We've come to that time of the year here in Minnesota where I can work outside in warm weather. The sun gives us light until 8:30-9:00, and I need to get my outside projects done while I can. This does mean all of my indoor projects are on hiatus until I knock a few items off my outdoor to-do list.
My project lists includes painting the garage to match the house, staining the deck, painting the three season porch to match the house and garage, change all of the outside doors and replace some windows. If there is time, paint the underside of the fascia boards, but that may end up being a next spring project. Fun stuff folks!
About six years ago, we had hail damage to our home. The siding was damaged enough where insurance would cover the damage, so we had it repaired. Our house was white at the time with green trim. Naturally we went with a light tan color with white trim.
Love the new look of the house, exactly how we envisioned it. The one problem was, our garage was painted white, so no siding. At the time, we didn't want to spend the extra on siding for the garage, so we decided we would paint it to match. Well, six years, or who knows, maybe it's eight years later, we are just getting to painting the detached garage. We do however have a big even coming up at our home next summer, think graduation, so there is a push to get things done.
With the detached garage, there is a three season porch attached to it. Ultimately, this became our storage shed as we have another three season porch attached to our home. I know, confusing isn't it? We are unsure what the original home owners thinking was, but I do believe the one attached to the garage was first. Then years later they decided to install a sliding glass door and add a three season porch to the house. It's the only logical timeline we could think of.
See all that storage? It's actually kinda nice, but I do have future plans for this in a few years. I'm going to incorporate part of this into my workshop. But that wont go on a to-do list until my current projects are completed in a couple of years.
But that is the old paint scheme in a nutshell. White boards with green trim. It's time for change. And no, the glass isn't that clean, we decided to remove all of the windows on the porch so it would be easier and faster to paint.
My wife was a big help here with the trim work and painting the lower half of the garage. She doesn't like the heights, so I get ladder duty all the time. The service door she is standing in front of, that was replaced two summers ago.
It was a wise idea as we could be fast and sloppy with this step and not have to worry about getting paint where we didn't want it to be.
That service door will be replaced and that was the only thing we never painted green when we first moved in. Originally the trim was black. The door needed to be replaced when we moved in, it still needs to be replaced and is on the summer to-do list.
Here are a few before photos with the trim mostly painted. The back of the garage with the wood keep.
A different view of the garage porch, plus a little bit or the porch attached to our house.
A terrible shot of the front of the garage after we power washed it. Those lights, so ugly, I need to replace those too.
The garage door was looking so bad and faded.
And one final shot from my three season porch through the screen. That's what the unusual lines are in this photo.
Next comes the long awaited base coat of paint to cover the white.
My project lists includes painting the garage to match the house, staining the deck, painting the three season porch to match the house and garage, change all of the outside doors and replace some windows. If there is time, paint the underside of the fascia boards, but that may end up being a next spring project. Fun stuff folks!
About six years ago, we had hail damage to our home. The siding was damaged enough where insurance would cover the damage, so we had it repaired. Our house was white at the time with green trim. Naturally we went with a light tan color with white trim.
Love the new look of the house, exactly how we envisioned it. The one problem was, our garage was painted white, so no siding. At the time, we didn't want to spend the extra on siding for the garage, so we decided we would paint it to match. Well, six years, or who knows, maybe it's eight years later, we are just getting to painting the detached garage. We do however have a big even coming up at our home next summer, think graduation, so there is a push to get things done.
With the detached garage, there is a three season porch attached to it. Ultimately, this became our storage shed as we have another three season porch attached to our home. I know, confusing isn't it? We are unsure what the original home owners thinking was, but I do believe the one attached to the garage was first. Then years later they decided to install a sliding glass door and add a three season porch to the house. It's the only logical timeline we could think of.
See all that storage? It's actually kinda nice, but I do have future plans for this in a few years. I'm going to incorporate part of this into my workshop. But that wont go on a to-do list until my current projects are completed in a couple of years.
