manleyhouse: (Default)
There is a space behind the garage that grows some very tall weeds, over the windows tall. The end of the first summer here I cut or pulled them all and applied a "ground clear" to the area. The next summer the area was bare and I forgot about it. This year they were back.

A few weeks ago I cut them and pulled them out and applied more "ground clear". Yesterday I rolled out some landscaping weedstop and covered it with some gravel that the neighbors had leftover from some work they did. I need to put more down at some point but I was getting tired last night. I also did the backfill for the ground rods at the house.
manleyhouse: (Default)
The power upgrade is (mostly) complete.

I have to do some back fill around the ground rods by the house but the power is on and working. The new compressor is also hooked up and tested, the welder is wired and will hopefully be tested soon.

Discussed the hottub hookup with the inspector today and the feasibility and requirements of running the power conduit under the concrete pad.

Whee!
manleyhouse: (Default)
Well, MG&E canceled on us this morning due to the rain and other outages that take priority, so I'm scheduled for Wednesday morning at 8am, hopefully I can be in to work by noon.

So, instead of doing the house hookup we continued work on the garage wiring. Pictures are in the gallery, many need to be rotated but the rotate feature seems to be broken. I might re-upload them after editing sometime, just tilt your head to the right for most of them for now.

The trench and PVC is done and the wires have been pulled. The garage panel has been replaced and re-connected and the new air-compressor and welder outlets have been added. When the inspector stopped by today he said the trench looked good and could be back-filled (might do that tomorrow after work). He also said that what we had so far and what we had ready looked good, we just needed to tweak some of the grounding which we have since done.

Tomorrow I'll try and fill in the trench and cleanup some in the garage.

Wednesday after the service is disconnected (at the pole and the meter pulled) we have to (hopefully the isolated thunderstorms are isolated somewhere else):

  • remove and replace the wire from the meter and connect to the new main panel

  • run the wires and conduit from the new panel to the disconnect in the basement

  • separate the ground and neutral in the basement disconnect (remove jumper connector?)

  • have the whole shebang inspected

  • have MG&E plug the meter back in and restore service so the house has power again

Trench!

Aug. 26th, 2007 08:47 am
manleyhouse: (Default)
Many thanks to [livejournal.com profile] graydancer and [livejournal.com profile] suibhne_geilt for the trench digging help, and thanks to [livejournal.com profile] suibhne_geilt for taking a yew bush with him as well. The trench is dug and the first bits of the PVC is in as of last night. Today is working on getting as much of the wiring done as possible before they disconnect the power tomorrow morning so we can do the rest of it.
manleyhouse: (Default)
It has been slow going but I finally got around to making the trim for some of the bathroom walls. I also made the frames for the doors for the vanity cabinet. Last night I dyed the frames and made the latticework for the panels and dyed them. Next up is the hand chisel work for the lattice and gluing the lattice together and in, then the lacquer can be applied. Then I make the drawers themselves and attach everything to the cabinet. There will be pictures when that is done.

Then it is on to something else, maybe finishing up the caulking and trim around the tub and get the shower curtain up. Or focus might shift to outdoor projects like the possibility of a free if you haul it away and fix it hot-tub and the associated deck replacement. Along with the extension of a larger electrical circuit to the the garage so more can be done there.

I have also been doing some re-arrangement of the shop area, putting the cabinets that I got last fall into a reasonable configuration along the back wall. I have also been moving things out of the massive wall cabinet to hang things directly on the back wall. Then I can finish the doors for the wall cabinet and put *stuff* there, and have them out of the sawdust.
manleyhouse: (Default)
Much progress today. The lower part of the wall cabinet case is all dyed and some of it just got the third coat of lacquer (still wet in the picture, will dry to semi-gloss). The two pieces in the background will get lacquered tomorrow along with the other sides of the foreground pieces. Before I started with the dye and the lacquer I trimmed the parts to final dimensions and cut the dado and rabbet joints. I also drilled all of the holes for the adjustable shelf supports. Then I glued on the upper and lower tracks and glued and biscuit joined the solid face for the center vertical support to help hold in the shelves and hide the edge of the plywood. The heaters currently have that area of the garage about 20 degrees higher (60) than the outside temp (40), for this project I am glad it isn't a white December yet.

