Category: Projects

July 15, 2021 – I Learned Something This Week

July 15, 2021 /

I have run into this problem multiple times where the door jamb does not sit properly into the opening. The generic problem is described as the wall is out of plumb. In my ignorance of the past, I have tried to build up the drywall around the protruding jamb rather than try to deal with it.

I ran into the problem last year when I was working on the apartment as well. Then I did some casework last summer for a relative with the same problem. It all boiled down to the fact that I did not know how to handle a door frame when the opening is not plumb.

First of all what not to do. Do not put in the door out of plumb so it appears to fit properly. That part I knew because it will cause the door to fly open, slam shut or hit on the floor. To operate properly, the jamb needs to be installed close to plumb and square. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but close for nice operation.

Second, I have no one to blame but myself. I should have taken more care when framing so that I didn’t have this problem in the first place. I was so anxious to get things up that I didn’t think through the consequences of a bit of sloppiness. You can read yesterday’s post about minding the small things.

But how to fix it? It comes down to a bunch of extra fiddling (or work) to shave or add material to the jamb so that the trim will sit flush in the end. If the jamb is proud of the wall, then sometimes you can nail the trim on anyway depending on how much it is sticking out. The trick I saw when looking up ideas was to plane the jamb until it was flush with the drywall.

In my case, on one side of the wall it was close enough that I didn’t have to plane. But on the other sided of the wall the jamb was 5/8″ shy of the wall at the bottom. That means the wall was tipped inward. I also had some extra framing errors that kicked the the drywall out more than was necessary.

In the end, I had to cut a tapered shim to match the tilt of the wall so that the trim will sit flush. Or said another way, I built up the jamb to match the gap. That took time plus it will require additional filling and sanding. Debating what to do or even if I wanted to deal with trim has impacted my productivity some. I had to figure out how to cut the taper in finish carpentry fashion, plus mill the material, plus test it and attach it.

By the way, I didn’t look too hard but I only found half of the equation on YouTube. I saw a couple of examples of planing off proud jambs. I had to deduce that if you removed material on one half of the problem you must have to add for the other half of the equation. So that is the new technique I learned this week.

End Your Programming Routine: I took this on not because the project required it but as an exercise in learning. This is one of the areas that I have struggled in, trim around doors. The finished product will speak for itself but so far this is a huge improvement in the things that I have tried before.

July 14, 2021 – Mind the Little Things

July 14, 2021 /

Something that has annoyed me for a long time is the heat pump condenser drain doesn’t function well. The tubing is too limp and crimps to easily causing the pump to just run until the reservoir is over full and then it leaks onto the floor. It doesn’t leak often or a lot, but potentially things are getting wet that I really don’t want.

I should take my own advice sometimes because I don’t always mind the little things. Part of the damage on the apartment I had to rebuild last year was a result of not paying attention to the warning signs. I have some rot on the shop siding as well, I need to get that handled before it turns into a bigger problem. I am planning to do that work in the fall because I don’t want to kill the flowers that are growing in the area that I need to access.

Getting back to my current issue, this is a seasonal problem. Also because this has never been a dry basement everything is pretty well placed to prevent water damage. However, my guard is down from the normal wet season and I am trying to wrap up the office project so the basement is not really water ready. The other mental trap is out of sight, out of mind.

My plan is to run the condenser line into the sump rather than outside the wall. That will prevent the pinching that occurs with the tubing between siding. I purchased the materials to do the work for less than $16. I ran the line in about 10 minutes. It will take me probably another 20 minutes to secure the tubing properly and this quick project will be done.

In theory, there is one drawback to this solution. If for some reason the sump pump fails, then there is a risk of overfilling the sump. But, I believe that the water output is minimal and I doubt that there will ever be enough volume to trigger the pump. So, I believe that the risk is very low.

End Your Programming Routine: It is often the case that the consequences of decisions (or lack there of) are not realized until sometime in the future. Experience teaches you that if something doesn’t look correct, it probably isn’t. You still may not have enough information to predict the outcome if the situation is not corrected. So it is best to deal with things when you can.

