Bringin' Down The House

Paint

2011-05-14T12:56:00.002-05:00

God, I love the smell of a paint store. I find painting to be relaxing, and nothing is more relaxed than a paint store. Think about it.

What kinds of deadlines can a paint store have? Seventy percent of your customers are drunks (remember the rule of "p's", any trade that starts with "p" are all drunks...) and are the types of people that enjoy, well, watching paint dry. That's what I'm doing now. Watching paint dry. Paint that came from the paint store.

God, I love the smell of a paint store.

New Screen Door

2011-04-05T14:48:00.002-05:00

The Bride has been wanting an old fashioned screen door on the back door for some time now and I just kept putting it off. But with the weather so nice and my own urges to leave the doors open kicking into high gear, the time became now.

I had to fur in the opening a little to make a standard width door work, but that all went smoothly and the door fit perfectly without any trimming so...

"You don't have to slam the screen door behind you every time you go in or out!" I hear my mother's voice echoing through my Bride... The sound brings back a flood of memories of summer days spent barefoot, the soft, hot tar on the streets burning our soles as we skipped across to check the mail box. Nights of catching lightening bugs and the slap of the screen door every time we went in or out... so, yeah sweetie, I do have to slam it.

Does Anybody Else Miss The Furniture Guys?

2009-04-20T07:27:00.007-05:00

Back in the nineties, it seems like eons ago, the little bride and I would watch a home improvement show called Furniture To Go with a couple of wacky but likable guys who would show you how to repair, refinish, reupholster and refurbish furniture. Even years later we'll still exclaim to each other, though admittedly in private, "Horse Hair!" Or, "spit coat!" And it amazes me how much of an effect the guys had on us without us realizing it.

When we replaced all the doors in our house a couple of years ago, I used shellac to finish them. Had my only TV influence in life been Norm, we'd of likely gone with some stupid spar varnish or other plastic finish. But the warm, natural hand rubbed and waxed finish on our doors just keeps getting better every day. And I probably wouldn't have even noticed this influence if it hadn't been for our latest project.

Somewhere in the era we were watching the Furniture Guys on TV we found an empire style sofa covered in the most awful 1970's da-glo stripey fabric. Someone really loved that sofa in between hits from the hookah. But the price was right and we always said that we could re-cover it and make it look nice. We watched all the Furniture Guys shows and knew all about horse hair and muslin and dust covers. They showed us how easy it is to tack the material down in the center, stretch it across to the other side and tack it down and then work your way around the piece. Voila! Brand new upholstery for the cost of materials. We always wanted to try it on that couch.

We carried the sofa around with us from house to house when we moved. Last I saw it, it was piled up with stuff in a corner out of the way. Then, last weekend the little bride proclaimed that now is the time. She bought black fabric similar to what may have been on it originally and we carried the sofa out to the garage and set it up on a table and proceeded to rip off all the old stripey fabric.

(remember, clicky the picky to make them bigger...)

Luckily everything came apart in a fairly straightforward way with no major surprises.

There was a wee bit of repair work that had to be done, thank goodness the Furniture Guys showed us how to do that!

And we started putting the new cotton batting and fabric on...

When we removed the old fabric from the back, we found a series of holes spaced suspiciously in a pattern. Looks like the original had button tufting! So we bought buttons and covered them with matching fabric (thanks again Furniture Guys) and started applying them to the back. Since the original actually had hay and real horse hair for stuffing, we tossed that and replaced it with a piece of foam (which we cut with our electric turkey carving knife) cotton batting and covering.

Replacing the pieces, one by one, we found an inscription inside one of the arms that was most likely the original maker. I couldn't make out the last name, but it was Fred something, Columbus Ohio, May 26, 1860. We tossed in our own little note and a swatch of the awful fabric we had removed and closed it back up.

The bride couldn't wait to install the piece in the living room. I think we're both pretty happy with the way it turned out. And to think, we learned everything we know about upholstery on television a decade ago. Thanks Furniture Guys!

Router Table

2009-02-03T08:15:00.008-06:00

~~So many~~ One of you has been clamoring to see pictures of the new shop built router table insert. So as not to disappoint ~~all of~~ you, here goes...

I found the hardware and stuff at a place called router table depot dot com.

some of the shots show my home-made feather board in place...

I hook my shop vac up to the fitting at the back and it sucks up all the sawdust and shavings.

Doors at Last

2009-02-03T08:10:00.002-06:00

I know my doors are just a wee bit whoppy-jawed, but I think that's something I can work out over time with strategically placed magnets and wishful thinking. Either that or I can live with it. I still like 'em...

Things that go crack in the night

2009-01-03T17:28:00.002-06:00

All the Universe has conspired against me not being able to build the doors for this cabinet.

First, my router that I've only had for about five years froze up on me. It had been getting harder and harder to adjust it over the past year or so and finally refused to adjust at all. And I had already spent nearly $100 on those nifty cope and stick router bits.

So, we went and bought a new router. I determined that I'm not going to buy any more Ryobi tools based on past experience, and having had nothing but good experiences with Porter Cable, we bought the 2.25 horsepower fixed base P/C router at the local Home Depot. (they honored Lowe's $25 coupon so that helped)

It was when I got it home, anxious to try it out, that I found that my low-end, somewhat ancient, Sears router table wouldn't fit my new router without modification. My little bride is beginning to expand her vocabulary by osmosis, and not necessarily in a good way. But the old barn is good for containing such outbursts and I'm sure the neighbors have scarcely lost any sleep.

Yanno? If you're going to go to all the trouble of making your router table fit your new router, you may as well have the router table you want. And I've been lusting after a router station that I can use on my work table and put away when not in use. (Shameless plug) Google, as you know, is our friend. And Google introduced me to Router Table Depot Dot Com. I got the large router table build kit, and I have to recommend this place. It was fast, accurate, easy and reasonable. I'll post pics of my new router station next time I go to my secret offsite location where the pictures post.

So, I mount up my new router and take it for a spin, making a little raised panel door for one of the cabinets in my shop. As a prototype, it fit the opening and confirmed all of my measuring theories. But as a door, it's not a keeper. As a learning experience it was priceless.

Then the new router broke. And Home Depot only had the display left. And I wanted it now. So I talked them into letting me swap out the motors which was all I needed anyway.

Okay, back in business. I made the first two doors, stuck them in the opening and threw my shoulder out of joint slapping myself on the back. It was a gleeful meeting of the self-congratulatory committee of the self-admiration society. What an astonishing cabinet maker I am with so little training!

I quickly whipped up the next two doors and started gluing them together without a dry fit. I'm that good, you know. And they didn't go together real snug, but that's why God invented clamps, right? I squeezed those bad boys together making for a beautiful fit. Left them in the clamps and went in the house for a celebratory beer.

When I loosened the clamps I heard a sickening cracking noise and learned a really valuable lesson: Wood is the size it wants to be, not the size you wish it to be. And when you take the pressure off of it it shows you who is boss. And you feel a little sheepish about how cocky you were. And you realize that this stuff is harder than it looks. And you buy eleven dollars worth of boards and start over.

And you give it a dry fit before you put any glue in the joints.

2008-12-18T07:43:00.007-06:00

The dearth of posting on this site has not been intentional. Far from it. I can hear all of you shaking your heads and saying, he's lazy, he doesn't post because he's lazy, and he's lying to us about that right now. But really, that's not the case. Really.

