Bath Addition

When we bought our house we had a 1/2 bath roughed in for the basement. I didn't do anything to it until this year. Ryan, the builder made some mistakes that I had to make allowances for like where they put the sump pump and the fact that the floor pitched to the sump pump, which it should do if the need was to arise due to flooding. The location of the s.p. was almost in the bathroom area, hence the offset in the wall as seen in picture 4. You can see where the toilet is to be located and approximately 13 1/2 " back is the vent pipe. The sink will go where you see the lights on the wall. In order to put the sink in and close the door if need be once installed, this wall had to go over a drain in the floor that the water softner goes to and the hotwater heaters vent line as well as the A/C condensate drain. So, first I had to run a wall across this drain, then move in to pick up the vent pipe, wouldn't want that visible in your bath and then move in again another 10" to get by the sump pump. A room that starts off at about 65" ruduces down 13" to get by Ryan's screw up.

Well, as you can see we are on our way to getting this project done. I made two new walls, two existed from the finished part of the basement, hung drywall, spackled (hate this part) put two coats of primer on and then painted the ceiling and a little over half way down a dark gray color.

More to come.

Gene and his car

The master of the yellow Vette. We went out Tues. after lunch to a hugh church parking lot to take some pictures of his Vette and ended up taking 158 shots. Some have already bitten the dust while others are to be played with or kept for posting if or when he decides to sell it. Took so through the mirror (inside and out) shots and through the rear window. Found I really do want to get an 18mm lens. It was fun and it gave a couple of retired bums something to do.

BAck Home Again

Finally, with the floor in the garage done the little one has found its way back home. Poor thing had to sit outside for four days in the heat and dust from all the construction in the area. It got its Friday night bath with a soft towel wipe down and put to bed. Looks good on the new floor.

Garage floor re-work

Well, if the walls can look good then I figure the floor must too. It isn't a hard job, just a time consuming task. Started on Monday and finished today, Thursday. The gray part was already painted with a one part epoxy. The blue section which is where the cars park is about 2/3's of the garage. It was acid etched and bonded then painted with a two part epoxy. We mixed the two parts and let it sit like the instructions said. Then I started to go around the parimeter of both sides of the garage, along the gray floor part and the entrance area. Next I started to roll the paint onto the floor in 3 x 3 foot areas and Cindy sprinkled the flakes. I noticed pretty quickly that I was having trouble rolling and that the roller didn't want to stay on the mechinism. You are suppose to have about a two hour work time but I could see this was not the case. It was hot and very humid and the mixture was getting hot which
meant it was working. I wasn't a quarter of the way through and was beginning to believe I wasn't going to make it. I changed rollers once and that helped a little. With a lot of effort I made it through the first gallon. I had Cindy
start the second gallon mix about the time I was finishing the entrance area so it had only sat for about 30 minutes. When I started rolling it I could tell a difference right away. The rest of the job has been a piece of cake. There are
two coats of clear high gloss on both of the colors and it went on like water. We plan on doing the basement floors in
the workshop and the storage areas and will in all probability cover it with the clear. Gives a nice showroom effect.

Deck Extension

What started out as an extension to the deck to get the big-ass grill out of the way at a cost of $115 turned into a cost overrun of about another $100. I was going to reuse railing material from the extension back to the house like it had been and would have only needed enough to go outwards, 36" each side. Instead of this and after the extension was built we added a set of stairs. Now we don't have to go off the front of the deck and walk around the deck to get to the hose. The only thing I have to do now is figure out what I am going to do with the landscaping in the stair area. This is quite a slope and hard to handle so I need to level it and am thinking of pavers. The stairs are 5' across so you can see the pitch in the 6" riser. I also have to finish the railing and I plan on putting a lift of opening in the side with the gas bottle, much easier to change it out when it is about waist high. No more getting down on ones knees and have to set the bottle in in an awkward position.

Garden Update Again

Well, with the advice of a friend I now have fruit coming on the tomatoes and peppers. He recommended I get some Blossom Set. I did and I spayed twice. I now have lots of each coming on. I had the flowers but no end result. This is a cucumber that had set awhile back, it is a bush type plant for compact areas. They only get about 5 to 6 inches.

Gone fishing

This is Shannon, one of our neices. We went fishing at Caesar's Creek Reservoir yesterday. The water was high and moving very fast below the damn. Not until we were done and I was showing her some of the other parts of the lake did we find better places to fish. We each caught one Bluegill. Next time we go we are going to take a bucket to bring them home alive and put them in the pond. They, along with the frogs that have shown up, will be good for bug removal.