Home stuff 🏡 Home improvements

[AG74683]

I finally painted the trim and soffit that I had replaced last summer. They painted it when they put it up, but they must have used crappy paint because it was starting to look bad. I put a coat of Killz on it followed by 2 coats of exterior latex trim paint. It looks really good, so I guess now I need to paint everything else to match.

I also put screen back on my busted door for my screen room. One of the dogs I watch from time to time pushed through the old screen with his fat head. This is the second time I've had to rescreen that door. I won't do it again, I'll 100% just buy a new door. That is one of the worst jobs of all time.

 

[Gedunker]

<snip>

I also put screen back on my busted door for my screen room. One of the dogs I watch from time to time pushed through the old screen with his fat head. This is the second time I've had to rescreen that door. I won't do it again, I'll 100% just buy a new door. That is one of the worst jobs of all time.

I'm replacing the aluminum screens in all my original triple-track storm windows. They are original to the house (as best I can tell and are about 50 years old). I thought it would be a headache, but it's actually going smoothly and fairly quickly. I'm using fiberglas for the replacement screens and like the results.

I do have one screen sash that isn't playing nicely, however, and simply won't come out. Not sure how to proceed with it, but I'm sure I'll be googling for suggestions.

 

[AG74683]

I'm replacing the aluminum screens in all my original triple-track storm windows. They are original to the house (as best I can tell and are about 50 years old). I thought it would be a headache, but it's actually going smoothly and fairly quickly. I'm using fiberglas for the replacement screens and like the results.

I do have one screen sash that isn't playing nicely, however, and simply won't come out. Not sure how to proceed with it, but I'm sure I'll be googling for suggestions.

I used fiberglass on mine this time, the super strong stuff. It's not as invisible as the old stuff, but the old stuff was super thin which is how the dog got through to begin with. I just hate running the spline for screens. If I have to do it again, I'll buy a better tool. I got the cheapest one and that was a mistake.

 

[Big Owl]

How do you like them so far? I want to put some cameras up on the house, but currently have no access to the attic to run hardwired cameras.

I have five blink cameras at my house. They work great if you only need clips/alerts when there is movement. I like them because there is no monthly charges and I didn't have to run wires. To get the two years of battery life you have to have light usage, short duration clips, and moderate video quality. I have one at the back door and i get 2 dozen or more notifications a day; my battery life is around 6 months. You can schedule the cameras so that you only have them armed when you need them armed to save the battery. The one at the back door is easy to get to. Also, I didn't like the mounts that came with them as they were limited in the adjustment so I bought some after market mounts.

I have another one that I have over at my father's place that I use as a wildlife cam. I bought a solar panel for it. It gets high usage and I also have the video quality set to high and it records 30 second clips. I'd buy them again. I bought mine last year on amazon prime day and got some more on cyber monday. If you are interested in them, i'd wait till this upcoming amazon prime day. The newest version which was released a few weeks ago has two way audio. Blink is owned by amazon so I feel like it's a solid company and they are constantly making improvements to their app and firmware.

 

[Richmond Jake]

I repaired the outdoor shower this morning. All that was required was a new washer.

 

[Dan]

I just started to replace the ugly, partly painted over brass door hinges on interior doors with brushed nickel whenever I've painted a room in our house. I bought a set of Schlage hinges on Amazon, and their quality and tight tolerances are excellent compared to Lowe's/Home Depot and hardware store house brands. However, the price of Baldwin hinges on Amazon just doubled, and I'm reluctant to buy more.

What do you think of these brands?

• Richelieu Hardware
• Stanley
• Ives (I think it's the same as Baldwin, and availability seems just as spotty.)

Any others I should know about?

I'm not looking for something ultra-high end. (I know Baldwin is probably excellent, but they're probably at the tippy top end of what I'm willing to pay -- when I can find them cheap. ) Maybe $5 - $6 per hinge at the most. 3 1/2", 5/8" radius (sorry metric fans), removable pins, and a bottom cap or nib.

 

[kjel]

I just started to replace the ugly, partly painted over brass door hinges on interior doors with brushed nickel whenever I've painted a room in our house. I bought a set of Schlage hinges on Amazon, and their quality and tight tolerances are excellent compared to Lowe's/Home Depot and hardware store house brands. However, the price of Baldwin hinges on Amazon just doubled, and I'm reluctant to buy more.

