Garden Shed #4 - Deconstruction Almost Complete

My son and I pretty much took the rest of the shed down today. As you can see in the picture, we are down to the piers and joists. The wood that is piled around still has the nails in it that we need to pull.


Here are all the materials that we have been able to clean up and reclaim so far. The shed looks like it came from a kit, where almost all the 2x4's are 6' long. I won't be able to use these for the studs, as they are going to be longer, but they can be used for joists and plates.


Now that I have access to the foundation parts, I can start building the new shed while my son continues to salvage materials.

Chess Tables

Here is a picture of a chess table I built. The design is very simple - made of pine, heavier mass, and slightly tapered legs.


The chess board on top is flat black paint, which was applied before finishing the piece with Polycrylic. The drawer holds the chess pieces.

This table has more of an arts-and-crafts feel, being it is made of cherry and has a simple design. I built this for a school auction.


The chessboard top is made of tiles that kids from the school created (my DW owned this part of the project).

Bookshelves with Inlaid Slate

I built a set of two bookshelves a while ago, and I am getting around to posting the pictures. They are what I would call "Northwest Rustic" style, with wood and slate combined.


Here is one of the sets put in place...


These pictures are from our previous house. Right now the bookshelves are in our living room, but will eventually move out - we are doing that area in French Country / Cottage style. These look a bit too "mountain lodge" for the room. They will likely end up in the theater room.

Home Theater #20 - Follow-up on the Sheetrock Screen

We have had the sheetrock theater screen in place for about and 3 weeks, and we are very happy with the results.


You get good contrast, but the picture is not too dark. Overall, the Behr Silver Screen paint (flat) seems to be just about the right color. If I were going to change anything, I may make it just a bit lighter - but at this point I am not changing anything.

I would take a picture of a movie playing, but I can seem to get a good image with my camera in the dark room.

Garden Shed #3 - Span Table Calculator

I found a great online tool for calculating deck spans on the American Wood Council website. As you can see from the image below, you can enter all the relevent specs and get the maximum span. Click on the image to go to the tool.



This tool is great in the case of deconstructing and reusing lumber: You are in the position of having materials that drive the design process, instead of the normal situation where design leads to material selection.

In my case, I want to use the 2x4 studs in the current shed walls and rafters as the floor joists. They are too short to be used as those on the new shed. Also, I want to keep the shed as close to the ground as possible, since its already on a slope. The 2x4's will go across a series of beams (see last shed post).

The wood I have is stamped stud-grade Douglas fir, and the calculator gives a 6 ft max span for 12-inch centers. I am going 24 inches and doubling up, but it's the same structure (this is a shed, so I am not getting too precise).


Based on this, I am going to need to put a center beam in the floor, giving a 5 ft span - well within limits.



To get rid of the center beam (and posts and cost), I would need to go to 2x6 #2 lumber on 16 inch spacing. This may end up being a better option if I make the shed 11x18 or 10x20 instead of 12x16. I would prefer 12x16, but I have to fit it in between the required property set-back and a plum tree I want to keep in place. If I go that route, I will likely reuse the lumber for rafters. That will be this week's challenge.

Home Theater #19 - Speaker Mounts

I wanted to buy inexpensive speaker mounts that would attach to a single-gang electrical box. It seems natural to me that you would want to run a speaker wire out of a low voltage box and mount the speaker right there - no deal.

Since I couldn't find anything, I fabricated my own...

I started out with some high-impact plastic speaker mounts. I bought these from AV Axis through Amazon. Four of these cost $20, including shipping - or $5 apiece.




The interesting thing is that I found a very wide array of pricing on these. For the same thing, I found prices ranging from $5 to $35.

The next step was to mount these on to a single-gang wall plate. The plate shown here is an exterior stainless steel cover, costing about $1. I spray painted it black to match the mount.


I drilled two 1/4" holes in the plate and attached the speaker mount with the supplied bolts. I also drilled a 3/16" hole for the speaker wire to come out.

Here is a picture of the speaker mounted and attached to the wall. These are the side speakers for a Dolby 5.1 or 7.1 set up.



