Home Improvement

Since we received some nice snow recently, Laura and I decided to go for a walk in it. We did our usual route – up the road and back. It’s two miles and just long enough to get out whatever it was that we needed to get out. Remarkable how that works. Take a break […]

I have a somewhat entertaining story for you. Here goes… Last week some time, mother nature decided to throw some -2 degree temperatures at us. I read the weather forecast ahead of time and after reading it, I stood up tall and puffed my chest out. I did this because I was me – and […]

I’ve got a fun story for you. You probably won’t want to read it if you aren’t into smelly basements and septic pipes, but if you are, read on. You might be entertained. When we moved into this house last November, I remember going down to the basement to check things out. One of the […]

As I mentioned in my last post, I had to install a new septic tank baffle. For one reason or another, our existing concrete baffle broke off and is currently sitting at the bottom of the tank. Here is a picture of the exit pipe with no baffle. Don’t know what a septic tank baffle […]

Can anyone tell me what happens to a valve if it freezes with water inside? Okay, I’ll tell you. The seal gets ruined. Something happens when the ice expands in the valve, so after a few freeze/thaws, you get some leaks. We’ve had it happen to the kitchen sink after that froze this past Winter. […]

I’ve got a project to complete that I’m really not looking forward to. It’s called something like, “filling in the basement crawl space with gravel, dirt, sand…whatever.” Do you remember back when I told you about my nifty installation of our sump pump? Well, that installation worked wonderfully. Every time the basement filled with water, […]

Rigid foam insulation is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s thin, effective, has a great r-value and acts as a vapor barrier. With the time and space saved, it’s worth its weight in…well, rigid foam. It’s sort of expensive though at $18.99 per 4’x8′ 1 inch thick sheet. But the mice hate it and […]

I was looking at yesterday’s post last night and I began thinking about those pictures of the foam I sprayed around the newly installed windows and how sloppy it looked. I knew I was going to trim the foam, but I was concerned that those of you who read yesterday’s post may think I’m some […]

I just finished installing the new windows in the log cabin room. Surprisingly, the ordeal only took about an hour and a half. I’ve had terrible visions of this project, but now I realize I shouldn’t have worried. It’s just that I never installed windows before and issues can arise. Really, all I did was […]

Laura asked if I needed anything from town today. I’ve been going back and forth with this window thing because I didn’t want to drop the money to pay for them. I know they’ve got to get done, but it’s difficult paying for something that gives me such little satisfaction. Even worse, we already have […]