Category Archives: Around The House

All my projects around the House.

March 23, 2014 A New project underway and a new family member!

March 23, 2014 dillysadv 2 Comments

This may have to be a shorter post this week.. I decided to decapitate my knuckle and it is now difficult to type.. just to give you an image, it took off about a nickle size area and removed all of the skin so you could see the main veins and goodies that make a finger work. For your sake this is all that I will show.

I believe in my last post it was declared that the bedroom project was complete but at the time I did not have any pictures but, I do now. so this is the room already broke in.alright, that is not what the purpose of this post is. The Garage is the new project and we did make some progress.. the shelving that I started last week is now complete and I started loading it up..

I am thinking I will have to add one more chain support and distribute the weight across 3 supports because the on side where I put all of the spare tiles and shingles from the house, it seems to be sagging a bit..

here are the pics of that progress

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ok so now that the shelf is up we are working on the shop space its self.. clearing 1/4 at a time, sealing the floor and then moving stuff back in an organized way.. it is really nice to see open space instead of the mess

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I did get to see something beautiful while I was at it that had been buried for some time

I have not actually sealed the floor yet as I have been working to clean the concrete first..

As for other big news, we just had an addition to the family as of today.. I wanted to introduce you to “Chug” she is a 7 year old Shar Pei Mix.. very calm.. loves the kids already and doesn’t even lick.. she does have a funny arm pit fetish but I guess that is better than the typical Crotch one..

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Well that is it for now.. looking forward to getting more news as the work goes on!

Around The House, Life, Money

March 3,2014 boy does time fly

March 12, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

Wow, I cannot believe that I have missed 2 Sundays worth of posts.. how on earth did any of you let me do that.. I guess I better get caught up on the happenings around here.

In the past 2 weeks we have made tons of progress on the room, In fact we are doing floor patch today and carpet tomorrow! but enough teaser. lets start from where we left off!

The garage was left off with one light and one receptacle and one light.. not much has happened more there but we did get 2 more lights up and started plans for how it will be laid out. The goal is to get a lift and be able to “lift” a full size vehicle for under side and major repairs.. First things first.. on the Bottom (south) of the garage there will be a 4′ shelf for long term storage mounted about 6’6″ high.. once that is up we will be able to start some serious cleaning and preping.

preliminary ideas on how to lay out the garage

Wow the house on the other hand has made much progress. Final preperations were made for the tile including and entire day chipping away old flooring and adding new mesh and sandmix

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Then the fun began.. Laying the tile. It seemed easy at first until we realized that this house was just as un-square on the floor as it was on the walls.. but in the end I believe it turned out fine.. the only BooBoo’s there are will only likely be noticed by those who put them in .

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As I mentioned.. we are down to patching the floor in the bed room.. this was an interesting thing to see….we are not sure what this was for, we are suspecting it was some kind of septic tank so we filled it with rocks from the vast supply our yard offers us and have filled the remainder with concrete.. Then we will be using sand mix to do the final touches.

OK so, on a fun note. This last weekend I went and was helping a neighbor tear down an old chicken coop with a group of fellow neighbors. When we saw how horribly wobbly it was we figured hooking a cable to it and pulling it down would surly disintegrate the structure and make clean up go faster but to our surprise. it was a lot more strong than we though.. here is what happened.

Around The House, Autos, Life, Money

Feb 23, 2014 So close and yet so far!

February 23, 2014 dillysadv 1 Comment

Well, I suppose I could say that this was a productive week. After a very trying weekend dealing with millions of rocks, it was hard to be motivated but we did it anyway.. Through out the week we completed the conduit to the garage (wires and all) and just yesterday we wired up the Garage breaker box with 1 receptacle and 1 light. I know that doesn’t sound like a lot but that is a real milestone with this garage. Now we have the ability to work in the garage (Limited but still) with light.. Also if we need any sort of power we can use a short extension cord and go at it rather than dragging a 50′ cord from the house. The next step on the garage is to CLEAN IT OUT! There is soo much stuff that has accumulated in there because of the lack of lighting. Everyone was literally opening the door and setting stuff just inside because you could not see the proper location or even a safe path to it.. The garage started its life full with half full of my father-in-laws wood working tools and the other half crammed with my Mechanical tools and motorcycles, then when my Father-In-Law was diagnosed with Cancer, more stuff was put there in an attempt to remove “past life thoughts” such as his hunting gear and all the other what not’s. That plus, we liquidated the Flooring company and the person that was buying most of the supplies and tools left what he did not want/ could not afford.. Needless to say it is extremely full and even more un-organised.

