What home improvement work did you do today?

We've setup rules. Your 1st device is Apple Watch. They each got one in 6th grade. You don't get a mobile phone until 8th grade. Your plans are with T-Mobile and have child safety features (on content) in-place on your plan, which you can't remove.

You'll have access to MacBook and a PC. Both have BitDefender on them for malware and content protection. The Apple product is setup with Apple Family, with time and content restrictions for everything, exceptions in place for certain creative tools, and the same restrictions extend to your phone. The PC is setup with Microsoft Family with similar restrictions. Both will let you request time extensions to our phones immediately if you're working on something important. Anyone caught tampering with controls will lose access to that device (that's been tested, and they FA&FO'd)

Internet in the house is filtered through Pi-hole to block ads, adware, malware, with DNS pointed at QUAD9 for security. All kids devices, game consoles, and SmartTVs have internet blocked from 9:30pm to 7:30am, controlled through our internet gateway (UniFi), along with some other fun stuff. All devices must be turned into your mom & dad's room by 9:30, 10:00 at the latest.

Even then, there's cracks I've had to patch, workarounds they've found. And I can't even imagine what this is like for someone who hasn't spent the last 25+ years in the technology world, where a major focus of your job was on physical and cybersecurity, and you're responsible for thousands of users on a daily basis.

EDIT: And the gaming consoles are locked down for time too. We're total buzzkills.

 

This mirrors almost exactly what I do, minus pihole and Bitdefender (wife doesn't compute; son has a PC). I do allow son more latitude as he's almost 17 and I figure if he's mature enough to hold down a job 3 months away from home, he's mature enough to have some of his restrictions relaxed.

 

Totally!

BitDefender: I needed something lightweight after AVG went to shit, and then Avira went to shit. I've got a professional contact that I trust implicitly, same entity I was getting my Avira licenses from, and he recommended giving BitDefender a try. That was almost a decade ago.

It's lightweight, the console is cloud-based so I can setup machine policies and rollout installs from there, and monitor/alerting from there also. Licenses are cheap enough if purchased at 3 year intervals (it's typically by 2 get 1 free). I usually buy 10 licenses for my parents and MIL, the kids, and myself. It supports MacOS and Windows, so no device compatibility for my needs.

It's nice because not only has it managed to block 100% of Trojan/virus protection on every machine I've had it on, but it's blocked 99% of adware/malware (or better, but a couple of times a questionable PUP or two got in, so I'm dinging 1%). If anything major happens on any machine, like with the parents, or if they hit a phishing/targeted scam, I get an alert and can TeamViewer into their computer to check out what's going on. but so far, no major emergencies.

Highly recommend if it's something you need.

 

Follow up on the daughter’s wedding Photo Booth project. Almost complete. Have some touch ups, labels and some signage to do, but mostly together and finished. Curtains are all done too, just not installed.

 

your kids are gonna have to go find oldschool magazine smut.

 

+1 for bitdefender.

Been using it for years. Normally Windows Defender gets the job done, but i wanted something additional.

Usually you can get a 15 device 2yr "family plan" for around $35-40. Nice thing also is that you can stack them, so for around/under $80 you get 4 years for 15 devices.

Please, for the love of god and all things holy, dont use norton.

 

Really nice work there man, that turned out great!

 

Thanks man. Better than I thought it would honestly

 

Concrete poured to connect the shop to the driveway. Kids were home, so they were excited to watch some of it.

 

Yeah, I'm only paying more for the Enterprise because it gives full GravityZone portal access and lots of remote management options. It's a little more aligned with business than personal. Given how I purchased and who it was thru tainted my abilities a bit, but I quickly recognized the value in the Enterprise version.

 

Getting closer….



A little peak behind the curtain…

iPad, printer and dimmable led lighting panel controls.

 

Question for here. B/c I've been waiting too long to do this, but need to be thoughtful about execution, because some of the spots I need to do this in are 25ft up off the ground, on an incline, making it a bit tougher to be cutting shit off, and tougher to do alone.

Has anyone seen a product that will stand off your siding for cases like this, where some lazy ass installing siding decided to cut sloppy ass square holes for a round pancake box?

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I know I can use a Multimax or similar to cut out a square in the hardy plank, and throw a hardyboard or PVC block in place like this pic ... but surely, someone makes a product to deal with this situation? I'm coming up empty. I've got two exterior lights and four flood light fixtures with shoddy work like this I need to correct. I definitely wouldn't do what you see here, it's a wood insert, and lack of a drip edge up top would likely have it rotting in no time.

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really nice job on this!

