DIY home improvements ITT

[Uncle-Phil]

Got this bad boy setup and put to use this weekend



Bosch 4100 with gravity rise stand. Bought it to facilitate building a new dining room table

how much did you pay for it? anything you dont like about it?

[ugottabjoshinme]

Got the center of my walk way done today. Now I have to make several forms and cut them to fit between the center and my edging to fill it in. Could use some brainstorming help on this part. I wont be able to pour these directly on top of the sand base since the mold wont fit so I'll be doing them off to the side and then cutting them down while the cement is still wet. It seems like the sand helps pull the moisture out of the cement and it sets up pretty quick but, for the first partial stones I started pouring, I put the mold down and poured them on a piece of plywood so it would be easy to scrape off and sit down in the walk way. Been about 2 and a half hours now and it still hasn't set up anywhere near where I could pick it up and try installing it.

You all have any suggestions on a material I could pour these on to help them set up quicker? So far the two things I've come up with are to get a sheet of plywood and frame 2x4s around and fill it with sand to make a bed where I could pour them. The other is buying a sheet of that foam board that's used for garage door insulation and see if it would work.

There is no way to cut the mold to make it fit?

Building the sand box is a decent idea. If they set up quicker great, but at least with the sand you will be able to get under it easier to get it out.

[Adarus]

There is no way to cut the mold to make it fit?

Building the sand box is a decent idea. If they set up quicker great, but at least with the sand you will be able to get under it easier to get it out.

Nah I could cut it up for one of those sections, but then the next time I need to use that particular stone the size would be off. I'm thinking the sandbox may be my best bet, may even go buy a few of those kiddie pools to use, they'll be cheaper than plywood.

[Hayes21890]

Crazy correlation between the Football Threads getting fired up and this thread dying about the same time haha! But, I am gonna agree, been watching more football/checking my fantasy teams than doing any stuff around the house.

[Adarus]

Crazy correlation between the Football Threads getting fired up and this thread dying about the same time haha! But, I am gonna agree, been watching more football/checking my fantasy teams than doing any stuff around the house.

I wish I could blame football. Work, gym, classes, and a new baby are taking all of my time atm. I am managing a little work on the weekends though, got about 3/4 of the sides done for my walk this weekend after the rain. Any of you all ever stained concrete? This stuff is drying in different shades, I'd like to get it all more of a uniform gray when I'm done.

[SpeedCheeser]

looking good so far though.


And I don't think I could care any less about football.

[Adarus]

looking good so far though.


And I don't think I could care any less about football.

I like watching it but it's something that I've just got on while I'm working on something else. I don't know the last time I sat down and just watched a football game.

I've got a new router bit that should be delivered today as well, I'm going to make a router sled and use it to flatten the walnut slab I got a while back for a bar top.

[Hayes21890]

I have never stained concrete but I have painted it with a product and it turned out pretty good.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Rust-Oleu...7327/205738634

You can select from a variety of colors and you can decide if you want a textured finish based on the style of roller you use.

[reddanak]

Spruced up the laundry room/closet this weekend so the wife would have somewhere nicer to do her chores. New paint, cabinets, receptacles and switches. Just need to settle on flooring and get the baseboard trim in.

[JoshSP1985]

Should have tiled that floor broseph nice improvement though

[reddanak]

Should have tiled that floor broseph nice improvement though

Seriously... that laminate is from 1984. It's as old as I am, lol.

Going to tile the bathrooms and this room the same... so whenever we settle on something for the more visible rooms, I'll do it here too.

[t_raven]

Some of ya have probably seen my project cars thread, but I did a little work that's more house related so I'll post it here.

I moved all my cars, put road base down behind my shop, and put up a metal shed.





I replaced the OHD at the back of the shop with some swinging doors I built. Built out of 2x4s, OSB and I think it's cedar ciding on the inside painted black.



The outside has been bare OSB and I had spare siding I was going to put on so they match the exterior. I finally got around to putting it on.



The right door opens first so I cut the siding to be short on the left and long on the right to overlap the gap. When I paint the exterior, I'll paint the doors to match. The bottom 2 pieces are backwards and will be painted to match the concrete.

[gixxer0.6g]

My new favorite youtube channel. Going to make some model rockets with my son this weekend
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1z...rQHgLTVfobLi_g

[FL_Z32]

Spruced up the laundry room/closet this weekend so the wife would have somewhere nicer to do her chores. New paint, cabinets, receptacles and switches. Just need to settle on flooring and get the baseboard trim in.

I raise you.......



Before (right before I moved in):








After (still need to build cabinet doors, install counter lights, finish chair rail, and put crown up):











If anyone's interested, I've been documenting my house renovation for the last 2.5 years at http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showth...hp?t=161158113

[t_raven]

^^That laundry room looks great. I wanna build a top over my washer and drier. The tops are getting all scratched and dented from my wife kneeling on them to get into the cabinet.

[FL_Z32]

^^That laundry room looks great. I wanna build a top over my washer and drier. The tops are getting all scratched and dented from my wife kneeling on them to get into the cabinet.

I used really cheap framing lumber, 2x8s and 2x6s. In retrospect, it would have been a lot easier if I used a higher quality wood. I had to sand the crap out of it after I put it together since it was so uneven. But hey, it turned out good!

[taf1968]

Not a construction/improvement thing, but here's a maintenance item that others might find useful.

