Greengate Ranch Remodel

Hall Tree #3 - Complete

2010-05-21T17:04:00.000-07:00

The final thing I needed to do on the hall tree was put on the hardware - hangers and shelf brackets:

The oak-leaf hangers are what inspired us to do the hall tree in the first place. They are cast iron and painted flat black. We bought them at a local building materials reuse place, which I am happy to promote. They have wide variety of stuff, prices are great, and they are very friendly.

For you Oregonians (or those visiting), here is the list of reuse and recycling centers. I try to build as much as I can from materials these centers provide. It's good for the environment, my wallet and the local economy.

Hall Tree #2

2010-05-11T21:02:00.000-07:00

I was able to get the hall tree stained, sealed and installed over the weekend. It fit nicely into the alcove...

I made it in four pieces: the bottom cabinet, the seat, the middle section, and the top shelf. I kept the bench a bottom cabinet in two pieces, so I could fit the bench in snugly.

Here is alcove before installation. My DW pained the side walls and ceiling the day before installation. I glued and nailed a few 1/2" x 4" OSB strips across the back wall to give a good surface for mounting with 18 gage finish nails.

Once the four main pieces were in place I shimmed them to an exact fit and nailed them off. This made the hall tree look like one single unit. Here are the trim pieces...

I made the seat with the best boards I had - a couple of them had knots which I wanted to show for a more rustic look. I sanded the corners along the edges of the boards before assembling them, again to make the bench look more rustic.

The middle section took the most work. The 1/4" cherry plywood makes the base, with the battens and trim attached. I put 1/2" OSB on the sides to give them rigidity.

Building the base cabinet for shoes was pretty straightforward, holding two pair of shoes on each shelf..

I need to let the finish cure for a day or so, then mount the hardware.

New Living Room Windows #2

2010-05-10T22:14:00.000-07:00

My DW was able to get the textured paint on the remodeled window wall this week, which I think looks great. I am looking forward to getting these trimmed out, so they look like a single large unit.

Why did we pick these size windows, as opposed to 4 slightly smaller ones?

If we chose 4 windows, they would have been very close to the end windows, which would have made nice pattern.
We could have done two long windows with a single center post, which would have maximized the glass and cost less.
We chose three because windows are traditionally grouped in odd numbers, so you get a clear center view as a focal point. Five windows would have had too many posts and a broken-up view.

New Living Room Windows

2010-04-26T22:08:00.000-07:00

Catching up on the blog: We put new windows into the living room about 3 weekends ago. This involved pulling out out the old 8' wide windows, removing the short wall between the two windows, adding in posts, and filling in the left-side corner. Unfortunately the old windows had broken seals and frames, and were only fit to go to the landfill.

The first picture is "before" and the second is "after"...

While the original layout was OK, I think the entire wall of windows is better. It brings the full view of the outdoors into living room, except for two posts.

I cut back the two existing headers, put posts in, and added a third header in the center. The posts are made of three 2x4's glued and nailed together - two jack studs and one king stud. These are sandwiched on the inside and outside with 1/2 plywood that is glued and nailed as well. This makes very strong posts that shouldn't have any problem holding up the headers, trusses and roof.

The sheetrock is back in place, taped, mudded and textured. Once my DW does the painting, I'll re-trim everything out and call it done.

Improving our Entry with an Alcove and Hall Tree

2010-04-26T21:18:00.000-07:00

The entry to our house is fairly small and is typical for a house built in the 1970's. We have a nice covered porch area, but once you are inside the entry is about 4 feet wide and 7 feet long. The location of the stairs and utilities don't allow for much expansion without a major remodel project - which we are not willing to do.

To help make the area feel larger and more up-to-date - and keep the cost down - we created an alcove to hold a hall tree. This picture shows the progress so far: the alcove is done (needs painting) and the hall tree parts are fabricated (no trim, stain or sealer yet)...

I made the hall tree out of "rustic" cherry (some knots and minor defect), which cost $4 / b.f., which was about 1/2 the cost of regular cherry. It also gave me the the right look for our house, which is not formal.

Here is a picture of the floor plan changes we made. We "stole" about 8 square feet from my office (read bedroom for my son in college) where the closet used to be, and moved it down as shown.

I am going to add a set of built-in bookshelves to the office that back up to the alcove (3 ft wide x 7 ft high). I think the room will feel almost a spacious with these installed, instead of just a plane wall. Also, the hall tree does not need to be any deeper than 20" on the entry side to get the effect of more space.

A few year ago, I read a remodeling / design article that suggested if possible you should select a non-vital room to "steal" space from for improvements. This is what we decided to do with the office. I started out at a 12' x 10' 6" room plus a six-foot closet. We gave part of the room to the guest bath, and now a bit to the entry. This has left us with a 12' x 8' 6" footprint, plus a 4' closet, which is fine for an office / guest room in the long run.

Hopefully, this weekend I can get the shelves for shoes and face trim done, and have everything stained and sealed.

Clerestory Windows

2010-03-29T19:38:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging - or working on projects - for most of the winter (too much skiing!)

I bought a couple of boxes of 6" glass block at Home Depot that were on the clearance pile. I have been planning for a while to make clerestory windows for our bedroom wall, and this gave me the boost to do it.

I built separate frames for each set of 4 glass blocks, which ended up being 13 1/2" wide. These fit between the 16" O.C. studs with shims and blocking, so no header needed. Once I applied the trim, the set of windows look like a single unit.

I set the height of the windows so the top trim would be even with both the French doors and maintain clean lines.

Since this is a south-facing wall, we are hoping to get a lot of additional light during the winter months when the sun is low.

Costs:
- Glass block: $60
- Glass block spacer bars: $12
- Grout: $5
- Frame wood and 2x4 supports: $10
- Trim: $15

Total: $100 approx.

2009-10-18T18:04:00.000-07:00

The large tree in our backyard is turning yellow. It's one of my favorite sites in fall. I "staged" this picture a little bit with the Adirondack chairs and the fire pit...

I spent part of the weekend replacing the doors in our basement. They were the typical flat-slab 1970's doors. These six-panel doors are nothing special, but they were very cheap, and at least look more up-to-date. I did the work on the back porch, giving me a nice view.

These doors needed to be cut to size, drilled for the knobs and routed for the hinges. I basically took each old door and used it as a pattern for the new one. The picture shows the stop-blocks clamped in place for routing the hinge pockets.

Making a $10 Bench

2009-09-27T19:24:00.000-07:00

I came up with a simple bench design that you can make from a 1x12 pine board that's 8' long - which costs $10 right now (in Oregon). You could also make this from a 2x12. Here is a picture of one that I distressed and stained...

It needs another coat of stain and then a couple applications of sealer.

Here is the simple "cut diagram":

- The top is on the left at 32"
- The legs in the center at 16"
- The apron and bottom stretcher are cut out of the right piece at 29 wide.

This design allows for a little bit of scrap, which I use to attach the top.

I made 4 of these today to go into our home theater:

Here they are with the first coat of stain.

These are obviously not fine furniture, but will be great for holding food, books, etc. They can also be used for sitting when we have a bunch of people over.

New Home Theater Furniture

2009-09-26T19:31:00.000-07:00

They delivered the furniture for our home theater today. We bought a very large sectional and ottoman, plus two recliners. These, plus the existing couch and love seat, fill up the room.

This sectional seats 6 or 7 people:

Here are the matching recliners.

This picture shows them from the back of the theater room.

We bought all this from Pacific Lifestyle Furniture, and I have nothing but positive comments about them. I felt like we purchased very good quality furniture at a price on par with Costco (about 1/2 the expected cost), and the delivery was right on time. They are obviously a low overhead operation that keeps prices low. I found them on craigslist.

My disclaimer: I am not paid for advertising for this business. I am giving a positive review for people I was happy to do business with.

My new blog: Hammer and Saw

2009-09-14T12:18:00.001-07:00

I recently started another blog: Hammer and Saw, focused on woodworking and furniture.

Up to this point, I have kept my furniture projects in with the remodeling stuff. After reviewing it, I think the content and audience will be somewhat different. Also, this allows me to use tags that are focussed on various woodworking topics.

Anyway, if you get the chance, take a look and comment.

TTF

Tip: Use contrasting filler on painted trim

2009-09-13T18:59:00.001-07:00

Until recently, I always filled the nail holes in trim with filler that was close to the paint color (in our case, white). No matter how systematically I work when sanding, I seem to miss one now and then. Now I use a contrasting color, so there is no problem seeing every one...

Built-in Bookshelf for my Son's Room

2009-09-12T21:48:00.000-07:00

The final thing we are adding to our son's room is a two-foot wide built in bookshelf, where his old closet used to be. It's 10" deep, which allows for an 18" deep linen closet backing up to it.

Here is the bookshelf unit before it was installed. This is a very simple design: 3/4" plywood sides and shelves; 3/8" bead board plywood for the back; MDF face frame pieces. I sanded, primed and painted all the pieces before assembly, saving a lot of effort.

Here is the unit installed in the wall, with side trim applied. It is shimmed solidly in place, with finish nails holding it.

This bookshelf matches the other ones we installed in our basement, to give continuity throughout the house.

Building a Windowseat #3 - Cabinetry Complete

2009-09-12T20:13:00.000-07:00

I finished up the cabinetry portion of the window seat project. As shown in the picture, I installed the top, which has a lift up lid. I also put a small lip on the front, which is there to keep the cushion in place.

The underside of the lid has 3/4" x 1 1/2" support splines to make sure it stays flat over time.

We need to paint the front with our white trim paint. Hopefully my DW will get the cushion made in the next couple of weeks.

Finishing up My Son's Walk-in Closet

2009-08-30T01:01:00.001-07:00

My son and I installed the closet organizer we built last week. The diagram below shows the layout...

As I stated in an earlier post, this is about as small as you can get for any sort of workable walk-in closet. That being said, there is actually a lot of room in there with the cabinetry installed.

We did a slightly larger one of these for my daughter (8' x 4'), and I am sold on this design. It seems so much more functional than the standard two feet deep closets. It also takes up significantly less wall space within the room. If I every design another house, there will be walk-ins, at least small ones, in every bedroom.

Here are the shelves on the left side, with the hanger bar below. We put the bar out 16" from the wall, instead of the normal 12". This allows for my son to store stuff along that back wall.

The right side now holds the dresser, and all the slides have been adjusted as needed. The next step is to affix the drawer fronts and hardware.

A tip for building your own drawers using drawer slides...

You want the drawers to slide in and out without any binding or slipping. Binding comes from the drawer being too tight or not aligned correctly, and slipping comes from the drawer bring too loose.

I make the drawer 1/16" to 1/8" narrower than the opening, minus the requirements for the slides. In this case, the openings are 34", and the slides take 1" - so the drawers are 32 7/8" wide. This extra little bit allows me to shim the rails to get them aligned and the correct width. I use washers between the rails and the cabinets for shims.

Building a Window Seat #2

2009-08-29T23:52:00.001-07:00

In the following set of pictures, I show how I installed the window seat cabinet I built earlier...

Here is the bump-out we added for the window seat. It has a concrete floor and foundation (same as the rest of the basement) and standard framed walls.

The cabinet will be hung by the walls in the back and on the sides, and sit on the floor in the front. Here I attached 3/4" plywood pieces to the bottom to bring the cabinet up to the correct height.

Also note that I ran 3/4" boards across the bottom in the center. This was probably not needed - there won't be anything too heavy stored in this. Adding the scrap pieces took no time or cost, and it ensures there will never be sag in the bottom.

Because the wood supports will sit on the concrete, I added a layer of asphalt shingle (poly glued and stapled) to block any moisture that would migrate up into the wood over time. These get poly glued to the concrete once in place.

I build the cabinet approximately 1/2" less deep and 3/4" narrower than the opening. Just like a door, you need the rough-in dimensions to allow for some room to adjust everything. Here I added 1/2" plywood pads across the back and 3/8" ones on the right side. After marking the level-line around the walls, I quickly stapled these in place, and then firmly attached them with 2" screws into the studs.

I set the cabinet in place, pushing it against the back and right side. Once it was level and tight, I quickly shot in 3 finish nails to hold it in place. After that I drilled and secured it with 3" screws into the surrounding studs. Finally, I slid a shim in the left side and put screws in.

Here is the final photo of the cabinet in place. Note that I did not put any insulation between the bottom of the cabinet and the concrete floor. My main reason is to not allow any moisture to get trapped in there and cause problems later. I figure with the cabinet (most likely filled with blankets) and a 4" cushion on top, there will be plenty of insulation.

The next steps are to trim the cabinet to the wall and fit the lid in place. Before I do that, my DW will paint the walls, so she doesn't need to cut it in later.

Building a Window Seat #1

2009-08-22T22:03:00.001-07:00

While I have been working on my son's room, I also got the widow seat area ready to go. I am working on building the seat cabinet as well...

Here is an in-progress picture of the seat cabinet. The main structure is made from pre-finished plywood. I put pine battens on the ends to create something I could screw the panels to. I also put scrap peices of 3/4" plywood across the bottom panel to reinforce it (this is good reason to keep those 2 foot cut-off scraps). Finally, you can see where I am adding the front pieces (rails, stiles, beadboard) using brads and poly glue.

Here is a quick picture of the 1/2" pre-finished plywood. I bought these 4x8 sheets for $25 each at Shurway building supply.