But that is the old paint scheme in a nutshell. White boards with green trim. It's time for change. And no, the glass isn't that clean, we decided to remove all of the windows on the porch so it would be easier and faster to paint.
My wife was a big help here with the trim work and painting the lower half of the garage. She doesn't like the heights, so I get ladder duty all the time. The service door she is standing in front of, that was replaced two summers ago.
Here are a few before photos with the trim mostly painted. The back of the garage with the wood keep.
A different view of the garage porch, plus a little bit or the porch attached to our house.
A terrible shot of the front of the garage after we power washed it. Those lights, so ugly, I need to replace those too.
The garage door was looking so bad and faded.
And one final shot from my three season porch through the screen. That's what the unusual lines are in this photo.
Next comes the long awaited base coat of paint to cover the white.
I am getting close to adding the Sheetrock to the new wall, but one last thing to do is call the cable company to install a new line where the TV is going to reside. This proved to be more difficult than I anticipated since they normally install the cable lines in an older house like mine by drilling on the outside of the house wall. It's simple and quick for them, but it's ugly for me to have a black coax cable run along the outside of my house.
I currently have one cable line running from the back of my home, around the side, over a door that leads into this family room, then finally it jets into my bedroom wall. This side of the house has my drive way and is the second most visible side of my house. Since I am moving my TV from the back of my house to the side of my house, that means another coax cable will be run from the back of the house, over the door and another hole drilled fifteen feet from my other coax cable outlet.
My plan is simple, get rid of all of the cables that run on the second most visible side of my home by drilling in the back of the house and into the ceiling where cable lines can be hidden from sight, like they should be. Plus, I want a second line to run through the new wall and into my bedroom. This will eliminate all of the visible cable lines on the side of my house.
I had Omar out to my house. There was a drizzle of rain coming down. Just enough to get everything wet and stay wet. I told Omar the plan I had for where I wanted the cable to be run. He looked at me puzzled until I showed him the open stud wall I had just built. It actually to some convincing for him to do what I had requested. He took a deep breath and left for his van to get supplies.
He came back with a tape measure, his drill, and an 18" tube that he normally uses to pass the cable through the wall. when I looked at the tube, I knew that wouldn't work since he needed to pass the cable at least four feet to the opening in the ceiling, but I let him try his method first. He drilled the hole, attached the coax cable to his 18" tube, and inserted into the freshly drilled hole.
Omar then came inside the house, looked at how far he needed to go and went back to his van. He returned with nothing, but told me he needed a longer tube to pass the cable. Ah ha! It was Omar's lucky day as I just happened to have a 12 foot tube for doing that very thing! We worked together, him from the outside, me standing on my ladder, and there it was, a new cable line exactly where I wanted it to be.
Now this I wasn't expecting, but he assured me it would be just fine. He only ran one line into the house, then split it here. My only concern is what if that line, or either line goes bad in the future, how does it get repaired? I know the answer, a new line run along the side of my home.
This is the beautiful part of the cable line. All that is visible now is this small little cable line. The rest is hidden in the decorative corner piece on the house. I couldn't be happier. You did great work Omar, thank you.
I currently have one cable line running from the back of my home, around the side, over a door that leads into this family room, then finally it jets into my bedroom wall. This side of the house has my drive way and is the second most visible side of my house. Since I am moving my TV from the back of my house to the side of my house, that means another coax cable will be run from the back of the house, over the door and another hole drilled fifteen feet from my other coax cable outlet.
My plan is simple, get rid of all of the cables that run on the second most visible side of my home by drilling in the back of the house and into the ceiling where cable lines can be hidden from sight, like they should be. Plus, I want a second line to run through the new wall and into my bedroom. This will eliminate all of the visible cable lines on the side of my house.
I had Omar out to my house. There was a drizzle of rain coming down. Just enough to get everything wet and stay wet. I told Omar the plan I had for where I wanted the cable to be run. He looked at me puzzled until I showed him the open stud wall I had just built. It actually to some convincing for him to do what I had requested. He took a deep breath and left for his van to get supplies.