Here are the rear mounts, which are in the back corners of the room for Dolby 7.1. They will point inward at about 40 degrees. I have left the speakers off to show the assembly and where the wire comes out of the plate.


At the end of it all: Nice looking, sturdy mounts for $6 a piece.

Garden Shed #2 - Decostruction and Reuse

While I am working away inside the house, my 13 year-old son is making progress on the garden shed "move and improve" project.

The photo below shows the shed with two sides of ship lap siding removed. We are going to reuse it on the new shed, along with some board-and-batten to make it more interesting.



One of the common sense aspects of green building is reusing things, so you don't have to pay for them again. The lap siding is cedar, and really very high quality. My son is prying each piece off and then removing the nails. He seems to be getting about 90% yield out of this process. For the pieces that do break, I will likely cut them to a random single width, and put them on the eves.

Here are flat and side views of a piece.



To buy this new would be at least $2.50 a square foot. I estimate we will get about 220 sq. ft. out of this, or about $600 in material. I am paying my son about $100 to pull it off and clean it up - which is a great deal for both of us.

Notice in the pictures that the floor is 1x4 plank, not plywood. Some of these will become the battens, trim and shelving structure. The wall studs will be doubled-up and used as floor joists, since the walls will be taller on the new shed.

Here is the plan that allows doubled-up 2x4 as joists. They will sit on top of PT 4x6 beams (horizontal ones). Normal span tables don't list using 2x4's for joists, so I am taking the allowable 2x6 span and assuming pairs of 2x4 will provide at least the same support. There are no permits required for this garden shed, but I want to make sure it's well built either way.



The only pieces of the shed that will be discarded are the cedar roof singles. They are in pretty poor shape, with the lot of moss. I will save a could boxes of the clean ones for shims. We are also going to bigger windows, so these will probably be donated to the PDX Rebuilding Center.

Painting Built-in Bookshelves

We finally painted the built-in bookshelves I installed in the basement. Here is a picture of one of the smaller units that flanks the theater room...


Since we had quite a bit to paint (total of 14 x 7 feet), I decided to buy a paint sprayer to complete the job. We are going to be working on the outside of the house next year, plus the new garden shed, so a sprayer is in order.

After doing some research - and getting a great deal at Costco, I decided to buy the Wagner Paint Crew Plus painter.


The best online price for this is about $230. Costco had it on sale for $210, plus a $50 in-store rebate, so I picked it up for $160. I was originally planning on going with a low-end Graco model for $300, but at this price I figured it was worth a try. I bought the original paint crew unit for $150 about 3 years ago. It worked OK, but failed after about 6 months. The reviews of the Plus model indicate the reliability is much improved.

Bottom line: It sprayed paint well. I had it turned down to the minimum flow rate, and it produced a nice smooth finish. I did have to back roll a few spots where too much pain hit the front of the bookcase while I was spraying the back - any unit will do this. Also, it was pretty easy to clean - took about 15 minutes. Some of the reviews complained about the complexity of cleaning up, but I am not sure what they expect - if you shoot paint through something, its going to be a bit messy.

Here is the larger shelf unit:



And here is a close-up of the painted beadboard in the back of the shelves:



We still need to texture the surrounding walls (hopefully tomorrow), before trimming these out. I plan on letting these sit for at least three days to give the paint a chance to cure before putting any books in them.

Home Theater #18 - Review of Screen

After a couple of weeks of using the new screen, we are really happy with the results. The grey (Behr Color: Silver Screen) is by far better than white. It really brings the colors out quite a bit compared to a pure white screen. Once I get some other projects done, I will get on to building the cabinets and laying the stone...

Central Vacuum Installation Complete

Catching up on the blog...

I received the central vacuum on Thursday, and installed it this morning. As we have been doing our basement remodel, I have taken the opportunity the plumb the house for vacuum.


I located the vacuum right in the middle of the house, in a closet I added next to the HVAC system (used to be part of the hallway).

The plumbing parts were not very expensive - under $300 in all for an almost 4000 sf house. I was able to run just one line each direction from the vacuum with branches going up and down to serve both floors. I bought the parts from Stark's Vacuum in the Portland, Oregon area. I recommend them without reservation. The cost of the parts was comparable to Internet prices, and the staff is very helpful and friendly.

