What did you do today?

[zannej]

That looks great, Highup!
I really like the formica you used. Wish I could still find that pattern/color.

Sunday Mom wanted to go to Samsclub with me when I got water. We got her Kale salad and some other stuff. I took her to Sonic to get her some kind of Reeses overload shake or something (she'd been wanting it since she saw commercials on TV). I hate going to Sonic but for once they didn't screw up the order. The medium size was larger than she'd expected so she couldn't finish it. We brought it home for my brother. We also went to Best Buy- had to set up an appointment since they were only letting two customers in the store at a time. She found a new monitor (she'd been super cranky bc she hadn't been able to use her computer in 4 days). Got home, unloaded groceries, & set the monitor up. My brother came to help unload the water & also picked some blackberries to eat. He picked some for Mom, handed them to her and said "Happy Mother's Day". He kept leaving the truck door open while unloading (I always close it after taking stuff out) & I had to remind him to keep it closed.

Got up early on Monday to take my friend to get the last cabinet for his kitchen. Mom decided she wanted to go along. I hadn't gotten a response from my friend, but I wanted to get it done so I could finish with staining and such earlier. Good thing I did that because my brother had accidentally locked one of the cats in the truck overnight. Mom & I got in, I started the truck, and the cat started yowling from the back seat. He was so freaked out he wouldn't move. I had to pick him up & carry him into the house. Fortunately, he didn't tear anything up or pee in the truck. If I'd waited longer it would have gotten too hot & we could have had a repeat of the time my brother accidentally locked the dog in the vehicle & we found him dead the next day. I still felt awful about the poor cat being locked in, but was glad he was ok.

Picked up my friend, went to the store & got the cabinet, went to Office Depot to look at desks & get an idea of what Mom liked (as well as see if she wanted any desk organization stuff bc her current desk is a disaster). She got 1 item on clearance & we left bc she was getting cranky. Went to get takeout from Texas Roadhouse & Mom gave the waitress a better mask to wear. We drove to a shadier spot to eat & then went in to Source Plus Liquidation to look around. I found a tub spout that was 70% discounted from regular store prices. Same one my friend got for his bathtub & we'll use it on my brother's tub. I got a comfy back rest too (used it in the truck & it's great). Friend got two ceiling fans but forgot to look inside the boxes to make sure the right products were inside.

Got back to his house & got mom some food. I brought the kittens to her to hold & then my brother showed up. He'd had a doctor's appointment & decided to swing by afterward. My brother held his favorite kitten & Mom held mine while I went to sand & stain the new cabinet. My brother took Mom home & I stayed to help install the ceiling fans (while stain was drying). Opened the box of the more expensive fan & discovered it had the wrong fan in the box-- was the cheaper fan that he'd gotten in the correct box. It was supposed to be a different size with different features. Looked at the receipt "all sales are final. No refunds". But, he said he was going to call them to see if they would do an exchange since it was the wrong product in the box. He would have been OK with it if the fans had actually worked. But the light on one kept flashing, lights aren't nearly as bright as advertised (more like 400lumens when it's supposed to be 1k). And the fans wont spin. One makes a sound like the motor is trying to run, but it can't turn the blades even if someone spins them. He read reviews & found that fan had 1 star & people said the fan didn't work. He's going to contact the mfr to see if it can be fixed somehow. The fans look really nice, but that doesn't matter if they don't work.

After the fans were put up & we tried to troubleshoot, I went & did the 2nd coat of stain. My kitten crawled out to explore so my friend's fiance brought her over to me to hold. My friend called my brother to see if he could come back to help install the cabinet & he said he'd be there in about an hour. Two hours later my friend called back & my brother was playing a video game & said he'd come over when he finished a dungeon. An hour later he called to say he was on his way. My friend's fiance asked me to stand in the bathroom & make sure she didn't pass out while she took a quick shower. I helped her towel off afterward & waited for my brother.

Cabinet needed shims to be leveled & my friend couldn't find them. I realized one pack got left in my truck so I went out to get it. Came back & my friend was laughing because he'd ended up using a scrap piece of wood as a shim. He said he knew I was going to be amused because he had been throwing those scraps of wood out & I had told him he should save them for shims. He's always making fun of my hoarder tendencies but a few times it has paid off when I got him to keep stuff. He said the block was the perfect size for the shims to level the cabinet.

I went home & racked out after that & my brother stayed til 4am.

I'm still trying to wake myself up. I forgot to take my medicine the past few days so my body doesn't like me very much right now. LOL.

I really adore my kitten, btw. She crawled up on to my shoulder and slept on the back of my neck before crawling back around and watching my face. She followed my nose when I turned my head. She lets me kiss her on the head & rub her little chin. I put my sweater over her & she fell asleep instantly. I held her for a few hours.

I'm going to rest a couple days before I go over to do some wood filler & touch-ups on the cabinets & then do a coat of poly once it all dries. Probably will do the poly a different day since the filler takes 2 hours to dry & the stain (which is supposed to dry in 1hour) takes several hours to dry. I'm hoping that once we get the poly coat on, the stain will stop rubbing off the one spot on the pantry door that I've had to touch-up about 10 times.