Small Walk-in Closet for my Son's Room

2009-08-22T21:42:00.000-07:00

We completed the sheetrock, texturing and painting in my son's room today. As part of the remodel work we are doing, we converted part of a former hallway into a walk-in closet for the room. The old closet is going to become an alcove for the adjacent bathroom. Sometimes I think I like to play musical chairs with the floor plan...

The hall was just over 3 feet wide (37 inches), and I placed the wall so the closet width would be 7'6". This is about the smallest walk-in closet possibe. He should have ample space in at the door to walk-in an turn around. One side has a dresser and shelves, while the other side has closet rods and shelves. You could get the same functional space with a 6" wide 2" deep closet, but the wide opening would take up a lot more wall space. Also, the back wall of the walk-in will have hooks to hang things.

My son desgined the closet organizer, and we both worked on building it. Here are a couple of pictures...

He decided on a black ebony stain, which my daughter also did in her room. It looks good on the pine face frames.

I am hoping to get these installed tomorrow so we can start carpeting.

Installing Carpet Tiles #3 - Done

2009-08-12T07:26:00.000-07:00

My DW finished installing all the carpet tiles in the main areas of our basement - about 1400 sq. ft. in all. In summary, we are really happy with the quality of the product and the results.

The additional tiles arrived for the kids rooms. As with the other order, we received what we ordered on time and delivered into our garage for about 1.90 a square foot. These tiles are also the Mowhawk Ecoflex - but they were only available in small lots, so the price was a bit lower.

After walking on this carpet for a couple of weeks, we have decided it's noticeably more comfortable than the "cheap" carpet we had before with a low-budget pad. The lightweight pad was thicker, but compressed down to almost nothing with stepped on.

Carpet Padding Info

A Good Resource for Understanding Stimulus Money for Remodeling

2009-08-06T18:48:00.000-07:00

I found a very comprehensive site for understanding how I can take advantage of the stimulus / tax rebate offers in 2009: Remodeling Magazine - June 2009. The best information on the site is summed up in: The Stimulus at a Glance Chart.

Here is an example for windows, doors, etc.

So, what does this mean for me:

I am planning my budget to get the maximum $1500 rebate for various windows and an exterior french door for our dinning room. To get this, I need to spend $5000 - and after the 30% rebate it will net out to $3500.

I am planning on buying a pellet stove for my shop I am going to build. I need to purchase it in 2010, so I can take advantage of the rebate next year. The current plan only provides for this through then (who knows, it may change).

I want to add solar electric to the house. The programs for that extend out for quite a while, and I think could possibly get better.

Finally, here is where the stimulus money - and possible rebates to those of use who remodel - are going over the next few years. Click on the graph to go the site.

Sherwood, Oregon Named a Top-10 City in America for Families

2009-08-01T07:47:00.000-07:00

I am an unwavering fan of Oregon. I know that I am biased, having always lived here, but we really do have just about everything: forest, ocean, mountains, desert, rivers, cities and small towns. I travel a lot of places, and I haven't found anywhere I would rather live.

Our town, Sherwood, is one of the great places in Oregon. It was just named one of the best cities in America to raise a family. Here is a link to the article. We are close to Portland, and all it offers, but we adjacent to the country and still have a small town atmosphere.

Here are a few pictures from around town...

Every place has its pros and cons, and I think we have more than our share of the pros here. I am thankful to be able to invest ourselves in a place like Sherwood.

Installing Carpet Tiles #2

2009-07-26T19:29:00.001-07:00

We installed another 500 sq ft of the carpet tiles this afternoon. Here are a few pictures showing the results...

You can still see the seams between most of the tiles - the camera flash fades them out - but these should disappear after some use.

All in all, the tiles are pretty easy to install. Here are some things we figured out (or already knew to do from similar projects):

We spent a couple of hours getting the layout right. We made sure that there would be no small strips of carpet by the walls, which took some balancing of the rooms. We also double checked our main chalk lines to ensure they were square.

A one pound rubber mallet allows you to set the tiles solidly into the double-sided carpet tape. You can also use the mallet to align the tiles.

Get a bulk package of razor blade for your knife. You go through a lot of them - and dull ones are a pain.

Lay all the whole tiles then come back and do all the cuts.

Sweep the bare floor, vacuum, then vacuum again. Get rid of as much dust a possible before starting.

If you cut for a tight fit, you can butt the tiles right up to tile without any metal strips.

We have about 400 feet more to go to finish the family room and small hallway. Once we are done there, the additional tiles should arrive so we can do all the kids beadrooms.

Installing Carpet Tiles #1

2009-07-25T20:20:00.000-07:00

As part of our basement remodel, we have been planning on putting in new carpet for quite a while. At about 1800 sq. ft. of carpet, it is not a small investment. After doing a bunch of research, we decided to go with commercial grade carpet tiles.

We ordered the tiles from iCarpettiles.com, and we were not disappointed.

For about $2.30 a square foot (delivered), we bought pad-backed carpet tiles rated for extreme wear conditions: Mohawk Ecoflex. They are also a green product and LEED rated for recycled content. The service from iCarpettiles was excellent: good phone support, quick delivery, and based on our order size, they found a cheaper alternative for delivery. They are definitely on my "good supplier" list.

Here are the cases of carpet tiles...

This picture shows the first few tiles installed. They go in fairly easily with double-sided carpet tape. We decided to run long strips of tape on the main layout lines, and also at each of the corner of the tiles - similar to the Flor tiles installation method.

We go started and installed about 200 sq. ft. in a couple of hours, which wasn't bad. This included closets and a lot of detailed cutting.

The hardest part of the installation was removing the old clumps of glue and carpet pad from the concrete floor. After tying a scraper and heat gun (lots of work), I found that my 4" grinder with a wire brush attachment did the trick with almost no effort.

Hopefully, we can get the rest of the main basement area done tomorrow.

My normal disclaimer: When I feature a supplier, service or product, it's based on my own experience. I don't take payment to place anything on my blog.

Back from Nicaragua

2009-07-25T19:38:00.000-07:00

My daughter and I spent a couple of weeks on a mission trip with our church to Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua. We had the chance to help build some modest houses and finish a medical clinic. The highlight of the trip was getting to know the local people and spend a good deal of time at an orphanage run by the Verbo Church. It's basically impossible not to fall in love with the kids there.

The man shown in this picture is Pastor Earl. He is the leader of the church that gives so much to help the local people. The area is burdened with extreme poverty, but the people I met there where rich in love and compassion for each other and their community. They are involved in getting people homes, developing small businesses and providing clean water. We saw God working there daily, and I feel like I got much more out of the experience than I gave.

I encourage all who read this, regardless of your belief system, to take the time to get out and help others as you have the opportunity.

New stone fireplace hearth

2009-07-03T20:51:00.000-07:00

As long as I have been laying stone in the back yard, I decided to go ahead and add a raised hearth to our upstairs fireplace. When we originally built the fireplace, I decided to put the hearth on the floor, as shown in this picture...

It looked fine, but ended up being too modern looking for our taste. We wanted something that was more traditional / rustic.

Here is a picture with the new hearth added:

The mud is still wet, so it's dark. Once it dries it will be the same color as the rest of the stone. I took my DW and I about 2 hours put in the structure and hearth stones, then about 4 hours to lay and finish the rest, including cleanup.

I am hoping to design and fabricate glass doors before winter, so we can effectively burn wood this winter.

Backyard #10 - Adirondack Chairs & Creek

2009-06-27T14:29:00.000-07:00

This post isn't on anything specific - I just took a break from yard work to take some pictures.

I built a couple of adirondack chairs a few years ago, and I moved them down by the fire pit earlier this week. They have weathered to a silver gray and are actually fairly comfortable. We have been spending a lot evenings out here since the weather warmed up.

I took some pictures of the creek this morning, while I was mowing the adjacent field. This sits below our house, about 40 yards away. The kids spend quite a bit of time down here in the summers. I put a big rope swing in a tree that allows them to swing out over the water.

This picture was take from the creek looking back up at the house. One of our challenges is to do something with the hill besides letting the weeds and grass grow. I am thinking English Ivy, is it chokes out everything in its path, but it can get hard to control.

I like the way the new patio cover fits between the two decks.

The deck on the left, our main one, will get a also cover next summer. It's going to come out as a gable-end and cover about 200 square feet (half the deck area). Unlike the one I am working on now, this one is going to require formal drawings and permits, since it's on a second story and cuts into the existing roof. The building department told me I could draw these myself, and I am looking forward to figuring out all the details and requirements.

This is conceptually what it will look like...

Backyard #9 - Rippin' Hardiplank

2009-06-21T21:30:00.001-07:00

I spent a little time working on the patio cover this afternoon. I cut and installed the hardiplank fiber cement boards into the sides of the posts...

I like the results, but ripping the hardiplank to width was not a lot of fun.

I tried a carbide blade, which lasted for three boards and then gave out. I switched to an abrasive masonry blade, and it worked OK, but the cutting was slow. Also, I am not very comfortable with all the cement dust on my table saw - it can't be very good for it (or me). These post-sides are the only things I need to rip, so it's not too bad.

I used my coil nail gun to fasten then it place (1.25 inch roofing nails), which worked well.

Backyard #8 - Patio Cover Posts

2009-06-20T17:26:00.001-07:00

Today I worked on the wooden posts that sit on the stone bases for the patio cover. I wrapped the existing 4x4's to make them 8x8, which gives them the correct proportions...

I have tried to keep the "green" ethic through all of my remodeling. In this case it meant using up many of the left over 2x4's and 2x6 pieces to enlarge the post to accept the final exterior pieces.

The next few photos show how I'm protecting the posts from water damage over time. The wood here is kept about 1/2" off of the cap.

Here is the first piece of flashing between the masonry base and the wood post. The main function of this is as a capillary break, which stops water on the stone cap from wicking up into the exterior wood. Even though the wood is rated for ground contact, I think that water could still cause some damage over a number of years. Flashing 4 posts cost under $5 and took less than 30 minutes to install - a good investment (especially in western Oregon)

The corners have overlapping metal...

The posts sit tight to the flashing, so it's not very noticeable:

This picture shows the detail I decided on for the top of the posts. The beams and sides of the posts will get covered with Hardiplank.

I chose not to do the typical detail with a trim cap that sits under the beam, but rather run the boards all the way up to the top of the beam. This basically matches the detail on both the decks on either side of the porch.

backyard #7 - Patio Cover Roof and Gable Ends

2009-06-14T19:35:00.000-07:00

I completed roofing the patio cover just in time to avoid a huge downpour. It was a perfect day to work on the roof - cloudy and 70 degrees.

It took me about 6 hours to flash, paint the trim and roof. This is not fast by any means, but everything went smoothly with no mistakes on my part. Here is a picture of the top flashing nailed up to the house. This will get covered over by a trim board under the window.

What really made the job go easy was using my coil nailer. I bought this a couple of years ago from Harbor Freight for about $70. I have used it for a number of projects, and it's always worked very well. I plan on using it again on the house siding and my upcoming garage project.

We decided to do an open design on the gable ends...

These give the patio cover more of a craftsman look, and they will allow for good airflow on hotter days. I had to individually fit the uprights, toe-screwing them into the ceiling beam. I still need to add a 2x8 to the hotizontal beam on the inside, and then wrap it in hartiplank.

Details like this usually cost almost no extra money ($10 for wood), but take quite a bit more time. If you are not on a tight schedule, I recommend taking the opportunity to add things like this when possible.

Roofing Costs: It cost about $260 to flash, paper just under 200 square feet of roof, with 30year architectural asphalt shingles.
- $180 for the roofing
- $20 for 200 sq ft of 30# roofing paper
- $40 for metal flashing
- $10 for asphalt / rubber flashing tape

DIY Resource: Building Science Corporation

2009-06-14T06:34:00.000-07:00

Building Science Corporation is a great resource for serious DIY'ers. It has a large library of construction articles and reviews.

My current project, a patio cover, needs to be connected to the house properly to ensure we don't get water problems leading to rot (especially in western Oregon). I referred to a number of articles on siding and flashing to make sure I did it correctly, and that it would compatible with a "rain screen" design that I will be adding later.

Here are a couple of images from an article on water management I used:

The picture above shows basic drainage plane design, while the one below is how to flash a window to ensure any water that gets in drains back out again with no damage. In this case, my patio cover roof connects to the house right under a window, and I wanted to make sure the roof flashing would connect properly to the window pan flashing.

Disclaimer: The main focus of this blog is documenting my own DIY projects. When I do feature a site, it's one I have personally used, find useful, and is not sponsored.

Backyard #6 - Stone Posts Done

2009-06-06T20:50:00.000-07:00

I finally finished the stone post bases for the patio cover. It took a few extra weeks (it always takes a few extra weeks!) due to travel and family activities. Anyway, I am pretty happy with the results...

I ended up laying about 50 feet of stone on both of these, and used up all the large corner pieces I had. The large corners give the posts a more substantial feeling.

The tumbled stone pavers made nice post caps, and cost significantly less than cap pieces from the stone yard. Once I filled the joints, I cleaned off the pavers with a water and vinegar solution to remove the mortar stains.

I am going to look at my stone pile and see if I have enough of this mix to lay veneer across the back of the house to match. If I need to buy a few more boxes, I'll keep a look out on Craig's List and buy some leftovers cheap.

I also had time to get the rake and fascia boards installed. I used 2x fir and my DW painted it form me before we attached it.

I really like the look of the 4x6 beams, now that they are in place. Our house is built with 2x4 trusses, that have rafter tails that extend 29 inches. I am considering fabricating and boxing these in with faux tails that will give them the look of 4x6's.