After a bit of research, I ended up buying an AirVac AVR7500 from Central Vacuum Stores. Price was the best I could find at $290 with free shipping. Delivery was on time to the day committed (UPS tracking info emailed to me right after I ordered it online). We also bought the accessories - everything looks good.


The technical part of the job was not too bad. If you are going to have some of your walls open, I would suggest it an upgrade to your house. The unit seems to work really well so far (only about 30 minutes of use). I will give an update on the blog in about three months.

The picture below shows an attachment rack I made and mounted above the vacuum. I drilled and mounted 1 1/8" dowel pieces (4 inches long) in some scrap wood pieces. This along with the hose rack puts everything in one place.


So when everything is totalled up, this was about a $1000 project.
- $290 for the vacuum unit
- $300 for plumbing - 6 outlets
- $350 for two accessory kits (2 hoses, power rug vac, floor vac, etc)
- about $50 for the electrical, misc.
The cost here does not include the demo, framing and sheetrock, which was part of the overall remodel anyway.

One additional note: we added a power dustpan to the kitchen area...

Tip - Plugging a Caulking Tube

I have finally found a way to close back up a caulking tube so it is usable again later. I put a 12d nail into the end, then cover it with masking or electrical tape.



I push the nail all the way in. When I pull it out, there is a hole for the caulk to come out of.

Home Theater #17 - Sheetrock Screen Done

We finally completed the "screen portion" of the sheetrock home theater screen, with good results. I ended up applying and sanding four coats of mud on it, then finished smoothing it out with a wet sponge.


The picture shows the screen painted (by my DW) with flat Bear latex by Home Depot - the color is "Silver Screen". Here is a comparative chip:


Why go with a grey screen instead of white? There is quite a bit of info out there in favor of going with grey, giving better contrast and better overall images. Go to this link for extremely detailed information and pictures.

There is a whole lot of debate out on the AV web sites on what the best screen paint is - so far the silver / grey looks good to me. I know that I don't want pure white, since it washes out the darker colors.

Tallying the cost:
- 1x4 firring for the wall (only counting the screen area) - $14
- 2x3 wood frame - $12
- Two sheets of sheetrock - $16
- Primer & paint - $15
- Misc (mud, screws, tape) - $2
Total is about $60, plus a few hours work.

Now its time to play the DVR of the Euro2008 game (Holland and Russia) and see how it really looks.

Home Theater #16 - Sheetrock Screen

I finally settled on the size of the projection screen (60"x80") and the proportions of the cabinets on each side, as shown in the diagram.

The following pictures the installation of the screen. Here is the blank front wall before starting. You can see the paint my DW did on the side walls, which turned out great.


I started by putting 1x4 furring strips across the wall, spaced on 16" centers. I needed to put these on to make sure there was adequate support for the stone backer board, and the screen framing.

Here is the screen framing attached to the furring strips. This is made of 2x3's, which will put the screen out to the same depth as the stone. Also, you can nail through the 2x3 into the furring strips with 16d nails. I also put a number of screws in to make sure everything was secure.


Since there is no insulation behind this basement wall, I put R13 batts into the screen framing - every little bit helps.

Here is the sheetrock and first coat of mud applied:


Finally, a shot of the textured paint my DW did. It actually looks darker than this - the camera flash lightens it somewhat.

Weekend in Oxford

For having a remodeling blog, I sure seem to do a lot a writing about other things...

I needed to spend the better part of this week in Oxford, England, so on the advice of a friend I visited Blenheim Palace. Overall, I think it was well worth it. The literature there states its Britian's greatest palace (I am not quite sure how you measure that), and it's listed a World Heritage site. This is the place where Winston Churchill was born, married and buried - and Being a Churchill fan gave me all the more reason to go.

Here are a couple of pictures I took with my cell phone. It's hard to get a feel for the scale, it beng much larger than shown here.



After all the architecure, decoration and gardens, the most memorable thing I viewed was a short quote by Churchill:


I hope that the home we are remodeling will positively affect our lives. I want it to be a place that we enjoy living in, others enjoy visiting, and I would like that to come from my own hands as much as possible.

