Sunday, May 13th, 2007
I am not completely sure if you call them curtains or drapes. I am not sure I care either.
On Friday night, Laura and I decided to venture out to Lowes to look at some curtain stuff. Since the heat is back for the year, our living room and home office are taking a hit. It feels like our front windows are a giant magnifying glasses. Boy it gets hot. I planted trees in the front, but it will be a few years before they get large enough to offer any shade.
I have been hesitant to do the whole curtain thing because…well, I am cheap when it comes to that stuff. I just never really thought it was all that necessary. I guess I thought about it and decided that if I make a purchase in the name of energy efficiency, then it was ok. It’s not like we were using any more energy without the curtains, because we would just sit there and sweat.
So, here they are. Please excuse the dark picture, it was a bit sunny this morning.
Speaking of the morning…the photo above is of the bedroom. We would usually wake up to the sun shining in our eyes, which I really didn’t mind. It made me feel like it was nature’s way of doing things. Laura had a different opinion of that.
The curtains we hung throughout the house were Springs 40″ x 84″ Aspen Twill Panel, if that means anything to you. The bedroom has green walls, so we hung off-white curtains. The office has cappuccino colored walls, so we hung a wine colored curtain and the living room has a very light green/off-white color, so we hung a moss colored curtain. I think they look great.
Also, as far as the hardware goes (curtain rods), we purchased Beme Iron Bronze Ball Rod, which can be seen below.
Pretty good stuff. If feels like a whole new house and will be especially nice when the sun is beating down…on the outside of the curtains.
Here are some good links related to hanging curtains:
- How to hang curtains
- Using Curtains and Draperies in Your Home Decor
- Curtain Rod Tips Or How To Hang Your Curtains In Style
- Curtain Call
- How To: Hang Curtains Across Any Space
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Saturday, May 12th, 2007
I was outside this morning mowing the lawn, which is already becoming not very fun with my push mower.
I remember back in the day, my cousin Joey told me he was moving into a condo. He said it was good because he didn’t have to do any maintenance. I said, “Don’t you like doing that stuff? I sure do.” Boy oh boy, I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly. I mean, I like planting things and gardening a whole lot. I even like looking at the grass after it’s mowed. I just don’t like the feeling of me being strangled by my sweaty shirt during the actual mowing.
Oh well. So here are some fun photos. The first one was taken last year about this time. It’s the end of our driveway heading down towards the entrance to the basement. That side of the house had a pretty low grade so people could drive down there. Ask me why…I have no idea. Also, there was too much of the basement wall exposed and the sight of it gave me heartburn. I remember finishing up our nightly walks coming back to look at that side of the house…terrible. The next photo was taken today.
Ahhh, I love before and after shots.
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Friday, April 27th, 2007
This is an old post that I have been meaning to put up for about a year. Since it is raining outside and kind of slow here at work, what the heck.
Back when we first purchased this house, we noticed that the master bedroom was the place the the previous occupants kept their dogs. It stunk and had a carpet in it. I have a real hatred for carpets. The only thing carpets are good for is to have someplace for the dirt to hide. If you are allergic to dust, good luck. Sure, with hardwood, you are vacuuming every day, but what else do you have to do?
We decided to rip up the carpet right after we unpacked. Basically, the whole room was trashed. The walls had little holes in them and the floor was just dirty plywood, or what you would call “subfloor.” These people even used crown moulding as base moulding…real champs. They were also smokers, so the entire house would need painting. Yum! Listen, here is a word of wisdom…if you can’t do it correctly, then please don’t do it. It is a real waste of resources and money for the next guy to have to tear it up and re-do it.
Anyway, since we were on a budget and have pets of our own, we decided to lay down some laminate flooring. I heard the stuff was really tough. A guy that I work with (Kevin) told me about a flooring place in Middletown that had good prices. He was right and I purchased enough Mohawk Laminate Flooring for the first room. We eventually did the whole house, except for the kitchen and bathroom. That’s going to be tile.
To start, you are going to need a few things. You will need a miter saw, a hammer, a circular saw, the laminate floor installation tool (looks like a small flat crowbar) and a bowl with water and a sponge. I really advise that you purchase the installation tool. You won’t think you need it until the very end. If you don’t have it, you will find yourself in Home Depot. It’s only like $13, so just get it.
