I had even tried to order a better grade of PT through an actual lumber yard. They told me to pound sand even though they listed it as available for order, and wanted 3X for the same HD grade junk.
Home Projects you’re working on.
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I used to buy lumber at a local, independent store. All their lumber was stored outside, under cover. It was straighter than anything you could get at Home Depot or Lowes. And stayed straight. It was the same price or less and better quality. Their #2 was straighter, smoother, and less knots than HDs #1
Yep this is what I just ran into. I went to Lowe’s to get some 2x6s to build a heavy shop table. They were ok but not the best. I got a sheet of MDF and went to my local lumber yard that we used to buy all of our roofing from when we roofed houses. In the past they are generally higher priced but a better quality. Not this time. Higher priced and their lumber made Lowe’s lumber look great.
It became painstakingly obvious to me that most lumber yards don't care about walk-in/residential customers anymore, only selling huge volume to contractors unless its specialty/hardwoods.
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Snoopz
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Have to agree, the quality of the lumber sucks now, you have to dig and dig to get some halfway straight ones, then trying to find someone to pull down another bundle to go through is next to impossible.
Our contractor in MD deals with the Amish, they have their own sources, he needed 20ft 2x4's they helped him pick them out, the bad ones they throw off to the side what they called bad , it did not measure to their standards. They are straight, basically knot free, and almost in the same ballpark as the big box places.
-Snoopz
Our contractor in MD deals with the Amish, they have their own sources, he needed 20ft 2x4's they helped him pick them out, the bad ones they throw off to the side what they called bad , it did not measure to their standards. They are straight, basically knot free, and almost in the same ballpark as the big box places.
-Snoopz
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About lumber…
I needed some boards for my range. After shopping the big box stores, I thought of a tiny lumber operation up the road from me. I was able to order a few boards cut to my needs and went with green because I thought the density would be more resistant to penetration. What they cut for me was excellent and cost less than anywhere else. If you’re anywhere near Kernersville, you might want to contact them.
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I needed some boards for my range. After shopping the big box stores, I thought of a tiny lumber operation up the road from me. I was able to order a few boards cut to my needs and went with green because I thought the density would be more resistant to penetration. What they cut for me was excellent and cost less than anywhere else. If you’re anywhere near Kernersville, you might want to contact them.
Apple’s Forestry Products | Kernersville NC
Apple’s Forestry Products. 284 likes. We are a local sawmill in the heart of Central North Carolina. We provide rough cut lumber, slabs, s
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Went to Belize last month. The Mennonites ran just about everything especially anything construction materials. I’m glad the Amish up here take pride in the quality of their products because down there, they make Lowe’s and HD look awesome
I feel like we need an appliance thread lately. Done some research on my Whirlpool oven. Throwing codes E1 F1. Replaced the control board. I’ve had it with Whirlpool appliance. I will not have another one once these go out.
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I honestly don't know what appliances to buy these days. We had Whirlpool in the Kitchen. Replaced the microwave 4 years ago and after several warranty calls replaced it again last year. Wall oven was replaced 3 years ago but had two warranty calls, seems to be OK for the last couple years. Refrigerator was replaced 3 years ago and a couple warranty calls later, it is still freezing up after a few months. The old side by side fridge we had that is 15 years old is still trucking along in the garage.
Last year I finally got fed up with my few year old top of the line Maytag washer and dryer. We had an estate sale in the neighborhood and they were selling a set of 20+ year old basic Whirlpool washer and dryer for $200. I bought them along with a bunch of cast iron pans they collected and put the newish appliances at the curb.
I think they pretty much all suck.
Oh the joys of new construction… we noticed a water spot on the wall in our master closet and I figured out that there was a leak related to the toilet that is directly above. I used my thermal monocular to confirm by flushing the toilet twice.
Plumber came out today and knew immediately what the issue was. Stupid and lazy people who installed the wire shelving drilled into the drain pipe. The plumbing side was a 5min fix. Now for the remediation repairs. Baseboards, door casing, drywall, carpet will have to be pulled up to inspect. That’ll happen next week.
