It feels good to have a day where you get a lot done. It has been busy enough that it is worth making a list of things completed. The morning was unexpectedly free when Will didn’t wake up feeling well enough to go to soccer practice (the bad night sleep on Thursday catching up with him):
Took fencing and an old barn sink to the Sawyer farm – returning tools I borrowed from them, and getting 4 dozen eggs.
Finished the new stairs to the second floor of the workshop. Pictures to follow when I feel like going out there and taking some
I got rid of some antique windows, random scrap lumber and some old tractor pieces using Craigslist – and all was picked up today.
I removed the original stairs to the second floor of the barn.
The boys and I made a bonfire, and burned most of the wood from the original stairs.
I moved the drill press and bandsaw to the corner where the old stairs had been.
Lots of cleaning and organizing the workshop(but I still have a ways to go).
Picked up Will’s friend, Tyler, for a sleepover – they are outside playing for now.
Moved the water tank to the second floor.
I still have a little ways to go on the workshop, but the end is in sight. I have to clean up the stairs, add a handrail and a railing in the loft. I still have some shelves to build to finish putting away all the tools – I also need to go through my tools and get rid of ones I don’t need (hello Craigslist). After I complete the work inside, I need to install the large window on the south facing wall, and add exterior trim to all the new windows (and replace the rotted trim on the south facing wall). But overall, the renovation has made the workshop much more usable. All of a sudden it feels like I have nothing but space…
I have been making good progress on the workshop. The biggest part of the renovation is a new set of stairs to the second floor. The current stairs are in the front corner and are too steep, too little headroom, and no landing at the top. Originally there was no handrail, but I put one in last year. One of the other problems is there is no way to close off the second floor so I can heat the first floor.
After much thought and planning (if I haven’t mentioned it, I like to discuss projects endlessly before I actually decide what I’m going to do), I decided to put a new staircase in the back corner. To make the stairs a normal angle, I needed to have the stairs turn a corner. Over the past couple of weeks I have built the wall that will hide the stairs, and have started constructing the stairs themselves.
Saw Till and Hand Plane Storage
I am using the new wall as my hand tool storage (and display) area. It is a work in progress – I have to use the workshop as I am building in it, so I have been adding storage as I go. I had been storing my planes on a shelf, but that is a pretty inefficient way to store them. So for this new wall, I built a storage rack for them. the planes are held in place with a clip and magnet. I used laminated pine shelving that I had laying around (it had in a previous life been part of a stereo cabinet). I also built a saw till. Okay, I built two saw tills. The first one didn’t work so well. I took a 10″ wide piece of lumber I had laying around and cut slots in it to store the saws. Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking and the slots were across the grain. So the fingers between the saws were pretty weak. On try two, I used one of the laminated pine boards and cut the slots going with the grain. This version is much stronger. It holds three back saws and four hand saws. Now I have to get around to sharpening more of the saws.
Cutting the hole for the stairs from above
Over the past couple of weeks I constructed the landing where the stairs will go around the corner. It is framed 2x6s supported by 2x4s. It is mostly level (as well as I could do with the current unlevelness of the barn). The stairs going from the landing up to the second floor will be 46″ wide (it was a good width based on the overhead joists), but the three stairs from the landing down will only be 36″ wide (I had to fit the stairs to end at the support beam, so couldn’t widen the bottom).
After completing the landing, I built the stringers and stairs down to the first floor. It was pretty simple, only 3 stairs down. The top stringers were a little more work, 9 stairs up.
Tonight (with some assistance from Will and Ben) I started cutting the hole in the floor for the stairway. Of course, once I opened up the floor it meant no more kids on the second floor until the stairs are finished – if anyone falls through the hole, hopefully it is one of the cats, and if not a cat, then a dog, and if not a dog then me.
This week I’ll finish cutting the two joists out, and install the stairs. The treads are made from two 2x6s cut to length (and ripped to width). I haven’t decided where to put the light switch for the second floor – either leave it where it is or put it over by the bottom of the stairs. I’ll also need to add a light on the stairs – they are much darker now that they are enclosed.
After the new stairs are built, I’ll tear down the old stairs and cover up the hole from them. Under the stairs will be storage, and a sink (and maybe a urinal – I have a beer/soda machine, power tools, so all I need is a urinal to make it complete). I picked up a 60 gallon water tank on Craigslist that I will use as a water supply. I’ll put the tank on the second floor and let it gravity feed (it would already be on the second floor, but it couldn’t fit up the current stairs).
I also make a good score at a garage sale this weekend. I picked up a new set of chisels (though I may turn them over to Mark at cost – otherwise they are my loaner chisels), a Stanley 4 1/2 smoothing plane in good shape and a Stanley #120 block plane (okay, not the nicest block plane, but it is in pretty good shape compared to my other block planes).
It’s not fine woodworking, but does count as a finished home improvement project. And I finished the project the day I started it. Of course actually keeping the garage clean is itself a never-ending project…
Completed bike rack
I’m just happy that I had time to do a project today. The morning was spent with me rushing to get Will to soccer camp (somehow I was thinking it started at 9:30 when it started at 9 – makes for an interesting morning) and Susanna taking Ben to a birthday party.