While waiting for glue and lacquer to dry today I also cut and put up a shelf above the West window supported by the two wall cabinets. Not sure what is going to go there yet but it seemed like a good use of that space.
manleyhouse: (Default)
The sink is installed and functional. I mounted the cabinet and attached the sink this afternoon. I only had to get an extension for the drain and now that is in as well. I still need to do some trim around the countertop but at least you can wash your hands now.

Next up is the new table saw. I picked this up yesterday and spent most of the afternoon assembling it. I managed to do it such that I did it solo, it is really heavy. I had a hard time getting the box slid to the tailgate so I could open it and unpack it from there. I just happened to start with it upside down on sawhorses so I was able to tilt it down instead of having to lift it to flip it over.

This afternoon I cleaned and waxed the cast iron top and cut my first piece with it. I then proceeded to make a cross-cut sled as seen on the table behind the saw in the picture. There still needs to be a bit of arranging and I would like to build a router table in the gap of the extension rails. I also picked up a stacked dado set but I need to get some more plates for the saw before using those.
manleyhouse: (Default)
Didn't get around to putting the durock patch in where we had to remove tile last week to track down a leak, I'm going to try and do that tonight or this week. However, I did get a bunch accomplished in the garage yesterday.

I put up more insulation in the garage and a few small bits of ceiling plywood, The ones I put up should be taken down and replaced with a full sheet sometime, but I had these pieces in the stack and I could lift them myself. It should help hold the insulation in there for now though. Then I went about planning and installing the plastic wall for this season.

I went along the garage door track and then along the back of the opened door to the opener then back to line up with the lumber rack and where Shiro is parked. I also put in a tape on zipper instead of doing the slits like I did last year, I have another zipper that might go to the right a bit to make a door rather than just a slit. I also put up the new extension cord reel next to the opener. After that was all in I decided to adjust the mitersaw bench for almost the last time for a while. I shifted it over under the window and attached the top to the cabinet. I still need to make the stop block tracks, attach and level the wings, I also need to make some guides for the tabletop to center and lock in the plywood base on the saw. With that moved I also rotated the dust collector into a better location in the corner, Still need to get and run hoses for that.

I need to re-hang three light fixtures, and hang two new ones and then I can start building the wall cabinets for the bathroom.
manleyhouse: (Default)
Well the first two things on the list were accomplished, and because the weather was nice a bunch of other things were done instead of the third.

Friday I painted the walls so now everything is white. Saturday afternoon the cabinet got shelves and moved to the basement. It didn't get painted due to a slight change in schedule. Instead the cabinet got two coats of paint and installation on Sunday. The upstairs bathroom cabinets didn't get touched, maybe sometime this week.

This morning the weather was nice enough that I decided to work outside instead of in the basement. [livejournal.com profile] apocalyptikitty and [livejournal.com profile] feloniouscat were thrilled because it meant they could spend a few hours in the backyard.

The motorcycles got winterized, re-positioned and covered. The lawn mower and snow blowers swapped places and were checked out. Then I made another big pile of leaves for the city to take away. After some more cleaning and planning in the garage I went downstairs and put a coat of paint on the cabinet. After the second coat wasn't tacky anymore I put it up on the shelf and screwed it to the wall stud where it will be staying. It might get doors sometime, but not right now.
manleyhouse: (Default)
No massive progress since the last update, just a few more smaller things worked on, and the vehicles taking away most of the non-existant fundage. However, the welding cart looks like something, and the mitersaw station is getting there. I've also been slowly using up some of the sheet goods that were taking up a good chunk of space, started a cart for [livejournal.com profile] pkstudios, that got rid of a 4x8 sheet of melamine and opened up a lot of space.

Last night I managed to find the partial sheet of green-board that was in the stack I could get to, and made another trim piece for the basement shower. It is almost to the point that I can do some mudding and caulking and get some paint on the walls, although I need to finish a soffit for the stove gas-line first. I then marked up some MDF scrap that I am going to turn into a cabinet for above the toilet downstairs. I've also come up with a plan to get a sink in the basement bathroom when the laundry area gets re-arranged possibly next year.

