Bye Bye 1960s Design Hell

Instead of doing anything "productive", I decided to get destructive and remove a couple of the details on the house which I really hate. First to go were the vertical wall slats/dividers, shown below.



Yeah, they were in good condition, but they were a bad design idea 45 years ago and haven't gotten any better in my book. Out came the 3 pound sledge and five minutes later I was left with this:




That's a mirror on the near wall, by the way. It's going away soon, too. Although I dislike it, I don't want every wall in the house empty and full of nail & screw holes. After I took this picture, I tore down the same detail which was by the front door (in the background of this pic). When I start the kitchen renovation, I'll tear down the rest of these partial-walls and patch the drywall to hide the fact that the walls were ever here.

I was on a roll, tearing out crappy old details I hated, so I turned my evil gaze towards something my dad would love - wood paneling! It was actually installed well and was decent quality crap - er, wood paneling. My big worry was that it was nailed and glued to the wall, as that's how I would have done it. Lucky for me, the guy who did it wasn't quite as anal-retentive as me and only nailed it over some ugly green paint.




For now, I've re-used the goofy old switch plate cover the previous owners installed. The wall is now full of old nail holes, grime, and ugly green and blue paint. It's still better than when it was covered with paneling. To make it a little nicer, I'll patch the holes and sand the wall making it ready for new knock-down texture, primer, and paint. Those steps will be a while from happening, but at least I am happier with it.

Cordless Tools - a Reason to Live

*** Hey, Ryobi! How about putting me on the payroll? ***

Talking to a co-worker yesterday, the conversation turned to home renovation and tools. He's of the mindset that the only good tools are the type with plugs. His exposure to good cordless tools must have been very limited, as I've got and worked with corded and cordless tools for renovation work and am of the opinion that decent cordless tools are worth their weight in gold. I started looking for cordless tools when I was renovating a condo a few years ago. My buddy and I were constantly turning off electrical circuits for the work we were doing and Murphy's Law dictated that any circuit we had tools plugged into would go dead. It became a hastle as the cords would have to reach from one side of the condo to the other (plus they kept getting tangled up) so on one of the daily trips to Home Depot I picked up a couple of Ryobi 18V tools - what they call their "Renovator Combo Kit".


I was impressed with how well they worked and how long the batteries lasted, so over time I went back and picked up the hammer drill, right angle drill, impact driver, planer, and caulk gun (yes, a battery powered caulk gun - it's a LOT more useful than you'd think). Now, I've got about a dozen different tools which all use the same battery packs and have found no issues with quality. Sure, they're not DeWalt or Milwaukee tools, but they're substantially less expensive meaning I can get MORE of 'em for the money. Checking out their website, I found they've also just released a leaf blower and pole pruner which I could use as well. I'll also pick up the air compressor, fan, stapler, and angle grinder before too long. While I wouldn't rely on a battery powered tool to fully take the place of all plug-in or gas powered tool, their convenience is sure hard to beat.

Time for Laundry - This Time With Style!

It's a small victory in a large war, but the new laundry sink is finally in and ready for action. As you no doubt recall from an earlier post, I needed to replace the old cement & steel laundry sink. It weighed about 900 pounds and the steel legs were rusting away. Not a good combination. I did some test fitting previous to today and had things ready to go, but needed to make a couple of minor changes. With the old tub, the water lines connected to the top of the faucet (which was trashed). The new tub's faucet connected from underneath, so I ran a couple of braided steel lines with shut-off's. Since the sink needs to be up against the wall for stability (it's plastic, after all) I had to drill a couple of 1" holes in the backboard of the sink. Easy solution, and problem solved. A little quality-time with my Ryobi cordless hammer-drill and the holes are drilled for the concrete screws. It's amazing how much more sturdy the sink is with a couple of anchors in place. The last piece of the puzzle will be to take care of the drain line from the water softener (just to the left of the faucet). I just need to cut out about 12" of the line and splice it back together. It's copper, and I added a short length of plastic tube at the end to better divert the water into the tub. To the right of the tub is one of two drain stacks in the house. The last thing I wanted to do was to break anything connected directly to the stack. So far, so good!




While I was in the basement, I took the opportunity to finally get some boxes out of the way. We had started stacking the still-boxed stuff as we were moving in, but when we had some heavy rain I found a small trickle of water coming in at the same corner of the basement where we were stacking boxes. It appears that the gutters hadn't been cleaned for at least a decade, and plenty of water was flowing out over the gutters. After taking care of that mess, it appears that my basement leak problems are done (for now?). To be safe, I picked up some 2x2 floor panels which are tongue-and-groove, with a plastic egg-carton bottom. They're designed for basement renovations to avoid water problems. I'm spreading them out a bit compared to how they're typically used in an effort to avoid more spending than necessary. At $4.95 each, they're cheap insurance from water damage to our boxes.

