DIY
DIY Blown In Cellulose
May/13/08 08:50 AM
This past weekend I finished up the last major portion of the insulation. With a little help from my neighbor and the insulation blower that he had laying around in his garage, we knocked it out in about 4 hours. Although, half of the time was spent setting up the equipment and half of the rest of the time was spent standing around BSing, about how Roger inherited the insulation blower from the Mayor.
Anyway, This part of the job was so easy that I can’t believe that people actually get paid for this! And really overall, I probably spent about $150 on this project, minus what it would have cost me to rent the blower, which I believe runs about $50 a day. I think a few years ago it would have been much cheaper, but the one thing we can thank the “green movement” for is that any material that can be labeled as “green” can be charged double. I joke with Kristin that it’s called a “green” product, because it takes so much “green” to purchase it.
So here’s a few tips on how to do it.
- -It is a two person job for sure a feeder and a spreader.
- -Check local building code and see how many inches you need.
- -Carry a poker stick the depth that you will need for quick measuring (it gets deep and it’s too dusty to judge accurately)
- -Use a good dust mask and don’t be afraid to stop occasionally and let the dust settle.
- -Try doing it on a day with a lot of humidity (After a hard rain) this cuts down on the dust.
- -Work out a signal system with the feeder, on-off-on-off to let them know there is a problem, should one arise.
- -Start at the farthest point from the blower and work back towards it.
I don’t claim to be a “expert” but feel free to email me any questions you have about how to do it.
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Tips On Painting Primer
Apr/28/08 08:45 AM
Well the sheet rock is up and so we decided to spray the primer this weekend. If you have gutted your house down to the studs and put up new drywall, then I highly suggest spraying on the primer. It is much much faster than rolling.
That said, I’d like to offer up a few tips that I figured out the hard way.
- 1.Cover your floors, even if it is just the subfloor.
- 2. If you rent a sprayer, be prepared to shell out some extra $ for a good working tip, because the one you get will be a piece of $#!*.
- 3.Buy an extra 5 gallon bucket of primer (since you can return leftover primer, unless it’s tinted). Otherwise you will end up going to the home center mid-job, looking as I did (above). And yes the cashier laughed out loud at me.
- 4.Wear a shower cap.
- 5.Start early, first coat before lunch, second coat after. I started right before lunch and second coated after dinner. After the second coat and clean up it was 1:00 in the morning on a work night.
One other thing, here in the south we always complain about how everything is closed on Sundays. The one instance that it actually works out in your favor is with rental places. If you rent it on Friday then you have to return it on Saturday. BUT, if you rent it on Saturday, then you don’t have to return it until Monday; and you only get charged for one day!
America's Most Desperate Landscape
Apr/21/08 08:37 AM
As I’m sure most of you know, I mean if you are as
into DIY as we are, then you have either seen or
entered the DIY Network’s
America’s Most Desperate Landscape
contest. Here is our video entry, please
enjoy...Williams.
And if you think we have a desperate landscape
then
please click here and rate our video.
We really enjoyed making the video, and it was as
good an excuse as any to take a couple hours off from
working on the house.
Diy Pocket Doors
Apr/02/08 08:30 AM
I picked up this pocket door frame at Lowe’s for around $50, which seemed pretty reasonable to me since I have never purchased or installed one before.
This Sunday’s project was to install 3 pocket door frames, simple right? Well, first of all I read through the instructions and I’m not sure if I read the english version or the greek version, because I didn’t understand a word of it. All I know is that there were fractions involved.
Plan B: I went to the manufacturer’s website and I downloaded an installation video. It was pure gold. I musta watched the video at least 20 times that morning, in fact I was a borderline expert at how to install the buggers. One thing in the video that really stood out was, “The average installation time for this project is 10 minutes.” This gave me a huge dose of needed confidence.