I've actually been trying to post this for quite some time. For some odd reason, when we switched over to AT&T's "Uverse" for our cable and phone and internet, I haven't been able to post pictures on blogger. (If anyone knows the solution to this, please comment.) So, I have forwarded these photos of our latest project to a secret off-site location that I go to during the day. And I'll post them from here. But keep that just between us, m'kay?

As several of you already know, the little bride has been after me to build bookcases in the den for her gi-normous collection of crafting/art/sewing/silliness books. I put her off for some time by telling her that we need a cabinet shop to do cabinet work, and she's been quite forthcoming in helping me to put that together. Then I put her off by saying that she needed to complete at least one project. I honestly can't remember if she actually did that or if she bamboozled me, which she is prone to do. But we began work some weeks back on the den...

First we set up a production line process to cut out the shelves and other parts.

remember you can clicky the picky if you wanna see 'em bigger...

we're kind of skipping ahead a little here, and getting on with the installation. The miracle of time-lapse photography...

Here's a peek at the adjustment system we wound up going with. I found it on Charles Neal's website. It works well and is a good use of the scrap plywood left over from cutting out the carcass.

The system consists of 2 strips of plywood, 1.5" wide for each side of the section. They're all taped together and run through the dado blade on the table saw in 2 inch increments, utilizing a shop made jig for the spacing (much like a box joint jig, only bigger.)

This keeps the spacing exactly the same across all of the units and you insert a strip of wood in the slots as a support on each end to hold the shelf up. You'll notice in the photo above that the shelves are all notched at the corners to fit nicely in the unit.

You can see in this detail that we've taken the three carcasses and screwed them together at the sides. This proved to make the installation of the face frame a bit (no, a lot) more difficult due to some bowing, but this was mostly corrected with some long pipe clamps and a lot of cussing.

If you look closely, you can see the cussing.

Here's a little detail of the top of the base unit. We found this behemoth poplar board that was 14 feet long and over 13 inches wide to use as the counter top. I think it would be really fun to say that I used one of my hand planes to do the molding on the edges, but I don't have that profile yet, so it was routered on there the old fashioned way - with a big Ryobi router. As a side note, this turned out to be Ryobi's last project. He had been becoming more and more difficult to work with over the years, finally to the point where I had to put a clamp on him just to adjust the depth. All of that came to an end after this counter top, when Ryobi refused to loosen up and adjust even a little.

So, we're not going to replace him, we're going to use this as an opportunity to work entirely with hand tools from now on. Ha ha! Gotcha on that one! We bought a Porter Cable and he's a little dandy!
But I digress. Okay, here's the first unit complete. Sort of. The bride couldn't wait to get her books in there...

I still have to build the doors that go on the bottom. More on that later...

Pool Table

2008-07-21T19:10:00.003-05:00

Our next door neighbors bought an umbrella to go next to the pool. After setting it up, we noticed that it said not to stand or sit on the base. The base is filled with water, by the way. So, I said, why don't we build a table to go over it and keep the kids off of it?

Coincidentally, I had just come into possession of a batch of nice cedar from the man with the sawmill up the street. So we banged a table together Saturday afternoon and put a couple of coats of spar varnish on it...

the varnish really makes the grain on the cedar "pop", don't you think?

Shop Status Report June 29, 2008

2008-06-29T21:23:00.006-05:00

Saw Bench

2008-03-23T19:44:00.001-05:00

Unintended Consequences

2008-03-23T14:53:00.002-05:00

I don't know if it's a law, but there's this thing called unintended consequences. That's where you do something with the intention of fixing something and wind up breaking something else. You know, like when you send food to a starving country and the farmers in the next country over go out of business.

I've got this problem where I have to wear a shirt with pockets in order to carry my glasses and a pen or pencil, and then they're always falling out when I stoop over any way. And if I try putting them in my pants pocket they get broken and bent. So this rules out wearing most T-shirts when it's warm. So I'm thinking about how handy the overalls that the old men wore must have been. Organizers in their own cosmos so to speak. A place for everything including your chaw. Not that I chew.

I haven't had a pair of overalls since I was a kid so I went down to the dry goods store to look at them the other day. I really like my Carhart pants and their version of the overall is pretty cool with the reinforced knees and tan color. That duck cloth has proven to wear well too. But they didn't have my size and besides, they were fifty bucks. So I went a counter or two down and found the Brazos brand knock-offs for half the price. I'm in a devil may care mood that day, so what the heck, I buy me a pair of those and a few boxes of ammunition for good measure. (You can't have too much ammunition on hand, besides, it's better than gold in hard times.)

Well, I spent about nine hours in the shop yesterday (finally finished that saw bench I started and built the little bride a wall and doorway for her shop) and marveled at how handy my pencil was and how comfortable and breezy I felt. But towards six o'clock I started to become painfully aware of a little unintended consequence that never in a hundred years would have crossed my mind: apparently all the movement under the bib of those cosmic organizers abraded the ends off of the nipples on my chest. I didn't need much of an excuse to change out of my saw-dusty clothes last night because my man-boobs were on fire.

Barely able to even wear a shirt this morning, my little bride was teasing me, "do we need to buy you a bra?" Well, no, but I may need to tape them or put bandaids or something on them next time... Actually, my theory is that if I had worn a plain T-shirt under them instead of one with a big silk-screened logo on it, I might have been okay. Sometime after I heal up, I'll give that a try.

Comfort Tools

2008-03-20T21:25:00.003-05:00

One of the blogs I read had a posting, "Daddy has a saw problem." And you may or may not want to admit it, but I think many of us find tool buying a comfort compensation. I have lots of addictive behaviors. I can eat with the best of bingers. I can drink most folks under the table. And I get enormous amounts of satisfaction from buying tools.

After my failure with the saw bench, I went tool shopping today and brought home a few odds and ends. Believe me, I feel better.

I found this one really cool tool dealer that had all of these things. In fact, everywhere else I went was bust.

First there was this great set of auger bits. It even includes the adjustable hole bit for doorknobs. And they are sharp. Yes, I couldn't wait to get them home and try them, drilling several holes in my work table. I'm like a kid that way.

Then there was a really cool saw set that adjusts to the number of teeth per inch your saw has. It was only six dollars so I figured I should get it. The tool-man asks me if I have a saw vise to use it with. Well, no, do you have a decent one? Yep, out comes a pretty decent user for only $19.00.

Lastly, there was a cool hewing hatchet for only $16.00 and I had to get it even though it's left handed. Anybody out there got a right handed hewing hatchet they want to trade?

Limitations

2008-03-20T21:07:00.003-05:00

One of the great joys of this cabinet shop project is learning as I go. And don't get me wrong, I'm not giving up, but my first attempt at a saw bench was a disgraceful failure. This should be a really simple project, right? I mean this is something you would have your apprentice do to get his chops.

Maybe it would help if I had anyone besides the internet to show me how to do these things.

Doing my due diligence, I went and looked at pictures and plans from some of the big dogs and little dogs on the net and thought maybe a sort of hybrid between Schwartz and the plywood one would be really cool. It would if I had me some mad tight sawing skillz to begin with. But making due with what I have, I cut and chiseled out a fabulous ten degree angle with sliding dovetail sides to fit my legs in. I gotta say, I was really pleased with myself when I got done.

