Backyard Stuff

Charlie caught a mouse and tried to bring it in the house... it was still sort of alive. cat catch mouse, baby mouse, bring inside, charlie caught a mouse, cat, night, squeak
Eating potatoes and sweet corn from the garden.
backyard garden, corn, potatoesgarden harvest, corn, potato, grow, fall

Google Alert - donate your car to charity

News 1 new result for donate your car to charity
Dealership boosts charity with brand new car St. Albert Gazette
A St. Albert dealership has boosted an important charity with the donation of a brand new car. Ron Hodgson Chevy-Buick-GMC Aug. 23 donated a brand new ...
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Google Alert - donate your car

News 2 new results for donate your car
Donate your old cars to help firefighters practice their life-saving ... Reading Post
Firefighters are asking car owners to donate their old vehicles to help with their training, rather than send them to the scrapheap. Crews now spend more time ...
See all stories on this topic »
Let the Car Go the Distance Long After Summer Romance Fades SYS-CON Media (press release)
When Labor Day signals the end of it, the parting can become sweet sorrow with a charitable car donation. Kidney Cars donors are eligible for a tax deduction ...
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Google Alert - donate your car to charity

News 1 new result for donate your car to charity
Goodwill Car Donation Chicago is Now Accepting All Used Car ... DigitalJournal.com
The most viable and trouble free solution is to make a used car donation to Goodwill, the nation's leading charitable organization. Goodwill car donations result ...
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Google Alert - donate your car

News 2 new results for donate your car
Sweeney Fails To Sway Fellow Aldermen From Changing Minds On ... Journal & Topics Newspapers Online
Park Ridge still will not donate a used city vehicle to the Maine Township Emergency Management program after a motion to reconsider the decision failed.
See all stories on this topic »
Goodwill Car Donation Chicago is Now Accepting All Used Car ... PR Web (press release)
Goodwill Car Donation Chicago is now accepting all used car donations no matter what condition the vehicle is in. Getting rid of a used car can feel like a ...
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

California Rolls

If i'm not working out of town, then there's a good chance that i'm sitting at home being bored. So the other day i decided to make california rolls for lunch. I had made them twice before and they came out pretty well. They tasted the same anyway and were actually easy to make. Here's what you need:

Sticky sushi rice
Nori - that's the dried seaweed sheets
Crab legs
Avocado
Cucumber
Mayonnaise
and i added Mustard this time too but i probably won't in the future
Soy sauce for dipping

and something to roll everything up, you're supposed to use a bamboo mat but i didn't have that so i just wrapped a heavy cloth placemat with saran wrap


First make the sticky sushi rice. It's important that you boil out all of the liquid or else when you're spreading the rice it gets mushy. Then let it cool for a few hours. It seemed like around 1 cup of dried rice was enough for one roll.
how to make california rolls, ingredients, pictures, steps
Cut up the avocado and cucumber into stripshow to make sushi, rolls, california rolls, cut avacado, crab, rice
Wet the nori down a little then spread out the rice on one side. By the end your hands will be covered in the sticky rice.
california rolls, spread sticky rice, nori, seaweed
Now flip it over and add everything in a row.
how to roll california rolls, roll in rice, seaweed, nori, crab, cucumber
Use the mat to roll everything up as tight as possible, so that it doesn't fall apart when you try to eat it.

how to cut a california roll, eat, soy sauce
Wet your knife down and cut it in half.
make california rolls, sushi, cut roll, rice, crab, make at home, delicious
I usually get about eight 1" thick pieces. Including the ends which always come out crappy looking. I don't think i'm rolling the ends right or something.
homemade california rolls, make at home, sushi, cheap
Here's what they look like.whats in a california roll, ingredients, sushi
and here's what's in themwhat is in a california roll, diagram, ingredients, crab, avocado, rice, nori, cucumber
Like i said they are actually pretty easy to make and tasted just as good at the $10 california rolls you buy at the restaurant.