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I did get to pull “Zuki” out into the light, more to get it out of the way but it was nice to see it in the sun light.. kinda helped to get motivated to get it going more.

2014-02-22 14.42.09

As for the house project… we finished the last of the interior electrical as well as the remainder of the Sheetrock.. Some of the mudding still needs some attention where the ceiling transitions into the older part of the house. The bedroom ceiling is primed and completely painted. and all of the rest of the Sheetrock is primed just not painted.. I am sure with the girls impatience, they will be all over that tomorrow in a push to get it done.. we are really hoping to at least start on the flooring side of things before the end of the week.

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With so many projects getting so close to completion, we can feel the strain of the push catching up to us.. now it is all we can do to get the house done, wrap up the underground electrical line, cleaning the garage and getting the Zuki going..

Around The House, Life, Updates

Feb 9, 2014 Life Balance

February 9, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

Welcome back! This has been a great week with the Room project moving along quickly and what not. we have finally reached a part of the project that does not require me to be actively involved. They (the girls) started Perfa taping and mudding, and have gotten a lot of it done as of this point,(in the room) as for the hall way well, we hit another snag. The door way from said hall into the bedroom that we are currently staying in is not only the wrong size but has not been framed in correctly at all.. Now we are going to have to tear it out and Frame it in to the correct size, which will mean that we will have no door for a while, while it is being patched in and replaced.

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I would have to admit though, one of the biggest accomplishments this week was BALANCE.. last week end my wife and I talked a lot about our lives being out of balance. It was to the point that every moment of every day was consumed by work, sleep, work on the room, or eating. No time was being left for personal growth, family time, or really anything else. We made the decision last week end to set aside time for other things.. Part of the problem it that I have been working Nights (2PM-11PM) so any of the routine activities that we would do in the evening were canceled. (Family Night, Date Night, Scouting, Everything) So we decided to re-structure our mornings to have Monday as a “Family Morning” and “Date Night” is moved to Saturday evenings. and Thursday and Saturday Mornings are for personal projects (if I don’t work Saturday). Sunday has never been a day of work for our family so that was not a problem. I cannot say I have never “tinkered” on Sunday but just no work..

As for the weather cooperating with projects, the Jury is still out. It has been raining a lot which has caused almost all of the snow to melt (YEA!!!!!!) but in the place of snow is now a tun of MUD…. (DOH!) Saturday I pulled the Zuki out to take it to a friends to be worked on and I felt like I needed to get my Muckin boots on just to get to the garage. Hopefully there will not be any more snow and we will get some sun soon to dry things out.

Oh and since I mentioned it. I did get to hear Zuki run but we have not entirely solved the problem.. it appears that there was a few problems with the carburetor. and the remaining problems appears to be something electrical. The problem is that it is a inconsistent problem so, Diagnostics will be difficult. but we will get there!

Sorry one more… Nah two more good things to note.. it has been decided that we are getting a dog at the end of this month. YIPPEE! ( I have wanted to get another dog for some time) and as soon as taxes are done my wife said that I can buy and build a good computer for doing vids.. that will come soon enough trust me..

Thanks again.. be sure to sub to get email update on this page.

Around The House, Life, Tech

Feb 2, 2014 Computer Problems but still progress

February 2, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

So this week, we had tons of progress on the room and hallway. I was hoping to get a vid up this week and have been fighting with my computer that is just not strong enough to do the vids I wanted to do. I guess a new computer is on the agenda.. because of the problems with the computer however, I have run out of time to get a good post put together for you on the progress. I will have to get more up later.

Around The House, Autos, Life, Money

Jan 26, 2014 Stalling out! Cannot wait for summer!

