What Did You Do To Your House Recently?

[Karl Grau]

We have a 3% chance of rain but I'm not getting my hopes up.

[Mike W.]

Well, not my house, but my Sons. He bought a Costco garden shed, all plastic and wisely decided he was over his head in trying to do the assembly alone and asked me for a hand. Great instructions, all 80 pages of them. They did think to include a graphic of all the parts. Starting on page 38. It would have helped more if it was a little earlier. Things started slow, then slowed even more when he figured out we needed a real base, blue shale wasn't going to cut it. So there went 2 hours more buying and building a base. But after 9.5 hours we had it up and 98% complete. I haven't worked this hard in years, it felt good. I wasn't just walking back and forth, I was hustling. Stiff and sore, but satisfying even with the crappy instructions. There's a certain therapy in swinging a 20oz hammer trying to sink a 16d nail in one swing after it's been started. All in all a good day, even if I am whipped.

[Mark 88/M5 Houston]

Ain't it great getting old?

[EventuallyAyrton]

Not exactly a house thing but a thing in my house that I use on a regular basis.

I get headachey after any amount of soldering due to inhaling the fumes. It's the same if I walk past a smoker or a fireplace. My doctor says I have an over sensitive nasal thing or something. Anyway, I decided to try to remedy the solder fume issue with this



It's a hair dryer fan taped to a section of a gatorade bottle cut to fit around it and a paper towel tube fit around the top of the gatorade bottle (these two fit together perfectly if you ever need a quick funnel for something that isn't liquid). The stand is just a bit of folded cardboard with holes and a counterweight. It's a bit cumbersome but it works for what I need it for.

Video of a match smoke test
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGJFV46 ... e=youtu.be

[e28Sean]

New coffee & end tables in the living room, and got some Philips Hue action going!

Crap photos, but.. Hue bulbs in both these lamps:


... and a Hue LED strip in the kitchen:

[e28Sean]

Got all ambitious 'n crap today, and power-washed the back patio. It's no longer eleven different colors.

Clean vs dirty:


And done...ish.

[Ted in T.O.]

Final day tomorrow with regards to family room and ensuite bathroom to be completly being redone. Girls bathroom to be redone after Tedfest and then getting ready to put up for sale.

[Mike W.]

after Tedfest and then getting ready to put up for sale.

But what happens then to Tedfest???

[Ted in T.O.]

after Tedfest and then getting ready to put up for sale.

But what happens then to Tedfest???

Depending on how big of a property we purchase. It will be scaled back or find a new venue which will be closer to the Peace Bridge and Buffalo.

[EventuallyAyrton]

Cleaned an odd years worth of ATF stains off the driveway after finally fixing the leak! Big thanks to SmokeyJohn102 for being a huge help with fixing the leak

[EventuallyAyrton]

Started removing bricks from the walkway so I can level it. The original job was done so shittily and none of the base gravel/dirt was tamped down at all so over the years, it's gotten all wibbly wobbly from people walking on and compressing the dirt. When it rains, there are puddles the size of the Mediterranean Sea. I just did the main section today, the elbow/curve will have to wait.










A rubber mallet and a driveway ice scraper are the absolute best tools for this job if you don't have one of those weird extractor grabby things

[a]

After I type this, I'm going out to touch up the paint. Then I will take that tier of staging down and walk it around back. I'm undecided on whether to stage the porch or set the staging up to do the back gable.

[OcCoupe]

In the process of pressure washing the house, painting all the fascia boards, window trim, laundry room, patio overhang, and certain exterior walls that are getting beaten up by heavy sun exposure. Interior is also getting a trim refresh with new paint. The Missus has been working diligently on the garden trying fill in some dead spots and adding some foliage. We've neglected some of the cosmetic maintenance since I started working on the car project. Susan also painted the front door a really dark green, almost a black green, It looks really sharp and accents the house nicely.

[Mike W.]

