Haven't posted for a couple of days... several small things finished. Wednesday, I cut & installed the last few shingles on the roof ridge. Barely had enough. Yesterday, I mixed up a bag of mortar and refinished the front stoop of the shed. It still isn't sidewalk quality, but its smooth enough now that it won't hurt bare feet.
This afternoon, we're going to go down and buy siding. This weekend, I'll be putting that up. Sunday, I may take time to mix up the rest of the mortar to smooth out the inside floor. Then its picture time again.
Also worked on patching the walls in the guest bathroom. It turned out that I didn't need an Allen wrench to remove the TP holder & Towel rack, just a small screw driver. Left some nasty holes. Those are covered now, although I still need to sand the patches smooth. Then we will tape and paint.
Next week (after payday!), I plan to get some good lumber to make mounting plates for the Towel rack, etc. I also want to get a router table to make it easy to put a nice edge on them. Then I can also do the trim on the garage stairway (needed doing for at least 3 years now).
Friday, July 15, 2011
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Burn, Baby, Burn!
Another near record hot day!
I got home from work Tuesday afternoon, and immediately installed the two mounting plates for the dining room window drapery hooks. The hooks ended up being a few degrees off of plumb, but I take the exercise as a success, since I learned to work with the new caulk behind trim. Nothing too serious with the job that a little touch up paint won't fix.
Later, after the sun got a little lower (and it wasn't quite as hot), I went out and mounted the cap shingles that I had cut the day before. Of course I hadn't cut enough, but I did have enough to do about 2/3 of the shed ridge. I figure I need about 8 more cap shingles... fortunately, I have 3 more shingles in the last pack, which will make 9 caps. Glad I don't have to buy another package of shingles ($22 a pack!)
The final chore that I hit in the evening was patching work in the guest bathroom. There were a number of holes that needed to be filled (old screw holes from various things). I wasn't able to remove the towel and toilet paper holders since I couldn't find my Allen wrenches... I'll do that tonight, when I hit the second coat of patching compound.
Next up on the shed (after the final cap shingles) is siding... this weekend. Inside, we're working on prepping to paint the guest bathroom.
I got home from work Tuesday afternoon, and immediately installed the two mounting plates for the dining room window drapery hooks. The hooks ended up being a few degrees off of plumb, but I take the exercise as a success, since I learned to work with the new caulk behind trim. Nothing too serious with the job that a little touch up paint won't fix.
Later, after the sun got a little lower (and it wasn't quite as hot), I went out and mounted the cap shingles that I had cut the day before. Of course I hadn't cut enough, but I did have enough to do about 2/3 of the shed ridge. I figure I need about 8 more cap shingles... fortunately, I have 3 more shingles in the last pack, which will make 9 caps. Glad I don't have to buy another package of shingles ($22 a pack!)
The final chore that I hit in the evening was patching work in the guest bathroom. There were a number of holes that needed to be filled (old screw holes from various things). I wasn't able to remove the towel and toilet paper holders since I couldn't find my Allen wrenches... I'll do that tonight, when I hit the second coat of patching compound.
Next up on the shed (after the final cap shingles) is siding... this weekend. Inside, we're working on prepping to paint the guest bathroom.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Hot Today
Yesterday (day after majority of roofing installed), I came home from work and knocked out two minor tasks on the shed: (1) cutting a bunch of cap shingles (trimming them two the shape needed to install them on the roof ridge) and (2) reseat and level the door frame so that it is flush against the wall, and doesn't cause the door to stick. I would have done more, except I was short of time, having to head to a Toastmaster's meeting.
After the meeting, I did take a few minutes to start putting together the mounting plates for the Dining Room drapery hooks. These hooks are used to hold open the drapes. They had previously been screwed directly to the wall, but the fit wasn't very secure (one hook in another location actually tore out!). I decided when we painted the walls that I would add some decorative wooden plates between the wall and the hooks to provide more grab for the screws. I hope to install this kind of plate throughout the house (behind towel racks, etc.), although most of them will have to be custom made. The ones behind the drapery hooks I acquired from Lowes. Their original purpose was to be end plates where a wooden (stairway) railing butted into a wall. Whatever works. I didn't actually install either of the two plates I was working on... ran out of time at 10pm. Need to dig out my caulk gun this evening to apply sealant behind the plates as I screw them in. Pictures after.
