Are You Handy? 2

[Gertch]

Beautiful job on the shed! Looks really nice.

I finally took the satilite dishes off the roof (had fios since Jan) and the goop they put on the mounts ruined 4 shingles. So I replaced those and while I was up there brushed out the chimney. It's just not as satisfying as a freshly painted shed though.

 

[Mallory]

When does the weather begin to turn for you guys? How many more weekends can you count on to get the outside stuff done?

The shed is turning out great SPOCKED.

 

[SPOCKED]

Just finished scraping and cleaning the area above the shingles and primed it... exhausting labor at the top of the latter, holding the can the whole time. Plus I had to level the latter with a brick so she didn't tip over And while that is all good and satisfying, I have to do it all over again with paint.

By comparison, the remaining sides of the shed are going to be a dream job to finish. Clear the area, wash the mildew off, clean out under eaves, prime and paint. It's just that it isn't the priority right now. We will most likely make our neighbors very happy by painting the opposite side (which only has two windows - no doors), giving them something a little prettier to look out at.

When does the weather begin to turn for you guys? How many more weekends can you count on to get the outside stuff done?

Well, remember... we began shingling in February so cold weather is no object. Can't paint in it, though. We will have warm weekends going into late November on average, so there is plenty of time. Elmo's stepdad and mom are coming down in a few weekends to help install a fold-down ladder to the attic so we can finally get some stuff up there and out from every nook and cranny of limited space we have in here.

 

[SPOCKED]

The very long awaited day finally arrived when we got down to brass tacks and got our drop down attic ladder installed. With the usual help of my new dad-in-law, Jimmy, it got done. Where normally it would have just been a fairly straightforward project, our house put up the usual obstacles

We have extremely limited space so Jimmy suggested we use the natural support of an existing alcove to install it. A spaghetti system of wires were iin the way and had to be dealt with. Very frustrating because of all the extra electrical work. It's not much to look at but man oh man is it going to make a huge difference in our living space since we can now finally store so much stuff in the attic...

and the opening...

Tomorrow we'll strengthen it to the joists and get some trim around the frame to make it look nice. Getting this done was a sweet accomplishment.

 

[ancientone51]

Well done as usual!

Still impressing the heck out of me.

Are the kids helping or just staying out of the way?

 

[SPOCKED]

Thanks ancientone. No kids this weekend, though.

Today I've got to get back up in the attic and lay down all the insulation we pulled up and do some other minor preparations and clean up. Elmo will start boxing and labeling all the excess clothes and things to go up there. Then it's back outside for more painting. And beer

I also got the 2nd coat of paint over the shingles this afternoon

 

[ancientone51]

Beer is always good and you and Elmo have earned it.

 

[Gaseous Anomaly]

Useless words and more words.



[highlight] And beer[/highlight]

Sounds like a plan to me!

 

[Mallory]

Is there any home improvement project where beer doesn't improve the experience?

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Anything involving power tools.

Coincidentally, my parents' new retirement home has one of those pull-down ladders. I've always loved those things for some reason. Probably because it's like a secret panel or something.

House is looking great, SPOCKED. Especially the brass tacks.

 

[Kira Nerys]

The only thing I can fix is my computer ,everything else call a pro.

 

[SPOCKED]

Business has been slow in recent weeks but with winter coming we wanted to focus on getting the two doors installed to seal off the new room in the basement. One is the entrance and the other is for a closet. Doors will complete the weatherproof "seal" for that room. We bought prehung interior doors which were actually cheaper than the non pre-hung exterior doors. Using interiordoors means however that we'll have to insulate them.
I wanted to get reaquainted with my old nemesis, DOOR INSTALLATION, with the easier of the two: the closet Just the standard cut to fit on the bottom and a whole crapload of shimming. So it was pretty much a breeze

The entry door is going to be a whole different ball of wax and I'll tackle it tomorrow. This door is only going to be about 70 inches tall, so, to keep the hinges and door handle in their normal places, I have to cut the door not from the bottom but from the top. That means I'll have to disassemble the frame and cut the verticals from the top as well and then reattach the horizontal. A lot of extra work but I have no choice since it's going on the shorter half of the basement.

 

[RevDMV]

Looks good, your're doing great work to that little hut of yours.

I manged to mow my lawn this week, so there ya go...

 

[trampledamage]

I manged to mow my lawn this week, so there ya go...

I was meant to be doing ours, but then it fricking snowed!

 

[SPOCKED]

Looks good, your're doing great work to that little hut of yours.

I manged to mow my lawn this week, so there ya go...

We don't even have a lawn mower Twice over the summer we weed wacked the stuff that we mockingly call a lawn - and one of those times my son did it.

Anyway, it's a Monday holiday and that means only ONE thing -- get back downstairs and get to work!!

 

[Captain Ice]

You know, I've always wondered if it's even possible to just rent a lawn mower for a day every couple of months...

 

[RevDMV]

Used to be that there were neighborhood kids for that sort of thing. It was always my summer money growing up.

 

[SPOCKED]

ugh, door # 2 is not going as easily. I had to remove a king stud because the door we bought was just a little too wide with the frame. This probably means that the door will swing open only just so far (to the point where the knob will touch the wall). Not the end of the world.. it's a custom job after all. Nothing ever goes smoothly.. EVER The point, however, is that this task is finally getting done.

 

[RJDiogenes]

You forgot the doorknob.

 

[SPOCKED]

^ I have a contractor for doorknobs

So, the doors are all framed in finally. This guy...

was the bigger pain. The problems here were, like I said, the king stud removal and the very, VERY many careful measurements since I had to cut both tops and bottoms of door and frame. Once I got this door on it's hinges I discovered a large gap on the doorknob side. So down came the upper and left hand frame and in went some 3/4" strapping and that did the trick. What a relief to have this done. Anyway here are both doors

-- once they get moulding and insulation, the basement is ready for heat

This space is starting to get that "brand new room smell!!"

Oh and doorknobs are coming - they're here somewhere I just have to find them