You know we're getting old and/or domesticated when we're pimping out our household appliances, lol. I just moved up to speed queen clothes washer/dryer. They should last me 20 years or more, similar commercial quality to subzero.
Building a new house and shop (10 Viewers)
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You know we're getting old and/or domesticated when we're pimping out our household appliances, lol. I just moved up to speed queen clothes washer/dryer. They should last me 20 years or more, similar commercial quality to subzero.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #922
More movement forward on the house. I finished All of the kitchen cabinets and the island cabinets, and the cabinet maker came by today to add the silicone bumpers and adjust the doors/hinges. All of the bathroom cabinets, doors, and drawers that were slated for stain have been stained, and now just need several coats of varnish. The cabinet guys also slightly enlarged the top opening of the fridge cabinet so that the mrs. Sub-Zero will fit.
Both showers are completely grouted and only need sealer.
Got baseboards painted and installed in my office.
Two different (recommended) counter guys have measured and are preparing bids.
The biggest project this week is trenching, laying, connecting, and burying the 4" sewer line to the septic tanks. I've been dreading it for a while, but decided not to put it off any more. I have previously done all that by myself for the electric, propane, and water lines, but the drains are more work because they have to line up, it has to be on grade, and 4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe does not flex or bend near as much as 2" conduit. I bought Schedule 40 instead of DWV pipe because it is running under the driveway, and I never want to have to worry about it. I was happy that we only need two 22.5-degree elbows to get to the tank, but it 250' of pipe.
Having previously rented walk-behind trenchers and learned how hard it can be to keep them straight, I splurged and rented a big ride-on trencher that digs a true 6" trench 4' deep.
It was well worth the extra $150. Dug 250' of trenches almost perfectly straight, in about 2.5 hours, and that included down time for finding the power and water lines for the chicken coop that cross the sewer line path. I also had two helpers, making it much easier to handle the 20' lengths of 4" schedule 40 and get tees glued in straight. One of the helpers also has a laser transit that makes measuring the grade a snap.
There are four drains coming out of the house that all dump into this 4" line; one 4", one 3", and two 2".
Tomorrow we'll finish gluing everything together, drop it in the trenches, make final adjustments to grade, and connect it all up.
One more piece of news that I'm pretty excited about - we finally got a real water softener system and had it installed today. I love it! I'm stupefied as to why I waited this long (43 years in Texas!) to get a real water softener. I would have installed this myself, but the company we bought it from has a lifetime warranty on absolutely everything, as long as they install it, so I let them. Shower and shave feels great, and no more cleaning calcium sulfate out of the shower heads, faucets, water heater, etc.
Both showers are completely grouted and only need sealer.
Got baseboards painted and installed in my office.
Two different (recommended) counter guys have measured and are preparing bids.
The biggest project this week is trenching, laying, connecting, and burying the 4" sewer line to the septic tanks. I've been dreading it for a while, but decided not to put it off any more. I have previously done all that by myself for the electric, propane, and water lines, but the drains are more work because they have to line up, it has to be on grade, and 4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe does not flex or bend near as much as 2" conduit. I bought Schedule 40 instead of DWV pipe because it is running under the driveway, and I never want to have to worry about it. I was happy that we only need two 22.5-degree elbows to get to the tank, but it 250' of pipe.
Having previously rented walk-behind trenchers and learned how hard it can be to keep them straight, I splurged and rented a big ride-on trencher that digs a true 6" trench 4' deep.
It was well worth the extra $150. Dug 250' of trenches almost perfectly straight, in about 2.5 hours, and that included down time for finding the power and water lines for the chicken coop that cross the sewer line path. I also had two helpers, making it much easier to handle the 20' lengths of 4" schedule 40 and get tees glued in straight. One of the helpers also has a laser transit that makes measuring the grade a snap.
There are four drains coming out of the house that all dump into this 4" line; one 4", one 3", and two 2".
Tomorrow we'll finish gluing everything together, drop it in the trenches, make final adjustments to grade, and connect it all up.
One more piece of news that I'm pretty excited about - we finally got a real water softener system and had it installed today. I love it! I'm stupefied as to why I waited this long (43 years in Texas!) to get a real water softener. I would have installed this myself, but the company we bought it from has a lifetime warranty on absolutely everything, as long as they install it, so I let them. Shower and shave feels great, and no more cleaning calcium sulfate out of the shower heads, faucets, water heater, etc.
That is a laser straight ditch for your drains…. We have iron and hard water here as well and have used water softeners for 4 decades… with it, our water is outstanding and tastes great…without it, hard and rusty. We also have an iron filter but the softener does a great job on its own.