I purchased the foam that goes under the floor too. The flooring I bought doesn’t require it because it had a thin layer attached, but I read that it takes the imperfections out of the subfloor. I will tell you about the consequences of that later. As you can see from above, it’s fairly simple to lay down. First, you cut your foam to size, if you decide to use it, and staple it to the floor. Then, you start from one corner and start popping the pieces together. When you cut your last piece, take the extra and walk it back to the beginning. That’s your starting piece for the next row…and so on. There will most likely be instructions on the box of flooring.
The flooring that I bought had glue pre-applied to the edges. When attaching one piece to the next, use your sponge to wet the edge, then pop it together. When you are done with the floor, install your base moulding and your good to go.
I think the directions said to wait a day for the floor to dry before putting the furniture back in. I am not sure if I read that part. Either way, the furniture made it back into the room.
Ok, so here is my opinion of laminate flooring, now that I installed about 1,000 square feet of the stuff. It’s ok, if you are on a budget. When you walk on it, due to the foam and it being a “floating” floor, some spots can feel kind of soft. You might like that because it is easy on the feet, but when I walk on it barefoot, it kind of annoys me. I like to walk barefoot on concrete, but that’s me.
I have to say that it looks good, but people will know it’s laminate. The way the world is heading, this may be a trend, so that’s ok. Also, if you scratch it or chip it, I think you may be out of luck. There are fillers and scratch touch up products, but don’t count on sanding the floor down in 15 years to refinish it.
Overall, laminate flooring is a good alternative to carpet. If I had it to do over again…and I will in our next house, I would do Bamboo. Now THAT’S a floor!
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Saturday, April 21st, 2007
For those of you who thought it couldn’t be done…well, just take a look below.
This morning I cut a few pieces of half inch plywood and screwed them to the 2×6 beams I set up. Now the wall is rock solid. I also made it seem like the wall is supposed to be here. Notice the hangings. If you have no idea what the heck I am talking about, please see “How To Fix a Sagging Joist.”
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Sunday, April 15th, 2007
I don’t think I mentioned this before…I know I took some pictures though. A few weekends ago, I added a bunch of lights in the basement. I rewired the whole thing for a total of 8 high efficiency 100w (equivalent) fluorescent light bulbs. They only use 23 watts each. Now, the whole basement glows like a Christmas tree when I turn the lights on. Nice! I like being able to see the dark corners.
Anyway, here is the reason for this post. The other day, I was upstairs walking in the dining room. We recently added a little shelf/table thing against the wall. When I walked near it, it shook. I started softly bouncing on the floor and the shelve shook more. Also, there was a slight dip in the floor in that area. I could tell that I had a slightly bouncy joist. “Hmmmm”, I thought. “How the heck am I going to fix this bouncy joist…that sags as well?” I knew the answer, but as usual, I looked all over online. I found the typical solutions; add cross braces, sister the joist with a new one or add a post. Well, let me just tell you that adding cross braces doesn’t do a damn thing. You should add them when you build the house. They offer a slightly stiffer solution, but did nothing in this case. I added four of them between three joists (really tight) and it may have added a little more bounce. Hard to believe, I know. Also, the sagging was there more than ever. This was two weekends ago. (I am not sure that “sagging” would be the correct term…more like a slightly warped joist.)
Last weekend came and I said to myself, “I am going to tear this sucker apart. I am going to take down all the insulation, cross braces and wires and sister up two joists. That will stiffen it up.” Well, I went downstairs, took one look at the joists and had a flashback. I remember sistering up about 20 joists right after we moved in to find that they did absolutely nothing. Perhaps if you have a really old cabin in the woods or something, sistering joists would help, but not in this case. I wanted a hard, stiff floor that I could jump on. I like to party.
This weekend came and I was on a mission. Yesterday, I used an extra piece of 6×6 that I had laying around and my 20 ton bottle jack. I jacked up the one joist that I thought was the culprit. I put some good pressure on it and walked upstairs. Well, low and behold, I could walk on that area of the room and go nuts. Stiff as a board…to say. I knew that a 6×6 would look just look like some wacko fix down in the basement. I am really trying to keep this place from looking like it was pieced together. Having that happen is way too easy when you are trying to run a clean ship like this. I needed an excuse to put a board there. I called Tim next door over and we both agreed that a two foot wide wall wouldn’t be a bad idea. I could hang stuff off of it and all that.
