Home Improvement Today?

Crappy pics but last night after work I hacked up a 2x6 to use as a sister stud. I had cut the drywall back to expand the shower stall & needed to support the new drywall edge. Equally important was having a solid point for the shower glass wall to anchor to after the wall is tiled. The fire break above & shear wall below made notching & fitting this 2x6 fun. I'll keep this pic handy for the glass guy to reference when it comes time to install.



Then I decided to wire in the LED "can" lights before I seal up the drywall. 2 of them are just held in place with wire but the room is a helluva lot brighter than the 2 tube fluorescent fixture I had leaning up in the corner. Now the Hot mop crew should be able to see what they're pouring on Monday!

 

Mowed my lawn. it grows so fast, i need to cut at least two times a week. Luckily i only have 8600sqft of lawn lol Takes me about 45mins with a push mower just to mow. Doesnt count edging/weed whacking . I been playing with the idea of putting down some pavers in the back. Thinking of something like this so i can put a picnic table or fire pit out here

 

Assuming my dimensions are remotely close, a picnic table OR fire pit will work, both will be too tight.

 

Yo wtf those are the exact measurements lol If i had to choose between a table or firepit. I think a fire pit would be best with 4 chairs around it really.

 

Guess I've been doing this for too long!

I had a table and it never got used.

Now I have a gas firepit and... it never gets used.



At least the grill and smoker get used!

 

hahaha you install pavers and such or a builder?

 

Neither, just been doing AutoCAD in various forms for about 20 years.

 

Pumped our slab this morning , 24 yards of 32mpa , 10mm aggregate low slump concrete with plasticizer pumped with 40 metre boom pump

The guys are still finish troweling it under the big top








After placing the slab we were able to reach over into the boonies and pour some footings for a pumphouse addition

 

Just completed a massive repair task.

First a Caution. Anyone who has a brick planter attached to the house. Inspect it on the inside of the house for water damage.

Our house was built in 1960 with a brick planter attached to the front of the house. Last December, 2020, I was replacing insulation at the rim joist because the basement was exceptionally cold. Pulled out a piece of insulation that was very heavy, squeezed it and water dripped. Took a close look at the rim joist, it was shiny. I was able to poke my finger through the rim joist. Repair had to wait for Spring and budget.

The work began in May to remove the 24 foot brick planter, the dirt in the planter, the supporting block, the brick veneer on the house which led to removal of the vinyl siding. The brick, mortar, block totaled to 10,300 lbs for my Tacoma to haul to the landfill 30 miles away in 1200 lb loads.

Built a supporting stud wall for structure while I removed the rim joist and the sill plate, both were very rotted. The rim joist and sill plate replacement only took 4 hours. Meanwhile, materials were placed on order to complete the front of the house. Stone veneer (4 week leadtime) and vinyl siding (10 week leadtime). During this time, the front of the house was covered in a layer of 1/2" plywood and 2 layers of house wrap.

Laid in flashing on the brick ledge, installed stone veneer, laid flashing on the stone cap, then installed the vinyl siding. Finished July 4 weekend.

The actual repair was only 4 hours, the demolition was 18 days, the stone install was 4 days, the vinyl took 8 hours. Fortunately, I am skilled at this type of work so my labor cost is low, material cost was just short of $4000, disposal of debris was $140 plus many trips and fuel.

The cause of the damage was the soil in the planter holding water/moisture for years. Water will work its way through brick, block, concrete to attack causing rot. The signs to look for are the effervescent spikes on the inside of the foundation, bubbling paint, wet insulation, wet wood, musty smell. These are just some signs of water damage that is in progress.

 

Looked at a house today that I can’t afford to buy, that was exciting.
Looked at another one that I probably could afford.
Walking around my wife kept saying that’s not too bad, this is okay, I don’t mind this that much.
In my head I’m thinking going to have to fix that, that’ll have to change, have to fix that too.

I’m gearing up for some projects when we do find something. Unless we rent, then oh well


I built a sunroom with my father-in-law last year, I’ll have to dig up those pictures.

 

Good work, I suppose me saying you got off easy doesn't help much, as the whole thing is a pisser. I've had multiple occasions when/where the previous idiot buried some (hidden) portion of the house or purpose did some crappy shenanigans to hide moisture damage. Fack sticks.

 

All done , curing sealer applied

 

Installed 250 sq ft of insulation in the attic. The fix & flippers replaced some drywall ceiling sections and never put any insulation back on top of them. Hoping that will stop my AC from running so much. Brand new system that my HVAC guy said is working perfectly and is sized properly for the home, yet has to run almost constant to maintain 74 degrees. All the missing insulation was right near the thermostat so fingers crossed it makes a difference.

 

Daniel.....another point beyond insulation is the Attic. Is it properly vented??

Couple of rules, dependent on local codes, are to divide the square footage of the attic by 150 or 300, the resultant is the square footage of roof vent needed. Understand the exhaust and the intake MUST have equal area.

Example: My home is 1425 sq ft. Dividing by 150/300 means I need 9.5/4.75 sq ft of vent. I'll call it 10 and 5 sq ft. So, I need 5-10 sq ft of intake and exhaust.

The purpose is to remove the heat from the attic in the summer and remove the moisture in the winter while avoiding ice dams. This simple system also helps increase the life of the shingles.

My current house has less than 3 sq ft of exhaust and I'm doubtful if the intake is present or working. I've got a venting project to tackle before winter sets in. I've done measurements for ridge vents. 36' ridge vent will provide 10.5 sq ft of exhaust. Then I'll need to cut intake holes in the soffit to match the 10.5 sq ft exhaust. Each intake vent will have a baffle to allow air into the attic and prevent the insulation from blocking the intake.

I error on the high side for venting, simply because my father taught me that an attic cannot be over vented.

 

Might want to look into radiant barriers too lol https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/oooh-shiny-stuff-radiant-barrier-fundamentals


Is your hvac in your attic ?

 

Lol it would be hard to hide all the moisture damage in your neck of the woods

We lived in Everson for 7 months and everything was wet all time and at least 3 kinds of dank

 

Hahaha been dry as bone for 3 months. In town or county?

 

Crawlspace.

A gable fan is on the list of stuff to add to help out.

 

out on Oat Coles rd so I guess county?
It sure was beautiful when u could see the mountains

 

We are just a couple roads east on the slope of Sumas. It's been a HOT - DRY summer. Was like 74°F yesterday. 53°F right now, not even 5AM.