The Home Improvement Thread

[Oswego]

Neighbors culturally opposed to dogs and leaves them outside 24/7 with no dog house to keep warm or human interaction to stay sane or trained. Dogs are going crazy I assume, but better than going to the AWA and being put down. Current owner (Old school Chinese lady) was forced to take care of them when her daughter got hooked on smack.

Ive spent so much time talking to them while working on my fence line this year I'm the only person on the court they do not bark at. The German Shepard would bark and snap right in my face through the chain link fence as I was fixing my beds. I put a stop to that real quick & lead that pack now

 

[Anathollo]

my neighbors dogs have created a mud track that does a complete circle around their house. Saw it from my roof last week

I added another stone at one of my gates this morning. all the pinch points of traffic that are heavily traveled will get one or two. also going to center the middle slab at the garden gate so it looks better. I was tired and cold by the time I got to them last night so they got flopped on the ground w/little thought.

still no idea where I want to put my chinenia. Been here 16 years and to date never found a good spot for my fire pit or chiminea. Guess thats my subconscious telling me I can't find one I'm happy with because there are none for me in suburbia so GTFO as soon as possible

My family's old lab/chow mix wore a track around the yard at my moms because he would patrol the yard all the time. As he got older and wore out, he would just patrol when he heard us pull up in the driveway

 

[Oswego]

My lab had a trail at our fence line growing up but that was mostly from trying to dig himself to freedom

I'd have to walk it all the time filling holes and adding fence under the ground.

These dogs do the same crap + also wearing an inner trail around the house as well.

I had to take 2' rebar and secure the bottom of the chain link fence this summer because they were undermining it into my yard to the point I could no longer use my lawnmower on the fence line - that pissed me off big time.

repairs

 

[Oswego]

Got tired of the anxiety I was causing myself by not hearing from or seeing the inspector and knowing I have exceeded his time limit. Every time I see the mailman I was starting to wonder if he would deliver another notice of violation or worse yet a fine or court hearing.

Decided to get off my ass and call him. Also called the big mans secretary in the bldg dept. to add some things to my demo permit like the window and door I removed and sheathed over last week. Neither answered @ noon so I left voicemails.

20 minutes ago my phone rings and they are both on the call. Apparently they share an office. Got that all knocked out in 10 minutes and everyone's happy with no need for any anxiety. Inspector said I was doing good work and to keep up the progress - he's still not pleased I have no front steps . He said was out today to check it out - I had no clue he was here today - need to check the trail cams later

 

[Oswego]

Just scheduled an "E-waste" pick up for Monday at the house. Guy who handles e-waste is the same guy who handles yard waste so we BS'd for a while and I thanked him for all the help with my trees in summer. Guys super cool.

Saying by by to my first TV along with a ton of other out of date tech junk (First Tivo produced/etc.) . I had forgotten how much these old sob's weighted until I picked it up. TV is deeper than it's width or height. Think is a 13" screen with 20" case and about 30" deep

 

[Silverback]

I had to look that model up.. I had an old RCA tv about that same timeframe. Damn if it didn't look identical to that model. Don't recall what model mine was.

 

[Oswego]

Thats her. She still works. I had to plug it in and check.

It's been sitting in a room since about 2005 untouched.

had everything from Atari 2600 to a Playstation hooked to it back in the day.

This little bad boy made me realize very early on I had won the genetic battle of being easily addicted to adrenaline.

a few months after the OG gran turismo came out I realized what a junky I had become so I quit and never took it back up. Had I continued I'd prob be 350# sloth or dead.

they really had you by the balls before memory cards existed to continue play or shut down the consuls and start back up later with builds

Pretty cool to reminisce about but I'm hoping the freedom from all the old material items is a much better feeling.

Some would call it a midlife crisis - I'd call it a midlife clarity. But thats what the Scientologist told me to market

 

[Anathollo]

Replaced a burned out fan/light combo on my moms upstairs bathroom yesterday. Took me most of the day to reframe the existing opening and re-do the odd wiring layout (old light was controlled by two switches, one switch was On, and the other switch was an Auto/night light setting).

The new fan/light combo is pretty slick. The LED in it can be 2400k, 4000k or 5000k with the flick of a button.

 

[Oswego]

Replaced a burned out fan/light combo on my moms upstairs bathroom yesterday. Took me most of the day to reframe the existing opening and re-do the odd wiring layout (old light was controlled by two switches, one switch was On, and the other switch was an Auto/night light setting).

