D-Type (not a Jag, but a new shop/house/life)

So yeah, my back has been jacked since last weekend's moving extravaganza. No amount of inversion table time has brought it back to 100%. Between that, and the fact that I've gone to 4 tens at work left this week's work somewhat lacking, but yesterday and today, I sort of got into the swing of things.

Got the concrete poured over the union as codes dictates, and filled the hole.

While I was at it, I pulled various crappy vegetation out from the area, and trimmed the other Japanese maple so it sort of matched the one I hacked up to dig the hole.

Here's what the bathroom vanity looks like at the moment:

I'm no cabinet maker, but I am very familiar with Bondo, so it will eventually look OK.

Recently, I've been hacking away at the laundry room. 

I believe that 4X4 in the center to be structural. You know, the pole in pole barn, so, maybe that ancient water heater has to move. Beard scratching to ensue.

We had extremely hard rains here today, so I took the opportunity to do some landscaping.

I also ripped out a horrible PVC fence.

Here's where I left it when my tow rope broke.

Slowly, a wall emerges.

This is as close as I could get to a before picture.

That was from before we owned the place.

Wow, it's come a long way in a short time.

Looking great!

Here's the only photo-worthy thing that's been happening. Lots of behind the scenes work, but none worth mentioning.

That's the kitchen as viewed from the living room. I cut existing walls, rebuilt as necessary, extended the knee wall above the stairs, and what-not.

Here's what it looked like "before"

The kitchen and stairs are behind that green wall, fireplace slightly out of frame to the left (in the top picture).

This is actually a better before picture of the area I just found, while looking back on this clusterberk.

Baby steps...

Got a wall in the basement framed in pressure treated.

Killed two lawn mowers last week. Ahhh, entropy. 

More to come...

You have a lot of projects in a lot of places!  Hats off to you, sir. 

In reply to jfryjfry :

I tend towards the schizophrenic, partly due to scope and budgeting, partly do to natural inclination. Gotta build up some funds for tile and electricity.

My Mother and Uncle came in again this weekend, so we got to it.

Uncle Tim primed and painted the vanity, shelves, and kitchen light thingie.

I framed out basement walls and hung a door.

and my Special Lady Friend and Mom painted the fireplace.

It is a much darker blue in  person.

Finally, we loaded brush in the truck for a dump run.

I demoed the lean-to.

Progress continues, but Not necessarily stuff that photographs well. 

My Special Lady Friend sold her house. This affords sorely needed budgetary breathing room. She's still on the job hunt, so we haven't reached the shore yet, but can breathe a little easier.

The war on vegetation continues. This lot has about twenty years of neglect to be dealt with.

Example:

That green stuff on top of the shed has taken root...to the roof. I severed all its ties to real ground, and it appears to be dying. We'll see if that quarter of the shed roof needs new shingles soon. It's not leaking, but I'm not hopeful of them being savable. Time will tell.

We got a new, electric water heater (Rheem 50 gal) to go in the basement. With the newly freed up $ from home sales, we're going to hire an electrician, and once that's handled, can start putting drywall up, and moving forward at a better clip.

We got a 0% credit card for the bathroom tile, and I still need to put that down, and finish framing in there, then full speed ahead on the electricity. 

I have to pull another plumbing permit for the new water heater, but that's the breaks. I didn't know where we were headed with that until very recently.

We also shopped gas ranges, and the local gas company has 0% financing to be rolled into our gas bill, and a close-out on last year's models that will get us a sweet range for cheap. I'll have them cap off the gas water heater, take a look at the gas log, and generally, give the whole system the once over twice at the same time.

Meanwhile, I have been rebuilding the lean-to.

Core filling the top run of block, filling the rest with rocks, old bricks, beer cans, and the like. It's about 3" out of square over 14'. Close enough, it's a lean-to.

More to come

Today, while SLF dug up grass to be replaced by ground cover, 

I continued rebuilding the lean-to. All pressure treated, mostly squarish.

As always, progress continues, but in the interest of not boring the folks following, I try to not go too micro...

The water heater is in place, so I can start thinking about plumbing and electric-no pics, boring.

I got a $75 drywall jack off Craigslist. I tried to buy one on sale at HF for $179, but all the local stores were out, and didn't want to sell their floor models. I believe this to be the exact tool, "used once, in a closet". Looking at it, I believe them.

