The Home Improvement/Honey-Do List Thread

[captainofiron]

I figured I would start a catch all thread for those projects we are all working on at home (whether or not by choice)

Finished up installing the over the range convection microwave my wife always wanted


Before:

Removed the hood/fan:

I had to cut the sides to make little ports to access the top of the microwave once it was in position, unfortunately it wasnt drywall like I thought, it was concrete and wire mesh over plywood.



The structure was pretty weak looking, and the new micro was HEAVY, so I beefed up the structure as well as added a crossbrace to add an extra mount point that the microwave had that the hood



I needed an outlet so I added that too, and I had to adapt the round vent stack to the rectangular vent on the micro. I also had to cut the walltile and add the wall mounting fixture



So I patched the holes on the sides with some wood and plastered the seams




And finally after a lot of sanding and paint

[shmoov69]

I took out the trash today!! Does that count?!?! LOL!

[captainofiron]

yes it does, hahaha

[rustomatic]

You've got nice tile. I have to do that for my kitchen. I will put it off as long as possible, since I've got car repairs to do after the first rain, which made a few dents...



When spring comes, I will need to rent an industrial-size wood chipper, since the one I have takes too damn long. I'll also need to cut twice as much firewood than I did last spring and summer...

I need some Roundup, because there's way too much crap growing with all this rain...

My quad needs exercise in a bad way, but everything is mud... This one probably doesn't count.

I must point out that my wife doesn't really care if I do any of these things...

I did build some cool house-related stuff recently, however. See pics for firewood holder and bench (for watching people drive by on the racetrack/street I live on):

Attachment 68648Attachment 68649

[absintheisfun]

My wife and I bought a house about two months ago because it came with two acres and 2 detached garages (1 one car and 1 two car). We are currently fencing in the land so we can get some alpacas then its off to the inside to clear out the 1982 that has overtaken the house....but I've been told that my garages come right after the fence is done.

My project has taken a back seat to the house, but well worth the wait...given the bonus of Aland and garages...that's right...garages! Including the attached, I have inside parking for 5 cars...so awesome!

When the fence is done I'll get some pics up here as part of the honey do lists

[captainofiron]

You've got nice tile. I have to do that for my kitchen. I will put it off as long as possible, since I've got car repairs to do after the first rain, which made a few dents...

When spring comes, I will need to rent an industrial-size wood chipper, since the one I have takes too damn long. I'll also need to cut twice as much firewood than I did last spring and summer...

I need some Roundup, because there's way too much crap growing with all this rain...

My quad needs exercise in a bad way, but everything is mud... This one probably doesn't count.

I must point out that my wife doesn't really care if I do any of these things...

I did build some cool house-related stuff recently, however. See pics for firewood holder and bench (for watching people drive by on the racetrack/street I live on):

Thanks, we like the tile, BUT its everywhere, I put wood floors in all of the bedrooms and the living room to break it up, but eventually we want to put some sort of stone countertops

that bench is pretty cool

[indyjps]

no pics, but a basement to refinish, tile backsplash to put in are the majors, 1/2 way done with colored concrete borders on all the landscaping. minors:2 ceiling fans that need the remotes replaced, shelf for my 2 month old daughters room. spare room has all the overflow from reorganizing the house for daughters bedroom.
building a 69 camaro the car has been on hold for quite a while (2 year old and 2 month old daughters) built a body cart last month to get it over to blast and primer, gonna get that done before the other projects. Plan to get the welding done over the winter, my painter has open time april - may, then a big project coming in June.

[captainofiron]

it was a pretty busy weekend for me

I planted 12 Italian cypress trees (the back of our house faces an arroyo and toward the west, so it basically cooks during the summer)

Then I took down the old garage door opener which was poorly installed by the previous owner and broken down (you guys should have seen the metal strapping holding the old opener up looked like curly ribbon)

I was going to buy a screw drive opener, but saw that the warranty wasnt as long as the belt drive ones (lifetime motor 15 year belt drive) so I was going to buy a 1/2hp one, then when I popped by Lowes they had a 3/4hp Chamberlain belt drive opener on sale for the same price (lifetime motor, lifetime belt drive)

pretty good deal I think

[Kenova]

Replacing eight cheap slab doors with eight cheap six panel doors. Painting all of our urethaned wood trim white. I figure we will be painting over about a $1000.00 worth of mahogany (at the very least). We (I?) will also be painting three bedrooms and one bathroom.
I removed the trim around one of the bedroom windows and the wife complained that she could smell mold (with my nose I couldn't smell manure on a farm). I was told if I didn't open up the wall, she would. Sure enough there was a great big black spot where the window had leaked. No damage, just mold. Now I have a big gaping hole to drywall.
I should be working on my Nova or Vega.

In the words of Alice Cooper "Welcome to my nightmare".

Ken

[captainofiron]

So I finally had a chance to work on the fireplace on the long weekend.

I also got really tired of seeing the boxes of the stone in the garage taking up space.