Freakin' Cold Weather

Overnight in the teens, high temp today should hit 37. Normally, I couldn't care less as I've got plenty of work to keep me busy inside. As I was getting some stuff from the basement, I noticed that the sump pump well was full and ready to turn on to send the water outside. Well, I'm always ready to see my handy-work in action, so I trip the pump and wait. Hmmm.... the water level isn't going down but the pump is running. WTF? A quick trip outside and I find the problem. The water line leaves the house in the middle of the rear of the house. Instead of simply dump the water straight onto my patio, the line hangs a left and goes all the way to the side of the house - approx 20' of pipe. The pipe is laying on the ground and has some dips in the line where water can pool. Well, that pooled water froze and the line is now plugged. Since the dirt has built up so much over the decades, there really isn't any good slope to the yard anymore for this to work as it should.

The problem has just now started thanks to that wonderful check valve I installed. Previously, the water could drain back out of the line from either end. Now, once it's in the line it's in the line and won't go anywhere unless the slope allows gravity to do it. Once it warms up a little this will be added to the project list. I don't want to get rid of the check valve, but I'd also like the pump to be able to work.

What has been started must be finished

As I get my battle plan ready for this coming weekend, I've come to the conclusion that before I start any new projects I really need to put the finishing touches on projects I've already started. The 1/2 bath is mostly done (I consider it done because I can use the toilet) but I need to swap out the tank because it drips a little water near the supply line. After screwing around enough with it trying to find the leak, I've determined that it's got to be a defect in the tank. The supply line and connection between the tank and stool is dry, so the water must be seeping out somehow. I've got another tank ready to go, I just need to do the actual work. The floor also needs a couple of coats of sealer for the travertine and I need to stain and install one last piece of base molding.

In the basement, I've got the new laundry sink installed to the point where it is functional, but it's got to be secured to the wall so it doesn't wobble on the cheap plastic legs and f' up the trap. It's great having a faucet for the sink which actually works. The old one on the cement sink (which is still sitting in the basement laughing at me because it knows I can't lift it without help) leaked and the faucet itself was seized towards the left-side tub and wouldn't turn to allow me to use it on the right-side tub.

The following conversation will happen this weekend:
Crappy Old Laundry Sink: "Ha ha, you can't lift me. Now if we were on the moon..."
Me: "Yeah, I know you'd weigh 1/6th as much. Bite me."
COLS: "Hey, what are you hiding behind your back?"
Me: "Oh that? It's just a new friend who wants to meet you."
COLS: "Wait a minute, that looks like a sledge hammer!"
Me: "Yeah - get ready to eat hot death!"
COLS: "Aaaaarrrrrrrggggghhhhh! Not in the face!"
Me: "No open coffin for you, beyotch!"

After my trip to Fantasy Land, I'd also like to get the new back door installed as that's taking up valuable wall space in my temporary work-room/family-room. I still haven't decided if I'm going to add a storm door for the rear door or not. Maybe if money permits... Ha!

Last project for the weekend is to BBQ a brisket. I've been waiting for the weather to cooperate for a weekend cook, and even though it's supposed to be in the 30's this weekend, we're not expecting rain. If that weather report holds true, by Saturday evening I'm going to be in brisket heaven!

Scrub, Rinse, Dry, Repeat

Living without a dishwasher sucks. How did cavemen do it?!?


--- Later, the following day ---
A quick addition to my previously well-stated point about not having a dishwasher sucking, I do have a dishwasher (not you, Beth) which will be installed as part of my kitchen renovation. All appliances are going to be replaced, new cabinets and counter tops installed, and new flooring installed. I just haven't gotten that far on the renovation work yet. And now, back to the show.

Shingle Blues

Since before we purchased the house, we knew it was going to need a new roof. From what we can tell, the house currently has two layers of shingles, meaning we really need to tear those off before installing new shingles. Today I spent some time after work cooking a rack of ribs, and got some time to inspect things a little more outside. There are some areas which are really in need, but the only leak I know of is in the garage. It only drips right in front of the garage door, so there is no additional damage being done at this time so it's not a 100% MUST-DO at this time, but it'll be done before summer really gets here (hopefully). How many roofs have I torn off and/or installed in my years of home renovation? Well, none. But I've also successfully done a lot of other things that I've never before done on my house. To add to the fun, the lawn is starting to come to life and it's twice as large as my previous lot. A 1/2 acre with a walk-behind mower should be good for me, although I'm not thrilled when I think of how much time it'll take.