The Home Ownership Thread

[i10casual]

I just bought a house from an ICE agent. I hope anyone who might want to do bad things to him knows he doesn't live here anymore.
The fun part is he was an exfirefighter so there are like eight fire alarms around the house. The batteries are going out in each one. So I finally bought a ladder to get up there and change them since the wifey can't seem to drown out the beep, beeping.

I redid the locks myself. Some of the handles are falling off. Maybe I'll try again.

 

[Thomas]



mortise and tenons anyone?? No ****** side.

Yeah, but still exposed joinery unless you put slats on both sides.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

put slats, would be nice, modern, and no need to look at an ugly side.

 

[otc]

Aren't there like a billion ways to make a fence that looks the same on both sides?

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

I think so, first thought that came to mind was mortise and tenon, but I think you could probably sandwich the slats between two face boards as well. This fence looks like it is constructed that way:

 

[SkinnyGoomba]



Yeah, but still exposed joinery unless you put slats on both sides.

I think you mean exposed structure? I think of it as a way to center the post, so you no longer have the post on one side with the slats mounted to it.

 

[Ataturk]

Here's something I find amusing--a color history of the inside of my house:

That's right, bright pink and then sky blue. And I say it's sky, but it's really a very dark sky. I'm telling you, it's damned ugly. Maybe as ugly as the pink.

And, yeah, as far as I can tell the whole house was originally pink, not just that room.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Hard not to love that pink...

My stairwell in progress

Before anyone asks, that rug is coming out.

Much work to do!

Raw material for the treads:

 

[Ataturk]

Walnut? I love it. Though your landing looks like plywood, not sure how I feel about that.

The only carpet in my house is on the stairs and it's an eyesore. Much too quiet and safe for my taste, so I'll be undertaking that project eventually. I really want to take up woodworking in general, so it'll give me an excuse to lay down some money for a good jointer/planer. I already have a powermatic cabinet saw, a bandsaw, routers, a little lathe, stuff like that. No 220v in the shop, though, not even a box, so I can't even use the saw at the moment. I'm kind of on the fence about hiring someone to put it in versus doing it myself. I think I know how to do it, more or less, just don't want to dig up the yard in the winter. Looking at the conduit that's already there I doubt I could pull a big wire through it.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Yup, walnut. Landing is walnut plywood, I've seen it used and liked it so I'm using it on this.

You have a powermatic cabinet saw and are not using it? I have been debating a sawstop myself, professional 54". If I decide to do kitchen cabinets for this house I will put it to use.

 

[Ataturk]

It really stands out as a piece of plywood to my eyes. I don't like it--would much rather see regular walnut flooring. Also that's going to be a high-traffic area and I'll bet the veneer is super thin--engineered wood flooring is basically plywood, but it uses a very thick wear layer compared to normal plywood. I mean, if that's 1/64" or something like that (and it looks thin the way it was peeled off the log), I worry that it's not going to hold up when you go stomping up and down it in your florsheims.

Oh, yeah, the sawstop looks like a really nice saw. Never heard a bad word about it.

 

[idfnl]

Anyone have any data on whether gas is now cheaper than electric for winter heat?

I can't find any. I have a carrier heat pump/furnace setup and cant decide what the break-off temp should be between both systems.

Considering I hear gas prices are at all time lows, I'm not sure its being reflected in utility bills.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

Ugh, please google hardwood plywood flooring. The first YouTube video is an install in what appears to be the entertaining area of a very well appointed house.

 

[Ataturk]

Your google results must be customized from whatever you've been reading. All I got was a couple threads where everyone shut the idea down by pointing out the obvious problem with the veneer thickness. I also don't like the way it looks at all -- you could ave at least gotten a veneer that wasn't shaved off the log with the obvious repeating grain pattern. It really looks like plywood. Also you don't seem to have any finished edge facing those bottom stairs. Did you use veneer tape or a thin strip of wood something? That's not going to hold up long with people stepping on it.

On the plus side it won't be too hard to fix after you realize I'm right. Unless you glued it down--hah! But whatever, I don't want to be ugly; I'm just trying to help you out.

 

[SkinnyGoomba]

You're really starting to annoy the **** out of me, is that the goal?


It's should be pretty obvious that the edge leading down is not finished, it will be finished in a 3/4" thick hardwood nose. You're beyond ugly at this point, I posted these by request and I'm already wondering what I get out of bothering to add content to this thread.