The plan that is formulating is to try and get as far as I can with the basement bathroom and prep for the upstairs before the week of Thanksgiving and see if my dad wants to come down and help while [livejournal.com profile] alyska is off to her parent's place. Then we might be able to do the big push in the upstairs bathroom. Granted for that push to be able to happen I should have the wall cabinet made and have the components like the sink and faucet in hand by then. And as long as I'm pipe-dreaming it would be good to have the base cabinet and counter made by then as well. I need to stop by Marling Lumber one of these days and see what they have for cabinet grade maple plywood and solid maple lumber for the cabinets. And also because I haven't managed to make it in there yet, and really I should have a while ago, even more so now that I am looking a making decent furniture type projects.
manleyhouse: (Default)
Over the past few weeks the garage has been getting torn apart from the inside. The corner shelves were removed, the old base cabinets torn apart, new cabinets built and new tools brought in that needed homes. I have been doing all of this and some organization and shuffling of things instead of grouting the bathroom inside. The last several weeks the garbage pile at the curb has been large, and will be for several more, helped along by the new garbage cans.


My dad came down for the weekend and a lot of progress was made in the garage. Saturday morning after dropping [livejournal.com profile] alyska off at the Farmer's Market I stopped by home and picked up a coupon that I was informed came in the latest Shopper Stopper in the mail (if anybody still has one, can I have the Harbor Freight coupon that is in it?) I then proceeded to go get a bunch of stuff at Harbor Freight including a Dust Collector on sale then 20% off. I also got more anti-fatigue mats in the picture. If I can find another coupon I will most likely go back and get a rolling tool chest that is also on good sale before the 20% off. Then it was home to continue with the deconstruction of cabinets and wall surfaces. Shortly after returning home my dad arrived and helped me get the rest of the wall de-skinned.

After getting back from picking [livejournal.com profile] alyska up my dad and I went to Menards with our list and got another roll of insulation, some damaged 1/2" BCX fro cheap and some electrical supplies to wire in the expansion. Then while he pulled the new wires I cut and fit the insulation in the walls and ceiling. We ended up doing from the East end of the back window all the way around to the West side of the garage door. The door itself is already insulated so that didn't need to be done, and the other wall might get done some other time, like in a few years. After the insulation was in then the BCX went up on the walls and the massive cabinet also got hung on the wall. By this time it was getting late so we put stuff away and called it a night (early morning)
and it looked like this.

The next morning, since the cabinet was up and could help hold up the ceiling we started on the ceiling. I still need to put some of the fixtures back and drive more screws to keep it from bowing but it is up there. After that we did some moving around of tools and tables and brought in the new cabinets that my dad brought with him. They are desk height instead of standing height so I need to figure out how I am going to integrate them with the one in the foreground. I think I am going to make a riser box on top of them to bring them up to height and maybe add another drawer or something so there will be a continuous counter along the back wall. Before that happens though I will be building the miter saw workstation to go along the West wall. I should also make the shelves and doors for the massive cabinet too.

current state )
manleyhouse: (sold sign)
So, last night I put up another mortar bucket of tile. Tonight I hope to put up another so I can get to the point of doing another batch of cutting and trimming. Mainly so there is enough tile to cut that the setup and cleanup is worth it.

After cleaning up from the tile I went out to the garage and finally got the air-hose reel hung up on the rafters and then made some table risers for the studio vending tables. Just a set of lengths of 1.5" PVC works nicely. Then I re-filled the bird feeders and put another application of ground clear behind the garage, the first application was just up against the garage to test so this was on the rest of the area to the fence.


(updated by [livejournal.com profile] jeffreyp)
manleyhouse: (Default)
The tile has been going slowly the last week or so, so slow infact that nothing was done. That changed today. Tile was cut and installed to almost fill in the back and bedroom walls. the bullnose still needs to go on the bedroom wall and there is one tile that needs to go in the upper corner of the back wall. It is cut and will go up with the next batch of mortar that is mixed up. There is still the bottom row of tiles that needs to be installed all the way around as well, but I need to come up with a plan of attack on that. Seems I started the rows a touch too tall. oops. We picked up the grout and sealer the other day so now I just need to keep at it and finish it. The next step is to cut out around the faucet controls, then it should go quickly up the wall until I need to cut out for the shower head. After all of that and the fitting to the cabinet I will need to go around and do the bottom row, which will involve cutting around the faucet.

