Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house? | Page 509 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Enough of COVID...what are you doing to the house?

Massive clear-out of my recently late wife's sewing room. Borderline hoarder in my opinion, but her quilting friend who helped clear the room assured me it's "normal"
Yeah @crankcall is right. My wife has a small room we call the "office" that is entirely filled with yarn.
 
Your wife’s quilting buddy is correct , my mom is a knitter , former sewer , apparently you have to own ALL the spools of wool , incase you wake up at 3am and need toque. Its normal .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
I gave my mom a bag of alpaca yarn for her collection. Frig me. I think yarn is the female equivalent of motorcycle parts. Tell the spouse you bought it for a few bucks a skein and they won't suspect the bag is worth $300. She made some stuff for her friends that they appreciated.
 
Dad was asking to buy a new water tank at the cottage because the one we had was rented and has been going for 24 or 28 years…$100 buyout.

Total cost of tank was close to 13,000$ since start of contract.

He was tired of paying $44/monthly when it wasn’t being used at all.

Tank looks brand new. No leaks.

We’re just keeping it until it dies.
 
Fak. I knew I was gonna run out of bricks….

Good thing too it’s getting late.

MP MASONRY is open for business!

1730854108790.jpeg

I’ve still got 2 small sections to tidy up so another box of bricks should be it.
 
I try not to poison mice. Sadly really easy to kill owls that way.

I have a handful of snap traps in the attic and and working on a multikill solution. There is no magic Sadly. There is a balance between price, capacity, smell, quick death and safety. Bucket trap of some variety is cheap and effective. For exterior use a handful of snap traps in a box with access hole works well. Keeps the cat out of the traps and doesn't need to be reset as often as a single trap. For placing in soffit, something like the mouse delete-r is small, effective, high capacity and shouldnt smell much as you arent dumping them in liquid. Pricy bugger though. A24 has similar properties.
Thanks. I took your tip and made a “Death Box” with five snap traps inside for an outside area they’ve been seen by the house as well as a “Death Bucket” with the usual PB can on a wire.
 
Ok GTAM brain trust.

Last section of wall to be finished in some method.

I can’t get the bricks in there as it’s a ton of cutting and tight as hell. I’m not paying for enbridge to come and move the meter out.

What say you for best way to deal with this unfinished section?

Parting? Tough to get in there into all the nooks and crannies.
Over it up with a wooden structure that allows for access? We read the meter and not Enbridge on a monthly basis.

Need some good recommendations.

1730993402596.jpeg

1730993419364.jpeg
 
Ok GTAM brain trust.

Last section of wall to be finished in some method.

I can’t get the bricks in there as it’s a ton of cutting and tight as hell. I’m not paying for enbridge to come and move the meter out.

What say you for best way to deal with this unfinished section?

Parting? Tough to get in there into all the nooks and crannies.
Over it up with a wooden structure that allows for access? We read the meter and not Enbridge on a monthly basis.

Need some good recommendations.

There's a relief valve on there that shouldn't be enclosed, but I suspect that a lot of these get covered up with a lattice box. I'm surprised that your meter is so close to a window. I couldn't find the Ontario building code requirements, but this guide from Alberta suggests that there should be 1 meter clearance from inlets, exhausts, sources of ignition, and sources of water. Maybe that wasn't a thing in Ontario when our houses were built, because my meter is right beside my dryer vent.
 
There's a relief valve on there that shouldn't be enclosed, but I suspect that a lot of these get covered up with a lattice box. I'm surprised that your meter is so close to a window. I couldn't find the Ontario building code requirements, but this guide from Alberta suggests that there should be 1 meter clearance from inlets, exhausts, sources of ignition, and sources of water. Maybe that wasn't a thing in Ontario when our houses were built, because my meter is right beside my dryer vent.
Thanks for that! I'm thinking some type of lattice box made from PT to allow ventilation and an easy way to access it. I just can't have it with some type of access that the local raccoons / skunks can use to create a layer for themselves over winter.

Thinking some 2x4 or 4x4 frame with a lattice in b/w with an access hatch to lift, check the reading and lower again.
 
Another project shows up!

Shockingly my wife is open to the idea of me building a bunk bed for the girls out of wood! Any recommendations on the type of wood to use?

Regular HD pine that's twisted all to hell?