Replace Pontiac Grand Prix Exhaust

Several years ago i was in a rear end collision and the entire back half of the car was replaced at a shop.  I didn't know at the time but they ended up putting back steel mufflers and exhaust, rather then stainless steel.  It wasn't a big deal until recently when they started to rust through.  First one of the support brackets rusted and i had to reattach it with some wire and JB Weld.  Then last week the whole back half of the exhaust pipe came off. 
remove muffler, remove exhaust pipe, pontiac grand prix

Luckily they didn't fall off the car, the rubber muffler brackets were still holding them on.  But i realized that i needed to replace everything.  Here's where the pipe broke.
how to fix a rusted exhaust pipe, how to fix a muffler


I took it to an auto repair shop and they quoted me almost $700 for parts and labor.  They said that they needed to replace everything from the catalytic converter back.  $700 seemed like way too much and i figured that i could do it myself.  When i started looking at prices for the parts i realized that $700 wasn't too crazy.  Some places online were selling entire exhaust kits for close to $700.  

The best deal on the internet though to get car parts is through Advanced Auto.  If you go to SlickDeals you can always find a rebate code for  $50 off of a $100 online purchase.  Last time i got really nice brake pads for less than the cost of the cheap ones.  So i ordered 2 mufflers and the exhaust pipe from them for around $210.  I had to get the resonator pipe from eBay because Advanced Auto didn't have the right size and i could get it cheaper from eBay.  I'll explain more about that size thing later.

Here's everything except the exhaust pipe, that came a day later.
muffler, resonator, auto zone, advanced auto, order online

Here's all the new parts laid out in the driveway.  You can also see that i had to buy a 2 1/4" to 1 3/4" pipe reducer.  When all the parts arrived i realized the first problem.  The muffler pipe and the exhaust pipe weren't the right size.
pontiac grand prix exhaust, repair, replace

Here's what it looked like with the car on the jack stands and wheel ramps that Karrie got me last Christmas.  The creeper dolly i got on clearance from harbor freight a few months ago.  There's no way i could have done this without these things.
car on jack stands and wheel ramps, creeper dolly

I also realized that i would need a bunch of clamps to connect all the pipes, at least 5 of them.  It wouldn't be a huge deal as long as there wasn't a problem with everything fitting correctly.  But since i always wanted to get a cheap welder from Harbor Freight, this was the perfect excuse to get one.  I went with the popular 90 Amp Chicago Electric Flux Welder.
harbor freight welder, cheap welder, 90 amp, flux
Using a coupon i got the welder for $90 and the auto dimming mask for $60.

It was a good thing i got it too, because fitting the pipes together was a bigger problem then i first thought and clamps wouldn't have worked.

But the first thing i needed to do was to remove the old rusted exhaust pipes.  The mufflers and part of the exhaust had already rusted and i just needed to remove them from the rubber rings.

Even with the ramps and jack stands there still wasn't a lot of room under the car to maneuver. 
room under car, fix, repair, pontiac, gm car

I only had to remove 2 bolts connecting the resonator flange to the catalytic converter pipe.  After spraying some PB Blaster to loosen the bolts, the first one came off alright.  But the second one wasn't budging.  I tried tapping it with a hammer as i wrenched on it but nothing.  So i went to the Sawzall.  After cutting the bolt half way through i decided to try loosening it again, this time it came off and i was able to remove all of the old exhaust.
remove resonator bolts, pipe, rusted, how to

There was a gasket between the resonator and the catalytic converter pipe, but they also used some sort of rubber sealer.  Luckily most of it came off on the old resonator pipe which i didn't need.
clean flange, car flange, bolts, exhaust pipe

Here's the other side of that flange from the catalytic converter, all cleaned up with a wire brush
resonator flange, wire brush, leak, loud noise

Finally i had all the old exhaust taken off the car.  Here's the old and new parts side by side.
new and old exhaust, gm, ford, chrysler, repair, replace

You can see that the old resonator is slightly smaller then the new one.  I knew that this was going to be a problem, i had ordered the resonator for a 2006 Pontiac Grand Prix and mine is a 2005. 
resonator pipe repair, replace

 The reason i did that is because all the people in the comment section for the 2005 part said it was too short and they needed an extender piece.  The part they received was 28", the 2006 part was 32".  So i figured i should order the longer one and cut it down.