January 26, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

Well, maybe not a full on stall.. We did get a little further along on the project.. after running the wires we were feeling like we were on the home stretch.. well, at least until we started the insulation ( MAN DO I HATE THAT STUFF!) we were able to get it all in Minus down around the concrete and the attic access. The attic access will be an Expanding foam insulation and around the concrete will use a rigid R4 insulation paneling. Here are some pics of where we are at.

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This week was a bit tricky getting much done because, well, putting in 57 hours really limit what you are able to do elsewhere. But we are still on track.. we are hoping to get the sheet rock on Monday and get it going in this week.. The overall goal is to get the kids moved in by Valentines.. I think we can do it, it is just time right!?

Update stated, here is the deal.. I was really hoping to get the trench dug yesterday with a vid of that process but there was not a trencher available.. hopefully soon.. we’ll get ‘er dug and get some wiring to the garage..

Now for those of you that know me, I am always shooting for things waaayyyy out of reach and really I am at it again! I am trying to convince my wife of doing some massive amounts of concrete work.. (new driveway, curb, gutter, sidewalk, and of coarse a driveway to the shop) what that means for you is a lot of new projects.. and tons of great vids.. the catch is somehow I have to swindle a new computer and a car lift in the mix of everything else. The upside to that is I can use it for a income source but it is the journey getting there that is gonna be a bit tricky..

I guess what I am saying is, its only gonna get better.

Around The House, Life, Money, Tech

Jan 19, 2014 Wires and Bit Tricks

January 14, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

Wow, what a week.. started out with a lot of wires, big thick ones, well, and one little one that loved to get tangled on everything.. we finally pulled the last of the wires out of the house toward the garage.. I learned a cool trick though, for a long time I have always just used a simple speedbor bit do drill out the holes for my wire such as this:

but, the problem I ran into, was that I had to go through a diagonal board and then through four 2×4’s stacked to get the wires from the ceiling to the wall

I did look at getting an auger bit to do it but they tend to be really expensive and in the end they do not last as long and cannot be sharpened.

but I came across one of these nifty little cheaters.

I was surprised that they were as cheap as they are, and make a cheap bit do so much more. now, there are limitations such as the clearence. The hole that you need to drill needs to be slightly larger than the fitting for the bit.. in my case I opted for the quick release but that means that it is a bit bigger connector but well worth the time saving and for my applications it will work greatly.

That being said, it was pulled out side and now are strung across the yard and I hope to get the wires buried in the next few weeks but it will all depend on work schedules and equipment availability.

We were also able to finish out the closet framing and putting in nailers where one wall connected to another (vital to Sheetrock working as it should and not cracking) and also put some expanding foam into the areas that we wont be able to fit regular fiberglass insulation (that was a fun process and it ooses out the holes before drying)

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I am now looking forward to a productive week of installing the remaining insulation in the walls and getting the Sheetrock started.. There is one catch to the process though, I still have to put in the attic access in the closet…. new tools required to complete… of coarse…

That is one thing that I am hoping to get ordered

Around The House, Energy, Life

Jan 12, 2014 Slow but steady progress

January 12, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

Wow, what a week. The progress on projects appears to have been slow although, it is starting to become more apparent with the progress, which always makes projects more fun.
Wiring in a 4 way switch was a frustration like no other, I had looked up several diagrams that showed how it should be wired in but in the end nothing works better than the noodle up stairs and figuring it out on your own.. I ended up pulling out a multi-meter and figuring out how it is suppose to work and vuwala it works! (if you have questions on this let me know and I will put together a vid snowing how to do it and why it works) I know it is a simple thing but it is something, none the less. As of Saturday morning I had worked just shy of 50 hours this week and we were ready for insulation before Saturday. Although Saturday was planned to be fairly busy, we were able to get the ceiling insulated. But, before I show you what it looks like, I have to tell you I bought one of these and it was worth every penny!

Although the reviews are mixed, I shot 1250 staples through this in the first day and it was flawless. (click pic to see where you can get it) I have a feeling I will be using this a fair amount between odds and ends, re-upholstering seats on the bikes and much more.

in the end we got 6mil plastic and a ton of insulation

and went at it. slowly working our way from one side to the other putting the insulation up and then stapling it up.

