June 2007

This post is from from my other blog here

We finally got out the pressure washer and tried it out on our deck.

It works amazing.  You can see how much moss has grown on the deck over the winter and you won't believe how slippery it can be.

The pressure washer took every last bit of it off.

Now I need a few dry days in a row so I can seal it with the Australian Timber Oil.

That should prevent the moss from growing and preserve the nice red color.

This post is from from my other blog here

I just joined a new DIY community that I wanted to share with all my DIY buddies building or remodeling houses.  It's called Refurber and it is a group of folks all doing the same thing.  It's just getting started but I see a huge potential here for information sharing and being able to benefit from everyone's experience.

You can ask questions and get answers and suggestions from folks that have done it before.  You can also share advise by answering questions or posting articles.  I think it's going to be fun and I think I can share a lot of my experiences and get some help with the new issues that are arising on this house like leaking roofs and splitting floors.

This post is from from my other blog here

When we started the process of building this house we knew we didn't want carpet.  Once you tear carpet out in a house and see how much dirt never makes it into the vacuum it's hard to want to put it down again.  Besides, I tend to have allergy problems so with all our hardwood and tile floors paired with the in floor radiant heat (no blowers) I am allergy free here.

We chose bamboo.  It's very hard and a renewable resource and it's really pretty.  One suggestion I have if you are in the process of choosing hardwood flooring is to check the finish they put on it.  While our bamboo is great and a lovely color the finish sucks and scratches easily.  Ask for a scrap piece and do some tests on it.

The reason for this post is to also point out an installation problem I had.

At the deck doors there across the room I put a long carpet runner to protect the floor.

Meanwhile, unknown to me, all the traffic coming in and out of that door caused a split in the floor (at the seam)  Dunno if it was the traffic alone or if I didn't get enough glue on that piece.

It's smack in the middle of the entryway and is about an 1/8th inch thick.  There is about 4' of flooring on either side. 

It is quite noticeable.  I don't know if there is a way to bring that back together short of tearing up the flooring or am I just going to have to go the filler route.

I believe it happened because I had not cut the flooring that would fill the gaps on either side and I took out the spacers. 

My suggestion would be not to remove the spacers until you do that, especially in a high traffic area.

This post is from from my other blog here

Dear readers.  You will notice that you are seeing some repeats here on my site.  I am moving some of my posts to another site.  All of you refurbers and house builders out there may want to check it out.  www.refurber.com.  It's a pretty cool community of folks all doing the same thing and sharing advice and information about remodeling and house building.

I am still keeping this site of course but I'll be moving a lot of articles over there in the next week or so and then I'll be doing it every now and then. 

Thanks for sticking around and listening to what I have to say (and clicking :-). 

This post is from from my other blog here

janeybug.refurber.com

If you have gas appliances in your home I urge you to go out and get a good carbon monoxide alarm.  Today!

We have been having water heater problems.  Our water heater is propane.  There had been a funny smell coming from the system after the technicians worked on it.  It was not a smell of gas but a smell that I can only compare to the smell at buffet's where they have chafing dishes.  Everyone smelled it (including the techs) but no one knew what it was.  It is probably not the source of the excess carbon monoxide either.

Anyway, my brother had mentioned that we really needed carbon monoxide detectors in the house and I had just not gotten around to it.  He had several close friends die on a boat where the fumes built up while they were napping.

I decided that since we were having some problems now was a good time to put some in.

There was a range of prices from $24 to $49.  I was going back and forth on whether or not to just get the cheap ones but since this is a life or death situation I decided to get the $49 one with the CO level display. That's what credit cards are for right?? It plugs into the wall but also has a battery back up in case of power outages.

I placed them around the house where we have gas appliances.  My Mom's was reading 30 (she is on the ground floor near the garage where the troublesome water heater is)  All the others were at 0.  You can have a maximum reading of 50 for healthy adults.  I took the detector out to the garage and it quickly read over 100 and climbing.  We opened up the garage doors and windows to air out the house and unplugged the water heater.  Something it still very wrong with it.

One of the first signs in Carbon Monoxide poisening is your pets (particulary cats) we get sick and my Mom's cat had been acting funny all week.

So, even though we thought the problem was contained in the garage and that having the garage window open was enough the CO was leaking in to the lower floor.  We would have never known this without the detector.

I would say don't wait for a problem.  Depending on how many gas appliances and floors you have you can spend any where from $49 to a few hundred bucks.  A small price to pay to perhaps save your life one day.