Looks like exciting progress! worth every penny
Looks like exciting progress! worth every penny
If you have an RV or ever plan to get one I'd recommend adding an accessible sewer cleanout while laying all of the drain pipes. I have a truck camper and use mine frequently to empty the tanks when I get back from a trip.
As long as you use septic safe chemicals it won't hurt the septic system (we are also on septic).
As long as you use septic safe chemicals it won't hurt the septic system (we are also on septic).
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #925
I had one put in the original sewer lines for the shop and apartment building for just that purpose. I don't have an RV, but the contractor who put up all the forms for the domes of the big house stayed here in an RV. I also had an RV electric hookup installed at the same place.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #926
All of the drains, sewer, and septic tank are connected and working well, and about half of the line is buried. I'll be glad when that is completely finished; a lot of work, even with the high-capacity assault wheelbarrow.
Inside, both showers are finished; here is a photo of the master suite shower, at least from as far away as I can get - can't get the whole thing in one shot with my phone. At some point we'll put glass doors on the open side.
Inside, both showers are finished; here is a photo of the master suite shower, at least from as far away as I can get - can't get the whole thing in one shot with my phone. At some point we'll put glass doors on the open side.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #927
The mrs. is back in the old country for a month, helping her aged mother, who fell and broke her hip in two places. I have been getting a bunch of little stuff done in the house while she's gone. Got the sewer line completely buried. I'll have to add some more fill dirt on top once we get some rain and the fill gets compacted. I watered the cushion sand in by hand, to make sure it was all washed down under the pipe and fully supporting it, and buried the pipe in another few inches of cushion sand before backfilling the rest of the trench with excavated soil.
I finished staining and varnishing all of the oak cabinets , drawers, and doors in the two bathrooms they are in. She wanted water-base Polyurethane varnish that doesn't yellow - that stuff is thinner than oil-base and takes multiple coats to get good protection; I ended up doing four coats. With light sanding between every coat, it was a bit tedious and I'm glad to have it done. It is a huge relief to be done with the airless sprayer, and to take down the paint and drying booths I had set up in two back rooms.
I have been installing cabinet door knobs and drawer pulls; still a ways to go on those. I take my time and measure multiple times before drilling to make sure they're all straight and in line. I bought a Kreg jig to help; it is great for the knobs on the upper cabinet doors, but not useful for the drawer pulls because of the length of the pulls but also because most of the the shaker-style drawer faces are not flat.
Started doing some trim work; quarter-round at the edge of the floor and the rock wall in my office, and I'm going to start making window sills and aprons today. A little nervous because I have never done anything like that before. Two inside corners on each sill will have to be radiused to fit the bull-nose sheet rock trim in the window openings. Not sure how best to do that - I don't want to buy a router if I can help it. I'm going to try and do them by hand with some curved/half-round wood rasps that I bought; I guess I'll see how that works.
Finally, I've been stripping the old finish off of the wood panel on the front of the Sub-zero fridge. Going to try and just re-paint it the same color as the kitchen cabinets. It's not the flat shaker style, but a picture-frame style that is not drastically different. Repainting is cheap and mostly just elbow grease; if we don't like the way it looks, I guess we'll just go back to the cabinet company and have them make a new shaker panel that matches the cabinets.
I finished staining and varnishing all of the oak cabinets , drawers, and doors in the two bathrooms they are in. She wanted water-base Polyurethane varnish that doesn't yellow - that stuff is thinner than oil-base and takes multiple coats to get good protection; I ended up doing four coats. With light sanding between every coat, it was a bit tedious and I'm glad to have it done. It is a huge relief to be done with the airless sprayer, and to take down the paint and drying booths I had set up in two back rooms.
I have been installing cabinet door knobs and drawer pulls; still a ways to go on those. I take my time and measure multiple times before drilling to make sure they're all straight and in line. I bought a Kreg jig to help; it is great for the knobs on the upper cabinet doors, but not useful for the drawer pulls because of the length of the pulls but also because most of the the shaker-style drawer faces are not flat.
Started doing some trim work; quarter-round at the edge of the floor and the rock wall in my office, and I'm going to start making window sills and aprons today. A little nervous because I have never done anything like that before. Two inside corners on each sill will have to be radiused to fit the bull-nose sheet rock trim in the window openings. Not sure how best to do that - I don't want to buy a router if I can help it. I'm going to try and do them by hand with some curved/half-round wood rasps that I bought; I guess I'll see how that works.
Finally, I've been stripping the old finish off of the wood panel on the front of the Sub-zero fridge. Going to try and just re-paint it the same color as the kitchen cabinets. It's not the flat shaker style, but a picture-frame style that is not drastically different. Repainting is cheap and mostly just elbow grease; if we don't like the way it looks, I guess we'll just go back to the cabinet company and have them make a new shaker panel that matches the cabinets.
