What have you done to your house today

I've seen axe handles break, never an axe head. You must have taken a double dose of your Flintstone's vitamins this morning!

This morning I finished covering the garage ceiling with laminate flooring, pics in my other thread.

AndrewNagle said:

Love splitting wood

My two favorite axes are Gransfors

And Wetterlings

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I enjoy it because this isn't my main heat source so I don't have any schedule I have to do it by. This was my grandfather's Craftsman at least 30 yrs old and is actually still working great. I don't like using the maul. Wedges & sledge to break up the rounds and then the regular axe to final size

skwerl said:

I've seen axe handles break, never an axe head. You must have taken a double dose of your Flintstone's vitamins this morning!

This morning I finished covering the garage ceiling with laminate flooring, pics in my other thread.

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I broke the maul handle the first swing, but I knew that was on it's way out. I was actually trying to find new handle for this axe too but the sizing was wrong on what I could find locally. I was quite shocked splitting the head itself.. I've still been using it, just waiting for it to go flying in to woods.

Organized some of the '60's Mustang parts onto the new shelving unit I built and installed in the large canvas tent in the back yard. The hood is rotted on the inside so I don't think it will get re-used, but it's not up to me, it's my fiancee's son's project.
Tomorrow I'm picking up the car from media blasting and zinc coating, so I had to do this today to make room for it.
We also have a 390 V8 to bring home, but not sure how I'll do that since it's a heavy fucker and I don't have a hoist

Finished Fall clean up - put about 20 bags of mulch around the flower beds by the front door

Hotwater heater last night, mine still worked.. but was from 1989, in a utility closet of finished basement. I was on borrowed time. I tried reusing the existing hardline fittings but the new tank was narrower & taller the old seats must not have line up perfectly. Cut the pipes and tried these sharkbite connections, no leaks so far fingers crossed. I haven't sweat pipes in probably 15 yrs and even that was only a few times with frustration, they're more expensive but if this works wow is it easy.

Edit: And of course some of the water shutoffs I screwed closed for this job are now dripping from the stem so I have more to fix. Switching to ball valves as I replace them.

Shotokan1509 said:

Hotwater heater last night, mine still worked.. but was from 1989, in a utility closet of finished basement. I was on borrowed time. I tried reusing the existing hardline fittings but the new tank was narrower & taller the old seats must not have line up perfectly. Cut the pipes and tried these sharkbite connections, no leaks so far fingers crossed. I haven't sweat pipes in probably 15 yrs and even that was only a few times with frustration, they're more expensive but if this works wow is it easy.

Edit: And of course some of the water shutoffs I screwed closed for this job are now dripping from the stem so I have more to fix. Switching to ball valves as I replace them.

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Shark Bite connectors are apparently now cleared for use in walls, so they've come a long way.
I used some in some hard-to-get-to spots and over a year later I have no issues.
Also, water shut-off valves a lot of the times will start dripping if not used for a long time and you actually use them all of a sudden.
The rubber seals inside just go to shit.

Gabe said:

Shark Bite connectors are apparently now cleared for use in walls, so they've come a long way.
I used some in some hard-to-get-to spots and over a year later I have no issues.
Also, water shut-off valves a lot of the times will start dripping if not used for a long time and you actually use them all of a sudden.
The rubber seals inside just go to shit.

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Yep exactly, one I knew was already starting to lose the stem seal.. but the other one wasn't I have just never needed to close that one in 2 yrs I've been here and who knows how long since it's been touched.

On those old faucets that the rubber washers dry up, try soaking the stem with silicone spray, WD40 or penetrating lubricant. I was able to salvage a couple outside faucets with that method, only had to replace one. You can't buy new ones identical to the old ones any more. I used to just buy new faucets and swap the guts, but now you have to actually cut the pipe and replace the entire assembly.

Today I spread and packed two loads of gravel (ten tons). Driveway is pretty much done now.

new water heater ....

Wife bought a hot tub, so I gotta beef up the deck

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old with the 20 year old carpet in with wood

Shotokan1509 said:

Hotwater heater last night, mine still worked.. but was from 1989, in a utility closet of finished basement. I was on borrowed time. I tried reusing the existing hardline fittings but the new tank was narrower & taller the old seats must not have line up perfectly. Cut the pipes and tried these sharkbite connections, no leaks so far fingers crossed. I haven't sweat pipes in probably 15 yrs and even that was only a few times with frustration, they're more expensive but if this works wow is it easy.

Edit: And of course some of the water shutoffs I screwed closed for this job are now dripping from the stem so I have more to fix. Switching to ball valves as I replace them.

Click to expand...

techs at my work use the sharkbite connectors all the time with great success.

don't ya just love plumbing? LoL

The edge of sheetrock to the garage attic access was crumbling from years and starting to fall. I wasn't going to go as crazy as Skwerl so I taped the edge back together and then use wood strips to spread the screws rather than them punching through sheetrock. Also used teh truck as an expensive ladder, since regular ladder on the slope is a pain to fill new hole from woodpecker. Yes right near one of the anti-bird streamers

got the floors mostly done, moulding has to go on.
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Bought a new rug for the kitchen and a new TV for the bedroom. TV has already gone up in price since I bought it.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Oriental...-3-in-x-7-ft-3-in-Area-Rug-2065D5x8/204086392

Amazon.com: Samsung UN32J5205 32-Inch 1080p Smart LED TV (2015 Model): Electronics

Floors look good BLACK!

Today I started adding support under my deck to accommodate the hot tub coming in a few weeks, hoping to finish tomorrow. Also bought some deck stain, it's not the idea time of year to be doing stain but with the hot tub coming we need to at least get the area around where it's going stained.

Added bonus find today was crawling under the house and found two junction boxes with spare 12-2 and 8-3 circuits. The electrical panel is in the finished garage so fishing new circuits through the wall was going to be difficult and I guess the previous owner realized that and had these spare circuits installed. The spare 12-2 circuit is going to work perfect for the hot tub as it only requires a 20amp GFCI.

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built some simple fire wood racks. all it takes is four pressure treated 2x4 each and some deck screws. design is such that i dont need to cut the 3 lateral pieces. i did throw 1 carriage bolt in the bottom connection where it sees the most stress.

10ft x 4.5 ft

shows the detail of the connection


tarp to keep the water off.

Finished painting the cabinets in my garage from the previous owner

Before:



After:



Now I need to paint the brown shelf on the other side. Planning on adding some peg board in between the top and bottom and possibly at some point a stainless cap over the plywood top.




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built a tire rack.
It only holds about half my tires. The stuff I don't have plans for in the near future is in the shed.

That's awesome ^^^ ..... I wish I had space for a tire rack in the garage ...