Question Of The Day, Sunday, December 17, 2017

[amysuen]

YES! We need to refinish the floors in the kitchen, dining room and living room because in July 2016 we ripped out the newer flooring to uncover the 1920s hardwood. The plan was to refinish the floors this past summer but instead we had to start residing the house because the woodpeckers had made huge holes down to the tar paper. We'd repaired them several times but it was a losing battle. The plan was 2 sides this past summer and 2 next summer but only 3/4 of one side got completely finished so next summer we need to finish the first 2 sides and hopefully do the other 2 sides. Then there's the garage to do, and the floors are still waiting, so we should stay busy until 2020...

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

Actually, I'd like to see several photos of it!

I'm deeply involved in political activism at the state level right now, which is taking up a lot of my time, but there are a few projects I'm trying to get going. In no particular order:

1. It appears that my husband has an un-diagnosed illness that's causing a great deal of trouble; I absolutely have to get him diagnosed and treated.
2. I still need to find a hand-held jigsaw capable of handling things at least 4 inches wide, so I can build that cat tree for Jasmine, and it has to be for a price I can afford, which isn't much or I'd simply be buying her a cat tree.
3. I'm thinking about starting a small business.
4. I desperately need to find a good external sound card for my computer, for less than $50, so I can transfer some audio tapes to digital format.
5. If I get that sewing machine I want for Christmas I have several sewing projects I want to get busy on.
6. I want to finish this afghan I'm making in time to use it next winter.
7. If I can figure out how, I'd like to build Jasmine her very own catio.
8. I'm still working on trying to get my left hand back into full working order, and I really need to spend more time practicing guitar, both as occupational therapy for the hand and because I love the guitar.

I still want the floor replaced in the part of my house that includes my kitchen, dining, laundry room area. Just have to find what I want. It as been an issue and still is.
It's a pity there are only 24 hours in the day, and some of them have to be spent on annoying things like sleeping and eating.

Margret

Good luck with the hand and the guitar.

 

[Margret]

Good luck with the hand and the guitar.

Thank you.

Margret

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

My problem is that it isn't "lumber." I found a book of cat tree patterns in the perennial book sale at the local library, and every one of them uses branches (and the results are rather spectacular). I've been collecting branches from damaged trees, and going to great lengths to protect them from "helpful" people who want to cut them up and haul them off for me. And some of the branches are up to a 4" diameter. I can't use any kind of a table saw to cut these, because they won't lie flat, and to get a good flat cut I really need to do it in one go.

I called the best local woodworking tool shop and asked them what I wanted to look for and they said to check garage and estate sales for a 4" hand-held jigsaw, and mentioned a couple of brand names.



Yes, I have, actually. And YouTube videos, though I haven't managed to go through all of those yet, of course. Basically, I need to start with enclosing my back porch in chicken wire. The top is easy; the porch is covered, so all I need to do is rent a staple gun and staple the chicken wire to the wood. But how do I attach it to the concrete and tile of the actual porch? That part I haven't figured out yet. Once I know how to handle that it should be easy enough to add a human-sized door for direct access to the back yard, and a cat run from the porch over to the Catalpa tree for Jasmine. I don't intend to invite her to climb the tree, however. (I'm so mean to that poor cat! Just ask her!)

Margret

ahhh, i see! that's a really great project -- a...natural type cat tree for your Jasmine!

okay. have you considered using a small chainsaw, like an electric one? i use my electric chainsaw to cut firewood down to usable length quite often, and it gives a flat cut -- though would need some sanding down to smooth it, (again) a sander. do you know anyone with a chainsaw? they might be willing to do the cut(s) for you. i can understand wanting to do the cut(s) yourself, and i prefer to do things myself most times too, but sometimes i'll have cuts done by others -- when i know it must be accurate. if you might feel comfortable with that, you could ask the next 'helpful' person who wants to cut them up and haul them off for you, if they might be willing to 'help' you in that way. you could get all the pieces you need for your plan(s) cut for you, and the leftover branches and pieces of can be given to the helpful person in return.

