DIY - Auto and Home weekend warriors

[4thngoal]

To do list for me:
Tear off and re-roof a part of a roof.
Wire brush and paint propane tank.
Rent skid loader, dig out high part of yard about 10in. Fill back in with 5in of sand to park 5th wheel on. Use extra dirt to level out bumpy yard.
Blow in several more inches of insulation into the attic.

Then I can move onto indoor (winter) projects.

 

[NCHawker]

I always hated these. As a kid, these seemed impossible. But I bought one at consignment store for $6. I tried it out and it worked like a charm. Learned to go over the top of the grass/dirt instead of through it. After a few passes I could go through.

 

[okeefe4prez]

I always hated these. As a kid, these seemed impossible. But I bought one at consignment store for $6. I tried it out and it worked like a charm. Learned to go over the top of the grass/dirt instead of through it. After a few passes I could go through.






View attachment 5437

Does it work on Bermuda?

 

[Chickenlounge]

Does it work on Bermuda?

I'm sure it would. And Antigua, St. Thomas, Cuba. Hell, it probably works on all the islands.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

I’ve heard good things about Milwaukee’s saw vs the DeWalt. This guy tears one apart and does a pretty in-depth review and he has one on the DW as well

Interesting video. Given the guy's accent, I will assume the "600 dollhairs" is Canadian (approximately 420-480 American "dollhairs"). A little steep, for my lack of consistent use.

Wife reminded we got our current Worx (corded) model after Hurricane Irma when my old Homelite (hey, I am a cheap bastard for infrequent-use tools), which (ironically) lasted 10 years, died mid-job of clearing a couple downed trees (big mf-ers, too). We got it Amazon and, since we couldn't find anything local, didn't expect it for three to five days. Sonofabitch if that thing didn't get dropped by Amazon lady two days later!

Anyway, I finished sawing apart a big frigging oak that cable or electric company said was "interfering". The Worx did an awesome job. I am a tad concerned that I can't seem to tighten the chain tension any without first actually loosening it. Then again, my "loose" estimation is probably a bit too strict. I like as little "loose" as possible. That's probably actually a bad thing.

So...now I have no chainsaw jobs pending, but I'm aching to do some more sawing!

 

[okeefe4prez]

We got it Amazon and, since we couldn't find anything local, didn't expect it for three to five days

When that alleged biggest ever hurricane was supposed to hit the Carolina coast last fall, the Home Depot by us had at least a half a dozen trailers parked outside. They said they stage them outside the damage zone and then roll them out as soon as the bad rains stop and the roads are okay. Dude said they were full of plywood, chainsaws, bottled water, hammers and nails. Just day 1 cleanup/window cover stuff. I can't fathom the logistics Lowe's and HD go through when those big hurricanes are predicted and even with that planning, they still can't get enough merchandise on the scene fast enough. Amazing that Amazon got you that so quickly.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

When that alleged biggest ever hurricane was supposed to hit the Carolina coast last fall, the Home Depot by us had at least a half a dozen trailers parked outside. They said they stage them outside the damage zone and then roll them out as soon as the bad rains stop and the roads are okay. Dude said they were full of plywood, chainsaws, bottled water, hammers and nails. Just day 1 cleanup/window cover stuff. I can't fathom the logistics Lowe's and HD go through when those big hurricanes are predicted and even with that planning, they still can't get enough merchandise on the scene fast enough. Amazing that Amazon got you that so quickly.

If I had to guess, it was a 3rd-party seller. Had to be. Storm came through on Sunday night/Monday morning. Chainsaw broke Thursday, went to HD, no sale. Wife looked on Amazon, we evaluated the choices, decided may as well stay with corded since we wouldn't get it for a week or more. When it came two days later, my whole, "Amazon is killing local businesses", outlook changed in a radical way. I still shop HD, but if I don't like what I find, I check Amazon right away. I still go to the local hardware store in town--far better shopping "experience" than HD or Lowe's--and for a great shopping trip, nothing (IMHO) beats Rural King.

If you haven't been, find one and go, post-haste. It's like finding the best combo of HD, Sam's, Costco, Cabela's, BassPro, Tractor Supply, and Cracker Barrel all in one place. OK, they don't sell alcohol. But if they did, even Amazon would have to bow down. Rural King absolutely rules.

You would never guess what sold out fastest before Irma, and it shows just far civilization has fallen: water!