What do you think of these brands?

• Richelieu Hardware
• Stanley
• Ives (I think it's the same as Baldwin, and availability seems just as spotty.)

Any others I should know about?

I'm not looking for something ultra-high end. (I know Baldwin is probably excellent, but they're probably at the tippy top end of what I'm willing to pay -- when I can find them cheap. ) Maybe $5 - $6 per hinge at the most. 3 1/2", 5/8" radius (sorry metric fans), removable pins, and a bottom cap or nib.

The beach house has a variety of hinges that were installed over the years, a number of which are not easy to find replacements for. I've just spray painted them with Rustoleum satin nickel paint so the match the replacement knobs we installed for a unified look.

 

[Richmond Jake]

After 30 hours without air conditioning, that was repaired this morning. In addition, the ceiling fan in the master bathroom and the toilet in the half bath were replaced this morning. All the little steps.

 

[DVD]

Now that I own a home I can't afford to do any remodeling.

 

[AG74683]

I thought I had a package stolen from my carport on Friday so I freaked out and purchased the Arlo Pro 2 camera system. Turns out the package was delivered to the wrong house, but I decided to get the cameras anyway. I guess we'll see how they work. Reviews are somewhat mixed.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

We had a couple really hot stretches this summer, but nothing like those years were it's just a steady 95º for all of July, and, IIRC, it was a bit drier than normal but overall the summer was pretty pleasant. Our spring was exceptionally wet and cool and that cool weather lasted well into July. All of this has contributed to my grass not getting totally burnt out and overrun by crabgrass this year. My front yard gets no shade throughout the hottest part of the day and I do not water it. I was standing out there one afternoon a couple of weeks ago looking at it and remarking how much better it looks than normal for mid-September.

Then the water department tore up about the front third of my front yard for their sewer line replacement. When they were all done they filled in the area they worked on, leveled and graded it, covered the area with fresh topsoil, and then put down new sod. It looks amazing. But now the rest of my front yard (that I thought was looking pretty good) looks like an absolute bag of rotten a55holes by comparison. It's making me want to re-sod the entire front lawn next spring and put in sprinklers to maintain it.

 

[kjel]

We had a couple really hot stretches this summer, but nothing like those years were it's just a steady 95º for all of July, and, IIRC, it was a bit drier than normal but overall the summer was pretty pleasant. Our spring was exceptionally wet and cool and that cool weather lasted well into July. All of this has contributed to my grass not getting totally burnt out and overrun by crabgrass this year. My front yard gets no shade throughout the hottest part of the day and I do not water it. I was standing out there one afternoon a couple of weeks ago looking at it and remarking how much better it looks than normal for mid-September.

Then the water department tore up about the front third of my front yard for their sewer line replacement. When they were all done they filled in the area they worked on, leveled and graded it, covered the area with fresh topsoil, and then put down new sod. It looks amazing. But now the rest of my front yard (that I thought was looking pretty good) looks like an absolute bag of rotten a55holes by comparison. It's making me want to re-sod the entire front lawn next spring and put in sprinklers to maintain it.

You mean the public works department actually did something well?

My Newark house is only set 6' back from the curb and 4' of it is sidewalk, I only have 2' of dirt to play with and it doesn't grow anything well so I have several large barrel planters. Very low maintenance!

The beach house house has a sizable front and rear yard, I refuse to fertilize it due to proximity to the Barnegat Bay and only have it mowed every 1-2 weeks. It's probably half weeds and clover but it's green so I don't really care. Our goal is to eliminate 70% of the grass front and back and be more strategic about planting native species and non-turfgrass landscaping.

 

[Doohickie]

Patio cover.

As bought: Trellis (useless to me)

Deconstruction:

Putting it back together (you can see it only in the shadow, but there are roof joists on the left slope):

My goal for the weekend was to get decking over the joists before storms blew through last night, but it was probably a good call to not push it. We had pretty strong winds with last night's storm.

