Soffits Begone
We’re making slow progress. I’m tearing a little out at a time so I can fill our 64 gallon garbage bin to the hilt every week, thereby minimizing the weight I wind up trucking to the dump and paying (by … Continue reading
Tag Archives: home
Another Builder Ripoff
While exposing the framing in our house, I noticed that the builder used 2x4s which are made of cutoffs and scraps that have been finger jointed together. The entire kitchen is framed with this shite. I’m absolutely astonished – and … Continue reading
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Tagged home, home improvement, kitchen remodel, lot 4
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The Kitchen – Part 2
The trim and cabinets are a very cheap grade of particleboard (sawdust and glue, actually) with a plastic coating that serves as a finish. In some places, the bond has failed, and the surface coating is peeling away from the … Continue reading
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Tagged home, home improvement, kitchen remodel, lot 4
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Legerdemain and PFM – 5
When removing cabinets alone, it is helpful to stack sawhorses as a support while you remove the mounting hardware. I have two horses, a saw pony (what else would you call a 1/2 sized sawhorse?) and scrap 2 x 4s … Continue reading
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Tagged home, home improvement, kitchen remodel, lot 4, tools techniques
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The Kitchen Begins
In terms of scope, time, energy and cost, the kitchen remodel is probably the largest project we will ever undertake on our home. Of course, it will also give us our single biggest boost in equity position as well. I … Continue reading
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Tagged home, home improvement, kitchen remodel, lot 4
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Limit Switch
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
Retaining Wall – Part 4
It’s like being a kid again – stacking up blocks!
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Tagged concrete, home, home improvement, lot 4, retaining wall
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Retaining Wall – Part 3
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
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Tagged concrete, home, home improvement, lot 4, retaining wall
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The Retaining Wall – Part 2
The forms are in, and I hope to hell I measured properly for the rebar location…
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Tagged concrete, home, home improvement, lot 4, retaining wall
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The Retaining Wall – Part 1
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
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Tagged concrete, home, home improvement, lot 4, retaining wall
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Horseshit & Gunsmoke
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
Lucky Find
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
Kitchen Sink Redux
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
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Tagged home, home improvement, kitchen, kitchen remodel, lot 4
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Damage
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
“It’ll Be Just Like New!”
Camille and her sister Jenifer survey the estate on our initial walk-through. “Hey! This isn’t bad… Just replace the counter top, and it’ll be like new!” It is tragicomic – when we first walked through, the countertops screamed out “REPLACE … Continue reading