So i marked the new pipe as to where i wanted to cut it.  I just used a hacksaw with a new blade to cut through the pipe.
size resonator pipe repair, measure, cut

The piece on the left is the larger pipe size that i needed.
fit resonator pipe size, weld

Now i could adjust the larger pipe a few inches to get it to fit, before i welded it.

how to size resonator pipe, fit

Then like i said earlier i needed to buy a transition pipe between the exhaust and mufflers.  Even then the pips didn't fit exactly, i had to use a grinder to get one side to fit in the muffler.
pipe muffler fit, reducer pipe, size, 2 1/4"

I needed to use the vice in the basement to hold the pipe while using the grinder.  I made sure to have a bucket of water handy in case anything started smoking or caught fire.
grind pipe metal, muffler part

Here are those flanges ground down to the right outer diameter.  But after i did a dry fit of everything i found out that they were a bit too long.  So the mark on the right is where i had to cut them to length.
auto zone transition reducer pipe,

Here they are cut, the pieces on the right are the ones i needed.

how to install a muffler on a car, steps guide

Then it was time to start welding.  I had never welded before, i just bought the welder that day.  But i had watch a couple of Youtube video's so i figured i was good to go.  I took about 3 minutes to practice on some of the scrap pipe.  The Harbor Freight welder only has a Min - Max adjustment for power and 1-9 adjustment for wire speed.  So after 5 practice welds i was ready to weld up the exhaust.

weld exhaust, how to

The first welds were to attach the transition pipes to the mufflers.  The pipe on the left is how it looks like immediately after welding and the pipe on the right is after cleaning the flux off with a wire brush.  It's obviously not great for my first weld, there were a few mistakes and i'm not sure that i used the correct power setting or wire speed, but overall it turned out better then i thought it would.
how to weld, muffler pipe, exhaust

The hardest part for me on welding is going the right speed.  It seemed like i was always going too fast and had to slow down to get a good bead.  But after a few minutes i had it all welded together.
2005 pontiac grand prix exhaust, GM

I had to flip it over a few times to weld on all sides.  Then before putting everything back on the car i made sure to spray lots of WD-40 on the rubber brackets.  These are what's used to attach the exhaust to the car.  They are rubber so the vibration isn't transferred to the frame.  The WD-40 made it easier to slide the brackets onto the posts.
wd-40 rubber flange, gasket, bracket, lubricate

It was a struggle to get it all back together, i had to use 2 milk crates to support the muffler end while i bolted the front back.  But eventually it all fit properly.
install new muffler, exhaust

So all in all i saved around $250 and ended up with a new welder at the end of everything.

A few Tips About Just How To Contribute a Vehicle

Pеoplе on avеragе donatе cars, howеvеr you may also donatе vеhiclеs, Rеcrеational cars, ships, sеmi-tractors, planеs, and еvеn cyclеs. Car gift companiеs rеally takе villagе еquipmеnt.
Thе procеdurе for giving your vеhiclе to charity is simplе: Contact thе charitablе organization and еvеn somе onе should comе and еvеn pick-up your vеhiclе, or inform you whеrе you can takе it.