Then I sawed and pared out the "tails" doing my best to figure the ten degree corresponding angles. This too turned out really nice and I kind of hurt myself patting me on the back. Then disaster struck.

I tried to put the two pieces together. Wow, that really sucks. You look at things like this and realize how much paying attention in high school math might have paid off years later. Oh well. I guess I need to go to plan B, but I'm not sure what that is at this point. All I know is it most likely won't involve ten degree angles.

Leg Vise

2008-03-16T20:47:00.013-05:00

I picked out a scrap piece of oak and planed it down for my leg vise. I used my make-shift clamping system with the holdfasts and my work table.

I gave up trying to thread my dowels and broke down and bought an old wooden screw clamp with one inch diameter screws. This will be strong enough for the leg vise and if it's not, I'll figure something else out.

I attached the screw through the front vise board and the front left leg and screwed it into half of it's original clamp.

Then I used an 1.5" forstner bit to wallow out behind the screw head, chopped a little trench to get it started, and pushed a piece of dowel through the screw to hold it to the front vise board.

I took a piece of 1 7/16" dowel and drilled holes about every inch in it. I drilled a quarter inch hole through the edge of the face board, going through the end of the dowel and pinned them together with an oak dowel. I found a little piece of steel bar to use for the adjustment. This way I can let the base of the vise out if I clamp wider objects.

I couldn't wait to try it. It clamps boards just fine. I think this is going to make finishing the other vise on the end much easier. Things are progressing faster and faster...

Son2 tries it out and planes a pine board.

Bench Part II

2008-03-12T20:38:00.009-05:00

So, the next thing I needed to do on the bench is install the tool tray and the bread board ends. I sawed down about 3/4" and chiseled out a rabbet around the ends.

Then I chopped out, (what do you call it?), a mortise to fit on the ends,

cut a dado and fit the bottom of the tool tray to the left side board. No glue, just friction to hold it. At this point I have the end boards temporarily screwed into the bench so I can get accurate measurements. Of course that didn't mean that I cut it correctly on the first try, but at least it was long and I could trim it down instead of the other way around.

Each of the end pieces and the tool tray are pegged in place with octagonal cut oak pegs.

Then I cut the ramps and fitted them into the ends of the tool tray.

Finis (except for the vises - stay tuned.)

(remember you can click the pics and make 'em bigger if you want to...)

Work Bench

2008-03-04T19:02:00.013-06:00

I decided to go with the good, fast and cheap bench that consists of laminating 2-by southern yellow pine boards into a thick and hopefully durable bench. I followed the advice of only gluing one board on at a time. In order to get fairly clear lumber, I bought 2x10's and ripped them in half. I used a cheap little detail roller to roll the glue on and left it soaking in a bowl of water between uses since I'm waiting at least a day between glue ups.

Sometimes I waited longer than 24 hours if it turned off cold. Or if I got discouraged trying to figure out what my next step was going to be.

Honestly, I agonized over how I was going to cut the dovetail shaped mortises for the legs to attach to the top. Realistically, I should have gone with something simpler but that's what I really wanted from an aesthetic standpoint. Just my reluctance to commit to this cost me at least a week or two.

But at last I had the top as far as I can go until I do the tool tray and vises, so I figured it was time to attach some legs. I layed out the mortises for the stretchers.

And then chopped them out with my largest mortising chisel. I bought the set of C.I. Fall mortising chisels because they were about half to 1/4th as much as the higher priced mortising chisels.

I may have found out why they cost less. I should mention that this is the first time I've actually cut mortises and maybe I don't know what I'm doing. No, really. I probably don't know what I'm doing, but I split the handle pretty bad by the time I had four mortises chopped. And, due to my lack of experience, I split two of the legs trying to fit the first tenons in. I guess you're not supposed to force them. You can see the split on one of the back legs in the photo, but it still seems to be holding the table up well enough.

The leg joints turned out to be acceptable, and I planed the top flat over a period of a couple days. You can believe me when I tell you that after you have chopped the mortises in four legs, sawed the tenons, and planed for about forty five minutes, you really become aware of the muscles in your arms. And this awareness heightens the next day. I felt like Popeye. My arms felt that big.

Here's a pic of my son sawing the first board on the new bench with the bench hook he helped me build. This is really good exercise and I hope to do it often enough to get in shape. Not building benches, but building something. I'm trying to decide what my next project is going to be.

I'm going to learn to do this...

2008-01-15T20:50:00.000-06:00

There was a time when one of the things a gentleman learned was how to cut dovetails for making drawers and other joints. Anybody that knows me will tell you that I'm no gentleman, but hand cutting dovetail joints is something that I have wanted to learn for a long, long time.

With some of the upcoming projects that the little bride is dreaming up for me, I guess now is the time. This is my third try. First attempt was crazy backwards and mixed up and nothing matched up. Second attempt was a mirror image of what I needed and the joint would not hold up. This is a picture of my third attempt and while not elegant or pretty, it is tight and effective and I think I'm on the right track.

Hand cut dovetail joint. (click the picture to make it bigger)

Miter Saw Bench

2008-01-05T15:45:00.000-06:00

(remember, click the pictures to make them bigger...)

As I've mentioned before, when we moved in we just threw everything into the shop and have never gone back to try and sort it out. Sure, working on projects can be a challenge when it's like this, but we've dealt with it one way or another. But with the new projects that the little bride is coming up with, bookshelves, kitchen cabinets, etc. I figure I'm going to have to organize and configure it as a "cabinet shop."

My first project towards that end is to clear some floor space and build a miter saw bench. I just figure this will pay dividends when it comes to production cutting. So this weekend we did just that. I built the framework last weekend and had the local home center rip a couple of sheets of 3/4" mdf in half for me. Today I put the top together. I think it's going to work out well.

Next project: my woodworking bench.

The Most Effective Home Improvement Tool Ever

2007-10-11T07:51:00.000-05:00

Deck, Phase II

2007-10-06T16:22:00.001-05:00

Basically, phase 2 of the deck is complete. Sorry no "in-progress" pics, but this turned out to be one of the more stressful projects we've done so far. At least for me it was. First of all, I had no idea that the little bride intended to paint phase 1 like a circus wagon. But she did. Anyway, here are some photos to show what we did. (remember, pics get bigger when you click 'em)

Note the little doors under phase 1. Now the bride has a large storage area for her junk underneath.

Weedeater Woes

2007-07-26T18:14:00.001-05:00

I'm not ashamed to admit it. Well, maybe a little. But edging with a string trimmer has been a source of aggravation for me lo these many years. And it's probably due in no small part to me not knowing what I'm doing. I've stared wistfully at the guys doing the neighbors yards as they zip up and down the sidewalks and curbs with their string trimmers. I can't remember ever seeing one of them stop to fiddle with the string.

Me? The string breaks every foot or so and jams up so that I have to kill the motor and fish it out, most of the time having to re-wind the spool. It got so bad that I finally gave up and quit edging all together. The man next door either felt sorry for me or was so embarrassed that he started edging my flower beds and fence.

I've seen those replacement heads at the garden center, you know, the ones where you put the little pieces of string in them instead of a spool. They tout things like, "5 second line change!" And I've been really hesitant to shell out twenty bucks to find out if they work or if you've just bought yourself twenty more dollars worth of aggravation. I still can't help you with that one because I didn't buy one of those.

