Home Improvement Today?

Yes it is. Not Festool good but it's also 1/2 the price and cordless. lol

We must have different hand sizes. DeWalts ergonomics since the 20V line up are absolutely perfect for me.

 

Festool makes a cordless one now...
I have the corded one and it's absolutely glorious. In fact it's so good, it inspired me to buy far too many other tools from Festool.
Unfortunately, they are also all sublime to use.


I'll be filing for bankruptcy shortly...



(kidding)

 

When you use the tools to make a living the costs are more easily justified than for somebody that is not using them everyday.

Off the top of my head I think I own 7 corded circular saws and 5 cordless ones lol

 

Festool has made cordless track saws for 3 or 4 years

 

Woah!

Now I feel so inadequate.

 

I'm not the only one using them haha

 

That eases the shame, a bit... Thanks!

 

I gotta do master bath electrical this evening. Gotta decide if I’m doing a 3 way or leaving as is or moving one switch to the near wall. Shower light and 4 sconces. Sucky part is I have to go into the attic. Also floor heat setup. I’m sure I’ll ask some dumb questions. So prepare to poke fun.

 

or save some wiring and use a wireless dimmer switch

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Lutron-...l-P-DIM-3WAY-WH-White-P-DIM-3WAY-WH/314328456

 

I love my HomeKit equipped house!

 

How bad are the permit police going to ream me if I use ceiling boxes for the wall sconces?

 

Going up in the attic usually sucks.

 

What I’m up against. Good thing I have a full supply of beer.

 

Most of the DeWalt equipment I used were the older 18 volt XPR models, we got a few of the next gen just before I retired.

It wasn't a matter of the tool fitting my hand, more the detail things that Makita just seemed to do better.

Example:
The newer tools have a "fuel gauge", 3 or 4 small lights recessed in the battery that show the state of charge when you push the button, the Dewalts only light when you push the button. The button is recessed right next to the lights -- holding the tool, pushing the button and keeping your hand out of the way all at the same time is a needlessly difficult.

Makita uses the same light/push button setup -- except the lights stay illuminated 4 or 5 seconds after you push the button, easier.

I respected the yellow tools, they held up well in an industrial setting where workers were exceptionally tough on them & I could get repair parts easily.

 

The last 4 times I was in the garage attic it was over 120 degrees. Each time I thought "this should be the last time I need to get up here".

 

I had a window that was in a window well removed and infilled by a mason in order to do an interior renovation and build mudroom cubbies on the interior wall. My wife had the idea of turning the remaining window well into a planter and free up more patio space, now trying to execute it.


I consulted with an architect friend and commercial building enclosure friend on the detail for the planter, but any additional feedback is appreciated. We had concern about caving in or cracking the joints of the brick wall due to lateral earth/gravel pressure if we just filled the entire thing with soil/gravel since there is an air gap behind the brick (between the brick and CMU foundation wall). I was also concerned about moisture working its way through the wall with wet planting soil being right up against the wall and it being a finished basement on the interior.


Will update with progress photos.

 

Some shop updates:

Since this was a horse stable at some point, there were horses that bit through a bunch of studs. I went in and sistered all of the chewed up studs before a small crew of framers came in to help me out.


The crew came in and installed a rafter tie on every single rafter. My engineer said this would provide the structure so I could remove the center wall that was pushing up on the roof.


Then they hoisted a wall I framed last fall into place lol. It was just sitting there under the eave. Didn’t have enough people around to hoist it.


They braced it against the existing framing to add some shear strength to the gable end. Then my engineer instructed them to put kickers on the front gable end before they remove that wall + the center load bearing wall. I held my breath as it came down, but it looks like the engineer got it right. Still standing tall. No roof ridge sag, and no walls bowing.


That’s as far as they got in a day. I had originally only hired them to put in the rafter ties, put my wall in, and take the existing walls down. But they’re between jobs and had a couple extra days to spare so I paid them to tidy-up some framing and sheath the entire building. The siding is rotten so I wanted it all gone. I’ll redo it later in the summer after the roof.


Check out all that room!!


Doing some final clean up tomorrow and hauling scraps away. Concrete cutter will be by to cut the old stem walls off at some point. Then Friday I have an excavator coming in to grade and compact 4” of gravel. Hopefully get the floors poured next week! The front of the building is just going to stay open until the concrete is in I think. Just gives people more room to work around. The gable end isn’t load bearing and those kickers have the engineer’s blessing in the meantime.

Now that there’s more light in here I’m seeing the mold wasn’t as bad as I thought. It looks like the roof sheathing is only bad on the very bottom row. The rows going up to the ridge seem reasonably fine.


When I get the shingles off, I’m contemplating just replacing that bottom row and treating the others. My only other concern is I have some dry rot on a few of the rafters. Ideally I’d replace the 4 or so that have damage so it won’t spread, but I’m wondering if treating + sistering for permanent structural support wouldn’t be sufficient. You can see there’s already one that’s been sistered, but again the rotted board is still there. Replacing would require me to take the whole deck off, I think.

 

these?


or these?


both are acceptable for light fixtures, on a ceiling, or a wall.

the only code requirement there is going to be if you get a fixture that weighs more than 35 pounds. that's the max either of those boxes are rated for. after that, you need to step up to a fan-rated box that's good up to 50 pounds.

i'm concerned with long term drainage past the styrofoam. eventually the air gap you're leaving is going to fill up with gunk and keep that area wet all the time which could damage the brick.

i know it's an already completed knee wall, but it would be a good idea to run some drainage pipes out through the front of the existing knee wall so the moisture is diverted out and away from the window well area.

 

Hah, just finished up a little while ago, I used 3 different types of roundies...

 

yep, all within code for the lights.

outlets, i'd usually recommend one on each side wall instead of a quad in the middle. don't know your usage, but generally his/hers sinks, having outlets on the far outsides of the sink basin's allows each person to keep things plugged in without bothering each other.