[QUOTE=Mama Tiger]
Depends on what kind of floor. Seriously, next time we’re living in a house we own (we’re renting right now because we refused to pay the insane prices for houses in this area), tiling is going to be my next project. It’s just my kind of finicky. That was the big thing we learned putting down the wood floor – Papa Tiger is best at the scary power tool stuff (table saw), whereas I do best with the finicky, more delicate stuff (placing, spacing, jigsawing). Tiling would suit my talents perfectly. But this house we’re renting is the kind that I wouldn’t waste my time working on it, even though our landlord would not only have no objections but would probably thank us profusely. It’s a sow’s ear that is destined to remain a sow’s ear without a complete gut-and-insulate-from-the-ground-up job.
But I do like your concept of Doper construction. Kind of like Amish barn-building!
[/QUOTE]
I hear ya. We were renting a house in California that we painted the exterior of because it looked like a crackhouse in the middle of ritzy suburbia. Now we own a money pit in New Jersey
I need to do a lot of remodeling but I won’t even attempt to work with electricity. I might change the outlet cover but that’s it. I had hoped to learn how to do stuff like drywall and tiling at Home Depot or Lowes but now they don’t offer useful classes. They just have classes on building birdhouses and stuff like that.
Congrats! Now a few items which hopefully don’t rain on your household parade. When you took down the light fixture, did you determine if the device box was properly rated to support a fan assembly? Fans when overcome by gravity are sucky.
Since you’re working in a kitchen, and have walls open, if those walls serve, or will serve countertop appliances, and the dwelling is older, take the time to upgrade/add service such that the kitchen is supplied with two 20 Amp small appliance branch circuits. Protect all receptacles with GFCIs, either as circuit breakers or as receptacles.
Just to cover your sit-down, I hope you pulled permits. Can’t speak from experience with the City, but Hamilton and Lawrence were both municipalities in which I wouldn’t want to get caught doing non-permitted work.
Woohoo Jenn! I understand your joy and need for acknowledgement of your skillz.
When I moved into this apartment it was basically gutted. We signed the lease and then they never told the super we were coming so we had the joy of cleaning the whole place. Then I also installed a shower head, toilet seat, towel hooks (in lieu of the towel rod that was on the floor in 4 pieces, broken beyond repair), smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, air conditioner, curtian rods, etc. I installed the doorlocks and pretty much everything else in the apartment and had to threaten legal action to get my stove and fridge. Now that the apartment is run by competant management these problems are no longer but I had repaired them all long before the new management took over.
I called my dad and made him fawn over my skillz at doing all of these things without him.
[QUOTE=Jennshark]
I also need to dig out about 12 million fence post-holes, square up the fence, and cement the posts in. The fence was part of the purchase deal last summer, but we got screwed by the seller (on a lot of things). My 6’ stockade fence posts have no cement in the holes, so the fence is leaning out from the winter freezes.
[/QUOTE]
First, attagirl! The fact that you recognize the need to stop when you’re tired is wonderful.. Can’t tell you how projects I’ve screwed up at the last stage because I made a stupid mistake an hour after I should have stopped.
Second, you might want to reconsider your plans for concrete. Yes, it will keep the posts straight but if you ever have to replace the posts, digging them out of the concrete is a real back breaking activity. Consider using a post hole digger to make the hole deep enough for your location and then filling in the space around the post with pea gravel or small crushed rocks. Lots easier to deal with in the future.
[QUOTE=Mama Tiger]
But you just did a bunch of stuff that scares me – I don’t do anything that involves electricity. Now, floors, those are easy. Plus Papa Tiger and I learned that if we could succeed in laying a laminate floor together, we’re probably divorce-proof.
[/QUOTE]
I can happily assert the same; we replaced our bedroom broke-ass carpet with pergo yesterday. I credit good task management; my wife assembled and measured, I cut, and my teenage son was the runner. Only one yelling match throughout the whole process!
Seriously, next time we’re living in a house we own (we’re renting right now because we refused to pay the insane prices for houses in this area), tiling is going to be my next project. It’s just my kind of finicky. That was the big thing we learned putting down the wood floor – Papa Tiger is best at the scary power tool stuff (table saw), whereas I do best with the finicky, more delicate stuff (placing, spacing, jigsawing). Tiling would suit my talents perfectly. But this house we’re renting is the kind that I wouldn’t waste my time working on it, even though our landlord would not only have no objections but would probably thank us profusely. It’s a sow’s ear that is destined to remain a sow’s ear without a complete gut-and-insulate-from-the-ground-up job.