He came back with a tape measure, his drill, and an 18" tube that he normally uses to pass the cable through the wall. when I looked at the tube, I knew that wouldn't work since he needed to pass the cable at least four feet to the opening in the ceiling, but I let him try his method first. He drilled the hole, attached the coax cable to his 18" tube, and inserted into the freshly drilled hole.
Omar then came inside the house, looked at how far he needed to go and went back to his van. He returned with nothing, but told me he needed a longer tube to pass the cable. Ah ha! It was Omar's lucky day as I just happened to have a 12 foot tube for doing that very thing! We worked together, him from the outside, me standing on my ladder, and there it was, a new cable line exactly where I wanted it to be.
Now this I wasn't expecting, but he assured me it would be just fine. He only ran one line into the house, then split it here. My only concern is what if that line, or either line goes bad in the future, how does it get repaired? I know the answer, a new line run along the side of my home.
This is the beautiful part of the cable line. All that is visible now is this small little cable line. The rest is hidden in the decorative corner piece on the house. I couldn't be happier. You did great work Omar, thank you.
I must show of a little of my wife's handiwork. She's has planted quite the variety of perennials over the years to finally get the the point where we didn't actually plant anything new this year. We didn't move any plants, though we did split the hostas once again as we had several people who were clamoring for them. So I guess we technically did some work in the garden, but it was to get rid of the overgrowth.
I wish I could tell you exactly what types of flowers these are, but it's just not something I remember well. Though I do know we have Stargazer Lilies, Daffodils, Daisys, some orange type of Lilies, and that's about all I can recall. She's put a lot of work into them and I can't do it justice of recalling all of the flower types that we have. Perhaps you can identify them for me?
I believe these are Tiger Lilies.
I know these are the Daffodils.
I'm unsure what these red ones are, but do not touch the red pedals with your clothes as they will leave stains.
These are so neat looking when the start to bloom. It's a very heavy flower for the plant as the always droop over from their weight.
More of the maroon flowers that stain your clothes, plus the daisy's in the background.
The annuals are doing well this year. We've had some bad luck with a few of the planers we've tried hanging here. They get full sun, and what we've purchased in the past didn't really care for full sun as they burned out by late July. We bought these plants from a different flower shop and a different plant variety as well. it's made all the difference in the world.
Don't know what any of these are here in the planters, but we put them here to hide the ugly cement block wall.
We couldn't let a photo opportunity go by without getting my cat in the photo. Her name is, ironically, Lily.
I wish I could tell you exactly what types of flowers these are, but it's just not something I remember well. Though I do know we have Stargazer Lilies, Daffodils, Daisys, some orange type of Lilies, and that's about all I can recall. She's put a lot of work into them and I can't do it justice of recalling all of the flower types that we have. Perhaps you can identify them for me?
I believe these are Tiger Lilies.
I know these are the Daffodils.
I'm unsure what these red ones are, but do not touch the red pedals with your clothes as they will leave stains.
These are so neat looking when the start to bloom. It's a very heavy flower for the plant as the always droop over from their weight.
More of the maroon flowers that stain your clothes, plus the daisy's in the background.
The annuals are doing well this year. We've had some bad luck with a few of the planers we've tried hanging here. They get full sun, and what we've purchased in the past didn't really care for full sun as they burned out by late July. We bought these plants from a different flower shop and a different plant variety as well. it's made all the difference in the world.
Don't know what any of these are here in the planters, but we put them here to hide the ugly cement block wall.
We couldn't let a photo opportunity go by without getting my cat in the photo. Her name is, ironically, Lily.
In my last post I thought I had finalized the stud wall frame, however I have had to make a couple of changes, albeit minor. When I started pulling the speaker wire through the frame, I realized I hadn't left room for the center channel speaker which will reside below the HDTV. I had to remove one of the shorter studs below the recessed box are to accommodate the necessary gap. I also had to move the electrical line over to the next stud.
