What home improvement work did you do today?

Congrats!!! Welcome to home ownership!!

-T

 

Man that turned out great what brand acid system/product did you use?

 

Yeah, it’s just something different than plain concrete color that will be stained with tractor oil and piss me off. Lol
I still have to poly seal it, but end result will be similar without the gloss.

 

It is a 5x7 sand box for my son. Weep block will go down tomorrow night and sand on friday.

 

Thx! It’s Brickform Acid stain, I used 5 gallons of random colors I had left over from my garage floor. It’s just the barn/shop so I’m not too concerned with how it turns out. It will be covered in dirt soon lol.

 

Congratulations.

 

Oh okay. Cool. I had no idea that was a thing. I knew people sealed concrete floors, but had never heard of acid staining.

 

You have two two car garages? I told my wife if we move again, I don't care if it is a 2 bed 1 bath, so long as it has a 7 car garage. I have too many hobbies. Woodworking, car and motorcycle repair, home maintenance and repair. I would like to get a full on metal shop as well as my wood shop. I try to share a 1 car garage with woodworking and motorcycle repair and it truly tests my patients at times. Too much stuff, too little room.

 

Yep, just something different. Normally it’s done on the interior of homes. It’s not too terribly hard to do. This was our garage floor 3 years back I did when we were building our house. I wanted it darker.
The paint-on/roll-on speckled stuff seems to wear easily and come up with hot tires over time. The acid stain doesn’t do that which is why I went acid vs the other stuff.

 

Always go bigger.

 

@trucksareforgirls2 How do you like the LVP in the basement? You have cold winters? I’ve wanted to do that but fear it would be like an ice rink in the winters

 

got a storage tank set up for rain water collected off the cover over my trailers and boat

 

Started working on renovating the interior of my trailer. Should be awesome when it’s done!

 

I’ve been doing my part to keep the economy rolling. My plan was to slowly do this project throughout the summer, but my plumber and cabinet maker lost all their work and moved me up to the front of their list. I framed up and wired the bathroom/laundry room, and the plumber and I did the rest. Wish I could say I was talented enough to make the built in’s and cabinets but I chose not to take on the task and had my neighbor who is a cabinet maker by trade to do them. He had 70 hours into these. My wife and I painted them. 2 gallons of paint in all! Just waiting on the sink to show up so I can wrap this project up.

 

That looks really good! I really like how the natural wood looks with that paint color!

 

Installed a Honeywell UV lamp treatment system in my HVAC system.
https://customer.honeywell.com/resources/Techlit/TechLitDocuments/68-0000s/68-0249.pdf

 

That looks awesome! Like the floors as well. The live edge slab is a look on there as well.

 

I had one of our millwork contractors manufacture them for me.... I’ve installed both cabinets from Home Depot and Lowe’s and they are Of decent quality if you go higher end w/ solid maple doors and ply boxes. Any good quality millwork contractor should be able to make quality cabinets in a layout you want also if you need more custom.
One suggestion I’d make is if you can afford to do a Caesar stone backsplash then I’d do it 100%... it’s not cheap but it looks amazing and the maintenance on it is so simple also. The one sheet above the stove is over 700# though...

 

the rona doesn't stand a chance in your house!

 

Very nice!

 

The wife has wanted a bench and shelf in the mud room for years now. With a little extra time on my hands, I’ve got it mostly done. One of the panels is on a piano hinge to cover an electrical sub panel. Now I need the paint store to open back up so I can have some paint matched.

 

Biting the bullet and having curbing put in. Should look great once it’s done and is gonna be worth it in the long run. I just get to sit inside and watch this ‘home improvement’ though.

 

Done. Now to fill with landscaping rock and plants....

 

I knocked out 2 walls, 1 was load bearing. House is an 1880s. 3 ply post and beams for the load bearing wall, everything was balloon framed of course. The other wall i just did a double ply beam. Its not doing much, running with the joists. The wall above it was built on the flooring between the joists so added some support. It only runs maybe a foot further on my beam but it helps support the landing a little more. Its got big ass GRK's but i will put a hanger on. Ive done this a few times now in century homes, always crazy weird framing, nothing lines up, happy to say this time not as much mouse crap. No giant petrified rats. Thats a win. Even with the balloon frame, the weird framing, its all held up fine, half the joists were cut originally short with no stud beside it. Which meant it was face nailed through the 1 inch wall cladding boards, and they never failed. Now i need to drywall and patch in the oak flooring and make a transition. Next is kitchen.

Edit, that 2x6 under the beam is just for drywall and were cut offs that happened to fit. Wasnt going to cut into my 10ft lumber for a 1ft block!

Covid Budget Renos

 

Yeah I think so too. It is on the bigger side but at least it will be stout and last a long time. Now the labor intensive planting part begins.

 

I need to build one of those for my little guy. Did you follow a set of plans?

 

Nope, I came up with my own plans for the size of space and the materials I had when i built the frame. The lid i wanted it to be smooth but strong enough to hold the dog's or myself, so I bought some 5/4 cedar deck boards and came up with that design. Used gate hinges and handles

 

where is that ? nice !

 

whats the price per square foot to have something like that done ? Love it !

 

I’m not sure on contracting out, I’ve only done it myself. There’s a few different ways you can do it. Most contractors put the acid in a sprayer and spray an even coat. I loved the random crazy look so just dumped the acid all over the place and brushed it around with a broom.
IIRC the acid is $50ish per gallon (I used 5 gallons for 1200sq ft) and then the sealer is around the same, maybe more. You’d normally always use the sealer, so it’s just the cost of the acid, and your time.

This is what it looks like complete with the poly/sealer on top (officially complete 2 years later lol).