Not sure why this is in the home ownership thread, but if you like it, why not just get another Norelco? If it weren't for the battery issue, I'd say just buy a set of replacement blades on Amazon, but a whole new handset isn't that much more than the blades.

Get a horizontal one instead of the three spinners. Everyone's face is different, so that may be the wrong advice for ya. I can knock out a shave in under 2 minutes with a fresh mach 5, so I gave up on the electric stuff long ago. I guess if you have a late business meeting or dinner you may have to clean up, but **** that noise.

I use a dog grooming kit on my face. Was way cheaper.

Being old, I get my exercise by walking. Noticed a couple of new solar installations in the neighborhood this summer. This pleases me.

I'd guess ~10% of the houses in my neighborhood have solar.

Well I just bought my first house after the last 6 years of condo ownership. Payed 405k for a small house that needs a bit of TLC, but is in otherwise good shape. They were asking 410k which had been lowered from 429k where it sat on the market for something like four months. I feel like I did well. The house showed poorly but underneath I think it's a quality place.

My plan is to rent out my condo, which hopefully works because the condo market here isn't great. My theory is that if there's an uptick in rates it might cool off the housing market in the area, which will make condos more appealing to entry level buyers. Then I can get out of it in a year or so for around what I paid for it.

Good luck Dino! Welcome to the club.

How would you wrap the post in PVC here? Usually the PVC post wrap is made for straight columns, but considering the angle piece here and header board, I'm wondering what my options are.



I'm guessing literally get some PVC and cut the precise pieces necessary. Painting it isn't going to look good.

started my patio project by moving my fire pit and adding onto my paver deck... slowly but surely.

How much of a pita is building a paver deck? It seems so easy in theory but will make you want to kill yourself 2 hours in

I'm either painting this all a color that complements whatever is above(proper primed and two coats), or finishing it off with white wood trim. There's no real way pvc doesn't look like ass. Too much going on at top of column, which I personally think looks nice, but hey.


Edit: Is that brace joined with the column and the beam, or is it just nailed up there? It honestly doesn't look like it is doing much structurally.

Solid job MSchu18.

I'm with 27 on bill's question. I think it looks nice as is, would probably just use some clear sealant and keep the wood look.

I think the time for PVC was as it was being built. Trying to do it now, particularly with that angled support, is probably not going to be a great look. Maybe you can get away with hiding a seam on top of the angle? And do you just want to wrap the post? Leaving the beam natural wood?

Personally, I think it looks pretty good as is. I'd probably paint the whole thing, though, to try and hide the exposed metal plate/tab where post meets beam.

Like 27, I also question the structural need for that angled piece...based on how short it is and the size of the beam, it doesn't seem like it's needed. Is it 'decorative' to match existing structure?

Grunching.....did BilldaCat hire some crackheads to reframe his balcony?
You still paying those mfers's?

That looks really nice!

Hard work pays off!

I'll get some better shots of it but I kinda question the integrity of it as well. I was thinking worst case I'd want another angled piece on the other side to make it symmetrical.

The wood looks good, but I'm not sure if 2 coats of paint would hide the exposed metal plates like you mentioned. Maybe I'll just leave it as is.

But yeah, this project started in May and is still ongoing. I'm happy with it structually now -- that beam they put in is a beast.

Edit: probably don't need the pics. Just 4 lag bolts on each angled piece, 2 at the top, 2 at the bottom.

Got tired of refilling my sink's soap dispenser from the top. Always made a mess when it overfilled and the little bottle would run out way too quick.

Purchased extention hose and now run it to a gallon of Dawn stored under the sink. Bliss! Well worth the 10 bucks or so the kit cost on Amazon

Excellent tip.

I find those built-in soap dispensers messy and more problems than they are worth.

Well that kinda pisses me off that I didn't think of that or hear about it until now. It probably shouldn't, so maybe good for a cross post into that thread.

But what an excellent solution! I removed the built-in and capped the hole a few years ago after having to fill it way too often. I might see if I can find it and try this out. Thanks.

What did you use you to level it off?


That's a mother****er of a job, especially if drawn out, and back breaking.

Bill,

i agree with the majority of previous opinions about that angled brace. it looks like the rim joist is the same size as the rest of the joists, which would make the angled brace unnecessary from a gravity load standpoint because the rim joist is carrying half the tributary load (i.e. doing less structural work) as the field joists. it also looks like a few additional pieces of wood were screwed on to the sided of the rim joist to allow the angled brace to flush out at the top. however, the angled brace may be contributing to lateral stiffness at the top of the column...was this deck engineered?

that's not some low grade wood that was used to frame your deck, i'm thinking you already paid a bit of a premium for it. IMO covering it in pvc, or even paint, seems unnecessary and an additional cost. find a full body stain with a color to your liking and show off the wood, the simpson column cap is just fine.

Schu - appreciate the work with those pavers, that **** ain't easy. i do have a question: how many people/chairs do you plan on having around your fire pit? looks like four will fit pretty comfortably at a 45* angle, i assume you aren't expecting more than that?

yeah, the beam they said they got on half price from Home Depot and admitted it's overkill for our project. said it was usually $1300 and they got it for $650.

screened in porch above is still in progress -- we took down the deck that was off to the side of the photos as we just never used it and wanted to open up the hot tub area. waiting on them to finish the inside of the porch (previous deck boards were left under one of the walls, they didn't frame the door right, not sure why they didn't run the plywood directly under the walls, etc).

i'll see what they say whenever they show back up.

Another cheap home upgrade I did was install an electronic front door lock.

Assuming you live in a decent area and are just looking to have your front door 'lock' behind you when you enter. Invaluable if you have teenagers or close friends nearby as they can basically walk right in without a key but you never have to leave your door unlocked. I used a Schlage Camelot which was about $100 at Lowes but I am sure there are many options out there that perform about the same.