What did you do today?

[highup]

Ever have a job that just won't end? The job I'm still working at the log home with the big single room addition. It has radiant heat tubing embedded Gypcrete in the 12 by 14 foot dining room where the new addition joins the old part of the home.
I searched out the tubing locations with my infrared thermometer and marked the locations with a marker. I took measurements with photos showing the tube locations so I could avoid drilling into them when installing the tackstrip.
OK, got the floor marked and the map made...... Next was pouring five 50lb bags of self leveler, then five 10 lb bags of filler tho blend everything together.
What's next? ....of course, look at my photos and measurements and re draw all the tube locations.
This is the room again before the self leveler, but showing where it went. Green was 1/2 inch deep.
I'm fitting against the wood flooring in a 8 foot span, so here is where I mapped to avoid tubes when nailing in the strip. It's got zbar there now....... can't turn and tack into Gypcrete.
Along the walls, the tubing was installed as close as 2 1/2 inches. That was just plain stupid. No carpet dude should be expected to search for tubing in hopes he doesn't damage it.
I worked in a different room in this house 20 years ago. Same ignorant guy installed this room. Tubes are supposed to be at least 6 inches away from walls and door casings.... he did not know that.

 

[Floorist]

Will it still generate heat with all that fill on top of it?

 

[highup]

Double tackstripped the entire job because the addition is so large, 32 to 44 feet. Had them order 40 oz synthetic pad because the carpet is low level commercial loop with a pattern.
Got the 32 ft long seam done yesterday using a Koolglide seam iron. Couldn't have done this job without it because of the pattern. Very slow process, but results are very impressive.
Problem is trying to heat the room. Floor temperature didn't get above 66 by the days end. Way too cold to stretch. We've had two days with lows of 34 and 35......... and the floor is in the process of getting insulated.
Anyway, seams were finished yesterday. This morning, provided the main heat or pellet stove was finally operational, I planned to begin stretching this nightmare.
I just needed to drill an plug one doorway so I could install tackstrip with zbar.
Should have taken 1/2 hour to get the tackstrip location exact, drill the holes and install the tackstrip. Once done, I could begin the slow stretching process of these rooms. The pattern makes this process slow as molasses compared to the fuzzy type.
....anyhow, the day was soon shot.
I marked locations to drill into the cinder block foundation wall and the drill kept hitting hollow spots.
I removed all marks and a rubber carpet shim then vacuumed out the holes I drilled.
You know how they fill every third, fifth or tenth cinder block cavity full with concrete? Well...... It appears that the voids had sand in them.
......the guy that poured the Gypcrete let it flow into/ the sand to cover it up. Looked to me like the cinder blocks were filled and solid.
It's this doorway. (photo with arrows)
Well, my drilling ended up being mostly hollow spots.
1/8 inch to 3/8" of Gypcrete was all that covered the sand in a couple of those sections...
I broke out the thin Gypcrete covering the sand, the tightly fit some wood in it's place and glued it in place.
.....hours later, I'm ready to begin about the same point as I was today. What crappy workmanship!
Here's part of what I filled with wood that I had on hand. The owner didn't want me to open up the voids....... to me, that was a green light to go ahead full steam.

 

[highup]

Will it still generate heat with all that fill on top of it?

Yup. 1/2 inch max. The don't use the tube heat because it costs too much. It's a log home. They'd probably have heat bills exceeding $600 or more if they used it.
After buying the home, the researched and we're told that radiant heat flooring works poorly in homes with tall ceilings.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Hi how long have you had that old steel shanked hammer? You must feel the vibration all the way to your toes.

 

[highup]

1987

 

[highup]

Never noticed vibration.
......then again, I have nothing to compare it to. Brother had one, so I bought one. I like the length and it's in great shape after all those years.

 

[DarisMulkin]

Is it an Estwing? I had one and it killed me with the vibtation. Threw it out in a field somewhere where I was working. Got a
craftsmen and never turned back.

 

[Floorist]

Is it an Estwing? I had one and it killed me with the vibtation. Threw it out in a field somewhere where I was working. Got a
craftsmen and never turned back.

I have 3 Craftsman, I bought one for me, one for my helper and one for my shop. And most of the time, I still can't find one.

 

[highup]

Is it an Estwing? I had one and it killed me with the vibtation. Threw it out in a field somewhere where I was working. Got a
craftsmen and never turned back.

Yup. My brother has one too. His handle has a harder rubber handle than mine... Not much, but noticeable.

