What home improvement work did you do today?

I just light mine in fire. It burns really well

 

That there is good thinking, my friend.

 

Ive only used and seen quarter round at the bottom myself but interesting thats why I commented on the caulking because I have never seen or heard of it being done

 

I clean out my dryer vent take out the hose and clean it as much as I can, then I take apart the dryer I do it 1-2x a year.

vacuum, air hose, that brush

 

Picked out a new quartz slab for the countertops today. The first one we picked on Monday is not available until the end of January or early February so we had to choose something else.

 

You disconnect the line from your drier to the wall, you then use this brush to clean the ducting in your wall. You slowly work it all the way up your line and then bring it back. This opens up your duct to the outside which helps your drier be more efficient if its struggling and helps keep you safe.
Hope that makes sense.

 

FWIW...I always caulk the bottoms of baseboards just for protection for any water spills in the house. Better safe then sorry is what my father told me.

 

The light in my garage is OK, but I wanted more focused light above my work bench.

I have a 12v battery for my riding lawnmower I keep on a tender in off-season on my work bench in the garage. I also had some spare battery alligators hanging around. Also, I had a 31” LED bar I had in the lower bumper of my Tundra, before I put the winch in.

Voila.

 

That’s why I do all my own plumbing. We’ve talked about a whole house filter... but in 15 years I just deal with a little scale and clean out the aerators on the sinks. We’re also on well water, so it’s nice and clean with no chlorine.

I installed one of these behind my dryer... makes getting that damn hose hooked back up SO much easier when I need to clean it or clean under the dryer.

https://www.magvent-dryervent.com/

 

Our water around here sucks. We did the filter to make it taste better.

 

In always leery of plastic anywhere in a dryer vent line, but that is a lot less expensive than the mag-vent

 

Basement bathroom done. All the little finishing touches in the basement are done too except the last smoke detector (the one I have keeps throwing a "low battery" alarm despite having a full battery and trying several different batteries. Swapped to a different location and same thing, got a new one ready to install) and a trim piece in the closet under the stairs. Still need to clean up the closet and start bringing storage items in from the garage.

I did 95% of this basement myself, saved between $15 and $30k (based on my lowest and highest bids from different contractors.

I have done alot of these projects as a small, individual project but have never completed an entire basement at once. Took me 2 months, had a couple of things contracted out, and saved a mint. Also learned a lot.

I sat aside $30k for my budget and when every contractor was well above that price, and none of them could offer any clarity for where the costs were going, I did it myself. Glad I did. Came in about $4k under budget which is money that I can add to my landscaping budget for spring.

 

Some windows are going in at the moment.

 

Replaced the back door on my garage and added a storm door.

 

looks awesome
Sounds like the story on our kitchen. Saved about $15k doing 90% ourselves

 

Home improvement would be a new lady...

 

I spent the day removing Christmas lights I put up 5 weeks ago. I think I’m gonna put them up on November 1st this year. Too much work for only 5 weeks of enjoyment.

 

I did the same today. 3 days to put them up, 5 hours to take them down

 

I like to keep mine turned on from December 1st (or the start of Advent if it's earlier) until January 7th (Ukrainian Christmas). But I don't bother to take them down until about March, especially if the start of the year is cold and snowy.

 

I could see doing that if I lived up where you do. My wife's grandmother had a superstition that leaving the Christmas tree and lights up past New Years Day would give you a year of bad luck. After 2020, I ain't taking any chances.

 

At least it was cool today. The worst is taking them down in shorts and a tee-shirt. I somehow always get all bunged up.

 

My wife's parents take their decorations down on Boxing Day but that's primarily because they put them up on November 12th so they're tired of them by that time.

 

When I was younger, I thought Boxing Day was a day set aside for Canadians to put down their hockey sticks and beat the shit out of each other. Even then, I wanted to live there.

 

Nope, but what's wrong with just a good ol' stud finder or some high-strength magnets? I've never trusted any of those things to see anything "inside" the walls anyway - as long as you're hitting a stud and you're sticking to under 1-1/2" embedment into the actual stud, then you should be good. There's a code requirement (and has been for a long time) that anything less than a certain distance from the face of the stud has to have a nail plate over it anyway.

 

Dug out all the old caulk in our tile shower (corners, and base-to-pan joint, as well as a "nook shelf" inset into the wall) and re-caulked it. Hoping the next time I have to do that is about the time I pay this house off...because I HATE doing it.

Also scrapped the shelves I was doing for the kitchen - wife though they looked too "perfect" so now I've got to go try and find some rough-sawn 5/4 "barn wood" and give it a flame treatment. Just glad I hadn't drilled the hardware into the side panels of the new cabinets yet, because now I'm back to the drawing board on mounting hardware too. Looking like I'll do some 1-1/4 angle iron and give it a hammered black paint maybe.

 

We’ve had our house paid off but had a home equity loan that we used for remodels over the last few years. Now we got the bug to move to a single level home and closer to the grandkid, so I’ve spent a
Lot of time this past week regrouting tile in the master bath shower.

Just when you think it’s easy street with all the things updated to the way you want, life throws a curve ball. So much for downsizing, but it looks like I’ll end up with a mortgage. The upside I get an insulated RV garage I can pull the Tundra into without a problem. Wife still gets room for her artwork. We break ground in a couple months.