Is that brown joint compound or just weird lighting?

really bad lighting

actually there is no lighting - just a camera flash

Made me a washer/dryer table so I don't have to bend over all the time.

Before



After



This was my first shot at anything like this. Didn't come out as well as I had hoped. I'm not sure if it was because I used crappy cheap pine or I didn't take a belt sander to it before staining. Most of the bad spots will be covered up, though. I'm fine with it and I learned stuff in case I want to do something like this again.

Window sill question.

I never put interior window sills in from the first remodel over 10 years ago. So, I think it's time.

The distance from the edge of the window to the edge of the sheetrock is exactly 3". My first idea was to use 1x6 for the sill but that leaves 2 1/2 " sticking out. It seems/looks like too much. Does this seem right?

I guess I could rip an inch off? I really don't want to get a router but I don't see any way around it for window sills. The squared edges don't seem right. Maybe after I put a curve on the edge it won't seem like it sticks out too much? I dunno.

Suggestions?

Really really wanted to get the laundry room painted today since I've got siding all lined up for next week. Sheetrock still wet, though. May not get to it until the weekend which means no washer/dryer. Gonna have to re-use some underwear I guess.

Table looks pretty good imo. Pine's a tough material to get good furniture out of.

2-1/2" seems a bit much. I'd definitely rip it down an inch or so. I'm sure you can find some sort of trim with a bullnose for the sills, but it's probably going to end up costing more than buying a cheapo router & table and DIY. Or skip the table and just rig up some sort of fence. No way you can freehand something like that and get good results.

Try a pawn shop for the router? I bet you can find one for < $50.

Pawn shop is an excellent idea.

Today was the big day!

But first, a little rant.

So, I have this 25ft. compressor hose that leaks. The female connector leaks. Not where it's attached to the hose. The actual connector. It will work fine, but the compressor is constantly going on and off. It gets super annoying.

So, since I was going to have to put the compressor right next to the neighbors door - they were nice enough to let me use their outlet today - I decide to get a new hose. The hoses don't come with the connectors so the guy at Lowe's gave me the connectors.

I get it home and put everything together and the male end of the new hose snapped in to the female end of another hose I have. So, I figure all is good.

Well, we go to set it up today and the gun won't fit into the new female connector. It is just the wrong size. So, I run to Lowe's with my old hose to make sure I get the right connector and I just can't find a female that fits. Since my hose is pretty old maybe the male is wrong? I dunno. So, after a lot of trying to get different connectors to work ( none did) I decide to see if they even carried one that fit the gun. The gun I bought is on display so I had the actual gun to test with. Not a single female connector worked.

So, I flag down a Lowe's guy who happened to be the manager of the tool department. He confirmed to me that they do not carry the connector that fits on the guns they sell. He told me he's been bitching about it for a long time and they still don't carry them.

Jeebus, how bad is that?

In other related news, I sent feedback to Lowe's for my tile order problem (not sure I've posted about that or not). Anyways, I used the word "crappy" and the form rejected it. So, I typed "cr*ppy" so it would get past their filter. I just got an email from them saying they rejected my feedback because I "violated the terms of service". Geez.

Methinks someone at Lowe's is gonna get an earful here pretty soon.

So, today was the big siding day. It went smooth as can be. City disconnected. Electricians did their thing. We put the sheathing and siding on. Process then reversed. The only glitch was apparently the panel was not grounded properly. The inspector gave me a temporary tag and called Austin Energy to get me turned on. The electricians had to hammer a pretty long (6' maybe) rod into the ground which ain't easy in Austin ground. The inspector will come out again tomorrow and OK it.

There's a substantial bow on this side of the house and it makes the siding buckle some. Not much I can do about it.

All in all it was a good day.

Also, the tile was delivered today. No word on when the installers will be here but I really wanted to get the laundry room painted before they came.

So, I painted the laundry room tonight. I am tired. And hungry.

Hopefully it won't need a second coat, but it might.

Long day but we finished the last side. Yay. It was super tedious. Moving ladders back and forth. Lots of climbing up and down. Really tiring. But we got it done.

