The Home Improvement Thread

[Oswego]

Are you going to pour a concrete porch or make it out of wood?

PT wood frame topped with trex or similar + a vinyl handrail. What we spoke of previously with 6 stupid sonotube concrete footers. Will be 72" wide x 68" deep with a 25" rise in height and three steps.

Can't build them until I have plans approved and Ive been slacking on drawing them up. Every-time I sit down to do them it reminds me too much of my old job and I only get a little done before I jump to go do something else. Basically been doing everything but the shit I need to get done in order to get the inspector off my back

After I get the steps done I'm done with the inspectors violation list. Then Ill just see him for the final framing inspection but thats got nothing to do with my violations he wrote me up for.

No matter how motivated I am I am still my own worst enemy as usual

I just keep telling myself it's easier to dig frozen dirt for 6 holes vs grade and level a 500sqft bed of frozen dirt. Tomorrow Ill be done the bed and out of excuses to draw

 

[Silverback]

How deep does the frozen ground go? Chop it with a pick-ax.. rent an auger... done.

 

[Oswego]

It's not bad right now. Nights in the low 20's with day temps in the mid 40's. I started digging about noon today and just the top inch or so was crusty, but this bed faces East so it was in the sun since it rose this morning.

Ground in my backyard was hard all day because the house blocks the sun.

House is on a court so it's placement to the sun is horrible.

 

[PSU Taco85]

Going up to 55° Saturday. I got my shorts and tshirt ready to go.

 

[Anathollo]

Going up to 55° Saturday. I got my shorts and tshirt ready to go.

55°??? That's jacket + two layer weather down here in the Devil's gooch called Houston, Texas. I finally get to use the steering wheel and seat heater that I paid for...

 

[balakay]

55 is jeans and a t-shirt weather. Maybe a super light jacket if the wind picks up good.

 

[Anathollo]

55 is jeans and a t-shirt weather. Maybe a super light jacket if the wind picks up good.

I was just kidding

 

[Oswego]

shit my thin ass can't handle the cold like I used to. An extra 50lbs of flab apparently is a good insulator I now miss, but Ill take having to wear another layer vs my body feeling like crap

 

[Oswego]

Root slowed me down so I didn't finish yesterday. That plus 2hrs on the phone Ill address in the covid thread. Didn't get real cold last night and going up to 50* today so I can start the party outside earlier and get a few more hrs to work on my tan

 

[Oswego]

finally done (for now till siding) - that took longer than expected.

Hindsight being 20/20 I really screwed up my scheduling/order of work. I should of done my front yard in summer/fall, not the backyard. Sure winter will be better for planing these beds out, but not growing grass around their perimeter or the pathway I removed.

Think I'm going to throw some topsoil on it and seed it with something nuclear/genitally modified that will hopefully start growing. Think the grass Ive been planting needs 50 or 60* ground temps to even start germinating. Sod is NOT an option

Live and learn.

 

[Oswego]

looking at the pic I may have angled the slopes a little too aggressive. can't even see the farthest 4x4 from the most popular perspective.

Oh well - the foundation will approve when we get rain

and it does look good from the road

soon as it dries Ill give it a coat of wet & forget to get rid of the green

 

[PSU Taco85]

looking at the pic I may have angled the slopes a little too aggressive. can't even see the farthest 4x4 from the most popular perspective.

Oh well - the foundation will approve when we get rain

and it does look good from the road

soon as it dries Ill give it a coat of wet & forget to get rid of the green

did you use 4x4s? I got some beefy timber’s from fazzios when I did my yard. Think they were 4x10x12. I buried about 7” into the ground and have the other 3” to provide border for the stones.

 

[Oswego]

did you use 4x4s? I got some beefy timber’s from fazzios when I did my yard. Think they were 4x10x12. I buried about 7” into the ground and have the other 3” to provide border for the stones.

Used 4x4's. They might last 15 years max, but thats not my problem hopefully.

Ones in my backyard are rotting away right now that I put in when I moved in. Less wood underground the better IMHO.

This is quick and cheap, if this was my forever house I'd of used some cor 10 steel from Fazios so it lasts forever or masonry but in our climate that would need maintenance.

These may last a little longer than my backyard cause I put more time into install by removing all the native top soil, packing down sand, then adding 2" of fine gravel chips, packing down, then the wood. Backyard I just put ontop of topsoil.