Depending on the radius can you use the nose of a belt sander?
I did most of our window trim and had never done anything like that before, no radius in my house but they all turned out with enough measuring
Mind sharing which unit you have? Our well water is brutal. Gonna have to run it through the RV when we move into it and I’ve been looking at various filters with mixed results.
Toilet in shop has already got some early staining, I’d like to minimize this as much as possible.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #931
Been doing a bunch of boring stuff that needs done; filling nail and screw holes in the baseboards and door trim, sanding same, caulking windows, baseboards, and door trim. Painted the fridge door panel and reinstalled it. Finished installing all of the cabinet knobs and pulls.
Also installed my key holder from Controlled Chaos Arms. I was going to put it in my office, but the mrs. wanted it in her kitchen, next to the door to the garage:
Also installed my key holder from Controlled Chaos Arms. I was going to put it in my office, but the mrs. wanted it in her kitchen, next to the door to the garage:
WarDamnEagle
SILVER Star
Nice color. I know you don't want to hear this but normally those units fit flush on the top and sides with a small stainless edge piece overlapping the cabinet frame. Or at least the 4' combined units do. I've never had the 3' individual units before.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #934
Yeah, I know they are supposed to. The problem is, the mrs. did not know what fridge she was going to end up with when the cabinets were built, so they just did a generic opening size. That thing is a couple of inches taller than any standard fridge size, so we already enlarge the top of the opening for it to fit. Some day, I may trim it out properly, but for now the mrs. is happy with it as-is. We've been working on the house for so long now that she just wants to move in, and has given up on perfection.
Imagine what it will be like living with a bowl of fruit or napkin holders on the counter instead of power tools or cleaning products. 
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #936
The first of two tankless water heaters for the house was delivered, so I am doing the prep work to install it. Today, that meant finally hooking up my propane line to the tank. As way above here somewhere in this thread, I buried and pressure-tested the line to the second-stage 2 psi regulator a year or more ago, and the line into the house and the distribution lines inside the house even before that. Anyway, I got to bend and flare copper again; for some reason I find that very satisfying to do. All good and no leaks.
1911
chupacabra
- Thread starter
- #937
Been working for a few hours every day on the house; bought all the ceiling fans on Black Friday sale so I've been installing those:
I mounted the first of two water heaters; waiting on Rinnai-brand (to keep the warranty happy) service/clean-out valves, they have been out of stock.
I installed a Speed Queen gas dryer (converted it to propane) in the master closet, so I finally turned on the propane to the house and bled the air out of the lines. Dryer works great and all is well with the lines, valves, and connections. Even though I'm very confident in my ability to make tight, safe, and leak-free propane connections and they all pressure-tested perfectly, it makes me think about what could possibly go wrong when I opened the valves. I went around one more time and checked every connection and fitting, this time with a combustible gas detector, just to make sure, but it's all good.
I tried a new (but expensive) way to hook up the dryer vent, the MagVent. It's a clever way to connect the vent with a strong circular magnet. Seems to have worked well, but they're $100 each. Supposed to make it way easier to disconnect and reconnect when cleaning lint out of the vent.
The mrs. has been painting more walls and base boards.
The counter top guy was supposed to come this week for final measurements, but now wants to wait until after the new year; we're disappointed but it's not that big of a deal after having been working on the house for this long.
I mounted the first of two water heaters; waiting on Rinnai-brand (to keep the warranty happy) service/clean-out valves, they have been out of stock.
I installed a Speed Queen gas dryer (converted it to propane) in the master closet, so I finally turned on the propane to the house and bled the air out of the lines. Dryer works great and all is well with the lines, valves, and connections. Even though I'm very confident in my ability to make tight, safe, and leak-free propane connections and they all pressure-tested perfectly, it makes me think about what could possibly go wrong when I opened the valves. I went around one more time and checked every connection and fitting, this time with a combustible gas detector, just to make sure, but it's all good.
I tried a new (but expensive) way to hook up the dryer vent, the MagVent. It's a clever way to connect the vent with a strong circular magnet. Seems to have worked well, but they're $100 each. Supposed to make it way easier to disconnect and reconnect when cleaning lint out of the vent.
The mrs. has been painting more walls and base boards.
The counter top guy was supposed to come this week for final measurements, but now wants to wait until after the new year; we're disappointed but it's not that big of a deal after having been working on the house for this long.
Really love the recessed dryer vent. Nice work man.
I've been thinking about that dryer vent hose all day. You know what a pain in the azz it is to reach back there and try to unscrew that hose clamp every year, game changer. 
@scrapdaddy Those who take the time and energy to clean those vents fully understand your thinking…I just now thought about adding a recessed vent but it’s been 45+ years here doing that damn clamp