I did run across a little blurb on-line the other day about a father-son team down in Texas that were experiencing the same frustration as me and invented a better solution. I read reviews about it on their blog and was impressed with how impressed everyone seemed to be. They got me at, "We absolutely GUARANTEE YOUR SATISFACTION!!!" I couldn't wait to get down to Wal Mart to buy one.

Being late in the season, Wal Mart was either completely out, or never actually stocked the Pivotrim heads and the lady stocking the shelves in the garden department acted like I was crazy. But I was on a mission and I drove nine miles up the road to the Super Center in the next town. I looked and looked up and down the aisles and just as I was about to give up, there in the corner, turned backwards and kind of tossed aside, was a blister pack that looked promising. As I turned it around I realized that this may well be the last remaining Pivotrim head in the state of Arkansas. I took it to the cash register with trembling hands.

Now, all of the replacement heads claim that they fit 99% of all trimmers and they probably do. Pivotrim is no different saving that they claim to give you more hardware and therefore more options for, I guess, more different trimmers. Sheesh, I don't know. All I know is that when I went to put this one on my Weedeater, nothing they provided looked like it would work. The package boldly states, "problems? No need to return to the store, call our toll free number..."

Yeah, right. On Sunday afternoon? Oh well, I dialed the number and it was immediately answered by one of the inventors. He confidently told me exactly what to do in a very clear and concise manner which made me immediately suspicious that as soon as I got off the phone I would realize I had been had and he would have taken his phone off the hook.

But surprise, in less than five minutes I had the head changed out, strung up and was ambling into the front yard to experience some serious, trouble-free edging. Now, I read all the claims about being able to go for up to four hours without a line break and guys bragging about trimming up a couple thousand acres of chain link fence with this thing, but remember, I'm the guy that can't go more than a foot or two without breaking the line.

I'll give it this, it made it nearly all the way across the front yard before my first break. But it does re-string in a matter of seconds and I was able to do the entire yard - all of the curb, both sides of the driveway and sidewalk and all of the flower beds with only four string changes. Much better than the twenty or so changes I normally experience and my blood pressure didn't burst my ear drums.

I was a little disappointed that the package said it would take .095 thick string, and I bought a package of that size string already cut into strips, but they wouldn't fit through the little holes. I did find that you can take the old spool of .080 string from the tap and go days and cut it into 10-12 inch strips quickly and easily which works just fine and I'm sure is cheaper than paying four bucks for a little tube of strings.

Go to their website, check out the video and see if maybe this might be a stress reducer in your life. It seems to be for me...

The Deck - Phase I

2007-06-09T10:19:00.000-05:00

You may remember that we put a door in the back of the house where a bedroom window was originally. That necessitated building a porch to get down to the ground about four feet below. This seemed satisfactory for a year or so. And then the bride got the itch. "I want a deck," she said. So we started to dismantle the railings on the porch...
(don't forget you can click on the pics to make them bigger.)

...began to frame up a deck...

...and started laying the flooring. I decided to lay the flooring on a 45 degree angle so that it wouldn't look so much like an afterthought as it transitioned from the old porch structure. I think once it's all stained the same color it will look like it was always there.

Next step was to trim off all the uneven boards and start on the railing.

The bride picked out the style of railing she wanted, and it was up to me to figure out how to make it work...

I think it looks pretty good.

Now it's time to relax...

Uh oh, the bride has informed me that this is phase I of the deck construction. Phase II will be a lower level deck... sheesh, it never ends. Stay tuned.

The finished project...

2007-03-01T08:17:00.000-06:00

2007-02-10T23:25:00.000-06:00

The den in our house was remuddled sometime in the seventies. Which left us with a legacy of avocado green shag carpet and this lovely brick fireplace with the wormy wood mantle.

Recently, a friend salvaged a terrific Victorian mantle from an old house they were tearing down in a nearby town, and I acquired it from her. So we began the demolition of the old mantle to make room for the new.

First, I had to cut the supporting bricks from each side of the mantle with a chisel.

Then, I had to saw off the old slab board as flush as I possibly could with my reciprocating saw. This turned out to be a bone jarring experience and painfully tiring to boot.

After which I was left with a roughly cut board that wasn't quite flush with the bricks it was embedded in.

So, I cleaned up the rest with a wood chisel. It made a big mess, but got the job done. I'm certain that at least nine of you out there are thinking of easier ways I could have done this, but it's too late. You should have said something sooner.

Then, I covered the corners with 1x6's which I routered a bead across the top to look a little more finished.

The bride caulked up all the seams and nail holes, and we're ready to prime and paint. Remember, clicky the pictures to get a closer look.

Shop Matters

2006-06-10T19:29:00.000-05:00

When we moved in, we pretty much just stuck all of the tools in the shop, figuring we'd organize it later. Well, it's been two years and we've got the house fairly liveable so I guess now is later.

My first project is a work table. Recently, I had the privilege of getting to work with some real cabinet makers, and I really like the work tables in their shop. I mentioned that would be my next project and Rick told me that I should consider leaving a one and one half inch lip around the top to clamp things. So, I framed up this table today. It's on casters so I can roll it into place and lock them down.

Tomorrow, my friend Bill is going to take me to get a sheet of plywood for the top. (remember, click on the pictures to make them bigger...)

table sans top

And, after the plywood is delivered, the table with top...

Floor Nailer - The Circle Is Complete

2006-04-09T18:19:00.000-05:00

When I started looking for a floor nailer last year to do the tongue and groove flooring in my house, I checked the tool websites and got the prices for new -- wow!

So, I went to eBay to look at used ones. I found the Porter Cable nailer listed several times on eBay, one of the more common ones, and decided to do my due diligence and research what folks thought of it. I've been happy with the brad nailer I bought from Porter Cable, and this floor nailer got good reviews too. So, I was going to go back and do the "buy it now" on the $400 version. Except that during my research I found Coastal Tool dot com who had it for sale at $380. So, I figure I would email the seller on eBay, inform him that you can get them brand new for $380 and see if he would take less.

But before I could get back, it had sold. A quick search of completed items revealed that more than eight of them had sold in the last couple of weeks for $400 or more.

I ordered the nailer from Coastal Tool. It arrived several days later, as promised, worked beautifully, and we proceeded to install our entire house in 3/4" heart pine floor over a period of several months. (we had to tear out the old floor first.)

So, having completed the floor, I put my nailer out on eBay. And, within a few days I had an email from a potential buyer telling me that you can buy them brand new for $380 and offering me $300. I got another offer for $330 a day later. I said thanks but no thanks to both of them and watched. And, lo and behold, it sold today for $395.00. Of course, I threw in all the leftover nails I had to sweeten the deal.

I hope the guy that bought it from me does the same thing when he's done with it! Just don't take any low-ball offers, dude.

Craft Room Floor

2006-03-28T17:11:00.000-06:00

Not much new to show, but the little bride put new floor down in her craft room. I think it turned out pretty good for twenty-five cents a square foot...

Book Case

2006-03-12T19:12:00.000-06:00

I know that we've not updated in quite some time. Friends have pointed this out to me. Well, the one that checks up on this mess, anyway.

Truth is, we took the winter off, and now that it's warmer and staying light longer, we are looking at starting a few projects. The first one, since I think November, is this bookcase. I started it last Tuesday night, cut out the shelves and routered the edges, and got the basic form put together.