 

[Doohickie]

Progress:
All joists installed

Decking installed

Tar paper installed

Shingles installed

Flashing complete

 

[WSU MUP Student]

We have a ventless gas log system in our living room that stopped working a few years ago. It probably just needs a thorough cleaning with compressed air and resetting of the sensors but that was beyond my capabilities and it never threw out any noticeable heat so I never bothered to get it running again. A couple of weeks ago I decided to treat myself to a gas insert with a blower and all the bells and whistles for Christmas. I knew the cost would be significantly more than just fixing or replacing the ventless system but it will be a definite upgrade - it will be 45,000 BTU and thanks to being centrally located in the main living area of the house it should help limit how often our furnace turns on during the day.

I picked out the system and style I wanted and the guy out to our house last week to take his measurements and he went and drew up designs for the surround with his CAD program (I learned in this process that the inserts themselves are standard sizes but the pieces that surround them are custom manufactured to fit each fireplace size and style). He finally finished up and got his install estimate to me this morning and now I'm headed over to the retailer tomorrow to put my deposit down so they can order all the parts and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they can get the stuff shipped out to us during those few days between Christmas and New Years so I can have my feet up in front of the fireplace while the ball is dropping. I am kicking myself for not doing this earlier in the fall so that we could have had it installed before a couple of Christmas parties we are hosting next week. Oh well.

 

[Doohickie]

Ooooooh, I'm jealous. I could use one of those in my family room. It's at the end of the ventilation circuit and that room gets chilly in the winter. There's a fireplace in the corner that has a gas line; I could do the same thing.

EDIT: You can see the chimney for the fireplace in my pictures above.

 

[AG74683]

I knew the cost would be significantly more than just fixing or replacing the ventless system but it will be a definite upgrade - it will be 45,000 BTU and thanks to being centrally located in the main living area of the house it should help limit how often our furnace turns on during the day.

I don't mean to pry, but what was the cost like on that? I have a very old set of ventless logs that I've thought about replacing. They work fine, but they are completely manual and do not have a blower of any sort. They heat up the living room and basically nothing else. I can turn on the ceiling fan and it spreads the heat out some, but they're really more for ambiance than anything else.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

I don't mean to pry, but what was the cost like on that? I have a very old set of ventless logs that I've thought about replacing. They work fine, but they are completely manual and do not have a blower of any sort. They heat up the living room and basically nothing else. I can turn on the ceiling fan and it spreads the heat out some, but they're really more for ambiance than anything else.

Our total cost is going to be about $4,300. About $3,500 will be for the insert and all the components itself. The base price for the unit we picked out was about $2,800 but we picked a few of the fancier options on the individual components which drove the price up and the size/complexity of the surround that will need to be built for ours drove the price up a bit as well.

We were told that installation would be around $1,100+ but once we had the guy out to take measurements and look at our existing fireplace setup he found that he has extremely easy access to the gas and electrical (thanks to large access panel behind a cabinet along a false wall) so he will not have to tear things up to run electric to the fireplace and our chimney is already set up for the two pipes they need to add (one for intake of fresh air and one for exhaust).

After talking to the installer and the store, it sounded like a lot of additional expense can be incurred if you have a wacky sized existing fireplace because it adds to the cost of the surround that needs to be built or if you don't already have electrical and/or gas on that wall or right near the fireplace. FWIW, if our fireplace was about 4" wider and 1" taller, we could have bought the next size up of insert for an additional $300 but probably saved an equal amount on the cost of the custom surround because it wouldn't have needed to be as big (not as much gap to fill in).

The store we looked at for the fireplace had inserts in the range from about $2,000 to well above $5,000.

I usually hate spending money on the house but maybe I'm getting older or more sensible or more lame because this is a project I don't mind cutting a check for.

__

The other big project I have planned for the spring is a totally new front porch - ours is an old flagstone one that has probably been in place for 40+ years but has so many broken and loose stones that I am constantly fixing and replacing, the mortar is completely shot, one end is starting to slope away from the house, the two non-load bearing pillars are beginning to rot and are now primarily wood filler in the bottom third, and the path from the driveway is crumbling away. Time to rip it all out and start from fresh. I'm going to get the landscaping in the front right along the house redone at the same time and add in a flagpole with a light. My wife is always complaining about our "curb appeal" (I think she's trying to say she doesn't like my landscaping) so it may be harder to object to these improvements.