After the meeting, I did take a few minutes to start putting together the mounting plates for the Dining Room drapery hooks. These hooks are used to hold open the drapes. They had previously been screwed directly to the wall, but the fit wasn't very secure (one hook in another location actually tore out!). I decided when we painted the walls that I would add some decorative wooden plates between the wall and the hooks to provide more grab for the screws. I hope to install this kind of plate throughout the house (behind towel racks, etc.), although most of them will have to be custom made. The ones behind the drapery hooks I acquired from Lowes. Their original purpose was to be end plates where a wooden (stairway) railing butted into a wall. Whatever works. I didn't actually install either of the two plates I was working on... ran out of time at 10pm. Need to dig out my caulk gun this evening to apply sealant behind the plates as I screw them in. Pictures after.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Put A Lid On It
Notice that I've put shingles on the roof. The other side looks the same. Of course, I didn't quite finish... I have to put the cap shingles on... although I've cut most of them, I still need to trim them to shape. I'll put them on during the week sometime.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Yippie! The weekend's here!
I picked up my roofing materials at lunch today. Attempted to purchase it on line, but it didn't really save any time... They didn't have the order waiting for me when I got there, and it turned out the nails I ordered were the wrong kind. Ended up taking more time waiting for them to fetch the materials, and then me having to go get the right nails than it would have if I'd just done it myself in the first place.
Ready to go in the morning. I have concrete, shingles, and everything else to finish the shed, as well as plenty of inside stuff.
Ready to go in the morning. I have concrete, shingles, and everything else to finish the shed, as well as plenty of inside stuff.
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Looking forward to the weekend
Yeah, yeah, I know. I sweat through the weekend, complaining about how hot it is, and then during the week I look forward to the next one.
I've been spending the last couple of days doing minor work on the shed... adding some extra boards to the roof trusses to secure the gaps in the roof plywood. I also added an extra anchor bolt in the low corner, and I will be adding an extra layer of mortar on top of the existing concrete this week [weather dependent] (picked up 3 sacks of mortar this afternoon).
The next big job on the shed is the roofing. I would have picked up the shingles today, but I didn't want to hit the bank account that hard when I know I won't be able to use them before Saturday morning.
Besides the shed, we're about ready to start on the next painting job... the guest bathroom. I will be patching holes and taking off hardware over the next night or two, and Pam will be masking off things that don't need pain. Hope to paint on Saturday afternoon.
Why the big rush? Well, our wine consultant, Megan from PRP Wine will be hosting a wine event at our house at the end of the month. We've been one of her customers for a couple of years. Sure, the wine we buy costs more than the stuff at the grocery store, but it is better wine. (We go through a couple of bottles a month... but we don't do much else.) Anyway, the object is to have the house looking as good as possible before that event, instead of its usual disastrous state.
I've been spending the last couple of days doing minor work on the shed... adding some extra boards to the roof trusses to secure the gaps in the roof plywood. I also added an extra anchor bolt in the low corner, and I will be adding an extra layer of mortar on top of the existing concrete this week [weather dependent] (picked up 3 sacks of mortar this afternoon).
The next big job on the shed is the roofing. I would have picked up the shingles today, but I didn't want to hit the bank account that hard when I know I won't be able to use them before Saturday morning.
Besides the shed, we're about ready to start on the next painting job... the guest bathroom. I will be patching holes and taking off hardware over the next night or two, and Pam will be masking off things that don't need pain. Hope to paint on Saturday afternoon.
☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼
Why the big rush? Well, our wine consultant, Megan from PRP Wine will be hosting a wine event at our house at the end of the month. We've been one of her customers for a couple of years. Sure, the wine we buy costs more than the stuff at the grocery store, but it is better wine. (We go through a couple of bottles a month... but we don't do much else.) Anyway, the object is to have the house looking as good as possible before that event, instead of its usual disastrous state.
Monday, July 4, 2011
Closed Up... Mostly
As can be seen in this picture, the roof ply has a gap about 4 feet from the left end. The truss spacing was off a little bit, so I had to leave the gap, which will be covered by the shingles next week.
I still want to bring in some more mortar on the slab to give it a smoother finish. Where I did so in the back, the surface is nice. The rest is really rough, even though the slab turned out better than I'd hoped.
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