Seriously, I just want to scream, "People, fill up milk jugs, old juice jars, or whatever! You have a frigging tap in your house! Use it!" But, no, people were on radio call-in shows, TV call-in segments, social media, and damn near everywhere else, screaming, "I can't find bottled water! Oh My God, what do I do?!"

It certainly lowered my expectations for the future of the human race.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

When that alleged biggest ever hurricane was supposed to hit the Carolina coast last fall, the Home Depot by us had at least a half a dozen trailers parked outside. They said they stage them outside the damage zone and then roll them out as soon as the bad rains stop and the roads are okay. Dude said they were full of plywood, chainsaws, bottled water, hammers and nails. Just day 1 cleanup/window cover stuff. I can't fathom the logistics Lowe's and HD go through when those big hurricanes are predicted and even with that planning, they still can't get enough merchandise on the scene fast enough. Amazing that Amazon got you that so quickly.

It's amazing, but also kind of sad. Not sure how far inland you are, or whether your area has been (historically) hard-hit before, but there are far too many people who live in hurricane-prone areas who are NEVER prepared. Then they're the first ones to file FEMA claims for sh*t they should have had on-hand since they moved to their location. And I really have no patience or sympathy for people who refuse to evacuate from coastal areas, especially coastal islands.

In essence, you need three pieces of plywood (small, medium and large), three tarps (again, small, medium and large), a couple rakes, a couple shovels, some hand tools or cordless tools, paper plates/napkins/cups, a lantern and a damn can-opener. Oh, and sunscreen and bug spray. Other things--generators, battery-powered/cordless phone chargers, laptop, tablet, etc,, are nice, but they aren't "crucial". Keep a full gas tank in the car, fire up the damn grill, and eat your soup and chili out of the can for a few days. And for those of "special needs" families, it's unforgivable that they don't at least make plans or seek out assistance in advance. When those folks in the South Florida assisted-living facilities died, it was beyond unconscionable.

But, it really doesn't take much to be "prepared". You just need to understand that "luxury" is off the table for a few days or weeks. Hell, we think we have it "bad", yet, folks in tornado alley, or earthquake areas, or near major rivers have it WAY worse. A lot of those disasters aren't easily predictable. There is no hurricane to hit Florida since the 1970s that people didn't know was coming. Not a one.

 

[okeefe4prez]

Seriously, I just want to scream, "People, fill up milk jugs, old juice jars, or whatever! You have a frigging tap in your house! Use it!" But, no, people were on radio call-in shows, TV call-in segments, social media, and damn near everywhere else, screaming, "I can't find bottled water! Oh My God, what do I do?!"

Yeah, I get it. I wanted to buy a bunch of stuff for an emergency kit when I moved down to the South and my wife was like "We don't need anything of that" and would get pissy with me at the store. The first hurricane prompted her to allow me to buy some stuff. We are too far to get anything major, but I now have several tarps and mulch and sand bags in the garage in case I need to promptly re-route water (won't be able to move much, but I'm worried about one corner of my house possibly getting an inch or two on the foundation if we have a sustained 2 day rain).

But then we got a snow storm with some ice and lost power for 14 hours. That scared her pretty good. Lucky for her, I had bought a giant mag lite and a huge box of batteries and we were able to run our gas fireplace. I have a gas grill and a gas cooker for tailgating/camping. She was damned impressed that I was able to fashion a very good meal with no electricity and after that, we bought more stuff like a manual can opener and a 5 day food and water supply. When we lived up in Chicago, we never lost power for more than a minute even during the worst storms, so she has no concept of what it can be like without power for a few days (I still remember that ice storm we got in central Iowa in '90 or '91 where power was out for 4-5 days over much of Des Moines).

She was dismissive of the thought that we could even go a day without power, but then when she saw her parents' emergency stash that they built up after the earthquake/tsunami, she is slowly coming around to the idea of undertaking at least a little prep.

 

[Northside Hawk]

Our next big project will be a four season room, but not until kids are through college. Our deck sits on the SE side of the house off the dining room. That would be the perfect place to tear out the deck, put the room and get a lot of sun.

We would then build a deck on the east side of our house, above the basement double doors and where it would get more shade in the summer. This would also require another set of sliding doors to access the deck. Our house is pre fab (meaning it was trucked in two pieces and set on a concrete foundation. It has no windows facing due east and we could use a little extra light from that direction on winter mornings.

