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@NC LX That looks great, but aren't the Grandparents responsible for buying that kind of stuff for the grandkids? 
Other than LC Projects Thread
- Thread starter FJ Noob
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3 cubic yards of it, anyway.
I need to make one myself. With the isolation, we are producing a massive amount of organic material from dinner prep, coffee grounds, and any food leftovers. I like the idea of the tumbling composters but not the price.
I know. I have $2500 in a ”free” playhouse. Not including the lighting and the misters I plumbed into one of the zones on the sprinkler system for the kids on those hot summer days to get them outside.@NC LX That looks great, but aren't the Grandparents responsible for buying that kind of stuff for the grandkids?
I built one out of old pallets last year, it's not as nice looking as @GLTHFJ60 's but it was completely free.
same at our house. We are producing a lot of organic material. Maybe I should build one also. Thanks for the idea Johny, glad I thought of it. Haha
You can build it out of non-PT lumber of course, just don't expect it to last more than a year or two. I sunk the "ground contact" 4x4s about a foot into the ground so the thing won't move, hence the PT.
And it's a ready source of bait!
I finally knocked out a few honey do's and had some FJ time.
1. Painted my daughters Playhouse and built a deck for it.
2. Burned the pile of yard waste my wife has been complaining about for 6+months
3. Put some safety stranded wires on our upper porch since handrail is at 28" tall (not good for the little ones)
4. Finally made a heat shield for power steering pump since it is so close to headers
1. Painted my daughters Playhouse and built a deck for it.
2. Burned the pile of yard waste my wife has been complaining about for 6+months
3. Put some safety stranded wires on our upper porch since handrail is at 28" tall (not good for the little ones)
4. Finally made a heat shield for power steering pump since it is so close to headers
Covid projects? Yes, there's been a few...
#1 Annoying Rattle in my exhaust. Based upon a local mechanic's opinion I thought it was the internal guts of a rusted out catalytic converter. Turns out ONSC members diagnosed it correctly after hearing it for exactly .2 seconds when I pulled up at the Feb meeting.
Why are ONSC members so smart!
Below was the culprit:
#2 Misc GX470 upgrades. Documented on the following thread: INKY, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde
#1 Annoying Rattle in my exhaust. Based upon a local mechanic's opinion I thought it was the internal guts of a rusted out catalytic converter. Turns out ONSC members diagnosed it correctly after hearing it for exactly .2 seconds when I pulled up at the Feb meeting.
Why are ONSC members so smart!
Below was the culprit:
#2 Misc GX470 upgrades. Documented on the following thread: INKY, Blinky, Pinky, and Clyde
- Plasti-Dip decals
- ML speaker rebuild
- USASpec Bt45 bluetooth upgrade and auxilary jack install for Sound System
- Air spring replacement
- Refinish headlights
- Replaced hood struts
- New battery
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Covid projects (con't)
#5 Basement drainage pump project cover up. The past few years I have occasionally had some water leak into one of the bedrooms in my finished basement during long sustained hard rains. The wall and the concrete floor are sufficiently sealed. The issue is when the surrounding ground gets so saturated that the water pushes up from between the below-ground exterior wall and the concrete floor pad. Awhile back I implemented a system to divert any water that does seep up on these rare occasions. I cut a small sloped channel along the floor right next to the exterior wall. The sloped channels then divert the water into a small pit I cut into the floor so that it can be pumped out. When I looked at the available sump pumps on the market they all seemed rather large and noisy, so I opted to use a condensate pump which is much smaller and quieter. To utilize this, I lined the pit with filter fabric and drilled holes in the condensate pump reservoir. Now when the hole starts to fill up, it also fills the condensate tank and subsequently is pumped out via a small tube that runs up the side of the wall. The pit is small enough to be covered with a standard HVAC air vent. This system seems to be an effective solution but it is a little un-sightly, so my Co-vid project was to cover up the system and make it all look finished again. Next steps are to put in a plastic channel to make the pump plug in cord look neater and to caulk/paint everything. Below is the progress made...
