Category: Projects

June 22, 2021 – Slum Lord Tactics, Custom Paint Colors

June 22, 2021 /

This post may not be super revolutionary but it can get you out of a jamb or at least save some money. For me, I am typically paying $60-$100 a gallon. To top it off, getting rid of leftover paint is also a pain. In my state, every container is charged a recycling fee. That is supposed to cover the cost of returning leftover paint for recycling.

A quick word about recycling. There is a company in the state that picks up all of the paint that is returned. Everything is sorted, for instance exterior and interior and by color. Then like colors are grouped together and mixed and finally standardized into a basic color palette to be sold at a value price.

I have personally never used the paint, so I cannot really comment on the performance or quality. I would consider it for applications that do not have high performance applications like interior paint or outbuildings that you just want to get something on. There is a lot of science involved in paint and just combining different manufacturers could effect the integrity of the paint.

Back when I was a youth and working with my grandfather, we would occasionally gather all of the leftover paint and mix it together. Often times, it would come out as a brown or olive color (as exterior). Interior whites were a no brainer, you ended up with some shade of white that was unique but just fine.

When you have multiple buildings to maintain, a smarter tactic is to standardize on one color. Many times we did use the same color, but there were times when it was inconvenient to drive across town to buy paint or a tenant had a special request or we were given paint and other such random events. Consequently, we always had a mishmash of paint.

I talked about this subject last year on July 1, 2020 when I referenced the color ‘Pandemic Pink’. That was a mixture of a lot of my random exterior colors that came out pink. Today I am going to mix leftover interior paint for my sheetrock priming. My plan is to mix about 1/2 a quart of yellowish/orangish with about 1/2 a gallon of purplish gray with one gallon of PVA drywall sealer. I expect it will come out as a light brown.

Ultimately, I am going to paint over it with something whitish because I want as much light as possible in the room. I just haven’t totally decided yet because I want to minimize the inventory of leftover paint. I also want to minimize cost so I am weighing total cost versus future utility.

Additionally, I wont go as far as saying paint has a shelf life but in practical terms nothing lasts forever. What I have found is that the container fails before the the paint actually goes bad. The ammonia used to buffer the paint (water-based) rusts steel and causes pinholes to let air in and dry out the paint. My point is that if you are saving partials for eventual touch-up you may find that your partial is no longer paint some day when you open the container.

End Your Programming Routine: As I mentioned above, there is a lot of science to paint. I am going to end it here today and save getting more detailed into the qualities of paint later. If you have a bunch of paint that you no longer need or want and a project that needs some painting, consider recycling it yourself.

June 15, 2021 – Am I in a rut?

June 15, 2021 /

Trying to come up with new things to talk about in a meaningful way everyday is sometimes difficult. It is not necessarily that I don’t have ideas but I am weaving this endeavor into my day and it takes a level of prep to do good work. I need supporting photos and videos ready to go when I sit down to start writing.

Sometimes when I get ideas, I queue up article stubs and then when I am looking for something to write about I go to the well of things that I have already put some effort into. Sometimes I have the week entirely planned out before I start. Not this week.

A large part of the reason is that I am focused on the drywall finishing of my office. It is not something that you casually pick at. It requires blocks of hours at a time if I ever want to get this project finished. Another analog is like painting with a roller. Once you get paint on the roll, you are committed to going until you have to stop because it takes so much effort to clean a roller that it is not a casual start and stop process.

Hence, it feels like I have hit a rut here. Monday some sort of opinion, Tuesday is a project update, Wednesday is a grab bag, Thursday is Tacticool and Friday is the 1984 analysis. I am definitely planning on not keeping it this way, but it is convenient for the moment while I am pre-occupied.

This project has grown more refined since I started. Originally, I wasn’t going to finish the drywall. I also wasn’t going to cover the ceiling or the ductwork. One reason that I did it was that it is going to be dark in there and wanted as much reflective surface as possible. In terms of cost, It added may $30, it is more the time that it is going to take to finish the project. I am still on the fence about molding, The cost is again minimal but it is more time and time is something that is pulling at me.

End Your Programming Routine: I should probably set a date to toward and be finished. So, I will arbitrarily pick July 1 to be moved in. If I feel like it, then you probably do to. For now, I am going to power through and keep going.