Our Dog Hates Change...

We have four kids, a dog, a cat, a rabbit, and I am sure some other creatures the family is afraid to tell me about. Of all of them, our dog hates change. Here is a picture of him giving me the "don't texture and paint this room look".


As soon as we start moving the furniture, the dog starts hanging its head and moping around. Once we paint, or move a wall, or whatever, it takes him a day to get back to normal (loosely applied here). Go figure...

Now on to much more interesting things - wall texturing. Here is the texture we are applying to the theater room (and everywhere else in the house). It is a heavier orange peel look, which does a good job of covering imperfections.


I have found the best way to apply this is with the spraying mantis unit. I bought mine at Lowes for about $75 a few years ago.



I mix water into sheetrock mud until it has the texture of pancake batter, using a grout mixer. Then I use my air compressor (21 gallon) to apply it.


It goes on fairly well, but your arms will get tired / stronger lifting the hopper full of mud.

Craft Closet #2

We were able to get the theater room and craft closets textured, primed and ready for paint. I installed the counter tops as shown below. The black counter with the green painted pegboard actually looks good (I never thought I would say peg board looked good...)


Notice the two layers of trim at the top. The ceiling in the closet is 1 1/4" out of level due to the house sagging over the years. The stone fireplace upstairs was not adequately supported (now it is), causing the sag. The lower layer of trim is even with the pegboard holes and the upper layer is partially cut to match the ceiling. It also runs a bit out of level, splitting the difference. All this together effectively hides the out-of-level condition, especially once the closet doors are added.

We bought the laminate counter piece at Home Depot - $78 for an eight foot piece. The other half went to the other craft closet (one for sewing, one for stamping, paper crafts, etc.) It seems like a nice high quality surface, with a fully wrapped front. I cut it with a new carbide saw blade on the table saw, and had no chip-out.


My DW will keep her sewing machine and surger on this counter, so they will always be ready to use. To keep the counter from sagging over time under the constant weight, I added these heavy duty shelf supports (rated at 400 lbs). I quickly painted the wood backup pieces once I installed them, which helps me avoid extra masking. I also glued and screwed a fir 1x4 across the front behind the counter lip.


Next I need to make a couple of shelves for the top of the closet and 3 drawers that go under the counter. After that, my DW will get all the pegboard stuff.

Garden Shed #1 - The Plan

It seems like we always have about half a dozen projects going on at once...

As part pf the larger plan for the property, I am going to add a detached garage / shop at some point in the near future. Currently we have a garden shed that is sitting where the garage needs to go, so we have to move it, and it's too big to easily pick up and relocate in one piece.

I intend to have my 13 year old son deconstruct the current shed, so we can reuse the materials as much as possible - then help build the new one. Obviously he will need some assistance, but I think it's good learning project for him. It keeps him busy this summer, gives him a challenge, lets him earn some money (I am looking at the positive here.) I am sure there will be some disaster recovery along the way, but it will make for a good story later.

Here is a photo of the current shed. It's 10" x 12" and looks like it was built at least 25 years ago. Other than the original shake roof, the shed is in excellent condition. It has ceder lap siding, 2x4 framing, and no plywood at all. The floor, shelves, etc, are all made of fir 1x4, which is mainly clear.


This shed is 120 sq ft. Our city's building code now allows utility sheds up to 200 sq ft without permitting, so we will go for that size.

I want the shed to match the general style of the house (obviously ranch) after we redo the siding (probably next summer). Here is the concept model I am thinking about. I will reuse the cedar lap on the bottom of the shed and do a board-and-batten look on the top. The 1x4 should make good battens, once painted.


The difference between making a really nice looking shed and a plain one is some labor, which I find enjoyable anyway. This shed will be visible from the road, due to the orientation of our house, so I might as well make it look good.

I used PunchPro to design this. It's not the easiest program to use, but one you get the hang of it, it's a fairly robust tool. Once feature I like is the framing view.


A really useful feature is the bill-of-material estimator. It's nice to be able to quickly sketch something up, then get the number of 2x4's, joists, etc.


Here is an image of the interior - I still have not decided on this yet.