What home improvement work did you do today?

Hung some shelves.

They were barnwood, but the natural finish didn’t work out so I ended up with this.

 

Looks good nice work

 

Mainly for my improvement.. but I just fired up my RecTec pellet grill to cook two 10# pork butts a few minutes ago. Tomorrow's improvement will be smoked pork w/cheese and green chlli sauce enchilada's. I did have to pull the smoker onto the back porch for authenticity of home improvement!

 

Built a Pavilion from Costco for my patio!! It’s a game changer. I still have some aesthetic rafters to put up, and I have to shimmy it in up close to the house, but structurally it’s done.

About 25 man hours total to get to this point, all in one day. For $1600 OTD I’m EXTREMELY happy.

 

OUTSTANDING!

 

Oooo which rec tec do you have sir, for how long and your overall opinion please!

 

It's the 680. Been cooking on it for almost 5 years. It is an awesome smoker!

 

Looks good!

 

Yum!

 

I put them on at 10pm last night. They were at 178 deg when I looked at them this morning around 10am. Probably 2 hours left until they get to 203 deg. That is the magic temp to me for pork butt's.

Being able to smoke meat while I am asleep is way cool!

 

Looks good I always pull mine at 195 and let them rest in foil in a cooler for 2 hours.

 

That's how I used to do it too when I had my trailer pit. I sold it about 6 months after I bought the pellet smoker. No more pecan wood stockpile. LOL

 

Haven’t been by the house in 2 weeks, stucco is almost done, and drywall is finished. If your bored this link goes to a VR tour of the model of my house, same layout, different finishes. - https://my.matterport.com/show/?m=btThGitJGgA





Master bath shower

Looking out front door into courtyard

Garage

 

Looking good Sir!
What's the tan stuff put on the drywall?

 

Thank you! It’s just the roll on texture, they make it contrast to avoid missing spots.

 

More fence washing. Still have about half the back side to wash but I need a longer hose, so I mowed instead...I was thinking about re sealing the cedar but I might leave them as they are and let them weather.

 

I’m collecting stuff to finish out the inside of my 28x30 garage. Give me some pointers on what are some must haves for you.
So far this is what I have.
I’m doing lots of overhead can lights with LED retrofits. I like the look.
I got a 72” industrial ceiling fan
Plenty of power 110/220
Not doing a bath room, but I got a good size stainless sink for hand washing.
I want some sort of wood ceiling stained a dark color
I’m adding a water filtration (DI Rinse Pro 100) and a built in 2000 psi electric pressure washer. Keeping things clean is important to me.
I’m running air lines for compressed air, hesitant about using pvc. Been doing for years, but I feel like there is a better affordable option.
I will insulate like crazy, and I’m thinking of heating and cooling with a Mitsubishi unit. I have the option to add natural gas for heat, but didn’t pre pipe fit for it.
I have 2 large Gladiator storage cabinets, and an 11 foot toolbox going in.

Tell me what else I should be thinking about.

 

Thank you, I can honestly say this is a task I would much rather never do again LOL...

 

nice I bought mine from Costco too. im wondering what I need to do to prep it to put a sealer on it in the next 2-3 weeks. Anyone have any suggestions ? its 2 years old

 

Center Floor drain or is it too late?
More lights than you think or at least a few boxes in the ceiling so you can add suspended lighting later on. Natural light is nice to have too, maybe skylights.
Maybe a light colored ceiling should be considered.
Outlets in the ceiling so you can run a power cord on a reel mounted up there.
Air line drop downs/reel from ceiling.
A 2 post lift would be great if you have the ceiling height.
Lots of outlets 110 and a few 220
I think the split heat pump/AC will be plenty if you're well insulated.
You said you'll put in a sink, and power washer, definitely do a hose spigot, and a must do is a hot water spigot, my brother has one at his house and it's so nice to have
Battery backup for garage door.
Deep cycle Bench battery for projects.

 

Sealed my patio in the back of the house. Long overdue

 

Sounds like you got a good idea. I think you may regret a dark ceiling because it will make the garage alot darker inside. We really like white metal for the ceiling because you get great light and can wash it if needed.
I have hot and cold spickets for hose which I really like for mixing wash water or when I want to have hot water in a hose to remove stubborn stuff.

 

I did not do a floor drain, I have one in my big shop and don’t care for it. I slopped the floor to run out the doors. It drains very well.
I did 12’ ceilings with the intention of putting a lift in but have since changed my mind.
I will be going overboard on ceiling lights, because I am doing the darker wood ceiling.
I’m not necessarily going to be working in this garage, more of a personal space if you will.
Garage doors do have a back up battery that is good to lift and close several times if needed.
I am for sure doing hot and cold water, I have a nice tankless under the house.

 

My wife and I are currently working on selling our home in order to build a new house on a 20-acre chunk of land her grandmother has generously given to us. Our yard on our current house has always sucked. The soil is very sandy and most people around here put down a few strips of sod and backfill the rest of their lot with pine straw, which I hate.

Over the past couple of weeks I have moved approximately 15 tons of fill dirt to level off our back yard as well as 4 tons of 50/50 top soil and eggshell compost mixture in order to provide a nice base for grass seed. We spread everything nice and even, put down the seed, hay straw, and a makeshift sprinkler system to water a couple times per day. We even have some wee little grass shooting up already.

Saturday we had a hellacious rain storm roll through. Our lot sits low in the neighborhood and water has always rushed down from neighboring houses and off the street down our driveway and to one side of our house. In the approximately ten minutes that it rained, it basically wiped out all of the work I had done on that one side of the house. The water pushed all of the soil, grass seed, and straw to the back of our house and mixed it all into a slush with no way for me to spread it back out properly.

Before going forward with my repair, I decided to take the time yesterday to trench the yard to run some 4" corrugated pipe and put together a makeshift dam and water collection basin to capture the water and escort it to the creek behind the house in order to keep it off the hill. We are expecting rain this weekend so I will hopefully get a chance to monitor it.

Trenching




Dug the hole for the basin


Added a layer of gravel, put the basin in place and connected to my tubing


Built my dam out of 4x4 pressure teated lumber


Installed the grate



This week I plan to put some ornamental grasses around the wood and possibly cover the wood in dirt and sod to make it blend in a bit better. Wish me luck!

 

I haven’t thought about that, now my gears are spinning.

 

I'm gonna say your luck is better than mine. I planted over $100 of ornamental grass and it only lasted one season......

 

Did a little landscaping around the flag pole will be all wild flowers when they grow in.

 

So ive almost got this one wrapped up.

Im not really fond of the sink. The idea was supposed to have used a rectangular white vessel sink. At least my sister had the courtesy to tell me ahead of time..... Is what i tell myself so i dont start banging my head against the wall...

I still have to clean up the edges and top coat it a few times but it starting to look pretty close.

 

Nice house. Some friends of mine just moved to Queen Creek from California. They don't miss it one bit!

 

I worked on my greenhouse