What was your last home project and what is your next home project?

[Red Squirrel]

Got a load of firewood and made good use of the wood storage. Winter came too fast as usual, didn't get a chance to actually connect the solar panels. Next year... I need to add more plywood to the wall in the shed so I can make room for the charge controller and breakers then run the wiring and just never got a chance to do that.

Also built a rack for the basement. Wood is always full of snow so I bring it in small batches, put it in front of the wood stove with fan on it to melt and dry it fast, then put it in the indoor rack once it stops dripping, as I don't want water over the OSB floor.




Now that firewood is taken care of, starting to focus on garage again. Really hoping to get the ceiling insulated soon as it would be nice to continue working on it throughout the winter, but summers are just so short and I ran out of time, so been working in the cold which is not fun. Lot of electrical and misc stuff to run in the ceiling but getting there.

Got the panel energized yesterday, and got an utility outlet and the Christmas light circuit done today. First time that circuit sees power and it tested fine so I'm happy with that. Previously added 2 soffit outlets to safe from needing extension cords for Christmas lights so that makes it cleaner. Have a few other conduits and electrical to run in the ceiling, once that's done, I'll start insulating and sealing with vapour barrier. Once that's sealed in it will make a big difference thermally then can focus on walls and rest of inside. Priority is to finish all electrical that requires ceiling runs so that I can get to insulation and vapour barrier.

Not getting that many days off lately so it's been a slow process. I only seem to be getting a day here and there off, the big stretches are rarer.

 

[Paperdoc]

Just had new Aluminum Soffit and Fascia installed on the house to complement the new roofing they did earlier. Done by contractors - no way I was climbing 'way up there. Now the old painted wood stuff is completely covered and I'll never need to repaint there. I will install new rain gutters on the roof edges of the front and back porches - have all the materials in the garage. But right now it's pretty cold, so I might have to wait for spring. Meanwhile I still have one more car (of three in the family) to swap to winter tires before the snow flies. On this one I'm also replacing rear wheel brake rotors and pads, too.

 

[Greenman]

Come spring I have to repaint the second story trim and soffit. Paint is already failing after just three years. Crap prep, no primer, junk paint, and poor application are the problems. I'm to damn old to work off the top of a 20' extension ladder so I'll be renting a boom lift. If I do it right I should be dead before I need to do it again.

 

[waffleironhead]

Just replaced a faucet in the bathroom.
For months since we moved in, there had been small water puddles on the counter top.
Cant find a leak anywhere. Strangly enough, when my wife and daughter left for a week, the puddle problem never happened. Tried to convince them it was some sort of user error as "leak" only happens when they use it.
To keep the peace, i replace the faucet.
$100 and 2 hours later...come to find a puddle on the countertop. Def not the old faucet problem. Turns out when they wet their hands before pumping soap, they are plashing water onto counter on way to soap pump.

Now just living with a towel on the countertop as they wont/cant change their ways.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Got more progress done on garage the other day as we had a day where it was around 0 degrees so it was warm enough. No pics as it's all misc stuff and nothing really special to take pics of, basically finishing a few electrical runs, boxing in electrical/conduits so I have something to tape vapour barrier to and also made the attic hatch opening. The boxed areas will get spray foamed to complete the seal. Realized all my joists are messed up though, at some point I must have put one on the wrong side of a line so now none of them are square. Decided instead of having to redo all of it I will just go with blown insulation. For the attic hatch I will build a basic hatch that is square, then shim it in like a door and foam around the edges. To facilitate drywall I will put strapping so I can space it 16" OC. I was always planing to do that anyway as I do want to have a channel to run more electrical or data in the future if ever I want to add something so that space will facilitate that without having to puncture vapour barrier.

With most of the ceiling stuff done I'm ready for vapour barrier, then I will put 1/4" OSB on top for insulation support, then do blown insulation for the whole thing. probably be a while until I put more work into it as it's our cold season now where -20's and colder is the norm but sometimes we get some odd warm days. Really looking forward to sealing this in so I can actually do work in there year round. It will enable me to finish lot of other misc projects around the house too by having a proper shop area to build stuff.