The new fan/light combo is pretty slick. The LED in it can be 2400k, 4000k or 5000k with the flick of a button.

I'm not looking forward to renovating my second bathroom. The electrical sounds similar except I can touch the switch from inside the shower.... *ZAP*

Actually have two fans in the ceiling and neither works Every house up here vents their bathrooms directly into the attic...

When I'm done Ill have one of the very few houses with their vents ducted to the outside for every bathroom (I added one a decade ago for the master).




Got the last of the windows I needed today. Had to go to three stores because HD's inventory was so off at the first two. Told the cashier at the last store that her store was by and far the best and actually kept good inventory and she ended up taking 10% off. Fat old jolly lady reminded me of Chris Kringle's wife

only one of the four I grabbed today needed to be fixed. Ill work on that after lunch and hopefully I can fix it otherwise in the car I go for 2 more hrs returning it. Figures the best looking box had the most damaged window in it ~ also the largest window

 

[Taco Loco]

I'm not looking forward to renovating my second bathroom. The electrical sounds similar except I can touch the switch from inside the shower.... *ZAP*

Actually have two fans in the ceiling and neither works Every house up here vents their bathrooms directly into the attic...

When I'm done Ill have one of the very few houses with their vents ducted to the outside for every bathroom (I added one a decade ago for the master).




Got the last of the windows I needed today. Had to go to three stores because HD's inventory was so off at the first two. Told the cashier at the last store that her store was by and far the best and actually kept good inventory and she ended up taking 10% off. Fat old jolly lady reminded me of Chris Kringle's wife

View attachment 31959

only one of the four I grabbed today needed to be fixed. Ill work on that after lunch and hopefully I can fix it otherwise in the car I go for 2 more hrs returning it. Figures the best looking box had the most damaged window in it ~ also the largest window

The HD on the Southside closet to me sucks, all the homeless have stole all their carts,

here is what was available at 9am.

Picked up 14 of the 80lber’s

 

[Silverback]

Leafs handled it nicely it seems.

 

[tex]

What are the plans for that concrete? Fence posts?

 

[Taco Loco]

Leafs handled it nicely it seems.

yup, I have loaded 20 boxes/50#er’s of clay before.

 

[Taco Loco]

What are the plans for that concrete? Fence posts?

Yup

 

[tex]

Yup

I'm busy that weekend

 

[Silverback]

I'm not, I'll come down and supervise/drink beer... tell you when the post is level. Let me know when.

 

[Taco Loco]

I'm not, I'll come down and stupidvise/drink beer... tell you when the post is level. Let me know when.

fify

 

[Oswego]

The HD on the Southside closet to me sucks, all the homeless have stole all their carts,

here is what was available at 9am.
View attachment 31976

Picked up 14 of the 80lber’s
View attachment 31977

Dang and here I thought mine were crap holes. Your HD makes ours look like a mansion.

Last one I stopped at must have had 6+ figures in rental equipment on trailers in their parking lot & 50 flat carts at the contractors entrance.

Pretty sure even our scrapyards in Camden would refuse orange carts and they chop up cars and ship parts to Africa weekly

I'm still waiting for wood prices to drop before I replace my fence. Just had to throw out (2) 80# bags of concrete I let get moist

 

[Oswego]

Concrete guys got me good today.

I spent hrs doing layout for grade weeks ago.....then built the first bed and didn't think anything of it.

Now that I'm on bed #2 I'm noticing the mistake and I'm not happy about it.

Morons didn't lay out the sidewalk so it's parallel to the house.

I should of realized it when I did bed #1 that one side was 68" and the other 72".

Cut my 4x4's at 72" this morning and didn't notice how bad it looked until I was wrapping it up a couple min ago. and took this pic looking down the line

Now I'm not happy. Spent my carer making other peoples mistakes go away visually, but this one got me.

Good news is the only way to truly square it all up is cut out the sidewalk and do it right/parallel.

If this was my forever home I'd do it cause my sidewalk has sunk at one end and is a ice slick in winter or puddle in summer, but I also wouldn't be putting wood 4x4's that will rot in a decade into the landscaping plan.

It will need to be what it is. Stairs should help break it up visually + plants. Tomorrow Ill finish up, lay down some fabric, lay out for some plants, then rock it.

 

[Silverback]

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