Live and learn - you'll be where I am in a decade or so when you have to replace them. House I grew up in I remember helping dad put in railroad ties. Old school kreasote ones. We did all our beds and all the brick walkways and they all rotted out. My mom used to even top coat them w/kreasote but they got infested from below

Why I like these threads....so someone else doesn't do what we did if they want the buy once cry once type results. Wood in dirt in NJ climate w/NJ termites = insta rot.

 

[Anathollo]

Live and learn - you'll be where I am in a decade or so when you have to replace them. House I grew up in I remember helping dad put in railroad ties. Old school kreasote ones. We did all our beds and all the brick walkways and they all rotted out. My mom used to even top coat them w/kreasote but they got infested from below

Why I like these threads....so someone else doesn't do what we did if they want the buy once cry once type results. Wood in dirt in NJ climate w/NJ termites = insta rot.

I think everyone used railroad ties back in the day. My father used them for all garden beds on the rent houses and his house. I tore them out decades later where they rotted out from underneath like yours.

 

[Oswego]

I wish I had pictures. Our backyard and the marina had so many rail road ties and telephone poles they looked like a Bell telephone stockyard, because thats what my dad turned them into

From backstops for holding dirt for shooting @ home to piles and poles down the marina......he stocked up from work to get it all done and then some

Took me years to get rid of that shit after they divorced. The DEP was killing me for using that stuff down @ the marina ......well that and the old/used 500 gallon oil tanks we used as floats back in the day.

In one year they had me stop using any kreasote, shut down both my moms rental houses (waste ran directly into the river just like every house on the river), and forced me to change barrel types to plastic 50 gallon. Little did they know the only barrels we could get back then for cheap was old chemical barrels. Now you can get juice concentrate barrels easily but back then it was crazy chemicals and I'd know because I pealed off all the labels

Prob why I'm spending the last half of my life cleaning up crap because I spent the first half trashing it

 

[Oswego]

The Tacoma Parts room is officially no more. Turned her into my bedroom/office/packing & organizing station.

Grabbed a ton of organizing stuff today that was finally on sale and got to packing.

Also gave the neighbors kid all my old LED's, PIA 510's I used to have on the Tacoma and a bunch of other car/tool related stuff.

The purge of the shed is done. First floor is almost done. Basement is going to suck when I get down to it - 1/2 the craps not mine.

 

[Anathollo]

The Tacoma Parts room is officially no more. Turned her into my bedroom/office/packing & organizing station.

Grabbed a ton of organizing stuff today that was finally on sale and got to packing.

View attachment 32172

Also gave the neighbors kid all my old LED's, PIA 510's I used to have on the Tacoma and a bunch of other car/tool related stuff.

The purge of the shed is done. First floor is almost done. Basement is going to suck when I get down to it - 1/2 the craps not mine.

Nice!

 

[Silverback]

I have two of those big red Husky storage totes, I really like them.

 

[Oswego]

I have two of those big red Husky storage totes, I really like them.

I got one a month or so ago at reg price just to check it out & put all my bedding in it.

Yesterday before I doubled down and bought more I tested out the stuff I had gotten previously.

I put all the bins in the shower and cranked it on high/hot for 20 minutes. Any bins that leaked I returned. Any bins that didn't leak I bought more of. Husky and Sterilite won out. Both brands held up great and were/still are onsale. Also both brands are made in the USA.

Husky had a lifetime warranty and lids that are hard to lose so I got a bunch. Think I got 3 or 4 of the 12 gallon, 2 of the 20 gallon, and 3 of the 5 gallon.

I combined all my freeze dried food into one of the 12 gallon bins last night, my 2 paintball face masks into 1 of the 5 gallons, and all my hammocks and tarps into 1 of the 20 gallons. So far so good. Ill be removing my bedding and putting that into a $6 HDX 30 gallon bin because who cares about that stuff . Only using the Husky bins for fragile/expensive/life saving stuff.

 

[Boomtacoma01]

I've been tearing into my backyard as of late. The eves of my garage on the North side were shot and falling apart along with the crappy siding with water damage on the bottom 12" to the slab. Over the last week I replaced all of the eave damage, Fixed the leak which caused it (i hope) and trimmed 24" off the bottom of the garage and replaced with smart siding. I know its not the best option but is was the best match I could find locally. Trimmed everything out with some 1x4s over the spliced area and anything else that was looking rough. The garage and house will be painted this summer sometime along with new roofs on both of them. All of this was in preparation to rip out my deck, a bunch of pavers and replace/extend the current layout. I need to replace the LB connector going into my garage and add a few duplex outlets for some accessories on the covered area of the porch. Just splitting time between this and getting the 2RZ turbo built up. Its only $$ .