Anybody I used to know still post around here??????
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Thursday, May 23, 2024 14:59
VIEWED: 53454
PAGE 21 of 32
It's probably a lot more than 200 :)
Thank god I don't have rats! These are just little field mice. I'm going to leave out a little piece of bread where the bread used to be tonight and see if anything happens. Another day and no action on the traps.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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I think my mice are gone!
Left out a piece of bread overnight and not a nibble.
I'm going to keep those traps handy in case I see a problem again, but I'm just going to let it be for now. Hopefully I can get to remodeling some places where they might be coming from before I get any more. I really have no clue were to start looking.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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Hey Wish,
I was wondering if you could run an electrical question by your husband for me. I'll try to paint as good a picture of my situation as I can before asking though.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words so.....
So.... my question is....
What is the best way to go about cutting the existing conduit? (the black lines in the picture)
The conduit is above the joists and though it's not tight against the plywood flooring for the finished crawl space above, it's only got about 1/4" to 1/2" clearance.
I've given up any hope of using the sawzall like I did for the wall outlet. I didn't want to make a huge hole in the ceiling either, but I'm afraid that's inevtaible.
The only tool I have at my disposal that I think could do the job right is my battery powered Ryobi Circular saw with a 5 1/2" blade. I only have a wood blade for it now, so I'd have to research if they made a metal blade in that size (Im sure they do though).
I'm just wondering though if he has any other (possibly better) ideas before I go through all that.
Thanks :)
EDITED TO ADD:
If he has any other ideas, that would be super. I just looked at Menards and the price for a 5 1/2 metal cutting blade is 45 bucks before tax!!!!!
EDITED TO ADD 2:
Hmmmmmmm.... Good luck finding a wood cutting blade for a Ryobi 5 1/2" saw, let alone a steel cutting blade. The blade I found above that was 45 bucks might not even fit on my saw.
I suppose I may be able to fit my corded skilsaw up there, but I don't know if there's enough room to cut things exactly where they need to be cut. I'm sure a metal blade for it that I would hardly ever have any use for it would cost a small fortune too.
Maybe I'll just have to bite the bullet and rip out a large amount of the ceiling drywall and just take a lot of breaks between trying to saw through it twice with a hacksaw by hand. It can probably be done, but is it "worth saving boku bucks on a large metal cutting blade" doable?
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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Hubbs and I think you maybe could use a "mini pipe cutter" (about the size of a donut that someone bit a side out of, you tighten down a blade and twist it around, tighten and twist, tighten and twist and it will break off), if it's a solid pipe... They run about 15-20 bucks.(I think it was called an IMP on This Old House??)
If it's flexible conduit, good luck, and have fun chopping out drywall. 
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Hey Wish,
Thanks for the advice. I tried one I found at Menards for only 3 bucks :)
I didn't actually cut it, but I just wanted to see if it would even work. There wasn't enough space. :(
Turns out it's probably moot. Upon further investigation behind the scenes, I can now see where 3 of the 4 conduits from the light go (Yeah, this house is wired crazy-weird).
My guess is that the 4th (unseen) conduit goes to the two outlets I just did work on. The conduit that I believed to be going to the light switch before I actually think runs straight into the box for the 3-way light in the hallway. (This also makes sense now why when I was working on the outlets and I had the power shut off on the bedroom circuit why I still saw sparks and shit myself when I was working on the neutral wire). The original electricians, or more likely the bozos who worked on the electric after the fact, decided that it was a good idea to split the hot wires to different breakers, but it was perfectly kosher to use the same neutral lead for at least two separate circuits.
I kind of hate the fact that any time I'm working on any electric in this house I'll look forward to resetting 4 clocks. The only breakers I can shut off individually while I'm working are the two circuits that I ran out to the garage.
Anyways....
This also means that my precise bending job that I was so proud of was premature. I put a lot of time into planning that and I was so happy I got it right on the first try. I'm going to have to put quite a bit more thought into how I'm going to get to that other conduit now. The conduit that I'll be needing to cut is at an angle towards the switch and away from whatever conduit that I add.
Here's a pic of what I believe the situation to be now....
Fun.... fun... fun....
I think the best thing to do at this point to make absolutely sure that I'm cutting the right conduit is to turn off the breaker and pull the wires going to the switch out from the light itself. From there I can measure the length of the wires and compare it to a guesstimate of how long they'd need to be to get to the light switch. There would be a HUGE difference between the length of a lead running to a 90 degree angle to the light switch as opposed to a lead angled to end up right over it "as the crow flies".
My step dad is going to come by tomorrow afternoon and see if we can't get that light switch situation finally taken care of. I think I can figure it out without him, but I'd love to have his input before I proceed any further.
At least I got the drywall up over the 2 outlets I worked on today. All set for mudding now. :) I can't wait to see what this room looks like after it's got outlets wired behind the walls (like they're supposed to be), a switch in the room (like it's supposed to be) and the flat white of primer on every wall instead of every color of the rainbow on the walls.