June 9, 2021 – How are my estimating skills doing?

June 9, 2021 /

Today is the last day that I am going to be able to see inside the office space without going inside. All of the insulating and drywall has been done on the other three walls. It is going to go pretty quickly because it is actually the simplest wall as well. It is exactly 8′ long and only has three protrusions to fit.

I thought that I would take a look at my hours estimate and break down where things are at.

ActEstCompleteDescription
24Xclear out holiday area
22Xremove west floor system, cleanup
42Xremove drywall
44Xinstall interior sheeting
88Xbuild floor
48Xframe east wall
48Xframe west wall
3.58Xframe south wall
48Xframe north wall
8.58electrical
8.58insulation
138interior drywall
8paint
28exterior drywall
28install door
69.5100

If I were to hazard a guess, I would say that things are on track to finish right around the total estimate. What isn’t as accurate is the distribution of tasks within the breakdown. I think that there are some reasons that I will talk about now.

First, I finished framing in about half of the time. I attribute that largely to buying a framing nailer. I can do all of that by hand and I nailed the platform by hand, but there was a significant savings when I started using the new tool.

From what remains, insulation will be done in two hours or so. I still need to terminate all of the electrical. If I were to guess, I would say that is going to be 4-6 hours. The drywall I way underestimated. The out of level floor and walls plus all of the box cuts has taken a lot of fitting to make work. I still have all of the finishing to do as well, which I know is going to take some time. I would guess that I am 8-16 hours remaining.

Hopefully, you can say that I have learned from this to make better estimates in the future. If this were an actual bid, I would have spent more time breaking down the tasks and applying an extra contingency factor to compensate for unknowns. Maybe something like this.

EstCategoryDescription
4Prepclear out holiday area
2remove west floor system, cleanup
2remove south side drywall
4install sheeting
8Framingbuild floor
8frame east wall
8frame west wall
8frame south wall
8frame north wall
6electricalrough electrical
6finish
Prep10
Framing48
electrical15

Hopefully, when you do this enough, you start to develop a proportion of scale. Something like Prep 10%, Framing 25%, Electrical 15%, Finishing 50%. That is when you start to develop a skillset of ‘this feels like a two week job’. From there, you can start to make assumptions based on one element.

Too often people either don’t know what to do or don’t put the effort into breaking down all of the small tasks (like me). I just threw the numbers out based on what seem like an arbitrary guess like I could do this on a Saturday. So, I didn’t spend the time to break down the tasks very well. But I am not getting paid for this, I just wanted a rough breakdown of how long I was going to need to work on the project.

End Your Programming Routine: It feels good to be back in the saddle, almost too good. I would definitely rather be working on this project than what I am supposed to be doing for my job. It seems like that siren song keeps pulling at me. For now, I can afford to dream about what could have been different and live vicariously through my projects. I would definitely recommend tracking your time if you are ever interested in learning how to make accurate estimates.

May 25, 2021- Rough wiring complete, Insulation mostly done

May 25, 2021 /

Time is a consistent theme for me. I never seem to have enough of it. There are the things I want to do, I do some of that. There are the things I have to do, I do those things when I must usually dragging my feet. There are the things that I should do that seem like I rarely do those things.

It is always better when time constraints overlap like should/want and want/need. Planning what I want to write about falls between want to do and should do, but definitely not a have to do. Because of that, I didn’t really have a topic today. My choice of free time is going toward my project work. So you are getting a project update today with a helping of thought provoking commentary.

I have the materials and the wherewithal to finish the insulation. But, without light inside the space, I am delaying the final enclosure as long as possible. I would like to get as much of the drywall installed before I finish the final wall. I do have work lights, but they are a pain. I could also install a temporary fixture, but I would have to daisy chain all the proceeding electrical together first and then it would still be in my way.

I have a little bit of framing, blocking and stiffening work to do, they are all on the north wall to. So, I will see if I run out of things to do before I only have insulation to work on. I do plan on buying the drywall this weekend. That will be the last major chunk of expense. In the mean time, I have two pieces of drywall that I had carefully removed before I started.

For some reason, I didn’t push the right buttons to build a career in this line of business. It would have combined multiple interests like business development and hard skills like building. I suppose that it didn’t turn out to be my lot in life but it is really on my brain all day long. As I sit here doing my work, I can smell the lumber and the craft paper of the insulation and it I keep turning to look at my project causing me to get distracted and scheme about my next moves.

