The rebar is installed! I’ve used broken pieces of cinder block to support the rebar so it stays in the middle of the four inch slab. I’ve managed to get this far in the project with a minimum of smash … Continue reading
I rented a compacter from Home Depot, and this was my first time using one. They look pretty unimpressive – smallish, but really heavy. I’d seen other people use them, and it looked pretty easy. So imagine my surprise when … Continue reading
The power disconnect for the hot tub has to be at least six feet away from the tub, to prevent people from doing stupid things – like grabbing the main disconnect while they are still in the water. This presents … Continue reading
Now that the wall is set, we can move forward on the hot tub pad, which will be about twelve feet square. I need to install four inches of 5/8 minus gravel, compact it, install rebar into the house foundation, … Continue reading
The closet in our foyer is (was) impossibly dark, so I mounted a fluorescent fixture behind the header inside the closet, and installed a limit switch that opens when the door is closed. Camille opens the door to get her … Continue reading
It’s like being a kid again – stacking up blocks!
More learning experiences. It turns out that mixing mortar is more delicate than I expected, If it is too sloppy (too much water), it will not support the block, and will squeeze out. If it is too stiff (not enough … Continue reading
The forms are in, and I hope to hell I measured properly for the rebar location…
My neighbor’s lot (to the west) is about three feet above ours, and I can tell by the way the plants are growing along the property line that his lot is slowly slumping into ours. The builder should have put … Continue reading
There sure was a party goin’ on in the house diagonally behind ours. It was loud – not rowdy loud, just loud because there were probably two hundred people jammed into the house and backyard. I hit the shower at … Continue reading
Camille is the Craigslist wizard. She managed to find a set of six chairs for sale in Bellevue that are an exact match for the Ethan Allen dining room table we have. Years back, when she bought the dining room … Continue reading
The title of this blog post sounds like the punch line to a bad joke about drugs. Another science experiment, of sorts. Our new driveway has a number of cracks running in multiple directions. I’ve filled them with a caulk … Continue reading
The first year at a new house is an exercise in patience, while you wait for the landscaping to mature in order to find out what kind of maintenance nightmare you bought. Apparently, the last owners just let things go … Continue reading
Camille just cannot live with the crappy kitchen sink we have, and truth be told, I am worried that the faucet is ready to fall apart at any moment, probably when we’re away for the weekend. HA! You might remember … Continue reading
I’ve commented to a number of people that I have discovered that some of the switches in our house are broken. I find this very odd – the house is only 15 years old, the switches are builder original Levitons, … Continue reading