What did you make today?

[monster]

yup in the front yard or on the porch for the world to see

thanks

[Griff]

Look good!

[busterb]

Not today. I made a cap rack. Didn't offset the pegs enough. So I thought I would use some L-screws. That didn't work out. The pegs were Birtch and split.
So I stuck a small nail in hole with Silicone glue. You can see in shadow the nails. Anyway today I cut all the pegs off and use L-screws.
New photo later.

[glatt]

A cap rack is a good idea. I have a tie rack that I haven't used much since my employer went casual dress, and I put my caps on that, but the pegs are way too close together and the caps hang over about 5-6 pegs. It only holds 3 caps.

On the back of our basement door, I strung some of that green wreath making wire between two nails driven close to each edge of the door. And we have a dozen clothes pins on that wire. Actually, I think we have two wires like that. Anyway, it's great in the winter time for gloves, mittens, hats, etc.

[glatt]

Our front steps are concrete and exposed to the elements. Even worse than being exposed to the elements, the front porch roof gets ice dams in the gutters and for several days after a snow, we get melting water dripping down directly onto the steps, where it freezes at night. So we throw down salt to melt it. That salt water works its way into the concrete and I guess refreezes or something. This takes a toll on the concrete, and it gets all cracked up and crumbling


So about a month ago, I got a sack of fast setting concrete patching material and started with the bottom step, hitting the concrete with a regular hammer to break up anything that was loose. I'd smack it with a hammer and then brush it with a steel brush to get anything loose to come out. Then suck it all up with a shop vac. It's tricky to decide when to stop. You could demolish the entire set of stairs with the hammer if you wanted to. With this bottom step, thee were actually tree roots working their way up into the concrete from below and helping to break it all apart.

It took the entire sack of concrete to repair this one step. So I stopped there for the day.

Next day, I got two bags of concrete for the upper steps and started beating the crap out of them with the hammer. They just crumbled in spots.
In this picture you can see a plastic trash bag on the lower step. That's to keep the water from evaporating from the concrete as it cures. It will be stronger if the water stays in there as it cures.


I used these chisels to try to undercut the edge of the concrete as much as possible so the patch would want to stay securely in place. It's tricky because sometimes as I was undercutting the edge, a big chunk would just pop off, and I'd need to form a new edge.

I didn't get any pictures of me mixing the wet concrete and applying it, because it was fast setting and I had to work quickly.

In this picture you can see I took the plastic off the bottom step and the top steps have now been patched and have plastic on them.

The stairs are solid here, but look like hell. They need some paint.

[glatt]

You're apparently supposed to let concrete weather for a while before you paint it, so we left it looking ugly for a month, and then I finally got around to painting the steps and porch on Saturday.

Looks a lot better.

[glatt]

When we bought this place 15 years ago, the upstairs bathroom had just been renovated by the previous landlord. But they used the cheapest materials you could possibly use, and I hated the pedestal sink. It worked just fine, but the area next to the faucet, where you would place a soap dish had a pretty steep slope to it.

Every week or two for those 15 years, I'd set down a bottle of contact lens solution and it would fall over the edge of the sink and into the trash can. Or I'd use the liquid hand soap, pumping a little out, and the damn soap would topple over into the trash can. Every time, I'd reach over to retrieve the item and just silently curse the damn sink.

Several years ago, I tried to convince my wife that we should get a sink vanity cabinet with a wide flat area on the top, and she agreed in theory, but we couldn't agree on a color or style.

Recently that all changed. We saw a sink vanity in an Ikea catalog that she thought looked neat because it had drawers, and I loved the flat space on the sink on top. So on our wedding anniversary Thursday, we went to Ikea to check it out. It was pretty cool, so we bought it.

Normally we start projects on a weekend, but we got back home Thursday afternoon, and I proceeded to remove the old pedestal. It was caulked like crazy to the wall, and I had to use a utility knife and thin putty knives to get it loose. I damaged the drywall and pulled up some of the cheap vinyl floor tiles getting it out. No matter, we had a half a box of floor tiles in the attic that they had left for us when we bought the place, and the gouged up wall was going to be hidden by the new vanity, which was a couple inches taller.

We had fun putting the Hemnes Ikea cabinet together. It was a family project and we only made one little mistake that was easy to fix. The Odensvik sink was interesting, because it came with plumbing that allowed space for the drawers in the cabinet underneath. Pretty cool.


The new sink is great. I mean, it's just a sink. But nothing has fallen into the trash can. There's lots of space on top.


Someday, when I'm motivated, I'll get rid of these crappy vinyl tiles and put down a new floor, and I'll put down real base molding instead of the crappy vinyl strip stuff. I still want a new medicine cabinet and lights, and that may very well be next.

Edit: We got the sink almost completely set up on Thursday, but it didn't come with a slip nut and slip nut washer to connect to the wall's rough in drain pipe. So I had to buy that on Friday and hook it up Friday night when I got home from work. And then on Sunday I caulked the sink to the cabinet and to the wall.

[Clodfobble]

Cool, those steps look great! We need to repair a corner of our foundation, you make me think it wouldn't be as hard as I've been fearing.

And I like the encased sink, though I have to admit still having that old towel ring hook there would bug me. I know you can't just pull it off or the wall will be damaged, but I'd wrack my brain trying to hang something from it, or place something up against it, just to justify its existence.

[glatt]

Yeah. It bugs me too.

But I think that's good. I want to put up a new medicine cabinet and will probably put in some new wall sconces or something too. That means I'll have to tear into that wall anyway and then patch and paint it. So leaving that towel ring thing there will prompt me to do that sooner rather than later.

Of course, I'm notoriously lazy with projects like this, and it could wind up being there for 15 years.

[monster]

Here's a finished product.

[sexobon]

She'll have to get a T-shirt with that logo on it so people will say:

Look! There in the water! It's a dolphin (shark), it's a torpedo, no ... it's SUPER HEBE!

[monster]

I honestly think the suit she wore yesterday would work better than a t-shirt in the superhero costume department. besides, the boys' swim team (and several other teams) have already done the skyline S like a Superman S thing


disclaimer: I did not make this suit and it really was that color.

[Gravdigr]

Originally Posted by sexobon

She'll have to get a T-shirt with that logo on it so people will say:

Nice 'S'.

Fixed it.

[Gravdigr]

[orthodoc]

I tried to make it possible for a commercial driver to continue driving today. Bent the rules using my privilege to use medical judgment and all ... but it turned out badly. Trying to balance public safety and the need to work is tricky. It doesn't go well when the driver lies. Hopefully he won't come back and shoot up my clinic tomorrow, as he suggested he might during a call late this afternoon.

Nevertheless, the otter has me beat. Don't stop posting, grav.