Trimmed it out and started painting it on Saturday. I have to admit, I was a bit worried about getting the crown molding right, but am very pleased with how it turned out.

Finished painting it today. It's ready to install in my office.

Laundry Room Floor

2005-11-06T17:32:00.000-06:00

We finally got around to yanking out the floor in the laundry room. Kind of a necessity to keep the flow of the kitchen from looking too chopped up. At this point we have drawn the line (literally) at the area under the washer and dryer and in the little half bath. They will stay vinyl roll flooring for the time being.

We started out Saturday morning, pulled all the baseboards and started cutting the edges with the Crane toe-kick saw. I'm getting pretty good with this thing and it's not nearly as intimidating as it once was. What a lifesaver...

We had already cut a chunk at the doorway to fit the last board from the kitchen into the treshold. There's a pocket door between the two rooms.

Got everything stripped and pried up down to the sub floor and swept in preparation for the construction felt and new floor.

Layed the new floor...

...and re-installed the baseboards and trim.

I need to put in a new threshold under the back door and a couple of binder strips of oak at the transitions and then it will be complete.

Immortality 2005

2005-10-30T15:35:00.000-06:00

About a year ago, I posted about the immortality of garbage cans. And, how the only two ways I could figure to get rid of one was to leave it when you move (a good idea) or to take a reciprocating saw and cut it up into pieces for the ~~garbage man~~ sanitation department. (a little more difficult, but if you ain't movin'...)

Today, I finally got around to it.

Learning to Cope...

2005-09-18T20:35:00.000-05:00

When we moved into the house, there was small, and I mean really small, crown molding through most of the house. Since we've always liked having picture rail moldings to hang our pictures from, the bride came up with the idea of adding the picture rail below the small crown leaving about a 2 1/2 inch space and then painting the whole thing to look like one piece of molding. It came out surprisingly well...

It's been kind of a challenge to cope the inside corners and miter the outside ones with the picture molding and also filling in the missing crown molding in the new added house parts. But I think I'm kind of getting the hang of it.

Once on the wall, it fits!

Which is a surprise, because I have a bad habit of cutting things a little too long the first time and then cutting them too short when I take them back to adjust them...

Where we been????

2005-09-14T20:05:00.000-05:00

Well, we arrived at the point where we need to finish up detail work before we start on any more major projects. At least that's my point and I'm going to press it.

We've been filling nail holes, caulking seams, painting, putting gliders on the bottom of chair legs and finishing up trim work.

I'll post some pics when we've made enough progress to be interesting...

Floor Show

2005-09-05T21:01:00.000-05:00

Since we're re-using a run of cabinets, that were between the kitchen and dining room, against the wall we found that some of the features of a double sided cabinet don't work so well in this application. Like the row of drawers and doors that ends in a blank cabinet back...

So, my little bride told me I needed to do something about that. And, that I needed to do something about it before we laid floor. So, I bent a couple of jigsaw blades and cut out a the blank side to make a drawer and a cabinet door opening...

Now, I told the bride that my cabinet skills are like really terrible and that she had a 50% chance or less of getting something decent out of it. As it is, the drawer turned out a teeny bit crooked, but I'm going to live with it. Yes, I am.

We started in laying floor, jockying loose cabinetry and kitchen tables,

...and, I must say, the results are very pleasing...

Treading the Boards

2005-09-04T21:07:00.000-05:00

At son2's birthday party today, his grandparents invited him to come spend the night with them. Son1 was long gone to do things teenagers do. We were left completely alone. You know what that means, right?

Right. We took up the rest of the floor in the kitchen and got it cleaned up in preparation for laying floor tomorrow...

Which, of course, will make us really popular with the trash people come Tuesday...

Sub-Urban Archaeology

2005-09-03T22:05:00.000-05:00

started back in on the demolition today since we'd gone as far with the new floor as we could. We uncovered what may very well be the original kitchen floor...

...and are proceeding to tear it out. The toe kick saw has been great even if it's a little scary. If I had to saw all of the edges with the reciprocating saw I would lose the will to live. One draw back is that it doesn't get into corners very well. And, neither does the Sawsall.

Which meant that I had to chisel out the plywood from the inside corner of the kitchen cabinets. A time consuming process, but necessary and worthwhile...

Tomorry is son2's birthday, but we'll try to get the rest of the floor out between parties and church.

Details, details...

2005-09-01T19:26:00.000-05:00

Here's a pic of the pantry corner with the trim installed except crown molding. We are using the nook next to it as a tool staging area and have moved a temporary shelf in place for that.

The nook was left purposely to put a rolling island in when we're not using it. The bride had a pretty good idea that I think I can implement using an "extra" Victorian sideboard and adapting it into an island. I'll keep you posted...

Here's a couple of close-up peeks at the trim we're using around the doors and baseboard...

Getting there.

2005-08-30T20:55:00.000-05:00

We've been doing some trim, painting and decorating for the last couple of days. Still have to fill my nail holes and touch up the paint plus install a few more pieces of trim (like base shoe)... but here's where we are so far...

The foyer looking west...

...and looking south...

the new closet...

Son2's room looking south...

...and looking north...

Getting the hang of it...

2005-08-27T17:54:00.000-05:00

We started in early this morning filling in the floor in son2's room. A thunderstorm came up suddenly, mid morning, and we literally cut the last two boards amidst large raindrops, shoved all the equipment and tools into the shop and ran inside.

Since the rain precluded painting or cutting trim work, we installed the pantry door. I think I'm finally getting the hang of the door thing. This one went very smoothly and the "crack" is pretty even all the way around - best one yet!

When the sun finally came out, the bride started painting woodwork, and as it dried, I cut it, took it in and installed it. Some of my cuts aren't so great, but isn't that why God invented wood filler? And latex caulk? Good stuff if you ask me.

This is peeking in son2's room from the foyer...

And, inside...

My little bride went shopping with her mother, so I guess I get tonight off...

Goin' South

2005-08-26T20:48:00.000-05:00

I left work about 10:30 this morning and the little bride had been off all week, so she was back from the yard sales when I got there and ready to make me work.

I told her I was looking for the most bang for the buck we could get and that I wanted to start on son2's room, the ex-living room.

We pried out the plywood overlayment in there which went a lot better than I thought it would. By taking the skillsaw and setting the depth to 3/4", I was able to cut the sheets in half to make it easier to pry them out. The lever that adjusts the depth on my skillsaw stripped out and fell off, so I had to adjust it with pliers. I guess that's what I get for buying a lower priced model. I think I'll go with Delta or Milwaukee next time.

We cut and layed a few courses of floor and then went to lunch at Red Lobster. Special treat, the little bride and I on a date. Having kids for the last 23 years, there just doesn't seem so much time for just us.

We had a summer thundershower about 5:00 which made it where I couldn't cut the boards outside, so we put everything in the garage and hung the new door for son2's bedroom.

By 8:30 tonight, I was pooped. But I think we made pretty good progress...

Faux Sho'!

2005-08-25T20:47:00.000-05:00

My little bride decided a faux finish was in order for Son2's room...

Floored.

2005-08-24T22:00:00.000-05:00

My little bride set a goal for me to get completed tonight. Get the pantry floored and the shelving system installed. Since that involved a trip to Lowes, I wasn't sure it could be done on that time schedule. We had to buy the shelving system.