For P.C. reasons, I refer to it as the "Clown Room" now, rather than some more Cartmanesque terms. Besides, to call it the "Gay Room" would probably be a misnomer. I bet the Queer Eye guys would bitch slap whoever painted it that way. 
I'm ready to party now though. That can wait until next year. 
Happy new year everyone! 
Hopefully the Mayan's weren't right. I'm just finally starting to get my shit together. 
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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GOT THE SWITCH TAKEN CARE OF TODAY!!!!
WOO-HOO!!!!!! (Lot's of fist pumping going on today )
I'm so glad my step-dad came over this morning. I was so focused on thinking that I would join the new conduit to the old, that I wasn't thinking outside the box anymore.
He told me to just enlarge the hole by the light, and try to push some conduit through the hole by the door until it was clear and then pull it back to the box and join it to the conduit I've already made.
It required a few tricky 45 degree angle bends to get down to the box from above the joists, and a couple of other interesting twists I won't bore you with, but after a few hours I had it up and running.
Finished putting up all the drywall before calling it quits too, so I'm all set to start mudding tomorrow. Rather than expose enough of the ceiling to attach the new drywall to joists I simply screwed the existing ceiling to some 2x4 cutoffs and screwed the new drywall into it. Ordinarily, I wouldn't recommend that, but the ceiling in the room was 2 layers like the wall was and one of them was practically stone. Now that the work is done, it's kind of cool knowing that I have the most durable ceilings and outside walls in my house that I've ever seen with all my rehabbing experience.
I'll end up waiting to paint the room until I'm ready to do all of the upstairs and downstairs at the same time and design it all at once, but it will be so awesome to have the electric the way I want it, the walls all the uniform stark white color of Kilz primer, and the carpets up exposing the beautiful hardwood floor in that room. It will be just another addition to my growing list of 1/2 finished projects, but what a satisfying job this one in particular will be.
It just occurred to me today while I was thinking about that fact why I've been so lazy and unfocused in the last few weeks. Truth be told, with all the work behind me so far, I haven't actually completed any one single job on this entire house, inside and out. I've gotten everything that absolutely needed to be taken care of done, got the mold out but have bare skeleton walls for the first 3 1/2 feet to 6 feet, I've fixed the sub-facia/facia but no gutters, I've filled the hole for the pool with 11 tons of dirt but I'll need another 3 or so tons before planting grass seed come spring, got my washer and dryer and water heater installed in spots that I'll have to remove them at some point to finish the basement behind them.....
Today was a big win for me in the morale department. Though I may not actually get to finishing the 2nd bedroom any time soon, it is so great knowing that by this time next week the only memories of the clown colored room with its ghetto electric will be all the pictures I took.
Awesome start to 2012!
Actually, I can't remember a Janurary 1st since I was 17 years old that my biggest accomplishment of the day was nursing a killer hangover.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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Triple Post Alert!
Haha!
Let's see if I can get 90 of the hundred posts on the journey to 300 all by myself, huh? 
This thread seems to be my own personal diary, or journal, if I want to be a "man" about it.
Today was a good day. I got a lot of 1st coat mudding done, and most importantly all of the spots where I had to lay it on really thick are done so they'll have a day and a half or so to dry before I get back to them.
The ridiculous colors aren't the only problem with the walls. It's apparent that this room has about 20 coats of primer and paint on it from the last 53 years and that not one single time did the "painter" feel it necessary to remove any rough-spots or patch any holes before painting another layer. Divots just need a little mud slapped on them, bumps just need to be cut out in a circle before mudding... so most of it is easy. The moderately painful spots though are where I can see outlines to where every single wall fixture ever installed in the room. My guess is there's been some regular shelving, a very ornate shelving system in one spot, a few smoke detectors as well as a few fire extinguishers.
And don't even get me started on careless drip marks......
Freakin' amatures.....
I'm just a perfectionist like that though. When I was doing rehab jobs for my friend's dad he'd always be telling me "this ain't the Taj Mahal". LOL... he was a great boss. I know he never questioned the quality of my work, or if whether or not I was working hard, but I think I was just a tad too detail oriented for that line of work. I'm sure if he was working for a bunch of rich people who paid big bucks for jobs I'd be first in line for any work coming his way, but most of his work is for middle-income folk who's motto is not "money isn't an issue".
"This ain't the Taj Mahal".....
I think about that phrase a lot while I'm working and obsessing over the minute details. Sure... this ain't the Taj Mahal, but it IS my Taj Mahal.
Every little extra bit of work I put into the details will show in the final product and someday when it's all done I'm going to pat myself on the back so hard that I break my collar bone.
I'll have some new pics in a few days. Hopefully by the weekend I can show you what it looks like with stark white Kilz primered walls with no imperfections and no trim or carpet.
After that, I'll be done with that room for a while. I'm going to just get all the rooms ready to finish first, that way I can really formulate a game plan for the finishing work on the entire house at the same time and really make it shine.