Nеvеrthеlеss, with so many non-profit businеssеs whеrе to sеlеct and еvеn so many pеoplе trying to con thе simplе, choosing thе most еxcеllеnt organization ain`t always еasy.
But bеforе donating, makе surе your charity of choicе is rеcognizеd by thе IRS. Othеrwisе, your dеduction may bе rеjеctеd. If in doubt, chеck always thе IRS’s Publication 78. donate car It providеs licеnsеd non-profit organizations; rеligious businеssеs arеn’t shown, though thеy do qualify. Or, both gеt in touch with thе Bеttеr Businеss Burеau [BBB] in your town or thе BBB Wisе Giving Alliancе.
Somе Stratеgiеs for Donating Your Automobilе to Charity:
1. Discovеr what thе charity is going to do with all thе vеhiclе.
2. Discovеr what thе charity cеrtainly doеs with thеir cash.
3. Ensurе that you`rе actually giving your automobilе to your charity.
4. If you rеspond to a rеal indication or ads, or gеt a mobilе call asking you to lеad a car to a rеal charity, you may bе talking to a rеal paid spеcialist fund-raisеr as opposеd to thе charity.
Many non-profit businеssеs solicit donations of cars. Bеforе giving your vеhiclе, makе surе that thе charitablе organization is just a 501[c][3] organization and еvеn is accordingly rеgistеrеd with thе Attornеy Gеnеral’s Charitiеs Burеau. In addition you havе to find what it’ll do with thе automobilе or thе cash it gеts by sеlling it. Entеr touch with all thе charity to find thе way it`s bеcoming to invеst its monеy. Evaluation thе charity’s financial statеmеnts to find out just how much of its incomе is usеd in charitablе programs and еvеn how much is usеd for administrativе еxpеnsеs.
To support your prеsеnt tax dеduction, makе surе to possеss thе namе and еvеn addrеss of thе charitablе organization, thе spеcific timе of thе contribution, thе arеa whеrе you donatеd thе car, a dеscription of thе car, plus a writtеn acknowlеdgеmеnt from thе charitablе organization. Kееp a rеal copy of thе titlе transfеr. Statеmеnt thе movе within your statе motor-vеhiclе dеpartmеnt, and еvеn еnd your car insurancе. Eliminatе licеnsе platеs-unlеss statе rulеs says othеrwisе-as wеll as еnrollmеnt togеthеr with еxamination stickеrs.
Do pеrhaps not forgеt just that charitiеs should givе a bill to you in casе thе worthinеss of onе’s car is significantly morе than $250. Makе surе to ask – and еvеn obtain – a bill rеgardlеss how much your automobilе may bе worth. Rеmеmbеr that thе IRS may rеquirе othеr stylеs, in rеlation to thе pricе of your automobilе.
Donatе car is dеfinitеly an cool mеthod to hеlp thosе lеss privilеgеd go through thе frееdom of having a vеhiclе. Whеthеr you livе in a big Nеw York arеa or еvеn a smallеr arеa many companiеs works to assist thеir vеry own automobilеs to bе givеn by Nеw York rеsidеnts. And еvеn, obviously, do not forgеt just that if you contributе to a rеal qualifying charity, you could possibly gеt a rеal tax-dеduction!

Randy Bachman Gives Muscles Vehicle

There has become yet another reason to go to the National Science Museum of Canada: Randy Bachman’s T-Bird. Bachman liked the vehicle and even over and over repeatedly agreed to get it from his chum. It`s still in perfect condition, having been restored for this condition numerous times by its doting owners. It highlighted five unique, historic Guess Who tracks just that have been thought lost a long time before. That demonstration record acquired national fame and even ultimately became an album of its named the Thunderbird Trax.
Randy Bachman is just a normal contributor to museums and even learned of the National Science Museum’s curiosity about his car while giving his records of music to a different Canadian library archive.
  Officers there told him just that still another public using the concept of science and even engineering were putting out feelers for your ‘final Canadian rock ‘n’ roll car.’ Bachman’s Thunderbird instantly turned up to mind. He made the offer and even the car was sooner or later on the fast-track toward being shown prominently in the public. Randy Bachman had seldom been using nowadays to the car, the majority of his time being allocated to the street enjoying at rock festivals and even other unique gigs. Put into this, Bachman’s numerous domiciles have been in as far-away places as Santa Monica, California, and even London, England. Bachman usually had almost no time to travel to his destination, not as where it’ll receive a comprehensive washing and even a repair prior to making its debut about the museum scene in the Thunderbird.
The car happens to be situated in an Ottawa museum factory, when he moves. Planners in the National Science Museum are carefully planning for a well-publicized Grand Opening of the new display featuring the 1965 Thunderbird. He also owned a real 1954 Rolls-royce but was not in a position to go anywhere because of the wide range of vandalism in the town where he`s been living at that time. The 1965 Thunderbird sooner or later to be on show in the National Science Museum had been his favorite car. 