When it's all said and done, below the HDTV I will have a front left and right speaker plus a center channel. There will also be a rear left and right speakers to complete the 5.1 surround sound. Do I need to have 7.1 sound? Would I notice a difference in a room this small? We opted to stick with the 5.1 sound, which is more that what we currently have setup.
The last change I had to make the the stud wall, if your keeping score, this is change number three. I purchased a couple of 2'x2' DRIcore subfloor boards as we will use this product for our basement flooring. It will get my flooring material off of the cold concrete. It will also give us a moisture barrier and the floor wont be as cold to walk on any longer. All this for losing a half inch of space, what's not to like? So, after realizing the bottom of the Sheetrock will need to be a half inch higher than the flooring, I needed to have a second sill plate to the bottom of the structure. There wouldn't be any wood available for me to screw the Sheetrock too if I didn't scab in a second level of boards.
So that's it, the wall is finalized now. I have my speaker wires run, a CAT6 network cable from the server room is in place, and I've added steel plates to protect the wires running through the studs. I'm not sure what those are officially called. They prevent you from drilling into your wires after you cover them up with Sheetrock.
There is one last thing to work on for this blog post, moving the light switches to the new wall by the door. After removing the old cover for the switches, it looked like a mess. I have three lights here, one for this room, one for the light just outside of the door and one to control the lights on my garage. Two of these lights are three way switches, so many wires!
Let's see, this one with the two orange wires controls the ceiling light in this family room.
The other combo switches with the blue wires control the outside light and the garage light. Everything is moving over to that fancy 3-gang blue box.
So dirty and messing inside. These three light switches are also had two fuses running to them. The separate one being the garage light.
Ahh, it's so clean looking now and no more combo switch. The outside switches are my two 3-way switches and the center single throw switch controls the light outside the door.
When it's all said and done, below the HDTV I will have a front left and right speaker plus a center channel. There will also be a rear left and right speakers to complete the 5.1 surround sound. Do I need to have 7.1 sound? Would I notice a difference in a room this small? We opted to stick with the 5.1 sound, which is more that what we currently have setup.
The last change I had to make the the stud wall, if your keeping score, this is change number three. I purchased a couple of 2'x2' DRIcore subfloor boards as we will use this product for our basement flooring. It will get my flooring material off of the cold concrete. It will also give us a moisture barrier and the floor wont be as cold to walk on any longer. All this for losing a half inch of space, what's not to like? So, after realizing the bottom of the Sheetrock will need to be a half inch higher than the flooring, I needed to have a second sill plate to the bottom of the structure. There wouldn't be any wood available for me to screw the Sheetrock too if I didn't scab in a second level of boards.
So that's it, the wall is finalized now. I have my speaker wires run, a CAT6 network cable from the server room is in place, and I've added steel plates to protect the wires running through the studs. I'm not sure what those are officially called. They prevent you from drilling into your wires after you cover them up with Sheetrock.
There is one last thing to work on for this blog post, moving the light switches to the new wall by the door. After removing the old cover for the switches, it looked like a mess. I have three lights here, one for this room, one for the light just outside of the door and one to control the lights on my garage. Two of these lights are three way switches, so many wires!
Let's see, this one with the two orange wires controls the ceiling light in this family room.
The other combo switches with the blue wires control the outside light and the garage light. Everything is moving over to that fancy 3-gang blue box.
So dirty and messing inside. These three light switches are also had two fuses running to them. The separate one being the garage light.
Ahh, it's so clean looking now and no more combo switch. The outside switches are my two 3-way switches and the center single throw switch controls the light outside the door.
The best of my planning for this project, I have to keep reminding myself to take photos as I progress. So when I realized I hadn't taken any project photos yet, I had the 2" insulated foam board in place. I needed nine feet of board and the 4'x8' boards left me a foot short, thus I had to purchase to sheets to span the wall at $25 a piece. At least I'll have a little extra for the next wall that needs insulation. I also have the new electrical line routed through the foam board and a few upright boards in place. Quite a bit of work before I took the first photo of the day.
