a photoblog of what i did today.....

[Pico and ME]

Yeah, I couldn't do it. Had the opportunity to make the jump off the Stratosphere in Vegas and just no way/no how...

But that is a fantastic picture!

[wanderer]

I had that urge to vomit up my guts when initially I took off. But then frankly, it was not all that scary. At least not scary enough to prevent a shot!

[chrisinhouston]

Yesterday, my son and I finally demolished the last of the old lower kitchen cabinets. Since we are living in the middle of this project and need to use the kitchen as it progresses I made up some nifty little counters from scraps and put them on some small wheels that I had out in my storage shed. Even the stove and kitchen sink are on moveable counters; all I need to do is shut off the gas and water and disconnect things and the counters move away from the wall while I finish things. The first shot is from the other day when the cabinet for the stove was removed, the second one is from last night.

I was real proud of my sheet metal work. We had a downdraft ventilation system before and are now going with an over the stove top vent so I built a box to fit in the wall cavity to take the air from where the hood will go and vent it down to the hole already in the wall which you can see in the first picture. Covered the hole with some plastic to keep the humid air from outside coming in! Had to also reroute some wires around where the box had to go.

Today, I plan to move the counters away from the wall and finish up changes to the electrical and plumbing. Hope to get the new drywall on and then next week start floating and taping all the seams and holes.

[Lamplighter]

I don't see a vapor barrier.
Don't you need one, especially considering the high humidity of the kitchen ?

Otherwise, it looks like a very neat workmanship, and I can imagine
the difficulty of living under a "work in progress".

[glatt]

You made that sheet metal box? I'm very impressed. Sheet metal work is a skill.

FYI, vapor barriers are generally a bad idea in the south where air conditioning is in use more than heating. Buildingscience.com goes into GREAT detail on when vapor barriers should be used and when they actually cause rot. This is very much not a one size fits all situation.

[Lamplighter]

Glatt, you're right. That's an excellent resource.

[chrisinhouston]

Yes, houses here typically have some kind of barrier on the outside between the stud wall and the brick or siding. Tivek of similar on new homes, mine is older so it has some kind of foil covered board at the lower level where there is brick outside and roofers felt on the upper walls where there is composite siding. I think they let it breath more.

I really prefer fiberglass insulation over the cellulose I have but removing would be a huge mess and I already am creating enough dust!

Glatt, my son asked me where I learned to form and bend sheet metal and I explained that back in the dark ages when I was in high school I took several years of wood and metal shop. In the latter I learned how to use a box and pan brake, how to weld, cast metal and run a metal lathe. I think it too bad that so many schools no longer offer students these courses unless they are going a vocational route.

Oh and on working with sheet metal I learned to always wear gloves. You can get some nasty cuts from that stuff!

[plthijinx]

Chris, that is awesome!!!! can't wait to see what it looks like when you're finished! I know it's going to be very nice!

Here's an update on my project.

Yesterday the canister filter I ordered arrived and I set it up. It was a bit of a pain in the ass to understand the multi-language translated directions but basically it's no more than common sense on setting it up so it really wasn't that bad. This filter is a multi-level media filter which does several things. 1.) obviously filters out junk floating in the water but more importantly 2.) creates and maintains "good" bacteria to eat fish waste and help keep the water crystal clear.

Today I tested the water and it couldn't be more perfect so I hauled my butt up to the fish store and brought home an anenomie and a host clown fish. Now this little bugger isn't the normal clown fish, nope doesn't look like Nemo! Have a look......think he's cool? I sure do!

[plthijinx]

canister filter.......

[infinite monkey]

neato, philthy! i was thinking of getting a fish tank but i may get phucked out of some of my pay so i'm holding off. nothing that intricate, either, having never done a tank by myself. you should come be my aquaman/handyman.

tanks for the photos!

[glatt]

Wow! That anemone is cool.

[Griff]

Ya, I had no idea people had them in their tanks. Coolio.

[plthijinx]

Originally Posted by infinite monkey

neato, philthy! i was thinking of getting a fish tank but i may get phucked out of some of my pay so i'm holding off. nothing that intricate, either, having never done a tank by myself. you should come be my aquaman/handyman.

tanks for the photos!

i work for sex. oh, and beer.

Originally Posted by glatt

Wow! That anemone is cool.

Originally Posted by Griff

Ya, I had no idea people had them in their tanks. Coolio.

they are a pain in the ass to keep alive. usually they only last about a year in household aquariums. this one cost almost $50 bucks.....they had one......for $350. shit you not.

[wanderer]

Just few cans of beer! True that drunk brute can't recall the count but he can say they were just 'few'. And damn he was stalking the streets like a vampire with his new zoom lens.
Guess what, no inspiration found out there and drunkard blabbered like a fool for few minutes. Next thing, he pointed the camera towards sky and gave it a short.
Came home, slept like a dead man.


And actually it didn't came out that bad considering the hang-over I found in the morning

[glatt]

Nice moon shot!


Today I vacuumed the cars, which they desperately needed. As I was cleaning out the old Prizm, I had the driver's door open, and could see leaves and debris in the body panel behind the driver's wheel. The shop vac wouldn't touch them, and poking a stick in there didn't do a thing except dislodge a little green sapling growing in there. I realized that many leaves that fell on the windshield would slide down to the driver's wiper and get under the hood where they would fall down into this body panel. They were supposed to continue through a gap and drop to the ground, but they were getting stuck. So I took the plastic wheel well cover off and found about 2-3 cups worth of decomposed leaves.

This is the accumulation after 18 years. Very fertile looking soil. I was amazed that there was no rust after that long.

So then I wanted to clean the vents under the windshield. Lot of seeds and leaves and stuff were getting stuck in that screen and contributing to a slight must smell coming from the vents. So I removed the windshield wipers and pulled off that molding that covers the vent intake.


It was filthy.



Around this time, my son came out to see what I was doing, and if he could help, so I asked him to blast out the screens that cover the vents. He had fun playing with the hose and did a good job.