And I got the lean to roofed with 3/4" PT plywood. Tin to come.

Needs moar action pix of Dodge truck

Alas, no action shots of the truck. I figure hauling stuff to the dump, and stuff home from Home Depot is pretty boring. I'll see what I can manage on that front, but for now,

I got the lean-to walled in.

Still a roof, some corners, and an upper gambrel before I call it complete.

I also did a total hack job of repairing the lower (rotted) walls on the shed. 

There was a lot of rebuilding, tweaking, and general patching to get here. Once the pressure treated weathers in, I'll slap some caulk on, and call it good for 5 years or so. Total half rectumed work, but good enough. New locks, dead bolts, re-leveled, hacked into place stuff. I also got the vegetation off the main roof of the shed. It came off cleaner than expected.

This is one of my favorite threads!  Keep it up!

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

Thanks, that means a lot to me!

Today, ROOF!

Not too bad considering I worked an 8 hour shift painting, and the heat index here was 103 degrees.

Proof of vegetation removal from the shed. Look back a few posts for a before shot.

Nice work!

This weekend, TILE!

To sum up: We bought the wrong tile and grout, returned both, studied a lot about tile, got confused about tile, settled on new tile, got a 0% credit card from the tile place, were promised a 4 day turnaround, which dragged into 3+ weeks, finally got the tile last Thursday, and yesterday and today, I set these mosaic SOBes. Still have to clean and grout, but the shower and drain are set, and we can finally move on.

The work has been constant, but not a lot to show for it.

Still, over the last week, some of it justifies chronicling.

Grout! After a full weekend with dental picks, a vibratory (heh) tool, and hand grout saws, we got it good enough for...Grout!. This E36 M3 was expensive-2 gallons at 50 bucks each. Hope it holds.

I have also been organizing the shed:

, the lean-to:

, and the garage:

All this is temporary, and none of it is in its proper place, but it is organized enough to not drive me crazy. I have project cars, bikes, and lots of tools in storage. Good enough for now.

I also got to some framing in the bathroom.

Doesn't look like much, but that walls in the shower, and a linen closet that now will open into the hallway, instead of the bathroom, as I thought it would be before seeing it in real space.

No plan survives contact with the enemy.

I recognize that tile! Same stuff that I put in the Grosh bathroom. I still like it. My wife is still annoyed that the only tile we have is in the garage. 

Keep it up, good stuff. 

In reply to mazdeuce - Seth :

I'm not sure I'll ever do this style again. I've laid tons of 12"X12" with 1/4" grout lines, and got it down to a process where I could get near 100% of the grout lines clean before the thinset dried. These 1/16" grout lines are maddening. It is incredibly hard to stop and start with the mosaics, with all the cleaning, re-application of thinset, and mess that has to be cleaned up later. 

Still, it is darn fine looking, if I do say so myself, and My Special Lady Friend is extatic.

Today, I got a little more framing done, re hung the bathroom door, and hung the closet door.

closet:

Now for some well earned R and R.

Minor progress:

I got the two doors upstairs, to the bathroom, and linen closet sanded, primed, painted, and generally loved up. Much the same for the door to the dirt part of the basement (second picture).

All knobs got long overdue love, as well. What are they, orphans?

I've also been getting bids on electrical work. They all agree, a new drop, service, breaker box, whole house circuit breaker, and extensive meetings with codes are in order. The rest of the upgrades beyond the box will wait until later. I pulled the trigger on the highest bidder this afternoon. It's all downhill from here.

I've been spending time getting the fleet back up to snuff. Window regulator, door seals, oil, filter, and general love for my Special Lady Friend's '00 Civic. Oil, filter, AC clutch, tire rotation, and a (semi-failed) headlight restoration for my '04 Matrix. I still have to give the truck some love, and work on the challenge car, but these projects have been looming overhead for far too long.

Oh, and for all you who like doors, there are plenty more doors to come. Much more unusual from here on out...

It may seem like a small thing, and, well, it is, but this M'er F'er took three hours out of my life, so it gets its own post.

The electricians need access to the electrical main. Some genius P.O. named T-Wayne poured concrete without building permits, and well, you get the rest. 

Armed with my trusty Harbour Freight $21 hammer drill, a chisel, hammer, and 4' bar, I beat this into submission. Smithy out.