Posts from the ‘Home Projects’ category

Saturday chores

Yesterday was a chore day… first up was dusting and cleaning floors. I don’t do these things on any kind of schedule…I dust when the sun shines at such an angle that it forces me to notice that I can write my name in the dust on shelves, etc. Although I vacuum the floor nearly daily, because it is wood, I am fairly sure that all I accomplish with the vacuum is blowing the dust, hair and dirt to the edges and under things where it forms gigantic dust bunnies. They hide until someone visits and then they skitter out to betray my “only when things get desperate” style of housekeeping.

I noticed that in the last several days the floor was feeling a bit gritty – that is my signal that it is time to get serious. In the living room, I picked up the pet bed and put it on the back of a chair while I worked in there.

“Where my bed goes, I goes”…

Next up on the chore list was firewood. I have about 1/3 of a cord of small larch pine that was cut to length for my stove 2 years ago. I had cut several small live trees that were in the way of the motorhome spot and they are now nice and dry – easy to split and ready for a nice crackly fire – the larch “spits excessively” – snap, crackle, pop in the stove.

My method of splitting I call aerobic splitting…

I like to set 3 or 4 logs in a semicircle and take a whack at them in succession. I use a splitting maul vs a hammer and wedge. Splitting wood is more about letting the tool and momentum do the work vs strength, but it does take some effort to swing the maul with accuracy and to coordinate motion so that body and maul weight is doing most of the work. I find that the rhythm of doing several at once works for me.

Karl supervises….from a distance.

They all split on first whack – but some I split again. I’m splitting these small larch fairly small to use as fire starter and small fire fuel. I have a stock of larger fir and pine for larger, longer stove use.

Wheelbarrow full from 7 smallish rounds.

Karl and I had taken a walk before the wood splitting commenced. The walk was partially my “warm up”. I hadn’t done any hand splitting for 2 years. The fall I moved into the house I bought 4 cords of wood and the handyman that worked for me at the time had a splitter which we used. And while feeding the splitter and then stacking is still work, it was much faster and easier. I have nearly 3 cords of dry wood leftover from the logging done in early 2007. I am doing a wonderful trade with my friends Kris and her husband, Hal. Some of my computer/photography expertise for Hal cutting the wood to length, as well as taking down several dying trees and downfall that can dry for next year. I will rent a splitter for that project, but until then I enjoy hand-splitting a bit now and then.

I split 14 rounds – 2 wheelbarrows full – 1/4 of the little 1/3 cord…enough for me for the day!

Karl thought it was enough also.

We played “Karl’s rules soccer-football”….

“You get it, Mom”

Done for the day.

No boundaries

aka the continuing saga of the “little” front porch project that grew… ( good idea #2 and first phase front porch tell the start of the tale if you need to catch up)

When we last left off, after stripping, sanding and watersealing the porch floor and then deciding to remove the porch rails…one section of the porch rails had come off easily.

The remaining sections were giving me fits. The screws were kind of sort of countersunk, painted over and who knows how long in the wood. A few came out easily and the rest I couldn’t budge. I was working with a cordless drill that has a few issues so before resorting to digging screws out with a chisel and hand turning with vise grips, I bought a corded drill – more oomph, less $$$ than a cordless with enough power – I hoped – for this job.

I was teased into believing that things would go swimmingly as the first screws that I tried with the new drill came out – not easily, but with a little back and forthing they did come out. Ultimately, each section had 1 or 2 that I still couldn’t budge.

Sunday, I started on the digging out of the remaining screws. It took 1/2 an hour of huffing and puffing to chisel enough wood out to get the grips on the screw head and hand crank the first screw out. And that screw had a head in good shape – most of the others did not.

Before starting the Sunday work, I made a trip to the hardware for screw bits to replace 2 I’d broken working with the cordless. I stopped at the construction counter and conferred about my task. The consensus was that it was either what I was doing or “if they were doing it, they’d use a sawzall and cut the nails”.