Started removing bricks from the walkway so I can level it. The original job was done so shittily and none of the base gravel/dirt was tamped down at all so over the years, it's gotten all wibbly wobbly from people walking on and compressing the dirt. When it rains, there are puddles the size of the Mediterranean Sea. I just did the main section today, the elbow/curve will have to wait.

Damn, doesn't look all that bad from here. You probably do know, but in case you don't, sand is your friend in smoothing and leveling it.

[EventuallyAyrton]

Damn, doesn't look all that bad from here. You probably do know, but in case you don't, sand is your friend in smoothing and leveling it.

For sure. I'm going to mix some fine gravel and sand for maximum water drain. I'm going to make sure I tamp it way way way way down with one of those cement flatter things.

[EventuallyAyrton]

Leveled the walkway and started to place the bricks back down. Those aren't their permanent resting spots, that was just to test level and make sure everything was flat. I'm going to rent a power washer and properly clean them...hardcore. I need a power washer so badly, I walked past one at Lowes today for $1,400 that had a maximum pressure of 5000 psi For another time though

[Mike W.]

I need a power washer so badly, I walked past one at Lowes today for $1,400 that had a maximum pressure of 5000 psi For another time though

5K PSI? My little one I think is 1300PSI and at a needle point will do damage to concrete. You won't even need a chain saw.

[EventuallyAyrton]

I need a power washer so badly, I walked past one at Lowes today for $1,400 that had a maximum pressure of 5000 psi For another time though

5K PSI? My little one I think is 1300PSI and at a needle point will do damage to concrete. You won't even need a chain saw.

It's adjustable I believe. 5k psi would be for cleaning rust and paint off metal. Just throw some paint thinner on and buzz it down to bare metal with 5k psi behind the water

[davintosh]

My "house" these days is a building that was originally designed & built as a hotel, but has been converted and expanded to be used as two dorms; ~20 girls on the lower two floors, and ~20 boys on the upper two. But the last week has been spent converting it into a single-family dwelling; we shipped out all the students & RAs.

Of course, before shipping them all out, we made sure they all cleaned up after themselves, then we went through and did more cleaning, but now we have a huge, very clean house all to ourselves. It's lovely.

On Thursday we did some landscaping work, or rather un-landscaping, to remove some overgrown plantings outside our front door. It wasn't fun, as it was raining, and the plants were surrounded by landscaping rocks. But we got most of them out. I ended up leaving a couple of them in place though, because we happened across a hedgehog nursery right next to them. A mom and five little piglets. Mom took off for another daytime hiding place, but came back that night. Today they were all gone; she must've had enough of us two-legged intruders!



Mom is the big gray/brownish prickly thing, and the lighter colored prickly thing is one of the babies.

[a]

Cool, They look like scouring pads. I made eye contact for a few seconds with a brown fox last Sunday . I, considering rabies, walked away. So did the fox. I hope he takes care of whatever is eating MDW's flora. I finished with the staging and in a week or 2 will start on the back of the house.

[a]

Built an 8' tall trellis for the cukes to climb. Mulched with marsh hay. Fine turned the drip irrigation when I needed to cool off. The hydrangeas have their own water. So does the night blooming cereus in its summer quarters.

[oldskool]

Bent down to pick up my shoes off the porch Tuesday morning and got a big nose full of some big maggoty fish lying in my finely manicured flower bed nearby. I guess a rambling dumbass cat brought us home a present from someone's cooler or something while we were away for the long July 4th holiday. Dunno, maybe an osprey dropped it, all I know is I blew chunks when it fell apart as I tried to pick it up. I Totally spewed and my mulch was tainted with chunks of maggot fish and then even moar chunks of what I think was a ribeye. My sides are still sore from heaving, and I spread some new mulch around, . . . so there, that is what I did to my house recently.

[davintosh]

I fertilized my finely manicured flower bed.

There. FIFY.

[Mike W.]

The garage door opener has been noisy lately. So Saturday I started investigating, figuring it was just getting old but maybe lubing something or aligning it might do some good. Well, the broken spring seems to have been the problem, I'm amazed it was working as well as it was. A new spring for just under a hundred a couple of hours and it's back to being regular noisy, not extra noisy.