Backyard #5 - Patio Cover Roof and Stone

2009-05-30T05:35:00.000-07:00

I had the day off yesterday - the weather was great. I was able to get the roof deck on the patio and some stone laid around the post bases. Here is a picture of the roof deck:

It obviously takes longer to lay a solid wood as opposed to plywood roof deck - but this picture shows why it's worth it.

I decided to go with straight 2x6's as opposed to tongue-and-groove roof deck. The cost is significantly lower, but it takes a bit more planning and work. The look is slightly more rustic than T&G, and fits in well with the changes we are going to make to the exterior of the house.

A 10' 2x6 costs $2.50 right now, while T&G costs $11. The difference here was $100 vs. $440.

T&G can span quite a distance (at least 4'), but this would probably not worked well for 2x6. I made the spacing between the the rafters 32" - which took two additional pieces ($11 each). As noted in an earlier post, I like the look of this better anyway.

I did have to sort through the pile to get the good boards, but I always do this anyway. We stained the sides of the boards without the mill marks (ink stamps) while they were on the ground. This highlighted a few bad areas, which I cut out.

Is it going to be strong enough? No problem - you can put 1/2" OSB on 24" centers with little metal clips to help strengthen the joints where the pieces come together. This is 5x to 10x (my guess) stronger.

What about the small gaps between the boards? With black roofing felt on top of the deck, you won't notice any gaps. I did make sure they boards were tight together before nailing. They may shrink a little over time, but I don't think it will be significant.

The picture above shows the block bases I built around the posts. These are about 2 1/2 feet high. I used brick to bring them up to the right height, and make a solid base to mud the caps to.

Here is one of the posts with the stone applied. I did the same general pattern as I did on the fire pit, so it would all tie together. I plan on capping these off with 2" thick tumbled pavers to make a flat surface for drinks, etc.

Once the caps are on, I will build out the posts to about 8x8 to give them the right proportions.

A couple of pictures from Eindhoven, Netherlands

2009-05-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

My preference is to be at home in Oregon with my family, but when traveling I try make "lemonade". Here are a couple of pictures I took in the city of Eindhoven, in the Netherlands...

I think this first picture emphasizes what the Dutch do so well - create small idyllic spaces. If you look, you see them everywhere.

The roof on this house is new thatching. I especially like the eyebrow windows. I watched them weave and cut it last year, which was fascinating.

Yesterday I was in the eastern Czech Republic, and I got to spend the day at a friend's house, working in his garden. It was really nice to be out doing something with my hands, as opposed to being "couped up" in a city with only walking around and sightseeing to fill my time.

We started at the "cabbage market", which is a farmer's market in the city center of Brno.

This market has been running for over 700 years. It's similar to Beaverton Farmer's Market, but a lot older.

Backyard #4 - Patio Cover

2009-05-20T21:26:00.001-07:00

Now that the fire pit is done, and the patio has had a chance to cure, I have moved on to the patio cover. I was able to get the main structure in place this weekend - here is a rendered image of what I plan to build...

It's a pretty simple design:

Ledger attached to the house

Main beam to support the rafters

Four posts (two on each end) with stone bases

Large 4x6 rafters, on a 4/12 pitch (same as the rest of the house)

Solid wood roof deck, stained on the under side for the vaulted ceiling

Total area is about 160 square feet

Here is the progress so far...

The main beam is built up of three 2x8's glued and nailed together. Here is how I calculated the needed beam size:

The span between the two inner posts is just under 12 feet, and the rafter span from the beam to the house is 6.5 feet.

The general load requirements for Portland, Oregon are 10lb dead load / 25 lb live load (for snow). Even though there are no formal requirements for patio covers under 200 sf in my area, I of course want my project and my house to last (not sag).

I looked at various span tables for patio covers (I will link to these below) and determined that I needed either a 4x10 or a 6x8 beam. I wanted a thicker looking beam anyway, so I chose the 6x8. I built it from 2x8's since I am going to wrap it in hardiplank later on. Doing 3 pieces also allowed me to easily leave mortice holes for the posts.

The rafter requirements are very light - 2x4's on 24" centers. I think going that route would save a few dollars, but the cover would look light-weight and cheap. After looking at 2x6 and 4x4 rafters on other houses, I decided to go with 4x6's. They are substantial enough to give the cover a "craftsman" feel, and not really much more expensive. These are painted the brown color that we are going to paint the house trim. They should contrast nicely with the stained roof deck. I put these on 32" centers - the spec sheets say I can go up to 48", but I like the look of them closer together. At $11 a peice for 10' long ones, it only cost me $22 extra.

The ledger on the house took longer to get in place than I thought it would. I took my time to make sure it was square, level and centered with the beam I put up. I attached it with 1/2" lag bolts on 32" centers. If this isn't installed very level and even, then getting everything else lined up later on will be painful.

I decided to go with a 2x8 ledger, so I could attach a 1x2 lip at the bottom for the rafters to sit on. I did this for two reasons: It makes holding the rafters much easier when you are attaching them, and it covers the bottom gap where the rafters meet the ledger. I noticed this on a number of patio covers I looked at.

The rafters are attached to the beam with L-brackets and then lag bolted through the tops in to the beam.

Helpful documentation that I used to design the patio cover:

This patio cover building permit form gives a lot of design information. Note that is for a 10lb live / 10lb dead load (no snow)

This document is for patio covers in Fort Collins, CO - 30lb live / 10lb dead loads (lots of snow).

Finally, here is a good middle of the road one at 20lb live / 10lb dead load.

From these three sources, you should be able to spec an appropriate cover for your area and design choices.

Backyard #3 - Fire Pit Done

2009-05-20T00:28:00.000-07:00

Guten Tag - I am on the road again, blogging from Germany. When I am at home, I am too busy either working on projects or doing family stuff, so traveling ends up being a good time to catch up on the blog...

Here is a picture if the completed masonry work on the fire pit (mud on the top is still wet):

I ended up having just enough of the flat stones to complete the top. I probably should have laid them out before hand to make sure - but I could have worked something in if I needed to. This is the challenge / fun of working with left over materials: you don't run to the store if you are a few short, you figure out how to make it work and look nice at the same time.

Here is the real reason I build the fire pit: to spend time as a family around it. We lit the first fire and hung around for a couple of hours, just talking. I don't understand why a fire makes you sit and talk, but I know it's true.

We lit the fire, and after an hour, the area all along the brick wall was really hot. THe concrete brick with the block structure creates a good thermal mass. An unintended effect of this is that the heat reflects off the round wall evenly, so no matter where you stand you get warm. We should be able to cook in this with no problems.

Things left to do:

Dig the dirt out of the bottom and put some gravel in there. There is already a drainage ditch under the pit to get the water out of there.

Build some benches

Put a dedicated hose on the corner of the house (25 feet away) that can be used immediately if the fire looks like it may get out of control.

Review of the Project / Lessons Learned / Improvements
Size:

The diameter of hte pit seems just about right. The inner diameter is 3 feet and the outer one is about 5 1/2 feet. Large enough to put big pieces of wood on the fire, but you are still close to the fire.

Materials:

Using the concrete brick for the inside seems like a good idea so far. I used type-S morter (stonger than normal) to lay the brick and block. The 8" block are hollow, so this give somewhat of a thermal break to the exterior stone, which you really don't want to get hot. After two hours of a fire, the outside was still at ambient temperature.

The cultured (man made) stone worked nicely. Mixing 4 differnt kinds gave the rustic look we wanted. You could make it look very formal by using a single type of stone. I often see a few square feet of stone for sale cheap on craig's list - get a few boxes and your set to go. I used about 35 square feet in total.

Location:

If you can build one with a view, do it. If you don't have a view, I would suggest putting up something like an arbor or wall as a nice focal point.

Material List and Cost

3 60lb bags of concrete for the footing - $10

12 8x8x16 concrete block for footing and base - $12

75 2x3x8 concrete brick to line the pit and top - $20

6 80lb bags of type-S morter - $30

Morter color - already had it. Assume $5.

35 sq feet of stone - already had it. Assume $4 a sq ft (could be more) - $140

3 60lb bags of gravel to fill - $10.

My own cost was $100. To buy everything would be about $250.

Backyard #2 - Progress on the Fire Pit

2009-05-10T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here is a picture of the fire pit in progress - it shows the interior construction...

Once the footing set up, I did the following to get to this point:

Drew a 22" radius circle on the footing using a string tied to a piece of rebar in the center.

Set the block (16x8x6) to the circle - this formed the rough radius.

Mortared the brick upright on the inside of the block. I used various thicknesses of mud to get an even radius. These are concrete brick, not clay, which will take the heat of a fire.

Mortared brick across the top of the block and the lower brick. This gave the right height for the fire pit walls.

Here is a cross-section of the design:

Once the base was done, I started to apply the stone. I am using about 3 types of stone to build this, which I had as left overs. As long as they are balanced, I think it looks good. Also, the other stone in our house is a rustic mixture, so this fits right in.

Here is the first bit of stone laid in place. I plastered the top to make sure no water will run down behind the stone once I'm done. I doesn't freeze very hard in Portland, but keeping water out is always a good idea.

In this picture, I have about half of the stone laid. In my stone pile, I have a couple of boxes of flat slate-style pieces, which are shown set on the top. These will be the cap stones. The bottom edge of the cultured stone definately has a factory edge. I will chip these edges back and rub some mud on them to give them a more natural look.

Hopefully, I can get this project done in the next few evenings and have a fire this weekend.

Backyard #1 - Patio extension and fire pit.

2009-05-03T20:05:00.000-07:00

Since my son is home and helping me out for a few weeks, I am trying to get a whole bunch of heavy work done in our backyard. Here is my "master plan" for things I want to add this summer:

Extend the patio along the back of the house, and make it about 10 feet deep.

Cover the patio with a roof (asphalt comp) that matches the existing roof - 18 ft wide and about 8 feet deep.

Put an under-deck rain cover under our main deck (10' x 30'), and possibly under our bedroom deck (8' x 14').

Build a fire pit

Build a series of terraced stone walls for a raised-bed garden up the hill to our garden shed.

We started off by pouring the patio, and extending it over to the stairs that lead to the upper deck.

This ended up being about 180 sq ft at 4" deep, which translates to 140 bags of 60# quikcrete. It basically took a full day to mix, pour and finish it all. We are keeping the concrete wet and covered with tarps for a week, so that it cures properly.

Luckily, I have a small cement mixer. Mixing all that by hand would have been way too much work.

Here is the portion of the patio we will cover over. We also tore out the old sliding glass door and put french doors in. The pre-hung units actually go in fiarly easily.

Here is the foundation for the fire pit...

It's not very pretty right now, but its round, level and solid. The rain-drain line that we put in the yard runs directly under this (about a 18" down), and is back-filled with gravel. This will become the drain path for water put, once we dig the cover dirt out and fill the bottom with gravel.

This picture shows where the fire will be located - about 20 feet off the deck with a good view of the woods.

I am still deciding what material to build the fire pit out off. Most likey it will be covered with some extra stone I have from other projects.

Window Seat #2 - Done with Sheetrock

2009-05-03T19:57:00.000-07:00

I finished the sheetrock work on the window seat this week. I need to texture the walls, along with the entire wall of the room in the next few days.

Once the texture and painting are done, I will build the seat, which will have a bead board front to match the built-in book shelves. I am juggling this project with a bunch of backyard work, since my son is home right now to help out.

Window Seat

2009-04-15T17:48:00.001-07:00

I feel like I have let my blog down... I am almost finished with a window seat project, and I have not taken one picture or written a word.

Here is an in-progress picture - I just started taping the sheetrock.

I got the inspiration to add one from reading the "Not So Big House" series and also looking at the house designs posted on Ross Chapin Architects. I think window seats are similar to kids and ice cream – they have almost universal appeal. Here are some pictures from the site…

Cost details

Bumping the wall out to build this required the following steps (materials costs)

Pour a small foundation - $20

Reframe the existing opening to 6’ wide, put in a 12” header, and frame the new walls (2x6) - $85

Put on sheathing (1/2” plywood) - $35

Flash and roof with architectural shingles - $40

Install a 4’x5’ stock window (Low E) - $170

Install two 4” recessed lights and wire the switch - $45

Insulate – both foam for the corners / gaps and fiberglass for the stud bays - $30

Sheetrock, mud, corners - $50

Total so far is $475. To just do a window (no bump out) would have cost about $230 to this point, so I think its well worth it.

I anticipate the following additional costs:

Window trim (inside and outside) - $50

Siding (Hardieplank lap) - $60

Paint – interior: already have it (maybe $25 if I needed to buy more) / Exterior - $40

Window seat wood – I am doing a bead-board front, pine trim, 3/4” plywood lift top - $40

Cushion – not sure, I need to as my DW, as she will be making that bit.

Estimated total cost: $750 – and well worth it. I think it adds quite a lot of character to the house.

I am planning on re-siding the entire house this summer (lap; board & batten; stone), and I am going to include a rain-screen / drainage plane while I am at it. I will do the first little bit of that when I side the bump-out.

Home Theater #35 - Finishing the Crown Molding

2009-03-15T18:50:00.000-07:00

I really hate seeing seams in crown molding - after spending the time and money to install it, I want to look almost flawless. Here are the details on my effort...

First, I cut the ends of the molding at 45 degrees (same as a miter cut) to join them. This helps align the two pieces, since one lays on top of the other, and provides a large glue surface. I glues the end together and nail through one piece into the other.