Sometimes, I can’t help myself and start cutting pieces of insulation or pull a run of wire when a meeting is droning on. That gets me thinking along the lines of content generation and how I can utilize my skills and interest in that direction. Pretty soon, I am not paying any attention to what is going on. I am sure that God has a plan for me, I am much less sure what it is.

On an semi-related note, yesterday I was listening to the Outside podcast. They snuck one in on me and the subject matter was an interview with a transgender outdoor athlete. When podcasts get too deep into social justice and social engineering, they don’t last to long in my feed. Outside tends to lean that way to begin with but as long as it is not the only subject matter, then I listen with an open mind.

I do not get it, but I do believe that people can be living lives that do not fit with how they are born. It is clear that when they describe the before and after life that the release is genuine. It makes me wonder what it would feel like to feel that way and how a person would struggle with identity and contentment. Fortunately, my problem is more of building and plan and executing rather than doing something that is impossible.

Circling back to time now. In order for me to re-invent myself, I would need to dedicate the time to do so which is hard. I have things that I want to do as well but it comes down to how much pain is the current situation versus desire to change. For that, I will not complain but continue sculpting whatever my life will end up becoming; I guess that if it was quick, then I would already be doing it.

End Your Programming Routine: I don’t think that I was ever planning on talking about let alone connecting transgender to insulation. Regardless, just like all things that I write about, we have to evaluate the data that we have and execute decisions based on what we think has the best outcome. The most important thing to do is to think about the variables and potential outcomes. At least that way, we don’t continue to do the same things for reasons that we don’t understand.

May 18, 2021 – Framing Basics, Planning for the End

May 18, 2021 /

After yesterday’s heavy self reflection, today we are going back to skills. I had fully intended to get through framing in one shot, but I got a little too wrapped up in pressure treated and the foundation part that I realized this was going to be too much for one post.

In this post, I am going to talk about the little details that will make a huge difference in the outcome of the overall product. So let us get into it. First of all lumber selection and conventional wisdom. Framing an exterior wall would be 2×6 studs and framing that is 16″ on center. This allows for the correct width and thickness of insulation, door openings would fit prehung doors properly and building materials are measured in these types of increments. A 4×8 sheet of drywall will fit perfectly when framed in this convention for instance.

Interior walls are commonly framed using 2×4 walls with 16″ on center. Sixteen inches on center means that the center of one stud is 16″ from the center of the next stud.

With the price of lumber, I examined a lesser used technique of framing 24″ on center. This amount of spacing is often used for sheds, outbuildings and value structures. But my number one goal was comfort. And unfortunately, the cost of 23″ width insulation was five times what it costs of 15″ insulation so the cost proposition was twice as expensive to frame in that manner even though it would have saved about a quarter of the lumber.

Another cost saving technique I did exploit is to use ‘Utility’ grade 2x4s. I found at a local bargain building materials store, I could buy Utility grade 2x4x8 for $5 a board whereas a stud grade (#2 or better) was $7.43. Now, this is not a load bearing structure and I am only using one face. But If I were needing two faces of the 2×4, I would want to be a little more picky. Below is a typical Utility stud.

When building new walls in an old structure, you have to account for non level surfaces. That means that each stud is nailed in place with a technique called toe-nailing or nailing at an angle into the bottom plate. In my back wall, there is about 1/2″ slope from the middle of the wall to the corner. The stud length varies across the run of the wall.

I used both techniques where possible. The traditional nailing through the wood on a flat surface is on the left and toenailing is on the right.

Also, there are some tricks to framing so that you have places to attach the inner surfaces like drywall and sheathing. The picture below shows some extra surfaces to attach drywall.

End Your Programming Routine: Trust me, I have gotten to the point where I am trying to hang drywall in space because I hadn’t learned to think ahead yet. Planning with the end in mind will help tremendously when it comes to cost or efficiency and even the best possible outcome.

May 12, 2021 – One Track Mind

May 12, 2021 /

Yesterday I revealed my affliction. I am in quarantine until Sunday by request of the county. I definitely have stuff that I want to get done and not over do it at the same time. So, I will keep going on my office project.

