DIY Projects

dpkimmel2001

Team Owner
Joined
Apr 1, 2009
Messages
35,991
Points
1,033
Location
Western PA
Looks like the old thread got lost in the board outage earlier this year. We were getting some pretty good tips and pics in that thread. I thought maybe I'd start it up again with another project.

Here's a quick look at that original project of the wall & flooring.....

20161210_205326.jpg


Anyhow, I was posting about a stone wall project and hardwood flooring install that I had going on at the time. While that's all long since been completed, I'm now finally getting around to working on trim.

The hickory hardwood flooring that we had installed was distressed wood. Imperfections, wood knots, saw marks and the like. It turned out real well, just like we had wanted. Now, I'm trying to do the same thing to the trim that I'm about to start installing. I don't have any kind of background in doing this type of thing so I rely on YouTube videos and the like. There is a lot of great info out there.

I'm using pine because it's soft, cheap & easy to mark up to give more of a distressed look. I'm getting some of the wood from Home Depot & Lowes. Here's a pic of the wood in it's original state.....

20161209_145834.jpg


I'll have to take some pics of the actual process a little later but basically I beat the hell out of the wood with various tools that I have laying around. I smack the wood with an old handle with screws sticking out of it. I then hit it with some Channel Locks, needle nose pliers, crescent wrench, and whatever else I can find. Once I strike the wood with all of those tools, I then use a drill with a brass wire brush attachment hitting the wood at a 45 degree angle both to the left and then the right. It creates scratches in a couple different directions. Again, I'll have to get some pics of the wood in that state. The pics below are after all of those things were performed. Last night I applied stain to nine of the boards in preparation of trimming out the kitchen doors/windows this weekend. There are a couple pics that show the same wood in a much darker view. It's the same wood under different light. I can't wait to get this installed this weekend.

20161215_180354.jpg
20161215_180445.jpg
20161215_180458.jpg
20161215_180433.jpg
20161215_180421.jpg
 
This may look like hell to many. IDK. It's an appearance that my wife and I really like in wood. We are trying to create a different theme in the house. Wood related projects are just the beginning of this process.
 
This weekend kitchen trim project also entails refinishing the wood trim of the windows themselves. I stained the wood on the windows about 20 years ago. I don't know how I'm going to accomplish the same finish to those windows but I've got one shot to do it. I ordered a new Dremel Tool this morning off of Amazon Prime. It's supposed to arrive tomorrow. I hope to have the window stripped, distressed and re-stained by Sunday evening. Monday at the latest. My goal is to complete one room a week. Kitchen, dining room, living room & finally the hallway. Then, it's time to redo the hall bathroom.
 
Next up though is refinishing the hall bathroom. I'll begin that in about two weeks.

Right now I'm looking for ideas for a light over our dining room table. I'm going to make something from scratch or alter an existing box or wood of some sort to craft a new light fixture. A couple ideas I'm looking at.....

9b481878639bdbd549d156ff270885ee.jpg
b5b9a58e6d440bbc9644ca2abb920c2a.jpg
 
I like the one with the mason jars. It's open and less boxy looking.
That's what I think too. I've been looking for some of the hardware necessary. Amazon looks like it has all of the old style wiring and light sockets/bulbs that I'd need. Lowe's or Home Depot would have any of the wood/chain/hooks that I'd need. Could easily recreate that light or something similar for under $50.
 
Great idea for a topic, DP. :cheers: Very cool thread. I'll add my contribution......

I bought my first house almost two years ago. Unfortunately, it only has a single car garage (10x23) which I've quickly grown to love AND hate. I've cluttered it up to the point where it feels cozy and it's a cool place to hang out and drink a beer or two, but it's frustrating that I don't have the space to actually work on a car in there (unless I'm just messing around in the engine bay). And it's obviously a bit cramped when I have a vehicle parked in it. So with a garage this size, there's no choice but to try and maximize space as much as I can.

Here's my house/garage, to give you an idea of the layout...

wjb7UkX.jpg


Here's what it looked like when I moved in. Pretty bare...

glzaIoE.jpg


Here it is now, how it looks today...

52mnCvG.jpg


I8BZHZs.jpg


5UQOw1Z.jpg


Iwdxljp.jpg


J1IXKrK.jpg


Qm2k5Nv.jpg


I'm ok with it how it sits, and all the personal clutter all over the walls has a certain charm to it, but part of me wants to clean it up and give it a slight overhaul.
I definitely want to add more overhead storage along the walls, I figure I'll build some racking about 7 feet high. And I want to hang some storage racks from the ceiling, and build a folding work bench attached to one of the walls somewhere.

