Yup - you replace the mechanism. Usually, if it’s not framed in, you just unscrew the hardware from the window framing and replace.

Except for traveling to the mainland, I’ve been taking outdoor showers exclusively for over a decade. Solar heat 10 months of the year, 2 months of electric backup, and it’s all good, even when it’s tepid and I don’t want to wait for the 15 minute 1 shower electric warm up.

I know. That’s why I made sure you had that study. I’ve been watching it since it was 12 years old, around the time my dairy farming relatives went to organic. The difference in their soils, drought resistance, economics and cost basis were phenomenal (not less work mind you, but remove a $8K-10K vet bill every month,…

Well, thanks for the good fight, but this is one of those labeling issues that even when you define what you really mean, people bring their own meaning to the argument. GMO’s is another classic in that respect. Here’s something that you might want to use - it’s an amazing 30 year side by side organic/conventional…

Sure. That’s true now. It’s not what used to be true under Oregon Tilth or CA’s organic certification programs back in the 80’s.

Oh, and a thin layer of mineral oil on top of the trap water stops it from evaporating, too. Fergot to mention that.

From my perspective, nearly anything else at all will do better. This review had some things to say about it. But it all depends on whether it's aged wood or new, or if you're gonna sand it down and start over. As for how long between coats, anything beats the Thompson's 4-6 mo period, but it all depends on the…

Kirk's Hardwater Castille soap?

I work on rentals and have done umpty gazillian of these things. Remotes we stay away from, because they rot and cause problems even if they are fancier. Switches on the wall are better, and fan/light switches in the fan itself are the most simple and easy to fix.

Let power, baby!

Hopefully no one here is gonna give Thompson's Water Seal (clear coat) any weight in an argument? (I suppose it *could* work in some environments - but I've never seen one of those environments, so...)

Yes. Seen this 100 times. The people doing it everyday understand what they are working with, and usually have the slightly lower pressure machines than the weekend warrior types.

My personal bent is that I have to understand what's being done even if I'm paying someone else. If I don't, I get into the "it's magic" mode and I don't like that very much.

They do make tools for that. If it happens a lot, this is a cheapo helper to have.

I agree. My advice is it doesn't matter if you know what you're doing, just do it. Because after a couple times, you're gonna be a pro. Maybe you need a sign?

What Tim said, but there's another option. We used to use swing joints to absorb energy from the head (both down and sideways) but that assumes a flush to soil surface mount. Another option is what I did for some of my exposed hose bibs on the land, and they rise out of the ground from a PVC feed under a 1/2 cf of…

That had better be some hot latex. If raw wood/material, I could see that advice. If not, I'm not sure I'd follow it. (The latex tech has gotten really good over the last decade, though I still find it "sticky" if things are going to come in contact with one another.)

And if I still pine for my old Wedgewood, would I be a luddite?

I didn't read the follow-on here, but what you're describing is the inevitable "race for the bottom" effect, given total market (including greed) forces.

Was poking around in Grandad's shop one day and came across a piece of wood (like a 1x2) with a springy piece of metal coming off the end, obviously at 90 degrees. I asked what it was and he just said it was a round square. Looked at it for a while, but couldn't quite figure it out until he put it against the seam…