 

[AG74683]

Ah. Well...I guess my old logs will have to do then! I thought about at least replacing them with unvented logs that use a blower. Those aren't too bad.

 

[Big Owl]

We are looking to replace our 30 year old dishwasher. The choices are overwhelming. Usually, something dies and then we replace it; but in this case we can actually be proactive replace it prior to it's demise. The wife wants the third rack and the dishwasher propaganda is telling her that we need a all stainless steel tub. I just want the wife to be happy and I want something that is reliable. Has anyone here purchased a dishwasher recently, if so what kind, and would you do it again or different?

 

[AG74683]

We are looking to replace our 30 year old dishwasher. The choices are overwhelming. Usually, something dies and then we replace it; but in this case we can actually be proactive replace it prior to it's demise. The wife wants the third rack and the dishwasher propaganda is telling her that we need a all stainless steel tub. I just want the wife to be happy and I want something that is reliable. Has anyone here purchased a dishwasher recently, if so what kind, and would you do it again or different?

My aunt swears by her Bosch. This is the same Bosch that had a factory defect that destroyed their floor in the kitchen. I guess there was a crack in some sort of internal water mechanism that caused a very slow leak that they didn't notice for several years. Bosch ended up replacing their entire floor and portions of the subfloor along with including a brand new washer. She is just finishing construction of their new house and she went Bosch again.

I have a Frigidaire but I just do not care for their appliances in general. They are just super cheap feeling. If I ever need a new dishwasher, I'll be looking at Samsung, LG, or Bosch.

 

[Doohickie]

Unless noise is an issue, the cheap Frigidaire does the job. I really don't see the value upgrading. The days of dishwashers lasting 20+ years is over; I don't care what brand or model you buy. Is a $1500 really five times better than a $300 dishwasher?

 

[kjel]

Unless noise is an issue, the cheap Frigidaire does the job. I really don't see the value upgrading. The days of dishwashers lasting 20+ years is over; I don't care what brand or model you buy. Is a $1500 really five times better than a $300 dishwasher?

I have a Frigidaire that came with the house. It's no frills, but it works fine. We have a Samsung at the beach house and I like it better-mostly because there's more flexibility in how it can be loaded with folding racks and such. It also sings a song at the end of the cycle and pops the door open when it's done.

 

[Big Owl]

I have a Frigidaire that came with the house. It's no frills, but it works fine. We have a Samsung at the beach house and I like it better-mostly because there's more flexibility in how it can be loaded with folding racks and such. It also sings a song at the end of the cycle and pops the door open when it's done.

I went and looked at a few at lunch with the wife. We are leaning toward the bosch 300 series. I am having a tough time committing. I'd imagine that whatever we go with will be a humongous improvement on what we currently got.

 

[AG74683]

Unless noise is an issue, the cheap Frigidaire does the job. I really don't see the value upgrading. The days of dishwashers lasting 20+ years is over; I don't care what brand or model you buy. Is a $1500 really five times better than a $300 dishwasher?

I'm not entirely sure I agree with that anymore. I do with smaller appliances like microwaves, but I think you get a lot more with the larger stuff at higher price points. I think the dishwasher is one where it doesn't really matter though. Refrigerators and ovens are one where the price drastically changes what you get. Maybe not the long term durability of the project, but the list of features for sure.

The washer/dryer is one set where I never understood the reason for a more expensive one. How often does anyone move off the delicate/normal/bulky settings?

 

[arcplans]

The washer/dryer is one set where I never understood the reason for a more expensive one. How often does anyone move off the delicate/normal/bulky settings?

If you are the GF.. often. Very often. And as of today I have a working gas line to actually do laundry. Woot Woot, but now i am $400 poorer.

 

[Big Owl]

I went and looked at a few at lunch with the wife. We are leaning toward the bosch 300 series. I am having a tough time committing. I'd imagine that whatever we go with will be a humongous improvement on what we currently got.

