DIY Project – Page 7 – Sista Girl with Skills

Page 7 of 7

November 8, 2018December 30, 2019

Fevered Pitch

I truly feel like a dog chasing its tail. Since accepting the close date of November 19 I don’t think I’ve been to bed earlier than 1:30 am; frequently at house til 3:30 am. When my cousin Alex can’t go let my dogs out, I’ll pull two shifts. Arrive about 8 am, work till 4-5 pm, leave to feed and let out dogs, and return around 8 or 9 pm to resume work. I’m exhausted, but progress is being made. Here’s an update:

New Mailbox.

Simple project. I wanted to have a mail slot added to my new front door, but since that is weeks away and would have to be added on site by my installer (manufacturer won’t do it) I decided to search the Internet for a locking mailbox and I found this one on Wayfair.com. It was easy to install and matches my light fixtures. I wish everything could be this simple.

Doors, Painting, and Drywall.

I brought a finish carpenter back to hang the last two door jams. One was straight forward, original door and jam, but the entry foyer door was more challenging. The original door was beyond repair, but it was the same size as the door that led to the upstairs space, which I decided to remove. Same size, but different swing and hinge locations. He worked his magic and I now have a functioning entry foyer closet.

The carpenter also jumped in on painting, which was not a great choice as his painting skills did not match his carpentry skills. He put one coat of paint on the ceiling in the entry foyer, dining room, and office; Sherwin Williams Incredible White and the first coat of Krypton on the dining room walls. My friend Joan helped me put first coat of Passive on the Office walls and the second coat of Krypton in the dining room. It’s nice seeing real colors on the walls. Since the frame around the windows is the same dark color as the molding I can see that the colors will work with them. The HGTV Urban House that used these colors had painted trim throughout, so I was a bit concerned.

Office – Passive

Dining Room – Krypton

I’ve completed all prime paint now too, so hopefully by Friday of next week the whole house will be painted. I move in the next day, so I sure hope so.

Brick Sealing

During demo I revealed brick in the master bath and closet, kitchen, and 1st floor hall. It’s a soft, Chicago brick that was constantly dropping dust and crumbling; I knew it would need to be sealed if left exposed. During the drywall install I made the decision to cover the brick in the master closet and master bath. Prepping the brick for sealing was a task I didn’t have the time or desire to do and in the bath area it recessed about 1/2 inch from the drywall, which would have posed a challenge when installing the vanity.

I should have made the same decision about the wall in the kitchen. I scrubbed the whole wall and it seemed the more I scrubbed the more it’d crumble. I looked at several brick sealers and decided to go with Radonseal’s Lastiseal Penetrating Brick and Concrete Sealer. I bought a gallon jug, which should cover 150-225 sq. ft. The wall was 27 sq. ft. Easy application process. I bought a pump sprayer with a fan spray, put down plastic to protect floor and sprayed from bottom up.

The instructions said a second application may be needed and it certainly was with this wall. A brush of my hand revealed more dust and crumbling mortar. A second coat reduced it some, but not entirely. I ended up applying the entire gallon bottle. I contacted the company and they were very surprised such a small area needed so much. I shared this picture and they said I should have tuckpointed the bricks first. The wall looked and felt solid after the full gallon, so I believe their product worked, eventually, but his comment did give me concern looking ahead. My stove would sit in front of this and I wondered if cleaning food splatter would be an issue.

The vast majority of the wall would be covered by cabinets, microwave and stove, so I decided to cover the wall. Bold decision given my posing deadline and past experience with drywall crews. Fortunately my friend Joan came to the rescue with a great referral and a young man, Ryan Fabel, joined the journey.

I hung the drywall, but Ryan did the finish work. Once before I mentioned that someone told me his drywall man could finish an entire house and you’d have only a handful of dust. When Ryan was done you couldn’t fill a thimble with dust and the wall was as smooth as silk. I found the man to help me hang the last sheet of drywall in the guest bedroom. Given that is taking place after my floors have been refinished I am elated by his skills.

