Adam's DIY Diary

when I agree to take on some of these projects I go through a recurring cycle every time— 1. absolutely unearned confidence that I can pull it off 2. A research/planning phase in which I realize I need a whole lot of tools and parts I’ve never used before and get overwhelmed but lock in to learning how to do it. 3. Commit and get started, immediately realize I underestimated the tools/parts/time needed. Freak out. Have high blood pressure and anxiety for X days 4. Figure it out and let ego explode.

Converting the boys bathroom from a single sink to a double is possibly the most adventurous plumbing job I’ve done and I actually mostly enjoyed the journey. My confidence stayed pretty strong throughout and boosted when I went to Country Paint to buy the materials. the guy helping me was a plumber for his day job, took a look at my rough sketch and said “yea this will work.” He actually made a couple suggestions that saved me a ton of time and effort which is much appreciated as this bathroom project drags on (for example, original plan called for cutting off the existing water shutoffs and installing new double shutoffs… he introduced me to a T Converter that enabled me to run two hoses from each shutoff without having to cut any copper or install any new equipment). The real problems for me on this one are brain drain (forgot to buy a couple important parts initially) from how much stuff I’m tracking with the bathroom and kitchen counter projects, and time. Thankfully Bowen has let me do some of the loud work (drilling holes in the vanity, cutting pipe etc) before his bed time when we’d normally hang out. Sad tho cuz it’s our best quality time together usually… looking forward to getting back to it tomorrow! Also ran into major unexpected problems getting the new vanity to fit around the existing plumbing. Had to do much more cutting inside the vanity behind the drawers than expected thank god the vanity people had the foresight to leave extra space back there!

DIY DECK REHAB PART 2

Well in case you were wondering what could go wrong with so much time left before Bowen’s Birthday Party, after getting the rotted boards replaced and the deck prepped... it was indeed, endless rain. For weeks this August it seemed to rain every other day. What relief I felt though, as each new wash out occurred, knowing I still had so many weeks to go... and then days... and then GASP hours. Literally. I was out re-staining the entire lower portion of the deck ( easily 300-400 square feet) with head-lamp and lanterns aglow the NIGHT BEFORE THE PARTY. Additionally I had to re-paint a fair amount of the white railings, because my previous staining attempt was not only washed away by rain... but the rain also caused significant splash-back of the uncured grey stain up and onto the white paint. It gave a rather interesting preschool watercolor masterpiece vibe.

I knew it was a gamble. People would start arriving around 10:30am, if not earlier. I finished the final coat at approximately midnight, and just crossed my fingers and prayed to every god I’ve ever believed in... We were up much of the rest of the night getting other aspects of the party set up, and every hour or so I would go take a look at the deck through the window and raise my anxiety level a little more each time I saw no improvement. Just kept telling myself--- give it an hour it’ll start to cure.... give it another hour... once daylight is here.... as of 8am it was still not fully cured and I was freaking out as I left to go pickup the birthday cake...

DIY DECK REHAB PART 1

The next big project this summer was the Deck. When I started really working on it in early July, the deadline was set for Bowen’s Birthday at the end of August. What a nice treat to have 6 weeks to accomplish such an easy, straightforward project...

As you can see above, the deck was in rough shape. You see, the problem is, two summers ago before Bowen was born, when I finished all my pre-baby indoor projects, I had a little bit of time left before his arrival, and decided to tackle the deck. So two years ago I started to strip the stain off the deck... and then never finished the project. Meaning for 2 years... hot humid summers, rainy falls, snowy and icy winters, wet springs... much of the deck was unprotected and some was left pretty damaged.

The two-leveled deck, which sits alongside the brook, surrounded by lush greenery in the summer, and with its modern cable-wire railings, was a real eye-catcher when we moved in. Initially a nice semi-transparent cedar red, it honestly horrified to see what mother nature, and I had done to it via a combination of 4+ years of inaction, and the unfortunate stripping incident of 2017!

FENCE PART 4

Hurray the fence is done!

There were a couple big driving forces behind fencing in our yard. The main thing was that Bowen was obviously becoming more and more mobile. And while our neighborhood is quiet, in the woods and very safe- we are about a football field away from a busy stretch of road. Not to mention the steep drop off to Little Meadow Brook along the entire back side of the yard. So Bowen’s safety was a big part of this- having a safe, fun outdoor space.. 

The other big piece that I am not sure we fully understood until we saw it in real time--- was having a secure outdoor space where we could be an entire family together- dogs and humans at the same time. Since we moved into our house I have enjoyed exploring our wooded surroundings with the dogs on long walks. But it has always been on leash, and then they go back inside. We were always separating from the dogs once the walk was over. This past summer once we were fenced in, it was so amazing to have a space where Moose and Hastings could run and play alongside Bowen. I feel like it really added something special to their already blossoming relationships with each other. I feel very proud about that!

FENCE PART 3

So as my last post might have indicated... I was reaching a real crossroads as I finished up installing the fence posts. 