The wife heard that the Bosch didn't dry dishes as well so we ended up with a GE Dishwasher. It was on sale and significantly cheaper than a Bosch. Time will tell if we made a wise decision. I like the features and the bottom rack folds down to accommodate bigger pots and pans. The installation sucked because I had an old valve that leaked at the steam, the location of the drain line & water line complicated the installation, and hardwood floors where installed after the cabinets so it made for a tight fit. I replaced the cut off valve with a sharkbite valve as it was the same price as valve that you sweat on. I hope I made the right choice.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

The washer/dryer is one set where I never understood the reason for a more expensive one. How often does anyone move off the delicate/normal/bulky settings?

My wife changes the settings for every. single. load. Temperature, load size, extra rinse, etc. - she makes use of them all when she does laundry and she doesn't allow me to wash anything other than towels or my own clothes because everything goes in all at once and put on the normal setting with the "tap" water setting.

 

[kjel]

My wife changes the settings for every. single. load. Temperature, load size, extra rinse, etc. - she makes use of them all when she does laundry and she doesn't allow me to wash anything other than towels or my own clothes because everything goes in all at once and put on the normal setting with the "tap" water setting.

I favor the simpler sets that don't have 100 settings or an electronic control panel. Really the only thing that I mess with is the water level knob.

I have a new range, over the range microwave, and dishwasher coming tomorrow. The range and microwave that came with the house were budget models, two of the igniters are out on the range and the microwave door handle broke off a few months ago. Got a good deal at PC Richard along with a rebate, so much so that I added a new dishwasher to the order for $100 more than the range and microwave would have ordinarily cost.

Eventually I would like to replace the cabinets and change the flooring from wood to tile in the kitchen, but the beach house needs a new roof and siding this year.

 

[Doohickie]

Really the only thing that I mess with is the water level knob.

Our washer has an auto water level detect. I have no idea how it works.

 

[AG74683]

So I posted on the Random Thoughts thread that I'm in search of a shelf to place in a very particular spot for a record player. I've decided that I will build one myself to fit. I've been thinking about using the cast iron pipes (yes, hipstery but easy to deal with). I'm not sure how far to go up the wall, or how far to come across. It's about 3 feet from the tall speaker to the trim. One shelf will need to come out at least 20 inches.

 

[Veloise]

So I posted on the Random Thoughts thread that I'm in search of a shelf to place in a very particular spot for a record player. I've decided that I will build one myself to fit. I've been thinking about using the cast iron pipes (yes, hipstery but easy to deal with). I'm not sure how far to go up the wall, or how far to come across. It's about 3 feet from the tall speaker to the trim. One shelf will need to come out at least 20 inches.

Suggest you look on the Home Talk site, where folks make custom-fit stuff all the time.

 

[Big Owl]

So I posted on the Random Thoughts thread that I'm in search of a shelf to place in a very particular spot for a record player. I've decided that I will build one myself to fit. I've been thinking about using the cast iron pipes (yes, hipstery but easy to deal with). I'm not sure how far to go up the wall, or how far to come across. It's about 3 feet from the tall speaker to the trim. One shelf will need to come out at least 20 inches.

I would suggest looking for a online source for floor flanges and other fittings. I had a friend that built a shelf out of cast iron pipe and he said if he had it to do over he would have ordered the fittings from ebay or amazon because the big box hardware store was pricey.

 

[Hink]

Anyone have good retailers for "reused" wood?

I am looking for 1/2" x 4" x whatever dimensional wood to cover a wall. But I need a lot of it, and I don't really want to to buy it from Lowes....

 

[Doohickie]

Does your local Habitat for Humanity chapter have a ReStore or other used materials store? We have that here and you can find all kinds of used materials and fixtures to repurpose. It's basically like a junk yard for building materials.

 

[AG74683]

I would suggest looking for a online source for floor flanges and other fittings. I had a friend that built a shelf out of cast iron pipe and he said if he had it to do over he would have ordered the fittings from ebay or amazon because the big box hardware store was pricey.

Hm, interesting. I was planning on getting it from the big box store because I figured the online sources would mark it up at a premium because they aren't plumbing pipe anymore, they're "art" or something related to furniture and demand a higher price some how.

