The shelves in the tool box have been lined.
Category: House
Trials, tribulations and accomplishments as a home owner.
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Weekend Accomplishments
This weekend I juggled for Children’s Hospital at the Zoo. I completed a split rail fence along my driveway’s retaining wall. I provided tech support to old people. I celebrated a friend turning 50. I purchased the most expensive appliances imaginable and they still won’t match my socks or fold my shirts. I performed hours of basement archaeology. And I awoke Monday morning exhausted and tender.
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Rain rain here to stay
What a beautiful rain we are having! My jungle in the back yard lush and almost glowing.
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Fence complete!
Big storm on the way so I awoke at 6:40 to work on completing the installation of a split rail fence along the retaining wall. It’s now complete! Trips to hardware stores? Zero! Completion time including cleanup? 9:40am. I have so much time left in this day I think I’ll remodel the kitchen!
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Heavy Rains Coming?
What do you do? Get up at 6:40am and do yard work of course!
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Lessons learned from staining
I just gave myself an 8-24 hour delay on the bay window by applying some "touchup" stain. It was a huge risk as it could ruin the uniform look where I applied the touchup. I also have to let it dry really well now before I can begin applying the polyurethane which I could have otherwise begun today. After 2 or 3 coats of poly, I can let the family have access to the window again and there will be much rejoicing.
My biggest lesson today was that despite my cramping hands and exhaustion, my laziness in cleaning up the caulk and my over use of caulk was my biggest mistake. I now understand why the guys in the paint department looked at me like I’d been breathing fumes too long when I asked them for stainable caulk. I really should have bought caulk died the color of the stain I’m using and I should have been far more conservative in my use of caulk (white) and far more prudent in my cleanup of the caulk. Have I mentioned, I have a love/hate relationship with caulk…mostly hate.
And, building the clean room was soooo worth it!
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Bay Window Progress
The 3rd and final coat of stain is on the bay window. The next step will be to apply the polyurethane.
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So masking tape shrinks
Returning to the bay window for the second coat revealed a couple of things. First, my cleaning room set up is working quite well! Second, over the course of a week, my masking tape shrank and I had to remask several areas. Now, let the staining begin!
Update: Second coat of stain applied.
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Saturday is for getting high
What shall I do today? I think I’ll lock myself in a small room and breathe noxious fumes…and then when I get out of the bathroom, I’ll stain the bay window.
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Finally making progress on staining the bay window
A little less than a year ago, we had a bay window installed in the house. The contractors suggested staining or painting it soon to protect the wood. Having not stained wood since I was a teenager, and with Dad’s guidance, I hesitated…and hesitated…and the window was loved by the children…and the dogs…and the cats…and it was muddied and watercolored and scratched and marked upon. And a few Fridays ago Knoxville was iced in. So I used my sander on the window and it came clean! Thus I created "Dad’s clean room."
I’ve since sanded and removed all the scratches and stains and only in one place which I will never reveal did I almost ruin the veneer. This weekend I vacuumed and made my clean room clean. Btw, it worked really well to contain the dust as I sanded which kept the house clean and the wife migraine free. I’ve now taped the windows and am preparing to apply my first coat of stain! This is good. Hopefully by next weekend (or the end of February at the latest), we will have our window complete.
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Today’s home improvement project complete
I was visited by Tim Allen!
And now I can proceed with sanding, cleaning, staining and sealing the bay window.
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What time is it?
Why it is Home Depot time!
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Staining the bay window
We installed a bay window on the front of the house a little less than a year ago. They warned that we should paint or stain it immediately. I haven’t stained wood since I was a child so I hesitated. We picked out a stain and waited. And waited. The children played in the window. They dried their paintings in the window. Walked their muddy feet in the window. The dogs with their long nails climbed in the window. The cat scratched in the window. And now, I proceed with damage control…a sander and a prayer that the wood is more solid and less veneer. Today the process of staining begins which means turning the bay window into a clean room in a house that has dog hair, cat hair, and human hair floating through the air like fog.
I’ll resist the meth jokes. Yo.
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At war with my house
My garage looks like it could do a guest appearance on the television Hoarders. This weekend I declared war on that garage and made significant progress yesterday. Today the battle continues!
Update: I’ve dug out our commercial grade deep freezer! There is food in there that reads "best used by 7/1/09." Yuck.
Update: The garage has gone through a major transformation. I performed archaeology. Found things long since forgotten. Threw away a lot. Created a large donation pile for Ladies of Charity. And transformed the garage from a good candidate for Hoarders to a good candidate for This Old House or the Martha Stewart show. I hope to work this hard on the house every weekend.
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Something has changed
Why yes! There’s some before and after and more before and after.