On advice from a friend, we got wire shelving to allow light to pass through whenever possible and help visibility in the back areas of the shelves.

In order to floor into the pantry, we had to floor up to the pantry and then cut some odd boards to fit around the door entrances, etc. Happy to say, it's ten o'clock and we got it done...

We'll Just Have To Move.

2005-08-22T07:34:00.000-05:00

The main reason it's taking so long to actually put some floor down, I mean once we started, is because it's so difficult to get the long pieces to line up. They make it look so easy on TV. Just put a block of wood against it and bang it in. I guess they edit out all the times that they bang one end and the other pops back out.

When we opened the first few boxes of wood, they were all full lenghth. We assumed that the whole load was that way. Then about three or four boxes in, we found random length smaller pieces. That turned out to be a godsend.

The subfloor is so uneven down the hallway that we positively could not have forced long pieces of flooring to fit together. So, over the hump, the smaller pieces kept us going. I can only hope that the dining room will go smoother. (and son2's bedroom...)

The Porter Cable floor nailer has worked well. I experienced my first jam after only laying about six planks. It was confusing because I didn't know what was wrong. The nailer "cocked" and acted like it wanted to go on, but refused to do anything other than let out a slight sigh every time I hit it.

I checked to make sure my air pressure was still up to snuff. It was. I checked to see if the nails were in it. They were. I took the nails out and everything seemed fine. I hit it harder. The little bride gasped and said, "don't break it!" Last resort? I checked the owners manual.

It said that several possibilities existed. I didn't lubricate it properly. I had. Use the wrong nails? They always want you to believe that their brand is the only acceptable one, but no the nails were okay. A nail was jammed. I took it apart by the directions and sure enough, there was an errant nail stuck right where it shouldn't be. I popped it out, put it all back together again and it worked fine after that.

It was fairly easy to deal with after I understood the directions, so next time it will be a snap. Though I hope it doesn't happen often because it does take about five minutes or so. But then, maybe I need a break?

The doors were a different story. I don't see how anybody can get one to hang straight. I could get the door straight and swinging properly, but the gap around the jamb wouldn't even out to save my life. I gave up after about an hour on each one and pronounced them "Good Enough" in a pontifical sort of way that made a believer out of my little bride. Hey, they open and close and if that's not good enough then we'll just have to move.

Progress at last...

2005-08-21T19:24:00.000-05:00

Today we finished up the floor in the foyer and hall and put in the hall closet door and our bedroom door. I think it's all coming together nicely...

Woke Up This Morning...

2005-08-20T20:57:00.000-05:00

and didn't have no Statesboro Blues. So we started in on finishing the demolition necessary to start laying floor. You know, things like removing our bedroom door (we waited until the last minute for obvious reasons...) and the closet doors so we could remove the plywood from under the jambs properly and replace with the pine planks.

And then we layed black paper down for the vapor barrier...

And then we got a lunch invitation from my stepmother who was passing through from Houston Texas. Hmmmm, free lunch/hammer boards? Good company/hammer boards? A couple of hours off/hammer boards?

We went to lunch at the Flying Fish (best catfish in the world, bar none) and then got home to start on the installation (at long last...)

Special Request

2005-08-19T08:28:00.000-05:00

Can anyone tell me if it's possible/likely to use an abrasive saw blade in a skill saw to cut cast iron soil pipe? In this application, it's a standing run of plumbing that needs to be cut into, not new materials.

Any ideas or suggestions would be appreciated.

Halls of Marble

2005-08-16T21:09:00.000-05:00

Reno 911 interferes greatly with blogging, so if I become incoherent, that's why.

The little bride decided that the foyer and front hall should have marble wainscoting with gold gew-gaws, so she started the faux painting process...

layin' down the base coat...

and sponging the "design"...

Work Slow Down - But Not On Strike...

2005-08-15T21:44:00.000-05:00

The book show this weekend slowed me down more than I had hoped. At least that's what I'm going to blame it on. Picked up a few neat things including an early broadside advertising a production of Uncle Tom's Cabin that would look great framed.

Electric is complete in the new pantry and all but two pieces of the drywall are in place.

I want to get at least one coat of mud on it, but the little bride is pressing me to start laying floor.

The Pantryfication of America

2005-08-11T21:57:00.000-05:00

Well, as posted earlier, we cleared the floor for the pantry area

and got the new pantry laid out

and framed in as of tonight.

I borrowed Bill's framing nailer which made quick work of the framing after I got it cut out. He even threw in a beer!

A Milestone

2005-08-10T07:31:00.000-05:00

We've cleared the underlayment and old hardwood from front to back in a path resembling Sherman's march to the sea. Shock and awe, baby. I estimate that this is about 30 percent of the total floor, but comprises some of the most stubborn and unyielding of the areas (I hope).

This puts me at a point where I can frame in the new pantry and hang drywall. My thoughts were originally to get the mudding all done before laying new floor, but I don't think I'm going to be able to hold myself back. You know, instant gratification of sorts. Even though we're talking about instant gratification over a period of weeks. I want to see some floor down!

I have a table at the Antique Book Show in town this weekend, and I know it doesn't make the little bride happy, but I'm just going to have to redouble my efforts at night. Wouldn't want to miss the book show, now would we? (For those in central Arkansas looking for an excuse to take a break from the house, it will be Saturday and Sunday at the Jacksonville Civic Center).

Wadda Gal!

2005-08-09T15:24:00.000-05:00

I came home from my meeting last night and the little bride had finished sanding the drywall in the new foyer and had primed it and the hallway.

A sight for sore eyes! Thanks, darlin'!

Inch By Inch

2005-08-07T19:18:00.000-05:00

What I did on my ~~summer vacation~~ weekend...

This represents two days of work...

Like Shredded Wheat

2005-08-07T15:15:00.000-05:00

The floor removal is turning out to be one of the most physical projects we've taken on so far. 'Tis hard on an old man, I must say.

When we hit the section of dining room that had oak floors, the staples quit coming out with the quarter inch plywood overlay and we had to literally shred the overlay to get it off.

All this just to be able to pry out the oak strip floor. Feelin' kind of stiff and sore today...

Breaking News...

2005-08-06T19:15:00.000-05:00

The bride just informed me that she heard on one of the home and garden channels that granite counter tops add value to the house...

Does this ever end????

Happy Feet

2005-08-06T18:07:00.000-05:00

One thing that has plagued me for years is being nearly crippled after spending the day on my feet working on the house. I would limp for days. Then, one day, I was at Wal Mart and stopped to look at the shoes to see if there were some cheap "throwaways" I could use for painting and saw the TredSafe line of shoes.

Made specifically for the food industry, they are designed for comfort during long periods on one's feet on hard floors. And the bonus is that they are slip resistant.

So, at $20, roughly, I bought a pair.

These things are comfortable! They're real leather, have excellent padding and breath well. They fit great and my feet feel fine when I'm done.

I've been wearing them for several months now for my work projects and even wear them mowing the lawn. Yeah, they're a little cheesy only coming in black, but this has been a Godsend for my feet.

My understanding is that they are only available at Wal Mart, but it's worth a trip down there to get a pair.

Pry-vacy

2005-08-06T17:35:00.000-05:00

Well, we've gotten the underlayment pried up to the end of the main hall, and down the hall to my son's room.
You can see my big honkin' pry bar in the picture.