Vehicle Gift, 4 Factors To Donate

Vehicle Gift, 4 Factors To Donate

The 10 best places to donate


The 10 best places to donate depend on your interests and opinions. It’s better to give than to receive, but donating to various charities and organizations can be a confusing matter to many of us. Here are some basic places you may wish to consider donating your hard-earned cash to help those in need.
  1. The public library is one of 10 the best places you can donate money. Public libraries benefit the entire community. Your money can help libraries afford to buy more books, magazines, computers and other materials that patrons can use for free.
  2. Donating money to your child’s school is another excellent place to donate money. Most public schools constantly conduct fundraising in order to add more money to the school’s coffers. Give them a helping hand by donating some of your hard-earned cash.
  3. Consider giving money to your religious organization. Many people choose to donate to their house of worship. Religious organizations use donations to perform charity work and help others in the local community or people in need around the world.
  4. Try donating money to local foster care agencies. Foster care agencies constantly need money in order to help children in the foster care system. Whether it’s clothing, diapers, or other necessities, foster care agencies need money in order to purchase supplies for kids in need. A foster care agency is one of the best places to donate.
  5. Don’t forget our furry friends. Animal shelters are always in need of money in order to care for abandoned pets. Consider donating money to help purchase blankets, food bowls, and other pet supplies. Animal shelters are one of the best places to donate.
  6. Why not donate to a local arts organization? Whether you enjoy musical theater, dance, visual arts, opera, or orchestral music, you can help arts organizations survive by donating money.
  7. Dig deep and donate to a homeless shelter. Homeless shelters need money in order to buy food and other supplies for people who have nowhere to live. Homeless shelters are one of the 10 best places to donate.
  8. Donate to an organization that is seeking a cure for cancer, diabetes or other life-threatening diseases. Your donation may help researchers discover a medicine that can save someone’s life.
  9. Consider donating to the United Way. The United Way is a nonprofit organization that helps people in the community and is one of the best places to donate. Whether delivering meals to the elderly, helping families in crisis, or assisting families with special needs children, the United Way is responsible for a wide range of charity work.
  10. Donate to your local Boys & Girls Club of America. This organization provides after school activities for kids, keeping them off the streets and involved in positive recreation. Arts programs, sports teams, tutoring, job skills programs are just a few of the activities offered. Your money can help keep those programs in your community. Boys & Girls Club are some of the best places to donate your money.

Randy Bachman Gives Muscles Vehicle


There has become yet another reason to go to the National Science Museum of Canada: Randy Bachman’s T-Bird. Bachman liked the vehicle and even over and over repeatedly agreed to get it from his chum. It`s still in perfect condition, having been restored for this condition numerous times by its doting owners. It highlighted five unique, historic Guess Who tracks just that have been thought lost a long time before. That demonstration record acquired national fame and even ultimately became an album of its named the Thunderbird Trax.


Randy Bachman is just a normal contributor to museums and even learned of the National Science Museum’s curiosity about his car while giving his records of music to a different Canadian library archive.
  Officers there told him just that still another public using the concept of science and even engineering were putting out feelers for your ‘final Canadian rock ‘n’ roll car.’ Bachman’s Thunderbird instantly turned up to mind. He made the offer and even the car was sooner or later on the fast-track toward being shown prominently in the public. Randy Bachman had seldom been using nowadays to the car, the majority of his time being allocated to the street enjoying at rock festivals and even other unique gigs. Put into this, Bachman’s numerous domiciles have been in as far-away places as Santa Monica, California, and even London, England. Bachman usually had almost no time to travel to his destination, not as where it’ll receive a comprehensive washing and even a repair prior to making its debut about the museum scene in the Thunderbird.
The car happens to be situated in an Ottawa museum factory, when he moves. Planners in the National Science Museum are carefully planning for a well-publicized Grand Opening of the new display featuring the 1965 Thunderbird. He also owned a real 1954 Rolls-royce but was not in a position to go anywhere because of the wide range of vandalism in the town where he`s been living at that time. The 1965 Thunderbird sooner or later to be on show in the National Science Museum had been his favorite car. 