 

[highup]

Got my job done tonight. Got fed burgers afterwords.
Turned out great, but I am whooped. Over felt pad, stretching is harder, so because the room I over 30 feet long, I stretched the first 1/3 of the length and stay tacked it. Later, I stretched it another 1/3 of the way to move the wrinkle that formed ahead of the first stay tacks.
Then I finished to the far wall.
The owner wasn't home. I figured she'd freak out seeing this.

 

[highup]

Hardest part was the stretching sequence and keeping the lines straight on so many walls plus the zbar at a 5 foot and 8 foot doorway.
I wanted this stretched tight and even...... because I don't want it to ever need restretching. The 1x4 baseboards are being installed tomorrow, along with the two glass, four foot pocket doors. The 8 foot opening for the pocket doors will also be trimmed out on top of the carpet. A restretch would mean removing ,,1/2 of the baseboards and door trim.
......not to mention the furniture, book cases, pool table etc. Turned out super nice, especially the seams.
She picked out a heavy duty nylon Queen carpet. Backing was a bit stiff, but one of the best I have seen in a long time. Old style action back with plenty of nice quality adhesive.

 

[Floorist]

Nice job. Don't think I would have the patience.

 

[highup]

Me neither.
Been stressing over this job for a long time. Heading down to the job in a while to pick up the garbage and a couple of 4 by 4s. I took my 8 and 12 footers to span the closet and the pocket door openings. I wedged in 2x4 and plywood blocking inside the pocket door cavities so that I could stretch off of them. I stretched pretty hard and I'd get murdered by the contractors if I collapsed something inside those cavities.
I just remembered something I forgot to pull my blocking out when we left last night but the contractors are there installing base right now and I think they're smart enough to figure that out. Maybe.

 

[Floorist]

What do you think of this?

 

[highup]

Need to have a manniquin with it head sticking out looking up to feak people out.

....no, laying at the bottom of the shaft.

 

[zannej]

Highup, I hate having to fix other people's screwups, but it happens all the time. I feel for you bc I have so much wrong to fix with my own house. Looks like you did a great job though!

As to the glass floor, not only NO. but HELL NO! I have the kind of luck that something would give & the glass would break.

For some reason it made me think of a prank they pulled in China (I think it was China) on a glass bridge over a canyon. They had TV screens underneath & hidden speakers. When people walked over some spots the TVs made it look like the glass was cracking & there were cracking noises. People walking across would grab the rails, some ran in a panic & the cracks followed them. One guy jumped up on the rails & nearly fell over into the canyon but people grabbed him in time.

My body was being hateful today so I didn't do much but I did fix & update some of my sketches for the guest bathroom.
Original sketch followed by the fix-- fixed perspective on the tub.

This is the updated version with the mirror that came with the vanity, 2 bulb light like the one we purchased, added tp holder & shelves, drew in correct shape of the toilet tank & removed side shelves from space saver bc realistically there won't be enough space... The medicine cabinet above the vanity in the first pic will instead go on the opposite wall & I'll set up a shaving station for my brother so his beard hair won't go in the sink.

I wish I was good enough with my drawing to get paid for it. LOL. I really do enjoy it.

 

[highup]

Thats pretty good. Is that done using SketchUp or do you have another program?

 

[Floorist]

Cut up a tree with a chainsaw. Rough job for an old man.

 

[zannej]

Highup, I used MSPaint. Drew everything out using line & shape tools. There is a curved line tool where you can set point A and point B and then grab it somewhere to make it curve that I used for some parts. It will probably be a tighter squeeze than it looks in the drawing though. We don't have the space saver yet so that is something that will change.
I watched some videos by a guy from Bourbon Moth Woodworking. He showed how to make cabinet carcasses, drawers, & doors. He's entertaining as well as informative. He showed how to cut dados using just a table saw without a dado stack, which is something I found useful. If the lumber is cheaper than buying a pre-built cabinet, I may try to make my own space saver.
Rusty, at least you can start a chainsaw. I've always had trouble with anything that uses a pull cord. I have short arms & when I had to start a lawnmower, I would have to push the lawnmower forward with my foot to get a long enough pull & always had to try several times to get it going. I don't think I could even hold the weight of a chainsaw while cutting- I've gotten that weak. My strength was always in my legs. I could leg press about 250lbs & I could do curls & bench presses back in high school before I had my first heart attack (I was still in high school when I had my 1st one).
Those TV shows where they show people cutting up trees make it look so much easier than it actually is. Oak is particularly tough to cut.

Wish some of you guys were out in my area to get lumber from the trees that fell. Couple of decent sized oaks toppled over. So much wood going to waste.