I have three walls up and I don’t have enough lumber to finish the fourth wall. As much as I want to finish the framing, I can’t leave to get what I need. Fortunately, I can shift gears and work on other aspects. To wait it out, I am going do the following things.

  1. Box in the HVAC duct with rigid insulation
  2. Start the rough wiring, High and Low voltage
  3. Cobble leftover rigid insulation into the bays that are less than 14 1/2″ in width, but after the wiring
  4. Start working on the door. Remove door from the jamb and all hardware. Clean-up loose and flaking stain. Sand and prime door. Cut to height.

I am going to keep it short today for a number of reasons. But there are some pictures of my progress so far.

End Your Programming Routine: Always have contingency plans in your back pocket because you never know when your circumstances will change. As I have been trying to cashflow this project, I had already had thoughts about overrunning my current material stock until the next payday. My real surprise is that I have moved much quicker through the framing than I estimated. I am going about twice as fast as I projected.

May 10, 2021 – Framing Basics, Know Your Foundation Materials

May 10, 2021 /

I know that I want to keep this project on course by continuing to provide ‘how to’ information and not just a status report on my projects along with editorials. So, I thought that I would do a mini series on framing. I don’t claim to know everything but I think I know the fundamentals and I think that I know enough to help the layman or uneducated make better informed decisions. So, what is there to know about framing with respect to materials?

The first thing to know is your application. Is the project outside or inside? Will it ever get wet or touch the ground? Is it going to be load bearing? How is it going to be constructed?

Let’s start talking about ‘Outdoor’ versus ‘Ground Contact’ pressure treated lumber. Depending on what part of the country you live in, some of these products may be more or less accessible. Pressure treated lumber has only been around for about forty years or so, so good building practice is always in order and trumps appropriate materials.

You will see at the home center materials marked ‘Outdoor’ lumber. These are wood species that naturally rot and insect resistant like Redwood, Cedar, Cyprus and some exotics. Depending on the species and grade, they are often significantly more expensive than pressure treated. They are also not grade stamped for loads and spans. For those two reasons, their best uses are fences, decking, railings, outdoor furniture and other non-critical applications.

Pressure Treated is usually hemlock in the west or southern yellow pine in the east. These are treated with a solution of what is called ACQ or Alkaline Copper Quaternary. I won’t get into the science of it all, but that treatment helps defer wood deterioration. You can often times identify the materials by their appearance because they appear green or dark brown.

A better way to tell is that the material is stamped or tagged.

I am old enough to remember the big switch from CCA to ACQ in wood treatment which happened in 2004. The reason I bring it up is fasteners. You see, you cant just use any old fastener and expect it to last. What can happen is a galvanic reaction between copper (in the treatment) and iron (in the fastener) will corrode the fastener into nothing.

For that reason, all fasteners should be hot dipped, galvanized or coated (with paint, not vinyl). But not marked ‘bright’ or electrogalvanized which looks very shiny. The same goes for screws. The good news is that is all sorted out now, so if you buy new fasteners you wont have incompatibilities. I still have fasteners from before the switch, so I need to be mindful of where I put them to use.

There are a slew of plates and connectors and other things depending on what you are doing may or may not be necessary. And frankly, it is beyond the scope of the basics. They are referred to as ‘Simpson Ties’ and there are good reasons to use them for hurricanes and earthquakes and even rot protection.

Lastly, pressure treatment does not absolve good building practices. I have seen (and have) many rotten fence posts because water cannot leave the post when encased in concrete. Another thing I do is treat cut ends with canned preservative when using outside because the treatment does not penetrate completely through the board.

End Your programming Routine: There is a lot to know even to get started. Knowing your conditions and application will enable you to get help in selecting the proper materials if you have questions.

April 28, 2021- Floor is done, can I afford the rest?

April 28, 2021 /

I am not going to go on about the cost of materials. I will say that plywood has gone up 20% in the last month; other building materials as well. I found a good deal at the local ‘discount’ building materials location. This is 3/4″ MDO overlay plywood. It couldn’t be more perfect for my application since I am not planning on putting a finished floor, I am running out of headroom.

I have a few things I can do before buying materials again but my next major move is to buy framing lumber. I can start prepping my door for painting and cutting to size. I am also planning on removing the insulation around the duct work in favor of a more attractive solution like rigid foam. I can also start working on the rough wiring as well.