So here is what I did. Sorry for the dust spots in the photo…I just swept up the floor. While the joist was jacked up, I cut a 2×6 nice and tight. I hammered that sucka right in there. Then, I put the rest of the puzzle together. I let the jack down and there we have it…perfect. I tested it out upstairs and everything feels great. Now, all I need to do is to get some 3/4″ plywood to box it in and I am good. I’ll get a few hooks or something and hang a few things off of it to make it look like I put it there on purpose.
I think that was pretty damn creative. The moral of the story is, when you have a bouncy floor or a sagging joist, you gotta use a post. Don’t try to get around it, just do it. I’m outta here.
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Sunday, February 18th, 2007
If you remember, a few weeks ago, I finished digging out the basement (of course I wrote about it). Well, since then, I have done a lot of work.
I am not sure you can see it in the picture above, but I repaired all the foundation walls (not that there was too much wrong with them), painted them with special concrete foundation sealing paint and covered the entire dirt portion of the floor with two layers of heavy 6 mil plastic. The reason I did two layers is because I bought A LOT of plastic, plus the added benefit of cross covering all the seams, so no moisture leaks through. You gotta make sure the seams are sealed.
When we first moved in, we noticed a higher than normal amount of condensation on the windows, especially when it was cold out. Paul kept on telling me that it was because of the dirt floor in the basement. He said the house was sucking the moisture up like a sponge. I didn’t think so because the dirt was inside and it seemed really dry. Well, I read somewhere online that dirt basements give off a high level of moisture, no matter how dry the dirt seems. Paul was right. Even though I had the windows open for a cross breeze down there, there was still a moisture problem. Right after I painted the walls and covered ALL the dirt with plastic, we started noticing a difference upstairs. Things seems just a hint “lighter” feeling, if you will. The air seemed better and there is definitely an ever increasing difference with less moisture on the windows. As a matter of fact, I am sitting here right now and there is NO condensation on the windows.
The thing is…with a relatively new house, things are very tight. I mean, there are vapor barriers in all the walls and when I open a door, I can feel the suction of air. The house is tight. It’s great for efficiency, but in the winter, humidity and airflow become important.
Bottom line - If you have a dirt floor in your basement, get to it and cover it up with plastic. Also, make sure you have some ventilation down there. When you go into my basement now, it’s like a whole new place…nice and dry.
On another note, I had this problem. I had a bunch of shovels, rakes and whatever else there is to have when you own a house…sledge hammer, ax, brooms, etc… I went into work one day with the intention of going to Home Depot and buying a few of those “wall clips” that you can snap the handles of these things into. I never really liked those things. The sizes of all the handles were different thicknesses and I just didn’t have a good feeling about it. Also, I could just image spending all sorts of cash on them and coming home to hang only a few things properly. I really didn’t think a piece of tin was going to be able to hold up my nice heavy sledge hammer. I had a better idea.
Soooo simple…I just drilled a hole in the end of each handle. On a long beam in the basement, I sunk a bunch of decking screws in a nice straight line, about a foot apart from one another. Then, I simply hung each item from its very own screw. Problem solved? You tell me…jealous I bet.
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Wednesday, January 24th, 2007
Well, I finally finished digging out the basement. I found some time under a rock on Saturday and went down to the pit with my shovel and rototiller. This was the last section of dirt…and boy was this tough stuff. I swear it was like rock, not to mention all the real rocks! Take a look at the before shot:
and now take a look at the after:
As you can see, they are not the same angles. The before shot has the center lally columns on the left and the after shot has them on the right. I added some additional columns to stiffen up the floor under the bathroom because I am going to tile that eventually. Also, I added some more columns that you can’t see here for the kitchen tile.
I am still raking out the rocks, but things are going smoothly. I purchased 2000 square feet of 6 mil plastic yesterday to lay on the floor. From what I hear, it is important to stop the moisture from coming up through the dirt. After I cover the entire floor with plastic and paint the concrete block, I am going to maybe get some gravel to cover the plastic with. That will make it a lot easier to walk around down there. Also, it will prep the area if anyone ever wants to cement the basement. All they will have to do is pour…
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Sunday, October 29th, 2006
Ok, as promised in my last post, I am going to give you the secret on how to properly cut crown moulding. Take a look at IMAGE REMOVED and then I will explain.