you mention renting a staple gun. could you look into renting a 4" hand-held jigsaw...?

hmmm......how to attach chicken wire to the concrete and tile of your porch......i'm not sure you could, without chipping or otherwise damaging the tile and/or concrete. how about attaching it to the outer side of the framing of the porch, and have the chicken wire extend down into the ground slightly -- and maybe pour some quik-crete in on it too...? you could make the chicken wire from the porch floor level on down into the ground look more attractive, by putting up some of that lattice looking stuff that usually gets put around those areas of porches.

that really sounds like an awesome project!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

To try to be as healthy as possible with the odds against me. I have a genetic illness that causes me to be a multimillionaire with my excessive platelets, which cause strokes and other TERMINAL issues. I was on JAKAFI, an experimental drug that runs $10k a month w 100s of bad side effects! I changed doctors and asked to no longer be an experimental guineapig so now I'M on UREA with much less issues and over all feel better. I have no immune system so when people cough And sneeze the are putting my health at risk and I work with 300 PEOPLE! I'm going to STOP ALL SODA DRINKING and stick with unsweetened teas and fruitjuices. Since I have 3 dogs, thats 3 walks a day minimum. And no picking up food at drive up windows!!! Never a junk food lover so this should be easy >

to be as healthy as possible, stop all soda drinking, and no 'fast foods'!!! really great!!

you have no immune system, while i have an overactive immune system (autoimmune disease). it would be wonderful if we could somehow...exchange with each other, and kind of offset each other to...jolt our immune systems back to where they should be.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

We were going to have a pool put in; but that's on hold. We found out our spetic system was insalled the year I was born...even though our house was new when we bought it in 2009! So we want it inspected first. And that will help determine its location.

Otherwise we are talking about replacing the flooring in our dining area. My kitchen/dining area is one bit L shaped room and the dining half is carpet. Light gray carpet! The back door opens onto it. We eat over it. We do school in here. The cats spend most of their time in here. It's awful. I'm not sure what kind of flooring we want though. The kitchen is a decent vinyl. It hides dirt well enough too. But I don't want the whole room in that; even if I could "match" it up. It's an odd angle between the two halves of the room too. We don't want something our kids will damage and destroy. But I do want it to look better and hold up to our active life. DH says we can get something a bit cheaper now and replace it again when the kids are older teenagers.

you're talking about replacing the flooring in your dining area!!! that sounds a little challenging, but also a very nice project!!

and having a pool put in, is on hold for now. that's smart, to have your septic system inspected first!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

Exactly why we haven't done a kitchen remodel and have put it off for so long. I tried to think of ways to keep the cost down or do without a total renovation but since it's too big a job to do ourselves we just keep putting it off.

i can understand that!!

that's great, thinking of ways to keep the cost down! i used to watch a lot of home improvement tv shows, and something i learned from those is that doing some/any part of any 'demolition' can cut the costs of a renovation down. things like taking out old kitchen cabinets that are to be replaced. and i recently read what Winchester posted about her bathroom remodeling, that the bathroom fixtures she really likes are expensive and so she's going to be looking for similar fixtures that are a little less expensive. you've likely already thought of those though.

and i was talking with the guy who switches out my mower deck for the snow blower attachment this fall, and he was telling me about his home improvements including their kitchen remodel. he said that he and his wife found some very good deals at Lowe's with their refurbished appliances.

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

I was thinking exactly the same thing this morning, and was making 'decluttering' my 2018 resolution. We have a big house and used to entertain a lot. Now we rarely have big family dinners or parties but we still have so much STUFF. It's time to let some stuff go.

ahhh, decluttering!!! most excellent!!