Once the molding is in place, I rub wood filler into and small gaps. If the walls or ceiling are not straight, the molding won't typically fit exactly right, and the gaps can get larger. I had a couple cases of this in the theater, so I needed to do some sanding to smooth things out.

To sand the moldings, I created the profile block shown here:

Side view

Here is how I did it:

- I took a shorter piece of molding, set it face up on a piece of news paper, and laid plastic wrap on it.

- Mixed up some Fix-It-All (same consistency as sheetrock mud) and put a on 3/4" layer, letting it run a bit over the sides. This stuff dries fast, doesn't shrink, and is pretty hard. Click on the image at the right for more info.

- I took a small piece of scrap plywood and pressed it down onto the Fix-It-All. This forced it solidly into the profile of the molding, and formed the support for the sanding block.

- I let the block harden for about an hour

- I broke the excess off and trimmed the block square on my table saw.

- I wrapped 100 grit sandpaper around this to sand the molding.

I may try to make a couple more of these with cement mortar, which would be really hard. I have read that some people use Bondo as well.

Here is a picture of a joint in the crown molding, after I sanded it. The best way to do this was to tip the block slightly up and sand the upper profile, then tip it down and do the lower one. I used the square edge of the block to sand the flats.

This photo shows the same molding with one coat of paint on it - the seam has virtually disappeared. I applied this coat as a "primer". Once the final coat goes on, it should be virtually impossible to see the seam. I sanded about 75 feet of crown, with a number of seams, and they all worked well.

I made a couple of blocks in case the first one broke (one is none), but it worked fine with no signs of wear. I am going to coat the surfaces with poly to help harden them further.

Home Theater #34 - Crown Molding

2009-03-14T17:32:00.000-07:00

I installed the crown molding in our home theater this morning, and all went pretty well. The following pictures show the fixturing (also called jigs) I build to make it quite a bit easier...

Here is the cutting fixture I made for my chop saw:

The key feature of this fixture, is that it holds the crown molding in the same orientation as when it's installed. In this case, the "trough" that holds the molding is 2" wide and 2.5" tall. This is screwed to the metal fence on the saw.

Why I really like this method:
- It's very easy to visualize the cut. This is great for DIY people like me who don't cut crown regularly - no compound set-ups.
- The cut marks in the fixture allow me the line up my cuts very accurately.
- The fixture holds the molding securely - no sliding around on long pieces.

The next set of photos show the fixture for building inside corners. I have tried to cope inside miters with very limited success. I find it difficult to get a clean profile. I prefer to pre-build my corners, then install them (it takes two people to hold them)...

Again this fixture holds the crown pieces in the same orientation as when they are on the wall.

I glue the pieces, slide them together, and air-nail them from the back-side. Once the glue dries, it makes a perfect miter joint - accurate and strong.

Here is a picture of the corner joint once installed (no additional caulking or painting after the assembly). There is enough flex in the glued pieces to allow me to fit it snugly into corners that are a bit off of 90 degrees. I caulk any gaps.

This photo shows the outside corner, done with a small piece and cut at 22.5 angles. It's not painted because I cut these right before install.

Finally, I put a nailer strip (3/4 x 3/4 pine) in place before the crown. I glue and tack-nail these in place, so I don't have to worry about where the studs are located.

I filled the nail holes and joints between the pieces (cut at 45 deg) to finish of my work for the day. After everything dries overnight I will sand and paint it all.

Building the fixtures took about an hour - and I am sure I made up the time jsut doing the theater room. I am using this crown profile throughout the house, so it was well worth the effort.

Inspirational Design Site

2009-03-03T15:49:00.000-08:00

Finding a good site for inspiring designs and ideas is like uncovering a little bit of gold. Ross Chapin Architects is filled full of great house plans and images. The style is very "Northwest Cottage", which what we are basing our remodeling and decorating on.

Here are a few images from the site...

I really like the plans section, which provides floor plans as well as images.

Garden Shed #33 - Final Post on the Project & Lessons Learned

2009-02-22T16:25:00.000-08:00

Looking back through my posts on the garden shed, I didn't see any picture sets showing the entire final product. I took some shots around the perimeter...

Reusing the old shed

This was a definite plus. We reused the cedar siding, framing lumber, foundation beams, hardware and pier blocks. Here in Oregon, we could have recycled all this material - but it was much better and cheaper to use it again.

We did not reuse
- 1x4 flooring - tried but it was too damaged (100's of nails!)
- Cedar shingle roofing - too much moss and mold
- Windows - they were tiny and of poor quality
- Plastic and tar paper - too old and damaged

We also used up a bunch of old paint stored in the shed for primer, which worked well.

When I was grinding the nail heads to get the pier blocks free, I got a piece of metal lodged in my eye - and I need to get an incision to get it out (ouch). I had on safety glasses, but it made it's way up underneath. I'll wear a face shield in the future.

Shed sizing

The shed size is key to using materials well. The 12 x 16 footprints gave the following advantages:
- Used full sheets of plywood for the floor
- Had very little waste in framing the walls. - The 7' height gave us a bunch of 1' pieces, which we used for shelf support blocks.
- The 12' width allowed for 8' rafters on a 4/12 pitch, which was by far the most economical

Sliding door

It was more expensive than a hinged double door - about $100 extra - but I think it was well worth it. It is much easier to use, and stays right were you put it.

Summary

I think the shed build was a good intermediate project, that most DIY people could handle with the right tools and time.

Home Theater #33 - Drawer Hardware

2009-02-22T15:09:00.000-08:00

I installed the hardware shown below on our home theater cabinets. We bought these twisted-rope ring pulls from Amazon seller Maison Drake for about $8 each. They were on back-order for a couple of weeks, but the seller kept us up-to-date via email.

We really like the quality of the pulls. They are quite heavy with a nice finish and good workmanship. The design is a bit fancy, but the small size makes for an understated look.

If you have ever drilled a hole for hardware in the wrong place, you are acquainted with true frustration. Here is a technique to make sure you locate the holes correctly...

Make a "card" that indicated the height of the hole. In this case, since it is a panel drawer front, t just sits on the bottom rail as shown. If you have a flat drawer front, you can nail a little ledger on the card and measure from the top down.

Slide the card along to right spot, using a ruler.

Hold the card in place and mark it with a center punch (or nail, or pencil).

Tap the center punch with a hammer, so you have a good starter hole for you drill bit.

Home Theater #32 - The stone is done

2009-02-14T17:05:00.000-08:00

We finished off the stonework in the theater room today, and I am really happy with the results. It took a bit longer that I had planned for, but it was worth taking the time...

Below is a closer picture of the stonework. The mortar will lighten to match the other stone in about 10 days.

Tomorrow, I need to get the rest of the drawer fronts on and add the hardware. After that, we have trim (base; crown; doors), carpet, and I will to build a small matching table for the center speakers. I am hoping to be done with the theater by the end of March (we'll see).

Home Theater #31 - Drawer Fronts and More Stone Laying

2009-01-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

I finally had time to get back to the theater project. I made the drawer-fronts shown in the picture from the left over pine wainscot boards. In the photo, the wood is pretty light - but actually is looks quite a bit darker in the room.

Here is a picture of the stone we laid up the other evening. I wanted to get to it sooner, but life keeps getting in the way.

The dark much shows the area we added. It's a little less than 20 square feet - not a lot - but I did in the evening after work. With set-up and clean-up we really only had a couple of hours into it. I guess I am not very speedy, but then again these are fairly tight areas, and we are mixing various kinds of stone to get the rustic look.

The mud will dry to the grey color in a couple of days...

One of the things that makes a stone job look professional is how clean it is. Sticking the stones to the wall is actually the easier part - striking the joints is where the works is...

Here is my technique for getting the joints to look "perfect":

Fill any joints you need to so there are no holes. I do this as I am laying the stones.

Let the mud set up for 20 to 30 minutes. It should be stiff, but not solid.

Use a flat-jointer to scrape the mud back out of the joints to the depth you want. The flat-jointer is also called a tuck-pointer

Use a whisk broom to clean out the joints and remove any extra mud from the stone

Use a wire brush to clean out the edges of joints, so they are nice a crisp. Also clean off any mud the whisk broom couldn't get.

Check for anything that doesn't look good: little holes, clumps of mud in corners, etc.

Whisk broom again.

Sponge off the stones, use the wire brush for any last bits that have not come off.

If you are not done, be sure the scrape the mud back on top of the stones so you have a clean surface when you start again.

It's an involved process, but will give you good results. I give myself as much time for this as I do for fitting and laying the stone.

If you are DIY, don't be in a hurry. Work with small areas so it does not get away from you. You can't come back later and make it right - it will be dry.

Small clamps from IKEA - Cheap!

2009-01-11T19:37:00.000-08:00

We bought these "super" clothes pins at IKEA a while ago. They work great for clamping small stuff - the jaws open to about 3/4" - and they are fairly strong. I needed to glue a foam gasket in place, and about eight of these did the trick...

In typical IKEA fashion, these are really cheap - 50 pins for $2.

Home Theater #30 - Laying Stone

2009-01-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

I started laying the stone this afternoon. I got about 25% done with the wall after a couple of hours, as shown in the picture below.

This is a mixture of about 4 different types of cultured stone, which is the same as we did on the fireplace. I like the effect - it's a more custom look that you get with just one type. The key is to make sure the larger round stones are spread out, and fill in with the horizontal ones. I put a large one in about every two square feet.

Most of the work in laying up the cultured stone is in pointing, striking and brushing. This is where you get professional looking results.

Tomorrow I am going to have my DW and daughter help out, and hopefully get most of the rest of it put in.

Reuse: Game Table

2008-12-30T20:26:00.000-08:00

I made this game table from our old dining room table a few months ago. The dining table seated six without the leaf, and I modified it to be square and seat four, which is better for playing games. This involved cutting down the top pieces and the side aprons.

It was very similar to this table, except it had a green base.

It has one of those fold out leaves, and I decided to make that into a chess board. I added compartments on the sides of the leaf to hold the chess men, and painted a board.

Here it is folded out.

Even though this was an inexpensive table (cheap!) we used it for a number of years when our kids were young. It took some repairs, but it hung in there and stayed solid. It was nice to re-purpose it to be used for games, puzzles and homework.

Home Theater #29 - Screen Framed

2008-12-30T19:15:00.000-08:00

After helping my DW clean up and put away Christmas (the decorations, not the beliefs), I was able to mount the slides to the drawers and get most of of the trim installed. The picture below shows the progress on the cabinets.

I made the crown molding with two pieces of trim. I think three would have been better, but I was limited by the depth of the soffit. I still like the way it turned out...

I decided to frame the screen in stained wood, rather than flat black. Most screens are done in black - but I have seen a few done in wood, and I liked it. I figure I can always paint it black later if I change my mind.

Here is the whole thing in it's current state...

Stuff I need to get done:

Mill, stain and install the base moldings (I forgot to do these with the crown)
Make the drawer fronts
Lay the stone - I am going to have my DW and daughter lay up some of it
Build a small matching table for the center speakers
Crown molding around the ceiling
New carpet - I think we are going to go with carpet tiles

Home Theater #28 - Cabinet Drawer Boxes

2008-12-30T05:41:00.000-08:00

With the help of my son, I completed the cabinet drawer boxes yesterday. I used pre-finished 1/2" birch plywood, which I bought at Shurway building supply in Portland. I always give these guys a plug: discount prices, friendly people, interesting selection of materials.

I assembled these with polyurethane (Gorilla) glue and 1" staples. I have made a number of drawers this way over the past few years, and none of them have come apart.

These large drawers are really wide at 36". They are sized to hold blankets and pillows.

Normally, I use 1/4" or 3/8" plywood for the bottoms - in this case I use 1/2".

I also put a strong-back across the top of the drawer back. This and the drawer fronts will keep the boxes rigid. If they are going to fail, it would be from flexing.

Today I will mount the drawer slides and hopefully get the fronts made. I always use the heavy-duty, full extension slides and stay away from the cheap "euro" ones. I use to use the cheaper ones, but had a number of problems with them, and I think they make a project feel like it's lower quality.

Home Theater #27 - Setting up Components

2008-12-21T20:50:00.004-08:00

I added spacing feet to the cable box, DVD and receiver to help improve ventilation. Heat is the biggest contributor to component failure, so I want to make sure there is adequate air flow.

I made these feet out of 2" PVC conduit (left over from the video cable run). They are about 1 1/4" tall. I plan on painting them flat black, so they are not noticeable. More info: Detailed "how to" article on adding spacing feet.

Here is a picture of the speaker mount...

It's nice to finally have the speakers spread out to the correct positions. It definately makes a difference in the sound quality.

Home Theater #26 - Installing Cabinets and Prep for Stone

2008-12-21T20:50:00.003-08:00

We were able to get the cabinets built and installed this weekend. It's amazing what a couple of "vacation" days can do...

Here is a photo of the foam board installed between the wall battens. There is a concrete wall, a framed stud wall and sheetrock behind this. As I noted in earl er posts, I did not want to tear this wall out, but mount the screen, cabinets and stone to it. To provide some level of insulation, I applied the foam board (there is none behind the sheetrock.

This foam board is R-Tech EPS. It provides about R4 and allows moisture migration (breathes). There is no evidence that there has been any moisture in the wall cavity, but I don't want to take any chances. At $8 for a 4x8 sheet, it's a very inexpensive improvement. Our practice has been to improve the energy efficiency of the house where ever we can - but not necessarily fully gut the area.

Here are the cabinet bases I built. They are open backed, since there will only be drawers installed - also this makes it easier to have the cables come in.