We pulled the myriad patches up between the hall and kitchen and got to the hardwood floor.

My best pard and running buddy, Bill, told me how to do the double crow bar trick to work your way down the runs of hardwood and pry them out. He even loaned me the crow bars.

National Home Center

2005-08-06T09:48:00.000-05:00

I want for National Home Center to be a great place to shop, because of the convenience factor if not the fact that it's an Arkansas company. But they're just not going to pull it off. Poor National.

I stopped in this morning because I needed a five gallon bucket of pre-mixed sheetrock mud and they are out. Such a simple thing and they don't have it? Sheesh. I give up!

Lazy Oaf That I Am

2005-08-05T07:34:00.000-05:00

Last night I realized that my original plan for tearing out a little floor, putting a little floor down, repeat process, was not very practicable. Which meant that the original plan of having a pile of lumber about halfway through put, well, a pile of lumber right in my way.

So, last night we moved all of the lumber, tools, and extra furniture that blocked progress. When that was done, I had somewhat lost my entusiasm for ripping up floor and suggested, "anybody wanna go to the bookstore?"

The little bride and son2 jumped on that in a New York Minute. And, you know that time goes by quickly in New York...

Hope to have something better to report by this time tomorrow.

TGIF!

No, wait a minute, Monday means I get to come to work and rest...

Big Honkin' Pry Bar

2005-08-04T07:00:00.000-05:00

I guess posting pics from last night would be a moot point since once you've seen one piece of plywood with two-bazillion nails and staples in it, you've really seen them all.

I am finding that crowbars, while quite effective on the first half of a sheet, get a little difficult to deal with on the back side of a sheet of plywood. So I went to the home center and bought what is called (I think) a pinch bar. It's about five feet long, has a flattened pry end and is heavy.

Jamming it under the sheets of plywood and then raising it up and the screeching sound of nails being pulled fills the house.

So, we're down the front hallway and have made the turn into the kitchen.

This May Take Longer Than I Thought...

2005-08-02T21:52:00.000-05:00

We're both impatient to see how the new floor is going to look so we started demolition tonight on the old underlayment. The previous renovators did a great job of making sure their work would be eternal. I don't think I've ever seen so many nails and staples. They laid 3/4" plywood over the tongue and groove plank sub-floor and then put 1/4" plywood over that. Then they glued roll flooring to that.

We started by cutting the underlayment along the walls that it went under (ones they moved and ones I stupidly built my new wall on top of.) This was my first chance to use my new Crain toe-kick saw. This tool really is a one of a kind item and it cuts a perfectly flush cut along the wall to the exact depth desired as you can see in the picture.

It has one nasty tendency, and that is to try and jump out of your hands and skate across the floor if you hit a hidden obstruction like a nail or staple. This is a little scary and creates quite a work-out trying to hold onto the saw on a project like this. It also doesn't get into inside corners very well and I had to finish up with the Sawsall.

Then we pulled up the roll flooring. and started prying up the plywood underneath.

After working about 3 straight hours, we had managed to get about 50 square feet taken up and hauled to the curb. (fifty square feet sounds a lot more impressive than "a five by ten foot area") Chance helped with the clean up.

I guess this is going to take a little longer than we thought...

Wadda Dump!

2005-08-01T17:21:00.000-05:00

The little bride commented recently that she always felt bad about wanting to change things in our last house because they were new enough that it was a shame to rip them out and replace them. But, that she feels she can truly make this house her own because everything in it is old and crappy and needs to be replaced.

No, not old like really neat victorian old, or even prairie style/craftsman old. Even having a quality mid-century modern touch here and there would be refreshing. But, no, it's all really crappy old stuff from the 70's.

So, rock on girl, we'll get it all changed eventually. Just do me one favor, okay hon? Let me finish one project and feel good about it before you add any more to the pile...

just sayin', that's all...

Past Project II

2005-07-31T19:53:00.000-05:00

Since the previous owners included the back patio when they built and enclosed the den, there was no back door when we acquired the house. A window that had been originally in a bedroom, now in the dining room was in the West wall. A reciprocating saw, busted bricks, and a couple of trips to the home center and the window was now a back door.

Of course, that posed its own problem in that now the back door was three feet above the ground.
So, I bought treated lumber and built a back porch. The little bride indicated that she'd like to have shelves on the railings wide enough to sit flower pots on, so I accommodated her. I didn't know that she would hang outriggers on the shelves to put hanging pots on. This has caused the shelves to wrack and I'll have to deal with that - probably sooner than later...

Easy Like Sunday Morning...

2005-07-31T19:08:00.000-05:00

We don't usually get much accomplished on Sundays. After church and lunch there's just not a lot of day left for major doings. So, I sanded and touched up on my drywall mudding. The job light really reveals all the flaws. My saving grace is that the actual lighting in the foyer will be much more forgiving. I hope.

Kitchen Demolition July 30

2005-07-30T20:22:00.000-05:00

We finished removing the cabinets from the kitchen leaving only the ones on the wall. As you can see, there are ~~three~~ four different types of floor in the one area. This is apparently the evidence left from a previous renovation in the 1970's when a bedroom wall was moved to enlarge the kitchen.

The little bride was kind of fond of a drawer in one run of cabinets that houses the trash can. The only way we could figure out how to salvage it was to cut it off the end of the cabinets with my Sawsall and spin it into place at the end of the sink run.

Of course this complicates things a bit, but I think I can reface the entire run with quarter inch luan and put all the doors and drawers back on and it will look okay. She plans to paint everything anyway.

Cutting Tile In Circles

2005-07-30T12:43:00.000-05:00

One of our past projects was to lay tile in the den. This area is nearly 625 square feet and included what was originally the patio to the house. When we acquired it, the original brick from the back of the house was still showing and the iron railings from the patio were still in place. This, along with horrible avocado green '70s shag carpet layed directly on concrete and stinking.

We yanked out all of the carpeting (the trash people in our neighborhood have learned to dread coming here...) and cut off the iron railings (they had the new cement pad poured around them) and scraped up glue and carpet pad remnants.

The little bride found some tile she really liked and we hauled home 2500 pounds of it as well as 400 pounds of dry adhesive and 80 pounds of dry grout. We spent a couple of weeks working nights laying the tile.

Now, the fireplace has a hearth pad that is a semicircle of bricks. I got to tell you, I lost sleep over how I was going to deal with that. All kinds of suggestions were posited including smashing up tiles and laying the pieces in the non-square area.

One Saturday morning while the bride wasn't here to make fun of me, I got out my Ryobi angle grinder and attached a four inch tile blade. I made paper templates and started cutting and laying out tiles. It took a few passes, and since I didn't mark top and bottom on my templates, I cut one tile backwards. But all in all, I am pretty proud of the results:

L Shaped Two Inch Flooring Cleats

2005-07-30T12:33:00.000-05:00

The flooring nailer we bought uses 2" L shaped flooring cleats. These are not so easy to find locally and I was hesitant to order them on-line because of the weight - shipping would likely eat up any savings.

Lowes didn't have them. National Home Center acted like I was an idiot (really they should get a handle on their poor customer service) and Sutherland's didn't have them. Our last stop was Home Depot and, voila! There they were. And the price was comparable to the ones on the web. I bought 4 boxes of cleats, a roll of 15 pound felt and a new pair of knee pads.

