The Home Improvement Thread

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
We got the upstairs sheetrocked. And the upstairs is already on it's second coat of mud, so it's moving along nicely.
The guys are sheetrocking the downstairs right now. They should be done by the end of the week.


It pays to be paranoid. I went ahead and told my plumber to replace the main water valve that feeds the house. I got a badass high quality brass one for free from an overstock order at work so I had him put that in. My plumber was hesitant to do it at first because nothing was wrong with it, but I insisted and I'm glad I did because we found the old Chinese Tallow tree roots growing in and around the PVC supply line. So we cut all of that out and replaced the valve.

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Then my plumber dug up and fixed the absolute garbage mess that was the sprinkler and pier water supply line. I had the sprinkler line capped off because like everything else in the house, it was installed incorrectly and none of the sprinkler lines worked. I also hate sprinkler systems and I don't give a shit what my st. augustine grass looks like because it always grows back lol

This pvc connection was concreted over (we couldn't figure out why as it made no sense) and broke as soon as we picked it up. That line fed the pier and sprinkler system.
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This was the rat's nest of shit they took out. There's 4 valves there in that mess.

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I went ahead and had my plumber fix the waterline to the pier since he had to run to the store to get fittings anyways. So my pier is hooked back up to a water line and it has a copper flex line between the bulkhead and the walking platform. He also added an air nipple fitting so I can hook up and airline to it and blow out all of the water in the supply pipe so it won't bust when it freezes.
 
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CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
Putting in cabinets in the laundry room. Tired of looking at the junky metal shelf with everything exposed.

Before:
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During:
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I ran out of paint for the doors. I had a few leftover soft close hinges that aren't the right size. Plan to finish painting the doors when it is not raining and getting them installed. Will eventually get the proper sized soft close hinges, but the cheap ones they came with are fine for now.

In true builder quality fashion, the studs are not 16" apart. Each cabinet only has 1 stud behind it. They are attached at the frame face, so that adds some support. I'm contemplating putting a board across the bottom to help spread the load and give them somewhat of a shelf to sit on. However, for just holding laundry detergent type stuff, they are probably fine as is.

Next step is to move the washer over and add a sink. Have to redo the washer pan before I can move it though. Also need to get the trim edges for the sides and top so that they aren't just open.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Putting in cabinets in the laundry room. Tired of looking at the junky metal shelf with everything exposed.

Before:
View attachment 50032

During:
View attachment 50031 View attachment 50030

I ran out of paint for the doors. I had a few leftover soft close hinges that aren't the right size. Plan to finish painting the doors when it is not raining and getting them installed. Will eventually get the proper sized soft close hinges, but the cheap ones they came with are fine for now.

In true builder quality fashion, the studs are not 16" apart. Each cabinet only has 1 stud behind it. They are attached at the frame face, so that adds some support. I'm contemplating putting a board across the bottom to help spread the load and give them somewhat of a shelf to sit on. However, for just holding laundry detergent type stuff, they are probably fine as is.

Next step is to move the washer over and add a sink. Have to redo the washer pan before I can move it though. Also need to get the trim edges for the sides and top so that they aren't just open.
If you're worried about the cabinets falling off, you can use some Hilti toggle anchors for some extra piece of mind. I'd put a large fender washer on the screw head to help distribute the weight. Hilti 3/8 in. HTB-2 Drywall Anchor with Phillips Slotted Round Head Screws (4-Pack) 3588750 - The Home Depot

But this all depends on how thick the back panel of the cabinet is. If it's 1/4" then you'll be fine but if it's a 2mm (~1/8") then it's not gonna hold.
 

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
If you're worried about the cabinets falling off, you can use some Hilti toggle anchors for some extra piece of mind. I'd put a large fender washer on the screw head to help distribute the weight. Hilti 3/8 in. HTB-2 Drywall Anchor with Phillips Slotted Round Head Screws (4-Pack) 3588750 - The Home Depot

But this all depends on how thick the back panel of the cabinet is. If it's 1/4" then you'll be fine but if it's a 2mm (~1/8") then it's not gonna hold.