So I got the wet saw all set up, tore out the original tile that surrounded the fireplace and started measuring and cutting.

the mortar on the tile ripped out some of the drywall so I had to replace that


so glad I got this wetsaw at Sears, worked great




I had to use my dremel sawmax with the tile cutting blade to cut the whole for the gas valve on the fireplace, but turned out pretty nice, I wanted to do a circle hole to match up with the valve plate, but it removed too much material




and all the stone installed


some of the gaps were bothering me, so I filled them with clear caulking, looked 1000x better, also some of the mortar stained the paint surrounding it (and I dropped a stone or 2) so I filled those, and repainted.

and this section is 100% done

[CarlC]

I'd toss up pics of the three new toilets that went in on Sunday, but they are not very exciting. But, they are off the H-D list!

Anyone know of company that sells really good artwork spotlights?

[astroracer]

It looks like we are all stuck with honey-do lists... Aside from the ditch digging I did last month I have been doing maintenance on mine and my mothers yard equipment. Changing oil, sharpening blades, etc. I fired up the Troybilt tiller this past weekend and ran it through the garden a few times. Did the weed whipping thing with a new B&D 18v trimmer I got at Lowes. Trimmed a bunch of trees and cut down some wild grapevines and, in between all of that, I got some work done on the van! Not a bad weekend.

[icemanrd19]

We just bought a new house and we are moving in on june 24th. My list will probally be huge

[astroracer]

We just bought a new house and we are moving in on june 24th. My list will probally be huge

Oh yea, keep us in the loop when it starts..
Just an update, and something for everyone to keep in mind... Weather. Had a bit of a storm last night. A tornado passed north of us by about a football field length. Dodged a bullit there. It did a lot of damage to some houses and barns just north of me and took out the power lines at about 8:30 last night. We lost some trees, a ****load of branches and got a ton of rain. Last night and today was spent cycling the generator every 1 1/2 hrs and cutting up trees and hauling limbs and branches... Power came back on around 3pm. Now I can take a shower... Between the heat, humidity, generator, fire pit and chainsaw fumes I smell pretty ripe...
A couple of pics after I got outside this morning.






Just up the road there were at least 5 big trees down. Three dropped across the road and the other two pulled the powerlines off the poles (two poles in either direction) when they went down. One dropped on the neighbors little garage and a few houses were missing parts of their roofs and siding.
we got enough rain to do a mini-flood in the shop, nothing seroius, happens all the time with a lot of rain.
Anyway that was my evening and day of home ownership... Enjoy it!
Mark

[kmdracer]

Well, I don't really have any car project pictures to add (as I don't currently HAVE and car project, lol) so this is a great place for me to throw in some of the stuff I've done around our place.
In 2011, my wife was on vacation in West Virginia, and I was overseas working. When she cam home, she found that the hot water line from the valve to the faucet had leaked, causing major damage to the cabinets, floor, and wall. So, when I got home, I took two weeks off and remodeled the kitchen. All the base cabinets are new (except the oven,as I plane to replace it with a double oven sometime next year) I added a pantry cabinet as well, and refinished the wall cabinets. I replaced the dishwasher, stovetop, and fridge. Still have to do the microwave and oven.
Here's a few pictures:

Demolition complete:


Replacing the ruined subflooring:


Setting/leveling floor cabinets:


Replaced the center island, as my wife never liked the old one. (Hint, she loves the new one)


Butcherblock counter top from Ikea. Sanding it to remove factory "stain":

[kmdracer]

Test fitting pre made laminate counter tops from Home improvement store (not straight, plumb or level, real pita to deal with)


Starting the laminate wood flooring:


Two weeks later, it's a functional kitchen again, and I have to go back to work, as well as wait for Christmas holidays before I can complete the job:


Fast forward a couple of months, and voila: It's completed: lol

[kmdracer]

Project I've taken on for myself: Repainting the pipe fence fronting my property (3acres) and replacing all the wire fencing completely around the property. The fencins is half done, and the painting is about a 1/4 way done.
I only get a little done at a time. lol





Good old Red Oxide primer:


Finished section:

[captainofiron]

Test fitting pre made laminate counter tops from Home improvement store (not straight, plumb or level, real pita to deal with)
Starting the laminate wood flooring:
Fast forward a couple of months, and voila: It's completed: lol

really like the bar on the island, looks pretty cool

[captainofiron]

So its getting hot here, really hot.

When I first bought this house, the home inspector noticed that the roof (flat builtup roof) didnt have any ventilation. He told me that if I put in vents that the roof would last longer and the interior of the house would stay cooler.

when its in the high 90s the AC is running quite a bit (I keep it at around 78)

SO this weekend I finally decided that I needed to put in those vents.

I first needed to calculate the roof area and then figure out how many vents I needed, with the ones I wanted to use I would need 31 vents (about 6 per roof tier)

I didnt want to mess with the flat part of the roof, no reason to make an area that could leak, so I put in vents on the parapet

I made a cardboard template, and marked where I wanted the vents, then I cut away the sheet/tar, and then took my saw and cut out the plywood underneath

I then took the soffit vent and put a bead of rubberized roof patch tar around the edge, and just screwed it into place then put another bead around the edge and troweled it smooth and rubbed some of those roof granules into the exposed tar








came out really nice looking

BUT the best part of all?
the rest of the house was around 79-80 without the AC running, I walk into our bedroom (where I put the first vents) and its 76-77 without the AC

[captainofiron]

10 done, 21 to go....