I began the project and the first hang up I had was the rough openings weren’t what they needed to be. Who would have thought that I should have looked at the rough opening sizes for the pocket doors before I had them framed up. Luckily, the framed openings were a little too big and and the height was a little too short. No biggie, I could just trim off the door height by 3/4”. The frame for all three doors was exactly 1” too wide. Simple fix, right? I just sister a board in to bring it up to the correct size. Only problem is that it requires 1” thick lumber.
Now of all the mysteries of the universe that exist, the most mystifying is the nature of lumber sizing. If you go to the lumber store and buy 1” lumber, it is not 1”. Nope, it is 3/4”. Therefore I would need to buy 5/4” lumber to get the correct thickness, because for some stupefying reason five quarter inches equals one inch. That being said, I challenge you to find 5/4” lumber on a Sunday morning. It is next to impossible. Luckily, I remembered that treated decking planks come in 5/4”, which seems almost as stupefying as the enigma of lumber sizing. So I went to Lowe’s and bought them, I then had to cut them down to the correct width. You know, the width of a 2”x4” which, in fact, is actually 3 1/2”.
Anyway, I got the doors framed in to the correct size. After that I began installing the door. I cut down the headers to the correct size, and this was pretty easy. They have the standard door sizes pre-marked on the headers which really simplifies the sizing and cutting. The installation video said that it only required one person to install the door. Well, I’ve never seen a person with 4 arms nor did I have an extra set I could borrow, so I got my wife to help me hold up the header while I nailed it into place.
After it was all said and done it had taken, NOT the prescribed 10 minutes to install the door. I had taken 6... Hours that is. In all honesty the other 2 doors went pretty quickly, taking about 30 minutes each.
DIY Spray Foam Insulation
Mar/28/08 08:23 AM
Yesterday I did what I would classify as both the coolest thing and the most frustrating thing that I have done in a long time.
There is just something inherently interesting about spray foam insulation. Being an artist, I could play with a can of that stuff for hours. Anyway, try 2 cans as big as propane tanks. Talk about cool!
The frustration stems from my own skill, or lack there of, to apply it evenly. That and the god-awful mess it made. In fact it was making such a mess that I don’t think that Kristin could bear to watch, so she went home.
During a meeting with the architect, we had expressed interest in using spray-foam insulation between the ceiling joists above the stairwell. Us, not knowing that it would be waaaay expensive to pay to have it done, Bret suggested that we try and do it ourselves. He recommended several companies that manufacture the foam. A few clicks on ebay and a coupla weeks later I had the goods.
We have been waiting for a good 70º day to use the foam, as per the manufacturers suggestion. Yesterday was that day. I got up at 3:30 am, went to work at 5:00 am so I could leave work early and spray the foam. Ok so maybe I was a little tired, when I began. But I unpacked the canisters and shook them up and then called Bret because he wanted to see the installation. I think it may have been his own curious fascination with foam, either that or like a criminal that feels guilty, he wanted to stand trial in case anything went awry.
The installation went as follows:
- 1.I unpacked and shook up the canisters, by rolling them around on the floor.
- 2.I placed the canisters in a central location, since they are heavy buggers. Also if you stop for more than 30 seconds to move the canisters, you have to change the tip on the gun. (This was stressful and made me rush the job.)
- 3.I spent ten to fifteen minutes looking for the right sized wrench to attach the hoses, not realizing that they provided a wrench in the kit. Then I hooked up the first hose to the “A” canister and the second hose to the “B” canister and opened both valves.
- 4.I started on the ceiling in the stairwell and worked my way up. This stuff was raining down like a blizzard. BUT DAMN IT WAS COOL!
- 5.I made sure to hit all the important areas first so that any thing I had left would just be gravy.
- 6.After I hit the stairwell I hit the ceiling in the dormer bathroom. Taking time to carefully cover our new clawfoot tub beforehand.
- 7.After that I just went until I ran out, which happened when I had only about 6 feet left to go from doing the entire upstairs. I think, however, that batts will suffice in those areas.
Overall, I’m not even really sure if I did it correctly, but Bret seemed to think I did. I would recommend this project to any of you DIYers considering something similar; because, quite frankly, it was fun.