Hope everyone is having a great New Year so far :)
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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I ripped out the windowsills and the trim beneath them and the crappy corner-round used on the sides, inside the windows today. They were all painted up yellow and blue like the walls, so they were basically ruined. I also took down the vinyl blinds, since I have no intention of reinstalling them when the room is done. I'll probably spring for a great looking set of wood blinds (on sale) when I finally finish the upstairs.
I patched up the windows afterward, as well as all of the cracks in the wall that I gutted out and put the second layer on the really deep stuff that needed to be mudded. I've also got one of the walls completely sanded down/mudded so it's ready to primer.
I've been kicking so much ass the first three days of 2012 in fact, that I believe I'll have the room primered 2 or 3 days ahead of schedule. Pretty amazing, since usually I work at a pace much slower than I plan ahead for.
Next stop is either the Master Bedroom or the Kitchen :)
I also figured out what I'm going to do with the basement to mold proof it today. It's so simple actually, that I can't believe I didn't think of it before.....
The only thing that was submerged in water in the basement that didn't have a speck of mold on it was the tile and grout on the floor. So, after mold-proofing the studs and tracks like I've done, it only makes sense to use concrete drywall on the first 4 feet and then tile the walls and grout them.
If a flood ever happens here again, the basement will be a damn aquarium until it's drained.
Hell... I'll probably even tile the damn stairs themselves as well!
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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Ieghct. I just finished 1000 square feet. Damn near killed me.It's not just dragging the tiles home, but dragging them downstairs, and the bags of underlayment and grout... and I hope you have a tile saw, and a sink down there for all the water. I just finished and it took me 2 years.
Never again. Ever.
Only paid $300 for the lot though, AUCTION!
Today I built a shelf that looks just like the one in my pantry( harder than it sounds, as the people who built the first one were on crack!!!, hemmed 2 pairs of pants, sorted vast piles of shoes, helped with homework, and made brkfast lunch and dinner for us all. (sarcastic*)SIGHS. Sometimes being a wife and mom sooooo gets in the way of my empire building...
On another note, the mower we bought at auction works, $25 for battery and changed the oil, and wha-lah! I was ridin' up and down the street in a victory lap and the neighbors done thought I lost my mind
I'm gonna do it again this weekend
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Quote:
Originally posted by Wishimay:
Ieghct. I just finished 1000 square feet. Damn near killed me.It's not just dragging the tiles home, but dragging them downstairs, and the bags of underlayment and grout... and I hope you have a tile saw, and a sink down there for all the water. I just finished and it took me 2 years.
Never again. Ever.
Only paid $300 for the lot though, AUCTION!
Today I built a shelf that looks just like the one in my pantry( harder than it sounds, as the people who built the first one were on crack!!!, hemmed 2 pairs of pants, sorted vast piles of shoes, helped with homework, and made brkfast lunch and dinner for us all. (sarcastic*)SIGHS. Sometimes being a wife and mom sooooo gets in the way of my empire building...
On another note, the mower we bought at auction works, $25 for battery and changed the oil, and wha-lah! I was ridin' up and down the street in a victory lap and the neighbors done thought I lost my mind
I'm gonna do it again this weekend
Tiles are awesome! I'm a 5'7" brick shit house.... hauling ain't nothing I'm afraid of
I don't have a wetsaw yet, but I'd have to get one. If I tried to cut those with a sawzall or even a rotary saw with a mansory blade the only future I see in that is sparks, pain and a lot of ruined tiles.
I'm not working a real job now, and I have no sig-other or kids to get in the way, so let's hope the basement comes together here quicker than 2 years.
I'm at least going to put the concrete board up soon. It's pretty expensive though. Nearly 10 bucks a sheet for boards that are only 2 1/2 feet by 5 feet. Since I just came up with this idea today I have no idea how much I'll need, but I'm guessing with all the nooks and crannys that I'll need about 200 bucks of concreteboard.
I should also shell out the 500 bucks for the biggest and best sump pump with a battery backup if I'm going to start the basement work ahead of schedule, and possibly many years before I buy the natural gas backup unit that costs over 3k installed.
I've heard online that Marble tile is the best for mold resistance, but even at warehouses they go from 2.75 a sq/ft to like 20 bucks a sq/ft.
There's no need for Marble here though. I'm sure the tiles on the floor now are made of the same material my toilets were made of, and there is zero mold on them.
Besides... the existing porcelain tile on the floor looks pretty awesome. But if I was to spring for marble walls than the floors would look pretty foolish.
You know me Wish, I would love to find a sale on these tiles for the walls, but I have absolutely no idea how many I'll need at this point, and I have to somewhat match the color of the floor tile. I think garage sales or swap meets are out of the question. I need to find a tile on sale that will still be available later when I find I didn't buy enough the first go around.
And about the mower....
I know we've been having an unseasonably warm winter, but why are you using a lawnmower in IN in Janurary?????
I'd think you kinda nutz too lol
Glad you got a great deal on it though.
"A government is a body of people, usually notably ungoverned." ~Shepherd Book
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