The above linked image belongs to WEBSITE REMOVED. Anyway, I will give you a little instruction, because the directions above can be kind of confusing. First, I want to give you a little piece of advice. When you begin to make your cuts, DO NOT THINK. That’s right…the minute you start thinking of how the cut is supposed to come out, you will screw it up. I have been using the directions in the image above for over a year. Every cut has come out perfectly. The first cut I made today I totally screwed up because I tried to get fancy and actually consider what the angle was supposed to look like when it was done. Don’t do it. Just follow the directions. For some reason, our brains just aren’t wired for this type of work.
When making my cuts, I like to keep the blade vertical, so I use the instructions on the right. This means that I have to lay the moulding on an angle, like the picture all the way to the right, above. So, let’s say you want to make a cut on the right side of your moulding on an inside corner. Take a look at the image above and look what it has to say. If you look at the A B C D chart in the middle, it shows that your cut is a “B” cut. Look down a little lower and follow the instructions for the “B” cut. It says to turn your blade for a 45 degree angle to the left with a 0 degree tilt. Ok, easy enough. Here is the tricky part. Hold your moulding in your hand the way it will be placed against the wall…as if you were actually holding it in place in the corner. Now, take the moulding and flip it over so now the left side is on the right and vice versa. Your moulding is now upside down, with the good side still facing front. Place the moulding on the saw this way, on an angle like above, with the good side facing you, like above. Make your cut. DON’T THINK…just make your cut. Now, flip the moulding back over and hold it against the wall and notice that the cut has been made to perfection. It really is that easy. Keep trying different cuts and you will see that the less you think and the more you follow the directions, the better they come out. My advice to you is that you practice on a few pieces of scrap before you start cutting up the good stuff. If you want a larger image to print out, just IMAGE REMOVED.
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Saturday, October 28th, 2006
Guess what I got today? I have been wanting this particular tool for years. Last Autumn, when I was hanging moulding in one bedroom and building a new front porch, I borrowed my friend Craig’s miter saw. Recently, like a bum, he came back and grabbed it for something he was working on. Since Winter is coming up, I decided it might be a good idea to finish the moulding in the rest of the house. With moulding, it is a good idea to do room by room, so you don’t go broke. Well, this morning, I broke down and went to Lowe’s and picked up a DW703 DeWalt Miter Saw. I also picked up about a hundred feet of moulding for around the windows and doors of the bedroom.
I made some cuts on the moulding to test out this saw. Wow…what a smooth operator. The thing I like about DeWalt is that they offer many attachments to go with their tools. There are so many cheap brands of tools out there, but after I had my experience with my Black & Decker rip saw (I had to return twice because I blew the bearings), I decided to buy only quality from now on.
As I mentioned above, I started hanging the moulding in the bedroom today. I want to give a few tips, one of which I learning this morning from my father. Here is a picture of the windows before anything is done to them:
The first thing I do, whenever I start a moulding project is to grab a piece and make some marks on the walls where the moulding is supposed to go. This helps later on when I need to make some marks on the moulding itself before cutting it, as well as when I am ready to nail it to the wall. I line the marks up with the corners of the windows or doors, whichever I am working on at the moment.
I make these marks by using the moulding itself as a straight-edge. After I make the marks on the wall, I mark up the moulding. Notice on the photo above that I mark where I want to make the cut as well as the angle it is supposed to be cut. I do this on both sides. I am sure you can imagine how many people cut their angles the wrong way. This is just an error proof move.
Ok, I have cut all my pieces with my new miter saw and am ready to hang. I use the marks that I made earlier on the wall to line up the moulding vertically and horizontally. Then I use a 5/64″ drill bit to drill 4 evenly spaced holes in the moulding only…not the wall. This is what I learned from my father this morning. It stops the moulding from splitting. Also, the material that this stuff is made out loves to make it difficult to get my 1 1/2 inch finishing nails started and who like bent nails after whacking them a few times…
After I placed the moulding on the wall, one piece at a time and put the nails in the holes, I use a 1/32″ nail set to hammer the nails in the wall. This reduces the chances of those lovely hammer marks and dents in your new moulding.
After a few minutes of work, I was pleased to see such a wonderful result.