Both sets on cabinets went in fairly easily. These were built to fit the area, so only minor shimming was needed. We needed to pull the Christmas tree out of the way!

We added another layer of 3/4" foam behind the cabinets. You just need to use longer screws to install the cabinets.

I pulled the outlet out of the wall, so it could be mounted on top of the concrete board. I also wired in the box for the center and base speakers. The location of the existing outlet worked out well, since I will need it to power the base speaker (still need to buy one).

I installed the 1/2" concrete board over the battens. I used poly glue and sheetrock screws. This is the base for the stone I will lay (hopefully this week). I need to trim out the screen and do the crown molding first, then lay the stone to it.

The theater components sit in the bottom shelves of the right-side cabinets. Right now the cabling is a mess, but it's functional. I made the smaller top drawers less deep, there is about 4" in space for cables. I am going to install a small shelf in the back to set the bundles on.

Here is the whole wall so far...

I will spend the next few days getting all the trim details done (and going skiing). Once I start the stone, I just want to focus on that, since it makes the most mess.

Igloo!

2008-12-21T20:50:00.002-08:00

We have 18" of wet snow, which makes great raw material for an igloo. We used a recycling bin to make the blocks, and packed in snow around them. Here is a picture of the first two courses being worked on by our younger boys...

Before we put the third layer on, we put a some short boards on to support the door and tie everything together (too bad we didn't have any rebar). Here is a young apprentice striking the joints:

Two more layers of blocks finished it out. We covered it with snow and smoothed it both inside and out.

Home Theater #25 - Upper Cabinets Complete

2008-12-21T20:50:00.001-08:00

I was able to fully complete the upper cabinets this evening. Here are a series of photos showing the progress.

A pile of lumber - stained, finished and ready to go...

Here I am mounting the tongue-and-groove boards on the back of the cabinet. I used poly glue and 3/4" long staples.

A note on installing stained wood wainscot: Stain the boards first. Over time, the wood often shrinks a bit as it fully dries. If you stained and finished them after you installed them, you may see the bare wood lines where the boards come together.

Here is the cabinet with the back finished.

This is a close-up of the boards - a nice rustic look.

These cabinets have a "hutch" design, where the lower cabinets are deeper (18") than the uppers (10"). Between the two is a thicker wood counter top. I have learned to attach this first to the uppers, then the lower cabinets. The reason is that you want it to fit very tightly with the upper, were you can see the joint.

I bought 1" thick (called 5/4") wood for tops. They are made of laminated strips, but still have a slight bow to them. Using my table saw, I ran a few curfs 1/2" deep on the underside give it more flex. I stopped these before they came out the finished end. Once screwed to the cabinets, it they will sit very flat.

Here are uppers with the wood counters attached:

I cut and assembled the base frames. These cabinets are going to hold extra blankets and pillows for watching TV, so they are 11" deep and 36" wide. I will make the drawer fronts match the uppers by putting dividers in the middle.

For any soft wood or span over 24", I glue and nail a support piece across the back of the horizontal members. These also get lapped onto the vertical pieces and nailed.

My DW came with a great idea... I typically throw the stain rags away once I ma done using them. I let them dry out before putting them in trash. She suggested I put the rag in the old stain can - it should keep just fine in there for the next use.

Home Theater #24 - Building Cabinets Continued

2008-12-21T20:50:00.000-08:00

With about a foot of snow and freezing rain on the ground, all of our planned activities were cancelled. Sometimes it's nice to have everything slow way down. After a few hours of driving the family around for their final Christmas errands, I spent some time working on the cabinets.

The upper bookshelf part of the cabinets are most of the work, so started them first. Overall, it went together well, with only a few minor fixes required. Tomorrow, I hope to build the other cabinet and put the backs on both of them.

The wood planks for the backs and sides turned out well. After staining, I applied a coat of Mixwax polycrylic, did a light sanding (220 grit), wiped off the dust, then put a second coat on. This seems to give a clean, smooth finish on the boards. Below is a picture of them lined up and drying...

The picture on the right shows my stain sample board. I took all the stain samples and applied about one foot of each. We set this along the wall and looked at it for a couple of days. We finally decided on the third one from the top, and the sample board shows what the color will look like.

Looks like more snow coming to Portland, so the cabinets may get done sooner than expected.

Home Theater #23 - Cabinet Parts

2008-12-19T22:06:00.001-08:00

I finished cutting. milling and sanding all the cabinet parts. Here is where it gets really difficult for me - I want to start building and not continue staining and finishing. I get anxious to see the project come together, and I want to think about finishing later, but it's quite a bit more work that way. So I spent the evening finishing...

Staining and sealing a whole bunch of parts takes a whole bunch of space on saw horses or stands. I typically put a couple of 2x4's across saw horses, but I came up with a better idea using an extension ladder. This set up gives me 16 feet.

Below are about 1/2 of the pine wainscot boards I am using for the exposed sides and backs of the cabinets. I stained these with Minwax Ipswitch Pine, and they came out with quite a bit of color variation, which is what I was hoping for.

The rails and stiles, which came from a less varied pine, needed to have more color added to have them match. After I stained them with the Ipswitch, I stained them again with Cherry.

This caused a nice amount of variation and provided a good overall color match.

I am going to try to get two coats of Mixwax Polycrylic on these by tomorrow so I can start assembling this weekend.

Home Theater #22 - Started Cabinet Build

2008-12-15T20:37:00.000-08:00

I started building the cabinets for our home theater. We want a fairly rustic look, so I decided to used knotty pine.

I had 3 sheets of 3/8" plywood left over from our kitchen cabinets, so I used those for the structure. I think 1/2" would have been a bit easier to use (sturdier), but this is what I had. I am going to line the outsides of the cabinets with 3/8" beadboard, so the walls will be 3/4" thick in the end. I started off by cutting the sheets with a circular saw to make ripping them easier:

I ripped the sides and cut them to length:

I also cut the shelves:

I marked the back of the side panels to cut the dadoes to accept the shelves. The "B" indicates the bottom. I always try to mark cabinet parts as much as possible to help avoid errors:

I used my table saw with a dado blade to cut the dadoes. The piece rides on my panel-cutting sled - they get cut on the marks as shown. This is a very easy way to cut the dadoes, but you need to be careful to keep your hand away from the blade.

Here are the shelf pieces sanded and stained (first coat). I have gotten into the habit of staining the pieces of my projects before using any glue on them. Glue makes stain look bad - even the "stainable" kind. It takes a lot effort to fully clean the glue up, so it makes way more sense to just stain things up front. I will also put polycrylic finish on these before assembling, again because its much easier.

I always leave a stir-stick in my stain. I stir it each time I put a rag or brush in it. This may seem excessive, but it keeps the color even. If you have solids in the bottom of the stain can, you can bet you did not get a consistent stain color as you used it up.

I decided to make the side panels look more like planks than solid pieces of plywood. I ran these in my table saw with a plywood blade set to about 1/16" inch - just enough to give a line that would stain darker. I also distressed these with some nails, a hammer and a scraper.

Here are the rails and stiles, dadoed out to attach to the plywood parts. I will blind nail these with my 1/4" crown stapler (18 gage).

The next thing to get these parts stained and sealed.

First Snow of the Year

2008-12-14T15:00:00.000-08:00

Here in Western Oregon, we usually get a little bit of snow in the winter - maybe 2 or 3 inches. This morning it looks like we are going to get our year's quota before Christmas. I grabbed m camera and took my traditional snow pictures, including views of the woods behind our house:

Looking up the valley...

Looking to the south. The big Douglas Fir on the right is a legacy to this being a Christmas tree farm years ago.

The big tree in our back yard...

The new garden shed got its first snow:

The weather forecasters say this is going to go no all week, so maybe we will have a white Christmas.

Monkey See, Monkey Do...

2008-12-13T05:53:00.000-08:00

Here is another recommendation (non-sponsored) on DIY resources: Monkeysee.com. It was featured in our local paper's home and garden section this week. I checked it out and was fairly impressed.

The site seems to deliver good quality, comprehensive how-to videos. I reviewed two series: how to build a new closet and how to wax skis. Both were produced by professionals, and they went into plenty of detail. I think the series on building a closet gave all the information you would need to tackle the project.

I subscribed to the RSS feed for home and garden content, so I will get an update whenever there are new videos posted in this area.

I am planning on waxing my skis during the Christmas holidays, for the first time. I will definitely use the videos here to learn how to do it.

Green DIY: Own a Bench Grinder

2008-12-10T08:44:00.000-08:00

I would guess that most people don't think of a bench grinder as a "green product", but it's probably the most environmentally and economically responsible tool I have in my shop.

A few years ago, I bought a small Ryobi bench grinder for $40 (I checked, they are still the same price), that has a work light attached. It has paid for itself over at least a dozen times. As soon as a bought it, I could believe I didn't get one years earlier.

My main uses:

Sharpen drill bits - much better than throwing them away or using them dull. I use it for both spiral (metal) and spade (wood) bits.

Sharpen knives, chisels, hoes, axes, shovels, lawnmower blades, scrapers, etc.

Fix broken screwdrivers by re-grinding the ends

Smoothing ends of metal pipe or bar that I have cut

Modifying hardware to fit (shorten bolts or metal plates)

Fixing the threads on stripped bolt ends

Cut chain and metal cable

Grinding / smoothing the edges of tile

If you consider extending the life of tools, plus trips to the store you don't have to make, plus the added safety in using sharp rather than dull implements, it's hard to argue against this having a good impact on the earth and your wallet.

I prefer Ryobi (good quality for DIY), but there are obviously a number of brands that work well. I bought my dad larger one from Harbor Freight a few years ago at Christmas, and its still going strong. It cost about $50.

Roof Leak!

2008-12-07T17:33:00.001-08:00

I was sitting reading the newspaper this morning, and I noticed a spot on the ceiling in the corner of the room. On closer inspection, it was obviously a water spot. As the picture shows, it's not a large one, but still a problem.

I got up into the attic and there was water all along a truss starting at the chimney. I removed the cellulose insulation to allow the sheetrock to dry, and I put pans under where the water was dripping.

When we put up Christmas lights last week, I noticed a fair amount of moss on the roof, especially around the wood chimney. I took wire brush to it, and it looks like that was not the best idea - the moss was keeping the water out. When we bought the house, I knew that I would need to replace the wood on the chimney at some point. There is some dry rot, but luckily it has not moved down to the decking or trusses. I was planning on repairing this when I did the rest of the siding, but now my timetable is moved up.

I did a temporary repair, and here is a brief summary of how I did it...

To start, the design of the thing is poor. It has the wood coming down way too low. Also the flashing is overlapped with the trim wood, and it's wicking water up.

Best practice in wet climates it to put a "cricket" above the chimney. It's like a little dormer roof that sheds water off to the sides - marked in red:

I didn't have time to add this right now, so I decided to add a large piece of flashing that has extra width to help divert the water.

First, I added a piece of trim to make an even face for nailing the flashing:

I added the flashing as shown, which goes up underneath the course of shingles. It is nailed to the trim.

Then I put roofing patch all over the top of the trim piece and onto the flashing. I pitched it so it would shed water. I also slid a piece of tin up under where the two shingles above come together to direct water on to this flashing, not under it.

Here is the side of the chimney - its pretty bad looking. The flashing is wrong (continuous piece), plus there is a second layer of shingles, making a little gutter along the wood. This could not have been more poorly done. I think its where the water is coming in. If you add a layer of roof, you have to add a layer of flashing, or it will direct the water underneath.

I added some simple step flashing along the side. I cut these 8" long, and slid them up under each course of shingles. This is a only sure way to direct water away from the wood.

Normally, I would add the top flashing, cut into the wood. In this case I screwed the flashing to the wood and covered it with roof patch.

I want to stress that this is a temporary fix. It is obviously not acceptable to flash and seal over dry rotted wood and leave it that way. This is only going to stay in place until the I have time (and the weather permits) to tear the chimney down and rebuild it.

Once I confirm that the water is controlled, I will see if I can bleach, prime and paint over the water spot. If not, I'll have to replace that small area of ceiling (hope not).

Here is good article on step flashing in Fine Homebuilding.

Book Review: Home Plan Doctor

2008-12-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

I just finished reading Home Plan Doctor by Larry Garnett, and I was very impressed by the topics and content. I checked the book out at the library, but I plan on buying it and keeping it as a reference.

What I like:

A systematic walk-through of the house, giving the most important design elements you should consider
Design suggestions based on livability, not show
Clear discussion of design concepts without using over-inflated phrases like "vernacular", "dynamic forms", etc.
Great diagrams

If you are designing a house or planning on remodeling, I think it's well worth the read.

Picture Wall #3 - Finished!

2008-12-04T20:23:00.000-08:00

I was able to finish the picture wall last night, which consisted of mounting the front pieces to the ledges that were already in place. The picture here doesn't do it justice - but we are really happy with the results...

I think this makes good use of a somewhat awkward space in the house. In our case, we will have this as a display as we come through the front door, forming a focal point.

Here is a closer shot of a picture on the shelf to provide an idea of the scale:

My DW will put the pictures up during the holidays.

Picture Wall #2 - Mounting the Shelves

2008-12-02T21:29:00.000-08:00

I was able to mount the first part of the picture ledges this evening. After holding the rails in place, we decided to mount them a bit lower than I had originally planned. This gives more room at the top and overall better proportions...

I mounted the rails with 2" finish nails and a bead of glue along the back. I also put a single 2 1/2" screw in the center to make sure it never pulls away from the wall.

This picture is taken from the stair landing below the rails.