I'm also hoping we can start getting stuff worked on in my house. I need to finish fixing my bathroom floor, hook up the plumbing, and install my toilet at the very least. Then I can get my shower/tub fixed up. I'm debating whether or not to pull the cast-iron tub out & replace it with a Delta Classic tub & shower surround. I plan to get the surround, but it might be better to replace the tub as well since some of the porcelain got scratched off.

 

[Floorist]

The local Sonic is only selling single patty burgers. They are short on beef.

 

[highup]

The local Sonic is only selling single patty burgers. They are short on beef.

I'd be buying Dennison's for the chili and pb and jelly instead of burgers.

 

[zannej]

I never liked Sonic's burgers but I liked their grilled chicken sandwiches.

 

[Tom Picciani]

Make a black bean chili. Maybe use a smaller amount of beef. Or try stewing meat and cook it long and slow

 

[Floorist]

Anyone know, do cats taste like chicken?

 

[DarisMulkin]

Anyone know, do cats taste like chicken?

They are the other white meat.

 

[Tom Picciani]

They are the other white meat.

Best served with Fava Beans and a nice bottle of Chianti

 

[Tom Picciani]

Finished putting on the mud today. Last areas are drying. Going to try to empty room as much as possible. Got tarps to cover items from dust.

have to scrape concrete floor. Lots ofbits of plaster everywhere. Got the floor scraper I used last year for staples. Should work well.

mud I can get sanding done over weekend, I can paint next week. Going with blue with stained trim.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Best served with Fava Beans and a nice bottle of Chianti

And a lot of butter and garlic sauce.

 

[DarisMulkin]

What are you going to do with the ceiling Tom?

 

[highup]

What are you going to do with the ceiling Tom?

Cortec? 

 

[Floorist]

Want a pretty ceiling. Look up Norman Sheet Metal Co.

 

[highup]

Looks like you getting close Tom. Man, what a path you've traveled.
What brand of off feed roller do you have?

 

[highup]

Worked on my router table dust collection thingamajiggy yesterday and today. It works and so does the table.
The lower two sections of the fence now suck.
.....no, no, they suck fantastically!
I bought 18" of aluminum tubing, cut it in half I made two 'L's by cutting notches into each piece.
Each 'L' was made so that it can be inserted into the fence openings.
I had some really nice vacuum hose with two identical ends..... Those fit the square tubing snug, but I added RTV silicone to seal the gaps.

 

[highup]

The next part was making the two sections of vac hose come together into a 'manifold' so I could connect up my 2 inch shop vac hose. I used two pieces of PVC elbows and two larger end caps. I drilled and sanded the lower end to accept a large shop vacuum fitting...... that was a pain.
Anyway, it all glued together with room in the upper cap for adding a third vacuum line if needed. Here's the manifold.

 

[highup]

Here's the parts and pieces, hopefully showing how it works.
In the fence tubing, I glued strips of Velcro inside the tubes so that the smaller 'L' connectors would fit snugly when pushed into place. It all assembles and disassembles easily. Turned out really neat. No dust on the table top or under it. Used it with a 45 degree bit, then a flat bit and found it works flawlessly as a jointer.
It's been a long, long ride making this lift/table thingy.
....now I need to find a use for it.

 

[highup]

...note to self. DIY projects end up costing a small fortune...... so don't do stuff to save money. The ride is what it's all about.
It still need legs.... My next project.

 

[Tom Picciani]

What are you going to do with the ceiling Tom?

I used Armstrong's website to plan a drop ceiling. The center beam divides the room in half. The front is fairly easy. the majority of the room is 13x19 with a 2'x4' entry way and minus a 2x3 closet. The back section is 12x19 and 4 feet have to drop to 84 inches to accommodate the ducts and plumbing.

The metal tiles look awesome but I doubt I can afford $24 each. Looking at no more than $2 each for fiberglass tiles. It's a basement/hobby area.

The floor is going to be painted I think although I'd love to lay down coretec again. But I don't have the money to put down $3000 worth of flooring. And the epoxy paint should seal the floor for later flooring if I so desire. Talked to a Rustoleum rep on the Home Depot site. He said his floor epoxy will stick to anything and just suggested sweeping and lightly washing. I'm going to do more than that, using TSP to wash it down and then wet mop it to clean it up. I have that floor scraper (Ice scraper) and 10 blades. Bought it last year to pull up the staples. You know, last year I actually used that Ice Scraper on ice! LOL!

The ceiling with lighting I estimated at $700-1000 per half. That includes grids, tiles, and lighting. Lighting is roughly $250 for 4 lights. The back I think will only need 2 because I already have an LED work light over the workbench.

I bought some MDF and some Luaun plywood, along with an additional 10 2x4's to make a hobby work station. The pipe that's extending from the wall needs to be covered and I can make the work bench cover it. I think a nice hutch on the workbench would look nice and help cover some of the diagonal pipe at the top of the wall.

Well, that's the plan...

Next step is cleaning up the mess and covering everything I can so the dust doesn't ruin my power tools. Boy did I get my money's worth out of that 12 inch Harbor Freight miter saw! Can't say enough good things about the Hercules products.

Anyway, more to come soon.

 

[highup]

That's good to know about the miter saw. I've never been to a HF store. I've heard the have flimsy/cheap and also better grades of tools.