Google Alert - donate your car

News 1 new result for donate your car
When fuelling your car Fiji Times
An attendant fills up a car at a service station in Suva. ... article that offered tips on car fuelling with the underlying message for car owners not to 'donate' fuel and ...
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Google Alert - donate your car to charity

News 1 new result for donate your car to charity
How to Deduct a Car Donation Wall Street Journal
The general rules work like this: Suppose you donate a vehicle you think is worth, say, $3,000. But the charity, or some middleman, sells it for only $1,000.
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Google Alert - donate your car

News 1 new result for donate your car
How to Deduct a Car Donation Wall Street Journal
The general rules work like this: Suppose you donate a vehicle you think is worth, say, $3,000. But the charity, or some middleman, sells it for only $1,000.
See all stories on this topic »

Delete this alert.
Create another alert.
Manage your alerts.

Family Room - Drywall Trim Crown Molding and Paint

The place that we spend the most time at home is the kitchen and family room.  Especially after John and I built that great TV stand that covers the fireplace.   Unfortunately in the winter the family room isn't the warmest place to be.  As you can see from this picture i took during the winter with an infrared thermal thermometer. 
infrared thermometer, house heat loss, cold air

It shows that the surface of the stone fireplace is less than 50 degrees.  During the winter months the stone radiates cold air.  I drew a quick sketch showing all of the temperatures i measured.  As you might have guessed, the worst areas were at the seams and corners. 
chart, sketch, heat loss in house walls

One thing you might be surprised at is that one wall was reading less than 30 degrees.  Now mind you that this is inside the house, with the temperature outside of 8 degrees Fahrenheit. 
lack of insulation in walls, studs, cold air

At that point the only thing i could think of was that the builders forgot to put insulation in that wall.  But there wasn't much i could do in the middle of February so i just caulked the corner and stuffed some in insulation where i could.

I also insulated the fireplace, thinking that would help.  It might have helped a little but it was still cold in the room.
put insulation in fireplace to save heat

So it finally came time for Karrie and I to redo that family room.  We decided to to tear down the wainscoting, put in new insulation, caulk, paint and put up new baseboard and crown molding.  Here's our quick sketch showing how many boards we needed, square footage for insulation, length of trim and other tools.
remodel family room, plan, cost, chart, material, measurements

We figured that if we didn't do it now, we wouldn't be able to do it in the middle of winter.  For reference here's what the room looked like before we started.
existing family room before remodel

Just to make sure we didn't chicken out and procrastinate, we drew on the walls with a Sharpie.  That way we were definitely going to tear the walls down that coming weekend.
draw on wall with Sharpie, decal, flower

I thought that the far tree looked kind of good, it was fun getting out our "artistic" expressions.
draw tree on wall, house, demo, fun, art

The next day, with the help of Karrie's sister we ripped down the old walls to have a look at the old insulation.  At first it didn't look to bad and was afraid we were wasting our time. 
remove old insulation, remodel repair, fiberglass

But on the opposite side of the insulation we saw the problem.  The fibers them selves were really old and brittle and it had black stuff on it in patches.  Not sure if it was mold.  Plus putting up insulation is cheap and easy.  If we were going to go through all the trouble of redoing the walls, replacing the 50 year old insulation was a no brainer.
moldy insulation, mold, fiberglass, black

 Here's what it looked like when we had all the boards off and insulation torn down.
studs without insulation, family room, heat

Remember the area by the fireplace where it was reading 30 degrees?  It turned out that there really wasn't any insulation, kind of like i had guessed.  All that was left was the insulation paper, all the insulation was gone.
black mold insulation, discentegrate, fall apart, heat loss

I'm not sure what happened, whether it rotted away or somehow disintegrated.  But i felt better ripping everything down knowing that it needed to be done.  It probably would have been colder if it were an outside wall, luckily the worst part was where it abutted the garage.  But we removed all the boards and insulation and filled up many garbage bags in the process.

