To infinity and beyond
Happy New Year, ladies and germs. My insincere apologies for the lack of updates, but my New Year's resolution was to not update my blog or work on the house at all. Like most New Year's resolutions, it was shot almost immediately.
As planned, I didn't do any work on the week after Christmas, with the exception of cleaning up the aftermath of the family visit, expressed almost entirely in wrapping paper and dirty dishes. I had a great New Year's Eve, a great New Year's Day brunch (luxurious oeufs au caviar courtesy of my pal Michael), and a last-minute weekend visit from the world-famous Baron that afternoon.
OK, I actually did do one small thing. I installed a magnetic knife rack on the kitchen wall. I had been wanting one for a while, and I could no longer fit all of my knives in the block I had. Et voila:
Magnetic knife rack
Baron and I hung out for a while, doing good deeds, helping old ladies across the street, etc., and on Sunday we descended down to the shop. My basement door was still missing proper molding and insulation, so we made that. Because the wood needed to extend 5" left and right from the door, but only 3" up, it was not a simple 45-degree miter.
I said that we could calculate the angle we needed to cut pretty easily. Baron thought we could just basically eyeball it. I deferred to him because I couldn't remember how to calculate the angle. (This is why you should finish high school, kids.) There is a detent on my miter saw at 31.6 degrees, and we found that it was pretty much close enough. We just rotated the adjoining board by 90 degrees to cut the complementary angle, so at least I am not a total moron.
I figured that since these pieces of wood would be outside, they should probably get a coat of primer before going up.
Door molding pieces drying
While the primer on the molding dried, we (by which I mean primarily Baron) threw out a bunch of junk and generally cleaned up the shop a bit.
Baron and the shop vac
The pile of garbage next to the door is getting really out of hand. I need to rent a truck and take all this stuff to the dump pronto.
Unbelievable pile of junk
On Monday, Baron took off for his meeting and then the airport, and I went to Costco with my mom. I had not been to Costco since I bought the house, and I went completely nuts, buying huge quantities of trash bags, toilet paper, and Hostess Ding Dongs. They also had laser thermometers, and I couldn't resist.
We had a brief layover at my uncle Steve's house in West Seattle and I helped him install a new electrical box, complete with new switch and outlet. I think I may have actually learned something during all that wiring I did at my own place.
I went home and installed the brick molding with the help of my trusty clamps.
Clamps, the solo worker's best friend
Brick molding installed!
The miters didn't fit as tightly as I would have liked, but they were still pretty solid, and I have a feeling it had more to do with bowing of the wood than anything. I caulked around the molding to get a seal from the outside, and finally got to use my spray foam insulation around the door frame.
Spray foam insulation
Today I was curious about how far off we were in the angles we cut, and I am embarrassed to say that even after finding this excellent trigonometry page, I still had to ask for the help of my brother Aron, who is actually smart enough to go to college.
arctan(3/5) * 180/π = 30.96 = we were only off by 0.63 degrees = not bad
Speaking of degrees, my new laser thermometer reports that putting up brick molding and insulation made the area around the door a full 20 degrees warmer. See, I needed that laser thermometer, I just didn't know it yet.
I'll be bringing the living and dining rooms back down this week to finish up plastering and wiring. I'd bet that if I asked Aron to help me calculate how long it will take, he'd tell me about a number that looks like a sideways 8.
As planned, I didn't do any work on the week after Christmas, with the exception of cleaning up the aftermath of the family visit, expressed almost entirely in wrapping paper and dirty dishes. I had a great New Year's Eve, a great New Year's Day brunch (luxurious oeufs au caviar courtesy of my pal Michael), and a last-minute weekend visit from the world-famous Baron that afternoon.
OK, I actually did do one small thing. I installed a magnetic knife rack on the kitchen wall. I had been wanting one for a while, and I could no longer fit all of my knives in the block I had. Et voila:
Magnetic knife rack
Baron and I hung out for a while, doing good deeds, helping old ladies across the street, etc., and on Sunday we descended down to the shop. My basement door was still missing proper molding and insulation, so we made that. Because the wood needed to extend 5" left and right from the door, but only 3" up, it was not a simple 45-degree miter.
I said that we could calculate the angle we needed to cut pretty easily. Baron thought we could just basically eyeball it. I deferred to him because I couldn't remember how to calculate the angle. (This is why you should finish high school, kids.) There is a detent on my miter saw at 31.6 degrees, and we found that it was pretty much close enough. We just rotated the adjoining board by 90 degrees to cut the complementary angle, so at least I am not a total moron.
I figured that since these pieces of wood would be outside, they should probably get a coat of primer before going up.
Door molding pieces drying
While the primer on the molding dried, we (by which I mean primarily Baron) threw out a bunch of junk and generally cleaned up the shop a bit.
Baron and the shop vac
The pile of garbage next to the door is getting really out of hand. I need to rent a truck and take all this stuff to the dump pronto.
Unbelievable pile of junk
On Monday, Baron took off for his meeting and then the airport, and I went to Costco with my mom. I had not been to Costco since I bought the house, and I went completely nuts, buying huge quantities of trash bags, toilet paper, and Hostess Ding Dongs. They also had laser thermometers, and I couldn't resist.
We had a brief layover at my uncle Steve's house in West Seattle and I helped him install a new electrical box, complete with new switch and outlet. I think I may have actually learned something during all that wiring I did at my own place.
I went home and installed the brick molding with the help of my trusty clamps.
Clamps, the solo worker's best friend
Brick molding installed!
The miters didn't fit as tightly as I would have liked, but they were still pretty solid, and I have a feeling it had more to do with bowing of the wood than anything. I caulked around the molding to get a seal from the outside, and finally got to use my spray foam insulation around the door frame.
Spray foam insulation
Today I was curious about how far off we were in the angles we cut, and I am embarrassed to say that even after finding this excellent trigonometry page, I still had to ask for the help of my brother Aron, who is actually smart enough to go to college.
arctan(3/5) * 180/π = 30.96 = we were only off by 0.63 degrees = not bad
Speaking of degrees, my new laser thermometer reports that putting up brick molding and insulation made the area around the door a full 20 degrees warmer. See, I needed that laser thermometer, I just didn't know it yet.
I'll be bringing the living and dining rooms back down this week to finish up plastering and wiring. I'd bet that if I asked Aron to help me calculate how long it will take, he'd tell me about a number that looks like a sideways 8.
posted by Ficus at 10:03 AM
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