Home Improvements
Am unemployed, so I have time to focus on local projects, some of which have gotten out prioritized for years. I am Home Improvement Man.
I cleaned up and finished off the garage -- got rid of most of the ten year accumulation of junk, then installed drywall, shelving and a proper workshop area.
The well pump died, so I replaced it. Extracting the dead pump was a bit of a project. It was hanging from what turned out to be sixty feet of 1-1/4 inch steel pipe -- more than I could pull out by hand. After some head scratching and googling, I got a couple come-alongs, made wood clamp blocks and cut a hole in the pumphouse roof. This allowed me to ratchet the pipe up a few feet at a time and remove each pipe section in turn. Balancing those twenty foot sections on end for removal was a circus act, but it all worked out. I installed the new pump with lightweight plastic (PE) pipe. The plastic is infinitely easier to work with than steel. Putting the new pump in place went at least 10x faster than the old extraction and the finished product works like a champ.
My latest task is finishing the floor around the upstairs landing, replacing the temporary carpet scraps we installed eight years ago. First I had to tear up and reattach some of the underlying subfloor. In the process, I inserted additional nailers to fix incessant floor squeaks
Am now partway through the installation. Getting the trim detail under the rails right makes for slow going. I rented a manual nailer for a day before deciding that it will be cost effective to just buy a pneumatic flooring nailer. It's on order a should arrive at the end of the week.
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posted at: 08:26 | path: | permanent link to this entry
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