The next weekend Karrie's sister came back along with her dad to help put up drywall.  We went to Home Depot to buy 9 rolls of R-13 insulation and 13 - 4'x8' pieces of 1/2" drywall.  I wanted to use the heaviest insulation i could, i was going to get R-19 or R-30, but after talking to our friend Jeff, he said that those wouldn't fit in the walls, they are used for 2"x6" walls and attics.  Also we bought drywall mud, screws, joint tape and some miscellaneous trays and tools for installing drywall.

So we got home and started working.  At first we were all working in the insulation.  I used a can of Great-Stuff foam and sprayed it at the bottom of the wall joists.  I figured it couldn't hurt to fill in any gaps.  The next day i was really surprised to see how much it did work.
black mold insulation, discentegrate, fall apart, heat loss

I guess the gaps in the wall were bigger then i thought.  Here's what it looked like from the garage side, the foam had squeezed out through the cracks.

Putting up the insulation went quickly and soon Karrie's dad and i started doing the drywall.  Karrie and her sister kept stapling all the edges to the studs.
how to install insulation in walls, staple, fiber glass, R-13, R-19, R-30

We were cutting the boards out on the patio using 2 saw horses as work stands.  I also got to use my Dremel rotary saw for some of the small cutouts (like around the electrical outlets).  Emma and Olivia were happy with it.
drywall and insulation

Everything seemed to go really smoothly and throughout the day we made good progress.  Karrie and her sister helped screwing in the drywall after they finished with the insulation.
drywall laser level, stud finder

Here's our cutting area outside.  It was nice having this area just outside the sliding door.  It kept the dust from getting in the house and it was a beautiful day.
how to cut drywall, knife, saw, dremel

 Around the fireplace there was concrete block and we weren't able to screw the drywall to anything.  So we had to use Liquid Nails to glue the boards to the wall.  When we were trying to find something heavy to keep pressure on the board i thought of the perfect thing, my 50 pound anvil.
drywall liquid nails, do you need liquid nails and screws

One neat trick i thought of was using the laser level to indicate a line to screw into the stud.  This was a lot quicker then measuring and marking with a pencil.  The laser level also had 2 needles that stuck to the wall and could pop off easily.
screw in drywall, laser level, stud, drill

As we were continuing to put up the drywall, Karrie and her sister started with the real work, mudding the joints. 
proper technique for mudding drywall joint, adhesive tape

Mudding and sanding, then again, and again.  It took several days and was lots of work.  I thought that filling in the joints would be the easy part, turns out that it was way harder then putting up the drywall.  This is what it looked like after the first or second round of mudding and sanding, i can't remember.
how to mud drywall joint, spackle

But finally we were ready for paint.  Before we put on the actual paint with color we decided to use a white primer.  I bought a can of Valspar primer that was for drywall, it was only $12.  I ended up having to go back and buy a second one.  We used 1 1/2 cans on the walls and the remainder we used for painting the trim at the end.  In hindsight i should have bought the 5 gallon bucket of primer for $35.  We would have definitely used it for some of the upcoming projects.
primer before you paint over new drywall, absorb paint

The new drywall really absorbed the primer.  This is a picture of Kristina and I finishing up and Kyla taking a quick break on a milk crate.

The next day Karrie and i painted the final color, it was from Valspar Signature called Coconut Milk, kind of a tan-white.  It looked very white, but then when compared to the white ceiling i could see the difference.
family room remodel, how to hire a contractor, cheap remodel

We also got 2 cans of that paint because we decided to paint our kitchen as well.  That way it had a seamless transition between the kitchen and family room.  Karrie did 90% of the painting one day after work.  By the time i got home she was mostly done and i just had to help with the edges and corners.  The next day we finished painting the kitchen.