The only exposed brick will be in the hall and it was the most sound of all locations. I scrubbed it to remove most of flakes/crumbles and it only took two applications of the LastiSeal. I almost wish the brick stayed dark as when the product is applied (right side of first pic), but it returns to its normal color when dry.

Master Bathroom Floor Tile

My soaker tub has been sitting in its box in the master bedroom area for months. It had to placed in its proper home before the floor refinishers started. I hoped to have it actually hooked up so Ryan could do the drywall, but I needed to get the tile laid first. I found the tile on Pinterest and fell in love. It’s an Italian porcelain tile made by Isla Fascino Italiano and is their King Wood collection. I got excited when I found it at JP Flooring locally, but man was it expensive. Not to be deterred I surfed the net and found it at Mission Stone & Tile at half the cost of JP Flooring and FREE shipping. SOLD!!!!

The pressure to not mess up this tile was immense. I started with finding my center lines in width and depth with my trusty laser followed by a dry run with 1/16″ spacers. I bought that size for the first floor bath and it turned out the tile for that has built-in spacers. They were not a good size for this tile, so I pulled the plug about 1 am.

I returned the next day with 3/16″ spacers (blue vs. green) and went to town. I selected Desert Sand grout from the Tile Shop in Oakley with the help of a great sales person, Cari Branden. The walls surrounding this tile and in the shower will be a basic bone (color) subway tile. It looks fabulous and I can’t wait to see it next to my restored hardwood floors and with the tub resting on top. Unfortunately my plumber’s truck broke down and this didn’t happen prior to Bob and Trish Roland of Roland Hardwoods starting the floor restoration.

Their work is projected to last five days, Monday – Friday. I was able to do some work, but now they are staining and coating the first floor, which means I can’t be there until for the floors are dry. I’ll use that time to pack up Inner Circle and REST!

August 8, 2018August 8, 2018

The Battle of the Strippers

One of the things that I loved when I first toured my house was the fact that the doors and trim were unpainted, except for two doors. Actually 1.5 doors, the 1st floor bath linen closet was painted white with a white glass door knob and the inside of the bathroom entry door was painted white. White glass knob on inside, clear glass knob on outside with a dark brown stain. Both were peeling badly and would need to be stripped just in order to refresh the paint.

I decided to turn the entry door into a pocket door as I had three doors within a 3′ area (linen closet, hall closet, and entry door), why too much swinging in tight quarters in my opinion. In order to use the original knobs I will need to turn the door around, causing the painted side to be on the outside. Just to avoid needing to completely strip the painted side I looked into boring a new mortis lock hole on the other side, but a professional carpenter advised me against that. I have only that one door, so no room for error.

I had started trying to strip the linen closet door first and was getting absolutely nowhere with the Jasco Premium Paint & Epoxy Remover. This was recommended to me by a Home Depot employee. States is starts working in 15 minutes. It did, but removed one layer at best. I followed that with the Star 10, a product recommended to my by an employee at Woodcraft. Stripper of choice by wood craftsmen, or so he said. It didn’t do much either as you can see. Both gave off strong fumes.

Nicole Curtis (#nicolecurtis) of Rehab Addict (#rehabaddict) always talks about an orange, safe stripper, so while I am not sure of the exact product she uses I went back to Home Depot and got CitriStrip Stripping Gel. The carpenter pointed out to me that I needed to have the door inserted before putting up trim and I need the trim up in order to lay tile, so the entry door moved to the head of the line.

I started stripping about 11am and believe I could have gotten the entire door done in a late night, but I had to get home to let out and feed my dogs. This is how it looked at the end of day one. I believe one treatment went through at least three layers as I saw white, yellow, and mint green:

I actually applied a second coat, but when I realized the time I knew I couldn’t give its full time to work. In the short time it was on it did not bubble as you see above, it actually got milky white. As I rubbed one area with the paint brush I could actually see wood. It was liquefying the remaining paint. I wasn’t sure if I would return the next day, so I wiped the door clean instead of letting it sit overnight.