EDIT* Oh dang, you're right. WAY cheaper from Amazon. 24 dollars for 10 1/2 diameter x 12" long from Amazon, 45 dollars from Lowes!!

The project has gotten more expensive. The shelf wood that I can find doesn't come in the sizes I need. I need one shelf to be anywhere from 14 to 20 inches wide. All I can find is 6", 8", or 12", meaning I will need to glue two or more pieces together. I guess now I will need a dowel jig. Oh what a shame!

 

[Whose Yur Planner]

Does your local Habitat for Humanity chapter have a ReStore or other used materials store? We have that here and you can find all kinds of used materials and fixtures to repurpose. It's basically like a junk yard for building materials.

We have one of those.

 

[Gedunker]

I have a covered entrance to my front door at my 1965 ranch-style house, about 6'x6', with a very shallow roof off of the main hipped roof of the home. I noticed when I bought the house that the trim and soffit looked a little worse for wear and put it down to the gutters, but thought it wasn't a high priority. Then, this fall, I bought a hanging basket of flowers and soon after hanging it found it crashed to the floor, including the hook that had held it up. Uh, oh, I thought. Sure enough the fascia was pretty spongy and paint was peeling away. I got out my ladder and got up to see the roof and sure enough, the pitch is about 2:12 and it is covered in three tab shingles. Waaaay too shallow of a pitch for tab shingles.

I made a note to call a roofer toward the end of winter to get some prices to repair the roof.

Then we had a hard rainfall about two weeks ago and it was obvious the roof couldn't wait. I got a price for $500 - $750 to remove the three tab shingles and replace with a membrane, and to replace the damaged fascia and soffit. That was less than I had estimated, so I signed the deal and got the work done in a day, last week. It ended being a little over $800 due to the extent of the water damage, and because I decided to replace a wrought iron porch column I hated with a 4"x4" PT (which I'll dress out as a regular porch column in the spring before I finish painting the house). The roofer told me there was about 1-1/2" of standing water above the soffit that came crashing down when he opened it up!

What I hadn't considered was that this is the "off season" for roofers and I probably got a better price doing it now then had I waited as I had originally planned. I wouldn't do a whole new roof in the winter, but a smaller repair job probably saved me as much as 30%, perhaps a little more.

 

[Big Owl]

Anyone have good retailers for "reused" wood?

I am looking for 1/2" x 4" x whatever dimensional wood to cover a wall. But I need a lot of it, and I don't really want to to buy it from Lowes....

My god daughter and her husband used pallet wood to create an accent wall in their guest bathroom. He chared it with a torch to make it look old. I think the wall was 6' x 8'. He said it only took 5 pallets because I asked specifically how many pallets it took to get enough wood. The nail holes added to the rustic look that they were trying to achieve.

 

[Doohickie]

I got out my ladder and got up to see the roof and sure enough, the pitch is about 2:12 and it is covered in three tab shingles. Waaaay too shallow of a pitch for tab shingles.

When we bought our house in 2018, we put an offer on a different house first. When the inspector came by, he pointed out that there were two additions to the house: a built-on shed and a master bath, and both had three-tab shingles run out onto flat roof sections over the additions. Obviously not to code so you know they never pulled a permit. We got out of that contract real fast. (That was only one of several issues the inspector found.)

 

[Veloise]

...The shelf wood that I can find doesn't come in the sizes I need. I need one shelf to be anywhere from 14 to 20 inches wide. All I can find is 6", 8", or 12", meaning I will need to glue two or more pieces together. I guess now I will need a dowel jig. Oh what a shame!

Check the closet section of your big box for deeper shelves.

My current house had kitchen cabs that were open, empty boxes. I found pre-finished laminate shelving, 12" x 48", and had them cut it to size. (It holds canned goods, I don't care that it's in two pieces.)

 

[michaelskis]

Anyone have good retailers for "reused" wood?

I am looking for 1/2" x 4" x whatever dimensional wood to cover a wall. But I need a lot of it, and I don't really want to to buy it from Lowes....