 

[Greenman]

Got more progress done on garage the other day as we had a day where it was around 0 degrees so it was warm enough. No pics as it's all misc stuff and nothing really special to take pics of, basically finishing a few electrical runs, boxing in electrical/conduits so I have something to tape vapour barrier to and also made the attic hatch opening. The boxed areas will get spray foamed to complete the seal. Realized all my joists are messed up though, at some point I must have put one on the wrong side of a line so now none of them are square. Decided instead of having to redo all of it I will just go with blown insulation. For the attic hatch I will build a basic hatch that is square, then shim it in like a door and foam around the edges. To facilitate drywall I will put strapping so I can space it 16" OC. I was always planing to do that anyway as I do want to have a channel to run more electrical or data in the future if ever I want to add something so that space will facilitate that without having to puncture vapour barrier.

With most of the ceiling stuff done I'm ready for vapour barrier, then I will put 1/4" OSB on top for insulation support, then do blown insulation for the whole thing. probably be a while until I put more work into it as it's our cold season now where -20's and colder is the norm but sometimes we get some odd warm days. Really looking forward to sealing this in so I can actually do work in there year round. It will enable me to finish lot of other misc projects around the house too by having a proper shop area to build stuff.

A shop is darn handy. Unfortunately mine uses the entire garage and the first 3 feet of hall leading into the house.

 

[Muse]

Just replaced a faucet in the bathroom.
For months since we moved in, there had been small water puddles on the counter top.
Cant find a leak anywhere. Strangly enough, when my wife and daughter left for a week, the puddle problem never happened. Tried to convince them it was some sort of user error as "leak" only happens when they use it.
To keep the peace, i replace the faucet.
$100 and 2 hours later...come to find a puddle on the countertop. Def not the old faucet problem. Turns out when they wet their hands before pumping soap, they are plashing water onto counter on way to soap pump.

Now just living with a towel on the countertop as they wont/cant change their ways.

GF used to complain to me that I got water on the floor of the kitchen. Try as I might, I still can't keep from getting the kitchen floor a little wet sometimes.

I didn't say anything. I mean, hey, water evaporates and if pure, leaves no residue. I'm reminded of the one line in Lord Byron's Don Juan that I recall. I didn't remember it word for word, I read it (maybe 40% of it???) around 60 years ago! But a google search brings up that memorable line verbatim:

I'm a plain man, and in a single station, But—Oh! ye lords of ladies intellectual, Inform us truly, have they not hen-peck'd you all? Lord Byron, Don Juan.

 

[Muse]

Last home project, sorta. Couple days ago noticed a 3 speed fan I use to ventilate where I have my winter quash had stopped working. When I fiddled with the switch I could swear I saw the fan blade twitch a smidgen. So, yesterday I sprayed the shaft with some Tri-Flow and nudged the blades repeatedly with it turned on. After a couple minutes of this the fan came back to life!

One of my New Year's resolutions is to fix the surround of my kitchen sink.

I have a to-do list that is pretty challenging.

My brother laid it on me one day: "You need to prioritize. I can't tell you how to prioritize." Hard to argue with that one!

 

[Red Squirrel]

A shop is darn handy. Unfortunately mine uses the entire garage and the first 3 feet of hall leading into the house.

Once it's finally done I'll probably be mad at myself for waiting so long. Been meaning to do this for like 10+ years but other projects always took priority.

 

[Micrornd]

Definitely a home project, definitely didn't do it myself, but did handle all the coordination and scheduling.
Yeah, it's a little bit of an epic tale, so settle in.

4" submersible well stop producing any water Thursday (18th) afternoon about 2:30pm, no warning signs, nothing. Tripped the breaker and would not reset, indicating a dead short.
Called my well guy, told him to be there in the morning and to bring a well control box. (I assumed a bad capacitor or shorted relay in the control box).
Got a Port-o-let delivered 7:30pm. Picked up 12-1gal jugs of drinking water. (Wife was much relieved both figuratively and literally when the Port-o-Let showed up, even though it was quite dark)

My well guy showed up at 7:30am the next morning (Friday), disconnected the wires for the submersible pump from the control box to check the box and the pump separately to isolate the bad actor and.................
The wires for the pump disappeared down the well, indicating that the pump either had detached from the riser pipe or the pump and part of the riser pipe had detached from the rest of the riser pipe.