Math and physics dept. Once I found someplace that would sell springs without insisting on putting them in, first the guy on the counter was clueless. The woman in back knew what was going on, but didn't seem real happy. Was puzzled at my dimension of .220" wire diameter, said they only had .218 or .225, suggesting .225 was close. I said lets go with the .218. Then brought one out that was roughly 10% larger OD and said it would work and be stronger with more lifting power since it was larger. Oblivious to the fact that something that's 10% longer will bend easier. So I gave it 10% more preload, no thanks to her knowledge of physics. Oh well, it works.

[jhall]

Bumping this thread as I finally have something I'm excited to share. Ever since we purchased our home about 8 years ago the brown paneling has bothered me. It wasn't enough to turn us off the house at purchase time but it was something we always knew we'd change at some time. That time has come and I'm absolutely enamored with the progress. Also I know many of us here are do it all types, as I also consider myself, but this time I hired out and I'm very glad I did.

A few Before:







progress:

[Mike W.]

The Water Heater from Hell. 5 days without a shower.

OK, I'm a lazy retired bum, what's the big deal. Well, aside from waking up a little more than I intended to when my foot went squish on a 2AM trip to the RR, I'm on Jury Duty and had the water heater install from hell. Soldered in place, well, unions, but you couldn't move it even after breaking them apart. Pitched from it's residence in the garage back towards the house so when it sprung a leak, it leaked into the house. Broken sill plate that should have mostly stopped it. Nothing I can't do, I've done my share, but no time W-F with jury duty and I had to do everything from build a new platform to replumb things. It was due, it was on my list, I was just hoping it would last until I got to it. Water is currently heating up and a hot shower awaits me in just a few.


I should add, I've installed a bunch over the years, from under the counter point of use to 100G commercial, and everything in between. But none of them took a fraction as long as this one.

[a]

aHH, the glories of a dirt floored utility dungeon. I 'm on my 4 th or 5th 40 gallon propane water htr. I have streamlined the process with ball valves and unions. The last R+R was an easy afternoon including picking up the new htr from Loews. I have dispensed with the oldstyle globe valves in favor of ball valves for every water supply leaving the dungeon. Mike, back in the days before I stopped fixing The jury rigged stuff and replaced it with all new stuff. I wouldn't bother with un- sweating stuff, I just shut off the water and opened up stuff with a tubing cutter.The system wasn't pitched right. You can't sweat a pipe with water in it.
I'm rebuilding the raised beds with 6x6s salvaged from a retaining wall. They are random lengths, so I'm half lapping them.

[Mike W.]

You can't sweat a pipe with water in it.

Sure you can, you just have to boil it out first. Yep. I didn't even think about keeping the ever so slightly leaking gate valve. I ran flex lines so it's like a union. I've got it pitched towards the garage, not the house, I had to replace a bunch of sheetrock so it's now got aluminum flashing all the way around. I say 15 minutes, but really no more than 2 hours if I have to do it again. Much more, but that's the executive summary.

[krhodes1]

Redid the kitchen in my place in Florida. Lower cabinets are IKEA, uppers are from Lowe's - couldn't do IKEA uppers due to the soffits above being only 12" deep, didn't want to deal with ripping them out. Kind of wish I did now though... But overall it looks good and works well for a tiny 8x9 galley kitchen. Added a slightly stupidly expensive 18" Swedish dishwasher, and a gigantic 48" drainboard sink. Did it all myself, with the help of a friend for a week. Got all the fancy drawer sides, dividers, and inserts too.

Before: Old kitchen by kevinr1916, on Flickr

After: Sink Side by kevinr1916, on Flickr

Stove side by kevinr1916, on Flickr

With backsplash completed: Backsplash 2 by kevinr1916, on Flickr

[russellrh72]

Looks nice...good job! I really did the single drain board sink. Are you now going sans microwave?