#5 Basement drainage pump project cover up. The past few years I have occasionally had some water leak into one of the bedrooms in my finished basement during long sustained hard rains. The wall and the concrete floor are sufficiently sealed. The issue is when the surrounding ground gets so saturated that the water pushes up from between the below-ground exterior wall and the concrete floor pad. Awhile back I implemented a system to divert any water that does seep up on these rare occasions. I cut a small sloped channel along the floor right next to the exterior wall. The sloped channels then divert the water into a small pit I cut into the floor so that it can be pumped out. When I looked at the available sump pumps on the market they all seemed rather large and noisy, so I opted to use a condensate pump which is much smaller and quieter. To utilize this, I lined the pit with filter fabric and drilled holes in the condensate pump reservoir. Now when the hole starts to fill up, it also fills the condensate tank and subsequently is pumped out via a small tube that runs up the side of the wall. The pit is small enough to be covered with a standard HVAC air vent. This system seems to be an effective solution but it is a little un-sightly, so my Co-vid project was to cover up the system and make it all look finished again. Next steps are to put in a plastic channel to make the pump plug in cord look neater and to caulk/paint everything. Below is the progress made...
Covid projects (con't)
#6 Basement kitchen wall removal and bartop install. Our house was built on a hill. Two-thirds of the original basement was full height (towards the back of the house) and 1/3 of the basement was crawl space (towards the front of the house). Years ago I got the "bright idea" to dig out the crawl space and make the entire basement full height (7ft-ish). (It was quite a production but that's another story...) In part of the new section that was dug out I installed a kitchen. This was connected to the living room by a doorway that I cut in through a brick wall. Interestingly enough, this brick wall was merely a divider between the two areas and was NOT load-bearing. After realizing this, I had always wanted to remove half of the wall in order to open up the area a little and make a bar top that covered the remaining section of the wall. Having cut/demolished/removed brick before I knew I had some challenges ahead of me. If I "sledge-hammered" the wall section out I would certainly end up removing more of the wall then I really wanted to. If I cut the wall section out with masonry blades I would have a ridiculous amount of fine brick dust that would cover the entire basement and interior of the house (I've tried this route before...). Therefore the route I decided to take was to literally remove each brick one at a time to cut down on the mess and also control the removal process. This also required careful brick removal in the spots where I planed to lace in other bricks. I started this removal back in Feb. Below is the progress I have made thusfar during Covid times... I still have some painting and trimwork left to do.
#6 Basement kitchen wall removal and bartop install. Our house was built on a hill. Two-thirds of the original basement was full height (towards the back of the house) and 1/3 of the basement was crawl space (towards the front of the house). Years ago I got the "bright idea" to dig out the crawl space and make the entire basement full height (7ft-ish). (It was quite a production but that's another story...) In part of the new section that was dug out I installed a kitchen. This was connected to the living room by a doorway that I cut in through a brick wall. Interestingly enough, this brick wall was merely a divider between the two areas and was NOT load-bearing. After realizing this, I had always wanted to remove half of the wall in order to open up the area a little and make a bar top that covered the remaining section of the wall. Having cut/demolished/removed brick before I knew I had some challenges ahead of me. If I "sledge-hammered" the wall section out I would certainly end up removing more of the wall then I really wanted to. If I cut the wall section out with masonry blades I would have a ridiculous amount of fine brick dust that would cover the entire basement and interior of the house (I've tried this route before...). Therefore the route I decided to take was to literally remove each brick one at a time to cut down on the mess and also control the removal process. This also required careful brick removal in the spots where I planed to lace in other bricks. I started this removal back in Feb. Below is the progress I have made thusfar during Covid times... I still have some painting and trimwork left to do.
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Covid projects (con't)
#7 Dog poop containment. Apparently no-one except for me in our home knows how to find or pick up dog poop in our yard. Yet somehow the poop always knows how to find the bottom of my shoes. Therefore a year or two ago I created a dog litter box at the bottom of our stairs so that we didn't have to play hide and seek with the canine feces everyday. I also created a dog poop composter (aka hole in the ground) within the litter box so that we weren't constantly throwing bags of poo in our trash can. I originally had enclosed this area with temporary posts and chicken wires. Silly-me, thought that once the dogs were trained / used to pooping there I could potentially remove the temporary fence. I was wrong, as evidenced by the way the dogs immediately and joyfully poop in the yard EVERY time we accidentally leave the gate open. So it seems that the poop fence needed to be a permanent feature and a spring-hinged gate was also a critical add-on. FYI - I used upside-down pre-built picket fencing to cut down on my construction time. (Also, the stairs need to be power-washed, Yikes!)