I did return the next day, applied another coat that sat for about two hours before I used a putty scraper to get to the picture on the left. A third coat aided by a bladed scrapper and small steel brush (for inside panel edges) got me to a completely stripped door shown on the right. The directions suggest using Odorless Mineral Spirits with an abrasive stripping pad to loosen remaining residue. I dipped my brush in it, but did not try a pad. Before staining I’ll use a fine grade sanding pad on my rotary sander to open up the pores. I used the entire 64 oz bottle on this door and about a 1/4 of a new bottle. I believe I could have gotten by with one if not for the abrupt ending on day one.

I won’t strip the stained side, just sand it, apply a primer, and then paint it with semi-gloss paint. The harder challenge will be in matching the original stain. Stay tuned.

March 18, 2018

It Takes a Woman’s Thought Process

No offense to the male contractors that have come to my house, BUT lets look at the obvious before suggesting multi-$1000 dollar fixes. I have many “elephants in the room” on this project and one of them was how to deal with the new location of my down spouts and the proper elimination of rain water from the gutters.

One of the things I did not like about the house when I bought it was the location of the down spouts on the front of the house. One of the positive outcomes of needing to completely rebuild the box gutters is I was able to move the downspouts to the end of the house, their proper place in my opinion.

Henshaw Ave — Downspout in middle of house, between windows.

What I didn’t know when I made that decision is that the City does not allow you to let gutter water drain in your yard. Moving the downspouts meant my gutters were no longer connected to the underground drains that are connected to the city sewer system.

Drainage Code, Sec. 1105-03.

(a)

Every building, except accessory buildings less than 800 square feet in area, must be equipped with gutters and downspouts connected to an approved sewer. Drains from roofs, sun decks, or promenades open to occupancy must be trapped when connected to a combined sewer. If there is no approved sewer, the downspout must be connected under the sidewalk to the street gutter, or the stormwater must be disposed of in an approved manner on the property. Where stormwater pipes discharge into a paved street gutter, there must be at least one length of cast-iron pipe at the gutter connection. The cast iron section must extend from the gutter to the back of the sidewalk or ten feet away from the gutter, whichever is greater. Subsurface water (e.g. foundation drains, sump lines, etc.) shall not discharge to a paved street gutter.

I had contractors talking about tearing up sidewalks, adding dirt to alter the slope of my yard, and running drain lines 50′ or more all with multi-thousand dollar price tags. The last plumber that came to the house, who was supposed to just give me a quote for plumbing rough-in brought up the gutters and how he was going to address this problem. When I asked why that was his focus I was told the City would not give me a Certificate of Occupancy and his permit would not pass inspection if the gutters did not drain properly. WTH, you’ve got to be kidding me! Not getting a certificate of occupancy started weighing heavily on my mind, so I decided to take a shovel around the area where the drain is located from the original downspout location on the right front of house.

The new location was only 8′ away, so digging down revealed the simple fix of running a pipe from the downspout to the drain, about $25 in PVC pipe and connectors. I’ll need to build a wall with landscape brick at the end of house in order to hide the pipe curve (aesthetic fix), but I’m still stunned by how simple this was to do. So simple that I did the same with the rear drain on the same side of house. My cousin Cameron did most of the digging on this project (what a God send this young man has been for me). I spent $40 in PVC pipe and connectors on the rear as there was about 10′ in distance.

The left side of the house will be a little trickier. The drain on the front of the house is actually built into the concrete patio. The pipe runs into the basement and has a crack in it. With every rain, before the gutters were repaired, I would have a puddle in the basement, so I definitely didn’t want to continue using it. I will trench along the side of the house and connect the front to the rear downspout and utilize the rear left drain (my father’s idea). As you can see from the picture below the drain is less than 5′ from the end of house. That project I will put on hold until I decide to address the “woolly mammoth in the room” the foundation at the rear of the house.

Even with renting a trencher I will have under $300 in expense and more sweat equity to fix this issue. Keep it Simple, that’s a DIYer’s mantra!

January 14, 2018January 15, 2018

Feeling a Little Crafty

Stripping doors is boring, rewarding, but boring, so I decided to take a break and do something on the DIY craft side utilizing the porcelain knob and tubes connectors and insulators that I’ve been pulling from my house. I wish I had listened to @NicoleCurtisRehabAddict and not thrown these things away when I first started demo. Turns out there is a market for them and I even found a really cool coat rack project that I decided to try.

