What home improvement work did you do today?

I did the best kind of home improvement recently - garage upgrades

Cut the drywall, blocked the wall, re-attached drywall, taped, mud, painted. Then I installed a wall mounted pressure washer and vacuum. My detailing wet dream is now a reality!

Topped it all of with a new Champion 4-post lift. Just need some hardware to store on it!

 

Now you just need a CR Spotless setup and you can really thumb your nose at your neighbors

 

While that would be nice, I personally don’t find the need. I always wash in the shade and haven’t struggled with water spots.

Those resin filters are spendy to replace!

 

You're a good man for saving the pup! So many of our dogs over the years have been the product of being dumped. I have nothing but disgust for people who do this. I wish the one you found nothing but the best life.

 

Roof update. The standing seam metal roof quotes were coming in at $70k +. Except for a dude I knew who is doing roofs on the side. Hadn’t seen him in 8 years, he came out with his “worker” and the first thing he says to me is “I’m going to start selling sex toys online.” I’m pretty sure he was hoping we’d create a website for him. Anyways, he came in at $41k for a standing seam roof but that was without insurance or any kind of real warranty. Possible could have had a box of used dildos tossed in for @Fotnot but he hasn’t built his shop yet so…

We switched to Owens Corning Duration Storm Architectural Shingles. Quote came in around $52k but they knocked it down to an even $50k. Platinum OC installer so there’s a 50 year warranty on the shingles and a lifetime warranty on the workmanship. New decking everywhere (pretty sure there is none). The class 4 shingles should give us a 10% or so break on our homeowners insurance and the roof should help with making our home a little more energy efficient.

Hated to tap into our home equity but it is what it is and it should add quite a bit of value. Possibly going to have them put in new gutters if we can get a good price.

Should be happening in the next week or two. Projected to be a two day job so I’ll post pics as it’s happening.

 

Get a cheap TDS meter off Amazon and see whats coming out of the tap. I'm pretty lucky with a TDS of around 75 so resin lasts pretty long, and it's really only around 150 to swap every few years isn't bad.

If your at a TDS of 300 it's gonna run through a lot faster....but I'd image that if you aren't having water spots, your probably fine.

Killer setup. I've got the Active2.0 also. It's a great little pressure washer.
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I have a friend that was short on work and decided to throw him and his crew a bone before their business picks up in the spring. We have a driveway and parking pad that was pieced together through the years by my in laws (we bought the house from them). We also had a gravel pad installed on the side of the house for a shed that turned into an absolute fiasco……story for another day. Anyway - I wanted to join the driveway / parking pad / gravel pad and decided to install a retaining wall to join them. They did a great job and were happy for the work. The cost of materials has skyrocketed by the way. Very happy with how it turned out. This was the image after day 1. They extended the caps on the red block and added a row of new block on the fence line to raise the wall (reinstalled existing caps on them). Then used the red block you see stacked to install a flower bed retaining wall where the rhododendron and pacasandra is. I will get pictures for the complete project later today. They’re coming back later to drop off more gravel.

 

Kids ruin all the aesthetics....

But... we got most of the cabinet locks installed and this arrived today. Now she already gave me the door knob ones but that shit is waiting until he can reach.

 

This picture cracked me up... mostly because I hate stripping caulk and then laying a thick caulk line...

but we found water where water doesnt belong... hold your breathe people... the flippers on this house did not seal the shower door correctly...

So the inside is done and I will redo the outside later...

 

Mine looks similar, I put a vented cap on top of mine, like a flue cap. When it rains good the pipe would weep. None of the joints were glued as it’s just venting. Took a while to figure out where the water was coming from.

 

I'll keep an eye on that! Thanks! We did our mother inlaws the other day too, she was at 158 pCL/i or whatever, dropped to .3 in 48 hours. These things are phenomenal. Let alone the CO2 removal if you are in your basement alot, and the big reduction in humidity.

 

Wore myself out... but made some headway on the last of the trees in the way and started chopping wood..

 

Rebuilding the pool cleaner with an upgraded body and gearset.

 

Wish I had known I was going to need to replace this before I put 200 lb of salt in the old one

 

Mine just crapped the bed too and started leaking! How much did that one set you back? Is it heavy? just wondering if I can get away with buying a cheaper one at Home Depot and then just hiring a plumber to connect it?

-T

 

This is the issue I have too... Plumbers here want 2k. I am sure theres is better, but I am tired of spending money right now. I think an Hd one will do just fine.

 

They don't need to be fancy, its a real simple thing they do. We used a 20 year old one in my mother in laws when we built her house a few years ago, neighbor had one in his garage left over. Worked great for 3 years, then started leaking. Was a simple kink in the drain hose. Now we should have another 20 years.

They have convinced us we need the fanciest most connected crap. We just need simple that works.

 

https://aquasureusa.com/collections...-lite-all-in-one-cabinet-style-water-softener

I am eyeballing this one or this one

https://aquasureusa.com/collections...w-fine-mesh-resin-and-pleated-sediment-filter

 

I put one of these (different company but exactly the same) on a cabin we bought across the road that needed softnening and was sediment heavy, well water. It, along with a 5 micron filter, had the water sparkling and tasty. I like these because they are "set and forget" no salt added. You just need to replace them every 10 years or so. I would think once you get it set, it is just a simple swap and relatively cheap at $70 a year. What does salt cost a year? Got to be close, I probably use 3 bags every 1-2 months.

edit: This is where I got ours. https://www.springwellwater.com/

 

Home Depot special for the win! It was about $500. As far as installation it's pretty straightforward if you're just replacing and not plumbing in a new system. You can get YouTube certification for this one.

 

Which model or close to it? The site contains multiple to include salt based systems.

Nice! I will look, I like that price tag a lot more than the one I was looking at.

 

https://www.homedepot.com/pep/Rheem...vL96V_57A5q12cuc4vab2caOi3tywMzkaAjxNEALw_wcB

 

Is it wicked heavy to lift? Just curious if it's something I could go get on my own, or if I would need a helper. I am a weakling!

-T

 

It's not so bad. 2 of us to load it and a dolly to get from the garage to the laundry room. Probably 150 lbs or so with all the weight on the bottom

 

Ok. thank you for all the info!! Would you mind posting pictures of the piped in areas after the install? I just want to get an idea if any changes would need to be made. My current one that is broken looks like it was installed in the 80s when the house was built.

-t

 

Sure thing, plan on knocking it out tomorrow afternoon