I waited to add the support blocks on the ends until after the rails were in place. This way they can be mounted tight to the wall with glue to give a clean look.

I put the final coat of finish on the front pieces of the shelves, so I can attach them in the next couple of days. After all the big projects we have done recently, its nice to have something small that shows results in just a few days.

Picture Wall #1 - Building the Shelves

2008-11-29T16:17:00.000-08:00

Both my DW and I were impressed with the walls of picture shelves we saw in a couple of the PDX Street of Dreams houses. We immediately decided we wanted something similar in our house. This picture shows the one of the examples...

We thought about doing this in our basement family room (as in the show houses), but finally decided to locate it on the stairwell wall. The stairs are on our entry, and we want a comfortable and informal feeling as we come into the house.

The picture above shows the blank wall, and the altered one below shows the concept. I did this in Microsoft Visio to get an idea of the layout and proportions. I still need to replace and trim out the window on the right. The picture rails will line up with elements in the header and sill to maintain clean lines on the top and bottom. The two rails in the middle will be evenly spaced.

If you have woodworking tools, this is a fairly easy project. Note that my DW just painted the wall - its much easier to do before installation.

I made the rails in two parts - the shelf that attaches to the wall the and front trim piece. I decided to use hemlock, since it's easy to work with, takes stain well and is available at Home Depot in 10' lengths (this space is 9' wide). They are shown below with two coats of stain applied.
Things I have learned about staining wood:

Take time and sand everything well with 220 grit.
Get rid of all the dust possible. I use a stiff wisk broom and then a cloth rag.
Mix up the stain with a stirring stick. Keep the stick in the stain and mix it each time you put the rag or brush in it. This keep the solids from settling on the bottom of the can, which can cause the color to become inconsistent over time.
Stain the wood twice - it gives a more consistent result with deeper color.

This color is used in our kitchen and on our fireplace mantle as well.

I will attach the shelf pieces to the wall first. Since these are installed between two end-walls, I cut them about 1/4" shorter than the wall width. I will split this to have about 1/8" gap on each end.

The front trim pieces are then attached with glue in the dado and blind nailed. These get cut about 1/8" short to give a 1/16" gap on each end, which is basically invisible against the painted wall.

Here is a diagram of how the assembly will be mounted. The small pieces attached to the bottom of the rails help support the shelf and keep it perpendicular to the wall, and give it a craftsman feel.

As the diagram shows, the shelf piece gets attached to the wall with 2" finish nails (16 gage) that angle slightly downward. These are put at each stud. You could use screws here as well. I am also going to put a small bead of wood glue at each nail.

The front rail gets attached with glue in the dado, then nailed from the backside at an angle, so the nails are hidden. I will use an air nailer for this - hand nailing would not work well.

Garden Shed #32 - Finished the Windows and the Shed

2008-11-28T21:54:00.001-08:00

I finished replacing all the glass in the windows with plexiglas, which worked much better. Each window (these are 2' x 3') cost about $10 for the plastic.

Here are a couple of pictures of the windows installed. I am very happy with "cottage" look they provide.

With these installed, I am officially calling the garden shed project finished. There are a lot of other things to be done around the shed, but I am waiting until spring to start working again. I will spend the next couple of months building furnitire and working on small projects.

Craft Closet #3

2008-11-28T07:11:00.001-08:00

My DW had the opportunity to start outfitting her craft and sewing centers. The pegboard works really well, giving her a lot of flexibility in how she sets the areas up. Here is a picture of the craft closet...

I took extra care to hang the pegboard with the holes lined-up horizontally, so we could use it to mount adjustable shelving in the 1/4" holes. Since the pegboard is fairly thin, I added a few support screws the shelf brackets to make sure they were sturdy.

Here is the sewing closet. My DW is just in the process of setting this up.

I need to add some task lighting under the shelves this weekend to keep the shadows off of the work surfaces.

All craft center posts

Garden Shed #31 - Finished the Stairs

2008-11-22T16:42:00.000-08:00

We had another nice fall Saturday in Portland (cloudy & foggy but no rain), and I was able to get the stairs done on the garden shed. While building these was straightforward, making sure they won't be damaged by water over the years requires attention to detail.

I added 2x4's as strong-backs to the stringers, as suggested in a recent Fine Homebuilding article. These are glued and screwed in place.

Even though the stringers are pressure treated, I didn't want to set them directly on the footing blocks. The cinder block will wick moisture up to the wood - and over time it will take its toll in our wet climate. To help mitigate the this, I am putting asphalt shingle between the wood and concrete. This minimizes the contact area, and helps stop the water from wicking. I used poly glue on both side of the shingle to keep it in place.

I also put flashing on the top surfaces of the stringers, which have exposed end-grain. Adding these details costs almost nothing, but it takes extra time and planning.

Here is a picture of the finished product...

Once Spring rolls around, I will put the retaining walls in for the raised beds.

Garden Shed #30 - Window Glass Breaking

2008-11-16T19:28:00.000-08:00

The glass kept breaking in the window frames I built for the shed. I had a number of the panes split or crack overnight after I had the windows assembled and caulked. This picture shows one of the cracks (poor photo)...

I think the picture frame glass is too thin. While it only costs $1 per pane, it does not look like an economical option. I think that over the next few months more will break, causing a lot of maintenance.

This glass looks to be about 1/16" thick. I checked at Home Depot, and the replacement panes look to be about double that at 1/8". For now, my plan is pull all the glass out and replace it with Plexiglas. It will cost a bit more, but will be robust over time.

If I had this to do over again, I would have just done one window and installed it to make sure the glass would work. In the end, I lost about $30 on this experiment - not great, but my only mistake on the shed project.

Garden Shed #29 - Installing Window Glass

2008-11-09T18:23:00.000-08:00

My DW completed painting the shed windows frames, so now it's up to me to put the glass panes in. The picture below shows all the needed materials.

As I stated in a previous post, the panes of glass come from dollar store 8.5 x 11 picture frames. These are mounted in place with neoprene-backed washers and #8 x 3/4" screws.

Here is a detailed shot of the mounting hardware...

Tip: I start the screws with an awl pushed in about 1/8".

I used my grinder to make the awl out of a screwdriver with a broken tip. This thing not only comes in handy for starting screws, but also marking for cuts snd prying up staples.

Quick and Dirty Ski Rack for the Garage

2008-11-09T17:27:00.000-08:00

After putting new lights in the garage, I figured I might as well get everything else organized - starting with the pile of skis in the corner. I designed the rack shown at the right loosely based on a number of wooden ones you can buy on line.

The skis are held by 8" long, 3/4" diameter dowels, with pipe insulation on them. I choose to use the insulation to help grip the skis, so that if bumped, they wouldn't move.

The boot shelf above is made of 1x12 pine, with the shelf brackets mounted on the top side.

The rack and shelf took a about two hours to build and install, with most of the work in drilling the holes for the dowels and mounting them. I drilled the holes about 1/2" deep with a 3/4" Forstner bit, glued the dowels in place and screwed them from the back. I used polyurethane glue, which will hold the dowels tight since it expands on drying.

Cost of the project:
- Three 3/4" dowels (4' long) - $7
- A 12' pine 1x4 - $5
- A 8' pine 1x12 - $10
- Six shelf brackets - $10
- Pipe insulation - $2.50
- Total $35

Fighting SAD for better DYI

2008-11-08T16:46:00.001-08:00

Actually, I don't really have SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) - but, I sometimes find it hard to put out very much effort on dark winter evenings. With this in mind, I realized the garage lighting was terrible and needed to be improved.

Right after we moved in, I installed three 48" economy fluorescent fixtures, which did increase the amount of light. Unfortunately, the light is harsh, and over four years time all three fixtures failed.

I have decided I don't like 4' fluorescent tubes either. They are hard to store and dispose of, the light is harsh, and they buzz. On the other hand, I really like CFL's - which now give off soft light, have become inexpensive, and are much easier to recycle. 90% of our house is now on CFL's.

To make the garage a place I would want to go work in, I extended the circuit from three lights to ten. With 14W (60W equivalent) bulbs, the garage is now lit up bright as day. I like the 14W ones, since the have dropped to just over a dollar each at Home Depot, and with 10 of them, there are now no shadows.

A quick rundown of the cost per fixture:

- Oldwork electrical box: $2

- Plastic fixture: $1.30

- Bulb: $1.20

- Wiring, etc: $1

- Total: $5.50

My next activity is to get the garage clean-up and organized.

The Handy Guys Podcast

2008-10-31T08:39:00.000-07:00

I have been listening to podcasts for a couple of years, and I finally ran across a DIY one that I think is worth checking out: The Handy Guys Podcast.

Most of the DIY / remodeling podcasts I have listened to so far are basically a bunch of product placement ads, with very little actual content (just what we all need more of). These guys do feature sponsored products, but there is also a fair amount of actual information in their shows. The hosts also do a good job at keeping it interesting with personal stories.

My favorite so far has been their basement refinishing series, which goes into quite a bit of detail on the whole process.

I have made this a sidebar link under resources both on this site and my other site, 10K Kitchen Remodel.

Home Theater #21 - Sony 7.1 Receiver

2008-10-29T17:33:00.000-07:00

Our semi-broken Panasonic all-in-one home theater unit finally bit the dust. The DVD changer had failed about 6 months ago, then about 10 days ago the sound stopped working. It lasted about 3 years - not terrible, but not great either. I doubt I would buy another similar product.

After having the DVD failure, I decided to only buy components going forward. Most home theater sites recommend this, and it makes it easier to keep up with technology.

I ended up choosing a Sony STR-DG720, which is a Dolby 7.1 system. Almost all of the reviews were positive, and the price was $300. This is not a top of the line receiver, but a seemingly a good one for the normal home theater owner (I am not an audiophile).

It takes HDMI in from our FIOS box and pumps out RGB to our Sharp projector (1080p compliant). The sound is good, being much better that what we had in the past. There are a wide range of one-button-push sound options, and it only took a few minutes to get set up. It comes with an auto calibration microphone to set the speaker levels for your room. I need to buy the back speakers before I use this, but I am looking forward to it.

If I were more picky, I would have likely spent about $500 to $600 on a Denon or Onkyo. However, based on the reviews I read, I am not sure I would have gotten more for my money.

Garden Shed #28 - Stair Construction

2008-10-26T02:47:00.000-07:00

I am working on the last 5% of the shed - and completing the final details of any project seem to take an extra large amount of effort...

Right now I'm building the stairs up to the smaller door while my DW finishes painting the windows. The weather is really helping out right now - only intermittent rain, with the weekends being sunny and in the high 60's.

At my DW's request I put a small landing outside the door, rather than just have the steps run right up to it. I have to admit that this was a good design decision, and probably less of a trip hazard when coming out the door.

I set two posts about 2' into the ground and built a little 3'x3' deck out of 2x4's. Here is my method for doing this:

Dig the holes
Build and attach the little deck to the shed - hold up the free end with a board and clamp.
Set the posts in the holes and make sure you can get level and plumb.
Attach the posts to the deck.
Put a small amount of gravel in the holes to hold the post positions, but allow a bit of adjustment
Tap the posts into fine position with a hammer.
Fill the holes 1/2 full with gravel and tamp it solid.
Fill the rest of the holes with dry concrete, add water and mix in the hole.

Cutting the stair supports (stringers) was easier than I thought it would be. In a timely fashion, Fine Homebuilding has an article in the current issue on the best practices for building deck stairs. I used a speed square to lay the steps out, giving them 8" rise and 12" run. Once I made one stringer, I used it as the template for the other side.

To align the stairs, I put a 16d at the top of each stringer, located at the center of the post. This makes a pivot point for adjusting the height at the bottom. I also then nailed the temporary cross piece, so I could lift the stairs up to set the blocks, then set them down to check level and square.

I could have made the stringers one step longer, then buried the ends into the dirt, with a small footing underneath. I think at some point this would rot, so I made the bottom step out of cinder block, filled with concrete. I will put a small piece of asphalt shingle under these to keep the wood off of the wet concrete surface. Little details like this only take a few minutes, but help prevent repairs in the long term.

The steps will be attached to the rebar in the blocks. My plan is to put one of the retaining walls across the front of these blocks, so the steps are integrated into the beds.

I used two 1/4" lag bolts at each corner of the small deck. They are 6" long and go in at an angle through the metal corner braces as shown. I believe this method provides way more strength than is actually required.

I need to travel on Saturday afternoon, and I am hoping to get the decking on before I take off.

Garden Shed #27 - Rain Chains and a Workbench

2008-10-17T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hard to believe that I can have 27 posts on building a garden shed... That being said, I am going into a lot of detail to provide useful information to others. My kids think I am obsessed - and that's probably true, until I am on to the next project.

I put the rain-chains in the gutters. The first time I saw a rain-chain was about 10 years ago in Tokyo. It was a string of little cups that made sound - the shed has just a simple chain to avoid down spouts.

I cut a 2" hole in the gutter with a hole saw before mounting. I also put a gutter support directly above the hole to support the chain.

I opened up the top link of the chain and hung it from the gutter screw. I didn't want to hang it directly from the vinyl gutter, assuming it would eventually fail. I put a 2" ABS floor drain (cut to allow the chain to pass) to direct the water on to the chain.

Here is how it looks coming out of the gutter.

You obviously need a reasonable overhang (the shed has 18") to use these effectively.

What to do with the run-off? Water plants...