So, it was going to be necessary to either "fish" the pump (and maybe part of the riser pipe) out of the well. So that meant bringing out the tilt-up crane rig and set it over the well.
But since that rig is close to 50' tall when tilted upright and fully extended, and the well was over 25+ years old, the trees and branches had encroached around the well and over it, this meant some every large oaks needed to be trimmed and one completely removed, just to set up the rig, but some others low branches and one more tree just to be able the get the rig into the area where the well was located. So, we scheduled the crane rig to come in as soon as the trees were taken care of.

Called my tree guy, told him what I needed. He showed up at 7:15am the next morning (Saturday the 20th), 6-man crew, 4 trucks and trailers of equipment (boom truck, fork truck, remote control stump grinder, and 10yd trailer for all the tree material). Done at 10:00am and finished raking the entire area by 10:15am. Other than being able to see the sky better, you couldn't tell they had been there. They cut it all up small to fit in their 10yd trailer but still had to put most of the tree trunk on the other trailers as the 10yarder was overfull.

Called my well guy, had him here Monday 22nd at 7:00am. Set the rig up and pulled the well riser pipe, only brought up 60', that meant 20'+ and the pump were at the bottom of the well.
The well was 200'+ deep with water at 55' level, so not a problem, set up and started to set the new pump and riser pipe. Went good until about 60' and would not go down further. Brought it back up and found a lot of sand on the end of the pump. Sent down the camera and found the well casing had collapsed, not enough to prevent us pulling the 1-1/2" riser pipe, but no way were we going to get a pump down the hole.

So I made an executive decision, get the rig out of here and get the drill rig in here ASAP, new well going in.
The drill rig was committed until Friday the 26th. "Nope, not good enough. Tomorrow morning, on site!" Scheduling shift was doable, and the drill rig was on site Tuesday (23rd) morning at 9:30am (the rig needed to be loaded with casing pipe, drop pipe and serviced before coming out). 120' of 4" steel casing, 210' of well drilling and done by noon and sent the drill rig home. Blew the well off and by 3pm, everything was back to normal.

Glad I retired, this getting everyone coordinated was just like working again,
Then again, it's nice to have buddies/subcontractors still working and that they remember what you've done for them.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yikes, that sounds expensive. I'm kinda reluctant to do a well on my off grid land, that's beyond DIY but rain water collection and supplement with trucked in water is a bit more DIY friendly even though it requires more filter stages.

 

[Greenman]

Yikes, that sounds expensive. I'm kinda reluctant to do a well on my off grid land, that's beyond DIY but rain water collection and supplement with trucked in water is a bit more DIY friendly even though it requires more filter stages.

Are you going to put in a septic system?

 

[Red Squirrel]

Are you going to put in a septic system?

That is something I'll want to do as I would like to have normal flush toilets, dishwasher, washing machine and all the luxeries of home. I might do something like a mini version of a city treatment plant that use an aerobic process as it involves less digging. I have lot of rock so might be tricky to do a full septic bed. I may experiment in small scale using 55 gal drums then do a bigger system after. I don't even have an outhouse yet so should probably start with that. Looking at Chinese mini excavators, I might splurge in spring. That should speed up a lot of those projects. Making footings etc too. Not fun to do by hand.

 

[waffleironhead]

You could start with a privy, till you get far enough along to do that plan.
This is a pretty popular design around here.

https://www.douglascountywi.gov/DocumentCenter/View/5195

 

[Red Squirrel]

If I end up getting the mini ex I'll probably do something like that, basically just an outhouse. Will get me by until I do septic. Right now I have a basic toilet that just goes on the ground, not ideal, although it has worked ok considering it gets used maybe once a week max.

 

[Micrornd]

Yikes, that sounds expensive.

