If you missed the fun last weekend, get caught up here and here...
After investing hours last weekend in what turned out to be a rather ambitious DIY project, we were still left with a dryer that was not quite repaired. Oh, the drum spun when empty, but not when I threw in a giant load of heavy wet laundry. ACK! Did that ever take the wind out of our sails!
Curt was frustrated and ready to call in a professional. He was concerned - and rightly so - that we had just installed the part of the dryer that makes it HOT and what business did we have messing with the one piece that could potentially cause a fire?
I remained undeterred. I said, we are so close now, and we know now how to un- and re-assemble it. Let's take one more look and if we can't get it right after a second try, then we'll call a repair guy.
Curt cursed me under his breath reluctantly agreed.
Then we waited all week because we knew we didn't have four spare hours on any school night, what with meetings and back-to-school night at the high school (it pains me to even type that - how can I have two sons in high school?) and the first NFL regular season game (priorities, people).
Today, though, we had time. The forcasted severe weather magically wiped our schedule clean. So after a morning of procrastination, we figured, no time like the present. We watched a video (thanks, YouTube!) on how to replace the drum belt -- and there was the answer! We had replaced the belt inside out, with the grooved/tread side AWAY from the drum!!
So we went down and removed the top lid and the rear access panel and flipped the belt and rethreaded it - and then I replaced a few of those leftover screws - and damn if the thing isn't working right now!
We waited all week to complete a job that took all of 10 minutes.
I could go on and on about lessons we learned, such as, it pays to try to fix things yourself, as long as you have four hands to help and unlimited time to invest. Or, that I can be especially annoying when I get it in my head that I want someting done. Or, that sometimes, you confront your home repair demons and you look them square in the eyes and you win.
Yes, I'd love to go on and on and on here, but alas, I have the better part of three weeks' worth of laundry backlog to address, so if you'll excuse me, I need to get crackin'.