Now, All I need to do is to caulk the corners and nail holes with white caulk and paint the moulding white. Next…the crown moulding and the base moulding. I am going to do a post on how to install crown moulding, because I have the secret as well as a guide you can look at. Adios…
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Friday, October 13th, 2006
Have you ever had a piece of clothing that went in your washing machine fairly clean and came out with a stain on it? Probably at one time or another. There are many things that can stain your clothing, besides you. Probably the most prevalent washing machine caused stain is rust. If you have a washing machine basket that is chipping, your clothes can push up again the rusty basket during the spin cycle and create those beautiful little orange stains that never come out. I have also been reading a lot about grease type stains on clothing. They say there are two main causes for this: 1. Your shaft bearing and seal are worn and the transmission oil is creeping up to get in your water. Once this happens, it gets on your clothes to cause staining, and 2. You have a buildup of fabric softener that comes loose off to put a greasy like substance in your water and on your clothing. Once you put your clothes in the dryer and the old fabric softener melts, wham, you are hit with a few stains.
I have read about a few others, but I forget what they are. That is probably because I have my own problem…and unfortunately, no one on the planet has heard of this particular problem. That is why I am putting it out to you.
Here is it - we are getting stains in the form of brown lines or “streaks” on our clothing when it comes out of the washing machine and dryer. I usually notice them after I pull the clothes out of the dryer, but I am sure the staining is occurring in the washing machine. So here is the dilemma: What in the world is causing the staining? The lines look very much like they are brown creases. I need to find out if something is coming through the water pipes into the washer or if it is coming from the washer itself. We have a new greensand filter installed, so I am pretty sure it is not in the water. Unless of course, the purple potassium backwash is flowing through the pipes into the washer. If I can isolate the problem to the washer, I can pull it apart and look for the culprit. I will take a look at the shaft going into the transmission to see if there is any grease or oil on it. If so, I will buy a new washer. The picture below is my actual shirt that came out of the dryer with this mark on it. It is about 6 inches long, so you can understand why we are getting so frustrated with this problem.
So, my question to you is: Have you ever had, or known anyone, with brown stains or streaks that look like “creases” come out of their washing machine? I beg of you…
UPDATE…
Ok, this is an update to the above post I wrote about 6 hours ago. I came home tonight on a mission. After going to Home Depot this afternoon with Paul, I had a few things to look at. We decided that perhaps the problem can be isolated to the water lines or the washer. It is pretty important that I figure out what is causing the problem, because purchasing new parts and a new washing machine can get quite expensive. Then, the possibility that you haven’t even fixed the problem still remains.
I came very close to purchasing two $33 water filters…one for each water line of the washing machine. I figured that maybe the pipes still had gunk in them from all the years the previous owners ran the water with iron sediment building up in them. Paul talked me out of that. We agreed that before I purchased the filters, I would go home and take off the rubber hoses that attach to the back of the washer. Then, I would snake a wire through each one and pull a small piece of cloth through them, to see if there was gunk built up in them. I came home this evening and did this. The cloth came out completely filthy. Bingo…I thought. I pulled the cloth through a few more times until there was no dirt left. I reattached the hoses and put the washer back in place. I took the front panel of the washer off so I could see what happens when it runs. I tried to simulate a real wash, so I filled it with clothes. The outer tub on this particular GE washer is clear, so I could get a good picture of what was happening. I was looking for little beads of grease floating up in the water. If the problem wasn’t the hoses, I would catch it here for sure. I wanted to find out something before Laura got home.
I ran the wash and watched the machine go through all of its cycles. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary. This wasn’t much fun. As I sat there, I started to think about how our new strategy to avoid these stains was to turn our clothes inside out and wash them that way. That way, the stains wouldn’t show on the visible side of our clothing. It has been working well. Wait a second…what difference does it make whether or not we wash our clothes inside out? If there is something in the water, it makes no distinction between which way our shirts and pants are situated. The oil would get in any which way.
HOOOLD OOOON……..
Laura came home and we started talking about this horrible issue. I told her what I found and told her about the inside out dilemma. We both started getting a little quiet. I mentioned how this never happened in Brewster (where we lived a year ago). She also mentioned that she never got any stains on her scrubs (she wears them for work). Hhhhmmmm. In Brewster, we had a different dryer. Also, she never puts her scrubs in the dryer because if she gets a stain from the washer, she doesn’t want the dryer to “set” it.
THE DRYER…….
I ran downstairs with a white sock in my hand. I opened the dryer door, took the sock and rubbed it hard, up and down, against the rear corner, between the rear wall and the drum. I pulled the sock out and looked at it. Well, well, well. I nice brown grease-like streak that looks identical to the photo above. I guess when the dryer heats up, it makes this, what ever it is, get gooey and easily transferable to clothing.
Now that we figured out what is causing the stains, I can start pricing out new dryers.
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