 

[micknsnicks2mom]

YES! We need to refinish the floors in the kitchen, dining room and living room because in July 2016 we ripped out the newer flooring to uncover the 1920s hardwood. The plan was to refinish the floors this past summer but instead we had to start residing the house because the woodpeckers had made huge holes down to the tar paper. We'd repaired them several times but it was a losing battle. The plan was 2 sides this past summer and 2 next summer but only 3/4 of one side got completely finished so next summer we need to finish the first 2 sides and hopefully do the other 2 sides. Then there's the garage to do, and the floors are still waiting, so we should stay busy until 2020...

those are awesome plans!!! and those naughty woodpeckers!!

so you'll be continuing work on residing your house in 2018. and if there's more time available, there's your garage and the floors.

 

[Winchester]

Exactly why we haven't done a kitchen remodel and have put it off for so long. I tried to think of ways to keep the cost down or do without a total renovation but since it's too big a job to do ourselves we just keep putting it off.

I hear you. We were lucky; Rick works for a cabinet manufacturer and so we were able to save a small fortune on cabinets. And the only new appliance we bought was the fridge and I think that might have been close to a year later. On one hand, we were trying to save as much money as we could, but we also wanted the kitchen to look nice. I think we accomplished that and, overall, I'm really happy with the way things look. It will be the last kitchen I ever have.

And now with the bathroom. Rick took the list of cabinets for the bathroom into work yesterday and we should know something fairly soon about the cost of that. I think that the bathroom remodel is going to cost more than what the kitchen did; hopefully I'm wrong. We're trying to find less expensive alternatives for fixtures and such, but everything is expensive, no matter how you look at things.

But you do what you can with what you have to work with. It's not easy to do a kitchen over. But @neely, it will be worth it in the end.

As for decluttering, that has been a problem with us for years. After we cleaned out Rick's parents' house, we said that we'd never put our son into that position. It was bad. So we've been working here and there on decluttering rooms. We really need to attack the basement, too.

 

[Margret]

okay. have you considered using a small chainsaw, like an electric one? i use my electric chainsaw to cut firewood down to usable length quite often, and it gives a flat cut -- though would need some sanding down to smooth it, (again) a sander. do you know anyone with a chainsaw? they might be willing to do the cut(s) for you. i can understand wanting to do the cut(s) yourself, and i prefer to do things myself most times too, but sometimes i'll have cuts done by others -- when i know it must be accurate. if you might feel comfortable with that, you could ask the next 'helpful' person who wants to cut them up and haul them off for you, if they might be willing to 'help' you in that way. you could get all the pieces you need for your plan(s) cut for you, and the leftover branches and pieces of can be given to the helpful person in return.

I've never played with a chainsaw, and I'm disinclined to ignore the expert advice that I should look for a handheld jigsaw. And I don't have a sander, though I'll probably need one before this project is done.

I'm unable to totally plan this in advance; it's going to be one of those projects where you start with one piece and nail it to the base, then take the remaining materials (branches) and see what goes well where, and how long, and how do I line up the crotches so the tubes will fit correctly, and then make a couple more cuts and install those pieces, ad infinitum. That makes it tough to get someone else to do the cutting for me.

you mention renting a staple gun. could you look into renting a 4" hand-held jigsaw...?

Definitely a possibility. I was just hoping to end up with my own jigsaw for future projects. My dad built houses for a living; I grew up with an inherent desire to collect tools.

hmmm......how to attach chicken wire to the concrete and tile of your porch......i'm not sure you could, without chipping or otherwise damaging the tile and/or concrete. how about attaching it to the outer side of the framing of the porch, and have the chicken wire extend down into the ground slightly -- and maybe pour some quik-crete in on it too...? you could make the chicken wire from the porch floor level on down into the ground look more attractive, by putting up some of that lattice looking stuff that usually gets put around those areas of porches.

I'm still thinking about this; so far it's totally blue sky. I may end up with a smaller enclosure on the back porch, with chicken wire on every face of it, or the same large one I originally thought of with a chicken wire floor (that would probably do the least property damage), or something like that. It will probably come to me in a dream one of these nights.

Margret