I believe they are quarter inch. Thanks for the confirmation. I will leave as is.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
I believe they are quarter inch. Thanks for the confirmation. I will leave as is.
Sorry, I meant, if the cabinet backs are 1/4", then you can add the Hilti toggle anchors. If the backs aresn't 1/4" or thicker, then it won't do you any good to install the Hilti's as it'll be too thin to hold any weight.
 

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
Sorry, I meant, if the cabinet backs are 1/4", then you can add the Hilti toggle anchors. If the backs aresn't 1/4" or thicker, then it won't do you any good to install the Hilti's as it'll be too thin to hold any weight.

Oh, I thought you were saying that if the back was 1/4" thick then the cabinet was built sturdy enough to hold the weight. I'm pretty sure I have a few of those anchors anyway. i'll go ahead and install them.

Edit: I think these are the ones I have: Everbilt 3/16 in. x 2 in. Zinc-Plated Toggle Bolt with Mushroom Head Screw (15-Pieces) 803912 - The Home Depot not sure about the size though. I will check.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Oh, I thought you were saying that if the back was 1/4" thick then the cabinet was built sturdy enough to hold the weight. I'm pretty sure I have a few of those anchors anyway. i'll go ahead and install them.

Edit: I think these are the ones I have: Everbilt 3/16 in. x 2 in. Zinc-Plated Toggle Bolt with Mushroom Head Screw (15-Pieces) 803912 - The Home Depot not sure about the size though. I will check.
Those will work too. I'd add a large fender washer to the screw head as well.
 

CowboyTaco

Well-Known Member
Sink for the laundry room came yesterday. Still waiting on the cabinet to put it in. I didn't realize how heavy sinks can be! I wasn't planning on doing the sink just yet, but I couldn't pass up the sale. Something like 60% off a farmhouse sink with free shipping.

I still need to move the washer leak tub over, which they seem to have used grout to attach to the floor.
Then get the plumber out to do the water lines and drain so that the sink can be installed. (friend is a plumber)
Then drywall repair and paint.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Last week the painters finished priming the whole house.
This past Thursday, we signed off on the cabinets and wrote a check for them. Those are 14 weeks out. We also stopped and picked up our upstairs flooring order. My little trailer did not like the nearly 2 tons of flooring that got loaded into it lol the floor guy will be installing the upstairs floor on Wednesday.
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We got the downstairs floor tile ordered today from homeless despot. Should be here in a week. I went by the house today after fixing the trailer and cleaned up, put in 4" ceiling can lights where I could and started installing the attic bat insulation. I got three bats done before calling it a day. I need someone smaller than my fat ass to crawl into the tight spots so I can had them insulation. Having to crawl back and forth to get insulation is exhausting. So maybe my wife might come out tomorrow and help me. We'll see there.

My door order has come in so it should be delivered to my house on Saturday.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
My wife and I worked for a little over an hour today and got through 10 bags of insulation (about a 1/3rd of the attic) today. So that was way faster than me just doing it on my own. Thankfully she's a hard worker but we had to stop early today bc one of our kiddos is pretty sick.

We'll probably finish it next week.
 

balakay

BabyMax
Started working on the yard today. Got all the leaves, twigs, etc cleaned up in the front, got some pre-em down and watered in. Hoping to get the first round of fertilizer down Wednesday morning before the rain. Also mowed my backyard weeds. Going to pull up all the flower bed edging this week and get ready for a lot of work in the backyard starting with digging up and redoing most of the sprinkler system back there and then leveling the dirt and getting ready for sod.
 

balakay

BabyMax
Last week the painters finished priming the whole house.
This past Thursday, we signed off on the cabinets and wrote a check for them. Those are 14 weeks out. We also stopped and picked up our upstairs flooring order. My little trailer did not like the nearly 2 tons of flooring that got loaded into it lol the floor guy will be installing the upstairs floor on Wednesday.
View attachment 50902

We got the downstairs floor tile ordered today from homeless despot. Should be here in a week. I went by the house today after fixing the trailer and cleaned up, put in 4" ceiling can lights where I could and started installing the attic bat insulation. I got three bats done before calling it a day. I need someone smaller than my fat ass to crawl into the tight spots so I can had them insulation. Having to crawl back and forth to get insulation is exhausting. So maybe my wife might come out tomorrow and help me. We'll see there.