 

Oh yeah, well familiar with BitDefender, and for the exact reasons you list above. (Well, that, and I'm civil service IT, so we hear about stuff a little quicker at times.) That said, while I'm not at all a believer of the whole 'Macs need no antivirus,' we only have two PCs in the house - wife's (work computer) and son's (he gets his free from school), so all I need is basic protection for it. LOL Otherwise I'd do the same as you.

 

Lowe’s/Home Depot have them in different shapes, sizes, and colors. Search ‘siding mounting block’.
I’ve added some fixtures around my house and used this style. I was able to paint to match my trim. https://www.ebay.com/itm/186918015648?chn=ps&norover=1&mkscid=101&itemid=186918015648&targetid=2299003535995&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9051847&poi=&campaignid=21203633013&mkgroupid=162035688435&rlsatarget=pla-2299003535995&abcId=9407526&merchantid=6296724&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21203633013&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh_kmKv6cShDKn-cSfoLyL7qb&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-cycmtTkjgMVBKvuAR18rALuEAQYBSABEgLCoPD_BwE

 

Cool, thanks a ton! This is exactly what I needed. EDIT: But trying to find for 3/8" Hardie Plank with a 7" reveal may prove to be a massive PITA. Potentially back to square one, but at least have some ideas.

I pride myself in my google-fu being top notch, but for some reason I was totally unable to find something like that. You're a lifesaver!

 

So i have a shop i'm in the process of building as pictured. the walls are almost 16' to the ceiling from the concrete. I plan to have a loft in a corner or against a wall to store some items that'll be accessed a few times a year, but not much. it' will be above an area that i'll enclose that'll contain a 1/2 bath and maybe a small room that can be used as a backup spare room. i was going to put some stairs along a wall then was told about the idea of some retractable stairs attached to a pulley system to pull it down when needed and then store it away to save space. anyone have any insight on this as someone has seen it or has it themselves. pros/cons of it. always open to other options and thoughts behind it. there my be some things i'm not thinking of, so i wanted to ask some of y'all.
thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like a pull down set for an attic. My only concern is finding a wide enough set or building one, that lets you bring anything you'd want up there easily. And then finding hardware that can support such a set. They got to be out there somewhere tho, I just have never looked.

 

That was my thoughts. We had that in our old house. But it was more like a ladder than stairs. A quick search of the Google came up with Rainbow Attic Stairs as a brand.

 

I just looked a little harder, its showing all ladder style like you said. Those rainbow ladders are 4k, I found a site with pricing. Going to need a smarty pants to custom design a set and find hardware that will work.

 

Also my first thought. Then before even researching I started thinking would that be sturdy enough or long enough for access to such a high loft? Ultimately I'd guess someone can make it, but at what cost?

edit: not the safest way to load and unload an attic/loft space but looks like it can be done affordably.
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Werner-AH2210C-8-ft-to-10-ft-Rough-Opening-22-5-in-x-54-in-Folding-Aluminum-Attic-Ladder-with-375-lbs-Capacity/5013806049?store=3206&cm_mmc=shp-_-c-_-prd-_-bdm-_-ggl-_-CRP_SHP_LIA_BDM_Online_High_Priority(A-D+Priority+Items+CL3)-_-5013806049-_-local-_-0-_-0&gclsrc=aw.ds&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21225273812&gbraid=0AAAAAD2B2W-xMPN0I3ncCYa2aiODRSnv9&gclid=Cj0KCQjwhafEBhCcARIsAEGZEKI4ThejM4DGs_zukKMeQjTRbP2IsA8C5RAQ_hbY6sOrW50tPXmSNwkaAsZOEALw_wcB#no_universal_links

 

Things are really cheap now-a-days, so probably like 5 bucks and a six pack?

 

Staircase hinged at the top and lifted with an electric hoist.

 

I'd buy that for 10 bucks and a case of beer. Let me know when you can ship it and I'll send my address.

 

Or, skip the staircase and install an electric hoist lift. Probably need to be out of city limits for that to fly though....

 

basically building a simple elevator? That sounds like something you do after you get the main permit But I think it might be the best solution for what he's looking for. Or at least something like that.

 

I really like this idea.

 

If you have the room, you won't regret permanent stairs over a flimsy retractable set of stairs.

Unwanted .02 below-
•I would throw a fiberglass stand-up shower in your half bath, you never know when that'll come in handy.
•If allowed by code (or do it anyway and keep it quiet), stub up a RV clean-out next to your slab somewhere, with a hose bib close by.

 

this is closer to what i was considering. not a pull down like attic access. i'm bringing items up and down it that are 100+ lbs and i'm a lil shy of 200. that puts us at 300lbs on the item i'm climbing. most attic access drop downs are small and weight limits around 250lbs