Volpone
Zombie Hunter
So I moved into a place. And half my window was filled up by a board and an air conditioning unit.
Given that the room was kind of dark anyway and the woman who owns the place was talking about taking the a/c unit out and that the storm window couldn't be closed with it in place, and given that she was likely never going to get around to removing it herself--oh, and that I'm not working right now--I opted to take the bugger out.
Problem is, it was installed by an ex-boyfriend of hers--a DIY job. He installed it by zapping about 4-5 drywall screws through the board the a/c unit was mounted into and then using about a tube of caulk to hold the whole thing in place (including caulking over some of the screws).
My first thought was that this would be fairly easy to remove, but truth be told, I could probably have cut a hole in the wall in less time than it took me to get the fucking thing out. First I started hacking through the caulk with my Leatherman. Later I switched to a hacksaw blade. Then I lost the hacksaw blade, so I grabbed the 5" serrated knife out of the roommate/landlord's cutlery set.
Oh, and to get at the caulking I had to unscrew the outer storm window and remove that. Of course as I set it down, the aluminum frame warped enough to make a big diagonal crack in one of the panes. :smfangry:
Anyway, I felt a little guilty about using the knife, but it was really working well so I kept using it. And it appeared to be holding up fine.
However this morning, taking it out of the dishwasher, I found out the handle was cracked. So I decided to do the right thing and quietly go online and get one to replace it. (Add this to the trip to the hardware store for a replacement window pane, and we're not even going to go into the damage to the aluminum tracks in the window caused by trying to get through all that caulk.) Apparently it is a discontinued item.
hpstare:
So now I either got to act like I have no idea what happened to the knife, own up and apologize, or try to find a way to repair it. It's one of those knives with three stainless steel rivets and black resin handle scales.
Given that the room was kind of dark anyway and the woman who owns the place was talking about taking the a/c unit out and that the storm window couldn't be closed with it in place, and given that she was likely never going to get around to removing it herself--oh, and that I'm not working right now--I opted to take the bugger out.
Problem is, it was installed by an ex-boyfriend of hers--a DIY job. He installed it by zapping about 4-5 drywall screws through the board the a/c unit was mounted into and then using about a tube of caulk to hold the whole thing in place (including caulking over some of the screws).
My first thought was that this would be fairly easy to remove, but truth be told, I could probably have cut a hole in the wall in less time than it took me to get the fucking thing out. First I started hacking through the caulk with my Leatherman. Later I switched to a hacksaw blade. Then I lost the hacksaw blade, so I grabbed the 5" serrated knife out of the roommate/landlord's cutlery set.
Oh, and to get at the caulking I had to unscrew the outer storm window and remove that. Of course as I set it down, the aluminum frame warped enough to make a big diagonal crack in one of the panes. :smfangry:
Anyway, I felt a little guilty about using the knife, but it was really working well so I kept using it. And it appeared to be holding up fine.
However this morning, taking it out of the dishwasher, I found out the handle was cracked. So I decided to do the right thing and quietly go online and get one to replace it. (Add this to the trip to the hardware store for a replacement window pane, and we're not even going to go into the damage to the aluminum tracks in the window caused by trying to get through all that caulk.) Apparently it is a discontinued item.
hpstare:So now I either got to act like I have no idea what happened to the knife, own up and apologize, or try to find a way to repair it. It's one of those knives with three stainless steel rivets and black resin handle scales.