Looking at you @crankcall and @Mad Mike as you guys are very well versed in wood and wood products.
 
Another project shows up!

Shockingly my wife is open to the idea of me building a bunk bed for the girls out of wood! Any recommendations on the type of wood to use?

Regular HD pine that's twisted all to hell?

Looking at you @crankcall and @Mad Mike as you guys are very well versed in wood and wood products.
What's the budget and how pretty do you want it? You can make strong but homely furniture out of 2x4's. With a little thought, you can even make them look interesting and most people won't realize what it is. I am partial to ripping 45's off each side of a 2x4 and fastening a pair of those back to back. Basically build your own 3x3 but interesting looking and less prone to twist/warp than a home depot 4x4.
 
Look what you can get on AliE... lol
1731698750824.png

1731698781131.png

Or you can buy plans on Etsy
1731698832506.png


I have always wanted a bunk bed, but I never had a sibling close enough in age to warrant it. My sis and I are 13 yrs apart.
 
What's the budget and how pretty do you want it? You can make strong but homely furniture out of 2x4's. With a little thought, you can even make them look interesting and most people won't realize what it is. I am partial to ripping 45's off each side of a 2x4 and fastening a pair of those back to back. Basically build your own 3x3 but interesting looking and less prone to twist/warp than a home depot 4x4.
No real budget, but what I’m seeing on the used and new market is both expensive…and a lot of junk.

We have a bunk bed at the cottage but that’s there for a reason.

Unless I find one of those camping bunk beds…then that goes to cottage and that one in Wasaga comes to the house.
 
No real budget, but what I’m seeing on the used and new market is both expensive…and a lot of junk.

We have a bunk bed at the cottage but that’s there for a reason.

Unless I find one of those camping bunk beds…then that goes to cottage and that one in Wasaga comes to the house.
Look for pictures of beds you like and then you can spin up a quick BOM to figure how much materials would be.

JYSK has twin/twin bunk bed with storage for <$1000. I think it is below ikea quality though.

EDIT:
Another option is to build two identical four post beds and stack them. Fat dowel will be good enough to keep the posts properly indexed. If sleeping/living situation changes, you just move one bed to a new room (or side by side).
 
Last edited:
Another project shows up!

Shockingly my wife is open to the idea of me building a bunk bed for the girls out of wood! Any recommendations on the type of wood to use?

Regular HD pine that's twisted all to hell?

Looking at you @crankcall and @Mad Mike as you guys are very well versed in wood and wood products.
I am currently building my youngest daughter a four post canopy bed (she picked the colour--orange). Should get final assembly this weekend give or take I will post up completed pics in a week or so.

1731704422453.jpeg

Materials... the posts are made from clear pine and poplar laminated together. They are laminated with two 1X (really 3/4) clear pine on the outside with poplar sandwiched in the middle. I always glue up pine like this so that the boards are bending into each other and I do it clamped to a flat surface/bench. The flat ends are birch plywood with poplar on the top. The side rails are 1X8 basswood with 2X3 knotty pine for the slats to rest on (and strength). I used a little red oak in spots I needed some extra strength. The slats, came from an Ikea bed we tossed. I picked up the bed hardware at Lee Valley--so it can be disassembled once put together (rails to foot/head). Material cost all in with HW, wood, glue and paint is ~$600 even using pine where I could to save costs. I could have saved maybe 10% to 15% buying at one of the woodworking lumber places but I would have spent that in gas.... She wanted it painted, If I was doing stain grade I would have likely used oak and went to a better supplier...

Could have bought one for much less... specially on FBMP.

Around here, Rona has lower turnover so I find the project wood to be drier but twistier (harder to find straight pieces). Home Depot has more turnover so the wood is straighter but has more moisture content so twisting is coming...
 
I think if was going to paint it I would likely use poplar . It’s a soft hardwood and paints very well and it’s easy to work .
For a stained finish it becomes very personal and needs to match your decor . I’m using a lot of white oak right now because it’s my favourite and it’s nice imo, but it’s a hot ticket right now so expensive. Walnut is second right now for me because I got a huge supply . I don’t buy any finished lumber at Home Depot or Lowes , simply because it’s a commodity to them and is priced crazy compared to other options .


Sent from my iPhone using GTAMotorcycle.com
 

Back
Top Bottom