 

[NCHawker]

I'm sure it would. And Antigua, St. Thomas, Cuba. Hell, it probably works on all the islands.

beat me to it.

 

[NCHawker]

For corded angle grinders DeWalt or Makita have always been outstanding for me, but I do have a $20 el cheapo Harbor Freight that absolutely refuses to die no matter what I do to it.

To be totally honest though I’d go cordless nowadays. The DeWalt Flex-volt stuff is pretty amazing and when you buy the angle grinder kit you get two batteries. One of my batteries will completely charge before the other one dies, so to me there’s no reason to go corded in 4 1/2” size.

For a vise, find a used Wilton at an auction or on Craigslist. It will outlast your grandkids’ grandkids. They aren’t super cheap, but I’d spend $100 on a used Wilton before $100 on a cheap, new Chinese-made vise at a hardware store.

Welder...FC-90 flux core. It’s made under
Lincoln’s Century brand and it’s fucking amazing for the price. Every time I use it I can’t believe it’s $200. I made my living welding for several years, if you want details on a good home gamer welding setup PM me.

ebay has been my new hobby. Last week got a Milwaukee Angle Grinder for about 1/2 price. Today just bought a 5inch Wilton Vise for $75. I started shopping, researching and figured out what was a good price. This is a good price. Thanks for the tip.

 

[4thngoal]

ebay has been my new hobby. Last week got a Milwaukee Angle Grinder for about 1/2 price. Today just bought a 5inch Wilton Vise for $75. I started shopping, researching and figured out what was a good price. This is a good price. Thanks for the tip.

I do a bunch of Amazon shopping and my gal does Amazon and eBay.
I've gotten burned on eBay before, but sometimes you do great. My brother got basically a free tractor engine on eBay after they settled the dispute. As for Amazon?
I like it, but it's got it's stupidity. It's convenient, you can get furnace filters, a new toaster oven, oil for your car and toilet paper if you want, all in one stop. But you have to watch your billing, the quality of the product and the shipping is sometimes whacked. She has prime, so I don't, I ordered 9 items for a project on Sunday. During the week, I have received 3 and the other 6 were finally billed to me last night, so I assume they were shipped today. An entire week just to get them shipped??? Meh, not the biggest fan of that. Planning ahead for small projects 2 weeks out is nearly impossible. So it's maybe better for ordering stuff you don't need right away. Or stuff that can just sit around until you get to it. (Which then you have warranty issues)

 

[Ree4]

Im going to be cutting through some concrete and putting a door in the back of my garage next month hopefully, should be interesting!

After looking more into it, I'm going to need to rewire much of the garage. I'll be moving some outlets, adding more and putting in some outlets outside along with some light fixtures!

 

[Ree4]

I do a bunch of Amazon shopping and my gal does Amazon and eBay.
I've gotten burned on eBay before, but sometimes you do great. My brother got basically a free tractor engine on eBay after they settled the dispute. As for Amazon?
I like it, but it's got it's stupidity. It's convenient, you can get furnace filters, a new toaster oven, oil for your car and toilet paper if you want, all in one stop. But you have to watch your billing, the quality of the product and the shipping is sometimes whacked. She has prime, so I don't, I ordered 9 items for a project on Sunday. During the week, I have received 3 and the other 6 were finally billed to me last night, so I assume they were shipped today. An entire week just to get them shipped??? Meh, not the biggest fan of that. Planning ahead for small projects 2 weeks out is nearly impossible. So it's maybe better for ordering stuff you don't need right away. Or stuff that can just sit around until you get to it. (Which then you have warranty issues)

She can have you added to her Prime if she wants to, my wife and I both have separate Prime accounts but only pay for one. I've never had any issues with billing, shipping or products with Amazon and I buy 4-5 things per month from them. I refuse to buy anything that isn't prime because I don't want to wait 1-17 weeks for something. Hell most of the stuff I order arrives at my house the next day.

 

[4thngoal]

After looking more into it, I'm going to need to rewire much of the garage. I'll be moving some outlets, adding more and putting in some outlets outside along with some light fixtures!

That's how it starts.
Then it will be a patio with a big screen on a rail that you can slide out of a small door cut into the garage, so you can sit out there and watch games.
It never ends.

She can have you added to her Prime if she wants to, my wife and I both have separate Prime accounts but only pay for one. I've never had any issues with billing, shipping or products with Amazon and I buy 4-5 things per month from them. I refuse to buy anything that isn't prime because I don't want to wait 1-17 weeks for something. Hell most of the stuff I order arrives at my house the next day.

