Last Monday Paul informs me the garage door opener and furnace has gone out at our rental house. A couple of phone calls and he's on it. I inform him I think our washer has just died. He is not that concerned and I have actually been expecting it's demise seeing the abuse it receives. I do A LOT of laundry. I need a working washing machine.
Unfortunately, I'm correct so I take the 100 pounds of soaking wet towels out and lug them up to my mom's washer to finish them (luckily they have a functioning laundry room). Paul makes a phone call to get that helpful appliance repair man's number again.
$69 later I'm made aware of the fact that my washer needs like $400 of repairs and that it is not worth fixing. Repair man Nathan recommends getting a newspaper and shopping for a 10 year old Kenmore washer. Do I have a newspaper he asks? Well, no I suppose I could get one but better yet...I have a computer and craigslist.com. Within minutes I find one of the washers he referred to for $100. I show him the pictures and he about does a cartwheel. This is the last washer you'll ever need, it's so easy to fix, it's so cheap...ok, ok I'm convinced. He even offers to pick it up. I should've taken him up on it.
The next day, Paul's van breaks down.
Friday we are finally able to contact the seller and pick up the washer. The seller calls to tell Paul it's NOT working as the ad told us so Paul offers him $50. He is a bit skeptical but has faith and brings it home. It pretty much falls apart as I help him take it out of the van. Now I'm a little skeptical.
We spend a late night taking the thing entirely apart and cleaning it. We find the date: it's from 1998. Good thing Paul is mechanically inclined. Here come the pictures which are not pleasant. Thankfully, I'm armed with gloves and ammonia which I believe were both necessary in this instance.
http://www.tipjunkie.com/diy-decorating/paint/how-to-paint-a-washing-machine-tutorial
Thanks for the inspiration, tipjunkie!
I really wanted orange and was prepared to paint this thing with a custom color and paint brush. Paul, rationally, talked me out of it. Spray paint with Rustoleum is the answer. Unfortunately, that limits our options. 'Safety orange' is the only orange they have. We try it but just can't live with it. We didn't catch a pic but it reminds both of us of Steve's old truck which I did really like. Just not for my washer.
Back to Menards we go a second time. The kids joke that Daddy owns the place.
We can both agree on Lagoon. First we wire brush some rust then prime then paint. Paul has a confession: he really likes spray painting. I'm glad to hear that because I would ruin the thing.
At this point, we're getting excited. It's turning out really cool.
The next late night we move the lagoon colored hunk of metal from the garage to the laundry room and reassemble.
We painted over the control area so I write it in with a silver sharpie. It's still kind of falling apart. I'd already made an appointment for repair man Nathan to come get it running again so we leave it for the morning.
It turns out to have a broken something or other which only costs $24 and a couple of $4 brackets missing which is why it kept falling apart.
Here's the punch line: I really like my new/old washer! It runs great and looks awesome. I'm inspired to give the laundry room a new look, too.
Next up is that boring white dryer!
A couple of things I learned during this process:
Never use liquid detergent. Evidently, it leaves a thick nasty sludge in there. I was a witness to that while cleaning this old one. Utterly disgusting. Powder is supposedly the way to go. This reminded me I have made my own powder detergent before so I set out to get the ingredients again.
http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/home/make-your-own-laundry-soap.htm
I love that. Easy, saves money and better for the environment and my beloved lagoon washer (I really need a name for this thing).
This next point may be a little controversial. Top loaders clean your clothes better. Yes, they use more water but that's the point. They get the clothes in the water and agitate the dirt out. Old fashioned is good in this case.
Next, stay away from expensive, computer run machines in your life. Simple mechanics are easier to manage financially and maintain yourself. At least that's what I'm taking from this. It was the best news I'd heard in a while!!!
