What home improvement work did you do today?

Shit....I have home improvement shit that needs to be done, but I'm afraid of being ripped off because it isn't stuff I can do on my own. Maybe I can just higher @1UPPER. I trust him not to fuck me over.

 

Meh.... Prove shit didn't happen before the cameras started rolling I work around cameras all the time. They only tell part of the story.... The rest is in my report.

I'm not going to say I've never nailed a guy on purpose in the nuts, because I have. I was in 5th or 6th grade and some little asshole kept trying to flip up my dress. Well my mother and father taught me that that's very inappropriate and to do whatever it took to make them stop but we always start with the easiest which is using our words. Well words didn't work, pushing him away did not work so I finally told him if he touched me again I was going to kick him in the nuts. Well I did exactly that. I lessened his chances of having kids by 50%.

 

Unfortunately in today's day and age they only care about the part that shows what the LEO did wrong not the perp.

 

SO true. This is such a dangerous place to hang out for so many reasons haha!

 

I know. Which is crap....

 

does that actually work ?

 

Not in my rocky area

 

It did for me - I used a kit like this a few years back when my dad and I put in some lights for our house. Dig on both sides of the sidewalk or whatever, crank on the water and slowly push it through. Worked great for us. I thought I took pics but I guess I didn't. I have a before the 4 light post pics and a recent pic with the light posts. We had to tunnel under the old brick pathways.

 

Worked great for me as well. I only did it under a side walk so I don’t know how it would do under a driveway. The problem I see going under a driveway would be keeping it straight where you’re not pushing it down at an angle.

 

Finished my outdoor furniture project.

 

Yes it does. You attach the end of it to the conduit and the water pressure makes room for the conduit to run. After you get the conduit under the sidewalk you cut off the attachment and leave the conduit in place. If may be more difficult or impossible if you have lots of large rocks under the sidewalk though.

 

I need more ideas!!!

 

Well which area of the house do you want ideas for? I’ve got lots of projects ideas if you want them.

 

Well, I have an unfinished basement I need to run power in. I have a garage I want to put a sink and hot/cold water taps in. I need to build a deck. How about you start pitching and I'll swing at the ones that look juicy?

 

What’s your ceiling height in your basement? Do you have ductwork or ac in the basement?

Garage: Do you already have water in the garage? Do you only need hot-water for a sink or other things?

What kind of a deck do you want to build and what size? Is it attached to your house or separate? The more information you give me the more ideas I can give you.

 

Basement: Ceiling height is 9'. I do have ductwork. Piping and drains for a 1/2 bath is roughed in. Priority is to install outlets in the all the walls so I don't have extension cords all over the place. Usage for the basement is gun/gear room, home gym with squat rack and a generic rec and reading area.

Garage: Garage is 23'x24'. No water currently in the garage. The hot water heater is right behind the wall where I want to install the sink, so yay for ease of hole drilling. I want the water for the sink and to hook a hose or pressure washer up to.

Deck: will be approx 10'x12' and about 10' high. Local code says I need to have screw piles or 10" dia concrete columns sunk 6' into the ground. I haven't decided on attached or separate, but leaning towards separate due to the soft ground and settling issues. Debating between composite decking or pressure treated. Definitely running natural gas for a grill. Gonna need lighting of some kind too.

 

Lol so funny story.... originally on top of the ground..... im from west Texas. Ground is hard as a rock and this would've sufficed for years down there..... then I learned about frost lines. Lol so this weekend I spent digging footings and pouring concrete. Would have been much easier doing that prior to the deck being completely built ...but live and learn. I'd rather go back and do it right now then have a sinking deck in 3 years.

 

Just went through the wood vs composite debate myself for my deck. My old deck was composite and while it was not rotted, it was complete warped crap after 10 years on the house. Imo its junk. Go with real wood and just keep it sealed once a year.

 

If you are okay with having a slightly lower ceiling clearance I would recommend doing a drop in ceiling versus drywall. The benefit is you can easily get access to your mechanical, plumbing and electrical if you need to. A drop in ceiling can also be put in very quickly and reasonably priced pending your tile selections. If you want a secured gun room I would look into doing a cinderblock wall with rebar and concrete. This will help keep your room more secure. You can always make the entrance to it hidden behind some cabinets or a wall detail like a large mirror.

I would do a floor plan layout for your basement and get your dimensions. Then start writing down what rooms you want to have and start planning a floor plan layout. If you can frame in your basement walls then you can have an electrician come in and do your electrical rough in work next. Pending how much you want to do yourself of course.

For your garage I would try and have a hot and cold line run into your garage off of your hot water heater. I would make sure they have water shut offs in the garage. Make sure the lines are insulated and they strap them to the studs. If you can hide them in the wall that would I be best. This is also a good time to run a conduit sleeve into your garage for anything like audio or WiFi if you want. If you are planning to wash your truck look into a deionized water system. This will prevent you from having spots on your truck from hard water. I always like having overhead retractable extension cords and air hoses overhead in a garage. Makes working in the garage a lot easier and cleaner.

For your deck there are a lot of things I would need to see to determine what’s best for your particular situation. I typically like to see a ledger board attached to the house foundation but that doesn’t always work. If they are recommended the 6’ piers I would follow their specs. We have mostly rock in my area but some places do have clay and this can all change the plan for building your deck.

 

I've heard similar from others. My big concern with composite is temperature fluctuations. In my area we'll see temps from -40F in winter up to 90F in summer.

Good ideas. The Woman isn't completely convinced on finishing the basement, since we like having it open. I'll definitely do some drawings though and see what we can do. If we close in my gun room and the utilities area, and maybe to the 1/2 bath while leaving the rest open, it could work.

I can take a picture tomorrow of where the deck would go if that will help at all. That's actually the one project The Woman really wants me to get done, but I don't know if it'll happen this year. If I can get the design finalized this summer though and all the details hammered out, I can break ground when the snow melts next spring.

 

@Outbound you could do exposed basement ceilings and paint them black/dark color . This is what I plan to do in my basement. Given what your uses will be it would be likely less work and look good for your purposes. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about doing. Not my house just one I found on the web that I want to recreate when I do mine

 

i actually like that. Cool idea!!

 

Yea i liked it and not sure how your basement is but my entire houses plumbing electrical a.d ac ducts, runs through the basement ceiling so sheetrocking over all that for me is a non starter from a maintenance or repair standpoint in the future

 

Yeah, all our utilities are in the ceiling as well. Drywall over it would be a pain in the ass if something needed fixing.

 

Basement? Is that that wet area 2 feet under the grass. lol. So jealous, you guys get a whole other story under your house.

 

Made a $300 Target play house a little more fancy with a porch and some lights. Phase 2 will be to lift it...and add a sandbox underneath (once my youngest can climb a ladder).

 

Looks great!

 

Thanks guys!

 

Pretty neat.