(Note: the poop hole is covered by landscaping pavers bonded together with construction adhesive. The piece of slate is simply slid out of the way whenever a "deposit" needs to be made. We will periodically put water, compositing bacteria, and leaves in the hole to facilitate the breakdown.)
#7 Dog poop containment. Apparently no-one except for me in our home knows how to find or pick up dog poop in our yard. Yet somehow the poop always knows how to find the bottom of my shoes. Therefore a year or two ago I created a dog litter box at the bottom of our stairs so that we didn't have to play hide and seek with the canine feces everyday. I also created a dog poop composter (aka hole in the ground) within the litter box so that we weren't constantly throwing bags of poo in our trash can. I originally had enclosed this area with temporary posts and chicken wires. Silly-me, thought that once the dogs were trained / used to pooping there I could potentially remove the temporary fence. I was wrong, as evidenced by the way the dogs immediately and joyfully poop in the yard EVERY time we accidentally leave the gate open. So it seems that the poop fence needed to be a permanent feature and a spring-hinged gate was also a critical add-on. FYI - I used upside-down pre-built picket fencing to cut down on my construction time. (Also, the stairs need to be power-washed, Yikes!)
(Note: the poop hole is covered by landscaping pavers bonded together with construction adhesive. The piece of slate is simply slid out of the way whenever a "deposit" needs to be made. We will periodically put water, compositing bacteria, and leaves in the hole to facilitate the breakdown.)
Covid projects (con't)
#8 Potting bench for the wife. I save every scrap of lumber I find (much to my wife's chagrin...). Sitting under our deck was a stack of structurally sound used deck lumber. After watching the wife's potting area slowly take over the back yard I decided to build her a potting bench underneath our back stairs to organize her stuff. Fortunately I had plenty of materials to work with! (I have to do these projects periodically to justify keeping all my salvaged "treasures")
#9 Garden fence and door for the wife. The wife also wanted a new garden on the hillside of our backyard and she wanted it fenced in. In another strategic move, I decided to tap into my supply of scrap materials and build her a fence, planter boxes, and an unnecessarily ornate garden door (as a surprise).
#10 Hauled off some yard waste.
#8 Potting bench for the wife. I save every scrap of lumber I find (much to my wife's chagrin...). Sitting under our deck was a stack of structurally sound used deck lumber. After watching the wife's potting area slowly take over the back yard I decided to build her a potting bench underneath our back stairs to organize her stuff. Fortunately I had plenty of materials to work with! (I have to do these projects periodically to justify keeping all my salvaged "treasures"
)#9 Garden fence and door for the wife. The wife also wanted a new garden on the hillside of our backyard and she wanted it fenced in. In another strategic move, I decided to tap into my supply of scrap materials and build her a fence, planter boxes, and an unnecessarily ornate garden door (as a surprise).
#10 Hauled off some yard waste.
Holy s*** - no wonder you couldn't go kayaking!
Covid projects (con't)
#11 Iron bench restoration. My parents had this old iron bench sitting on their property for many years. Eventually the wood completely rotted away. Awhile back I brought it home for a potential rebuild. Only the iron pieces and bolts were left. Again I tapped into my salvage lumber supply. That, a can of spray lacquer, an old can of flat black spray paint, some old discounted cans of stain, and a few new screws and we had us a restored park bench.
Of course, first thing's first, I got my skilled labor force working on it:
#11 Iron bench restoration. My parents had this old iron bench sitting on their property for many years. Eventually the wood completely rotted away. Awhile back I brought it home for a potential rebuild. Only the iron pieces and bolts were left. Again I tapped into my salvage lumber supply. That, a can of spray lacquer, an old can of flat black spray paint, some old discounted cans of stain, and a few new screws and we had us a restored park bench.
Of course, first thing's first, I got my skilled labor force working on it:
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