Here's where it gets tricky: I'm tossing around the idea of taking down all of my stuff on the non-finished walls, and instead of installing drywall and insulation (too costly for a house I might sell in 3-5 years), maybe covering all the exposed stud walls with sheets of pegboard. Then I would paint the whole garage, even though only half of it is drywall. I think it would make it look a lot better. If I don't do that, I'll at least install some horizontal boards between the studs to add some practical shelving.

Thoughts, opinions, feedback of any kind is welcome. :cool:
 
I like it. Considered some of that tough carpet to warm it up a bit?
 
I'm in the process now of redoing our hall bathroom. I removed the vanity and commode. I removed all of the tile. I'm currently removing the layers of plywood that is covering the subflooring. I should have all of that up by tomorrow.

On Saturday, I have a new exhaust fan to install. Once that's done my wife is going to take over and get a couple layers of paint up.

I'll then be replacing a section of the subflooring and then a new plywood layer followed some concrete board. I hope by then she's picked out her tile of choice.
 
I like it. Considered some of that tough carpet to warm it up a bit?

I spill too many fluids and get way too much dirt and stuff in there to consider carpet. I can barely keep the floor clean now, carpet would be a disaster :D
 
A few pics from the current work in progress. The hall bathroom. Installed a new exhaust fan/light the other day. Finished painting this morning. Just cut the cement board and layed out the floor. Going to finish installing that tomorrow. Then, the tile.



ce0234c463af808bd1c01ad4cf296cfa.jpg
d713b235fb2f0d98a436aef77ab05485.jpg
75f44344c6b26e69db956bde3781f3b1.jpg


Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
 
nice looking tile
I really like the tile. Not crazy about the color the wife picked out for the walls being as it's so close to the tile shade. Once I put the commode and vanity in there to offset the other color I think it'll be fine.

Had to do some major renovating of the duct work at the last minute today. Going to purchase a new vanity next week on a trip out to eastern PA. Lowe's has some pretty good sales going on now for bathroom renovations. Found a style that we are interested in but it's not available anywhere around our area. Checked the inventory on the east side of the state and found it at numerous locations. We're already running out there for an unrelated event so we'll pick one up while we're there.
 
My next DIY project is going to be shoving the phone lines that run to my house up CenturyLink's ass. How the **** is DSL not available here when the infrastructure is in place?
 
Just finished grouting. The floors only shiny because i just wiped it down. That's not the actual finish. Picking up a new vanity this Sunday to install next week.

Time to have a beer.
d568a91fae2e99bf37520049b90411f7.jpg


Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
 
In Philly over the weekend for some collegiate track and field. While there I picked up and hauled home our new bathroom vanity purchased at Lowe's. They are having a decent sale right now and the vanity we wanted isn't available anywhere near my location. Out in eastern PA I found plenty.

The weight of the vanity along with a full tank of fuel made for some fun interstate travel.

b35bddf98eecb5e39cd7ac2915250c6f.jpg


Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
 
The new vanity unboxed. So that's it sitting in my living room. I've since installed the faucet and drain. Because of the smaller size vanity, i now have additional work to do on that wall. Had to move the wiring for the light over the vanity to center it again. Had to spakle the wall to cover up old screw holes where the last vanity attached. Should finish sanding and painting by tomorrow.

b55f0f97ca75dc24990693f7a11b9db9.jpg


Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
 
So, I need to expand on that last post a little bit to tell of another saga that is keeping me from getting this all done in a timely fashion.

This weekend was to be the final weekend for the bathroom renovation but like always, something happens to interrupt well layed out plans.....

This past weekend we headed out to Philadelphia & New Jersey for a couple track meets that our daughter was competing in. While there we stopped to pick up the vanity that we wanted for the bathroom. It wasn't available on our side of the state and Lowes would not ship it. Hence the overloaded Jeep pictured above. When we returned on Sunday night it was late so we went straight to bed. The next morning I got up to take a shower. No hot water! I went down to the basement to check the breaker. The breaker was tripped. I reset it and it tripped again right away. I walked to the other end of our finished basement to the furnace/hot water heater room only to find myself with soaked feet. Yep, sure enough, the hot water tank had ruptured. I guess sometime over the weekend. Damn!

I shut the water off and drained what was left in the tank. I unhooked everything, electric/plumbing, so I could get the tank out of there as it continued to leak. In the meantime my wife already began the process of shop vac'ing the water out of the carpet.

The good news..... My water heater was still under warranty. Replaced without spending a dime.

The bad news..... We are still trying to dry out the carpet and padding. Something that has proven to be impossible without pulling up all the carpet. Ended up calling the insurance company today to file a claim.