So we ended up breaking my DIY Ideal and hired some help. Well I didn’t intend to actually cave in and hire help, but within 20 minutes the guys had walked the yard, taken some measurements, looked at literally like three pictures of fences we liked on Google, and they  handed over the keys to their Ford F-series with a list of materials I still needed to get at Home Depot... and the whole thing was done in less than 24 hours.

My one condition was that I still had to be a part of it in some way. So I got to stay in charge of building the gates. I used the Homax kit I previously linked, so I’m not claiming to have built anything from scratch, but I am glad that my efforts are a part (an important part!) of the finished product. The kit was relatively easy to use and the gates seem pretty solid. They held up well through their first 5-6 months so far.

FENCE PART 2

Time to play some catch-up from the busy summer. The fence consumed much of my spring-early summer. After realizing that digging 32 posts by hand would be too much, I did end up renting a power augur. While I would have to say that likely made the overall job quicker, I would NOT say it was easy. Keeping in mind I was about 9 or 10 weeks removed from wrist surgery, and drilling into notoriously rocky soil... I was pretty wiped out by the end of this. 

There weren’t too many surprises- the strangest was finding what must have been about a 100 foot garden hose coiled up and buried in the ground. I hit it on 3 consecutive attempts to drill the FINAL hole. Fortunately I had some wiggle room on the placement of that post... since there was an in-between distance to connect it to the existing fence I installed along the brook last fall... so it wasn’t too big of an issue that I couldn’t hit the exact mark. 

“Scooby” the neighborhood stray has been a constant for us pretty much since we moved here in 2015. Sometimes we don’t see him for weeks at a time, other times he’s at our house multiple times a day. He’s very sweet, my regular yard work companion, a good hunter of rodents, and amusingly: Hastings mortal enemy! Lately he’s been around a lot and with the temps suddenly dropping, we decided it was time to build a cat shelter. Who knows if he’ll use it, but fingers crossed it’ll be helpful for him!

FENCE PART 1

Fencing in the entire side-yard begins! Final measurements come out to 280 Linear feet of wire fencing (bad news I only bought 250 feet). 32 posts need to be erected (good news I bought 32), and 2 gates will be built (trying out the Homax Easy-Gate Hardware Kit). These are extreme before-pictures. Took hours to stake out the project, and clear out brush. This will tie in to, and match, the 50 feet of fencing I installed along the backside of the house last Fall (for which I somehow have not yet posted any after shots).

After it took my over an hour to dig the first 3 post holes, my wife and neighbor (and honestly everyone I’ve ever discussed the project with) successfully convinced me to rent a power augur to dig the holes. So I’ll be doing that next week if the weather holds up... at only $45 for a 4 hour rental, just couldn’t deny the value. Would seem possible to knock out 29 holes in 4 hours with a power augur, no?

One of the few downfalls of living on the fringes of amazing state forest, and with a beautiful brook for a backyard... a battle against wet and rotting wood. I arguably should have just replaced the above column and door trim- but figured I’d give it the ol’ DIY try with a $10 tube of Elmer’s Rotted Wood Stabilizer to strengthen the not-quite rotted sections of wood, and an $8 container of Durham’s Rock Hard Water Putty to rebuild the missing sections. 

As best I can tell the Elmer’s Rotted Wood Stabilizer isn’t much more than regular old Elmer’s glue... but I haven’t looked into the science of it.

As for the putty-- the person at Lowe’s assured me, that aside from it literally being Rock Hard, that the large container had lasted her years.... I must have done something wrong?? because I used the entire container, and have not yet finished rebuilding either the column or trim... ooops! 

Also it started to threaten rain, and this stuff has to be primed and painted to become waterproof... so for now they are covered in plastic waiting to be finished another day. I think one more layer of putty for each site should do the trick! Look forward to posting proper After pics.

Building a 50 foot long fence along the back side of the house where there is no protection from the brook below. Now that our little guy is a walker, this project became a must-do on the honey-do. Ran out of time to do the whole project in one day (need to affix the wire fencing still), but very happy with the progress of getting 6 post holes dug, the posts installed/ leveled, etc. 

 Each hole is at least 2 feet deep (except for the 2nd one in--- ran into a gnarly massive root at about 20-22 inches that prevented me from getting any deeper). Each hole was then filled with a 2-3 inch base layer of pea gravel, then the poles were tamped in with the excavated dirt. The first and the last posts got some concrete to add a little extra stability to the system.

I used 4x4x6 pressure treated lumber for the posts, and will be affixing black steel welded garden fencing with 5/4″ fencing staples.

A couple new toys  I decided to get for the project: 

Kobalt Steel Post Hole Digger--- it’s a beast. 

Kobalt 48″ Box Beam Level --- the most durable level I’ve ever owned.

When I decided to install light fixtures over the bathroom sink, I was fortunate for the following reasons: 

A) I selected an area that miraculously already had electrical wire going from a wall light switch up into the wall

B) I had an exposed overhang to work with that enabled me to see what I was doing at all times

C) It turns out installing lights, even where light did not previously exist, is not too hard