The studs went up rather easy. Nice and simple, however, once I was completed, I realized I had made an error. On either side of the area for the HDTV, I left a seven inch wall frame, however, in the corner of my studs, I did not leave the seven inches of wall. The left opening will house decorative items with shelves, but I need it to be uniform.
It was a simple retrofit correction, but it looks so much better already. I scabbed in another full height stud to complete the symmetric look. It must have been a cold night as I have three bundles of wood waiting for me to carry over to my fireplace on the other side of this room.
One last photo of the stud frame. I have also expanded the electrical box from one outlet into two outlets, giving me four plugins for the lower wall. I'm also routing power up to the television area and will have a single outlet the top portion of the wall. You can just make out the wire sitting on top of the 2" foam board. It will sit there until I build the recessed box is in place.
This was the first real progress I have made on the new wall construction. I have just purchased speaker wire and will get that in place. Then I need to deal with moving the light switches as they are currently behind the wall.
The studs went up rather easy. Nice and simple, however, once I was completed, I realized I had made an error. On either side of the area for the HDTV, I left a seven inch wall frame, however, in the corner of my studs, I did not leave the seven inches of wall. The left opening will house decorative items with shelves, but I need it to be uniform.
It was a simple retrofit correction, but it looks so much better already. I scabbed in another full height stud to complete the symmetric look. It must have been a cold night as I have three bundles of wood waiting for me to carry over to my fireplace on the other side of this room.
One last photo of the stud frame. I have also expanded the electrical box from one outlet into two outlets, giving me four plugins for the lower wall. I'm also routing power up to the television area and will have a single outlet the top portion of the wall. You can just make out the wire sitting on top of the 2" foam board. It will sit there until I build the recessed box is in place.
This was the first real progress I have made on the new wall construction. I have just purchased speaker wire and will get that in place. Then I need to deal with moving the light switches as they are currently behind the wall.
So it begins, a bit of demolition to prep the wall for the new addition. I didn't recall taking a before shot of the floor, but thankfully I did. I'm building the new wall out about eleven inches total. Since we live in a partial basement, the foundation splits up the basement walls. So the top portion of the wall will be eleven inches and the bottom portion of the wall is about six inches out.
The old tile removed very easily. I'm just removing enough to get my wall frame in place. Later on I'll remove the rest of the tile. I've never understood the logic of the original tile placement by this door. The previous owners had furniture over part of the tile. We had done the same, mainly because we rarely use this door.
I only need to remove the lower portion of the wall. There isn't any insulation on any of the lower walls in the basement, so I'm slowly adding it to all of the walls I've redone.
I'm also removing part of the ceiling to the first floorboard. It is exactly where I want the new wall to go up, so it couldn't have been in a better place. This is it, all of the demo that needs to happen for the new wall to take shape.
I'm ending this day by screwing in the first board to the cement floor. Treated lumber in case there is any moisture. Trust me, we have had water in the basement with very heavy rains.
That is it, day one is completed. Not a very complicated day, but just enough to get the project up and running. Next comes the frame building and insulation.
The old tile removed very easily. I'm just removing enough to get my wall frame in place. Later on I'll remove the rest of the tile. I've never understood the logic of the original tile placement by this door. The previous owners had furniture over part of the tile. We had done the same, mainly because we rarely use this door.
I only need to remove the lower portion of the wall. There isn't any insulation on any of the lower walls in the basement, so I'm slowly adding it to all of the walls I've redone.
I'm also removing part of the ceiling to the first floorboard. It is exactly where I want the new wall to go up, so it couldn't have been in a better place. This is it, all of the demo that needs to happen for the new wall to take shape.
I'm ending this day by screwing in the first board to the cement floor. Treated lumber in case there is any moisture. Trust me, we have had water in the basement with very heavy rains.
A wider shot of the completed demolition with the first board in place ready for the the new wall.
That is it, day one is completed. Not a very complicated day, but just enough to get the project up and running. Next comes the frame building and insulation.