Afterwards I went out to the bar for boy’s night, and I have to say it was a great conversation center-piece (Although in typical boy’s night fashion, the conversation quickly degraded into the fact that I was using a big hose attached to 2 canisters). Anyway...
If I could do it over, there are two things I would have done differently. First, I would have covered the floors, and second, I would have worn a hat...
Chimney Removal (Step By Step)
Dec/10/07 11:32 PM
First of all the above photo is posed, it is in fact, me practicing my golf swing with a sledge hammer. To do a chimney removal you should be wearing a dust mask, eye, and ear protection as well. If you have any doubts about your ability to do this yourself, I would recommend hiring a professional as this is dirty, dangerous work.
Total time: About 12hrs (with 2 person clean up)
Tools I used:
Large Sledge Hammer
Small One-handed Sledge Hammer
Hammer and Masonry Chisel
Pneumatic Chisel
Saws-All Reciprocating Saw
Getting started:
I would recommend starting from the top and working your way down, dropping the bricks down the chimney as you go Or as in my case, since I am replacing the roof, just push them off the roof.
Also what I did a little different was, since it was raining, I started inside on the first level. Using a heavy sledge, I busted out a course of bricks from one side to the other. The chimney’s connection to the roof and the flue protrusions locked the chimney in place. If your chimney is completely
square all the way up or is not connected to the roof, I would not recommend doing it this way. Using a pneumatic chisel (Kobalt Brand $20 at Lowe’s) I systematically chiseled out the bricks letting them drop to the floor. I did this until I was about 3 courses shy of the ceiling. My biggest tip here is to not let the bricks fall on your toes. It hurts like hell. After I had access to the inside, I used a saws-all to cut the metal pipe that was used to vent the water heater in the basement.
Step 2:
I went up on the roof and began disassembling the chimney cap.
This was one of the easiest parts, since the mortar had ben exposed to the elements. It practically fell apart with just a few punches with the pneumatic chisel. Again, here is where you would want to drop the bricks down the chimney to protect the roof. I on the other-hand, fashioned a chute
to protect the edge of the roof then just pushed off the bricks with a broom. After I removed the courses down to below roof level, I pulled out the chimney liner. It was at this time I deemed it unsafe in the rooms below and disallowed anyone access to the kitchen area.
Step 3:
I went into the second floor and knocked down the plaster and lath to gain access to the chimney. Using the pneumatic chisel, I removed as much of the chimney as I could, before I began chiseling the flue protrusion that was, in fact,
holding the chimney in place. I made sure no cords or hoses were wrapped around my feet and began to chisel out the protrusion,
with just a few bricks removed... FOOM! the remainder of the chimney dropped away. I wish I had a video of it because it was an awesome site. After that I made short work of the intact portions with me trusty sledge hammer.
Step 4:
Clean up, I recruited my wife for this portion. While cleaning up she noticed that the floor tiles had been cracked where the chimney landed. We joked about how you probably can’t find tiles that ugly anymore, and how we’ll just have to replace them all. But that is another story...
How To Remove A Chimney
Dec/06/07 11:28 PM
It looks like good Ol’ St. Nick won’t be visiting us this year. Apparently I have to have our chimney ripped out by this weekend. Randy Johnson of Johnson Bros. Foundation Specialists, called and said he was ready to get started on Monday morning and that I have to have the chimney out by then. So last night I took a hammer and a masonry chisel and I managed to chisel out ONE brick! Needless to say it took me about 30 minutes and on top of all that my arm was sore this morning from doing so. Realizing this is not the way to do it, I did what anyone else would do... I looked it up on the internet. This is how it is supposed to go down.
1.) Rent a hammer drill with masonry bit
2.) Work from the top down
3.) Hire some chump to haul out the bricks
4.) Sweet-talk wife into sweeping up the mess
5.) Patch the roof
Piece of cake, right? I’ll let you know how it goes...