Yeah we just seen that option last night.
That's pretty cool.

I got my roofing done which was my biggest project this summer. I learned something while doing it. I'm getting older. Lol. It's no wonder you don't see many 50 year old men carrying 70 pound bundle of shingles up ladders. Thank God it was only 17 bundles.
Picked up a 6000 watt generator yesterday for back up power. Back when y2k was a thing, I was in business for myself and installed tons of back up gen sets. So as I knock one thing off the list, I add another.
I'm thinking about just going all out and building a little dog house type permanent structure for it outside. It's to big and to noisy to use for much else than back up power, so no sense in just having it taking up space in the garage.

 

[Ree4]

That's how it starts.
Then it will be a patio with a big screen on a rail that you can slide out of a small door cut into the garage, so you can sit out there and watch games.
It never ends.

Yeah we just seen that option last night.
That's pretty cool.

I got my roofing done which was my biggest project this summer. I learned something while doing it. I'm getting older. Lol. It's no wonder you don't see many 50 year old men carrying 70 pound bundle of shingles up ladders. Thank God it was only 17 bundles.
Picked up a 6000 watt generator yesterday for back up power. Back when y2k was a thing, I was in business for myself and installed tons of back up gen sets. So as I knock one thing off the list, I add another.
I'm thinking about just going all out and building a little dog house type permanent structure for it outside. It's to big and to noisy to use for much else than back up power, so no sense in just having it taking up space in the garage.

Hehe nah I have a 130" 4k projector in my man cave with 7.1 surround where I watch my Hawkeyes. I'll probably mount a TV out there at some point though so I can keep an eye on other games while I'm out there. For now though I just have Alexa hooked up to a receiver and some outdoor speakers. Once the door goes in I'll mount some speakers outside too.

Roofing is rough, haven't had to do much but man, it wears you out - especially on hot days.

 

[MelroseHawkins]

It's amazing, but also kind of sad. Not sure how far inland you are, or whether your area has been (historically) hard-hit before, but there are far too many people who live in hurricane-prone areas who are NEVER prepared. Then they're the first ones to file FEMA claims for sh*t they should have had on-hand since they moved to their location. And I really have no patience or sympathy for people who refuse to evacuate from coastal areas, especially coastal islands.

In essence, you need three pieces of plywood (small, medium and large), three tarps (again, small, medium and large), a couple rakes, a couple shovels, some hand tools or cordless tools, paper plates/napkins/cups, a lantern and a damn can-opener. Oh, and sunscreen and bug spray. Other things--generators, battery-powered/cordless phone chargers, laptop, tablet, etc,, are nice, but they aren't "crucial". Keep a full gas tank in the car, fire up the damn grill, and eat your soup and chili out of the can for a few days. And for those of "special needs" families, it's unforgivable that they don't at least make plans or seek out assistance in advance. When those folks in the South Florida assisted-living facilities died, it was beyond unconscionable.

But, it really doesn't take much to be "prepared". You just need to understand that "luxury" is off the table for a few days or weeks. Hell, we think we have it "bad", yet, folks in tornado alley, or earthquake areas, or near major rivers have it WAY worse. A lot of those disasters aren't easily predictable. There is no hurricane to hit Florida since the 1970s that people didn't know was coming. Not a one.

Yea, I always wonder how so many people can bitch so much. Cripes, a hurricane is one storm that is known about and warned a week in advance. I have a hard time feeling sorry for some of these folks. Then they blame the government for not doing enough.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

Yea, I always wonder how so many people can bitch so much. Cripes, a hurricane is one storm that is known about and warned a week in advance. I have a hard time feeling sorry for some of these folks. Then they blame the government for not doing enough.

Absolutely. Meanwhile, folks in the Midwest get tornadoes out of nowhere (although they are getting better at watching fronts meeting, converging, etc., to gauge likelihood of formation), and earthquakes rarely, if ever, are predictable.

Worse, though, are the types who think they will "ride it out". Hence, the ever-popular moron who ties off his 30-foot sloop to a bunch of palms or mangroves and becomes a statistic post-storm.

 

[Ben Rumson]

Menards deck building tool wanted $4300 to do my 14x14 deck. I have $1200 in it started on a Friday morning and finished the rails by Monday noon last July. Even put a 10' ramp for my lazy bulldog to walk down