Plumber came out today and knew immediately what the issue was. Stupid and lazy people who installed the wire shelving drilled into the drain pipe. The plumbing side was a 5min fix. Now for the remediation repairs. Baseboards, door casing, drywall, carpet will have to be pulled up to inspect. That’ll happen next week.
Yep. We had a 20 year old side by side from our first house. Brought it to the basement of our new house. Ended up giving it to my BIL when their fridge went out. It’s still kicking. Our fridge upstairs is less than 4 years old and the ice maker doesn’t work. It’s a known problem and whirlpool won’t do anything
If I could talk my wife into it I’d replace all ours with old ones. But we had to get matching stainless steel appliances
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I spent around $3k on the new stainless Maytag set and gave our old Maytag set away we bought in 2000 when we bought our first house. Never had a single issue with the old ones. My wife complained about the new ones from the day they were delivered. Cycles were longer, clothes didn't get as clean etc... That and they both stopped working several times needing warranty work. After warranty, I worked on both a couple times. I saw an estate sale with pictures and they had some cool cast iron so I walked over there. Our dryer just happened to die the night before. When I saw the old school washer and dryer, I bought it and put the new Maytag at the curb to let someone else deal with.
Rode by our other house and realized the wind ripped six or seven shingles up. Called a buddy of mine and he had some extra at his shop. They don’t match but close enough until I can replace the whole roof. The house dates to 1927. I need to rip the roof off and resheet it. The 1x they used as sheeting back in the day are starting to bow. May have to replace the rafters also. I hope not though. I haven’t crawled up in the attic to see what it all looks like. I’m also tired of painting it and planning to put vinyl on at some point. It needs a lot of work. Almost wonder if I should even bother. It’s going to cost a ton.
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Taking a break from trimming a tree. It has lost two large limbs in the last few years and now it’s lopsided towards the neighbor. I want to take the top off but someone parked a car and left, even though the place is empty. That’s my luck. And I’m not risking dropping that top towards a nearly new car.
I’m almost through with a remodel of my garage. It had not been painted or even cleaned in 30 years. The previous owner left us some dented, rusty, cheap steel shelves that he probably pulled out of the dump. So here’s the (99.5%) complete project:
This is the "before" picture, though I had already redone the formerly greasy floor at that point.
The first step was refinishing the floor. I went with Guardian Garage Floors. It's not an epoxy paint. They first grind the concrete to open up the pores, then spread glue all over the floor, then throw five 5-gallon buckets of these flecks on top. Wait for it to dry, swept up the excess and apply a clear coat. When the sun's on it, it shines like it's wet!
I installed Gladiator slat walls along both the left and right sides. They have all kinds of accessories, from baskets for your sports equipment to hooks for lawn tools. I built custom shelving on the right side to hold the bigger, heavier boxes. I matched the trim color (shelves, back door) to the color of the slat walls.
That blue stripe on the floor? Well, backing a Tundra in there is a precision maneuver with only a few inches of error, and the Tundra's camera superimposes a line that I align with that stripe as I back up. Yea, I know, my dad could do it at 30mph using only the rear view mirror.
The paint cans will go in the overhead racks as soon as the painter returns to patch up the ceiling marks left by the previous door supports.
There were no electrical outlets along the back wall, so I hired an electrician to put me in a bunch and move the light switches around. He also replaced every existing electrical fixture with black ones and replaced the cheap ugly ceiling lights with nice LED strips.
I replaced the back door with one that's impenetrable and has blinds inside the glass.
I installed an Omniwall steel peg wall along the back wall. It holds most of my hand tools and comes with a power strip and charging/hanging station for my drills and impact tools.
My dad was an auto mechanic, and the "Cash Only" sign was painted in 1966 and hung in his shop for over forty years. The painter matched his signature, so that's the way my dad signed his name. And that "Dino" thing? Well, that's my name. "Great news, Dino is now available in all 48 states".
I replaced both doors and all their rails and hardware. I had the inside of the doors custom painted blue to match the peg wall, including powder coating the rails and hinges in black. The old motors hung down from the center of the ceiling with a big dirty belt drive. The new motors are wall mounted and sit at the top between the doors and are very quiet, both in the garage and the bonus room above.