I needed to clean the coils on the kitchen fridge . . . but was dreading it because it makes a freaking mess. Vacuum only reaches so far and the compressor blows crap everywhere. Ran across this the other day and tried it over the last weekend. Worked like a charm.

Cliffs:

- Tape cheap furnace filter to back of box fan
- Put fan behind fridge with filter facing back of fridge and turn on
- Use compressor to blow dust/etc out the back
- Dust sticks to filter because fan creates suction to catch it

[TexasBrah]

Spruced up the laundry room/closet this weekend so the wife would have somewhere nicer to do her chores. New paint, cabinets, receptacles and switches. Just need to settle on flooring and get the baseboard trim in.

Plan on removing the blue film from the washer/dryer?

[Adarus]

A while back I posted a slab of Walnut I got that I plan to make a bar top from. After the company that was supposed to plane it down for me went NC I decided to build a router sled and do it myself. Got one side done this evening.

Just before I started


About halfway through


Lots of sawdust, it'll need a good sanding to remove the router marks but one side is nice and flat now at least. Took about two hours to get through the full 8' piece.

[FL_Z32]

A while back I posted a slab of Walnut I got that I plan to make a bar top from. After the company that was supposed to plane it down for me went NC I decided to build a router sled and do it myself. Got one side done this evening.

Just before I started
[img]http://i.imgur.com/x0SpE1Ojpg[/
About halfway through
[img]http://i.imgur.com/z7cnRr7l.jpg[/

Lots of sawdust, it'll need a good sanding to remove the router marks but one side is nice and flat now at least. Took about two hours to get through the full 8' piece.
[img://i.imgur.com/pqVKgdWl.jpg[/img]

Dang brah, does this make you want to invest in a planer?

[Adarus]

Dang brah, does this make you want to invest in a planer?

I have a planer but it's only 12" and this piece is about 14" wide. As big as this piece is I wonder how much a 24" planer would struggle with it unless it was a higher end 3-phase model.

[Adarus]

Finish my walkway this weekend, going to probably be spring before I'll be able to spray a stain on them so I'm holding off on adding the black sand in atm.


Got the other side of my walnut slab flattened and a straight edge cut on one side. For the side that will be in the living room I'm leaving it live edge.

[amikaelmorris]

you did a good job filling in those gaps on the side of the mold, makes it look much more finished than just a straight 2ft wide pathway. beauty of a slab too, i saw some really cool furniture at the county fair with live edges and big knots and splits showcased instead of cut off, really made me appreciate wood in it's natural state like that. guy had made a side table from a live sawn tree that had a big internal void, he had mitered it in the middle of the void to make oen of the legs so it was kinda like if you connected two Y shaped pieces at the top of the Y, really unique.

i would never have had the patience to rig up a router slide like that though, i would've completely lost my mind with such small passes. probably would've ended up making some kind of sliding jig and put a huge face mill in the milling machine and ruined the slab in the process..

[DatPass]

Well this is my adventure for the day... never buy a house from a phucking plumber, bent 3 plumbers sockets out of shape on the 1.5mm of purchase i could get between this thing and the tiles/brick then raged out and cut faces into the prick. When it popped i thought i had shattered the pipe in the wall and swore my head off (block house and it's behind a built in kitchen counter):









Mirin that board pretty hard Adarus, I'm planning on getting back into some woodwork soon but i dont really have the space except for a tiny shed. Chit is going to be a bit of an effort.

[Adarus]

you did a good job filling in those gaps on the side of the mold, makes it look much more finished than just a straight 2ft wide pathway. beauty of a slab too, i saw some really cool furniture at the county fair with live edges and big knots and splits showcased instead of cut off, really made me appreciate wood in it's natural state like that. guy had made a side table from a live sawn tree that had a big internal void, he had mitered it in the middle of the void to make oen of the legs so it was kinda like if you connected two Y shaped pieces at the top of the Y, really unique.

i would never have had the patience to rig up a router slide like that though, i would've completely lost my mind with such small passes. probably would've ended up making some kind of sliding jig and put a huge face mill in the milling machine and ruined the slab in the process..

Thanks, to be honest filling in the side pieces of that walkway was much more tedious than the router sled. The first side of the slab did take a little while but the second side I was able to flatten out in a little over 30 minutes yesterday. I thought cutting the straight edge was going to be more of a challenge but I was able to use my track saw to do that fairly quickly. I'm researching a few different ways to sand the live edge now, looks like the most common is going over it with a drill/wire brush then sanding. I'll test that out on a section of the slab I wont be using.

[phikappa]

I don't know if this has been posted before in this thread, but reddit has a DIY sub-section. Plenty of neat stuff in there.

https://www.reddit.com/r/DIY/?count=26&before=t3_54id50

[PatheticPeter]

in on this.

finally moved into new house last week, and as most houses around here, it's a wreck inside.
anyone in midwest do a sump pump/french drain installation? this isn't something i'm dying (i will do the demo and renovation, but leave flood control to professionals).

just trying to get a feel for cost.

[ugottabjoshinme]

I started building a TV stand to match the coffee table posted a couple pages back.

TV Stand finally finished! Turned out better than I was expecting.

[phikappa]

TV Stand finally finished! Turned out better than I was expecting.

Looks nice! You got a Kreg jig?

[ugottabjoshinme]

I got a Kreg R3 (the cheap one)



I use a cheap quick squeeze clamp that fits in the circle part. I don't think you need their clamp. I have one of the Kreg right angle clamps which is actually pretty handy.