Stonehenge

2005-07-29T20:49:00.000-05:00

The little bride gave me her plans for a new pantry in the kitchen tonight.

I couln't more than a little bit keep from thinking about the movie This Is Spinal Tap where they give the manager a drawing on a napkin of Stonehenge and ask him to create a stage set from it.

Of course they're mortified when he delivers the 20 inch tall Stonehenge instead of the 20 ft tall one they thought they were getting. It was all in the drawing...

My New Floor Nailer!

2005-07-29T19:22:00.000-05:00

UPS brought my new floor nailer today.

We had been talking about the fact that we will likely take weeks to get all of the floor put down, and renting a nailer could be an expensive proposition. So it was decided that we could buy a nailer and then sell it on eBay when we get done. But I have to admit I was put off by the price of a decent pneumatic nailer.

I started looking for one used on eBay and found a Porter Cable FCN200 nailer with a buy-it-now of $400. I did my due diligence and researched the make and model and was satisfied that it was a good choice for the money.

But in my research I found that the nailer was available, brand new, from Coastal Tool dot com in Connecticut for only $385. So, what the heck, I bought it.

The service at Coastal Tool was impersonal and great! I received an email immediately that they had my order and then the next day an email with the tracking number for the UPS shipment. It arrive the very day that it said it was scheduled to arrive and was packaged well in the factory packaging.

I'm happy with the experience and have ordered a toe-kick saw from them now. It's supposed to arrive Monday...

Women Like Cute Things

2005-07-29T19:17:00.000-05:00

The little bride came home from the home center the other night and brought me a new Shop Vac. Mind you, I already have a big Shop Vac and use it quite regularly. But this one is really small.

"Look how cute it is," she gushed.

Well, she got to try it out today on the dust and crumbles I'm leaving from floating the drywall.

"It works great," she said, "has a lot of suction for its size."

I think she just likes it because it's cute.

First Coat

2005-07-29T19:15:00.000-05:00

Floating drywall, first coat.

Home Improvement Centers

2005-07-29T07:43:00.000-05:00

Over the years I've spent a lot of time in hardware stores, lumber yards and now the latest: Home Improvement Centers. A quick take on my personal opinions about them may be in order at this point.

I like Lowe's. At first I thought that the difference between Lowe's and Home Depot was the colors. I find the blue soothing and the orange a bit irritating. But, given the cumulative months of my life that I have spent in these places, I've come to the conclusion that Lowe's is laid out in a more sensible manner. Their employees actually seem to know where stuff is and what it's for (haven't stumped them too many times), and the aisles are a little wider and less congested.

Given that the stuff you can buy at either of them is pretty much the same, and the prices are close, I choose to shop at Lowe's 90% of the time.

Of course we stop in at Home Depot from time to time to check the specials and make sure we're not missing anything.

National Home Center is third choice and I think that's a shame. I personally like the concept of National. It's really a lumber yard (and a pretty decent one at that) with good prices on lumber.

But for really simple stuff, it seems they are either out of or don't stock at least one thing on my list every time I go there. I've pretty much given up on trying to buy anything but lumber there.

Oh, they have a door shop on premises and can "pre-hang" virtually any door for you and that's a plus. I bought four doors from them recently and they did a great job on those.

What Could Be Worse?

2005-07-28T22:19:00.000-05:00

Well, apparently (according to the little bride) you can't just replace some of the floor. You have to replace all of it.

That, my friends, involves ripping out the kitchen cabinets...

Yep, that's right. Rip them right out of the freakin' floor...

2005-07-28T22:14:00.000-05:00

So, now we have the wall back up for my son's bedroom. And, we've picked out a door that will be nice for his bedroom (with some curtains) and will look good when we convert the room back into a living room when the kids are gone...

Floor Me!

2005-07-28T21:59:00.000-05:00

Of course we order new floor...

Now I've got to tell you, we ordered it from Lumber Liquidators. This was not such a great experience. Let's see if I can remember all of it...

When you go on the website to look at the material, it tells you that it has a 25 year warranty. It also told us that shipping would be approximately $200 dollars.

Guess what? When you push the check out now button, it tells you that someone will call you. Well, when they do they want to fax a form to you for you to sign. This form has all kinds of interesting information on it like, there's no warranty! And, you are responsible for refusing the shipment if it's damaged. And, the shipping is now $420 dollars. And you are responsible for getting it from the driveway to the house.

Well I didn't have a problem with any of that except the no warranty, no return policy and the fact that Fed Ex Freight called me to tell me that Lumber Liquidators didn't pay for lift gate service so I would have to unload the truck myself.

As it turns out, it was a moot point since the crappy way that Lumber Liquidators packaged the shipment precluded being able to let it down on a lift gate anyway. Those idiots put 35 boxes, seven foot 6 inches long, weighing 50 pounds each on a pallet that couldn't have been more than 40"x24". The entire shipment was swarmed on the truck. Most of the boxes were burst open and the ends of the boards damaged.

I was so anxious to get my floor and put it in that of course I accepted it.

It's beautiful stuff, heart pine, five inch planks. Solid. Like they used in houses a hundred and fifty years ago.

But, I can't say much for Lumber Liquidators.

We'll keep you posted on how it turns out as we get into the boxes of flooring...

Of Course...

2005-07-28T21:43:00.000-05:00

this uncovered a whole new set of problems:

With the wall gone, now the floor is all messed up...

Whatever shall we do?

Step Two

2005-07-28T21:38:00.000-05:00

Put the wall back up. I framed it out in the yard because we're working around my son's bedroom furniture. We hauled it in through the front door, banged it into place with a sledge hammer and screwed it tight.

And then, of course, we added drywall...

Put It Back!

2005-07-28T21:30:00.000-05:00

Well, as you can see, some of the "surprises" we got were wires that had to be dealt with. This included the porch light switch, the hall light switch and the doorbell.

Of course, we had to relocate the light switches that had been on the wall next to the door to the, well, other wall next to the door. And, the lightswitch for the living room that was now enclosed in a closet needed to be next to the new doorway. It took me the better part of the morning to get all the wiring in place and checked out.

Once that was done, we could patch the ceiling and the wall and procede to step two.

Break Stuff

2005-07-28T21:25:00.000-05:00

Okay, to catch you up somewhat, the little bride decided that the hallway from our front door was too narrow and should actually be a "foyer." To accomplish this, we needed to move the wall over about four feet. The side effect would be that we would make a space for a closet and actually convert what had been the living room into a bedroom.

Here's a pic of the destruction that took place over fourth of July weekend...

Background

2005-07-28T20:56:00.000-05:00

I had been following the American Dream for the past 30 years, working, clawing, slowly making my way to the top. When I became vice president of the company I was working for I bought what my boss termed "a house worthy of an executive."

When that same man pulled the rug out from under me two years ago, I re-thought my strategies including how much time I was able to spend with my family and we sold the American Dream and bought the American Fixer Upper.

I'm not such a handy guy, but we tackled this anyway. The little bride figures there's nothing that can't be done if you try. I don't always agree.

We're Tearing Down The House!

2005-07-28T20:44:00.000-05:00

At least it seems that way...

We've done some pretty major projects over the last two years, but this one is downright daunting to me. Will I survive? Your guess is as good as mine. My wife is addicted to DIY network and all the home improvement shows, so my ~~plan~~ instructions change daily...

Stay tuned to see if we make it.