Today is going to be quick with some pictures of progress. I am moving slowly because I am trying to buy materials as I need them. I am also spending one to two hours a day working on the project, as soon as work ends usually.

April 12, 2021- The Great House Controversy

April 12, 2021 /

I have talked about my home some over the years. But, I don’t think that I have talked about the controversy. Within the county, the date built is listed as 1893. However, talking with a previous home owner it was his belief that it was built in 1873. The theory to the age discrepancy was that was when the first record was recorded with the county. It was his belief that this house was the original structure on the NE corner of the city and that all of the lumber was milled from the site. There is an older house on the block (1846) but it was moved from a different location in the city I was told.

What I do know is that this house has been extensively remodeled and almost none of the original detail remains. Both the exterior and the interior have been removed and replaced. The major model occurred in the late 70s. The original lap was replaced with T111, the windows were replaced, the plaster was removed, knob and tube wire was replaced with Romex and insulation was put in the walls. All changes that improved the livability and moved this house into the next century.

In 2016, we needed to paint the house. There was some rot in existing T111 and today’s building practice (and code) would not allow for replacement so we chose to add Hardi-plank on top of the T111. Subsequently, people started coming out of the woodwork that had a history with this house. We heard it was a boarding house in the 1950s and college apartments in the 1960-70s. One of them was the previous homeowner who brought us a whole stack of photos from before, during and after the remodel in the 1970s.

Because of the photos, I can see that the house is balloon framed. That is where the structural members span from ground to roof. That was a common practice late 1800s. There are two reasons why that practice has fallen out of favor. One is the quality of lumber is not the same as it was one hundred years ago. The second and bigger reason is that in case of fire, there is nothing (what is called blocking) to prevent the fire to spread between floors at a rapid rate.

Another potential clue I have seen is that the framing lumber is true to dimension and often rough sawn. Rough sawn means that it came from the mill without running through a planer. But, true to dimension is a bigger clue. I ran across this document while I was doing some quick research on the subject about the history of the lumber industry. It appears that lumber standards were adopted in 1902 for the west coast. Interesting, but not helpful if trying to figure out the year built before the standard or even milled on site.

I am still looking for the smoking gun. One thing I found while cleaning up under the house was this ‘Halls Catarrh Cure’ bottle. It definitely has an interesting story, if you are interested. My research indicated that it was from the was the 1890s period, but still not conclusive.

Maybe the best piece of evidence I have to date is this floor covering scrap. When we removed the carpet for my wife’s office space last fall, it exposed a jute backed linoleum.

I forgot that I took this picture until yesterday when I was chatting with my son about what I was going to do for a floor in the new office. He was telling me that a local lady was giving away used linoleum and I was trying to understand what he was saying. Strangely enough, I realized that we didn’t have any linoleum in our house and neither do a lot of people we know currently. Again, this is not conclusive, however I do believe that I could date the pattern, it would be a more solid indicator of age.

Finally, the county historical society does have a collection of photos. I have casually looked and have not found a photo of my particular house. I do believe that I can make an appointment and dig in more seriously, but I haven’t prioritized it over the other many other things I have to do. It might be as simple as just asking the question and having one of the curators point me in the right direction.

And so the controversy continues. Will it ever be resolved? Who knows, but I enjoy finding little things like this.

April 6, 2021- Maintenance Today

April 6, 2021 /

One thing that people who don’t run a website might not know is that it actually requires active effort. Everyday when I login to the dashboard to begin writing, there is a Health summary on issues that are outstanding. Some are warnings and some are actual issues.

Today, I wasn’t able to login to the dashboard to write. I had some issues with the SSL certificate. It seems like every two months, there is some kind of problem with SSL. I suspect that if I ponied up some money, that I wouldn’t have this problem and probably wouldn’t have to make changes.

I bumbled my way through fixing the problem. I also found some suggested improvements, which I also made. One nice thing is that even though I know very little about Linux, I can usually search and find some answers on the internet. Even platform and provider issues there is usually some help.

Since I dont have time to generate a more material today, you will have to settle for a picture of my progress on the office project. It is slow, but moving one small piece at a time.

The next step is to remove the drywall to the right of the desk. I am going to frame around the block so that I can insulate properly because believe me, it is cold down here. More on that later.