Home Improvement Today?

Thats not how it works

Thats not how any of this works

 

Worked a bit more on my arbour project this weekend

Put 2 coats of industrial marine enamel on the knife plates , and selected , ripped and sized the pieces for the top sub rail

The top sub rails will go post to post at the top under the cap and to create a stronger connection I am routing the sub rails into the posts by 3/4" , they will then be connected with GRK screws

I made a jig to rout the notches in the posts for the sub rails




After a couple little tweaks the fit is nice . Rounded corners of the notches left by the router were squared off with a corner chisel .





After I confirmed the fit in the offcut I routed all the posts .

Hope to put it all together next weekend

 

More progress on the basement this weekend. We got the doors and trim sprayed. This was a much bigger pain than I expected. Sprayed the first run of trim to discover my wife did not do nearly as good of a job vacuuming as she thought she had. scraps from under the drywall came blowing out and stuck to the trim, so had to wipe it all off and go around and vacuum again.

Then tried to spray as lightly as possible on the trim for the first coat, with every intent of a light second coat to get it all looking clean. Baseboards turned out great. The door casings and door trim not so much, this was in part due to the tight quarters I had to paint in, went on much thicker than I would have licked, so then rolled it on to even it out. Will go around and hand brush the door casings in a second coat to smooth things out.

The doors painted very well, I attribute this to having the room to work, as well as there being a slight wood grain pattern in the doors allowing the paint to really have something to grab onto. Screwing the doors together with some scrap wood helped too, that way I could hit all sides at once, rather than lean against the walls and get one side at a time.

 

Completely agree, In my experience, People who live in $2 million dollar houses usually do care about what it costs that's how they can afford a $2 million dollar house haha.

now, they can afford to spend more if it will get them a more high quality product, but that does not mean that they are willing to spend more if the same end product doesn't have to cost more.

My only issue I can see with the project is that you mention that they are friends of a coworker and really expect perfection. There are two end possibilities here, (1) you achieve perfection, and the customer is more than willing to compensate you for the time, energy and effort involved and you are as happy with your compensation, as the customer is with their product. (2) you achieve perfection, and the customer is over the moon with the result, but you are left disappointed with the amount of time and energy it took for the level of compensation you were receiving for it.

The best advice I can give you is to value your time. If you expect it to take you 2-3 days, maybe shoot a little high, and quote them for 4 days. If you put in say 8 hours a day doing the work, then you are giving them a bid of 32 hours, if you come in under this, you can always charge them less, if you come in over this, you can decide how you wish to handle that. With regards to how much per hour to charge, you know your worth, if you feel you are worth $20 an hour, then bid $20 an hour, if you feel you are worth $100 an hour, then the same logic applies. I am not a professional contractor, I am simply a handy homeowner like yourself who has a 8-5 job but I do plenty of side jobs for friends and neighbors.

 

Make it worth your time and effort. If materials will be $250 I say you charge at least $275. In all honesty does your state or AHJ have a limit on "odd-job" work before you have to register or be licensed as a contractor? Most states have a $1000 project cost limit before you are considered contractor and must maintain certain responsibilities as such.

 

Got the remainder of the old handle out of the axe head. Wedge was definitely not original! Now time to get the rust off and see what I'm really working with.

 

Need some advise here. We are planning to expand my patio to cover up some high dog traffic areas and add another area for outdoor seating. Plan is to go 14 feet along the side of my house, new patio flush with the old one, except this foundation vent is in the way. Current thought is to remove it and use some extra brick I have to patch the hole, since brick is porous should I be worried about sealing the back of it? I don't think removing one vent will make a difference. Any other ideas?

 

I can just make out a marking of being made in ------town, VA, USA. Not sure if that is indicative of when it was made.

 

Its a 1" Sorby , got it from Lee Valley

 

are you sure its not CHARLESTON W VA USA...I looked for Virginia but nothing comes up on searches...

 

I believe you are right. This is the marking I can see, well at least the manufacturing location

 

Agreed. I mean, I guess I'm just thinking this is a relatively easy task. I'm buying strips of lattice at HD and tacking them to the wall in a pattern. Most of my time will be spent laying it out and measuring everything. The job is also the first of some much more significant jobs including probably about $10,000+ of built ins, and custom wine racks for their wine cellar. I gave them 3 options and was clear about degree of 'perfection' to expect with each one. They ended up choosing to spend $950 to use paintable PVC lattice strips that will have joints because they only come in 8 foot lengths. Good thing is most if not all of the joints will be behind the headboard, and I'll miter them at 45s so they 'tuck' behind each other. They're not total strangers - we're friendly with each other - and I also 100% agree with the things they were unhappy with about the work already performed by their fired contractor including cabinet hardware installed crooked, gaps in baseboards, gaps in crown molding, runs in paint and 'custom cabinets' that were basically particle board HD specials hacked in half and tacked back together with a new bottom. That's just being a lazy POS. I would be leaps and bounds above that level of quality and professionalism in a house that cost 100k, let alone a 2 million dollar place.

 

Anyone have a recommendation on waterproofing products? I've been getting a leak in my basement where the septic line comes in at. It's a few inches above the slab and my foundation wall is block. Only happens when it rains real good and it's only a small puddle that forms.

Edit: looks like this might be what I might need??

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DRYLOK-4-lb-Fast-Plug-Hydraulic-Cement-00917/100553093

 

Working on the mattock while the axe is in the vinegar. Has an "OLIVER" stamp on the bottom side. Same Oliver as the plow manufacturer?