The window boxes also found a more prominent home today. We had picked up some L brackets to mount them with when we got the grout. Today I painted them white and we attached them to the front porch rail after [livejournal.com profile] alyska got home.

We also picked up a seal for the bottom of the new door on the garage. I trimmed that down and attached it this afternoon as well. I also did a little bit of general cleanup of the garage and along the fence. A few days ago I also finally got around to cleaning out the watering can that was in the garage when we moved in. I then proceeded to mix up some Ground-Clear and applied it to the side and back of the garage where the weeds have been running rampant. It seems to be doing the trick.

(updated by [livejournal.com profile] jeffreyp)
manleyhouse: (Default)
A few weeks ago while [livejournal.com profile] alyska was gone, much happened in a short time. Since then the unfinished ends have been worked on in some cases and ignored in others.

It started out with working in the basement to get the shower in and operational. This involved re-wiring the lighting and installing greenboard on the ceiling. Then I assembled the platform with adhesive and screws, and attached it to the floor. After that was in I then went about assembling the rest of the enclosure and there was a working shower. It still needs trim work and things, but it is functional. While I was doing that my dad started the dismantling of the upstairs bath by removing all of the old tile and backer board. Then we got the hammer out and broke the end off the tub to get it out.

After that was out we could remove the old plumbing and install some new shutoff valves, as there wasn't any on the fixtures before. It took a little bit to get the new plumbing in and correct but it wasn't difficult, just annoying. Luckily the floor was already level so we just put down a 3/4" plywood to help distribute the weight on the floorboards. Then it was time to move in the new tub. Acrylic and Fiberglass tubs are a lot lighter than porcelain/cast iron ones, even when the new one holds almost twice the water. After we got the tub in and squared up we attached the tile flange and started putting up the durock on the walls.

While I was installing the durock, and the next day while I was at work, my dad took the person door off of the garage and replaced it with a steel one from the Habitat Re-Store. It was a bit smaller so the frame had to be filled in, and straightened in the process.

Then we installed a raised planting bed in the back yard. When [livejournal.com profile] alyska came back, a trunk full of strawberry plants went in, hopefully some of them survive. The next day I planted the lilies she also brought back and moved a hosta.

Over the next week I caulked and painted the new door frame, filled the joints in the durock, and cleaned the garage.

This past week we picked up some tile for the bathroom and didn't get much else done on the house. Although, there is now a truck in the driveway that will help with the hauling of materials to work on the house.

Sunday I started the installation of the tile around the tub and got most of the back wall done including some of the custom cut pieces. It went a lot better when I mixed the thinset a bit thicker and made all of the X spacers into T spacers (doing a stepped brick-like pattern instead of plain grid). Monday night I did another bucket worth of thinset on the bedroom side wall and figured placement for the bullnose. Tonight I will try and remember to make another post with pictures or update this one with links in the proper places.


(updated by [livejournal.com profile] jeffreyp)
manleyhouse: (Default)
Many things from the previous list are still on the list.

A few things that have progressed since last update

  • The Kimono is hung above the stairs, but there are still pictures to go around it.
  • Workbench painted and placed in the garage, still need the drawer painted and the top sealed.
  • Interior lights and outlets added to the garage, more is always better though.
  • Some storage things added in the garage, of course always more to go.
  • Swords and shelves up in the computer room
  • Handles and hinges acquired for the kitchen not yet installed though.

After the wedding there will be more decor in the house as we planned the wedding decor such that it could be used in and around the house after the wedding.

(Updated by [livejournal.com profile] jeffreyp)
manleyhouse: (Default)
Stuff has happened in the last month. Progress has been slowing down but it is a lot of little things that have been getting done.

  • Pictures are up on the walls, with a few more to go
  • General unpacking has been happening, only a few boxes left to do
  • Rooms are looking a lot more livable
  • Third motorcycle moved into the garage (250)
  • The garage is looking better, more visible, clean floor space

Things that haven't been done:

  • Old stove and range hood still in the garage
  • Still no lights on the front of the garage
  • Workbench and tool organization/storage
  • Garage wiring for more interior lights and outlets
  • Of course more projects keep getting added to the list
  • Kimono to be hung above stairwell, need to figure out scaffold for the second hook

(updated by [livejournal.com profile] jeffreyp)

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