I am a fan of using pallet wood for things like that, but you need to know what those pallets contained. I bought a pallet breaker and an air nail punch to break them down and then I pressure wash them. I also use that wood for a lot of rustic furniture projects such as this:

 

[Big Owl]

Hm, interesting. I was planning on getting it from the big box store because I figured the online sources would mark it up at a premium because they aren't plumbing pipe anymore, they're "art" or something related to furniture and demand a higher price some how.

EDIT* Oh dang, you're right. WAY cheaper from Amazon. 24 dollars for 10 1/2 diameter x 12" long from Amazon, 45 dollars from Lowes!!

The project has gotten more expensive. The shelf wood that I can find doesn't come in the sizes I need. I need one shelf to be anywhere from 14 to 20 inches wide. All I can find is 6", 8", or 12", meaning I will need to glue two or more pieces together. I guess now I will need a dowel jig. Oh what a shame!

The guy I know spent $280 on just the pipe & fittings. It was basically 8 or 9 brackets over the span of 20' to hold a 8" wide live edge board.

As far as boards, if you need a wide board, our local Lowes carries project panels like this. It would be cheaper than buying a dowel jig, glue, and clamps; unless you were planning on doing a lot more projects like this.

 

[AG74683]

The guy I know spent $280 on just the pipe & fittings. It was basically 8 or 9 brackets over the span of 20' to hold a 8" wide live edge board.

As far as boards, if you need a wide board, our local Lowes carries project panels like this. It would be cheaper than buying a dowel jig, glue, and clamps; unless you were planning on doing a lot more projects like this.

I was planning on going to Lowes this weekend to take a look at what they have and get some ideas. I'm stuck on how to round the shelf edges without a router too.

I don't believe my shelf will cost that much in fittings. Mine isn't that big. It'll probably be around 3' to 3.5' wide at the most, and maybe around 5' to 6' tall. I am thinking about creating a V shaped set of shelves to put records in. I don't think that will be hard to do. I figure I'll run two parallel sets of pipe and place the V in between those and use clamps to secure it.

 

[mendelman]

We're in the midst of planning an unexpected kitchen remodel right now.

It's an interesting process and certainly not for the indecisive.

Hopefully in about 8 weeks we'll have a new kitchen.

 

[michaelskis]

What are your thoughts on ceiling fan lights? We have a ceiling fan in our living room... it has a light.. I love the fan... hate the light.

 

[mendelman]

What are your thoughts on ceiling fan lights? We have a ceiling fan in our living room... it has a light.. I love the fan... hate the light.

I've always liked lights as part of a ceiling fan. All our bedrooms have these.

Though we did remove the ceiling fan light from our fireplace room and just put in a light only. It works in that room.

 

[Veloise]

I was planning on going to Lowes this weekend to take a look at what they have and get some ideas. I'm stuck on how to round the shelf edges without a router too.

I don't believe my shelf will cost that much in fittings. Mine isn't that big. It'll probably be around 3' to 3.5' wide at the most, and maybe around 5' to 6' tall. I am thinking about creating a V shaped set of shelves to put records in. I don't think that will be hard to do. I figure I'll run two parallel sets of pipe and place the V in between those and use clamps to secure it.

Glue some molding on it.

My desk is comprised of an Ikea bookcase with the business side facing one end of the desktop, and my legs brush the corner where its finished side and back intersect. I picked up a length of D-molding at HD, painted it white, stuck it onto the unfinished edge. All better now, no extra tools to buy or sit around in my workshop.

 

[AG74683]

Glue some molding on it.

Excellent idea!! I might just rough it out with a sander and a contour gauge. It'll look more "hand made" that way I guess.

 

[WSU MUP Student]

What are your thoughts on ceiling fan lights? We have a ceiling fan in our living room... it has a light.. I love the fan... hate the light.

I think it depends on the room. In a living room or bedroom, I don't really like lights on the fans and would so much rather use lamps. Our living room ceiling fan does not have lights but we do have recessed can lights in the ceiling above it but I always elect to turn on the floor lamp instead, it just seems warmer and more relaxing. Our bedroom has a ceiling fan with a light. My wife likes to use the light on the fan but I prefer to use the lamps on the bedside tables.

Our dining room has a ceiling fan with a light and some recessed lighting and I'd much rather use those lights than a lamp in there. Maybe it's because there's food involved that I want more evenly distributed light?