the secret is out. My wife must never see this.