Here is an article about how to choose a carbon monoxide alarm.  Go ahead, read it, while you are thinking about it. 

This post is from from my other blog here

janeybug.refurber.com

When we started running wires for this house we tried to imagine every possible place where we might want TV.  We also had to anticipate how many cables we were going to need over the years when new services become available.

Some how all these cables need to find homes in this control panel.  Only four got labeled during installation so it will be a surprise as to what cables go where.

Since we moved in we have been tripping over cables running all through the house.  Today I decided to do something about them.  The first step would be to wire up the main control center in the closet behind the home theater.

We bought this Leviton control panel from home depot.  There are all sorts of modules that fit inside for CATV, phones, computers and such.

I started by installing the cable modules and connecting up the main cable in to them.

I used CATV took kit that had everything I needed to put the ends on the cable.

First you use the wire cutters to make the cable the length that you need.

Then you use the stripper tool to take the casing and shield braid off to 1/4"

The strippers do the measuring for you.

After the first strip it looks like this.

Then you put the cable in the first slot to take off the shield 1/4".

There is a braided wire there that you fold back on the cable.

Then you push the connector on and use the crimpers to tighten it.

Here is the panel completely wired up.

I have labeled the ones that I know. 

All in all it was really easy to do.  It took about three cables to really get the hang of it and it took about an hour and a half to wire up 9 cables for the panels and 9 outlets in the rooms. 

The final step is to connect the cable in to the underground cable.

I connected this splitter to the outside of the house and hooked in the last wire. Success! We now have cable TV in every room.

This kit came in really handy.  The tools were sharp and took very little effort to use.

The next step will be to add the phone to that panel but that's another day. 

This post is from from my other blog here

  Testing               janeybug.refurber.com

You gotta have them, especially here in the North West.  Before you go and install a basic gutter do some homework so you don't end up with this problem.

There are actually trees growing in our gutters and it's been less than a year.

One problem we had was that we were in such a hurry to get our occupancy permit and gutters were one of the requirements that we just slapped up a standard gutter.  We knew there were going to be problems but it solved our immediate problem so we figured we would get to it later.

I know there are gutter caps and gutter screens but from what I hear in this neighborhood they don't work either.  We have too many pine needles and big leaf maples for that. 

We are looking at a system called the rain handler.  It's a series of louvers that the rain splashes off of.  That might be what we need here but more research needs to be done.

If you are looking at putting gutters up my suggestion would be to check out the neighborhood that shares the same trees that you have and see what your neighbors are doing and what is and what is not working for them.

This post is from from my other blog here

janeybug.refurber.com

I am so excited.  I have been wanting a high wheeled mower and I got one for my birthday!  It is Toro 6.5 Recycler and it is amazing.  It has a variable Speed Front Wheel Drive and a guaranteed-to-start engine which is a bonus because our former mower needed so much "husband" work before you could even think about starting it.  This one I can start myself easily.  The front wheel drive makes it so easy to get through the grass.

This is the grass I am talking about.  It is as high as my fruit trees.

The blade shreds this very tall grass in to nice tiny pieces.

Believe it or not there are 17 blueberry bushes back there.

At 6.5 horse power it has plenty of guts to plow through 5' high grass without a lot of effort on my part.  I plan to use it to open the paths up around the property.

There are my apple and pear trees.

Here are the blueberries.  Now I can run the soaker hose to keep them watered on these hot dry days.

If you are in the market for a mower I can recommend this one.  It was pretty affordable.  The original price was $299 at Home Depot but this one we bought was a refurbished return at $239.  Since the book was not available I asked them to mark it down some more so they took another 10% off.  So we got to bring it home for $215.  I love a bargain.

The other thing I have been wanting is a pressure washer.  Living in the middle of a rain forest the moss grows on everything!  You have to have a pressure washer to get it off.  Now I can finally finish our deck.

I won't try the pressure washer out just yet but in the next few weeks I'll get to and and review it. 

We built our deck out of IPE. 

IPE is a beautiful Brazilian hardwood that naturally resists rot, decay, insects, and mold without the use of chemicals used in other deck products. It is naturally fire resistant and incredibly strong.  It is not, however, immune to moss and it gets pretty slippery.

This is what it looked like when we first installed it.  It has reds and greens and yellows.  What we were supposed to do is seal it right away.  Well, that didn't happen so now it looks like this.

It has grayed and has green moss deep in the wood.

Once I get it pressure washed I am going to seal it with Cabot Australian Timber Oil.  That should bring the color back out and protect the wood from the moss this fall.