My door order has come in so it should be delivered to my house on Saturday.
How does that Duralux compare to the Lifeproof stuff?
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
How does that Duralux compare to the Lifeproof stuff?
Supposedly it's supposed to be better quality. The duralux is more for commercial applications but if you want a really high performance floor then get the NuCore Performance from Floor & Decor. Duralux & NuCore are both owned by Floor & Decor, but Duralux is more for commercial applications and NuCore is more for residential with the performance series being the best they offer.
We looked for awhile at the NuCore to find a color we liked as well as the one we bought but couldn't find one close enough so we went with the Duralux.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Wednesday of last week I took off to be at the house with the floor installers. Well they had to reschedule so I spent the day getting the house ready and the upstairs cleared out for the flooring install, doing little piddly projects that I had been meaning to get to, putting my metal fence back up and installed a large upper cabinet in my garage's washroom (sucker weighed over a 100 pounds, so it was a mofo getting it up).

Saturday, the floor guys showed up and started skim coating the floor. It ended up taking two skim coats and 64 bags of ardex skim coat to do the whole upstairs floor. While they were doing the floor, I pulled the old carpet off the stairs (I had left it on to make going up & down the stairs a billion times during the renovation easier on my feet & knees lol) and spent 3 hours on Saturday & 5 hours on Sunday taking out all of the staples and nails holding that fucking carpet down. It was unreal how many staples were on that carpet.
McCoy's also dropped off my door order but they forgot two of them at the shop.

This was how much shit, dust & trash was under that carpet. I had to vacuum the stairs 3 times to get it clean. I also discovered that the floor guys didn't bother cleaning the stairs before they put the carpet on as there was still clumps of sheetrock mud underneath. Lazy fuckers.

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Sunday, the floor guys got the kitchen, living room and hallway done but we had to call it a day earlier because the floor skim was still drying.
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Monday, I ran to home depot and picked up our floor tile order. That was a heavy load for that little trailer and my brakes got a great workout. I swung by McCoy's to get the last two doors. That was a workout getting all of that tile unloaded into the garage. Floor guys finished the upstairs floor but I forgot to take pics because I was wore out from working a 14 hour day.
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Today- Electricians are at the house installing the garage lights, outlets & switches.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
I'm wore out from working a double shift at work this week so I slept in a bit but still got a lot done.

My trailer that light that I replaced wasn't working so I immediately doubted my wiring job and cut the connectors out only to realize that the trailer plug wasn't in fully and my previous wiring job was just fine. 🤦 So yeah, do the basics first. I took this opportunity to tie up the trailer wiring a little better all over the trailer and clean up some loose ends.

My neighbor down the street is an arborist so he has a tree stump grinding guy come out and grind out the two Chinese tallow trees. Dude was grinding it out in flip flops and smoking a cigarette at the same time lol
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I poured this bottom stair tread because the previous owner had put non-treated wood on the ground so it was all rotted out. This pad is going to get covered in tile so the finish doesn't matter. It took 880 pounds of concrete to fill.
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I took down some lights from my rent house garage to take over and install in my new garage. Electrician will be there on Monday to wire in my electrical panels and finish trimming out my outlets & wiring fixtures.
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
Glad I am not the only one to do something like that with wiring. :D You are crushing it man with the house build. How far away from your house is the beach house you are remodeling?
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Glad I am not the only one to do something like that with wiring. :D You are crushing it man with the house build. How far away from your house is the beach house you are remodeling?
About 4 minutes thankfully. And the only thing that's getting crushed is my wallet lol
 

Silverback

Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
Oh that is cool... I thought it was like 45 miles away or more.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
Oh that is cool... I thought it was like 45 miles away or more.
No screw that. I wouldn't have the time to make that drive to do this much work. I barely have time to check on it after work.
 

Anathollo

Armorall is my choice of lube
Staff member
I poured 1,280 pounds of concrete today. Still need to pour another 1,600 pounds to fill up this stupid trench. This will all be getting covered with tile so the surface finish doesn't matter.
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I got this area all cleaned up as well. All of the extra copper wire, PVC pipes and scrap lumber was loaded up in my trailer. Mowed the back yard but couldn't do the front yard become my neighbor was having a party and I didn't want to interrupt.
 
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