Lowe's called. Tile guys won't be here for another week. Ugh.

I've got a few loose ends to clean up with the siding. A couple of spots I have to do adjustments/caulk.

But, this is going to be a pain. I don't know how well you can see this but it's a small area under the gable that I need to cover up. Can't get a gun in there at all and I don't know about even a hammer. I'm thinking some super strong wood glue. Maybe I can get a drill in there to screw things down. Probably gonna take most of the day.

+1 to glue. A couple dabs of PL400 and something to hold it in place for 24 hours will do the trick.

Got that little area fixed up. Wasn't horrible. Somehow the piece of soffit I cut sort of just snapped into place. Not sure how. The side pieces (sheathing and siding) were pretty easy because I had a lot of scrap with the right angle already laying around. I was able to get a couple of screws in the side. Glued everything and braced the soffit. The hardest part was getting that glue out of the tube. Took all my strength on the caulk gun.

The end result looks decent if you just don't look at it.

Also, there's a reasonable chance I've trapped some sort of animal in my attic. That's an entryway I sealed up. I'm pretty sure I heard some scurrying.

Anyways, that's it for the siding I think. I'm going to request an inspection and hope for the best.

Confirmed neighbor's cat. Removed successfully.

Well, I'm trying very unsuccessfully to schedule a final inspection.

The city has supposedly set up a way to do this online. I registered successfully and have a password and everything. However, I can't pull up a permit. I can go to the portion of the website that does not require a logon and it comes up just fine. But the logged in portion doesn't. I tried everything. Permit number, address, etc. Nothing. I'm pretty sure it's not user error because I am cutting and pasting the same info on both sides.

So, I tried calling. It says I haven't got all the necessary inspections completed but it doesn't tell me which one.

My first suspicion is the electric. There is still a temporary inspection tag. I don't think the electricians called for another final.

I'm sort of running out of time here. My permit expires in about 2 weeks. I really don't want to go through trying to extend it. It looks as painful as getting a new one.

Bought a router. Put second coat of paint in laundry room. Put first coat of paint in guest bathroom. Did some caulking. I probably need a caulking tutorial. I somehow manage to get more on me than anything else. Also, I hope everyone owns caulk stock because I've gone through a bunch.

So, got a little down today. I look around and everything is a mess. My yard is destroyed. My driveway is a trash pile. My deck is a total mess. My living room is a construction zone with a washer and dryer in the middle of the room. My laundry room and guest bath aren't functional. The rest of the house has cracked walls everywhere. It's just a bit too much.

I realize I've done a lot and I'm making progress but sheesh, this is all I do and I just can't seem to have anything finished and nice. It's just demoralizing.

/whine

When you are done it is going to be ****ing sweet.

For what it's worth I'm pretty impressed with what you've done. But then again I have little to no talent for this stuff so it doesn't take much to impress me.

To make a better order, you often first have to make a great disorder. It's like a Chinese proverb or something. Hang in there, you're a legend.

Thanks guys.

Put second coat on the guest bath. Cleaned up and put back together the laundry room. Made window sills for both rooms and put a coat of paint on them.

I originally thought pine would do for the window sills but I made one and painted it and it looked pretty bad. Went with poplar.

Second cat extracted from attic.

lol

Tile guy came today. There's always something. He left a gap between the tile and the wood floor. The pic might look a little confusing. The green is frog tape. The brown next to the frog tape is the wood floor. The gap is dark grey. Before there was a much smaller gap and it was grouted. Now, there's just a big gap. I have no clue what to do with this. I'm just so frustrated that I just can't have anything completed. It just seems like there's a neverending list of something else to do.

The second pic is the whole floor. Other than that gap it looks OK. Except it really looks like it's not level. Like there's a dip which just happens to be where the decking was a little off. I pointed it out to the guy and he said he would take care of it. After it all dries I'll check it out better. Might just be an optical illusion.

Well, the electrician is having problems getting a signoff from the city. They (electrician) left a message saying the city needed some sort of affidavit in writing from them. She said if all goes well it will be approved Monday.