Yes and no. A new well is always expensive, but still having business connections makes it much cheaper.

 

[deadlyapp]

Well, the projects have started fresh. Moved into a new house about a month ago and the honey-do list keeps growing.

House has a massive built on RV garage though that is going to become half shop / half gym. Trying to decide if I want to build a two level "loft" on the back side to double the shop space. The ceiling is about 20ft from my best guess so I could basically put in a 10' loft.

Unfortunately the GNX did not come with the house to my disappointment.




As far as what has been done:
- Replaced a ton of bulbs - previous owner was still mostly incandescent somehow and a mis-match of different color temps so they've all been swapped to 5000k LED
- Couple of old "boob" light fixtures have been replaced with LED flush mounts, I have five more to go
- All external door handles and locksets have been replaced with matte black
- All interior door handles have been replaced with matte black (a few left to do but mostly done)
- Doorbell camera installed
- Got a new NVR to interface with the six external cameras that were already mounted (convenient)
- Installed new patio fan
- Started installing built in cabinet and floating shelves in living room for entertainment center (waiting on two small cabinets to come in before I can mount them and the butcher block, need to build out the floating shelves, but the mounts are installed)
- Half complete with massive wall mount storage bin shelf

Lots to do / planned
- Built in wine cooler/storage for 500+ bottles
- Retention wall around back half of house (big slope issues contributing to foundation issues)
- Built in shelving for office
- Overhead hood for cooktop
- Replace additional fans and light fixtures
- Additional can lights for front patio
- Flood lights for back patio
+ whatever else the wife comes up with

 

[iRONic]

That shop looks like like it’s wanting a


4 post lift so bad! 😉

 

[Red Squirrel]

Wow that is a dream garage right there! So much space for activities! 4 of my garages would fit inside of that, with room to spare.

 

[deadlyapp]

That shop looks like like it’s wanting a

View attachment 135871
4 post lift so bad! 😉

Oh yes a four post is on the list.

 

[deadlyapp]

Wow that is a dream garage right there! So much space for activities! 4 of my garages would fit inside of that, with room to spare.

Sellers said it would fit 6 cars easily, I think it would probably to 8 if you really wanted to.

This is on top of a 2 car and a 1 car garage that are part of the house.

This is our forever home and should support all the storage and vehicle needs we may ever have.

 

[Brovane]

Multiple projects going on at my house and my parents next door.
Purchased the house with a in-ground vinyl pool with no heater. Wasn't to thrilled about it and really didn't use it much over the last 3+ years to justify messing with it all the time. The vinyl liner needed to be replaced soon and the structure underneath the liner might have need to be replaced also, looking at around $15k. Had enough of it, so drained it before Thanksgiving. Liner now removed, bottom of the pool was broken up for drainage and we have started filling it in.


After vinyl liner removed and before we broke up the bottom.

Filling in the pool with dirt. Had a guy drop off 20 cubic yards for free that was looking to get rid of some dirt. We probably need about 50 cubic yards more.
That is my Dad on the tractor, just turned 79.



My Dad using the tractor wheels to compact the dirt some.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

Lots of little stuff to do.

None that will approach multiple millions of dollars.

 

[Greenman]

Trimming windows and painting. My house is three years old and the interior is all that trendy gray color. It was ok when we moved in, now were tired of it and painting much of the house with lighter colors. I decided to rip out the drywall around the windows and install wood jambs and trim. It's a much nicer look, though it does require a lot more brush work to paint. I also had to buy an 8' step ladder to cut in at the ceiling, couldn't reach off of a 6'.

 

[jmagg]

Trimming windows and painting. My house is three years old and the interior is all that trendy gray color. It was ok when we moved in, now were tired of it and painting much of the house with lighter colors. I decided to rip out the drywall around the windows and install wood jambs and trim. It's a much nicer look, though it does require a lot more brush work to paint. I also had to buy an 8' step ladder to cut in at the ceiling, couldn't reach off of a 6'.

I usually pre prime jambs and trim to save time. Fresh colors and new ceiling white (always), are a dopamine rush. I also put sills back into this house which was worth the effort.