Decking: Done!

Got a big project checked off the list this week: sanding and sealing the decking outside the new room. I wasn't able to do it when the decking was new because the overnight temperatures were too low, so unfortunately, the wood got weathered while I waited for things to warm up. The decking is only about 16 feet by 4 feet, but it took me three hours to sand down past the weathered layer and expose clean(ish) redwood:

Every muscle in both legs is sore today. But it's done and it came out pretty ok, for my first time:

In other news, we don't have any chairs or stools that are the right height for the pool/game table I mentioned last week, so I am making some out of leftover lumber we still have lying around in the garage. Here is attempt number one:

It's not as rickety as it looks (it's only about 2 feet high), and somehow I managed to get it all more or less square. Those metal pieces are aluminum ties that the foundation/excavator contractors left here last spring.

Lastly, my bike is done: 

I had a mechanic at a bike shop down the street take a look at it to make sure everything is safe -- just in case... -- and now I'm back on the road. It takes me half the time to get to & from work on the bike,  compared to taking the bus, so I'm happy as a clam. AJ's needs one last adjustment, & then she will be done, too.

I have two weeks left before school starts. I'm hoping to get a couple more stools done, put some shelves up in the garage, and get the bamboo mural restarted.

Week 73

Back from vacation, & back to projects!

In construction project news, we got a date for the next milestone in the paperwork odyssey (essentially a big meeting), & it's not for another six months. In light of that news, I have decided that this will be the last numbered week on the blog -- I want to get out of the "still in progress/how damn long will this drag out" mindset, and get on with life. 

And life is good down in the basement/workshop/Duserhaus brewery! This week, we got this fine table for $125 in the classifieds:

What's so special about this table? If you take off the top, this is inside:

For the uninitiated, this is a bumper pool table. Similar to the regular game you see in bars, the goal is to shoot the balls into the pockets, but there are fourteen little round bumpers inconveniently placed in the middle of the table and on either side of the pockets to make it harder. It's super fun, and importantly for Mars, it takes up a ton less room than a regular pool table (this is about 5'x5'). Also, the reverse side of the table top has padded felt on it for card games. Usually these go for $900 & up new, so $125 is a great deal. Amanda & Susie helped us test it out this weekend -- a good time was had by all.

In related news, we sold the car this week. It needed a ton of expensive work, & we're not using it as often now that construction is done, so we did the math, & figured out that now was the time to sell it & join a carshare program again. So, we're saving money & now have the spot where the car was to work on bikes:

We both expect to be back on the road with our self-built bikes this week! 

Lastly, I rehung a door. If you recall, the part of the basement that is now the Duserhaus (& now also the game room), used to be a strange little room with a false floor -- click here for the original photos. There used to be a door in there that was useful for keeping Pickles from getting access to the vents in the garage door to sniff & bark at everyone that goes by:

The false floor was put there, presumably, to get around the slope of the garage floor & get a level surface. That floor reduced the head room in there to about 7 feet or so, which required that door to have about 8 inches cut off the bottom -- look closely at the photo above, and compare the bottom of the door to the top, and you'll see what I mean.

When we took out the sheet rock and flooring, I saved the door, hoping to be able to put it back later. That's what I did today (ending the era of blocking access to the vents with lawn chairs):

I added the 8 inches back with a thin piece of board, and gave it a fresh coat of paint.

Sorry, Pickles.

I also finished a bunch of waterproofing odds & ends. All told, four things came off my to-do list (which has about two dozen things on it, big & small). Very satisfying!

Week 70

Odds and ends this week. Cleaning the garage and mouseproofing. Nothing riveting, so here are some odds & ends photos:

Our neighbor up the hill is selling their house & moving to the South Pacific to retire. I found this tiny bus lapel pin in a box of stuff they put out on the sidewalk for people to take:

I keep forgetting to mention that one of the cabinet doors in the Duserhaus is a corkboard covered with a map of the city. I thought the bus would make a nice addition to the map:

Another detail I keep forgetting to mention is how I used a bunch of small end cuts as part of my scheme to level out the counter top. It worked well enough, and it looks interesting:

I also used some wine and champagne corks to fill knots in the wood (as anyone who has heard my story about fixing the trunk of a rental car with a champagne cork knows, I keep a bunch around for just such an occasion):

Also, AJ found this interesting shelf and drawer unit on the sidewalk. It should clean up pretty nicely:

Lastly, it doesn't count as a project around the house, but we are building new bikes at a local nonprofit bike shop. I didn't mention it here, but someone broke into our front porch and stole our bikes about a month ago. Instead of buying new ones, we decided to sign up for this place's "build a bike" program, where you can dig through their thousands of used parts, and work with the volunteer mechanics to build your own. We've put in about five hours now, and so far, so good! Here is AJ's bike, with her perfect newly trued (i.e. straightened) wheels:

And here is mine, waiting for me to find some brake levers I like:

This week, we'll put some more time in on the bikes, and then take some time off for some much needed rest & relaxation.