July 13, 2021 – Sealing Air Leaks For Comfort

July 13, 2021 /

Having lived in old and new houses, they both have their advantages. New houses are energy efficient, provide the conveniences that are desirable and laid out in a way that appeals to our sensibilities. I prefer the old personally, I like the character. But that does come with many drawbacks.

One of those drawbacks is that retrofits often damages the integrity of the building envelope (said more plainly: holes where there didn’t used to be). Another one is materials built for one function but used differently. For example, windows were built to operate. Because they were made of wood, tolerances needed to accommodate for thermal movement and swelling due to water. So, there was some play in how tightly they fit in the jamb. So, if there is no weather stripping, this becomes a perfect place for a lot of air leaking.

One of the podcasts that I listen to, the Fine Homebuilding podcast talks a lot about this subject. Believe me, it seems like there is a lot to know on this subject particularly when it comes to HVAC sizing, efficiency and comfort. In my case, I don’t have to go to higher tech testing or solutions to find some high value and low cost improvements.

When I started working in the basement, it was winter. The normal temperature was around 57 degrees before the heat came on. If I ran the heater all day, I would see the temperature come up to 64 degrees by the end of the day. As we have moved into summer, the ambient temperature changed to around 62 degrees. It is still too cold to be comfortable in most cases. This was the first driver to build my office space was the desire to be more comfortable during the day.

As I moved to the north end of the basement, I could actually feel the temperature get colder. I knew that there was outdoor air leakage, but I took some pictures that your could see a couple of problems.

It doesn’t take a lot of imagination that when you see daylight that there is air leakage happening (not to mention water and vermin). I was looking around right before the heat wave and I saw something that not only could I address but it would be helpful. Under our kitchen is a crawlspace and that is vented directly outside. Essentially, the basement has the leaks shown but also 2 square feet of holes directly to the outside.

I had leftover rigid insulation so I built a box around the hole. As a result, I have seen morning temperatures move from 62 to 68 degrees. I have no doubt that in the winter it will be somewhat colder I am guessing add five degrees to 57 but I guess we will see.

There is one drawback to this modification which I have considered. Potentially, the air leakage in the winter provided a degree of warmth that kept pipe freezing to a minimum. I have had freezing on the hose bibs before but never in the kitchen plumbing. I may decide to remove this modification if the temperatures get significantly below freezing.

I do have one other option. It is not clear from the picture, but there is heat tracing on the piping. Most of it is in suspect condition and I have been removing it wherever it is in the way but I could hook it back up and then I wouldn’t have to remove my new box.

End Your Programming Routine: While there is no doubt that my results are anecdotal and not scientific I saw immediate change the day after installation. The cost was free since I did not have to purchase anything additional and it took me about two hours to build, fit and install the box. I expect that this will not only make the basement more comfortable, but also I think it will have an small energy impact on the whole house. At the very least, I will not need to run the heater so much in the basement.

July 9, 2021- Close, But no Cigar

July 9, 2021 /

I am still dealing with the post 4th of July sluggishness. It has been a super busy week again with lots of moving parts. I didn’t get any more read in 1984 and I made slow progress on my project.

I had set a move in target of July 1 for my office. Here on July 9, I am close but not there yet. I am still messing around with the door and jamb. I need to get that set so that I can nail the trim on. Once that is done, I can move in (without the door). Here are some pictures of the current state.

I am currently at 105.5 hours and my estimate was 100 hours. I forgot to include time for trim, but that is not the real reason for my overage. I am going to give a full accounting when I completely finish. I would guess that I have 10 or so more hours to go. It depends on how much door modification I ultimately decide to do.

It is the summer time, so the temp is much more bearable in the basement. In fact it is staying 68-70 degrees F. The urgency has subsided a little bit but it is a far cry from sweatshirt, coat and stalking cap with the heater on. Truthfully, when it was over 100 degrees last week, it was still 68 degrees down here. When I was working in shorts and a t-shirt, I was cold.

End Your Programming Routine: I the end, a goal is just that. There were things that I could have re-prioritized to finish this faster. But, I have no need to push it. Despite that there are other things that also need to get done, so the longer this drags on the more things get backed up. Ultimately, I am happy with where I am at and still motivated to get this done.

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.