What did you do today?

[zannej]

Tom, the room is looking great! I hope the drop ceiling isn't too difficult to install.
Highup, love the router guide table thing. I'm envious of the formica. Wish they still sold that pattern around here.

I finished touching up my friends' cabinets, puttied some pits, scrubbed the older cabinets down, & got a coat of poly on. I got the poly on most of them in one go. But my friend's fiance was bothered by the odor (I couldn't even smell it) & I realized when I got on the floor that I needed to cover some more areas with the stain. Rather than wait at their house for the stain to dry I called it a night & came back the next day to paint the lower corner cabinet and the side of the pantry. Stuff went on clear and smooth but we were all laughing about how it looked like ejaculate. One of the people staying there was just getting back from a food run & I showed the stuff to him & said "What does this look like?" and he called out to my friend "Damn, I knew you were desperate to get them covered, but that's taking it too far!" They are much smoother now & any spills wipe away much more easily. I really had to scrub to get some of the crud off the surface before. I was standing on a little stepstool for most of it but after I slipped my friend remembered there was a stepladder- which made things a lot easier. I couldn't figure out why I was so sore the next day but my friend reminded me I did a lot of stretching & reaching & that I nearly fell a few times. Ceiling fan almost got my head so I had him turn it off. The fan just barely clears the top of the pantry door when it opens so it worked out well.

Friend had to go back to work (company signed him back up to work for them without his signature or permission but he doesn't want to be unemployed so he went back) yesterday. He wasn't supposed to have to go in until Thursday but they changed their minds. They were going to have him work Monday but realized it was too short notice. So Tuesday I took his fiance to a doctor's appointment & kept her company for a few hours & discussed more options for the kitchen.

Their current stove can't be used anymore as it's a hazard. Oven turns on if you turn on a burner, oven turns on by itself randomly & can't be turned off, burners randomly turn themselves on & don't have indicators so someone got burned on one. They are going with a GE 6.3cuft model from HomeDepot and will get a splash guard (single panel stainless steel backsplash 24x30) to go behind it. There's a magnetic metal shelf that can sit on top of the raised up part of the range to hold stuff and they are thinking of doing a stainless panel on the side wall too. Magnetic spice racks can be hung up there. They are hoping to get a magnetic paper towel holder for the side of the fridge. I need to bring my Dremel tool over to trim the shims under the cabinets so the toekicks can be set in and marked for cutting & then I can stain them & poly them.

After talking to his fiance & showing her pictures, she decided that she would prefer oil rubbed bronze hardware for the doors and drawers since stainless steel sort of blends in but the orb. ones pop. Found some 10 packs for under $12. They need 26 handles.

Design dilemma now is what to do for a backsplash on the longer walls & what to use as trim for the gap between the pantry & the countertop. Right now we have rope caulk jammed in it, but it doesn't dry or harden & the color isn't great. Need to find something better that will go with the "labarador granite" pattern.

 

[Tom Picciani]

Spent last 2 days sanding and pretreating casing and some door jamb material with Charles Neil’s Blotch control. Of course I’m running out and had to order more. I have my garage filled with all the stuff from the basement half of the downstairs. So I don’t have room to do all the trim in one batch.

struggling with drywall dust. Vacuumed a couple times. Bought some sweeping compound. Going to damp mop walls after brushing them down more.

shoulders feel like I have a knife sticking in between my shoulder blades. Need to take a break!

 

[highup]

Be sure the sweeping compound isn't going to affect the paint bonding.

 

[Tom Picciani]

Zero leaves no residue. Besides, I’m going to use eco-etch on it with water and a bunch of scrubbing. Not looking forward to that part.

 

[Tom Picciani]

I mean Zep. Hate auto spell!

 

[highup]

I mean Zep. Hate auto spell!

Hate it too..... Bad enough without it "correcting" something I wrote that was what I wanted.

 

[zannej]

I'm glad my computer doesn't have autocorrect.
Thus far today I played on my computer & cooked stroganoff. Ate too much the past couple of days & have some gas buildup. Keep burping up what tastes like hard-boiled eggs but I haven't eaten any eggs the past week.

 

[highup]

Worked on a test to repair a visible seam on some newly installed commercial carpet. It was some unitary backed loop pile commercial carpet.
It's about 4 feet in length where it's not quite up to par. The seam is a good 25 feet long... and not sealed .
Seam has a 1/32nd gap in that section and part of the seam has the row split in half. Probably cut from the top because rows are hard to follow.
I split one row off a scrap and carefully coated the raw backing edges with contact cement to seal them..... I let that set for an hour to dry.
Then I cut a row out of the middle of the test piece and ran a bead of carpet seam sealer (solvent based) down inside the gap and carefully poked the sealed row into the gap. Looks pretty good. I used seam sealer inside the gap because it's more forgiving than contact. It gave me more play time to work the piece into place.

 

[Tom Picciani]

I'm glad my computer doesn't have autocorrect.
Thus far today I played on my computer & cooked stroganoff. Ate too much the past couple of days & have some gas buildup. Keep burping up what tastes like hard-boiled eggs but I haven't eaten any eggs the past week.

I made flatbread pizza with alemon ricotta base, fried zucchini, cubana peppers, onion petals, and fresh mozzarella. Topped with fresh basil and drizzled with honey

 

[Floorist]

Drove my stepson, he is blind, to 2 doctor appts. Then came home and burned brush. I am tired.

 

[highup]

I'm tired doing almost nothing today.

 

[Floorist]

Took my stepson, the blind one, to Walmart so he could buy a lawn mower. Worked on my car, one of those plastic panels underneath had broke. Cheated, drilled a new hole and zip tied. Finish mowing. Rain is coming in again.

 

[zannej]

I didn't feel well the night before. Ended up sleeping most of the day. Still feeling tired.

 

[highup]

Went to a job I did to see if my custom net fit reducer mouldings will work and how well the stain matched to the wood floors.
I bought a propane torch on Amazon to replace my old one that died many years ago. It arrived today. $42 and special free shipping deal. I just had to.
Burns a hole in a beer can in under 2 seconds. Arrgh Arrgh Arrgh! Something that just has to be done by men with fire.
Lot more spendy elsewhere.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/BERNZOMA...l5=9033043&wl6=117874843141&wl7=&wl8=&veh=semHas a lifetime guarantee and made in the great again USA.
Says Chilton, WI in the casting.

 

[highup]

I could probably count on two hands people I'd not to want to work for again. Offhand, I can only think of three.

I correct myself. I wasn't counting General contractors... now I'm counting my toes.

 

[highup]

Talked to the Carpet One retailer this afternoon. A GC that I have worked for has been battling cancer for the last year+. He was looking overweight an face was puffed up like the Michelin man.
That was probably 10 months ago, maybe more.
Saw him a few months ago at the retailers warehouse and looked and acted like his good old bubbly old self. He was enjoying retirement and happy as a clam. He looked great.
Discovered today he's going downhill fast. Ain't supposed to be that way. he and his crew were the best of the best. I just hated that he was retiring, and now this.

 

[Floorist]

Most of those I worked for are dead.

 

[highup]

...and you never left a trace.

 

[Floorist]

Guy left a bar and went 100 mph the wrong way on a one way street.

 

[Floorist]

The pole kept him from running through a friend's office.