I had the door rails mounted in a high-wall configuration so that they hug the front garage wall and then the ceiling. This lets me mount two kayaks and two 3x6 ceiling racks with lots of room for more. You can see how the doors go up and around the boats so that I can raise and lower them with the doors up or down. With those high, short rails and no ceiling mounted motors, it really opens up the overhead space. The Hobie with all the stuff on it weighs about 120 pounds, so I installed an electric hoist. There's no button on the wall for it, it uses an app on my phone and connects via Bluetooth.
I needed a wide, flat surface to store my yard bags and shooting targets, so I suspended a sheet of plywood underneath one of the two ceiling racks and painted it the same color as the walls.
So like any project, it took longer and cost more than I had expected, but I'm pretty happy with it.
This is the "before" picture, though I had already redone the formerly greasy floor at that point.
The first step was refinishing the floor. I went with Guardian Garage Floors. It's not an epoxy paint. They first grind the concrete to open up the pores, then spread glue all over the floor, then throw five 5-gallon buckets of these flecks on top. Wait for it to dry, swept up the excess and apply a clear coat. When the sun's on it, it shines like it's wet!
I installed Gladiator slat walls along both the left and right sides. They have all kinds of accessories, from baskets for your sports equipment to hooks for lawn tools. I built custom shelving on the right side to hold the bigger, heavier boxes. I matched the trim color (shelves, back door) to the color of the slat walls.
That blue stripe on the floor? Well, backing a Tundra in there is a precision maneuver with only a few inches of error, and the Tundra's camera superimposes a line that I align with that stripe as I back up. Yea, I know, my dad could do it at 30mph using only the rear view mirror.
The paint cans will go in the overhead racks as soon as the painter returns to patch up the ceiling marks left by the previous door supports.
There were no electrical outlets along the back wall, so I hired an electrician to put me in a bunch and move the light switches around. He also replaced every existing electrical fixture with black ones and replaced the cheap ugly ceiling lights with nice LED strips.
I replaced the back door with one that's impenetrable and has blinds inside the glass.
I installed an Omniwall steel peg wall along the back wall. It holds most of my hand tools and comes with a power strip and charging/hanging station for my drills and impact tools.
My dad was an auto mechanic, and the "Cash Only" sign was painted in 1966 and hung in his shop for over forty years. The painter matched his signature, so that's the way my dad signed his name. And that "Dino" thing? Well, that's my name. "Great news, Dino is now available in all 48 states".
I replaced both doors and all their rails and hardware. I had the inside of the doors custom painted blue to match the peg wall, including powder coating the rails and hinges in black. The old motors hung down from the center of the ceiling with a big dirty belt drive. The new motors are wall mounted and sit at the top between the doors and are very quiet, both in the garage and the bonus room above.
I had the door rails mounted in a high-wall configuration so that they hug the front garage wall and then the ceiling. This lets me mount two kayaks and two 3x6 ceiling racks with lots of room for more. You can see how the doors go up and around the boats so that I can raise and lower them with the doors up or down. With those high, short rails and no ceiling mounted motors, it really opens up the overhead space. The Hobie with all the stuff on it weighs about 120 pounds, so I installed an electric hoist. There's no button on the wall for it, it uses an app on my phone and connects via Bluetooth.
I needed a wide, flat surface to store my yard bags and shooting targets, so I suspended a sheet of plywood underneath one of the two ceiling racks and painted it the same color as the walls.
So like any project, it took longer and cost more than I had expected, but I'm pretty happy with it.
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Snoopz
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Now their working on the inside, this is what happens when your insurance company drags it's feet, you and 2 other people tell em how long are you gonna let this drag out before we can start...and now we have this.. .
-Snoopz
Attempted to replace the vent fan in the upstairs bathroom.
Destroyed the old one trying to get it out.
New one is bigger. Of course it is. Cut the sheetrock for the bigger one. Wire barely hangs out of ceiling. Try to figure out how to hold it up at the ceiling and connect the wires. Got the mrs to climb the other side of the ladder and hold it.