Yesterday, I was passing the tool rental place…short story, rented a sawzall and cut the remaining nails. I have to admit that I am intimidated by saws. I have a circular saw – but am still not overly comfortable with saws. I had no problems with the sawzall on the nails, though – until getting to the last 3 nails. Problem there was the sections were so tight I had trouble getting the blade in and broke a blade in the effort. Enter my neighbor Mike, who was returning my pie plate (empty! – it had 1/2 a cherry pie in it when it when his way!). Showing that “no good deed goes unpunished”, he helped me with the remaining 3 cuts and now the front porch looks like this:

I love the feel of openness – I’m getting used to the look.

Next step, prep for painting and the upper “western-look” bracing ala this porch:

Onward!

The front porch project

So, last Saturday’s good idea #2 – decided in a sunny moment on the way home from the grocery escalated from “Oh, this would be a good time to pressure wash the front porch ” to a mini construction project.

My thoughts as I rented the pressure washer were that I’d spend a pleasant, warm afternoon spraying the porch, then have a couple of warm days to let it fully dry, ending with applying a coat of water seal. The reality was that it took a good day and a half with the pressure washer AND stripper and still I didn’t get all of the paint.

Above, after the wash and strip operation…

Monday morning, I returned the pressure washer and asked about renting a belt sander. Now, I’ve never actually used a belt sander, but I knew what they looked like and in theory how they worked. I have an orbit sander but it would leave swirly marks. The rental place “had” a belt sander but they told me that its motor was kaput. I must have looked forlorn enough … they retrieved the thing which had no plug, wired a new plug and turned it on. It only worked on high speed. They said I could take it and if it didn’t work for me, no charge. They suggested that I use it for a short time and then let it cool off – perfect as that is exactly how I like to work! Off I went with my high speed belt sander and a bunch of sandpaper for it.

I assembled the tool of minor destruction, along with safety and comfort gear…

The sander and I got along well – both it and I were good for 4 boards the length of the porch and then it was break and cool off time. It turns out that working with a belt sander on hands and knees is pretty much the equivalent of a full body workout – holding the position and holding the belt sander as it wants to scurry across the porch – it was fun…

And did you know??? – there are people who modify and race belt sanders???

-that second site contains a “how to modify your belt sander for racing”… I’m sticking to using this one for its intended purpose. But if computer programming work dries up I might make a workout video featuring a belt sander – I was plenty tired and a little bit on the sore side the next day, but I liked the way the porch was looking!

I had some trouble getting the paint off the board nearest the house, despite the fact that some of the house paint came off. Can of worms#1 – I decide that I will get some 1×4, paint it and make my own “floor trim” to camoflage that ugly area where the porch and house meet.

Applying the water seal went pretty well. I had a “paint pad on a stick” and splurged on Thompson’s Advanced One Coat water seal.

As I was applying the water seal and thinking about the trim and how I liked how things were looking, the porch rails started bothering me. When I finished with the water seal, I started looking at how things were put together and realized that the horizontal rail sections were just that – sections. I walked away and looked at the porch… Can of worms #2 – I decide to remove the rail sections. The porch is on grade so rails are decorative, not a safety feature. This is the west – I decide to see if a western look will work – adding some upper braces to the uprights – like on the porch below:

And then – Can of worms #2b – as long as I’m doing that, I might as well get rid of the blue trim that I dislike…I pick up paint samples:

I’m not sure the colors in the photos are representing well – I selected Evening Hush …I think…- a dark gray with a bit of blue as it looked best against the existing house color as well as picked up the gray-blue of the tree trunks. Looking at the photos I may check again…like the Beluga as well as the other very dark gray-browns…we’ll see.

Back to the rails – they are not proving to be as easy to remove as I’d hoped – screws painted over some time ago – some come out easily, some I’m going to have to dig out and undo with a wrench – not something I have the endurance to do in one session.