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now that the lights are wired up and the ceiling insulation is complete, it is on to the walls. I also have a cheap trick I will show you next week for the wiring. I have a little more to do for the garage stuff.

be sure to sub to stay up to date on what projects and tricks I have to show you.

Around The House, Life

Jan 5, 2014 A whole new Year

January 5, 2014 dillysadv Leave a comment

Well people, it is officially 2014 although, in the automotive profession it seems like it has been 2014 for some time. It is interesting to me to hear many of the people I know having such high hopes for the new year. I know that 2014 is not going to be a great year, yes, good will happen but so will a lot of bad. Maybe it is too realistic of me but I know much of what the year holds and for what I don’t know, well, I can only hope it will be good. I wish I could say good riddins to 2013. It was a really hard year, between loosing my job, moving in with family, attempting to start my own business, getting a new job, having my father in law diagnosed with Terminal cancer and so many other things but, I can also say with all honesty, it was a good year. I learned a lot about who I am, what I like and felt The Spirit very profoundly as a comforter and guide. That said, Life will go on and it is really what we make of it and who/what we turn to when it is not all sugar coated the way we claimed it would be in our new years celebrations.

Ok that said, here is the update. Most of this week (outside of work) has been spent doing construction on the back room in a desperate attempt to get to where the insulation can go back in.. as of now we have the ceiling is supported, and receptacles are connected.. Lights and garage wiring will be next and then we should be able to install the insulation at that point. I should have some good pics and vids for next week but here is a little vid for everyone to get up to speed if you have not already (this was more for you tube followers but here goes.)

Around The House, Energy, Life

Dec 29, 2013 Quit waiting, Just Get Er’ done!

December 29, 2013 dillysadv Leave a comment

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Well, as I hope you know, this last week was Christmas.. YEA! right?.. well not so much.. it was a rough week.. if you did not know, I am a VERY introverted person and can only handle being around a lot of people for a short amount of time. Christmas day there was A LOT! of people at the house and my usual escapes has not been an option.. – Garage, well no power and thus no heat and no light.

-Office, My bed has been nominated the baby sleeping room and bed. and thus no escape

I did attempt on Christmas day to spend some time working on the Zuki but I could only look at it because it was soo cold I could not even hold the tool for more than a second. Now with a little back story. We have decided to buy this house from my parents (although they will still be living here with us) but that gives us the ability to make certain decisions.. Upon buying this house there are several things that we wanted to get done right away such as: finishing the back bedroom for our kids, running power to the garage, installing a water softener so that we don’t have to chew on our water just to get it down.

All of these projects seem like they would just be easier in the spring when it is not soo cold, but, what do we do until then?—— get er done!

Thanks to some help of some friends, just before Christmas they came and helped us route a heater vent to the back room ( that was a project by its self)

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Creating the motivation to get that project done/going.. Yesterday we decided to dig in and get really going but there was soo much insulation in the way of re-supporting the saggy ceiling so, it had to all come out! we went and got full body hazmat style suits and started pulling. unfortunately we did not get pictures of the mess but this is what it looks like now

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Because the wiring for the garage has to go through this roof area we decided we needed to run the power to the garage at the same time. Now everything I do I want done RIGHT not something I will have to come back and fix later so we will be using a trencher and putting these lines 3-4 feet below the surface of the ground ( that way when we install sprinklers and driveways, it will not get hit and make a big mess. this is the area the ditch will be in.

Also, I have been looking to heat the shop and have found a way to make a used oil burner.. stay tuned for more details on these and many more projects

Dilly's Adventures

Category Archives: Around The House

March 23, 2014 A New project underway and a new family member!

March 3,2014 boy does time fly

Feb 23, 2014 So close and yet so far!

Feb 9, 2014 Life Balance

Feb 2, 2014 Computer Problems but still progress

Jan 26, 2014 Stalling out! Cannot wait for summer!

Jan 19, 2014 Wires and Bit Tricks

Jan 12, 2014 Slow but steady progress

Jan 5, 2014 A whole new Year

Dec 29, 2013 Quit waiting, Just Get Er’ done!

Because Life is an Adventure!