After Will’s soccer camp, we swung by the Sawyer family farm to pick up our supply of fresh eggs and home for lunch.
I have been trying to find a way to keep our bicycles organized in the garage. Susanna had cleaned all the toys and junk out of the garage earlier this year, but still the bikes cluttered the space.
I made the bike rack from lumber I had sitting around. The top and bottom is made from a 10-foot long 2×4. The two ends are separated by 29-inch long 3×3 posts that I had been planning to burn if I couldn’t find a use for them. The boys and I found four pieces of 2×4 lumber that I was able to cut to 32-inch long sections to make the posts to support the bike tires. I ripped the 2×4 posts to 1 1/2-inch wide and then attached them to the front of the bike rack (a little over 6-inch space between the posts for each bike, and about 12 inches between bikes). Note to self: pre-drill the holes for the screws when drilling though a narrow piece of lumber before attempting to attach the first post to the frame and splitting the wood. But on a good note, I did learn after only two screws split the wood (so I’m getting closer).
The cleaned out garage bay (at least for now)
I was able to get the garage bay cleaned out and the bikes put back in time for a homemade pizza dinner and movie. There is room to put at least one additional bicycle on the rack if I cleaned out the stuff on the back left wall of the garage – maybe another day.
Total cost for bike rack: $0
Overall thoughts about the project: a quick 1 hour construction project – not the fanciest, but it is in the back of the garage, so not too visible – and with the condition of the garage, no reason to build a fancy bike rack from the hardwood I have in the woodshop.
The movie tonight was “Despicable Me.” The boys had never seen the movie and loved it; I must have seen it on a flight at one time and loved it the second time around.
Okay, I know I have been posting a lot here recently. The good thing is no one is forced to read it (ok, except Susanna). And my life isn’t really that exciting (posting three times in one day is a good sign of how unexciting my life is). In reality, I am am inspired by the booklet I printed from this blog earlier this year. It is a scrapbook of sorts of what I did for 2011. And since I don’t have the patience to sit down once a year and make a scrapbook (or the memory to remember everything I did) – I will turn this into my scrapbook.
Will and Ben were reading though the stories I wrote last year – it reinforces my belief that they should write their own blogs – they are fun to reflect on. I have been encouraging Will and Ben to post once or twice a week.
Hmm.. this really doesn’t have much to do with spring… or spring projects yet.
Workshop step/landing completed
I did complete the two projects I had planned for the day. I finished the footing this morning, and this afternoon I finished the step/landing in front of the workshop. It turned out pretty nice, and will hopefully keep shoes from getting muddy when going to the workshop. I only had to do one extra trip to Home Depot (to get more sand). The lumber was picked up off Craigslist a couple of weeks ago (with the wood I used for the lumber storage rack), and the pavers were left over from the patio.
As you can see from the first picture, I wasn’t the only busy person today. Susanna cleaned out the garage (or at least the bay with the kids toys/bikes) and got the patio furniture out and set up. It was nice to take a break and sit out on the patio for the first time this year. Now she is filling up the bookshelves I finished this morning… It’s nice to not store all our books on the floor.
The weather should be nice this week – though still a little cool in the evening to eat dinner on the patio. I did clean off the bicycle – ready to ride into work tomorrow if it isn’t too cold.
I like to start projects. The trick is finishing them. It is too easy to buy the supplies and then decide to start a different project. I just have to remember how nice it is to finish projects. Like the book shelves.
I made a trip to Home Depot today. But I only got supplies for the projects I plan on finishing today. Like the footing for the additional post for the workshop.
I was able to dig out and pour the footing before lunch. Now I’m hungry. Time to eat before the afternoon projects.
It seems that at least some of the drain plumbing is run outside the house. I wonder if this is just the vent or actual drain line (and yes this is a pretty random post):
Here is the crown molding in the living room. The colors didn’t come out the best – I may have to retake the picture during the day. I finished touching up the wall paint tonight. The trim has a dart and egg pattern on it, but it is subtle. I also felt that the ceiling was too low for “normal” crown molding. The corners are mitered (no coping this time) and the edges caulked where the trim meets the wall and ceiling.
Living room crown molding
And yes, as Susanna pointed out, I still have one project to finish (I did notice that it didn’t take long for her to comment on my post pointing out that I needed to work on patching one of the walls):
Wall repair in progress (the plaster crumbled when I replaced the outlet)
Also, here is the new boiler. I took pictures of the new steam piping as well, but I’m pretty sure just a picture of a boiler is enough to bore everyone. Yesterday we also got a delivery for 245.6 gallons of oil. That is cutting it pretty close on a 250 gallon tank. And will also cost a small fortune. I will spend time this summer doing more work on the windows to hopefully reduce oil use even more next year.