We are going to put terraced planting beds down the hill from the shed as shown below. The black lines are the retaining walls, and the red areas will be gravel walking paths. I will install a simple drain-field system - 4" perforated pipe behind each of the walls and gravel "spill ways" to spread the water out to all the beds.

I have a few other photos of things we have done since the last post:

My DW painted the panel areas of the sliding door the green base color of the shed. When the door was all brown, it was too much and became the focal point.

I installed the workbench for my DW. Its a pretty simple design made of 2x4's and plywood.

The lower shelf only extends 2/3 of the way across, leaving a taller, open area on the left. We will put a couple of rubber garbage cans here to store potting soils. Tomorrow, I hope to get the racks and pegs up to start putting all the garden tools away.

Garden Shed #26 - Building the Window Frames

2008-10-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

I finished building the shed window frames as shown below. They are ready for my DW to paint when she gets the chance. As I have noted in previous posts, these are 2'x3' and will end up costing about $10 each, including glass and hardware.

All four of these will be tip-in windows - the tops will tip inwards about 8 inches to allow ventilation in the summer time. The bottoms will be hinged.

Building the window frames

The general construction of these frames is a lap design (similar to the doors). This is really simple and makes for a very strong window. This technique also makes use of some of the short cut-off ends from the trim and doors.

The following diagram should help you understand how the process works...

First, I built the "blue" parts. These are assembled with 2" brads through the cross-pieces (using an air nailer) and Titebond waterproof wood glue. The cross-pieces are cut extra long as shown. I align one side (in this case the right side), and let the other side extend over. You can cut them to exact length if you want, but I prefer to trim everything off at one time.

Then I build the "orange" parts. These are really simple - glue and 1.25" brads. The outside pieces have the support rib aligned to the edges, and for the center piece, I align it up the middle (shown). The support ribs will overlap the "blue" end pieces and make assembly easy.

I assemble the frames by gluing and nailing the "orange" center pieces to the ends. Here is a picture of the front side. Notice that the cross pieces and support ribs are long, except on the bottom, where I took the time to align everything.

Here is a picture of the back side. Where the cross-pieces and ribs overlap, I use a 1.25" deck screw instead of nails. I pre-drill the holes to avoid the wood splitting. One screw at each overlap should give plenty of strength to the frame (screws are not shown in the picture).

Once assembled, I use the table saw to clean up the edges.

Now that the frames are assembled, we will paint them, then attach the glass using a few support clips and silicone caulk. I will attach hinges to the bottom and a small bolt-latch at the top.

I'll take pictures of the installation, showing how they tip-out.

Garden Shed #25 - Gutters, Trim, Doors & Windows

2008-10-11T19:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to put vinyl gutters on the shed. The cost difference between these and galvanized metal is negligible, and these were already painted a dark brown color. Also, more than 1/2 of the metal gutters at Home Depot were dented in some way, which was a bad omen.

I put the first side on in pieces and fully assembled the second side before attaching it. The second side was much easier, with my DW helping hold it while I drove in the screws.

Here is a picture of the pergola end of the shed with the trim complete. We are really happy with the colors and looking forward to doing these on the house in the near future.

A boy and his dog on a sunny fall day... It sure is nice to be outside well into October.

I also made the smaller door, using the same construction technique I did on the sliding one. It's basically a 1/4" Luann core, with 1x4's glued, stapled and screwed in place. This makes a lightweight, straight and rigid door - and only costs about $25 before hardware.

Finally, I cut all the pieces for the window frames:

These will get assembled into the frame pattern shown below. Its nice to use up most of the small pieces from the rest of the shed (keeping it green).

Garden Shed #24 - Mounting the Sliding Door

2008-10-06T19:45:00.000-07:00

Well, global markets may be in chaos, but at least I got the sliding door mounted on the shed... Seriously, with all the crazy things going on in the world, it is nice to just accomplish something simple. Here is a picture of the door in place:

The first coat of paint on it is all brown. The next coat will be the darker green color in the panel areas and the trim will remain as is. I wanted to mount it this way to see if we would like it - but its too much of the dark color. Either way, I am happy with the way it has turned out so far.

Mounting the door in the box-rail track was simple, it just required a second set of hands due to the size and weight of the door. Now I need to fabricate and attached the stop-blocks at each end and the latch hardware.

Fall is here... firing up the pellet stove

2008-10-05T19:30:00.000-07:00

I am definitely a fall person. I like the colder weather, colors, and starting the pellet stove back up again.

This is a Vistaflame stove (also call Meridian) that we have run for four years. So far it has been very reliable - no problems. We bought it from Stoves and Spas in Albany, Oregon. I found them to be friendly and informative in helping me select the right stove.

Up until this year, we have been storing the pellets in the corner of the room and outside under a tarp. Neither of these has been a very good option. As part of the basement remodel, I added a pellet storage closet near the stove.

The picture above shows the first ton in place, and the one below shows the second. We usually burn a bit more than two tons each year - this is with old leaky windows that I will be replacing in the next few months.

I haven't put the bi-fold doors on this yet, since I spent the summer working outside projects. I should be able to get them in place with all the rest of the trim (hopefully before spring!)

Garden Shed #23 - Ultimate Shed Site

2008-10-02T21:18:00.000-07:00

I believe I found the center of the shed universe: readersheds.co.uk. It's a UK site that covers just about anything you can image regarding sheds, including those that live, vacation and work in them.

If you need inspiration or ideas, I think you can get all the images you would ever need here. You join, post your own shed project and become a "sheddie".

Garden Shed #22 - Constructing the Sliding Door

2008-09-28T19:26:00.000-07:00

I was able build the sliding shed door today. The weather in Oregon is outstanding right now, and working outside was great. We decided to go with a traditional barn door "X" pattern, as shown...

Most of what I have done on this shed is fairly simple construction. The door was a bit more technical, so I decided to post a "how to" on my photo blog with a number of pictures of the process. How to build this sliding door. If you have some level of experience with woodworking / construction, this should give you the needed additional info to build something like it.

I really like the transom / top row of windows that they are putting into garage doors these days, so I added them here. The back sides are built to hold standard size picture glass.

Costs:
- 1/4" Luann plywood (Home Depot) - 2 pieces at $11 each - $22
- 10' long economy 1x4's (Home Depot) - 11 pieces at $2.80 - $31
- 8.5 x 11 glass (Dollar Tree Picture Frame) - 6 pieces at $1 each - $6
- Total: $60.

The rail and roller assembly cost about $100 for everything. So with paint and latch hardware, I will be in to this for just about $200.

Here is the opening and rail for the door:

Garden Shed #21 - Pergola

2008-09-28T18:14:00.000-07:00

I built the pergola and mounted it over the window yesterday. I am really happy with the scale and form - it definitely adds to the "cottage" look. Here are a couple of pictures of it in place...

The window is 4' wide and the pergola is 8'.

I fabricated the pergola from five 8' long pressure-treated 2x6's - total cost of about $40. After cutting, I painted each piece before assembly. In the past I have tried to paint these once assembled, which is not a easy. The rest of the shed trim will be painted this same dark brown. Once we reside the house (hoping early next year), I will mount similar structures over the windows on the west-end of the house to help filter the evening sun.

I also mounted the box-rail for the sliding door on the other gable-end. Once I build and mount the door, I will decide if I want some sort of pergola or structure over it.

Garden Shed #20 - More Painting

2008-09-21T18:08:00.001-07:00

After church this morning the sun came out, and it looked to be a good day to finish spraying the shed. As soon as I got the second coat on, the clouds came over and it started to pour. Luckily, there was no wind, and the rain came straight down. The eves of the shed pretty much protected the siding, and everything turned out OK.

I really like the way the two-tone scheme came out. We have dark brown for the trim which will go on in a few days. I have feeling with the humidity in the air, the paint will take at least 3 days to fully set.

Next activity is to get the windows and doors built, then the steps and ramp. Once all that is in place, I will build the pergolas that go on the gable ends.

Garden Shed #19 - Priming and Painting

2008-09-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

After traveling and then being sick for the past week, I finally got the chance to start painting the shed. The rain will of course be coming to Oregon, so I had to get motivated.

I decided to prime the shed first, since the cedar lap siding we reused is over 20 years old, and it would likely absorb a lot of paint. Rather than buy more primer, I took the greener approach and used paint I had left over from other projects...

After mixing all the small containers together, I had a color that was surprisingly close to the one that we ended up choosing for the top part of the shed. As anticipated, the cedar quickly dried and looked as if it had been barely painted in a number of spots - so I mixed up the large containers to a light color and applied a second coat. It took almost 3 gallons of mixed paint to get a good base, and I was happy to use stuff I was going to recycle anyway (and save $60).

The sun came out and dried the shed enough to allow me to put to put the final coat on the top. I sprayed this on using a paint crew plus sprayer. It worked great: it sprayed as much paint as I could handle, and was fairly simple to clean up. It is definitely worth using a sprayer - the set-up and clean-up are well worth not having to roll the paint on. We chose Sherwin-Williams Super Paint, which is their best exterior product. At $40 a gallon on sale, it's not cheap, but it is supposed to basically last forever.

The pictures above and below show the sage-green color on the upper area. Tomorrow I will spray a similar color on the lower area that is a couple of shades darker. Later this week, once all this is really dry, by DW and I will do the trim in a dark brown. She is way better at cutting-in trim than I am.

Finally, since I had the sprayer out, I put a base / primer coat on this bench. I originally built this to hold kids video game equipment, and it's being reincarnated into a seat for our walk-in closet. I sanded off years of grime, routed all the edges, and distressed it a bit. I think my DW will end up painting it black.

Lighting the Stairs

2008-09-13T13:09:00.000-07:00

After having a visiting family member slip on our dark stairs in the middle of the night, we immediately decided to install some sort of lighting. No one was seriously hurt, but it was a wake-up call. I decided to put louvered step lights at the bottom and mid-way up the stairs.

These units cost about $25 each, and are fairly easy to install. Running the wiring under the stairs is also a lot easier than breaking out sheetrock.

Here is a picture of it installed in the wall and turned on.

The picture below shows it without the cover on.

There are a number of options for these type of lights, including smaller ones. I decided to go with the larger 5" x 8" version that uses a standard 120V bulb. With a 7 watt CFL, they don't take much power - and they put out quite a bit of light (40W incandescent equivalent).

Instead of putting the lights on a manual switch, I found a sun-down to sun-up electronic timer to control them. This one is made by Intermatic and cost about $30 at Home Depot. There is a slightly cheaper one, but is specifically not for use with CFL bulbs.

After I put these in, we liked them so much, I extended the circuit. It now includes lighting from the kid's bedrooms downstairs, up the stairs, and into the kitchen. This creates a "light path" throughout the house, that everyone has appreciated.

PDX Street of Dreams - Rating it as "OK"

2008-09-13T09:07:00.001-07:00

We finally got to tour the Portland Street of Dreams. We have got into the habit of going on at the very end of the show, where the crowds are small and ticket discounts are available. I would give the show an overall rating of "OK" - not fantastic, but not bad either.

If you are into modernism and sweeping views (both having their merits), I think you would give the show an A+. If you are strictly a cottage or rustic style person (our favorites), maybe a B - but still worth going.

Our favorite house was #2, which was a more rustic style. Incredibly, it had a small kitchen (we liked it), and nothing was pretentious. I think the best feature was the king trusses, used both inside and out.

We also liked the doors, which were done in a craftsman style:

One of these days when I don't have 20 other projects going, I am going build doors like this and replace all or our hollow-core, six panel, yes-they-were-cheap ones in our main living areas.

I saw this drop-leaf console table in two of the houses.

I am planning on copying this design for a coupe of display tables I will build over the winter.

This was the nicest looking outdoor kitchen...

Not a large area, but very well done.

My DW really liked the foot spa:

I consider this was the most "interesting" piece of art:

Bronze GI Joe men as a focal point. I like climbing, but I think this would be a bit much in the stairwell.

Some interesting points:

Every house, modern or rustic, had a 1x1 mosaic tile fireplace or wall. While I like mosaic, I think it will be one of the features that gets dated over time. I prefer it incorporated into other patterns.

Horizontally oriented houses with low pitched roofs are back in style. I did get some good ideas here, being we are remodeling a daylight ranch.

You can paint your house any color you like, as long as it's a shade of taupe.

Tray ceilings and soffits are definitely in. I was impressed by the amount of design that went into the various ceilings.

Built-in espresso makers are hot. Most of the houses had one. My DW really wants one (me too), but we will need to save up our pennies - they are $2,000 or more. We have spot picked out, and I am ready to cut the hole in the wall a soon as we get one.

As I stated, the show was worth the trip.

My DW's "Away Place"

2008-08-31T00:40:00.000-07:00

A reoccuring theme in many of the design books / blogs I read: Create "away spaces" that allow for personal quite time. This is also common sense, in that it's nice to have your own spot in the house to relax and think. Here is picture of what we came up with for my DW...

This is simply in the corner of our master bedroom, which is not a large space (14' x 14'). Sorry - picture quality isn't the best here.

It incorporates the folowing design elements:
- Natural light on two sides
- Overlooks a forest area
- Has a lowered ceiling (soffit)
- A space for devotional books
- Is private location

We are planning on creating at least one, maybe two more of these types of spaces in the house as we complete the remodel.

Ultra-modern in Amsterdam

2008-08-30T23:18:00.000-07:00

I'm traveling again, diverted away from working on the house. I spent the evening in Amsterdam, staying in the new ultra-modern
CitizenM Capsule Hotel. Someone set off an IKEA bomb and this picture shows the result...