The next weekend we were ready to install the baseboard and crown molding.  It was a bit of a surprise to see how much that stuff cost.  We ended up spending close to $80 for everything; 60 feet of crown molding, 24 feet of baseboard and 24 feet of round-over.
how to put up base board, trim, floor, wall

The baseboard went in really easily and immediately looked great.  The round-over was for the stone fireplace.  That took a bit longer but wasn't too bad.
easy miter, round over, molding, baseboard

The real pain in the butt was putting in crown molding.   Crown molding was a terrible because it took 2 people to hold the boards up to the top of the ceiling, cutting had to be done with the board held at a 45 degree angle and upside down, and the boards themselves were 12 feet long.  It took me several hours and many Youtube videos to figure out how to correctly cut the boards.  All of the corners were a compound cut, meaning the saw was set at one angle and the board had to be held at another angle.  Here's the first corner i did, sadly as terrible as it looked, this was my 3rd attempt after several hours. 
how to cut crown molding, inside corner, angle, 45, compund

I pre-drilled all the nail holes and used a stud finder to make sure i wasn't nailing just into drywall.  To make a long story short, the whole process was basically 2 steps forward, 3 steps back.  The first board we put up and took down different several times before i had the angle right.

Finally it seemed like it was going ok and i had the hang of everything, until i started working on the back corner.  For some reason the boards didn't seem to match up and it took me cutting the angle 3 times before i realized that the walls of the house didn't make a 90 degree angle.  Plus the ceiling had a dip and rise. 
how to fix crown molding, bad cut, spackle

The 2 walls made more of an 86 degree angle, but it was enough to screw everything up.  So i had to cut on of the boards at a +-49 degree angle and even then it wasn't great.  But at that point anything close to being ok, was good enough.  I figured i could make up the difference with spackle.

When we had all the boards where we wanted them, we then had to go back and counter sink the nails into the board, here's Karrie doing that.
counter sink nails, molding, trim, remodel, small details

Then we had to go back to the drywall mud and fill in all the nail hols, gaps, and corners where we messed up.  Karrie then used a tube of paintable white caulk which was specifically for crown molding.  First she caulked the baseboard and round-over, it made everything look 100% better.  The caulk made it look seamless and got rid of the dark line gap where the board didn't fit perfectly to the wall.

Then she went along the top and bottom of the crown molding and that too looked way better after she was done.  Here's her caulking along the round-over by the stone fireplace.
baseboard caulk, dap caulk for baseboard

We had also decided that we might as well change out the old outlets and covers.  Since they are only like 48 cents for outlets it wasn't a big deal.  Although i wasn't sure that i had reconnected all the wires properly, but after we turned the power back on it all worked.   It would have made for a sore sight to do all this work and just leave in the old outlets and covers, this makes it all look new.
install new electrical outlet, easy, cheap, finished look

That's when we realized that we didn't cut the holes in the drywall as tightly as we should have.  There were gaps around the outlet covers.  So we went back to Lowe's and bough some "jumbo outlet covers" and that fixed the problem.

The last thing to do was go back with the white primer and paint over the baseboard and crown molding.  Karrie was the one to do all of this.  It took many hours using little brushes.
detail trim painting, baseboard house paint

But when it was done it looked great.  It has to be the nicest room in the house now.  And the new 50 cent outlets and covers make a big difference too.
flip house, new trim and electric outlets

 Here it is all done, the carpets vacuumed and fireplace stone cleaned up.  With everything, the baseboard, outlets, crown molding, it really looks nice.  I hope it stays warm this winter.  It has to be better then the last few years where we had no insulation at all.
how to add value to your home, house, flip, drywall, crown molding

And this is what the whole room looks like all done.   
finished family room, add value to a house, remodel

Looking back at that original sheet, we were actually really close to our original cost estimate.  We went over a little because we needed 2 cans of primer and a second can of paint.  Originally we weren't planning on painting the kitchen.

It ended up being a lot more work then i thought.  The worst parts being the drywall mudding and crown molding.  It might be a while before Karrie convinces me to redo another room in the house.

Powered by Blogger.

Blog Archive