Went to hook up the vent duct. Absolutely no slack. End of the vent duct (plastic) just crumbles.
So tomorrow, I'll have to try to squeeze through the scuttle for the attic and get a new piece in there.
Destroyed the old one trying to get it out.
New one is bigger. Of course it is. Cut the sheetrock for the bigger one. Wire barely hangs out of ceiling. Try to figure out how to hold it up at the ceiling and connect the wires. Got the mrs to climb the other side of the ladder and hold it.
Went to hook up the vent duct. Absolutely no slack. End of the vent duct (plastic) just crumbles.
So tomorrow, I'll have to try to squeeze through the scuttle for the attic and get a new piece in there.
Got a new project to do. I have an Empire Porcelain coated cast iron vent free propane stove. Bought it probably 10 years ago off Craigslist for $150. It was maybe 15 years old then. At that time, they were retailing around $1200. Guy said it didn't work. Turned out to just need to be dusted.
This year, despite the fall cleaning, it was really stinking and starting to soot up. I shut it down and figured I'd replace it with something before next winter.
Today, I picked up a brand new, Empire cast iron stove for $395 OTD. List price is $1909.00.
This year, despite the fall cleaning, it was really stinking and starting to soot up. I shut it down and figured I'd replace it with something before next winter.
Today, I picked up a brand new, Empire cast iron stove for $395 OTD. List price is $1909.00.
Builder sent out a punch list (aka make it look pretty for cheap) guy who thought he was going to just killz and paint everything. HA!!!! Not a chance. I made him expose where I knew there was mold and emphasized the fact that we’re talking about sewage water, not clean water.
Today a remediation crew came out and because I had to take my 2yo to an emergency dental appointment (long story) I had my friend who has 10yr+ remediation experience come over and “supervise”. It was great knowing a close friend with extensive knowledge was watching their every move!
Thankfully, the crew did a good job and didn’t try taking short cuts. Now for the various trades to come out and repair their parts, starting with the framers.
And the kitchen below
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finished today. stain tomorrow. Would have been better to stain first, but Carole could not make up her mind what she wanted.
No project currently in play, but thought this was an appropriate spot for this pic. Visual to show why todays wood is not as strong and why it rots quicker.
ronn47
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Also in the 1800s they were still cutting old growth forest.
Plus they did not do cuts to optimize tree growth like they do now.
That lower one may also be Southern Yellow Pine and the top one some type of fir.
First round of repairs today, mostly drywall and a small section of framing was replaced. It’ll need another couple coats of mud before paint, thankfully the wife is on spring break this week.
Did hey just put some kind of putty on that pipe, not replace the section with the screw holes??
Yeah they used epoxy putty since the holes were small and clean. I’m no plumber but it seems like a sound fix to me since it’s a vertical drain, not like the pipe is pressurized or water would be sitting at that spot as if it were horizontal. Am I wrong?
Finished up the tree today. First two went flawless. The third, which was the worst, nearly ended in disaster. Broke two ropes and finally went and got a real arborist rope. Either that or possible drop it onto my porch. Got the saw stuck in that process. Got the big rope on it, got a good pull with the truck, freed the saw, and dropped it right where I wanted it.
First two.
Third one.
Me re stringing the third one. Yes that’s my tree stand. Yes that saw is stuck.
Victory!
Free firewood if you are near Longview/Hickory
First two.
Third one.
Me re stringing the third one. Yes that’s my tree stand. Yes that saw is stuck.
Victory!
Free firewood if you are near Longview/Hickory
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I think it’s some kind of maple.
I was about to ask about that putty as well. Any time I've ever had to work on a drain or any kind of plumbing vertical or horizontal the proper way is to cut out the bad section and coupling in a new piece of pipe. I know the stores now days are selling all sorts of putty and tapes but being in the business as long as I and my family has been its not how I was taught to fix anything. I'm not saying that putty want work it might. But if I seen one of my guys doing some half-assed stuff like that they would have been fired on spot.
Just finished building a chicken coop for my granddaughter.
Ready for paint, then roofing.
Ready for paint, then roofing.
Someone is prepared when you keep a ammo can on the gate post!