Kidding aside, there are a lot of nice design elements to the room. You have a comfortable room in just about as small of footprint as you could manage, yet it doesn't feel cramped. Also, the cost is 30% to 40% less than just about anything else around the area. I will definately use this for overnight stops in the future.

I am not personally a fan of cutting-edge design, our own home being much more cottage / french country in style, but I do appreciate what the Dutch come up with. They are not afraid to experiment and do some serious forward thinking. Also, in some senses, modernism is just an overlay on top of the basic design that can be applied in various cases, including work with more rustic elements. If you only expose yourself to Pottery Barn, then that's all you are ever going get...

A very interesting blog that mixes modern design and rustic materials is Pacific Northwest Regional Architecture. This shows true mixes of traditional materials and new design.

Finally, if you track any of the newer design blogs (Inhabitat for example) you can see a lot of the featured items in the lobby of the hotel. If you are going through Amsterdam's airport (Schiphol) and you have an extra hour to kill, take a quick walk down to the hotel and check it out.

Garden Shed #18 - Roof Complete

2008-08-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

I completed the roof of the shed in the rain. Last few days of August in Portland, and it's raining pretty hard. The up side is that we just may have another great snow year on Mount Hood.

The Cobra Vent was easy to to install on the ridge. The ridge shingles (I cut them out of leftover pieces rather than buy special ones - keeping green in mind) went on easily. There is now a lot of air space under the ridge to help keep the shed cool in the summer and dry in the rest of the year.

The plum tree in the picture is just about ready to be picked. Things are a bit late this year, likely due to the lack of sunshine. I am really glad I was able to keep it and meet the set-back requirements. It should have just enough room to stay healthy and productive - besides, it will look nice close to the shed.

A note on set-backs: As I discussed in an early post of this project, the shed is just under 200 square feet and therefore does not require a permit. This does not change the need to follow set-back guidelines. I went ahead and sent a sketch (used Google earth) of the shed location to the city, so we could at least have a discussion about it before I started. They noted that 20 feet set-back to the road is needed for them, then they noted an existing 25' utility easement as well. I am glad I asked, and put the corner right at 25'. My point here is to take the time to talk with the city or county before starting something like this regardless of permits needed. I would hate to put all the effort in and then have a problem.

The next task is to paint thing, but we need the rain to stop for at least a few hours to get new paint samples on.

I finished the design of the push-out windows. These will be hingled at the top and simply push out to open and let air in. A small rod will hold them open, and latches will secure them. I have seen these more in the UK & EU than in the US.

I went to the dollar store and found 8.5 x 11 picture frames with glass. I bought 30 of them for $30. These will be the the window panes and fill the top of the sliding door. I figure the pine for the windows will be $5, so with hardware and paint I should have nice windows for under $15 each.

DIY Resource: Blogs about Blogs

2008-08-18T08:18:00.000-07:00

BABAB (Blogs about blogs about blogs...) can be pretty frustrating. Sometmes I think that there is just one guy who lives outside of Reykjavik that creates all the true content on the web, and the rest of the world just blogs about it, and each other. All this seems to be an attempt to sell advertising with the least amount of effort.

Kidding aside: Charles and Hudson is one of the few blogs about other DIY blogs that I like to keep up with. They cover a wide range of topics that actually have substance - as opposed to surface level summaries and lots of ads. I think it's worth putting on your RSS feed list, if you track information that way.

While I was catching up on C&H, I read a post about an Instructibles article on sound-proofing a garage. This looks like a pretty slick and inexpense way to isolate your drywall to control sound. If I were sheetrocking our theather room again, I think I would employ this technique.

Just in case you are looking to make a bokken (Japanese wooden sword), I have an Instrucibles article on it.

Another one that is fairly good is Hewn and Hammered, focusing mainly on the arts & crafts movement. I am very interested in A&C, lodge, and rustic styles

Garden Shed #17 - Roofing

2008-08-16T12:23:00.001-07:00

We put half the roof on this morning before the temperature reached 90 degrees. After that, we declared victory and retreated to the house to watch the Olympics. My daughter (age 16) cut shingles and fed me materials, so we did it in under two hours once we got going.

I decided to go with a ridge vent after all. I bought the Cobra Vent kit from Home Depot for $55. It's 20' in length and 8" wide. It looks like a very loose scrubbing pad material that allows a lot of air to flow from the ridge. I don't really need this in the shed - 3 or 4 roof vents would have worked fine, but I wanted to test it out. 4 roof vents cost about $40, so the cost is comparable.

I want to put this on the roof of the garage I'm going build, plus our house, so it's good to get a bit experience with it before I spend a whole lot of money. I can see how you could cut this into pieces and use it for venting in the eaves with little effort.

I bought a coil nailer a couple of years ago, when it was on super-sale at Harbor Freight for about $70. It shoots both roofing and siding nails - and it makes quick work of putting shingles down.

If you are going to do any significant amount of roofing or siding, I really encourage you to get one of these. You can rent one, or for about 3 days rental buy one at HF. If I were going to roof everyday (no thanks), I would go with Senco or some other industrial brand, but for the DIY person, it's hard to beat.

Garden Shed #16 - Disappointed in Sample Colors

2008-08-15T19:37:00.000-07:00

We bought some samples from Sherwin-Williams paints, put them on the shed - and they look terible. We wanted earth tones and we got kids building blocks. The picture doesn't show it too well, but the applied colors are really bold and bright.

The paint chips (S-W has all their paint chips on line as well as in the store) looked much more muted to us when we picked them out.

There were two good parts to this:
- The samples are about $6 a quart - very reasonable.
- We changed our color scheme. If it would have been close, we would have likely just gone with something that was OK, instead of "perfect".

We drove around looking a colors for a while, and decided on something like this:

This house happens to be the Cooking Light 2008 Fit House, which is just over the hill from us.

I know it's just a shed, but we will use this as the scaled-down model for the colors we are going to paint our house next year. Even if we have to paint the thing twice to get exactly what we want, it's an extra $100 to get it all worked out, as opposed to about $1000 for the house paint and materials.

Starting the roof...

As you can see in the picture above, I started to roof the shed. I decided to go with architectural series asphalt shingles from GAF. These only cost about 20% more that simple 3-tab singles, and they look much nicer.

I am pretty positive that singles by GAF, Owens Corning, etc. are about the same (they would all likely disagree) - but I am very impressed with the GAF support web site. They have an entire series of videos that that detail all the important phases of doing a roof.

If you are a DIY person with good general skills, you should be able to put a roof on after watching the videos and reading the installation instructions.

I am not finishing up the roof tonight because it was over 100 degrees out there today. Tomorrow morning looks a lot better...

Garden Shed #15 - Siding Complete

2008-08-09T16:16:00.001-07:00

I finished getting all the battens and trim details complete, and about half the shed caulked. I hope to get it all done sometimes this weekend and prepared for paint. I also need to get the roofing on in the next few days.

We picked out colors, and now we have to decide which color goes on the top and which goes on the bottom. Sherwin-Williams sells quarts pretty cheap (less than $6) as color samples - we will put a bit on and decide what to do.

I bought a box-rail and trolley assembly to mount the sliding door - cost about $120 for a 12 ft setup. The next challenge is to figure out how to integrate it into the pergola that goes over the door.

Garden Shed #14 - More Siding

2008-08-08T21:11:00.000-07:00

I finished off the lap siding on the lower part of the shed, and started on the battens.

Initially, I planned on using 1x2 for the battens, most likely cutting down 2x4's on my table saw. While I was in Home Depot, I saw bundles of fir lath - 60 pieces for $10.

They are 1 1/2" wide and about 3/8" thick, which gives enough of a shadow-line to look good. I mounted them with a thick bead of tite-bond wood glue and a few staples. About 20% of them had splits or bad edges, but I can cut these down for use above the doors and windows.

Once all the battens are up, I will spend a good amount of time caulking the them, plus the lap siding gaps and trim.

A tip on installing lap siding: insert small pieces of #15 roofing felt at the ends of the siding to make sure water does not penetrate at the joints. Any water that does go through the caulked joint will be directed right back out again.

In this case, my DW cut a bunch of 4" x 6" pieces, and I slid them in before nailing the ends.

Garden Shed #13 - Trim & Siding

2008-08-03T20:00:00.000-07:00

I finished detailing out the roof, and it's now ready for drip edge and shingles. I also completed trimming out the windows and doors, and started putting the cedar siding on. Here is a picture of the first section:

Once the cedar is on, I will cut and apply the battens to the vertical siding.

I was able to use most of the old cedar boards I pulled from the pile, cutting off less than 10% of the wood for splits and damage. Here is a picture of the remaining material. I guess I could make it look a but nicer, but why - I am going to use in the next day or so.

If I have enough cedar left over, I may cut it down to small pieces to shingles - 6" to 10" wide - and put them on the gable ends.

Here is another picture of the inside of the shed, showing the perimeter loft / shelving.

Garden Shed #12 - Loft Storage and Roof

2008-08-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

I installed the loft, as shown in my last post. Here is a picture of the 4' deep end - sorry it's a bit dark.

I decided to only put a 4' loft at one end and 2' at the other. In reality, 4' at both ends made the shed feel too closed in. I used doubled-up and glued 12' 2x4's with blocking in between. Both my son and I stood on it while we were putting roof on, and there was no flex.

I decided to make the sides decks 15" deep. All the studs in the shed are 7' tall, cut from standard 8' boards. We had a big pile of 12" pieces, so I used those for the blocking. The OSB is glued and nailed every 6" along these, creating wall stiffeners, as well as storage.

Here is another dark picture (on purpose) showing the vent holes in the soffit blocking. I used left over pieces of the OSB siding, drilled 5 holes in each, and stapled window screen to the backs. This cost $6 for the screen instead of about $50 for the pre-made vents.

My son and I got the OSB sheeting on the roof and nailed down. I will cut the excess off with a skill-saw tomorrow. Once done, I need to screw the OSB to the rake and fascia boards - I don't like to nail these, since they can easily come loose.

Hopefully tomorrow I will get most of the siding details done...

Garden Shed #11 - Loft Storage Plan

2008-08-02T05:55:00.000-07:00

After putting some thought into it, I decided on the loft storage design for the shed. It might be a lot of mental energy for something as simple as a shed, but I might as well do it right. The cost and time are pretty well fixed, so it's mainly the design that makes the difference.

As shown above, the loft will span the perimeter of the walls. It will be four feet deep on the ends and about two on the sides (roof removed for clarity). I looked at a few lofts online that were 6' to 8' deep, but think that the access to the back would be poor - and it would just become a junk spot.

Also, this design helps strengthen the tops of the sidewalls. The 2x4's and OSB surface will act as a stiffener across each wall. I wasn't planning on putting extra rafter ties in, because they get in the way of hanging larger things from the ceiling. Over time, the weight of the roof can push the walls outward if not supported.

The bottom of the loft sits at the same height as the windows and doors - 6' 6" - so there is plenty of head room under it without feeling cramped.

My cost estimate to add this is $70.
- 4 sheets of 1/2" OSB - $8 each
- 2 12' 2x4 - $5 each
- 10 8' 2x4 - $2 each
- 2x4 joist hangers - $10

I want to get this put in before I put the sheeting on the roof, so I don't bump my head (as often).

Garden Shed #10 - Rafters and Siding

2008-07-27T18:32:00.000-07:00

We got quite a bit of the shed completed today. The Oregon weather was perfect for working outside. Here are photos of the current progress...

I finished off the rafters, including the collar ties as shown below. I made these from the last bit of usable wood from the old shed. These serve both to strengthen the roof structure, and provide a good location for hanging bikes, etc. They are 9' above the floor, so there will still be plenty of head room with stuff hanging down.

I used the rafter ties from the old shed on the new rafters - they worked very well. They are easy to locate and drop the rafters into.

Here is a photo of the outside. The lower OSB part will be covered with the lap siding, and the top will end up looking like board and batten. This is 8" on-center T-1-11. I will cover over the groves with battens. This cost about 2/3 of a sheet with no groves in it (not sure why).

The corner pieces are 1" cedar and all other trim, including the cross-piece shown here are 3/4" pine.

Here is the end of the shed with a window. The cross trim also serves as the base trim of the window.

Finally, here is the side with the small door and window - nothing is trimmed out yet.

The next steps are to trim out the rest of the doors, windows and horizontals. After that I will start to apply the battens, then the lower lap siding.

Garden Shed #9 - Ridge Board and Rafters

2008-07-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

I spent last evening putting the ridge board together, getting it place and making sure it was plumb & level.

I need a 17' long 2x4, which I could not find at Home Depot. I am sure if I went to a lumber yard - wait one day and "what are you doing here?" service - I could have bought a 20' one. Instead, I decided to glue an screw 10' 1x4's together. HD sells these for under $3 apiece, which is a very good price.

I simply overlapped them by 5', used wood glue and put in screws about every 6".

After trimming the thing to 17', I put the hardware on while it was still on the ground. To make mounting easy, I put the connector plates shown on first. After that, I attaced the hardware for the rafters. I am just using fence rail hardware here, which will be fine - the rafter push up against the ridge board. Once in place, I will nail through the ridge board into each one with two 16d nails.

I put the connectors every two feet on both sides of the board.

Once assembled, putting the ridge board in place was fairly easy. I just lifted it up and set it on the support studs.

Here is a close-up picture of the connection. I could have toe-nailed it, but I think it would have split out. Once fixed, I put the end rafters on. I plumbed the support stud and screwed the rafters in place.

Here is a picture of the end rafters in place. You can finally get the feel for the size and shape of the shed.