Week 69

Cabinets: done!

On Saturday, I leveled out the countertop, using a block plane:

There are other types of planes that are better suited for this kind of task, but I'm trying to limit the amount of equipment I'm buying -- this is considered somewhat all purpose, and it was able to get the job done. Certainly, the army of hamsters that AJ has always wanted will be happy with the volume of shavings it produced:

After that, I plugged gaps and filled holes, and then sanded the whole thing down. On Sunday, I sealed it with polyurethane, added magnet closures to the cabinet doors, and then moved all the brewing equipment and beer bottles in:

Done!

Next up: More cleaning and rearranging of things in the garage to tidy up the space and make it more usable. Also, waterproofing and mouseproofing in the front left corner of the garage, 

Week 68

Made more solid progress on the cabinets during week 2 of vacation. They're now close to done. Countertop is in place & cabinet doors have been hung:

For reference, the entire thing is 12 feet long, and has 7 cabinet doors along the long side.

I'm very happy with how the counter has turned out:

I'm going to go ahead & level the uneven places out with a block plane after all. 

AJ helped me brainstorm what to do about the cabinet doors. I settled on maps mounted on cardboard in a wooden frame:

In addition to finishing the counters, there are some other final odds & ends, and then I will do something drawer-like with the cubby holes in the square shelf thing on the short side. So far, I've spent about 40 hours on it, and about $40 -- I had to buy hardware for the doors and some more wood glue, but everything else I already had lying around.

Next up: finishing this project & moving all the brewing stuff to its new home!

* * *

Update: When I looked the other day, there were a handful of fava beans ready to go, and a bunch more snap peas. We just went out to get them for dinner, & this is all we found:

You're welcome, nighttime critters!

Week 67

Week 1 of vacation done! In addition to sleeping late and drinking too much coffee, I made very good progress on the cabinets this week.

First thing, I had to make some sawhorses, having none:

Next, the skeleton of the cabinets:

Pickles did not appreciate that I worked past her dinner hour that day.

Getting everything level was a challenge, because the floor is not level -- it slopes front to back, and also left to right. 

Next, the backing for the cabinets. I used some leftover corrugated plastic so that the natural light from the windows can also light up the cabinets:

Next, blocking large gaps in the back of the cabinets to keep mice and dust out. It was a lot of cutting tiny pieces of wood to fit odd-shaped holes, so it took a long time. For the gap under the framing that I'm attaching the cabinets to, I had this 15 foot board from the concrete pour last year that worked perfectly:

Next, putting in plywood shelves:

They go through only four of the cabinets, leaving the two on the end open for tall fermentation vessels.

Next, more structure to the cabinets, and making sure the verticals are straight up and down in all directions.

Next, I put some maps on the back of the cube thing:

And then settled it back where it will be attached:

This is how the maps look in their final home:

Finally, I got started on the counter top:

From another angle, closer up:

I was thinking of leveling out the uneven parts with a block plane, but the unevenness looks interesting, so I might just pour a layer of resin over the top to preserve that while still getting a flat work surface.

Lastly, and most importantly: proof for my parents that I still have all my fingers:

In garden news, the first peas are ready, and we have baby beets:

AJ made a delicious dinner with them, after enjoying her practice drum:




Next up: finishing the counter, and then figuring out what I want to do for cabinet doors.

Week 66

I am now officially on vacation. Let the cabinets begin!

This weekend, I started by moving some things I have been storing on this four foot high work bench that the construction guys had built to fabricate the kitchen counter, and then removed the work bench entirely.

Here is the before:

Pickles helped, as usual, by chewing a bully stick:

Then I cleaned up the dust and dirt, sorted the lumber, and set in place this cube shelf thing that a neighbor gave us:

The counter that I will build on top of the cabinets will be L-shaped, and this cube thing will be the short end of the L.

Ready to go for tomorrow morning! 

Before I cleaned up for the night, I did one additional project -- I made a taiko practice drum for AJ:

It's packing tape over the tire that was left in the house when we moved in, fixed to the top of a broken stool I picked up on the sidewalk for this very purpose. The idea -- from The Atlanta Taiko Project -- is that it is more taiko drum-like than the practice pad AJ currently uses, but it's much quieter than an actual taiko drum. 

Tomorrow, I will start building the cabinets!