What home improvement work did you do today?

Garage is slowly coming together. Picked up a couple cabinets for extra storage and tabletop space. Elected to not use casters so I could shim and keep both on the same plane

 

I did not think that roof was doable correctly in 2 days. Hope it goes smooth

 

Ours definitely isn’t Thanks!

 

Put up some shelves in my arts & crafts/gun/reloading/guitar room

 

Finally finished (almost) a project that has been ongoing for quite a while. It was delayed a couple times due to the insane AZ heat and my work schedule. Our back patio had drywall on the ceiling which had been repaired a couple of times and continued to crack along the tape lines. Not sure why it would happen every couple of years, but it did. Maybe the change in weather and or humidity? I tore the drywall down and found wood paneling underneath the drywall which was removed also to begin with a clean slate. The old ceiling fan in the center was removed along with hundreds of nails and screws.

I first painted the trim around the ceiling which had the old colors exposed that were hidden behind the drywall. A new ceiling fan brace was installed in the center along with running electrical for ten 6" recessed lights and I added a power outlet to connect two 6.5" bluetooth powered speakers which required an outlet for power.

I ordered 16ft long T&G pine boards from a local lumber yard thinking they'd be more straight and easier to work with as opposed to just grabbing some from the local Lowe's or Home Depot. The boards were all sanded down and then coated with Benjamin Moore Woodluxe stain and sealer. I then started to hang the boards ensuring the first row was completely straight. I ended up cutting the boards down from the 16ft length to random lengths for a staggered look. I quickly found out that the boards are not that straight...they bowed inward, outward, up, and down. I ended up cutting a small piece of 2x4 and used an "L" shaped bracket to attach the 2x4 to a ceiling beam. The 2x4 was also screwed into a standard clamp. I was able to screw the bracket into the beam and then use the clamp to push and seat the wood into the previous row. This was a huge help, but very time consuming as I practically needed a clamp every two feet to butt the rows up tight.

I continued to install a couple of rows each weekend until I got to the point to cut out for the recessed lights, speakers, and fan. I used a hole saw for the lights and then ultimately used a template and jigsaw for the ceiling fan and speakers.

Just finished the last row on Sunday. All that is left now is to buy and install a new ceiling fan and also get some trim to go around the border which will be painted in the gray house trim, but will do white to match the house on the back row trim.

The lights have a remote control that you can change the color temp as well as the output level. I think 10 lights may have been overkill. I'm currently running the lights on 2700K color and only 30% light output.

I'm not a carpenter by any means. This was my first time tackling a T&G install, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. It did take much longer than I thought to get everything completed. If I could go back in time I'd probably just hire it out to someone else to complete.

Here are a few pics that I took along the way.

 

Good job that looks excellent!

 

Thank you everyone for the votes on the tree... still no idea, we know pleated woodpeckers were involved, but the shredding is unlike anything we have ever seen before...

meanwhile.... todays events:

 

@AZTundra Great work there, it looks fabulous.

 

New mini project is making a guest coat hanger from some scrap butcher block. General design before putting together/sanding/staining/poly:

 

http://www.popupparts.com/

Upcoming project will be to replace the 24 year old lift on my roof. It's been catching in a spot and chewing up the crank.

 

I think you've mentioned it in here before, but what kind of PUP do you have? I've come across a lot of sites when we were fixing ours up.

 

Had to build a quick rolling chair while I'm working on the truck or washing it. Noticing that bending down and crouching on knees is killing my back. So I came up with a cheap solution for now... Maybe later on I'll get fancy and get something from the store.

 

It's an 01 StarCraft star blazer.
That was hilarious, while searching for specs I saw one for sale and this MF tried to say you can haul it in a Dakota.
Only if you want the Dakota to pop a damn wheelie.


It's only about a 300 lbs more than the payload on my tundra is all. LOL

 

So most of the RV/Camper companies use the same parts and products. Here are a couple that might help. We have a '94 Starcraft PUP that I was able to procure a lot of parts from these sites.

https://www.hannarv.com/?srsltid=AfmBOorlW_Oropd5wiIqPduijff4mVCMI1BbdoBePQCq_sqJYtcrW-an

https://robertssales.com/

 

Beautiful, thank you kindly. Random question, how common is it for these campers to have only 3 jacks? This weirdo has 2 corner jacks on the driver's side and one centered on the passenger side. It's weird!!

 

I'm not overly familiar with the drop in's, but my thought process would think you would need one in each corner.

popupportal.com is another good resource. Not as good at this site, but some off beat questions get asked.

Did you get an "owners" manual with it? I use that loosely as they are a general manual that goes across models.

 

Unfortunately no, it was a junkyard find that I brought back to life. All I have is a this spec sheet.

 

This is just googling a 01 Starcraft Blazer that came back.

 

Home sweet home. I love that I can use the gaucho with the top down, makes it a little easier to be stealthy. I guess some just have 3, it's weird but pretty common from what im finding.

 

My dad has one and there's 4

 

You did a great job! Your house looks a lot like mine, we could be neighbors lol

I did this to my covered patio in 2019. Put up a substrate of 1/2” plywood screwed to the joists then opted for 1/4” thick T&G and could toe nail the tongues anywhere since had the plywood under it.

Having done that, I would never use 1/4” T&G again. Not straight and breaks too easily. I like yours!

Have since tiled the patio and had the pool decking resurfaced, but the ceiling has held up well. Used quarter round for trim.

 

Ive never seen one before with 3, but it's definitely designed this way because on the side with 2 the jack mounts are also tie downs but on the other side there are eyelets.

 

Looks great! I bet having the plywood underneath made it go a lot quicker for the install. I was thinking of using quarter round as well on 3 of the 4 sides and then using a flat board along the back of the house similar to what was there prior. Glad to hear it’s been holding up well.

I’m tempted to drop a cable line like you did before the trim goes up.

Next up is redoing our sprinkler system front and rear. It’s at least 19 years old (was there when we moved in). It sprung a few leaks and when those were patched it leaks it new areas. Landscaper said it’s time to tear it out and redo the lines. After that, I’m going to look into resealing and getting color back to our stamped concrete that covers the patio and around the pool. I’ll be sure to update with pictures as things get underway.

 

I ran irrigation lines out back and front, house never had any prior to moving here in 2018! Which is hard to believe in AZ, and there was natural grass in the back. I installed artificial grass in back and front. Put in all new plants/trees and new drip lines. Did the back in 2019, we remodeled (added on) so did the front from scratch last year. So far so good

 

I did all my landscaping projects prior to owning a truck… Lots of borrowing, here’s a few pics of the front. I did everything but the pavers (have a good paver guy!)

 

I was gone on two one week trips to AZ and CA that had a week at home in between. The day after the last trip we still had a little snow left from the day before but 6 deer were lounging in the back yard. My neighbor texted me the night before we left on the last trip “I heard a tree come down behind your house”. I went out and looked but the green belt is dense and is a down ward slope. While I was back there I noticed some bear scat on the grass. My yard has been taken over by the critters.

 

im jealous, only critters I ever see in my yard are the neighbors dogs shittin in it.

 

All we get are coyotes and some coons...the kind momma chases off the back porch with a broom

 

We have all kinds of wildlife, deer, raccoons, skunks, turkeys, coyotes, rabbits, fox, mountain lions etc.
I just spotted this guy last weekend for the first time roaming around with a couple turkeys.

 

i get woken quite often by peacocks, sounds like a damn scream for help sometimes.