But I did get one section off and I have all but 2 screws out of the section it is leaning against in the above. Next week’s workout will feature sessions dismantling the rail sections. The painting I can do a bit at a time on warm nice days as they occur. Things may look a bit “patchwork” as I progress but ultimately for not too much money and a bit of effort I believe I will be much happier with the exterior.

Friday night I started putting things back on the porch – I’ll have to shuffle a bit as I work on trim and paint but much as I enjoyed the time “in the front yard”, I was ready to be back on the front porch.

Thus ends this chapter of the Front Porch project!

Herb Garden, cont’d.

See Herb Garden, Part 1 for the start of this project to turn the previous owner’s leftover topsoil aka Karl’s dirt pile into an Herb Garden…

The pile has been weeded and some garden weed and feed applied. I smoothed it out mostly in the shape I think I want and have been putting a few rocks in the vicinity in preparation for making a rock border and maybe a few here and there in the “garden” for “interest”.

Last weekend I went to the nursery, clutching my “Swan Bucks” (nursery coupons) only to find that they do not have any herbs left. Same story 2 other places. Sooooo… decided that I would let the snow do what it will to my shape and start looking for seeds and plants in the Spring. The garden catalogs always have ideas for “planned” gardens and although I don’t necessarily want that, I decided I probably need some help in what looks good as far as mixing the height of things. And I might add some perennials that make pretty cut flowers for the house – there are a few that the deer don’t like – at least the nursery says so…I haven’t consulted the deer…

Although not a casualty to the deer, one of my hanging baskets gave up the ghost last week. The blue lobelia went first – I’m thinking too much sun as I know it likes shade. The lobelia died in both baskets, but everything (mountain bells) died in the smaller. I finally put the thing out of its misery, moved the remaining basket to a hanger on the garage and got 2 baskets of petunias from the end of the year 50% off sale. Hopefully, all will hang in until the snow flies… It was impatiens that did so well last year.

A little weather note … 2 months ago yesterday, it snowed about 4 inches here. We had our longest, little “heat wave” this past week of 3 days that barely hit 90. This morning it is 44 and maybe will make it out of the 70’s… with another mini-heat wave of 3 days due this weekend. After this weekend we are past the mid-point of August and although September and even October can have beautiful warm (upper 70’s) days – the days are getting noticeably shorter, the light is changing – we are headed towards Fall! I love this time, love Fall – this morning’s cool, crispness is a wonderful signal that it is not far off!

Fire in the hole!

Oh, not really…

But, yesterday – August 1 – the chimney sweep, Doug Heil, was here and swept the chimney. I am ready for fall fires in the woodstove.

But, January, 2006, I DID have a fire in the hole…chimney. It was frightening on several fronts…

I was sound asleep at all of 10:30. The living room smoke detector went off and before I even jumped out of bed, the bedroom one chimed in – the wood burning stove chimney, well actually the stove pipe, was glowing red and the stove was trying to “breath” and smoke started pouring out so I grabbed Bob’s carrier and literally threw him in it, called to Karl to “load up”. Karl was out the front door and by the garage door before I got to the garage. We were in the Jeep and down the driveway toute suite… but – no flames so I left the Jeep running (down past the house!) and tiptoed back – things looked a little calmer. It was VERY smoky but the stove had stopped heaving so I grabbed computers and small electronics – still no flames… opened windows and doors, took down the smoke alarms and removed batteries – they were all going off – it was pretty dramatic and VERY loud.

So… what to do. Ironically I did not call the Fire Department. I was due at my first meeting later that week, it was Sunday night and knowing the department is all volunteer – anyway, stupid but I thought, well, no flames and those guys are all home with families. So…. Moved the Jeep to a spot off the driveway by the road – came back to the house – moved the motorhome down the driveway past the house – moved pets and all stuff and me into the motorhome. About midnight, the smoke had cleared so I put fresh batteries in all the alarms and reset them – none went off. About 1:30 a.m. the stove was stone cold so we went back in the house.