The good news..... We will be covered as this water damage was a result of an in home source. Also, our insurance rates will not increase as we've never had to file a claim before.

The bad news..... We now have to move an entire basement of furniture, exercise equipment, gaming equipment, pool table, bar, etc. to get ready for a new carpet install.

I shouldn't complain as other people have real problems but damn, if you've followed some of my past projects, you'd know that we just did all of this same thing just last year. We were flooded from an outside source and that was not covered under the insurance. The carpet was barely a year old and we are doing this all over again. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

In the coming weeks, I'll be posting pics of my new drainage system for the new hot water heater should this happen again.....
 
So, I need to expand on that last post a little bit to tell of another saga that is keeping me from getting this all done in a timely fashion.

This weekend was to be the final weekend for the bathroom renovation but like always, something happens to interrupt well layed out plans.....

This past weekend we headed out to Philadelphia & New Jersey for a couple track meets that our daughter was competing in. While there we stopped to pick up the vanity that we wanted for the bathroom. It wasn't available on our side of the state and Lowes would not ship it. Hence the overloaded Jeep pictured above. When we returned on Sunday night it was late so we went straight to bed. The next morning I got up to take a shower. No hot water! I went down to the basement to check the breaker. The breaker was tripped. I reset it and it tripped again right away. I walked to the other end of our finished basement to the furnace/hot water heater room only to find myself with soaked feet. Yep, sure enough, the hot water tank had ruptured. I guess sometime over the weekend. Damn!

I shut the water off and drained what was left in the tank. I unhooked everything, electric/plumbing, so I could get the tank out of there as it continued to leak. In the meantime my wife already began the process of shop vac'ing the water out of the carpet.

The good news..... My water heater was still under warranty. Replaced without spending a dime.

The bad news..... We are still trying to dry out the carpet and padding. Something that has proven to be impossible without pulling up all the carpet. Ended up calling the insurance company today to file a claim.

The good news..... We will be covered as this water damage was a result of an in home source. Also, our insurance rates will not increase as we've never had to file a claim before.

The bad news..... We now have to move an entire basement of furniture, exercise equipment, gaming equipment, pool table, bar, etc. to get ready for a new carpet install.

I shouldn't complain as other people have real problems but damn, if you've followed some of my past projects, you'd know that we just did all of this same thing just last year. We were flooded from an outside source and that was not covered under the insurance. The carpet was barely a year old and we are doing this all over again. Oh well, live and learn I guess.

In the coming weeks, I'll be posting pics of my new drainage system for the new hot water heater should this happen again.....


Water damage sux. Sorry to hear about the struggles. Why is it that issues always pop up while in the middle of another project, thus doubling the amount you originally wanted to spend? I.e. updating the bathroom only to have to update the basement?

Lucky for you the water heater was under warranty and insurance will cover the rest or at least part of it.
 
Every home improvement project I plan always ends up with some sort of re-design when I start to take things apart or start constructing something. And they always take longer than I plan.

BTW - nice tile work (something I haven't tried yet).
 
Still working with the insurance coverage on the basement. They got the sq footage and price wrong on the replacement. Obviously it would only work out to their benefit. Not a huge deal, we'll get it straightened out as we have all of the receipts and estimates from the last time we had it installed.

In the meantime, work on the bathroom continues. Just fixtures and the like now. Got the vanity, lighting, towel bars, etc, installed. Saving up some $'s for the new shower head.

While I've got that going on, I'm switching over to plumbing mode. Something that I absolutely hate. Anyone that is familiar with a home well setup will know that you have to have a pressure tank as part of your water system. Those things are only warrantied for about 5-6 years. Mine is just over 20 years old, so it's time to replace it. In addition to replacing that I am adding a whole home water filter and water softener to the system. There are a lot of connections to be made. I think I now have all of the parts to complete this project. It's just a question of when to bite the bullet and cut the existing pipes. Did I mention I hate plumbing? I'm bound to have a leak. Never fails or always failure, depending on how you look at it.
 
In addition to the pictured blue pressure tank itself, the main connection to that unit, pictured above, needs to be replaced. This is the replacement that i built for it. An expensive section of plumbing. Also, a lot of potential leaks in that section alone.

995fee3afb9e05f47eb78f3b3e4997a3.jpg
 
After passing through that section i have to route the plumbing through this filter to catch any sediment and the like.

931f12254b979680f9164f7d9300d1e3.jpg
 
From that, on to the water softener. Then out of the softener and in to the existing house plumbing.

For you that are comfortable with plumbing, it's probably not a big deal. For me, there's a lot of anxiety wrapped up in this project.
 
Back
Top Bottom