The project I saw only made it from the knob and tube (rack on left), but I also made one out of the long skinny insulators (rack on right). The wood is reclaimed floor boards that I got from my friend Joan. That color is the true patina of the wood. I just rubbed the board with denatured alcohol to clean it up and rubbed it with linseed oil to give it a shine.

The knob and tub design utilized the existing nail to adhere them to the board and I used epoxy to force the gap to stay expanded and adhere it to the board. The nail extruded slightly through the back of the board, so I used the grinder to remove the excess. For the insulator version I used 5 inch (only needed 4.5 inch, but Home Depot and Lowes did not carry that size) galvanized carriage bolts with a lock washer and nut. I thought the dullness of the galvanized worked better with the old porcelain. Warning, if you try this yourself don’t crank hard when tightening the bolts. I cracked the first one I attached. I counter-sank the nut in the back with the help of my neighbor’s drill bit machine and cut the excess bolt with my grinder.

The boards were already cut to that length (why I chose them for the project, too short to use for floor repair) and are about 32″ long, give or take. I used keyhole fasteners on the back and placed them at 16″ on center, so that HOPEFULLY a stud can be hit when it is time to install. The knob and tube board was longer, so the fasteners are at the end. On the insulator they are 16″ apart from the center of the board as it is shy of 32″ on length.

I think the insulator tubes would make a great mug rack, but I would need to bore a hole at an angle, so the tube can be attached at an angle. The process to make that happen is above my skill set and tools. My neighbor could probably make that happen, but I’m actually trying to ween myself off his help.

I only had to come out-of-pocket about $10 for the bolts and fasteners, as everything else is recycled or should I say up-cycled. Given the cost overruns on this project I may be cranking out more and selling them to help generate some funds.

This was not my first craft project, just the first one I’ve done since starting the blog. All my others I posted on my Facebook page or made a video about it.

Here is a link to my first commissioned project. My friend Vicki asked me to create a frame to go around a mirror in her hall bath: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10213184592195787.1073741894.1424896347&type=1&l=bd2215cbbe

My first woodwork project was a flower box for my deck (not counting the deck and gazebo my dad and I built). It will stay with the house when it sells. I called myself working with scrap cedar that had been in my garage since the deck project, but I got very carried away on the size and probably spent another $300 on wood and the dirt to fill it: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10209323426469057.1073741888.1424896347&type=1&l=3c63e8b7d8

My second woodwork project was making a monitor riser for my desk. I called it the Goldilocks Project because I bought and returned two sit to stand desks before making something that was just right. although it took to tries to get it that way: Goldilocks Take One and Goldilocks Take Two.

One of my favorite projects came about after watching another one of my favorite DIY shows, Salvage Dawgs. In each episode they do some up-cycle project, that “you can try at home”. This one I bit on. They turned a trunk into a bench, so I took my college trunk and did the same. This currently sits in my entry foyer. The Welcome sign never gets seen, but was placed there to hide a crack in the top of the trunk. It also anchors the top cushion in a way that will allow the fabric to be changed if/when needed. This was my favorite project and probably the start of accepting I love working with my hands. I may be selling this as part of my downsizing. There is a built-in bench in my entry foyer and I haven’t visualized a place for it yet.

The last project I will share is the work bench I made. With most of the projects above I did not have a proper work surface, unless I was at my neighbor’s garage/shop. I was using mop buckets, 4′ folding table, and garbage cans as cutting surfaces with power tools. I had purchased my first large cutter tool (a miter saw) and I was a freak accident waiting to happen, so I decided to make a work bench before pulling it out of the box. Instead of following the plans I decided to make the bench larger as I had the space in my garage. Well my future workshop will be the basement of my house, so this puppy is going to have to be deconstructed to get it down there. This was my first project using my own Kreg Pocket Screw gig and no help from my neighbor, which gave me extra pride. This called for a video: Venus’ DIY Workbench