While I was sitting in the motorhome listening and expecting my house to burst into flames, I had a long think about whether I had made the right selections for fire insurance and what I would do if the house burned and it wasn’t as fun as it sounds. It took me the better part of the next week to “recover” – I realized after that I should have called the Fire Department right away. They have a chemical they use plus I would have had company, i.e. less stress versus sitting on my own and thinking about worse case scenarios. I would have been back in the house several hours sooner AND probably saved my chimney which was a $600 hit to replace.

The good news is I learned some things…

Doug Heil is a nice man, knows chimneys, knows wood – he inspected my wood source, was more than fair on charges and got there lickety split.

I need to be vigilant about the condition of my chimney and clean or have it cleaned regularly.

The local fire department crew LIVES for “the run”…don’t hesitate to call again!

My fire insurance is good, I KNOW what it is and what is covered and that I could rebuild and replace the “stuff” if I had to.

My dog and cat…and me as well – we do fine in an emergency…although Bob was a bit miffed at being literally tossed into the carrier.

…maybe not as miffed as I thought. I left the carrier open on this daybed and he went in on his own, not 2 days after the fire drill…

At any rate, neither pet panicked or ran which was a mini-“back of the mind” nightmare I had had on occasion when thinking through what I might need to do in event of a fire.

August 1 – the chimney is clean and ready for Fall.

**in response to questions about the 2nd chimney and the other “thing”…the 2nd chimney is for a wood cookstove in the kitchen. Previous owners had the cookstove but took it with them – I hope – someday to get one so have left the chimney. The other thing is the top of a “light tube” – like a small skylight.

Herb Garden, part 1 aka “stopping to smell the roses” or whatever

Yesterday afternoon I needed a break from programming and was thinking on a little strength training session. But, it was beautiful outdoors – not too hot, nice breeze…so I combined a bit of strength work with the start of my herb garden project.

The “plan” for the herb garden is to smooth out the pile of dirt – topsoil pile left by the last owner and somewhat commandeered by Karl. (see King of the Hill )

The weeds and grass need to be removed. I am going to mow around the pile a bit and surround it with a rock border. I’m not sure what herbs or other things I will plant – I will wait and see what the nursery has when I’m ready. I hope to be ready to go to the nursery by mid-August when they put all perrenials, including herbs on sale. This should work well as I don’t plan on killing myself to get the dirt ready for planting.

This not killing myself to get it all done RIGHT NOW – this is a recently acquired “skill”. In my youth and not so distant past I would have decided it all needed to be done immediately. Yesterday, as I approached the dirt pile with my first wheelbarrow full of rocks and looked at the grass and weeds that needed to be pulled – and I was already hot from picking up rocks – I said to myself…”Hmmm, think I’ll just clean up this one little corner for today”. That’s when it struck me that I’d changed – and the thing is, it is a good change and a change that makes the project more fun than work! I don’t NEED to do it all RIGHT NOW. I can do a bit at a time – taking breaks in my work day to get outside and do something active. And I find myself looking forward to what little bit I might get done today – and enjoying thinking about how I might arrange rocks and what plants I might get…some day…

This change to doing projects a bit at a time – yes, partly due to the fact that it is not as easy at 52, almost 53 to work physically hard for hours, but it is driven more by an appreciation for enjoying the moment and the task versus a “just get it done” attitude.

I cleaned up the little corner of the dirt pile, dumped my first load of small rocks and took a moment to look at the progress. The sun warmed dirt and just pulled weeds and grass had that “working in the garden” smell. Karl was working on a stick nearby. It was a simple, joyful, moment – one I might have missed if all I had in mind was getting it done.

I’ve got plenty of rocks to choose from…

Enjoying the moment, smelling the dirt, feeling the sunshine…Herb Garden, part 1.