The boiler is a Peerless ECT 03 with a domestic hot water coil. The project included installing the boiler, the direct vent through the window, installing a Hartford loop and replacing steam pipe above the boiler to correct the pipe pitch. The furnace was installed by Curries Heating and Plumbing.
We had a new boiler put in this week. I’m very thankful that the weather wasn’t too cold – there was no heat for two days (okay, really for one night). The heating company did give us portable heaters, and hook up a temporary hot water heater, so we weren’t totally left in the cold. The new system was on-line yesterday evening, and today they finished flushing the system and adding new air valves to the radiators.
It should be a major improvement. The installer said I would probably get a 40% savings on oil from the new system (I’ll have to wait to see on that one), and we won’t have problems with hot water. The old boiler also had a hot-water on demand system, but it couldn’t heat water up fast enough for the normal usage in the house (it worked for a shower, but not if anyone else used any hot water). The new one is working much better (we tried it last night). The other big change is that it is power-vented out the basement window. I can now have the chimney taken down, which greatly eases the next renovations in the house (putting a bathroom on the second floor and redoing the kitchen). The chimney went in the middle of one of the upstairs bedrooms and in the wall between the kitchen and pantry.
I probably will wait until later this summer to have the chimney taken down to below the roof line (I’ll take it down the rest of the way as needed for renovations).
My dad visited for the weekend and helped me finish one more of the outstanding projects. We installed the crown molding in the living room. I painted the trim on Monday evening. Tonight I’ll touch up the wall paint were the tape pulled a couple of (small) sections off.
So, for once, I don’t think I have any ongoing projects. All the house projects are done, and I don’t have anything in the workshop. Maybe I’ll go with Will on Saturday to the lumber yard, and we can get plywood for the bookshelves.
It seems like all I write about is fixing the windows in this house. Maybe one of these days I’ll have something more exciting to write. I’m pretty sure Susanna is getting tired of having to check out each window after I paint the trim and put in a storm window. And to top it off, she gets to read more about it in this blog…
I think we finally committed to a trim color scheme. It is Rookwood Dark Green (Sherwin-Williams) trim with Rookwood Dark Brown accent colors. We are still discussing what color to paint the house (I’m thinking that the house may get painted next summer – so I’ll live with unmatched trim for a while – I think the white is a bit to bright compared to the dark trim). I also found out that Will has a difficult time telling the difference between the green and brown trim colors.
Painting the storm window
I dug out all the existing storm windows from the basement (and barn) yesterday. I started repairing the one that is in poor shape and painting the rest.
I installed the new storm window hanging hardware from Kilian Hardware. It is much nicer (and a lot more expensive at $20/set). I had been trying to find a better way to latch the storm windows in – and these seem perfect.
I’m guessing this will be the last long warm weekend of the year to work on the house – which is good – I’m almost out of green trim paint and am holding out until the spring to get another gallon.
A not so clear picture of the new latch - it fits over the exterior stop and pulls the window tight
In addition to a busy day working on the house, we had a crazy kids day here. A little before lunch, the boy next door, Justin, came over to play. Then after lunch, Ben invited his best friend, Anthony, over. A little later, Will’s best friend, Shane, came over. Everyone stayed through dinner (homemade pizza) and a movie (“Matilda”). Justin and Anthony went home, and Shane stayed over for a sleepover (Will’s first and Shane’s first at another house).
So, here we are at 9pm, with Will and Ben asleep, and Shane down here talking to Susanna. It is never easy to sleep in a new place.
Two windows with painted trim and storm windows installed. Window sashes will be brown when I get to repairing them.Front porch with trim painted.The boys watching "Matilda" (picture thanks to Susanna)
I’ve started the outside window work that I want to complete this fall… storm windows. The goal is to replace as many of the crappy storm windows as possible. I set up the scaffolding below one of the windows in Ben’s room and took off the storm window. I am taking the time to paint the trim when the storm window is out.
Broken exterior stop
When I removed the storm window, I found the exterior stop cracked. I pulled out the bottom half of the stop, and milled a replacement (which I installed this week). Note to self: it would be much easier to install the stop with a nail gun next time. It was a real pain to hold the stop next to the window and nail it in on the same time…. a nail gun would have solved that problem. It doesn’t help that the scaffolding is a little short for working on that window as well (yes, I’ll get pins to stack the scaffolding before the next window).
Susanna and I decided to paint the trim green around the windows. It looks much better – I’ll take pictures the next day it isn’t raining. We are thinking about painting the storm windows brown.
This past weekend I dug out one of the old original (wooden) storm windows to replace one of the broken aluminum storm windows in the living room. I removed the glass and primed and painted half of the storm window. Next to paint the rest and hang the window. I ordered more glazing compound and a new style of window hanger (they look much better than the ones I had been using). I also ordered some weatherstripping to put between the storm window and the stop.
This weekend I’ll get the brown paint for the storm windows, and hopefully get some of the storm windows installed and more of the trim around the windows painted. Thursday I’ll swing by the glass store to get replacement panes for the original storm windows and see my options for removable panes for the storm windows on the second floor… Let’s see how much I get done before the weather gets cold.
