What Did You Do To Your House Recently?

[Ken H.]

I peed on the family room rug.

[Sapotorito]

a couple of weeks ago i finally got around to doing the kitchen backsplash to the complete delight of the wife... I needed to make brownie points since i was set on buying a set of euro bumpers from ivo and it worked! (which that will be a different thread once I start going thru the euro conversion process)

It was my first time doing it but I was confident i would be able to pull it off since this is pretty easy to do and I do ok with minor construction stuff... I am definitely more of a handyman than a mechanic unfortunately

Anyway, some pictures of the process here....





range hood got fixed in the process btw, light bulbs were out and the fan was inoperable


I just swapped the outlet cover to stainless steel this weekend not shown on this last picture but this is pretty much the end result:


while I am here i must include that i also retouched the base boards of the house this weekend... i must say, the process was very painful on my knees...

[demetk]

Nice, where did you get the cabinets? Knee pads help a lot when doing flooring. I like the Husky knee pads from HD.

[Sapotorito]

Nice, where did you get the cabinets? Knee pads help a lot when doing flooring. I like the Husky knee pads from HD.

Thank you demetk, cabinets are from IKEA and I've had them for a good seven years and haven't had any issues with them (unlike some of the stuff you buy there) they are great... And I did use some knee pads, mine are AWP and they are pretty sturdy too but despite of this my knees were a little beat up by the time I was done...

[sail_or_drive]

Very nicely done, I like the color combo.

[Sapotorito]

Very nicely done, I like the color combo.

Thank you sail_or_drive

[jjcarr]

Complete renovation in progress. Exterior before:

and in progress, no landscaping yet, that's in the works

[jhall]

If you're my "friend" on FB you're probably tired of seeing this, but we recently finished my sons new Lego table. Also my wife did the mural and we added tile and new bead board. This is our laundry room too and before it had awful paneling and old nasty carpet. We're really proud how it turned out for a couple of people that have no idea what they're doing. I was obsessed with Lego when I was young and would have killed for a setup like this.

IMG_2930 by Josh Hall, on Flickr

[MicahO]

That's Awesome! Watch out for the Kragle!!!!

(Dip my body in chocolate frostin'!!!)

[ldsbeaker]

Boring stuff. Last weekend I filled the water filter with salt (then ran whole system to baseline) changed all of the batteries in the smoke detectors, new filter in AC, new filter in fridge, and new LED lightbulbs around the house. (Just a dozen so far)

[a]

I just ended a 2 week vacation. I stopped at the tops of the front windows I''ve picked up a head cold, so I goofed off inside. I took advantage of a 40% off sale at the local Sherwin Williams and bought a 5 gallon bucket of architectural stain and some gloss trim to brighten up the homestead. I have repaired, painted and stained stained, painted the sun blasted red cedar clapboards and trim up to the eaves and the sills of the gable windows 15 feet in the air. I have 4 sections of pipe staging set in 2 tiers with planks of all sorts to work on. I'm creaking a stiff and sore over weight wonky nerves on soles of my feet parody of the guy who stained the new wood in the late 70s . The clap boards are in tough shape. Their function is to keep the sun off the house wrap. The rougher, they are, the better they look. Angles are rounded off and worn together. Two coats of thick stain/ thin flat paint to soak in and dry. Coverage sucks. literally. Application with a 4 inch brush was slow and tedious. The surface is as porous ,but powders if you rub it. I hunted up a 6 " brush and that sucker can lay down some color. I always enjoyed the work. and I ran battery of the work van flat listening to CDs on the radio . I covered 120 sq' in 2 hrs. stopping when I boiled over. Too much heating and chilling,in the last few days now my throat is sore from post nasal drip. I'll top coat next week end, then start tuning up the clapboards beside and between the windows.

[leadphut]

Complete renovation in progress. Exterior before:

and in progress, no landscaping yet, that's in the works

love it

[slammin_e28]

Replacing the carpet in my living room with laminate. OMG....this has turned into a disaster.

Pulled the carpet up to reveal there was a bit of plywood that didn't match the rest of the subfloor. HMMMMM.



SO, the subfloor directly in front of the sliding glass door was all swollen and gross. Pulled that up to replace it. Pulled up that bit of plywood and there's holes in the base plywood. Yay. The floor joists were replaced two-three years ago when I bought the place, as per the home inspection. Looks like some scraps of wood were popped in to cover the holes...badly. One was totally wet from the rain we've been having. So....going to be cutting up the floor and replacing that proper.



Then there is the cause.....the sliding glass door. It leaks. The frame on the outside is getting rotten in the corners.....also it's installed backwards....with the screen on the inside. To remove and turn it around would probably destroy it, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and buy a new one.

Oh well....better to do it right.

[demetk]

Oh well....better to do it right.

The rabbit hole of home ownership.

[slammin_e28]

Oh well....better to do it right.

The rabbit hole of home ownership.

Don't you mean joys?

[davintosh]

Then there is the cause.....the sliding glass door. It leaks. The frame on the outside is getting rotten in the corners.....also it's installed backwards....with the screen on the inside. To remove and turn it around would probably destroy it, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and buy a new one.

Wait, what?!?! No wonder it's leaking. Who does that, and why in the world would you do that intentionally?

Oh well....better to do it right.

And if you want it done right...

[demetk]

Then there is the cause.....the sliding glass door. It leaks. The frame on the outside is getting rotten in the corners.....also it's installed backwards....with the screen on the inside. To remove and turn it around would probably destroy it, so I'm just going to have to suck it up and buy a new one.

Wait, what?!?! No wonder it's leaking. Who does that, and why in the world would you do that intentionally?

So you don't dirty the screen silly.

[wkohler]

I haz a whaul now. Was many monies. I also have lots of work to do as a result. Can't afford to do the north side right now. Was hoping to split with the neighbor but he misunderstood how much the total cost was.

[Kyle in NO]

Nice. Is that in CtPa Town?

[oldskool]

I heard BryunInTn had his basement modified with an extensive water feature. . .

[leadphut]

[a]

Slamming E 28. The rot happened because the door way wasnt "panned with 12' wide aluminum flashing. That and MDF used for underlayment. That stuff just blows up and turns to mush in one soaking. The original part of my house was built in the 1870s Much of its lower framing was rotted and I' replaced it. back in the 80s. Then I put on an addition that doubled the area. All utilities are new.But the exterior hasn't see paint in 25 yrs. Red cedar blackens in the sun. It looked OK for years . The time has come to help it with architectural stain and a touch up on the trim. I stopped on the gable. and shoved all the planks unto the stationary tower and rolled the other tower 9 feet along the addition. Rain ruined Saturday. Sunday I planked in the lower height then replaced 3 clapboards that had split. and nailed off the siding setting the nails and caulking. Saturday is predicted to be good, so I hope to paint.

[RoyW]

Installed a SimpliSafe security system... took about an hour. Totally wireless, modular build-your-own configuration with many different devices to choose from, e.g. motion sensors, entry sensors, smoke sensors, etc., plus monitoring service... all at a very reasonably price. Tested it with their Support people... simple to operate, works great. Highly recommended... check them out if you need one or are considering such a system

-RoyW

[wkohler]

What kind of configuration did you get? Considering one of those.

[a]

I stained up to the bottom of the 2nd story windows on the addition. After some caulking and nail setting. I'm getting the hang of threading my creaky car crawling carcass in and around the staging. Tomorrow is gonna be even warmer. I can top coat and maybe finish staining all I can reach with the present staging. Next will be a 3 high tower on wheels. Possibly on stilts..